Epidemiologist Dr. @larrybrilliant, who led smallpox global eradication, expressed concerns over new #SARSCoV2 variants and stressed need for a plan in addition to vaccines. “I’m quite worried—We seem to be getting variants of concern almost every week”.🧵
uk.news.yahoo.com/larry-brillian…
2) A coronavirus strain that originated in South Africa, for example, renders the AstraZeneca vaccine 90% ineffective, Brilliant pointed out. A variant first seen in Brazil can allow reinfection, and one that emerged in the United Kingdom is more transmissible.
3) “I do think we have to have a backup plan in addition to vaccinating everybody as fast as we can—get really much better at outbreak containment, detection, finding, isolating, & vaccinating them with the vaccine that matches the variant that our genomics tells us they have.”
4) Burnett asked if vaccine booster shots being developed against variants would be enough.
“I think it could be that the booster does it,” Brilliant replied. “I’m hopeful that there’ll be boosters that vaccinate us and immunize us for everything since the last vaccine we had.
5) But, in addition, we will have dozens of vaccines and some will match better against certain variants.”
Effectively matching the right vaccine to the right strain “will become more and more important” in future months, Brilliant predicted.
6) Indeed, @larrybrilliant is right, the #P1 variant especially is worrisome. It’s possibly the fastest transmission variant the world has seen - it is 2x to 2.5x as fast as the old common strain. and it has likely reinfection potential. See thread 🧵 below.

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More from @DrEricDing

5 Apr
Gosh—Over 122,000 🇬🇧 NHS personnel have #LongCovid, out of 1.1 million people in the UK were affected by the condition. What’s the #2 occupational group? 114,000 teachers. Many are unable to work full time because of Long #COVID19 illness & brain fog. 🧵
theguardian.com/society/2021/a… Image
2) “Patient care is being hit because many of those struggling with long Covid are only able to work part-time, are too unwell to perform their usual duties, or often need time off because they are in pain, exhausted or have “brain fog”.
3) “Ongoing illness can have a devastating impact on individual doctors, both physically and by leaving them unable to work—it puts a huge strain on the health service, which was already vastly understaffed before the pandemic,” said Dr Helena McKeown of British Med Assoc
Read 8 tweets
4 Apr
“Boomers Are Vaccinated and Down to party” is a headline that gives me slight nervousness. The CDC didn’t say visiting all bars/taverns is okay, but people are now doing that—is everyone in a bar or tavern vaccinated & masking & distanced? Doubtful. 🧵

Pray no outbreak. #COVID19 Image
2) To be clear, the latest CDC guidelines say fully vaccinated people can be indoors without masks with someone unvaccinated only in a **SINGLE HOUSEHOLD** in which everyone else is low risk. Thus not house parties or bars/taverns!!! cdc.gov/coronavirus/20… Image
3) the other concern is not just whether if the vaccinated get sick (low likelihood), but rather if they carry the virus asymptomatically and transmit it to someone unvaccinated. For the evidence for this... see this thread 🧵

Let’s be safe not sorry.
Read 4 tweets
4 Apr
Sobering words: “It is increasingly clear that the next few months will be painful... variants are spreading, carrying mutations that make #COVID19 both more contagious & in some cases more deadly.”

Great honest writing by @apoorva_nyc. Stay safe friends.
nytimes.com/2021/04/03/hea… Image
2) “Even as vaccines were authorized late last year, illuminating a path to the pandemic’s end, variants were trouncing Britain, South Africa and Brazil. New variants have continued to pop up — in California one week, in New York and Oregon the next.”
3) “As they take root, these new versions of the coronavirus threaten to postpone an end to the pandemic.
Read 4 tweets
4 Apr
Why did Canadians respond so passionately to one @Canucks hockey outbreak, but ignored the #COVID19 & #P1 wildfire🔥 that we epidemiologists warned was already burning out of control?

Yes, hockey is big in Canada🇨🇦— but people also can’t empathize with big numbers & statistics.
2) we have known this problem for a long time of course. People relate to stories of people, especially who they know, like the household names of like NHL hockey players. But numbers are just numbers. Numbers & data are cold and unemotional. And that doesn’t get people to act.
3) But what does get people to act? Stories of individual / small scale groups suffering or experiencing a phenomenon. And that’s why stories like the Canucks hockey outbreak is so much resonating than more numbers of people dying or even photos of coffins. It’s sad but true.
Read 5 tweets
4 Apr
Let this sink in—wealthy sports franchise, NHL @Canucks:

—Had >50% of its team #COVID19 sickened

—Many decimated “very ill”

—Despite strict workplace protocols

—Despite big PPE budget

—Despite daily testing

➡️The #P1 variant is just that badass.🧵
theathletic.com/2496170/2021/0… Image
2) The @NHL Vancouver @Canucks is looking out of service for a while until they get this #P1 under control. But they may have to revamp everything.

See detailed thread 🧵 below ⬇️
3) And no, most Canadian players are not vaccinated yet due to shortage in Canada 🇨🇦

Here is the NHL letter to all teams today because of the outbreak.
Read 7 tweets
4 Apr
⚠️WARNING LETTER from @NHL to all 🏒 teams:

📌Many instance of non-compliance with #COVID19 safety protocols. Warns:

📌Masks even if vaccinated (most 🇨🇦 players are not).

📌Don’t goto restaurants.

📌Discourage card playing even if masked.

📌Coaches not to pull down masks.🧵
2) This @NHL warning is in direct response to the worrisome outbreak of #COVID19 involving the #P1 variant in 16 players and 3 coaches on the Vancouver @Canucks—more than half the entire team!

Detailed thread 🧵 of the #P1 crisis in Canada 🇨🇦 below...
3) Vaccines likely work for #p1 but may not be as high.
Read 4 tweets

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