To prevent getting lost, the elevator goes directly to the safety island Reporter Liu Yadong A Source: CC Intelligence Bureau Author: Zhang Hongtao, American Ph.D. in Pharmacology, special expert of Ifeng.com's "Oncology Information Bureau" Core summary: 1. The latest data shows

Prevent loss, the elevator goes directly to the safety island Reporter Liu Ya Dong A

Source: CC Intelligence Bureau

Author: Zhang Hongtao, American Ph.D. in pharmacology, special expert of Phoenix.com's "Tumor Information Bureau"

Core summary:

1. The latest data shows that, The number of new daily infections in the United States has rebounded from the previous trough to around 100,000, which is 3.5 times the number in early April. However, due to the inability to "check all necessary tests", the actual number of infections in the United States should far exceed the reported number. However, the death rate of COVID-19 in the United States is still at a low level. Data shows that the death rate of COVID-19 in the United States is close to the value before the epidemic last summer. The number of deaths per day is less than 300, and about 1 million people die every day. 1 COVID-19 death case.

2. Since the pandemic began, the official death toll in the United States has exceeded 1 million, and the number of new coronavirus infections has reached 84 million, ranking first in the world. The number of deaths related to the new crown in the United States last year ranked third after deaths from cancer and heart disease. Despite this, due to the freedom-loving and undisciplined nature of the American people, the United States will not return to a "lockdown" state. Even in high-risk areas for the epidemic, the government cannot force Americans to wear masks.

3. Today in the United States, although the proportion of people who have completed two doses of vaccination is less than 70%, according to US CDC serological surveys conducted from September last year to February this year, 60% of Americans have been infected with the virus. Therefore, Americans have either been vaccinated or have been infected with the virus, and they have some degree of immune protection. Even if there is another wave of Omicron infection, the overall effect is to strengthen immunity once more. U.S. government officials said that as the epidemic rebounds, nearly one-third of the U.S. population, or about 100 million people, may be infected with the virus this fall and winter, but Americans may only understand it as "100 million booster shots." .

The epidemic has rebounded again, and the White House in the United States has resumed briefings on the new coronavirus epidemic. With the average daily death rate below 300, why did New York restart the mask order?

html On May 18, the White House resumed its briefing on the new coronavirus epidemic. The last briefing of the White House was on April 5. After that meeting, mask orders were lifted across the United States, and masks were no longer required even on planes, trains and buses.

On April 26, American infectious disease expert Fauci stated in an interview with PBS that the United States has emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic stage.

However, after a six-week interruption, the White House resumed its epidemic briefings. The reason for this is that the epidemic in the United States has rebounded .

The number of new daily infections in the United States has rebounded from the previous trough to around 100,000, which is 3.5 times the number in early April. It should be pointed out that due to the inability to "check all necessary tests", the actual number of infections in the United States should be much higher than the reported number.

▎Picture/The number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 per day in the United States (source: worldometers)

Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said that the seven-day average number of COVID-19 hospitalizations is more than The previous week had increased by 19% to 3,000 people. At the same time, more than 32% of the people live in areas with medium and high risk of the epidemic, which is also higher than last week (24%).

Basically all the top leaders of the US government, except the president, have been infected. On April 26, US Vice President Harris tested positive for the new coronavirus. On April 7, Pelosi, the third most powerful person in the U.S. government and Speaker of the House of Representatives, tested positive for COVID-19. On May 6, Secretary of State Blinken was infected. On May 18, US Health Secretary Becerra tested positive for COVID-19. The same person who tested positive on May 18 was President Biden's daughter.

▎Picture/On May 4, US Secretary of State Blinken tested positive for COVID-19

In New York City, the spread of the virus in the community has been very high, and the epidemic has reached a level worthy of warning. In order to prepare for the possible impact of the epidemic on the health care system Under tremendous pressure, the New York City Health Department encourages people to wear qualified masks in all indoor public places and outdoor environments with high crowd density, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated.

Fortunately, although the epidemic has rebounded, the death rate from the new crown is still at a low level. According to the data displayed by "Our World in Data", the death rate from the new crown in the United States is close to the value before the Delta epidemic last summer. Every day The number of deaths is below 300, and there is about 1 new coronavirus death per million people per day.

▎Picture/The number of COVID-19 deaths per million people in the United States (Picture source: Our World in Data)

The number of COVID-19-related deaths in the United States last year exceeded 1 million. This data ranks behind the number of deaths from cancer and heart disease. Ranked third. Will the United States return to "lockdown"? The possibility is comparable to that of an asteroid hitting the earth.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the official death toll in the United States has exceeded 1 million. There are 307 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 people, which is a relatively high mortality rate. one of the countries. The number of reported COVID-19 infections in the United States has reached 84 million, ranking first in the world. Because of this, in the eyes of many people, the United States is also a model of "the worst in fighting the epidemic."

