Here we go again. The start of a new wave. Eyes are on Western Europe, as hospitalizations are uniformly increasing. As we’ve seen throughout the pandemic, some are hospitalized “with COVID19,” but it’s important to note that the Germany’s numbers are reported purely as “
I can give a little insight into the reasons for the slow booster uptake, at least anecdotally from a small Wisconsin town. I went to the local drug store last week, where I almost always get vaccinations (e.g., flu). They are "booked up" for the next 3 weeks for all vaccinations (has never happened before), and are no longer taking appointments after that because they have nobody to administer the shots, even though they have the vaccine on hand. On I went to the local hospital, it took 3 phone calls and 20 minutes: you make a vaccination appointment just like you make a doctor's appointment, and they are offered only on a few days. The situation is no better with flu vaccine (I'll skip the longer story about how my previously reliable Medicare Advantage Plan has managed to screw that up this year). I'm almost 80 and have the time and knowledge to navigate this obstacle course (professional background includes medical sociology and social epidemiology), but to me it represents a massive failure in our public health system. There should be vaccine trucks like ice cream trucks hitting the streets and public events. If the pandemic has proven anything, vaccination is not a "build it and they will come" event. When are we going to learn? As Michael Osterholm is fond of repeating, vaccines do not matter unless you can turn them into vaccinations.
Thank you for the latest update. I'm the Head of School at a small school and daycare in south east Michigan and wanted to share our experience here since school started just four weeks ago. I've just spent the last 10 days receiving daily notifications of positive Covid-19 cases amongst the staff and students. It started with a 5 month old in the infant room. 10 days later we now have had at least 20 positive Covid-19 cases plus an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth, on top of this. Some staff and children got both viruses! We've also seen a couple of pneumonia cases amongst the youngest children. We've encouraged serial testing because most of the cases have not tested positive until 5 days after symptoms started , whether on a PCR or rapid antigen test. The kids Covid-19 symptoms have been generally mild - cough, sore throat, congestion but the adults have been hit hard. These are younger adults in their 20's and 30's. One was prescribed as Paxlovid due to breathing issues; as far as I know none had received their fall booster. It has been brutal and we've had to close classrooms due to this outbreak. Please continue to mask up in public spaces and get vaccinated is my advice. I would include the flu shot as well. Its going to be a long winter!
Thank you so much for this update! When possible, I'd also love updated guidance on masking and testing, given the current state of the pandemic. We have small kids, so all sorts of viruses are passing through our house now. We do a rapid test when someone has cold symptoms or fever, but don't repeat daily throughout the course of the virus. Is this something we should be doing? Relatedly, if we're planning to attend an event or see vulnerable family members, is the recommendation still to rapid test immediately before? Within 12 hours? The lack of federal guidance on all of this is really frustrating! Thank you, again, for all that you do!
I was fully vaccinated and had one booster, as per my age allowance at 49, nine months before I got Covid last June. I now have Long Covid and it has completely derailed my life. I am a marathon runner and was the picture of health prior to this happening. I have wondered if I had been permitted to get that second booster last Spring, would I be in this position? GET YOUR BOOSTER, PEOPLE. I am now in an odd position as I am desperately wanting the new bivalent booster but its a bit of a dice roll for LC patients as to how they'll respond. I plan on getting it anyway once I feel a bit more stable. That the CDC has removed mask mandates for healthcare settings is beyond appalling. That any physician would compare Covid 19 to the flu or a cold is almost malpractice. We must take this seriously as a nation and within our local communities. You never know if you'll end up with longer term ramifications from this virus and as one who is living in that realm, please heed my advice when I say you don't want to gamble. Mask up, get the jab and come to terms with the fact that we are still very much in a pandemic.
I just got back from Italy. I was very surprised to see no COVID precautions there and even fewer people masking than in the US. (I didn't mask most places either.) When I asked some Italians about it, they said that yes, they did lose a lot of people early in the pandemic, but everyone is very, very tired now, and ready to get back to life again. Their economy also was hit hard during this time. I think the preponderance and complexity of information and the fact that nothing has seemed to work to stem the disease has led to people throwing in the towel. I know I feel that way. My kid got COVID after spending most of her time alone in her studio apartment, so now she feels she might as well live life if she is going to get sick anyway.
