public health in DC

Enviro and public health nerd. Dad. Tweets are my own.

[Eric Topol @EricTopol]

The JN.1 variant’s rise here is helping to fuel a significant wave, reflected by wastewater data and case modeling by @JPWeiland 👇
We’re lucky that the booster provides protection against it, but too few (-16% of eligible) have taken advantage to date

[Mike Hoerger, PhD MSCR MBA @michael_hoerger]

If your county has Biobot #wastewater data, here's information on how to estimate the percentage of people in your area who are actively infectious.

Quick guide. 🧵

Here are a few examples to start.
1/

[Elisabeth Bik @MicrobiomDigest]

Someone in Ohio is shedding new strain of COVID into sewers, professor says

Johnson, with the help of his Twitter followers and U.S. Census data, have narrowed down the list of possible infected people to about 1,600

https://t.co/aYBhPyxQw5

[Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD DSc(hon) @PeterHotez]

My estimate: 200,000 Americans needlessly lost their lives in 2021/early 2022 because they refused a Covid vaccine - a time when vaccines were more than 90% protective vs death/serious illness. They were victims of a organized, well-financed, antivaccine disinformation campaign

[public health in DC @phrederica]

@StephTaitWrites I reached the same conclusion after looking at DCPS’s 1-day universal testing data on two separate occasions. Focusing limited prevention resources on schools gives the city its biggest bang for the buck.

[public health in DC @phrederica]

So DCPS students and staff, which comprise about 8% of DC's population (less, if you subtract the staff living in VA or MD) represented about 35% of the city's cases that day, at the height of the Omicron wave.

[Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD DSc(hon) @PeterHotez]

1/n I’m watching with concern how within one week 2 of our major news outlets are spreading misinformation about the Covid pandemic. First The NY Times now the WSJ

[Jonathan Reiner @JReinerMD]

Today is the 1 year anniversary of the sudden greenwashing of the CDC COVID map, effectively ending widespread mask use in the US. Since that time, 160k Americans have died of COVID.

[ConsumerLab.com @ConsumerLab]

When we reported an unusually high amount of mercury in Wild Planet tuna (and several other tuna brands), Wild Planet suggested it was an aberration. But the same problem was just reported by Consumer Reports in its tests of tunas. See our update: https://t.co/rhj9USt9zy

[Conor Browne @brownecfm]

1/ The response to the ongoing pandemic in the short-term and a call for advocacy: 🧵

Tragically, it is my opinion that globally, we will see very little in the way of improved mitigations against infection being put into place in the short-term.

[T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦 @TRyanGregory]

More and more discoveries point to previously unrecognized consequences of infection by viruses with which we are quite familiar. I can't imagine having the hubris to assume we have a handle on what a novel virus like SARS-CoV-2 does or doesn't do.

https://t.co/apFcCscni6

[AJ Leonardi, MBBS, PhD, MPH @fitterhappierAJ]

From harm to the immune system’s control of fungal infections, to increased likelihood of strep A infection after Covid shown by the BMJ, it looks like I was correct in how Covid wears down our immunity. It also causes rapid turnover of t cells https://t.co/5sfj2ijnjK

[tern @1goodtern]

Ten Questions to help you determine if the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is over.

[public health in DC @phrederica]

@trishgreenhalgh Updated mRNA boosters vs. other vax tech like novavax. Also attribution of cause of death when there is such a difference between official covid deaths and all cause mortality increases. Last, impacts on kids.

[Virginia Buysse, PhD 💙 @VirginiaBuysse]

FDA warns of false negative results with any molecular test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants, and notes that mutations in the virus can also impact performance of antigen and serology tests. H/T Rissa @ItsailsFL

[Jon Levy @jonlevyBU]

Boston-area wastewater levels are where they were in early Jan and rising fast. MA COVID hospitalizations are at highest since winter Omicron wave, with > 100 COVID deaths last week for the first time in a long time. Little public acknowledgment. We have become comfortably numb.

[COVID NEWS NETWORK @COVIDnewsfast]

Our Rapid COVID tests need a serious upgrade if we expect to continue "managing our own risk" and "owning the tools" needed to properly detect Covid-19. We are running out of reliable means.

[public health in DC @phrederica]

@COVIDnewsfast @RemindMe_OfThis
in 6 weeks.

[T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦 @TRyanGregory]

Going to say it again. The XBB.1.5 variant (Kraken) that is absolutely rocketing in the USA and spreading globally, which has both major immune escape and high ACE2 binding, *evolved in New York*.

Not in China.
In. The. USA.

[public health in DC @phrederica]

@chrislhayes @kelcsimpkins @united @BoeingAirplanes @Airbus Here’s a December 2022 flight of mine that experienced no delays in boarding or takeoff.

[public health in DC @phrederica]

@chrislhayes @kelcsimpkins @united Largely depends on how much time the plane is on the ground with people in it. It’s also true that toxic engine fumes must be avoided. @BoeingAirplanes @Airbus must come up with a better way.