The following is a summary of some recent studies on COVID-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review.
As highly infectious Omicron subvariants continue to fuel a new coronavirus wave, there is growing concern about long COVID, in which symptoms or increased risk of illness can persist for months or even years.
The quickly changing coronavirus has spawned yet another super contagious Omicron mutant that’s worrying scientists as it gains ground in India and pops up in numerous other countries, including the United States.
Scientists say the variant—called BA.2.75—may be able to spread rapidly and get around immunity from vaccines and previous infection. It’s unclear whether it could cause more serious disease than other Omicron variants, including the globally prominent BA.5.
COVID was relatively deadly, but not ultra-transmissible when it burst onto the global scene in late 2019 and early 2020.
These days, due a number of factors, the reverse is true: It's considerably less lethal, but more exponentially transmissible.
Health experts in the US and abroad have found that the coronavirus variant currently responsible for most infections in the US, Omicron BA.5, can quickly reinfect people who already have protection against the virus.
Think about the adults you know who have had Covid: Does 1 out of every 5 have long Covid, as the CDC estimates?
Asking that question should in no way diminish the suffering of people who thought they were done with their infections, only to find their return to well-being still beyond reach. But knowing how many people are living with that bitter legacy of Covid-19, and who among working-age adults can’t work or care for their families, is critical to their care and to the health of our society.
For the last 18 months, the original COVID-19 vaccines — first as a two-dose series, then as boosters — have done an extraordinary job shielding us from illness, hospitalization and death. Globally, they saved nearly 20 million lives in 2021 alone. Even today, unvaccinated Americans are twice as likely as vaccinated Americans to test positive for COVID — and six times as likely to die from the disease.
Scientists fear the sub-variants may be similar to the more deadly Alpha and Delta variants.
The latest sub-variants of Omicron may have evolved to target the lung, prompting fears the next wave of the Covid could be starting.
Chronic conditions afflict those who don’t go to the hospital — or even show symptoms.
Twenty percent of people who get infected with coronavirus go on to develop serious chronic conditions that can permanently damage organs, even when that initial infection doesn’t result in symptoms or a trip to the hospital, according to a new, large study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In late summer 2021, during the Delta wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation issued a disturbing wake-up call: According to its calculations, more than 11 million Americans were already experiencing long COVID. The academy’s dashboard has been updated daily ever since, and now pegs that number at 25 million.