JustCare

Tag: COVID-19

  • Covid deaths on the rise, particularly among older adults who have not gotten booster shots

    Covid deaths on the rise, particularly among older adults who have not gotten booster shots

    ABC News reports that only one in three older adults have received a Covid 19 booster shot. Not surprisingly, three times more older adults are being hospitalized for Covid 19 than younger adults. And, more than nine in ten deaths from Couid are among older adults.

    Earlier this month, nearly seven in 100,000 older adults were hospitalized with Covid. In sharp contrast, fewer than one percent of people under 18 were hospitalized with Covid. The number of hospitalized older adults is trending upwards.

    Many hospitalized older adults with Covid will be ok. But, some will have long Covid. Today, more than nine in 10 Covid deaths are among Americans 50 and over. Covid deaths are highest among older adults 80 and over.  After then, death rates are highest among those between 60 and 79 who are unvaccinated.

    Older adults who have received booster shots are far less likely to be hospitalized than those who have been vaccinated but not boosted. To be clear, more than nine in 10 older adults have received the Covid vaccine. But, fewer than one in three of them have received the booster shot.

    if you haven’t yet gotten the Covid booster shot, you need it!

    Why haven’t more older adults received the booster shot? Many people do not appreciate how much they need it. They also might not know it’s free. Or, they might have had Covid and mistakenly think they are protected against getting it again.

    Covid 19 is not the only virus older adults need to protect themselves against. Older adults are also being admitted to hospital for the flu and RSV at a rate of 18 and 3.5 per 100,000, respectively.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • How to keep healthy this flu and Covid season

    How to keep healthy this flu and Covid season

    It’s getting colder outside and that means that you are more likely to get sick with a virus. The cold weather won’t make you sick. But, viruses spread more easily when it’s cold out. Hannah Seo reports for the New York Times on four ways to strengthen your immune system and reduce your risk of getting sick this flu and Covid season.

    1. Believe it or not, exercise and other activities that get you moving, such as walking and dancing, help ward off sickness. One study found that people who exercise at least five times a week got sick less often from an upper respiratory tract infection than people who exercised rarely. That said, overall, people who did a little exercise were less likely to get sick than people who did not exercise at all.
    2. Enough sleep and good quality sleep also give your body what it needs to ward off viruses. You should sleep more than seven hours a night.
    3. Eating healthy, particularly different colored fruits and vegetables, gives your body flavonoids, which fight inflammation and illness.
    4. Make sure you get this year’s flu shot and the Covid-19 bivalent booster. If you have Medicare, you should pay nothing for them.

    Why is exercise helpful in warding off sickness? It stimulates immune cells to wipe out cells infected with a virus.

    Why is proper sleep helpful? It regulates stress, lowering inflammation, strengthening your immune system and allowing your body to fight off infection.

    Why is a proper diet helpful? Processed foods, cigarette smoke, excessive alcohol intake can keep your immune system from working well. Supplements also are of no help, based on the evidence, and often contain ingredients that can be harmful to your health. It’s better to eat a good diet.

    Why are vaccines helpful? They give your body the antibodies needed to fight off flus and Covid-19 infections. And, even if you catch the flu or get Covid-19, if you’ve been vaccinated, you will increase your chances of having only a mild case.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Coronavirus: Get your booster shot as soon as possible

    Coronavirus: Get your booster shot as soon as possible

    Fall is in the air and the new Covid-19 booster vaccine is ready to be administered. This new booster shot is designed to protect you against different strains of the coronavirus. Get your booster shot as soon as possible.

    Pfizer and Moderna both offer updated booster shots, which target omicron variants. The new booster vaccine gives you better protection against variants of the original virus. You should be able to get your shot from your doctor, at your local pharmacy or health clinic.

    Covid-19 vaccines have saved millions of lives already. The vaccines and boosters available to date have worked best on the original Covid-19 virus. But, they are not as good at fending off new strains of the virus. That’s why it is so important to get this new booster shot.

    How will the booster shot help? The booster will reduce your risk of hospitalization from Covid-19 as well as your risk of getting seriously ill from Covid-19. It also reduces your chances of getting long Covid.

    When should you get the booster? Right away, if you haven’t had Covid-19 recently. It’s excellent protection against what could be a new surge of the virus this fall or winter. If you have had Covid recently, talk to your doctor. You have antibodies in your system, so it might be ok for you to wait a couple of months before getting the booster.

    Are there safety concerns with the booster? The CDC says there are none.

    Are there side effects from this booster? Side effects are said to be similar to side effects from the original vaccine and boosters, pain, fatigue, headache, chills, nausea and fever.

