/1 Hi Lucy and your colleagues. Your advocacy toolkit contains poorly sourced, contexted, and biased information on mental health during the pandemic/schooling. And I have receipts too! (thread) #urgencyofnormal

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has tried to distinguish himself from Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole on the issue of vaccination proof.

COVID-19 vaccine mandates a key issue in federal election campaign

Once again ⁦@DouthatNYT⁩ misframes a debate for his own partisan goals. 1/

About 33K children were hospitalized in 6 weeks during the Omicron wave, so far https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#new-hospital-admissions

Here is the reality…

Did anyone hear any mention of long COVID, an illness affecting 1.3 million people, of whom 500,000 have had this for more than a year during the briefing? Are we just going to pretend it doesn't exist?

LIVE NOW: Independent SAGE will discuss #LongCovid in children, with @lizWWyld and @BinitaKane and the numbers from @chrischirp

indie_SAGE 11.02.2022

Before leaving the house, we’ve all gotten used to double-checking that we have four essential items: phone, keys, wallet, mask. After two exhausting years of living in a pandemic, grabbing a mask (or two) on the way out the door has become a routine part of our mental checklist.  But at this point in the pandemic, many people are wondering if it’s safe to ditch mask-wearing in schools, offices, and other indoor places, or if COVID-19 will ever fade away. According to BU epidemiologist Ellie Murray, the answer is complicated—and very much depends on the actions we take collectively. Even if COVID-19 transitions from a pandemic to an endemic disease—where infections occur in seasonal or predictable cycles, like the flu—that does not necessarily mean we’ll be mask-free or that vaccinations will no longer be needed. To move from a pandemic to endemic, says Murray, a BU School of Public Health assistant professor of epidemiology, the world needs “to have some predictable sense of where that disease is going to go next.” COVID-19, she says, will likely remain prevalent for the foreseeable future, but we have the public health tools—like testing and masking—to continually monitor and manage it. In this video, Murray explains the difference between pandemic and endemic, how we might learn to live with COVID-19 in the future, and why she sees reason to be optimistic.

What Is the Difference between Pandemic and Endemic?

Fantastic work by @UKHSA comparing serial intervals of BA.1, BA.2 and Delta as published in the most recent technical briefing. BA.2 seems to have even shorter serial interval than BA.1 This could help explain different relative growth rates of BA.2 vs BA.1 in different countries

BA.2 risk assessment New this week is upgrading Immune Evasion - Amber from low to moderate that BA.2 is antigentically different to BA.1 Unsurprising given the mutation profile, with BA.2 *slightly* more immune evasive than BA.1 on neuts studies

Researchers note need to follow patients after recovery for any emerging disorders

Covid infection increases risk of mental health disorders, study finds

Updated graph with numbers the “flu=covid for kids” folks are too afraid to share.

There's some urgency to understand what's going on here... #COVID19

People should not throw caution to the wind over Covid, the prime minister has said, as England is expected to end all virus restrictions in the coming days.

Boris Johnson: Do not throw caution to the wind on Covid

Overall, in a national database study in Qatar, we found that the effectiveness of previous infection in preventing reinfection with the alpha, beta, and delta variants of SARS-CoV-2 was robust (at approximately 90%), findings that confirmed earlier estimates.1-3 Such protection against reinfection with the omicron variant was lower (approximately 60%) but still considerable. In addition, the protection of previous infection against hospitalization or death caused by reinfection appeared to be robust, regardless of variant.

10.1056/NEJMc2200133

Protection against the Omicron Variant from Previous SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Today we publish our latest analysis where we stratify by age to investigate vaccine effectiveness (VE) against Omicron in adults aged 65 years and older in England. https://twitter.com/UKHSA/status/1479526192428503044… 1/14

So a brief thread on the state of the pandemic in the Boston area. It is quite plausible that about 10% of the population is currently infected, more in some age groups than others. A *lot* of omicron. What next? 1/n

Vaccine scientist Dr. Peter Hotez is worried about the instability of our health care system in the face of Omicron. We discuss with Dr. Irwin Redlener.

Dr. Peter Hotez: Omicron is like a fast-moving freight train

“Wear face masks indoors,” says Boris Johnson, who has repeatedly refused to wear face masks indoors.

The Omicron variant of concern (VOC) is a rapidly spreading variant of SARS-CoV-2 that is likely to overtake the previously dominant Delta VOC in many countries by the end of 2021.We estimated the transmission dynamics following the spread of Omicron VOC within Danish households during December 2021. We used data from Danish registers to estimate the household secondary attack rate (SAR).Among 11,937 households (2,225 with the Omicron VOC), we identified 6,397 secondary infections during a 1-7 day follow-up period. The SAR was 31% and 21% in households with the Omicron and Delta VOC, respectively. We found an increased transmission for unvaccinated individuals, and a reduced transmission for booster-vaccinated individuals, compared to fully vaccinated individuals. Comparing households infected with the Omicron to Delta VOC, we found an 1.17 (95%-CI: 0.99-1.38) times higher SAR for unvaccinated, 2.61 times (95%-CI: 2.34-2.90) higher for fully vaccinated and 3.66 (95%-CI: 2.65-5.05) times higher for booster-vaccinated individuals, demonstrating strong evidence of immune evasiveness of the Omicron VOC.Our findings confirm that the rapid spread of the Omicron VOC primarily can be ascribed to the immune evasiveness rather than an inherent increase in the basic transmissibility.