I definitely appreciate these updates, but I am at the point where I don't know what I am going to do with this information.
Where are we at for boosters for littles? Under 12 and under 5? I've heard nothing since the adult ones were approved and the lack of talk is disconcerting.
Thank you so much for all of your valuable info during Covid. My husband and I were both vaccinated with the bivalent booster in September-3 weeks later we both tested positive. Same with my niece. I know there was very little testing done before the new booster was rolled out. I haven’t been able to find any new information since September. Do you know if any new studies are being done on the effectiveness now that large numbers of people have been vaccinated? We had really hoped for some short-term immunity
Thank you for this article . I think we have a vaccine messaging failure. The common believe now is that the vaccines don’t help at all against transmission and cases, but they certainly do up to a certain degree. The governments should really push the fall booster. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Its all very complex & unpredictable. Seems like having more info about case counts would be very useful. Why the hell are hospitals no longer routinely testing testing new admissions? The fraction of admissions testing covid positive is a pretty decent measure of amount of covid in the community a hospital serves -- the only decent measure we have! And besides, if hospitals don't test they will be putting covid positive people in rooms with covid negative ones. How can this possibly make sense? I can't even see an advantage to hospitals to dropping routine covid testing at admission. It doesn't take long. Is it the cost?
It's no wonder that so many people aren't getting boosters as the only way to get good information these days is to be proactive. I know quite a few people who think the original boosters they got months ago still keeps them from being infected and most people don't seem to know about long covid nor know the chance of getting long covid. I am seeing people reporting that their doctors are now saying that covid is just like the flu and when asked about long covid are told that well the flu caused the same thing, it just wasn't talked about. It very much becomes a feeling of everyone for themselves.
I do wonder if health organizations or universities that are still doing random testing can help with giving an idea of case numbers. For example, the City University of New York does weekly random testing and reports the weekly resorts per campus and overall. With 24 campuses in NYC and workers living within the tri state area, it is a pretty good cross section. Last Jan, it was hitting the 20% positivity rate. Right now it is 1.5%. I've followed the numbers for the past two years and it has reflected the overall community spread. https://www.cuny.edu/coronavirus/
Count me as one of the 7.6 million! It feels good to be in that group. I just worry about what late spring has in store for us as my personal immunity wanes.
Regarding the Ebola outbreak: I’d love to know more, but my anxious nature can only handle so much right now. I’ve spent the last 2.5 years living in a state of constant anxiety about Covid I can only handle Ebola if and when it becomes a bigger threat.
Thank you for everything you do to help communicate science to your community. 💗
I can’t thank you enough for this newsletter. For us non-scientists and non-medical folks, getting real and reliable and professional information and data is a huge blessing! It’s almost impossible to find elsewhere. I am in my 70s, fully vaccinated (all Moderna). In July, before the bivalent booster was out, everybody was urged to go ahead and get the 2nd regular booster. I did that in July and shortly thereafter the bivalent booster was issued. So I will wait until December or January to get the new booster. Maybe by then we will know what virus is heading up the new wave and they will have another new, more specific booster. But we can’t keep chasing after whatever comes next. Our government needs to wise up, provide needed funding for testing, data collection, research, production, distribution, and education. What will it take for them to wake up? Another devastating surge? There is so much wasteful spending that we could use to the benefit of all our citizens. Wake up, you politicians!!!!
I went to get my bivalent booster at Walgreens yesterday. On the plus side, their website was easy to use, and I was able to select Pfizer or Moderna.
The older couple waiting alongside me had just been recently exposed to Covid on a cruise ship. Another lady had just gotten over Covid, but what does that mean? Got over Covid a month ago - or yesterday? There was also a slow-moving line of about six people waiting to pick up meds. Was anyone there to pick up Paxlovid? Nobody was wearing masks, except me and the pharmacists. And don’t get me started about vaccination sites that also offer Covid testing - good grief.
Question: why must vaccines/boosters be offered only in indoor settings that are high risk for getting Covid? It would be nice to have drive through or outdoor options.
My colleague got the new booster, then got Covid 3 weeks later. She’s still glad she got it of course, but is uncertain she’ll get the next one at all. We just need more government advertising to reduce this kind of hesitancy.
