COVID-19 Timeline: January 2022
October 4, 2022
At Bioethics.com we have kept up with the spread of COVID-19 and the related bioethical questions that this pandemic brings. The posts that follow highlight news from January 2022 and were originally posted at Bioethics.com. These posts focus on the bioethical issues that medical professionals, bioethicists, public health officials, and scientists grappled with as SARS-CoV-2 swept the globe.
Jan 3: “New Covid-19 Pills Carry Risks: What Patients Should Know” by Peter Loftus, Wall Street Journal
The first Covid-19 antiviral pills that can be taken at home are a new treatment option for infected people, but they carry safety warnings and limitations that could complicate treatment decisions for patients, doctors and pharmacists.
Jan 3: “FDA Expands Pfizer Boosters for More Teens as Omicron Surges” by Lauran Neergaard, Associated Press
The U.S. is expanding COVID-19 boosters as it confronts the omicron surge, with the Food and Drug Administration allowing extra Pfizer shots for children as young as 12.
Jan 4: “New COVID Records in US, UK, France as Omicron Runs Rampant” AFP posted on Medical Xpress
The US, Britain, France and Australia have all announced record numbers of daily COVID-19 cases as the WHO warned Tuesday that Omicron’s dizzying spread increased the risk of newer, more dangerous variants emerging.
Jan 4: “CDC Posts Rationale for Shorter Isolation, Quarantine” by Mike Stobbe, ABC News
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday explained the scientific rationale for shortening its COVID-19 isolation and quarantine recommendations, and clarified that the guidance applies to kids as well as adults.
Jan 5: “US Hospitals Seeing Different Kind of COVID Surge This Time” by Rodrique Ngowi, Michael Casey, and Don Thompson, Associated Press
Hospitals across the U.S. are feeling the wrath of the omicron variant and getting thrown into disarray that is different from earlier COVID-19 surges. This time, they are dealing with serious staff shortages because so many health care workers are getting sick with the fast-spreading variant.
Jan 5: “Omicron’s Feeble Attack on the Lungs Could Make It Less Dangerous” by Max Kozlov, Nature
Early indications from South Africa and the United Kingdom signal that the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 is less dangerous than its predecessor Delta. Now, a series of laboratory studies offers a tantalizing explanation for the difference: Omicron does not infect cells deep in the lung as readily as it does those in the upper airways.
Jan 5: “Hospitalization Risk from Omicron Variant ‘Around a Third of Delta’” by Peter Russell, Medscape
Protection against hospitalisation from COVID-19 vaccines is “good” against the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, an analysis has found.
Jan 6: “WHO: Record Weekly Jump in COVID-19 Cases but Fewer Deaths” by Jamey Keaten, Associated Press
The World Health Organization said Thursday that a record 9.5 million COVID-19 cases were tallied over the last week as the omicron variant of the coronavirus swept the planet, a 71% increase from the previous 7-day period that the U.N. health agency likened to a “tsunami.” However, the number of weekly recorded deaths declined.
Jan 6: “COVID-19 May Have Killed Nearly 3 Million in India, Far More Than Official Counts Show” by Jon Cohen, Science
India, from the earliest days of the pandemic, has reported far fewer COVID-19 deaths than expected given the toll elsewhere—an apparent death “paradox” that some believed was real and others thought would prove illusory.
Jan 7: “Death from COVID-19 Very Rare in Fully Vaccinated Adults: Study” by Megan Brooks, Medscape
New research shows that adults who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 rarely die from the disease, although the odds of severe outcomes and death are higher in older adults and in those with compromised immune systems and underlying conditions.
Jan 7: “Protection from Prior Infection Significantly Reduced Against Omicron” by Caitlin Owens, Axios
Prior coronavirus infections appear to be much less protective against symptomatic Omicron reinfections than reinfection with other variants, according to a new study by Qatari researchers that has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Jan 7: “FDA Shortens Timing of Moderna Booster to 5 Months” ABC News
U.S. regulators on Friday [January 7] shortened the time that people who received Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine have to wait for a booster — to five months rather than six.
