All Signs Show a “Return to Normal” Ahead

Key Points:

• In today’s Recommendations for Industry, we discuss a return to normal. Read more below.
• In a recent paper published in JAMA Neurology, CIDRAP cites that in patients over 60 years old who had developed severe illness, “cognitive impairment” post-COVID was common, a year later. The study cohort were those “released from hospitals in Wuhan, China.”
• Although The Americas only have <13% of the world’s population, the Americas “reported 63 percent of the world’s new known coronavirus cases in the first two months of 2022.” Of the 6 million people reported to have died from COVID, 2.6 million have come from the Americas with Peru leading in those numbers (NYT).
• This is the fifth week of global COVID-19 case decline. Cases not only declined by 5% but deaths also failed and declined by 8%. Despite the decrease in cases, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, China are seeing new record high cases. Almost 98% of cases are still the Omicron Variant; of those, 34% are the BA.2 Omicron subvariant (CIDRAP).
• Pangolins in Vietnam have been found to have a SARS-CoV-2-related coronavirus (CIDRAP).
• Austria is lifting its universal COVID-19 vaccine mandate (WSJ).

Food Safety & Public Health:

• According to the New York Times, “The Biden administration intends to contribute $150 million over the next three years to a global effort aimed at producing a vaccine within 100 days of the arrival of a new biological threat.”
• Abbott has expanded its recall for infant formula that was manufactured at one plant. From the FDA, “Abbott is voluntarily recalling one lot of Similac PM 60/40 (Lot # 27032K80 (can) / Lot # 27032K800 (case)) manufactured in Sturgis, Michigan. This is in addition to lots of Similac®, Alimentum® and EleCare® powder formula that were voluntarily recalled on Feb. 17. The action comes after learning of the death of an infant who tested positive for Cronobacter sakazakii and who we were informed had consumed Similac PM 60/40 from this lot. This case is under investigation, and at this time the cause of the infant’s Cronobacter sakazakii infection has not been determined. We want to extend our heartfelt sympathies to the family.”
  • To add to this, the Salmonella case is likely not part of the outbreak (Food Safety News).
• Pittsburgh Penguins at the PPG Paints Arena, in collaboration with Aramark and Cargill, are bringing the “first temperature-controlled food lockers” to the arena. As part of a self-service concept, the lockers will have “dual hot and ambient temperature compartments” (Business Wire).
• Stutzman Farms Issues a Voluntary Recall for Einkorn Products for Undeclared Wheat Allergen (FDA).
• Want to learn more about Cold Plasma Technology, listen to Episode 14 of IFT’s Sci Dish with Dr. Brendan A. Niemira (from USDA) (IFT).

Recommendations for Industry

All Signs Show a “Return to Normal” Ahead  

As shown in both TAG’s weekly matrix and the CDC community county tracker, COVID-19 cases are continuing to decline across the U.S. In alignment with the CDC’s update tracking, TAG’s matrix now includes a case chart based on COVID-illness hospitalizations. Along with our other continued tracking, this chart is showing an optimistic outlook with hospitalizations decreasing in all states. As such, we see the continued reduction in protections as being a positive direction, as long as businesses continue to take into consideration any continued or increased rates of illness within their workplace or community and re-implement protections as applicable.

A recent article in the New York Times also provides an interesting look at the impacts of COVID-19 precautions during the Omicron surge. With protections tending to differ between red and blue areas of the U.S., the differences “created a kind of natural experiment” as to whether Omicron spread less where social distancing and masking were more common. Interestingly, there tended to be no clear difference in case rates. This is not to say the masking was not effective with COVID-19 overall, but that Omicron was so contagious that it did not offer the same protection with this variant.

What was seen as having a difference was the impact of vaccinations on death rates, with areas of where vaccinations were less common having distinctly more COVID-related deaths. From this, two key points were taken: Vaccinations are critical; the significant reduction in Omicron cases provides a strong argument for continuing to remove other restrictions.

It’s been a long two years, with most of us ready to put COVID-19 behind us. As long as we focus on the lessons we’ve learned along the way and use them to continue to protect our communities, workforces, and selves should a new variant arise or other infectious disease take hold, we do see a reduction in protections as the way we should be moving.

Risk Matrix:

This week, there are no states with a TPR >10% and a case rate >25 cases/100K. However, 6 states have a TPR <10% and a case rate >25cases/100K. Case rates have improved across the country with only a few states having a higher case rate, including Idaho (at 71 cases/100K) and Montana (69 cases/100K).  

In Case You Missed It:

• In Tuesday’s Recommendations for Industry, we discussed combatting infectious diseases in the world’s “next normal.” Read more here.
• The pandemic global death rate has now exceeded 6 million (NYT).
• 24 U.S. experts have co-authored a new roadmap as the U.S. enters its third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. We discuss this further into today’s Recommendations for Industry (CIDRAP). 
• A study published Monday in Nature demonstrated, through brain scans, that COVID-19 may cause changes in the brain, including “more loss of gray matter and tissue damage, mostly in areas related to smell” (NYT).
• Social determinants of health affected and are tied to COVID-19 death rates; Black and Brown communities were affected by limited internet access, lack of health insurance, and having a higher proportions of working-age individuals (CIDRAP).

Influenza:

• In the U.S., influenza cases remain low; but seem to be increasing in some areas.
• Globally, influenza cases remain low – same as last week.

Food Safety:

• Tomorrow, Wednesday March 9^th, Fresh Produce is holding a Virtual Town Hall, “Cyclospora: The Global Impact of an Emerging Foodborne Pathogen,” to enable participates to “gain a basic understanding of what makes Cyclospora different, and learn about the global efforts to understand and control this pathogen.” Register here.
• In the FDA’s third TechTalk podcast, the FDA will discuss “Artificial Intelligence in the New Era of Smarter Food Safety.” It will be released on March 21^st.
• Highly pathogenic avian flus, including H5N1 and H5N2, continue to spread. In Missouri, H5N1 has stricken a broiler farm (CIDRAP).
• According to the U.N., food prices have “jump[ed] 20.7% year over year” (Reuters).