April 21, 2022
Benton County: New Cases: 156, Cumulative Cases: 15,452, Cumulative Deaths: 69
Oregon: New Cases: 4,165, Cumulative Cases: 712,686, Cumulative Deaths: 7,468
United States: Cumulative Cases: 82,461,250, Cumulative Deaths: 1,016,626
World: Cumulative Cases: 506,755,920, Cumulative Deaths: 6,231,202
Since last week, there have been an additional 64 deaths attributed to Covid in the state of Oregon. None of those deaths were in Benton County.
Nationwide, the number of deaths continues to climb past the one million mark with another 8,428 deaths since early April. Worldwide, there have been 55,058 new reported deaths from Covid in the same time period.
The latest news on Covid comes out of Florida where a federal judge ruled against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continuing the mask mandate on public transit – planes, buses, and trains. It’s a wait-and-see time as to whether or not President Biden steps in. If he does not, then the likelihood that the CDC will lose some authority in future medical crises is high.
Long Term Covid Effects
Researchers continue to look into the long term health effects of Covid, including brain and lung damage.
Since March there have been cases of Covid-related brain inflammation and damage in as many as a quarter of all those infected with the virus regardless of the severity of their initial case.
Symptoms of brain damage include headache, sleep disorder, difficulty in maintaining attention, difficulty with memory, loss of executive functions such as complex skills like planning and multi-tasking, taste and smell disorders, and dysautonomia – problems with autonomic systems of the body.
As of November of 2021, lung issues from Covid infections accounted for 238 lung transplants in the U.S. alone. In a normal year, Americans receive approximately 2,000 lung transplants – meaning Covid patients acquired one in 10 of the lungs available last year.
According to an article in Beckers Hospital Review, “Lung transplants for COVID-19 patients in the U.S. rose tenfold between the first year of the pandemic and 2021, according to UNOS data. Transplants for other lung diseases — such as emphysema, cystic fibrosis and pulmonary fibrosis — have declined compared to previous years.” With the advent of effective vaccines for Covid, some hospitals have chosen to take patients who are unvaccinated off of their transplant lists.
Researchers working with lung samples from Covid patients have found that the fibrotic scarring from the disease is so bad, the lung samples – usually light, spongy, and buoyant – are black and unable to float.
By Sally K Lehman
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