Coronavirus weekly need-to-know: J&J booster shots, pregnancy, breakthrough cases & more
Each week, we offer you a roundup of our noteworthy coronavirus coverage.
More than 44.3 million people in the United States have tested positive for the coronavirus as of Saturday, Oct. 9, according to Johns Hopkins University. That includes more than 712,000 people who have died nationwide.
Globally, there have been more than 237.4 million confirmed cases of the highly infectious virus, with more than 4.8 million reported deaths.
More than 188.6 million people in the U.S. are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Oct. 7 — about 56% of the total population, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracker shows.
Here’s what happened between Oct. 1 to Oct. 7.
What’s the latest on potential booster shots for J&J COVID-19 vaccine?
Johnson & Johnson has submitted booster shot data for its single-dose COVID-19 vaccine to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to an Oct. 5 announcement.
The company is asking the FDA to support use of the booster shot in people ages 18 and older. It’s unclear how long it will take the FDA to review the data and vote on the amendment to the existing emergency use authorization for the J&J COVID-19 vaccine, but the move finally includes the more than 15 million people in the U.S. who have received the jab in the booster shot conversation.
The news comes several weeks after J&J revealed a booster dose of its vaccine two months after receipt of the first shot offers 94% protection against moderate to severe COVID-19 in the U.S
Continue reading to learn more about J&J booster shots.
Have you used the Ellume COVID-19 Home Test? Some are giving ‘false positives’
If you recently completed an at-home COVID-19 test from manufacturer Ellume, there’s a possibility you may have received a “false positive” result, meaning you were told you have the coronavirus when you actually didn’t.
Negative test results “do not appear to be affected,” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in a “safety communication.”
The FDA warned health care workers and the public of manufacturing issues that led to the recall of “certain lots” of the tests, which have been available for over-the-counter home use since December 2020.
Washington woman 4th to die from J&J COVID-19 vaccine of 15 million given shot nationwide
A woman in her late 30s has died of a rare blood clotting condition nearly two weeks after receiving a single-dose Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine in Washington, according to state health officials.
The woman is the first confirmed death in King County, and the fourth person to die nationwide out of the more than 15 million people who have received the J&J shot since it became available in the U.S.
The woman was vaccinated on Aug. 26 and died on Sept. 7. Experts with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed her cause of death was thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS).
Here’s what to know about TTS following vaccination with the J&J coronavirus vaccine.
Substance abuse raises risks of COVID-19 after vaccination — especially if it’s weed
Getting vaccinated against COVID-19 lowers your chances of catching the coronavirus, but people with substance use disorders (SUDs) face higher risks for infection after vaccination compared to those without the disorder.
And marijuana, of all abused drugs included in new research, made the biggest impact in the likelihood someone got a breakthrough infection, defined as those that occur two or more weeks following complete vaccination, according to a new study published in the journal World Psychiatry.
Read on to learn what else the study found.
More pregnant people being hospitalized with COVID-19 in Texas — most are unvaccinated
Growing numbers of pregnant people in Texas are being hospitalized with COVID-19, a new study shows, the majority of whom are unvaccinated. Doctors say it’s the “first objective evidence” that the delta coronavirus variant is causing more severe illness in this group.
Research on more than 1,500 pregnant COVID-19 patients shows the proportion of hospitalized cases more than doubled from last year before the delta variant emerged, increasing 10-15% in late August and early September.
More than a third of COVID-19 patients included in the study were admitted to the hospital the week of Aug. 29 alone, all of whom were infected with the delta variant, according to the study published as a preprint Sept. 13 in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The study will continue to be updated as more data becomes available.
UCLA doctor escorted from work for refusing COVID-19 vaccine
An anesthesiologist at UCLA Health in California who has not shied away from airing his suspicions about COVID-19 vaccines was escorted out of his workplace this week for refusing to get vaccinated in defiance of a statewide and employer mandate, according to local reports and a video posted on Twitter.
UCLA Health, which includes several hospitals in the Los Angeles region, requires all active employees working in-person to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or receive an exemption in accordance with University of California policy and a state public health order issued on Aug. 5.
Here’s what Rake said during a video he appeared to record himself.
‘Decorative beads’ discovered at airport were actually Ivermectin from China
Packages of “decorative beads” and “greeting cards” from around the globe weren’t as they seemed when they arrived in the U.S. They were among several COVID-related packaged seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers working a night shift at Chicago O’Hare Airport’s International Mail Facility.
The officers X-raying the package labeled as “decorative beads” from China on Monday noticed something didn’t seem right. They inspected the box, in which they found a bottle filled with 100 Ivermectin tablets.
Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic drug used to prevent diseases like heartworm in animals, though people desperate for a COVID-19 cure have been taking the drug despite several health agencies advising against it.
ICU nurse creates registry for newborn after 22-year-old Arkansas mom dies of COVID-19
An ICU nurse started a baby registry for an Arkansas family after the newborn’s 22-year-old mom died of COVID-19.
Emily Robinson was admitted to the hospital for the coronavirus on Aug. 18 — exactly a week before she gave birth to a girl named Carmen during an emergency C-section, more than two months early, according to the GoFundMe set up by ICU nurse Ashlee Andrews Schwartz.
Despite the tragic loss of the young mom nearly a month later on Sept. 20 at Mercy Hospital Fort Smith, Schwartz said she is grateful that she found a way to help Emily’s husband Eric Robinson.
This story was originally published October 8, 2021 at 7:18 AM with the headline "Coronavirus weekly need-to-know: J&J booster shots, pregnancy, breakthrough cases & more."
