COVID-19 hospitalizations increased slightly this week after nearly two months of decline, while omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 — dubbed 'escape variants' for their immune evasiveness — continued to gain prevalence nationwide, according to the CDC's COVID-19 data tracker weekly reviewpublishedOct. 28.
Ten findings:
Hospitalizations
1. The seven-day hospitalization average for Oct. 19-25 was 3,249, a 1 percent increase from the previous week's average. New hospital admissions had been falling since early August, CDC data shows.
Cases
2. As of Oct. 26, the nation's seven-day case average was 37,683, a 25.1 percent decrease from the previous week's average. This marks the 14th week of decline and the lowest daily case rate seen since late April, CDC data shows.
Variants
3. Based on projections for the week ending Oct. 29, the CDC estimates that BQ.1 accounts for 14 percent of cases, while BQ.1.1 accounts for 13.1 percent.
4. BA. 5 remains the nation's dominant strain, accounting for 49.6 percent of infections. BF.7, another omicron subvariant experts are closely monitoring, makes up 7.5 percent of cases. Other omicron subvariants make up the rest.
Community levels
5. As of Oct. 27, 2.3 percent of counties, districts or territories had high COVID-19 community levels, 21.9 percent had medium community levels and 75.8 percent had low community levels.
Deaths
6. The current seven-day death average is 373, down 13.7 percent from the previous week's average. Some historical deaths have been excluded from these counts, the CDC said.
Vaccinations
7. As of Oct. 26, about 266 million people — 80.1 percent of the U.S. population — have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and more than 226.9 million people, or 68.4 percent of the population, have received both doses.
8. About 111.8 million people have received a booster dose, and more than 22.9 million people have received an updated omicron booster. However, 49.3 percent of people eligible for a booster dose have not yet gotten one, the CDC said.
Wastewater surveillance
9. About 34 percent of the U.S. is reporting moderate to high virus levels in wastewater. Of these surveillance sites, 10 percent are seeing some of the highest levels since Dec. 1, 2021.
10. About 50 percent of sites are reporting an increase in virus levels, and 44 percent of sites are seeing a decrease.
Pfizerhas been accused of 'daylight robbery' after it emerged the company plans to sell its Covid shot with an estimated 10,000 percent markup in the US next year — despite enjoying extraordinary surges in profits during the pandemic.
Once the government uses up the doses it has already bought, Pfizer will hike the price to as much as $130 for a single dose of the vaccine which is estimated by some experts to cost just $1.18 to make.
Health insurers are expected to cover the cost of the shots for those who have coverage, but wall street analysts warn that it will cause upward pressure on insurance premiums.
The US government has been paying around $20 per dose up to this point and then distributing the shots for free to the public.
Analysts speculate that the move was made so Pfizer could still meet its target of $32billion of projected vaccine revenue this year.
Critics say that the decision shows the firm's greed. Peter Maybarduk, director of access to medicines at Public Citizen, told DailyMail.com that the firm was already in a good of financial position that they could take some loss.
Pfizer was one of the major winners of the pandemic. While lives and businesses crumbled amid lockdowns and disruptions to life during Covid, the New York City firm became a household name.
Vaccines like Pfizer's were mandated by employers and businesses in dozens of countries, forcing sales of the shot upon certain populations.
Pfizer projects $102billion in total revenue this year with the vaccine and Paxlovid - its antiviral pill backed by the White House to treat Covid - leading the way.
This is more than double the company's yearly revenue in 2019 and 2020 - before the jabs came out - this is nearly double the $40.9billion and $41.6billion earned the two years prior.
The company's leaders have benefited greatly from this endeavor as well. CEO Albert Bourla is estimated to make around $50million across 2021 and 2022.
Dr Ugur Sahin, the brains behind the Covid shot and CEO of Pfizer's German partner BioNTech, is among nine 'vaccine billionaires' who emerged during the pandemic.
