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Abraar Karan Profile picture
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25 Jan, 5 tweets, 3 min read
1/ Quoted in this @BostonGlobe piece alongside colleagues @RanuDhillon @cmyeaton @svscarpino @BillHanage on new public health guidance changes in Massachusetts, particularly around curfews

Many important points here...
bostonglobe.com/2021/01/23/nat…
2/ Some guidances are likely to have a big impact on curbing transmission. Curfews that send people home from bars or restaurants marginally earlier-- unclear that is going to do much. But reversing it could give the signal that things are "safe"
3/ I think of safety not as a binary on/off switch but as a continuum of risk- more safe, less safe, all have risks, need to weigh those against benefits

Indoor dining checks off many "less safe" boxes- masks off, prolonged face-face contact, ventilation poor to moderate
4/ Reducing capacity will help- it is a measure amongst others to reduce that risk of transmission

Reversing curfew- unclear how many people are going to run to dine indoors late into the night compared to prior

If it is a lot of people, then we will have more transmission
5/ Need to remain vigilant-- our three goals right now should be

-- vaccinate

-- slow transmission by avoiding unnecessary high risk activities

--protect vulnerable w/ $$, rapid tests, safe isolation, & best PPE they can get #BetterMasks

#covid19

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More from @AbraarKaran

Abraar Karan Profile picture
27 Jan
"As a whistle-blower report would later reveal, in January [2020], Department of Health and Human Services officials effectively dismissed an offer from one of America’s few remaining N95 manufacturers, Prestige Ameritech, to expand its production lines"

nytimes.com/2020/11/17/mag…
2/ "Steve Francis, a special agent in an investigatory division of the D.H.S., told me that the illicit P.P.E. market was so profitable that some transnational criminal organizations turned from smuggling humans and narcotics to moving masks."

Wow. #Covid19 #BetterMasks
3/ "The mayor of Los Angeles described cutting a check for a shipment of masks, only to have FEMA swoop in at the last moment. The governor of Montana complained on a conference call to President Trump that his state lost 4 or 5 orders in the previous week to federal agencies"
Read 12 tweets
Abraar Karan Profile picture
26 Jan
1/ So #LACounty is resuming outdoor dining after #COVID19 stay-at-home order is canceled-- this article quotes California health experts who are concerned that people need to remain vigilant.

It's strange that **outdoor dining** was a target though...

latimes.com/california/sto…
2/ As many of us have said, a key to controlling transmission is for people to avoid high risk situations.

Most if not all of these are *indoors*

If safer outdoor options are shut down, people are likely to migrate indoors where socialization isn't regulated
3/ California has the benefit of tolerable outdoor weather year round

The game plan here should have been to convince people to modify activities in a way that mitigates risk but gives them safer options to continue life.

Outdoors w/ physical distancing is a good way

#covid19
Read 4 tweets
Abraar Karan Profile picture
22 Jan
Quoted in @BostonGlobe piece alongside @linseymarr @ScottGottliebMD & others — I’m all for double masking as a temporary backstop/better fit— but we need to keep pushing for certified & tested protection w/ HiFi masks as many other countries have already

bostonglobe.com/2021/01/22/nat…
2/ Why is a Macgyver’d double mask becoming the new standard? If we don’t push for HiFi masks, we will not get HiFi masks.

Other countries have either been doing this since last spring (S Korea) or pushing for it now (Germany, Austria) #covid19 @sri_srikrishna @RanuDhillon
3/ We should focus on creating a regulated, certified supply chain for KN95s, KF94s, FFP2s, & N95s - these should be widely available, ideally subsidized or free for high risk/ lower income/ vuln grps— & should be used in higher risk situations involving indoors & crowding.
Read 4 tweets
Abraar Karan Profile picture
22 Jan
Remember that the Korean government literally bought 80% of the nation’s KF94 masks (N95 equivalent) & shipped them to pharmacies at a discounted price to make sure the general public had access to #BetterMasks— in MARCH 2020.

#covid19 @POTUS
nytimes.com/2020/04/01/opi…
2/ “As Koreans learned of the scale and aggressiveness of #Covid19, first from Chinese reports, then from a surge of cases at home, the mask with the weave and construction that proved most effective against the virus could not be found, except at exorbitant prices online.”
Cc @RanuDhillon @sri_srikrishna @linseymarr @MonicaGandhi9 @zeynep @jeremyphoward @meganranney @getusppe @ashishkjha @Atul_Gawande
Read 5 tweets
Abraar Karan Profile picture
20 Jan
1/ This is big— Germany now mandating medical grade masks for all citizens in public transport & in supermarkets (last week only done in Bavaria region, which is even stricter- only FFP2 masks)

Germany is calling for FFP2, N95, KN95 or surgical masks

washingtonpost.com/world/europe/e…
2/ “Meanwhile in France, the country’s health advisory council on Monday discouraged the wearing of inefficient cloth and homemade masks, also arguing they may not offer sufficient protection against the more highly transmissible coronavirus variants.”
3/ “The new European recommendations follow increases in supply since the early days of the pandemic, when there were concerns that the use of medical masks by the public would mean there would not be enough for front-line medical workers.”

Read that again. ⬆️ SUPPLY
Read 7 tweets
Abraar Karan Profile picture
19 Jan
Short 🧵

1/ Just as #B117 #covid19 variant is spreading more effectively, so too do each of our interventions have to be that much more effective

•masks— need better source control & personal protection

•testing— scaled up + smarter use of rapid antigen tests for control
2/
•Tracing— needs to be much faster; digital tracing was used in other countries, NY & others tried an opt in system via apps, unclear how that did

•Isolating — other countries used isolation spaces outside of the home- our efforts here started but didn’t seem to pick up
3/ •vaccines— we know this effort has been very inefficient; many others have opined strategies for how to improve

•quarantine— similar to isolation above; need masks at home, need paid time off for folks; otherwise, people will do what they need to survive/ put food on table
Read 4 tweets

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