But objectively speaking, the United States has never been flat. At the end of 2020, the United States was the first to urgently approve the new crown vaccine , and has since emergency approved monoclonal neutralizing antibodies and oral small molecule antiviral drugs. In fighting the epidemic, the United States is taking a technical route.

has such a saying, in American life, there is not only the new crown, but also epidemic prevention, no party, no love, no family, no career. Americans advocate freedom and looseness, are particularly difficult to lead, and cannot copy the requirements of other countries for their people.

In the United States, COVID-19 is not the only disease. U.S. CDC data shows that the number of deaths in the United States in 2021 hit a new high, reaching 3.465 million, which is about 80,000 more than the number of deaths in 2020. However, the number of deaths related to the new crown can only rank third, with more people dying of heart disease and cancer.

Without the epidemic, Americans want to enjoy life; with the epidemic, Americans also want to enjoy life, and there is no time to fight with the new crown.

▎Picture/On May 19, the CDC approved the third dose of the Pfizer children's vaccine for children aged 5-11 years. To improve the immunity of 28 million children in this age group

Perhaps because of these reasons, the United States has never had a strict "city lockdown", and even the implementation of mask orders has been greatly hindered.

In the era when there was no COVID-19 vaccine or COVID-19 treatment drugs, the United States could not close the city, and it is even less possible to go back now. Therefore, the possibility of seeing the United States lock down due to a resurgence of the epidemic is as likely as the virus suddenly disappearing from the earth, which is almost impossible.

At the resumed U.S. White House epidemic briefing, the new head of the White House epidemic response called on Congress to provide additional funding to pay for vaccines and treatments. Vaccination should be given, and treatment should be given. This should be what the US government can do; as for how the people treat the epidemic, they can only do whatever they want.

The United States also has "three-zone management." According to CDC regulations, based on the number of new infections, the number of hospitalizations, and the proportion of COVID-19 patients among hospitalized patients, it can be determined whether an area is a high-risk area, a medium-risk area, or a low-risk area for the epidemic. An area becomes high risk only if there are more than 200 new infections per 100,000 people in a week and more than 10 people are hospitalized (per 100,000 people), or if COVID-19 cases account for more than 10% of hospitalizations District; if there are less than 200 new infections per 100,000 people, then the number of hospitalizations needs to reach more than 20 (per 100,000 people), or the new crown cases account for more than 15% of the hospitalization cases, the area will become a high-risk area .

▎Picture/US CDC standards for high, medium and low-risk areas

According to this standard, Shanghai, with a population of 25 million, does not belong to a high-risk area as a whole as long as the number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 per week is less than 2,500. In the United States, people with asymptomatic infection or mild symptoms do not need to be hospitalized.

Although the standards are very loose, 4.25% of the United States is still in high-risk areas for the epidemic, mainly in the Northeast. It should be pointed out that in the United States, even in high-risk areas of the epidemic, CDC can only give a weak suggestion: please wear a mask.

▎Picture/U.S. Epidemic Map (Picture from U.S. CDC, May 19, 2022)

So, in the United States, even if the epidemic comes, the biggest change is to wear a mask, and everything else is business as usual. The epidemic will mainly exist in the media, not in American life.

▎Picture/On May 12, people passed by a new crown testing point in New York Times Square . But almost no one wears masks anymore

How to face the wave of epidemics? Latest research: Omicron breakthrough infection is equivalent to a vaccine booster shot

The subtypes of Omicron mutant strains currently circulating in the United States are BA.2 and BA.2.12.1, accounting for almost half each. Both subtypes belong to BA.2, and the speed of transmission is already higher than that of BA.1. However, BA.2 is not the end of Omicron. The newer mutant strains BA.4 and BA.5 have already caused an epidemic in South Africa. , has now also spread to the United States.

▎Picture/Proportion of circulating strains in the United States (picture from the U.S. CDC)

Although the previous COVID-19 vaccines can reduce the occurrence of severe disease, the protection rate against Omicron infection is relatively limited; specifically targeting Omicron The vaccine is still under research. By the time it can be officially vaccinated, I wonder if the virus has turned into a new strain that can escape immunity?

▎Picture/On May 19, the number of confirmed cases in a single day in the United States once again returned to more than 100,000. The number of confirmed cases that day reached 121,162. But health officials say the true number is likely higher than 150,000, because the results of widely used home screening tests are often not reported to health authorities.

Fortunately, the latest research shows that Omicron breakthrough infection is the equivalent of a vaccine. Booster shots can enhance the protective effect of vaccines!

This study, published in the top international academic journal "Nature" on May 18, shows that among unvaccinated people, infection with Omicron can only induce the neutralizing antibody against Omicron. Unable to produce neutralizing antibodies against other mutant strains. However, among people who have been vaccinated against the new coronavirus, Omicron's breakthrough infection enhances the immunity induced by the vaccine, which means that the human body has broader immune protection [1].

In animal experiments, unvaccinated mice had very little virus replication in the lungs and brain after infection with Omicron, and the expression of the cytokine that promotes inflammation was also reduced, which is consistent with the original infection. Strain or delta strain things are very different after! This is good news, indicating that the virulence of Omicron has decreased! However, the antisera produced after mice were infected with Omicron had very limited protective power and could only neutralize the Omicron mutant strain. In contrast, after vaccination with Omicron in vaccinated mice, antisera had higher neutralizing titers against all currently important variants.

