Tag: public health

Categories : Cardiovascular DiseaseTags :

Black Barbershops with Pharmacist-led Care can Combat Hypertension

On By ModernMedia
Black and white image of a black man getting a haircut at a barbershop. Credit: BariKive from Pexels.

Black barbershops with pharmacist-led blood pressure (BP) care for their clients, have been shown to be cost effective, with the high initial costs offsetting reduced cardiovascular events later in life.

The study cost simulations were based on the original  Los Angeles Barbershop Blood Pressure Study (LABBPS). In that study, intervention consisted of a trial with men being assigned either to barbershops where barbers encouraged patrons to meet with pharmacists who prescribed drug therapy under an agreement with the participants’ doctors, with the control group being men assigned to barbershops where the barbers only promoted lifestyle modification and physician visits. This intervention resulted in a mean BP drop of 27.0mmHg compared to the control group which fell by 9.3mmHg.

In a 1-year intervention based on costs for the LABBPS, on average, $2356 more per participant than the controls and was associated with a gain of 0.06 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) over a 10-year horizon, according to Brandon Bellows, PharmD, MS, of Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues.

Thus, in computer simulations,  the LABBPS intervention was associated with 10-year projected total healthcare costs averaging $42 717 per QALY gained, reported the researchers.

“One concern raised as a potential barrier to widespread LABBPS implementation is the specialty training of clinical pharmacists. In this analysis, the cost of specialty training and certification was included; the results suggest that long-term health benefits and avoided healthcare costs of the LABBPS offset these upfront training costs,” the researchers wrote.

The team reported that the cost effectiveness of the intervention could be increased under various various scenarios:

  • Only using generic drugs: $17 162 per QALY gained
  • Shortening intervention to 26 weeks: $18 300 per QALY gained
  • Implementing optimal savings from less time spent on intervention tasks, lower equipment costs, only using generics, and no participant incentive costs: intervention becomes dominant (both less expensive and more effective than control)

However, if pharmacists were less likely to intensify antihypertensive medications when systolic BP was ≥ 150 mm Hg, or if pharmacists took longer to get to the barbershops, the cost of the LABBPS intervention would exceed $50 000 per QALY gained.

“Hypertension care delivered by clinical pharmacists in Black barbershops is a highly cost-effective way to improve BP control in Black men,” the authors concluded.  

The LABBPS has received praise for demonstrating that Black men with uncontrolled hypertension had better BP control after 6 months with barbershop visits by specialty pharmacists than with regular physician visits. Extending the intervention to 1 year did not change the results.

Researchers previously reported that a telemedicine component could bring down cost and maintain efficiency of the LABBPS program.

“Hypertension prevalence remains higher among non-Hispanic Black men than in any other racial or ethnic group in the US. Hypertension awareness and treatment have plateaued in the US since 2010, and Black men continue to have worse BP control and higher hypertension-related cardiovascular disease mortality rates compared with other groups,” the investigators wrote.

The researchers assumed that after the one-year intervention period, processes of hypertension care management returned to standard care, which was a major limitation of the study.

“These findings may also be somewhat limited in scope as a healthcare sector perspective was used, which only considers direct healthcare costs, rather than a societal perspective, which may include indirect costs such as improvements in productivity,” noted Bellows and co-authors. “Finally, cost-effectiveness estimated for the LABBPS may not be generalizable to other U.S. communities, as it was specific to Los Angeles County and was driven in part by the high underlying risk of cardiovascular disease in Black men.”

Source: MedPage Today

Journal information: Bryant KB, et al “Cost-effectiveness of hypertension treatment by pharmacists in black barbershops” Circulation 2021; DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.051683.

Categories : NeurologyTags :

Impairment Lasts up to 10 Hours After Cannabis

On By ModernMedia

A comprehensive analysis of 80 scientific studies has identified a ‘window of impairment’ of between three and 10 hours caused by moderate to high doses of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the cannabis component that causes intoxication. According to the researchers, these results have consequences for drug-driving laws around the world.