    Can you get the booster at the same time as the flu shot? Yes. And, if you’re over 65, ask about getting the high-dose flu shot.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Coronavirus: Booster shots and Paxlovid

    Coronavirus: Booster shots and Paxlovid

    As much as we might wish for an end to the coronavirus, it continues to rear its ugly head, mutating along the way. What’s new? A booster shot better suited to new versions of the virus, along with some evidence that a dose of Paxlovid to treat the virus may lead to a Covid recurrence.

    As for the new Moderna and Pfizer booster shot, millions of doses should be ready for prime time in mid-September, reports The New York Times. And, they claim that it is better able to fight the Omicron BA.5 variant than the original shot. So, if you have not yet been boosted or are ready for yet another booster, you might consider holding out another month.

    This new booster is expected to better strengthen your immunity to the virus. And, this is important. Scientists are expecting a new Covid-19 wave beginning in the Fall.

    This all said, the administration’s position appears to be that if you are over 50 and have not yet gotten a booster shot, you should get it now. Covid infections are on the rise. I assume the administration is trying to keep Covid-19 infections at bay.

    N.B.: Officials are warning against getting two booster shots in close proximity. If you get one now, don’t get one in September. There is a rare heart disease, myocarditis, that can be a side effect. Getting two shots in a row increases the risk of this side effect.

    Experts also say that getting a second shot soon after the first is of no benefit. You already have your antibodies from the first shot. Those antibodies keep the second shot from working.

    If you do get Covid, talk to your doctor about getting Paxlovid, especially if you’re over 60.  Paxlovid, an anti-viral, is intended for people at risk of serious illness from Covid. It is designed to reduce the likelihood of hospitalization. It’s the drug President Biden took to treat his virus. It should quell your symptoms, but with a big catch.

    Some people who take the drug, and then test negative, experience a Covid rebound–they get Covid again a few days later!!! That’s what happened to President Biden, who tested positive, after taking Paxlovid and testing negative, but had no symptoms the second time round.

    The government says not to be concerned if you take Paxlovid, test negative and a few days later test positive. And, no one is suggesting you need to take another round of Paxlovid if that happens.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Coronavirus: Biden administration fails to disclose hospital bad actors

    Coronavirus: Biden administration fails to disclose hospital bad actors

    The HHS Office of the Inspector General recently reported widespread and persistent denials of care in some Medicare Advantage plans but the Biden administration has yet to protect enrollees in those Medicare Advantage plans by disclosing the bad actors. Politico reports that the Biden administration is also choosing to protect the interests of hospital corporations over patients by not disclosing the names of the hospitals with high incidents of Covid-19 spread.

    If you’re heading to the hospital, you should keep in mind that some hospitals do a poor job of containing the spread of infections, including Covid-19. In the last month, there were 1,457 reported cases of people contracting Covid-19 in hospital. And, that’s an undercounting since it only counts individuals who have contracted the virus while in the hospital at least 14 days. Back in January, there were 3,000 reported Covid-19 cases while patients were in hospital each week.

    Patients have no warning as to which hospitals to avoid. The hospitals that did a poor job of containing the spread of Covid-19, in turn, are allowed to continue operations with little accountability for their poor behavior. Some of these hospitals could have done a lot more than they have to contain the spread of Covid-19 in hospital. The government has collected the data since the Trump administration, it just won’t share it.

    Even if people should take personal responsibility for protecting themselves against Covid-19, as the Biden administration says, knowing which hospitals to stay clear of is one piece of how people can take responsibility. Moreover, immunocompromised individuals put their health at extreme risk if they contract Covid-19.

    Patients can find some data on hospital-acquired infection rates at individual hospitals. Why isn’t a Covid-19 infection included in that data? Politico has filed a freedom of information act request for the data.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Coronavirus: Older adults without booster shots are still at significant risk

    Coronavirus: Older adults without booster shots are still at significant risk

    The latest COVID-19 data reveal that vaccines are not enough to protect many older adults from serious illness if they have the virus. Fenit Nirappil and Dan Keating report for The Washington Post that a higher proportion of vaccinated older adults are dying. Apparently, over time, COVID-19 vaccines do not work as well as you might hope; to minimize risk, older adults need booster shots.

    In January and February, more than four in ten people who died of COVID-19 were vaccinated. Most of them had not received a booster shot. Last September, just 23 percent of people who died of COVID-19 were vaccinated.

    Researchers who analyzed the data found no meaningful difference between people who had had the Pfizer vaccine and people who had had the Moderna vaccine. For both, it appears that the vaccine’s full protection lasts for about three months after the second vaccine.  That said, one CDC expert said that Moderna appears to offer a somewhat more effective vaccine against hospitalization than Pfizer.

    For people over 65, Moderna is 87 percent effective against hospitalization versus Pfizer, which is 77 percent effective. And, the effectiveness of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine appears to increase over time.

