48 Comments

Congratulations on new job. question: how are sensitivity and specificity of tests (antigen and NAATs) holding up with the new variants? See a lot more people with covid or flu like symptoms testing negative for both... wonder if rates of false negatives increasing with changes in variants.

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Katelyn, I don't care where you work (although YAY! for moving back home!) as long as you keep the good epidemiology 411 coming our way! :)

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Welcome home to California, and congrats on your new position! I really rely on your newsletter so I too am happy that you will continue it. One request for a topic: given that both vaxxed and unvaxxed can still be infected with covid, is my risk of contracting it (I am fully vaxxed) any higher in a room full of unvaxxed people, vs a room full of vaxxed people?

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Congratulations on your well earned, fantastic career move, and moving home!! I’m grateful for all you’ve done as YLE and so happy it will continue! I hope the new changes will be as extremely positive to you & your family, as it will people across the globe.

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May 2, 2022·edited May 2, 2022

Huge congrats! Your way of distilling information and communicating that is amazing, and I’m sure will be so appreciated in your new adventure! I’m thrilled these newsletters will continue as well. Would you change any outdoor masking at this point? With these increased transmissibility lineages, I’m curious if you have heard anything that indicates changes in outdoor behaviors? I’m still masking indoors with a child too young to be vaccinated, my older kids are the only ones still masking in their classes, but I had given the okay to remove outside unless in a crowd. Does increased transmissibility make outdoor stuff riskier?

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Yes, as others have said so well, big congratulations to you on your well deserved new job. I'm so happy the YLE newsletter will continue. Your newsletter is very valuable to me and my family. I really appreciate all your hard work. You're a trusted resource in this turbulent time. Best wishes on the move and welcome back to California!

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Congratulations on the new job!!!! You’re awesome and what a great place to land! Not so happy about the bumpy ride we may all be in for. I know the Army (?) and maybe others are working on a universal Covid vaccine that’s mutation agnostic and it’s feeling like it can’t come soon enough.

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Thanks. I hope Southern California proves to be a safer and more welcoming environment than Texas!

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Congrats on the new job, I hope you are able to contribute your insights to help improve our health policy!

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Huge congrats on your new position and move to SoCal. Your YLE newsletter has been invaluable to me, so I'm glad that you'll be continuing that. Best of luck in your new job.

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Congrats on the new position & especially for moving home to SoCal! I’d love to meet you so please post if UR giving any live lectures in the near future!

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Congrats on the new position. Can you please address the paxlovid rebound situation? Happened to me, and it’s hard to find good information other than the explosion of anecdotes and doom scrolling on twitter. Thanks!

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I have a pandemic (probably more pandemic statistics) question: I've read (don't recall if you covered it or not) that 40% of covid deaths are vaccinated, but others who claim to be experts say this is a fallacy due to the sheer numbers of unvaccinated that need critical care.

To me, this still seems to suggest that vaccines may be holding off most covid symptoms, but are no longer holding off the severe cases that are resulting in deaths. I guess my confusion is the difference between "40% of covid deaths are vaccinated" and "vaccines are still working to help reduce covid severity" seem to be at odds if the 40% number is correct.

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Congratulations! Anywhre you work is lucky to have you. So grateful you can continue to guide our family through this time. I especially appreciate your human, personal tone along with all the incredible science. Thanks for all you do!

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Congratulations on the new job! Happy that you and your family can move back home. And happy that you plan to continue this incredibly valuable newsletter. Still one of the very best sources of clear, accessible, data-driven information on latest developments in COVID-19 science and policy. Thank you again for all you do.

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May 2, 2022·edited May 2, 2022

Congratulations and best wishes on your professional move. I'm gratified that you do what you do - teach, share, educate us, and bring the numbers into focus in a useful way. I hope you can have a significant impact on public policy. Can't thank you enough for your newsletter.

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