Eric Feigl-Ding Profile picture
Feb 22, 2021 22 tweets 9 min read Read on X
📍OUTBREAK OF #B117 AT SEVEN SCHOOLS—sudden outbreak of #COVID19 cases at a British Columbia 🇨🇦—all elementary and middle schools. Genetic sequencing shows #b117 in early cases linked to outbreak. Classes quarantined. All the schools still remain open. 🧵 cbc.ca/news/canada/br… ImageImage
2) British Columbia 🇨🇦 teachers are now incredibly worried by the latest sudden 7 school outbreaks, and demanding decisive actions.
3) British Columbia is having a major increase in transmission — and has the highest R in Canada 🇨🇦 currently.
4) A statement from the Surrey School District to parents says the strain detected at two of the schools was connected to positive cases dating back to Jan. 26 because testing for the variants takes longer than the standard COVID-19 test.
5) The three-week delay is too long, said Sarah Otto, a professor in evolutionary biology at UBC.

"We expect it to double every eight to 10 days, and so for every eight- to 10-day delay there's potentially twice as many other people who have caught it and not know about it.''
6) The Fraser Health statement says it is working to identify any more connected variant:

"The variant strain can transmit more quickly and easily but does not seem to cause more severe illness”

➡️ this is incorrect. #B117 is said by 🇬🇧 experts to increase severity as well.
7) Apparently, masks weren’t mandated at every school, according to @bctf.

Epic fail.
8) Recently, UK says #B117 variant can be 30-70% more severe than old common strains.
9) This BC follows the heels of two other notable school outbreaks in Austria and Denmark and kids surge in Israel.
10) The Danish multi school outbreak was also #B117 related.
11) As was the Italian village #B117 outbreak in which 60% of the infected were children.
12) This divergence in children also seen in the UK, despite general lockdown. After winter break, positivity in 5-9 year olds higher vs adults after primary partially schools reopening. This wasn’t seen last year at all.
13) These can no longer be dismissed as isolated stories. We know school reopening lead to rise in cases. We cannot delude ourselves on this!
14) Meanwhile, BC 🇨🇦 leaders downplay everything even as #B117 spreads and BC’s R is increasing, says @PennyDaflos.

bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-health-off…
15) BC schools are also atrociously **SCREWING SHUT WINDOWS** to prevent teachers from opening them for fresh air!!! Can’t make this insanity up—all while in middle of outbreak. cbc.ca/news/canada/br…
16) But that^ is exact opposite of what we need to do to stop school transmissions. We need more ventilation and air cleanings. Ventilation is the easiest and best. Air disinfection next best. See thread 🧵
17) Ventilation and air disinfection is just so critical for schools and any crowded places.
18) Another datapoint of pediatric case surge ever since schools reopened without mitigation in Iowa.
19) Another reminder we have known the coronavirus is airborne—long distance aerosol travel and aerosol infection means we need to take serious transmission in schools and prevent indoor dining.
20) And I agree with anxious and worried @bctf teachers... they need widespread rapid testing to stay ahead of outbreak before epidemics grow to multiple classrooms, grade levels, and schools.
21) Meanwhile.... another multi-school outbreak in Toronto that seems similar to BC #B117 school outbreak.
22) And the clearest evidence of school #COVID19 transmission of teachers and kids comes from Quebec... the evidence on schools is irrefutable.

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More from @DrEricDing

Apr 24
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…Image
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). Image
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. Image
Read 10 tweets
Apr 13
📈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…

Image
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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. 👇
Read 6 tweets
Apr 10
🐄—"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.
Read 12 tweets
Apr 9
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 Image
Oh this seems totally fine.
Image
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.
Read 5 tweets
Apr 8
📍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.
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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.
Read 8 tweets
Apr 6
⚠️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-…Image
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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.🤦🏻‍♂️

cbsnews.com/amp/news/measl…
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.

Please take a moment to read— 👇

With @kavitapmd @yaneerbaryam

ca.news.yahoo.com/florida-measle…
Read 6 tweets

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