CORONAVIRUS INFO PROVIDED BY DR. JIM HARRIS –10/08/2021

While ICU’s in the area are busy, it is not due to an influx of Covid patients on ventilators.

FROM THE NYT:

1. The September swoon WHY IS COVID SLOWING DOWN AGAIN?

(J. Harris: Worth the read and is encouraging. This Delta waning infection pattern has been noted in several other countries like India and England.)

2. The view from Sweden

”If you look at the mortality statistics, compared with Norway, Finland and Denmark, Sweden fared much worse. The pandemic highlighted weaknesses in care in the nursing homes. Compared to many other European countries, however, Sweden has done similarly or better, and not much worse….Vaccination is entirely voluntary in Sweden. Nearly 80 percent of the population ages 16 and older are fully vaccinated. The most vulnerable population is at about 95 percent…Sweden has a very different mask culture compared with the U.S. and other European countries. It was reluctant to recommend masks for a long time. Even after the public health authority urged people to start using masks in public transport, people didn’t always follow the recommendation. You weren’t likely to get yelled at for not wearing a mask… the biggest vectors of transmission were the home and the workplace. Those places accounted for between 20 and 30 percent of infections. Ten percent were public places like subways…”

HOPKINS CITED:

1. Covid-19 Booster Shots Have Outpaced the US Rate of New Vaccinations. And the Millions Still Unvaccinated Could Trigger ‘Future Waves,’ Expert Warns (CNN Health) The US is making headway in its battle against Covid-19 — with infection and hospitalization rates on the decline after a surge fueled by the highly transmissible Delta variant. But with the number of Americans getting booster shots surpassing those who are initiating vaccination, experts warn more is needed to continue the progress. The country has averaged more than 101,200 new cases a day over the last week — down 41% from a peak in a Delta-driven wave reached in mid-September, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

2. COVID-19 Testing and a Path out of the Pandemic (Clinical Chemistry) For the US, COVID-19 testing is here to stay. The White House’s “Path out of the Pandemic” announcement on September 10, 2021 calls for increased access to COVID-19 testing and testing programs, including for schools and for employees of businesses larger than 100 people who are not vaccinated.(1) To increase the availability of tests, the Defense Production Act has been invoked by the Administration to increase manufacturing, free pharmacy testing has been expanded, and home rapid antigen tests will be sold at reduced prices by major retailers. This plan is a welcomed ramp-up of testing capacity which will help address current shortages of tests and long delays in getting test results. It will be important, however, for the US government to not only address the current demands for testing but to anticipate what testing needs are likely for the future, and plan for them. Testing needs are increasing and will change—though not disappear—when cases of COVID-19 eventually decline.

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