POST 266. August 11, 2022. Polio/ Monkeypox ++. CDC ”..has deployed a federal team to New York to investigate the case of polio detected in Rockland County. ““Based on earlier polio outbreaks, New Yorkers should know that for every one case of paralytic polio observed, there may be hundreds of other people infected..”

August 10, 2022

for links to POSTS 1-266 in chronological order, highlight and click on

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/08/coronavirus-tracking-links-to-posts-1-266/

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has deployed a federal team to New York to investigate the case of polio detected in Rockland County.

The team will also help administer vaccinations in the county.

It’s unclear how long the CDC will remain in the county or if the findings will be released to the public.

“CDC continues to collaborate with the New York State Department of Health to investigate a recent case of paralytic polio in an unvaccinated individual from Rockland County,” the federal health agency said in a statement to ABC News. “These efforts include ongoing testing of wastewater samples to monitor for poliovirus and deploying a small team to New York to assist on the ground with the investigation and vaccination efforts.”

On July 21, the New York State Health Department announced a patient in Rockland County had contracted a case of vaccine-derived polio, the first case in the United States in nearly a decade.

This means the unvaccinated patient was infected by someone who received the oral polio vaccine, which is no longer used in the U.S.

Unlike the polio vaccine given by injection, which uses an inactive virus, the oral vaccine uses a live weakened virus.

In rare cases, the virus spreading through sewage can affect those who are unvaccinated. This is different from wild polio, which infects people by circulating naturally in the environment.

Since then, it’s been revealed the patient was a previously healthy 20-year-old man who had traveled to Europe. He was diagnosed after he went to the hospital when he developed paralysis in his legs.

Last week, the state health commissioner said “hundreds” of people in New York could be infected after the virus was found in wastewater samples in multiple counties.

As of Aug. 5, 11 samples were genetically linked to the Rockland County patient including six samples collected in June and July from Rockland County and five samples collected in July from nearby Orange County, health department data shows.

“Although no additional cases have been identified at this time, these results indicate there is more than one person shedding the virus in their stool in these communities,” the CDC’s statement read. “These individuals might have no symptoms or only mild symptoms, such as a sore throat and fever, but they can unknowingly still spread polio to those who are not protected by vaccination.”” (A)

““Based on earlier polio outbreaks, New Yorkers should know that for every one case of paralytic polio observed, there may be hundreds of other people infected,” Bassett said.

State health officials are urgently calling for people who are unvaccinated to receive their shots as soon as possible.

Hundreds could have polio after an adult in the New York City metro area caught the virus and suffered paralysis last month, the state’s top health official said this week.

New York state Health Commissioner Mary Bassett warned that the confirmed polio case in an unvaccinated adult, coupled with the detection of the virus in sewage outside the nation’s largest city, could indicate a bigger outbreak is underway.

“Based on earlier polio outbreaks, New Yorkers should know that for every one case of paralytic polio observed, there may be hundreds of other people infected,” Bassett said. “Coupled with the latest wastewater findings, the department is treating the single case of polio as just the tip of the iceberg of much greater potential spread.”

Bassett said it is crucial that children are vaccinated by the time they are 2 months old, and all adults — including pregnant women —who have not received their shots should do so immediately.

“As we learn more, what we do know is clear: The danger of polio is present in New York today,” Bassett said…

Rockland County has a polio vaccination rate of 60%, while Orange County has a vaccination rate of 58%, according to health officials. The statewide vaccination rate for polio is nearly 79%.

The U.S. was declared polio free in 1979 and a case had not originated in the country since then, but travelers have occasionally brought the virus into the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New York last confirmed a polio case in 1990 and the U.S. previously confirmed a case in 2013, according to state health officials.

Children should receive four doses of the polio vaccine. The first dose should be administered by 2 months of age, the second dose at 4 months, the third at 18 months and the fourth by age 6, according to state health officials. Unvaccinated adults should receive three doses.

Polio is a highly infectious, devastating virus that can cause paralysis. The virus struck fear into parents’ hearts in the 1940s before vaccines were available. More than 35,000 people became paralyzed every year from polio during that period. But a successful vaccination campaign in the 1950s and 1960s dramatically reduced the number of cases.” (B)

“As New York’s polio outbreak potentially spreads to hundreds of people, authorities are sounding alarms about the resurgent infectious disease that plagued past generations before being eradicated by vaccines decades ago.

For many New Yorkers − especially those born after the early 1950s when polio disabled more than 35,000 Americans per year prior to widespread vaccination − the health alerts raised sprawling questions about the once-feared virus that had been nearly forgotten…

“It’s tragic because it’s a completely preventable occurrence,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an Infectious Diseases Society of America expert, noting polio vaccines offer near complete protection against illness.

“That’s how vaccines work and that’s why we oblige vaccination, so these things don’t happen anymore,” added Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center professor…

Polio poses a threat to anyone unvaccinated against the virus. It is a group that spans children too young to get the recommended four-dose vaccination series, as well as people of all ages who did not get vaccinated for a variety of reasons.

For example, about 1,140,000 New Yorkers are younger than 5. But the polio vaccine is most effective when kids get all four recommended doses, which are typically completed between the ages of 4 and 6. That means tens of thousands of the youngest kids in New York are currently endangered by the polio outbreak.

The polio vaccine has proven nearly 100% effective at preventing illness, which is why widespread vaccination campaigns led to U.S. health officials declaring it eradicated in 1979, despite rare cases imported by international travelers.

In addition to the youngest children, some parents in New York have declined to get thousands of older children vaccinated against polio, despite state law requiring the shots for students at public and private school, excluding medical exemptions.

While only 2% of all schools statewide have polio vaccination rates below 90%, some schools lag behind.

The lagging schools include private and public schools from across the state, as well as several Orthodox Jewish communities in Rockland and Orange counties, which were central to debate over the repeal of the religious exemption to school vaccinations in 2019.

Since the religious exemption ended, many schools have pushed to boost vaccination rates among children previously claiming the exemption, a group of about 26,000 kids statewide, or 1% of school children in 2018.

The number of parents homeschooling children in New York has also increased since 2019, suggesting some of those religious exemption cases prompted parents to pull kids from classrooms to avoid vaccination.

About 54,400 school children were homeschooled last school year, a 65% increase from 33,000 kids homeschooled in the 2019-20 school year, state data show. And growing numbers of Americans joining the national anti-vaccination movement, according to national polling and legislative efforts, also potentially contributed to the rise in homeschooling, although COVID-19 mandates and concerns likely played a role as well.

Some counties in New York also lag behind the statewide vaccination rate for kids at age 2, which stands at about 79%. Rockland County, for example, has a 60% vaccination rate for the age group.” (C)

“A health official in New York State has told the BBC there could be hundreds or even thousands of undiagnosed cases of polio there.

It follows an announcement last month that an unvaccinated man had been paralysed by the virus in Rockland County, New York.

His case has been linked genetically to traces of polio virus found in sewage in London and Jerusalem.

Developed countries have been warned to boost vaccination rates.

Dr Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, health commissioner for Rockland County, said she was worried about polio circulating in her state undetected.

“There isn’t just one case of polio if you see a paralytic case. The incidence of paralytic polio is less than 1%,” she said.

“Most cases are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, and those symptoms are often missed.

“So there are hundreds, perhaps even thousands of cases that have occurred in order for us to see a paralytic case.”

Dr Ruppert confirmed that scientists are looking at “a linkage” between the New York paralysis case and traces of poliovirus found in wastewater in London and Jerusalem, after genome sequencing was conducted on samples from the three locations.

“This is a very serious issue for our global world – it’s not just about New York. We all need to make sure all our populations are properly vaccinated,” she said.” (D)

“A once-eradicated disease has reemerged in New York, and it’s spooking health officials and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates.

On Aug. 4, New York health authorities announced they had detected polio in wastewater samples from two counties north of New York City. Officials called the results, along with a confirmed case of polio in New York’s Rockland County in July, the “tip of the iceberg” for a wider polio outbreak of the disease that can cause paralysis.

Gates—a longtime champion of polio eradication—weighed in Monday, calling the news an “urgent reminder” that “until we #EndPolio for good, it remains a threat to us all,” on Twitter…

Despite new evidence of polio in New York, the campaign to eradicate the disease has been one of the world’s most successful public health initiatives. There were 350,000 cases of polio in 1988, when the GPEI was founded. That total has fallen to 688 in 2021. Two of polio’s three strains have been eradicated.

The World Health Organization considers polio to be endemic in Pakistan and Afghanistan, meaning that the poliovirus still exists in the wild. Outbreaks in other countries are either sparked by imported cases, or spread by an individual who received the oral polio vaccine, which uses a weakened, but not inactivated, poliovirus that can then infect unvaccinated individuals.

According to the CDC, many carriers of the poliovirus are asymptomatic, and one in four will get flu-like symptoms. However, somewhere between one and five in a thousand cases can suffer from serious and life-threatening symptoms, like paralysis. Even those who recover can have symptoms like muscle weakness and paralysis return years later in a long-lasting condition known as post-polio syndrome…

Efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic may be diverting resources away from public health campaigns like polio eradication. Global vaccination coverage for polio fell to 80% in 2021, down from 86% in 2019.

On July 22, Gates called the drop in vaccination rates “heartbreaking” on Twitter, saying that “there’s a lot of work ahead to get back to, and eventually exceed, pre-pandemic vaccination levels.” (E)

“Children ages 1-9 in London were made eligible for booster doses of a polio vaccine Wednesday after British health authorities reported finding evidence the virus has spread in multiple areas of the city but found no cases of the paralytic disease in people.

Britain’s Health Security Agency said it detected viruses derived from the oral polio vaccine in the sewage water of eight London boroughs. The agency’s analysis of the virus samples suggested “transmission has gone beyond a close network of a few individuals.”

The agency said it had not located anyone infected with the virus and that the risk to the wider population was low. The decision to offer young children boosters was a precaution, it said.

“This will ensure a high level of protection from paralysis and help reduce further spread,” the agency said.

The agency said it is also expanding surveillance of sewage water to at least another 25 sites in London and nationally.

Most people across Britain are vaccinated against polio in childhood. According to the World Health Organization, only one in 200 polio infections leads to paralysis; most people don’t show any symptoms…

The Health Security Agency said it was working closely with health authorities at WHO and in the United States and Israel to investigate any links to polio viruses detected in those two countries.” (K)

UPDATES

More than two years into the coronavirus pandemic, Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, said he understands people are exhausted, but is urging those who are not up to date on the vaccines to get the shots — this time, as the latest omicron subvariant, BA.5, has become the dominant strain in the United States.

Fauci told Los Angeles radio station KNX News earlier this week that although people who are unvaccinated and those with underlying conditions are at the greatest risk of complications from covid-19, others are not exempt.

“If they don’t get vaccinated or they don’t get boosted, they’re going to get into trouble,” he said…

Fauci said it’s important to get as many people vaccinated and boosted as possible so the virus does not have “ample opportunity to freely circulate.” When the virus is given that opportunity, he said, it can continue to mutate.

“It is about you as an individual, but it’s also about the communal responsibility to get this outbreak under control,” he told the radio station…

“Right now we have boosters that are very effective in diminishing any aspect of the infection,” Fauci told KNX News. “A virus like BA.5, which is the most prevalent circulating virus, is so transmissible that it often breaks through the protection of vaccine. But the vaccines and the boosters still do a very good job at preventing you from progressing to severe disease.” (F)

“U.S. health officials said Wednesday they are not changing the qualifications for being “fully vaccinated” against COVID-19, but they are urging Americans to stay “up to date” on their protection against the virus by getting booster shots when eligible.

The move to keep the existing definition of fully vaccinated — either two doses of the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine — comes as health officials warned of waning protections from the initial doses. They are encouraging Americans to get additional doses to stave off serious illness and death from the delta and omicron variants.

The decision to keep the initial definition, established more than a year ago when the vaccines first rolled out, means that federal vaccination mandates for travel or employment won’t require a booster dose.

Maintaining the existing definition of “fully vaccinated” could make it more difficult to encourage some Americans who only begrudgingly got their primary doses of the vaccine to get boosted, since they would not face onerous restrictions often imposed on the unvaccinated — including testing requirements or, in some jurisdictions, being barred from indoor dining and other facilities.

“Individuals are considered fully vaccinated against COVID-19 if they’ve received their primary series,” said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. “That definition is not changing.”

The CDC instead posted information for Americans to more easily determine their eligibility for booster doses so as to remain up to date with their COVID-19 shots.

“We are now recommending that individuals stay up to date with additional doses that they are eligible for,” Walensky added…

On Wednesday, shortly before the White House briefing, the CDC revised an agency web site that had been entitled “When You’ve Been Fully Vaccinated” that defined the term and talked about what people could do after they achieved that level of protection.

It was retitled “Stay Up to Date with Vaccines,” and used the term “fully vaccinated” sparingly, to describe the primary series. Much of the site discussed additional and booster doses.

Asked about the change, a CDC spokeswoman said the definition of “fully vaccinated” has not changed. But she also said: “CDC will now use the phrase ‘up to date’ when talking about COVID-19 vaccination. CDC recommends that individuals stay ‘up to date’ by receiving any additional doses they are eligible for, according to CDC’s recommendations, to ensure they have optimal protection against COVID-19.”” (G)

“President Biden testing positive for COVID-19 again days after completing a course of Paxlovid has raised the question of whether the length of the antiviral treatment should be reconsidered.

Just days after he completed a five-day round of Pfizer’s COVID-19 antiviral treatment, Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, said in a letter on Saturday that the president had tested positive once again. As of Wednesday, Biden is still testing positive for COVID-19.

This phenomenon has come to be known as “Paxlovid rebound,” when a person tests positive for the coronavirus again even after initially testing negative following a round of treatment with the antiviral. A recent preprint study found that Paxlovid rebound occurred among 3.5 percent and 5.4 percent of coronavirus infections at the seven-day and the 30-day mark after treatment respectively. Biden’s chief medical adviser, Anthony Fauci, also experienced Paxlovid rebound after contracting the virus and started a second round of treatment.

Some experts have called for studies into extending Paxlovid treatments to be prioritized, as early research has suggested that Paxlovid rebound could occur due to insufficient exposure to the drug. Researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine said last month that the drug may not be reaching enough infected cells in the allotted time.

Paxlovid, under an emergency use authorization issued by the Food and Drug Administration, is administered in two doses taken daily over the course of five days. Physicians are not permitted to prescribe longer rounds of treatment, and clinical data on courses lasting more than five days has yet to be completed.

Earlier this year, Fauci said the National Institutes of Health was in talks with Pfizer about studies looking into longer courses of Paxlovid, though any updates on these possible trials have not been disclosed.

“I’m actually still flabbergasted that we have not set up a clinical trial to figure this out. It’s an easy thing to do,” Robert Wachter, chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told The Hill.

“Wouldn’t cost that much to be able to accumulate enough patients in a week or two and follow them for a few weeks so we could have an answer,” Wachter said, adding that the data needed to potentially extend the length of a round of Paxlovid could have been collected already if trials had been started just a few months ago.

According to Wachter, there aren’t any similar antiviral “analogies” to compare Paxlovid to. Viral rebound isn’t usually tested for, and other antiviral treatments aren’t administered in the same manner.” (H)

“The US Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization Tuesday that allows health-care providers to change how the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine is administered, stretching out the supply amid high demand.

The vaccine can now be given to high-risk adults intradermally, meaning between the layers of the skin, rather than subcutaneously, or under the skin, as it has been given up till now. This will allow providers to get five doses out of a standard one-dose vial.

The new EUA also allows subcutaneous vaccination in people under 18 who are at high risk of infection.

The move could increase the number of vaccine doses in the national stockpile from 441,000 to over 2.2 million, officials said Tuesday.

But the EUA isn’t going to be a panacea as the outbreak continues to grow and vaccine demand remains high. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that at least 1.5 million people in the US are eligible for the two-dose vaccine.

“I think we’re going to see that we will likely still run out of vaccines before we run out of arms,” Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the White House’s assistant national response coordinator, said Tuesday.

The CDC reports 9,492 probable or confirmed monkeypox cases in 49 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia as of Tuesday evening.

“In recent weeks the monkeypox virus has continued to spread at a rate that has made it clear our current vaccine supply will not meet the current demand,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said in a statement. “The FDA quickly explored other scientifically appropriate options to facilitate access to the vaccine for all impacted individuals. By increasing the number of available doses, more individuals who want to be vaccinated against monkeypox will now have the opportunity to do so.”

He added at a briefing Tuesday, “we encourage jurisdictions to utilize alternative dosing method as quickly as possible, and we’ll be your partner in this step every step of the way.”

The move comes less than a week after the Biden administration declared monkeypox a public health emergency, which gives the FDA and other government health agencies more flexibility to fight the spread of the virus…

However, the existing research on the vaccine focuses on recipients’ immune response, not on whether it actually prevents cases of monkeypox.

“There is no traditional assessment of this vaccine … because there weren’t smallpox cases, and the monkeypox outbreaks before this were not large enough to really do a clinical trial,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said Tuesday. “We want to collect outcome data, as we do with all vaccines. And I’d also point out that the NIH will be mounting a clinical trial and is working through the logistics of that now.”” (I)

“Ahead of the new school year, colleges across the country are repurposing the tools they developed during the pandemic to address the monkeypox outbreak, which the White House recently declared a public health emergency. It’s a different virus, with different risks, and colleges are having to adapt, says Dr. Lindsey Mortenson of the American College Health Association (ACHA).

“Many colleges and universities are thinking about ‘how do we turn the page institutionally?” Mortenson says. ” ‘How do we take all of these public health informed practices and apply them in a different context?’ “

The risk of contracting monkeypox is low, but colleges are beginning to see cases..

“No outbreak stays limited to any one social network,” says Dr. Jay Varma, an epidemiologist at Weill Cornell Medical College. He adds that although the virus has been concentrated in the gay and queer community, “There’s no biological reason it couldn’t spill over into other groups.”

On college campuses, Varma says, areas to watch are those where students come into close physical contact with each other’s skin, including locker rooms, gyms or even theater groups.

The virus has already appeared on some college campuses. Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., University of Texas at Austin and West Chester University in Pennsylvania all told NPR they had at least one confirmed case over the summer…

Monkeypox requires a longer isolation period than coronavirus

COVID-19 is usually contagious for less than 10 days, but a monkeypox infection can last a few weeks. That means a student who contracts the virus may need to isolate for a significant chunk of their semester.

“This presents a very important challenge for the individual, who has to put up with that level of isolation, as well as the university, which needs to make arrangements to support that,” Varma says.

One challenge is that most colleges have shifted back to in-person instruction after going fully remote in 2020. Schools told NPR they are still determining what remote learning will look like for students in isolation.” (J)

(A)CDC sends team to New York to investigate polio case, By Mary Kekatos, https://abcnews.go.com/Health/cdc-sends-team-york-investigate-polio-case/story?id=88095468

(B) New York polio case is the ‘tip of the iceberg,’ hundreds of others could be infected, health official says, by Spencer Kimball, https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/05/new-york-polio-case-tip-of-iceberg-hundreds-of-others-could-be-infected.html

(C) What’s the real risk from NY’s polio outbreak? What to know from infectious disease experts, by David Robinson, https://www.lohud.com/story/news/health/2022/08/09/what-real-risk-from-nys-polio-outbreak-what-to-know/65396006007/

(D) US doctor issues warning of many undiagnosed polio cases, By Naomi Grimley, https://www.bbc.com/news/health-62469534

(E) Bill Gates, whose foundation funds polio vaccines, warns that the disease’s reemergence in New York is ‘a threat to us all’, BY NICHOLAS GORDON, https://fortune.com/2022/08/09/bill-gates-foundation-polio-vaccine-new-york-positive-case-rockland-county-wastewater/

(F) Fauci warns of ‘trouble’ for those with BA.5 variant if not up to date on vaccines, By Lindsey Bever, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/05/fauci-vaccine-covid-trouble/

(G) WATCH: CDC urges ‘up to date’ COVID shots but won’t change definition of ‘fully vaccinated’, By Zeke Miller and Mike Stobbe, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/cdc-urges-up-to-date-covid-shots-but-wont-change-definition-of-fully-vaccinated

(H) ‘Paxlovid rebound’ raises questions over how long antiviral COVID treatment should last, BY JOSEPH CHOI, https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3587071-paxlovid-rebound-raises-questions-over-how-long-antiviral-covid-treatment-should-last/

(I) FDA authorizes change in how monkeypox vaccine is given, stretching supply amid high demand, By Katherine Dillinger, https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/09/health/monkeypox-vaccine-intradermal/index.html

(J) How colleges are preparing for a new public health threat: monkeypox, by POOJA SALHOTRA, https://www.npr.org/2022/08/06/1115664984/college-monkeypox

(K) Polio vaccine boosters are offered to London children as the virus spreads, https://www.npr.org/2022/08/10/1116749510/polio-london-children-vaccine-booster

CORONAVIRUS TRACKING Links to POSTS 1-266

August 10, 2022

CORONAVIRUS TRACKING Links to POSTS 1-266

Doctor, Did You Wash Your Hands?®

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/

Curated Contemporaneous Case Study Methodology

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2019/12/9897/

Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/10/jonathan-m-metsch-dr-p-h-2/

PART 1. January 21, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday confirmed the first U.S. case of a deadly new coronavirus that has killed six people in China.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/01/the-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-on-tuesday-confirmed-the-first-u-s-case-of-a-deadly-new-coronavirus-that-has-killed-six-people-in-china/

PART 2. January 29, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “If it’s not contained shortly, I think we are looking at a pandemic..”….. “With isolated cases of the dangerous new coronavirus cropping up in a number of states, public health officials say it is only a matter of time before the virus appears in New York City.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/01/part-2-coronavirus-if-its-not-contained-shortly-i-think-we-are-looking-at-a-pandemic-with-isolated-cases-of-the-dangerous-new-coronavirus-cropping-u/

PART3. February 3, 2020. “The Wuhan coronavirus spreading from China is now likely to become a pandemic that circles the globe…”..Trump appeared to downplay concerns about the flu-like virus …We’re gonna see what happens, but we did shut it down..” (D)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/02/part3-the-wuhan-coronavirus-spreading-from-china-is-now-likely-to-become-a-pandemic-that-circles-the-globe-trump-appeared-to-downplay-concerns-about-the-flu-like-virus/

PART 4. February 9, 2020. Coronavirus. “A study published Friday in JAMA found that 41% of the first 138 patients diagnosed at one hospital in Wuhan, China, were presumed to be infected in that hospital.….

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/02/part-4-coronavirus-so-like-sars-and-mers-other-coronaviruses-before-it-the-wuhan-coronavirus-is-spreading-in-hospitals/

PART 5. February 12, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “In short, shoe-leather public health and basic medical care—not miracle drugs—are generally what stop outbreaks of emerging infections..”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/02/part-5-coronavirus-in-short-shoe-leather-public-health-and-basic-medical-care-not-miracle-drugs-are-generally-what-stop-outbreaks-of-emerging-infections/

POST 6. February 18, 2020. Coronovirus. “Amid assurances that the (ocean liner) Westerdam was disease free, hundreds of people disembarked in Cambodia…” “ One was later found to be infected”…. “Over 1,000… passengers were in…transit home”…. “This could be a turning point””

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/02/post-6-coronovirus-amid-assurances-that-the-ocean-liner-westerdam-was-disease-free-hundreds-of-people-disembarked-in-cambodia-one-was-later-found-to-be-infect/

PART 7. February 20, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. With SARS preparedness underway in NJ LibertyHealth/ Jersey City Medical Center, where I was President, proposed that our 100 bed community hospital with all single-bedded rooms, be immediately transformed into an EMERGENCY SARS ISOLATION Hospital.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/02/part-7-coronavirus-with-sars-preparedness-underway-in-nj-libertyhealth-jersey-city-medical-center-where-i-was-president-proposed-that-our-100-bed-community-hospital-with-all-single-bedded-rooms/

PART 8. February 24, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “…every country’s top priority should be to protect its health care workers. This is partly to ensure that hospitals themselves do not become sites where the coronavirus is spread more than it is contained.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/02/part-8-coronavirus-every-countrys-top-priority-should-be-to-protect-its-health-care-workers-this-is-partly-to-ensure-that-hospitals-themselves-do-not-become-sites-where-t/

PART 9. February 27, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Responding to a question about the likelihood of a U.S. outbreak, President Trump said, “I don’t think it’s inevitable…”It probably will. It possibly will,” he continued. “It could be at a very small level, or it could be at a larger level.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/02/part-9-coronavirus-responding-to-a-question-about-the-likelihood-of-a-u-s-outbreak-president-trump-said-i-dont-think-its-inevitableit-probably-will-it-possibly-will-he-contin/

Part 10. March 1, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Stop Surprise Medical Bills for Coronavirus care. (&) Lessons Learned (or not) In California and Washington State from community acquired cases.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/03/part-10-coronavirus-stop-surprise-medical-bills-for-coronavirus-care-lessons-learned-or-not-in-california-and-washington-state-from-community-acquired-cases/

PART 11. March 5, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Gov. Andrew Cuomo… would require employers to pay workers and protect their jobs if they are quarantined because of the coronavirus.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/03/part-11-coronavirus-gov-andrew-cuomo-would-require-employers-to-pay-workers-and-protect-their-jobs-if-they-are-quarantined-because-of-the-coronavirus/

Part 12. March 10, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Tom Bossert, Donald Trump’s former homeland security advisor…(said) that due to the coronavirus outbreak, “We are 10 days from the hospitals getting creamed.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/03/part-12-coronavirus-tom-bossert-donald-trumps-former-homeland-security-advisorsaid-that-due-to-the-coronavirus-outbreak-we-are-10-days-from-the-hospitals-gett/

Part 13.. March 14, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “If I’m buying real estate in New York, I’ll listen to the President….If I’m asking about infectious diseases, I’m going to listen to Tony Fauci,”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/03/part-13-coronavirus-march-14-2020-if-im-buying-real-estate-in-new-york-ill-listen-to-the-president-if-im-asking-about-infectious-diseases-im-going-to-listen-to-tony-fauci

PART 14. March 17, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “ “Most physicians have never seen this level of angst and anxiety in their careers”…. One said “I am sort of a pariah in my family.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/03/part-14-coronavirus-march-17-2020-most-physicians-have-never-seen-this-level-of-angst-and-anxiety-in-their-careers-one-said-i-am-sort-of-a-pariah-in/

PART 15. March 22, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “…Crimson Contagion” and imagining an influenza pandemic, was simulated by the Trump administration….in a series of exercises that ran from last January to August.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/03/part-15-coronavirus-march-22-2020-crimson-contagion-and-imagining-an-influenza-pandemic-was-simulated-by-the-trump-administration-in-a-series-of-exercises-that-2/

PART 16. March 27, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. I am not a clinician or a medical ethicist but articles on Coronavirus patient triage started me Googling………to learn about FUTILE TREATMENT

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/03/part-16-march-27-2020-coronavirus-i-am-not-a-clinician-or-a-medical-ethicist-but-articles-on-coronavirus-patient-triage-started-me-googlingto-learn-about-futile-treatme/

PART 17. April 2, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Florida allows churches to continue holding services. Gun stores deemed “essential.” “New York’s private and public hospitals unite to manage patient load and share resources.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/04/part-17-april-2-2020-coronavirus-florida-allows-churches-to-continue-holding-services-gun-stores-deemed-essential-new-yorks-private-and-public-hospitals-unite-to-ma/

PART 18. April 9, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “The federal government’s emergency stockpile of personal protective equipment (PPE) is depleted, and states will not be receiving any more shipments, administration staff told a House panel.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/04/part-18-april-9-2020-coronavirus-the-federal-governments-emergency-stockpile-of-personal-protective-equipment-ppe-is-depleted-and-states-will-not-be-receiving-any-more-shipments/

PART 19. April 13, 2020 CORONOAVIRUS. “…overlooked in the United States’ halting mobilization against the novel coronavirus: the personal aides, hospice attendants, nurses and occupational or physical therapists who deliver medical or support services to patients in their homes.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/04/part-19-april-14-2020-coronoavirus-overlooked-in-the-mobilization-against-coronavirus-the-personal-aides-hospice-attendants-nurses-and-occupational-or-physical-therapists-wh/

PART 20. April 20, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “…nothing is mentioned in the “Opening Up America Again” plan about how states should handle a resurgence.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/04/part-20-april-20-2020-coronavirus-nothing-is-mentioned-in-the-opening-up-america-again-plan-about-how-states-should-handle-a-resurgence-2/

PART 21. April 23, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “We need to ask, are we using ventilators in a way that makes sense for other diseases but not this one?”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/04/part-21-april-23-2020-coronavirus-we-need-to-ask-are-we-using-ventilators-in-a-way-that-makes-sense-for-other-diseases-but-not-for-this-one-2/

POST 22. April 29, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. ..the “ACS released a list of 10 issues that should be addressed before a healthcare organization resumes elective surgeries[JM1] ….”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/04/post-22-april-29-2020-coronavirus-the-acs-released-a-list-of-10-issues-that-should-be-addressed-before-a-healthcare-organization-resumes-elective-surgeries/

POST 23. May 3, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. … what Dr. Fauci really wants,…”is just to go to a baseball game. That will have to wait. The level of testing for the virus is not adequate enough to allow for such mass gatherings.’ (K)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/05/post-23-may-3-2020-coronavirus-what-dr-fauci-really-wantsis-just-to-go-to-a-baseball-game-that-will-have-to-wait-the-level-of-testing-for-the-virus-is-not-adequate/

POST 24. May 7, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said: “there are going to be deaths no matter what”… but that people needed to get back to work.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/05/post-24-may-7-2020-coronavirus-former-new-jersey-governor-chris-christie-said-there-are-going-to-be-deaths-no-matter-what-but-that-people-needed-to-get-back-to-work/

POST 25. May 10, 2020, CORONAVIRUS. “It is scary to go to work,” said Kevin Hassett, a top economic adviser to the president. “I think that I’d be a lot safer if I was sitting at home than I would be going to the West Wing.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/05/post-25-may-10-2020-coronavirus-it-is-scary-to-go-to-work-said-kevin-hassett-a-top-economic-adviser-to-the-president-i-think-that-id-be-a-lot-safer-if-i-was/

POST 26. May 14, 2020. CORONAVIRUS, “Deep cleaning is not a scientific concept”….”there is no universal protocol for a “deep clean” to eradicate the coronavirus”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/05/post-26-may-14-2020-coronavirus-deep-cleaning-is-not-a-scientific-concept-there-is-no-universal-protocol-for-a-deep-clean-to-eradicate-the-cor-2/

POST 27. May 19, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Hospital…executives…are taking pay cuts…to help offset the financial fallout from COVID-19.” As “front line” layoffs and furloughs accelerate…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/05/post-27-may-19-2020-coronavirus-hospitalexecutivesare-taking-pay-cutsto-help-offset-the-financial-fallout-from-covid-19-as-front-line/

POST 28. May 23, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. ““You’ve got to be kidding me,”..”How could the CDC make that mistake? This is a mess.” CDC conflates viral and antibody tests numbers.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/05/post-28-may-23-2020-coronavirus-youve-got-to-be-kidding-me-how-could-the-cdc-make-that-mistake-this-is-a-mess-cdc-conflates-viral-and-anti/

PART 29. May 22, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “The economy did not close down. It closed down for people who, frankly, had the luxury of staying home,” (Governor Cuomo). But not so for frontline workers!

