Dr. Stuart Weiss: COVID-19 Update Monday 01-Mar-2021
Rapid Test Center of New York
Dr. Stuart Weiss, FACEP, FAAP, CBCP
By Dr. Stuart Weiss, Intelligent Crowd Solutions – Rapid Test Center of NY
March 1, 2021
CoViD-19 News and Information you can trust. Welcome new readers from the Rapid Test Center.
Topics: Where are we?
New Testing Centers Open! We have opened our testing center in Chelsea in Manhattan and lower Westchester County . They are going great and we’re planning several more. Stay tuned.
I apologize to Bruce and Joann who don’t go to sleep until they read my newsletter each night. Tonight, I’ve kept you up late but I couldn’t get to writing this until now!
| So Where Are We? Well its another Monday in a pandemic world so I thought we should take a moment to see where we are. Case Numbers Case numbers had been heading down nicely until the past few days. Over the past few days, the new case numbers have not dropped and are actually up very slightly. Last week, the rolling 14 day average was down 32% but this week, its down only 26%. This is true in the US and around the world. The rolling 14 day average number of new hospitalizations has also stopped dropping. When we look at average new number of cases, it is now 67,868 which is finally below the peak in last July when it was 73,525). So why have the numbers stopped falling and flattened out. Well, it due to variants. The new viruses are circulating and are more transmissible than the previous version. As you heard the director of the CDC say today, we could lose all the ground we have gained if we become careless with our social measures. Vaccines We now have three vaccines out there. Over the weekend, the FDA and then the CDC approved the new Johnson and Johnson vaccine. This new vaccine is a single dose vaccine. There has been some controversy about its lower efficacy numbers. Yes, the new vaccine is less effective at preventing all CoVid disease BUT, and this is important, in the trials there were NO hospitalizations or deaths. This new vaccine prevents severe disease. So even if it is less effective overall than Pfizer and Moderna, preventing severe illness and death is what I care about so if you have the opportunity to get the J&J vaccine, do it. Across the US, we have vaccinated about 14% of our population. Based on the Israeli studies, we have to get to 30% to start to see significant effects on the virus and at 60%, where they are now, there seems to be remarkable decrease in community spread. So we have a ways to go but if you believe the White House and the vaccination projections, we might get there by mid to late summer. One key thing to remember is that the vaccine protects the person who got the vaccine, it DOES NOT protect people around you. This is important because not matter what vaccine you get, you can still be infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes CoViD-19, and spread it to others who have not been vaccinated. So although you won’t get severe illness and die, you could infect the people around you. What this means is that when you are out and about or with other unvaccinated people, you must still wear a mask and socially distance. If you and everyone in your household are vaccinated and you are in your home with a small group of other adults who are also vaccinated, then it would be safe to take off your masks and act normally. So you would have to live a double life. Mask up and socially distance yourself while out of the house but have a more normal life while in your home when around others who have been vaccinated already. Therapeutics While work is ongoing on treatments for active infections, I am pleased to see the push to get more folks on monoclonal antibodies early when high risk people get sick. these medications make a difference. Social Measures You have heard much talk recently about double masking and I support that. Wearing two layers of face coverings increases the filtration and protection that masks provide and with the variants, this is more important than ever. There are three strategies to increase mask protection: 1. Wear N-95 masks – unfortunately there is still a shortage of N-95 masks in the US due to the huge dependence on China for all of our masks. So for now, N-95 masks are reserved for healthcare workers. 2. Wear a surgical mask covered by a cloth mask. The idea is that surgical masks are not tight fitting to your face and there are gaps around the edges. They are good filers but have gaps. If you put a cloth mask over the surgical mask, this hold the surgical masks tightly against your face and eliminates the gaps. 3. Wear two layers of cloth with a HEPA filter in between. The best at home HEPA filter to use is a new HEPA vacuum cleaner bag. All three of these strategies are listed on the CDC website and can increase your protection. I recommend double masking. For the new variants and the original SARS-CoV-2 virus, social distancing, face coverings and hand washing still provide the most protection against new infections (recent CPAC speeches notwithstanding). Variants Viral variants are here and are increasing in numbers. This is why it i so important to get the world vaccinated quickly. As you may remember, viruses can only multiply inside living organisms. They need living cells to replicate themselves. This is where they mutate as well. So the more infectious people we have in the world, the more virus factories are out there creating new mutants. We have several variants circulating in the US. The one that modeling points to as becoming the dominant variant is the UK B.1.1.7 variant which is 30% – 50% more contagious and more lethal than the original