- Saudi crown prince says no Israel ties without Palestinian state
- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ |
Nearly 60% of US population had Covid by February
By February of this year, 58 percent of the US population -- more than 190 million people -- had been infected with Covid, according to an antibody survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published Tuesday.
The figure is far higher than the 80 million officially recorded cases, with the majority of infections undiagnosed, asymptomatic or unreported.
Roughly 75 percent of people under 18 had been infected, according to a paper based on a nationally representative study of antibody levels.
There was a huge surge during the winter Omicron wave, particularly among children.
Each month from September 2021 to January 2022, the study examined some 75,000 blood specimens taken from across the country, as well as 45,000 samples in February.
The study examined only antibodies created in response to prior infection, not vaccination.
National estimates were then produced using statistical methods to weight by age, sex and metropolitan status.
"Having infection-induced antibodies does not necessarily mean you are protected against future infections," said Kristie Clarke, co-lead for the national Covid-19 serology task force, on a call with reporters.
"Previous infection has been shown to provide some protection against severe disease and hospitalization -- and vaccination, either before or after infection, provides additional protection," she added.
Since the duration of infection-conferred immunity is unknown, it remains vital to stay up to date with Covid vaccination, she stressed.
The United States is currently offering fourth shots to people 50 and over, and third shots to people under that age.
Children five and under are the only group not yet eligible for vaccination.
"The best way to protect them is to make sure that they are surrounded by people who are taking preventive measures, like staying up to date with our vaccines," said Clarke.
- More Covid pills -
President Joe Biden's administration meanwhile announced Tuesday it is doubling the number of outlets where at-risk Americans can obtain free Covid-19 therapeutic pills.
Oral therapeutics such as Pfizer's Paxlovid tablet are seen as an important new weapon in the struggle to knock out a virus that at its peak a year ago killed more than 3,000 people per day in the United States alone.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain called Paxlovid a "miracle pill" and tweeted that "almost all Covid deaths can be prevented if people who test positive take" it.
With 20 million pill packs ordered for government purchase, they are now "in ample supply" and distribution will be ramped up from the current 20,000 locations to close to 40,000, according to a White House official.
Nationwide, cases are ticking up with infections caused by the BA.2 and BA.2.12.1 Omicron subvariants -- including a rash of cases sweeping through the Washington elite.
Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive Tuesday, but is asymptomatic and not considered a current close contact of Biden, the White House said.
Upstate New York and the Northeast region are also experiencing an increase in hospitalizations, and the CDC recommends indoor masking in those areas, though mandates have long ceased to be in effect there.
Even with rising hospitalizations, there has been a sharp reduction in fatalities, mainly as a result of rising population immunity, but also because the newer variants are intrinsically less severe than those that preceded them.
Daily deaths stand at a little over 300 per day. The country is expected to reach the grim milestone of one million deaths in the coming weeks.
O.Bulka--BTB