NEW TEXAS THREAD 1/12: Thought I would update on where I think we stand in #TexasCovid19.
Trigger Warning: Mostly it's bad news, but there is also some good news. The good news is that for the first time the bad news has brackets, but Nov-Feb will be rough for us
NEW TEXAS THREAD 2/12: Overall, sorry to say Texas leads the nation in COVID-19 cases. We would probably also lead the nation in COVID-19 deaths were it not for the March-April epidemic that hit New York after the virus entered from Europe in Jan-Feb
NEW TEXAS THREAD 3/12: We're now seeing a new and massive surge, number of new confirmed cases again hitting 10,000 as it did over the summer, except this time it's going to continue. Also now deaths starting to increase
NEW TEXAS THREAD 4/12: Much of this increase due to the humanitarian tragedy now unfolding in El Paso. Last night I wrote about this, bottom line we must do all we can to lower death rates there by preventing continued surges on El Paso ICUs, but I'm not sure this is happening
NEW TEXAS THREAD 5/12: But it's not only El Paso. Now the Panhandle is getting hammered. Soon Lubbock could get as bad as El Paso. And now numbers going up in North Texas DFW, elsewhere in northern part of our Triangle, also looking at Waco, Austin, etc
NEW TEXAS THREAD 6/12: Here are the @PolicyLabCHOP projections for Dallas, looking like it will get hit pretty hard as we head towards winter
NEW TEXAS THREAD 7/12: And Houston? Now numbers starting to increase, although so far not as bad as Panhandle or N Texas. Still in conversations with colleagues, such as Joseph Varon MD at United Memorial in Acres Home they are starting to see a significant rise in patients
NEW TEXAS THREAD 8/12: A bit of good news is that as one of my bosses Mark Wallace the CEO of @TexasChildrens always tells me, our @TXMedCenter "has a lot of heft" meaning capacity. But then again, who wants to get there, let's do all we can to protect Houstonians from COVID
NEW TEXAS THREAD 9/12: Overall, I have to say that things are not looking good for us. We'll likely again see the deaths rise with new @IHME_UW projections showing that we could go from 20,000 Texans losing their lives to 37,000 deaths (almost double) by end of February.
NEW TEXAS THREAD 10/12: So a point I hope to make today is that we don't have to get there. Starting today we could prevent 17,000 Texans from losing their lives over the next few months, if we could just take this epidemic seriously. It's not forever just hang on 4 more months
NEW TEXAS THREAD 11/12: Starting next year we'll likely have some good vaccines available, maybe including ours (announcement expected tomorrow). But first please do everything humanly possible to keep yourself, your mom, dad, brother, sister safe during this very dark winter
NEW TEXAS THREAD 12/12: It also means ignoring the crap and disinformation. Here are the inconvenient truths: 1) There is no herd immunity 2) Yes masks work 3) Yes COVID-19 deaths are really caused by COVID-19 4) In Hispanic community, 35% of COVID deaths under age of 65
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The use of “scamdemic” not an accident, it was part of a deliberate Antiscience disinformation campaign led by White House CoV TF to downplay severity of epidemic, attribute #COVID19 deaths to other causes, promote fake herd immunity, dismiss masks, I saw it unfold in May-June
I remember when I first put it all together that this was a systematic coordinated Antiscience disinformation initiative, unfortunately because I’m the lead target 🎯 of the US antivaccine movement (RFK Jr publicly designated me the “OG Villain”) I’ve had to become an expert
For that reason I had to identify and call it out. The Trump White House, the CoV Task Force, and later Atlas put me in a difficult position: In order to defend science and scientists and save lives, I had to rise up against it all. Going toe to toe with those guys was not fun
Many thanks @JohnBerman @AlisynCamerota for hosting me @NewDay with @margarettalev I became an MD PhD physician-scientist to use science to save lives. Now we’re approaching 2,000 deaths per day, we can prevent all these deaths by applying science
We can now save 150,000 lives by Jan 20, 2021, lives lost from #COVID19 predominantly in red states. Given POTUS is missing in action we need prominent Republicans to call on the Governors, local officials to implement mask mandates, social distancing to halt hospital surges.
We don’t have to do this in perpetuity, good vaccines are coming. Right now we can save the lives of 150,000 mothers fathers brothers sisters across the Heartland. Prevent an unfolding humanitarian tragedy becoming a slaughter
Ann got some take out sushi from Osaka here in Montrose Houston, microwaved some sake nothing blew up, and waiting for our new President @JoeBiden and VP @KamalaHarris, a really good evening
My two thoughts tonight:
Our awful period ahead of us from COVID19 as I’ve described and will detail next week, also our vaccine we’re now producing India 🇮🇳 hopefully elsewhere with my brilliant colleague @mebottazzi and our team with @biological_e but one more thing...
45 yrs ago I had a great HS civics class (Mr. Loveland, Hall HS, Hartford CT), remember civics? So I know something about states rights + US Constitution. But that's not the point & you know it. POTUS had responsibilities to lead a national #COVID19 response, protect Americans:
This WH, Exec Branch of Fed Govt failed to detect virus entry into NY from Europe, failed to inform states and direct them to block resurgence across the South this summer, failed to enact my Oct 1 plan to prevent this newest deadly resurgence, result: 225,000 American lives lost
In its place, WH launched a deadly disinformation campaign: 1) discrediting masks, 2) downplaying severity of epidemic, 3) falsely attributing deaths to co-morbidities, 4) pushing fake herd immunity, 5) pushing fake cures, hydroxychloroquine, 6) attacking scientists, including me
Many thanks @AlisynCamerota @JohnBerman hosting me @abbydphillip @NewDay as we head towards unprecedented case counts, 100,000 new cases/d: Legacies of Governors will be cemented in next 5 months based on what they did to save lives in this period
Given that Executive Branch of Federal Govt will not lead our #COVID19 response, lives will be lost or saved depending on whether Governors implement mask mandates, social distancing to prevent hospital surges
I also spoke on new @imperialcollege study on declining antibody in 365,000 UK 🇬🇧 residents. I spoke briefly about the work of Dr Akiko Iwasaki @VirusesImmunity@YaleIBIO who points out the importance of memory B cells, also T cells, so the news may not be all bad
By summer I knew White House never intended to contain COVID19 in America. It would have required fed govt to take control of response, exert leadership. When they rebuffed my Oct 1 plan in July instead launched disinformation campaign, our fate was sealed cnn.com/2020/10/25/pol…
It’s why I felt compelled to speak out, openly criticize WH and it’s task force. I saw the decimation in the Hispanic community right in front of me. Ann said to me, “I can see this is eating you up” For me their FU rejection of my Oct 1 plan to save American lives = final straw
About a month later they brought in Dr Atlas as part of a larger WH attempt to rewrite history, spin new tales around fake herd immunity, discredit masks, force open schools, attribute COVID19 deaths to co-morbidities, Great Barrington, well planned Soviet style disinformation