How long the impairment lasts depends on the THC dose, whether it is taken orally or inhaled, on the usage habits of the cannabis user and the demands of the task. The psychoactive THC component of cannabis has potential medical applications in treating nausea, sleep apnoea, fibromyalgia and chronic pain, though these applications are controversial and currently difficult to study due to legal issues, though off-label use is common. 
Previous research by Dr Arkell and colleagues has shown that cannabidiol (CBD), one of the medically active components of cannabis, does not cause impairment in driving. CBD has analgesic and anti-inflammatory actions, as well as anxiolytic, antiemetic, antipsychotic, and neuroprotective antioxidant properties

Medical and non-medical legal cannabis use is on the rise worldwide.
THC causes acute impairment in driving and cognitive performance, but there is uncertainty among users about the duration of this impairment and when they can start tasks such as driving after consuming cannabis.
“Our analysis indicates that impairment may last up to 10 hours if high doses of THC are consumed orally,”  said lead author Dr Danielle McCartney, Lambert Initiative for Cannabinoid Therapeutics at the University of Sydney. “A more typical duration of impairment, however, is four hours, when lower doses of THC are consumed via smoking or vaporization and simpler tasks are undertaken (eg, those using cognitive skills such as reaction time, sustained attention and working memory). This impairment may extend up to six or seven hours if higher doses of THC are inhaled and complex tasks, such as driving, are assessed.”

A moderate THC dose is considered about 10 milligrams in this study, but could be higher for a regular user, said the researchers.

Co-author Dr Thomas Arkell, also from the Lambert Initiative, said: “We found that impairment is much more predictable in occasional cannabis users than regular cannabis users. Heavy users show significant tolerance to the effects of cannabis on driving and cognitive function, while typically displaying some impairment.”

Regular cannabis users might consume more to get the same effect, resulting in equivalent impairment, the authors noted.

In the case of oral use as in medical cannabis drops, tablets etc, the impairment takes longer to manifest and has a longer duration than the inhalation route.

The findings have implications for so-called drug-driving laws, the researchers said.

Professor Iain McGregor, Academic Director of the Lambert Initiative, said: “THC can be detected in the body weeks after cannabis consumption while it is clear that impairment lasts for a much shorter period of time. Our legal frameworks probably need to catch up with that and, as with alcohol, focus on the interval when users are more of a risk to themselves and others. Prosecution solely on the basis of the presence of THC in blood or saliva is manifestly unjust.

“Laws should be about safety on the roads, not arbitrary punishment. Given that cannabis is legal in an increasing number of jurisdictions, we need an evidence-based approach to drug-driving laws,” Prof McGregor said.

Source: News-Medical.Net

Journal information: McCartney, D., et al. (2021) Determining the magnitude and duration of acute Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC)-induced driving and cognitive impairment: A systematic and meta-analytic review. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.01.003.

Categories : COVIDTags :

South African Variant Escapes Pfizer Vaccine More Easily

On By ModernMedia

The South African variant escapes protection of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine better than other forms of the virus, Israeli experts said Sunday.

The study by Tel Aviv University and Clalit Health Services, Israel’s largest healthcare provider, compared patients with COVID, 400 unvaccinated patients to 400 partially or fully vaccinated ones.

Less than one percent of COVID cases in Israel were due to the South African variant. However, among the 150 people who were fully vaccinated yet had developed COVID, “the prevalence rate [of the B.1.351 variant] was eight times higher than the rate in the unvaccinated [individuals],” the authors wrote.

“This means that the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine, though highly protective, probably does not provide the same level of protection against the South African (B.1.351) variant of the coronavirus,” the authors added.

“The South African variant is able, to some extent, to break through the vaccine’s protection,” said professor Adi Stern of Tel Aviv University’s Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research, one of the study’s authors.

Prof Stern said that the study did not assess whether the eight people infected with the South African developed severe COVID.
“Since we found a very small number of vaccinees infected with B.1.351, it is statistically meaningless to report disease outcomes,” he said.