I can give a little insight into the reasons for the slow booster uptake, at least anecdotally from a small Wisconsin town. I went to the local drug store last week, where I almost always get vaccinations (e.g., flu). They are "booked up" for the next 3 weeks for all vaccinations (has never happened before), and are no longer taking appointments after that because they have nobody to administer the shots, even though they have the vaccine on hand. On I went to the local hospital, it took 3 phone calls and 20 minutes: you make a vaccination appointment just like you make a doctor's appointment, and they are offered only on a few days. The situation is no better with flu vaccine (I'll skip the longer story about how my previously reliable Medicare Advantage Plan has managed to screw that up this year). I'm almost 80 and have the time and knowledge to navigate this obstacle course (professional background includes medical sociology and social epidemiology), but to me it represents a massive failure in our public health system. There should be vaccine trucks like ice cream trucks hitting the streets and public events. If the pandemic has proven anything, vaccination is not a "build it and they will come" event. When are we going to learn? As Michael Osterholm is fond of repeating, vaccines do not matter unless you can turn them into vaccinations.
YLE is invaluable, so well explained, timely, clear. Absolutely essential reading. David E. Hoffman
Thank you for the latest update. I'm the Head of School at a small school and daycare in south east Michigan and wanted to share our experience here since school started just four weeks ago. I've just spent the last 10 days receiving daily notifications of positive Covid-19 cases amongst the staff and students. It started with a 5 month old in the infant room. 10 days later we now have had at least 20 positive Covid-19 cases plus an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth, on top of this. Some staff and children got both viruses! We've also seen a couple of pneumonia cases amongst the youngest children. We've encouraged serial testing because most of the cases have not tested positive until 5 days after symptoms started , whether on a PCR or rapid antigen test. The kids Covid-19 symptoms have been generally mild - cough, sore throat, congestion but the adults have been hit hard. These are younger adults in their 20's and 30's. One was prescribed as Paxlovid due to breathing issues; as far as I know none had received their fall booster. It has been brutal and we've had to close classrooms due to this outbreak. Please continue to mask up in public spaces and get vaccinated is my advice. I would include the flu shot as well. Its going to be a long winter!
Thank you so much for this update! When possible, I'd also love updated guidance on masking and testing, given the current state of the pandemic. We have small kids, so all sorts of viruses are passing through our house now. We do a rapid test when someone has cold symptoms or fever, but don't repeat daily throughout the course of the virus. Is this something we should be doing? Relatedly, if we're planning to attend an event or see vulnerable family members, is the recommendation still to rapid test immediately before? Within 12 hours? The lack of federal guidance on all of this is really frustrating! Thank you, again, for all that you do!
I was fully vaccinated and had one booster, as per my age allowance at 49, nine months before I got Covid last June. I now have Long Covid and it has completely derailed my life. I am a marathon runner and was the picture of health prior to this happening. I have wondered if I had been permitted to get that second booster last Spring, would I be in this position? GET YOUR BOOSTER, PEOPLE. I am now in an odd position as I am desperately wanting the new bivalent booster but its a bit of a dice roll for LC patients as to how they'll respond. I plan on getting it anyway once I feel a bit more stable. That the CDC has removed mask mandates for healthcare settings is beyond appalling. That any physician would compare Covid 19 to the flu or a cold is almost malpractice. We must take this seriously as a nation and within our local communities. You never know if you'll end up with longer term ramifications from this virus and as one who is living in that realm, please heed my advice when I say you don't want to gamble. Mask up, get the jab and come to terms with the fact that we are still very much in a pandemic.
I just got back from Italy. I was very surprised to see no COVID precautions there and even fewer people masking than in the US. (I didn't mask most places either.) When I asked some Italians about it, they said that yes, they did lose a lot of people early in the pandemic, but everyone is very, very tired now, and ready to get back to life again. Their economy also was hit hard during this time. I think the preponderance and complexity of information and the fact that nothing has seemed to work to stem the disease has led to people throwing in the towel. I know I feel that way. My kid got COVID after spending most of her time alone in her studio apartment, so now she feels she might as well live life if she is going to get sick anyway.
I definitely appreciate these updates, but I am at the point where I don't know what I am going to do with this information.
