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14 Oct, 4 tweets, 2 min read
A new study of weekly testing of children and staff at a Belgian primary school shows what we’ve always suspected: if mitigation measures aren’t in place, transmission is common between children and adults at school, and it spills over into households.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman…
In this study, the researchers found:

✅ adult-to-adult transmission
✅ adult-to-child transmission
✅ child-to-adult transmission
✅ child-to-child transmission
The researchers found that the virus readily spread from the school into households.

Teachers infected their partners, and children infected their parents.
But we can make schools (and childcare centres) much safer if we take action to prevent airborne transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Read these comprehensive guidelines to find out what we need to do. ⬇️

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More from @DrZoeHyde

Dr Zoë Hyde Profile picture
29 Sep
Although there are issues with waning immunity, current COVID-19 vaccines offer excellent protection. But this might not always be the case. Future variant-specific boosters may preferentially boost responses to the original strain and be less effective.🧵
cell.com/trends/immunol…
The theory works like this: a person exposed to strain A of the virus (either by vaccination or infection) may prime their immune system such that the ability to make future antibodies specific to a future strain (strain B) is reduced.

This is known as immune imprinting.
In that scenario, a vaccine booster for strain B will give some protection against the new strain B, but the immune system will preferentially produce antibodies against the original strain A.

In certain situations, this has the potential to be harmful.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_…
Read 11 tweets
Dr Zoë Hyde Profile picture
21 Sep
Study of people with mild or moderate (but not hospitalised) COVID-19 from the first wave in Geneva. 7-9 months later, at least 25% had >=1 persisting symptom. Most common: fatigue (14%); loss of smell/taste (11%); headache (7%); shortness of breath (8%).
acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M2…
Note: These proportions were calculated using the entire study sample as the denominator. However, one-third of people were lost to follow-up and their health status was unknown. It’s therefore possible that the proportion of people experiencing persistent symptoms was higher.
Of those with fatigue, 27% said they were limited in strenuous activity. 60% of those with shortness of breath experienced this when walking up a slight hill or when hurrying. Most people with headache or loss of smell or taste reported at least moderate symptoms.
Read 4 tweets
Dr Zoë Hyde Profile picture
14 Sep
This is a pre-print, and needs to be interpreted carefully, but if it's correct the implications are concerning.

From about mid-2020, SARS-CoV-2 began to evolve at a faster rate, and is now evolving faster than influenza. Whether this will continue is unclear.
The authors suggest two theories for this, both of which could be true.

First, certain mutations could "unlock" new space for further mutations to occur. This seems quite likely: the virus has only just started to adapt to humans
Second, selection pressure could be driving an increase in mutations. Think of the first wave in Manaus, Brazil, where people thought herd immunity had been reached. A second wave followed, as the virus evaded immunity and got better at infecting people.
Read 5 tweets
Dr Zoë Hyde Profile picture
26 Aug
For those overseas wondering what’s going on in Australia, we have NOT given up on zero COVID.

All states and territories, except one, continue to try to suppress the virus while we vaccinate.

Incredibly, the government of NSW has gone rogue and is pushing a UK-style approach.
In contrast to other parts of Australia, the NSW government refused to lockdown when the delta variant was first detected in the community, and implemented restrictions only grudgingly.

The contrast between NSW and where I live speaks volumes.

We have no known transmission.
Unfortunately, I fear the negligence of the NSW government will affect us eventually.

It will be harder to keep COVID-19 out now, and we still have many people to vaccinate.

This is the second major problem we face. Our cheapskate federal government didn’t buy enough vaccines.
Read 4 tweets
Dr Zoë Hyde Profile picture
23 Aug
At what level of vaccination can Australia safely reopen?

With 70% of adults vaccinated, expect:
📈 6.9 million cases
🏥 154,000 hospitalisations
☠️ 29,000 deaths

At 80%:
☠️ 25,000 deaths
🤒 270,000 people with long COVID

We need >90%, including children, to be safe.
#auspol
Children & adolescents must be included to reopen safely. If we don’t vaccinate them we can expect thousands of deaths from vaccine breakthrough infections.

Children also benefit directly from vaccination.

75% vaccination in children would prevent 12,000 child hospitalisations.
These figures are the results of new modelling produced by @GraftonQuentin, @Tom_Kompas, John Parslow, & me.

We explored what would happen when the final stage of the National Plan is reached, where it’s proposed to manage COVID-19 like flu.

Read more: policyforum.net/australia-cann…
Read 21 tweets
Dr Zoë Hyde Profile picture
21 Aug
Study of vaccine effectiveness in New York (51% received Pfizer-BNT, 40% Moderna, and 9% J&J). Protection against symptomatic infection decreased over 3 months from 92% to 80% (likely delta variant effect) but hospitalisation protection maintained at ~95%.
cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7…
During the course of the study, the prevalence of the delta variant increased from <2% to more than 80% in the area in which the study was conducted.

This seems like the most likely reason for the decrease in effectiveness against symptomatic infection.
This study demonstrates the importance of continuing public health measures, such as improving ventilation and using masks in public places, until very high levels of vaccination are achieved in the population.
Read 6 tweets

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