    Some people are mixing up the types of vaccines they receive. But, they do so at their own risk. There is no data on whether that is either safe or effective.

    Note: People who are unvaccinated are most likely to die from COVID-19.  In fact they have a 20 times greater likelihood of dying from a COVID-19 infection than people who are vaccinated and boosted. Still, two-thirds of deaths from the omicron variant of COVID-19 were people over 75. Most of those deaths, among the vaccinated, were people who had not gotten a booster shot.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Coronavirus: If you have Medicare, it’s time for a second booster

    Coronavirus: If you have Medicare, it’s time for a second booster

    The coronavirus pandemic may appear to be waning in the US, but COVID-19 continues to rear its ugly head around the world, and cases of the BA.22 variant continue to emerge and persist in the US. By now, everyone with Medicare should have had the COVID-19 vaccine and booster to protect themselves from needless hospitalizations. William Lamb reports for the New York Times  on why, when it comes to the coronavirus, extra protection is valuable; everyone over 60 should get a second booster.

    Why get the fourth COVID shot? Evidence from Israel suggests that the fourth shot could prevent you from getting COVID-19, and it could also keep you from becoming seriously ill and dying. The early vaccine shots helped give you immunity against COVID-19. That immunity is now waning.

    Which shots are approved? If you’re 60 or older, the FDA has approved second booster shots of both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines. We don’t yet have evidence of their efficacy for people under 60.

    How dangerous is the COVID-19 BA.2 variant? We still don’t know whether the BA.2 variant causes more disease than other variants. What we do know is that fewer people are hospitalized with COVID-19 today than since the start of the pandemic.

    Will a second booster shot keep you from getting COVId-19? A second booster shot might not keep you from getting COVID-19. But, it might. Even if it does not keep you from infection, it reduces your risk of becoming seriously ill.

    What if I get COVID-19? If you’re over 60 or immunocompromised and you get COVID, call your doctor. Your doctor can prescribe you a new drug, Paxlovid, an oral antiviral pill, which should reduce your risk of hospitalization significantly.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Coronavirus: A new pill treats the virus

    Coronavirus: A new pill treats the virus

    A new pill, Paxlovid, treats the novel coronavirus after you become infected. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved it for emergency use. Three infectious disease experts at Yale Medicine explain that Paxlovid is an antiviral pill that can prevent older people and immunocompromised people from being hospitalized and dying as a result of COVID-19.

    How do you get Paxlovid? Your doctor must prescribe it for you and can do so if you test positive for COVID-19. Anyone over 18 who weighs at least 88 pounds can get a prescription if they are at “high risk” of getting a severe case of COVID-19, either because of age or a serious underlying medical condition, such as diabetes or cancer.

    How quickly must I take Paxlovid for it to work? You must take Paxlovid within five days of getting COVID-19 symptoms. If you wait longer, there is a high likelihood that COVID will have already affected your system, and Paxlovid will not be able to erase its effects.

    How well does Paxlovid work? You take a three-pill dose two times each day for five days. Nearly nine in ten fewer people who took Paxlovid in a clinical trial were hospitalized than those who did not.

    How much does Paxlovid cost? It’s free so long as the COVID-19 public health emergency continues. As of now, the public health emergency will last at least until July.

    Is Paxlovid the only drug that treats COVID-19? Molnupiravir (Lagevrio) also treats COVID-19, but its efficacy in terms of preventing hospitalization is not nearly as good as Paxlovid. Paxlovid is also far easier to take than remdesivir, which is administered through an IV.

    Does Paxlovid have side effects? It’s too early to know all the side effects of Paxlovid. The FDA has a fact sheet of known side effects. As a general rule, you should not have serious side effects. But, your taste buds might change slightly or you could get diarrhea. In addition, your blood pressure might increase and you could develop muscle aches.

    Can I take Paxlovid if I am taking other medicines? It depends. There are interactions if you are a transplant patient taking organ anti-rejection drugs, or if you are taking certain drugs for heart arrhythmias, or if you are taking blood thinners and cholesterol-lowering medicines.

    If I cannot take Paxlovid, are there other drugs I can take to reduce my risk of hospitalization? If it is too risky for you to take Paxlovid, you might be able to take sotrovimab (a single IV injection) and remdesivir (a three-day IV injection,) or molnupiravir, another oral medicine.

    Why should I get vaccinated and get booster shots if I can get Paxlovid? As efficacious as Paxlovid is, you are still at risk of hospitalization if you get the coronavirus. Getting the vaccine and booster shots reduce those risks.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • Millions could lose health insurance when the public health emergency ends

    Millions could lose health insurance when the public health emergency ends

    When the COVID pandemic hit, the Biden administration declared a public health emergency which, among other things, extended Medicaid coverage to millions of people. For the vast majority of them, that coverage is a lifeline. As of now, the public health emergency could end as early as mid July. What happens to people with Medicaid then?

