⚠️WEAR MASK EVEN IF VACCINATED—Top @WHO leader urges masks against #DeltaVariant even if 2-dose vaxxed. "Vaccine alone won't stop community transmission. People need to use masks consistently, be in ventilated spaces—even if you're vaccinated" #COVID19🧵 cnbc.com/2021/06/25/del…
2) "People cannot feel safe just because they had the two doses. They still need to protect themselves," WHO official Dr. Mariangela Simao @mariangelasimao told reporters.
3) The WHO comments come as some countries, including the Us, have largely done away with masks and pandemic-related restrictions as the Covid vaccines have helped drive down the number of new infections and deaths.
4) WHO officials said they are asking fully vaccinated people to continue to "play it safe" because a large portion of the world remains unvaccinated and highly contagious variants, like delta, are spreading in many countries, spurring outbreaks.
5) I personally think is this very wise advice. The #DeltaVariant is enormously contagious with even fleeting exposure of just seconds. This indicates clearly fast airborne transmission. Masks needed. Premium especially IMHO.
6) Transmission happens with #DeltaVariant without contact at all. Security camera footage supports it.
7) Yes the vaccine protects you ~80% for two doses. But it’s 60% for AZ and 83-88% for Pfizer, and 94.% against hospitalization. But that is not fool proof. And you can still keep transmitting it to rest of the population that is vulnerable
8) 10% of hospitalizations last week in the Uk, which is heavily vaccinated, were still among 2 dose vaccinated. You need to keep masking, especially premium masks if possible.
Israel is most fully vaccinated country in the world at 60% 2-shot Pfizer. #Delta is just that aggressive wsj.com/amp/articles/v…
10) Israel is also forced to rescind its relaxation and reinstate its mask mandates. After just 1 week of relaxation of masks, they quickly back tracked. WHO is absolutely right on this. The CDC is totally wrong on letter 2 dose vaccinated people go without masks.
11) expert warn areas with low vaccination are a “time bomb waiting to happen”.
#DeltaVariant rise will not end well for low vaccinations areas, whether in parts of US, Australia, or other under-vaccinated countries—unless we mask & ventilate. #COVID19
12) As Dr Fauci warned recently: “The problem you get into … is that a single dose only provides about ~30% effectiveness [against #DeltaVariant]—so that is really an issue you gotta be careful”, as Fauci tells @nehakhanna_07.
13) To all national and local leaders — please heed these advice by @DrMikeRyan of the @WHO. He is the most respected outbreak preparedness person in my book.
15) For those who wonder why we worry right now— those “fully” vaxxed with 1 shot J&J are not really fully vaxxed anymore, we don’t think. reuters.com/business/healt…
16) this is why we must still mask. 1 dose efficacy is just too low. Even 2 dose efficacy doesn’t prevent transmission airtight in any way. It’s not bulletproof for transmission.
17) to be clear, I am the biggest vaccine supporter. But I’m a bigger supporter of ending the pandemic sooner with additional add on measures. UK with its high 47% 2-dose vaccine should be a lesson to all we need more mitigation like masks & ventilation.
19) UPDATE— Los Angeles county, seeing 50% #DeltaVariant, is now supporting the WHO position to recommend masks indoors even if you’re vaccinated. This reason is much based on the science of vaccines and the Delta variant. See latest thread 🧵 below—
20) UPDATE - @CDCgov finally got around to agreeing with the @WHO on masking on top of vaccinations after a full month of denial. A full 31 days later!!!
Very worried—“The virus may soon develop the ability to transmit from one human to another… This is of great concern. Earlier birds… then it started affecting mammals and now the virus has evolved and developed the ability to infect humans…” @WHO Farrar
2) “We have to make sure that the H5N1 does not come across humans as it can easily develop the ability to transmit between humans.”
3) Last year, scientists warned of a key mutation that would help supercharge human transmission down the road — the critical “E627K” mutation in the virus’s RNA polymerase PB2 gene. ➡️Well, guess what effing appeared in a CDC report for the first time last month in an infected Texas man? ⚠️That very goddamn E627K mutation! This is mammalian adaptation. This is why WHO is warning we are maybe approaching the brink of human adaptation.
💔HEARTBREAKING—These twins need a $4.2 million one-time drug to save their lives (Spinal muscular atrophy). Their mother’s health insurance (and her employer) @Mosaic_LifeCare conveniently told the family the drug was cut from their coverage precisely one day after they were born. Total coincidence, my ass.
