🧵@WHO updates on the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last week we saw an 8% increases in cases detected with more than 11 million reported, despite a significant reduction of testing occurring worldwide @mvankerkhove 99.9% of sequences provided in the last 30 days are #Omicron. Among those ~75% are BA.2 & 25% BA.1. All of these are variants of concern. However, our ability to track Omicron is compromised because testing is reduced. You can't sequence those who you do not test! @mvankerkhove

Omicron is a deadly virus. 28-year-old James Perkinson from Greenbrier #Tennessee was hospitalized at Vanderbilt December 23, 2021 and recently weaned off ECMO. He contracted COVID two days before his scheduled vaccination #TheySurvivedCovid 28 y.o. James Perkinson from Greenbrier #Tennessee would have died from the Omicron variant without ECMO. "I have to pretty much start over again. Learn how to walk, move my arms, eat, drink, everything. I'm back at square one." #TheySurvivedCovid

COVID-19 damages the endothelium of blood vessels in the body, which promotes the formation of blood clots. 50% of pulmonary embolisms due to COVID are not associated with deep vein thrombosis. Dr. George Chrysant Interventional Cardiologist in Oklahoma City #TheySurvivedCovid COVID-19 is a systemic disease, which means that it can affect any organ in the body. The virus may directly attack an organ or indirectly affect the organ by damage to the blood vessels supplying it.

Omicron is a deadly virus. Former UFC star 41 y.o. Chris "The Crippler" Leben from San Diego CA is recovering from COVID after being on life support. He declined to talk about his vaccination status. This was his second battle with COVID #TheySurvivedCovid 10news.com/news/local-new… “I was ready to tap out, and the reason I didn’t tap is because of my child … If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have had the fight to get through those days,” said Leben.

Brothers 5 y.o. Andrew and 2 y.o. Conner Urey from Townville Pennsylvania were orphaned due to COVID-19. #KidsLivingWithCovid meadvilletribune.com/news/fundraise… 44 y.o. Tom Urey from Townville Pennsylvania died from COVID in December 2021. His wife, Mandy, 32, died 4 weeks later. #SoulsLostToCovid

2,700 more deaths due to COVID.

https://twitter.com/BNODesk/status/1497420079859916801

There's no doubt that cases of COVID are decreasing, which is great! However to truly capture the seriousness of the current surge we must end the reclassification of COVID-19 hospitalizations based upon testing positive. I applaud this hospital system for at least providing an *

7 y.o. Isaiah Celin from South Yarmouth Massachusetts was hospitalized on life support due to multisystem inflammatory syndrome due to COVID. He had to relearn how to walk and eat. Omicron is a severe deadly virus #KidsLivingWithCovid boston25news.com/news/massachus… Celin says her son was sent home from school on January 11, 2022, with what was believed to be a stomach bug and a fever. After becoming increasingly sicker and his fever worsened Isaiah was rushed to Boston Children’s.

The Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) evaluated real-world data on clinical severity of Omicron from South Africa, UK & Denmark, where immunity from vax or natural infection is high & found no difference in severity between BA.2 & BA.1 @mvankerkhove At the moment, there is no difference in severity of disease between the Omicron subvariants BA.2 and BA.1, however BA.2 is more transmissible, which is concerning because many governments are ending COVID protections.

Welcome new followers. I'm an Emergency Room doctor that's treated 1000s of patients w/COVID. I started in New York City then moved West across the U.S. These 15 threads are dedicated to #SoulsLostToCovid & #TheySurvivedCovid [Click on photo] twitter.com/i/events/14216… COVID-19 is a systemic disease, which means that it can affect any organ in the body. It may directly attack an organ or indirectly damage the organ via damage to the blood vessels.

https://twitter.com/Cleavon_MD/status/1495864616626409475?s=20&t=24KiZEKvXsCVa_Mk8IGGvQ

13 y.o. Kensey Dishman died after collapsing in a bathroom at Wayne County Middle School in Kentucky on Feb 22, 2022. She was diagnosed with COVID & released from quarantine 8 days earlier. She was not vaccinated #PediatricSoulsLostToCovid kentucky.com/news/local/edu… “She had trouble with breathing during COVID,” said Kensey’s stepfather, Brett Gibson.

