COVID-19

New data show Paxlovid outperforms molnupiravir against severe COVID-19 outcomes A large study yesterday in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases shows that, if prescribed within 5 days of confirmed infection, Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir-ritonavir) is more effective in protecting against all-cause mortality and severe COVID-19 in adults than is molnupiravir, another antiviral drug. CIDRAP

...

After four years with Covid-19, the US is settling into a new approach to respiratory virus season | CNN With the arrival of spring, the United States is easing out of respiratory virus season, a familiar pattern that has been challenged by Covid-19 for the past four years. Deidre McPhillips CNN

...

Experts say that focused planning and forecasting efforts helped avoid some of the worst-case scenarios. But there was still a significant number of severe outcomes, and there are still key areas of improvement – especially around vaccination.

...

COVID-induced lung infection linked to heart damage Severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) related to COVID-19 infections can damage the heart even when the virus itself doesn’t affect heart tissue. The findings come from a study today in Circulation. CIDRAP

...

The study suggests that ARDS triggers widespread inflammation in the body, which leads to secondary cardiovascular complications.

4 years later, experts are just beginning to 'scratch the surface' of understanding long COVID Four years after the WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak to be a pandemic, researchers say much is still not understood about a common complication: long COVID. ABC News ABC News

...

Since the early days of the pandemic, scientists have learned a great deal about what puts someone at risk for long COVID, but researchers say we are still "scratching the surface" when it comes to our understanding of what causes the condition or how to treat it.

...