10.1101/2021.12.27.21268278

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VOC Transmission in Danish Households

The emergence of Omicron underscores the consequences of vaccine inequity. Experts say it will take more than donations to fix the problem.

COVID-19 variants will keep coming until everyone can access vaccines

Long COVID isn't the first "long" post-viral illness. https://nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00414-x… Also: influenza, measles, polio, Ebola, EBV... to name just a few.

If you have a little one who’s getting a vaccine soon but feeling a bit scared, this new book from @JanZauzmer is quite cute & might help them preview the experience. #VaccinesSaveLives

5) Even if #Omicron is slightly milder in adults (but 20% more severe in kids), total hospitalization drop is not that much compared to Delta (which is already well known to be 2-3x more severe than Wuhan). We are somehow letting “it’s mild” mentality keep endangering folks.

) Booster campaign in UK likely are bringing cases and hospitalizations down slowly. But bending it takes time. And remember - even when cases peak— we are only ad 50% of the wave. The other 50% is experienced on the way down. And hospitalizations will keep going for a while.

3) And we need to be honest also that vaccine boosters wane too. This figure in French from UK data shows that even boosters wane against highly evasive #Omicron 10 weeks after a booster shot -VE down to 45% for symptomatic. We need new multivalent vaccines & masks & ventilation.

2) Boosters are critical, yes, but we need a higher sea wall of protection that can handle virus evolution & adaption. That’s why premium masks & ventilation & air disinfection key. Special thanks to @theosanderson for the animation. Data via @ONS. https://ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/bulletins/coronaviruscovid19infectionsurveyantibodyandvaccinationdatafortheuk/13january2022

WATCH—Despite 97.5% of all adults in England with antibodies to #COVID19 (via vax/infection)–hospitalizations still surging. Why? Because variants like #Omicron are adapting. Need multivalent vax, plus N95 & ventilation are agnostic to variants—key!

US data via @OurWorldInData Let not anyone tell you that vaccines do not work

10.15585/mmwr.mm7107e3external icon.

What is already known about this topic? COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy is recommended to prevent severe illness and death in pregnant women. Infants are at risk for COVID-19–associated complications, including respiratory failure and other life-threatening complications. What is added by this report? Effectiveness of maternal completion of a 2-dose primary mRNA COVID-19 vaccination series during pregnancy against COVID-19 hospitalization among infants aged <6 months was 61% (95% CI = 31% to 78%). Effectiveness of completion of the primary COVID-19 vaccine series early and later in pregnancy was 32% (95% CI = –43% to 68%) and 80% (95% CI = 55% to 91%), respectively. What are the implications for public health practice? Completion of a 2-dose mRNA COVID-19 vaccination series during pregnancy might help prevent COVID-19 hospitalization among infants aged <6 months.

Effectiveness of Maternal Vaccination with mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine During Pregnancy Against COVID-19–Associated Hospitalization in Infants Aged <6 Months — 17 States, July 2021–January 2022

EMA said to be unlikely to grant marketing authorisation to molnupiravir this month after ‘problematic’ data

Merck struggles to win European approval for Covid antiviral pill

10.1038/d41586-022-00322-0

Hamsters are only the second species known to have spread SARS-CoV-2 to humans.

How sneezing hamsters sparked a COVID outbreak in Hong Kong

The exploitation reflects America’s longstanding history of medically abusing vulnerable communities of color

Arkansas jail’s ivermectin experiments recall historical medical abuse of imprisoned minorities

10.1038/d41586-022-00414-x

Influenza, polio and more have shown that infections can change lives even decades later. Why the complacency over possible long-term effects of COVID-19?

Pandemics disable people — the history lesson that policymakers ignore

What does society owe immunocompromised people?

The Millions of People Stuck in Pandemic Limbo

The CEO of Cameron Mitchell Restaurants told CNBC on Wednesday that unruly diners have cost his business $750,000 a year in security costs.“We never spent a dollar on security in our restaurants prior to Covid,” Cameron Mitchell said.“It’s difficult for managers,” on top of short staffing as well as rising costs and supply chain issues, he added.

