August 28, 2024
Italy: COVID cases +11%, deaths +36% and positivity rate at 18.9% in the last week.
From 22 August to 28 August:
🔹Reported cases: 15,221 (+11%) 🔹Reinfections: n/a 🔹Deaths: 135 (+36%) 🔹Positivity rate: 18.9% (+2.7%)
“An even more contagious COVID strain is ‘just getting started’ amid California wave Doctors and scientists are keeping an eye on yet another coronavirus subvariant — XEC — that could surpass the latest hyperinfectious strain.”
“Why did the nurse complain about how hard it was to breathe in a mask before she even put it on? Maybe she wanted validation. Maybe she wanted a reaction. Maybe she wanted me to intervene and tell her it was okay if she didn't wear a mask. I gave her nothing. Sometimes, that's what someone needs.
Nothing.
…
…It's easy to dismiss the deep yearning for ‘normal’ that compels hundreds of millions of people to disregard their own health and safety, to burn the future for the moments of joy they were promised. We all remember what it used to be like. We're just the ones coping better with its loss. For us, ‘normal’ was always more of an excursion anyway. The real normal was always a return to solitude, and maybe that's why we're handling the new reality better.”
“Some back-of-the-envelope math to think about what the next few years will look like.
Assumptions: *average of 1 infection/person/yr *half of infections are asymptomatic *super-optimistic: symptomatic cases recover fully in one week (no long COVID etc.)
What happens? 1/4”
Great thread:
“Asking @CDCgov, from my bedroom, where I'm moored because of #LongCovid, why the CDC isn't recommending masking -- alongside handwashing, vaxes and testing (which they are recommending). Alt text of response from Dr. Brendan Jackson below. 1/7”
Excellent thread:
Here we go again. Rinse. Repeat.
“As the Paralympics open, health experts raise concerns about COVID-19 precautions”
“With the toll of new COVID-19 infections regularly topping 1 million a day and weekly deaths creeping toward the 1,000 mark, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched a campaign aimed not at protecting the public from this ongoing pandemic, now in its fifth year, but at washing its hands of responsibility.”
Surge too big to dismiss:
“Government health officials announced the return of free tests, vaccines and treatments.”
Korean study: a scoring system to predict deterioration in mild COVID-19 patients. “A novel scoring system was proposed for predicting the deterioration of patients whose condition may worsen rapidly and those who all still mild or asymptomatic.”
Using data from 954 patients, the system outperformed existing methods with 89.9% accuracy in external validation.
“BREAKING: Up to 50% of Americans Expected to Be Infected in Current COVID-19 Wave.
The current COVID-19 wave in the U.S. has resulted in approximately 24.3% of Americans being infected since May 2, and around 19.3% since the surge began on June 23.”
“So where do we realistically go from here, given that it is clear that COVD-19 is far from over? While much progress has been made in terms of vaccination and treatment, the current surge is a stark reminder that complacency is not an option. The road ahead will require a renewed commitment to public health, both from government leaders and from individuals. We all need to prepare for not only the possibility of continued disruptions but for another new normal that might be a little closer to 2020 than how we’ve recently been living.”
Approximately 16 million working-age Americans (aged 18 to 65) have long Covid today.
Of those, 2 to 4 million are out of work due to long Covid.
The annual cost of those lost wages alone is around $170 billion a year (potentially as high as $230 billion).
Not. The. Flu. Not. Mild. NOT. OVER.
Actually, Democrats, Covid DOES continue to rule our lives.
“Overhyping Vaccines Wasn’t Pro-Vaccine. It Was Pro-Stop-Worrying-About-COVID. Overselling the vaccine in 2021 was not being pro-vaccine. It was pro-stop-worrying-about-the pandemic, from the doctors who assured us herd immunity was imminent.”
Massachusetts study of 280 healthcare workers 3 years post-Covid: 73.4% with Long Covid reported worse quality of life, depression, anxiety, & stress.
Fear of Covid reinfection similar between groups.
Support needed.
The impact on our healthcare workforce is immense, occurring at the same time the general population needs our help more as they too are sickened and disabled by long-covid and post-covid conditions.
in a review of 56 literature studies: Long Covid is “prevalent" among Health Care workers who become infected by SARS-CoV-2
“Study from Switzerland: 245 COVID-19 patients surveyed 4 months post-hospital discharge.
Only 28.2% were symptom-free.
Women and those with longer hospital stays reported more persistent symptoms.
76.4% had memory and concentration issues.
“The Plan to Stop Every Respiratory Virus at Once The benefits of ventilation reach far beyond the coronavirus. What if we stop taking colds and flus for granted, too?”