This phenomenon is not only found in animal experiments. In 10 cases of unvaccinated Omicron infection, the antibodies in the serum can only neutralize Omicron, but not other variants; compared with Below, in 11 cases of unvaccinated Delta-infected people, the serum could neutralize not only Delta, but also the original strain, Alpha, Beta and Omicron mutant strains, although the neutralizing ability was reduced. .

Prior to Peking University Wei Wensheng's team also came to similar conclusions in their research on circular RNA vaccines. They also found that Omicron's immune protection was relatively single, while Delta had a broader spectrum of protection [2].

However, in this study in the journal "Nature", there is human data, and one of the results is very important: after the vaccine recipients were unfortunately infected with Omicron and Delta, their antisera were very effective against all strains. The high neutralizing antibody titer even exceeded the neutralizing antibody titer induced by the Pfizer vaccine booster shot.

▎Picture/On May 18, at the graduation ceremony of Columbia University in New York, graduate Julia Pontes held her 8-month-old daughter Stella. No one was wearing a mask at the scene

Although the virulent strain of the Omicron variant has weakened, it cannot be used directly as a vaccine. However, the above-mentioned research results suggest that if is infected with Omicron after completing two doses of vaccination, the effect is stronger than the booster shot.

It should be pointed out that people of different age groups have different risks after contracting the virus. Due to the uncertainty of virus infection, virus infection should not be blindly used as a vaccine under any circumstances.

Even for people who have completed two doses of vaccination, it is not recommended to blindly be infected with Omicron to obtain immune protection. However, the above-mentioned research at least tells us that under the epidemic in the United States, if a person does what he should do, including getting vaccinated and wearing a mask where necessary, then if unfortunately he is infected at some point while taking off the mask, As long as nothing serious happens to the virus, it is equivalent to strengthening immunity.

In the United States, due to the large number of anti-vaxxers, the vaccination rate is not ideal. Today, less than 70% of the people have completed two doses of vaccination. However, the US CDC conducted a serological survey from September last year to February this year and found that 60% of Americans have been infected with the virus [3]. Therefore, more than 300 million people in the United States have either been vaccinated or have been infected with the virus, and they have some degree of immune protection. Even if there is another wave of Omicron infections, the overall effect is to strengthen immunity. For infected people who develop symptoms, oral antiviral drugs can also be used for timely treatment.

▎Picture/ Pfizer New crown oral drug Paxlovid is an important weapon in the fight against the new crown. The United States currently writes an average of 20,000 Paxlovid prescriptions every day. But recently, this drug has been questioned over repeated infections. However, the CDC urges the public not to overreact to reports of repeated infections. This drug still has a protective effect. Although the

virus is difficult to eliminate, it has become the last straw and cannot stop the pace of American life.

U.S. government officials told the media that as the epidemic rebounds this fall and winter, 100 million people in the United States may be infected with the virus. must therefore prepare for this. Of course, the so-called preparation does not mean preparing to close the city, but preparing a budget, not a budget for hoarding daily necessities, but a budget for buying vaccines and medicines.

.1 billion people, almost 1/3 of the population! The infection rate calculated by this mathematical model is a bit scary, but Americans should understand it as "100 million booster shots."

It is worth mentioning that the United States is not the only "wonder" on this planet. Countries around the world are relaxing their anti-epidemic measures, hoping to make life lighter. On May 17, the European Commission officially announced that starting from this month, all flights from EU member states will no longer require passengers to present "nucleic acid test reports", "vaccination certificates", and "entry certificates" before boarding. Health Registration Form".

Although the epidemic is rebounding and the fight against the epidemic is relaxing, the global death rate from COVID-19 has dropped to the level it was in March 2020.

▎Picture/Global number of deaths from COVID-19 per million people (Picture source: Our World in Data)

It should be pointed out that due to a certain time delay from infection to death, whether the mortality rate can steadily decline? Time will tell. But judging from the current trends, has a promising future!

▎Picture/American shopping malls are full of people.People have forgotten that the epidemic is not over.

All problems that humans cannot solve will have a natural solution! Before COVID-19, humans had experienced many epidemics, but they had all come out of it!

Of course, every country has its own national conditions. The United States' attitude towards the epidemic is not a copy of the homework, but can only be used as a mirror.

Reference:

. Suryawanshi, R.K., et al., Limited cross-variant immunity from SARS-CoV-2 Omicron without vaccination. Nature, 2022.

. Qu, L., et al., Circular RNA vaccines against SARS- CoV-2 and emerging variants. Cell, 2022. 185(10): p. 1728-1744.e16.

. Clarke, K., et al., Seroprevalence of Infection-Induced SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies — United States, September 2021–February 2022. . MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep, 2022. 71: p. 606-608.

This article is reproduced from [CC Weekly], a medical expert studio spanning both sides of the Pacific, focusing on reporting on cutting-edge scientific developments.