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A new study from researchers at Boston University School of Public Health and the University of Pennsylvania shows that a substantial proportion of excess mortality numbers counted as deaths from natural causes during the COVID-19 pandemic were actually attributable to the novel coronavirus. (Soucheray, 2/7)

About one in four coronavirus patients developed long COVID, according to a new study. While most people who test positive for COVID-19 are over their symptoms within a week or two, more research is showing that some people continue to report symptoms — and even develop new ones — three months after their initial positive test, lasting for months or even years. A new study released by Help Advisor analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey to find the rates of American adults developing long COVID. (Diaz, 2/7)

A large analysis published Wednesday in the journal Pediatrics underscores the toll long Covid can take on children, in some cases leading to neurological, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and behavioral symptoms in the months after an acute infection. “Long Covid in the U.S., in adults and in kids, is a serious problem,” said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, chief of research and development at the V.A. St. Louis Health Care System and a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis, who studies the condition but was not involved in the new report. He said that the paper, which drew on numerous studies of long Covid in children, is “important” and illustrates that the condition can affect multiple organ systems. (Smith and Blum, 2/7)

Fatigue leads the list of persistent problems experienced by people with long Covid — which is why patients have pushed back against treatment approaches that endorse escalating levels of exercise for a condition that researchers are still trying to understand. They fear post-exertional malaise, the debilitating price to be paid for pushing their bodies too hard. (Cooney, 2/7)

Biden administration officials this week pushed executives from leading pharmacy chains to make sure frontline staff are providing patients with accurate information about costs of the COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid, officials told Axios first. Uptake of the Pfizer antiviral has remained stubbornly low since it transitioned to the commercial market in the fall, in part because of patients sometimes being charged up to the full list price of $1,400. (Reed, 2/7)

A critical government advisory committee charged with charting U.S. vaccination policy appears to be atrophying, jeopardizing timely decision-making on how vaccines should be used in this country. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which has in recent years been a 15-person panel, has eight vacancies — one of which dates back more than a year. The other seven seats have been vacant since July. There is no chairperson. (Branswell, 2/8)