Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH

Internist @VAPaloAlto • Affiliated faculty @StanfordMed • Former Director of Environmental & Occupational Health @SF_DPH • Co-founder @HumanImpact_HIP

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

@DrLeanaWen @CDCgov While it might surprise many, less testing aligns with CDC's own pandemic plan and principles. With H1N1 CDC abandoned tests based counts in month 2 and instead asked State's to report hospitalizations and deaths weekly. Agree that flip-flops don't help.

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

@DrLeanaWen @CDCgov The revision is aligned with science. Infectious Disease Society of America does not recommend testing asymptomatic people given lack of benefit They have a weak recommendation supporting testing of asymptomatic people in some congregate settings.

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

Hugely valuable contribution. Was it possible to stratify by asymptomatic testing? Are you working on the same for non-household transmission? Any idea why there are so few US based studies?

[Natalie E. Dean, PhD @nataliexdean]

Sharing our systematic review of SARS-CoV-2 household secondary attack rate, led by my excellent postdoc Zach Madewell. He did a great job synthesizing the large (and growing!) literature on the topic.
https://t.co/hruocbI0VH

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

Some nuance: the HHS~CDC tussle is about hospital COVID-19 census data, not the line level case reports needed for the epidemiological who, where, and how of transmission. Fed and state hiding the facts equally. Florida, for whatever reason, is the open data star.

[Eric Topol @EricTopol]

When data secrecy, lack of transparency & other badness impedes the ability to *follow the data* and epidemiological monitoring
https://t.co/wrwAS8Dhcb by @cpiller @ScienceMagazine w/ @cmyeaton @nataliexdean @drrajivb
@PalantirTech handling @HHSgov patient data is a 5★ alert

[Justin Hart @justin_hart]

Posting this chart without comment:
California cumulative #COVID19 cases with race and age bracket by date. Source CDPH.

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

More open data can tell us where to focus.

#covid19 #california #opendata #inequalities #publichealth

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

Most seem to be spared COVID-19 harms despite the increased testing. The state data is only and average. We need to keep our focus squarely on protecting the elderly, who are cared for by others and high risk neighborhoods.

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

Oregon has been doing contact tracing since day one and reporting transparently without excuses. Oregon's death rate is lower than California's by two-thirds. We need the same dashboards in every state.

#covid19 #contacttracing #publichealth #transparency #opendata

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

Check out Oregon. This is what COVID-19 contact tracing performance should look like. The goal is getting tracers to the case in 24 hours and quarantining all contacts in 4 days.

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

We'd get better answers if states would release more data but here's a start. Risks are not the same everywhere and for everyone.

[drklausner @drklausner]

Can we estimate individual risk for COVID-19 infection hospitalization and death? https://t.co/LtDByg1c6a

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

Low wage immigrants, often chosen for the highest risk work, creating risks at home for their families. Another sad testimony to injustice in the public health response to COVID-19.
https://t.co/fqrVnWcVL6
#covid19 #inequalities #publichealth #immigrants

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

Colorado reports every COVID19 outbreak with names and addresses. This helps targeting prevention. Other states need to step up.

https://t.co/25NNhp41vw

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

Rates of death from COVID-19 are 2.5 times higher in high poverty communities according to NYC data. We need to reprioritize public heath assets to get our response right.

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

Public health and political leaders need to get the message: target resources and expertise to low-income communities with more testing sites, contact tracing, and housing options to isolate sick workers. #covid19 #inequalities #publichealth

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

Geographic data is putting the COVID-19 pandemic into focus. Low income communities bear the brunt. No surprise. Crowding, essential service workers, multi generational families, group homes and long term care facilities are all more common. https://t.co/9jhu4NWv9s

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

Where is the US contact tracing data?
#Covid19 #Contacttracing #Schoolclosures #Lockdown #Inequality #Transparency #Evidencebasedmedicine

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

End the indecision and get children back in schools. There’s a global scientific consensus that it’s safe for kids and it’s safe for adults. Hygiene and sensible steps are enough. Pediatrics experts say kids don't need masks. https://t.co/Fz9b2AvRD1

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

Contact tracing from the Netherlands shows child-to-adult transmission unlikely https://t.co/RbhFsqPBTV

[Rajiv Bhatia, MD MPH @drrajivb]

@justin_hart Justin, thank you, please share the open data source for Florida and share if you are aware of any other public open data on hospital status by age or other risk factor.