✈️NEW flight report on corona transmission on flights:
13 people appear to have been infected on a 7-hr flight to Ireland this summer, leading to 59 cases as passengers visited friends & family. The plane was at 17% capacity & required masks.
Why do researchers think infection occured in ✈️?
-5 show symptoms w/in 4 days of flight & have no other exposure; 8 could have gotten it during layover but seat map suggests in-flight
-Sequencing finds that the virus is 99% similar despite travelers coming from diff continents.
Impressive contact tracing made this possible. European CDC has a guidance to alert all flight passengers when there is a positive case on board. Perhaps @CDCgov might consider such a thing given that people will be traveling during the holidays, and staying with loved ones.
Thanks for identifying this study @RandiMHernandez! A low-hanging fruit would be the collection of tests before & after flights to determine risk.
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Psst: It is your civic duty to watch "Totally Under Control." We must hold leaders accountable.
I've interviewed some of the scientists in the film & dozens more this year. Here are my thoughts after viewing @undercontrolmov from @alexgibneyfilm. 🧵
Spot-on portrayal of how the CDC & FDA stood in the way of testing in Feb @undercontrolmov, including @RickABright asking Azar for 10 billion to ramp up testing & drug/vaccine R&D around Jan 20. He’s later told that was an offensive ask.
But...
But the big question remains unanswered: Who at the CDC/FDA/HHS said DON'T push hard on testing?
Tho @RickABright says Kadlec told him there was “no reason for concern” in Jan & @scottjbecker@APHL admits it was hubris to not use the German test vetted & distributed by WHO.
With 5.7 million cases in the US, we should have a good sense of how often people are infected in grocery stores, on planes, at protests, on construction sites.
Data on #Covid transmission is critical as people socialize & schools & businesses open.
eg in #NewZealand, the country's daily dashboard suggests people get tested if they went to locations linked w/current outbreaks. health.govt.nz/our-work/disea… Screenshot from today
The daily dashboard from the @KoreaCDC reveals that 50 people from a 915-person #COVID outbreak at Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul have left for other districts; that 22 venues, listed, have since had transmission that traces back to that outbreak & MUCH MORE
We spoke with researchers who ran simulations like Dark Winter, Atlantic Storm, Crimson Contagion, Clade X, Event 201. They foresaw a lot of problems happening now. But most thought we were better than anywhere else because of technological capacity, medical & science excellence.
As a long-time government researcher told me: "You need gas in the engine and the brakes to work, but if the driver doesn't want to use the car, you're not going anywhere." nature.com/articles/d4158…
I spent months in SierraLeone during the biggest #Ebola outbreak in history & I've just caught up with doctors I met who are now fighting #coronavirus. Lots of interesting comparisons to that outbreak -- and to the USA -- in my latest piece @NatureNews. nature.com/articles/d4158…
Some African researchers I talked w/were surprised that the CDC—so helpful during #Ebola—seems sorta powerless in the US. “I was shocked to see the US struggling to understand what contact tracing is, to organize a response, to put in place risk communication,” said @NyenswahG.
Another twist is that because many cases are mild or asymptomatic due to the young population in Liberia, SierraLeone & Guinea (3% of people >65), a lot of people might be taking this less seriously than public health authorities wish. (Btw this photo is worth 1000 words.)
New CDC report on #COVID19 in the US January-May 30:
-5% of people who tested positive died
-14% hospitalized
-Deaths 12x higher in people w/diabetes or other underlying conditions
-Median age 48
-Incidence HIGHER among 40-60 yr olds than 60-80 but highest >80
(1/2)
Incomplete data on symptoms and race/ethnicity:
-Only 4% were asymptomatic. BUT testing has mainly been for people with symptoms and this data is incomplete
-33% of cases Latinx, 22% Black BUT almost half of reports don’t include race/ethnicity.
Trump just announced he is suspending funding to @WHO while a review is conducted *THIS IS DESPICABLE* Let me lay out how WHO has responded to #COVID19 since Jan 5 & why not funding them now spells disaster to many low and middle-income countries. THREAD.
First, a timeline of their activities, backed up by their #coronavirus situation reports. Jan 5 on the outbreak in Wuhan, China: "The occurrence of 44 cases of pneumonia requiring hospitalization clustered in space and time should be handled prudently."
2nd week of Jan: First sequences of #coronavirus revealed from China w/guidance from WHO & a recommendation on how to diagnose the disease. Late Jan they recommend PCR-based test. Classify this as a risk for the world.