DC Pandemic Watch (formerly DC Covid Watch)

Do you remember BA.3—the weakling cousin of BA.1 & BA.2 that seemed to take the worst from each & had weaker ACE2 binding than even the ancestral Wuhan Virus? After 3 years, BA.3 is back. And it is transmitting. Who saw this coming? 1/13

@michaelmina_lab @florian_krammer Hopefully someone will study this group. My partner is in this group. They had the same exposures as I did--including 7 hours in a car with someone with Covid. I have had Covid twice, they have never had it. And no, they are not cautious--not at this point.

@florian_krammer My main question is about confounding w the conclusion of most cross reactive nAbs among this with vaccine only history. I would suggest instead that those with vaccine-only history perhaps have a much more interesting ability to produce more cross reactive nAbs. Rather than assuming that these vax-only people never got infected AND assuming that infections narrowed the response. To me the much simpler answer is not the peculiar one, but rather that by identifying people who believe they have only been vaccinated an d never infected (at this point in the pandemic) these people have some improved ability to produce better cross reactive nAbs.

Antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 variants LP.8.1, LF.7.1, NB.1.8.1, XFG and BA.3.2 following KP.2 monovalent mRNA vaccination medrxiv.org/content/10.110…

“The most proximate cause of contemporary tuberculosis deaths is not M. tuberculosis, but Homo sapiens” @johngreen outlines why the U.S. withdrawal of foreign aid for fighting diseases like tuberculosis will haunt us Gift link for ⁦@TheAtlantic⁩ ⬇️ theatlantic.com/health/archive…

Not surprising: infectiousness of H5n1 can be retained in cheese made from raw milk. biorxiv.org/content/10.110…. Why am i not surprised? This has been described before, for tick borne encephalitis for instance frontiersin.org/journals/micro…

RFK Jr has been stating that the "anti-measles protection" of natural infection is better than vaccination First - if he thinks measles is not bad for you, then why care how good or long lasting the immunity against it is?? Second - Measles is NOT good for you. Do not get it to gain immunity against it. Get a vaccine - it is SAFE Hell, it is actually a live weakened virus vaccine - it is for all purposes a very mini infection. So, if you want an infection to give you immunity, then the vaccine does that too... The arguments against a measles vaccine that are coming from HHS Secretary are beyond idiotic. They are self contradictory. If he wants to support public health he'd start by working to build bridges and trust. Not sow distrust of some of the safest medical interventions on the plant.

NEW: We sued three Maryland drivers who racked up over $90,000 in fines for dangerous driving in DC. These are the first lawsuits brought under the STEER Act. This new civil authority empowers OAG to make our roads safer by holding reckless drivers from any state accountable.

"rather than taking a clinical job that might have paid $200,000 to 350,000 per year, these passionate individuals took a salary that was more like $74,000 to $96,000 in order to work and train in the EIS"

News: Half of CDC "disease detectives" terminated. DOGE takes aim at US disease surveillance. Entire first-year class of the Epidemic Intelligence Service must be out by 5 p.m., sources say. Also: a major CDC contractor "just let go. Others may follow. open.substack.com/pub/insidemedi…

@firefoxx66 There used to be a page that listed the name of the vaccine followed by a list of excipients. It appears to be gone. This is affecting half a million people most of whom live in some of the reddest states in the nation.

@CovidDc I've heard that a lot of the vaccine information is back up, but have heard rumours that some (like for mpox) may be scrubbed or incomplete. I think 'routine' vaccines are likely back up. I hope you can find the information!

It's all gone. They've taken down all the CDC datasets from data.cdc.gov "Do not fear those who tell the truth. Fear those who try to hide it. They are willing to sacrifice other things."

@firefoxx66 Hey, people with alpha-gal syndrome need access to the Pink Book so they can figure out if there are any mammalian ingredients (especially gelatin) in their vaccines. Do you know if anyone downloaded it and made it available?

Part of the effort to archive the data has been done by the Wayback Machine/Internet Archive. If you can afford to do so, please consider donating to support their efforts! archive.org/donate/?origin…

I'd call this pointless cruelty, if cruelty weren't the point. I try to stay away from politics, but this isn't about politics, it's about basic human decency. Go ahead and unfollow me if you think treating desperate kids this way is okay.

Leaving @WHO will have long-term impacts for the US, says Dean @ashishkjha in @TIME. "We are going to see a lot more disease outbreaks become regional and global, and we will see more disease outbreaks from other countries coming into the U.S.," he says. time.com/7208937/us-wor…

Here we provide evidence of henipaviruses in North America with the discovery of Camp hill virus in the Northern Short-Tailed Shrew, Alabama. Early release article available from EID wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/31… #virology

BREAKING: Bird flu found in commercial flock in Georgia, poultry markets suspended. ajc.com/news/bird-flu-…

Today, we confirmed the first positive case of HPAI in a commercial poultry operation in Elbert County. As a result, all poultry activities - exhibitions, shows, swaps, and sales -  in Georgia are suspended until further notice. GDA staff are currently onsite at the affected premises working to mitigate any spread of the disease and minimize the impact to Georgia’s #1 industry.

If we're going to be serious about health of people here and around the world We need an effective @WHO Yet, we may be days from US withdrawing from @WHO In @statnews, I lay out why a withdrawal would take away our leverage, elevate China, and make Americans less safe

Good read on H5 avian influenza nature.com/articles/s4158…

🧵: Belated update on the respiratory illness situation, based on @CDCgov data. The #flu data is for the week ending Jan. 11. No surprises here, given we all know people who are sick right now. Flu activity is still high, #RSV is very high, and #Covid activity is rising. Please stay home if you're sick.

🔹️Forecast to end of January🔹️ The model suggests the peak has already passed, and infections should recede to an extent over the next few weeks. This spring could trend in an unusual way due to the low holiday peak.

If people continue to be infected with #H5N1 #birdflu, some will die. One has: the person in Louisiana who was infected by poultry and/or wild birds in a backyard flock. Developing story. statnews.com/2025/01/06/bir…