The risk of long COVID was two to three times higher after the initial infection (14.8%) than after first (5.8%) or second (5.3%) reinfections.
Plaque growth can lead to a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and other life-threatening cardiovascular events for as long as 1 year.
Post-exertional malaise, or exercise intolerance, was seen in 36% of those with long COVID.
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Among SARS-CoV-2 isolates, 99.8% are Omicron, and 93.6% of those are the faster-spreading BA.2 subvariant.
A study in Israel during the Omicron variant surge finds that rates of COVID-19 infection and severe illness were lower after a fourth dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine than after three doses, and while protection against infection waned quickly after 4 weeks, protection against severe disease was still strong at 6 weeks.
Vaccination is not linked to fetal abnormalities detectable on ultrasound, study finds.
"Given the limited resources countries have, we need a new strategy."
Also, pandemic response coordinator Jeff Zients calls a $10 billion funding package only "a start."
Two new studies detail long COVID symptoms, with one from France showing that 85% of patients who had symptoms 2 months after illness onset still had them at 1 year and some symptoms worsened, and one from China revealing that 12% of patients reported rheumatic symptoms at 1-year follow-up.
In global COVID news, Shanghai's lockdown will be extended.
A new study in JAMA Pediatrics shows the Omicron variant has caused six to eight times the rate of Omicron infections in US preschoolers as the Delta variant, but cases were less severe with Omicron.
Incidence was 2 to 6 times higher after SARS-CoV-2 infection than after the second vaccine dose.
Studies in Brazil and Sweden show good efficacy against illness and hospitalization.