He has an estimated net worth of $4billion, a figure which rapidly rose over the past two-and-a-half years.
The People's Vaccine Alliance (PVA) - a non-profit that campaigns for vaccine equity - described the price hike as a 'daylight robbery'.
Pfizer is charging $130 for its COVID-19 vaccine - a 10,000% mark-up from the estimated $1.18 it costs them to develop a single dose of the vaccine. The firm was charging the US government around $20 per shot but rose prices in an effort to make up for poor demand for the jabs. It is forecasted to rake in over $100billion in revenue this year, and brought in $81.2billion last year. These figures well clear the $40billion per year it was earning the years prior. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla has earned $50million in compensation over the past two years, while BioNTech found Dr Ugar Sahin is now a billionaire.
Pfizer announced that it would price its shot at $130 last week. The price will go into effect in the US when the supply of shots the government has runs out.
'Experts have estimated that Pfizer's vaccine costs just $1.18 per dose to make,' Julia Kosgei, policy advisor to PVA said in a statement.
'Charging $130 per dose would represent a markup of more than ten thousand per cent. This is daylight robbery.
'Governments must not stand by while companies like Pfizer hold the world to ransom in a global pandemic.'
Up to early 2023, vaccines are free to obtain for all Americans no matter their insurance status.
The federal government purchases the shots from Pfizer at a price of around $20 per dose, then distributes it to providers around the country.
The Biden Administration has failed to convince congress to approve $15billion in funding to continue the purchase of vaccines and therapeutics into next year.
Pfizer claims it will have trouble meeting revenue projections this year without boosting the price of the jabs, according to a Reuters report.
Mr Maybarduk argues that these projections were made assuming that demand for the shots would grow infinitely, when Pfizer knew that was not the case.
He also said that the firm has already made an 'obscene' amount of money, and will be ok if they do not meet revenue projections that were likely inflated anyways.
American uptake of the additional shots has been low.
Less than 20million people have received the newest bivalent booster - which Pfizer was hoping would be a financial boon.
Pfizer told DailyMail.com that the price of its shot falls in line with the 'value' it delivers, and that out-of-pocket costs will be minimal as it will be covered by insurance.
Mr Maybarduk said that Pfizer still has not said how they would guarantee access to shots to the 26million uninsured Americans.
'Pfizer has made an obscene amount of money from its Covid vaccines and treatments so far and should be cooperating,' he said.
The New York City-based firm has been one of a major winners during the COVID-19 pandemic so far, which both its vaccine and antiviral drug Paxlovid raking in cash.
Mr Maybarduk's group's report found that the mRNA vaccines could be produced for just over a dollar, a figure dwarfed by the figure Pfizer is charging for the shot.
He speculates that the situation is worse when considering Pfizer incurred little, if any, research and development costs. While it was not a part of Operation Warp Speed itself - BioNTech did receive $450million from German taxpayers.
The US government also guaranteed Pfizer a market for its shot as well.
Before it was ready for market, the firm had already been promised a purchase of nearly $2billion by the federal government - removing risk from the firm investment.
Mr Maybarduk compared the situation to a government-abetted monopoly.
'This is Pfizer holding the US over a barrel,' he said.
Jennifer Reid, senior adviser to health and vaccine equity at the UK-based non-profit Oxfam, slammed the firm as a monopoly as well.
'A 10,000 per cent markup on any product is extreme but on a lifesaving vaccine it's indefensible. The central problem is that Big Pharma corporations can set any price they want thanks to the monopoly control they have over life-saving products,' she said.
'Governments have a choice in how these government-granted monopolies are applied.'
He also notes that government funded research into mRNA technology and HIV vaccines even before the pandemic contributed to the vaccine's development.
Pfizer has greatly benefitted from the situation as well. On top of more-than doubling its revenue, the firms stock price has reached record levels as well.
It closed at $59.48 on December 17, 2021, an all-time high. The price closed at $45.54 on Tuesday, which also would be a pre-Covid record.