The possibility of reduced protection was already hinted at in two studies conducted by principal vaccine manufacturers Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, showing that the presence of antibodies after vaccination was less pronounced in people exposed to the B.1.351 variant. This marked the first real-world assessment of B.1.351’s ability to bypass a vaccine.

Israel’s vaccination campaign has seen 5.3 million people receive a first dose, while 4.9 million, or 53 percent of the population, have had two shots. 

Clalit’s earlier study on 1.2 million Israelis found that the Pfizer/BioNTech jab gave 94 percent protection against COVID.

Israel has eased many of its restrictions since its vaccine rollout, but various measures remain in place including mask-wearing and a “green passport” system that allows vaccinated people access to certain locations. With cases down 97% since January, Israel may have achieved “herd immunity”, according to Eran Segal, a computational biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Ran Balicer of Clalit said inoculations, plus mask-wearing and other safety measures had likely helped contain the B.1.351 variant, despite its apparent ability to break through the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

A combination of all these factors “are most likely… preventing the virus strains, including the South African one, from spreading” significantly in Israel, he said.

“As we taper down the non-pharmaceutical interventions, we must do so gradually to ensure we do not cross a threshold that would enable these variants to spread.”

Source: Medical Xpress

Categories : COVID General InterestTags :

Liquor Industry Questions Alcohol Ban Effectiveness

On By ModernMedia

Representatives from the liquor industry have said that the South African government must consider data from a new report that shows little alcohol ban effectiveness on trauma cases. However, other studies show negative effects of alcohol during lockdown, and a surge in violent trauma in Cape Town after alcohol bans were lifted.

In a statement on Thursday, the South African Liquor Brand owners Association (Salba) referenced a new report showing that, compared to other countries, South Africa saw similar trauma cases with its lockdown and alcohol ban to those that only had a lockdown.

The report had financial support from Distell, led by independent data expert Ian McGorian of Silver Fox Consulting, in collaboration with professor Mike Murray from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

The report found that trauma cases in South Africa under lockdown dropped 60%. But other countries also saw the same drop with no alcohol ban, including the UK (57%), Ireland (62%), Italy (56.6%) and the USA (54%), casting doubt over the effectiveness of alcohol bans in curbing trauma. The researchers also commented that curfews may have explained more of a reduction in trauma cases than alcohol bans.

While members of the liquor industry recognised the impact of alcohol on South African society, they said that government needs to be more objective with its lockdown regulations.

Salba chairperson Sibani Mngadi said the alcohol ban over Easter Weekend, while simultaneously allowing larger gatherings, made even less sense in reducing COVID transmission. This suggests that government was not considering science in its decision making, he said.

However, a multicentre study from Colorado, USA showed that even while trauma cases during lockdown fell by 33%, alcohol screens increased from 34% to 37%, and alcohol positive patients rose from 32% to 39%.

A study of Cape Town trauma admissions saw a dramatic drop of 53% in trauma admissions during the hard lockdown and an immediate rebound coinciding with the resumption of alcohol sales, with a 107% increase in gunshots wounds compared to pre-lockdown conditions.

The researchers noted that in South Africa the trauma demographic is much younger, with much higher rates of violence, with about half of homicide victims in SA testing positive for alcohol.

Distell chief executive Richard Rushton said the industry was merely asking that the data should be viewed objectively to improve dialogue with decision makers.

“We are all on the same side, and we want to help find solutions. We are very clear that alcohol abuse is unacceptable and causes harm. Our view is that the focus must be on finding ways to deal with high-risk drinkers, rather than using blunt instruments that penalise all South Africans.

“Any proposed new regulations need to be evidence-based, rational and target problem areas,” he said.

Business Leadership SA chief executive Busisiwe Mavuso said that lockdown could have been better managed, as 220 000 jobs had been lost along billions of rands in tax to the fiscus, while uncertainty still plagued alcohol producers.