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/05/part-29-may-22-2020-coronavirus-the-economy-did-not-close-down-it-closed-down-for-people-who-frankly-had-the-luxury-of-staying-home-but-not-so-for-frontline-workers/

POST 30. June 3,202. CORONAVIRUS. “The wave of mass protests across the United States will almost certainly set off new chains of infection for the novel coronavirus, experts say….

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/06/post-30-june-3202-coronavirus-the-wave-of-mass-protests-across-the-united-states-will-almost-certainly-set-off-new-chains-of-infection-for-the-novel-coronavirus-experts-say/

POST 31. June 9, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “I think we had an unintended consequence: I think we made people afraid to come back to the hospital,”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/06/post-31-june-9-2020-coronavirus-i-think-we-had-an-unintended-consequence-i-think-we-made-people-afraid-to-come-back-to-the-hospital/

Post 32. June 16, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Could the Trump administration be pursuing herd immunity by “inaction”? “ If Fauci didn’t exist, we’d have to invent him.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/06/post-32-june-16-2020-coronavirus-could-the-trump-administration-be-pursuing-herd-immunity-by-inaction-if-fauci-didnt-exist-wed-have-to-invent-him/

POST 33. June 21, 2002. CORONAVIRUS….. Smashing (lowering the daily number of cases) v. flattening the curve (maintaining a plateau)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/06/post-33-june-23-2002-coronavirus-smashing-lowering-the-daily-number-of-cases-v-flattening-the-curve-maintaining-a-plateau/

POST 34. June 26, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. CDC Director Redfield… “the number of coronavirus infections…could be 10 times higher than the confirmed case count — a total of more than 20 million.” As Florida, Texas and Arizona become eipicenters!

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/06/post-34-june-26-2020-coronavirus-cdc-director-redfield-the-number-of-coronavirus-infectionscould-be-10-times-higher-than-the-confirmed-case-count-a-total-of-mo/

POST 35. June 29, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Pence: “We slowed the spread. We flattened the curve. We saved lives..” While Dr. Fauci “warned that outbreaks in the South and West could engulf the country…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/06/post-35-june-29-2020-coronavirus-pence-we-slowed-the-spread-we-flattened-the-curve-we-saved-lives-while-dr-fauci-warned-that-outbreaks-in-the-south-and-west-could-engulf-the-co/

POST 36. July 2, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “There’s just a handful of interventions proven to curb the spread of the coronavirus. One of them is contact tracing, and “it’s not going well,” (Dr. Anthony Fauci)..

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/07/post-36-july-2-2020-coronavirus-theres-just-a-handful-of-interventions-proven-to-curb-the-spread-of-the-coronavirus-one-of-them-is-contact-tracing-and-its-not/

POST 37. June 8, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. When “crews arrive at a hospital with a patient suspected of having COVID-19, the hospital may have a physical bed open for them, but not enough nurses or doctors to staff it.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/07/post-37-june-8-2020-coronavirus-when-crews-arrive-at-a-hospital-with-a-patient-suspected-of-having-covid-19-the-hospital-may-have-a-physical-bed-open-for-them-but-not-enough-nurses-or-d/

POST 38. July 15, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Some Lessons Learned, or not. AdventHealth CEO Terry Shaw: I wouldn’t hesitate to go to Disney as a healthcare CEO — based on the fact that they’re working extremely hard to keep people safe,” (M)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/07/post-38-july-15-2020-coronavirus-some-lessons-learned-or-not-adventhealth-ceo-terry-shaw-i-wouldnt-hesitate-to-go-to-disney-as-a-healthcare-ceo-based-on-the-fact-that-theyre-worki/

POST 39. July, 23,2020. CORONAVIRUS. A Tale of Two Cities. Seattle becomes New York (rolls back reopening) while New York becomes Seattle (moves to partial phase 4 reopening)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/07/post-39-july-232020-coronavirus-a-tale-of-two-cities-seattle-becomes-new-york-rolls-back-reopening-while-new-york-becomes-seattle-moves-to-partial-phase-4-reopening/

POST 40. July 27, 2020. CORONAVIRUS.” One canon of medical practice is that you order a test only if you can act on the result. And with a turnaround time of a week or two, you cannot. What we have now is often not testing — it’s testing theater.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/07/post-40-july-27-2020-coronavirus-one-canon-of-medical-practice-is-that-you-order-a-test-only-if-you-can-act-on-the-result-and-with-a-turnaround-time-of-a-week-or-two-you-cannot-what-we/

POST 41. August 2, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Whenever a vaccine for the coronavirus becomes available, one thing is virtually certain: There won’t be enough to go around. That means there will be rationing.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/08/post-41-august-2-2020-coronavirus-whenever-a-vaccine-for-the-coronavirus-becomes-available-one-thing-is-virtually-certain-there-wont-be-enough-to-go-around-that-means-there-wi-2/

POST 42. August 11, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “I think that if future historians look back on this period, what they will see is a tragedy of denial….

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/08/post-42-coronavirus-august-11-2020-i-think-that-if-future-historians-look-back-on-this-period-what-they-will-see-is-a-tragedy-of-denial/

POST 43. August 22, 2020. CORONAVIRUS.” “we’ve achieved something great as a nation. We’ve created an unyielding market for FAUCI BOBBLEHEADS”!! (W)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/08/post-43-august-22-2020-coronavirus-weve-achieved-something-great-as-a-nation-weve-created-an-unyielding-market-for-fauci-bobbleheads-w/

POST 44. September 1, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “The CDC…modified its coronavirus testing guidelines…to exclude people who do not have symptoms of Covid-19.” (While Dr. Fauci was undergoing surgery.) A White House official said: “Everybody is going to catch this thing eventually..”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/08/post-44-september-1-2020-coronavirus-the-cdcmodified-its-coronavirus-testing-guidelinesto-exclude-people-who-do-not-have-symptoms-of-covid-19-while-dr-fauci-2/

POST 45. September 9, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Trump on Fauci. ‘You inherit a lot of people, and you have some you love, some you don’t. I like him. I don’t agree with him that often but I like him.’

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/09/post-45-september-9-2020-coronavirus-trump-on-fauci-you-inherit-a-lot-of-people-and-you-have-some-you-love-some-you-dont-i-like-him-i-dont-agree-with-him-that-often-but-i-like-him-2/

POST 46. September 17, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Bill Gates used to think of the US Food and Drug Administration as the world’s premier public-health authority. Not anymore. And he doesn’t trust the Centers for Disease Control and Protection either….”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/09/post-46-september-17-2020-coronavirus-bill-gates-used-to-think-of-the-us-food-and-drug-administration-as-the-worlds-premier-public-health-authority-not-anymore-and-he-doesn-2/

POST 47. September 24, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Perry N. Halkitis, dean of the School of Public Health at Rutgers University…called New York City’s 35 percent rate for eliciting contacts “very bad.” “For each person, you should be in touch with 75 percent of their contacts within a day,” he said”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/09/post-47-september-24-2020-coronavirus-perry-n-halkitis-dean-of-the-school-of-public-health-at-rutgers-universitycalled-new-york-citys-35-percent-rate-for-eliciting-con/

POST 48. October 1, 2020. “…you can actually control the outbreak if you do the nonpharmaceutical interventions (social distancing and masks). In the United States we haven’t done them. We haven’t adhered to them; we’ve played with them.” (A)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/09/post-48-october-1-2020-you-can-actually-control-the-outbreak-if-you-do-the-nonpharmaceutical-interventions-social-distancing-and-masks-in-the-united-states-we-havent-done-t-2/

POST 49. October 4, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. RAPID RESPONSE. “The possibility that the president and his White House entourage were traveling superspreaders is a nightmare scenario for officials in Minnesota, Ohio, New Jersey and Pennsylvania…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/10/post-49-october-4-2020-coronavirus-rapid-response-the-possibility-that-the-president-and-his-white-house-entourage-were-traveling-superspreaders-is-a-nightmare-scenario-for-officials-in/

POST 50. October 6, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Monday October 5th will go down as one of the most fraught chapters in the history of American public Health (and national security).

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/10/post-50-october-6-2020-coronavirus-monday-october-5th-will-go-down-as-one-of-the-most-fraught-chapters-in-the-history-of-american-public-health-and-national-security/

POST 51. October 12, 2020. Rather than a hodge-podge of Emergency Use Authorizations, off-label “experimentation”, right-to-try arguments, and “politicized” compassionate use approvals maybe we need to designate REGIONAL EMERGING VIRUSES REFERRAL CENTERS (REVRCs).

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/10/post-51-october-14-2020-rather-than-a-hodge-podge-of-emergency-use-authorizations-off-label-experimentation-right-to-try-arguments-and-politicized-compassiona/

POST 52. October 18, 2020. ZIKA/ EBOLA/ CANDIDA AURIS/ SEVERE FLU/ Tracking. “… if there was a severe flu pandemic, more than 33 million people could be killed across the world in 250 days… Boy, do we not have our act together.” —”- Bill Gates. July 1, 2018

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/10/post-52-october-18-2020-zika-ebola-candida-auris-severe-flu-tracking-if-there-was-a-severe-flu-pandemic-more-than-33-million-people-could-be-killed-across-the-world-in-250/

POST 53. October 20, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “a…“herd-immunity strategy” is a contradiction in terms, in that herd immunity is the absence of a strategy.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/10/post-53-october-20-2020-coronavirus-aherd-immunity-strategy-is-a-contradiction-in-terms-in-that-herd-immunity-is-the-absence-of-a-strategy/

POST 54. October 22, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. POST 54A. New Jersey’s Coronavirus response, led by Governor Murphy and Commissioner of Health Persichilli started with accelerated A+ traditional, evidence-based Public Health practices, developed over years of experience with seasonal flu, swine flu, Zika, and Ebola.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/10/post-54a-october-23-2020-coronavirus-new-jerseys-coronavirus-response-led-by-governor-murphy-and-commissioner-of-health-persichilli-started-with-accelerated-a-traditional-evidence-base/

POST 55. October 26, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. The Testing Conundrum: “ It’s thus very possible to be antigen negative but P.C.R. positive, while still harboring the virus in the body..”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/10/post-55-october-26-2020-coronavirus-the-testing-conundrum-its-thus-very-possible-to-be-antigen-negative-but-p-c-r-positive-while-still-harboring-the-virus-in-the-body/

Post 56. October 30, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Trump’s now back in charge. It’s not the doctors.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/10/post-56-october-30-2020-coronavirus-trumps-now-back-in-charge-its-not-the-doctors/

POST 57. November 3, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Dr. Deborah Birx: the US is entering its “most deadly phase” yet, one that requires “much more aggressive action,”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-57-november-3-2020-coronavirus-dr-deborah-birx-the-us-is-entering-its-most-deadly-phase-yet-one-that-requires-much-more-aggressive-action/

POST 58. November 4, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “…the president has largely shuttered the White House Coronavirus Task Force and doubled down on anti-science language…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-58-november-4-2020-coronavirus-the-president-has-largely-shuttered-the-white-house-coronavirus-task-force-and-doubled-down-on-anti-science-language/

POST 59. November 5, 2020. Coronavirus. “The United States on Wednesday recorded over 100,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time since the pandemic began..

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-59-november-5-2020-coronavirus-the-united-states-on-wednesday-recorded-over-100000-new-coronavirus-cases-in-a-single-day-for-the-first-time-since-the-pandemic-began/

POST 60. November 7, 2020. “White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has tested positive for the coronavirus….” (A)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-60-november-7-2020-white-house-chief-of-staff-mark-meadows-has-tested-positive-for-the-coronavirus-a/

POST 61. November 7, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Joe Biden’s top priority entering the White House is fighting both the immediate coronavirus crisis and its complex long-term aftermath…” “Here are the key ways he plans to get US coronavirus cases under control.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-61-november-7-2020-coronavirus-joe-bidens-top-priority-entering-the-white-house-is-fighting-both-the-immediate-coronavirus-crisis-and-its-complex-long-term-aftermath/

POST 62. November 8, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “The United States reported its 10 millionth coronavirus case on Sunday, with the latest million added in just 10 days,…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-62-november-8-2020-coronavirus-the-united-states-reported-its-10-millionth-coronavirus-case-on-sunday-with-the-latest-million-added-in-just-10-days/

POST 63. November 9, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System has opened a center to help patients recovering from COVID-19 and to study the long-term impact of the disease….”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-63-november-9-2020-coronavirus-new-york-city-based-mount-sinai-health-system-has-opened-a-center-to-help-patients-recovering-from-covid-19-and-to-study-the-long-term-impact-of-the-di/

POST 64. November 10, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “It works! Scientists have greeted with cautious optimism a press release declaring positive interim results from a coronavirus vaccine phase III trial — the first to report on the final round of human testing.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-64-november-10-2020-coronavirus-it-works-scientists-have-greeted-with-cautious-optimism-a-press-release-declaring-positive-interim-results-from-a-coronavirus-vaccine-phase-iii-trial/

POST 65. November 11, 2020. CORONAVIRUS, “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took a stronger stance in favor of masks on Tuesday, emphasizing that they protect the people wearing them, rather than just those around them…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-65-november-11-2020-coronavirus-the-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-took-a-stronger-stance-in-favor-of-masks-on-tuesday-emphasizing-that-they-protect-the-people-wearing-t/

POST 66. November.12, 2020. CORONAVIRUS.”… as the country enters what may be the most intense stage of the pandemic yet, the Trump administration remains largely disengaged.”… “President-elect Biden has formed a special transition team dedicated to coordinating the coronavirus response across the government…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-66-novembetr12-2020-coronavirus-as-the-country-enters-what-may-be-the-most-intense-stage-of-the-pandemic-yet-the-trump-administration-remains-largely-disengaged/

POST 67. November 13, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “When all other options are exhausted, the CDC website says, workers who are suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19 (and “who are well enough to work”) can care for patients who are not severely immunocompromised — first for those who are also confirmed to have COVID-19, then those with suspected cases.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-67-november-13-2020-coronavirus-when-all-other-options-are-exhausted-the-cdc-website-says-workers-who-are-suspected-or-confirmed-to-have-covid-19-and-who-are-well-enough/

POST 68. November 14, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. The CDC “now is hewing more closely to scientific evidence, often contradicting the positions of the Trump administration.”..” “A passenger aboard the first cruise ship to set sail in the Caribbean since the start of the pandemic has tested positive for coronavirus..”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-68-november-14-2020-coronavirus-the-cdc-now-is-hewing-more-closely-to-scientific-evidence-often-contradicting-the-positions-of-the-trump-administration/

POST 69. November 15, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Colorado Gov. Jared Polis will issue a new executive order outlining steps hospitals will need to take to ready themselves for a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations and directing the hospitals to finalize plans for converting beds into ICU beds, adding staffing and scaling back on or eliminating elective procedures….

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-69-november-15-2020-coronavirus-colorado-gov-jared-polis-will-issue-a-new-executive-order-outlining-steps-hospitals-will-need-to-take-to-ready-themselves-for-a-surge-in-covid-19-hos/

POST 70. November 16, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Atlas criticized Michigan’s new Covid-19 restrictions..urging people to “rise up” against the new public health measures.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-70-november-16-2020-coronavirus-white-house-coronavirus-task-force-member-dr-atlas-criticized-michigans-new-covid-19-restrictions-urging-people-to-rise-up-against-the-new-pub/

POST 71. November 17, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. ”Hospitals overrun as U.S. reports 1 million new coronavirus cases in a week.” “But in Florida, where the number of coronavirus infections remains the third-highest in the nation, bars and schools remain open and restaurants continue to operate at full capacity.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-71-november-17-2020-coronavirus-hospitals-overrun-as-u-s-reports-1-million-new-coronavirus-cases-in-a-week-but-in-florida-where-the-number-of-coronavirus-infecti/

POST 72. November 18, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “The Health and Human Services Department will not work with President-elect Joe Biden’s (PANDEMIC) team until the General Services Administration makes a determination that he won the election,….”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-72-november-18-2020-coronavirus-the-health-and-human-services-department-will-not-work-with-president-elect-joe-bidens-pandemic-team-until-the-general-services-administration-mak/

POST 73. November 19, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “…officials at the CDC…urged Americans to avoid travel for Thanksgiving and to celebrate only with members of their immediate households…” When will I trust a vaccine? to the last question I always answer: When I see Tony Fauci take one….”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-73-november-19-2020-coronavirus-officials-at-the-cdcurged-americans-to-avoid-travel-for-thanksgiving-and-to-celebrate-only-with-members-of-their-immediate-household-2/

POST 74. November 20, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Pfizer…submitted to the FDA for emergency use authorization for their coronavirus vaccine candidate. —FDA issued an EUA for the drug baricitinib, in combination with remdesivir, as WHO says remdesivir doesn’t do much of anything.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-74-november-20-2020-coronavirus-pfizersubmitted-to-the-fda-for-emergency-use-authorization-for-their-coronavirus-vaccine-candidate-fda-issued-an-eua-for-the-drug-baricitinib-in/

POST 75. November 21, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “The president and CEO of one of the nation’s largest non-profit health systems says he won’t be wearing a mask at work because he’s recovered from COVID-19, and doing so would only be a “symbolic gesture” because he considers himself immune from the virus….

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-75-november-21-2020-coronavirus-the-president-and-ceo-of-one-of-the-nations-largest-non-profit-health-systems-says-he-wont-be-wearing-a-mask-at-work-because-hes-recovered-from-2/

POST 76. November 23, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.” Ventilators..”just keep people alive while the people caring for them can figure out what’s wrong and fix the problem. And at the moment, we just don’t have enough of those people.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-76-november-23-2020-coronavirus-no-battle-plan-survives-contact-with-the-enemy-ventilators-just-keep-people-alive-while-the-people-caring-for-them-can-figure-out/

POST 77. November 26, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Pope Francis: “When I got really sick at the age of 21, I had my first experience of limit, of pain and loneliness.”.. “….Aug. 13, 1957. I got taken to a hospital…”….” I remember especially two nurses from this time.”…” They fought for me to the end, until my eventual recovery.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-77-november-26-2020-coronavirus-pope-francis-when-i-got-really-sick-at-the-age-of-21-i-had-my-first-experience-of-limit-of-pain-and-loneliness-aug/

POST 78. November 27, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Kelby Krabbenhoft is no longer president and CEO of Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health.” “…for not wearing a face covering… “ because “He considered himself immune from the virus.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-78-november-27-2020-coronavirus-kelby-krabbenhoft-is-no-longer-president-and-ceo-of-sioux-falls-s-d-based-sanford-health-for-not-wearing-a-face-covering/

POST 79. November 28, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Mayo Clinic. “”Our surge plan expands into the garage…”..””Not where I’d want to put my grandfather or my grandmother,” … though it “may have to happen.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-79-november-28-2020-coronavirus-mayo-clinic-our-surge-plan-expands-into-the-garage-not-where-id-want-to-put-my-grandfather-or-my-grandmother/

POST 80. November 29, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Op-Ed in the Jersey Journal. Do you know which hospital is right for you if you have coronavirus? | Opinion

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-80-november-29-2020-coronavirus-oped-in-the-jersey-journal-do-you-know-which-hospital-is-right-for-you-if-you-have-coronavirus-opinion/

POST 81. December 1, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Dr. Atlas, … who espoused controversial theories and rankled government scientists while advising President Trump on the coronavirus pandemic, resigned…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-81-december-1-2020-coronavirus-dr-atllas-who-espoused-controversial-theories-and-rankled-government-scientists-while-advising-president-trump-on-the-coronavirus-pandemic/

POST 82. December 3, 2020. CORONAVIRIUS. The NBA jumped to the front of the line for Coronavirus testing….while front line nurses often are still waiting. Who will similarly “hijack” the vaccine?

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-82-december-3-2020-coronavirius-the-nba-jumped-to-the-front-of-the-line-for-coronavirus-testing-while-front-line-nurses-often-are-still-waiting-who-will-similarly-hijack-2/

POST 83. December 4, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he will impose a new, regional stay-at-home order for areas where capacity at intensive care units falls below 15%.”… East Tennessee –“This is the first time the health care capability benchmark has been in the red..”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-83-december-4-2020-coronavirus-california-gov-gavin-newsom-says-he-will-impose-a-new-regional-stay-at-home-order-for-areas-where-capacity-at-intensive-care-units-falls-below-15/

POST 84. December 6, 2020. CPRONAVIRUS. “ More than 100,000 Americans are in the hospital with COVID-19…” “We’re seeing C.D.C. …awaken from (its) politics-induced coma…”…Dr. Fauci “to be a chief medical adviser in Biden’s incoming administration..”.. “Trump administration leaves states to grapple with how to distribute scarce vaccines..”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-84-december-6-2020-cpronavirus-more-than-100000-americans-are-in-the-hospital-with-covid-19-were-seeing-c-d-c-awaken-from-its-politi/

POST 85. December 7, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “…Florida, Gov. DeSantis’ administration engaged in a pattern of spin and concealment that misled the public on the gravest health threat the state has ever faced..”.. “NY Gov. Cuomo said…the state will implement a barrage of new emergency actions..”… Rhode Island and Massachusetts open field hospitals… “Biden Names Health Team to Fight Pandemic”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-85-december-7-2020-coronavirus-florida-gov-desantis-administration-engaged-in-a-pattern-of-spin-and-concealment-that-misled-the-public-on-the-gravest-health-threat-the-s/

POST 86. December 9, 2020. If this analysis seems a bit incomprehensible it is because “free Coronavirus test” is often an oxymoron! with charges ranging from as little as $23 to as much as $2,315… Laws (like for free Coronavirus tests) are Like Sausages. Better Not to See Them Being Made. (Please allow about 20 seconds for the text to download. Thanx!)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-86-december-9-2020-if-this-analysis-seems-a-bit-incomprehensible-it-is-because-free-coronavirus-test-is-often-an-oxymoron-with-charges-ranging-from-as-little-as-23-to-as-mu/

POST 87. December 10, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “…Rudolph W. Giuliani, the latest member of President Trump’s inner circle to contract Covid-19, has acknowledged that he received at least two of the same drugs the president received. He even conceded that his “celebrity” status had given him access to care that others did not have.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-87-december-12-2020-coronavirus-rudolph-w-giuliani-the-latest-member-of-president-trumps-inner-circle-to-contract-covid-19-has-acknowledged-that-he-received-at-l/

POST 88. December 11, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “As COVID-19 cases surge, the federal government is releasing data about hospital capacity at facilities around the country….”The new data paints the picture of how a specific hospital is experiencing the pandemic,”…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-88-december-11-2020-coronavirus-as-covid-19-cases-surge-the-federal-government-is-releasing-data-about-hospital-capacity-at-facilities-around-the-country-the-new-data-pai/

PART 89. December 12, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. THE VACCINE!!! “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Winston Churchill

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/part-89-december-12-2020-coronavirus-the-vaccine-now-this-is-not-the-end-it-is-not-even-the-beginning-of-the-end-but-it-is-perhaps-the-end-of-the-beginning-winston-church/

POST 90. December 14, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “…the first doses of a Covid-19 vaccine have been given to the American public..”…” Each person who receives a vaccine needs two doses, and it’s up to states to allocate their share of vaccines.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-90-december-14-2020-coronavirus-the-first-doses-of-a-covid-19-vaccine-have-been-given-to-the-american-public-each-person-who-receives-a-vaccine/

POST 91. December 15, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “UPMC will first give (vaccination) priority to those in critical jobs. That includes a range of people working in critical units, from workers cleaning the emergency room and registering patients to doctors and nurses.. “Finally, if needed, UPMC will use a lottery to select who will be scheduled first.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-91-december-15-2020-coronavirus-upmc-will-first-give-vaccination-priority-to-those-in-critical-jobs-that-includes-a-range-of-people-working-in-critical-units-from-workers-cleanin/

POST 92. December 17, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “..each state — and each hospital system — has come up with its own (vaccination) plan and priorities. The result has been a sometimes confusing constellation of rules and groupings that has left health care workers wondering where they stand.” (Trump appointee July 4th email “…we need to establish herd, and it only comes about allowing the non-high risk groups expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD,”)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-92-december-17-2020-coronavirus-each-state-and-each-hospital-system-has-come-up-with-its-own-vaccination-plan-and-priorities-the-result-has-been-a-sometimes/

POST 93. December 19, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. On NPR Congresswoman Shalala (D-Florida) said she wouldn’t jump the vaccination line in Miami; then added she would get vaccinated in Washington this week. This, even though Congress has failed to pass “essential” Coronavirus legislation. So who are our “essential” workers?