On December 17, 2019, two years before the all-time high stock price and before the pandemic, its price closed at $36.91.
This jump in price was largely fueled by the shots, which brought in $36billion in revenue in 2021 and an estimated $32billion by the end of 2022.
Mr Bourla has long been a proponent of repeated Covid shots, even saying that an annual vaccine will be necessary to control the virus going forward.
Pfizer's stock price his an all-time high on December 17, 2021, closing at 59.48 per share. It currently sits at around $46 per share, which also would have been a record pre-pandemic
His total compensation will total around $50million between 2021 and 2022, earning around $25million each year on the back of the company's success.
Other board members that have significantly benefitted from the rise in stock price include Dr Scott Gottlieb, former head of the Food and Drug Administration who signed on to Pfizer after leaving the agency in 2017.
When he made the move, Sen Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said it 'smacks of corruption' and was a signal that 'Big Pharma' and leading federal regulators were in too-close contact.
Susan Desmond-Hellmann serves as a board member at the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute alongside her post at Pfizer.
The amount of power Mr Gates and his institutions have had over the rollout of the vaccines and the pandemic in general has been criticized by some leading experts because of a lack of oversight.
Joseph Echevarria serves on Pfizer's board as well. He also serves as an advisor to the Obama Foundation and as chair emeritus of Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Alliance.
Dr Sahin is also among an illustrious group of pharma and biotechnology moguls who made out well from the pandemic.
Oxfam includes him among its nine 'vaccine billionaires', nine people who reached the status because of their firm's success selling the shots.
His $4billion net worth makes him second on the list, only to Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel who is worth an estimated $4.3billion.
To say the working conditions at Apple's largest iPhone plant probably aren't incredible to begin with would likely be an understatement. But then when you lock down most of your 200,000 workers because of a Covid outbreak, those conditions likely get much worse.
This is what seemed to be the case this week, with Bloomberg reporting today that Covid cases at Foxconn Technology Group’s main factory in the central city of Zhengzhou have resulted in the facility going into a "closed loop" lockdown.
The lockdown means that employees can't leave the campus and are tested regularly for Covid, the report says. But after the lockdown, "food has become a source of unrest", according to the report. "Scuffles" have even broke out amongst employees over food.
As a result of the lockdowns, cafeterias at the manufacturing site were shut down and workers on assembly lines were given "meal boxes". Some employees who have remained locked down in their dormitories were given items like bread and instant noodles.
The origins of Covid on the compound are unknown, but workers in numbers up to a dozen can share "cramped living quarters", the report says. Bloomberg said that conflicting reports indicated that isolated workers may have been deprived of proper meals.
Recall, just days ago we wrote about Foxconn implementing health restrictions after a flare up of Covid.
Foxconn's Zhengzhou campus has about 300,000 workers -- all have been banned from eating in public and must take meals back to their dorms for consumption, the South China Morning Post reported days ago, citing a notice on the factory's official WeChat account.
"Foxconn's Zhengzhou workers are only permitted to commute along certain routes within the campus, with many entrances closed in a de facto lockdown," SCMP said. In another notice, workers living off campus were advised to move into on-site dormitories.
At least for now, production of iPhones at the Zhengzhou campus remains normal despite the newly enacted Covid restrictions, according to a Foxconn spokesman.
"Production in the Zhengzhou campus remains normal, without a notable impact [from the Covid-19] situation," the spokesman said.
China has yet to capitulate on its long-standing Zero-Covid policy (despite being a convenient scapegoat for Xi to deflect anger at the slowing economy during this month's 20th party Congress). More than one million people were ordered to stay at home earlier this month in the metro area surrounding the iPhone campus.
Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and Imperial College London have found a switch that regulates the activity of a gene that causes diabetes. The findings, published inNature Cell Biology, highlights potential new vulnerabilities in the disease and could lead to the development of new therapeutic strategies.
