I’ll add to the anecdotal hospitalization reports after calling the ER on my way into work listening to this post! Here in South Jersey my health system reports ER and inpatient beds are “tight” but not critical. Improved from the last couple weeks but still “tight.”
Despite “abysmal” vaccination rates, and the missed opportunities for many people to be less sick, a spring booster seems like a good idea for those still playing the game. Dr. Daniel Griffin from TWiV unofficially endorsed as much during his weekly clinical update this week for >65yo and high risk.
I’ll take any opportunity to keep priming the well, as antigenic imprinting and other fears have not significantly materialized when compared to benefits most evident in higher risk individuals.
And if most of the additional benefit (in terms of long Covid prevention) with vaccines/boosts comes from that short lived but real 50->40->30% reduction in transmission for 3-4 months, sign me up. Each pair of dice left unrolled with Covid is good. Good for less severe disease, long Covid, and community transmission.
Thanks for the report, Ryan, it parallels what I'm hearing here. Of note, EMS doesn't seem to be getting too many ILI cases but the local hospitals (Colorado Springs) are tight.
I know we’re supposed to stay focused on health here, but as a Jersey girl (transplanted out west), it’s good to hear a voice from back home. Stay safe out there. It’ll be time for Jersey corn and tomatoes before you know it.
Much respect to Jersey girls and Jersey people in general! Such a diverse state with an NYC and Philly inferiority complex that keeps us humble and hungry… for Jersey corn and tomatoes 🍅 😁
I admit I have my doubts that it would make a significant difference. My area still had an enormous spike in cases during the initial Omicron wave when mask mandates in schools and public business was still in place.
On a practical level, if I'm on a 2-hour flight sitting next to someone who has mildly symptomatic or even asymptomatic (but still shedding virus) Covid (and is not wearing a mask) does it make any difference if I'm (a) not wearing a mask vs. (b) wearing a well-fitting N95 during the entire flight?
Absolutely makes a difference. That 95 speaks to how well it filters, including airborne pathogens. It’s akin to asking whether it makes a difference whether you wear a seatbelt when in a car accident. Common sense.
Hence my initial comment that masks must be worn for them to work, and worn properly. If you can’t make it 2 hours without sustenance, a lower risk option is to install the Sip Mask on your respirator, practically speaking. 😷
Is there actually a Sip mask or are you guys just pulling our legs? Im temporarily immune compromised and avoiding flights long enough that I’ll have to eat or drink.
I can certainly do 2-3 hours comfortably but for longer thanks for the idea of a Sip Mask - I was wondering if there was something like that. It might be very difficult to do a high quality RCT good enough to guide choice at the individual level; real-world studies of mandates or recommendations are relevant to public policy but for individual decision making we need to balance our best assessment of risk/benefit, in our particular context (talking about self-protection here). But I don't need to physically commute to work and am fortunate to live in an area where no one seems to mind if someone wears a mask.
One can’t help but wonder how this season, particularly the strain on hospitals today, would be different if more businesses/schools/governments cleaned indoor air. 😤
This is the biggest fail. We see that people won’t mask or get vaccines. This seems like the simplest mitigation that I never see put into practice. Except at my orthodontist’s office and in my own classroom.
Indeed, but it is the most expensive option. Until western capitalism stops seeing people as a disposable commodity, they will not invest in the necessary infrastructure to ensure indoor air is safe and clean.
Thanks to both of you for this report. Vaccines at the beginning of the block of Swiss cheese, YES. There are many of us still adding the extra slices of indoor masking, avoiding large crowds, and bringing in fresh air as best we can. Your reports very much matter to me. We’re tired, but the extra slices still matter for all of us. Onward.
You'd mentioned that you expect the CDC to possibly change isolation guidelines for Covid: well California just relaxed covid isolation to leave as soon as you have no fever, just mask and avoid people at high risk. I realize that isolating for too long is a social burden, but letting it rip is also a social burden. Those of us at higher risk don't wear a sign or can avoid easily without undue isolation--also a social burden. Can you address this in a future post?