Where are we at for boosters for littles? Under 12 and under 5? I've heard nothing since the adult ones were approved and the lack of talk is disconcerting.
Thank you so much for all of your valuable info during Covid. My husband and I were both vaccinated with the bivalent booster in September-3 weeks later we both tested positive. Same with my niece. I know there was very little testing done before the new booster was rolled out. I haven’t been able to find any new information since September. Do you know if any new studies are being done on the effectiveness now that large numbers of people have been vaccinated? We had really hoped for some short-term immunity
Thank you for this article . I think we have a vaccine messaging failure. The common believe now is that the vaccines don’t help at all against transmission and cases, but they certainly do up to a certain degree. The governments should really push the fall booster. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Its all very complex & unpredictable. Seems like having more info about case counts would be very useful. Why the hell are hospitals no longer routinely testing testing new admissions? The fraction of admissions testing covid positive is a pretty decent measure of amount of covid in the community a hospital serves -- the only decent measure we have! And besides, if hospitals don't test they will be putting covid positive people in rooms with covid negative ones. How can this possibly make sense? I can't even see an advantage to hospitals to dropping routine covid testing at admission. It doesn't take long. Is it the cost?
It's no wonder that so many people aren't getting boosters as the only way to get good information these days is to be proactive. I know quite a few people who think the original boosters they got months ago still keeps them from being infected and most people don't seem to know about long covid nor know the chance of getting long covid. I am seeing people reporting that their doctors are now saying that covid is just like the flu and when asked about long covid are told that well the flu caused the same thing, it just wasn't talked about. It very much becomes a feeling of everyone for themselves.
I do wonder if health organizations or universities that are still doing random testing can help with giving an idea of case numbers. For example, the City University of New York does weekly random testing and reports the weekly resorts per campus and overall. With 24 campuses in NYC and workers living within the tri state area, it is a pretty good cross section. Last Jan, it was hitting the 20% positivity rate. Right now it is 1.5%. I've followed the numbers for the past two years and it has reflected the overall community spread. https://www.cuny.edu/coronavirus/
Count me as one of the 7.6 million! It feels good to be in that group. I just worry about what late spring has in store for us as my personal immunity wanes.
Regarding the Ebola outbreak: I’d love to know more, but my anxious nature can only handle so much right now. I’ve spent the last 2.5 years living in a state of constant anxiety about Covid I can only handle Ebola if and when it becomes a bigger threat.
Thank you for everything you do to help communicate science to your community. 💗
Any news on the bivalent booster getting approval for children ages 5-11?
I can’t thank you enough for this newsletter. For us non-scientists and non-medical folks, getting real and reliable and professional information and data is a huge blessing! It’s almost impossible to find elsewhere. I am in my 70s, fully vaccinated (all Moderna). In July, before the bivalent booster was out, everybody was urged to go ahead and get the 2nd regular booster. I did that in July and shortly thereafter the bivalent booster was issued. So I will wait until December or January to get the new booster. Maybe by then we will know what virus is heading up the new wave and they will have another new, more specific booster. But we can’t keep chasing after whatever comes next. Our government needs to wise up, provide needed funding for testing, data collection, research, production, distribution, and education. What will it take for them to wake up? Another devastating surge? There is so much wasteful spending that we could use to the benefit of all our citizens. Wake up, you politicians!!!!
I went to get my bivalent booster at Walgreens yesterday. On the plus side, their website was easy to use, and I was able to select Pfizer or Moderna.
The older couple waiting alongside me had just been recently exposed to Covid on a cruise ship. Another lady had just gotten over Covid, but what does that mean? Got over Covid a month ago - or yesterday? There was also a slow-moving line of about six people waiting to pick up meds. Was anyone there to pick up Paxlovid? Nobody was wearing masks, except me and the pharmacists. And don’t get me started about vaccination sites that also offer Covid testing - good grief.
Question: why must vaccines/boosters be offered only in indoor settings that are high risk for getting Covid? It would be nice to have drive through or outdoor options.
My colleague got the new booster, then got Covid 3 weeks later. She’s still glad she got it of course, but is uncertain she’ll get the next one at all. We just need more government advertising to reduce this kind of hesitancy.