Long Incubation, but Detection Keeps Risk Unchanged
The curse of the long incubation period… However —> “Health authorities emphasize that the detection of the case has occurred within the already activated isolation and control system, so it does not alter the risk situation for the general population nor change the epidemiological response measures currently in place.”
EIS Officers Claim Bureaucracy Stifles Outbreak Response
This quote in @Craig_A_Spencer's piece in @statnews is most worrisome to me - suggests some of our Epidemic Intelligence Service officers feel like they're being held back from doing their jobs and responding to outbreaks. https://t.co/hAXPZpL1Om
COVID Spread Can Occur without Close, Prolonged Contact
Really good from @PaulSaxMD “In this outbreak in particular, we are still learning about how transmission occurred. Some infected individuals reportedly did not have prolonged close contact, suggesting that simple assumptions about risk may not fully explain what happened aboard...
Outbreaks Prove Strain Doesn't Need Close Contact
Why is everyone ignoring evidence from outbreaks of this specific strain that are *very* clear that it doesn’t require prolonged close contact?
Tweets Easily Become Headlines Across Media Platforms
Always amazes me when tweets get picked up and quoted in news stories or IG posts (but maybe it shouldn’t be surprising) https://t.co/aMe6Yvw35Y
Three Patients Sparked Four Airborne Transmission Waves
That prior on-land outbreak? --> 3 patients were main drivers of the outbreak --> 33 secondary cases --> *** 4 waves *** of transmission How did it spread? --> "the route of infection in secondary cases was possibly through inhalation of droplets or aerosolized virions" This...
Social Media Fragmentation Hinders Expert Discovery
It really stinks that twitter splintered off to bsky and threads - impossible to track experts across 3 different platforms...
Airplane COVID Risk Overestimated: Passenger Removed, Ventilation Off
Good pickup. And also highlights the mistake of using the 'prolonged close contact' and 'within 2 rows' for this airplane. The plane was on the ground, with the ill passenger removed before the flight, and airplanes often do not have...
Hantavirus Detected on Ship: Risk Remains Unclear
Why the "mildly" is irrelevant here: -we were simply watching for if any other passengers tested positive; not the viral load -the important part of the result is that *the test showed another passenger has hantavirus*. That means people still getting sick...
Repatriation Flights Pose Minimal COVID Risk, WHO Confirms
WHO and each country have done good job of managing the disembarkation from the ship and repatriation. --> Risk of spread on the repatriation flight is low (masks, high ventilation/filtration on airplanes, private flights w/ no public, medical teams taking...
E‑cigs Aren’t Safe: Flavors Harm Kids and Workers
I've done research on e-cigs...and on workers who inhaled the same flavoring chemicals and gotten sick. Spme Notes (receipts in thread) --> e-cigs are safer than cigs (what isn't...), but that doesn't mean safe --> ecigs aren't just used by those looking...
WHO Expands COVID Contact Definition to Shared Enclosed Spaces
Good update from WHO, with a very important clarification of what a “contact” is: —-> “Exposure in enclosed or shared spaces (e.g. multiple days on same ship, aircraft/conveyance seating proximity, etc.)” I don’t love the “multiple days” in the example bc it’s inconsistent...
Misinformation on Transmission Risks Increased Household Spread
This has real implications for what happens next: --> We know there are a whole bunch of people around the world in quarantine, and everyone watching for secondary infections. --> What those people do will determine if those secondary cases appear --> Telling...
South African Virus Matches Argentine Strain, No New Threats
“Genetic sequencing of samples in South Africa suggests that the virus is nearly identical to the version seen in Argentina and has not mutated in ways that would make it a greater threat”-@Tuliodna
Andes Hantavirus Shows Airborne Human-to-Human Spread
The detailed investigation of a prior hantavirus human-human transmission event has evidence of airborne transmission of Andes strain: Patient 1 --> Patient 4 "did not have any physical contact and simply said “hello” to each other as they crossed paths" Patient 1 -->...