An informed guide to the pandemic, with the latest developments and expert advice about prevention and treatment. |
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 | | The New York Times |
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 | | A long Covid patient in Illinois received physical therapy for some of her symptoms.Alex Wroblewski for The New York Times |
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New insights into long Covid |
Researchers analyzed the largest database of private health insurance claims in the U.S. The study found that 78,252 patients were diagnosed with the medical diagnostic code for long Covid from October 2021 through January 2022. |
One expert said that the number was huge, given that the study covered only the first four months after the diagnostic code — U09.9 — was introduced. The research was conducted by FAIR Health, a nonprofit organization that focuses on health care costs and insurance issues. The study also did not include people covered by government health programs like Medicaid or Medicare. |
- The study found that for 76 percent of the long Covid patients, the initial infection did not make them sick enough to require hospitalization.
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- While two-thirds of the patients had pre-existing health conditions in their medical records, nearly a third did not, a much larger percentage than some experts expected.
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- Nearly 35 percent of the patients were between the ages of 36 and 50, while nearly one-third were ages 51 to 64, and 17 percent were ages 23 to 35. (Six percent of the patients were 65 and older, a proportion that most likely reflects the fact that patients covered by the regular Medicare program weren't included in the study.)
- Children were also diagnosed: Nearly 4 percent of the long Covid patients were 12 or younger, while nearly 7 percent were between ages 13 and 22.
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- On average, patients were still experiencing long Covid symptoms that qualified for the diagnosis — including breathing problems, coughing, fatigue and hypertension — four and a half months after their infection.
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The study, which captured only a privately insured population, almost certainly understates the scope and burden of long Covid, especially since low-income communities have been disproportionately affected by the virus and often have less access to health care. |
 | | A Covid testing site in San Diego last year.Ariana Drehsler for The New York Times |
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How often can I be infected? |
Early on in the pandemic, experts thought that immunity from vaccination or previous infection would forestall most reinfections. The Omicron variant dashed those hopes. Some scientists now fear that the future of Covid may include infections two, maybe three times a year, my colleague Apoorva Mandavilli reports. |
The central problem is that the virus has become more adept at reinfecting people. Already, those infected with the first Omicron variant are reporting second infections with the newer versions of the variant — BA.2 or BA2.12.1 in the U.S., or BA.4 and BA.5 in South Africa. |
Those people may go on to have third or fourth infections, even within this year, researchers told Apoorva. |
"The virus is going to keep evolving," said Juliet Pulliam, an epidemiologist at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. "And there are probably going to be a lot of people getting many, many reinfections throughout their lives." |
 | | A photo provided by North Korea's government shows its leader, Kim Jong-un, attending a meeting on antivirus strategies in Pyongyang last week.Korean Central News Agency, via Associated Press |
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North Korea's scary surge |
North Korea is experiencing what it has described as its first outbreak of the pandemic. State media has reported 1.7 million people with fevers, without saying how many of them had tested positive for the coronavirus. |
To understand what's happening in the reclusive nation, I spoke to my colleague Choe Sang-Hun, our Seoul bureau chief, who covers the country. |
North Korea didn't announce how the outbreak began. But the common belief among North Korea watchers is that the virus began spreading from a huge military parade the country held late last month where tens of thousands of people were mobilized, none of them wearing masks. May is also rice planting season, and there's a huge mobilization inside the country where students and workers in cities travel to the countryside to help farmers plant the rice. We believe that also helped to spread the virus. |
What's the government doing? |
Kim Jong-un, the country's leader, called the situation a "maximum emergency" health crisis, and he has ordered his country to lock down all cities and counties. But interestingly, he said that people should continue to work in locked-down areas. Kim Jong-un has suggested that North Korea should learn from China's experience and copy China's model for fighting Covid. The big difference is that China has a huge economy, a massive vaccine campaign and has resources, drugs and food. North Korea has none of that. So the country cannot apply the kinds of forceful restrictions as China has on major cities. If North Korea locks people down in their homes, they might die because they don't have food supplies, and the state cannot provide them. |
What's going to happen to the people? |
We don't know. The big question is: What if the actions taken so far don't stop the outbreak? It looks as if North Korea received three cargo planes of supplies from China a few days ago, but so far, North Korea hasn't really asked for international humanitarian aid. |
One expert estimated that 160,000 people could die if the worst-case scenario happens in North Korea. But remember, this is a regime that didn't collapse when an estimated 2 million people in the country died during the famine in the 1990s. So some analysts say that if the regime didn't really care about the deaths of 2 million people, they're not going to care when a much smaller number die. They say the regime will likely stick with its policies. |
What else we're following |
As the U.S. approaches one million deaths from the virus, we're continuing to remember those we've lost. Today's remembrance comes from Angie Macon, who wrote about her colleague and friend Katie Trocheck Abel, who passed away on Feb. 9. She was 39. |
Katie had this boundless energy that she devoted to her family and friends. She was very active in the Free Fridge Movement in Atlanta and other nonprofits related to food insecurity. She was a professional events planner — she could literally create a great event with a cup of water and some sand. I miss her ability to bring people together over common interest — and suddenly, your circle of friends grew exponentially. I miss her funny anecdotes about raising her children — she was just so real about being a mom. |
Let us know how you're dealing with the pandemic. Send us a response here, and we may feature it in an upcoming newsletter. |
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