It’s also a race against the clock to get the treatment Zolgensma for the twins before it’s too late. If Zolgensma is given soon after birth, children may develop no significant disabilities. Children who receive the drug when they are a little older may avoid a feeding or breathing tube, and capable of some movement, rather than a life spent immobile, or death (<2 years usually), if not treated.
Zolgensma is sold by @Novartis. The drug sells for $1 million in Brazil, but $2.1 million in the U.S. Also in Brazil, if the child dies of SMA disease within 4 years, part of the $1 million payment is waived. But not in America. Many patients have had to sue health insurance to get the treatment covered—often at the expense of further disability of the untreated child.
All this is further enrage, when in fact, federally funded NIH research contributed to the development of Zolgensma. ➡️READ: Taxpayer dollars helped create the drug. Now the public is being shafted.
There is a GoFundme but this shouldn’t be the long term solution for other families. @Mosaic_LifeCare & @Novartis both need to be help accountable.
2) how can drug makers dare charge so much? Because they can - it is the only treatment and the only cure. I always remind people that healthcare is a NEED (like air and water) and not a “want” (like a fancy widget) If there is a monopoly, they can extort you if it’s a NEED.
3) Free market people will try to trick you into thinking it’s just the “supply and demand” / “free market” at work. But that’s only works for things in which there is no monopoly, and for things like iPhones and fancy gadgets “wants” that you can simply pass up if too costly. But if it’s a NEED—like lifesaving treatment—(eg you will pay anything to save your child / family member’s life)—then the supply & demand curve COMPLETELY BREAKS DOWN and is invalid. Big pharma and PBMs and your hospitals & health insurance premiums all exploit that in different ways. Don’t fall for “free market” bullshit that doesn’t apply to critical lifesaving healthcare.
Incredibly frustrating that the @USDA again failed to include basic information about H5N1 genetic sequences from cows. All data had dates and locations scrubbed out—only saying “USA” & “2024”, which is useless for scientists to analyze for mutation rates. statnews.com/2024/05/02/bir…
2) The fact that basic information — called metadata — isn’t being shared about the samples “hinders our efforts a lot,” said Gytis Dudas, a senior researcher in genomic epidemiology and metagenomics. Dudas is working with a group of U.S. and international researchers to try to make sense of what the genetic sequences say about the H5N1 outbreak in cows.
3) A number of scientists have openly questioned whether the USDA is deliberately withholding these data, or even removing more specific information. 🔥
⚠️CDC WARNING FOR ALL VETERINARIANS, POULTRY, DAIRY & CATTLE FARMWORKERS, SLAUGHTERHOUSE WORKERS—New CDC guidelines now released to use PPE for high risk bird flu exposure occupations (all recommended):
📌N95 respirators
📌Goggles 🥽 or face shield 🛡️
📌Coveralls or fluid-resistant aprons
📌Head covering
📌Rubber boots with sealed seams
📌Gloves
Furthermore:
📍Designated areas for changing PPEs
📍Do not eat, drink, chew gum, chew tobacco, smoke, vape, or use the bathroom while wearing above PPE
📍Shower after work shift
📍(see full list for more details).
Glad the @CDCgov is taking this seriously. You should too. And please don’t drink raw milk 🥛! #AvianFlu #BirdFlu #H5N1 cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/h…
Don’t do raw milk 🥛 please, for the love of god. I know there are many raw milk enthusiasts out there. But just take a pause until this is over? Don’t try to be a macho man about this.
Seriously. Raw milk drinkers… don’t do it. We scientists are pretty damn sure there will be some degree of active virus inside raw milk. Cats have been infected on farms—via likely raw milk. And all 6 cats with bird flu have died of rapid neurological declines, says CDC.
⚠️Bad signal—CDC confirming—“cats having neurologic symptoms, rapid decline, and death” from H5N1 #birdflu. 3 more cases in cats 🐈 on dairy farms… now 6 total. ➡️The prior 3 bird flu positive cats? All dead now. Likely more. This is mammalian adaptation. bnonews.com/index.php/2024…
2) I suspect cats are drinking milk from the dairy cows on the dairy farms. This is why we shouldn’t drink raw milk 🥛 currently. Even pasteurized milk, some scientists are unsure of because of lack of safety data. See thread 🧵 below.
3) Not just cats — certain dog breeds (like beagles are highly susceptible to H5N1 avian flu too. And such dogs can facilitate their adaptation towards humans eventually (since more dogs are around people than dairy cows).