Restaurateur says he spends around $750,000 on security to deal with unruly diners

Well well well. Source: https://gov.uk/government/publications/sars-cov-2-variants-of-public-health-interest/sars-cov-2-variants-of-public-health-interest-11-february-2022…

We evaluate the impact of government mandated proof of vaccination requirements for access to public venues and non-essential businesses on COVID-19 vaccine uptake. We find that the announcement of a mandate is associated with a rapid and significant surge in new vaccinations (more than 60% increase in weekly first doses) using the variation in the timing of these measures across Canadian provinces in a differencein-differences approach. Time-series analysis for each province and for France, Italy and Germany corroborates this finding, and we estimate cumulative gains of up to 5 percentage points in provincial vaccination rates and 790,000 or more first doses for Canada as a whole as of October 31, 2021 (5 to 13 weeks after the provincial mandate announcements). We also find large vaccination gains in France (3 to 5 mln first doses), Italy (around 6 mln) and Germany (around 3.5 mln) 11 to 16 weeks after the proof of vaccination mandate announcements.

IZA DP No. 14946: COVID-19 Vaccination Mandates and Vaccine Uptake

(This lecture is the summary of my research on climate journalism which has led me to co-found the new Oxford Climate Journalism Network together with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Find out more: about the new Oxford Climate Journalism Network, about our first cohort of 100 Journalists from more than 60 countries and on where to apply.)

Climate Change: Journalism’s Greatest Challenge

At regional level, BA.2 cases are highest in South West England (although a relatively small sample), followed by London, SE and East of England. But it is now increasing in all regions Numbers are spread fairly evenly across age groups.

Samples likely to be BA.2 (SGT positive in TaqPath data) now make up 34% of COVID cases in England. The proportion has roughly doubled in a week. That represents a growth in absolute numbers of BA.2, even if overall infections are falling at the same rate as reported cases

Masks are the most visible reminders that we are still in a pandemic, and the debate over their use and other public health measures has been present since March 2020, largely along partisan lines.

Masks work, even for kids. But sometimes science isn't enough.

Soon after the emergence and global spread of a new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron lineage, BA.1, another Omicron lineage, BA.2, has initiated outcompeting BA.1. Statistical analysis shows that the effective reproduction number of BA.2 is 1.4-fold higher than that of BA.1. Neutralisation experiments show that the vaccine-induced humoral immunity fails to function against BA.2 like BA.1, and notably, the antigenicity of BA.2 is different from BA.1. Cell culture experiments show that BA.2 is more replicative in human nasal epithelial cells and more fusogenic than BA.1. Furthermore, infection experiments using hamsters show that BA.2 is more pathogenic than BA.1. Our multiscale investigations suggest that the risk of BA.2 for global health is potentially higher than that of BA.1.

10.1101/2022.02.14.480335

Virological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 BA.2 variant

Many things may have had an impact on the state, but the reduction in Covid-19 cases was clearly not down to ivermectin

Ivermectin Didn’t Save Uttar Pradesh From Covid-19

We (UK) don't have to be here: it's a political (and harmful) choice.

We need those who are adept at #SciComm to explain that "Omicron" is sufficiently different from the original strain that was used to make the vaccine. Therefore, the definition of "fully vaccinated" will have to be updated, but that does not mean that the vaccines have failed.

Lots of people dismissing links between COVID-19 and all-cause diabetes. An association that's been shown in multiple studies- whether this increase is due to more diabetes or SARS2 precipitating diabetic keto-acidosis allowing these to be diagnosed is not known. A brief look

10.15585/mmwr.mm705152a1external icon.

What is already known about this topic? In preauthorization trials for Pfizer-BioNTech (BNT162b2) COVID-19 vaccine, vaccinated children aged 5–11 years reported mild to moderately severe local and systemic reactions; no serious vaccination-related events were noted. What is added by this report? After authorization of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children aged 5–11 years during October 2021, and administration of approximately 8 million doses, local and systemic reactions after vaccination were commonly reported to VAERS and v-safe for vaccinated children aged 5–11 years. Serious adverse events were rarely reported. What are the implications for public health practice?? Parents and guardians of children aged 5–11 years should be advised that local and systemic reactions are expected after vaccination with Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and are more common after the second dose.

COVID-19 Vaccine Safety in Children Aged 5–11 Years — United States, November 3–December 19, 2021

But surely, we should be investing in ventilation so that children do not have to be in classrooms where their cognitive function is impaired by poor ventilation?

The Government have distributed CO2 monitors but say that schools should take action to improve ventilation where CO2 readings are consistently higher than 1500 ppm - and aren't funding actions that could be taken.

It says Cognitive function scores were: - 15% lower for a moderate CO2 day (~ 945 ppm) and - 50% lower on a day with CO2 concentrations of ~1,400 ppm - than on days where CO2 levels were between 500 & 700 ppm.

Ventilation isn't just for Covid.... ...it's for Education This study looks at the impact of CO2 not just as a marker of pollution but as a pollutant in itself. It shows that as CO2 rises above 700/800 ppm cognitive function begins to be impaired https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/27662232/4892924.pdf?sequence=1&fbclid=IwAR2kWIHIJfssa_sw72MD6W1hnkDvSm4bikK5FOLxwQxhjYLEYjfPCfzXz3E

How will the virus evolve? Experts offer predictions

Living with COVID-19: How the virus could turn into the common cold, or something far worse