WEDNESDAY, July 5, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- For much of the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors have told patients who get a negative result after taking a rapid antigen test at home to test again 48 hours later. ...

Whether you have symptoms or not, repeat testing after 48 hours may be required to rule out COVID infection, researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School found.

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Almost 1 in 4 people in the US hadn’t gotten COVID by the end of 2022: CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated that almost 1 out of 4 people in the U.S. still hadn’t been exposed to COVID-19 by the end of 2022 after nearly three years … jchoi The Hill

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In its final survey looking at the period between October and December 2022, the CDC estimated that about 77.5 percent of people had infection-induced antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

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Climate change keeps making wildfires and smoke worse. Scientists call it the 'new abnormal' As smoky as the summer has been so far, scientists say it will likely be worse in future years because of climate change. AP News

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More kids diagnosed with type 1 diabetes during COVID-19 CIDRAP

More kids were diagnosed as having type 1 diabetes after the COVID-19 pandemic began, and researchers have yet to determine the mechanism behind this increased incidence rate, the authors of a new meta-analysis said in JAMA Network Open...

COVID-19 digital contact tracing worked — heed the lessons for future pandemics Nature - For all the controversy over decentralized contact-tracing apps, data show that these privacy-preserving tools saved thousands of lives during the pandemic. National and international... Salathé, Marcel nature

...To harness this potentially transformative tool in future, policymakers and other stakeholders must heed the evidence — and the lessons — now emerging from its use during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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New COVID jabs are coming — who should get them? Nature - Countries rolling out updated vaccines weigh whether to restrict them to high-risk individuals. Kozlov, Max nature

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Study: Low-income communities benefit most from COVID vaccination CIDRAP

... in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a study analyzing vaccination data in 81 communities in Los Angeles County finds that the vaccine had a greater impact on COVID-19 infections in lower-income communities than in their higher-income counterparts.

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Pandemic 'fear of missing out' had mental health consequences for older adults, study shows During the COVID-19 pandemic, fear of missing out (FOMO) on social activities may have negatively affected the mental health of adults at high risk of serious disease, according to a new study from Rice ... Amy McCaig

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EU announces deal with Pfizer, others to reserve vaccines for future pandemic The European Commission has contracted Pfizer and several European companies to reserve capacity to make up to 325 million vaccines per year in case of a future global health emergency, it said on Friday. Maggie Fick Reuters

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Global COVID markers show few hot spots as XBB.1.16 overtakes XBB.1.5 CIDRAP

Some countries continue to report high COVID-19 burdens, reflected mainly in hospitalization and death data, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest weekly update. ..

US CDC OKs use of new Pfizer, GSK vaccines for RSV in older adults The director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday signed off on the use of new vaccines from Pfizer and GSK to prevent severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections in older adults. Reuters Reuters

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Warming causes more extreme rain, not snow, over mountains. Scientists say that’s a problem A new study says climate change is turning major snowfalls into more extreme rain over mountains, somehow worsening both dangerous flooding like the type that devastated Pakistan last year and long-term water shortages. AP News

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