The COVID Advisor

Hopes of Covid-19 Reprieve Fade as BA.5 Subvariant Takes Over   –  ran in the  Wall Street Journal .  UPTICK | BA.5 is estimated to represent more than one in three recent U.S. cases that are averaging just more than 100,000 a day, CDC data show. The true number of infections may be roughly six times as high, some virus experts said, in part because so many people are using at-home tests that state health departments largely don’t track. BOOSTERS | Biden Administration health officials said Tuesday that BA.5 has the potential to push the number of infections higher in the coming weeks. They urged eligible people to get vaccine booster shots to lower the risk of hospitalization and death, and not to wait for potential updated boosters targeting Omicron subvariants. MORE MASKING | New York City last week urged people to resume masking in public, indoor settings and around crowds outside. Los Angeles County’s public heal...

As suspected, SARS-CoV-2 continues to mutate. This was entirely expected and predicted, as vaccinating against any highly mutable virus, such as the coronavirus, pressures the virus to adapt.  One of the latest variants, BA.5 — now believed to be the cause of nearly all COVID infections — is tied with measles in terms of its infectiousness and transmissibility. 1  That makes it the most infectious of all SARS-CoV-2 variants, 2  and one of the most infectious viruses known to man. Fortunately, it's also considerably less deadly than the original Wuhan strain. According to a July 5, 2022, Deadline report: 3 "BA.5 was first identified in South Africa on February 26. Less than a month ago, on June 4, it only accounted for 9.6% of cases in the U.S., while predecessor BA.2.12.1 sat atop the heap at 62%. Today, the CDC [U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] estimates the subvariant is responsible for about 54% of new cases here. That's double BA.2.12.1, which now acco...

The scientist who combined two widely available over-the-counter compounds that inhibited the novel coronavirus by 99% in early tests told WND he's hopeful his treatment will be available "within months." "An FDA-approved treatment could be in sight within months if pharmaceutical companies utilize existing clinical trial resources," said Dr. David Ostrov in an email interview with WND. Ostrov, an immunologist and associate professor in the University of Florida College of Medicine’s department of pathology, immunology and laboratory medicine, combined diphenhydramine, which is marketed as Benadryl, and lactoferrin, a protein in milk, as  WND reported in December .   "My prediction is that antiviral drug combinations, such as diphenhydramine and lactoferrin, will provide a similar level of benefit as Regeneron monoclonal antibodies, Pfizer and Merck antivirals, at less than 1/100 the cost of those therapies," he told WND. Ostrov said he knew he was fac...

Arturo Casadevall watched aghast as the number of COVID-19 cases started to climb at the start of the pandemic. But he also saw scope for a solution. For decades, Casadevall, an infectious-disease researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, has been working in the laboratory and in the clinic to unleash the potential of monoclonal antibody therapies — extremely precise drugs made up of the proteins that defend the body against invading microorganisms. With a new virus running rampant and no treatment options available, Casadevall hoped that antibodies would have their chance to shine. Credit: Design Cells/SPL The drugs rose to the occasion. By early November 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had issued emergency-use authorization for the first antibody to treat COVID-19, which reached patients before any vaccine...

There are currently no FDA authorized or approved drugs for post-exposure prevention of COVID-19 due to the Omicron variant. However, there are several drugs, including bebtelovimab, Lagevrio (molnupiravir), and Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir plus ritonavir), that are authorized to treat mild to moderate COVID-19 if given early to certain patients (one of which is strongly recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO)), and one drug — remdesivir (Veklury) — that is approved for use in treating mild, moderate or severe COVID-19 in some individuals.  There is also a monoclonal antibody therapy (EVUSHELD) for pre-exposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 in certain people. The FDA had previously authorized three other monoclonal antibody combination therapies — REGEN-COV (casirivimab plus imdevimab), bamlanivimab plus etesevimab, and sotrovimab — for treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 and (for REGEN-COV and bamlanivimab plus etesevimab) to help prevent infection in people expose...