CDC Warns Co-Infections With COVID-19, Influenza May Cause More Severe Illness In Children
CDC Warns Co-Infections With COVID-19, Influenza May Cause More Severe Illness In Children
MedPage Today (12/15, Hein) reports, “The CDC warned that co-infections with COVID-19 and influenza can potentially cause more severe illness in children, and need to be tracked.” The article adds, “Surveillance data from the 2021-2022 influenza season revealed that 6% of flu-related hospitalizations and 16% of flu-related deaths involved children co-infected with COVID-19…reported” researchers. The data, published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, showed “co-infected children were more likely to require bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) or continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) compared with those who only had the flu…and they were also more likely to need invasive mechanical ventilation.”
White House Announces Plans For Controlling COVID-19 Cases This Winter
USA Today (12/15, Weintraub) reports, “As COVID-19 cases rise again with the arrival of winter and holiday gatherings, the White House on Thursday announced its plans for controlling cases this winter.” These plans include “collaborating with communities to open pop-up or mobile vaccination sites,” pre-positioning personal protective equipment from the Strategic National Stockpile, and “providing more support to nursing homes and long-term care facilities to protect the most vulnerable.”
The New York Times (12/15, Weiland) reports the Biden Administration also “announced…that it would restart a program that provided free coronavirus tests to American households through the Postal Service” as part of its push “to head off rises in virus cases and hospitalizations as winter approaches.” Households will now “be able to order four tests at covidtests.gov, with shipments beginning next week.”
Also covering the story are Reuters (12/15, Mason, Chiacu), The Hill (12/15, Weixel), and CNN (12/15, Lee).