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-93-december-19-2020-coronavirus-on-npr-congresswoman-shalala-d-florida-said-she-wouldnt-jump-the-vaccination-line-in-miami-then-added-she-would-get-vaccinated-in-washington-this/

POST 94. December 21, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “A doctor at an L.A. County public hospital said the number of COVID-19 patients is “increasing exponentially, without an end in sight.”.. “I haven’t done ICU medicine since I was a resident — you don’t want me adjusting your ventilator,” he said. “That’s the challenge, actually — it isn’t so much space, it’s staff…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-94-december-21-2020-coronavirus-a-doctor-at-an-l-a-county-public-hospital-said-the-number-of-covid-19-patients-is-increasing-exponentially-without-an-end-in-sight/

POST 95. December 23, 2020. “The Murphy administration may step in to force (New Jersey) hospitals to report COVID-19 outbreaks among staff.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-95-december-23-2020-the-murphy-administration-may-step-in-to-force-new-jersey-hospitals-to-report-covid-19-outbreaks-among-staff/

POST 96. December 26, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Achieving herd immunity against the coronavirus could require as much as 90 percent of the population to be vaccinated, Anthony Fauci…”…”..he hesitated to state a number as high as 90% weeks ago because many Americans still seemed skeptical about vaccine….”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-96-december-26-2020-coronavirus-achieving-herd-immunity-against-the-coronavirus-could-require-as-much-as-90-percent-of-the-population-to-be-vaccinated-anthony-fauci/

POST 97. December 27, 2020. “A new variant of the coronavirus that has been spreading through the UK and other countries has not yet been detected in the United States..”.. . But if new-wave medicines like antivirals and antibody therapy contributed to the development of viral variants, it will be “a reminder for all the medical community that we need to use these treatment options carefully.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-97-december-27-2020-a-new-variant-of-the-coronavirus-that-has-been-spreading-through-the-uk-and-other-countries-has-not-yet-been-detected-in-the-united-states-but-if-ne/

POST 98. December 28, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Governor Andrew Cuomo announced new penalties in order to rein in possible vaccination fraud…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-98-december-28-2020-coronavirus-governor-andrew-cuomo-announced-new-penalties-in-order-to-rein-in-possible-vaccination-fraud/

POST 99. December 29, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “ICUs are being overwhelmed across many parts of California. Statewide aggregate ICU availability has been at 0% since Christmas Eve…. a surge on top of a surge on top of a surge.”… “hospitals are getting close to the point where they would begin putting COVID-positive patients under the care of COVID-positive staff who are asymptomatic.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-99-december-29-2020-coronavirus-icus-are-being-overwhelmed-across-many-parts-of-california-statewide-aggregate-icu-availability-has-been-at-0-since-christmas-eve-a-surge-o/

POST 100. December 29, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Front line hospital workers – in the ER, ICUs, EMS, acute medical care, behavioral health – are amongst the most courageous, heroic and dedicated colleagues you will ever meet.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-100-december-29-2020-coronavirus-front-line-hospital-workers-in-the-er-icus-ems-acute-medical-care-behavioral-health-are-amongst-the-most-courageous-heroic-and-dedica/

POST 101. December 30, 2020.CORONAVIRUS. Is there a point where the increasing Coronavirus trajectory so far exceeds the slow growth of the vaccination rate that reaching herd immunity through vaccinations becomes less likely?

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-101-december-30-2020-coronavirus-is-there-a-point-where-the-increasing-coronavirus-trajectory-so-far-exceeds-the-slow-growth-of-the-vaccination-rate-that-reaching-herd-immunity-through-vaccin/

POST 102. January 2, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “We’ve taken the people with the least amount of resources and capacity and asked them to do the hardest part of the vaccination — which is actually getting the vaccines administered into people’s arms,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health. “Ultimately, the buck seems to stop with no one,”…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-102-january-2-2020-coronavirus-weve-taken-the-people-with-the-least-amount-of-resources-and-capacity-and-asked-them-to-do-the-hardest-part-of-the-vaccination-which/

POST 103. January 4, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Dr. Fauci said “that the United States would not follow Britain’s lead in front-loading first vaccine injections, potentially delaying the administration of second doses…Dr. Moore – ”British officials “seem to have abandoned science completely now and are just trying to guess their way out of a mess.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-103-january-4-2021-coronavirus-dr-fauci-said-that-the-united-states-would-not-follow-britains-lead-in-front-loading-first-vaccine-injections-potentially-delaying-the-admin/

POST 104. January 6, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Paramedics in Southern California are being told to conserve oxygen and not to bring patients to the hospital who have little chance of survival…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-104-january-6-2021-coronavirus-paramedics-in-southern-california-are-being-told-to-conserve-oxygen-and-not-to-bring-patients-to-the-hospital-who-have-little-chance-of-survival/

POST 105. January 8, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. POST 105. January 8, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Facing a shortage of vaccinators, the Association of Immunization Managers… recommends relaxing regulation or adjusting licensing requirements. At least two states, Massachusetts and New York, have changed their laws in recent weeks to expand those who are eligible to give shots.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-105-january-8-2021-coronavirus-being-able-to-staff-vaccination-clinics-with-volunteers-from-our-reserve-workforce-means-that-staff-at-the-vaccination-sites-can-continue-to-perform-th/

POST 106. January 9, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. The riots at the Capitol could have been a superspreader event. “From what I saw… you had a large congregation of individuals who were in close contact for an extended period of time and almost universally unmasked…. many coming and going on buses as well, also unmasked, and hanging out in hotel lobbies.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-106-january-9-2021-coronavirus-the-riots-at-the-capitol-could-have-been-a-superspreader-event-from-what-i-saw-you-had-a-large-congregation-of-individuals-who-were-in-close/

POST 107. January 8, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Our job is to make sure the vaccine isn’t politicized the way masks were politicized,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said after getting her vaccine. South Carolina Rep.-elect Nancy Mace, a Republican, wrote that “Congress shouldn’t be putting themselves first in line for the COVID-19 vaccination when the average American can’t get it.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-107-january-8-2021-coronavirus-our-job-is-to-make-sure-the-vaccine-isnt-politicized-the-way-masks-were-politicized-rep-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-d-n-y-said-after-getting-her-vaccine/

POST 108. January 9, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. (vaccination)”Line-cutters will be named and shamed. It’s inevitable, as will be the congressional hearings and front-page investigative stories ferreting out who saved their own skin at the expense of others.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-108-january-9-2021-coronavirus-vaccinationline-cutters-will-be-named-and-shamed-its-inevitable-as-will-be-the-congressional-hearings-and-front-page-investigative-stories/

POST 109.January 9, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “President-elect Joe Biden will aim to release nearly every available dose of the coronavirus vaccine when he takes office, a break with the Trump administration’s strategy of holding back half of US vaccine production to ensure second doses are available.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-109-january-9-2021-coronavirus-president-elect-joe-biden-will-aim-to-release-nearly-every-available-dose-of-the-coronavirus-vaccine-when-he-takes-office-a-break-with-the-trump-admini/

POST 110. January 13, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. ““The (federal) government is changing the way it allocates Covid vaccine doses, now basing it on how quickly states can administer shots and the size of their elderly population.”… “New York State sent a letter to hospitals saying if they don’t use their vaccine allocations by the end of this week, they won’t receive any further allocations.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-110-january-13-2021-coronavirus-the-federal-government-is-changing-the-way-it-allocates-covid-vaccine-doses-now-basing-it-on-how-quickly-states-can-administer-shots-and-t/

POST 111. January 14, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Visitors from Toronto to New York to Buenos Aires have long flocked to Florida for sun, surf and shopping. Now they are coming for the Covid-19 vaccine….

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-111-january-14-2021-coronavirus-visitors-from-toronto-to-new-york-to-buenos-aires-have-long-flocked-to-florida-for-sun-surf-and-shopping-now-they-are-coming-for-the-covid-19-vaccin/

POST 112. January 14, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. CHINA – “Eleven million people are under lockdown in Hebei province after a new cluster of coronavirus infections.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-112-january-14-2021-coronavirus-china-eleven-million-people-are-under-lockdown-in-hebei-province-after-a-new-cluster-of-coronavirus-infections/

PART 113. January 17, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. The Next President Actually Has a Covid Plan… New York City and other places in the state expect to exhaust their supply of doses as early as next week… Charles Barkley said during the “NBA on TNT” broadcast that pro athletes should get the first round of the vaccine…..

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/part-113-january-17-2021-coronavirus-the-next-president-actually-has-a-covid-plan-new-york-city-and-other-places-in-the-state-expect-to-exhaust-their-supply-of-doses-as-early-as-next-week/

POST 114. January 18, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “When government programs that have been unattended, underfunded and bogged down by red tape suddenly have to meet a huge demand in a crisis, they can’t cope and people suffer….”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-114-january-18-2021-coronavirus-when-government-programs-that-have-been-unattended-underfunded-and-bogged-down-by-red-tape-suddenly-have-to-meet-a-huge-demand-in-a-crisis-they-can/

POST 115. January 21, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. A year ago today an unnumbered POST was headlined “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday confirmed the first U.S. case of a deadly new coronavirus that has killed six people in China.” The CORONAVIRUS CONTENT TRACKING PROJECT started with HISTORIOGRAPHY and over time moved to LESSONS LEARNED, RAPID RESPONSE, and THE VACCINATION PROGRAM. Now 115 POSTS later – the BIDEN CORONAVIRUS PLAN.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-115-january-21-2020-coronavirus-a-year-ago-today-an-unnumbered-post-was-headlined-the-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-on-tuesday-confirmed-the-first-u-s-case-of-a-deadly/

POST 116. January 22, 2021. President Biden – “We’re entering what may be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus. We must set aside politics and finally face this pandemic as one nation.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-116-january-22-2021-president-biden-were-entering-what-may-be-the-toughest-and-deadliest-period-of-the-virus-we-must-set-aside-politics-and-finally-face-this-pandemic-as-one-nation/

POST 117. January 23, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. 1.Dr. Fauci:“The idea that you can get up here….”and.. let the science speak”… “It is somewhat of a liberating feeling.” 2.updated CDC guidance:”.. providers could give the second dose up to six weeks after the first dose..” 3.Dr. Fauci: people would be “taking a chance” if they follow the CDC’s updated guidance.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-117-january-23-2021-coronavirus-1-dr-faucithe-idea-that-you-can-get-up-here-and-let-the-science-speak-it-is-somewhat-of-a-liberating/

POST 118. January 24, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Unfortunately, we’ve let this virus spread extensively and are launching the vaccination campaign at the height of the threat,” Dr. Meyers said. “The more the virus spreads before the vaccine reaches people, the fewer deaths we can prevent with the vaccine.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-118-january-24-2021-coronavirus-unfortunately-weve-let-this-virus-spread-extensively-and-are-launching-the-vaccination-campaign-at-the-height-of-the-threat-dr-meyers-sa/

POST 119. January 27, 2010. CORONAVIRUS. Amazon is offering its help to President Joe Biden with the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. Washington’s governor, Jay Inslee, included the help of companies like Starbucks, Costco and Microsoft in a plan to vaccinate 45,000 residents a day.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/to-get-each-new-post-free-and-automatically-by-email-please-use-the-subscription-portal-in-the-right-column-of-the-home-page-at-http-doctordidyouwashyourhands-com-then-you-will-get-an-email/

POST 120. January 28, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “The fact that four vaccines backed by the federal government seem to be less effective against the (South African) B.1.351 variant has unsettled federal officials and vaccine experts alike. Facing this uncertainty, many researchers said it was imperative to get as many people vaccinated as possible — quickly. Lowering the rate of infection could thwart the contagious variants while they are still rare, and prevent other viruses from gaining new mutations that could cause more trouble.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-120-january-28-2021-coronavirus-the-fact-that-four-vaccines-backed-by-the-federal-government-seem-to-be-less-effective-against-the-south-african-b-1-351-variant-has-unsettled-feder/

POST 121. January 30, 2021. CORONVIRUS. Will our communities become stratified by which vaccine is distributed? 95%ters v. 72%ters? Will the easier distribution of the J&J vaccine drive its inequitable distribution to” hard-hit, marginalized, and medically underserved communities.” (thanx! to XJ/LA)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-121-january-30-2021-coronvirus-will-our-communities-become-stratified-by-which-vaccine-is-distributed-95ters-v-72ters-will-the-easier-distribution-of-the-jj-vaccine-drive-its-inequitable/

POST 122. February 1, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Dr.Fauci endorses double-masking. Dr.Osterholm disagrees!

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-122-february-1-2021-coronavirus-dr-fauci-endorses-double-masking-dr-osterholm-disagrees/

POST 123. February 4, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Nursing homes across the country are facing the same struggle, as workers have been more reluctant than residents to be vaccinated…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-123-february-4-2021-coronavirus-nursing-homes-across-the-country-are-facing-the-same-struggle-as-workers-have-been-more-reluctant-than-residents-to-be-vaccinated/

POST 124. February 5, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Dr. Osterholm ” …it may be time to..go with a ‘first-dose only’ approach, so more people over the age of 65 can have at least some protection right away. He said that would require delaying second doses until this summer.” Dr.Fauci “warned against this practice, and cautioned people about “the danger” that could come with focusing only on the first dose.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-124-february-5-2021-coronavirus-dr-osterholm-it-may-be-time-to-go-with-a-first-dose-only-approach-so-more-people-over-the-age-of-65-can-have-at-least-some-protection/

POST 125. June 9, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “States are rolling back Covid-19 restrictions as new cases trend down from record highs across the country. But experts warn it might be too much too soon as variants pose an increased risk and the pandemic… is far from over.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-125-june-9-2021-coronavirus-states-are-rolling-back-covid-19-restrictions-as-new-cases-trend-down-from-record-highs-across-the-country-but-experts-warn-it-might-be-too-much-too-soon/

POST 126. February 11, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “There will be more coronavirus outbreaks in the future. Bats and other mammals are rife with strains and species of this abundant family of viruses. Some of these pathogens will inevitably spill over the species barrier and cause new pandemics. It’s only a matter of time.” (A)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-126-february-11-2021-coronavirus-there-will-be-more-coronavirus-outbreaks-in-the-future-bats-and-other-mammals-are-rife-with-strains-and-species-of-this-abundant-family-of-viruses-2/

POST 127. February 12, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “… Trump only agreed to be hospitalized when aides told him that he could walk to Marine One or he could wait until his case progressed and he would be carried out.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-127-february-12-2021-coronavirus-trump-only-agreed-to-be-hospitalized-when-aides-told-him-that-he-could-walk-to-marine-one-or-he-could-wait-until-his-case-progressed-and-he/

POST 128. February 14, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new research on Wednesday that found wearing a cloth mask over a surgical mask offers more protection against the coronavirus, as does tying knots on the ear loops of surgical masks…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-127-february-13-2021-coronavirus-the-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-released-new-research-on-wednesday-that-found-wearing-a-cloth-mask-over-a-surgical-mask-offers-more-pr/

POST 129. February 15, 2021, CORONAVIRUS. “ “The CDC released its much-anticipated, updated guidance to help school leaders decide how to safely bring students back into classrooms, or keep them there.”…” For politicians, parents and school leaders looking for a clear green light to reopen schools, this is not it.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-129-february-15-2021-coronavirus-the-cdc-released-its-much-anticipated-updated-guidance-to-help-school-leaders-decide-how-to-safely-bring-students-back-into-classrooms-or/

POST 130. February 16, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “A second person who had contracted the Ebola virus died this week in the Democratic Republic of Congo, marking another outbreak just three months after the nation outlasted the virus’s second-worst outbreak in history…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-130-february-16-2021-coronavirus-a-second-person-who-had-contracted-the-ebola-virus-died-this-week-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congo-marking-another-outbreak-just-three-months-aft/

POST 131. February 17, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “It really is right now – a race between how quickly new variants, particularly the U.K. variant, can spread in the United States and how quickly we can get people vaccinated”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-131-february-17-2021-coronavirus-it-really-is-right-now-a-race-between-how-quickly-new-variants-particularly-the-u-k-variant-can-spread-in-the-united-states-and-how-quickly-we/

POST 132. February 20, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “In Texas, where over 2.5 million people are still without power, the state health department said this week’s vaccine shipments wouldn’t arrive until Wednesday at the earliest.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-132-february-20-2021-coronavirus-in-texas-where-over-2-5-million-people-are-still-without-power-the-state-health-department-said-this-weeks-vaccine-shipments-wouldnt-arrive-unt/

POST 133. February 23, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Going off your meds is a surefire way to aggravate your doctor. What if a whole country did it?” The United Kingdom has veered into uncharted territory by changing tack and introducing a revised COVID-19 vaccination protocol, one that involves distributing the second dose at 12 weeks, rather than the prescribed 21 days.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-133-february-23-2021-coronavirus-going-off-your-meds-is-a-surefire-way-to-aggravate-your-doctor-what-if-a-whole-country-did-it-the-united-kingdom-has-veered-into-uncharted/

POST 134. February 24, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. The first tranche of the J&J (single dose) vaccine must go to K-12 teachers, so schools can open safely in the first 100 days of the Biden Administration. The federal government…”can set up its own vaccination centers in regions with eligible populations it’s trying to target.” We owe our front-line teachers nothing less!

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-134-february-24-2021-coronavirus-the-first-tranche-of-the-jj-vaccine-must-go-to-k-12-teachers-the-federal-governmentcan-set-up-its-own-vaccination-centers-in-regions-with/

POST 135. February 27, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “As Chief Executive Officers of New York’s major health care systems, we would like to provide facts to clear up confusion in the public and the media regarding decisions to discharge patients to nursing homes during New York’s spring coronavirus surge.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-135-february-27-2021-coronavirus-as-chief-executive-officers-of-new-yorks-major-health-care-systems-we-would-like-to-provide-facts-to-clear-up-confusion-in-the-public-and-the-medi/

POST 136. March 2, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. ““The governors of Texas and Mississippi both announced on Tuesday they would be lifting their states’ mask mandates and rolling back many of their Covid-19 health mandates..”…while “The US could experience a “fourth surge” of coronavirus before the majority of the country is vaccinated.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/03/post-136-march-2-2021-coronavirus-the-governors-of-texas-and-mississippi-both-announced-on-tuesday-they-would-be-lifting-their-states-mask-mandates-and-rolling-back-many-of-the/

POST 137. March 4, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “The clamor for hard-to-get Covid-19 vaccines has created armies of anxious Americans who have resorted to hunting for leftovers on the fringes of the country’s patchwork vaccination system. They haunt pharmacies at the end of the day in search of an extra, expiring dose. They drive from clinic to clinic hoping that someone was a no-show to their appointment. They cold-call pharmacies like eager telemarketers: Any extras today? Maybe tomorrow? Some pharmacists have even given them a nickname: vaccine lurkers.” (H)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/03/post-137-march-4-2021-coronavirus-the-clamor-for-hard-to-get-covid-19-vaccines-has-created-armies-of-anxious-americans-who-have-resorted-to-hunting-for-leftovers-on-the-fringes-of-the-cou/

POST 138. March 6, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “New cases are decreasing in the third wave because we are past the holidays, not because of vaccinations. It is a common misconception that the decrease we are seeing in new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in the U.S. is due to vaccinations. The two aren’t related; at least yet.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/03/post-138-march-6-2021-coronavirus-new-cases-are-decreasing-in-the-third-wave-because-we-are-past-the-holidays-not-because-of-vaccinations-it-is-a-common-misconception-that-the-decrease/

POST 139. March 8, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. CDC Issues First Set of Guidelines on How Fully Vaccinated People Can Visit Safely with Others…” In practice, that means fully vaccinated grandparents may visit unvaccinated healthy adult children and healthy grandchildren of the same household without masks or physical distancing.” (C)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/03/post-139-march-8-2021-coronavirus-cdc-issues-first-set-of-guidelines-on-how-fully-vaccinated-people-can-visit-safely-with-others-in-practice-that-means-fully-vaccinated-grandpar/

POST 140. March 9, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “In West Virginia, they are bracing for the second wave….. Not coronavirus but opioid overdoses, with one scourge driving a resurgence of the other.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/03/post-140-march-9-2021-coronavirus-in-west-virginia-they-are-bracing-for-the-second-wave-not-coronavirus-but-opioid-overdoses-with-one-scourge-driving-a-resurgence-of-the-othe/

POST 141. March 11, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Today is the first anniversary of the WHO declaration that the novel coronavirus was a Public Health Emergency of International Concern… “To truly prepare itself against the next pandemic, the U.S. has to reimagine what preparedness looks like.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/03/post-141-march-11-2021-coronavirus-today-is-the-first-anniversary-of-the-who-declaration-that-the-novel-coronavirus-was-a-public-health-emergency-of-international-concern-to-trul/

POST 142. March 15, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Candida auris is a superbug, a pathogen that can evade drugs made to kill it—and early signs suggest the COVID-19 pandemic may be propelling infections of the highly dangerous yeast. That’s because C. auris is particularly prominent in hospital settings, which have been flooded with people this year due to the coronavirus.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/03/post-142-march-15-2021-coronavirus-candida-auris-is-a-superbug-a-pathogen-that-can-evade-drugs-made-to-kill-it-and-early-signs-suggest-the-covid-19-pandemic-may-be-propelling-inf-2/

POST 143. March 17, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “The Trump administration sought to suppress Covid-19 testing in the United States last year by softening guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on who needed to be tested, a House panel said Monday.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/03/post-143-march-17-2021-coronavirus-the-trump-administration-sought-to-suppress-covid-19-testing-in-the-united-states-last-year-by-softening-guidance-from-the-centers-for-disease-control-a/

POST 144. March 20, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. ““The vaccine hesitancy we are seeing isn’t just about Covid vaccines,”… “It is a general reflection of Americans’ lack of trust in science, the pharmaceutical industry, and large health care institutions. We need a full court press on science and vaccine education right now to prevent more aggressive Covid-19 variants from developing and taking hold.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/03/post-144-march-20-2021-coronavirus-the-vaccine-hesitancy-we-are-seeing-isnt-just-about-covid-vaccines-it-is-a-general-reflection-of-americans/

POST 145. March 25, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Efforts to disseminate Covid-19 vaccines as widely as possible are hitting an unexpected obstacle: health-care workers who decline the shots.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/03/post-145-march-25-2021-coronavirus-efforts-to-disseminate-covid-19-vaccines-as-widely-as-possible-are-hitting-an-unexpected-obstacle-health-care-workers-who-decline-the-shots/

POST 146. March 30, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Dr. Osterholm told Becker’s: “This is the perfect storm,”…”Here is Europe locking down and having problems containing B.1.1.7, even with vaccinations and previous infection histories. Here we are opening up as wide as we can. We are literally just walking into the mouth of the virus saying, ‘Don’t worry.’” (M)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/03/post-146-march-30-2021-coronavirus-dr-osterholm-told-beckers-this-is-the-perfect-stormhere-is-europe-locking-down-and-having-problems-containing-b-1-1-7-even-with-vaccinations/

POST 147. April 5, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “The pandemic helped cement the shift to “a philosophy of really focusing on the role of the physician in reasoning through ambiguous and unknown problems as the focus of education, rather than teaching students that the role of physician was to memorize a body of knowledge that was already in existence and good enough for what usually happens.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/04/post-147-april-5-2021-coronavirus-the-pandemic-helped-cement-the-shift-to-a-philosophy-of-really-focusing-on-the-role-of-the-physician-in-reasoning-through-ambiguous-and-unknown/

POST 148. April 7, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. While the Biden administration accelerates vaccinations to ward off numerous variants and as more young people are being hospitalized, states, even with increasing case rates are on paths to fully reopen. Politics v. public health!

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/04/post-148-april-7-2021-coronavirus-while-the-biden-administration-accelerates-vaccinations-to-ward-off-numerous-variants-and-as-more-young-people-are-being-hospitalized-states-even-with-increasin/

POST 149. April 10, 2021. CORONAVIRIUS. “From Michigan to Massachusetts, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are on the rise again. Deaths will soon follow. “ ”.. the Biden administration is facing renewed calls to delay second vaccine doses and blanket more of the U.S. population with an initial shot.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/04/post-149-april-10-2021-coronavirius-from-michigan-to-massachusetts-covid-19-cases-and-hospitalizations-are-on-the-rise-again-deaths-will-soon-follow-the-biden-adm/

POST 150. April 10, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “The use of so-called COVID-19 “vaccine passports” is quickly becoming a divisive issue across the US – with several states, including New York, embracing the idea, while others have already moved to ban them.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/04/post-150-april-10-2021-coronavirus-the-use-of-so-called-covid-19-vaccine-passports-is-quickly-becoming-a-divisive-issue-across-the-us-with-several-states-incl/

POST 151. April 14, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. the J&J vaccination pause. “ Federal officials are concerned that doctors may not be trained to spot or treat the rare disorder if recipients of the vaccine develop symptoms of it…” “…a standard treatment for blood clots — use of an anticoagulant drug — could be dangerous or even fatal in such cases…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/04/post-151-april-14-2021-coronavirus-the-jj-vaccination-pause-federal-officials-are-concerned-that-doctors-may-not-be-trained-to-spot-or-treat-the-rare-disorder-if-recipients-of-the-va/

POST 152. April 15, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s director said Saturday authorities are considering mixing COVID-19 vaccines because the country’s domestically made doses “don’t have very high protection rates,”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/04/post-152-april-15-2021-coronavirus-the-chinese-center-for-disease-control-and-preventions-director-said-saturday-authorities-are-considering-mixing-covid-19-vaccines-because-the-country/

POST 153. April 18, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “At least 35 hospitals across Michigan were listed Thursday as nearing capacity and three were at full capacity for COVID-19 patients..”.. We can manufacture beds. We can open up beds. We can create entire wings of the hospital if we have to, but if we don’t have staff for those beds, we’ve got nothing.”..

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/04/post-153-april-18-2021-coronavirus-at-least-35-hospitals-across-michigan-were-listed-thursday-as-nearing-capacity-and-three-were-at-full-capacity-for-covid-19-patients-we-can/

POST 154. April 19, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Breakthrough infections, which occur when fully vaccinated people are infected by the pathogen that their shots were designed to protect against, are an entirely expected part of any vaccination process.” “Pfizer’s chief executive said that a third dose of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine was “likely” to be needed within a year of the initial two-dose inoculation — followed by annual vaccinations.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/04/post-154-april-19-2021-coronavirus-breakthrough-infections-which-occur-when-fully-vaccinated-people-are-infected-by-the-pathogen-that-their-shots-were-designed-to-protect-against-are-an/

POST 155. April 24, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. As the J&J vaccine pause is ended Senator Johnson said “The science tells us that vaccines are 95% effective. So if you have a vaccine, quite honestly, what do you care if your neighbor has one or not? I mean, what is it to you?”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/04/post-155-april-24-2021-coronavirus-as-the-jj-vaccine-pause-is-ended-senator-johnson-said-the-science-tells-us-that-vaccines-are-95-effective-so-if-you-have-a-vaccine-quite-honestly-what-do-y/

POST 156. April 28, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. As CDC revises guidance on outdoor masking, Texas Governor Abbott says “the state is “very close” to herd immunity… despite acknowledging that he does not know what the herd immunity threshold is for the virus, an uncertainty echoed by the public health community.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/04/post-156-april-28-2021-coronavirus-as-cdc-revises-guidance-on-outdoor-masking-texas-governor-abbott-says-the-state-is-very-close-to-herd-immunity-despite-ackno/

POST 157. April 25, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Ohio hospitals; “We agreed in multiple conversations, there’s nothing in fighting a pandemic that creates a competitive advantage.”…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/05/post-157-april-25-2021-coronavirus-ohio-hospitals-we-agreed-in-multiple-conversations-theres-nothing-in-fighting-a-pandemic-that-creates-a-competitive-advantage/

POST 158. May 5, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. . As populations get closer to herd immunity “ it may be helpful to introduce some nuance to what we mean by the term. Nationwide herd immunity. Regional herd immunity. Temporary herd immunity. Endemicity.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/05/post-158-may-5-2021-coronavirus-as-populations-get-closer-to-herd-immunity-it-may-be-helpful-to-introduce-some-nuance-to-what-we-mean-by-the-term-nationwide-herd-immunity-regional-he/

POST 159. May 9, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Without deeper sharing of expertise in how to make vaccines…waiving patent obligations is unlikely to be a game-changer… Having access to the “recipe” certainly helps, but understanding how to put it together and produce it at scale is something else.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/05/post-159-may-9-2021-coronavirus-without-deeper-sharing-of-expertise-in-how-to-make-vaccineswaiving-patent-obligations-is-unlikely-to-be-a-game-changer-having-access-to-t/

POST 160. May 13, 2021.CORONAVIRUS. “The CDC acknowledged Friday that airborne spread of COVID-19 among people more than 6 feet apart “has been repeatedly documented.”” Meanwhile states relax or eliminate indoor dining restrictions. HUH?

