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Dr. Taison Bell Profile picture
Dr. Taison Bell
@TaisonBell
Critical Care & Infectious Disease physician at @UVA. I mostly tweet about health topics and #COVID19. Tweets = me. Pronounced "TY-son"
Feb 7, 2022 • 7 tweets • 5 min read
I've gotten a couple of Qs about the increasing deaths in #Israel w/ #Omicron & reports that the majority of their deaths are in vaccinated folks. Anti-vax antennae are activated. What's happening?

TL/DR: Vaccines work and be careful with headlines.

Let's break it down
🧵
1/ 1st point: Vaccination in Israel is not as great among the developed world as it seems. This was a surprise to me. The constant barrage of vaccine headlines make it seem they lead the world. They do not.

66% of the population is fully vaccinated. Pretty close to the US 64.4%
2/
Dec 5, 2021 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
I took a few days to collect my thoughts on the #Omicron variant based on the early reports.

There are 3 things that concern me so far in S. Africa:
1) Explosive growth rate in infections
2) Increased rate of re-infections
3) Higher numbers of younger people hospitalized
🧵 1/ #1: This is a graph shows 7d average cases by week with different variants overlayed on each other. Whereas the #Delta (blue) wave looks like a steep mountain, Omicron (black) looks like a rocket taking off straight up. It’s unprecedented and nauseating.
2/
Jul 28, 2021 • 7 tweets • 4 min read
I’m getting more worried about the elderly & immunocompromised patients as the #DeltaVariant spreads. Some concerning stats:
- 75% of patients hospitalized with breakthrough infections are 65 & older
- 44% are immunocompromised despite making up only 2.7% of the population.
🧵 The data is even more concerning for severely immunocompromised patients (like organ transplant recipients). They have an 82x higher risk of breakthrough infections. See below from @costisifri.
Jul 23, 2021 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
Cases from the #DeltaVariant are increasing in every state. So should you start wearing a mask indoors again if you're fully vaccinated? I have, and for most people I think the answer is yes. But this is especially true for folks who live in areas with low vaccination rates. 🧵 Delta is no joke. Compared to the original strain, 1000x more of it sits in your nose/throat and it peaks earlier. It's hard to believe. It is one of the most infectious respiratory viruses we have ever seen. Period.
virological.org/t/viral-infect…
Jul 22, 2021 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
I’ve debated all day whether to post this, but the world deserves to know that 9 years ago to this day my first child, Julian, was stillborn. While @k_scottbell and I knew him through his kicks and tumbles, he was born at full term and never took a breath. We don’t know why.
🧵 There are no words to describe losing a child, so I won’t try. The emotional shock and depression was profound and it’s hard to even access that emotional space this far out. But it taught me how to set my priorities, and I’m a better parent, husband, and physician because of it.
Oct 18, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
After a MICU stretch I finally saw #TotallyUnderControl. One line that stuck with me is there are times when politicians need to get out of the way. @alexgibneyfilm shows that a key failure of the WH was the inability to cede control and let the experts manage the pandemic. The film does a very good job of taking the frustrations voiced by so many people and bringing them into a laser focus on the root causes. It should serve as a record of how our response went wrong and how to avoid the same mistakes for the next pandemic.
May 8, 2020 • 11 tweets • 6 min read
Yes. #RunningwhileBlack should not be a death sentence. Maybe it’s a good moment to share some insight into being black and male. I haven’t run alone for years out of this concern; but there are other things black men do to decrease their chances of being killed 1/ One night I was on call in the ICU and had to come in for a dire emergency. I hopped in my car and started to floor it. But then realized I was a black man, alone in a speeding car, late at night. It’s a setup for badness. I slowed down for my safety. 2/
Apr 24, 2020 • 10 tweets • 7 min read
I put a photo thread together to describe the themes that emerged during a 34 hours-long stent in the hospital I just completed. 1/ Loneliness.
During my residency at @MGHMedicine I started a habit of taking a break by walking the halls late at night when on call. My hospital is noticeably more empty at night in the non-patient care areas. I enjoy the casual encounters that take place here. It was lonely. 2/