"The cycle of panic and neglect is not the best way to be prepared for [a] #publichealth emergency." — @BrentEwig, of the @AIMimmunization, on #pandemic lessons about the nation's ability to vaccinate large swaths of the public.@joycefr @MedPageIDhttps://t.co/UgtPEHlxHF
— MedPage Today (@medpagetoday) May 15, 2023
Gift link, so everyone can read the whole thing:
Nearly 380 times as many people have died in the United States from covid-19 than from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Those killings sparked sweeping reforms to defend Americans from violence. In contrast, little has been done to make the country less vulnerable to deadly pathogens.
On Thursday, the United States officially ended its covid-19 health emergency. In public, many policymakers shy away from acknowledging their pandemic missteps and calling out the need for solutions that are politically complicated, such as raising low wages. But in private, they speak. After dozens of such conversations over the past few years, I compiled this to-do list.
These fixes are neither exhaustive nor simple ā it is a mistake to think that any could be. But they are urgent because the drumbeats of epidemics seems to be increasing.
1 – Put tests everywhere…
2 – Staff hospitals…
3 – Reward data…
4 – Protect workers…
5 – Reduce incarceration…
6 – Develop and distribute drugs and vaccines…
7 – Commit to international solidarity…If the United States fails to defend itself in the seven ways set out here, the toll of the next emergency could dwarf that of covid, as climate change, urbanization, migration and political instability make outbreaks of infectious diseases bigger and more frequent ā from cholera to avian influenza to viruses yet unknown.
Yes, of course, our ‘conservative’ Republicans are allergic to every single one of theses steps. The eighth bullet point should read Elect more Democrats.
Sleep apnea patients are prone to higher #LongCovid risk. New research suggests close monitoring of adults with obstructive sleep apnea https://t.co/wgTX9n1RVm
— delthia ricks š¬ (@DelthiaRicks) May 13, 2023
About half of the public says they would be at least somewhat likely get an annual #COVID19 vaccine if offered that way.
People who normally get a flu shot are much more likely than those who donāt to say they would likely get an annual COVID vaccine: https://t.co/NQlYiYYH8c pic.twitter.com/ehUHxGzsQJ— KFF (@KFF) May 16, 2023
Deaths and hospitalizations sit at or near lowest levels of the pandemic, but there is no room for complacency with >1,000 deaths per week, the majority of which are preventable. pic.twitter.com/kQZsjnMPmU
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) May 12, 2023
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#COVID19 led to the largest public health emergency response in CDC history.
Learn more about how CDC staff supported ministries of health in more than 60 countries to respond to the pandemic: https://t.co/L5mCBIj7YI. pic.twitter.com/qp5yQX8Sbi
— CDC (@CDCgov) May 16, 2023
Six-month mark is coming up on this inhaled vaccine. I haven't gotten COVID/been symptomatic (weekly RAT/daily temperature). Wonder if I can get a booster? https://t.co/UWLFFiziSG
— Naomi Wu ęŗę¢°å¦å§¬ (@RealSexyCyborg) May 16, 2023
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COVID-19 ALERT SPREADS ACROSS SOUTH EAST ASIA !
After the Philippines, Vietnam, now Thailand :"Disease dept issue fresh COVID-19 alert"https://t.co/3TARDRCYvg
— Emmanuel (@ejustin46) May 16, 2023
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The #SARSCoV2 virus is still evolving, and its ultimate trajectory is unknown. This brilliant review lays out how the #COVID19 virus has evolved to date, what selection pressures is responding to, & some clues to the future.https://t.co/ws5oHYqxwN
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) May 16, 2023
2/ #COVID19 infection causes a flood of proinflammatory cytokines & chemokines in the brain. This sets the stage for profound, permanent neuro-damage.
The 1918 #influenza #pandemic was also associated with an increased rate of Parkinsonās disease.https://t.co/mVi5s16669— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) May 16, 2023
Italian researchers find that people with the "brain fog" symptoms of #LongCOVID also suffer Vitamin D deficiencies. They aren't claiming cause/effect, and don't know if Vit D supplements would be beneficial.https://t.co/8kNiKCtu9F
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) May 14, 2023
Thread:
The biggest medical failure of the pandemic was denying that COVID is airborne.