Jan 7: “As Omicron Spreads, Europe Scrambles to Shore Up Health Care” by Mike Corder, Associated Press
Nations across Europe are scrambling to prop up health systems strained by staff shortages blamed on the new, highly transmissible omicron variant of the coronavirus, which is sending a wave of infections crashing over the continent.
Jan 10: “Omicron Comes to China, Prompting Mass Testing and Quarantines” by Natasha Khan, Wall Street Journal
Chinese health authorities confirmed the country’s first cases of domestic transmission of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in the northern coastal city of Tianjin on Sunday, ordering up testing of millions of residents weeks before neighboring Beijing is set to host the Winter Olympics.
Jan 10: “Pfizer/BioNTech Vaccine Protects Children Against Rare COVID-19 Complication: CDC” Reuters, reposted at Medscape
Two doses of the Pfizer Inc and BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine are highly protective against a rare but often serious condition in children that causes organ inflammation weeks after COVID-19 infections, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report said on Friday [January 7].
Jan 10: “Health Officials Let COVID-Infected Staff Stay on the Job” by Adriana Gomez Licon and Jennifer McDermott, Associated Press
Health authorities around the U.S. are increasingly taking the extraordinary step of allowing nurses and other workers infected with the coronavirus to stay on the job if they have mild symptoms or none at all. The move is a reaction to the severe hospital staffing shortages and crushing caseloads that the omicron variant is causing.
Jan 12: “Covid-19 Cases Surge at Nursing Homes” by Anna Wilde Mathews and Jon Kamp, Wall Street Journal
The Covid-19 surge fueled by the Omicron variant is hitting nursing homes hard, with the highest number of cases ever documented among staffers and a near-record tally of residents also testing positive, according to new federal data.
Jan 12: “COVID Vaccines Safely Protect Pregnant People: the Data Are In” by Shannon Hall, Nature
[The data] show that the risks of COVID-19 during pregnancy — including maternal death, stillbirth and premature delivery — far outweigh the risks of being vaccinated.
Jan 12: “As Covid Deaths Rise, Many Still Caused by Delta Variant, CDC Says” by Berkeley Lovelace, Jr. NBC News
Most reported Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. are still from the delta variant, not omicron, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday [January 12].
Jan 13: “Omicron Appears to Have Peaked in U.K., Offering Hope the Wave Is Receding” by Jason Douglas, Wall Street Journal
The U.K. appears to have passed the peak of the latest wave of Covid-19 caused by Omicron, a promising sign that the highly transmissible variant’s impact may be brief, if intense, and fueling optimism that the pandemic may be waning.
Jan 13: “COVID-19 Pill Rollout Stymied by Shortages as Omicron Rages” by Matthew Perrone, Associated Press
Two brand-new COVID-19 pills that were supposed to be an important weapon against the pandemic in the U.S. are in short supply and have played little role in the fight against the omicron wave of infections.
Jan 13: “Unvaccinated Women with Covid Are More Likely to Lose Fetuses and Infants, Scottish Data Show” by Roni Caryn Rabin, New York Times
“Researchers in Scotland reported on Thursday that pregnant women with Covid were not only at greater risk of developing severe disease, but also more likely to lose their fetuses and babies in the womb or shortly after birth, compared with other women who gave birth during the pandemic.”
Jan 13: “U.S. to Deploy Military Medical Teams to Help Ease Strain on Hospitals” by Andrew Restuccia, Sam Schechner and Eric Sylvers, Wall Street Journal
The teams will deploy to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, Coney Island Hospital in New York, Rhode Island Hospital, Henry Ford Hospital in Michigan, University of New Mexico Hospital, and University Hospital in New Jersey, according to the White House. More military medical teams will be deployed to other states in the coming weeks as needed, the White House said.
Jan 14: “Supreme Court Halts COVID-19 Vaccine Rules for US Businesses” by Mark Sherman and Jessica Gresko, Associated Press
The Supreme Court has stopped a major push by the Biden administration to boost the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination rate, a requirement that employees at large businesses get a vaccine or test regularly and wear a mask on the job. At the same time, the court is allowing the administration to proceed with a vaccine mandate for most health care workers in the U.S.