virus. This is why we may be seeing the slowdown in the decline of new cases. B.1.1.7 is raising its ugly head in the US. But we must not forget about the rest of the world. A poor person in a third world country is just as good at creating variants as a person in the US and as we have learned, a variant anywhere is a variant everywhere. So its important to get everyone on the planet vaccinated before an “escape variant” develops that can avoid all vaccines and treatments. I still think that the governments who paid billions of dollars should demand that vaccine formulas are public property so that any vaccine manufacturer on the planet can make vaccine and distribute it across the world instead of just 3 or 4 companies. This s what happened with Polio vaccine which didn’t have a patent. CPAC craziness?? Lastly, what was up with some of the speakers at the just ended Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida. I expected to hear most of what I heard but speakers getting up and saying that they were glad to be in Florida where they didn’t have to wear a mask and could act normal, or another saying that Dr. Fauci is wrong much of the time drove me crazy. With variants coming, public health measures are what will keep us okay until we get everyone vaccinated. Some of the speakers were just plain stupid or were just pandering to the audience. Either way, at this point in the pandemic, it would be nice if we could all pull in the same direction to keep us safe until this is over. When you are eligible, get your self vaccinated so we can get through this together. . Dr. Stu Weiss |
| COVID-19 HEADLINES FOR TODAY |
| Coronavirus update for March 1, 2021 World Wide Updates First shipment of COVAX vaccines to Latin America lands in Colombia EU begins laying groundwork to pave the way for Covid-19 vaccine passports this summer Decline in UK’s Covid-19 cases is due to lockdown and vaccine rollout, UK foreign secretary says Nordic nations tighten restrictions as cases surge The Czech Republic is locking down while the rest of the world is starting to open up Authorities are still hunting for 1 of the 6 cases of the Brazilian Covid variant identified in the UK Germany’s Covid death toll tops 70,000, as Bavaria PM warns that mutations are “starting to dominate” Indian Prime Minister receives first dose of Covid-19 vaccine Mexico’s president expected to ask Biden to share US Covid-19 vaccines, source says Families want change after neglect in Canadian care homes proved deadly during the pandemic France eases ban on AstraZeneca vaccine for over-65s Austria to ease restrictions on hospitality sector Global infections rose for the first time in 7 weeks in last week of February China aims to vaccination 40% of population by June Israel looking to buy 36 million more Covid vaccine doses Ghana’s president is the first recipient of coronavirus vaccine under global Covax Nicaragua will begin Covid-19 vaccinations on Tuesday The Finnish government declares a state of emergency over rising coronavirus infections Zimbabwe eases coronavirus lockdown and overnight curfew imposed in January Nearly two thirds of Russians are not willing to receive the country’s Sputnik V vaccine World won’t be finished with Covid-19 this year, warns WHO Total Cases Worldwide: 114,937,005 Total Deaths Worldwide: 2,548,336 Total Recovered: 90,588,622 US Updates White House says scheduling a vaccine appointment “remains too difficult in too many places” Essential workers push Senate to passage of NY HERO Act on workplace safety Johnson & Johnson will deliver 20 million vaccine doses in March and 100 million by June, official says US reports more than 51,000 cases on Sunday Nearly 77 million Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in US, according to CDC data Senate Majority Leader says chamber will take up Covid-19 relief “this week” California lawmakers plan to get most kids back into classrooms Texas FEMA sites expected to receive 24,000 Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses today The FDA authorizes another at-home Covid-19 antigen test, the Quidel QuickVue At-Home Covid-19 Test White House says Biden is not considering sharing Covid-19 vaccine supply with Mexico First truck carrying Johnson & Johnson vaccine arrives at UPS shipping facility in Kentucky 31 states plus DC are now allowing teachers to get Covid-19 vaccines CDC director “deeply concerned” about potential shift in trajectory of the pandemic US military has administered over 1 million Covid-19 vaccine doses Senate Democratic leaders want members to hold firm against “lethal” GOP amendments on Covid relief bill Biden will meet virtually with Democratic senators today to pitch his Covid-19 relief bill Distribution of Johnson and Johnson vaccine “should be even across communities,” White House says Johnson & Johnson working on booster for coronavirus variants, CEO says More than 2,400 reported cases of Covid variants in the US DOJ files appeal of Trump-appointed judge’s ruling on CDC eviction moratorium The Trumps were vaccinated in January before leaving the White House, advisor says Two doses of vaccine offer better protection from coronavirus variants, CDC says Total US cases: 29,297,366 Total US deaths: 526,914Total Recovered: 19,782,159Total Tested in US: 350,678,484 Total cases in CA: 3,556,723 Total deaths in CA: 52,392 Total cases in TX: 2,657,614 Total deaths in TX: 44,072 Total cases in FL: 1,910,921 Total deaths in FL: 31,003 Total cases in NY: 1,686,159 Total deaths in NY: 47,924 Total cases in IL: 1,187,839 Total deaths in IL: 22,759 Total cases in GA: 1,008,660 Total death in GA: 17,376 Total Vaccines Administered in US: 76,899,987 |
