“The #DeltaVariant will not be the last variant of concern (VOC)”, says @WHO’s @mvankerkhove, who warns “The #MuVariant, there are others that are circulating. The surge of not only preparing vaccination, but improving our surveillance systems, getting tests out there”… 🧵
2) “make sure we manage mass gatherings, or postpone them 👀, make sure we fix ventilation in our buildings…” - thank you @mvankerkhove
3) Here is the latest info on the #MuVariant for those interested. I give a more nuanced assessment of it. It could be bad but could be less aggressive than #DeltaVariant, which is still the heavyweight dominant champion variant worldwide currently. See thread 🧵 below ⬇️
💡AMAZING BOOSTER DATA—New study shows 3rd shot has 91% efficacy (11x ⬇️lower risk) against #DeltaVariant infection versus 2 shots (>=5 months earlier) among age 60+. Plus, 3rd shot has ~95% efficacy (19.5x ⬇️lower risk) against severe disease!🧵 #COVID19nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
2) moreover. The enhanced booster effects begin being apparent after day 12, increasing higher effects starting even day 10 after the shot perhaps.
3) most were not that elderly either 60-69. I’m also glad to see they enrolled 14% Arab population. The bulk were vaccinated in early February. Thinking of all the people who got vaccines before March that could benefit from this.
📍NOT ENOUGH TO STOP VARIANTS—U.S. population immunity against #COVID19 still insufficient to resume pre-pandemic social behavior—still not enough #vaccination / natural immunity—need more masks & ventilation on top to prevent additional waves of variants. acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M2…
2) “The mean overall population immunity was 62.0% (CrI, 58.4% to 66.4%). Adults aged 65 years or older were estimated to have the highest immunity level (77.2% [CrI, 76.2% to 78.6%])…”
3) HOWEVER- “children younger than 12 years had the lowest immunity level (17.9% [CrI, 14.4% to 21.9%])” acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M2…
2) More than 200,000 children under 18 have tested positive in Israel, with about half of them asymptomatic, the survey said.
“The meaning of this is that there are currently thousands of children in Israel suffering from long-term effects,” the statement said.
3) “these findings are in themselves distressing and call for further investigations into the effects of the coronavirus period on the cognitive/mental health situation of children in Israel,” the study said.
📌Fake #COVID19 tests likely used by over 150 people to board flights home after a pilgrimage—Israeli police investigating.
Offenders could be charged with fraud, forgery and spreading disease—criminal offenses that can lead to 5 year prison sentences.🧵 nytimes.com/2021/09/12/wor…
2) About 25,000 to 30,000 Israelis, most of them male Hasidic Jews, traveled to celebrate the Jewish New Year. Israel’s Health Ministry found that dozens of them had arrived back in 🇮🇱 infected with the virus despite carrying documents indicating that they had tested negative.
3) Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s office said in a statement that it “views with utmost gravity” the entry of people with forged documents, “willfully spreading a disease,” adding that severe action would be taken against offenders.
Heartbreaking—5 kids are now orphaned after both mom+dad (age 37/39) dies of #COVID19 weeks apart. The baby was born by C-section while mom was on a ventilator, doesn’t even have a name yet.😢 Grandparents haven’t told the kids parents died yet. #vaccinatelatimes.com/california/sto…
2) this story truly truly broke me. “The couple and their four children all contracted the coronavirus after a trip to Big Sur in July, which included a stop on the way back at an indoor water park in Orange County, Serey said. Davy was seven months pregnant when she got sick.”
3) Ironically sad— “Davy was a labor and **delivery nurse** at Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center. Daniel taught **math** at Jehue Middle School in the Rialto Unified School District.”
⚠️Over 18,000 Mississippi students got #COVID19 in the first month of school. ➡️ Teachers say the state of education in Mississippi is a tragedy & want a mask mandate. 🔥A child even died days after @tatereeves claimed COVID only causes “sniffles” in kids. insider.com/mississippi-te…
2) MASKS WORK. For example, one study in Wood County, Wisconsin, last fall found that schools that required masking had a whopping 37 percent lower ⬇️ incidence of COVID-19 than the surrounding community. cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7…
3) Another study, conducted in Salt Lake County, Utah, last winter, found that high levels of mask wearing among students helped keep the rate of in-school spread of the coronavirus to under 1% — even as COVID-19 cases were surging in the wider community. cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7…