COVID-19: The actual current state of the pandemic
Many people are claiming the pandemic is over but this long thread highlights the impact all around us that is rarely reported in the media. Image by @c_9. 🧵1/
Many people are claiming the pandemic is over but this long thread highlights the impact all around us that is rarely reported in the media. Image by @c_9. 🧵1/
While COVID-19 isn't directly responsible for all the current issues we are facing, it has pushed an already frail healthcare system into the crisis we are now experiencing. Read on to find out the impact. 2/
Hundreds of Canadians are still dying every week from COVID-19 and more people have died in 2022 this year so far than all of 2021 or 2020 ( public.tableau.com/app/profile/bi… ). People of all ages are dying, the most being age 50+ but many under 80. 3/
Allowing the virus to spread uncontrolled has led to a massive increase in transmission and infections from immune evasive variants driving the number of deaths even higher than before (
https://twitter.com/Billius27/status/1588546830312550400). 4/
Globally, it is estimated that 10.5 million children have experienced the loss of a parent or caregiver due to COVID-19 related deaths as of May 2022 ( cdc.gov/globalhealth/c… ). 5/
"These children often face risk factors that may increase the likelihood of experiencing poverty, abuse, delayed development, mental health challenges, reduced access to education, and institutionalization." 6/
Workers in Ontario manufacturing jobs accounted for more workplace COVID deaths than any other sector, even health care and many received no pay from their employers as they tried to recover (
https://twitter.com/ChristyCeeCK/status/1585600244628307969). 7/
Manufacturing (including food processing and warehousing) accounted for more than 1/3 of all workplace fatalities. 8/
Dr. Tara Moriarty publishes a Canadian COVID-19 hazard index which is now showing the majority of provinces are at the highest "Severe" rating and the rest are either "Very High" or "High" (
https://twitter.com/MoriartyLab/status/1590068346439241730). 9/
It is estimated that 159k Canadians a day are currently being infected, where 7900 infections each day are expected to result in daily life activity-limiting symptoms lasting more than 3 months ( covid19resources.ca/covid-hazard-i… ). 10/
Since the Omicron wave hit in December 2021, it is estimated that 1.9 million Canadians have had infections resulting in Long COVID symptoms lasting more than 3 months that limit activities of daily life. 11/
Many "experts" claimed that kids don't get seriously ill or transmit the virus but hospitalization rates in infants aged less than 6 months are higher than all other age groups except adults 65+ years ( cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/7… ). 12/
COVID-19 is a leading cause of death for young people ages 0-19 years in the USA, ranked 8th among all causes of death, 5th in disease-related causes of death and 1st in deaths caused by infectious or respiratory diseases ( medrxiv.org/content/10.110… ). 13/
Dr. Lindy Samson, Chief of Staff and Chief Medical Officer at CHEO discusses the current state in Ottawa where the hospital is seeing more children than ever before requiring care (
https://twitter.com/jeffgilchrist/status/1590394220556083202). 14/
The vast majority are having difficulties breathing, fever, and challenges because of viral respiratory infections to the point where it is asking the community to start wearing masks again indoors including at grocery stores, work and school environments, and gatherings. 15/
CHEO also reassigned their Surgical Day Unit and redeployed clinicians from all areas of the hospital to open a second Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (
https://twitter.com/CHEO/status/1590430577131487232). 16/
The President and CEO of SickKids in Toronto also warns of the current situation there and asks that everyone mask indoors and stay home when sick (
https://twitter.com/ronald_cohn/status/1590102232137355264). 17/
So many kids are currently sick right now that the shelves are bare at many pharmacies for fever reducers, pain and cold medication (
https://twitter.com/c_9/status/1589768569847676928) and common antibiotics are running out (
https://twitter.com/KashPrime/status/1588715570597224449). 18/
"There are 112 Paediatric ICU beds in Ontario but there are 122 Paediatric ICU patients in Ontario. During the worst of Wave 3 the adult system was never pushed to 109% occupancy of physical ICU beds." (
https://twitter.com/drmwarner/status/1590685631369183233). 19/
If you are an adult without kids and don't think this hospital crisis impacts you, a 6 month old baby struggling to breathe will get the last critical care bed over an adult with a heart attack every single time says Emerg Physician Dr. Pirzada (
https://twitter.com/KashPrime/status/1590176399813672960). 20/