I’m immunocompromised, never had a fever with Covid, but was very ill and shedding virus for an extended period of time. By those guidelines I should have been back out superspreading. For both my own risk and the risk of passing around a new variant, that seems like a bad idea.
I can corroborate the packed hospital information. My hospital is full every day with overflow patients holding in the ED for beds we don’t have. It’s insanity. And it repeats every single day.
Is there any data about whether these 47 pediatric deaths were in unvaccinated children? I think that information would be powerful to help persuade some parents to vaccinate!
There seems to be a paradox right now: covid in wastewater is at an all-time high yet most of the sick people I know right now swear they have a cold or the flu - and are right out there on airplanes and in movie theaters - unmasked - despite being sick. Because they “don’t have covid!”
And hospitals wouldn’t be so full if we had better therapeutics and access to them. This is the problem with our “vaccine, vaccine, vaccine” strategy. We’ve under-invested in life saving treatments.
Thanks for the interesting stat on the UK and how flu, not covid, is the primary reason for hospitalization. I’d be curious which covid vaccine NHS is giving to the 65+ crowd, as it’s my understanding there’s not much choice when it comes to manufacturer.
There are 3 approved vaccines in the UK, the two mRNA we gave here, plus Sanofi. The last day to get a seasonal Covid vaccine is later this month. Typically, there’s no choice, you just get what they have at the clinic.
It’s worth noting that another explanation for the UK difference has to do with the fact that Brits likely have much higher natural immunity than do Americans. They ride subways and gather in pubs. It’s easy to measure how many of them recently got a Covid booster yet it would be nice if we had a way to measure what their natural immunity was beforehand.
We were in London in October and early November. Went to the Royal Albert Hall (packed to full capacity). Not a mask in sight. We’d timed our vaccinations to share special time with our god-kids, so we were really relying on those vaccines (and copious, discreet sniffs of Enovid).
Nobody is masking on the Tube, Eurostar, museums, concert halls, stores, theaters. Nobody. It’s like a time warp to 2018. I can’t answer your curiosity about higher immunity there, but I do wonder if they’re getting small “doses” walking past one another in public, that give them mini-boosters as they move through daily life.
I caught a cold (took a PCR while fully symptomatic, definitely just a cold), but no Covid. I had avoided catching anything at all until the very end, when I got lazy with the Enovid.
Regarding the question of spring covid 19 vaccinations for those over 65, what about those who are immune compromised? I am under 65 and immune compromised and would like the spring shot as well, will I be able to get it??
I am a gerontological NP and just left primary care at a large hospital system. I can corroborate the busy ERs as I heard stories of long waits from my patients. The burnout and low staffing continues all over the system. Cannot get scans and non-surgical procedures scheduled in a timely manner—meaning not without a 3-month or longer wait. Nurses have been in short supply since I started 40 years ago; the shortage was never a priority and never addressed. Then came the pandemic and Boom! I do not see a recovety from low nurse staffing any time soon. Our system’s priority is cutting back on employee programs to recoup the ginormous amount of $$ lost paying for traveling nurses.
We also had a large number of Covid infections among our population; some combined with RSV as well. Most folks had already received vaccination #6.
Speaking of clogged hospitals and costs, a friend of mine was recently injured badly enough to go to the ER, but not such that he was a critical case and ended up spending hours in the waiting room. He said the waiting area was full of non-English speakers, coughing and sneezing. I would like to know how much resources that people like me pay for are being spent on folks that have committed unlawful entry into the US and get free care?
There aren't any Randomized Controlled Trials that show a mortality or hospitalization benefit for any of the Covid shots. So, claims that if only more people got vaccinated we'd see less death and fewer people in the hospital aren't based on any evidence. In fact, excess mortality rose globally after mass vaccination started in winter/spring 2021. That isn't conclusive proof of anything, but it should definitely give you pause regarding the efficacy of these shots.
LOL, I knew the next words out of your mouth would include “RCT.” Is there a handbook of phrases they give y’all when it comes to spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories? Yawn, it really gets old.
What you are saying is absurd. If your were correct, surgeons and assisting personnel don't need to wear masks while performing surgery. Thanks, I'll opt for the masks.
