Posts tagged with: covid

Listened to: Conspirituality #229: Stanford Has Fallen. This was a good dive into Jay Bhattacharya, Covid contrarians, and the symposium they held at Stanford.

“During the Pandemic” is Now: Why E&W Still Has a COVID Policy

This article is 🔥. Well-stated and good resources linked within.

The San Diego Union-Tribune printed this letter to the editor (archived) June 8:

COVID-related anxiety disorder affects many locals

“About 238,000 adults in San Diego County suffer from a serious anxiety disorder resulting from their experience of the COVID pandemic. These cases have occurred entirely due to the pandemic, and are in addition to those who suffered from generalized anxiety disorder prior.

Anxiety was a reasonable response at the peak of the pandemic, but for reasons of personal vulnerability, individuals in this group have continued to experience crippling levels of anxiety after the pandemic ended. This is similar to the way post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms remain long after exposure.

This group particularly needs services because they may be unaware of the source of their symptoms and that effective treatments do exist. I call on treatment centers and individual therapists with expertise in treating anxiety disorders to reach out to this group.”

— David Mills, San Diego

I wondered where such a number came from. I emailed the paper to see if they had a citation and they pointed me to covid19ptsd.com, specifically the June newsletter. The newsletters were pretty thin and didn't include that number, but did cite some other news articles. From what I can tell, I think the number is extrapolated. The current percent of Americans experiencing anxiety symptoms (self-reported) minus the pre-pandemic percent is about 9%. I think they took the number of adults in San Diego County and multiplied by 9% to get that number.

The phrasing in the letter also bugged me. “entirely”? “reasonable”? “crippling”? The headings on that site at the time included “The Pandemic Has Ended, But Negative Consequences Remain” (more on that below). It all seemed so condescending. I decided to send my own letter to the editor in response:

COVID is still with us

Re: Mr. Mills’ letter on June 8, I take issue with framing the pandemic as something in the past. Despite government officials and our bosses telling us the pandemic has “ended,” the virus continues to spread and mutate almost entirely unmitigated, causing long-term health issues, disabling, and killing people. We just had the second largest wave of transmission this past winter based on wastewater data (see pmc19.com/data). The dangers of C19 have not changed much; the powers that be just decided to put all of the burden on individuals and end the emergency response.

I also object to the implication that anxiety around the ongoing pandemic is “unreasonable.” There are plenty of reasons to be anxious about C19, not least of which is the fact that so few are willing to take easy, well-known precautions like wearing a mask to protect each others’ health.

— Gregor Morrill, San Diego

That covid19ptsd site seemed fishy when I first saw it. The headline was “Celebrate The End Of The COVID Pandemic” and listed the date September 15, 2024. That seemed to imply an event, but there were no other details. It also acknowledged Long Covid, which made the “ended” language even more odd. There was a very generic call to donate without details of what the funds are for. “Help our organization by donating today! All donations go directly to making a difference for our cause.” Currently it shows they’ve raised $215 out of a $10,000 goal.

As I was writing this post, I looked over the site again. I was surprised that the tone had changed. Now the headline is “The COVID Pandemic Has Not Completely Ended.” That’s a positive improvement, at least. The September date is gone, though, and the ambiguous prompt to donate is still there. Thanks to the Internet Archive, we can compare the changes.

Another great essay by Julia in Gauntlet News:

Emphasis from original.

“We are currently in a ‘lull’, but ‘lull’ is a relative term, and ‘low’ in 2024 isn’t the same as ‘low’ in 2020-2021. In 2021, shortly after vaccination, our summer low hit 12k cases a day. This year it’s never gone below 160k new cases a day- over 12 times higher than the low of three years ago.

Let’s bear in mind that in November 2021, nearly a year after the debut of the vaccines, when Dr. Fauci was asked when things could fully ‘go back to normal’ and mitigations like masks could be dropped, he projected that when new daily COVID cases were under 10k, we could expect to fully resume normal life. During the surge this winter, we had over one million new cases a day. Not only have we never for one day had under 10k new cases since Fauci made this prediction, we have never had under 100k new cases on any day since then.”

