NEW—CDC was truly suffocated by Trump WH at every turn. Kyle McGowan, a former chief of staff at CDC, and his deputy, Amanda Campbell, witnessed WH dismissal of science, WH’s slow suffocation of CDC’s voice, meddling in messages & siphoning of CDC budget.
https://t.co/HeuNbUggiw
Mr. McGowan recalled a White House fixated on the economic implications of public health.
They compromised anyway, recommending social distancing without a reference to the typical six-foot measurement.
“What’s not legitimate is to overrule science,” he said.
(Sidebar: Dr Messonier is my hero)
“They need to be allowed to lead.”
➡️ all this is incredible painful to me cuz of what I also went thru in Jan trying to warn:
https://t.co/I5G7PL6boG
More from Eric Feigl-Ding
2) The leading hypothesis is that the new variant evolved within just one person, chronically infected with the virus for so long it was able to evolve into a new, more infectious form.
same thing happened in Boston in another immunocompromised person that was sick for 155 days.
3) What happened in Boston with one 45 year old man who was highly infectious for 155 days straight before he died... is exactly what scientists think happened in Kent, England that gave rise to #B117.
Immunocompromised 45 year old suffered from #COVID19 for 155 days before he died. The virus was changing very quickly inside the man's body\u2014it acquired a big cluster of >20 mutations\u2014resembled the same ones seen in #B117 & #B1351. (NPR audio Part 1 of 2)\U0001f9f5https://t.co/7kWiBZ1xGk pic.twitter.com/ZJ7AExB78Y
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) February 8, 2021
4) Doctors were shocked to find virus has evolved many different forms inside of this one immunocompromised man. 20 new mutations in one virus, akin to the #B117. This is possibly how #B1351 in South Africa 🇿🇦 and #P1 in Brazil 🇧🇷 also evolved.
2) NPR report audio part 2 of 2:
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) February 8, 2021
Dr. Li couldn't believe what they found. "I was shocked," he says. "When I saw the virus sequences, I knew that we were dealing with something completely different and potentially very important." pic.twitter.com/HT3Yt6djFd
5) “On its own, the appearance of a new variant in genomic databases doesn’t tell us much. “That’s just one genome amongst thousands every week. It wouldn’t necessarily stick out,” says Oliver Pybus, a professor of evolution and infectious disease at Oxford.
HHS @SecBecerra has tested positive for COVID-19 again, the agency just announced. Last time he tested positive was May 18, after attending the G-7 Summit.
— Ariel Cohen (@ArielCohen37) June 13, 2022
2) #BA5 and #BA4 are worrisome. They are surging and they have high reinfection potential. Your past BA1/BA2 doesn’t substantially protect you from #Ba5/4
\U0001f4c8Surging #BA5 & #BA4 variants in both US & England. It\u2019s looking like #Ba5 is the new fastest strain\u2014which has ~10x increased in England in 1 month. Also notice that older #Omicron #B11529/#BA1 are already near *extinct*. I worry the \u201cnew\u201d Omicron BA1 bivalent vaccine is behind. pic.twitter.com/kLNH0gzPk3
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) June 9, 2022
3) Excess deaths—the new #BA4 & #BA5 variants of the coronavirus are currently the **fastest growing** strains in the US & UK. ➡️They are exponentially replacing all other past strains. Learn from South Africa’s early warning signs and their excess deaths. #CovidIsNotOver #COVID
To anyone pointing to South Africa to suggest the impact of the omicron wave has been 'mild' or that the BA.4/5 haven't had much impact, I'd urge you to look at excess deaths. 29,500 excess deaths since Jan (omicron wave) & a peak of 1,844 excess deaths/wk during BA.4/5 wave.\U0001f9f5 pic.twitter.com/r7kLzmD5dG
— Dr. Deepti Gurdasani (@dgurdasani1) June 11, 2022
4) Is it a Paxlovid rebound for Becerra, as some are asking? Unclear—Paxlovid rebound usually only happens at day 10-14 that we know of and have data. The FDA says it’s 1-2% rebound but I counted 12% from this Pfizer graph submitted to FDA.
4) Look at these 97 Paxlovid patients here with viral RNA load data over time. Of 97, i conservatively counted at least 12 of 97 (12%) with viral load rebound after day 10. Even more if you count rebound after day 5. Thus, FDA\u2019s 1-2% doesn\u2019t match up here. https://t.co/bNoqj5W3Sk pic.twitter.com/B3Kh0Lc1A4
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) May 5, 2022
5) and yes, #ba5 / #BA4 are very problematic. they are 2x more resistant than even BA2 for neutralizing the virus compared to those who had breakthrough reinfections from older Omicron.
Unfortunately neutralization experiments found that BA.4/5 is 2x more resistant than BA.2 to the blood obtained from vaccinated individuals who had a breakthrough infection with BA.1 or BA.2. 4/ pic.twitter.com/MEOPXuqTgg
— Dr. Jeff Gilchrist (@jeffgilchrist) June 13, 2022
2) That said, the new UK mutated strain is a more transmissible (contagious) variant. Keep transmissibility and illness severity separate. They are two different things. Don’t get them confused.
3) The new UK variant severity study is included in today’s WHO report, to be released soon this afternoon according to WHO sources. Waiting for it to drop. I’ll keep folks posted on the details.
4) Update: here is UK Technical report on #SARSCoV2 variant of concern (B.1.1.7) in 🇬🇧 with prelim findings from their case-control study of no increased severity for the new variant that I reported yesterday.
