8 thoughts on “C-19 Chat Post – June 22 2021”

  1. Cases in UK rise to a fresh 4 month high. Hospitalizations are increasing steadily. Deaths – as a lagging indicator – are now rising, too. https://twitter.com/daily_24x7/status/1407395939246030848

    No matter how hard we try to downplay this data, it’s worrisome. First, it’s summer, so one would expect seasonality to play a role in diminishing cases, and not having them rise. Second, we’re talking about a highly vaccinated population. In the UK 1st dose vaccination of adults is 82% and fully vaccinated 60% (US is 65% and 56%, respectively).

    The Delta variant is somewhat vaccine-evasive, and causing reinfections to a larger extent than any of the previous variants. If I were a public health official, I would not be getting much sleep. This would concern me. Vaccines still work well generally, also against Delta. But, the virus is gaining an edge, if you will, and chipping away at the vaccine efficacy, albeit incrementally.

  2. 3. Clarifying COVID-19 Guidance:

    On Saturday, June 19, Commissioner Riley sent a message to schools and districts clarifying the COVID-19 guidance that DESE released on May 27. The June 19 message states that:
    For the remainder of the school year: Masking indoors and maintaining other health and safety guidance as issued by DESE is required.
    For summer programs: Masking indoors and maintaining other health and safety guidance is not required but is encouraged. The DESE summer guidance is in alignment with state guidance encouraging unvaccinated individuals to continue to mask. The DPH mask advisory advises unvaccinated residents to continue wearing masks in indoor settings and when they can’t socially distance.
    For the fall: At this time, all health and safety guidance including masking and physical distancing will be lifted. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will collaborate with the Department of Public Health (DPH) to issue any additional health and safety recommendations over the summer should they become necessary.

    1. Philip said yesterday that Baker wants masks for summer programs. The cdc individual I listened to said the same. I’ll leave it at that because truly there are no words to justify

  3. Israel is now seeing increases in cases due to Delta. Israel was down to a handful of cases a day and virtually no hospitalizations. It is now up to more than 100 cases a day, with some hospitalizations. Israel is a very highly vaccinated (Pfizer) country. It is now proactively instituting measures to counter Delta’s presence, including targeted use of NPIs (non-pharmaceutical interventions, like masks, distancing, and crowd limits). https://twitter.com/thehowie/status/1407426079216877568

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