— Gauntlet News, COVID lulls aren't being earned by policy; they're being bought with infections and deaths

Thank you so SO much for fully acknowledging COVID in this announcement. Sounds like you have the start of a really solid health and safety policy! I’ve been so disappointed with event organizers treating it like an afterthought or just acting like it’s 2019 again.

XOXO doing this just warms my heart so much and gives me hope. It’s totally possible to have great gatherings like this and keep each other safe. 💛😷

XOXO Fest is coming back one last time and the announcement fully acknowledges COVID, a high-quality mask requirement, and they’ll have a simulcast option to an outdoor area. This is the way.

😩 Disappointed but not surprised that the CDC dropped their 5-day isolation guidance for COVID infections. Their decision to reduce it from 10 days to 5 a couple years ago wasn’t based in science and neither is this. Onward marches the destruction of public health for the sake of a temporary buck.

I was quite pleased to learn that a local theater has masks-required matinees! I’m planning to go see Clyde’s at the Moxie Theatre:

COVID-19 Safety Policy

First Sunday Masked Matinee: During the First Sunday Matinee performance of each show masks will be required at all times when indoors. We encourage anyone who is immunocompromised or at high health risk to attend this special performance. See CDPH mask recommendations here.

Masks Encouraged At All Other Performances: For all other performances mask are encouraged but not required. A mask can be provided upon request.

More of this, please! Support the arts and our health.

It might be too late for this one, but it might be worth pressuring them to do better in the future, a la publichealthpledge.com @[email protected]

A good article with a lot of resources linked: The Pandemic Isn’t Over: The rich know it. You should, too.

“Without accurate data on current cases, transmission rates, hospitalizations, and deaths, we have no way of knowing the full scope of the current crisis. Our house is on fire; alarms removed, the public sleeps.”

@elijah.neumann Vaccines are an important layer of protection. They’re good at reducing hospitalization and death, but not as good at preventing transmission. Their efficacy wanes after several months, too. Even if they were better at preventing transmission, only 18% of US adults are up to date on the vaccine. Respirators are another important layer of protection and are effective at reducing transmission.

I’d like to encourage you to reflect on your last sentence. Disabled and immunocompromised people deserve to share in moments of joy like anyone else, without risking their health further. I believe we should take steps to make events like this accessible and wearing masks is a simple step towards that.

@jayliflani Live indeed! That’s literally why I’m suggesting it. Wearing a mask is an incredibly simple way to protect each other from a virus that is disabling and killing so many people. We can share in moments of joy together and keep each other safe at the same time. 💛

I’ve been looking over Mike Hoerger’s Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative - Data Tracker which estimates and projects daily new COVID cases in the US based on wastewater levels. I think it’s pretty accessible and makes it more obvious how risky it actually is out there.

From the 2023-12-04 report, we’re at an estimated 1.2 million new cases per day. About 1 in 38 people are infectious. In a group of 10 people, there’s a 23% chance anyone is infectious. This is more transmission than during 88.9% of the pandemic. The data tracker link above has a video where he explains the methodology for these numbers.

Wastewater levels are rising as we head into yet another winter surge even earlier this year. Let’s keep each other safe out there by wearing well-fitting respirators, filtering the air, improving ventilation, and staying up to date with our vaccines. 😷💚

Image from: Hoerger, M. (2023, December 4). U.S. SARS-CoV-2 wastewater levels, COVID-19 case estimates, and 4-week forecast: Report for December 4, 2023. Pandemic Mitigation Collaborative. https://www.pmc19.com/data

This is a really empathetic and encouraging post urging event organizers to improve events with better Health and Safety policies: An event organizer’s duty of care: from Codes of Conduct to Health and Safety policies

Consider sharing it and the corresponding publichealthpledge.com with any events you might attend. Like @[email protected] wrote, “Don’t let anyone convince you we can’t do better. We can, and will.”

Bookmarked: longcovidmoonshot.com

WHAT WE WANT:

• Invest in a moonshot for Long Covid – a commitment to invest at least $1B per year over the next 10 years into NIH research funding and clinical trials.
• Back the Long COVID Support Act (S. 2560), TREAT Long COVID Act (HR 3258), and Long COVID RECOVERY NOW Act (HR 1114).

