A weekly update on new research and developments concerning COVID-19 (and occasionally other infectious diseases that hit the news).
We take questions via call-in during the live broadcast, Mondays at 7:33am Pacific, streaming via kpfa.org. Podcasts with show notes go up later the same day. Between live shows, we take questions via email at [email protected] .
Our guest most weeks is Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. Our question-wrangler most weeks is Brian Edwards-Tiekert, host of KPFA’s morning public affairs program, UpFront.
Music: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.
Discussed in this episode: The FDA is poised to issue final approval of a new round of COVID vaccines as soon as today; a CDC advisory committee will issue recommendations on who should get it tomorrow (Tuesday); the new shots could be available as soon as Friday. The vaccine is re-calibrated to target the main … Continued
Discussed in this episode: New results from laboratory testing suggest BA.2.86 (nicknamed “Pirola”) may not be the menace people assessing its genetic sequence initially feared. These studies attach the spike protein from a COVID subvariant onto a harmless pseudovirus, then watch how it interacts with our cells and antibodies in a test tube. The first … Continued
Discussed in this episode: The new subvariant B.2.86 (nicknamed “Pirola”) is drawing concern in public health circles because a large quantity of mutations suggest it could be very effective at evading immunity from vaccination or infection from prior strains. It’s already been detected in multiple countries, including the US. A new study in Nature confirms the … Continued
Discussed in this episode: Considerations when timing and combining the COVID booster due out this fall, the annual flu vaccine, and the newly-approved RSV vaccine. A new study suggests you might get a better immune response from getting all your COVID shots in the same arm. (The study only measured antibodies and T-cells in blood … Continued
Discussed in this episode: A new paper in Science Translational Medicine draws results from animal experiments, human samples, and human autopsies to suggest a mechanism for some cases of Long Covid: the virus binds to a protein on our cells’ mitochondria and can enduringly alter their function. Podcast music credit: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 … Continued
Discussed in this episode: CDC genomic surveillance shows a new subvariant (EG.5.1, or “Eris” to people who like to give subvariants nicknames) accounting for a larger and larger share of positive COVID tests. That could mean it’s contributing to the current surge in cases. Dr. Swartzberg’s recommended reading on Long Covid: the National Institutes for … Continued
Discussed in this episode: Data aggregated by the CDC shows an increase in COVID hospitalizations, in positive test rates among people seeking emergency care, and in SARS-COV2 levels in wastewater samples. You can look up COVID levels in California wastewater on a system-by-system basis here Podcast music credit: Now Son by Podington Bear, licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International … Continued
Discussed in this episode: New research published in Nature examined if people who got infected without showing symptoms had something in common genetically. They did: a mutation on the HLA-B (that’s short for Human Leukocyte Antigen) gene. In the laboratory, T-cell samples collected from those people *before* infection reacted strongly to SARS-COV2, suggesting the mutation helps … Continued
Discussed in this episode: The morning newsletter at the New York Times, citing excess mortality data, suggests the pandemic is “over” The WHO’s updates show COVID deaths are down almost everywhere right now — including the southern hemisphere, which is in the middle of winter. That suggests COVID’s not settling into an endemic pattern of … Continued
Filling in for Brian Edwards-Tiekert, Philip Maldari hosts Covid Calls this week, featuring Dr. John Swartzberg, Clinical Professor Emeritus of Infectious Diseases at UC Berkeley. Discussed in this episode: Growth of the anti-vaccination movement and its weaponization in US politics The spread of Measles in the United States The rules and timelines for receiving a … Continued