COVID-19 is a systemic disease

It attacks the
Heart ➡️myocarditis
Lungs ➡️pneumonia
Brain➡️ seizures
GI ➡️ diarrhea ➡️ renal failure

It forms blood CLOTS in
Lungs➡️pulmonary embolism
Heart➡️heart attack
Brain➡️stroke
Kidney➡️ renal failure➡️dialysis
Leg artery➡️amputation There are a significant number of people suffering from #LongCovid among the 409 million infected. This needs more attention b/c #LongCovid will be part of our future @mvankerkhove

Ted Walinski, 75, from Georgetown Texas died from COVID in 2020, three weeks after getting a kidney transplant. This month the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter found out he donated $143,000 to the shelter #SoulsLostToCovid statesman.com/story/news/202… Ted's wife Janet, 67, died of breast cancer in 2015. During their lives they adopted three cats from the shelter and Janet Walinski also brought stray cats to the facility

30 y.o. Missy Martinez, second-grade teacher in Albuquerque New Mexico died from COVID Feb 4, 2022. She led the Cougars to three consecutive state softball championships from 2007-09. Omicron is a deadly virus. #SoulsLostToCovid abqjournal.com/2472218/radian… After high school, Martinez moved on to play at New Mexico Highlands, where she was chosen the national player of the week in her first week as a freshman after throwing a no-hitter in her college debut.

An organ transplant team's charter plane was unable to return back to St. Louis from Chicago due to bad weather. With only 8 hours to get the lungs back, they rushed to Midway Airport & were able to get on the only flight leaving that morning fox2now.com/news/missouri/… “I walked up to the counter and told the ticket agent that I’m a doctor, this is a set of human lungs I’m carrying for an organ transplant, and you guys have a flight that leaves at 6:20. I need to be on it,” Dr. Caldwell said.

*There are actually 418 patients hospitalized for COVID within this large healthcare system in South Carolina. Many hospitals stopped including patients that no longer test positive as COVID-19 hospitalizations, even though they are still hospitalized. Two weeks ago

9 y.o. Maleigha Turner from Lexington North Carolina was severely ill from multisystem inflammatory syndrome due to COVID. “I feel that if she had not been vaccinated, my baby probably would have ended up on that ventilator that she was close to getting on” #KidsLivingWithCovid “All she could do was scream ‘help me, help me, help me,’ which broke my heart. Your baby going through that, and there’s nothing you can do,” myfox8.com/news/coronavir…

Omicron is not "mild." It is less severe than delta, but hospitalizations and deaths continue to increase due to Omicron. Worldwide deaths have increased for the 6th week in a row @mvankerkhove It's the 6th week in a row that we're seeing increasing deaths from COVID-19. In the last week alone ~75,000 people died. And we know that is an underestimate @mvankerkhove

Over 1 MILLION more Americans have DIED during the COVID-19 pandemic than prior years. theguardian.com/world/2022/feb… “Whenever we hear that another 100,000 people died of Covid, there’s a reliable chorus of naysayers who claim that these deaths would’ve happened anyway”

The pandemic is not over. Deaths due to Omicron are increasing for the fifth week in a row. More than 500,000 #SoulsLostToCovid in the past 5 weeks @mvankerkhove "This virus continues to be dangerous. This virus transmits very efficiently between people, but there is a lot that you can do... We need to drive transmission down" @mvankerkhove

🧵Omicron is not mild in children. Upper airway viral infection may result in swelling and difficultly breathing. 2 y.o. Bryce "was turning blue around the lips... You can tell he was tired," said mom, an ICU nurse. #KidsLivingWithCovid minnesota.cbslocal.com/2022/01/10/omi… Children under the age of 5 remain vulnerable to COVID, because vaccines are not available. Croup is an upper airway viral infection in children that obstructs breathing causing stridor and a barking cough as shown here. #KidsLivingWithCovid