Jan 14: “Anti-Coronavirus Measures Tightened Across China” Associated Press
China further tightened its anti-pandemic measures in Beijing and across the country on Friday [January 14] as scattered outbreaks continued ahead of the opening of the Winter Olympics in a little over two weeks.
Jan 17: “Omicron Slamming S. American Hospitals as Workers Fall Ill” by Debora Alvarez and Almudena Calatrava, Associated Press
The coronavirus’ omicron variant starting to barrel across South America is pressuring hospitals whose employees are taking sick leave, leaving facilities understaffed to cope with COVID-19’s third wave.
Jan 18: “CDC Director Aims to Improve Covid-19 Messaging, Data Collection” by Sarah Toy, Wall Street Journal
One year into her tenure as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky acknowledged that she hasn’t been clear enough with the American public.
Jan 18: “Hong Kong to Cull 2,000 Hamsters After COVID-19 Outbreak” by Jessie Pang and Tyrone Siu, Reuters
Hong Kong warned people not to kiss pets and ordered a mass cull of hamsters on Tuesday, to the outrage of animal-lovers, after 11 of the rodents tested positive for COVID-19.
Jan 18: “Arkansas Inmates Are Suing After Being Given Ivermectin to Treat COVID-19” by Joe Hernandez, NPR,
Four inmates at an Arkansas jail have filed a federal lawsuit after they say medical staff gave them the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to treat COVID-19 without telling them what it was. The inmates said they were told the medicines they were taking were ‘vitamins,’ ‘antibiotics,’ or ‘steroids.’
Jan 19: “1 in 3 Still Infectious After 5-Day COVID Quarantine” by Rob Hicks, Medscape
Potentially active SARS-CoV-2 may persist beyond 10 days say researchers from the University of Exeter, facilitating onward transmission of COVID-19 after a person has completed the advised quarantine period.
Jan 19: “UK Study Finds More Omicron Hospitalizations in Youngest Children, But Cases Mild” Reuters, re-posted on Medscape
Infants under 12 months of age are proportionally more likely to be hospitalised with the Omicron variant of the coronavirus than older children but they do not become particularly sick, British researchers said.
Jan 19: “US Begins Offering 1B Free COVID Tests, But Many More Needed” by Matthew Perrone and Kate Brumback, Associated Press
For the first time, all Americans can log on to a government website and order free, at-home COVID-19 tests.
Jan 19: “Pfizer’s New Covid-19 Pill Works Against Omicron in Lab” by Jared S. Hopkins, Wall Street Journal
Pfizer Inc.’s new Covid-19 pill, Paxlovid, was effective against the Omicron variant in laboratory tests, an encouraging early sign the drug will be an important tool while the strain spreads.
Jan 19: “Omicron Hits American Hospitals Disproportionately Hard” by Caitlin Owens, Axios
America is seeing more COVID hospitalizations than other wealthy countries during the Omicron surge, according to Our World in Data. Why it matters: Vaccines keep the vast majority of COVID cases out of the hospital, but vaccination rates are also lower in the U.S. than these other countries. U.S. hospitals — particularly the health care workers that staff them — are struggling to keep up with the workload.
Jan 20: “Prior Covid-19 Infection Offered Better Protection Than Vaccination During Delta Wave” by Brianna Abbott, Wall Street Journal
Surviving a previous infection provided better protection than vaccination against Covid-19 during the Delta wave, federal health authorities said, citing research showing that both the shots and recovery from the virus provided significant defense.
Jan 20: “WHO Says No Evidence Healthy Children, Adolescents Need COVID-19 Boosters” Reuters, re-posted on Medscape
There is no evidence at present that healthy children and adolescents need booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine, the World Health Organization’s chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on Tuesday [January 18].
Jan 20: “A South African Study of Infected Zoo Lions Spurs Worries About the Virus Spreading in the Wild.” By Lynsey Chutel, New York Times
Lions at a South African zoo that caught the coronavirus from their handlers were sick for more than three weeks and continued to test positive for up to seven weeks, according to a new study that raised concerns about the virus spreading among animals in the wild.