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/05/post-160-may-13-2021-coronavirus-the-cdc-acknowledged-friday-that-airborne-spread-of-covid-19-among-people-more-than-6-feet-apart-has-been-repeatedly-documented-meanwhile-sta/

POST 161. May 15, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Even if the spread of Covid-19 decreases enough to allow a return of most activities, there are some aspects of pandemic life that epidemiologists say will persist much longer. In particular, they say that masks are a norm that should continue, even if that view puts them at odds with the new C.D.C. guidance. More than 80 percent of them say people should continue to wear masks when indoors with strangers for at least another year, and outdoors in crowds.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/05/post-161-may-15-2021-coronavirus-even-if-the-spread-of-covid-19-decreases-enough-to-allow-a-return-of-most-activities-there-are-some-aspects-of-pandemic-life-that-epidemiologists-say-wil/

POST 162. May 21, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is refusing to lift his indoor mask mandate for vaccinated residents…” “…fully vaccinated residents in New York and Connecticut are no longer required to wear masks..”..” “California says it isn’t ready to follow the federal lead and unmask, at least for another month..”.. “..Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order Tuesday prohibiting state governmental entities such as counties, public school districts, public health authorities and government officials from requiring mask wearing.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/05/post-162-may-21-2021-coronavirus-new-jersey-gov-phil-murphy-is-refusing-to-lift-his-indoor-mask-mandate-for-vaccinated-residents-fully-vaccinated-resi/

POST 163. May 23, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. RWJBarnabas Health in New Jersey announced a mandate…saying supervisors and those of higher rank must get the vaccine by June 30. They will eventually require the system’s 35,000 employees to do the same.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/05/post-163-may-23-2021-coronavirus-rwjbarnabas-health-in-new-jersey-announced-a-mandatesaying-supervisors-and-those-of-higher-rank-must-get-the-vaccine-by-june-30-they-will-eventually-requ/

POST 164. May 26, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. On Wednesday, health minister Norihisa Tamura warned Olympic organizers they would have to “secure their own” hospital beds for anyone falling ill at the Games, explaining the government would not release beds set aside for Japanese covid-19 patients.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/05/post-164-may-26-2021-coronavirus-on-wednesday-health-minister-norihisa-tamura-warned-olympic-organizers-they-would-have-to-secure-their-own-hospital-beds-for-anyone-falling-ill/

POST 165. May 31,2001. CORONAVIRUS. “Like all pandemics, this one will end either with millions — maybe billions — being infected or being vaccinated. This time, world leaders have a choice, but little time to make that choice before it is made for them.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/05/post-165-may-312001-coronavirus-like-all-pandemics-this-one-will-end-either-with-millions-maybe-billions-being-infected-or-being-vaccinated-this-time-world-leaders/

POST 166. June 3, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “President Biden said Wednesday that he has asked intelligence agencies to double down on their efforts to investigate whether the coronavirus originated from human contact with an animal or in an laboratory in China, saying there is not “sufficient information” to assess whether one is more likely than the other.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/06/post-166-june-3-2020-coronavirus-president-biden-said-wednesday-that-he-has-asked-intelligence-agencies-to-double-down-on-their-efforts-to-investigate-whether-the-coronavirus-originated-f/

POST 167. June 9, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Hospitals prevaricate on mandatory staff vaccinations. Florida’s Governor forbids cruise ship vaccine mandates. Pfizer and Moderna apply for FDA full approval.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/06/post-167-june-9-2021-coronavirus-hospitals-prevaricate-on-mandatory-staff-vaccinations-floridas-governor-forbids-cruise-ship-vaccine-mandates-pfizer-and-moderna-apply-for-fda-full-appr/

POST 168. June 10, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Our species has a tendency to get distracted. We have a very strong appetite for distraction, and when something is not in the spotlight, when it’s not a crisis anymore, we tend to forget and move on to something else. So the biggest challenge is going to be maintaining focus on this next step of developing vaccines that anticipate pandemics.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/06/post-168-june-10-2021-coronavirus-our-species-has-a-tendency-to-get-distracted-we-have-a-very-strong-appetite-for-distraction-and-when-something-is-not-in-the-spotlight-when-it/

POST 169. June 14, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Hospitals in Washington, D.C…announced a consensus agreement to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for more than 30,000 workers, 70% of which are already vaccinated. Each of 14 hospitals will set their own deadline…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/06/post-169-june-14-2021-coronavirus-hospitals-in-washington-d-cannounced-a-consensus-agreement-to-mandate-covid-19-vaccinations-for-more-than-30000-workers-70-of-which-are-alrea/

POST 170. June 17, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Dr. Ashish Jha…is worried about the potential impact the delta variant could have in the United States… “I’m concerned about the Delta variant,”… “Why? Most contagious variant yet. Wreaked havoc in India. Spiking cases in UK. Growing rapidly in the US.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/06/post-170-june-17-2021-coronavirus-dr-ashish-jhais-worried-about-the-potential-impact-the-delta-variant-could-have-in-the-united-states-im-concerned-a/

POST 171. June 19, 2021. “A 34-year-old man (a Covid-19 survivor) has been diagnosed with India’s first known case of “green fungus” infection.”… “Green fungus is the new infection to join the earlier known cases of black, white and yellow fungus.”…”green fungus was earlier seen only as a “junior partner” in other infections… In the current patient, this fungus is acting as the aggressor.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/06/post-171-june-19-2021-coronavirus-a-34-year-old-man-a-covid-19-survivor-has-been-diagnosed-with-indias-first-known-case-of-green-fungus-infection/

POST 172. June 23, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Morgan Stanley chief executive James Gorman said: “If you can go into a restaurant in New York City, you can come into the office.”…”remote work can “dramatically undermine” the character and culture a company is attempting to build; and “virtually eliminates spontaneous learning and creativity.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/06/post-172-june-23-2021-coronavirus-morgan-stanley-chief-executive-james-gorman-said-if-you-can-go-into-a-restaurant-in-new-york-city-you-can-come-into-the-office-remote-work/

POST 173. June 26, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “The daily toll of COVID-19, as measured by new cases and the growing number of deaths, overlooks a shadowy set of casualties: the rising risk of mental health problems among health care professionals working on the frontlines of the pandemic.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/06/post-173-june-26-2021-coronavirus-the-daily-toll-of-covid-19-as-measured-by-new-cases-and-the-growing-number-of-deaths-overlooks-a-shadowy-set-of-casualties-the-rising-risk-of-mental-h/

POST 174. July 1, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “..while the WHO is encouraging people to keep wearing masks even if they’re vaccinated, Dr. Anthony Fauci says it doesn’t look like the CDC currently plans to change its guidelines.” … health officials in Los Angeles recommended that “everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear masks indoors in public places as a precautionary measure.”..”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/07/post-174-july-1-2021-coronavirus-while-the-who-is-encouraging-people-to-keep-wearing-masks-even-if-theyre-vaccinated-dr-anthony-fauci-says-it-doesnt-look-like-the-cdc-currently-pl/

POST 175. July 5, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Can a health care worker who is not against vaccines in general still harbor sincere concerns that scientists don’t yet know about all the side effects of these vaccines? Yes, says Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD — but those people should not work in health care.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/07/post-175-july-5-2021-coronavirus-can-a-health-care-worker-who-is-not-against-vaccines-in-general-still-harbor-sincere-concerns-that-scientists-dont-yet-know-about-all-the-side-ef/

POST 176. July 9, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Mercy Springfield ( Missouri) hospital…” ran out of ventilators for its patients over the Fourth of July weekend…”…“Mercy will require all current and future employees to be fully vaccinated.”…“The US government is deploying a Covid-19 surge team to provide public health support in southwest Missouri

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/07/post-176-july-9-2021-coronavirus-mercy-springfield-missouri-hospital-ran-out-of-ventilators-for-its-patients-over-the-fourth-of-july-weekend/

POST 177. July 12, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. the Delta variant is “the 2020 version of Covid-19 on steroids,”… “It is the most hypertransmissible, contagious version of the virus we’ve seen to date…it’s a superspreader strain if there ever was one .” but… now, there’s a Delta Plus variant…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/07/post-177-july-12-2021-coronavirus-the-delta-variant-is-the-2020-version-of-covid-19-on-steroids-it-is-the-most-hypertransmissible-contagious-version-of-the-vi/

POST 178. July 15, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Tennessee’s top vaccine official says she has been fired as punishment for doing her job in the face of political pushback.”..” More than 180 state and local public health leaders…have resigned, retired or been fired since April 1…”“Former President Trump and his GOP allies have stepped up attacks on Anthony Fauci…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/07/post-178-july-15-2021-coronavirus-tennessees-top-vaccine-official-says-she-has-been-fired-as-punishment-for-doing-her-job-in-the-face-of-political-pushback-more-tha/

POST 179. July 16, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “It, therefore, follows that the “harm principle” (“first, do no harm.”) can be used to justify compulsory vaccination programs in specific instances where the community interests or benefits are deemed to be significant.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/07/post-179-july-16-2021-coronavirus-it-therefore-follows-that-the-harm-principle-first-do-no-harm-can-be-used-to-justify-compulsory-vaccination-pro/

POST 180, July 20, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Most people will either get vaccinated, or have been previously infected, or they will get this Delta variant,”.. “And for most people who get this Delta variant, it’s going to be the most serious virus that they get in their lifetime in terms of the risk of putting them in the hospital,”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/07/post-180-july-20-2021-coronavirus-most-people-will-either-get-vaccinated-or-have-been-previously-infected-or-they-will-get-this-delta-variant-and-for-most-people-who-get-this-delta-vari/

POST 181. July 22, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Health experts fear the Tokyo Olympics could become a COVID-19 superspreader event.” “Whatever happens in Japan isn’t likely going to stay in Japan since all of the athletes and accompanying coaches and staff will be returning to their home countries.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/07/post-181-july-22-2021-coronavirus-health-experts-fear-the-tokyo-olympics-could-become-a-covid-19-superspreader-event-whatever-happens-in-japan-isnt-likely-goin/

POST 182. July 26, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R): “Folks supposed to have common sense.”…“But it’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down.” ““Beginning in mid-September, New York City will require all of its 340,000 municipal workers, including police, firefighters and teachers, to either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or tested weekly.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/07/post-182-july-26-2021-coronavirus-alabama-gov-kay-ivey-r-folks-supposed-to-have-common-sense-but-its-time-to-start-blaming-the-unvaccinated-folks-not-the/

POST 183. July 29, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. When I was appointed President and CEO of Jersey City Medical Center in1989 in the peak of the HIV/ AIDS crisis, we had a dedicated, and always full, dedicated 60 bed AIDS unit, staffed by one full time nurse and numerous part-time and per diem nurses. Today, right now, hospitals caught in the Covid-19 surge, are forced to redeploy nursing staff, respiratory therapists and other clinicians, most without prior infectious diseases experience. Why are we tolerating the unvaccinated putting our hospital staffs at risk?

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/07/post-183-july-29-2021-coronavirus-when-i-was-appointed-president-and-ceo-of-jersey-city-medical-center-in1989-in-the-peak-of-the-hiv-aids-crisis-we-had-a-dedicated-and-always-full-dedicated-60/

POST 184. August 1, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “The coronavirus could be “just a few mutations potentially away” from evolving into a variant that can evade existing COVID-19 vaccines, CDC director Rochelle Walensky said..” (A) “The Delta variant is more transmissible than the viruses that cause MERS, SARS, Ebola, the common cold, the seasonal flu and smallpox, and it is as contagious as chickenpox..” (I)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/08/post-184-august-1-2021-coronavirus-the-coronavirus-could-be-just-a-few-mutations-potentially-away-from-evolving-into-a-variant-that-can-evade-existing-covid-19-vaccines-cdc-director/

POST 185. August 6, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. ‘If you aren’t going to help, please get out of the way’: Biden turns up the pressure on GOP governors as Delta spreads”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/08/post-185-august-6-2021-coronavirus-if-you-arent-going-to-help-please-get-out-of-the-way-biden-turns-up-the-pressure-on-gop-governors-as-delta-spreads/

POST 186. August 8, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late,” she added, referring to patients who have to be put on a ventilator.” (A) “There is no one definition of what the end of a pandemic means.”.. “The question of when the crisis will be over is a layered one — with different answers from local, national and global perspectives.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/08/post-186-august-8-2021-coronavirus-one-of-the-last-things-they-do-before-theyre-intubated-is-beg-me-for-the-vaccine-i-hold-their-hand-and-tell-them-that-im-sorry-but-i/

POST 187. August 11, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “As a result of the increase in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, the state of Florida requested 300 ventilators from the federal government.”… “An 11-month-old girl with Covid-19 is stable and no longer intubated one day after she was airlifted to a Texas hospital 150 miles away because of a shortage of pediatric beds in the Houston area.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/08/post-187-august-11-2021-coronavirus-as-a-result-of-the-increase-in-covid-19-cases-and-hospitalizations-the-state-of-florida-requested-300-ventilators-from-the-federal-government/

POST 188. August 15, 20201. CORONAVIRUS. “According to an internal CDC briefing….an estimated 1.1 million people have already gotten unauthorized booster shots…”….”If it is left up to the honor system, I think many Americans will suddenly wake up and find themselves immunocompromised enough to get a 3rd dose,”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/08/post-188-august-15-20201-coronavirus-according-to-an-internal-cdc-briefing-an-estimated-1-1-million-people-have-already-gotten-unauthorized-booster-shots/

POST 189. August 19,2021. CORONAVIRUS. “There wasn’t a single I.C.U. bed available in Alabama on Wednesday…”…”A triage plan on the Alabama health department’s website suggests that “persons with severe mental retardation” are among those who “may be poor candidates for ventilator support.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/08/post-189-august-192021-coronavirus-there-wasnt-a-single-i-c-u-bed-available-in-alabama-on-wednesdaya-triage-plan-on-the-alabama-health-depart/

POST 190, August 21, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “We’re looking, in essence, at running two systems — a COVID system and a non-COVID system of care,”..“Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and certified paramedics can now care for patients in Mississippi hospitals and emergency rooms under a new health office order issued by the Mississippi State Department of Health on Wednesday.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/08/post-190-august-21-2021-coronavirus-were-looking-in-essence-at-running-two-systems-a-covid-system-and-a-non-covid-system-of-care-emergency-medical/

POST 191. August 27, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Anthony Fauci, MD, chief medical advisor to the president and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, explained that late September gives the United States time to set up the logistics.” This is not medical science, but perhaps Political Science?

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/08/post-191-august-27-2021-coronavirus-anthony-fauci-md-chief-medical-advisor-to-the-president-and-director-of-the-national-institute-of-allergy-and-infectious-diseases-explained-that-lat/

POST 192. August 30, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Gov. John Bel Edwards on Hurricane Ida – “I hate to say it this way, but we have a lot of people on ventilators today and they don’t work without electricity,” he said.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/08/post-192-august-30-2021-coronavirus-gov-john-bel-edwards-on-hurricane-ida-i-hate-to-say-it-this-way-but-we-have-a-lot-of-people-on-ventilators-today-and-they-dont-work-withou/

POST 193. September 3, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Nurses are leaving their hospitals and becoming travel nurses at hospitals across town “because they can make $4,000, $5,000, $6,000, $7,000 a week while not having to relocate anywhere..”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/09/post-193-september-3-2021-coronavirus-nurses-are-leaving-their-hospitals-and-becoming-travel-nurses-at-hospitals-across-town-because-they-can-make-4000-5000-6000-7000-a-week-wh/

POST 194. August 2, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Recently-released data is painting a grim picture of the opioid epidemic that has gripped the United States — as the country is still grappling with the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than half a million Americans. Some people are calling them twin pandemics that have collided”…“Faced with a novel health crisis, researchers are collecting data on the long-term impact of using opioids to treat COVID-19 pain…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/09/post-194-august-2-2021-coronavirus-recently-released-data-is-painting-a-grim-picture-of-the-opioid-epidemic-that-has-gripped-the-united-states-as-the-country-is-still-grappling/

POST 195. September 6, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “…there are “zero ICU beds left for children in Dallas County, Texas,”.,..”That means if your child’s in a car wreck, if your child has a congenital heart defect or something and needs an ICU bed, or more likely if they have Covid and need an ICU bed, we don’t have one. Your child will wait for another child to die… (county judge Clay Jenkins)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/09/post-195-september-6-2021-coronavirus-there-are-zero-icu-beds-left-for-children-in-dallas-county-texas-that-means-if-your-childs-in-a-car-wreck-if-your-child/

POST 196. SEPTEMBER 11, 2001. PART 1. Military helicopters and jets were overhead, as President Bush was getting ready to leave NYC. PART 2. LESSONS LEARNED memorandum by hospital CEO Jonathan Metsch goes “viral”…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/09/post-196-september-11-2021-september-11-2001-part-1-military-helicopters-and-jets-were-overhead-as-president-bush-was-getting-ready-to-leave-nyc-part-2-lessons-learned-memorandum-by-hospital/

POST 197. September 12, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Idaho officials have instituted “crisis standards of care” to help 10 hospitals and health care systems decide how to allocate personnel and resources to deal with a crush of COVID-19 patients.”… “The Washington Medical Coordination Center oversees facilitating transfers in the state, and it’s warning we could be nearing the point of “Crisis Standards of Care,” just like Idaho.” .. “These crisis models don’t actually save more lives, they just save different lives..”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/09/post-197-september-12-2021-coronavirus-idaho-officials-have-instituted-crisis-standards-of-care-to-help-10-hospitals-and-health-care-systems-decide-how-to-allocate-personnel-and/

POST 198. September 15, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. A pundit said “The most elegant policy riposte to the anti-vaxxers… is to refuse to allow Medicare or Medicaid to pay their medical bills in the event they become seriously ill. Private health insurers might also follow suit.” (but is making our hospitals become the bill collectors right?)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/09/post-198-september-15-2021-coronavirus-a-pundit-said-the-most-elegant-policy-riposte-to-the-anti-vaxxers-is-to-refuse-to-allow-medicare-or-medicaid-to-pay-their-medical-bills-in/

POST 199. September 19, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Crisis Standards of Care. “… to his knowledge, no patient in Idaho has been taken off life-support therapy in order to provide that therapy to another patient who has a better prognosis.” “While that has yet to occur, if we continue on this path, it will,”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/09/post-199-september-19-2021-coronavirus-crisis-standards-of-care-to-his-knowledge-no-patient-in-idaho-has-been-taken-off-life-support-therapy-in-order-to-provide-that-therapy-t/

POST 200. September 23, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. CDC Director overrides a recommendation of its scientific advisors saying “that people can get a booster if they are ages 18 to 64 years and are health-care workers or have another job that puts them at increased risk of being exposed to the virus.”…“In a pandemic, even with uncertainty, we must take actions that we anticipate will do the greatest good.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/09/post-200-september-23-2021-coronavirus-cdc-director-overrides-a-recommendation-of-its-scientific-advisors-saying-that-people-can-get-a-booster-if-they-are-ages-18-to-64-years-and-are-heal/

POST 201. September 27, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “A multibillion-dollar institution in the Seattle area is sitting on nearly $12 billion in cash… received at least $509 million in government funds (from) a federal program that is supposed to prevent health care providers from capsizing during the coronavirus pandemic.”

“Based on our estimates…we find preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations cost $5.7 billion from June to August in 2021.”…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/09/post-201-september-27-2021-coronavirus-a-multibillion-dollar-institution-in-the-seattle-area-is-sitting-on-nearly-12-billion-in-cash-received-at-least-509-million-in-government/

POST 202. September 30, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “..NY Governor Hochul signed an executive order expanding healthcare worker eligibility requirements…to head off potential staffing shortages fueled by the state’s new COVID-19 vaccination requirements.” “The.. order allows out-of-state/ out-of-country healthcare workers to practice in New York…”..”It allows EMTs graduates to temporarily pitch in at additional healthcare settings; allows various types of healthcare workers to more easily administer and order COVID-19 vaccinations; enables telemedicine physician visits in nursing homes; permits facilities to more quickly discharge, transfer or receive patients…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/09/post-202-september-30-2021-coronavirus-ny-governor-hochul-signed-an-executive-order-expanding-healthcare-worker-eligibility-requirementsto-head-off-potential-staffing-shortages/

POST 203. October 3, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “.. more than 125,000 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in pregnant people, including more than 22,000 hospitalized cases and 161 deaths”…The risk is not just to the mother. Covid-19 in pregnancy can cause preterm birth or babies born so sick they have to go straight to the neonatal intensive care unit, or NICU.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/10/post-203-october-3-2021-coronavirus-more-than-125000-laboratory-confirmed-covid-19-cases-have-been-reported-in-pregnant-people-including-more-than-22000-hospitalized-cases-and-161-deaths/

POST 204. October 5, 2021.CORONAVIRUS. “News that an experimental antiviral drug from Merck appears to halve the risk of hospitalization or death from Covid-19 has bolstered hopes of finding a simple at-home treatment for the virus.”..” A more blunt assessment came from vaccine scientist Dr. Peter Hotez of Baylor College of Medicine’s National School of Tropical Medicine. “It’s not a miracle cure but a companion tool, So get vaccinated.””

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/10/post-204-october-5-2021-coronavirus-news-that-an-experimental-antiviral-drug-from-merck-appears-to-halve-the-risk-of-hospitalization-or-death-from-covid-19-has-bolstered-hopes-of-finding-a/

POST 205. October 11, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. The AAP reported nearly 226,000 new child cases over the past week ending. “Hospital care for children does not occur in isolation from that of adults. Many of the resources we use are the same—a twenty-pound baby and a two-hundred-pound man might use the same kind of ventilator, for example. Dialysis machines, which could cleanse a seven-year-old’s blood as easily as his grandfather’s, are in high demand. Pediatric resident physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists get cross-deployed to care for adults during the surges.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/10/post-205-october-11-2021-coronavirus-the-aap-reported-nearly-226000-new-child-cases-over-the-past-week-ending-hospital-care-for-children-does-not-occur-in-isolation-from-that-of-adults/

POST 206. October 15, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. to borrow from Winston Churchill about where we are with the pandemic – “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/10/post-206-october-15-2021-coronavirus-to-borrow-from-winston-churchill-about-where-we-are-with-the-pandemic-now-this-is-not-the-end-it-is-not-even-the-beginning-of-the-end-but-it-is/

POST 207. October 17, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “…if you choose your own unauthorized booster shot, what happens if later research proves a different combination is better? That’s why experts say it’s a bad idea to become your own vaccine advisory committee and get a shot out of turn.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/10/post-207-october-17-2021-coronavirus-if-you-choose-your-own-unauthorized-booster-shot-what-happens-if-later-research-proves-a-different-combination-is-better-thats-why/

POST 208. October 22, 2021, CORONAVIRUS. “What is the “delta plus” variant?” Scientists are monitoring the delta-related variant — known as AY.4.2. — to see if it might spread more easily or be more deadly than previous versions of the coronavirus.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/10/post-208-october-22-2021-coronavirus-what-is-the-delta-plus-variant-scientists-are-monitoring-the-delta-related-variant-known-as-ay-4-2-to/

POST 209. October 28, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “The quest at Mount Sinai began with a mystery.”…”America was not simply struggling to contain a once-in-a-century pandemic, caused by a virus far more dangerous than seasonal influenza. Many patients were, for unknown reasons, not recovering.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/10/post-209-october-28-2021-coronavirus-the-quest-at-mount-sinai-began-with-a-mystery-america-was-not-simply-struggling-to-contain-a-once-in-a-century-pandemic-ca/

POST 210. October 31, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Some people want the FDA to speed up. Others want it to be more cautious…There’s a fundamental tension between the right to get access to a drug people are desperate for and the right to protection from dangerous failures of quality. The first demands speed; the second requires time…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/10/post-210-october-31-2021-coronavirus-some-people-want-the-fda-to-speed-up-others-want-it-to-be-more-cautioustheres-a-fundamental-tension-between-the-right-to-get-access/

POST 211. November 4, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Colorado – “…there are patients who really ought to be in an intensive care unit but instead they’re in an emergency room. Or they ought to be in a step-down unit but instead they’re on the floor. Or they ought to be getting one-to-one nursing, and instead they’re getting two-to-one, or three-to-one nursing….”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/11/post-211-november-4-2021-coronavirus-colorado-there-are-patients-who-really-ought-to-be-in-an-intensive-care-unit-but-instead-theyre-in-an-emergency-room-or-they-ough/

POST 212. November 9, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “They went into hospitals with heart attacks, kidney failure or in a psychiatric crisis. They left with covid-19…” “A new report shows the coronavirus pandemic had a direct increase on the number of healthcare-acquired infections in hospitals nationwide.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/11/post-212-november-9-2021-coronavirus-they-went-into-hospitals-with-heart-attacks-kidney-failure-or-in-a-psychiatric-crisis-they-left-with-covid-19-a-new-repor/

POST 213. November 13, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Since the earliest days of the pandemic, there has been one collective goal for bringing it to an end: achieving herd immunity…Now the herd is restless. And experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have set aside herd immunity as a national goal.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/11/post-213-november-13-2021-coronavirus-since-the-earliest-days-of-the-pandemic-there-has-been-one-collective-goal-for-bringing-it-to-an-end-achieving-herd-immunity-now-the-herd-is-rest/

POST 214. November 20, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “This virus is doing what this virus does,” said Michael Osterholm… “We don’t understand why surges start, we don’t understand why they end.” (A)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/11/post-214-november-20-2021-coronavirus-this-virus-is-doing-what-this-virus-does-said-michael-osterholm-we-dont-understand-why-surges-start-we-dont-understand-why-they-en/

POST 215. November 26, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Dr. Fauci on the new South African variant: “It’s not going to be possible to keep this infection out of the country. The question is: Can you slow it down?”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/11/post-215-november-26-2021-coronavirus-dr-fauci-on-the-new-south-african-variant-its-not-going-to-be-possible-to-keep-this-infection-out-of-the-country-the-question-is-can-you/

POST 216. December 1, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Covid cacophony: as states struggle to address health care staffing shortages, a federal court puts Biden administration health care worker vaccination mandate on hold.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/12/post-216-december-1-2021-coronavirus-covid-cacophony-as-states-struggle-to-address-health-care-staffing-shortages-a-federal-court-puts-biden-administration-health-care-worker-vaccination-mandate/

POST 217. December 3, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. President Biden Announces New Actions to Protect Americans Against the Delta and Omicron Variants as We Battle COVID-⁠19 this Winter

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/12/post-217-december-3-2021-coronavirus-president-biden-announces-new-actions-to-protect-americans-against-the-delta-and-omicron-variants-as-we-battle-covid-%e2%81%a019-this-winter/

POST 218. December 5, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “In some ways, Delta is the ideal variant: It’s transmissible enough to dominate more dangerous variants, and its virulence can be controlled through vaccination. In the next few weeks, we’ll find out whether Omicron will have its own silver lining—or whether it’ll be catastrophically worse.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/12/post-218-december-5-2021-coronavirus-in-some-ways-delta-is-the-ideal-variant-its-transmissible-enough-to-dominate-more-dangerous-variants-and-its-virulence-can-be-controlled-t/

POST 219. December 9, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Entering uncharted territory, the U.S. counts 500,000 Covid-related deaths.”… “So yes, I am furious at the unvaccinated, and I am not ashamed of disclosing that. I am no longer trying to understand them or educate them.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/12/post-219-december-9-2021-coronavirus-entering-uncharted-territory-the-u-s-counts-500000-covid-related-deaths-so-yes-i-am-furious-at-the-unvaccinated-and-i/

POST 220 December 13, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Dr. Osterholm. “You cannot outrun the game clock with this pandemic. This virus will find you… We’ve seen health care systems virtually broken by this pandemic. They just couldn’t provide critical care to non-Covid patients.” (A)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/12/post-220-december-13-2021-coronavirus-dr-osterholm-you-cannot-outrun-the-game-clock-with-this-pandemic-this-virus-will-find-you-weve-seen-health-care-systems-virtually/

POST 221. December 18, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Johnson & Johnson’s Covid vaccine was going to be a shot for the world. Now, under the weight of a mountain of bad PR, one wonders if the world will want it.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/12/post-221-december-18-2021-coronavirus-johnson-johnsons-covid-vaccine-was-going-to-be-a-shot-for-the-world-now-under-the-weight-of-a-mountain-of-bad-pr-one-wonders-if-the-wor-2/

POST 222. December 20, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. So why my “inside baseball” focus on COVID-19 from the perspective of a retired hospital CEO?

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/12/post-222-december-20-2021-coronavirus-so-why-my-inside-baseball-focus-on-covid-19-from-the-perspective-of-a-retired-hospital-ceo/

POST 223. December 28, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Links for a case study of Crisis Standards of Care.

POST 223. December 28, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Links for a case study of Crisis Standards of Care.

