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Feb 4 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
The importance of wastewater for routine surveillance is gaining traction. Two new tools just got released yesterday 🧵

1. National Wastewater Surveillance System dashboard

(It’s a start. Best part is there are plans to expand this across the country)
2. The company that’s been leading the charge on wastewater surveillance, @BiobotAnalytics, also released a new dashboard yesterday:
Why do I like wastewater data so much?
Wastewater has been such a useful leading and early indicator in the places that have it. (Here’s my thread on Boston going back to last December.)
Wastewater testing is also inexpensive, so there is no reason these programs should not be expanded to every city and town across the U.S.

"every city should be monitoring wastewater in a way that is standardized across regions."

Standardization is key.
And this doesn't have to - and shouldn't - stop with Covid:

"It could be one of our country’s best tools for tracking diseases — and not just covid-19."
“That doesn’t mean we stop counting cases, but it does mean they should no longer be the focal point for setting policy."
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/…

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More from @j_g_allen

Joseph Allen Profile picture
Jan 14
Relying on the 2020 playbook as we head into 2022 is as foolish as relying on the 2019 playbook as we entered 2020. The game has changed. Given the availability of vaccines, here are 10 updates to the playbook for 2022 (from 12/15. Still holds.)

🧵

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…
1: “Fully vaccinated” should mean you’ve received a booster shot.

Your body needs to “see” the signature of this virus again to restore protection against the delta and omicron variants.
2: Stop equating all control strategies.

Haphazardly providing the public with a long list of controls without any order or logic is confusing and harmful.
Read 13 tweets
Joseph Allen Profile picture
Jan 11
8 degrees in Boston. No outdoor activities at school.

My 9 year old: "So no mask breaks today? That's worse than freezing."

Don't tell me 2 years of masking doesn't impact kids. Their risk is low, vaccines avail for all adults and kids, anyone who wants can mask. It's time.
Read 10 tweets
Joseph Allen Profile picture
Jan 3
Make no mistake, the costs of closing schools is high. Too many have gotten casual about this.

A thread.

nytimes.com/2021/12/20/opi…
"Even short-term closings have steep consequences. Schools are the place where we first detect trouble at home, including neglect and abuse."
"An analysis of data from New York City found a drop of nearly 8,000 in expected reports of allegations of child maltreatment. When researchers extrapolated that to the rest of the country, they estimated that more than 275,000 cases would have otherwise been reported."
Read 14 tweets
Joseph Allen Profile picture
Dec 29, 2021
I see a lot of people - on both "sides" - making simple mistakes about masks. I've studied PPE, taught PPE, and overseen PPE programs, including teams implementing fit testing in hospitals, long before covid.

A thread
1. Masks work

It's basic physics.

nytimes.com/interactive/20…
I made one of the earliest calls for universal masking, for that reason.

April 2, 2020
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
Read 17 tweets
Joseph Allen Profile picture
Dec 20, 2021
1. Vax/boost are key (I said about 40x...)
2. Not reckless for NFL to stop routine testing of vaxxed. Were doing 1x a week which is a surveillance strategy, not a control strategy. (you've seen viral kinetics of Omicron, right?)

continued...

megaphone.link/ESP2361058666
3. Overestimating transmission risk on the field (they have good ventilation/filtration in locker room, trainer, weight room...right? RIGHT??)
4. Overestimating superspreader risk in large volume spaces, like outdoor stadiums (and even indoor arenas)

continued...
5. Not just a $ issue. (So easy to attack in this way.) Many tens of thousands of incomes and livelihoods on the line (which, is, you know... public health), and what the sports leagues do influences what schools and others do (see: NBA closing, March 2020)

continued...
Read 4 tweets
Joseph Allen Profile picture
Dec 4, 2021
It was never a question of if, only a question of when. And when that when happened, we knew buildings would play a key role in the a response.

A thread on ANTICIPATE, RECOGNIZE, EVALUATE, CONTROL, and CONFIRM

1. ANTICIPATE (Dec 2, *2019*)
2. RECOGNIZE (Feb 9, *2020*)

"Even with this uncertainty, it is clear that we can enlist buildings to help us in this fight."

ft.com/content/5083fd…
3. EVALUATE (March 4, 2020)

"there is still some debate about how the new coronavirus that causes Covid-19 is spread. This has resulted in an overly narrow approach taken by the federal CDC and WHO. That’s a mistake."

nytimes.com/2020/03/04/opi…
Read 6 tweets

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