keeptober day 21: fire @keeptober
i think she deserves to go feral ok !
21 notes
·
View notes
World Health Organization
MEDIA ADVISORY
NEW: COVID19 variant of interest JN.1
Geneva, 19 December 2023 -- Due to its rapidly increasing spread, WHO is classifying the variant JN.1 as a separate variant of interest (VOl) from the parent lineage BA.2.86. It was previously classified as VOl as part of BA.2.86 sublineages.
WHO advises people to take measures to prevent infections and severe disease using all available tools. These include:
-Wear a mask when in crowded, enclosed, or poorly ventilated areas, and keep a safe distance from others, as feasible
-Improve ventilation
-Practise respiratory etiquette - covering coughs and sneezes
-Clean your hands regularly
-Stay up to date with vaccinations against COVID-19 and influenza, especially if you are at high risk for severe disease
-Stay home if you are sick
-Get tested if you have symptoms, or if you might have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or influenza
For health workers and health facilities, WHO advises:
-Universal masking in health facilities, as well as appropriate masking, respirators and other PPE for health workers caring for suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients.
-Improve ventilation in health facilities
Image also has alt text embedded.
16K notes
·
View notes
A Covid Update - Eric Topol
For recent developments in the world of Covid, there’s a lot to summarize.
Along the long course of the pandemic I had so many people write to me (or post on social media) about its inevitability and that I should just move on in life, stop masking, and don’t worry about it—”you’re not going to die.” I never agreed with that outlook, since we’ve made steady improvements throughout the pandemic in preventing severe Covid and Long Covid, such that the longer an infection can be delayed, the better. Of course, I’d much prefer to never have Covid, but there’s only so much one can do to prevent that from happening.
I had received the XBB.1.5 booster in late September, but still got infected 6-7 weeks later. That’s not at all surprising, since the booster doesn’t do much against infection, especially after the first month, and at peak might suppress infection by only 30-40%. But it does markedly amp up neutralizing antibodies (and T cell response) and certainly would be expected to help prevent severe Covid.
The experience exemplifies how much progress that we’ve made along the way. But there are still 2 absolutely vital objectives that haven’t been fulfilled: (1) highly effective treatments for Long Covid; and (2) inhalation vaccines to promote strong mucosal immunity and block infections and spread, effective against all variants. There’s still much work to do on both fronts, but I’m convinced we’ll eventually get there. If only we prioritized these like we did to get the initial Covid vaccines (think Operation Warp Speed), we’d likely be there by now.
0 notes
Worldwide, there were more than 11,000 reported deaths from COVID between mid-December 2023 and mid-January 2024, and more than half of those deaths occurred in the U.S. In that same time frame, nearly one million cases were reported to the World Health Organization globally (although reduced testing and reporting means this is likely a vast undercount). In particular, epidemiologists are monitoring the newest variant of SARS-CoV-2, JN.1, and looking for any signs that it may be more severe than previous strains.
Although the WHO declared an end to the COVID public health emergency in May 2023, the organization has emphasized that the pandemic isn’t over—it’s just entered an endemic phase, which means that the virus will continue to circulate indefinitely.
[...]
How would you describe the overall state of COVID at this point in the pandemic?
COVID’s not in the news every day, but it’s still a global health risk. If we look at wastewater estimates, the actual circulation [of SARS-CoV-2] is somewhere between two and 20 times higher than what’s actually being reported by countries. The virus is rampant. We’re still in a pandemic. There’s a lot of complacency at the individual level, and more concerning to me is that at the government level.
[...]
"We understand you don’t want to hear about it. I don’t want to talk about it. But we need to because there’s more we can do. We cannot prevent all infections. We cannot prevent all deaths. But there’s a hell of a lot more that we can do to keep people safe and save them from losing a loved one"
2K notes
·
View notes