Surgeons have never worn masks pre or post op when consulting with patients. Ever. Only in the OR.
It’s to reduce odds of bacterial infection at open wound site (though no studies have demonstrated it matters) and, more importantly, to keep blood from splattering into their mouths.
I am still undecided about the value of masks. Yet if you think about when Fauci et al flip flopped and told us they worked and mandates were imposed (but masks were scarce) - was this just one more way to keep everyone at home? 🤔
We know Fauci never believed masks worked as he privately told his friend in email obtained via FOIA: "The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material." - which is what the scientific consensus was from the end of Spanish Flu up until March 2020 when we decided based on the precautionary principle that masks 100% work - even homemade cloth ones.
Fauci just needed to tell us to "do something" to show the government had everything in control. Masks are as useful as the "hide under your desk" drills my dad had to do in the 1950's in case of nuclear war. Standard propaganda to give people the illusion of safety (GWB told us to go shopping after 9/11, so it could be worse).
It's absolutely ludicrous the hysteria that gripped us and otherwise rational people to suddenly think masks could stop viruses.
I can't stress how small a virus is. We only discovered them because something invisible passed through the ceramic water filters designed to clean water in the 1880s and it couldn't be seen even with the strongest light microscope. We dubbed this contaminant "a filter passing virus". We literally named it "filter passing".
For reference if you scaled a Covid virus to the size of a beach ball, the individual micropore in an n95 would be the size of the Epcot Center Buckyball.
But most of the air you breath when wearing an n95 goes through the "small" gaps on the sides and around the bridge of your mouth, which again, using the "scale of a beach ball" analogy, those "small gaps" are the size of the Grand Canyon. Of course the virus will easily pass through. Anything short of a Moonsuit is almost certainly useless.
Just as we knew pre March 2020 which is why despite studying them for years, no one was wearing them to stop viruses (don't be fooled by the charlatans claiming Japanese wore them to stop viruses pre 2020 - nonsense).
Definition of pseudoscience is a theory which can't predict anything. Masks couldn't predict any outcome, their value derived only from poor studies (of which suddenly we conjured up 200 bad studies in the span of 24 months).
But thankfully the public, and more importantly physicians, recognized it was pseudoscience and that's why their popularity lasted less than Furby.
surgeons don't wear masks to stop respiratory viruses. They wear them as a courtesy to (hopefully) prevent spittle and other bodily fluids from infecting an open wound...i.e. to prevent a post-op bacterial infection. However, there's no good evidence that even supports this.
The findings from this review cannot be generalised for several reasons: the studies included only looked at clean surgery, some of the studies did not specify what type of face mask was used and one of the studies did not involve many participants therefore making the findings less credible. The quality of the studies we found was low overall. The way in which participants were selected for the studies was not always completely random, which means the authors' judgements could have influenced the results. More research in this field is needed before making further conclusions about the use of face masks in surgery"
Yes, I know. But the point still stands. There aren't any RCTs that support surgical masks reducing post-op infections. They may, but there's no evidence to support that statement.
Hmmm, winter/spring 2021...also when the Omicron variant took off and numbers skyrocketed, while vaccines were not available to most people yet...I wonder why excess mortality would have risen at that point...
Thank you for this clear, timely information, as always! I was interested in the statement: “There is still a lot of variability on the local level. For example, many cities—like San Jose, Chicago, and Miami—have yet to peak.” I am concerned, and have just written to my councilman once again about this, that New York City has no data included in the CDC trend line. It appears to be continually too late in reporting out these data to be included. (As of yesterday, the latest reported information from NYC to New York State was from 1/2/24, for example.) Given this, can those of us who are in NYC even use the known trend levels to assess risk and adjust our behavior as needed? And, if not, what can we do to best assess the risk level in our area? (In assessing risk, FYI, I am thinking of Dr. Wachter’s excellent graph which he uses to assess risk and adjust personal behaviors accordingly.)
