Abdu Sharkawy Profile picture
Feb 16, 2022 9 tweets 3 min read Read on X
🧵on easing #Covid19 restrictions when Omicron appears to be exiting in many parts of Canada but the pandemic has not. Time to pool our efforts & invest honestly towards sustainable safety, minimal disruption/collateral damage. 1/
Ontario Sci Table data showing lots of positive trends right now. Wastewater signal, hospitalizations, ICU admission, deaths, all on the decline. But a trend is just that. Right direction. Not the finish line. Trends change & 5 waves are proof of that. 2/ ImageImage
Several reasons for caution before assuming the worst is behind us:
Unfinished winter + lifting indoor gathering limits + incomplete vaccine coverage = guaranteed spikes in transmission. Only ?s are how much & how soon. 3/
W/ testing limited, case counts are of almost no value. The canary in the mine is reduced to wastewater signal (where available). PH measures can't be enacted only when lagging indicators hospitalization/ICU/deaths arrive. Every wave burned us like this. 4/
Omicron will keep targeting those not optimally protected (< 3 doses). 3-dose coverage in Ontario: 45% overall. 2-dose coverage age 5-11: 22%. < age 5 vaccination won't start for a few weeks minimum. (NB "Full" 👇means TWO not 3 doses) 5/ Image
IMPORTANT: Immunity via prior infection or prior variants doesn't reliably offer the same to the successor variant. Omicron demonstrates this clearly - can we confidently say the next variant won't up the ante further? 6/ Image
ENDemic is such a tempting descriptive, right? Problem is that PANdemic means it's still devastating much of the planet that is under-resourced. Future variants & waves everywhere will continue if this continues without meaningful #VaccineEquity 7/ Image
Do we want a perpetual cycle of tribalism, polarizing narratives, pitting ourselves against each other in a (supposed) zero sum game of freedom/mental health/kids/schools/science/healthcare/globalism? No. An inch of common ground beats a mile of hate. 8/
Be smart. Easing restrictions means you "can" but doesn't mean you "should". Legal doesn't mean ideal or even safe in every context. Masking w/ N95-grade, ventilation awareness & vaccine uptake opportunity still matter. Thread's over. #COVID19 isn't. End/9

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Abdu Sharkawy

Abdu Sharkawy Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @SharkawyMD

Jan 21, 2023
Anyone else surprised to see debates still raging on which exclusive strategy will solve the worst PH crisis in 100 yrs? Dichotomizing this a big reason why we're here & why we risk prolonging unnecessary hardship. Short memory = #LongCovid 1/
Of course we are not going to "_____" our way out of this, whether it's (solely) vaccines/masking/ventilating spaces/therapeutics. I don't know of any credible science/evidence to support this oversimplified dogma. "All or none" was never the best plan. 2/
Polarizing messaging has been very damaging from a public trust POV from early days. While we may disagree on (relative) impacts of one risk mitigation tool vs another, dismissiveness of their value altogether only erodes trust. 3/
Read 9 tweets
Jul 3, 2022
Let's be real. Whether you invoke the "with" vs "for" #Covid19 debate is besides the point. Hospital ERs weren't closing with this kind of regularity pre-pandemic. The burden of care has changed. Denying it will make things far worse. 1/
When patients either present with or acquire it in hospital, outcomes are often worse. As an internist, I see frail, elderly patients admitted w/ dehydration or a serious fall. They didn't just "happen" to have Covid too. It has actual implications. 2/
Just having to isolate a patient for infection control protocol means additional limitations for space/cohorting; greater demands on nursing care, infection control staff, never mind heightened risk & anxiety re: transmission for everyone. 3/
Read 19 tweets
May 10, 2022
It's March 790, 2020. TL; DR. I'm leaving the #Covid19 ward again wondering why, how & if we will look forward to a day when we can (confidently) say "it'll be better next year". A 🧵 on what a "new normal" is & when it might happen. 1/
First a look back on the history of major pandemics. Even w/ a fraction of our present day resources in medicine & health infrastructure, the flu pandemic of 1918 had its share of similarities to this one because, well - humans are humans. 2/
1918 Flu was due to an H1N1 variant w/ Avian gene influence but the origin was not known till well after infecting 500 M people (1/3 of global population) & killing at least 50 M too. Doubt of origin fueled doubts of existence & potential threat. 3/
Read 25 tweets
Aug 1, 2021
In simplest terms, we are counting our chickens before they hatch. Again. Difference is, this time, we may be at risk of losing the whole damn coop. You don't need an epi or immunology degree to figure it out. Just a little common sense. 1/
Variants have evolved more rapidly, w/ greater virulence, transmissibility since pandemic onset:
- Jan '20 D614G (⬆️spread, same virulence, very vax susceptible)
- we were lulled into complacency that mutations would be bested by vaccines. 2/
- Sept '20 B117 Alpha (⬆️spread, ⬆️virulence, slight ⬇️vax susceptible)
- became dominant global strain after originating in UK, spreading almost everywhere. Vaccine efficacy was reduced but not enough to create any alarm signals. 3/
Read 14 tweets
Jun 9, 2021
Want to know something? Some of my dearest, trusted colleagues, the ones I confide in in my moments of greatest distress, the ones with whom I share the best camaraderie & have the most in common...are Jewish. They embody the essence of the word "mensch" 1/
When I trained many years ago at (what was) Mt Sinai Hospital as a medical resident, many patients thought I was Jewish. At first glance, I looked it. After a few of my silly jabs in Yiddish, even I wondered if I was Abdu or Avram? 😉 2/
I marvel at how many words in Arabic & Hebrew have such striking similarity. Some, like "Shabbath" for Saturday (Sabt) are less colorful in connotation than "meshuganah" (majnoonah) for crazy, intended in playful spirit of jest more than insult/offense 3/
Read 8 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(