2) “This increases the R number by between 0.4 & 0.8– current Tier 4 restrictions are unable to contain its spread, even w/ closure of schools & universities. The pandemic is now out of control, and the NHS is struggling, with some hospitals having to stop non-COVID activities.”
3) “The NHS is no longer being protected. For these reasons, there is a strong argument for maximising the coverage of the population with at least one dose of vaccine, even though this requires a change to the dosage schedule.”
4) “The urgency of concerted and effective action to supress the new variant cannot be overstated. While it is a very difficult & finely balanced decision, SAGE endorses the decision to pursue coverage of as high a proportion of the population as possible, as quickly as possible”
5) “as part of a comprehensive strategy. This must, however, be accompanied by other measures, as follows:”
Notably, they also advocate to “restrict movement to/from GB 🇬🇧 to the rest of the world”.
6) Meanwhile, here is the other UK govt SAGE (as opposed to Independent Sage) on kids and schools and teachers.
7) the new 🇬🇧B117 is a beast of a #SARSCoV2 variant. The variant adds ~ 0.4-0.7 to the R (Reproductive number). What could keep in check via containment, R<1, now with +0.5 added infectiousness, means the virus will go unchecked—very bad. #COVID19
8) and now we know the relative increase in children vs old strain compared to adults. It’s relatively greater increase in kids 0-9.
Testing conducted by the FDA on pasteurized commercially purchased milk has found genetic evidence of the H5N1 bird flu virus. ➡️But the testing, done by PCR cannot distinguish between live virus or fragments of viruses that could have been killed by the pasteurization process.
The FDA said it has been trying to see if it could grow virus from milk found to contain evidence of H5N1, which is the gold standard test to see if there is viable virus in a product. 📌The FDA *does NOT explicitly say FDA laboratories were unable to find live virus in the milk samples, but nevertheless it does state that its belief that commercial, pasteurized milk is safe to consume has not been altered by these findings.
(Sound familiar? Just like blanket assuming a virus “isn’t airborne”, “cannot transmit without symptoms”, “no human to human transmission” errors during COVID). That said, I will am hopeful that no live virus will be found in confirmation. But let’s be precautious. statnews.com/2024/04/23/h5n…
2) PPE and safety googles or face shield recommended for dairy farmers and anyone handling raw milk 🥛. Also they warn about poor fitting respirators for children (who may work near dairy— like I used to help on a dairy farm as a kid in rural Pa).
3) people working with cattle 🐄 should also “avoid eating drinking smoking chewing gum in contaminated areas or touching eyes.” And people exposed should wear PPE should be monitored for symptoms for 10 days.
📈Measles epidemic trajectory is worsening in the U.S.—it has NOT flattened as some claimed. The surge continues—comparison of newest versus recent outbreak graph. Majority are unvaccinated, but there’s enough unvaccinated in many clusters for outbreaks. cnn.com/health/measles…
2) here is another way to visualize the measles epidemic. Another annoying thing is that although 95% not double vaccinated, 5% of the previous 113 cases were vaccinated— which means that there is waning immunity or vaccine breakthrough with sufficiently big outbreak possible.
3) I specifically wanted about this issue that pockets of unvaccinated could still trigger outbreaks, and vaccine breakthroughs possible due to vaccine waning & if surrounded by pockets of low vaccinations. See my warning oped below. 👇
🐄—"Experts fear that H5N1 avian flu… may have been transmitted through a type of cattle feed called “poultry litter”—mix of poultry poop, spilled feed, feathers, and other waste scraped from the floors of industrial chicken and turkey production plants." telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…
Europe does not allow cattle to be fed poultry feed. US does. This helps explain why US is seeing a cow outbreak of avian flu.
3) CDC warns against chicken and bird exposures and direct contact with poop. Yet why the hell are we feeding cattle poultry litter??? Corporate farms are so stupid and greedy.
Global CO2 levels and temperatures. But but but we scientists are merely “fear mongering” according to deniers. How about just facing reality? How about precautionary warnings to protect human lives?
@ed_hawkins @MrMatthewTodd #climatecrisis
Oh this seems totally fine.
I think we are screwed at this point on limiting temperature rise by 1.5 C. It’ll still take a miracle to avoid 2 C.
📍BIRD HUNTING AVIAN FLU DEATH—WHO reports that a 21 year old young man with no underlying conditions suddenly died of #avianflu in Vietnam. He started with a cough/fever, but died 12 days later with severe pneumonia and ARDS. ➡️He had only gone bird hunting recently. BE CAREFUL.
2) "From 2003 to 25 March 2024, a total of 888 worldwide human cases of influenza A(H5N1), 463 deaths (52% CFR), reported to WHO from 23 countries. Almost all cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H5N1) linked to close contact with infected live or dead birds, or contaminated environments." who.int/emergencies/di…
3) It is interesting that WHO had to point out he had no contact with any sick or dead birds. Only hunting. And he had gone bird hunting the prior month in Feb 2024. And no other contact with people since. The latency period seems rather long.
⚠️SPIKE IN MEASLES—113 cases of US measles in Q1 of 2024, double the total for all of 2023. 📍95% of the cases were in those without 2 full doses of MMR💉vaccine (83% cases without any confirmed shots). Across 18 states—top 2 states are Illinois & Florida. 58% of all cases got hospitalized🏥—66% of infected kids <5 years old hospitalized. 61% of adults 20+ hospitalized. Please take measles seriously. Don’t listen to RFK Jr. cdc.gov/measles/cases-…
2) Moreover, many of the nationwide cases had come from Florida— “Measles cases that turned up in at least three states this year were linked to visits to Florida, federal and state investigators concluded”. FL also doesn’t count non-residents as cases.🤦🏻♂️
3) I wrote a long WARNING last month about measles surging in the U.S. — we are not addressing the crisis. Florida measles crisis is just a bell weather. And now here we are.