Coronavirus Morning News Brief – Oct. 22: Forget Twinfluenza and Prepare for a Triple Threat, BA Variants Are on the Rise - Frequent Business Traveler

Three New York City police officers wearing face masks on a deserted Park Avenue in the middle of the day in the early days of the pandemic

Good morning. This is Jonathan Spira reporting. Here now the news of the pandemic from across the globe on the 926th day of the pandemic.

Forget twinfluenza and prepare for a triple threat of winter illnesses in the coming months.  In addition to the coronavirus and influenza, cases of RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, are on the prowl.

RSV, a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms, is spreading at unusually high levels at the present time, and is overwhelming children's hospitals.

Most children contract a mild case of RSV before the age of two but the unprecedented rise in new cases among children is causing growing concern, especially given the early start of the flu season as well as what appears to be a new wave of Covid infections caused by new sublineages of the omicron variant.

Notice of RSV has been taken by the highest levels of government.

Dr. Ashish Jha, White House Covid Response Coordinator, is warning parents of the rise in cases and Dr. Peter Marks, who heads the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's vaccine operation, thinks that, with the number of new variants that keep popping up, it's likely that many people, including those who are older or have underlying health conditions, will need another booster before next September.

The coronavirus vaccine is not designed for long-term protection, hence the need for booster doses.

In the last few years, while the winter always brings a rise in respiratory pathogens, it's primarily been just Covid.  This year it's three, namely Covid, the flu, and RSV.  Given that we have vaccines against two of them, now is a good time to make sure your and your child's immunizations are up-to-date.

In other news we cover today, BQ variants are on the rise in New York, 1,000 students are out sick from a mysterious flu-like virus at a Virginia high school, and a British couple named their new baby after the lockdown.

UNITED STATES

In New York, the percentage of Covid cases caused by the new variants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 rose from an estimated 9% last week to over 17% this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday.

Health officials say that national BQ levels typically lag behind those in New York, where most of the first sequences of new variants in the United States have been identified.

Meanwhile, an advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention approved adding the coronavirus vaccine to its recommended immunization schedules for 2023.  The agency's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted unanimously in favor of the decision.

"ACIP's recommendation to add COVID-19 vaccines to the routinely recommended vaccine schedule represents another step in the nation's recovery," the CDC said in a statement Friday.

In Virginia, nearly half of the student body at Stafford High School is absent with flu-like symptoms, the school district reported.

"There are approximately 1,000 students absent with flu-like/gastrointestinal symptoms at Stafford High School," said the district's chief communications officer, Sandra K. Osborn, who added that the district's health services team "is working with the local health department to identify the root cause of the illness."

The school is located in northern Virginia in the city of Fredericksburg.

GLOBAL

A British couple that felt that the lockdown there brought them closer together named their new baby Lockie, after the lockdown.  Rob and Jodi Cross conceived a child during the second lockdown period and wanted an unusual name for their baby to commemorate this particular period in their lives.

TODAY'S STATISTICS

Now here are the daily statistics for Saturday, October 22.

As of Saturday morning, the world has recorded 632.4 million Covid-19 cases, an increase of 0.4 million cases, and 6.6 million deaths, according to Worldometer, a service that tracks such information. In addition, 611.3 million people worldwide have recovered from the virus, an increase of 0.4 million.

Worldwide, the number of active coronavirus cases as of Saturday is 14,653,144, an increase of 18,000. Out of that figure, 99.7%, or 14,614,536, are considered mild, and 0.3%, or 38,608, are listed as critical.  The percentage of cases considered critical has not changed over the past 24 hours.

The United States reported 33,923 new coronavirus infections on Saturday for the previous day, compared to 63,637  on Friday, 68,420 on Thursday and 28,124 on Wednesday, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  The 7-day incidence rate is now 35,287.  Figures for the weekend (reported the following day) are typically 30% to 60% of those posted on weekdays due to a lower number of tests being conducted.

The average daily number of new coronavirus cases in the United States over the past 14 days is 37,985, a 5% decrease, based on data from the Department of Health and Human Services, among other sources.  The average daily death toll over the same period is 361, a decrease of 5% over the same period, while the average number of hospitalizations for the period was 26,712, a 1% decrease.

In addition, since the start of the pandemic the United States has, as of Saturday, recorded 99.1 million cases, a higher figure than any other country, and a death toll of 1.1 million. India has the world's second highest number of officially recorded cases, 44.6 million, and a reported death toll of 528,957.

The newest data from Russia's Rosstat state statistics service showed that, at the end of July, the number of Covid or Covid-related deaths since the start of the pandemic there in April 2020 is now 823,623, giving the country the world's second highest pandemic-related death toll, behind the United States.  Rosstat reported that 3,284 people died from the coronavirus or related causes in July, down from 5,023 in June, 7,008 in May and 11,583 in April.

Meanwhile, France is the country with the third highest number of cases, with 36.5 million, and Germany is in the number four slot, with 35.1 million total cases.

Brazil, which has recorded the third highest number of deaths as a result of the virus, 687,581, has recorded over 34.8 million cases, placing it in the number five slot.

The other five countries with total case figures over the 20 million mark are South Korea, with 25.3 million cases, the United Kingdom, with 23.9 million cases, placing it in the number seven slot, and Italy, with 23.3 million, as number eight, as well as Japan, with 21.9 million, and Russia, with 21.4 million.

VACCINATION SPOTLIGHT

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that, as of Thursday, over 265.6 million people in the United States – or 80% – have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. Of that population, 68.2%, or 226.6 million people, have received two doses of vaccine, and the total number of doses that have been dispensed in the United States is now 632.9 million. Breaking this down further, 91% of the population over the age of 18 – or 234.9 million people – has received at least a first inoculation and 78% of the same group – or 201.4 million people – is fully vaccinated.  In addition, 52.3% of that population, or 105.3 million people, has already received a first booster dose of vaccine.

Starting on June 13, 2022, the CDC began to update vaccine data on a weekly basis and publish the updated information on Saturday by 8 p.m. EDT, a statement on the agency's website said.

Some 68.4% of the world population has received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine by Saturday, according to Our World in Data, an online scientific publication that tracks such information.  So far, 12.86 billion doses of the vaccine have been administered on a global basis and 2.66 million doses are now administered each day.

Meanwhile, only 23.3% of people in low-income countries have received one dose, while in countries such as Canada, China, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States, at least 75% of the population has received at least one dose of vaccine.

Only a handful of the world's poorest countries – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal – have reached the 70% mark in vaccinations. Many countries, however, are under 20% and, in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and Tanzania, for example, vaccination rates remain at or below 10%.

In addition, with the start of vaccinations in North Korea in late September, Eritrea remains the only country in the world that has not administered vaccines.

Paul Riegler contributed reporting to this story.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)