😳 Cal-OSHA denial of asymptomatic transmission 🏥 Pandemic patient displacement 🩺 Antibiotics are not for viruses 🦠
Eric Topol: "It’s crickets from the White House on COVID now, with no messaging on getting the updated booster or masking."
Contents:
- Events, Actions, & Campaigns
- Pandemic field notes & “Living with the virus”
- In the News (virus & adjacent media, science, news, and op-eds)
- This is NOT Fine section (gaslighting & other outrages)
- He(a)rd Scuttlebutt (the pandemic grapevine)
USA - LCAP Call-In Script For Cure Long Covid Demands Call-In - How To Have A Productive Phone Call With Your Legislator’s Office
By Long Covid Action Project
Pandemic patient displacement
MedPage Today – In This Wave of Respiratory Illness, Primary Care Is Drowning — The spike in illness coupled with staff shortages is stretching us thin by Eric Last, DO January 10, 2024 It seems that everyone we know is either sick, was recently sick, or has family who is ill. The headline-grabbing worry is that hospitals will again be overrun, a real potential in a world where simple public health measures are seen as infringements on our rights; where vaccine uptake is pathetically low; and where it is as easy to be exposed to misinformation as it is to contract a respiratory-borne illness.None of us ever want to see a return to the nightmare days of lines of waiting ambulances and refrigerator trucks laden with the dead outside our hospitals. At Northwell, we had more than 3,400 hospitalized patients with COVID at the height of the pandemic in April 2020. Today, while it’s higher than it’s been for a while, it’s at a more manageable number, just below 500. However, there is a real crisis: Primary care is buckling under the strain of this season of illness.
Mortality displacement means some survivorship bias displacement from hospital to primary care.
🗞️ In the news
Los Angeles Times - Opinion: The U.S. is facing the biggest COVID wave since Omicron. Why are we still playing make-believe? By Eric J. Topol Jan. 4, 2024 3:15 AM PT What is the exit strategy that could get us to “return to normal”? It certainly can’t happen with the current complacency and false belief that the virus will burn out and go away. Inevitably, there will be another strain in the future that we are not at all prepared for and will lead to yet another very big wave across the planet. Still, there has been exciting new data on oral, inhaled vaccines that achieve high levels of mucosal immunity and protection against infections, which would be variant proof. The U.S. has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to rev up clinical trials for two different nasal vaccines with promising early clinical trial data, and for improved, variant-proof shots with better protection and durability. But most of these efforts started only recently and are not getting urgent priority for completion during 2024, nothing like what we saw with Operation Warp Speed in 2020. It’s crickets from the White House on COVID now, with no messaging on getting the updated booster or masking. The Biden administration has done far too little to accelerate research on effective treatments for long COVID.
The Philadelphia Inquirer - A Camden County child has tested positive for measles. There is no known connection to Philly’s outbreak at this time. Health officials are continuing to investigate whether there is a connection to the measles outbreak in Philadelphia. by Abraham Gutman Published Jan. 13, 2024 The Camden County child was not fully vaccinated or otherwise immune against measles. Advertisement The time and places of the newly reported exposures are: Cooper University Healthcare Pediatrics in Voorhees Township on Jan. 5 between 11:35 a.m. and 2:32 p.m. Jefferson South Jersey Stratford Hospital’s emergency department on Jan. 8 between 8 p.m. and 12:38 a.m. Jan. 9. Officials did not share the name and location of the child’s day-care facility, but said that all people who were potentially exposed there have been notified. Anyone who has been exposed and is not vaccinated or otherwise immune could develop symptoms as late as Feb. 2, health officials warned. Anyone who is concerned that they might be at risk of infection should contact their physician to get tested and report the exposure.
