Marin case rates shoot to near January high, hospitalizations stable

Study links smoking to risk of severe COVID-19 complications

Adults who reported smoking or vaping prior to being hospitalized for COVID-19 were more likely than those who didn’t imbibe to experience severe COVID-19 complications, including death, according a new study published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS ONE. The study used the American Heart Association’s COVID-19 registry data to look at patients with COVID-19 in 107 hospitals nationwide between January 2020 and March 2021. People who reported smoking were 45% more likely to die and 39% more likely to receive mechanical ventilation compared to nonsmokers, researchers found.

“In general, people who smoke or vape tend to have a higher prevalence of other health conditions and risk factors that could play a role in how they are impacted by COVID-19. However, the robust and significant increase in the risk of severe COVID-19 seen in our study, independent of medical history and medication use and particularly among young individuals, underscores the urgent need for extensive public health interventions such as anti-smoking campaigns and increased access to cessation therapy, especially in the age of COVID,” said Aruni Bhatnagar, the study’s senior author and a professor of medicine, biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Louisville. “These findings provide the clearest evidence to date that people who smoke or vape have a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 and dying as a result of SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

Bay Area vaccination for babies and toddlers outpaces national average

About 24% of Marin County children ages 6 months to 4 years, who became eligible for COVID vaccination shots last month, have gotten their first dose – much higher than the 3% of children nationally. Several other Bay Area counties are reporting similar rates: in San Francisco and San Mateo counties, 21% of children in this age group have gotten their first dose. In Alameda County, 16% of babies and toddlers have gotten their first shot. Vaccine uptake for these youngest Americans has long been expected to be lower than that in older children and adults, and the latest local and national figures reflect that.

Scientists trace earliest COVID-19 cases to critters in Wuhan market

A new study points to evidence that the earliest cases of COVID-19 in humans emerged at a wholesale fish market in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, a finding earlier rebuffed by China. An  international team of 18 researchers linked these cases to infected bats, foxes and other live mammals sold either for consumption as meat or for their fur. The study published in Science on Tuesday supports early reports that animals sold at Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market were the likely source of the pandemic that has claimed at least 6.4 million lives since emerging in China.

“These are the most compelling and most detailed studies of what happened in Wuhan in the earliest stages of what would become the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Stephen Goldstein of the University of Utah School of Medicine and a co-author of the study led by U.S. researchers. “We have convincingly shown that the wild animal sales at the Huanan Market in Wuhan are implicated in the first human cases of the disease.”

Don’t wait to get second booster, health official says

Residents 50 and older should not wait until the fall to get a second booster shots based on their hopes for an updated vaccine better tailored to targeting omicron subvariants, Marin County Public Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis said Tuesday. During a COVID-19 update to the county supervisors, he said, “BA.5 is much better at evading the immune system,” in reference to the coronavirus strain now dominating. “You’re protected for 60 to 90 days with that second booster. We don’t need to wait for the fall vaccine. We recommend people 50 and over don’t wait .…because of the increase in infectivity and immune evasion of BA.5.” BA.5 now represents at least 82% of new COVID cases. There have been no COVID deaths reported among those who received a second booster, Willis said.

Marin case rates near January high, but hospitalizations stable

Wastewater surveillance data shows COVID-19 infection rates in Marin County are now similar to those reached at the peak of the first omicron surge in January, but hospitalization rates remain stable – which means the risk of an infected person being hospitalized is decreasing over time, county Public Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. Death rates are down significantly thanks to immunity from vaccination and prior infection, widespread availability of the oral antiviral Paxlovid, and the most recent variants being less virulent, he said.

Over 40% of parents of kids under 5 will “definitely not” get them vaccinated: poll

About 43% of parents with children ages 6 months to 4 years said they will “definitely not” get their child vaccinated against COVID-19, in a survey published Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation. That marks a substantial increase from the 27% of parents who answered the same way in April. The reasons parents provided for their stance on vaccines, which became available for the youngest children on June 18, include concerns about the newness of the vaccine, potential side effects, and overall safety. Additionally, about 1 in 10 parents didn’t think their child needed the vaccine or were not worried about COVID-19, the nationally representative survey found.

Social media has strongest tie to conduct disorder in tweens

On the heels of pandemic years that shepherded youth into virtual activity, UCSF researchers published a study Tuesday linking screen time to disruptive behavior disorders in tweens. They found social media has an especially strong influence, compared to activities like video games and texting. According to the UCSF-led national study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, kids ages 9-11 who spend more time on screens have a higher likelihood of developing such disorders.

Social media use was most likely to be linked to conduct disorder – marked by violating others’ basic rights or societal rules with actions such as bullying and stealing. Activities like watching videos and television, playing video games, and texting—were more likely to be associated with oppositional defiant disorder, a pattern of angry or irritable mood, argumentative or defiant behavior, and vindictiveness. Self-reported screen time in the study averaged four hours per day. Researchers found that time above four hours was associated with a 69% higher prevalence of conduct disorder and a 46% higher prevalence of ODD.

