Coronavirus news

Michael Shellenberger, president of Environmental Progress, says he was able to confirm the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic and identify the first three individuals who contracted the virus. A new report citing U.S. government sources says three scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China were among the first people to have been The Substack article, co-authored by Matt Taibbi, Michael Schellenberger and Alex Gutenag, says the findings are "significant new evidence" that "strengthens the case that the SARS-CoV-2 virus accidentally escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology." "According to multiple U.S. government officials interviewed as part of a lengthy investigation by Public and Racket, the first people infected by the virus, ‘patients zero,’ included Ben Hu, a researcher who led the WIV’s ‘gain-of-function' research on SARS-like coronaviruses, which increases the infectiousness of viruses," the article reads. Security personnel stand guard outside the Wuhan Institute of Virology as members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of COVID-19 visit the Chinese institute on Feb. 3, 2021. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images) Gain-of-function research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology "What they were doing at the Wuhan Institute of Virology was taking dangerous, scary viruses and making them scarier," Jamie Metzl of the Atlantic Council told Fox News early last year. In basic terms, the point of gain-of-function resear...

One in 10 people infected with the coronavirus during the Omicron era suffered from long COVID, according to preliminary data from a new study — indicating the syndrome remains a notable threat even in the pandemic’s post-emergency phase. The initial finding, published May 25 in the Of them, data indicate that 224 patients, or 10%, were classified as having long COVID six months after their acute infection. The categorization was made after scientists developed their own data-based definition of the syndrome, based on a number of symptoms that were more likely to be seen in patients with a prior coronavirus infection. Mild cases of COVID-19 can cause patients to suffer long COVID symptoms, and a new study finds that some of those symptoms can linger for more than a year. The effort, scientists said, was an important step toward better defining long COVID, which can be hard to pinpoint because it can’t be easily diagnosed or tested for — unlike, say, a heart attack. “It’s trying to help all of us — both patients and doctors — figure out: How do we tell if someone has long COVID?” said Dr. Joann Elmore, a professor of medicine at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, who wasn’t affiliated with the study. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health. The agency said in a Three years and $62,000 in medical expenses later, a musician and her caregiving partner struggle to navigate the financial, mental and physical challenges of long COVID. And unfortunately, i...