And NSW is bringing forward lifting of public health measures including indoor mask wearing and density restrictions.
Welcome to The Medical Republic’s Covid Catch-Up.
It’s the latest covid-19 news in one convenient post. Email bianca@biancanogrady.com with tips, comments or suggestions.
17 February
- Three vaccine doses recommended as condition of aged care employment.
- NSW brings forward easing of public health measures including indoor mask-wearing and density restrictions.
- Moderna’s Spikevax provisionally approved for use in 6-11-year-olds.
- Global covid infection rates continue to fall.
- Covid survivors have increased risk of mental health and substance use disorders in 30 days after infection.
- HRT may reduce risk of dying from covid.
- Unvaccinated teens had six-times higher rate of hospitalisation than vaccinated teens during Omicron peak.
- RACGP releases updated guide for patients managing mild covid at home.
- Covid reporter gets covid.
- Covid has killed an average of 52 Australians every day for the past week.
Aged care workers will soon be required to have three doses of covid vaccine as a condition of employment, according to Australian Health Protection Principal Committee.
The advice follows from the recent ATAGI recommendation that three doses be the standard for “up to date” with respect to covid vaccination in any setting. AHPPC says it will recommend to National Cabinet that the vaccine mandate be updated to three doses instead of the previous two.
New South Wales is throwing caution to the wind yet again, and removing mask and QR code check-in requirements ahead of schedule despite nearly 10,000 new cases and 14 deaths recorded today alone.
The ABC reports that NSW premier Dominic Perrottet has announced that from tomorrow, all density restrictions on venues will be lifted, singing and dancing is permitted, QR code check-ins are no longer required, and working from home will be at employers’ discretion.
From 25 February, masks will only be required on public transport, in aged care and healthcare settings, and the 20,000-person cap on music festivals will be removed. An announcement on masks in schools is still to come.
The NSW government is also shortening the quarantine period for unvaccinated international arrivals from 14 days to seven days.
Meanwhile, NSW Chief Medical Officer Dr Kerry Chant warned more waves of covid infections were likely as immunity wanes across the population and new variants emerge.
Moderna’s Spikevax is now approved for use in children aged six and older, according to the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
The two-dose vaccine is given 28 days apart, and the dose for those aged 6-11 years is half that used for those aged 12 and older.
The provisional approval – which lasts two years – is based on clinical trial data suggesting the vaccine has a similar safety and efficacy profile in children as in adults.
Global covid case rates continue to fall, with a 19% drop in new infections this week compared to the previous week, according to data from the World Health Organisation.
Just over 16 million new cases were reported in the past week, and just under 75,000 deaths which is similar to the previous week.
People who survive covid have a significantly higher risk of anxiety, depression and stress, as well as use of antidepressants, opioids and illicit drugs after the acute phase of infection, a study has found.
Writing in the BMJ, researchers report the outcomes of a retrospective cohort study of data from 153,000 people who had recovered from covid, 5.6 million from the same time period who hadn’t experienced covid, and a historical pre-pandemic group of 5.8 million people.
They found that 30 days after their first positive test result, covid survivors had a 35% higher risk of anxiety disorders, 39% higher risk of depressive disorders, 38% higher risk of stress and adjustment disorders, and 55% higher risk of antidepressant use, compared to the contemporary control group. The risk of all mental health disorders was also higher among those who had been admitted to hospital with covid compared to those whose illness was less severe.
They also were significantly more likely to be prescribed opioids, and to be at increased risk of illicit drug use, sedatives or hypnotics use, and alcohol use disorders.
Sleep disorders were significantly more common among the covid group, as was use of sleep medications, compared to their non-covid-affected contemporaries. The study also saw an 80% higher risk of neurocognitive decline associated with recent covid infection.
The authors noted that having a mental health disorder itself was a risk factor for covid and for more severe outcomes. “This likely suggests the putative existence of a bidirectional connection in that mental health disorders might predispose someone to covid-19 and that covid-19 itself might lead to adverse mental health manifestations,” they wrote.
Hormone replacement therapy in menopausal women may be associated with a lower risk of dying from covid, research suggests.
A retrospective study published in the BMJ compared covid mortality rates in 227 women on oestrogen-reducing treatment for breast cancer, 2535 on HRT, and a control group with neither condition.
Researchers found that, after controlling for potential confounders including age, comorbidities, education levels and income, women on HRT had a 55% lower risk of dying from covid.
They also found an increased mortality in women on oestrogen-depleting cancer therapy, but this failed to reach statistical significance after accounting for confounders.
Unvaccinated adolescents have a six-fold higher rate of hospitalisation from covid than vaccinated adolescents, according to a study published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
A study of covid hospitalisation rates in children and adolescents across the US since July 2021 showed a sharp peak in hospitalisations both around mid-September 2021 and early January 2022, representing the Delta and Omicron surges.
The Omicron peak was four times higher than the Delta peak, with 7.1 per 100,000 children and adolescents hospitalised compared to 1.8 at the peak of the Delta wave.
In December 2021, the hospitalisation rate was six times higher among unvaccinated adolescents than fully vaccinated.
However the study did note that a lower proportion of hospitalised children and adolescents were admitted to intensive care during the Omicron wave compared to the Delta wave.
The RACGP has published an updated resource for patients on how to manage mild to moderate covid at home.
The guide covers symptoms – both common mild symptoms and the more severe ones that should prompt patients to seek medical care – how to monitor temperature and oxygen levels, caring for children with covid, when and how to leave isolation, and what to do about vaccination or boosters after infection.
It also includes a covid action plan and symptom diary for patients.
In the finest tradition of gonzo journalism, your covid blogger has gone the final, dedicated step of actually contracting covid.
Thanks to the return to school while Omicron was still infecting tens of thousands every day, SARS-CoV-2 found its way into the house via a primary school-aged offspring, and has since made itself very comfortable among all family members.
Thanks to vaccination and boosters, so far the disease has been no worse than a bad cold, which is a far cry from the more severe Delta symptoms experienced by some patients we know.
On average, 52 Australians have died from covid each day over the past week, more than the highest number of daily deaths reported in any of the previous waves including Delta. In total, 4732 Australians have died from covid in the pandemic so far and more than 740 in the last two weeks alone.
