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Researchers are continuing to study the disease that caused more than six million deaths worldwide as the nation begins to move toward an endemic phase. In Texas, data is revealing the possible link between COVID-19 and diabetes.
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Study Shows Children & Teens Are More Likely to Be Diagnosed With Diabetes Following COVID-19 Infection
A federal study that shows children and adolescents are 2.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes in the months following a COVID-19 infection is raising concerns among Houston scientists, where diabetes is disproportionately common, according to the Houston Chronicle.
“Diabetes among children and adolescents, while one of the most common chronic diseases is this age group, is still relatively rare,” Sharon Saydah, a senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told the newspaper. “Given this, even a small increase in the number of diabetes cases in this age group is meaningful.”
The study was conducted by the CDC. Dr. David Persse, Houston’s chief medical officer, praised the study in an interview with the Houston Chronicle, saying it enabled the detection of “complications of COVID-19 infection that might otherwise have been missed.”
Persse told the newspaper that additional research may be useful, but the findings indicate there is greater need to protect children from COVID-19.
“More study of (diabetes) risk would be good to have, but in the meantime, we have even more reason to protect our children from becoming ill with COVID-19,” Persse said. “The best way to do that is by vaccinating everyone who is eligible.”
COVID-19 commonly caused severe complications in patients who had diabetes, the Houston Chronicle reported. Among Houston residents who died from COVID-19, about 52% of patients had diabetes, according to the data released as of November 2021.
Local Numbers of COVID-19 Cases Continue to Decline & an Estimated 57% of Americans Have Never Been Infected
Local cases of the coronavirus are continuing to decline March 7, 2022, according to the COVID-19 data hub. There were 21,035 active cases of COVID-19 in the area, a decrease of more than half from the previous weeklong period. There were 7,283 total deaths reported as of March 7.
There were 38,734 fewer cases of COVID-19 reported between February 28 and March 7 than there were between February 21 and February 28. The decline in cases represents a 65% drop in active cases. In the previous weeklong period, there was a decrease of 29%.
Houston public health officials reduced the threat level to Level 2: Significant Threat in February as the downward trend in cases continued, following a surge in cases due to the omicron variant.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that about 57% of Americans have not contracted COVID-19. Researchers weighed in on whether it is an inevitability that everyone will eventually be infected.
“Are we all going to get it? Yes, biologically, that might happen,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at UCSF, told the newspaper. “Are we at a time to embrace that philosophy? No, because the virus is still causing a lot of suffering. Almost 2,000 deaths per day is no walk in the park.”
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