The CDC’s HICPAC has proposed guidance that will weaken infection control in healthcare settings. They have a rather short period for written comments, “…opened November 1, 2023, and will close at 11:59 pm on November 6, 2023.” I presume that is Eastern timezone.

Below is the message I sent, including links to more information. Please take a moment and send an email yourself! [email protected]

Subject: Strengthen infection control guidance

To: CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC)
[email protected]

I am writing to join my voice with the National Nurses United (NNU), People’s CDC, and thousands of experts in public health — calling on HICPAC to strengthen the guidance on infection control and fully recognize the aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2. The proposed updates weaken the guidance and do not adequately follow the current science on transmission. This will put more healthcare workers and patients at risk.

I am also urging more openness and transparency in your processes. You should be seeking input from frontline workers and other experts in respiratory health. Draft guidance should be published along with the scientific evidence well in advance, with an ample time for the public to make written comments.

Thank you,
Gregor Morrill

The border:none conference was in Germany last week followed by an IndieWebCamp event, so several indieweb people were there. In the chat, the amount of current Covid cases was brought up and a mention of how few were masked in a crowd of about 200.

My heart sank — a feeling I’m unfortunately getting more and more used to. I commented “in-person conferences may just be a thing of the past for me at this rate 🫠.” I followed that with an explanation that it’s the psychological and emotional weight of being in spaces like that. I have to psych myself up. It feels really isolating; the “alone in a crowded room” feeling.

Tantek helpfully tried to put a positive frame on it as “an interesting exercise in independence and not bowing to implied / perceived social pressure” and the idea that it can help train us to be independent thinkers. I’ve been thinking on that for a bit now. I think there is some truth to that, but I also feel pretty well-trained in that regard after almost 4 years of this.

For me, it’s important to remember that the context of this training is the nearly unmitigated spread of a virus with long-term health impacts. That’s a big part of the psychological weight. I can’t emphasize enough how important community care has become to me. It’s not just my health that I’m concerned about when I’m in a crowd. Looking around and seeing that the majority are not taking basic precautions (for whatever reason) really weighs on me. We know these precautions make everyone safer, but so many people have bought into the hyper-individualism of the moment.

I love the work that Clean Air Club is doing in Chicago, crowdfunding and trying to make concerts safer by providing free air purifiers. They posted a reel recently that I think explains the importance of being proactive in prioritizing Covid safety and accessibility. Here is a transcript of the audio (emphasis mine):

Going to shows the past few years, it seems like nobody is masking anymore. But the reality is that Covid cautious people are being pushed out of these spaces. There’s a selection bias at crowded events. If you do attend and choose to mask, you feel like the only one. But you’re not.

This is a classic paradox of inaccessibility. Because a space is inaccessible to Covid cautious people, they aren’t able to join. But because they aren’t able to join, it appears that there is no demand for Covid cautious spaces. It’s feedback loop that entrenches ableism in our music scene. Artists, event hosts, and venues most of all have an obligation to interrupt this loop.

Prioritize Covid safety.

— Clean Air Club, October 29, 2023

This has me mulling over what policies I will promote if/when I’m in a position to organize in-person events again, as well as what I will request/encourage other event organizers to implement. I hope to write more on that soon.

Small moment of joy: I was helping We All We Got SD take things from storage to the park this morning. Another person showed up to help unmasked, but after they saw me masked, they put one on and told me how nice it was to see other people masking. They told me all too familiar stories about being one of the few masked at a big event. They’ve had COVID twice and can’t afford to get sick again.

It felt really nice and reminded me that that it’s not futile to mask up. Sometimes it might remind someone else to mask or make them feel less alone in doing so. Let’s keep each other safe! 💛

More adventures at the cardiologist’s office:

Again, no doctors or nurses were masked. One nurse had a couple big sneezes. There were a lot more people in the waiting room this time; only one of them was masked. I ended up waiting in the hallway for a bit since it was emptier and had better ventilation since it was close to an automatic outside door.

I didn’t work up the courage to ask the tech and nurse in the patient room to wear a mask (it’s such a weird, exhausting, psychological thing.) However, when I was checking out and scheduling my next appointment, I asked them to include a request in my file that people mask in the room. She seemed entirely pleasant about it as she made the note, so that’s a positive. We’ll see how it goes next visit. I expect I will still need to remind them when I get in the room, but I feel better having it on the record at least.