Jan 21: “Some U.S. Hospitals See Covid-19 Patient Counts Decline as Omicron Retreats” by Jon Kamp, Wall Street Journal
Hospitals in early Omicron hot spots like New York and Washington, D.C., say the pressure is starting to ease, with many reporting fewer Covid-19 patients filling beds and smaller numbers of staff sidelined by infections.
Jan 21: “CDC: Pfizer and Moderna Boosters Overwhelmingly Prevent Omicron Hospitalizations” by Erin Doherty, Axios
Booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines overwhelmingly prevented hospitalizations from the Omicron variant, according to CDC data out Friday [January 21]. Driving the news: Pfizer and Moderna boosters were 90% effective at preventing people infected with the Omicron variant from ending up in the hospital, per the data.
Jan 21: “Omicron Surge Is Undermining Care for Other Health Problems” by Ben Finely and Kate Brumback, Associated Press
The omicron surge this winter has not only swamped U.S. hospitals with record numbers of patients with COVID-19, it has also caused frightening moments and major headaches for people trying to get treatment for other ailments.
Jan 24: “FDA Halts Use of Antibody Drugs That Don’t Work Vs. Omicron” by Matthew Perrone, Associated Press
COVID-19 antibody drugs from Regeneron and Eli Lilly should no longer be used because they are unlikely to work against the omicron variant that now accounts for nearly all U.S. infections, U.S. health regulators said Monday [January 24].
Jan 24: “China Tests 2M in Beijing, Lifts COVID Lockdown in Xi’an” by Ken Moritsugu, Associated Press
Less than two weeks before the opening of the Winter Olympics, a few dozen COVID-19 cases in Beijing have prompted authorities to test millions of people in the capital and extend that to anyone buying cold medicine.
Jan 25: “Ivermectin as Potential COVID-19 Treatment Gets Studied at Duke University” by Carolyn Crist, Medscape
Doctors at Duke University are leading a national study to test whether three drugs could effectively treat COVID-19 — including ivermectin — according to The News & Observer. The study, which began last summer, is attempting to provide a comprehensive assessment of the controversial treatment.
Jan 25: “COVID Brain Fog a ‘True Neurologic Condition’” Pauline Anderson, Medscape
Impaired cognition associated with COVID-19 appears to have a biological vs psychological basis, early research suggests.
Jan 25: “Covid-19 Hospitalizations Continue to Fall in U.S.” by Bertrand Benoit and Jared S. Hopkins, Associated Press
The seven-day average of the total number of people in U.S. hospitals with confirmed or suspected coronavirus declined for the fourth consecutive day to 156,042 on Monday [January 24], according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services.
Jan 25: “Hospitals Use a Lottery to Allocate Scarce COVID Drugs for the Immunocompromised” by Pien Huang, NPR
So the hospital devised a three-tier system to rank patients by medical need – and to give patients in the top tier an equal chance. ‘We put everybody’s name into a lottery,’ she explains. ‘If people literally get their name pulled in the lottery, we bring them in for an injection.’
Jan 25: “Pfizer Begins Testing Omicron-Matched COVID Shots in Adults” by Lauren Neergaard, Associated Press
Pfizer is enrolling healthy adults to test a reformulated COVID-19 vaccine that matches the hugely contagious omicron variant, to see how it compares with the original shots.
Jan 26: “Most COVID ICU Survivors Show Adverse Effects 1 Year Later: Study” by Marcia Frellick, Medscape
Most patients with COVID-19 who were treated in an intensive care unit (ICU) show physical, mental, and cognitive effects a year later, new data found.
Jan 26: “Watch, But Don’t Worry Yet, About New Omicron Subvariant” by Damian McNamara, Medscape
A new, highly contagious subvariant of Omicron has emerged, which some have begun calling “son of Omicron,” but public health officials say it’s too soon to tell what kind of real threat, if any, this new strain will present. In the meantime, it’s worth watching BA.2, the World Health Organization says.
Jan 26: “Covid-19 Deaths in the U.S. Top 2,100 a Day, Highest in Nearly a Year” by Jon Kamp, Wall Street Journal,
Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. have reached the highest level since early last year, eclipsing daily averages from the recent Delta-fueled surge, after the newer Omicron variant spread wildly through the country and caused record-shattering case counts.
