Weekly Update of Infectious Diseases 

and Related Information

June 20, 2023

Policy

June 19

Health experts worry as Meta rolls back some COVID misinformation policies | ABC 

News (go.com)

Public health experts fear that Meta's decision to roll back some of its COVID-19 

misinformation measures will lead to more disinformation about the virus, treatments for 

it and vaccines.

June 16

Doctor Lands in the Doghouse After Giving Covid Vaccine Waivers Too Freely | KFF 

Health News 

A Tennessee doctor has lost his medical license for issuing COVID-19 vaccine waivers 

to patients he never met in at least 3 states. 

June 13

N.J. drops COVID vaccine mandate for health care workers | nj.com 

The registered nurse declined to be vaccinated after the pandemic hit and was

granted a religious exemption from Jersey Shore University Medical Center, where 

she worked in the oncology unit.

June 13

CDC’s Walensky parries GOP criticism over Covid response | STAT (statnews.com) 

GOP lawmakers took predictable shots at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

Director Rochelle Walensky over her comments. 

June 12

Greg Abbott says he won’t renew his COVID-19 disaster declaration | The Texas 

Tribune

Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday he will not renew Texas’ long-running COVID-19 

disaster declaration later this week after he signed a law that bans local mandates 

related to the pandemic.
COVID-19

June 19

Long COVID-19 can make you thirsty - a first look at the data showing us what 

scientists have learned | cleveland.com 

Scientists are now sharing a first look at the data they had collected from adults with 

long COVID, and they found some interesting patterns. Among them, thirst is a 

common complaint among people with the condition.

June 16

Covid-19 Patients Zero In Wuhan Identified, Boosting Lab Leak Theory | Forbes

(forbes.com) 

A report based on multiple anonymous sources inside the U.S. government says that 

researchers working inside the Wuhan Institute of Virology were the first to be infected 

with the virus that went on to trigger a pandemic and kill millions worldwide.

June 16

Decline in COVID reporting muddles tracking of global illness patterns | CIDRAP 

(umn.edu)

Global cases and deaths continued to drop over the past 28 days, but the metrics don't 

accurately reflect infection rates because of the steady drop in testing and regular 

reporting from countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday.

June 16

Gestational diabetes, pediatric type 2 diabetes increased during pandemic | CIDRAP 

(umn.edu) 

More pregnant women were diagnosed with gestational diabetes during the pandemic

and more kids received a Type 2 diagnosis, according to new research presented this 

week at ENDO 2023, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Chicago.

June 15

European study shows mental health impact of pandemic | CIDRAP (umn.edu) 

The first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental health of millions of 

Europeans, but not as strongly as many feared, with only a modest rise in mental health 

problems seen in a new systematic review published in “The Lancet Psychiatry.”

June 14

Studies spotlight burnout, online harassment of health workers during COVID-19 | 

CIDRAP (umn.edu)

2 new studies illustrate the mental toll COVID-19 took on health care workers, with the 

first documenting high rates of burnout among health care workers and the second 

describing harassment on social media platforms suffered by physicians and scientists 

during the pandemic.
June 14

Monoclonal antibody injection shown to prevent COVID-19 during Delta, Omicron | 

CIDRAP (umn.edu)

A single injection of the monoclonal antibody, adintrevimab, prevented COVID-19 in the 

phase 2/3 EVADE trial, finds a study published yesterday in “Open Forum Infectious 

Diseases.”

June 14

The CDC Is Tracking New COVID-19 Variants at Airports | Time 

With the summer travel season about to begin, public health officials face a 

daunting challenge in keeping on top of ever-evolving COVID-19 variants. 

June 14

Survey finds 8% Omicron-positivity rate after medical meeting | CIDRAP (umn.edu) 

Of attendees at the in-person 2022 German Society of Ophthalmology meeting who 

completed a survey 3 weeks later, 8% reported testing positive for COVID-19.

June 13

Many Americans who lose taste, smell over COVID-19 don't fully recover | CIDRAP 

(umn.edu)

Millions of Americans have been infected with COVID-19 since the pandemic of the 

novel coronavirus began in March 2020, and one of the most telling and troublesome 

symptoms of infection has been the loss of taste and smell.

June 13

Common diabetes drug shown to prevent long COVID | CIDRAP (umn.edu)

A 14-day course of metformin, a common drug used to manage Type 2 diabetes, 

prevents long COVID, according to a new study in “The Lancet Infectious Diseases.” 

June 13

Researchers identify type of long COVID with persistent inflammation | CIDRAP 

(umn.edu)

U.S. researchers say they have discovered a subtype of long COVID characterized by 

persistent inflammation, a finding that could help identify dominant disease pathways of 

diagnostic or therapeutic value.

Mpox

June 16

Spanish study shows efficacy of Jynneos mpox vaccine is 89% | CIDRAP (umn.edu)

When used as post-exposure prevention of mpox, the vaccine Jynneos had an adjusted 

vaccine effectiveness of 88.8%, and vaccination can be protective against the virus up 

to 7 weeks following exposure.
June 13

Mpox transmission stays low globally, with mixed regional patterns | CIDRAP (umn.edu)

Global mpox transmission continues at low levels, though 2 regions — Southeast Asia 

and Africa — reported increases in recent weeks, WHO said in its latest update on the 

outbreak.

June 12 

AI can accurately diagnose mpox using photos of rash, researchers say | CIDRAP 

(umn.edu)

Researchers in India say they used artificial intelligence to diagnose mpox using photos 

of skin lesions with an accuracy up to 99.5%.

Influenza

June 13

H9N2 avian flu infects another child in China | CIDRAP (umn.edu)

China has reported another H9N2 avian flu case, which involves a 7-month-old boy 

from Jiangxi province, Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection said today in one of its 

regular avian influenza updates.

Vaccines/Antivirals 

June 16

Bivalent COVID vaccine protects against death for at least 6 months in older adults, 

study suggests | CIDRAP (umn.edu)

The bivalent (2-strain) COVID-19 booster provides substantial protection against death 

among U.S. adults aged 65 years and older, with no significant signs of waning for up to 

6 months.

June 15

Covid boosters: FDA panel recommends new XBB shots for the fall | NBC News

(nbcnews.com)

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Friday that it was advising drugmakers to 

update the COVID-19 booster shots to target XBB.1.5, the predominant coronavirus 

strain in the United States.

June 15

FDA advisers recommend that Covid-19 boosters for fall should drop original strain | 

CNN

A panel of outside advisers to the FDA voted Thursday that COVID-19 vaccines 

should be updated for the fall as the pandemic continues to recede from daily life, 

but the coronavirus shows no signs of slowing its evolution.
June 15

FDA panel backs monovalent XBB switch for fall COVID vaccines | CIDRAP (umn.edu)

The FDA vaccine advisory group today recommended switching to a monovalent (1-

strain) vaccine containing the omicron XBB subvariant for immunization in the fall.

June 15

COVID-19 vaccines shown safe in 2 new studies | CIDRAP (umn.edu)

2 new studies show COVID-19 vaccines are safe in older adults and when administered 

simultaneously with non-COVID vaccines. Both studies are published in “Vaccine.”