A new paper in Genome Biology and Evolution indicates that while the COVID-19 virus has developed rapidly since 2019, it has done so within limited genetic channels. These genetic limits have remained unchanged. Despite scientists’ earlier fears about dramatic, rapid evolution of the COVID-19 virus, it appears recent changes in the virus were relatively constrained; the virus altered by combining pre-existing mutations. The virus has not expanded the number of genetic routes it can take to evolve.

How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact young children’s executive function skills? 

Executive function skills are a set of inter-related processes that support attention, self-control, and goal-directed behavior. Executive function has been linked to positive outcomes across multiple domains of development. The skills associated with executive function develop rapidly during childhood and promote longer-term health, academic success, and wellbeing. Researchers from Harvard University were eager to learn how the pandemic affected children's developing executive function skills across time.

 Many patient surveys include both numerical ratings and written comments,  responses that are frequently analyzed separately, which can limit what researchers learn from the data. This report demonstrates a method for analyzing survey ratings and open-text comments together. Researchers used survey data from Alberta, Canada’s Long COVID Interprofessional Outpatient Program (IPOP), which provided multidisciplinary care for adults with COVID-19 infection and symptoms lasting at least 12 weeks.

Researchers analyzed data from the U.S. Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a national telephone survey, to better understand how social isolation and physical isolation intersect with material deprivation, including financial strain and inadequate health care access. The study examined six preventive services: COVID-19, flu and pneumococcal vaccination, and breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screenings. 

A new study in Science Advances found that more than 155,000 US deaths between March 2020 and December 2021 were not officially recorded as COVID-19 deaths, which equates to 19 percent more deaths due to COVID-19 than federal records indicate. These unrecognized COVID-19 deaths disproportionately burdened certain populations more than others, including racial and ethnic minorities, as well as people who were low-income, had preexisting health conditions, lived in the South, or did not have a high school education. 

The postpartum period is one of the most challenging times for mothers of all backgrounds. In addition to providing 24-hour care for a newborn infant (and likely other members of the family) on limited, sporadic sleep, these individuals are recovering from childbirth. From c-sections and other surgical procedures to mastitis and UTI infections, new mothers face a myriad of health issues and complications in the weeks and months after delivery.

Add the transportation, childcare, and access barriers faced by many rural, minority and low-resource communities, and the challenges are amplified even further. Telehealth has emerged as an increasingly widespread strategy for mitigating these obstacles, particularly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic when health care systems were strained/disrupted and in-person care posed additional safety concerns for vulnerable populations.