FROZEN FOODS—"We know that the virus can persist & survive in conditions that are found in these cold and frozen environments.” More work needs to be done to understand "the possible role of the cold chain, frozen products in the introduction of the virus”, says WHO Peter Embarek
2) Previously, frozen seafood exposure was shown it could possibly lead to infection. #COVID19
4) This is also reminiscent of the unsolved NZ outbreak. “Authorities have traced the virus to a worker in a cold-storage warehouse, but they can’t figure out how he got it” wsj.com/amp/articles/c…
5) I’m not suggesting this is common worldwide. I’m just contextualizing what the WHO expert said. It is rare for sure but it’s non zero it seems. And New Zealand still not sure yet where it’s late 2020 outbreak came from.
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Sobering—the more infectious #B117 variant will likely become the world's dominant strain, director of 🇬🇧 genetic surveillance @CovidGenomicsUK warned—“it's going to sweep the world, in all probability", Professor Sharon Peacock told BBC. 🧵 #COVID19 mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/u…
2) "Once we get on top of it [Covid-19] or it mutates itself out of being virulent - causing disease - then we can stop worrying about it”
“But I think, looking in the future, we're going to be doing this for years. We're still going to be doing this 10 years down the line."
3) latest from Denmark 🇩🇰 CDC, which sequences all #SARSCoV2 samples from all cases now, the % of #COVID19 now #B117 from 🇬🇧 is up to 27% of cases. Denmark CDC is right to be worried. Fast pace of replacement growth. nyheder.tv2.dk/samfund/2020-1…
📍Leadership: Because of growing cases of #B117 & #B1351 variants, Germany 🇩🇪 further extends its #COVID19 lockdown until March 7.
Goal: 🇩🇪 will not lift restrictions until cases down to 35 per 100k per week (~5 per 100k/day)—currently ~68/100k/week. 🧵
2) With an eye to an outbreak of the South African #B1351 variant in the Austrian region of Tyrol bordering Germany's Bavaria state, Merkel said she had conveyed her "concern" to Austrian 🇦🇹 Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Wednesday.
3) “The text (of guideline) stresses that schools and daycare centres should be "the first to gradually reopen", but that it is for individual states to decide how and when that happens.”
NEBULIZER AIRBORNE OUTBREAK—
Experts say a person during Melbourne's hotel quarantine outbreak had #COVID19 & used a nebulizer—releasing up to 10,000x more aerosol particles per minutes than breathing—creating millions more aerosols to "hitch a ride". 🧵 abc.net.au/news/2021-02-1…
2) Victorian 🇦🇺 Government says it is investigating the possible spread of coronavirus via a nebuliser—designed to vaporise medicine and deliver a concentrated dose to the user's lungs
Experts warn a contaminated nebuliser would become a "generator of #SARSCoV2"
3) “Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said at least three of those were believed to be linked to the use of the nebuliser.
Experts say it is a step forward that health authorities are acknowledging the aerosol spread of SARS CoV2
I feel like the guy on the right some days. I honestly don’t enjoy any of this #COVID19 tweeting. I do see hope, but to reach the light at the end of the tunnel, we need sobering reality of how to fight for daylight, not dismissive downplaying or hiding our heads like an ostrich.
2) We don’t need “sweet little lies” about how it’s just the flu (it’s not), how salvation is natural infection herd immunity (dangerous), or that kids are immune (they aren’t) or that kids don’t transmit the virus (they do, a lot), or that we can have indoor dining (we can’t)
3) I’ve been called “fear monger”, “fear peddler”, “attention seeking charlatan”, or a “Soros paid actor”, or “not an epidemiologist” (Harvard SPH, Dept of Epidemiology 2004-2007), or my favorite- “Dr Feigl-Doom”.
I’ve heard them all. I have zero agenda but to end COVID.
BREAKING—CDC urges either **double-masking** or use **surgical mask with tight fit** to better protect against threat of new and more contagious variants of the coronavirus. Two methods substantially boost fit & protection, says CDC report. #COVID19 🧵 washingtonpost.com/health/2021/02…
2) “We know that universal masking works,” said John T. Brooks, medical officer for CDC’s covid-19 response. “And now these variants are circulating … whatever we can do to improve the fit of a mask to make it work better, the faster we can end this pandemic.”
3) “One is wearing a cloth mask over a surgical mask. The second is improving the fit of a single surgical mask by knotting the ear loops and tucking in the sides close to the face to prevent air from leaking out around the edges and to form a closer fit.”