Jay Rose

[Mike Hoerger, PhD MSCR MBA @michael_hoerger]

🚨BREAKING 🦠
On Friday, the US CDC arbitrarily shifted higher COVlD levels into lower categories depicted with cooler colors.

Much of what was Very High is now "High." What was High is now "Moderate" or "Low." Low is "Very Low."

🔹2 states/territories artificially shifted from High to Moderate (MS, GU)
🔹5 shifted from Moderate to Low (CA, TX, AK, WA, NV)
🔹4 shifted from Low to Very Low (AZ, AR, LA, NC)

During intense surges, states will rarely get classified as Very High anymore. Presently, transmission is rising across the US, with a 75% chance of a wave, but states will be depicted in blue (Very Low) much longer, making communities less prepared. #Bluewashing

Normally, when the CDC makes a methodology change, they flag it prominently on each of their COVlD monitoring pages. This time, there was no alert and no explanation. Major changes were confined to COVlD, not Influenza A, and not RSV. The questionable change was made in the middle of rising transmission across most of the country; 15 states already have COVlD outbreaks, and others may soon join the ranks. These are serious ethics concerns that warrant investigative journalism.

These issues are aggravated by delayed reporting at High/Very High monitoring sites. Sites with 1-week reporting delays get excluded when the CDC calculates current levels. For example, only 16% of the sites online in Texas (3 of 19) report High/Very High levels, but 90% of those with a 1-week reporting delay (18 of 20) have High/Very High levels, leading the state to get classified as "Low" when really High. These issues snowball and can easily push a state down 1-2 categories when experiencing significant COVlD outbreaks.

The good news is that the individual wastewater monitoring site data are still valid. The bad news is that the CDC maps and level descriptions will now mislead the casual user. Think: "Good data, bad use of data." At PMC, we told you that if there was any funny business at the CDC, we would warn you right away. We diagnosed the issue immediately and will still report accurate COVlD information.

Expect further national news coverage this week. Journalists are welcome to reach out.

[Biff #SARSisAirborne 🍉 @Biff234523]

Re: Novavax availability: I can’t stress this enough, especially in the midst of turmoil at chain pharmacies and a rollout from Sanofi that is actually panning out to be pretty lackluster:

Call all of your small, local, and/or independent pharmacies and ask them to place an order for Novavax through their distributor!

They can place orders as small as 1 carton, which contains 10 doses. This year is a better time than ever for them to place an order.

• In 2023 - stocking Novavax was difficult for them because the doses came in a multi-dose vial presentation, creating a bunch of waste.

• In 2024 - stocking Novavax was difficult because the product only had a shelf life of 3 months, once again, creating waste.

• Now, in 2025 - Neither of those issues exist anymore. Novavax is now provided in a prefilled syringe presentation with a shelf life of 6 months.

Unless they’re very up to date on the latest regulatory information, they probably have no idea about these details and changes.

So make sure that you’re educating them about these features in addition to expressing how much demand exists for Novavax, and I think you’ll find that they might be much more willing to order a carton for you than you might expect.

[Julia Marie @julia_doubleday]

You actually can’t ignore a pandemic out of existence and you can’t introduce a novel virus that disables ppl, allow it to freely circulate, and get angry that ppl are sicker WHILE getting angry at the ppl asking for clean air. This is unsustainable. Course correct.

[Zdenek Vrozina @ZdenekVrozina]

Moen et al. (2025) - Neuroimmune Pathophysiology of Long COVID https://t.co/X0nWr8X113

[ᴘᴏᴛᴀᴛᴜᴍ @pot8um]

Disability applies to every single cause you claim to care about.

Palestine has the highest population of disabled children on earth due to the ongoing genocide.

Long covid is now the most common chronic illness in US children, meaning covid is an ongoing mass disabling event.

Unhoused people are disproportionately disabled.

Disabled people still don’t have marriage equality.

Disabled people don’t receive proper support, care, or accommodation and are instead being encouraged by their doctors to choose MAiD.

If you live long enough, disability is inevitable.

A lack of disability justice and rights harms everyone.

[Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran]

BREAKING (ACLU): A federal judge reversed NIH's terminations of hundreds of critical research grants that were canceled because of their alleged connection to disfavored topics, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender identity.

