Covid coexistence: Two truths and a lie
Global Covid trends improve; US, China continue to see illness, death; Twitter restores purveyors of false Covid information.
Two truths and a lie:
The risk of severe illness or death from Covid is low for most people, and we can co-exist with Covid.
Hospitalizations and deaths from Covid are high — and getting worse — in the USA.
Twitter is a reliable place to find the latest Covid news.
Globally, cases, hospitalizations and deaths trend downward
As the world continues to adjust to Covid everywhere, there is considerable good news in the latest epidemiological data. In many nations, Covid hospitalizations and deaths have declined. Globally, the rate is down. The rates remain high in the United States, however, as hospitalizations have been going up since mid-October after going down steadily for three months. More details from the latest WHO update are below.
In the USA, the story hasn’t changed much. The increasing morbidity from Covid is attributed to a combination of relaxed precautions and low vaccination rates. There are still more than 30% of Americans who have not been vaccinated, and only about 12% have received the updated “bivalent” booster shot. The updated shots, which became available in September, have been shown to reduce symptomatic infection. The original vaccines have been less effective against omicron, which remains the dominant Covid strain worldwide.
But most people who are fully vaccinated and reasonably careful are able to continue avoiding severe illness or death. For those who do get sick, Paxlovid remains an effective anti-viral treatment.
Rising risk for immune-compromised individuals
However, for the most vulnerable, including those who are immunocompromised, the continued transmission of Covid remains a significant concern. While the vaccines continue to appear to be effective at reducing risk of severe illness and death, the prevention and treatment options for those who cannot take the vaccines or who get sick even after vaccination are more limited. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration this week rescinded its Emergency Use Authorization for the last remaining monoclonal antibody treatment for Covid, because the virus has evolved so that the treatments don’t work. NPR’s Pien Huang explained this well.
Winter is coming
As Covid rates have been increasing with more indoor gatherings and travel, so too have cases of flu and RSV. Some public health experts predict that the situation is likely to get much worse, especially if people continue to resist wearing masks when viral risks are present. The flu rate is up over 18% in the past two weeks, and an estimated 3/4ths of U.S. ICU beds are occupied. That’s disturbingly close to capacity. RSV cases have started to decline, however.
Despite these concerns, White House Covid Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said he believes the U.S. is better prepared than last year and won’t experience a huge Covid surge following holiday gatherings.
We’re still #1… in Covid deaths
The United States continues to lead the world on Covid deaths. Here’s what the World Health Organization reports for the week of Nov. 21-27:
The highest numbers of new weekly deaths were reported from the United States of America (2611 new deaths; +16%), Japan (1000 new deaths; +42%), Brazil (535 new deaths; +113%), Italy (419 new deaths; -22%), and China (395 new deaths; -17%).
Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia are reporting declining Covid cases and deaths, while there are concerns in the Americas and Western Pacific. This includes China, where there were more than 144,000 new cases and 395 deaths reported.
However, many preventable illness and death cases continue to occur, and the risk of new, more virulent variants remains as the coronavirus continues to infect people all around us. No reason for alarm, especially if you live in highly vaccinated, well-protected areas. If you are spending time with others or traveling, continuing to take some precautions may be prudent. Tight-fitting N95 or KN95 masks are worth keeping on-hand.
Disinformation rises again
Elon Musk’s acquisition of social media platform Twitter continues to wreak havoc on Twitter users and authorities who have relied on the platform to convey credible information about Covid or anything else. Disinformation spread faster than the Covid-19 virus in 2020, and the platform’s deactivation of 11,000 accounts that were found to have spread false information about Covid appeared to reduce the problem, at least somewhat.
Now, those 11,000 deactivated accounts are being turned back on, as if given complete amnesty. No matter how irresponsible or malevolent. Experts are alarmed. The reality is that now, we must go to primary sources for medical information - like university websites, scientific publications and government agencies. I would hesitate to trust anything linked from a tweet at this point, which makes me sad given the role Twitter has played at increasing the free flow of information since it was founded.
Personally, I’m an enthusiastic advocate of free speech, but private companies can and should make decisions about what speech they promote. In the case of Twitter, I don’t understand how there is any benefit (to Twitter, its investors and owners, or anyone else) to restoring accounts that fueled dangerous, false information. With almost 1.1 million documented Covid-19 deaths, the United States has lost more people than any other country. We know that tens of thousands of these deaths could have been prevented if people had received and followed credible advice. Let’s make things better, not worse.
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