Socioeconomic disadvantage magnifies COVID-19 effects, slows recovery, data suggest Recovery from COVID-19 takes longer, and infection has a greater effect on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), among socioeconomically disadvantaged patients, suggests an observational study published in BMC Infectious Diseases. CIDRAP

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Cities are tackling rising heat – but they have to avoid a dangerous trap | Extreme heat | The Guardian

COVID is surging again. Here’s the latest on new variants, updated vaccines, and masking | AAMC The latest, highly contagious subvariants are driving infections, but new vaccines expected this fall may help stem the tide of another wave. AAMC

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The reason COVID-19 cases are increasing this summer is likely because people who haven’t been recently vaccinated or infected have fewer antibodies at the ready to fight off the first sign of the virus and are more likely to experience its symptoms, including fever, chills, sore throat, cough, congestion, body aches, gastrointestinal issues, and fatigue.

Why does it feel like everyone is getting Covid? Covid’s summer surge, explained Ellen Ioanes Vox

Also see: The Summer 2024 COVID-19 Surge Is Happening. Here Are The Top Symptoms You May Be Experiencing

Healthy lifestyle lowers the risk of post-COVID complications, finds study (medicalxpress.com)

... the study found that individuals with a favorable lifestyle had a lower risk of hospitalization, lower incidence of long-term or on-going health issues affecting multiple parts of the body, and reduced risk of post-COVID death, compared to those with an unfavorable lifestyle.

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Common respiratory virus that dwindled during the pandemic is on the rise, CDC warns, with higher risk for certain groups | CNN A seasonal respiratory virus named parvovirus B19 – sometimes also called fifth disease – is increasing in activity, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Tuesday. Katherine Dillinger CNN

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Mpox never stopped spreading in Africa. Now it’s an international public health emergency. Again. The mpox outbreak never ended in Africa. Now a deadlier strain is spreading. Jess Craig Vox

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WHO declares mpox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency as a new form of the virus spreads The World Health Organization has declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency. AP News

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency on Wednesday, with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries and a new form of the virus spreading. Few vaccine doses are available on the continent.

Study: COVID vaccines saved 1.6 million lives in Europe New estimates published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine show that at least 1.6 million European lives have been directly saved by COVID-19 vaccinations, with 60% of those lives saved when Omicron became the dominant strain of the virus—and those numbers may be an undercount.  CIDRAP

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As of March 2023, 2.2 million COVID-19–related deaths have been reported across Europe. 

Intersection of long COVID and disability highlighted in CDC study (medicalxpress.com)

Just as coronavirus transmission fluctuated in waves, so too have our responses to it. The world is four years from the acute phase of the pandemic, but not without lasting impact—including those who have maintained debilitating symptoms from COVID, adding to a large population of people with disabilities.

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The largest study conducted by the CDC to capture the scope of disability in the U.S. and representing 245 million people, the authors found that nearly half of those over 65 reported being disabled, and that long COVID symptoms were present in 11% of those who reported disabilities, versus 7% of those without disabilities.

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Healthy pre-COVID lifestyle may protect against severe infection A University of Oxford-led study links a healthy pre-infection lifestyle to a 36% lower risk of long COVID, a 41% lower odds of death, and 22% lower chance of hospitalization. CIDRAP

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The researchers assessed the association of modifiable lifestyle factors (eg, smoking, alcohol use, body mass index, physical activity, time spent in sedentary activities, sleep duration, diet) with long COVID, death, and hospitalization among 68,896 adults in the UK Biobank cohort who tested positive for COVID-19 from March 2020 to March 2022.

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