Previously

Bookmarked: The Current COVID-19 Surge, Eugenics, and Health-Based Discrimination

@sdshefest I want to echo the other comments here and add that the lack of any mention of these "strong recommendations" in the main images of this post about accessibility are troubling. SO FEW people are going to dive into these comments or the Pride site to find this info.

Without more prominent messaging, most people are going to show up not expecting to mask or take any precautions — just look around SD on any random day now for examples. Please consider making additional posts about this to set better expectations.

Someone else mentioned @peoplescdc, just tagging so that account is easier to follow.

What's the masking policy? That's an important element of accessibility while COVID is still spreading.

I emailed this message to our county public health officer and my district supervisor.

Subject: Please keep our communities safer from COVID-19

To: Wilma J. Wooten, MD, MPH
Public Health Officer, San Diego Health and Human Services Agency
[email protected]
https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/hhsa.html

Cc: Chairwoman Nora Vargas
San Diego County Supervisor District 1
[email protected]
https://www.supervisornoravargas.com

Dear Dr. Wooten and Chairwoman Vargas,

I am writing to express my deep concern about the spread of COVID-19 in healthcare settings due to the lack of mitigations like masking. Nobody should have to worry about getting COVID while seeking care and healthcare workers should not have to fear contracting it at work. We know that COVID is airborne, people can be infectious without showing symptoms, and two-way masking with well-fitting respirators is effective at reducing its spread.

I am at a higher risk myself due to some heart issues. I was incredibly dismayed when I went in for a routine visit to my cardiologist and saw none of the staff were masked. I am particularly concerned for our disabled and immunocompromised community members who have had to be extremely cautious during the ongoing pandemic (and before). Most places in society have become even more hostile to their existence in the rush “back to normal.” Now some of the most important places for them, healthcare settings, are no longer safe for them either.

A conservative count from the US Health and Human Services showed that over 138,000 hospital-acquired COVID infections occurred in the first three months of 2023.¹ We know that COVID infection — no matter how mild — puts people at risk of an array of long-term health issues. I also consider this an equity and racial justice issue since COVID disproportionately impacts BIPOC people.

I know county guidance “strongly recommends” masking in healthcare settings, but that is clearly not sufficient. I believe universal masking in healthcare settings must become a standard part of infection control. I urge you to work towards making that a county mandate. I would also urge for programs to make high-quality respirators readily available to all, along with clearer public health messaging about their effectiveness. Together, these actions will help keep our communities safer from COVID.

Some additional resources:

• Back to the future: Redefining “universal precautions” to include masking for all patient encounters (doi:10.1017/ice.2023.2)
• People’s CDC: Universal Masks and COVID-19 Admission Screening Should be Standard of Care

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Gregor Morrill
San Diego resident of District 1

Today is the last day to submit a comment telling Medicare/Medicaid that hospitals should protect us from COVID-19! The People's CDC has a quick guide with a template you can easily personalize. Submissions are due by June 9, 2023, 11:59PM Eastern time.

I am concerned about COVID in healthcare settings. I am at higher risk due to heart issues, but we also know that COVID infection — no matter how mild — puts people at risk of long-term health issues (Long COVID). We should not have to worry about getting COVID while receiving healthcare and healthcare workers should not have to fear contracting it at work.

For these reasons, I am writing to strongly urge The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid to include hospital-onset COVID-19 in the Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction Program part of CMS-1785-P.

1. CMS should include COVID in its HAC Reduction Program and require hospitals to report and try to minimize hospital-onset COVID, using layered protections, such as universal mask wearing, universal screening testing, and improved air quality to promote patient and staff safety and health equity.
2. Hospital-onset COVID should be defined as infections diagnosed after 5 days of admission or greater.^1,2 Hospitals should report all hospital-onset COVID cases to CMS, and post these numbers publicly.
3. Additional research is needed to better understand COVID transmission and to improve definitions of hospital-acquired COVID, using whole genome sequencing technologies and serial surveillance testing.^1,3 The CDC currently defines hospital-onset COVID as cases diagnosed after 14 days of hospitalization, which is a huge underestimate. Even 5- or 7-day thresholds to define hospital-acquired COVID underestimate its true incidence.^1,2 Hospitals should be required to report all COVID cases to CMS and the CDC and specify how many days patients have been in the hospital when diagnosed with COVID.

