📍4x kids hospitalizations—NYC reports “4-fold” increase in pediatric hospital #COVID19 admissions for Dec 19th versus week of Dec 5th. Over half of hospitalizations in kids <5–all unvaxxed. 🏥 in kids 5-11 all unvaccinated too. ➡️Protect kids! #vaccinate#MaskUp#Ventilate
2) Don’t forget it’s not just “hospitalizations”—most people with #LongCovid were never hospitalized. And children’s brains are very sensitive. We must protect kids from #LongCovidKids. Neuron damage (such as smell loss) is just the tip of the iceberg. 👇
3) The surge in kids COVID hospitalizations is not just in NYC, but also in England. Pandemic record kids #COVID19 hospital admissions in England during the same week as the NYC spike!! This is now a multi-continental #Omicron crisis in kids.
4) health commissioner @DrMaryTBassett warns: “The risks of COVID-19 for children are real. We are alerting NYers to this recent striking increase in pediatric COVID admissions so that pediatricians, parents can take urgent action to protect our youngest. health.ny.gov/press/releases…
5) “We must use all available safe and effective infection control, prevention & mitigation strategies. Protect your children who are 5+ by vaccinating & protect kids <5 by making sure all of those around them have vaccination, boosters, mask-wearing, avoiding crowds & testing."
6) UPDATE- England kids hospitalizations for #COVID19 has spiked again… these are weekly averages, so real trends, not just daily variability. Anyone who denies Omicron serious risk in kids needs to sit down. Kids are **not practically immune** as one economist dismisses.
7) This isolation cut is not the best response to surging COVID when kids are being hospitalized more than ever.
8) Pediatric hospitalizations for #COVID19 are also spiking to all time high in France 🇫🇷… this is now a global phenomenon, not a fluke.
9) Pediatric ICU hospitalizations for #COVID19 for ages 0-9 also at record high in France 🇫🇷— thus, it’s not just “basic” hospitalizations, as some minimizers claim.
10) overall #COVID19 hospitalizations are now OUTPACING forecasts in England. Essentially - worse than the “milder” projections.
⚠️WORST FLU SEASON ever since 2002-2003 when we began to track flu (red, first graph). Worst hit this year are children ages 0-4 and 5-17. ▶️We also have significantly LOWER flu vaccine uptake this year, one of the lowest flu vaccine coverages (red 3rd graph). Indisputable facts.
2) I don't need to tell you that certain US states have vastly lower vaccination rates than others. See map (lighter green, less flu vaccination coverage), and which have higher (darker green)...
If you want to see details and demographics on which state has the LOWEST flu vaccine coverage rates... the data is here. cdc.gov/fluvaxview/das…
3) It’s not just the flu that is going around… Gaines County, TX, where the epicenter of the measles outbreak is, has one of the lowest measles vaccination rates too.
INFLUENZA REACHES EPIDEMIC THRESHOLD in New York—Influenza A (Unknown variety) positivity soars (yellow), while hospitalizations stand higher than past 3 years. The rise of unknown subtyping Flu A has led NY to issue new alert to subtype all Flu A immediately for bird flu.
2) This was the reason for the urgency in NY issuing an alert to subtype all hospitalized cases for bird flu if Flu A. See thread below 👇
BREAKING—22 States sue to block Trump WH cuts to NIH research grants.
2) Attorneys general representing 22 states sued the Trump administration on Monday, asking a federal judge to temporarily block a major policy change by the National Institutes of Health that would substantially limit payments for research overhead
3) In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of MA, the AGs argued that NIH’s abrupt decision to set a 15% cap on payments for indirect costs would cause major harm to institution budgets, jeopardizing basic operations and medical research.
💣TORPEDOING MEDICAL RESEARCH—NIH indirect grant funding just got slashed by Trump to 15%. What does this mean for you? Colleges and universities won’t be able to support students, tuition will increase, especially graduate students & researchers who find cures/preventions for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s and more. This will not only raise tuition and hurt pipeline of future scientists/doctors, but COMPLETELY DECIMATE MEDICAL & PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH. It will also give more power to big pharma to manipulate research agendas and buy out ideas that should remain in the public domain. Ie THE RICH BIOTECH TYCOONS (eg Vivek Ramaswamy) WILL GET RICHER. The lay public will someday only see future drug/tech prices soar as biotech and big pharma control more science and make more money.
Also, Trump’s NIH posted this graphic - but it ignores that most public universities also heavily rely on indirect to subsidize tuition, and train next generation of scientists and medical doctors doing research. (Public colleges can’t compete with wealthier schools who do have endowments, and hence will fall further behind). Public colleges that do medical research will literally fall apart without this mechanism.
2) People don’t seem to get 2 things:
📌Indirect funds college administration and facilities and support services. Academic advising, building operations, new labs and classrooms for students— where does that money come from? If not indirect grants, then it’ll have to come more from ⬆️student tuition.
3) Most universities don’t have billion+ endowments. Most have almost none — so when you slash NIH indirect grant funding to just 15%… it hurts small schools and public colleges the most—smaller places might even go under. Rich school survive, public schools do not.
😷Flu is so bad right now that schools across the country are closing. Schools around the U.S. are closing due to surges of flu which are sickening students and staff.
📌At least 41 states are currently reporting "very high" or "high" influenza-like illness activity
2) As the 2024–2025 flu season rages on with no peak yet in sight, some school systems are overwhelmed with sick students and staff.
Schools and even entire school districts are temporarily closing in Texas, Ohio, Georgia, Tennessee and other states.
BAM—called it again—there is clear proof of cat-human household transmission of bird flu. CDC scientists posted the data—but suddenly deleted soon afterwards. CDC is being blatantly muzzled.
2) C.D.C. Posts, Then Deletes, Data on Bird Flu Spread Between Cats and People
The data, which appeared fleetingly online on Wednesday, confirmed transmission in two households. Scientists called on the agency to release the full report.
3) I’ve been reading the tea leaves 🍃 lately— it’s quite clear they know there is household transmission of bird flu. Hence the final alert issued by CDC before Trump took over was to get national testing of Flu A to see if bird flu in hospitals nationwide. See important 🧵