This is a major win for public health.

[Kelly @broadwaybabyto]

When I was in my 20s, I was repeatedly denied a medically necessary hysterectomy because I might “meet a man who wants kids”

I was left disabled, forced to undergo six surgeries, multiple blood & iron transfusions to preserve a diseased uterus for a HYPOTHETICAL child.

🧵

[Mike Hoerger, PhD MSCR MBA @michael_hoerger]

CDC Blackout on COVlD Wastewater Data

Their dashboard "updated" today. The data did not. This is NOT normal. The data updated even when external communication was previously banned. Leveraging Biobot data, PMC estimates 1 in 171 people in the U.S. are actively infectious.

[SARS‑CoV‑2 (COVID-19) @COVID19_disease]

Just spoke with my CDC sources. They were in tears.

Budgets cut. RFJK has ordered them not to publicize bird flu symptoms in exposed workers. Not to test them. Not to speak.

They know people are getting sick. And they’re being forced to stay silent.

Public health is dying.

[Mike Hoerger, PhD MSCR MBA @michael_hoerger]

The U.S. is closing the Office of Long COVID Research and Practice as wastewater-derived transmission estimates suggest that ongoing infections will result in >150,000 new weekly Long COVID cases.

[Eric Feigl-Ding @DrEricDing]

SICKENING—Trump’s DHS just deported a surgeon from Brown University Medical School—who is here legally on an H1B visa that doesn’t expire until 2027, and has committed no crimes. Trained in the U.S. at Ohio State, University of Washington, and Yale as a **transplant surgeon** (one of the most difficult surgical fields in all of medicine!!!), she is a highly trained doctor on kidney transplants, which cannot be easily replaced. Her phone was seized at the border. A federal judge handed down an injunction against her deportation—but she was already deported on a plane en route to Paris. Brown’s kidney transplant clinic is now strained by her deportation.

[👩‍⚕️ Dr. Laura 👩‍⚕️ @datadriven_tdoc]

Being stealth is soon to be illegal. It’s shouldn’t be

Many trans people, including myself, had long assumed there was a right to discretion about who and when to reveal details of our past, and many of us relied on this discretion to live our best integrated lives

Everyone should have the right to be private about their past in most areas of the public sphere. The number of situations where a trans persons past is relevant is very small.

Most of us will not seek to play elite sports. Most of us will not be imprisoned. Most of us will not hold jobs where this aspect of our past is even remotely relevant.

[Al Haddrell @ukhadds]

A study has come out the discusses how “new inactivation data significantly influences infection risk predictions”.

Since that “new inactivation data” was from our team’s research, I have some thoughts.

[Mike Hoerger, PhD MSCR MBA @michael_hoerger]

We're in a lingering 10th Covid wave & flu is at its highest rate in 15 years.

You can stack these discount codes to get 25% off #FlowFlex Covid tests or FlowFlexPlus Covid + Flu A/B tests.

Best deal I've seen (U.S). FlowFlex are the tests my family, staff, & patients trust.

[Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran]

ACTION ALERT: Today is the LAST DAY to submit comments to the CDC urging them to recommend universal N95 masking in healthcare settings.

You can submit comments directly by email at [email protected] or via their website form: https://t.co/dJpj25D7DI

[ACAB 🖤 AUD @audofthedead]

MUT AID NEEDED URGENTLY

I'm disabled & immunocompromised, I care for a disabled kitty in need of leg amp sx I haven't been able to get yet. I'm 3mos behind on rent, no car insur, no stable income since August, only crowdfunding and per diem work. LOTS of bills!

ca/vmo: audquag

[Outbreak Updates @outbreakupdates]

H5N1 UPDATE

In California, 36.2% of dairy herds are now infected with H5N1

[Liberal Jane @liberaljanee]

It’s #TransDayofRemembrance, a day where we mourn and honor the people who have lost their lives because of their identity.

❤️ We must come together to create a world where everyone is safe to be who they are.

[Jay Rose @jayrpep]

RT @michael_hoerger: As we enter an unprecedented 10th Covid wave, I will participate as a panelist in this conversation about workplace sa…

[Miles Johnston @MilesJohnston]

This book represents a lifetime of dedication to making art. If you've ever wanted to collect anything of mine, this is the thing.