The coronavirus pandemic has forced many people into a role they never imagined: advocating for treatment of a condition some people don't even believe is real. Because COVID-19 affects people differently, it can be difficult to grasp that some who contract the disease don't have any symptoms at all, while about 10% suffer from "Long COVID," a long-lasting, wide-ranging condition that doctors don't yet fully understand. For months, people dealing with Long COVID have been fighting for better recognition and understanding of the condition.
Many of these advocates are women, who seem to be more affected by Long COVID than men. Entrenched sexism in matters of health and illness—namely, that the medical establishment historically minimizes women's pain and symptoms—has made it doubly hard to convince others that the condition is real. But the struggle has been hardest of all for Black women who suffer these persistent side effects, my colleague Jamie Ducharme reports.
"Each of the women of color I interviewed—including one who worked as a registered nurse and knew the health care system intimately—had to fight for months on end just to find a doctor who would take them seriously," Jamie says. "They were told over and over again that they were fine or it was all in their heads, when that clearly wasn't true."
Black women have a long history of experiencing racist and sexist medical treatment. They are notoriously underrepresented in clinical studies, for instance, even when they try to be included. One Black woman who spoke with Jamie knew her race was a factor in her subpar medical care, as she wasn't offered the same suite of blood tests as a white friend of hers with similar issues. Another Black woman, whose doctor believes she has Long COVID, wasn't able to get a coronavirus test early in the pandemic, so she was barred from joining a research study about COVID-19.
Jamie also spoke to Black women who have myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), another long-lasting condition that can follow viral infections. "It shares many of Long COVID's symptoms: fatigue, pain, GI problems and cognitive difficulties, most of which get worse after exercise," Jamie says. There's even a growing theory that Long COVID and ME/CFS might be the same disease. Black patient-advocates with ME/CFS are intimately familiar with the long and painful road to medical legitimacy, and they're lending a hand—and credibility—to the Long COVID community. As scientists learn more, "patients from both communities have come together to share advice, offer support and fight for recognition," Jamie says.
More than 250.9 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been shipped to various U.S. states as of this morning, of which 194.7 million doses have been administered thus far, according to TIME's vaccine tracker. About 35.6% of the overall U.S. population has received at least one dose, and about 23.1% of Americans have been completely vaccinated.
The European Medicines Agency, which regulates medicines for use in the European Union, said today that it's investigating reports of blood clotting linked to the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen coronavirus shot, but "remains of the view that the benefits of the vaccine in preventing COVID-19 outweigh the risks of side effects." The agency's statement comes after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended yesterday that use of J&J's shot be paused after six U.S. recipients developed blood clots. Janssen is delaying the European rollout of its vaccine until the U.S. investigations are complete.
Researchers in Britain said today that they are looking into mixing different coronavirus vaccines for recipients' first and second doses, the New York Times reports. The trial, which has been underway since February with the AstraZeneca-Oxford University and Pfizer-BioNTech shots, will now also include the Moderna and Novavax shots. The mix-and-match strategy could help countries better cope with shortages of particular vaccines. It could also be useful for people who received a first dose of AstraZeneca's shot, but are reluctant to get a second dose following blood clotting reports similar to those tied to J&J's vaccine. Initial results are expected by July.
TODAY'S CORONAVIRUS OUTLOOK
The Global Situation
More than 136.6 million people around the world had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of 1 a.m. E.T. today, and more than 2.9 million people have died. On April 13, there were 616,625 new cases and 9,298 new deaths confirmed globally.
Here's how the world as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
And here is every country with over 2 million confirmed cases:
The coronavirus situation is worsening in Turkey, which reported 279 deaths and 62,797 new cases yesterday—both new records, CNN reports. The latest figures come one day after Turkish leaders imposed a partial lockdown with a longer curfew and new travel restrictions; Turks are also being encouraged to work from home. So far, more than 34,180 people have died of COVID-19 in Turkey.
Significantly cleaner air during France's first coronavirus lockdown last spring led to about 2,300 fewer pollution-related deaths than expected, according to a new report from the country's public health agency. The researchers attribute the benefits in part to a drop in nitrogen dioxide, which is caused by car traffic.
The Situation in the U.S.
The U.S. had recorded nearly 31.3 million coronavirus cases as of 1 a.m. E.T. today. Nearly 563,000 people have died. On April 13, there were 70,230 new cases and 467 new deaths confirmed in the U.S.
Here's how the country as a whole is currently trending:
Here's where daily cases have risen or fallen over the last 14 days, shown in confirmed cases per 100,000 residents:
Leaving the middle seat of a commercial aircraft can reduce the risk of passengers' coronavirus exposure by 23-57% compared to a fully-booked plane, according to a CDC study published today. "These data suggest that increasing physical distance between passengers and lowering passenger density could help reduce potential COVID-19 exposures during air travel," write the researchers, who used modeling simulations and a viral stand-in for SARS-CoV-2 to create a realistic pandemic-era aircraft scenario. The findings come as nearly all major U.S. airlines are once again selling middle seats (Delta, the sole holdout, will resume doing so next month).
More than 87,000 Americans died of drug overdoses during the past year, according to new CDC data—the highest number since the opioid crisis began decades ago, the New York Times reports. Overdose deaths grew 29% from Oct. 2019 to Sept. 2020 year-over-year. Synthetic opioids like fentanyl are fueling the increase, while lockdown measures that left people isolated and forced treatment programs and centers to close also likely contributed to the spike.
All numbers unless otherwise specified are from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and are accurate as of April 14, 1 a.m. E.T. To see larger, interactive versions of these maps and charts, click here.
WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOW
The U.S. Is Failing to Study Breakthrough Cases
Existing COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective, but even a very small number of vaccinated people will still be hospitalized and die. It's crucial to study those "breakthrough" cases, but many health departments aren't gathering the necessary data, ProPublica's Caroline Chen reports. Read more here.
In Praise of the mRNA Vaccines
Pifzer and Moderna's mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are "astonishingly effective and extremely safe," writes Sarah Zhang for The Atlantic, even though they were initially long-shot candidates in the vaccine race. As officials decide how to handle blood clotting linked to J&J and AstraZeneca's shots, the mRNA options are looking better than ever—and the U.S. is lucky to have them, Zhang writes. Read more here.
Antivirals Are the Hottest New Drug Target
The pandemic has revealed how unprepared we are to treat viral respiratory illnesses—one year in, we still don't have much that works against COVID-19. New initiatives to create a stockpile of treatments are now top of mind so that we don't have to start from scratch next time, Elie Dolgin reports for Nature. Read more here.
Thanks for reading. We hope you find the Coronavirus Brief newsletter to be a helpful tool to navigate this very complex situation, and welcome feedback at coronavirus.brief@time.com. If you have specific questions you'd like us to answer, please send them to covidquestions@time.com.
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Today's newsletter was written by Mandy Oaklander and edited by Alex Fitzpatrick.
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