Jan 26: “It’s Very Difficult to Get Access to Antiviral COVID Treatments” by Caitlin Owens, Axios
Antiviral COVID treatments are hailed as a pandemic game-changer, but they’re currently in very short supply — and that’s only one of several barriers to access for high-risk patients.
Jan 26: “Vaccine Mandate to Kick in for First Wave of Health Workers” by David A. Lieb and Heather Hollingsworth, ABC News
Health care workers in about half the states face a Thursday deadline to get their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine under a Biden administration mandate that will be rolled out across the rest of the country in the coming weeks.
Jan 26: “Hospitals are Denying Transplants for Patients Who Aren’t Vaccinated Against Covid, with Backing from Ethicists” by Andrew Joseph, STAT News
A Boston hospital’s denial of a heart transplant to a man who is unvaccinated for Covid-19 has generated national attention, but experts say mandating vaccines is in keeping with other long-standing requirements that patients have to meet to receive an organ — including getting other shots.
Jan 27: “Moderna Begins Testing Omicron-Matched COVID Shots in Adults” Associated Press
Moderna has begun testing an omicron-specific COVID-19 booster in healthy adults. The company announced Wednesday [January 26] that the first participant had received a dose.
Jan 28: “Contact Tracing Fizzles Across America” by Caitlin Owens, Axios
States across the country are scaling back their contact tracing efforts, often focusing on vulnerable communities and relying more on Americans to alert close contacts themselves after testing positive for COVID.
Jan 28: “Welcome to Beijing’s Covid Olympics: ‘The Situation Is Going to Be Strict for a While’” by Sha Hua, Wall Street Journal
China appears to have brought two recent large coronavirus outbreaks under control and has turned its focus to Beijing, where health authorities are ramping up testing and tightening containment protocols as the Chinese capital prepares for the Lunar New Year and the Winter Olympics.
Jan 28: “Where Did Omicron Come From? Three Key Theories” by Smriti Mallapaty, Nature
Little more than two months after it was first spotted in South Africa, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has spread around the world faster than any previous versions. Scientists have tracked it in more than 120 countries, but remain puzzled by a key question: where did Omicron come from?
Jan 31: “COVID Cases Mount as Athletes, Personnel Arrive in Beijing” by Karolos Grohmann, Reuters
During the past four days China has detected 119 COVID-19 cases among athletes and personnel involved in the Beijing Winter Olympics, with authorities imposing a ‘closed loop’ bubble to keep participants, staff and media separated from the public.
Jan 31: “Booster Shot of Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Restores Protection Against Omicron” Reuters, re-posted on Medscape
A comparison of the effectiveness of the Moderna vaccine against various strains of the COVID-19 virus shows that although the vaccine provides dramatically less protection against the Omicron strain for people who only received the two doses, a booster shot restores much of that protection.
Jan 31: “The Latest Covid Variant is 1.5 Times More Contagious Than Omicron And Already Circulating in Almost Half of U.S. States” by Spencer Kimball, CNBC
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a statement Friday, said although BA.2 has increased in proportion to the original omicron strain in some countries, it is currently circulating at a low level in the U.S.
Jan 31: “Omicron Pushes Health Authorities Toward Learning to Live with Covid-19” by Dasl Yoon, Felize Solomon and Julie Wernau, Wall Street Journal
The Omicron variant spreads so quickly and generally causes such a mild form of illness among vaccinated populations that countries are tolerating greater Covid-19 outbreaks, willingly letting infections balloon to levels that not long ago would have been treated as public-health crises.
Jan 31: “US Gives Full Approval to Moderna’s COVID-19 Vaccine” by Matthew Perrone, Associated Press
U.S. health regulators on Monday [January 31] granted full approval to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine, a shot that’s already been given to tens of millions of Americans since its emergency authorization over a year ago.
Jan 31: “Novavax Asks FDA to Authorize Its Covid Shot” by Lauren Gardner and Katherine Ellen Foley, Politico
Novavax has asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize its Covid-19 shot for emergency use, opening the door for it to become the fourth vaccine available for adults living in the U.S.