HNF1A is a gene that provides instructions for making a protein called hepatocyte nuclear factor-1 alpha. The protein is expressed in many tissues but is particularly important for the pancreas, where it plays a role in developing beta cells. Beta cells produce the hormone insulin, which regulate blood sugar levels.
Mutations in HNF1A cause cells to create a protein that doesn't work normally, which in turn affects the function of beta cells. This results in individuals developing a disease known as maturity-onset diabetes of the young, where symptoms such as high blood sugar can appear before individuals reach the age of 30.
Though this disease accounts for just 1% of all types of diabetes, it is high in terms of absolute numbers due to the high prevalence of diabetes amongst the worldwide population (5-10%). HNF1A is also known to play a key role in the susceptibility for the more common form of the disease, type 2 diabetes, in concert with other genetic and non-genetic factors.
Understanding how the HNF1A gene is switched on or off in beta cells could have important implications for understanding why defects in this gene lead to diabetes, or how it could be harnessed to correct the underlying problem. Using a combination of mouse and human models, researchers have now focused on an enigmatic part of the genome near HNF1A that has a unique function that has not been described before. This DNA regulatory element works like as rheostat; if the HNF1A gene transcribes too much it dials it down, if the gene is slacking it dials it back up.
"We coined this a stabilizer, in contrast to other DNA regulatory elements such as enhancers, promoters and silencers, and call this particular element HASTER, for HNF1A stabilizer," explains Jorge Ferrer, Senior Researcher at the CRG and Group Leader at CIBERDEM.
The vast majority of RNA molecules synthesized inside cells do not code for proteins. HASTER controls the production of a class of these RNA molecules known as long non-coding RNAS, (lncRNAS). "This is intriguing because there are tens of thousands of lncRNAs in the human genome, most of which have no known function. It very likely that that there are many lncRNAs in our genome with a similar function to HASTER. If so, they could play a significant role in human disease," says Dr. Anthony Beucher, first author of the study.
The researchers showed that mutations in HASTER cause diabetes in mice. "This is important, because it proves that this type of element is critically important, the consequences of deleting HASTER are comparable to deleting HNF1A itself. HASTER could be a useful handle to manipulate HNF1A therapeutically" says Dr. Ferrer.
The study is an example of how studying the non-protein coding sequences in a genome can yield new ways to understand and treat disease. Just 1-2% of the human genome consists of protein-coding sequences. The remaining 'dark matter' is thought to include tens of thousands of regions that regulate gene expression.
By showing that changes to the function of gene regulatory elements such as HASTER can drastically change cell function akin to disrupting the gene itself, the researchers pave the way for future studies that explore the role of non-protein coding sequences in promoting disease.
"A lot more space in the human genome is devoted to regulating genes than to the genes themselves. In this study we have experimentally validated just one region to ascertain its function. It's likely this is just the tip of the iceberg," concludes Dr. Ferrer.
The study features on the cover of this month's edition of Nature Cell Biology, and is included in a collection of articles from across Nature research journals that discuss recent technological advances in noncoding RNA biology.
"Although noncoding RNAs were initially considered to be degradation products of RNA turnover and metabolism, and were often neglected, increasing evidence has demonstrated their regulatory and functional roles in diverse cellular compartments and macromolecular structures and in a wide range of contexts spanning differentiation, disease and metabolism," says an accompanying editorial.
Anthony Beucher, Irene Miguel-Escalada, Diego Balboa, MatÃas G. De Vas, Miguel Angel Maestro, Javier Garcia-Hurtado, Aina Bernal, Roser Gonzalez-Franco, Pierfrancesco Vargiu, Holger Heyn, Philippe Ravassard, Sagrario Ortega, Jorge Ferrer. The HASTER lncRNA promoter is a cis-acting transcriptional stabilizer of HNF1A. Nature Cell Biology, 2022; 24 (10): 1528 DOI: 10.1038/s41556-022-00996-8
Huntington's disease, a fatal, inherited neurodegenerative condition, is caused by a genetic error present at birth, though its symptoms often don't begin until middle adulthood. Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been trying to understand how the aging process triggers the onset of symptoms, with the expectation that such knowledge could point to treatments that delay or prevent neurodegeneration.