“The decisions made to confront the health crisis should not have unintended consequences for the economy, and that is exactly what has happened with the bans on alcohol,” she said.

Mr Mavuso added that, since the start of the pandemic, business has been a willing partner to government and “needs to be part of the solution to ensure we fight this pandemic with the least possible damage to the economy”.

“The data analysis by the alcohol industry is an important intervention and must be taken seriously as we move forward.”

Source: BusinessTech

Categories : COVIDTags :

Smartphone Tracking in COVID Shows Movement Linked to Case Rise

On By ModernMedia

According to a new study which used mobility tracking of cell phone data, a greater movement of people is a strong predictor of increased COVID cases rates.

Until people are widely vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, the array of nonpharmaceutical public health interventions such as physical distancing and limiting travel and social contacts will remain the most effective means of controlling COVID. Capturing the interrelationship between human behaviour and infectious diseases is one of the hardest problems in epidemiology.

“Mobility measures capturing human activity through anonymized tracking of smartphones are believed to be reasonable proxies of contact rates outside of one’s own home; these measures can provide more timely and reliable sources of information on contact rates compared with time-use surveys or contact tracing,” the authors wrote.

Researchers looked at anonymised smartphone mobility data from nearly 12 months from March 2020 to March 2021, both at a national and provincial level, while controlling for date and temperature. A 10% increase in the mobility of Canadians outside their homes was found to be associated with a 25% increase in subsequent SARS-CoV-2 weekly growth rates. They investigated at the mobility threshold (the level needed to control the virus) and the mobility gap (the difference between the threshold and actual movement).

“The mobility threshold and mobility gap can be used by public health officials and governments to estimate the level of restrictions needed to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and guide, in real-time, the implementation and intensity of nonpharmaceutical public health interventions to control the COVID-19 pandemic,” wrote the authors.

Source: News-Medical.Net

Journal information: Brown, K. A., et al. (2021) The mobility gap: estimating mobility thresholds required to control SARS-CoV-2 in Canada. Canadian Medical Association Journal. doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.210132.

Categories : Ethics and LawTags :

A Public Archive for Opioid Lawsuit Information

On By ModernMedia

In order to improve transparency about the opioid crisis,  the University of California San Francisco and Johns Hopkins University launched a digital public archive of documents from lawsuits against drug manufacturers.

The digital repository of publicly disclosed legal documents related to the crisis allows free, public access to anyone interested in the continuing litigation and uncovered evidence.

“All too often, the public never gets the benefit of seeing and learning from litigation that generally takes place behind closed doors,” said Caleb Alexander, MD, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at Johns Hopkins and the founding co-director of the Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness, which will assist in maintaining the archive.

“Our focus is to be sure that the millions of pages of documents arising from opioid litigation ultimately see the light of day,” Alexander told MedPage Today. “We owe it to all those who have been impacted — especially patients and their loved ones — to see to it that these materials are placed in the public domain.”

The goal of the archive is to provide transparency into the methods used by drug companies to increase opioid sales, which led to the opioid epidemic in which, according to the CDC, over the past two decades, nearly 500 000 Americans died of overdoses involving an opioid. Additionally, the economic cost of the crisis in 2015-2018 was put at $2.5 trillion by the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Most of the archive’s documents were released thanks to efforts by the Washington Post and the Charleston Gazette. Records include company emails, memos, presentations, sales reports, audit reports, budgets, Drug Enforcement Administration briefings, expert witness reports, and depositions of drug company executives.

The archive is located on a website called Drug Industry Archives, a UCSF project that houses documents illustrating how the pharmaceutical industry, academic institutions, continuing medical education organizers and regulatory agencies impact public health. (UCSF also maintains similar archives related to tobacco, food, chemicals, and fossil fuel industries.)

The  Opioid Industry Documents Archive presently holds over 3300 legal documents, much of it coming from litigation in Kentucky and Oklahoma, as well as documents from the Insys investigation, which sold an oral fentanyl spray called Subsys. This archive’s launch coincides with the university hosting over 250 000 documents produced during Insys’ bankruptcy proceedings that resulted from successful lawsuits and criminal prosecutions.

