1. 🧵 @CDCgov has changed its recommendations about isolation & quarantine following infection or exposure to someone infected with #Covid19. The changes will involve a shortening of isolation/quarantine for most people.
2. People who contract #Covid19 should isolate for 5 days (formerly 10). If their symptoms have ended by then, they should wear a well-fitted mask when around others for 5 days.
If symptoms haven't ended at 5 days, isolation (followed by 5 days of masking) continues till they do.
3. Regarding quarantine: People who've been vaxed & boosted don't need to quarantine after exposure to someone who is infected with #Covid19. But they should wear a mask around others for 10 days after the exposure. And they should get tested 5 days after the exposure event.
4. People who are unvaccinated or who are due for a booster and haven't received one should quarantine for 5 days after contact with someone who is infected with #Covid19 & should wear a mask around others for 5 days after that.
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1. A sure fire sign #flu is making a comeback: 2 children in the US have died from flu this month. They are the first to die from flu in over a year. Last year there was 1 pediatric flu death, in the week ending Nov. 28, 2020.
Sad to see new additions to this graph.
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2. There've been lots of ugly graphs in the past couple of years, but the pediatric flu deaths one from the @CDCgov's weekly FluView report has been a respite from them. The collapse of flu activity in the earlier days of the pandemic meant no kids dying from flu. Changing now.
3. One child died from #H3N2#flu the week ending Dec. 11. The second died the week ending Dec. 18; the causative flu strain hasn't been typed.
FluView reports that flu activity continues to increase & flu hospitalizations are climbing. Exactly what hospitals don't need now.
1. @WHO has released its latest global #flu update. Flu activity is still low, but it is definitely picking up after our 20 month or so #influenza holiday. Flu & #Covid cocirculating is going to make everything that much more complicated. who.int/teams/global-i…
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2. @WHO reports that 3.2% of the nearly 235,000 respiratory samples tested for flu from Nov. 22 to Dec. 5 were positive. The flu positivity rate hasn't been that high globally since the second half of March 2020. (Chart=mine)
3. #Flu activity is still low relative to pre-Covid times, but it is on the rise in parts of the world. The mix of viruses circulating depends on the region; in North America & Europe, it's mainly H3N2. That's unfortunate; that component of the vaccine is mismatched.
1. @WHO presser underway. I'll tweet a little. @DrTedros, WHO's DG, said science came through in 2021 with amazing vaccines. But they were not shared equitably. There were enough doses produced to let every country vaccinate 40% of their people by Sept. But that didn't happen.
2. @DrTedros says vaccine production is increasing. But 20% of doses being used at this point are boosters. "No country can boost its way out of the pandemic," the @WHO DG said.
3. "Blanket booster programs are likely to prolong the pandemic, not to end it," @DrTedros said.
In 2021, 3.5M lives have been lost to #Covid — more than to HIV, TB and malaria combined. It is claiming 50,000 lives per week at this point, he said.
1. The latest FluView is out from @CDCgov. A 🧵
So our holiday from influenza does seem to be ending. Flu activity isn't spiking, but it is increasing. Hospitalizations for flu are on the rise — which is EXACTLY what Covid-stretched hospitals don't need right now.
2. In the week ending Dec. 11, 2.7% of health care visits were for influenza-like illnesses (non-Covid). That's above the national baseline level of 2.5% (red arrow). It is the first time since Nov 2019 (green arrow) the percentage of visits for ILIs has been above the baseline.
3. In other parts of the world a lot of the flu being seen is #influenza B. But here so far it has been overwhelmingly the influenza A virus H3N2. H3 viruses are typically very hard on the elderly — same demographic Covid has been ravaging.
1. Today's special #ACIP meeting, to deal with safety concerns related to the J&J #Covid vaccine, is beginning now. There will also be an update on the rollout of vaccines in 5-11 year olds.
I will try to live tweet.
2. New chair Grace Lee calls roll call and vote calls in a random order that changes each time she does it. It's confusing and makes it really hard to keep tabs of who is there, who voted. Just saying.
3. Doran Fink from @US_FDA says FDA updated its guidance on use of the J&J vaccine to reflect better understanding of the risk associated the J&J or any other adenovirus vectored vaccines (ie AstraZeneca). The risk relates to a serious clotting event TTS.
1. New global #flu data from @WHO. A short 🧵
Topline: Flu activity remains well below what was seen in pre-Covid times. Interestingly, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) continues its rebound. Lots of it in lots of places.
2. @WHO reports that 1.1% of the more than 335,000 respiratory samples tested for flu in 102 countries from Nov. 8-21 were postive for #flu. Just a little over half of those were #influenza B infections.
3. This marks the first time since early April 2020 when the global #flu positivity rate was 1% or higher. As you can see from this chart (mine), flu activity fell off a cliff in March 2020 as the #Covid pandemic took hold around the world.