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Deepti Gurdasani Profile picture
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Jan 16,, 5 tweets, 2 min read
It's precisely because of pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic spread that we need masks, social distancing, ventilation, testing & quarantines. It's an airborne virus and these measures are vital. Also it's not 90-99% less severe- certainly not in unvaxx/non-immune (e.g. children).
also wrong to say hospitals won't come under severe stress- they will, and this is happening all across the globe, including in the Uk, and many parts of the US as well:
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
Important that discourse on omicron considers all evidence, and is accurate so as to inform the public. Saying masks don't work with an airborne pathogen due to asymptomatic spread is frankly ridiculous and unhelpful. High grade masks vital at this time.
Even if omicron is 50-70% less severe esp in those with past infection, impact will be determined by the sheer number of people infected, and we will see hospitalisations, while at higher rates among unvaxx, across all groups, including the vaccinated, just because of numbers.
The patterns is clear and is being seen across much of Europe and the US currently- so really no reason to for hypotheticals when the reality is unfolding around us.

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More from @dgurdasani1

Deepti Gurdasani Profile picture
Jan 18,
It's been rather disappointing to see the lack of attention to the huge levels of hospitalisations we've been seeing in children in England in the past few weeks. >800 hosp/wk is non-trivial in children, and would've expected more attention on this. Brief discussion.🧵 Image
Here are minutes from SAGE from 7th Dec- critical bit here:
"there does not appear to be a reduction in hospitalisation risk for omicron compared to delta younger children (under 10 yrs)" Image
Here's from the UKHSA report recently:
3x increase in hospitalisations in children in two weeks
Top 3 complaints of hosp admissions under 5 are consistent with respiratory infection- indicating COVID-19 is *causing* much of the increase seen under 5. Image
Read 6 tweets
Deepti Gurdasani Profile picture
Jan 17,
Completely stand with @Kit_Yates_Maths whose been subjected to a disgusting hit piece - in the Daily Fail. Research shows huge reductions in flu(95%⬇️), bronchilotis (82%), measles(90%), meningitis(50%) hosp in children during the pandemic. Why shouldn't we aim for this? Image
Since when is 'doing more' to prevent flu and prevent deaths from flu a bad thing? If simple things like better ventilation, masks can do this- for all airborne pathogens, then worthwhile also considering these additional benefits- It's clear that much more disease is preventable
Interested in the UK media culture where scientists who're talking about saving potentially thousands of lives every year with simple measures we need anyway for SARS-CoV-2 are targeted in this manner. While those who talk about 'acceptable deaths' are widely platformed.
Read 8 tweets
Deepti Gurdasani Profile picture
Jan 17,
Um, no. Vaccines don't provide sufficient protection against infection, or transmission, or long COVID (they do protect, but far for complete protection) - all these impact children- educational disruption, long COVID, in children and parents & risk to carers. Every layer matters
It's literally basic real-world observation to see the multiple superspreading events of omicron observed exactly in this situation - among vaccinated people who thought they were safe, even among people who were LFD tested... Vaccines do not replace other mitigations.
They add to them. Tbh, I'd much rather sit in a room with a person wearing an FFP2 well, than a vaccinated person with respect to infection, as protection is much higher. Of course, the best is both + ventilation + testing . Why would you ever present it as one or the other?
Read 5 tweets
Deepti Gurdasani Profile picture
Jan 16,
We're living the 'focused protection' GBD fantasy now- except that it doesn't work. Ask the many CV families who have been in self-lockdown for yrs with no end in sight - & those are the ones who can afford to. The ones that couldn't risk their lives & health every day.
When you think about the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask, imagine their plight. Their lives are much smaller than they used to be, because they've been devalued by a govt & society focused on 'freedoms' for some over others.
They have to choose between having a life and being alive. Many children losing their childhoods to this, because their freedom depends on school policies, and what others around them do. Please do consider that a huge proportion of our population is CV.
Read 6 tweets
Deepti Gurdasani Profile picture
Jan 15,
There have been a number of recent studies that haven't really reached MSM - highlighting the complex biology of long COVID. TL;DR: Long COVID & even 'mild' infection is associated with:
- long term immune dysregulation and inflammation
- virus persistence
- neuro-inflammation
Here's a study of 147 people with SARS-CoV-2 infection - of whom 31 had long COVID (fatigue, breathlessness or chest pain at 4 months). These patients were compared with 31 age, & gender matched controls who had symptomatic acute illness but no long COVID.
nature.com/articles/s4159…
They were also compared to uninfected healthy donors (UHDs) who were essentially healthy patients who had provided research samples before 2019, as well as patients who had been infected with other seasonal coronaviruses (not SARS-CoV-2). Levels of 28 biomarkers were compared.
Read 30 tweets
Deepti Gurdasani Profile picture
Jan 10,
Lots of people dismissing links between COVID-19 and all-cause diabetes. An association that's been shown in multiple studies- whether this increase is due to more diabetes or SARS2 precipitating diabetic keto-acidosis allowing these to be diagnosed is not known. A brief look👇
Peer-reviewed study from Imperial researchers published in Diabetes Care. This study showed an 80% increase in presentation of new cases of type I diabetes under 17 years between March 23rd and June 4th 2020.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32816997/
Most presented with an acute form of diabetes called diabetic keto-acidosis (DKA). DKA is an acute presentation of diabetes- which can be life-threatening. It's usually caused or precipitated by certain factors, including infections.
Read 22 tweets

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