I’m seeing increasing media coverage (below + + others) that implies that state / local public health agencies are blocking CDC from deploying to states & engaging with dairy farms to conduct case-based or enhanced surveillance for human cases of H5N1.

1/ politico.com/newsletters/we…

https://twitter.com/HelenBranswell/status/1786407159468552696

While it is true that legal public health authorities in the US are primarily at the state / local level (nice summary from @ASTHO: ), I am frustrated & disheartened by the perception that states are preventing CDC from swooping in to save the day.

2/astho.org/globalassets/p…

Important joint statement yesterday from @APHL, @ASTHO, @BigCitiesHealth, @CSTEnews and @NACCHOalerts: stagingprep.wpengine.com/wp-content/upl….

In short: it's time to transition away from universal case investigation and contact tracing for COVID-19 and focus on more effective strategies.

1/ Key strategies:

1. Increase vaccine uptake (including boosters)
2. Encourage effective mask wearing
3. Target prevention strategies to the most vulnerable people, populations and settings

2/

LOTS of attention today on recent changes in how hospitals are supposed to report data on COVID hospitalizations and hospital capacity.

This is like the 4th or 5th iteration (I've lost count) in how these data are submitted since March.

1/

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1283466378570334208

Most recently, hospitals have been reporting these data through NHSN (the National Healthcare Safety Network) - a veteran surveillance system primarily used for tracking healthcare associated infections.

This is a system run by @CDCgov.

cdc.gov/nhsn/index.html

2/

I have great respect for this article's authors, but I feel they are oversimplifying an incredibly complex & nuanced issue.

Science communication is challenging. Try doing it during a novel virus pandemic - w/ unprecedented of political interference.

barrons.com/articles/the-c…

1/ To begin, I am growing quite tired of the attacks on @mvankerkhove's recent statements on asymptomatic transmission.

Was it messaged perfectly? No.

But to continue to malign her efforts to - quite frankly - be transparent with the data she's seen is unwarranted.

2/

The #COVID19 pandemic has demonstrated many opportunities for improvement in US public health infrastructure.

Surveillance activities are one of the most crucial areas to focus on. We currently have inefficient, redundant, silo'ed systems. COVID-19 has exposed these flaws.

1/ Many groups (such as @CSTEnews) have been advocating for changes in national surveillance activities and infrastructure for quite some time.

(See position statement from 2015: cdn.ymaws.com/www.cste.org/r…).

Unfortunately, change has been slow.

2/

Lots of talk in recent days regarding @CDCgov pan-flu mitigation plans.

Catchy title: "Community Mitigation Guidelines to Prevent Pandemic Influenza — United States, 2017"

Found here 👉cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/6…

In the following thread, I'm going to summarize their recs.

1/x @CDCgov The plan discusses nonpharmaceutical interventions (aka NPIs) meant to slow the spread of respiratory viruses like influenza (or #COVID19).

These particular guidelines were crafted after the 2009 H1N1 pandemic and also include 2 supplementary TA guidance docs (online).

2/x