POST 224. December 29, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “crisis standards of care protocols in Maryland – “It also allows us to slim down documentation,… allows unconventional staffing models such as using nurses that have not been bedside. It also sets the expectations for the community that it’s not business as usual.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/12/post-224-december-29-2021-coronavirus-crisis-standards-of-care-protocols-in-maryland-it-also-allows-us-to-slim-down-documentation-allows-unconventional-staffing-models-such/

POST 225. January 3, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Be first, be right, be credible,” are among the most important principles for health authorities to follow in a crisis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shared in a pamphlet on crisis communication in 2018….”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/01/post-225-january-3-2021-coronavirus-be-first-be-right-be-credible-are-among-the-most-important-principles-for-health-authorities-to-follow-in-a-crisis-the-centers-for-disease/

Post 226. January 5, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. New York City – “The city’s ambulance corps are so understaffed because of the COVID-19 surge, they’re now under new orders to try to convince stable patients with flu-like symptoms not to go to the hospital.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/01/post-226-january-5-2022-coronavirus-new-york-city-the-citys-ambulance-corps-are-so-understaffed-because-of-the-covid-19-surge-theyre-now-under-new-orders-to-try-to-c/

POST 227. January 10, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Stay indoors. But also return in person. Wear a mask. Not that one. The expensive one, that you can’t find. Take rapid tests. Which you also can’t find. But if you find them, don’t buy them. Rapid tests don’t work. You need PCR. There are zero appointments in your area.” (F)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/01/post-227-january-10-2020-coronavirus-stay-indoors-but-also-return-in-person-wear-a-mask-not-that-one-the-expensive-one-that-you-cant-find-take-rapid-tests-which-you-also/

POST 228. January 13, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “State officials are attempting to address California’s staffing shortage through a sweeping policy change that allows asymptomatic healthcare workers who have tested positive for the coronavirus to return to work immediately.” “Asymptomatic health professionals who had tested positive for COVID-19 should “preferably be assigned to work with COVID positive patients.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/01/post-228-january-13-2022-coronavirus-state-officials-are-attempting-to-address-californias-staffing-shortage-through-a-sweeping-policy-change-that-allows-asymptomatic-healthcare/

POST 229. January 16, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “It is now highly unlikely that the U.S. will hit the ~85-90% of Americans vaccinated to get to the other side of the pandemic…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/01/post-229-january-16-2020-coronavirus-it-is-now-highly-unlikely-that-the-u-s-will-hit-the-85-90-of-americans-vaccinated-to-get-to-the-other-side-of-the-pandemic/

POST 230. January 20, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “Dr. Fauci also said that the world is still in the first of what he considered to be the five phases of the pandemic. The first is the “truly pandemic” phase, “where the whole world is really very negatively impacted,” followed by deceleration, control, elimination and eradication.”…to paraphrase Churchill – “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”..

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/01/post-230-january-20-2022-coronavirus-dr-fauci-also-said-that-the-world-is-still-in-the-first-of-what-he-considered-to-be-the-five-phases-of-the-pandemic-the-first-is-the-truly/

POST 231. January 24, 202. CORONAVIRUS. “Florida’s top public health official in Orlando has been placed on administrative leave after sending an email to his employees noting their lackluster coronavirus vaccination rates and urging them to get the shots.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/01/post-231-january-24-202-coronavirus-floridas-top-public-health-official-in-orlando-has-been-placed-on-administrative-leave-after-sending-an-email-to-his-employees-noting-their-la/

POST 232. January 28, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “A Boston hospital’s denial of a heart transplant to a man who is unvaccinated for Covid-19 has generated national attention, but experts say mandating vaccines is in keeping with other long-standing requirements that patients have to meet to receive an organ — including getting other shots…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/01/post-232-january-28-2022-coronavirus-a-boston-hospitals-denial-of-a-heart-transplant-to-a-man-who-is-unvaccinated-for-covid-19-has-generated-national-attention-but-experts-say-m/

POST 233. February 2, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “The same virus can cause endemic, epidemic or pandemic infections: it depends on the interplay of a population’s behaviour, demographic structure, susceptibility and immunity, plus whether viral variants emerge.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/02/post-233-february-2-2022-coronavirus-the-same-virus-can-cause-endemic-epidemic-or-pandemic-infections-it-depends-on-the-interplay-of-a-populations-behaviour-demographic-struct/

POST 234. February 2, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell demanded an end to the COVID-19 state of emergency on Wednesday , saying it was time for Americans to get on with their lives after two years on a ‘hellish highway.’”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/02/post-234-february-2-2022-coronavirus-senate-republican-leader-mitch-mcconnell-demanded-an-end-to-the-covid-19-state-of-emergency-on-wednesday-saying-it-was-time-for-americans-to-get-on/

POST 235. February 17, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Over time, the U.S. health care sector has implemented various pieces of the (pandemic) safety-assessment-and-improvement puzzle, but it has not instituted a thorough system of safety that reaches from the boardroom to the front lines and that can be maintained during times of crisis.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/02/post-235-february-17-2020-coronavirus-over-time-the-u-s-health-care-sector-has-implemented-various-pieces-of-the-pandemic-safety-assessment-and-improvement-puzzle-but-it-has-no/

POST 236. February 22, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. MOUNT SINAI AT HOME – “We began thinking about how we could use hospital-at-home to meet the needs of our hospital system in our community, in terms of responding to the crisis of COVID-19…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/02/post-236-february-23-2021-mount-sinai-at-home-we-began-thinking-about-how-we-could-use-hospital-at-home-to-meet-the-needs-of-our-hospital-system-in-our-community-in-terms-of-responding/

POST 237. February 27, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Decision-makers are increasingly embracing the reality that we will have to “learn to live with” the coronavirus. But how will they know when to impose or lift restrictions?” “Now, the CDC’s “Covid-19 community level” metrics are based on three pieces of data in a community: new Covid-19 hospitalizations, hospital capacity and new Covid-19 cases.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/02/post-237-february-27-2020-coronavirus-decision-makers-are-increasingly-embracing-the-reality-that-we-will-have-to-learn-to-live-with-the-coronavirus-but-how-will-they-k/

POST 238. March 5, 2022, CORONAVIRUS. “Two different scientists can look at the same set of data and come up with different conclusions. That’s not to say that one person is being unscientific or ignoring the scientific process,” said Leana Wen, an emergency physician and a professor at George Washington University. “Public health policy is also a measure of values.””

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/03/post-238-march-5-2022-coronavirus-two-different-scientists-can-look-at-the-same-set-of-data-and-come-up-with-different-conclusions-thats-not-to-say-that-one-person-is-being-unscientific-or-ig/

POST 239. March 9, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “War is an infectious disease’s best friend,” says Michael Osterholm, “It challenges every public health program you can possibly have. It limits the medical care available for those who might be seriously ill, and often fosters transmission when so many people are crowded into bomb shelter locations and on trains. This is going to be the perfect storm of one serious challenge after another.” (E)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/03/post-239-march-9-2022-coronavirus-war-is-an-infectious-diseases-best-friend-says-michael-osterholm-it-challenges-every-public-health-program-you-can-possibly/

POST 240. March 15, 2022. ““China is modifying its Covid-19 playbook amid a surge in cases as it seeks to avoid strains on its healthcare system.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/03/post-240-march-15-2022-china-is-modifying-its-covid-19-playbook-amid-a-surge-in-cases-as-it-seeks-to-avoid-strains-on-its-healthcare-system/

POST 241. March 20, 2022, CORONAVIRUS. Dr. Ashish Jha will serve as the new White House COVID-19 response coordinator.” He is not, for the record, a virologist, immunologist, or vaccinologist…But he is a public health expert and a practicing internist, which means he has years of experience explaining complicated and often incomplete information to people who neither know nor care about the correct pronunciation of “adenovirus.” That’s who he imagines on the other end of his webcam.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/03/post-241-march-20-2022-coronavirus-dr-ashish-jha-will-serve-as-the-new-white-house-covid-19-response-coordinator-he-is-not-for-the-record-a-virologist-immunologist-or-vaccinologist/

POST 242. March 24, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “How worried should people be about the BA.2 variant? Will vaccines protect against it? What if someone contracted a previous variant — could they become reinfected? Is BA.2 milder than previous versions, and if so, should people try to get it? Could BA.2 cause another surge in the US, and is it time for restrictions to be put back into place?”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/03/post-242-march-24-2022-coronavirus-how-worried-should-people-be-about-the-ba-2-variant-will-vaccines-protect-against-it-what-if-someone-contracted-a-previous-variant-could-they-becom/

POST 243. March 28, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “…the US Food and Drug Administration is planning authorize a fourth dose of the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines for adults over age 50 next week.”…”The decision to make fourth doses available now will bypass independent groups of scientific advisers for both the FDA and CDC, which would normally meet and publicly review the available science and then make recommendations to the agencies.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/03/post-243-march-28-2022-coronavirus-the-us-food-and-drug-administration-is-planning-authorize-a-fourth-dose-of-the-pfizer-and-moderna-mrna-vaccines-for-adults-over-age-50-next-wee/

POST 244. April 4, 2022.CORONAVIRUS. “Here’s a scary thought: America’s ability to face the pandemic’s next phase may depend on a handful of senators.”…. “When the end of the COVID-19 pandemic comes, it could create major disruptions for a cumbersome U.S. health care system made more generous, flexible and up-to-date technologically through a raft of temporary emergency measures.”
https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/04/post-244-april-4-2022-coronavirus-heres-a-scary-thought-americas-ability-to-face-the-pandemics-next-phase-may-depend-on-a-handful-of-senators/

POST 245. April 10, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. We can’t react to a wave we don’t see coming. “I keep thinking back to this idea of If we don’t measure it, it won’t happen,”…(As President Donald Trump once put it, “If we stop testing, we’d have fewer cases.”) In reality, “it’s very well happening, and we just don’t see it yet.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/04/post-245-april-10-2022-coronavirus-we-cant-react-to-a-wave-we-dont-see-coming-i-keep-thinking-back-to-this-idea-of-if-we-dont-measure-it-it-wont-happ/

POST 246. April 15, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “State authorities and health care organizations could pay a high price for reinstating SCOPE OF PRACTICE (SOP) restrictions when the pandemic ends.” (e.g. NPs, PAs, Pharmacists +++)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/04/post-246-april-15-2022-coronavirus-state-authorities-and-health-care-organizations-could-pay-a-high-price-for-reinstating-scope-of-practice-sop-restrictions-when-the-pandemic-ends/

POST 247. April 23, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “The DOJ lawyers tasked with defending the CDC’s mask mandate authority have warned Biden administration officials that continuing to push the legal fight over the mask mandate could backfire, if the conservative-leaning appeals court upholds the order.”….”A Supreme Court ruling upholding the decision to strike down the mask mandate would make the Florida judge’s conclusions about CDC authority binding nationwide.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/04/post-247-april-23-2020-coronavirus-the-doj-lawyers-tasked-with-defending-the-cdcs-mask-mandate-authority-have-warned-biden-administration-officials-that-continuing-to-push-the-legal-fig/

POST 248. April 27, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “For at-risk Americans without access to a “test-to-treat” drugstore that has a qualifying provider available, this means some will have to make multiple trips to get the pills. You have to develop COVID symptoms, you have to subsequently get a test for COVID-19, get the result of that test, find and go to see a provider, get a prescription, and then fill that prescription. That’s six steps in five days,”…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/04/post-248-april-27-2022-coronavirus-for-at-risk-americans-without-access-to-a-test-to-treat-drugstore-that-has-a-qualifying-provider-available-this-means-some-will-have-to-make-multip/

POST 249. May 6, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “The United States is “certainly, right now, in this country, out of the pandemic phase..” (Dr. Anthony Fauci). “The US should prepare for a possible summer surge of Covid-19 cases across Southern states..” (Dr. Deborah Birx)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/05/post-249-may-6-2022-coronavirus-the-united-states-is-certainly-right-now-in-this-country-out-of-the-pandemic-phase-dr-anthony-fauci-the-us-should-prepare-for-a-possi/

POST 250. May 11, 2022. Herd Immunity Deja vu. “Not so long ago, the world was clinging to the hope of herd immunity—to the notion that the population would eventually reach some communal level of protection sufficient to quash the outbreak for good. Maybe, experts posited many months back, once 60 to 90 percent of people had been infected or vaccinated or both, the virus would run out of viable hosts, and simply fizzle out. Now it’s clear that “that’s too simplistic…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/05/post-250-super-spreader-event-may-10-2018-not-so-long-ago-the-world-was-clinging-to-the-hope-of-herd-immunity-to-the-notion-that-the-population-would-eventually-reach-some-commun/

POST 251. May 16, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “Now, nearly one million people have died. It did not have to be this way.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/05/post-251-may-16-2022-coronavirus-now-nearly-one-million-people-have-died-it-did-not-have-to-be-this-way/

POST 252. May 20, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “The stakes, two years into the pandemic, should be clear. Fewer vaccines, fewer treatments, and fewer tests will mean more infections, more serious illnesses, and more deaths. That is the scenario the country is staring down: one million people already dead and more to come because politicians became complacent.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/05/post-252-may-20-2022-coronavirus-the-stakes-two-years-into-the-pandemic-should-be-clear-fewer-vaccines-fewer-treatments-and-fewer-tests-will-mean-more-infections-more-serious-illnes/

POST 253. May 29, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Significant obstacles persist in getting Paxlovid to everyone who could benefit from it; more than a million courses of Paxlovid purchased by the government are still available…”..” However, some doctors have also voiced concerns over wider use of the antiviral drug amid reports of so-called “rebound” symptoms following use of Paxlovid, which might raise the risk of the virus evolving resistance to the pills.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/05/post-253-may-29-2020-coronavirus-significant-obstacles-persist-in-getting-paxlovid-to-everyone-who-could-benefit-from-it-more-than-a-million-courses-of-paxlovid-purchased-by-the-governme/

POST 254. June 2, 2022. MONKEYPOX, “Massachusetts General Hospital this week began vaccinating a small group of workers against monkeypox — the first time the new medicine has been used in this country outside of clinical trials. The workers were in close contact with a man diagnosed with the virus and hospitalized at Mass General from May 12 to May 20. The patient was the first person in the United States to be tied to an ongoing outbreak of the rare virus in Europe and North America.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/06/post-254-june-2-2022-monkeypox-massachusetts-general-hospital-this-week-began-vaccinating-a-small-group-of-workers-against-monkeypox-the-first-time-the-new-medicine-has-been-use/

POST 255. June 5, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “More than a year after U.S. health care workers were saluted for saving lives in the COVID-19 outbreak and celebrated with nightly clapping from windows and balconies, some are being issued panic buttons in case of assault and ditching their scrubs before going out in public for fear of harassment.”

“The shooting in Tulsa is an extreme example of a growing trend: violence against doctors, nurses, and other health care workers.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/06/post-255-june-5-2022-coronavirus-more-than-a-year-after-u-s-health-care-workers-were-saluted-for-saving-lives-in-the-covid-19-outbreak-and-celebrated-with-nightly-clapping-from-windows-a/

POST 256. June 10, 2022. MONKEYPOX. “This is one of the rare diseases in which you can vaccinate somebody after they’ve been infected, before they have symptoms, and block the disease,”… “We would have to really screw things up not to be able to contain this..”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/06/post-256-june-10-2022-monkeypox-this-is-one-of-the-rare-diseases-in-which-you-can-vaccinate-somebody-after-theyve-been-infected-before-they-have-symptoms-and-block-the-disease/

POST 257. June 17, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “We’re now in a very weird pandemic phase. On Twitter, doctors such as Eric Topol sound five-alarm warnings about the latest subvariants of omicron. Offline, even in blue states, people are back to parties, bars and restaurants — and will soon be flying around the world with no testing requirements to return to the US. Things feel as if they’ve lost any coherence. There’s no discernible strategy or guidance on what Covid precautions we should still be taking.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/06/post-257-june-18-2022-coronavirus-were-now-in-a-very-weird-pandemic-phase-on-twitter-doctors-such-as-eric-topol-sound-five-alarm-warnings-about-the-latest-subvariants-of-omicro/

POST 258. June 26, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “For a long time, whenever companies wanted to hire a CEO or another key executive, they knew what to look for: somebody with technical expertise, superior administrative skills, and a track record of successfully managing financial resources.”..” That practice now feels like ancient history. So much has changed during the past two decades that companies can no longer assume that leaders with traditional managerial pedigrees will succeed in the C-suite..”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/06/post-258-june-26-2022-coronavirus-for-a-long-time-whenever-companies-wanted-to-hire-a-ceo-or-another-key-executive-they-knew-what-to-look-for-somebody-with-technical-expertise-superio/

POST 259. June, 2022. Monkeypox. ”If HIV and Covid-19 were wake-up calls for the government to prioritize public health, monkeypox shows the consequences of hitting the snooze button too many times. HIV showed the importance of creating an infrastructure of health care workers who can provide approachable, competent care for stigmatized infections. Covid-19 revealed the make-or-break nature of coordinated logistics and communications.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/06/post-259-june-2022-monkeypox-if-hiv-and-covid-19-were-wake-up-calls-for-the-government-to-prioritize-public-health-monkeypox-shows-the-consequences-of-hitting-the-snooze-button-too-many/

POST 260. July7, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “Fauci says he’s taking 2nd course of Paxlovid after experiencing rebound with the antiviral treatment.”…” At this time, CDC states that there is currently no evidence that an additional treatment of Paxlovid, is needed, following a rebound.” So what happened to “following the science”?

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/07/post-260-july7-2022-coronavirus-fauci-says-hes-taking-2nd-course-of-paxlovid-after-experiencing-rebound-with-the-antiviral-treatment-at-this-time-cdc-states/

POST 261. July 14, 2022. CORONAVIRUS+. A trifecta of threats which could breach hospital capacity again! – BA.5, monkeypox, & drug-resistant infections (Acinetobacter and Candida auris)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/07/post-261-july-14-2022-coronavirus-a-trifecta-of-threats-which-could-breach-hospital-capacity-again-ba-5-monkeypox-drug-resistant-infections-acinetobacter-and-candida-auris/

POST 262. July 21, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. Michael Osterholm, PhD: “I think the (COVID) challenge we have and continue to have are these viruses keep throwing 210-mile-an-hour curveballs. We just don’t know what the next situation is going to be.” (H) New this week: Parechovirus & Marburg virus disease.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/07/post-262-july-21-2022-coronavirus-michael-osterholm-phd-i-think-the-covid-challenge-we-have-and-continue-to-have-are-these-viruses-keep-throwing-210-mile-an-hour-curveballs-we-just-d/

POST 263. July 24, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “Inside the West Wing, there was never much doubt that Mr. Biden would eventually contract the disease.”…”The president’s access to healthcare started even before he got sick. He receives full time medical care from the White House Medical Unit, a part of the military located on the first floor of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/07/post-263-july-24-2022-coronavirus-inside-the-west-wing-there-was-never-much-doubt-that-mr-biden-would-eventually-contract-the-disease-the-presidents-access/

POST 264. July 30, 2022. Monkeypox. “The federal response to monkeypox, including the limited testing capacity, has echoes of how public health authorities initially mismanaged Covid-19.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/07/post-264-july-30-2022-monkeypox-the-federal-response-to-monkeypox-including-the-limited-testing-capacity-has-echoes-of-how-public-health-authorities-initially-mismanaged-covid-19/

POST 265. August 4, 2022. Monkeypox. “The shortage of vaccines to combat a fast-growing monkeypox outbreak was caused in part because the Department of Health and Human Services failed early on to ask that bulk stocks of the vaccine it already owned be bottled for distribution…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/08/post-265-august-4-2022-monkeypox-the-shortage-of-vaccines-to-combat-a-fast-growing-monkeypox-outbreak-was-caused-in-part-because-the-department-of-health-and-human-services-failed-early-o/

POST 266. August 11, 2022. Polio/ Monkeypox ++. CDC ”..has deployed a federal team to New York to investigate the case of polio detected in Rockland County. ““Based on earlier polio outbreaks, New Yorkers should know that for every one case of paralytic polio observed, there may be hundreds of other people infected..”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/08/post-266-august-11-2022-polio-monkeypox-cdc-has-deployed-a-federal-team-to-new-york-to-investigate-the-case-of-polio-detected-in-rockland-county-based/

August 10, 2022

POST 265. August 4, 2022. Monkeypox. “The shortage of vaccines to combat a fast-growing monkeypox outbreak was caused in part because the Department of Health and Human Services failed early on to ask that bulk stocks of the vaccine it already owned be bottled for distribution…”

August 5, 2022

for links to POST 1-265 in chronological order, highlight and click on

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/08/coronavirus-tracking-links-to-posts-1-265/

When the monkeypox outbreak was first detected in the United States, it seemed, as far as infectious-disease epidemics go, like one this country should be able to handle. Tests and antivirals for the virus already existed; the government had stockpiled vaccines. Unlike SARS-CoV-2, monkeypox was a known entity, a relative softball on the pathogenic field. It wasn’t hypertransmissible, moving mainly through intimate contact during the disease’s symptomatic phase; previous epidemics had, with few interventions, rather quickly burned themselves out. The playbook was clear: Marshal U.S. resources and ensure they go to those most at risk, send aid abroad, and knock it out of the park. “If there was one virus that would lend itself to containment,” says Boghuma Kabisen Titanji, a virologist and infectious-disease physician at Emory University, this should have been it…

Through much of May and June, monkeypox tests remained siloed within the CDC and its network of public-health labs, already stretched by the pandemic response. Health-care providers had to shuttle specimens to these centers for diagnosis, leaving patients on tenterhooks for days, even weeks, and delaying treatment, vaccination, and contact tracing. Even now, after testing capacity has climbed with the help of commercial labs, typical result turnaround times are stretching long. In Missouri, for instance, “they’re still telling us three to four days” at best, Hilary Reno, the medical director of the St. Louis County Sexual Health Clinic, told me…

Experts have praised some of the CDC’s efforts to avoid stigmatizing at-risk groups, which, at this juncture, remains essential… At the same time, some people have been so fearful of casting monkeypox as an exclusively “gay disease” that sex has almost been censored from discussions, “giving people a misperception of the different risks that populations are facing right now,” Thrasher said. Especially while supplies remain so limited, we need to be “vaccinating people where the virus is moving.” Which means “we need to give both messages simultaneously,” Park said, “that this is not something that only affects gay men” while nodding to the fact that monkeypox is still “primarily affecting certain communities,” a trend that should influence the distribution of shots…”

The top priority now, experts told me, should be funneling funds toward distributing vaccines and scaling up testing. Health workers and patients need continued guidance on the disease’s often-subtle symptoms and the possibility of silent transmission, as well as the resources to administer speedy care. Paid sick leave and housing support would also help ease the burden of monkeypox isolation, which, given the lengthy course of symptoms, can last for weeks. Should such efforts fall short, as they clearly have with SARS-CoV-2, monkeypox could become the second virus to set up permanent residence in the U.S. in the span of three years—giving it all the more opportunity to find new ways to spread, shape-shift, and propagate disease. Preventing that means acting decisively now, to make up for the time we’ve already lost.” (A)

“Less than a decade ago, the United States had some 20 million doses of a new smallpox vaccine — also effective against monkeypox — sitting in freezers in a national stockpile.

Such vast quantities of the vaccine, known today as Jynneos, could have slowed the spread of monkeypox after it first emerged in the United States in mid-May. Instead, the supply, known as the Strategic National Stockpile, had only some 2,400 usable doses left at that point, enough to fully vaccinate just 1,200 people.

The rest of the doses had expired.

Now, some 10 weeks into the outbreak, many people at high risk who want to get vaccinated have been unable to find a dose and may not be able to find one for months.

The chain of events that led the stockpile of a now-critical vaccine to dwindle to near nothing in the United States is only now emerging…

At several points federal officials chose not to quickly replenish doses as they expired, instead pouring money into developing a freeze-dried version of the vaccine that would have substantially increased its three-year shelf life.

As the wait for a freeze-dried vaccine to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration dragged on over the last decade, the United States purchased vast quantities of raw vaccine product, which has yet to be filled into vials.

The raw, unfinished vaccine remains stored in large plastic bags outside Copenhagen, at the headquarters of the small Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic, which developed Jynneos and remains its sole producer.

For nearly 20 years, the United States government has helped fund the company’s development of the vaccine, clinical trials and manufacturing process, at a cost that passed the $1 billion mark by 2014 and is hurtling toward $2 billion. Despite this, the United States now finds itself unable to procure enough doses to quickly launch a widespread vaccination campaign for those at highest risk: men who have sex with men, and in particular, those who have multiple partners.

One reason for the reduction in the U.S. stockpile of Jynneos is that the federal officials overseeing it had not viewed monkeypox as much of a problem, or at least as their problem. They were focused on the most dangerous and deadly scenarios, such as a bioterror attack involving smallpox or anthrax.” (B)

“There is growing concern that the United States may have lost its chance to contain the monkeypox virus, as the nation has been slow to vaccinate those most at risk on a broader scale.

“I think we’re going to have to live with it until they vaccinate every high-risk person,” Dr. Robert Murphy, executive director of the Havey Institute for Global Health at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said this week.

Vaccinating against monkeypox has been a part of the Biden administration’s response to the global outbreak since the nation identified its first case of the disease in May, but supplies have been limited, even as demand for protection from the virus surges.

At first, officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that vaccines for monkeypox were being released from the Strategic National Stockpile and offered to the “high-risk” contacts of monkeypox patients, as well as the health-care workers treating them.

Vaccinating someone already exposed to monkeypox to help prevent illness is called post-exposure prophylaxis or a ring vaccination strategy. Vaccinating a patient’s close circle of contacts is like vaccinating a “ring” around them.

This approach has been used in response to sexually transmitted infections and prior monkeypox outbreaks.

“We can have a really effective strategy of containment and elimination by identifying all the cases and then providing the cases with treatment and the close contacts of those cases with post-exposure prophylaxis,” said a federal health adviser who requested anonymity because they’re not a government employee and don’t speak for any federal agency.

Testing is crucial to getting monkeypox under control, but there’s a ‘shocking’ lack of demand

“We know that this works,” the adviser said. “We have data from other outbreaks to say that it is effective. And so in the beginning, when cases were low — in the tens, the dozens of cases — we were able to effectively work with jurisdictions to identify those cases and, through consultation, figure out how many doses of vaccines would they need to vaccinate as many contacts as they think existed.”

But toward late June, the monkeypox outbreak had spread.

The CDC’s initial strategy “was just doomed to failure,” Murphy said, referencing how a “ring” strategy requires swift and robust outreach to all known contacts of a monkeypox patient — which was becoming increasingly difficult to do as cases were growing, and in more places.

“A ring vaccination strategy was never going to work, frankly,” Murphy said. “I mean, look how fast this virus has spread.”..

Some local health officials saw the writing on the wall early in the outbreak and never implemented a ring vaccination of just close contacts. Instead, vaccines have been offered to a broader group of higher-risk people from the beginning…

With limited supply, cities prioritize first doses

On Monday, the DC Department of Health announced that due to the “very limited” supply of vaccines, only first doses will be provided to high-risk residents, even though Jynneos is a two-dose vaccine. Second doses will be provided at a later time.

“This decision is based on the available scientific evidence, the acceleration of the outbreak, the demand for vaccine from the high number of eligible people, and extreme shortages of the JYNNEOS Monkeypox vaccine nationally,” the announcement said. “DC Health is confident that additional vaccine doses will be available when needed for those who have received their first dose.”

In New York City, which also expanded eligibility for the monkeypox vaccine to any adult in a high-risk group, first doses have been prioritized.

“New York City is the epicenter of the monkeypox outbreak in the U.S. and yet does not have sufficient vaccine supply,” the city announced in mid-July. “Given the rapid increase in cases, the Health Department has decided that providing first doses to offer protection to more at-risk New Yorkers is the best strategy until we receive adequate vaccine supply. This single dose strategy is consistent with the monkeypox vaccine distribution strategy taken in the UK and Canada.” (C)

“When about 100 cases of ‌‌monkeypox had been confirmed or suspected in Europe‌ in May, it was clear the virus was spreading outside the areas where it was previously seen‌‌. Some on social media ‌‌suggested it might already be ‌spreading rapidly in communities in Europe and the ‌United States. These reports should have been a code red for federal infectious disease response.

But it wasn’t until late June that the C‌enters for Disease Control and Prevention expanded testing for monkeypox to large commercial labs like Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp for more capacity and access. The C.D.C. had gone through its standard playbook, ticking through its protracted checklist.

Compared with the agency’s botched rollout of a test for the coronavirus, the monkeypox test came at warp speed. But the virus spread even faster. If ‌American leaders wanted to quash the outbreak, ‌‌the United States should have been testing all people who presented with what was presumed to be atypical cases of diseases like genital herpes and zoster infection; both can cause rashes that sometimes resemble monkeypox. That might have required 15,000 tests a week, by my rough estimate. From mid-May to the end of June, the U‌‌nited States tested only about 2,000 samples.

Our country’s response to monkeypox ‌‌has been plagued by the same shortcomings we had with Covid-19. Now if monkeypox ‌gains a permanent foothold in the U‌nited States and becomes an endemic virus that joins our circulating repertoire of pathogens, it will be one of the worst public health failures in modern times not only because of the pain and peril of the disease but also because it was so avoidable. Our lapses extend beyond political decision making to the agencies tasked with protecting us from these threats. We don’t have a federal infrastructure capable of dealing with these emergencies.

The failures that got us here fit a now familiar pattern.

Early on, similar to the early days of Covid, testing access for monkeypox was limited, despite ample evidence that monkeypox was spreading in the United States. The Strategic National Stockpile was meant as a hedge against viral contingencies, but when the coronavirus struck, it lacked adequate supplies of testing equipment, ventilators and masks. With monkeypox, the government hadn’t stockpiled enough of the only vaccine, Jynneos, that was indicated for prevention of the disease and considered safe for use. The United States had on hand fewer than 2,400 doses in mid-May, mostly as a hedge against the risk of smallpox, which was the vaccine’s other indication.