    The Biden administration needs to act thoughtfully and deliberately before declaring an end to the public health emergency. Since it was declared, Medicaid enrollment is up 12 percent and 25 percent of Americans now get their coverage through Medicaid. Taking Medicaid away from them because they are no longer eligible will have dire consequences.

    With the end of the public health emergency and the federal Medicaid funding that goes with it, as many as 15 million low and middle-income Americans could end up losing their health insurance. As of now, states are forbidden from kicking people off of Medicaid and have received additional funds to cover Medicaid’s cost. But, states will need to ensure all Medicaid enrollees remain eligible once the emergency is over.

    Many people who should have Medicaid coverage could lose it. A lot of people with Medicaid who remain eligible for Medicaid might not have the ability to undertake their state’s complex renewal application process. Other people with Medicaid might no longer qualify because their income is a little too high, or they might have moved to another state. Many of them likely have no clue that their coverage could end once the public health emergency ends and will only find out when they are told by their doctor’s office, their hospital or their pharmacy.

    As it is, the uninsured no longer have access to free Covid-19 testing and treatment. That protection ended last month. There are no funds to pay for it. Free vaccines are also about to end.

    It is not unreasonable for the Biden administration to end mask mandates and the like, as Covid’s threat to the public health appears to be waning. But, ending Medicaid protections is another story. Covid-19 has not gone away. Without insurance, many Americans will be hard-pressed to afford needed care, be it for Covid or something else.

    This year, people who lose Medicaid can still enroll in a state health insurance exchange plan. Because Congressional funding of Affordable Care Act subsidies for people with low and middle incomes lasts through the end of this year, their insurance premiums will cost very little, if anything. But, in 2023, they will be at risk of being uninsured again.

    Our dysfunctional fragmented and costly health care system affords few among us a way to address a public health emergency, let alone a complex disease. Costs are just too high, even with insurance. As a start, the Biden administration should extend Medicaid protections at least through the end of the year, even if it ends other protections that came with the declaration of a public health emergency.

    And, if it wants to ensure that Americans are prepared for the next public health emergency or simply to safeguard people’s health and well-being, Congress should pass legislation that guarantees health care for all; it should pass Medicare for all.

    Here’s more from Just Care:

  • To improve your immune response after a vaccine, exercise!

    To improve your immune response after a vaccine, exercise!

    Sometimes, it seems as if exercise is a cure-all. Walking is important to speed your recovery in the hospital, among other reasons, and aerobic exercise has many other benefits. Gretchen Reynolds reports for The New York Times on a new study that finds exercise could improve the efficacy of a vaccine, be it a Covid-19 vaccine or a flu vaccine.

    All kinds of exercise could help improve your immunity after a vaccine. For example, walking, biking and jogging are all helpful for raising people’s antibodies after having a vaccine.

    The study measured people’s antibodies after engaging in a range of different aerobic activity for 90 minutes following a vaccine. People who exercised produced a higher degree of interferon alpha, which increases your antibodies. The researchers believe that these additional antibodies from exercising reduces people’s risk of getting really sick after a flu shot or Covid-19 vaccine. Notably, exercise did not appear to bring more side effects or reduce side effects.

    The study was conducted on 70 people and needs to be expanded to a much larger cohort to learn more. Still, it appears that physical fitness and daily exercise helps strengthen our bodies to ward off illness. Exercise transforms the way immune cells in our bodies operate, for the better.

    To date, data show that physical activity protects people against all sorts of mild respiratory infections. And, when people in good shape fall ill, being physically fit can reduce the seriousness of the illness.

    A recent study of nearly 50,000 people with Covid-19 in California determined that the Californians who were not physically fit and had not been exercising before getting Covid-19 were around twice as likely to be hospitalized as their counterparts who were fit and active.

    Don’t feel like exercising after getting a vaccine? Try moving your arm a lot before getting the shot. One recent study found that moving your arm before a vaccine also increased antibody levels and specialized immune cells.

    What’s the right amount of exercise? We don’t yet know.The researchers found that 45 minutes was not enough to boost antibodies to a statistically significant degree. But, 90 minutes of exercise was. They did not measure the effects of 60 minutes of exercise.

    However, it’s not clear that excessive exercise is beneficial. Some data suggest it could undermine immunity. But, we’re talking marathoners, so most of us have no need to worry about excess.

    How long will exercise help with antibody levels and stronger immune responses? More research is needed. This study only measured people’s responses after one month.

    Here’s more from Just Care: