Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Updated Covid Shots Might Get FDA Clearance As Soon As This Week
The US Food and Drug Administration is poised to sign off as soon as this week on updated Covid-19 vaccines targeting more recently circulating strains of the virus, according to two sources familiar with the matter, as the country experiences its largest summer wave in two years. (Tirrell, 8/18)
The KP.3.1.1 COVID-19 variant is the dominant strain of the virus, the latest projections from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)聽show. The agency's Nowcast data tracker, which displays聽COVID-19 estimates and projections for two-week periods, projects the KP.3.1.1 variant is accounting for 36.8% of positive infections, followed by KP.3 at 16.8% in the two-week stretch starting Aug. 4. (Forbes, 8/16)
COVID-19 activity remains elevated across most of the United States, but some regions of the country are seeing some declines, as the proportion of KP.3.1.1 variant continues to rise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said today in its latest updates. Nationally, wastewater detections of SARS-CoV-2 are at the very high level for the second straight week. The highest levels are still in the West and South, followed by the Midwest and the Northeast. The CDC's latest update, however, shows downward trends from high levels in the South and Midwest. (Schnirring, 8/16)
Missouri is one of 27 states where levels of COVID-19 are currently 鈥渧ery high鈥 in wastewater, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Wastewater testing is used as a tool to track potential outbreaks and trends. While watershed data can鈥檛 tell researchers how many people are infected with COVID-19, the virus can be detected in a person鈥檚 waste even before they are symptomatic. (Shackelford-Nwanganga, 8/16)
Across much of the country, experts fear rising COVID-19 infections this summer could foreshadow a more significant surge of the virus yet to come as temperatures cool off. 鈥淲e're kind of in the midst of a rapid run of covid cases throughout Indian Country,鈥 said Dean Seneca, who identifies as Seneca. He is founder and CEO of聽Seneca Scientific Solutions+, a public health and urban and regional planning company. (Mills, 8/17)