The evidence that informs these suggestions includes:

For only three months of 2023, the CDC tallied nearly 138,000 hospital-onset COVID infections, counting only those that arose after 14 days of hospitalization.⁴

COVID has been one of the top five major causes of death in the US since 2020,^5,6 and many of those deaths were likely due to hospital-acquired COVID, which has a 5-10% mortality rate.^7,8 This is significantly higher than several of the other infections CMS includes in its HAC Reduction Program. Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection has a mortality rate of 2.3%,⁹ Surgical Site Infections for Abdominal Hysterectomy and Colon Procedures have a mortality rate of 3%,¹⁰ and Clostridioides-difficile (C. diff) infection has a mortality rate of 7.9%.¹¹ Thus, hospital-onset COVID is well worth preventing.

Nearly 40% of all US residents are concerned about COVID outbreaks.¹² Preventing COVID in the hospital is an equity issue. People of color continue to suffer high rates of COVID deaths.¹³ Half of health workers go to work with COVID symptoms,¹⁴ amid huge health worker shortages. CMS needs to protect both patients and health workers.

Even when community transmission is low, healthcare settings are the most likely place where people getting care for COVID could encounter vulnerable patients who could be harmed by COVID. Covid outbreaks are already happening in hospitals that ditched masks.¹⁵ If your hospital roommate has COVID, you have a 4 in 10 chance of catching it from them.¹⁶ No one should go to the hospital for a heart attack, an elective surgery, or to deliver a baby and catch COVID.

In spite of these facts, hospital administrators lobbied public health departments to end COVID protections in healthcare.¹⁷ Vulnerable patients can still become severely ill or die from COVID. Anyone can get Long COVID, which disables over 4 million people in the United States.^18,19 Hospitals should be protecting us from COVID when we are in their care. But hospitals are in a “crushing” financial crisis.²⁰ They lose money when they have to cancel procedures when patients test positive for COVID. We are concerned that hospitals are putting profits over patient safety.

Please protect vulnerable patients, prevent health worker shortages, and promote health equity by requiring hospitals to protect patients from hospital-acquired COVID.

