This isn’t an apologists take on medicine or public health over the past 3 years.
Every field and every person whose had something important to say about Covid has made mistakes along the way.
But don’t confuse initial transmission dynamics for political dynamics.
Maybe ‘blue’ cities weren’t more concerned about Covid early on because they—and public health more broadly—are generally “left-leaning”.
What if it was just because more of their people were dying at rates not seen from an infectious disease in nearly a century?
Reflecting on how we should have responded, and how we must improve pandemic response in the future, are critical exercises. This includes recognizing and repairing our mistakes.
But reinterpreting the past only works against us. It makes important change less likely.
What won’t help is the pendulum swing from ‘we’re in this together’ to ‘we’ll manage this by ourselves’.
Public health is a collective exercise, by definition.
We fix it together.
Or we don’t.
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 1, 2023
National Security Council’s John Kirby urges caution regarding the WSJ report that the Department of Energy believes, with “low confidence,” that COVID-19 leaked from a lab:
“There is not a consensus right now in the U.S. government about exactly how COVID started.” pic.twitter.com/Gceirrwy6k
— The Recount (@therecount) February 27, 2023
“We” — not just Americans, but globally — are well and truly in the ‘post-pandemic’, a/k/a ‘Long Covid’ phase, which is liable to last even longer than the pandemic itself. Me, I’m planning to mask up around crowds and plan on a vaccine booster every six months for the foreseeable future, but of course I’m an elderly Cynic with multiple comorbidities.
Millions of workers are still missing from the U.S. labor force three years after COVID-19 surfaced, and economists are scratching their heads as to how big the gap actually is and where all these people went. https://t.co/qzndQDKYul
— The Seattle Times (@seattletimes) February 24, 2023
One immediate response was They’re dead, Jim. But given the current state of America’s low-to-middle-income population, this is also a very good hypothesis:
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: March 1, 2023Post + Comments (89)
Same ‘Low Confidence’ BS, Different Day: Another ‘Wuhan Lab Leak’ Kerfuffle
The Energy Department concluded with "low confidence" that Covid "likely" originated from a laboratory leak in Wuhan, China, according to a classified report, two sources with direct knowledge told @NBCNews. https://t.co/IhnaNJAU3r
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 26, 2023
Because all science is politics now, the GOP’s ‘investigative committee’ demanded a report they could use as a weapon against their enemies (Dr. Fauci, President Biden, actual scientists), and Rupert Murdoch’s Waahll Street Journal was more than happy to scare-monger the results:
The Energy Department concluded with “low confidence” that the Covid-19 pandemic “likely” originated from a laboratory leak in Wuhan, China, according to a classified report delivered to key lawmakers on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, two sources with direct knowledge told NBC News.
Key lawmakers on the intelligence committees were briefed last month by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence about the classified report, the sources said.
The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
However, one source cautioned to NBC News that the DOE’s conclusion was not being viewed as hugely significant among the intelligence community due to interagency disagreements about Covid’s origins.
The classified report maintains the consensus that Covid-19 was not the result of a Chinese bioweapon, according to a U.S. official. In its assessment, the DOE also described the “likely” laboratory-related leak as an “accident,” the official added…
It could have been a lab leak — the theory is not outside the realm of possibility! Just as there could have been a second gunman on the grassy knoll in 1963! But the odds, from what we know now, are that a spillover infection from the Wuhan area wet markets led the Chinese government into hasty cover-up efforts that have compromised later efforts to track the evolution of the pandemic… just as hasty cover-up efforts by the various American alphabet agencies in 1963 fouled efforts to establish the details behind the assassination of President Kennedy. Any sufficiently terrible event is going to involve various governmental agencies reacting clumsily, because that’s how human politics works. But the Repubs have a new bone to gnaw:
Same ‘Low Confidence’ BS, Different Day: Another ‘Wuhan Lab Leak’ KerfufflePost + Comments (85)
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, Feb. 23-24
Note: Barring another crisis, I’m gonna try dropping back to a once-a-week schedule for these updates. So my next Covid Update will be next Wednesday morning, March 1st.
Getting the updated booster is the best way to protect yourself against severe COVID-19 illness.