5) Also keep in a mind that a virus that spreads faster (more contagious) yields much worse total outcomes than a virus that is just merely more severe.
All things equal, a new mutated variant that is more contagious & no more severe is worse. And that is what we now have.
Why a SARS-CoV-2 variant that's 50% more transmissible would in general be a much bigger problem than a variant that's 50% more deadly. A short thread... 1/
— Adam Kucharski (@AdamJKucharski) December 28, 2020
2) Here is what is really going to happen... most countries are having a gentle case decline with R(e) currently around 0.9. But this is deceiving. The #B117 is still relatively rare so far, so the R is being influenced mostly by the old common variant. But not for long...
3) Here is what is going to happen... currently R is ~0.9 in many places, but with the more infectious #B117, the R will jump 50% approximately. And it is inevitable (all CDC and Danish models say this) that B117 will take over as the reigning dominant variant soon...
4) and when that happens, what worked before to keep the pandemic contained at R of 0.9 will no longer work. Here is the model for Alberta, 🇨🇦 by @GosiaGasperoPhD. The B117 dotted red line will soon dominate and drive a new surge in latter half of March and April.
5) And Denmark 🇩🇰 CDC has found the same thing. I GQR works now for keeping R around 0.9 or even 0.8, will absolutely not work anymore once #B117 variant takes over. Forget about it. We will be hit hard. But there is a way—if we suppress R to 0.7 or less.
https://t.co/gOq0put4H5
2) this guy was just arrested.
3) We cannot have a repeat of the fascism from WW2. This is @Schwarzenegger’s speech was so powerful.
This speech will go down as one of the greatest speeches. @Schwarzenegger is right\u2014Jan 6th 2021 was our Kristallnacht. Austria \U0001f1e6\U0001f1f9 tried to resist Hilter takeover for years but succumbed because Hitler\u2019s lies went unchallenged. We must #impeach now. pic.twitter.com/gOChiGLuHK
— Eric Feigl-Ding (@DrEricDing) January 10, 2021
4) My wife @andreafeigl1’s 🇦🇹 great grandfather secretly fought Hilter’s Nazi regime & smuggled many Jews to safety as an aircraft engineer. He was thrown into a concentration camp, and escaped.
She knows a few things about Nazi history—Jan 6th was downright fascist. Read 👇
Some saw clearly what MAGAism is - pure fascism - in 2016.
— Dr. Andrea Feigl (@andreafeigl1) January 6, 2021
More see it 2day
Some saw this playbook b4: WW2
Americans r too unaware of history since it didn't happen on home soil
But we MUST heed these lessons, lest it b 2 late 4 democracy & consequences are unfathomable
\U0001f9f5 pic.twitter.com/QdoVG3LsrB
5) So this cover is from a semi-tabloid magazine in Germany, according to @andreafeigl1. But even so, how did such a magazine still get it so damn right?! Maybe Germany 🇩🇪 has seen this kinda fascism before...
More from Health
A very big welcome to everyone joining today’s conversation. Our guest today needs no introduction especially in the sphere of cancer control and advocacy. Welcome @runciecwc
#CheatCervicalCancer
Our First guest is Runcie Chidebe @runciecwc.
— Smile With Me (#CheatCervicalCancer) (@SMILEWithmeNGO) January 31, 2021
He is a patient advocate and global health expert. He is the ED of @projectpinkblue, a cancer nonprofit focused on cancer control in Nigeria. He is engaged in supporting people battling with cancer, fundraising for indigent patients, pic.twitter.com/6tKYkq4h4F
@runciecwc Q1: So Runcie @runciecwc, we see all the amazing work you do as an advocate.
Can you share with us some of the work that you have been doing in cancer control in Nigeria?
#CheatCervicalCancer
@runciecwc That’s amazing. Your work speaks for you. Thanks for all you do.
Q2: What is this @WHO Global Strategy to accelerate the Elimination of CervicalCancer? Can you elaborate on it?
#CheatCervicalCancer
@runciecwc @WHO Q3: In your experience, so far what are the greatest challenges you have identified with cancer control in Nigeria?
#CheatCervicalCancer.
@runciecwc @WHO Q4: Interestingly, we have seen that your organization is part of the Coalition of CSOs against Cervical Cancer in Nigeria, @CervicalCancerN, what is the goal of this Coalition? #CheatCervicalCancer
It\u2019s #CervicalCancerPreventionWeek \U0001f499
— myGP (@myGPapp) January 18, 2021
Here\u2019s how you can help to raise awareness:
\U0001f431 Share an image of the cat that best reflects your undercarriage/flower/bits (technical term vulva!) current look.
#\u20e3Use the Hashtag #myCat.
\U0001f46dTell and tag your friends to let them know. pic.twitter.com/8aHf96ynjT
More importantly, the statistic being used in the campaign is misleading. It says 57% of women put off cervical screening if they can't get waxed. But on further investigation, that's not accurate.
The page here goes on to say "57% of women who regularly have their pubic hair professionally removed would put off attending their cervical screening appointment if they hadn’t been able to visit a beauty salon."
So the 57% represents a concern not across the whole population of women, but only those who regularly get waxed. So how big of an issue is this across the whole population? And what else is stopping people getting smears?
I think campaigns for cancer screening are really tricky because there is so much nuance that often doesn't fit into a catchy headline or hashtag. It's certainly not easy and is part of a bigger conversation.
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