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COVID-19

CDC admits to making major mistakes in COVID-19 pandemic

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(Last Updated On: August 18, 2022)

America’s leading health agency announced Wednesday that it is planning a complete overhaul of its structure and operations due to major mistakes in handling the COVID-19 pandemic response, Anadolu News Agency reported.

“To be frank, we are responsible for some pretty dramatic, pretty public mistakes — from testing, to data, to communications,” said Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in a statement.

“For 75 years, CDC and public health have been preparing for COVID-19, and in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations,” she said of the agency’s 11,000-plus staff members. “I want us all to do better, and it starts with CDC leading the way.”

The death toll from the pandemic in the US stands at more than one million people since March 2020.

The CDC first faced scrutiny over its COVID-19 response in the early days of the pandemic for its poor response to testing and monitoring the rapid spread of the virus, Anadolu reported.

During the later stages of the pandemic, the agency faced criticism for shifting or confusing guidance when it came to mask-wearing, social distancing and designating isolation periods for people who tested positive.

Walensky said the overhaul was not directed by the White House, insisting it was a CDC initiative.

“I feel like it’s my responsibility to lead this agency to a better place after a really challenging three years,” she continued. “It’s not lost on me that we fell short in many ways. We had some pretty public mistakes, and so much of this effort was to hold up the mirror…to understand where and how we could do better.”

The CDC reboot will revamp the entire organization from top to bottom, everything from operational procedures to the culture of the agency itself.

Walensky said the organization will move away from its previous focus on academic studies and shift towards prioritizing responding to emerging diseases like COVID-19 and monkeypox so the agency can meet its fullest potential.

The CDC will also create a new executive council to implement the widespread changes, Anadolu reported.

COVID-19

COVID-19 in Iran: Nearly 900 new cases, 24 deaths recorded

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(Last Updated On: March 27, 2023)

The Iranian health ministry announced on Sunday that more than 890 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified across the country during the past 24 hours, adding that 24 patients have died in the same period of time, Fars News Agency reported.

“A sum of 891 new patients infected with COVID-19 have been identified in the country based on confirmed diagnosis criteria during the past 24 hours,” the Iranian Health Ministry’s Public Relations Center said on Sunday, adding, “454 patients have been hospitalized during the same time span.”

The ministry’s public relations center said 611 people infected with COVID-19 are in critical condition.

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COVID-19

China says 200 million treated, pandemic ‘decisively’ beaten

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(Last Updated On: February 17, 2023)

China says more than 200 million of its citizens have been diagnosed and treated for COVID-19 since it lifted strict containment measures beginning in November.

With 800,000 of the most critically ill patients having recovered, China has “decisively beaten” the pandemic, according to notes from a meeting of the ruling Communist Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee presided over by President and party leader Xi Jinping, AP reported. 

China enforced some of the world’s most draconian lockdowns, quarantines and travel restrictions and still faces questions about the origins of the virus that was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. Heavy-handed enforcement prompted rare anti-government protests and took a heavy toll on the world’s second-largest economy.

The official Xinhua News Agency quoted Xi as saying that policies to control the outbreak had been “entirely correct.” The abrupt lifting in November and December of the “zero COVID” policy that had sought to eliminate all cases of the virus led to a surge in infections that temporarily overwhelmed hospitals.

Case numbers have since peaked and life has largely returned to normal, although international travel in and out of China has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.

China is now transitioning to a post-pandemic stage after a fight against the outbreak that was “extraordinary in the extreme,” Xinhua said.

The government will continue to “optimize and adjust prevention and control policies and measures according to the times and situations with a strong historical responsibility and strong strategic determination,” Xinhua said.

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COVID-19

Study suggests people who had COVID-19 risk new-onset diabetes

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(Last Updated On: February 15, 2023)

A new Cedars-Sinai Medical Center suggests that people who have previously been infected with COVID-19 could stand an increased risk for new-onset diabetes.

The study’s results, conducted by researchers at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai “have confirmed that people who have had COVID-19 have an increased risk for new-onset diabetes — the most significant contributor to cardiovascular disease.”

“Our results validate early findings revealing a risk of developing Type 2 diabetes after a COVID-19 infection and indicate that this risk has, unfortunately, persisted through the Omicron era,” said Dr. Alan Kwan, the author of the study and a cardiovascular physician at Cedars-Sinai.

“The research study helps us understand — and better prepare for — the post COVID-19 era of cardiovascular risk,” he said.

The study also suggests that the risk of Type 2 diabetes appears to be lower in those who had already been vaccinated against COVID-19 prior to their infection.

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