“We don’t really know what’s in these documents yet, but there is a wealth of information,” said Kate Tasker, an associate librarian at UCSF who helps manage the archive. “Our number one goal is to make this information accessible and useful.”

Alexander said the opioid crisis was “an epidemic of catastrophic public health proportions.” He said that placing legal documents in the public domain is a crucial step to ensure that lessons are learned from the crisis.

“The primary goal is to ensure that history never repeats itself,” Alexander said. “And we can’t learn from past mistakes without understanding what those mistakes have been.”

Source: MedPage Today

Categories : COVIDTags :

South African Volunteers Battle Vaccine Misinformation

On By ModernMedia
Man with LED mask reading a burning newspaper. Photo by Connor Danylenko from Pexels.

As the long-delayed vaccine rollout in South Africa has begun, the government has run a public campaign to tackle prevalent health myths. But there are also volunteers who are waging an online battle against COVID and vaccine misinformation, as reported by the BBC.

Sarah Downs, who is studying molecular biology and infectious diseases, debunks false claims under the alias Mistress of Science and is fighting a surge of misinformation in South Africa. A relatively small collection of Facebook groups and users are responsible for promoting this misinformation. When she tweeted about her grandmother’s passing, a COVID denier questioned whether an autopsy had been performed. 
“We estimate that it’s about 20 000 South Africans who are actually active on anti-vax Facebook pages,” said Prof Hannelie Meyer, a pharmacist and adviser to the South African Vaccine and Immunisation Centre (Savic).

Most anti-vaccine claims in South Africa actually originate in the United States, according to a 2015 study. Anecdotal evidence, such as the spread of false claims about vaccines and DNA by an American osteopath, show this trend still holds in the pandemic.

Prof Meyer said that while data on vaccine hesitancy in SA are limited, studies indicate that more wealthy and educated groups, particularly among whites, are less willing to be vaccinated.

Leading virologist Prof Jeffrey Mphahlele has also pushed back against rumours, such as COVID and its vaccines being a Western plot to reduce Africa’s population and control its natural resources. He called the misinformation “mind boggling” – pointing out the supposed plot would require the West to create a virus that killed millions of its own people.

Even authority figures have promulgated falsehoods: South Africa’s top judge was recently criticised after a video showed him linking vaccines to a “Satanic agenda.”

One of the most prominent groups on Facebook, with some 10 000 members, seeks to spread “awareness” about vaccines but the members’ hard-line anti-vaccine attitude is very clear, ridiculing or dismissing vaccines. One video posted in the group – originally aired on an evangelical US Christian television programme – suggested getting a jab could lead to “a lifetime of illness”.

Sarah Downs stepped in to help answer questions amidst the deluge of misinformation, and one person she helped was Sheona Lottering, a swimming teacher.

“I had a friend that forwarded me a German article,” Sheona said. “She was trying to convince me that death was one of the side-effects [of a COVID vaccination].

“And I was a little bit freaked out about that.”

Sarah explained the subtleties around adverse events to her, and now Sheona keeps in contact with Sarah over difficult vaccine-related questions.

Lisa (not her real name) spends hours lurking in Facebook groups to guide people towards trusted sources of health information.

“The claims are so bizarre I could hardly believe there are people believing these things,” she said. “I don’t like misinformation, so when I see something, I just try to correct it.”

Doing this for over a decade, she’s seen communities grow and knows their tactics. She said that young mothers are a particular target in Facebook groups, where posts are coordinated to try and convince them not to vaccinate their children., which is when Lisa steps in. She keeps her inbox open and believes gentle communication works best – asking about people’s concerns rather than shouting statistics at them.

But Sarah, Lisa and other volunteers we spoke to risk exposing themselves to online abuse, and the prospects of persuasion can often seem slim. It’s difficult, pro-health work – that isn’t paid. So do they judge success?