References

1. Lumley SF, Constantinides B, Sanderson N, et al. Epidemiological data and genome sequencing reveals that nosocomial transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is underestimated and mostly mediated by a small number of highly infectious individuals. J Infect. 2021;83(4):473-482. doi:10.1016/j.jinf.2021.07.034
2. Wu Y, Kang L, Guo Z, Liu J, Liu M, Liang W. Incubation Period of COVID-19 Caused by Unique SARS-CoV-2 Strains: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(8):e2228008. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.28008
3. Rhee C, Baker MA, Klompas M. Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory viral infections in healthcare settings: current and emerging concepts. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 2022;35(4):353-362. doi:10.1097/QCO.0000000000000839
4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. COVID-19 Reported Patient Impact and Hospital Capacity by State Timeseries (RAW). HealthData.gov. Accessed May 21, 2023. https://healthdata.gov/Hospital/COVID-19-Reported-Patient-Impact-and-Hospital-Capa/g62h-syeh
5. COVID-19 was third leading cause of death in the United States in both 2020 and 2021. National Institutes of Health (NIH). Published July 5, 2022. Accessed October 13, 2022. https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/covid-19-was-third-leading-cause-death-united-states-both-2020-2021
6. McPhillips D. Covid-19 was the fourth leading cause of death in 2022, CDC data shows. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/04/health/covid-fourth-leading-cause-of-death/index.html. Published May 4, 2023. Accessed May 21, 2023.
7. Otter JA, Newsholme W, Snell LB, et al. Evaluation of clinical harm associated with Omicron hospital-onset COVID-19 infection. J Infect. 2023;86(1):66-117. doi:10.1016/j.jinf.2022.10.029
8. Cook AD Henrietta. Hundreds die of COVID after catching virus while in hospital. The Age. https://12ft.io/proxy?&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theage.com.au%2Fnational%2Fvictoria%2Fhundreds-die-of-covid-after-catching-virus-while-in-hospital-20230330-p5cwjx.html. Published March 30, 2023. Accessed May 21, 2023.
9. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Guideline for Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (2009). Infection Control. Published March 28, 2019. Accessed May 21, 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/guidelines/cauti/background.html
10. Lantana Consulting Group, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. American College of Surgeons–Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (ACS-CDC) Harmonized Procedure Specific Surgical Site Infection (SSI) Outcome Measure Technical Report. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2021. Accessed May 21, 2023. https://qualitynet.cms.gov/files/627bad867c89c50016b44266?filename=2021_SSI_MeasTechRpt_v1.0.pdf
11. Yu H, Alfred T, Nguyen JL, Zhou J, Olsen MA. Incidence, Attributable Mortality, and Healthcare and Out-of-Pocket Costs of Clostridioides difficile Infection in US Medicare Advantage Enrollees. Clin Infect Dis Off Publ Infect Dis Soc Am. 2023;76(3):e1476-e1483. doi:10.1093/cid/ciac467
12. Civiqs. Coronavirus: Outbreak concern. Accessed May 21, 2023. https://civiqs.com/results/coronavirus_concern?uncertainty=true&annotations=true&zoomIn=true
13. Lundberg DJ, Wrigley-Field E, Cho A, et al. COVID-19 Mortality by Race and Ethnicity in US Metropolitan and Nonmetropolitan Areas, March 2020 to February 2022. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(5):e2311098. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.11098
14. Linsenmeyer K, Mohr D, Gupta K, Doshi S, Gifford AL, Charness ME. Sickness presenteeism in healthcare workers during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: An observational cohort study. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. Published online 2023:1-4. doi:10.1017/ice.2023.47
15. Lee BY. Bay Area Hospital Reinstitutes Face Mask Mandate After Covid-19 Outbreak. Forbes. Published online April 22, 2023. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2023/04/22/bay-area-hospital-reinstitutes-face-mask-mandate-after-covid-19-outbreak/
16. Karan A, Klompas M, Tucker R, Baker M, Vaidya V, Rhee C. The Risk of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Transmission from Patients With Undiagnosed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) to Roommates in a Large Academic Medical Center. Clin Infect Dis. 2022;74(6):1097-1100. doi:10.1093/cid/ciab564
17. Lazar K. Health groups call on Mass. to keep mask mandates in health care settings - The Boston Globe. The Boston Globe. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/04/05/metro/health-groups-call-mass-keep-mask-mandates-health-care-settings/. Published April 5, 2023. Accessed May 21, 2023.
18. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Long COVID - Household Pulse Survey. Published February 21, 2023. Accessed March 6, 2023. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm
19. Bach K. New Data Shows Long Covid is Keeping as Many as 4 Million People Out of Work. Brookings. Published August 24, 2022. Accessed October 13, 2022. https://www.brookings.edu/research/new-data-shows-long-covid-is-keeping-as-many-as-4-million-people-out-of-work/
20. Thomas N. Congress can take action to help healthcare deal with “crushing” financial challenges, AHA urges. Published online October 25, 2022. Accessed May 21, 2023. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/congress-can-take-action-to-help-healthcare-deal-with-crushing-financial-challenges-aha-urges.html

This comment is for:
Document ID: CMS-2023-0057-0003
Federal Register Number: 2023-07389
Agency: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Parent Agency: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

We should not have to worry about getting COVID while receiving healthcare and workers should not have to fear contracting it at work. We know that COVID is airborne, people can be infectious without showing symptoms, and two-way masking is effective at reducing its spread.

The People’s CDC has some great resources and action materials. Check out their website, specifically “Keep Healthcare Safe” under the “Actions” menu. You can contact your governor, county health officials, and healthcare executives to tell them they should make masking the new infection control standard for healthcare.

In the meantime, please continue masking indoors and in crowded outdoor spaces. This is an act of love and reciprocal care. We are interdependent and there is no individualizing of risk during these times.

Art credit: @schmutzparty on Twitter who said to “take, share, and distribute widely.” A high resolution version is also available.

