This is Not Ordinary

NEW: Paxlovid effective against omicron according to 3 lab studies released by Pfizer in preprints.

— Andy Slavitt 🇺🇸💉 (@ASlavitt)
Jan 18, 2022

The site is live a day ahead of schedule: “Every home in the U.S. is eligible to order 4 free at-home COVID-19 tests. The tests are completely free.” (This is only working for some people. Site should be live for everyone tomorrow.) https://t.co/Wd1ju8W1Bz

— kottke.org (@kottke)
Jan 18, 2022

If I could identify a single tweet that encapsulates my frustration at the US pandemic policies, this would be it. It’s like it’s intentional to discourage people from accessing tests. Maybe it is. Regardless…

You have got to be fucking kidding me. https://t.co/fnNEbkOgCb

— Dr. Angela Rasmussen (@angie_rasmussen)
Jan 18, 2022

U.S. COVID update: Limited reporting due to federal holiday

– New cases: 787,879
– Average: 716,188 (-95,875)
– States reporting: 23/50
– In hospital: 154,208 (-130)
– In ICU: 25,959 (+110)
– New deaths: 727
– Average: 1,720 (-216)

More data: https://t.co/YDZSbYO7l7

— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk)
Jan 18, 2022

New data mRNA vaccine 4th dose
https://t.co/s7Odxdk8hd
—HCW, 154 Pfizer, 120 Moderna, + control group
—Increase in antibodies > 3rd dose
—Little effect on Omicron cases
—No data yet for ? severe disease, memory B/T cells, higher or more durable protection
—Uncertain benefit/need

— Eric Topol (@EricTopol)
Jan 18, 2022

Comforting to see cases & hospital #’s (after lag) falling in many spots in US.
SF not there yet – city cases plateaued (Fig L), but hospitalizatns @UCSFHospitals now 101 (R), w/ slight shift toward “with” (39%), vs “for” (61%), Covid. Should improve soon; be cautious till then. https://t.co/xa24xvUst6

— Bob Wachter (@Bob_Wachter)
Jan 17, 2022

Rough analysis suggests that Omicron is leading to FAR less hospital admits than previous strains, even in a poorly vaccinated state (53.5%).

Using a case admission rate of 9.34% (derived 1/1/21-11/30/21), anticipated Indiana hospital admissions are ~1/3 of expected since Jan 1. https://t.co/TtPrOhB25Z

— Gabriel Bosslet (@gbosslet)
Jan 17, 2022

Preprint from Israel finds that people who have breakthrough COVID *after* two-doses of the vaccines, are no more likely to report Long Covid symptoms compared with people who have not been infected at all.
So they found that vaccination brings Long Covid risk back to baseline. https://t.co/Jz6l7AZ0Z0

— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep)
Jan 17, 2022

Lots of people asking if UK cases are really falling, or have we just exceeded testing capacity or seeing effect of the pause in requiring confirmatory PCRs

By comparing ONS infection survey to dashboard cases, we see the trends match. The fall in cases in recent days is real ✅ https://t.co/DccI7MLlZe

— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch)
Jan 17, 2022

NEW: The coronavirus has forced the CDC to make rapid decisions based on scant evidence. For a bureaucratic agency staffed primarily by meticulous medical professionals, the change has not been easy.

https://t.co/rU3TF8PBSb

— Apoorva Mandavilli (@apoorva_nyc)
Jan 17, 2022

After ~2 yrs of uphill battle to get CDC to recognize rapid Ag tests are sensitive enough to answer the question “Am I Infectious?”…

It is astounding that CDC is now pretending rapid Ag tests are too sensitive to answer this question – bc they wont support a test-to-exit policy

— Michael Mina (@michaelmina_lab)
Jan 17, 2022

U.S. COVID update: Number in hospital drops for the 1st time since Dec., cases down about 9%

– New cases: 264,432
– Average: 812,063 (-60)
– States reporting: 13/50
– In hospital: 154,338 (-2,344)
– In ICU: 25,849 (-184)
– New deaths: 253

More data: https://t.co/YDZSbYO7l7

— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk)
Jan 17, 2022

The county’s daily COVID-19 death rate has doubled in just a week, officials said
https://t.co/ihVOTJwnY4

— KTLA (@KTLA)
Jan 17, 2022

Growing evidence that the 5-day isolation period might be too short for many with omicron. https://t.co/kb6kI8I9SG

— Dr. Tara C. Smith (@aetiology)
Jan 16, 2022

See below, yeah. Many people seem to think UK, among other examples, is doing as badly as the United States.

They have much better vaccination rates than the US, and also ahead on boosters… And it shows.

The United States is… almost a class of its own. https://t.co/SOMGZRJgtK

— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep)
Jan 16, 2022

I am an intensive care unit physician

My wife is a pediatrician

We know how mRNA vaccines work

All 4 of our kids are vaccinated

The 3 eligible have received their 3rd dose

If the @US_FDA and @CDCgov suggest a 3rd shot for our youngest, we will get it the day it is available https://t.co/m32tTRojiB

— Gabriel Bosslet (@gbosslet)
Jan 16, 2022

The USA has decoupled from the developed world. Despite vast wealth, its citizens are in enormous debt. They pay more for limited healthcare. They live less long. https://t.co/MVtVsjw6ak

— Not Better Left Unsaid (@gagabloggerette)
Jan 16, 2022

U.S. COVID update: First week-on-week drop in cases since December 15

– New cases: 430,791
– Average: 812,124 (-3,702)
– States reporting: 22/50
– In hospital: 156,682 (+1,155)
– In ICU: 26,033 (+155)
– New deaths: 992
– Average: 1,931 (+55)

More data: https://t.co/YDZSbYO7l7

— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk)
Jan 16, 2022

Detective work for how Omicron travelled in a quarantine hotel between 2 vaccinated indivduals in 2 different rooms https://t.co/dnzhE0zKdx https://t.co/uxqYBhlFlG

— Eric Topol (@EricTopol)
Jan 15, 2022

*Amazing* detailed data on 3rd shots and vaccines from Alberta.

Essentially: “The hospitalization rate among 3x-vaccinated 80+ year olds is lower than the hospitalization rate among unvaccinated 12-29-year-olds.”

Incredible. Wow.
h/t @dylanhmorris https://t.co/GnhUslpLe4 https://t.co/mQg6fcL6S5

— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep)
Jan 15, 2022

Spot on
https://t.co/5XFo42NTBn

— Erick Schonfeld (@erickschonfeld)
Jan 15, 2022

Mexican TV Host loses it , calls all antivaxxers “morons”
“You damned antivaxxers, gaggle of morons! Stop with your bullshit and at least put on a god damned face mask, and stop hitting the brakes for the entire world! Yes, you antivaxxers, you are a moron! Put on a face mask!” https://t.co/EYb5WCcByB

— Dallas (@59dallas)
Jan 15, 2022

Post-shift thoughts. 1/14/22 https://t.co/V9s924EK0h

— Jeremy Faust MD MS (ER physician) (@jeremyfaust)
Jan 15, 2022