There are more parallels between our failings ‌‌to combat Covid and monkeypox. Each time, the reflex has been to blame political leadership for poor planning, lack of urgency‌‌ and clumsy execution. It’s true that ‌‌both responses have been plagued by an absence of coordination among federal agencies like the Food and Drug Administration, which I led under the first two years of the Trump administration; the C.D.C.; and the components of the Health and Human Services Department that are responsible for different aspects of response. But systemic failings also rest with the bureaucracy charged with countering these threats.

The C.D.C. should lead America’s response to viral exigencies. But the agency isn’t a crisis organization. It lacks the infrastructure to mobilize a rapid response and is too hidebound and process driven to move quickly. Its cultural instinct is to take a deliberative approach, debating each decision. With Covid, the virus ‌‌gained ground quickly. With ‌‌monkeypox, which spreads more slowly, typically through very close contact, the shortcomings of C.D.C.’s cultural approach haven’t been as acute yet. But the shortfalls are the same….

The Biden administration needs to get the C.D.C. back to its disease control roots, by transferring some of its disease prevention work to other agencies. The F.D.A. can handle smoking cessation, leveraging its regulatory toolbox. The National Institutes of Health can tackle cancer and heart disease. Focus the C.D.C. more on its core mission of outbreak response. And imbue the agency with the national security mind-set that it had at its origins. If the C.D.C.’s mission were more tightly focused on the elements required for handling contagion, Congress might be more willing to invest it with the robust authority to do that targeted mission well. Congress would need to reprogram budget lines to get it done, but someone needs to start that conversation.

Time is running out. Diseases like Zika, Covid‌ and ‌‌monkeypox are a dire warning that dangerous pathogens are on the march. The next one could be worse — a deadly strain of flu or something more sinister like Marburg virus. We’ve now had ample notice that the nation continues to be unprepared and that our vulnerabilities are enormous.” (D)

“Critics fear a repeat of the catastrophic inequity problems seen during the coronavirus pandemic.

“The mistakes we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic are already being repeated,” said Dr. Boghuma Kabisen Titanji, an assistant professor of medicine at Emory University.

While rich countries have ordered millions of vaccines to stop monkeypox within their borders, none have announced plans to share doses with Africa, where a more lethal form of monkeypox is spreading than in the West.

To date, there have been more than 22,000 monkeypox cases reported in nearly 80 countries since May, with about 75 suspected deaths in Africa, mostly in Nigeria and Congo. On Friday, Brazil and Spain reported deaths linked to monkeypox, the first reported outside Africa. Spain reported a second monkeypox death Saturday.

“The African countries dealing with monkeypox outbreaks for decades have been relegated to a footnote in conversations about the global response,” Titanji said…

On Thursday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called for the continent to be prioritized for vaccines, saying it was again being left behind.

“If we’re not safe, the rest of the world is not safe,” said Africa CDC’s acting director, Ahmed Ogwell…

WHO is developing a vaccine-sharing mechanism for affected countries, but has released few details about how it might work. The U.N. health agency has made no guarantees about prioritizing poor countries in Africa, saying only that vaccines would be dispensed based on epidemiological need.

Some experts worry the mechanism could duplicate the problems seen with COVAX, created by WHO and partners in 2020 to try to ensure poorer countries would get COVID-19 shots. That missed repeated targets to share vaccines with poorer nations.

“Just asking countries to share is not going to be enough,” said Sharmila Shetty, a vaccines adviser for Medecins Sans Frontieres. “The longer monkeypox circulates, the greater chances it could get into new animal reservoirs or spread to” the human general population, she said.

At the moment, there’s only one producer of the most advanced monkeypox vaccine: the Danish company Bavarian Nordic. Its production capacity this year is about 30 million doses, with about 16 million vaccines available now.

In May, Bavarian Nordic asked the U.S. to release more than 215,000 doses it was due to receive “to assist with international requests the company was receiving,” and the U.S. complied, according to Bill Hall, a spokesman for the department of Health and Human Services. The U.S. will still receive the doses but at a later date.

Hall said the U.S. has not made any other promises to share vaccines. The U.S. has ordered by far the most number of doses, with 13 million reserved, although only about 1.4 million have been delivered.//

Dr. Ingrid Katz, a global health expert at Harvard University, said the monkeypox epidemics were “potentially manageable” if the limited vaccines were distributed appropriately. She believed it was still possible to prevent monkeypox from turning into a pandemic but “we need to be thoughtful in our prevention strategies and rapid in our response.” (E)

“Scientists are racing to answer three questions in particular that will determine how quickly monkeypox can be stopped — if it can be stopped at all.

Exactly how is the virus spreading?

At the beginning of the outbreak, health officials asserted that the virus spread through respiratory droplets emitted when an infected person coughed or sneezed, and through close contact with pus-filled skin lesions or bedding and other contaminated materials.

All of that was true. But it may not be the whole picture.

More than 99 percent of the people infected so far are men who acquired the virus through intimate contact with other men, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only 13 women and two young children had been diagnosed with monkeypox as of July 25.

Researchers have found the virus in saliva, urine, feces and semen. It is unclear whether those fluids can be infectious and, in particular, whether the virus can be transmitted during sex by means other than close skin-to-skin contact. But the pattern of spread so far, along sexual networks, has left researchers wondering.

It is clear, however, that monkeypox does not spread easily and has not yet spilled into the rest of the population. The average person is not at risk from store-bought clothes, for example, or from a fleeting interaction with an infected person, as some social media posts have suggested.

According to the C.D.C., people without symptoms cannot spread monkeypox. But at least one study has detected the virus in men who did not experience any symptoms. The pattern of symptoms has also diverged from that observed in previous outbreaks…

Is one dose of the vaccine sufficient?

Jynneos, the safer of two vaccines for monkeypox, is made by Bavarian Nordic, a small company in Denmark. Supplies have been severely constrained, and the Biden administration moved slowly to acquire additional doses as the virus spread.

Now, federal officials have ordered nearly seven million doses, which will arrive in batches over the next months. So far, the administration has shipped about 320,000 doses to states. The Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday that it had approved another 800,000 doses, but it was unclear when they would be distributed.

Jynneos is supposed to be administered in two doses 28 days apart. But some cities, including Washington and New York City, are holding back second doses until more become available, emulating a strategy adopted by Britain and Canada.

Federal health officials have advised against deferring second doses. But in studies, a single shot of Jynneos appears to be protective for up to two years. If that finding holds true in the real world, then postponing additional shots may help officials contain the outbreak by immunizing more Americans.

How well does drug treatment work?

In 2018, the F.D.A. approved a drug to treat smallpox called tecovirimat, or TPOXX, based on data from animal studies. There are only limited data on its use in people.

Supply is not an issue: The national stockpile holds about 1.7 million doses. Yet the drug has been difficult to acquire, and that has meant that ambiguities about how well and for whom the drug works have persisted even as case counts rise.

Because tecovirimat is not approved specifically to treat monkeypox, it can only be prescribed through a cumbersome “investigational drug protocol” that, until recently, required doctors to send the C.D.C. detailed reports, a journal maintained by the patients to record their progress and photographs of the lesions.

With so many hurdles, many clinics did not offer tecovirimat at all; even physicians at well-funded institutions were managing to treat only two or three patients per day…

Wider use should mean that scientists and health officials will gain a better understanding of the drug’s efficacy. The new requirements will help the C.D.C. “determine if and how well this drug works for monkeypox patients,” noted Kristen Nordlund, a spokeswoman for the agency.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is planning a clinical trial of tecovirimat in adults with monkeypox infection, including people living with H.I.V., which may begin this fall. The agency is collaborating with Siga Technologies, which manufactures the drug, on another trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the virus is a longtime scourge, also expected to begin this fall.” (F)

“Officials in New York City declared a public health emergency due to the spread of the monkeypox virus Saturday, calling the city “the epicenter” of the outbreak.

The announcement Saturday by Mayor Eric Adams and health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan said as many as 150,000 city residents could be at risk of infection. The declaration will allow officials to issue emergency orders under the city health code and amend code provisions to implement measures to help slow the spread.

In the last two days, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state disaster emergency declaration and the state health department called monkeypox an “imminent threat to public health.”

New York had recorded 1,345 cases as of Friday, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. California had the second-most, with 799.

“We will continue to work with our federal partners to secure more doses as soon as they become available,” Adams and Vasan said in the statement. “This outbreak must be met with urgency, action, and resources, both nationally and globally, and this declaration of a public health emergency reflects the seriousness of the moment.” (G)

“Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday declared the monkeypox virus a public health emergency, and declared Illinois a disaster area regarding the disease.

The declaration applies statewide, and will allow the Illinois Department of Public Health to coordinate logistics so as to aid in the distribution vaccines, and in treatment and prevention efforts. The declaration will also help coordinate the state response with the federal government.

“MPV is a rare, but potentially serious disease that requires the full mobilization of all available public health resources to prevent the spread,” Gov. Pritzker said in a news release. “That’s why I am declaring a state of emergency to ensure smooth coordination between state agencies and all levels of government, thereby increasing our ability to prevent and treat the disease quickly. We have seen this virus disproportionately impact the LGBTQ+ community in its initial spread. Here in Illinois we will ensure our LGBTQ+ community has the resources they need to stay safe while ensuring members are not stigmatized as they access critical health care.”

The proclamation takes effect immediately and will remain in place for 30 days. The World Health Organization declared monkeypox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on July 23.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady released a statement endorsing the state Public Health Emergency declaration, and saying an additional declaration for the city is not necessary:

“This emergency declaration brings a necessary, increased focus to the Monkeypox (MPV) outbreak we’re seeing here in Chicago, across our state, and around the country. Since the beginning of this outbreak, the Chicago Department of Public Health has been working diligently with clinical and community partners to raise awareness and vaccinate residents at increased risk and will continue to do so. Ultimately, however, we need more support from the federal level to fully address the threat MPV presents to our city. It is our hope that this declaration joins a chorus of others across the nation and encourages the rapid increase and distribution of vaccines. This declaration will allow the state to use emergency procurement powers and to directly involve other state agencies, like Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA), in the response statewide. Chicago does not need a separate emergency declaration as we are covered by the state one, and in addition, we already have a local emergency procurement process; a strong local distribution network; and a diverse group of clinical and community partners working to raise awareness and vaccinate Chicagoans at increased risk.

Since July 23, the number of monkeypox cases in the city of Chicago alone almost tripled in less than one week. Cases are also skyrocketing statewide.

As of Monday, a total of 520 cases of monkeypox have been reported in Illinois, according to the Illinois Department of Health. This total includes all probable and confirmed cases.” (H)

“California on Monday evening became the latest state to declare a state of emergency due to its worsening monkeypox outbreak.

In a statement, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said the proclamation is meant to help bolster the state’s efforts to combat the virus.

The state of emergency allows several measures, including the administering of Food and Drug Administration-approved monkeypox vaccines.

“California is working urgently across all levels of government to slow the spread of monkeypox, leveraging our robust testing, contact tracing and community partnerships strengthened during the pandemic to ensure that those most at risk are our focus for vaccines, treatment and outreach,” Newsom said.

He added, “We’ll continue to work with the federal government to secure more vaccines, raise awareness about reducing risk, and stand with the LGBTQ community fighting stigmatization.”

The proclamation comes as California has distributed more than 25,000 vaccine doses in addition to the separate vaccine allocation sent to Los Angeles County.

“The state allocates doses to local health departments based on a number of factors, including the number of reported monkeypox cases in an area and estimate of at-risk populations,” Newsom’s office noted.” (I)

“President Joe Biden has appointed two top federal officials to coordinate his administration’s response to monkeypox, the White House said on Tuesday, as more states declared emergencies to help boost vaccines and other resources to combat the virus.

The top officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will coordinate the U.S. response across the federal government even as Biden’s administration has stopped short of declaring a national emergency.

The appointments come as the United States aims to bolster vaccination efforts to slow the spread of a monkeypox outbreak that has infected more than 5,800 Americans.

“Over the coming weeks … the administration will advance and accelerate the United States’ monkeypox response to mitigate the spread of the virus, protect individuals most at risk of contracting the virus, and care for those who have been afflicted with it,” the White House said in a statement…

Robert Fenton, a FEMA regional administrator, will serve as the White House monkeypox coordinator and Demetre Daskalakis, CDC’s HIV prevention chief, will serve as deputy coordinator.

The pair will coordinate Biden’s response “including equitably increasing the availability of tests, vaccinations and treatments,” the White House said. The administration has estimated it may need nearly $7 billion to combat the outbreak, according to the Washington Post.” (J)

“The shortage of vaccines to combat a fast-growing monkeypox outbreak was caused in part because the Department of Health and Human Services failed early on to ask that bulk stocks of the vaccine it already owned be bottled for distribution, according to multiple administration officials familiar with the matter.

By the time the federal government placed its orders, the vaccine’s Denmark-based manufacturer, Bavarian Nordic, had booked other clients and was unable to do the work for months, officials said — even though the federal government had invested well over $1 billion in the vaccine’s development.

The government is now distributing about 1.1 million doses, less than a third of the 3.5 million that health officials now estimate are needed to fight the outbreak. It does not expect the next delivery, of half a million doses, until October. Most of the other 5.5 million doses the United States has ordered are not scheduled to be delivered until next year, according to the federal health agency.

To speed up deliveries, the government is scrambling to find another firm to take over some of the bottling, capping and labeling of frozen bulk vaccine that is being stored in large plastic bags at Bavarian Nordic’s headquarters outside Copenhagen. Because that final manufacturing phase, known as fill and finish, is highly specialized, experts estimate it will take another company at least three months to gear up. Negotiations are ongoing with Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing, a Michigan factory that has helped produce Covid-19 vaccines, to bottle 2.5 million of the doses now on order, hopefully shaving months off the timetable, according to people familiar with the situation.

Health and Human Services officials so miscalculated the need that on May 23, they allowed Bavarian Nordic to deliver about 215,000 fully finished doses that the federal government had already bought to European countries instead of holding them for the United States.

At the time, the nation had only eight confirmed monkeypox cases, agency officials said. And it could not have used those doses immediately because the Food and Drug Administration had not yet certified the plant where the vaccine, Jynneos, was poured into vials…

Lawrence O. Gostin, a former adviser to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who has consulted with the White House about monkeypox, said the government’s response has been hobbled by “the same kinds of bureaucratic delays and forgetfulness and dropping the ball that we did during the Covid pandemic.”

The obstacles to filling and finishing vials follow other missteps that have limited vaccine supply. The United States once had some 20 million doses in a national stockpile but failed to replenish them as they expired, letting the supply dwindle to almost nothing. It had 372,000 doses ready to go in Denmark but waited weeks after the first case was identified in mid-May before requesting the delivery of most of those doses. Another roughly 786,000 doses were held up by an F.D.A. inspection of the manufacturer’s new fill-and-finish plant but have now been shipped…

Mr. Gostin said the nation’s public health agencies have been “kind of asleep at the wheel on this,” and the new coordinators should help with “unblocking all of the obstacles to procuring and delivering vaccines and drugs, which has been deeply frustrating.”..

With too few doses, health officials apparently plan to rely heavily on the “test and trace” strategy that figured heavily in the early stages of the Covid pandemic. As the pandemic escalated, the sheer torrent of cases overwhelmed the ability of health officials to contact people who might have been infected by someone who had tested positive for the coronavirus. Once Covid vaccines became available, they became the cornerstone of the administration’s pandemic response.

Through early June, Health and Human Services officials appeared firmly convinced that the United States had more than enough supply of the monkeypox vaccine, called Jynneos, to handle what appeared to be a handful of cases.” (K)

“The White House today declared monkeypox a public health emergency.

“We are prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said to reporters during a briefing on Thursday.

A public health emergency can trigger grant funding and open up more resources for various aspects of a federal response. It also allows the Secretary to enter into contracts for treatments and other necessary medical supplies and equipment, as well as support emergency hospital services, among other things. Public health emergencies last for 90 days but can be extended by the Secretary.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, said the declaration will provide resources and increase access to care. She also said it will expand the CDC’s ability to share data.

Some have been calling for a federal public health emergency saying it will signal to the country that this is a serious outbreak…

The focus of the Biden Administration’s response to the outbreak has been to vaccinate those at high risk of contracting the disease, but critics say vaccine availability has been limited and slow to come online.

The Administration says it has made more than one million doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine available to states and territories to order.” (L)

“As monkeypox continues its relentless spread around the globe, organizations in the U.S. are taking steps to safeguard the nation’s blood supply.

In addition to temperature checks that are part of standard health screens for prospective donors, the American Red Cross is now checking for the distinctive lesions that are a hallmark of the disease as part of routine arm examinations. And beginning in October, the Red Cross will require individuals who have been diagnosed with monkeypox or exposed to someone with a monkeypox infection to wait at least 21 days before giving blood.” (P)

“Health officials are considering changing the way monkeypox vaccine doses are administered because the country is “at a critical inflection point” with the virus’ spread, US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf told reporters on Thursday.

“In recent days, it’s become clear to all of us that given the continued spread of the virus, we’re at a critical inflection point, dictating the need for additional solutions to address the rise in infection rates,” Califf said. “The goal has always been to vaccinate as many people as possible.”

The commissioner said officials are considering allowing health care providers to be able to use a dose-sharing method where one vial of Jynneos vaccine — previously used as one dose — will be used to administer up to five separate doses.

This approach would change the way Jynneos is administered, Califf said. Instead of the vaccine being administered in the fat layer under the skin, it will be delivered underneath the skin layer.

“There are some advantages to intradermal administration including an improved immune response to the vaccine,” Califf said. “It’s important to note that overall safety and efficacy profile will not be sacrificed for this approach. Please know, we’ve been exploring all scientifically feasible options and we believe this could be a promising approach.”” (M)

“The CDC does list contact with respiratory secretions as a method of transmission, but notes “scientists are still searching” for “how often” it’s spread this way and when an infected, symptomatic person “might be more likely to spread the virus through respiratory secretions.” (Q)

UPDATES

“President Joe Biden removes his face mask as he arrives to speak during a meeting with CEOs in the White House complex Thursday, before he tested positive for Covid-19 again on Saturday, slightly more than three days after he was cleared to exit coronavirus isolation.” (N)

“As the wave of omicron coronavirus subvariant BA.5 continues to flood the US, daily COVID-19 hospitalizations are four times higher than four months ago, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The data reflects the high ongoing transmission of coronavirus subvariants adept at evading fading immune responses in a population that is largely unboosted.

In early April, as the US fell into a brief pandemic lull in the wake of the towering BA.1 omicron wave, the seven-day rolling average for new hospitalizations sank to around 1,420 per day nationwide. Now, after waves of subvariants BA. 2, BA.2.12.1, and the current BA.5, hospitalizations have floated back up. The current seven-day rolling average is nearing 6,300. Overall, more than 37,000 people in the US are currently hospitalized with COVID-19.” (O)

A.America Should Have Been Able to Handle Monkeypox, By Katherine J. Wu, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/07/us-failed-monkeypox-virus-response/670994/
B.How the U.S. Let 20 Million Doses of Monkeypox Vaccine Expire, By Joseph Goldstein, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/01/nyregion/monkeypox-vaccine-jynneos-us.html?referringSource=articleShare
C.Initial strategy of vaccinating only known monkeypox contacts was ‘doomed to failure’ in the US, experts say, By Jacqueline Howard, https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/30/health/monkeypox-vaccination-strategy/index.html
D.Monkeypox Is About to Become the Next Public Health Failure, By Scott Gottlieb, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/30/opinion/monkeypox-public-health-failure.html?referringSource=articleShare
E.In race for monkeypox vaccines, experts see repeat of COVID, By MARIA CHENG, https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-pandemics-28285b483cfd77c49edaa915ca383769
F.Three Pressing Questions About Monkeypox: Spread, Vaccination, Treatment, By Apoorva Mandavilli, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/29/health/monkeypox-spread-vaccine-treatment.html?referringSource=articleShare
G.New York City declares monkeypox a public health emergency, by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, https://www.npr.org/2022/07/30/1114747427/nyc-monkeypox-public-health-emergency
H.Gov. Pritzker declares monkeypox virus outbreak in Illinois a Public Health Emergency, BY DANA KOZLOV, https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/gov-pritzker-monkeypox-virus-outbreak-illinois-public-health-emergency/
I.Newsom declares California state of emergency over monkeypox outbreak, BY SARAH POLUS, https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3583637-newsom-declares-california-state-of-emergency-over-monkeypox-outbreak/
J.Biden names U.S. monkeypox coordinators as more states cite emergencies, Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/biden-name-fema-cdc-officials-lead-us-monkeypox-response-ap-2022-08-02/
K.U.S. Could Have Had Many More Doses of Monkeypox Vaccine This Year, By Sharon LaFraniere, Noah Weiland and Joseph Goldstein, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/03/us/politics/monkeypox-vaccine-doses-us.html?referringSource=articleShare
L.White House declares monkeypox a public health emergency. WILL STONE and JANE GREENHALGH, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/08/04/1115676160/white-house-declares-monkeypox-a-public-health-emergency
M.Biden administration declares the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency, By MJ Lee and Carma Hassan, https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/04/politics/monkeypox-public-health-emergency/index.html
N.https://www.statnews.com/2022/07/30/biden-tests-positive-for-covid19-again-in-paxlovid-rebound/
O.With help from BA.5, new COVID hospitalizations quadrupled since April, https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/08/covid-hospitalizations-more-than-quadrupled-since-april-deaths-remain-stable/
P.Red Cross beginning to screen blood donors for monkeypox, by Megan Molteni, Red Cross beginning to screen blood donors for monkeypox
Q.Can monkeypox spread through the air? What we know so far, by Erica Carbajal and Nika Schoonover, https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/monkeypox-respiratory-transmission-appears-rare-but-not-yet-fully-understood.html

CORONAVIRUS TRACKING Links to POSTS 1-265

August 5, 2022

CORONAVIRUS TRACKING Links to POSTS 1-265

Doctor, Did You Wash Your Hands?®

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/

Curated Contemporaneous Case Study Methodology

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2019/12/9897/

Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/10/jonathan-m-metsch-dr-p-h-2/

PART 1. January 21, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday confirmed the first U.S. case of a deadly new coronavirus that has killed six people in China.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/01/the-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-on-tuesday-confirmed-the-first-u-s-case-of-a-deadly-new-coronavirus-that-has-killed-six-people-in-china/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/01/part-2-coronavirus-if-its-not-contained-shortly-i-think-we-are-looking-at-a-pandemic-with-isolated-cases-of-the-dangerous-new-coronavirus-cropping-u/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/02/part-4-coronavirus-so-like-sars-and-mers-other-coronaviruses-before-it-the-wuhan-coronavirus-is-spreading-in-hospitals/

PART 5. February 12, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “In short, shoe-leather public health and basic medical care—not miracle drugs—are generally what stop outbreaks of emerging infections..”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/02/part-5-coronavirus-in-short-shoe-leather-public-health-and-basic-medical-care-not-miracle-drugs-are-generally-what-stop-outbreaks-of-emerging-infections/

Part 10. March 1, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Stop Surprise Medical Bills for Coronavirus care. (&) Lessons Learned (or not) In California and Washington State from community acquired cases.

PART 11. March 5, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Gov. Andrew Cuomo… would require employers to pay workers and protect their jobs if they are quarantined because of the coronavirus.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/03/part-11-coronavirus-gov-andrew-cuomo-would-require-employers-to-pay-workers-and-protect-their-jobs-if-they-are-quarantined-because-of-the-coronavirus/

Part 13.. March 14, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “If I’m buying real estate in New York, I’ll listen to the President….If I’m asking about infectious diseases, I’m going to listen to Tony Fauci,”

PART 14. March 17, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “ “Most physicians have never seen this level of angst and anxiety in their careers”…. One said “I am sort of a pariah in my family.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/03/part-14-coronavirus-march-17-2020-most-physicians-have-never-seen-this-level-of-angst-and-anxiety-in-their-careers-one-said-i-am-sort-of-a-pariah-in/

PART 16. March 27, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. I am not a clinician or a medical ethicist but articles on Coronavirus patient triage started me Googling………to learn about FUTILE TREATMENT

PART 20. April 20, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “…nothing is mentioned in the “Opening Up America Again” plan about how states should handle a resurgence.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/04/part-20-april-20-2020-coronavirus-nothing-is-mentioned-in-the-opening-up-america-again-plan-about-how-states-should-handle-a-resurgence-2/

PART 21. April 23, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “We need to ask, are we using ventilators in a way that makes sense for other diseases but not this one?”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/04/part-21-april-23-2020-coronavirus-we-need-to-ask-are-we-using-ventilators-in-a-way-that-makes-sense-for-other-diseases-but-not-for-this-one-2/

POST 22. April 29, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. ..the “ACS released a list of 10 issues that should be addressed before a healthcare organization resumes elective surgeries[JM1] ….”

POST 24. May 7, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said: “there are going to be deaths no matter what”… but that people needed to get back to work.

POST 26. May 14, 2020. CORONAVIRUS, “Deep cleaning is not a scientific concept”….”there is no universal protocol for a “deep clean” to eradicate the coronavirus”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/05/post-26-may-14-2020-coronavirus-deep-cleaning-is-not-a-scientific-concept-there-is-no-universal-protocol-for-a-deep-clean-to-eradicate-the-cor-2/

POST 27. May 19, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Hospital…executives…are taking pay cuts…to help offset the financial fallout from COVID-19.” As “front line” layoffs and furloughs accelerate…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/05/post-27-may-19-2020-coronavirus-hospitalexecutivesare-taking-pay-cutsto-help-offset-the-financial-fallout-from-covid-19-as-front-line/

POST 28. May 23, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. ““You’ve got to be kidding me,”..”How could the CDC make that mistake? This is a mess.” CDC conflates viral and antibody tests numbers.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/05/post-28-may-23-2020-coronavirus-youve-got-to-be-kidding-me-how-could-the-cdc-make-that-mistake-this-is-a-mess-cdc-conflates-viral-and-anti/

PART 29. May 22, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “The economy did not close down. It closed down for people who, frankly, had the luxury of staying home,” (Governor Cuomo). But not so for frontline workers!

POST 30. June 3,202. CORONAVIRUS. “The wave of mass protests across the United States will almost certainly set off new chains of infection for the novel coronavirus, experts say….

POST 31. June 9, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “I think we had an unintended consequence: I think we made people afraid to come back to the hospital,”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/06/post-31-june-9-2020-coronavirus-i-think-we-had-an-unintended-consequence-i-think-we-made-people-afraid-to-come-back-to-the-hospital/

Post 32. June 16, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Could the Trump administration be pursuing herd immunity by “inaction”? “ If Fauci didn’t exist, we’d have to invent him.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/06/post-32-june-16-2020-coronavirus-could-the-trump-administration-be-pursuing-herd-immunity-by-inaction-if-fauci-didnt-exist-wed-have-to-invent-him/

POST 33. June 21, 2002. CORONAVIRUS….. Smashing (lowering the daily number of cases) v. flattening the curve (maintaining a plateau)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/06/post-33-june-23-2002-coronavirus-smashing-lowering-the-daily-number-of-cases-v-flattening-the-curve-maintaining-a-plateau/

POST 39. July, 23,2020. CORONAVIRUS. A Tale of Two Cities. Seattle becomes New York (rolls back reopening) while New York becomes Seattle (moves to partial phase 4 reopening)

POST 42. August 11, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “I think that if future historians look back on this period, what they will see is a tragedy of denial….

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/08/post-42-coronavirus-august-11-2020-i-think-that-if-future-historians-look-back-on-this-period-what-they-will-see-is-a-tragedy-of-denial/

POST 43. August 22, 2020. CORONAVIRUS.” “we’ve achieved something great as a nation. We’ve created an unyielding market for FAUCI BOBBLEHEADS”!! (W)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/08/post-43-august-22-2020-coronavirus-weve-achieved-something-great-as-a-nation-weve-created-an-unyielding-market-for-fauci-bobbleheads-w/

POST 50. October 6, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Monday October 5th will go down as one of the most fraught chapters in the history of American public Health (and national security).

POST 53. October 20, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “a…“herd-immunity strategy” is a contradiction in terms, in that herd immunity is the absence of a strategy.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/10/post-53-october-20-2020-coronavirus-aherd-immunity-strategy-is-a-contradiction-in-terms-in-that-herd-immunity-is-the-absence-of-a-strategy/

POST 55. October 26, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. The Testing Conundrum: “ It’s thus very possible to be antigen negative but P.C.R. positive, while still harboring the virus in the body..”