To that end, a new study from Washington University indicates that as patients age, the disease gradually impairs an important cellular housekeeping process called autophagy, which is responsible for eliminating waste from cells. This housekeeping is significant in Huntington's because a buildup of waste in a specific kind of neuron leads to such cells' untimely deaths.
The researchers also showed that enhancing the autophagy pathway in such neurons that were created from skin cells of Huntington's patients protects those cells from dying.
"Our study reveals how aging triggers a loss of the crucial process of autophagy -- and hints at how we might try to restore this important function, with the aim of delaying or even preventing Huntington's disease," said senior author Andrew S. Yoo, PhD, a Washington University professor of developmental biology.
The study, published Oct. 27 in the journal Nature Neuroscience, also may offer clues to understanding cognitive decline in aging generally.
Huntington's disease destroys a specific type of brain cell called medium spiny neurons, the loss of which causes involuntary muscle movements, impaired mental health and cognitive decline. Patients typically live about 20 years after signs of the disease first appear.
For this study, the researchers reprogrammed patients' skin cells into medium spiny neurons using a technique they developed that allows adult skin cells to be transformed directly into various types of brain cells, depending on the specific recipe of signaling molecules to which the skin cells are exposed. More common techniques involve use of stem cells -- but stem cells reset the cells' biological clocks to an early developmental state, which is not useful when studying diseases that only become symptomatic in adulthood.
"We collected skin cell samples from different patients at a range of ages and modeled the disease before and after symptoms developed, which allowed us to identify the differences between younger and older patients with Huntington's disease," Yoo said. "We knew there must be some change that takes place as patients age. They all have a genetic mutation in the Huntingtin gene. We wanted to find the difference between young patients who have no symptoms and older patients who actively show signs of the disease."
Yoo and his colleagues, including co-first authors Youngmi Oh, PhD, and Seongwon Lee, PhD, both staff scientists in Yoo's lab, found that medium spiny neurons reprogrammed from skin cells of older patients with symptomatic Huntington's produced very high levels of a microRNA molecule called miR-29b-3p. These high levels were not seen in reprogrammed neurons of younger Huntington's patients or in reprogrammed neurons from healthy individuals of any age. The investigators showed that the microRNA set off a chain of events that included impairing autophagy in these cells. When the skin cells completed the conversion into neurons, they began producing the problematic microRNA, autophagy slowed down, and the cells began dying.
The researchers went on to show that reducing levels of this microRNA allowed autophagy to continue and protected the neurons from dying. In addition, they found that enhancing autophagy with a chemical compound called G2 protected the diseased neurons from death. As the researchers increased the dose of G2, the protection from cell death improved as well.
G2 is derived from a series of analogs that were discovered in the labs of co-authors David Perlmutter, MD, executive vice chancellor for medical affairs, the George and Carol Bauer Dean of the School of Medicine, and the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Distinguished Professor; Gary Silverman, MD, PhD, the Harriet B. Spoehrer Professor and head of the Department of Pediatrics; and Stephen C. Pak, PhD, a professor of pediatrics in the Division of Newborn Medicine. G2 was identified via high throughput screening for autophagy enhancer drugs that could correct the cellular accumulation of variant alpha-1-antitrypsin Z that causes liver disease in alph-1-antitrypsin deficiency (ATD). The G2 compounds could therefore represent attractive candidates for preventing neurodegeneration in Huntington's disease, liver disease in alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency and perhaps other diseases in which aberrant accumulation of misfolded proteins is toxic to cells.
