Kids at similar risk for long COVID as adults, study suggests Kids were 30% more likely than controls to have symptoms 3 months or more after COVID-19. CIDRAP

A large study today from Germany shows that kids and adolescents are at the same relative risk of experiencing COVID-19 symptoms 90 days or more after acute infection as adults are, according to findings in PLOS Medicine.

Fears of catching COVID lowest since summer of 2021: Gallup Story at a glance Just 28 percent of Americans are concerned about catching COVID-19, marking the lowest total reported since June of 2021.  The findings come as some experts raise concern abo… Gianna Melillo The Hill

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WHO reports 90% drop in world COVID-19 deaths since February GENEVA (AP) — The World Health Organization chief on Wednesday said a nearly 90% drop in recent COVID-19 deaths globally compared to nine months ago provides “cause for optimism,” but still urged vigilance against the pandemic as variants continue to crop up. AP NEWS

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Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that last week just over 9,400 deaths linked to the coronavirus were reported to the WHO. In February of this year, he said, weekly deaths had topped 75,000 globally.

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Time Magazine

The Latest COVID-19 Variants Can Evade Vaccine Protection, According to New Data

New lab data suggest that vaccines and prior infections may not offer enough protection against several new COVID-19 variants cropping up in the U.S. and around the world.

Dr. David Ho, director of Columbia University’s Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, and his team reported the results from a set of studies published in the journal Nature. They showed how well some of the latest variants—BQ.1, BQ.1.1, XBB, and XBB.1, which were all derived from Omicron—are evading both vaccine-derived and infection-derived immunity.

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