“I think if I can just help one person be a little bit less terrified… that’s what I aim to get out of it,” Sarah says. “And if they’re willing to take the vaccine, even more so.”

Source: BBC News

Categories : COVIDTags :

COVID Surges Driven by New Variants

On By ModernMedia

A study of SARS-CoV-2 genomes and epidemic case data has shown that COVID outbreaks emerge with new variants.

“As variants emerge, you’re going to get new outbreaks,” said Bart Weimer, professor of population health and reproduction at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. The study combined classical epidemiology with genomics, providing a tool for public health authorities to predict the course of pandemics.

SARS-CoV-2  only has 15 genes, but is mutating constantly. The majority of these changes have little impact, but occasionally they result in the virus becoming more or less transmissible.

Together with graduate student DJ Darwin R Bandoy, Prof Weimer at first analysed the genomes of 150 SARS-CoV-2 strains, mostly from outbreaks in Asia prior to March 1, 2020, along with epidemiology and transmission information on those outbreaks. 

The classified outbreaks by stage: index (no outbreak), takeoff, exponential growth and decline. Virus transmissibility is set by the value R, or reproductive number, where R is the average number of new infections caused by each infected person.

They combined all this information into a metric called GENI, for pathogen genome identity. Comparing GENI scores with epidemic phases showed that an increase in genetic variation immediately preceded exponential growth in cases, for example in South Korea in late February. In Singapore, however, bursts of variation were associated with smaller outbreaks that were quickly brought under control.

Prof Weimer and Bandoy then looked at 20 000 sequences of SARS-CoV-2 viruses collected over February to April 2020 in the United Kingdom, and compared them with COVID cases data.

They found that the GENI variation score rose steadily with the number of cases. When a national lockdown was imposed in late March, the number of new cases stabilised but the GENI score continued to rise. This shows that control measures such as banning gatherings, mask mandates and social distancing are effective in controlling spread of disease in the face of rapid virus evolution.

It could also help explain “superspreader” events when large numbers of infections result from relaxed precautions at an event.

Prof Weimer said he hopes that health authorities will adopt this method of measuring virus variation and linking it to the local transmission rate, R.

“In this way you can get a very early warning of when a new outbreak is coming,” he said. “Here’s a recipe for how to go about it.”

Source: Medical Xpress

Journal information: Scientific Reports (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-86265-4

Categories : Skeletal SystemTags :

Osteoporosis Rates are Increasing in US Women

On By ModernMedia

Osteoporosis is present in Almost one in five American women aged 50 and older, according to data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), and the osteoporosis rates are increasing.

Neda Sarafrazi, PhD, of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in Hyattsville, Maryland, and colleagues reported the findings in an NCHS Data Brief.

Osteoporosis is defined as bone mineral density (BMD) value at least 2.5 standard deviations below young-adult average at the femoral neck or lumbar spine was present, and was measured in NHANES with dual x-ray absorption dosimetry.

In cross-sectional survey data from 2017-2018, 19.6% of women 50 and older had osteoporosis at the femoral neck, lumbar spine, or both. In men, the age-adjusted prevalence was only 4.4% of men 50 and older.

All in all, osteoporosis was present in 12.6% of all American adults 50 and older, which was defined as a bone mineral density (BMD) value at least 2.5 standard deviations below the average for young adults at the femoral neck or lumbar spine.

Osteoporosis, as to be expected, was far more common among older adults, affecting 17.7% of all men and women 65 and older, versus 8.4% of those ages 50-64. In women ages 65 and older, the prevalence was 27% and at ages 50-64 was 13.1%. In men, prevalence values were 5.7% in those 65 and older and 3.3% for those 50-64.

Sarafrazi’s team found that osteoporosis had become slightly more prevalent over the years. In 2007-2008, 9.4% of Americans 50 and older had osteoporosis. While rates remained steady throughout for men, a big uptick of 5 percentage points was seen for women.

