US extends COVID public health emergency weeks after Biden declared pandemic 'over'

The U.S. extended the public health emergency status for the COVID-19 pandemic Thursday, weeks after President Biden's controversial remarks declaring the pandemic was "over." 

The move extends the order through Jan. 11, as health officials warn once more of a winter surge. 

In recent weeks, children have returned to schools, and state and local leaders have loosened or done away with coronavirus-related restrictions.

Across the U.S., daily cases, hospitalizations and deaths have fallen. 

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According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, there have been nearly 64,000 cases and over 650 deaths in the past day. 

The first public health emergency was declared in January 2020 and has been renewed every 90 days since.

Former President Trump declared a national emergency that year to free up $50 billion in federal aid.

The declaration of a public health emergency has enabled the emergency authorization of vaccines, testing and treatment.

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This year, however, as the Biden administration asks Congress for billions more in pandemic funding — announcing student debt relief and citing strains associated with the pandemic — Republicans have pushed back and pressed to end the emergency. 

The federal government stopped sending free COVID-19 tests in the mail, saying the program had run out of money.

The administration has said it would provide 60 days notice before it ends the public health emergency.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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New study indicates dementia signs can be detected nearly a decade before diagnosis

A new study from researchers at the University of Cambridge indicates it may be possible to detect dementia within a patient nearly a decade before they are diagnosed. 

The findings now make it possible to screen at-risk patients who qualify for early medical treatment to reduce their risk of dementia. Moreover, new treatments have the potential to become more widely available for clinical trials. 

The study was published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association. Researchers used information from the U.K. Biobank database to look for impairments relating to dementia, including problem-solving and number recall. 

"When we looked back at patients' histories, it became clear that they were showing some cognitive impairment several years before their symptoms became obvious enough to prompt a diagnosis," said the study's author Nol Swaddiwudhipong in a statement to Bloomberg.

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"The impairments were often subtle, but across a number of aspects of cognition," Swaddiwudhipon added. "This is a step towards us being able to screen people who are at greatest risk - for example, people over 50 or those who have high blood pressure or do not do enough exercise - and intervene at an earlier stage to help them reduce their risk."

The database researchers from Cambridge relied on also had information regarding memory, reaction times, grip strength, weight loss, and the number of falls. Therefore, researchers were able to determine if there were signs of dementia based on when the data was first collected, approximately five to nine before their diagnosis. 

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Some of the trends and signs that researchers found were that individuals who were more likely to develop Alzheimer's were more likely to have fallen within 12 months of their full diagnosis. 

Moreover, patients who developed the disease had trouble with problem-solving, reaction times, prospective memory, and pair matching. For every condition analyzed by scientists, poor health was always reported, sometimes years before the diagnosis. 

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UK poultry farmers demand government issue housing order over rising Avian flu cases

Poultry farmers in the United Kingdom are calling for their government to issue a nationwide housing order for chickens and captive birds after a bird flu outbreak last month. 

Currently, parts of the U.K., including Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, already have a housing order for all poultry, which requires owners to keep their birds indoors and follow strict measures to protect their flocks from disease. A nationwide housing order would apply to individuals who own birds on commercial or non-commercial properties. 

The response from chicken and egg producers comes as England deals with 27 outbreaks in September across three counties. Producers specializing in Christmas goose are being hit especially hard by Avian Influenza. 

Christine Middlemiss, the chief veterinary officer of the United Kingdom, said she expects bird flu cases to rise for the foreseeable future due to migration patterns of birds coming back to the country. 

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Outbreaks have also occurred in Oxford, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Devon, according to The Guardian. Therefore, farmers are demanding the government extend the current housing order to the whole nation.

"The sheer persistence of avian influenza over the past year, coupled with soaring energy and feed costs, has put the whole British poultry sector under huge emotional and financial pressure," said the National Farmers Union poultry board chair James Mottershead in a statement. 

He added, "Given the recent rise in avian influenza cases and the distress they cause for farming families, the implementation of housing measures in the east of England is a necessary step."

"The number one priority for poultry farmers has always been the health and welfare of their flock," Mottershead continued. "That is why the National Farmers Union is now urging the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to consider expanding the regional housing measures on a national basis to reflect any increase in the levels of risk across the country," 

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The British Poultry Council agreed with Mottershead's statement, adding that a housing order for all farmed birds was paramount for the "safety of all birds." 

Bird flu is capable of spreading from person to person, with symptoms ranging from mild to severe, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

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New study indicates one in 20 people suffer from long-term effects of COVID-19

A new study in Scotland indicates that one in 20 people suffers from long-term effects after recovering from COVID-19. 

The study led by the University of Glasgow evaluated the long-term effects of COVID-19. Researchers found that some long-term effects of the disease could cause severe infections and even require hospitalization.

The most at-risk groups were older women with lower incomes. The Scottish-based study was started in May 2021 and discovered that patients vaccinated before they caught the infectious disease were less likely to suffer from long-term symptoms.

Common symptoms associated with long-term effects include chest pain, brain fog, palpitations and breathlessness. Patients may experience these symptoms in a mild to moderate range, but some effects may not necessarily be a "long COVID" (post-COVID-19) diagnosis.

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The researchers note that long COVID-19 was more likely to exist in those with pre-existing medical conditions such as respiratory illness or mental health problems such as depression.

"Our study is important because it adds to our understanding of long COVID in the general population, not just in those people who need to be admitted to hospital with COVID-19," said Jill Pell, professor of public health at the University of Glasgow.

"By comparing symptoms with those uninfected, we were able to distinguish between health problems that are due to COVID-19 and health problems that would have happened anyway," Pell added.

The study found that 6% of people felt they still had symptoms of the disease, and 42% of COVID-19 patients believed they were only partially recovered after six to 18 months after being diagnosed.

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Researchers used a Scottish population cohort of 33,281 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 infections and paired them with 62,957 individuals from the general population who had never been diagnosed. Both groups were given questionnaires six, 12 and 18 months later.

Moreover, patients with an asymptomatic infection from COVID-19 did not appear to have any long-term symptoms.

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