— nychealthy (@nycHealthy) January 30, 2023
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, Feb. 23-24Post + Comments (38)
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Monday / Tuesday, Feb. 20-21
(CROI = Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. This is mostly for Dr. Fauci’s crucial work on AIDS/HIV immunology, but it’s nice to know he’s got defenders…)
Everyone 6 months and older should get the updated COVID-19 vaccine to stay healthy and protected.
Go to https://t.co/sohfL3zYQA to find a vaccine provider near you.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) February 18, 2023
Whatever the epidemiological facts, the world’s moved firmly into ‘living with covid’. Which means we’re going to see much, much more research about living with long covid:
The future of #LongCovid: This emergency is not about to end https://t.co/gUk8rUVgrp
— delthia ricks ?? (@DelthiaRicks) February 14, 2023
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, Feb. 16-17
We face a choice: continue to ignore deaths from COVID-19 or prevent them. In collaboration with @RealOzSAGE, we call on the Australian government to act urgently to reduce transmission of COVID-19 by using the tools we have, instead of abandoning them. pic.twitter.com/vFt0iz57GY
— The John Snow Project (@JohnSnowProject) February 17, 2023
… Last month, the vaccine maker was slammed for reportedly considering a dramatic price increase for the shot, which it had developed with the help of the federal government.
The proposal was also bad timing: The Biden administration was moving toward ending its designation of a public health emergency on May 11, which meant that federal funding for vaccines would soon dry up and uninsured Americans would have to pay out of pocket for their boosters.
Among the critics of Moderna’s reported consideration of a price increase — from about $26 a shot to as much as $130 — was Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has long advocated for government-funded health care and alleged the move would result in deaths…
Now, Moderna will be the sole manufacturer of COVID vaccines offering its shot for free to the uninsured. Under federal regulation, insurance companies are already required to foot the bill for COVID vaccines.
“Moderna remains committed to ensuring that people in the United States will have access to our COVID-19 vaccines regardless of ability to pay,” the company wrote in its statement.
“Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines will continue to be available at no cost for insured people whether they receive them at their doctors’ offices or local pharmacies. For uninsured or underinsured people, Moderna’s patient assistance program will provide COVID-19 vaccines at no cost” after the public health emergency expires…
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, Feb. 16-17Post + Comments (36)
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Monday / Tuesday, Feb. 13-14
Vaccines work.
Despite what thousands of paid Twitter blue checks might want you to believe, vaccines work. https://t.co/fwsHmsOjam pic.twitter.com/orQXjdYZKO— Elisabeth Bik (@MicrobiomDigest) February 12, 2023
======
‘This is an account that should be heard of an important struggle: the struggle of a large group of experts who came together at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic to warn the world about the risk of airborne transmission and the consequences of ignoring it.’ https://t.co/uHTlgiKqEv
— Thomas (@tom___green) February 12, 2023
… As COVID ripped across China and filled emergency wards, privileged patients cut hospital queues because they knew someone, offered a bribe or paid people with connections, said three people who accessed care through such means and seven doctors in six cities.
The practice has long been commonplace in navigating an under-resourced Chinese health system that was severely stretched after Beijing abruptly ended its zero-COVID restrictions in early December, with widespread reports of packed hospitals and mortuaries.
China had only 4.37 ICU beds per 100,000 people in 2021, compared with 34.2 in the United States as of 2015, according to a paper by Shanghai’s Fudan School of Public Health.
Connections can take the form of the patient being a government official, connected to one, or being related to a medical worker, the doctors said.
“The higher and more senior your connection, the better the treatment, or the easier the queue-jump. If you know the head of the hospital, then there won’t be trouble getting a bed,” a Shanghai doctor said…
China keeps the cost of medical care low to make it accessible, meaning many doctors are chronically underpaid and the profession struggles to attract staff, which leads to longer queues for care, experts and doctors say.
In 2020, 546,657 new medical workers joined the system, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, the fewest since 2017.
“You get 10,000 yuan ($1,463.70) to 15,000 yuan a month; what kind of money is that for the long hours and the expertise?” said a trainee doctor in wealthy Shanghai, adding that physicians are often in their mid-30s by the time they qualify for such a salary. “It’s humiliating.”