Boppare: I want again to thank you for responding, as it also prompted me to think about what other workaround markers those of us in NYC might use, given this ongoing problem (though I will keep bugging my City Councilperson!). What occurred to me, and I wondered what you might think (if you see this), is to use information available from a neighboring county (for my location, Westchester is very close, eg, and thankfully, even directly on the CDC site, I can see the trend is now downward.) Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for reaching out to help problem solve on this. It's one of the great things about being part of Dr. Jetelina's community here.
Thanks boppare. I have to say, though, that NYC's inability to keep as least as current as other places on wastewater stats is unacceptable--not only for NYC, but also because the failure to report to CDC within the 15 day window undoubtedly affects the CDC NE stats as a whole. This is something that, if the city made it even a minor priority, can, and should, be corrected. I hope anyone here who lives in NYC will sound the alarm with their local representatives to get this addressed.
Chicago area- our hospital has frequent 10 + hr rates in the ED bc there are no beds in the hospital. This has been going on for months. Not terrible resp infection rates mostly the usual stuff
More anecdotal data for you: work for a community hospital in Southern California with about 500 beds and we’ve been strained this whole season. We’re all burnt out.
I’ll add to the anecdotal hospitalization reports after calling the ER on my way into work listening to this post! Here in South Jersey my health system reports ER and inpatient beds are “tight” but not critical. Improved from the last couple weeks but still “tight.”
Despite “abysmal” vaccination rates, and the missed opportunities for many people to be less sick, a spring booster seems like a good idea for those still playing the game. Dr. Daniel Griffin from TWiV unofficially endorsed as much during his weekly clinical update this week for >65yo and high risk.
I’ll take any opportunity to keep priming the well, as antigenic imprinting and other fears have not significantly materialized when compared to benefits most evident in higher risk individuals.
And if most of the additional benefit (in terms of long Covid prevention) with vaccines/boosts comes from that short lived but real 50->40->30% reduction in transmission for 3-4 months, sign me up. Each pair of dice left unrolled with Covid is good. Good for less severe disease, long Covid, and community transmission.
Thanks for the report, Ryan, it parallels what I'm hearing here. Of note, EMS doesn't seem to be getting too many ILI cases but the local hospitals (Colorado Springs) are tight.
I know we’re supposed to stay focused on health here, but as a Jersey girl (transplanted out west), it’s good to hear a voice from back home. Stay safe out there. It’ll be time for Jersey corn and tomatoes before you know it.
Much respect to Jersey girls and Jersey people in general! Such a diverse state with an NYC and Philly inferiority complex that keeps us humble and hungry… for Jersey corn and tomatoes 🍅 😁
One can’t help but wonder how this season, particularly the strain on hospitals today, would be different if more people wore a mask/respirator. 😷
One doesn't have to wonder. Mask mandates failed everywhere they were implemented.
Not at all true. Numerous studies have shown that high quality masks/respirators work when worn (properly).
numerous low-quality, biased, and confounded observational studies maybe. But no good studies. And masks fail in the real world every time.
Troll says what?
I admit I have my doubts that it would make a significant difference. My area still had an enormous spike in cases during the initial Omicron wave when mask mandates in schools and public business was still in place.
Studies have shown repeatedly that high quality masks/respirators work when worn (properly).
Seconded.
On a practical level, if I'm on a 2-hour flight sitting next to someone who has mildly symptomatic or even asymptomatic (but still shedding virus) Covid (and is not wearing a mask) does it make any difference if I'm (a) not wearing a mask vs. (b) wearing a well-fitting N95 during the entire flight?
Absolutely makes a difference. That 95 speaks to how well it filters, including airborne pathogens. It’s akin to asking whether it makes a difference whether you wear a seatbelt when in a car accident. Common sense.
Much less impactful, though, if an individual repositions or removes their mask to eat or drink..
Hence my initial comment that masks must be worn for them to work, and worn properly. If you can’t make it 2 hours without sustenance, a lower risk option is to install the Sip Mask on your respirator, practically speaking. 😷
Is there actually a Sip mask or are you guys just pulling our legs? Im temporarily immune compromised and avoiding flights long enough that I’ll have to eat or drink.
