All ages 18+, US update for vaccination and booster protection from death during Omicron wave
2-shot vaccination 85% reduction of death
3-shot (w/booster) 96% reduction of deathhttps://t.co/HGyjNwCm0v pic.twitter.com/QCjd0kLGs4— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) February 18, 2022
The @CDCgov has posted new data showing COVID-19-associated hospitalization rates by age, comparing fully vaccinated to those with an additional/booster dose (and to the unvaccinated). The lowest hospitalization rates? Among the boosted.https://t.co/BKi5MiyVAy
— Jen Kates (@jenkatesdc) February 18, 2022
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Some countries are lifting all public health and social measures despite high numbers of #COVID19 cases/deaths. @DrMikeRyan and Dr @mvankerkhove explain why slow approach is better ?? pic.twitter.com/hS3aJLNJcJ
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) February 17, 2022
China reports 137 new coronavirus cases on Feb 18 vs 87 day earlier https://t.co/ncXTV8HM5g pic.twitter.com/SIfWGVVO1J
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
China allows COVID boosters of different technologies than primary shots https://t.co/qg1MnZn2qr pic.twitter.com/nLOXYGQcug
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
Scientists around the world are baffled: Why hasn’t China approved an mRNA vaccine? Some point to politics. Regulators were once weeks away from approving Pfizer-BioNTech. Now they seem to be focused on a homegrown option. https://t.co/1U0TTV5FxO
— Alexandra Stevenson (@jotted) February 18, 2022
Beijing 2022 reports no new COVID cases on Feb 18 https://t.co/aTRe72qhDz pic.twitter.com/mNyL1RjJJb
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
BREAKING: Hong Kong has reported 15 coronavirus deaths and more than 6,000 confirmed cases for a second day as the government announced plans to ease crowding in hospitals by building more isolation units. https://t.co/nhiE6h9mTF
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 19, 2022
Hong Kong ramps up isolation facility plans as COVID infections climb https://t.co/0ThQYHn74j pic.twitter.com/JxdAYUT401
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
Analysis: Hong Kong's 'zero-COVID' success now worsens strains of Omicron spike https://t.co/B8rxnOOapE pic.twitter.com/I4OjGjpyzQ
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
Hong Kong residents are divided over proposals to mass test a majority of the population each day, as the global financial hub battles a surge in COVID-19 cases https://t.co/boy3ONTOuM pic.twitter.com/GRfvu2ZJKb
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 18, 2022
Data suggests pandemic fatalities in India were much higher than reported. When a Covid wave hit last year hospitals were overwhelmed. Funeral pyres burned around the clock. Gov't data put the death toll under 1M. Now, new research reports 3.2M died https://t.co/FqcvNfv6mh pic.twitter.com/s3UIZBoW2Y
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 18, 2022
While other nations have catastrophically floundered in their #COVID responses, #SouthKorea has emerged as a “paragon of resilience governance.”
In these COVID times, that has become a synonym for success and soft power, writes @UriLF. https://t.co/8MpOavgDNY
— Global Health NOW (@ghn_news) February 18, 2022
Tokyo daily coronavirus cases up from a week earlier to 13,516 -NHK https://t.co/iSq8MivfWf pic.twitter.com/RuAJwHSTWu
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
Russia reported 179,147 new Covid-19 infections and 798 deaths Saturday. https://t.co/hEWnjxG9Bt
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) February 19, 2022
Answer: Both (plus racism) https://t.co/XDBfvEjWcI
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) February 18, 2022
Delighted to announce 6 African countries that will receive technology from the ?? hub to produce mRNA vaccines: Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa & Tunisia. @WHO will help develop a roadmap for training & production, based on their needs & capacities. #VaccinEquity https://t.co/7o4NPKnocW
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) February 18, 2022
Carnival Cruise Line to ease mask mandate for guests from March 1 https://t.co/sNh5n2G7vS pic.twitter.com/rgHmRgwv4o
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
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Increased infectivity & antibody evasion are driving SARSCoV2 evolution. Scientists are trying to better understand how SARS2 evolves in order to predict vaccine breakthrough potential https://t.co/68i0GniKq5
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 18, 2022
Data suggest BA.2 variant is "30-50% more contagious than Omicron" & new preprint showed "that BA.2 may have features that make it as capable of causing serious illness as older variants of Covid-19, incl. Delta."