Bookmarked: The government giving up on COVID protections means throwing immunocompromised people to the wolves

"Return to normal" frames indifference to suffering as a morally neutral position and public health as a matter of personal preference. But there is no neutrality in the individual actions that comprise public health; they either cause harm or prevent it. Segregating the "unfit" from the "fit" is not a matter of debate. It is an abomination and a core tenet of eugenics.

While we lose more tools for tracking #COVID transmission levels, I found that HHS is still publishing hospital capacities weekly. Here’s a screenshot of SoCal data from today.

So many over 90% full and the vast majority over 60% full.

this is fine

#CovidIsntOver

Bookmarked: COVID-19 Hospital Capacity in San Diego County and Surrounding Area

Weekly data from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. You can select the state and county from the dropdown to find information about your area.

Listened to The COVID Tracking Project Part 1 on the Reveal podcast.

Pretty good first episode (of three in the series). It’s easy to forget how poor the initial US response to COVID was, but also nice to remember the solidarity of people stepping up to try to fill the gaps.

I am definitely feeling some anger and hopelessness with the end of the US public health emergency today. Capitalism steamrolls on, crushing us with messages (misinformation) about “individual risk” — as if your choices have no impact on anyone else during the ongoing pandemic.

COVID is causing long-term issues in 10-20% of infected people (source) even if they had mild symptoms during the infection. Infected people can spread it before they show symptoms or may never show symptoms.

Please #WearAMask indoors and in crowded outdoor spaces. If you have stopped masking (I get it!), it’s never too late to start again.

Bookmarked: Practicing a Love Ethic in the Ongoing Pandemic Part 2

Bookmarked: Practicing a Love Ethic in the Ongoing Pandemic Part 1

I came across a COVID-conscious group that has a weekly Zoom hangout Friday evenings. They’re apparently pushing 100 attendees and use breakouts for topics from just fun hangouts to the more serious. I appreciate that in the rules they have “no minimizing.” I might check it out soon.

More details: linktr.ee/covidisntover

COVID transmission is still high around the US and we need masks to protect our most vulnerable in healthcare settings. Help us protect those who need it most by telling your governor to #KeepMasksInHealthcare:

Learn More and Send a letter: Keep Masks in Healthcare

US: please take a moment to tell our elected representatives to maintain healthcare coverage. We need robust public health infrastructure.

From The People’s CDC (PCDC):

“Three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, we need you to treat the pandemic like the ongoing public health emergency it is. We need you to embrace a comprehensive approach to public health based on layers of protection and public policies aimed at protecting the most vulnerable people among us.”

Sign the petition

The People’s CDC (PCDC) has a new weekly COVID Weather Report out.

“Transmission levels remain high, with 92.82 percent of the population living in areas with substantial or higher transmission. Rates are particularly high in the South, part of the Midwest, and the East Coast, with lower levels in the West.”

In the US, at least 3,756 people died of COVID last week. Those numbers are likely an *undercount* and this is while the government is framing the pandemic as “over.” Personally, I refuse to accept this level of sickness and death as our “new normal.”

I don’t think PCDC is on Mastodon yet, but I definitely recommend following them for good summaries of COVID information: peoplescdc.org. Please wear a well-fitted respirator indoors and stay safe out there.

I just watched a news report of a 2,000-attendee conference for “health and wellness advocates” that took place in the San Diego Convention Center. From the clips, I would say at most 10% of people were masked indoors. I searched the event page for “covid” or “mask” but only found info on a sub-page. It said they were providing masks (good) and hoping that as community leaders, everyone would model the precautions they’re asking of the public by volunteering to wear masks indoors (WTF). To top it all off, their slogan was “Building an equitable future.” Infuriating. Not wearing a mask at a crowded indoor event is definitely not contributing to an equitable future.

“the pandemic is over.” Wrong. It is important to understand the meaning of these words.

endemic: the constant presence and/or usual prevalence of a disease or infectious agent in a population within a geographic area.

epidemic: rapid spread of disease cases in a specific geographical area.

pandemic: an epidemic occurring worldwide, or over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people.

COVID is clearly not endemic due to its continued high prevalence. It is not limited to a specific geographical area and is occurring globally. Thus it is a pandemic. Do not confuse the dropping of public health mitigations like wearing a well-fitting respirator indoors with “the pandemic is over.”

Source: Lesson 1: Introduction to Epidemiology (CDC)