@OttawaHealth passed a motion asking the province to bring back mask mandates and data be publicly released so residents can better understand the risks and rationale for starting to mask again for this exceptional respiratory season ( ). 21/
Ventilation expert: until engineering indoor controls (#ventilation, #filtration, #UVGI) are implemented extensively, widespread indoor transmission won't end similar to how municipal water and sewage treatment was needed to stop cholera (
https://twitter.com/DavidElfstrom/status/1590351227912851456). 22/
Many people against COVID protection measures claimed it would be too hard on the economy but what they don't seem to realize is that people getting sick multiple times a year and a percentage of those people becoming disabled long-term and having to exit the workforce... 23/
...due to poor health will be a much bigger negative impact on the economy. The financial press has taken note and now provides some of the best COVID coverage on the impacts in the mainstream media. 24/
In the USA, the Census Bureau estimates 16 million working age Americans already suffer from Long COVID with the economic cost in the trillions ( libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2022/10/long-c… ). 25/
It looks like allowing people to become infected and the resulting Long COVID will cost the Australian economy $3.6 billion a year ( bloomberg.com/news/articles/… ). 26/
A 16 year old healthy athlete is taken down by mild COVID infections, too fatigued to play football, heart palpitations, testicular pain, swollen blood vessels and surgery required, nobody is helping him or knows what to do for his Long COVID (
https://twitter.com/Melanie50217195/status/1590788963052445696). 27/
Kids are suffering from COVID in ways we never expected (
https://twitter.com/picardonhealth/status/1589729202714324992). Pediatric hospitals are now seeing double or triple their normal rates of ER visits and admissions this time of year. 28/
Now the pandemic minimizers are trying to claim "immunity debt" is the reason why so many kids are being heavily impacted by RSV infections this year. 29/
Dr. Furness explains it is more like “immunity robbery” where COVID infects the immune system and impairs it for some amount of time even in those who have mild infections (
https://twitter.com/FurnessColin/status/1589103107048624129). 30/
Ontario actually had quite a bit of RSV last season which you can see in the graph with percent positivity reaching 19% at its peak, while now we are still only at 6% positivity but pediatric ICUs are overflowing ( publichealthontario.ca/en/data-and-an… ). 31/ Click "Show Replies" to see more👇
There were lots of RSV circulating last year, so no debt issues there. So what has changed since last RSV season? In British Columbia, a study showed that 70-80% of children had been infected by COVID-19 at least once by July 2022 ( medrxiv.org/content/10.110… ). 32/
A study in Nature also found that COVID-19 infection leads to a 4x increased risk of other viral infections (
https://twitter.com/jeffgilchrist/status/1581963486061481985). 33/
It has also been shown that COVID-19 infection can cause immune dysfunction for more than 8 months in some people (
https://twitter.com/jeffgilchrist/status/1587063523951222785). 34/
It is possible that some people's immune systems if they have been infected by COVID haven't had a chance to fully recover yet, potentially leading to more severe diseases from other infections. 35/
This might be what we are starting to see with a portion of the population now that respiratory virus season has started after so many people have been infected with the multiple Omicron variants since January. 36/
What is happening right now with our children? In Ontario, more than 35 kids under 5 are being admitted a day now to hospitals for respiratory virus infections and 12 kids 5-17 per day ( kflaphi.ca/viral-respirat… ). H/T: @DGBassani 37/
More than 1200 kids under 5 per day are now visiting Emergency Departments for respiratory or influenza-like illness and more than 1100 kids 5-17 per day ( kflaphi.ca/viral-respirat… ). 38/
No wonder all the pediatric hospitals are full. Thankfully there are methods to reduce the risk of infection no matter how much the virus mutates or evades immunity. 39/
We need policy makers to actually implement minimum standards and monitoring requirements for #ventilation, #filtration, and #UVGI. You can find out more about how respiratory viruses transmit and how to protect yourself here (
https://twitter.com/jeffgilchrist/status/1574709291520593923). 40/
For people that want an easier to share version outside of Twitter, you can find a one page version here: pingthread.com/thread/1591056…
This video shows what happens when we don't want to spend the time and effort to help each other out and hospitals overflow. Ventilation, Filtration, and masks work for more than just COVID (
https://twitter.com/Nannynannynanoo/status/1591219292485619712). 41/
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