"detected in 74 countries & 47 US states"https://t.co/jEpuHSfH44— Dr. Alex Huffman (@HuffmanLabDU) February 17, 2022
Some researchers say BA.2 should not be considered a subvariant of #Omicron, but should have its own Greek letter. BA.2 should be considered a VOC, a variant of concern based on lab data hinting at greater severity https://t.co/trys33TJRV
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 19, 2022
Animal virologists explain why the coronavirus is cropping up in animals and why humans need to worry https://t.co/9jOxVvrnRu pic.twitter.com/ZXn5xf5LNN
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 18, 2022
Low Omicron efficacy behind delay of Pfizer COVID vaccine for kids under 5 – WSJ https://t.co/JF19g1oSk2 pic.twitter.com/YwDaw4698K
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 18, 2022
Ivermectin flops again for Covid, this time in high-risk adults. Malaysian trial finds no difference in progression to severe disease over standard of care.
Time for wing nuts to stop pushing Covid 'cures' https://t.co/BEP4PmMAZP— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) February 18, 2022
FDA to allow export of AstraZeneca COVID vaccine lots made at Emergent plant https://t.co/90e21O9QZ2 pic.twitter.com/UzzADqfAdN
— Reuters (@Reuters) February 19, 2022
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BREAKING: Surgeon General Vivek Murthy announced that he and his young family have COVID-19 despite their best efforts to avoid infection by getting vaccinated and taking other precautions. https://t.co/1S2f4I7K1D
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 18, 2022
From a thread he posted:
So if you’ve done everything you can and gotten COVID-19 anyway, don’t beat yourself up. A lot of us are doing the best we can. And let’s not assume those who get sick are careless. We don’t know people's circumstances. They may not be able to protect themselves the way we can.
— Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) February 18, 2022
Red Covid, an Update https://t.co/VBRYDjTWKj
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) February 18, 2022
#COVID Case and Hospitalization Update:
-4,847 New Cases
-2,876 Hospitalizations (-189)
-42 New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS pic.twitter.com/jnrt7ZBVQU— Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) February 18, 2022
This decision, though expected, will still come as a great relief to the city's hotel industry, which was seeing some cancellations caused by the vaccine mandate, as well as the restaurants losing business to nearby communities. https://t.co/xVsb7FDa7F via @BostonGlobe
— Jon Chesto (@jonchesto) February 18, 2022
Science! The Biogen superspreader event back in February 2020 gave Boston an early warning on how quickly & unpredictably this coronavirus could attack:
… Previously, city officials said that the vaccine mandate could be dropped when Boston met three conditions: a 7-day community positivity rate below 5 percent, fewer than 200 COVID-19 hospitalizations a day, and an intensive care bed occupancy rate of less than 95 percent.
Recently, authorities said Boston’s pandemic numbers were trending in the right direction, and Friday’s public health data showed that the city crossed all three of those thresholds. Wu’s statement said the city’s positivity rate was 4 percent, while the ICU occupancy rate was 91 percent and the 7-day average of adult COVID hospitalizations was 196 per day.
“The public health data shows that we’re ready to take this step in our recovery,” Wu said in the statement. “This news highlights how much progress we’ve made in our fight against COVID-19 thanks to vaccines & boosters — which have always been our most effective weapon against the pandemic.”
She called the development “a win for every Bostonian who’s done their part to keep our communities safe, and we have to keep going. I want to thank all of our small businesses who have been working to keep our communities healthy through challenging times.”…
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Friday / Saturday, Feb. 18-19Post + Comments (44)