There really is a sip mask (I bought one for an international flight)! https://sipmask.com/
I can certainly do 2-3 hours comfortably but for longer thanks for the idea of a Sip Mask - I was wondering if there was something like that. It might be very difficult to do a high quality RCT good enough to guide choice at the individual level; real-world studies of mandates or recommendations are relevant to public policy but for individual decision making we need to balance our best assessment of risk/benefit, in our particular context (talking about self-protection here). But I don't need to physically commute to work and am fortunate to live in an area where no one seems to mind if someone wears a mask.
One can’t help but wonder how this season, particularly the strain on hospitals today, would be different if more businesses/schools/governments cleaned indoor air. 😤
If only...
This is the biggest fail. We see that people won’t mask or get vaccines. This seems like the simplest mitigation that I never see put into practice. Except at my orthodontist’s office and in my own classroom.
Indeed, but it is the most expensive option. Until western capitalism stops seeing people as a disposable commodity, they will not invest in the necessary infrastructure to ensure indoor air is safe and clean.
My air purifier cost less than the sum total of masks I have purchased.
Thanks to both of you for this report. Vaccines at the beginning of the block of Swiss cheese, YES. There are many of us still adding the extra slices of indoor masking, avoiding large crowds, and bringing in fresh air as best we can. Your reports very much matter to me. We’re tired, but the extra slices still matter for all of us. Onward.
Well said!
Thank you for the update!
You'd mentioned that you expect the CDC to possibly change isolation guidelines for Covid: well California just relaxed covid isolation to leave as soon as you have no fever, just mask and avoid people at high risk. I realize that isolating for too long is a social burden, but letting it rip is also a social burden. Those of us at higher risk don't wear a sign or can avoid easily without undue isolation--also a social burden. Can you address this in a future post?
I’m immunocompromised, never had a fever with Covid, but was very ill and shedding virus for an extended period of time. By those guidelines I should have been back out superspreading. For both my own risk and the risk of passing around a new variant, that seems like a bad idea.
Good question. Seems that the vulnerable are at higher risk than ever.
I have to wonder about compliance with the isolation guide, I did come across a suggestion to retire it altogether. I posted this question in notes.
https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/COVID-19-Isolation-Guidance.aspx
I can corroborate the packed hospital information. My hospital is full every day with overflow patients holding in the ED for beds we don’t have. It’s insanity. And it repeats every single day.
Is there any data about whether these 47 pediatric deaths were in unvaccinated children? I think that information would be powerful to help persuade some parents to vaccinate!
Also curious about the vaccination status. My kids are both vaccinated, thankfully, and from what I've read, the vaccines are pretty solid this year.
Thank you for this very helpful and informative state of affairs and thank you for doing this for all of us!
I second Susan! Thank you so much, Dr.Jetelina!
There seems to be a paradox right now: covid in wastewater is at an all-time high yet most of the sick people I know right now swear they have a cold or the flu - and are right out there on airplanes and in movie theaters - unmasked - despite being sick. Because they “don’t have covid!”
And hospitals wouldn’t be so full if we had better therapeutics and access to them. This is the problem with our “vaccine, vaccine, vaccine” strategy. We’ve under-invested in life saving treatments.
Thanks for the interesting stat on the UK and how flu, not covid, is the primary reason for hospitalization. I’d be curious which covid vaccine NHS is giving to the 65+ crowd, as it’s my understanding there’s not much choice when it comes to manufacturer.
There are 3 approved vaccines in the UK, the two mRNA we gave here, plus Sanofi. The last day to get a seasonal Covid vaccine is later this month. Typically, there’s no choice, you just get what they have at the clinic.
It’s worth noting that another explanation for the UK difference has to do with the fact that Brits likely have much higher natural immunity than do Americans. They ride subways and gather in pubs. It’s easy to measure how many of them recently got a Covid booster yet it would be nice if we had a way to measure what their natural immunity was beforehand.
We were in London in October and early November. Went to the Royal Albert Hall (packed to full capacity). Not a mask in sight. We’d timed our vaccinations to share special time with our god-kids, so we were really relying on those vaccines (and copious, discreet sniffs of Enovid).