The biggest engineering failure of the pandemic was not providing a clean air delivery rate required for mitigating airborne disease. That failure has been addressed. We now have good values. š§µ
1/6 pic.twitter.com/7qdrkQlbPG— Joey Fox (@joeyfox85) May 15, 2023
This has big implications not just for Covid-19 but also other respiratory infections and broader public health. These strategies target particles in air, which affect cardiovascular disease. WHO estimates ~3 M deaths/year from household air pollution. /3
— Linsey Marr (@linseymarr) May 12, 2023
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"For Patient Safety, It Is Not Time to Take Off Masks in Health Care Settings"
Yes. Correct. Please read and disseminate this op-ed published today. It goes through all the reasons and it ain't rocket science, folks.https://t.co/ItigrTignX pic.twitter.com/Va1PNTvavO
— Dr David Berger, aBsuRdiSTe cROnickLeR (@YouAreLobbyLud) May 15, 2023
More than 4 in 10 Republicans ā and a third of parents ā oppose schools requiring children to get vaccinated for measles & other childhood illnesses. Thatās up since the COVID-19 pandemic began.https://t.co/GHWetlBzkg pic.twitter.com/Ihgu2QKvYU
— KFF (@KFF) May 16, 2023
Getting health care information only from Newsmax, Facebook or Fox News is a very strong predictor of Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy https://t.co/JLZzLCCFDB
The widespread consumption of inaccurate news sources is a serious public health risk. pic.twitter.com/co5WgQsbf1
— Jay Van Bavel (@jayvanbavel) May 16, 2023
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Reader Interactions
20Comments
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Baud
Yeah, there was a bipartisan plan for dealing with pandemics that was developed by the Bush and Obama administrations. Trump just ignored it.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
19 new cases on 05/10/23.
19 new cases on 05/11/23.
24 new cases on 05/12/23.
19 new cases on 05/13/23.
19 new cases on 05/14/23.
16 new cases on 05/15/23.
9 new cases on 05/16/23.
Deaths now at 2261, up 7 since last week.
The PCR case numbers have dropped back down around where we were at this time in 2020. There’s probably a lot more cases around, but they’re so mild now that nobody’s bothering to get a PCR test.
Another Scott
I would make your #8 #1 instead.
We know how to address these problems – we don’t have to invent new physics and chemistry and biology to solve them.
Relatedly, … Reuters:
(Long graphic at the start of the story.)
We’re all – all living things – in this together. We need to understand the systems.
Thanks, AL.
Cheers,
Scott.
OzarkHillbilly
That’s because you can’t bomb deadly pathogens. No blood, no foul.
Amir Khalid
Malaysiaās Ministry of Health reported 1,205 new Covid-19 cases on 13th May, for a cumulative reported total of 5,088,009 cases. 1,200 of these new cases were local infections; five new cases were imported. It also reported five deaths, for an adjusted cumulative total of 37,046 deaths ā 0.73% of the cumulative reported total, 0.73% of resolved cases.
4,872 Covid-19 tests were conducted on 13h May, with a positivity rate of 14.6%.
There were 21,090 active cases on 13th May, 48 fewer than the day before. 862 were in hospital. 36 confirmed cases were in ICU; of these patients, 25 confirmed cases were on ventilators. Meanwhile, 1,248 patients recovered, for a cumulative total of 5,029,873 patients recovered ā 99.0% of the cumulative reported total.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 345 doses of vaccine on 16 May: 19 first doses, 16 second doses, 206 first booster doses, and 104 second booster doses. The cumulative total is 72,840,512 doses administered: 28,135,550 first doses, 27,549,141 second doses, 16,333,431first booster doses, and 822,390 second booster doses. 86.2% of the population have received their first dose, 84.4% their second dose, 50.0% their first booster dose, and 2.5% their second booster dose.
Matt McIrvin
@OzarkHillbilly: The post-Sept. 11 reforms have been stunningly ineffective at protecting people from terrorist violence, anyway. (I’ll concede that we haven’t had any major airline hijackings since then, but that’s mostly because of one simple change that happened instantly–requiring an airliner’s cockpit door to be locked shut through the flight.)
Citizen_X
But not if it came from guns!
OzarkHillbilly
@Matt McIrvin: And all the bombs dropped on Afghanistan and Iraq and Yemen and Syria didn’t end the “war on terror” either but they sure did make for some satisfying videos.
