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Scientists are still decoding the mysteries of covid and long covid:

The Covid pandemic was an extraordinary moment in history. Starting at the end of 2019, a virus new to science swept across the planet, killed more than 25 million people and caused trillions of dollars in economic damage. But as outbreaks go, Covid was pretty ordinary, a new study finds. Scientists compared seven viral outbreaks that occurred in recent decades, including epidemics of Covid, Ebola and influenza. For the most part, the researchers found, the outbreaks were not preceded by any unusual genetic changes in the viruses. (Zimmer, 3/9)

'Zombie' coronavirus fragments not only help drive inflammation in long-COVID, but also destroy our immune cells. A recent study by an international team of more than 30 authors reveals how the destruction of the virus within our body leaves dangerous protein fragments that target specific immune cells, which may explain some of the debilitating consequences millions of people with long-COVID now face. (Koumoundouros, 2/4)

Researchers keep discovering more about the long-term neurological effects of SARS-CoV-2. (Gale, 2/25)

Researchers from Sweden and the U.S. have uncovered molecular and structural changes in some taste buds of patients with taste abnormalities after a COVID-19 infection, offering the first plausible explanation for why a small group of people lost their taste for an unusually long time. (Lehmann, 3/3)

The first known meta-analysis of how SARS-CoV-2 variant type and time since infection influence long-COVID symptoms ties Omicron to brain fog and paresthesia (numbness and tingling), while earlier variants were more likely to cause shortness of breath and loss of smell. The study also puts the prevalence of the condition at 29%, though it dropped to 23% once the Omicron strain started to dominate. (Van Beusekom, 3/12)

Severe COVID-19 and influenza infections prime the lungs for cancer and can accelerate the disease's development, but vaccination heads off those harmful effects, new research from UVA Health's Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research and UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center indicates. (Harley, 3/11)

Flashback: Here's what we knew about covid six years ago in the Morning Briefing.

Mental and physical effects of the lockdowns have lingered:

A national study from the National Council of State Boards of Nursing found more than 138,000 nurses have left the workforce since 2022, with many pointing to stress and exhaustion from the pandemic. (Cooper, 3/11)

A royal commission into New Zealand’s Covid response has found it was one of the best in the world but acknowledged the period had left “scars.” New Zealand has recorded 5,641 Covid deaths since 2020. The country’s strict response, which included lockdowns, vaccine mandates and border quarantine helped to save tens of thousands of lives. But as the pandemic wore on, some anger over the restrictions set in and a small but vocal fringe of anti-vaccine and anti-mandate groups emerged, leading to a violent protest on parliament’s lawns. (Corlett, 3/9)

The academic effects of the pandemic weren’t just limited to school-age children. Kids who were babies and toddlers in the early years of COVID, currently in 1st and 2nd grades, are now struggling too, a new analysis finds. The report, from researchers at the assessment company NWEA, analyzes the organization’s math and reading test results for students who were in grades K-2 in the spring of 2025. (Schwartz, 3/10)

Covid funds are still being spent (and misspent):

State Auditor Dave Boliek has a New Year’s resolution for state agencies: spend the remaining $1.2 billion in federal COVID funds before they expire at the end of 2026. In spring 2021, amid the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress passed a massive stimulus package that sent $5.4 billion to North Carolina’s state government. That money sits in an account called the State Fiscal Recovery Fund and has been allocated to individual agencies by the state legislature. (Thomae, 12/1)

Former Missouri House Speaker John Diehl was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison Monday after pleading guilty last year to misusing federal loans meant to help businesses withstand the COVID-19 pandemic. (Hancock, 3/9)

Prosecutors say a Greenville company knowingly processed hundreds of thousands of faulty COVID-19 tests and raked in millions in fraudulent reimbursements from the federal government. A federal grand jury indicted Premier Medical Laboratory Services CEO Kevin Murdock, as well as two high-level employees, Thomas Lee and Vidhya Narayanan on March 11. (Taylor, 3/11)

Neighbors are still looking out for neighbors:

Kayden Petersen-Craig may now only have months to live, but he said he is amazed at the kindness that people are showing through his fight with cancer. It's similar to the kindness he tried to show as a restaurant owner during the pandemic. (Anderson, 3/10)

It’s been just about six years since COVID-19 first hit Monterey County, California, infecting over 120,000 people in the county, taking the lives of over 900. The garden, unveiled Tuesday at the County Government Center in Salinas, honors the Monterey County residents who lost their lives to COVID-19 and acknowledges the dedication of first responders, frontline workers, educators, health care and public health professionals throughout the pandemic. At the ceremony, those who lost family members to the virus were given the opportunity to share stories about their loved ones. (Hamilton, 3/11)