Biden Tests Positive for Covid AGAIN

It’s Monday, August 1. Welcome to the News Diet. Today I’m gonna talk about President Biden’s back-to-back Covid cases, the death of one of Ukraine’s wealthiest businessmen, the Kentucky flooding, and also how some lifeguards in Spain are now using drones to help with rescue efforts. Let’s be informed so we can get on with our day.

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President Biden has tested positive for Covid again, only four days after testing negative from an initial infection last week. Biden first tested positive on July 21, where he experienced mild symptoms that included a runny nose, fatigue, a fever, and cough, and then tested negative on Tuesday through Friday, before testing positive again on Saturday. He’s going back into isolation and is said to not be showing any symptoms this time around. 

So this back-to-back infection is what’s called a “rebound” case. It’s been seen in some cases, particularly those who have taken the antiviral therapy pill called Paxlovid, which is made by Pfizer. This treatment has been widely prescribed to Covid patients this summer, at about 40,000 prescriptions a day, which makes it more than one-third of Americans infected during this time. The pill is supposed to help fight off the virus, with minimal side effects. Biden received this treatment as well as Dr. Fauci who also experienced a rebound case.  

Now, the use of Paxlovid and these rebound cases is actually causing a lot of confusion for health care professionals. Trials from around the world are showing vastly different results in how many patients experience rebounds vs those who don’t - with some trials showing less than 2% of patients getting reinfected, and others showing up to 25% or more. Also, some health care professionals are saying that the deployment of Paxlovid might be wrong. This antiviral treatment is supposedly supposed to be for high-risk and unvaccinated patients, but it’s use has been applied to both low-risk and the vaccinated. And apparently patients can still be contagious throughout rebound infections, so this phenomena could be causing infections to spread longer. As of now many health care professionals are considering the treatment benefits to outweigh the still unanswered questions. But it appears there’s still some research to do on who to prescribe this therapy to, when to prescribe it, and for how long to prescribe it. And to actually get definitive results on if it is Paxlovid behind the rise in these rebound cases.

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One of Ukraine’s wealthiest businessmen, Oleksiy Vadatursky, was killed along with his wife by Russian shelling over the weekend. They were in their home in the southern city of Mykolaiv, which also experienced damage to other homes, a couple schools, a sports complex, and a hotel. Vadatursky was the owner of a huge company in the grain exports industry, and is credited with contributing to the development of the region’s agricultural and shipbuilding industries. 

Russia has been increasing their attacks on the southern part of Ukraine, where their ports lie. The war has caused issues with getting grain out of the country and to other parts of the world, which has caused a global food shortage. Last week, Turkey and the United Nations brokered an agreement between Russia and Ukraine to allow for grain exports to continue to despite the fighting, to ease the issue. An agreement was made, but almost immediately broken by an alleged Russian attack on Ukraine’s port. Regardless, Turkey has said that today should see the first ship of grain heading out.

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Over the weekend eastern Kentucky saw massive flooding that as of yesterday had a death toll of 26 people and the rescuing of thousands of residents by boat and helicopter, as well as thousands more without electricity. Kentucky has experienced several natural disasters recently, including an ice storm last year, a flash flood in July, and tornados in December that killed 80 people. Firefighters and the national guard have been deployed to the area, but there’s also a lot of reports of local communities arriving to help as well. The area of Bremen planned to send truckloads of supplies to the affected areas, as a thank you for the help they received last year after being hit with the tornados - even though the two communities are 300 miles apart. Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear warned that more rain is coming, and for residents to prepare by seeking higher ground.

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It looks like the beaches of Spain have successfully deployed adding drones as part of their lifeguard rescue strategy. The company General Drones has supplied 30 surf rescue drones to lifeguard stations in 22 Spanish beaches, and already the approach has helped rescue a 14 year old boy caught in a strong current in Valencia. The drone dropped a life vest to the boy as a lifeguard was still on his way to retrieve him. He was able to float above the water until the guard arrived. They’re saying that this strategy will help victims before help gets to them and also allow guards to consider safer means of rescue that might require a little more time to carry out.

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It’s Monday, August 1. And you’ve just been informed. Now it’s time to get on with your day. I’m Michele Carroll. Thanks so much for listening.

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https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/07/biden-paxlovid-covid-drug-rebound-infections/671009/

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/30/politics/joe-biden-covid-19-positive/index.html

https://www.foxnews.com/us/white-house-physician-president-biden-continues-test-positive-covid 

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62367356

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https://www.wymt.com/2022/07/31/governor-kentucky-flooding-deaths-increase-26-more-bodies-recovered/

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/30/us/kentucky-flooding-natural-disasters.html 

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https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/drone-saves-drowning-boy-in-spain-2022/