The study also uncovered what may be a tantalizing clue for understanding cognitive decline in normal aging. When comparing the symptomatic neurons to pre-symptomatic neurons and to healthy neurons from both young and older adults, the researchers found that the neurons of healthy older adults produced slightly elevated levels of the harmful microRNA, but in far smaller amounts than the neurons of symptomatic Huntington's disease patients. The study suggests that even in normal, healthy aging, medium spiny neurons gradually produce low levels of this microRNA, which may interfere with autophagy's healthy cellular housekeeping.
"By modeling different stages of the disease across the life span, we can identify how aging plays a role in disease onset," Yoo said. "With that information, we can begin to look for ways to delay that onset. Our study also suggests that the triggering molecule for the onset of Huntington's disease may play some role in age-associated decline in neuronal function generally. Understanding the component of aging that sets off neurodegeneration may help in developing new strategies for treatment and prevention of Huntington's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions that develop at older ages."
Yoo and his team also are working with other collaborators using their cellular reprogramming technique to investigate forms of Alzheimer's disease, tauopathy, and other neurodegenerative conditions.
This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant numbers RF1AG056296 and R01NS107488; the Cellular and Molecular Biology Training Program, grant number T32 GM007067; the Cure Alzheimer's Fund; the CHDI Fund; a Hereditary Disease Foundation Grant; the Farrell Foundation Fund; and a Mallinckrodt Scholar Award.
Young Mi Oh, Seong Won Lee, Woo Kyung Kim, Shawei Chen, Victoria A. Church, Kitra Cates, Tiandao Li, Bo Zhang, Roland E. Dolle, Sonika Dahiya, Stephen C. Pak, Gary A. Silverman, David H. Perlmutter, Andrew S. Yoo. Age-related Huntington’s disease progression modeled in directly reprogrammed patient-derived striatal neurons highlights impaired autophagy. Nature Neuroscience, 2022; DOI: 10.1038/s41593-022-01185-4
At least 146 people are now reported to have been killed during an incident at Halloween festivities in Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood Saturday night, according to Choi Seong-bum, chief of the Yongsan-gu Fire Department.
At least 150 others were also reported injured, the chief added.
The cause of the deaths has not been confirmed, but the fire chief said many people fell during the Halloween festivities, resulting in casualties. The chief said they received reports of people “buried” in crowds starting around 10:24 p.m. local time Saturday night.
Rescue teams work at the scene where dozens of people were injured during a Halloween festival in Seoul, South Korea, October 29, 2022.
Kim Hong-ji/Reuters
Earlier, the Yonhap News Agency reported that some people had suffered from “cardiac arrest,” attributing the statement to fire authorities. Emergency officials assisted at least 81 people in Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood reporting “difficulty breathing.”
Dozens of the injured were transferred to nearby hospitals, said Choi Jae-won, the head of Yongsan Health Center, adding that the death toll would likely increase.
Authorities are still investigating what caused the incident; there was no gas leak nor fire on site, according to the fire chief.
A witness described a chaotic scene to CNN, saying he saw people jammed in a narrow street unable to breathe.
“I saw people going to the left side and I saw the person getting to the opposite side. So, the person in the middle got jammed, so they had no way to communicate, they could not breathe,” Song Sehyun told CNN.
Crowds are seen in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon in Seoul on October 30, 2022.
Jung Yeon-je/AFP/Getty Images
Police closed off the area and social media videos showed people lying in the streets and on stretchers as first responders rendered aid.
The fire chief said that a total of 848 emergency response forces have been dispatched, including 364 firefighters and 400 police officials.
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South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol sent a disaster medical assistance team to the Halloween incident, according to the presidential office.
Emergency services treat injured people on October 30, 2022, in Seoul, South Korea.
Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images
The president also ordered authorities to secure emergency beds in hospitals nearby and to implement swift rescue operations and treatment, presidential spokesman Lee Jae-Myung said in a briefing.
Yoon was in an emergency meeting regarding the situation, the office said in a statement.