Nobody is masking on the Tube, Eurostar, museums, concert halls, stores, theaters. Nobody. It’s like a time warp to 2018. I can’t answer your curiosity about higher immunity there, but I do wonder if they’re getting small “doses” walking past one another in public, that give them mini-boosters as they move through daily life.
I caught a cold (took a PCR while fully symptomatic, definitely just a cold), but no Covid. I had avoided catching anything at all until the very end, when I got lazy with the Enovid.
Regarding the question of spring covid 19 vaccinations for those over 65, what about those who are immune compromised? I am under 65 and immune compromised and would like the spring shot as well, will I be able to get it??
You can receive a second updated vaccine 2 months after the first 23-24 dose and after that, additional doses as determined by your doctor.
I am a gerontological NP and just left primary care at a large hospital system. I can corroborate the busy ERs as I heard stories of long waits from my patients. The burnout and low staffing continues all over the system. Cannot get scans and non-surgical procedures scheduled in a timely manner—meaning not without a 3-month or longer wait. Nurses have been in short supply since I started 40 years ago; the shortage was never a priority and never addressed. Then came the pandemic and Boom! I do not see a recovety from low nurse staffing any time soon. Our system’s priority is cutting back on employee programs to recoup the ginormous amount of $$ lost paying for traveling nurses.
We also had a large number of Covid infections among our population; some combined with RSV as well. Most folks had already received vaccination #6.
Speaking of clogged hospitals and costs, a friend of mine was recently injured badly enough to go to the ER, but not such that he was a critical case and ended up spending hours in the waiting room. He said the waiting area was full of non-English speakers, coughing and sneezing. I would like to know how much resources that people like me pay for are being spent on folks that have committed unlawful entry into the US and get free care?
There aren't any Randomized Controlled Trials that show a mortality or hospitalization benefit for any of the Covid shots. So, claims that if only more people got vaccinated we'd see less death and fewer people in the hospital aren't based on any evidence. In fact, excess mortality rose globally after mass vaccination started in winter/spring 2021. That isn't conclusive proof of anything, but it should definitely give you pause regarding the efficacy of these shots.
Blatantly false statement. Go push disinformation elsewhere.
if what I said is not true, please show me a RCT for any of these shots that demonstrated a mortality or hospitalization benefit.
LOL, I knew the next words out of your mouth would include “RCT.” Is there a handbook of phrases they give y’all when it comes to spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories? Yawn, it really gets old.
What you are saying is absurd. If your were correct, surgeons and assisting personnel don't need to wear masks while performing surgery. Thanks, I'll opt for the masks.
Surgeons have never worn masks pre or post op when consulting with patients. Ever. Only in the OR.
It’s to reduce odds of bacterial infection at open wound site (though no studies have demonstrated it matters) and, more importantly, to keep blood from splattering into their mouths.
I am still undecided about the value of masks. Yet if you think about when Fauci et al flip flopped and told us they worked and mandates were imposed (but masks were scarce) - was this just one more way to keep everyone at home? 🤔
We know Fauci never believed masks worked as he privately told his friend in email obtained via FOIA: "The typical mask you buy in the drug store is not really effective in keeping out virus, which is small enough to pass through material." - which is what the scientific consensus was from the end of Spanish Flu up until March 2020 when we decided based on the precautionary principle that masks 100% work - even homemade cloth ones.
Fauci just needed to tell us to "do something" to show the government had everything in control. Masks are as useful as the "hide under your desk" drills my dad had to do in the 1950's in case of nuclear war. Standard propaganda to give people the illusion of safety (GWB told us to go shopping after 9/11, so it could be worse).
It's absolutely ludicrous the hysteria that gripped us and otherwise rational people to suddenly think masks could stop viruses.
I can't stress how small a virus is. We only discovered them because something invisible passed through the ceramic water filters designed to clean water in the 1880s and it couldn't be seen even with the strongest light microscope. We dubbed this contaminant "a filter passing virus". We literally named it "filter passing".
For reference if you scaled a Covid virus to the size of a beach ball, the individual micropore in an n95 would be the size of the Epcot Center Buckyball.