“Monitoring the prevalence of osteoporosis and low bone mass may inform public health programs that focus on reducing or preventing osteoporosis and its consequences,” suggested Sarafrazi’s group. “Healthy People 2020 has a goal of 5.3% or less for the prevalence of osteoporosis at the femur neck for adults aged 50 and over.”

“In the United States, the prevalence of osteoporosis among adults aged 50 and over at the femur neck only was 6.3% and has not met the 2020 goal,” they stressed.

The data also revealed high rates of low bone mass, a precursor of osteoporosis, defined as BMD of 1 to 2.5 standard deviations below the average for young adults.

Among all adults ages 50 and older, 43.1% had low bone mass at the femoral neck, lumbar spine, or both. Among women, prevalence was 51.5% and among men 33.5% .

The overall rate reached 47.5% in those 65 and older. However, older age seemed to be less of a factor for women, with almost no difference between the 50-64 and 65-plus age groups.

However, the prevalence rates of low bone mass in both sexes held steady during the decade between 2007-2008 and 2017-2018.  

Source: MedPage Today

Journal information: Sarafrazi N, et al “Osteoporosis or low bone mass in older adults: United States, 2017–2018” NCHS Data Brief 2021; No 405.

Categories : COVID General InterestTags :

CDC Director Fears ‘Impending Doom’ as COVID Cases Rise Again

On By ModernMedia

Rochelle Walensky, MD, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director, says that she fears “impending doom” as COVID deaths in the US edge upwards as people increasingly ignore health restrictions and start to travel.

Beginning her usual COVID status update,  Dr Walensky spoke as she often did of “concerning trends in the data.”

Dr Walensky spoke about the country surpassing 30 million COVID cases; of a 10% increase in the 7-day average of COVID-19 cases over the past week, to slightly below 60 000 cases; and of an uptick in hospitalisations, from a 7-day average of around 4600 per day to around 4800 per day.

“And deaths, which typically lag behind cases and hospitalizations, have now started to rise,” she said, pointing to a nearly 3% increase to a 7-day average of “approximately 1000 deaths per day.”

“I’m going to pause here,” she said. “I’m going to lose the script and I’m going to reflect on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom.”  

At the start of her tenure, Walensky said she had pledged to always tell the truth even if it wasn’t something Americans wanted to hear.

“We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are, and so much reason for hope. But right now I’m scared,” she said.

She recalled her time caring for COVID patients, saying: “I know what it’s like as a physician to stand in that patient room, gowned, gloved, masked, shielded and to be the last person to touch someone else’s loved one because their loved one couldn’t be there.

“I know what it’s like when you’re the physician, when you’re the healthcare provider, and you’re worried that you don’t have the resources to care for the patients in front of you.” 

She also recalled “that feeling of nausea, when you read the ‘Crisis Standards of Care’ and you wonder whether there are going to be enough ventilators to go around and who’s going to make that choice.”

She emphasised that she was speaking “not only as your CDC director, but as a wife, as a mother, as a daughter, to ask you to just please hold on a little while longer.”

She sympathised, she said, with those “wanting to be done” with the pandemic.

“We are just almost there, but not quite yet. And so I’m asking you to just hold on a little longer, to get vaccinated when you can. So that all of those people that we all love will still be here when this pandemic ends.”

Dr Walensky warned that the US pandemic trajectory was looking dangerously similar to that of European countries like Germany that were still struggling to contain the virus.

“We are not powerless. We can change this trajectory of the pandemic,” she said.

“But it will take all of us recommitting to following the public health prevention strategies consistently while we work to get the American public vaccinated.”

According to the New York Times’  COVID vaccination tracker, 146 million vaccinations have been administered in the US to date, with 2.76 million doses being given daily. At this rate, 70% of the adult population will have been vaccinated by June 16.

She urged community and religious leaders, officials, and other influencers to help support the vaccination programme.

“For the health of our country, we must work together now to prevent a fourth surge.”

Source: MedPage Today