Post 56. October 30, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Trump’s now back in charge. It’s not the doctors.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/10/post-56-october-30-2020-coronavirus-trumps-now-back-in-charge-its-not-the-doctors/

POST 57. November 3, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Dr. Deborah Birx: the US is entering its “most deadly phase” yet, one that requires “much more aggressive action,”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-57-november-3-2020-coronavirus-dr-deborah-birx-the-us-is-entering-its-most-deadly-phase-yet-one-that-requires-much-more-aggressive-action/

POST 58. November 4, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “…the president has largely shuttered the White House Coronavirus Task Force and doubled down on anti-science language…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-58-november-4-2020-coronavirus-the-president-has-largely-shuttered-the-white-house-coronavirus-task-force-and-doubled-down-on-anti-science-language/

POST 59. November 5, 2020. Coronavirus. “The United States on Wednesday recorded over 100,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time since the pandemic began..

POST 60. November 7, 2020. “White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has tested positive for the coronavirus….” (A)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-60-november-7-2020-white-house-chief-of-staff-mark-meadows-has-tested-positive-for-the-coronavirus-a/

POST 62. November 8, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “The United States reported its 10 millionth coronavirus case on Sunday, with the latest million added in just 10 days,…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-62-november-8-2020-coronavirus-the-united-states-reported-its-10-millionth-coronavirus-case-on-sunday-with-the-latest-million-added-in-just-10-days/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-77-november-26-2020-coronavirus-pope-francis-when-i-got-really-sick-at-the-age-of-21-i-had-my-first-experience-of-limit-of-pain-and-loneliness-aug/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-79-november-28-2020-coronavirus-mayo-clinic-our-surge-plan-expands-into-the-garage-not-where-id-want-to-put-my-grandfather-or-my-grandmother/

POST 80. November 29, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Op-Ed in the Jersey Journal. Do you know which hospital is right for you if you have coronavirus? | Opinion

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-80-november-29-2020-coronavirus-oped-in-the-jersey-journal-do-you-know-which-hospital-is-right-for-you-if-you-have-coronavirus-opinion/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-84-december-6-2020-cpronavirus-more-than-100000-americans-are-in-the-hospital-with-covid-19-were-seeing-c-d-c-awaken-from-its-politi/

PART 89. December 12, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. THE VACCINE!!! “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Winston Churchill

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-90-december-14-2020-coronavirus-the-first-doses-of-a-covid-19-vaccine-have-been-given-to-the-american-public-each-person-who-receives-a-vaccine/

POST 95. December 23, 2020. “The Murphy administration may step in to force (New Jersey) hospitals to report COVID-19 outbreaks among staff.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-95-december-23-2020-the-murphy-administration-may-step-in-to-force-new-jersey-hospitals-to-report-covid-19-outbreaks-among-staff/

POST 98. December 28, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Governor Andrew Cuomo announced new penalties in order to rein in possible vaccination fraud…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-98-december-28-2020-coronavirus-governor-andrew-cuomo-announced-new-penalties-in-order-to-rein-in-possible-vaccination-fraud/

POST 104. January 6, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Paramedics in Southern California are being told to conserve oxygen and not to bring patients to the hospital who have little chance of survival…”

POST 111. January 14, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Visitors from Toronto to New York to Buenos Aires have long flocked to Florida for sun, surf and shopping. Now they are coming for the Covid-19 vaccine….

POST 112. January 14, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. CHINA – “Eleven million people are under lockdown in Hebei province after a new cluster of coronavirus infections.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-112-january-14-2021-coronavirus-china-eleven-million-people-are-under-lockdown-in-hebei-province-after-a-new-cluster-of-coronavirus-infections/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-117-january-23-2021-coronavirus-1-dr-faucithe-idea-that-you-can-get-up-here-and-let-the-science-speak-it-is-somewhat-of-a-liberating/

POST 122. February 1, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Dr.Fauci endorses double-masking. Dr.Osterholm disagrees!

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-122-february-1-2021-coronavirus-dr-fauci-endorses-double-masking-dr-osterholm-disagrees/

POST 123. February 4, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Nursing homes across the country are facing the same struggle, as workers have been more reluctant than residents to be vaccinated…

POST 140. March 9, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “In West Virginia, they are bracing for the second wave….. Not coronavirus but opioid overdoses, with one scourge driving a resurgence of the other.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/03/post-144-march-20-2021-coronavirus-the-vaccine-hesitancy-we-are-seeing-isnt-just-about-covid-vaccines-it-is-a-general-reflection-of-americans/

POST 145. March 25, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Efforts to disseminate Covid-19 vaccines as widely as possible are hitting an unexpected obstacle: health-care workers who decline the shots.

POST 157. April 25, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Ohio hospitals; “We agreed in multiple conversations, there’s nothing in fighting a pandemic that creates a competitive advantage.”…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/05/post-162-may-21-2021-coronavirus-new-jersey-gov-phil-murphy-is-refusing-to-lift-his-indoor-mask-mandate-for-vaccinated-residents-fully-vaccinated-resi/

POST 167. June 9, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Hospitals prevaricate on mandatory staff vaccinations. Florida’s Governor forbids cruise ship vaccine mandates. Pfizer and Moderna apply for FDA full approval.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/06/post-170-june-17-2021-coronavirus-dr-ashish-jhais-worried-about-the-potential-impact-the-delta-variant-could-have-in-the-united-states-im-concerned-a/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/06/post-171-june-19-2021-coronavirus-a-34-year-old-man-a-covid-19-survivor-has-been-diagnosed-with-indias-first-known-case-of-green-fungus-infection/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/07/post-176-july-9-2021-coronavirus-mercy-springfield-missouri-hospital-ran-out-of-ventilators-for-its-patients-over-the-fourth-of-july-weekend/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/07/post-179-july-16-2021-coronavirus-it-therefore-follows-that-the-harm-principle-first-do-no-harm-can-be-used-to-justify-compulsory-vaccination-pro/

POST 185. August 6, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. ‘If you aren’t going to help, please get out of the way’: Biden turns up the pressure on GOP governors as Delta spreads”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/08/post-185-august-6-2021-coronavirus-if-you-arent-going-to-help-please-get-out-of-the-way-biden-turns-up-the-pressure-on-gop-governors-as-delta-spreads/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/08/post-189-august-192021-coronavirus-there-wasnt-a-single-i-c-u-bed-available-in-alabama-on-wednesdaya-triage-plan-on-the-alabama-health-depart/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/08/post-190-august-21-2021-coronavirus-were-looking-in-essence-at-running-two-systems-a-covid-system-and-a-non-covid-system-of-care-emergency-medical/

“Based on our estimates…we find preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations cost $5.7 billion from June to August in 2021.”…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/10/post-208-october-22-2021-coronavirus-what-is-the-delta-plus-variant-scientists-are-monitoring-the-delta-related-variant-known-as-ay-4-2-to/

POST 217. December 3, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. President Biden Announces New Actions to Protect Americans Against the Delta and Omicron Variants as We Battle COVID-⁠19 this Winter

POST 222. December 20, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. So why my “inside baseball” focus on COVID-19 from the perspective of a retired hospital CEO?

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/12/post-222-december-20-2021-coronavirus-so-why-my-inside-baseball-focus-on-covid-19-from-the-perspective-of-a-retired-hospital-ceo/

POST 223. December 28, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Links for a case study of Crisis Standards of Care.

POST 223. December 28, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Links for a case study of Crisis Standards of Care.

POST 229. January 16, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “It is now highly unlikely that the U.S. will hit the ~85-90% of Americans vaccinated to get to the other side of the pandemic…”

POST 240. March 15, 2022. ““China is modifying its Covid-19 playbook amid a surge in cases as it seeks to avoid strains on its healthcare system.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/03/post-240-march-15-2022-china-is-modifying-its-covid-19-playbook-amid-a-surge-in-cases-as-it-seeks-to-avoid-strains-on-its-healthcare-system/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/04/post-245-april-10-2022-coronavirus-we-cant-react-to-a-wave-we-dont-see-coming-i-keep-thinking-back-to-this-idea-of-if-we-dont-measure-it-it-wont-happ/

POST 251. May 16, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “Now, nearly one million people have died. It did not have to be this way.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/05/post-251-may-16-2022-coronavirus-now-nearly-one-million-people-have-died-it-did-not-have-to-be-this-way/

“The shooting in Tulsa is an extreme example of a growing trend: violence against doctors, nurses, and other health care workers.”

POST 261. July 14, 2022. CORONAVIRUS+. A trifecta of threats which could breach hospital capacity again! – BA.5, monkeypox, & drug-resistant infections (Acinetobacter and Candida auris)

POST 264. July 30, 2022. Monkeypox. “The federal response to monkeypox, including the limited testing capacity, has echoes of how public health authorities initially mismanaged Covid-19.”

August 5, 2022

POST 264. July 28, 2022. Monkeypox. “The federal response to monkeypox, including the limited testing capacity, has echoes of how public health authorities initially mismanaged Covid-19.”

July 28, 2022

for links to POSTS 1-264 in chronological order, highlight and click on

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/07/coronavirus-tracking-links-to-posts-1-264/

“The Biden administration privately estimated to Congress this month that it may need nearly $7 billion to mount a response to the nation’s monkeypox outbreak that matches “the scope and urgency of the current situation.”…

The Biden administration also called for as much as $31.4 billion in new funds to combat the coronavirus pandemic, as it seeks to ensure the government has the resources necessary to purchase more treatments, testing and vaccines this year.

The private discussions have unfolded as public health experts warn that monkeypox, which can spread by skin-to-skin contact and cause fever, lesions and severe pain, is at risk of becoming permanently entrenched in the United States. Federal officials have identified about 3,500 cases, overwhelmingly among gay and bisexual men, and have warned that the virus is likely to spread to broader populations…

According to the memo obtained by The Post, officials estimate that $6.9 billion in new funding for the monkeypox response would allow the Department of Health and Human Services to support “domestic end-to-end vaccine manufacturing capacity and technology transfer” in the United States. The only vaccine specifically approved by the Food and Drug Administration for monkeypox, Jynneos, is produced in Denmark, which has caused significant complications in the U.S. response — for instance, hundreds of thousands of Jynneos doses were stranded overseas for weeks, awaiting U.S. inspection and transport.

With that much funding, officials further estimate that they would be able to secure 19 million new doses of vaccine for monkeypox and replenish about 4 million doses for paused smallpox preparedness efforts, as well as purchase more antiviral treatments, expand testing, improve vaccine distribution, and provide coverage of services for uninsured and underinsured Americans, among other goals.

Health officials also estimated the effects of a “medium” second option, seeking $2.2 billion in monkeypox funding to purchase some vaccine doses and treatments that would be targeted toward the gay and bisexual community, where the outbreak is currently concentrated. But the amount may only provide an effective response if the outbreak remains contained and does not spill into broader populations, “which is not guaranteed,” the memo cautions.

Officials also estimated a bare-bones fallback option of $500 million that would allow for purchasing some vaccine doses and continuing “minimal” operations.

Health officials have said they are funding the current monkeypox response by drawing on existing appropriations and a response fund maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Biden administration has distributed 330,000 vaccine doses and contracted for a total of 6.9 million Jynneos doses by mid-2023, in addition to other investments in tests and treatments.” (A)

“More than 3,800 monkeypox cases have been reported in the US, the most of any country around the globe, government health data shows.

The rising number of cases has reportedly prompted the Biden administration to mull declaring a national health emergency.

The virus has already been classified as a global health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO).

To date, more than 18,000 cases have been reported in 75 countries.

According to data published online by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as of 25 July there were 3,846 confirmed or suspected monkeypox cases in the US…

With cases in the US rising, the Washington Post on 25 July reported that the Biden administration was considering declaring a public health emergency.

The measure would allow the government to use federal funds to combat the outbreak, raise public awareness and better collect relevant health data.

Additionally, the administration is reportedly preparing to name a coordinator to oversee the government’s response to monkeypox from the White House…

The US response to the virus has so far been plagued by vaccine shortages and a slow start to testing, leading some to compare the situation to the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.

In Washington DC, for example, officials have warned that a “rapid increase in cases”, coupled with a “very limited” supply of vaccines, means that authorities must prioritise high-risk residents.” (B)

“There are now more than 1,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox in New York City, which continues to be a hotspot for the virus, health officials said on Monday.

New York reached 1,040 cases as of Monday, said the most recent information released by the city. That accounts for about a quarter of all of the confirmed cases in the US…

The virus is spreading primarily among men who have sex with men, research has shown. Close sexual contact was responsible for transmission in 95% of cases, one recent study found.

There is a divide in New York City’s health department over whether the agency should advise gay men to change their sexual behavior amid the outbreak.

Even as cases in New York have surged, officials have struggled to respond with adequate vaccination and testing. At the end of June, as New Yorkers scrambled to get a limited supply of monkeypox vaccines, there were 300,000 doses sitting in a warehouse in Denmark, the New York Times reported on Monday. Then, once officials decided to send those doses to the US, they arrived slowly, missing a chance to slow the spread of the virus.

New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, also announced on Monday that the state had reached an agreement with Quest Diagnostics to use a PCR test on people who have a rash consistent with monkeypox.

“The real challenge with testing is that it involves swabbing lesions, which must be present for the test to assess whether the virus is also present,” the New York state health commissioner, Mary Bassett, said in a statement. “Without lesions, testing is not currently possible. And we will continue working to make sure providers know when and how to test for monkeypox.” (C)

“On the Thursday before Pride Weekend last month, hundreds of men dropped what they were doing and raced to a city-run health clinic in Manhattan. Finally, more than a month after monkeypox appeared in New York City, a vaccine was being made available to sexually active gay and bisexual men, among whom the virus was rapidly spreading.

But there was a catch: There were only 1,000 doses available. Within two hours, the only clinic offering the shots began turning people away.

At that same moment, some 300,000 doses of a ready-to-use vaccine owned by the United States sat in a facility in Denmark. American officials had waited weeks as the virus spread in New York and beyond before deciding to ship those doses to the United States.

Even then, there was little apparent urgency: The doses were flown piecemeal, arriving over the span of two weeks. Many didn’t arrive until July, more than six weeks after the first case was identified in New York City.

By holding back the doses, an early opportunity to contain or slow the largest monkeypox outbreak in the country appears to have slipped by. On Saturday, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency. At least 16,000 cases have been reported around the world, with about 3,000 in the United States. Infections in New York City make up nearly a third of the national case count.

The federal response to monkeypox, including the limited testing capacity, has echoes of how public health authorities initially mismanaged Covid-19.

With monkeypox, however, the federal government had a powerful tool to slow the spread from the start: an effective vaccine.

Yet the government was slow to deploy the vaccine, which was originally developed and stockpiled for use against smallpox, activists say…

The United States also owned well over a million Jynneos doses in vials ready for use — and enough vaccine for millions of more doses that had yet to be filled into vials — in Denmark, where the producer of the vaccine, Bavarian Nordic, is headquartered.

Much of that supply was tied up in bureaucratic red tape because the Food and Drug Administration had yet to inspect and certify a new facility outside Copenhagen where the company now fills the vaccine into vials — an issue that has yet to be fully resolved.

But there were 372,000 doses owned by the United States that were ready to go. These doses, stored at the company’s headquarters, had been filled into vials earlier, at a different facility with the necessary F.D.A. approval.

Rather than quickly transfer those doses back to the United States and begin administering them, however, the federal government adopted a wait-and-see attitude. In the first few weeks after monkeypox was detected in the United States, the government requested only 72,000 of the 372,000 doses…

One reason that federal officials were reluctant to order all available doses early on involved cold storage and shelf life. The storage facilities in America where the doses would be kept weren’t as cold as the Denmark facility, said Dr. Disbrow, a senior official at the Department of Health and Human Services who runs BARDA.

“So if all the doses were not necessary for the outbreak,” he said, “their shelf life would be dramatically shortened.”

Joseph Osmundson, a microbiologist and queer activist, said that the monkeypox outbreak may not have been the emergency that the federal government had prepared for — weaponized smallpox — “but this is an emergency nevertheless.”

The first monkeypox case to be detected in the United States this year was identified in Massachusetts on May 18. New York City identified a case the next day. On May 20, BARDA requested that Bavarian Nordic send over 36,000 doses, a spokeswoman for the agency said. They arrived five days later.

On May 27, BARDA requested another 36,000 doses, which arrived two weeks later, Dr. Disbrow said. By then, 16 cases of monkeypox had been detected in New York City, along with cases in 14 other states and the District of Columbia.

Dr. Disbrow said that only so many doses could be transported per flight. In an email, a spokesman for Bavarian Nordic explained that each large order required some lead time. The company had to first receive a container, known as a cocoon, from the shippers and then “freeze them to temperature for five days” before packing it with vaccine.

As of June 10, the federal government had distributed just a few thousand doses of monkeypox vaccines to states, officials said in a call that day with reporters. A senior Health and Human Services official, Dawn O’Connell, said the United States would receive 300,000 doses of Jynneos “over the next several weeks.” (D)

“Gov. Phil Murphy is asking President Joe Biden’s administration for more vaccines against monkeypox as the number of cases in New Jersey continues to climb and access to the vaccine has grown scarce.

The governor and the state’s top health official said in a letter to federal officials that New Jersey isn’t getting its fair share of vaccines given what they estimate the state will need to protect people and stop the spread of the disease.

New Jersey expects to receive nearly 2,700 additional doses this week, according to the state Department of Health. That — which is in addition to the 2,800 doses the state was already sent — accounts for 2.06% of the federal government’s 131,000 available doses being sent out, according to a letter they sent to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We do not believe that New Jersey has received an equitable percentage of available vaccine through this allocation strategy,” Murphy and state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli wrote in their letter. “I would like to request that HHS and the CDC reconsider the allocation strategy and increase New Jersey’s vaccine allocation to account for our population size and considerations raised in this letter.”

It was sent as the number of confirmed monkeypox cases has climbed to 102 people. Neighboring New York has the highest number of cases in the nation — 900 people — according to the CDC.

“It’s a free-for-all across the state and across the country,” Perry Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health, said about getting a shot…

According to a study on monkeypox infections across 16 countries released last week by the New England Journal of Medicine, 98% of the people infected were gay or bisexual men.

“A lot of it is making the hair stand up on the back of my neck,” Halkitis said. “There’s got to be some bottom line homophobia here.”

And while the head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday that at-risk men should reduce their sexual partners “for the moment,” Halkitis was quick to say this is not a “gay disease” or a sexually transmitted disease.

“That’s where the stigma lies,” he said.

It spreads by direct skin contact and respiratory secretions during prolonged, face-to-face contact, or during intimate physical contact, according to the CDC. It can also spread by touching clothes and linens that came in contact with an infectious rash or body fluids.

“But it’s not a gay disease. Gay men are being unduly burdened by this disease and we’ve got to acknowledge that,” Halkitis said. “Let’s all pitch in so it doesn’t spread further. By helping gay men we’re helping ourselves.”…

Murphy was asked at a public event Wednesday if he would declare a public health emergency over monkeypox in New Jersey.

“I don’t know that we’re at the verge of a public health emergency, but everything’s on the table,” he told reporters in Camden.

Halkitis, meanwhile, predicted the disease won’t limit itself to only infecting gay and bisexual men within months if it isn’t stamped out.

“If we don’t stop it from spreading it will be in our population for the foreseeable future,” he said. “Do we want this thing to be another thing we live with for the rest of our lives?” (E)

“Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the federal government will announce allocations of the 786,000 vaccine doses to local authorities on Thursday.

The doses couldn’t be released until the Food and Drug Administration cleared them for use.

The FDA approved the two-dose Jynneos vaccine in 2019 for people ages 18 and older who are at high risk of exposure to monkeypox or smallpox.

Limited supply of the vaccine has led to long lines at clinics across the U.S.

The U.S. will make 786,000 additional monkeypox vaccine doses available to local health departments “as soon as possible” after the Food and Drug Administration approved the shots for distribution, the nation’s top health official said on Wednesday.” (F)

“Two months after the United States’ first monkeypox case was confirmed, the total has risen to about 2,900. But details about those cases and other epidemiological data aren’t spreading nearly as quickly as the virus itself, leaving holes in the response.

“It’s a new and really fast-moving outbreak, and I think there have been some challenges around having a smooth and efficient way for the data to be sent from jurisdictions” to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Janet Hamilton, executive director of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists.

The CDC only recently shared a first public look at monkeypox case demographics, which showed that the vast majority of cases have been among men who have sex with men, with a median age of 36.

But the agency has detailed information on only about half of the reported cases, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said.

Monkeypox is now a reportable disease, which means public health departments work with local health care providers to collect information about people who are diagnosed and how they became ill. But it is still completely voluntary for states to share data on monkeypox with the CDC.

CNN reached out to the health departments of all 50 states; 29 responded, and they all said they are committed to sharing case data with the CDC. Some, however, said that they are collecting more information than they share.

As the US battles another public health challenge amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, Walensky said she is “struck” by “how little authority we at CDC have to receive the data.”

“We very much want to get as much information and informed decisions out to the American public as possible. And yet again, like we were for Covid, we are again really challenged by the fact that we at the agency have no authority to receive those data. We’re working on that right now,” she said in a conversation with The Washington Post on Friday.

For example, Walensky said, the CDC has no data on who has been vaccinated for monkeypox and does not yet have the authority to collect that data.

The only data shared publicly on monkeypox vaccines is weekly updates from the US Department of Health and Human Services on how many doses have been distributed to each state…

Overall, the lack of data is hindering efforts to forecast the path the monkeypox outbreak might take.

“Right now we do not have enough detailed case data to develop robust estimates,” a CDC spokesperson said.

The CDC’s new Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, which formally launched this spring, “has been working to better understand the monkeypox outbreak,” including how to best optimize interventions such as vaccines.

“We anticipate that as the outbreak progresses we will be able to share forecasts,” the spokesperson said.

In the meantime, the vaccine supply is far from enough to meet demand — and covers just a fraction of the population that the CDC has recommended get it.

Walensky said she anticipates an increase in cases in the coming weeks, for three main reasons: a streamlined reporting form that makes it quicker and easier for states to report cases, a surge in testing as commercial laboratories have begun to offer tests, and recent exposures that will start to show symptoms.

“It is true that we have work to do — here and internationally — and are likely to see more monkeypox cases in the near term, but it is possible to significantly decrease the number of cases and contain the current monkeypox outbreak through education and increased testing and access to vaccines — all priorities we’ve made dramatic progress on,” the CDC said in a statement to CNN.” (G)

A.U.S. may need $7 billion for monkeypox, Biden administration estimates, By Dan Diamond and Tony Room, https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/07/26/monkeypox-aid-biden-administration-congress/
B.Monkeypox: CDC says US leads globally in most known cases, By Bernd Debusmann Jr, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62308455
C.More than 1,000 monkeypox cases confirmed in New York City, by Sam Levine, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/26/more-than-1000-monkeypox-cases-confirmed-new-york-city
D.As Monkeypox Spread in New York, 300,000 Vaccine Doses Sat in Denmark, By Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Otterman, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/25/nyregion/nyc-monkeypox-vaccine-doses-denmark.html?referringSource=articleShare
E.N.J. makes ‘strong and urgent case’ for monkeypox vaccines as access remains limited, Murphy says, By Matt Arco, https://www.nj.com/politics/2022/07/nj-makes-strong-and-urgent-case-for-monkeypox-vaccines-as-access-remains-limited-murphy-says.html
F.U.S. to release 786,000 additional monkeypox vaccine doses as outbreak spreads, by Spencer Kimball, https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/27/us-to-release-786000-additional-monkeypox-vaccine-doses-as-outbreak-spreads.html
G.Monkeypox is spreading faster than the data about it, hindering mitigation efforts, By Deidre McPhillips, https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/25/health/monkeypox-limited-data/index.html

CORONAVIRUS TRACKING Links to POSTS 1-264

July 28, 2022

CORONAVIRUS TRACKING Links to POSTS 1-264

Doctor, Did You Wash Your Hands?®

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/

Curated Contemporaneous Case Study Methodology

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2019/12/9897/

Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/10/jonathan-m-metsch-dr-p-h-2/

PART 1. January 21, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday confirmed the first U.S. case of a deadly new coronavirus that has killed six people in China.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/01/the-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-on-tuesday-confirmed-the-first-u-s-case-of-a-deadly-new-coronavirus-that-has-killed-six-people-in-china/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/01/part-2-coronavirus-if-its-not-contained-shortly-i-think-we-are-looking-at-a-pandemic-with-isolated-cases-of-the-dangerous-new-coronavirus-cropping-u/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/02/part-4-coronavirus-so-like-sars-and-mers-other-coronaviruses-before-it-the-wuhan-coronavirus-is-spreading-in-hospitals/

PART 5. February 12, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “In short, shoe-leather public health and basic medical care—not miracle drugs—are generally what stop outbreaks of emerging infections..”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/02/part-5-coronavirus-in-short-shoe-leather-public-health-and-basic-medical-care-not-miracle-drugs-are-generally-what-stop-outbreaks-of-emerging-infections/

Part 10. March 1, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Stop Surprise Medical Bills for Coronavirus care. (&) Lessons Learned (or not) In California and Washington State from community acquired cases.

PART 11. March 5, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Gov. Andrew Cuomo… would require employers to pay workers and protect their jobs if they are quarantined because of the coronavirus.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/03/part-11-coronavirus-gov-andrew-cuomo-would-require-employers-to-pay-workers-and-protect-their-jobs-if-they-are-quarantined-because-of-the-coronavirus/

Part 13.. March 14, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “If I’m buying real estate in New York, I’ll listen to the President….If I’m asking about infectious diseases, I’m going to listen to Tony Fauci,”

PART 14. March 17, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “ “Most physicians have never seen this level of angst and anxiety in their careers”…. One said “I am sort of a pariah in my family.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/03/part-14-coronavirus-march-17-2020-most-physicians-have-never-seen-this-level-of-angst-and-anxiety-in-their-careers-one-said-i-am-sort-of-a-pariah-in/

PART 16. March 27, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. I am not a clinician or a medical ethicist but articles on Coronavirus patient triage started me Googling………to learn about FUTILE TREATMENT

PART 20. April 20, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “…nothing is mentioned in the “Opening Up America Again” plan about how states should handle a resurgence.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/04/part-20-april-20-2020-coronavirus-nothing-is-mentioned-in-the-opening-up-america-again-plan-about-how-states-should-handle-a-resurgence-2/

PART 21. April 23, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “We need to ask, are we using ventilators in a way that makes sense for other diseases but not this one?”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/04/part-21-april-23-2020-coronavirus-we-need-to-ask-are-we-using-ventilators-in-a-way-that-makes-sense-for-other-diseases-but-not-for-this-one-2/

POST 22. April 29, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. ..the “ACS released a list of 10 issues that should be addressed before a healthcare organization resumes elective surgeries[JM1] ….”

POST 24. May 7, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said: “there are going to be deaths no matter what”… but that people needed to get back to work.

POST 26. May 14, 2020. CORONAVIRUS, “Deep cleaning is not a scientific concept”….”there is no universal protocol for a “deep clean” to eradicate the coronavirus”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/05/post-26-may-14-2020-coronavirus-deep-cleaning-is-not-a-scientific-concept-there-is-no-universal-protocol-for-a-deep-clean-to-eradicate-the-cor-2/

POST 27. May 19, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Hospital…executives…are taking pay cuts…to help offset the financial fallout from COVID-19.” As “front line” layoffs and furloughs accelerate…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/05/post-27-may-19-2020-coronavirus-hospitalexecutivesare-taking-pay-cutsto-help-offset-the-financial-fallout-from-covid-19-as-front-line/

POST 28. May 23, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. ““You’ve got to be kidding me,”..”How could the CDC make that mistake? This is a mess.” CDC conflates viral and antibody tests numbers.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/05/post-28-may-23-2020-coronavirus-youve-got-to-be-kidding-me-how-could-the-cdc-make-that-mistake-this-is-a-mess-cdc-conflates-viral-and-anti/

PART 29. May 22, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “The economy did not close down. It closed down for people who, frankly, had the luxury of staying home,” (Governor Cuomo). But not so for frontline workers!

POST 30. June 3,202. CORONAVIRUS. “The wave of mass protests across the United States will almost certainly set off new chains of infection for the novel coronavirus, experts say….

POST 31. June 9, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “I think we had an unintended consequence: I think we made people afraid to come back to the hospital,”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/06/post-31-june-9-2020-coronavirus-i-think-we-had-an-unintended-consequence-i-think-we-made-people-afraid-to-come-back-to-the-hospital/

Post 32. June 16, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Could the Trump administration be pursuing herd immunity by “inaction”? “ If Fauci didn’t exist, we’d have to invent him.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/06/post-32-june-16-2020-coronavirus-could-the-trump-administration-be-pursuing-herd-immunity-by-inaction-if-fauci-didnt-exist-wed-have-to-invent-him/

POST 33. June 21, 2002. CORONAVIRUS….. Smashing (lowering the daily number of cases) v. flattening the curve (maintaining a plateau)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/06/post-33-june-23-2002-coronavirus-smashing-lowering-the-daily-number-of-cases-v-flattening-the-curve-maintaining-a-plateau/

POST 39. July, 23,2020. CORONAVIRUS. A Tale of Two Cities. Seattle becomes New York (rolls back reopening) while New York becomes Seattle (moves to partial phase 4 reopening)

POST 42. August 11, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “I think that if future historians look back on this period, what they will see is a tragedy of denial….