Children’s hospital inundated with measles cases 12th January 2024 Phil Mackie BBC News Midlands Correspondent Oprah Flash BBC News, West Midlands Within the last month, there have been more than 50 children in need of treatment, the highest it has seen in years. It comes as UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) figures show the West Midlands had at least 167 laboratory confirmed cases with a further 88 likely cases. A low vaccination rate of about 5% has been attributed to the rise. The UKHSA has confirmed the West Midlands has seen the largest outbreak of the infection in the country outside of London. Across Europe, up to October last year there were 30,000 confirmed cases whereas the previous year there were just 941.
Scripps News - Long COVID patients testify on Capitol Hill for more support The patients all shared pleas for more research on treatments, more oversight of insurance companies and more education for doctors. By Lindsey Theis Posted: 9:17 p.m. EST Jan 18, 2024 The patients all shared pleas for more research on treatments, more oversight of insurance companies, more education for doctors and more awareness of those suffering from chronic symptoms. "People need job security. People need time to rest," said San Emeterio. Sens. Ed Markey and Bernie Sanders said they want to call on insurance companies to testify next.
KNX News - Ex-Kaiser nurse wins $41.49M in retaliation suit December 12, 2023 A jury has awarded $41.49 million to a former nurse who said Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. retaliated against her for complaining about patient safety and quality of care and fired her in 2019 over a minor policy violation.
The Sick Times - Long Covid advocates send “unhappy holiday” cards to their representatives Posted by Miles W. Griffis – December 26, 2023 The creative effort featured colorful, funny, and heartbreaking letters from people with Long Covid and their allies to advocate for billions of dollars in annual funding for the disease. Cards were sent across the country to various congresspeople, senators, public health officials, and the White House.
MedPage Today - Asthma Attacks Decreased Among Black Patients During the Pandemic — Protective measures may have played a part in reducing respiratory virus exposures by Elizabeth Short, Staff Writer, MedPage Today December 18, 2023 “Healthcare avoidance, which likely played a role in 2020, is less likely to explain reductions in subsequent years as care use rebounded," they added. Michael Wechsler, MD, MMSc, of National Jewish Health in Denver, Colorado, agreed that protection measures taken during the pandemic, such as social distancing, played a role in the decreases observed. "During the pandemic, because of increasing isolation, asthma exacerbation rates went down globally because people weren't exposed to the same degree of viruses," he told MedPage Today. "And people were taking greater precautions. So, during the pandemic, rates went down, the incidence of exacerbations went down significantly."
Brain Impairment Persists at Least 18 Months After COVID Hospitalization — Cognitive dysfunction similar to that seen in other illnesses of comparable severity by Judy George, Deputy Managing Editor, MedPage Today December 28, 2023 Cognition was impaired for at least a year and a half after severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, but overall cognitive problems were like those seen in patients hospitalized for other severe diseases, a prospective study showed.
CDC - Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) Effectiveness of Bivalent mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines in Preventing COVID-19–Related Thromboembolic Events Among Medicare Enrollees Aged ≥65 Years and Those with End Stage Renal Disease — United States, September 2022–March 2023 Weekly / January 11, 2024 During September 2022–March 2023, receipt of bivalent mRNA COVID-19 vaccine was 47% effective in preventing thromboembolic events among immunocompetent persons aged ≥65 years and 51% effective among adults aged ≥18 years with end stage renal disease (ESRD) receiving dialysis, compared with receipt of the original monovalent vaccines alone.
This is NOT fine
Beware anyone who says take antibiotics for a virus instead of the antiviral Paxlovid.
Prescribing z-pak for covid - coronavirus - a virus, has been a right-wing protocol since the get go especially among covid contrarians, and has been called out for its dubiousness since March 2020!
Leana Wen had published a decent piece about Paxlovid in WaPo this week. Unfortunately she misses the disinformation aspect of this, where it’s not really about evidence or science, it’s about propaganda and doctors who don’t have adequate regulation and can just short their patients and risk lives without repercussions. Also a big part of this is that government has not adequately stepped up to inform both doctors and the public, so a lot of grifty supplement influencers have filled that void, and doctors have social media like anyone else. And of course nobody wants to listen to Leana Wen because in trying to be centrist, she’s alienated herself out of being able to be an effective voice to anyone anywhere on any spectrum about any topic.
