Tweet

Andy Slavitt 🇺🇸💉

27 Jul, 12 tweets, 2 min read

COVID UPDATE: CDC is revising its mask guidance today.

Been gathering info before the announcement and will cover below. Follow if interested?

The new guidance will recommend that vaccinated people in higher risk areas wear masks in higher risk areas. 2/

As with almost every change in guidance, some people will think this is too slow to come; some will think it’s too fast a change & backtracking.

While criticism will be constant (& the lifeblood of Twitter), none of that is the way I think about it. 3/

The CDC’s job is to constantly follow the data and react to what they see without concern for politics or criticism.

So what did they see? 4/

They see an ever-changing pandemic
They see an ever-evolving virus

Delta was 1% in May; it’s over 90% now
Test positives were 1-2%; in many places it’s 10-15%
Breakthroughs are higher on a larger pop of vaccinated people 5/

Also the risk of Delta has amped up the need for vaccination. And CDC and the Administration have and are continuing to push every American to consider vaccination.

As that reaches limits, CDC posture must change. And it is. 6/

Are there people who have been ahead of the CDC in calling for this?

Yes, and there always will be.

Why? Because those of us on Twitter don’t have to live with the results of our recommendations. Th CDC does. 7/

So localities & individuals should always feel like they can jump ahead of the CDC if and when we feel more caution is warranted.

CDC weighing in at the right time adds to the heft. 8/

Things will keep changing.

If Delta burns through fast (as trends in India and the UK suggest) or vaccination rates jump or something else changes, CDC guidance will change again. 9/

Most importantly, until vaccination rates jump much further, we will risk ups and downs of further waves.

Like this one, vaccinated people will continue to be much more protected. 10/

Vaccines continue to do their jobs.

But that doesn’t mean we don’t need more protection in certain situations. With Delta, added protection clearly cuts the spread & will help prevent the mild breakthroughs. 11/

This guidance shouldn’t confuse the fact that we are far far safer than last year. And many activities— importantly school and other gatherings can still be done safely. end/

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More from @ASlavitt

Andy Slavitt 🇺🇸💉

@ASlavitt

28 Jul

As of this week, the dam is beginning to break publicly so I will comment. Google just announced a vaccination requirement, the VA has, CA has, NY has and others are on the path.

Including Biden publicly commenting that this is being considered 4 all federal ees & contractors.2/

Let me step back cover something:

First, what are we talking about here?

We’re talking about safe workplaces.

What we’re not talking about?

Violating anybody’s individual liberties. 3/

No one is requiring anyone to get vaccinated. What these leaders are doing is requiring people to demonstrate they are not contagious.

Either by getting vaccinated or by showing a negative test result several times/week. 4/

Read 11 tweets

Andy Slavitt 🇺🇸💉

@ASlavitt

26 Jul

COVID Update: Is there evidence of the vaccine’s immunity waning? What does new data showing lower efficacy in Israel mean? 1/

Several weeks ago reports started coming out of Israel, the first country to drive widespread vaccination, that the vaccines were showing lower efficacy against moderate symptomatic COVID. (Against severe COVID, the vaccine is still highly protective with a slight dropoff.) 2/

A more recent study made public late last week showed lower efficacy still among the same group at 39% and severe COVID at closer to 90%, also a drop, though more modest. 3/

Read 21 tweets

Andy Slavitt 🇺🇸💉

@ASlavitt

23 Jul

COVID UPDATE: What’s changed and what’s stated the same since I wrote the tweet that said vaccinated people have far greater things to worry about then the Delta variant?

And what would I say now? 1/

Let’s look at what’s changed?

We have significant growth in cases. So far those are largely among unvaccinated people. And serious cases are almost entirely among unvaccinated people. 2/

There are areas of the country where there are low vaccination levels that are experiencing the largest growth in cases? Hospitalizations are following.

While we can’t say for sure, the death rates look to be dramatically lower given vaccination protection in the elderly. 3/

Read 22 tweets

Andy Slavitt 🇺🇸💉

@ASlavitt

16 Jul

COVID Update: In most countries, the greatest threat are variants & the lack of vaccines.

In the US it’s different. Very different. 1/

Vaccines are broadly available in the US. To understand the significance of this, you need to talk to people in other countries.

I’ve spent much of the week talking to officials & media in Australia. Oh how they wish they were in the US. 2/

Australia didn’t buy enough vaccines and the one they bought has run into problems. They are low vaccinated & not likely to get vaccines until September. Cases are rising & they’re on lockdown.

Rough winter for them. (They believe winter is in July for some reason). 3/

Read 10 tweets

Andy Slavitt 🇺🇸💉

@ASlavitt

10 Jul

COVID Update July 10, 2021: 2021 will be the year of the Unvaccinated Pandemic.

Vaccinated or not, there are implications for all of us. 1/

The most tragic toll will be in the countries that have not done mass vaccinations yet.

India, Australia, Bangladesh, E Asia, Africa— places that dodged COVID in 2020 and either couldn’t afford or didn’t make an effort to procure vaccines will pay the highest toll. 2/

In the US, we were racing against Alpha & largely beat it. But imagine if we had not. A new study from Yale points to 100s of thousands of lives saved & millions of hospitalizations by having vaccines beat alpha. 3/

google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.…

Read 25 tweets

Andy Slavitt 🇺🇸💉

@ASlavitt

9 Jul

NEW: The CDC issues guidance on masking in K-12 schools for the Fall.

Vaccinated children do not need to wear masks; unvaccinated kids should per the guidance.

I know this raises questions & is a hot topic so I will hit a few points. 1/

It helps to begin with what CDC guidance is and what it isn’t. It provides the best recommendation based on the science but allows states, schools & individuals in some cases to weigh other factors. 2/

For example, CDC doesn’t set out to address the question of how to tell who’s vaccinated & who isn’t. Or other factors like school ventilation & desk configuration— all of which the speak about as “layers” of protection. 3/

Read 8 tweets

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