COVID-19 Update June 2, 2022

The current dominant strain of COVID-19 in the U.S. has spread faster than all of its Omicron predecessors and may potentially cause more serious illness due to a property that it shares with both the Omicron and Delta strains that other subvariants have not held in common. Also, a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) mortality and morbidity weekly report (MMWR) may shed light onto long COVID in adult patients.

Cases of COVID-19 are still on the upswing in Arizona, this week climbing to 13,042 new positive cases of the virus and 33 new deaths. The deaths have remained relatively steady as cases have increased, but in past COVID surges, deaths and hospitalizations lag an average of two to four weeks. This information comes from the Arizona Department of Health Services COVID-19 data dashboard.

One in five COVID-19 patients who recovered between the ages of 18 and 64 years old has experienced at least one post-acute condition according to this week’s CDC MMWR. A month after experiencing acute COVID-19 symptoms, 25% of patients report persistent symptoms.

The latest MMWR uses electronic health record (EHR) data on all patients from March 2020 to November 2021 in the Cerner Real-World Data national deidentified data set, according to the American Journal of Managed Care. Case-patients were found to be at significantly higher risk of pulmonary embolism and respiratory symptoms with respiratory symptoms and musculoskeletal pain being the most commonly reported incidents in both age groups. From the study:

Implementation of COVID-19 prevention strategies, as well as routine assessment for post-COVID conditions among persons who survive COVID-19, is critical to reducing the incidence and impact of post-COVID conditions, particularly among adults aged ≥ 65 years.

Modern Healthcare notes that while providers are still investigating the proper medications to prescribe to patients, the research for COVID-19-related post-acute conditions and the ways in which they manifest are still ongoing. From Dr. Zijian Chen, medical director for the Center for Post-COVID Care at Mount Sinai Health System in New York:

If we’re able to see the root cause of the symptoms, then perhaps the next best thing is to find ways to predict who will have symptoms and get those patients in for earlier treatment.

Meanwhile, researchers are also finding new insight into the current dominant strain of COVID-19, the Omicron subvariant BA.2.12.1, which was responsible for nearly 60% of cases in the last week of May 2022. According to Associated Press, the former dominant strains of the Omicron variant didn’t have what was called the “delta mutation,” or the ability for the virus to escape immunity from vaccination and prior infection. This genetic change is also present in the variants that are currently dominant in South Africa, BA.4 and BA.5.