As it happens though, I happened to publish something running down all the issues around Paxlovid the same day this past week. I’d been adding notes on this for over a year, thinking about writing about it, but I kept hoping there would be more doctors to speak out about this or that something would change. But all we have is failed and disliked spokesperson Leana Wen. But hopefully my version will give people enough resource to work with to resist the misinformation without the Leana Wen baggage.
He(a)rd Scuttlebutt… pandemic grapevine 🍇🌱
Cal-OSHA is now apparently denying the well-known fact of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission of Covid. We’ve known all along about it.
UPDATE: COVID-19 Prevention – Non-Emergency Regulation What Employers Need to Know January 9, 2024 - California Department of Industrial Relations Division of Occupational Safety & Health Publications Unit For COVID-19 cases with no symptoms, there is no infectious period for the purpose of isolation or exclusion. If symptoms develop, the criteria above will apply
KTLA5 - California health officials shorten COVID isolation period to 1 day. by: Iman Palm - Posted: Jan 18, 2024 California health officials have shortened the COVID-19 isolation guidelines for those who test positive as the department aims to focus more on people who are the most at risk of severe illness while also working to minimize school and workplace disruptions.
This is Great Barrington Bullshit. Beware leadership that chooses to follow the politics & cater to business interests. This will guarantee the free flowing spread of disease among the workforce. And we’ve already got staffing problems all over the place often because of sick leaves related to covid & post covid complications. I hear about it all the time. So this is a self-licking ice cream on top of everything else.
Also in California, Oakland Unified School District has decided to allow kids who test positive to attend class and spread the virus to their classmates and whatever high risk family members those classmates live with.
KRON 4 - Oakland schools allow COVID-positive students to attend class by: Amy Larson Posted: Jan 15, 2024 OUSD announced new COVID isolation protocols Monday for students and school staff members based on updated guidance from the California Department of Public Health. In a turnaround from 2020’s strict stay-at-home protocols, students can now go to class even if they test positive for the virus, according to a message from the OUSD COVID Response Team. COVID-positive students no longer have to stay home, as long as they do not have any symptoms, according to district officials. Asymptomatic, COVID-positive students should wear a mask at school while indoors, the response team added.
As an afterthought they mention that kids “should” wear a mask indoors. Meaning this is not going to be enforced, and that they have no idea that kids get up into each other’s faces outdoors.
A group called Action for Care and Equity has a campaign in southern California asking people to demand public health in schools. One of the most effective things any of us can do is write to the elected government officials, including those on school boards, and tell them we want disease transmission mitigation, and we don’t want people forcibly exposed because of reckless policies.
And no, tweeting about this is not gonna cut it. That should be obvious by now after 4 years of covid hotshots and twitter engagement and not enough civic engagement. Social media is an activism placebo. Write your reps.
A point that applies to public health advocacy as much as climate change activism.
Sunrise Movement Climate Protesters Invade Trump Rallies Jan 17, 2024 - The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder from youtube transcript: “the reason why you see the sunrise movement go in more often than not to protest Democrats is um is instructive because a there's greater expectations that Democrats are going to do something about the climate and the Sunrise movement in the way that our politics exist they have more leverage when they go and protest Democrats there are people in the audience either like watching it on video or sitting in the audience or who may be more inclined to agree with them than at a trump rally and because of that they they have better ability to move policy by protesting Democrats but only when Democrats are in a position of power so that the the sunrise movement can do it this is the way that activism works and so like you know you don't need to love you don't need to like you don't need to think that they're great you don't need to think anything positive about a politician whom they may not even in their heart of hearts care at all about your issue set but who how they get elected and who their Coalition is influences whether you as an activist can influence those people you're not choosing your Messiah you're choosing your enemy you're choosing who's going to be the gatekeeper to what you want and you want a gatekeeper who is susceptable and can be influenced by people that you can influence that's the point”
“New rule: You don't get to criticize nonvoters if you don't wear a mask in public”