Meta seeks to stop removing COVID misinformation

The parent company of Facebook and Instagram asked its oversight board on Tuesday of it could pull back on its efforts to slow the spread of dangerous COVID-19 misinformation. “Now that the COVID-19 situation has evolved, we’re seeking the Oversight Board’s opinion on whether we should change the way we address this type of misinformation through other means, like labeling or demoting it,” Meta’s president of Global Affairs Nick Clegg wrote in a blog post. That suggests the company would no longer remove misleading posts related to the pandemic, reversing a 2020 policy  that currently provides for removal of 80 distinct false claims about COVID-19 and vaccine. “Meta is fundamentally committed to free expression and we believe our apps are an important way for people to make their voices heard,” Clegg said, acknowledging, “inherent tensions between free expression and safety isn’t easy.” 

BA.5 and BA.4 make up 95% of new cases in U.S.

The highly transmissible BA.5 coronavirus variant made up 82% of the sequenced cases in the U.S. last week, with its BA.4 sister strain making up an additional 13%. The two omicron sublineages have effectively crowded out BA.2, at 0.3%, and BA.2.12.1, at 5%, which drove the spring wave of COVID-19 cases across the nation. The U.S. is averaging about 120,000 new cases per day, up from 105,000 a month ago before the newer subvariants gained dominance.

UCSF’s Wachter highlights “that awkward period after at-risk exposure”

Dr. Bob Wachter, whose twitter feed has become a source of critical COVID information in the Bay Area and a polestar for many struggling about how to navigate living through a pandemic, said Tuesday morning that he was “in that awkward period after at-risk exposure.” He said he is now self-isolating after a weekend “college reunion of sorts” out of state. Two out of 20 people in attendance tested positive for a coronavirus infection, Wachter tweeted. The event was “mostly outdoors but a few indoor maskless times.”

Wachter said he planned to get tested Tuesday morning. “Will mask everywhere, isolate from wife/others, wait for (negative) tests x (two days) before I let down guard.” said Wachter, UCSF’s chair of medicine.

Biden tells reporters he’s “feeling better every day”

President Biden told reporters on Monday that he’s “feeling better every day” as he recovers from his coronavirus infection, and the White House planned a summit on Tuesday to focus on a new generation of vaccines. After participating in a virtual meeting to talk about computer chip manufacturing, Biden replied to reporters questions posed virtually, saying “everything’s on the button” with the medical tests he’s been receiving each evening. He also said he’s been sleeping better, joking that his dog had to wake him up Monday, the fourth day of Biden’s COVID isolation. “I’m feeling good – my voice is still raspy,” he said, adding he still had nasal congestion, but is on his way “to fully recovered, God willing.”

Wealthier residents moved out of San Francisco as pandemic endured

The average income of people who moved out of San Francisco during the early part of the pandemic surged from a year earlier: More wealthy, white-collar workers, many of whom could work remotely, left the city. Between 2019 and 2020, the number of taxpaying San Franciscans fell by 39,202, a drop of 4.5%, Internal Revenue Service data shows. Those departing made an average of about $138,000 per year in 2019, up 67% from the prior year. Read more about San Francisco’s out-migration, and the net migration, the number of people who moved out minus the number of people who moved in, that nearly tripled in one year.

White House summit focuses on developing new vaccines to thwart future variants

The White House planned a Tuesday vaccine summit, gathering top administration officials, scientists and pharmaceutical executives to discuss a new generation of vaccines that could more effectively guard against contagious variants, and to lay out a roadmap to develop them. The White House told Stat that the administration is preparing a sweeping initiative focused on such immunizations in hopes of thwarting future coronavirus variants and dramatically reducing coronavirus infection and transmission rates, building on current shots whose impact has been mainly to prevent serious illness and death. The summit comes as the country faces a surge of infections from BA.5, a variant that’s a highly contagious, fast-spreading offshoot of the omicron strain.

COVID-19 outbreaks hit LAX

COVID outbreaks sweeping through Los Angeles International Airport have caused at least 400 confirmed COVID cases among Transportation Security Administration staff and workers at American and Southwest airlines, according to a Los Angeles Times report confirmed by the county Department of Public Health. At least 220 staff with the TSA at LAX have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the county agency, the largest active outbreak currently being monitored by county health officials. LAX and TSA officials said however, that services have not been impacted because of the outbreaks.

AP debunks fake claim that U.S. military found motion sickness drug in COVID-19 vaccines for children

The COVID-19 vaccines don’t contain scopolamine, according to experts and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Associated Press reported in response to false claims on a website known for satire and parody content. Claims that the military made such a finding also are false, a spokesperson for the Department of Defense told The Associated Press, stating, “There is absolutely no truth to that claim.” Scopolamine is a drug used to treat motion sickness.

Less than 3% of kids under 5 are vaccinated

The U.S. vaccination campaign for children under 5 is fizzling, with just 544,000 kids in that age group having received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose as of last week — 2.8% of the 19 million eligible kids in the age group, according to federal data analyzed by the Kaiser Family Foundation. A little over a month since the vaccines became available to the youngest Americans, uptake has peaked and is rapidly decreasing. By comparison, the first month vaccines were made available to children ages 5-11, more than 5.3 million received their first dose, representing about 19% of that age group. The seven-day rolling average vaccination rate for children under 5 peaked at just over 28,000 on July 1 and decreased to about 13,000 on July 20. California is doing better at uptake than the national average but lagging behind several other states, with 4.3% of California kids having received at least one dose. The least vaccinated states for children under 5 are Mississippi, 0.4%, and Alabama, 0.6%.