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/08/post-42-coronavirus-august-11-2020-i-think-that-if-future-historians-look-back-on-this-period-what-they-will-see-is-a-tragedy-of-denial/

POST 43. August 22, 2020. CORONAVIRUS.” “we’ve achieved something great as a nation. We’ve created an unyielding market for FAUCI BOBBLEHEADS”!! (W)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/08/post-43-august-22-2020-coronavirus-weve-achieved-something-great-as-a-nation-weve-created-an-unyielding-market-for-fauci-bobbleheads-w/

POST 50. October 6, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Monday October 5th will go down as one of the most fraught chapters in the history of American public Health (and national security).

POST 53. October 20, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “a…“herd-immunity strategy” is a contradiction in terms, in that herd immunity is the absence of a strategy.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/10/post-53-october-20-2020-coronavirus-aherd-immunity-strategy-is-a-contradiction-in-terms-in-that-herd-immunity-is-the-absence-of-a-strategy/

POST 55. October 26, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. The Testing Conundrum: “ It’s thus very possible to be antigen negative but P.C.R. positive, while still harboring the virus in the body..”

Post 56. October 30, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Trump’s now back in charge. It’s not the doctors.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/10/post-56-october-30-2020-coronavirus-trumps-now-back-in-charge-its-not-the-doctors/

POST 57. November 3, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Dr. Deborah Birx: the US is entering its “most deadly phase” yet, one that requires “much more aggressive action,”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-57-november-3-2020-coronavirus-dr-deborah-birx-the-us-is-entering-its-most-deadly-phase-yet-one-that-requires-much-more-aggressive-action/

POST 58. November 4, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “…the president has largely shuttered the White House Coronavirus Task Force and doubled down on anti-science language…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-58-november-4-2020-coronavirus-the-president-has-largely-shuttered-the-white-house-coronavirus-task-force-and-doubled-down-on-anti-science-language/

POST 59. November 5, 2020. Coronavirus. “The United States on Wednesday recorded over 100,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time since the pandemic began..

POST 60. November 7, 2020. “White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has tested positive for the coronavirus….” (A)

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-60-november-7-2020-white-house-chief-of-staff-mark-meadows-has-tested-positive-for-the-coronavirus-a/

POST 62. November 8, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “The United States reported its 10 millionth coronavirus case on Sunday, with the latest million added in just 10 days,…”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-62-november-8-2020-coronavirus-the-united-states-reported-its-10-millionth-coronavirus-case-on-sunday-with-the-latest-million-added-in-just-10-days/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-77-november-26-2020-coronavirus-pope-francis-when-i-got-really-sick-at-the-age-of-21-i-had-my-first-experience-of-limit-of-pain-and-loneliness-aug/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-79-november-28-2020-coronavirus-mayo-clinic-our-surge-plan-expands-into-the-garage-not-where-id-want-to-put-my-grandfather-or-my-grandmother/

POST 80. November 29, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. Op-Ed in the Jersey Journal. Do you know which hospital is right for you if you have coronavirus? | Opinion

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/11/post-80-november-29-2020-coronavirus-oped-in-the-jersey-journal-do-you-know-which-hospital-is-right-for-you-if-you-have-coronavirus-opinion/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-84-december-6-2020-cpronavirus-more-than-100000-americans-are-in-the-hospital-with-covid-19-were-seeing-c-d-c-awaken-from-its-politi/

PART 89. December 12, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. THE VACCINE!!! “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Winston Churchill

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-90-december-14-2020-coronavirus-the-first-doses-of-a-covid-19-vaccine-have-been-given-to-the-american-public-each-person-who-receives-a-vaccine/

POST 95. December 23, 2020. “The Murphy administration may step in to force (New Jersey) hospitals to report COVID-19 outbreaks among staff.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-95-december-23-2020-the-murphy-administration-may-step-in-to-force-new-jersey-hospitals-to-report-covid-19-outbreaks-among-staff/

POST 98. December 28, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “Governor Andrew Cuomo announced new penalties in order to rein in possible vaccination fraud…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2020/12/post-98-december-28-2020-coronavirus-governor-andrew-cuomo-announced-new-penalties-in-order-to-rein-in-possible-vaccination-fraud/

POST 104. January 6, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Paramedics in Southern California are being told to conserve oxygen and not to bring patients to the hospital who have little chance of survival…”

POST 111. January 14, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Visitors from Toronto to New York to Buenos Aires have long flocked to Florida for sun, surf and shopping. Now they are coming for the Covid-19 vaccine….

POST 112. January 14, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. CHINA – “Eleven million people are under lockdown in Hebei province after a new cluster of coronavirus infections.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-112-january-14-2021-coronavirus-china-eleven-million-people-are-under-lockdown-in-hebei-province-after-a-new-cluster-of-coronavirus-infections/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/01/post-117-january-23-2021-coronavirus-1-dr-faucithe-idea-that-you-can-get-up-here-and-let-the-science-speak-it-is-somewhat-of-a-liberating/

POST 122. February 1, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Dr.Fauci endorses double-masking. Dr.Osterholm disagrees!

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/02/post-122-february-1-2021-coronavirus-dr-fauci-endorses-double-masking-dr-osterholm-disagrees/

POST 123. February 4, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Nursing homes across the country are facing the same struggle, as workers have been more reluctant than residents to be vaccinated…

POST 140. March 9, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “In West Virginia, they are bracing for the second wave….. Not coronavirus but opioid overdoses, with one scourge driving a resurgence of the other.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/03/post-144-march-20-2021-coronavirus-the-vaccine-hesitancy-we-are-seeing-isnt-just-about-covid-vaccines-it-is-a-general-reflection-of-americans/

POST 145. March 25, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. “Efforts to disseminate Covid-19 vaccines as widely as possible are hitting an unexpected obstacle: health-care workers who decline the shots.

POST 157. April 25, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Ohio hospitals; “We agreed in multiple conversations, there’s nothing in fighting a pandemic that creates a competitive advantage.”…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/05/post-162-may-21-2021-coronavirus-new-jersey-gov-phil-murphy-is-refusing-to-lift-his-indoor-mask-mandate-for-vaccinated-residents-fully-vaccinated-resi/

POST 167. June 9, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Hospitals prevaricate on mandatory staff vaccinations. Florida’s Governor forbids cruise ship vaccine mandates. Pfizer and Moderna apply for FDA full approval.

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/06/post-170-june-17-2021-coronavirus-dr-ashish-jhais-worried-about-the-potential-impact-the-delta-variant-could-have-in-the-united-states-im-concerned-a/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/06/post-171-june-19-2021-coronavirus-a-34-year-old-man-a-covid-19-survivor-has-been-diagnosed-with-indias-first-known-case-of-green-fungus-infection/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/07/post-176-july-9-2021-coronavirus-mercy-springfield-missouri-hospital-ran-out-of-ventilators-for-its-patients-over-the-fourth-of-july-weekend/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/07/post-179-july-16-2021-coronavirus-it-therefore-follows-that-the-harm-principle-first-do-no-harm-can-be-used-to-justify-compulsory-vaccination-pro/

POST 185. August 6, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. ‘If you aren’t going to help, please get out of the way’: Biden turns up the pressure on GOP governors as Delta spreads”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/08/post-185-august-6-2021-coronavirus-if-you-arent-going-to-help-please-get-out-of-the-way-biden-turns-up-the-pressure-on-gop-governors-as-delta-spreads/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/08/post-189-august-192021-coronavirus-there-wasnt-a-single-i-c-u-bed-available-in-alabama-on-wednesdaya-triage-plan-on-the-alabama-health-depart/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/08/post-190-august-21-2021-coronavirus-were-looking-in-essence-at-running-two-systems-a-covid-system-and-a-non-covid-system-of-care-emergency-medical/

“Based on our estimates…we find preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations cost $5.7 billion from June to August in 2021.”…

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/10/post-208-october-22-2021-coronavirus-what-is-the-delta-plus-variant-scientists-are-monitoring-the-delta-related-variant-known-as-ay-4-2-to/

POST 217. December 3, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. President Biden Announces New Actions to Protect Americans Against the Delta and Omicron Variants as We Battle COVID-⁠19 this Winter

POST 222. December 20, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. So why my “inside baseball” focus on COVID-19 from the perspective of a retired hospital CEO?

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2021/12/post-222-december-20-2021-coronavirus-so-why-my-inside-baseball-focus-on-covid-19-from-the-perspective-of-a-retired-hospital-ceo/

POST 223. December 28, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Links for a case study of Crisis Standards of Care.

POST 223. December 28, 2021. CORONAVIRUS. Links for a case study of Crisis Standards of Care.

POST 229. January 16, 2020. CORONAVIRUS. “It is now highly unlikely that the U.S. will hit the ~85-90% of Americans vaccinated to get to the other side of the pandemic…”

POST 240. March 15, 2022. ““China is modifying its Covid-19 playbook amid a surge in cases as it seeks to avoid strains on its healthcare system.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/03/post-240-march-15-2022-china-is-modifying-its-covid-19-playbook-amid-a-surge-in-cases-as-it-seeks-to-avoid-strains-on-its-healthcare-system/

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/04/post-245-april-10-2022-coronavirus-we-cant-react-to-a-wave-we-dont-see-coming-i-keep-thinking-back-to-this-idea-of-if-we-dont-measure-it-it-wont-happ/

POST 251. May 16, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “Now, nearly one million people have died. It did not have to be this way.”

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/05/post-251-may-16-2022-coronavirus-now-nearly-one-million-people-have-died-it-did-not-have-to-be-this-way/

“The shooting in Tulsa is an extreme example of a growing trend: violence against doctors, nurses, and other health care workers.”

POST 261. July 14, 2022. CORONAVIRUS+. A trifecta of threats which could breach hospital capacity again! – BA.5, monkeypox, & drug-resistant infections (Acinetobacter and Candida auris)

POST 264. July 30, 2022. Monkeypox. “The federal response to monkeypox, including the limited testing capacity, has echoes of how public health authorities initially mismanaged Covid-19.”

July 28, 2022

POST 263. July 24, 2022. CORONAVIRUS. “Inside the West Wing, there was never much doubt that Mr. Biden would eventually contract the disease.”…”The president’s access to healthcare started even before he got sick. He receives full time medical care from the White House Medical Unit, a part of the military located on the first floor of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

July 24, 2022

for links to POSTS 1-263 in chronological order, highlight and click on

https://doctordidyouwashyourhands.com/2022/07/coronavirus-tracking-links-to-posts-1-263/

“President Biden has tested positive for COVID-19, the White House announced on Thursday.

He is fully vaccinated and twice boosted and, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, “experiencing very mild symptoms.” She said he has begun taking Paxlovid, a standard course of treatment for people who are considered to be at higher risk of adverse affects of COVID, including anyone over 50.

Biden “will isolate at the White House and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement. “He has been in contact with members of the White House staff by phone this morning, and will participate in his planned meetings at the White House this morning via phone and Zoom from the residence.” (B)

“In the early days, Mr. Biden was a president in a bubble, governing the country mostly by Zoom inside the Oval Office. He rarely traveled. He held few in-person meetings. And most of the ceremonial trappings of the office — like the medal ceremony — were canceled or postponed, victims of the lockdowns that were deemed necessary to stop the spread.

But like many other Americans, Mr. Biden has loosened up in recent months. Protected by multiple doses of the vaccine, the president and his aides have changed their risk assessments and have begun to live with the coronavirus.

“Whatever your thing is — whether it’s being the president of the United States, going to school, going to work, doing the things you enjoy, being with who we love — it can’t be put off forever,” said Andy Slavitt, who advised the White House on its Covid-19 response early in the Biden administration.

Mr. Slavitt said Covid-19 has become a disease that “comes around as frequently as a common cold but with much more severe consequences. It’s a much more uncomfortable middle state for people to adjust to.”…

But the pandemic is not over.

According to the C.D.C., most of the country is now classified as areas with high community transmission. The latest Omicron subvariant to become dominant, BA.5, is vastly more contagious than the original coronavirus, though doctors say the vaccines remain effective at preventing hospitalization and death.

So Mr. Biden has to walk a careful line, demonstrating that he is just like every other American eager to be done with Covid-19, even as he keeps his eye on the possibility that the pandemic could come roaring back.

Inside the West Wing, there was never much doubt that Mr. Biden would eventually contract the disease. By this week, many of the people around him already had: Vice President Kamala Harris; Jen O’Malley Dillon, his deputy chief of staff; Karine Jean-Pierre, his press secretary; several cabinet members, including the attorney general; Doug Emhoff, the second gentleman; and Jen Psaki, his former press secretary — twice…

“We’re in a much, much better place than where we were 18 months ago, when the president took office,” Dr. Jha said, adding that the current level of about 400 Covid-19 deaths per day was “unacceptable.” He also added a grim warning.“This virus,” he said, “is going to be with us forever.” (A)

“1. What are the important risk factors for Biden?

The most important risk factor for developing severe COVID-19 is age. If you are 79 years old when you become infected with COVID-19, like President Biden, you are eight times more likely to become hospitalized and 140 times more likely to die compared with someone who gets COVID-19 at age 20. Preexisting health conditions – like obesity, cancer and chronic kidney or lung disease – also increase the risk of severe illness. But Biden is reported to be fairly healthy.

Fortunately, preexisting immunity from vaccination or from a previous episode of COVID-19 is highly protective against severe disease. Researchers only have limited data on the BA.5 variant that is responsible for most recent COVID-19 cases in the U.S. – and likely Biden’s, too – but the level of protection from vaccines is likely similar to that of the previous strains BA.1 and BA.2…

2. What is the first line of treatment for someone like Biden, and why?

Current best medical practice is to give antiviral treatments to patients who have recently developed mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms and are at higher risk of severe illness. The goal of antivirals is to stop the virus from replicating in the body in order to prevent hospitalization or death.

Currently there are four antiviral drugs available in the U.S. for the treatment of COVID-19 in outpatients: nirmatrelvir-ritonavir, better known by the brand name Paxlovid, remdesivir, bebtelovimab and molnupiravir. The best drug for a particular patient depends on preexisting health conditions, accessibility and drug interactions with other medications. Paxlovid is widely used because it was shown to be highly effective in a clinical trial and is available in pill form…

3. How does Paxlovid work, and what are its shortcomings?

Paxlovid is an oral antiviral drug that is used to treat some patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 who do not require hospitalization. Paxlovid is a combination of two medications. One is nirmatrelvir, a drug that works by disrupting the coronavirus’ ability to make functioning proteins. The other is ritonavir, an HIV drug that boosts the level of nirmatrelvir in the blood by blocking an enzyme in the liver that breaks down nirmatrelvir…

Paxlovid is not a panacea. It cannot be used for some patients who have significant kidney or liver problems, and it interacts negatively with a large number of other medications. Some patients cannot take Paxlovid because of the other drugs they use, but physicians can sometimes manage these interactions.

4. What will Biden’s health care team be on the lookout for?

Biden’s doctors will be monitoring his symptoms and checking his blood oxygen level. If Biden’s symptoms – like cough, shortness of breath or fever – worsen or he needs supplemental oxygen, it is possible he would be hospitalized where he may get treated with additional drugs, including steroids.

Some patients experience an initial improvement followed by a “rebound” of their COVID-19 symptoms. It is not clear how often rebounds happen or if they are associated with COVID-19 treatment. Rebounds appear to be generally mild and not associated with hospitalization or death, though they can prolong the required period of isolation.

It is still too early to tell how mild or severe Biden’s bout of COVID-19 will be. With most mild cases only lasting around a week, the U.S. should only need to wait a few days to get a sense of what kind of fight the president is facing.” (E)

“The president’s access to healthcare started even before he got sick. He receives full time medical care from the White House Medical Unit, a part of the military located on the first floor of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

It’s staffed by doctors, nurses, physician assistants, and medics, and operates similar to an urgent care center. As part of the job, presidents always have a doctor traveling with them.

One former senior official in the Trump administration who spoke to Insider on condition of anonymity said the White House can also bring in outside physicians, such as specialists in infectious disease.

Arthur Caplan, a leading bioethicist who teaches at NYU Langone, said the president has immediate access to primary care, regular testing, and any medication doctors determine are needed.

“Obviously you have excellent rapid access to whatever drugs you might need,” Caplan said. “Many Americans do not.”

On top of that, the president can quarantine while still doing his job in a way many US workers cannot, particularly if they don’t receive paid sick days that will help them support their families.

“The president doesn’t have this problem,” Caplan said. “He can Zoom 24/7 and do things that CEOs and other people in fortunate positions can do in isolation.”

Should the president’s condition worsen, he’d be transferred to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, a world-class facility about 16 miles north of the White House in Bethesda, Maryland. It’s the same place where presidents receive their annual physicals and screenings such as colonoscopies.

Biden can travel to Walter Reed either through a motorcade or by helicopter. And he wouldn’t have to wait hours in the emergency department like most regular patients.

If Biden were to go to Walter Reed then he’d stay at the presidential suite. According to the former Trump administration official, the space is similar to an apartment and includes both a bedroom and a Cabinet room so “you can keep being president even while you’re in the hospital.”

“Think of it like a very deluxe hospital setting,” the person said.”It’s the size of what you would imagine the leader of the free world to run the government from if he should need to be in the hospital.”

On top of that, Walter Reed doctors can call on specialists at the nearby National Institutes of Health, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s top infectious disease expert, or another clinical expert.

Open questions remain about whether the president could get what has been called “long COVID,” meaning symptoms of the illness that persist for months including fatigue and headache. Caplan said the best healthcare in the world won’t matter if doctors find themselves unable to treat serious, persistent symptoms.

It’s too early in Biden’s diagnosis to know whether he’ll have long COVID, and it’s still not clear what proportion of people who get COVID have these extended symptoms.

“I’m not aware of data that age is a significant risk factor for long COVID,” Jha said. “He gets excellent care from his physician and if he has persistent symptoms they will get addressed.” (F)

“President Biden’s coronavirus infection is a stark illustration that the Covid vaccines, powerful as they are, are far from the bulletproof shields that scientists once hoped for.

Mr. Biden has received multiple doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine; his most recent shot, a second booster, was on March 30. Studies suggest that those doses will provide a powerful bulwark against severe illness — and indeed, the president has only mild symptoms so far after testing positive on Thursday, according to the White House.

But even booster doses offer little defense against infection, particularly with the most recent versions of the virus. What protection they do offer wanes sharply and quickly, several studies have shown. In the president’s case, the booster shot he received nearly four months ago is likely to have lost most of its potency at preventing infection.

Earlier in the pandemic, experts believed that the vaccines would be enough to forestall not just severe disease, but also the vast majority of infections. And that was true when earlier versions of the virus, including the Delta variant, swept the globe.

But the Omicron variant upended those hopes. As more of the population gained some immunity, whether from infection or vaccines, the virus evolved to dodge those defenses. BA.1, the subvariant of Omicron that circulated over the winter, was adept at causing infections even in those who had received a booster dose just weeks earlier.

Each subsequent avatar of the virus has become still better at sidestepping immunity. BA.5, which now accounts for nearly 80 percent of cases in the United States, is the most wily yet. Detailed data collected in Qatar suggests that immunity from previous infection and vaccines is weakest against BA.5 compared with its predecessors.

BA.5 is also highly contagious. The nation is recording roughly 130,000 cases per day on average; that number is likely to be a huge underestimate, because most people test at home or do not test at all.

The number of hospitalizations has also spiked over the past few weeks, although BA.5 does not appear to cause more severe disease than other forms of Omicron.

Given how much the virus has changed, the administration has been debating the value of authorizing additional shots of the original vaccine in the fall and offering second boosters to adults younger than age 50. An advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration said last month that vaccine manufacturers should tailor shots to the newest variants.

But it’s unclear whether those shots will arrive in time to forestall a fall surge, and whether the virus will have once again evolved beyond their reach.” (C)

“When all 50 states, the District of Columbia and United States territories declared public health emergencies in response to the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, those declarations allowed state officials to lift limits on hospital capacity, expand access to telehealth services and even allow highway weight limits to be exceeded, in case the National Guard needed to quickly move in.

By Monday, fewer than a dozen states will have emergency declarations in place, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy. States have let the declarations expire even though the Omicron subvariant known as BA.5, perhaps the most transmissible coronavirus subvariant yet, is pushing up positive tests, hospitalizations and intensive care admissions across the country.

The wider latitude conferred by a state’s public health emergency, like making it easier for out-of-state medical providers to help with in-person and telehealth care and for retired health care workers to return to work, was critical to states’ responses to earlier waves of coronavirus cases.

But as Americans adjust to living with the virus, the country’s governors have increasingly had to justify the extension of such declarations to legislators who consider them an unnecessary use of executive power. On Wednesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said that she needed to extend her pandemic emergency powers into the fall in case serious disease and hospitalizations spike higher.

At the same time, the Biden administration last week again extended the federal coronavirus public health emergency, which was first set in January 2020. The declaration means the emergency period will last at least through mid-October.

The federal designation allows millions of low-income Americans expanded access to Medicaid coverage; adds flexibility for telehealth; and grants states access to pandemic-related funds.

Additionally, private insurers and Medicare will continue to cover the cost of at-home virus tests as long as the public health emergency remains in effect…

In some cases, the state must have a declaration in place to receive funding from the federal government. Though Connecticut’s public health emergency ended last month, the state kept a limited version in place so that it can receive more federal money for food assistance for low-income families.

The pandemic has prompted some states to change the regulations surrounding emergency orders during the pandemic, said Andy Baker-White, senior director of state health policy at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. Legislatures have amended the process for declaring an emergency, shortened the maximum length of each emergency and reduced the number of times that a governor can renew an emergency declaration. In Arizona, beginning next January, the governor cannot declare a public health emergency without the legislature’s approval.

“With the backlash to the exercise of this authority, there has to be political will, as well as the expense of political capital to bring back a declaration,” Mr. Baker-White said. “Some states have taken things that they were only able to do in an emergency and put that action into the law, so they don’t need the emergency trigger.”..

But one effect of the pandemic — the improved access to telehealth — is at risk, since many waivers that allow such care across state borders have expired. And in states that no longer have emergencies declared, hospitals have once again instated capacity limits. Lifting those in the event of another surge would require issuing another declaration.” (D)

UPDATES

“The World Health Organization on Saturday declared the unprecedented monkeypox outbreak that has spread around the world a public health emergency, a decision that will empower the agency to take additional measures to try to curb the virus’s spread.

In an unusual move, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the declaration even though a committee of experts he had convened to study the issue did not advise him to do so, having failed to reach a consensus. The same committee met just one month ago and declined to declare a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC…

“Nine and six is very, very close,” Tedros said in a news conference called to announce the decision. “Since the role of the committee is to advise, I then had to act as a tie-breaker.” (G)

“Two cases of monkeypox have been identified in children in the United States, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

The two cases are unrelated and probably the result of household transmission, the CDC said.

One case is a toddler who is a resident of California. The other is an infant who is not a US resident. Public health officials are investigating how the children were infected.

Both have symptoms but are in good health and receiving treatment with an antiviral medication named tecovirimat or TPOXX, which the CDC recommends for children under the age of 8 because they are considered to be at higher risk from infection.

Since the monkeypox outbreak began in May, most of the cases have happened among men who have sex with men. However, anyone can catch the virus through close skin-to-skin contact. In the case of children, the agency said this could include “holding, cuddling, feeding, as well as through shared items such as towels, bedding, cups, and utensils.”

The CDC says the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine is being made available for children through special expanded use protocols. The agency has also developed new guidance for health care providers about identifying, treating and preventing monkeypox in children and teens…

The US government has shipped 300,000 monkeypox vaccines to US states and territories as of Friday afternoon.

“That means hundreds of thousands of Americans are going to be getting vaccinated in a matter of days or weeks,” Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator, said Friday. “Jurisdictions, states territories, cities are getting their vaccines typically about 30 hours after ordering them.”

Jha said Friday that New York City had received enough monkeypox vaccine to provide at least one dose to about half its eligible population, while DC had gotten enough to provide one dose to 70% of its eligible population.

The newly released doses increase available supply, but they cover just a small portion of the eligible population. The CDC estimates that more than 1.5 million people are eligible for the monkeypox vaccine.

The prescribing information for the Jynneos vaccine says a full course is two shots given four weeks apart. The CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration have said that people need both doses to fully prevent disease.

But in New York City and some other places seeing a high degree of viral spread, officials have been giving out a first shot to as many people as they can, even before second doses are available.” (H)

“The New York State Department of Health and its Rockland County counterpart confirmed that the infection was transmitted from someone who received the oral polio vaccine, which has not been administered in the United States since 2000. Officials said in a news release that the virus may have originated outside the United States, where the oral vaccine is still administered.

“I want to stress that this individual is no longer contagious,” said Ed Day, the Rockland County executive, in a news conference Thursday afternoon. “Our efforts now are focused on two issues: vaccinations and figuring out if anyone else has been impacted by this disease.”

Those who are unvaccinated or haven’t completed their vaccination series should get vaccinated, officials said. The current polio case presents a very low risk to those who are already vaccinated against polio: Those who have had all three shots have close to 100 percent protection.

The person’s symptoms began about a month ago, said Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert, Rockland County’s health commissioner, at the news conference. The patient presented with “weakness and paralysis,” she said, and the department was notified on Monday about the confirmed case…

The highly contagious virus was one of the most feared diseases until the 1950s, when the first vaccine was developed…

The last case of polio in the United States was in 2013, in someone who brought the disease in from abroad. There has not been a case originating in the United States since 1979, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The disease was one of the most feared in the country until the 1950s, when the first vaccine was developed.

Sixty percent of Rockland County’s 2-year-olds have received all three doses of the polio vaccine, according to state data — a considerably lower rate than the 80 percent rate in the rest of the state excluding New York City.

To achieve herd immunity for polio, the target vaccination rate is 80 percent, according to the World Health Organization.” (I)

“It was still not clear exactly when or where the patient had contracted the disease, though health officials believe the person was infected by someone who had received the oral polio vaccine, which contains weakened live virus.

Such vaccines have not been administered in the United States since 2000, suggesting that the virus may have “originated in a location outside of the U.S. where O.P.V. is administered,” according to county officials. The oral vaccine is safe, but people who are unvaccinated can become infected if vaccine-derived virus is circulating in a community.” (J)

A.Like the Rest of Us, Biden Learns to Live With the Risks of the Virus, By Michael D. Shear and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/us/politics/biden-covid-health.html?referringSource=articleShare
B.Biden tests positive for COVID and shows mild symptoms, White House says, by Andrew Harnik, https://www.npr.org/2022/07/21/1061864203/biden-test-positive-covid-19
C.Biden had received a second booster. Here’s why it wasn’t enough to prevent infection., By Apoorva Mandavilli, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/21/health/biden-covid-booster.html?referringSource=articleShare
D.The pandemic isn’t over, but most U.S. states formally say that it’s no longer a health emergency., By Adeel Hassan, https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/07/22/world/covid-19-biden-news?referringSource=articleShare#covid-state-health-emergency
E.Biden tests positive for COVID-19: An infectious disease doctor explains the risks and treatments available for the 79-year-old president, by Patrick Jackson, https://theconversation.com/biden-tests-positive-for-covid-19-an-infectious-disease-doctor-explains-the-risks-and-treatments-available-for-the-79-year-old-president-187496
F.If President Joe Biden gets severely ill from COVID, then he’ll have access to superior medical care including an army of doctors and his own medical suite, by Kimberly Leonard, https://www.businessinsider.com/medical-care-president-joe-biden-white-house-2022-7
G.WHO declares monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency, By Helen Branswell, https://www.statnews.com/2022/07/23/who-declares-monkeypox-outbreak-a-public-health-emergency/
H.CDC reports the first two monkeypox cases in children in the US, By Brenda Goodman and Deidre McPhillips, https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/22/health/monkeypox-children-vaccine/index.html
I.First Polio Case in Nearly a Decade Is Detected in New York State. By Hurubie Meko, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/21/nyregion/polio-case-new-york.html?referringSource=articleShare
J.Rare Case of Polio Prompts Alarm and an Urgent Investigation in New York, By Jesse McKinley and Nate Schweber, https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/22/nyregion/rockland-county-polio-unvaccinated.html?referringSource=articleShare