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Jeffrey Duchin, MD

12 Apr, 8 tweets, 2 min read

1/ What does remaining in Phase 3 of the Governor’s Healthy Washington Roadmap to Recovery mean for King County?

⚠️ Don’t let your guard down! ⚠️ This is definitely not an “all clear” signal. We don’t stop wearing seatbelts just because we haven’t had a crash recently...

2/ We are MUCH closer to putting the worst of the pandemic behind us, but not quite out of danger yet. The potential for a severe surge in cases & hospitalizations remains real until more of us are vaccinated.

3/ For the time being, we all need to continue taking COVID-19 precautions seriously. This will protect us, our family members, friends, co-workers, our community & our economy as vaccinations increase.

4/ WA state entered Phase 3 on March 22 allowing more activities/gatherings while cases & more contagious & severe variants were rising. Hospitalizations followed, primarily in younger adults. For now, we’ve leveled off near the “Phase 2” cutoffs - where we go next is up to us.

5/ Thankfully, there are fewer cases, hospitalizations & deaths in people 65 & older b/c most have been vaccinated. But it’s a real possibility that many more people could be infected in a surge, just when we're close to being able to protect most people through vaccination .

6/ It’s important to prevent COVID-19 in all ages, not just older adults. Although most people recover, infections can be severe & cause long-term health effects in middle-aged & younger people.

Just because you can do it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea...

7/ To protect yourself, your family, friends, co-workers & community, remember:
- COVID-19 is airborne
- Limit indoor activities outside home
- Avoid crowded and poorly ventilated indoor spaces
- Avoid gathering indoors with unvaccinated people who do not live in the home

8/8 - Pay special attention to improving ventilation/air quality in workplaces, businesses, public spaces, home
- Wear a well-made/snug fitting mask when around unvaccinated people & in public spaces
- Maintain physical distance from others
- Get vaccinated as soon as you can!

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More from @DocJeffD

Jeffrey Duchin, MD

@DocJeffD

22 Feb

Why are COVID-19 cases falling and what does it tell us about where the pandemic is heading? A few thoughts:
1/

Factors contributing to recent surge(s) are decreasing. These include holiday travel/get togethers, more activities & socializing, & general increase in indoor time during fall & winter that facilitate CoV-19 transmission through airborne spread & effects of low humidity. 2/

Restrictions on indoor and other activities (Governor’s directives in WA state: travel advisory, mask use, distancing) work and helped decreased spread. 3/

Read 20 tweets

Jeffrey Duchin, MD

@DocJeffD

29 Jan

With more dangerous CoV-19 variants, we must improve CoV-19 prevention in all aspects of our lives, incl. mask quality & fit, limiting time w/others, avoiding crowded indoor spaces, increasing distance from others, & getting vaccinated when it’s your turn. On masks: 1/

Cloth masks are recommended by CDC for use by the public. Cloth face masks were initially recommended to prevent someone w/CoV-19 from spreading the virus to others. This is especially important because people can spread the infection to others before they appear or feel ill. 2/

Recent studies suggest cloth face masks can also provide protection to the wearer. How well it protects depends on how well it's made & fits (e.g. the type & # layers of fabric). At this time, CDC only recommends N95 masks & surgical masks for health care workers (HCW) 3/

Read 17 tweets

Jeffrey Duchin, MD

@DocJeffD

12 Jan

In 2010, I noted lessons from the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, incl. epi/surveillance, healthcare system response, communication, mitigation strategies, & the vaccination program. Regrettably, most are just as relevant today, many opportunities missed. 1/
nap.edu/read/12799/cha…

In 2010, I described racial & ethnic disparities, inadequate public health resources/funding; value of enhanced surveillance methods; hospital overload & PPE shortages; drug distribution problems & perhaps most noteworthy at the moment, challenges w/ the vaccination program. 2/

A few key points on vaccination follow. "The need to rapidly plan and implement a large-scale vaccine distribution & administration system severely taxed local public health capacity..." 3/

Read 11 tweets

Jeffrey Duchin, MD

@DocJeffD

10 Jan

What went wrong in SoCal? "Part of the reason for the new surge appears to be the Thanksgiving effect. Many Californians, particularly those in & near LA, held small gatherings for Thanksgiving with family & friends, despite warnings from officials." 1/ nytimes.com/2021/01/09/us/…

"...the state’s early success in the pandemic may have given Californians a false sense of security...The very successes that we had built in a potential complacency from the part of people thinking it’s maybe not that severe.” 2/

"Young people who had isolated themselves gathered in large groups & stretched the limits of what constituted outdoor dining to include rooms with large windows. The taboos of the first months of the pandemic, like meeting friends inside their homes, fell away." 3/

Read 4 tweets

Jeffrey Duchin, MD

@DocJeffD

3 Jan

Straight Talk About the New Variant COVID-19 Strain. As much as I regret saying it just when so many need & deserve a break, the new variant COVID-19 strain is a serious problem. It’s likely a matter of time before it arrives here & we need to beware & prepare. Here’s why. 1/

All viruses mutate resulting in new strains that vary from their ancestors. These are called variant strains. Most coronavirus mutations don’t fundamentally change how the virus behaves or affects us. 2/

However, at least one newly recognized strain, often called B.1.1.7., “SARS-CoV-2 VOC 202012/01” or an "N501Y" strain, has been shown to have multiple mutations that are changing the way the virus behaves in important ways. 3/

Read 21 tweets

Jeffrey Duchin, MD

@DocJeffD

21 Dec 20

From a celestial perspective, the darkest days of the year are behind us & we can look forward to more sunlight each day. Let's do everything we can to put the darkest days of COVID-19 behind us as well. 1/n

What we do for the last few days of 2020 (good riddance!) will determine what 2021 holds in store. It’s especially important to double-down on CoV-19 prevention now, when the virus has the advantage as we spend more time indoors & environmental conditions favor transmission. 2/n

Our hospitals are strained. New variants of the virus have been identified in other countries that seem to spread more easily and may appear here as well. But the basic COVID-19 prevention steps are just effective against all COVID-19 viruses. 3/n

Read 14 tweets

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