LOTS OF CHARTS BUT THEY’RE QUICK TO SCAN:

NYT AUGUST 10: 

NET Health reports 131 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Gregg County

FROM JENNIFER HANCOCK AT THE HARRISON COUNTY HEALTH DEPT:

Some Americans taking COVID-19 boosters into their own hands

THREE PEDIATRIC ARTICLES:

NYT TODAY:

Children and the Delta variant

Is the Delta Variant Hitting Kids Harder?

The Delta Variant Is Sending More Children to the Hospital. Are They Sicker, Too?

”…There is some emerging evidence — mostly from data on adults — that Delta may cause more severe disease. Studies in Canada, Scotland and Singapore, for instance, have suggested, variously, that Delta may be more likely to lead to hospitalization, I.C.U. admission or death…Although not all states report their pediatric hospitalization rates, the data that is available suggests that they have remained essentially steady for months. Nationally, roughly 1 percent of children who are infected with the virus end up hospitalized, and 0.01 percent die, according to the A.A.P. data. Both hospitalization and death rates have declined since last summer…..It is still possible, of course, that Delta could turn out to cause more severe disease in children. Hospitalization rates, which are a lagging indicator, could rise in the weeks and months ahead. And the rare but serious inflammatory syndrome that develops in some children with Covid-19 can take weeks to appear…It is not yet clear when children under 12 may be eligible for vaccination, but in the meantime, experts said, the best way to reduce the danger to children, and relieve the stress on hospitals, is for older children and adults to get vaccinated, which will help curb Delta’s spread.”

FROM HOPKINS:

1. Antibody Development After COVID-19 Vaccination in Patients with Autoimmune Diseases in the Netherlands: a Substudy of Data from Two Prospective Cohort Studies (Lancet Rheumatology) Between April 26, 2020, and March 1, 2021, 3682 patients with rheumatic diseases, 546 patients with multiple sclerosis, and 1147 healthy controls were recruited to participate in the two prospective cohort studies. Samples were collected from patients with autoimmune diseases (n=632) and healthy controls (n=289) after their first (507 patients and 239 controls) or second (125 patients and 50 controls) COVID-19 vaccination. Among participants without previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, seroconversion after first vaccination were significantly lower in patients than in controls (210 [49%] of 432 patients vs 154 [73%] of 210 controls; adjusted odds ratio 0·33 [95% CI 0·23–0·48]; p<0·0001), mainly due to lower seroconversion in patients treated with methotrexate or anti-CD20 therapies. After the second vaccination, seroconversion exceeded 80% in all patient treatment subgroups, except among those treated with anti-CD20 therapies (three [43%] of seven patients). We observed no difference in seroconversion and IgG antibody titres between patients with a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection who had received a single vaccine dose (72 [96%] of 75 patients, median IgG titre 127 AU/mL [IQR 27–300]) and patients without a previous SARS-CoV-2 infection who had received two vaccine doses (97 [92%] of 106 patients, median IgG titre 49 AU/mL [17–134]).

2. Reduced Risk of Reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 After COVID-19 Vaccination — Kentucky, May–June 2021 (CDC MMWR) Among Kentucky residents infected with SARS-CoV-2 in 2020, vaccination status of those reinfected during May–June 2021 was compared with that of residents who were not reinfected. In this case-control study, being unvaccinated was associated with 2.34 times the odds of reinfection compared with being fully vaccinated. To reduce their likelihood for future infection, all eligible persons should be offered COVID-19 vaccine, even those with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. 

Too Many People Are Dying Right Now

”…There may be something to this waning immunity story. It’s fuzzy, but the people who are getting hit are more apt to be people who were vaccinated very early…”

(J. Harris: A readable conversation between a couple of experts)

LAST BUT NOT LEASED:

THE PROBLEM WITH POLITICAL JOKES IS THAT SOME GET ELECTED

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