Coronavirus, the Late April Edition

 Coronavirus, the Late April Edition

By the Numbers 

The  nationwide increase in the number of active cases seems to have plateaued, and may be dropping slightly.  From an estimated number of 1,347,000 on Mar 22 to 1,612,000 on April 22.  Down to 1,535,000 on April 27.

======================================================================

The hold on the J&J one shot vaccine has been lifted.  From what I can dig up, the hold was put on because it was thought a blood clot problem (thrombosis) developed in 7 out of 1,000,000 woman, ages 18-49, 7-14 days after receiving the vaccine.  An that at least 2 of them died. 

Upon review, only 15 cases were identified out of  8,000,000 vaccinated individuals.  All the cases were women, none died.  9 women had low platelet counts (thrombocytopenia).

For more information see: https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/26/health/blood-clots-johnson-johnson-vaccine-wellness/index.html

======================================================================

The big news is that researchers in Lubbock, Texas, has discovered the mechanism with which Covid causes long term health effects.

The short form, it's editing the genes.

The study refers to patients with chronic long term effects like skin problems, shortness of breath, losing the sense of taste or smell, kidney and lung damage known as "Long Haulers".  I suspect we are going to see more of that word in the future. 

A brief article is at  https://www.studyfinds.org/covid-alters-genes-long-haulers/

While most Long Haulers are in high risk categories for Covid, there is a  growing percentage of people who were otherwise healthy before they became infected. But, the new cases of Covid are more affecting healthier individuals then before. 

Researchers of the BMA (British Medical Association) estimate about 10% of COVID-19 patients become Long Haulers, according to a recent article from The Journal of the American Medical Association and a study done by British scientists. 

Reading some of the research material says that 10% means 10% of all who tested positive have symptoms continuing beyond 12 weeks. Source: the BMJ a journal published by the British Medical Association.