UPDATE: Wednesday, Nov 30, 2022 · 5:41:41 AM +00:00 · mettle fatigue
iNTERNATIONAL EXPERTS RECOMMEND Actions to End the Pandemic
SARS-CoV-2 still moves among us, requiring continued efforts and resources to save lives. This is the first of six themes outlined in an article published this month in Nature. A multidisciplinary panel of 386 experts from 112 countries and territories was convened to recommend specific actions … 184 organizations in 72 countries have already endorsed the resulting consensus statements and recommendations.
From rebuilding public trust in vaccines and counteracting false information to adopting unified governmental approaches, the experts presented numerous strategic options to help decision-makers end COVID-19 as a public health threat. The 57 recommendations were grouped into the following six domains: communication, health systems, vaccination, prevention, treatment and care, and inequities…...
<small>ORIGINAL TEXT AS POSTED</small>:
From Judy Stone, MD in a medscape op ed on new mask guidelines treating vulnerable people as expendable:
Friday night news dumps seem to be a favorite of administrations trying to bury news that they know will infuriate people. The CDC and Biden administration did this, announcing in new guidelines that <big><big>masking will now be optional in hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities</big></big> where community transmission is not considered high.
Rationally, it’s not high now precisely because masking and other measures GOT it under control, following the early devastation. Hard to grasp how the CDC, an agency for science (presumably) would mistake well-controlled risk for inherent low risk.
This declaration is hardly fitting for an organization that is supposed to be concerned about disease prevention. The CDC has lost its mission. It is throwing the elderly, immunocompromised, and disabled under the bus in their buying into the "urgency of normal" crowd. They are ignoring that (as of September 1), 500 people in the US were still dying each day of COVID.
Just this past week, there were more than 400,000 cases and almost 3000 deaths. The cases are undoubtedly grossly underestimated probably because most patients are testing at home with rapid antigen test kits rather than being tested at a healthcare facility that might capture this data. The Institute for Health Metrics estimates that only 4%-5% of COVID cases are being reported…..
Stone argues that the guidance is deceptive ins claiming to "to reflect the high levels of vaccine-and infection-induced immunity and the availability of effective treatments and prevention tools.." — thousands die each week, and “effective treatments and prevention tools” factually are out of reach even of people aware of Paxlovid, for example.
Because actually getting an appointment for a shot, let alone getting one with a physician for MEDICAL help in dealing with a mild case, or dealing with systemic reactions to vaxes, or deal with ANY health issue, has become more difficult than ever, even with retail chain participation.
Actually “accessing” healthcare now requires computer/device ownership and the skills to use them, or literal hours and days on the phone.
It requires transportation or someone supplying transportation.
In order to reach a medical office, a pharmacy, an urgent care center, a hospital … that may be overwhelmed with pediatric respiratory syncytial virus patients on top of Covid cases, and all the common slings and arrows that human flesh is heir to. (And that rare phenomenon, a neighborhood volunteer immunization clinic, can offer no care except that shot.)
Stone relays a tweet from Dr Megan Ranney, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health:
The logic of the @CDCgov here escapes me:
-
society's most health-vulnerable ppl
-
higher than average risk of +Covid
-
universal masking decreases transmission of #covid19
But allowing some hospitals & NHs to not mask?
Oh — and my hospital, like many, is experiencing increasing staff absences due to #COVID19.
Just the time to put patients and staff at higher risk of transmitting the virus to each other in the healthcare setting.
[It] means that places with substantial transmission can unmask sick patients who haven't yet been tested for COVID, right next to the elderly, chemo patients, people with pulmonary disorders, and pregnant women?
My kid could identify the flaws with this plan.
From Jeremy Faust, MD, editor-in-chief of Medpage Today <big> -we-ve-learned-nothing </big>
CDC drops masking in many nursing homes. We've learned nothing…. This is terrible policy, and represents a life-threatening change for at-risk individuals…To do so in nursing homes is <big><big>a hostile act towards a vulnerable population, given current ground conditions</big></big>...
Stone continues:
Faust offers some good solutions, such as providing transparent masks to facilitate communication, especially in nursing homes. Testing before visitations could allow families to opt out of masking for that visit.
The White House and the CDC should also focus on improving ventilation in public spaces and data (such as displays from CO2 monitors). In Belgium, such monitors are recommended in all public areas. They are mandatory in hotels, restaurants, bars, and fitness centers. Why aren't HEPA units or <big><big>Corsi-Rosenthal boxes</big></big> in widespread use, especially in closed, windowless spaces like many medical exam rooms and waiting rooms, or theaters and auditoriums?
Among the disabled, by the way,
the CDC estimates that 20% of adults have long COVID. This translates to enormous losses for individuals who may no longer be able to work and support themselves or have a normal life, and to society, with 3 million FTEs, or 1.8% of the workforce, being lost due to long COVID,
We have so far to go.
Particularly as we go into flu season, this announcement from the CDC seems incredibly short-sighted. It again sends the message that the elderly and vulnerable people are expendable and a burden on society.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIuH-2naozI H/T AASHIRS NANI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEn2xzlvrdo