MattF
Got my booster a week ago at a nearby supermarket pharmacy. Maryland is one of the states that puts your COVID vaccination info on lineā Iāll soon download a QR coded card that includes this booster.
dmsilev
@OzarkHillbilly:
I feel that you’re underestimating our military-industrial complex here. I’m sure for the low low investment of $300 billion, they would be happy to develop and field nanobombs.
OzarkHillbilly
@dmsilev: Touche.
New Deal democrat
It appears that all tracking of deaths and confirmed infections has stopped, on all sites that I used to consult. If anyone knows of any that are still updating, please let me know.
What we have left is Biobot, which updated Monday showing a virtually unchanged national situation, at 232 particles per mL, only 6 above its low for the past 12+ months. Regionally, the West is down from 2 weeks ago, while all other regions increased slightly.
Our World in Data is still updating information on hospitalizations, down to 9,435 admissions as of May 14, an all time low.
The CDC also did update its variant information last Friday. There was no meaningful change, and subvariants of XBB continue to slowly increase their share of a dwindling number of cases. No new variant is on the horizon at this point.
The disappearance of data is a very bad thing. Apparently we will only learn of new waves once they show up in Biobotās data, with no way to know how they are affecting our State or local area in particular. Even if the health emergency were deemed over, the disappearance of this data was in my opinion a bad decision by Biden and the CDC.
Matt McIrvin
covidactnow.org is still tracking cases, deaths and hospitalizations. By the garbage in, garbage out principle, their case data is probably worthless, but the other stuff is helpful.
New Deal democrat
@Matt McIrvin: I havenāt seen an update in a week there. And for my State and county, nothing in two weeks. But Iāll keep checking and hope. Thanks.
Rachel Bakes
Thank You , Annie Laurie for 3 1/2 years of diligence in keeping us informed. We do appreciate it.
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat: I don’t know whether to be heartened or unsettled by the pattern where all these new XBB sub-variants keep emerging but it doesn’t lead to a big new wave of infections. It’s easy to personify it as still banging on the door, testing cracks, looking for some new angle to bust through.
David Chop
Anecdotal report from the ground in Asia:
Mask wearing in Bangkok was just slipping off 100% to maybe 90-95% in the months leading up to the Sonkran holiday in April (mentioned at the end of the linked Bangkok Post article). Everyone took off their masks for the giant, and quite fun, national drunkfest/watergun fight that is Sonkran and it looked like the unofficial* end to masking in Thailand. Then two days afterwards the government put out a notice that they were expecting a spike in cases due to the non-wearing of masks. Everybody, and I mean everybody, immediately put their masks back on. Today (a month later) I’d say it’s back down to 90%ish wearing masks and now the government has put out another notice. Will it have an effect? Who knows, but compliance* is already extremely high so I’m not sure why they’re bothering. Even at only 90% compliance they’ve kept the infection and death rates at like 1/10th the mah freedoms loving rate of the US. The folks that say masks don’t work can fuck right off as far as I’m concerned. Getting the Thais to wear masks is extraordinarily easy. I won’t hazard a guess to why that is, but it is. They all put them on everywhere and all day without complaint. And it works.
Source: American living in Bangkok for the last two years.
* I used the words unofficial and compliance, but there’s no law/regulation/mandate. Those all ended I think six months or so before Sonkran. The government now only “suggests” wearing a mask–really, it’s just a suggestion–and the Thais are like ok no problem. Masks on. It’s very not America.
StringOnAStick
The post about 84% of Swedish patients with long Covid still having symptoms 2 years chills me to my core, because I am afraid I am now in that group.Ā Crap.
Bill Arnold
@David Chop:
Yep. And this sort of information, in this case from massive natural experiments, is willfully ignored by e.g. that shoddy(IMO) and apparently agenda-driven Cochrane review[1] earlier this year.
[1] RCTs only. Since there were insufficient COVID-19 RCTs, they mixed in influenza/etc, which have very different transmission dynamics (e.g. wildly different R, different levels of asymptomatic airborne spread). Quote (bold mine): “The low to moderate certainty of evidence means our confidence in the effect estimate is limited, and that the true effect may be different from the observed estimate of the effect.“
BruceJ
FTFY. The only functional reform was fortifying cockpits of commercial aircraft. We still have to take off our shoes because of one idiot’s crackpot plan to blow up his feet.