COVID can cloud the brain for half a year, study finds

COVID keeps the brain cloudy for at least half a year, UCSD study finds

The neurological impact of a COVID-19 infection often persists after other symptoms have cleared up, according to an initial round of research published Wednesday by scientists at UCSD. A majority of patients in the study, published in Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, reported symptoms such as fatigue, headaches, memory impairment, and decreased concentration for up to six months after a mild or moderate case of COVID-19. Some also had coordination and cognitive issues. While the symptoms generally improved after half a year, only one-third of the participants said they were completely resolved at that point. None of the individuals in the study had any history of pre-existing neurological conditions prior to their infections.

“It’s encouraging that most people were showing some improvement at six months, but that wasn’t the case for everyone,” said senior author Jennifer S. Graves, associate professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine and a neurologist at UC San Diego Health. “Some of these participants are high-level professionals who we’d expect to score above average on cognitive assessments, but months after having COVID-19, they’re still scoring abnormally.” A handful of participants in the study displayed a previously unidentified set of symptoms that included cognitive deficits, tremors and difficulty balancing. “These are folks who had no neurological problems before COVID-19, and now they have an incoordination of their body and possible incoordination of their thoughts,” said Graves. “We didn’t expect to find this, so we want to get the word out in case other physicians see this too.” The research team said it will continue to monitor the study subjects annually for the next 10 years.

Florida only state not to pre-order vaccines for youngest children

Every state but Florida has pre-ordered the COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5 from the federal government in anticipation of the shots becoming available to the last ineligible age group next week, the Miami Herald reports. State officials missed the pre-order deadline Tuesday, which means there will likely be a delay for families in accessing the vaccine from pediatrician’s offices, children’s hospitals, pharmacies and health centers. Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who was hand-picked by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, on Tuesday said he was against providing children access to the life-saving shots. “From what I have seen, there is just insufficient data to inform benefits and risk in children. I think that’s very unequivocal,” Ladapo, who also runs Florida’s department of health, told reporters in Tallahassee, according to Orlando Weekly.

Fewer people getting flu vaccines due to polarization of COVID shots, letter suggests

The politically-charged pushback against COVID-19 vaccines is affecting influenza vaccination rates, according to a letter from researchers at UCLA published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the sensitivity analysis found that while influenza vaccine uptake remained relatively stable during the first influenza season of the pandemic, once COVID-19 vaccines became widely available influenza vaccine uptake decreased, even after adjustments were made for pandemic-related changes to accessing health care. “Our findings suggest that after the widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines, factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination rates (e.g., safety concerns and mistrust of COVID-19 vaccines or government) may have spilled over to affect influenza vaccination rates,” the authors wrote.

Stanford doctor warns of COVID-related staffing shortages

Abraar Karan, an infectious disease expert at Stanford, said Wednesday that the Bay Area’s current COVID-19 surge is causing staffing disruptions in the local health care system. “At one of the hospitals I work at, enough residents are sick such that we have reduced staffing on our very busy infectious disease service,” he tweeted Tuesday. Karan said he was infected for the second time last month, a pattern he is seeing with increasing frequency. “However you might feel about severity of covid & whether it’s a problem worth solving or not, having multiple doctors out of work sick at the same time is not a good thing. And that too multiple times in a year,” he said. Karan added…