In smaller cities, new doctors can earn as little as 3,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan a month, said two doctors in a city in Sichuan province…
Access-granting gifts such as expensive tea and red packets with money are often given to the lead doctor, but also sometimes to the head nurse and the person who made the connection. That can lead to a total care bill that is double the official medical cost, said two people who recently made under-the-table offerings.
“For many of the doctors in hospitals, their main income is not from their basic salary, it’s from grey income, the red envelopes they receive from the patients, despite the crackdown on corruption in the healthcare sector,” Huang said.
For those without connections, payments to middlemen, known as “yellow cows”, can help.
During China’s recent COVID surge, social media was abuzz with talk of agents asking 4,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan to arrange a hospital bed, with comments on whether payment had been worth it and also on the fairness of such access.
Doctor appointments are cheaper.
One agent who claimed in an advertisement to be able to access any doctor in any Shanghai hospital said it would cost 400 yuan to jump the queue for an appointment with a leading physician in a top-ranking hospital.
Reuters was not able to confirm whether the agent would have delivered that result.
(link)
but very much age dependent. Sky-high in elderly, already 4-5% in 70-79 year olds. And effect very visible of start vaccination campaign (right before / at the start of the third period)https://t.co/n22BnineCR I am glad we put the breaks on this virus, even if it was hard…. pic.twitter.com/ks1R9WQvbC
— Marion Koopmans, virology; emerging infections (@MarionKoopmans) February 13, 2023
(link)
(link)
(link)
Increased excess deaths were caused mostly by COVID-19 not vaccines!!!
Look at the graph. If vaccines were the cause, why do COVID-19 deaths and excess deaths match perfectly?!!!
And before you cry "corrupt CDC" this is data from South Africa🇿🇦…https://t.co/JvLRrWtcdw pic.twitter.com/083w1Ebj9Y
— Dr. Ian Copeland (PhD) (@IanCopeland5) February 11, 2023
======
A review of 68 vaccine effectiveness studies:
Preserved protection vs hospitalizations and deaths out to 6 months, substantial waning vs infections, especially Omicron; similar pattern with boostershttps://t.co/Ny1HYIBNyF @LancetRespirMed @sbacon20 @CIUSSSnmtl @Concordia pic.twitter.com/pWrjKBl6v8— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) February 11, 2023
(link)
New Ontario, Canada report of Paxlovid effectiveness shows 44% reduction of hospitalizations, 51% reduction of deaths (point estimates) without being significantly affected by age (67% age 70+) or vaccination statushttps://t.co/b3AQq8tmax @CMAJ pic.twitter.com/3xej0K2xIm
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) February 14, 2023
Startling: 10% of lung transplants in America are performed because of permanent, massive #COVID19 damage. This means people who need lungs for other reasons are competing against an even larger burden of need for the precious few lungs available.https://t.co/fOkazCa3M5
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) February 14, 2023
(link)
prioritising the younger persons first (18+) led to less hospitalisations. These were deliberations that needed to be done. Additional factor: the 18+ group is much bigger, therefore would be delayed. https://t.co/vGjL7uPXOz Important studies for evaluations, many more needed.
— Marion Koopmans, virology; emerging infections (@MarionKoopmans) February 13, 2023
(link)
(link)
With millions of people daily shedding #SARSCoV2 in their waste, researchers in Alaska asked what the impact might be on wastewater exposure for marine mammals, & found, "the potential for reverse zoonotic transmission of #COVID19 ."https://t.co/uwBMr7WUc8 pic.twitter.com/6b84ZjrqtW
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) February 10, 2023
Men apparently are at higher risk of #Covid-related problems than women. A team in Japan has uncovered sex-specific differences in a type of immune cell called regulatory T's, or T-regs. Team found a key subset of T-regs are lost at a faster pace in men https://t.co/q45k6GNPhD
— delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) February 13, 2023
======
(link)
The study that examined doctors attitudes on fringe treatments, also explored views of laypeople on Covid. The report documents how political ideology has spilled into areas unrelated to the principles of liberalism or conservatism. Rightwingers equate vaccination w/ "liberalism" pic.twitter.com/XP8P5VPZhz
— delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) February 11, 2023
It’s Tuesday, so it must be a bioweapon. Tomorrow it will be fake again.
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) February 12, 2023
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Monday / Tuesday, Feb. 13-14Post + Comments (44)