But most of the air you breath when wearing an n95 goes through the "small" gaps on the sides and around the bridge of your mouth, which again, using the "scale of a beach ball" analogy, those "small gaps" are the size of the Grand Canyon. Of course the virus will easily pass through. Anything short of a Moonsuit is almost certainly useless.
Just as we knew pre March 2020 which is why despite studying them for years, no one was wearing them to stop viruses (don't be fooled by the charlatans claiming Japanese wore them to stop viruses pre 2020 - nonsense).
Definition of pseudoscience is a theory which can't predict anything. Masks couldn't predict any outcome, their value derived only from poor studies (of which suddenly we conjured up 200 bad studies in the span of 24 months).
But thankfully the public, and more importantly physicians, recognized it was pseudoscience and that's why their popularity lasted less than Furby.
surgeons don't wear masks to stop respiratory viruses. They wear them as a courtesy to (hopefully) prevent spittle and other bodily fluids from infecting an open wound...i.e. to prevent a post-op bacterial infection. However, there's no good evidence that even supports this.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7138271/
Did you actually read this?
"Quality of the evidence
The findings from this review cannot be generalised for several reasons: the studies included only looked at clean surgery, some of the studies did not specify what type of face mask was used and one of the studies did not involve many participants therefore making the findings less credible. The quality of the studies we found was low overall. The way in which participants were selected for the studies was not always completely random, which means the authors' judgements could have influenced the results. More research in this field is needed before making further conclusions about the use of face masks in surgery"
I guess that we can forgo hand washing too. https://youtu.be/w04gTXu1mHM
Yes, I know. But the point still stands. There aren't any RCTs that support surgical masks reducing post-op infections. They may, but there's no evidence to support that statement.
Troll....
Hmmm, winter/spring 2021...also when the Omicron variant took off and numbers skyrocketed, while vaccines were not available to most people yet...I wonder why excess mortality would have risen at that point...
Thank you for this clear, timely information, as always! I was interested in the statement: “There is still a lot of variability on the local level. For example, many cities—like San Jose, Chicago, and Miami—have yet to peak.” I am concerned, and have just written to my councilman once again about this, that New York City has no data included in the CDC trend line. It appears to be continually too late in reporting out these data to be included. (As of yesterday, the latest reported information from NYC to New York State was from 1/2/24, for example.) Given this, can those of us who are in NYC even use the known trend levels to assess risk and adjust our behavior as needed? And, if not, what can we do to best assess the risk level in our area? (In assessing risk, FYI, I am thinking of Dr. Wachter’s excellent graph which he uses to assess risk and adjust personal behaviors accordingly.)
NYC does have a daily hospitalization summary that is frequently updated, so it's something to keep track of: https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/daily-hospitalization-summary . The trends are pretty clear as far as when new admissions rise and fall.
Boppare: I want again to thank you for responding, as it also prompted me to think about what other workaround markers those of us in NYC might use, given this ongoing problem (though I will keep bugging my City Councilperson!). What occurred to me, and I wondered what you might think (if you see this), is to use information available from a neighboring county (for my location, Westchester is very close, eg, and thankfully, even directly on the CDC site, I can see the trend is now downward.) Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for reaching out to help problem solve on this. It's one of the great things about being part of Dr. Jetelina's community here.
Thanks boppare. I have to say, though, that NYC's inability to keep as least as current as other places on wastewater stats is unacceptable--not only for NYC, but also because the failure to report to CDC within the 15 day window undoubtedly affects the CDC NE stats as a whole. This is something that, if the city made it even a minor priority, can, and should, be corrected. I hope anyone here who lives in NYC will sound the alarm with their local representatives to get this addressed.
Chicago area- our hospital has frequent 10 + hr rates in the ED bc there are no beds in the hospital. This has been going on for months. Not terrible resp infection rates mostly the usual stuff
More anecdotal data for you: work for a community hospital in Southern California with about 500 beds and we’ve been strained this whole season. We’re all burnt out.
Thank you for all of this clear information. Thank you, thank you.
Please address the isolation changes for positive but asymptomatic Covid now in place in California.