Eric J. Chow, MD, MS, MPH, FIDSA, FAAP, FACP

Long time since I posted. Will no longer be active on this account. Please find me on Bluesky.

Free COVID tests are back! Get up to 4 tests mailed to your door by signing up at CovidTests.gov. The kits will ship as early as next week. More info: seattletimes.com/seattle-news/h…

The XEC variant of #SARSCoV2 has the most growth advantage of any circulating; updated graph below by @benjmueller (H/T @siamosolocani, @Mike_Honey_ ). But it's a mystery why. This thread zooms in on the change in nucleocapsid as the potential explanation.

Two doses of the mpox vaccine is the strongest protection. Maximize your protection against mpox and get your second dose of the vaccine. Even if you got your first dose a long time ago, you can still get the second dose. Learn more about the mpox vaccine: bit.ly/mpoxvaccine

Identification of the first #mpox clade 1b infection in Sweden underscores the need for affected countries to tackle the virus together. We encourage all countries to enhance surveillance, share data, and work to better understand the transmission; share tools like vaccines; and apply lessons learned from prior public health emergencies of international concern in addressing the current outbreak.

While we wait for the new vaccine (which will be recommended for all individuals 6 months and older even if you had a prior vaccination), masking, ventilation, isolating when ill are the smart choices to prevent infection.

COVID is not the flu as much as we try to will it to be. We are seeing 2 major waves a year and I'm disappointed that when people need vaccine the most, we find ourselves in a transition period between the old and new vaccine formulations.

In June, I highlighted that King County was seeing a summer increase in COVID-19. We are still seeing elevated levels of COVID-19 across different metrics. Before the pandemic, we may not have associated the summer with respiratory illness. But COVID-19 has changed that.

Another incredible @KCPubHealth post on #LongCOVID by @MeredithLV who has elevated the voices of those who have experienced COVID-19 complications. Dr. @NikkiGentileMD at @UWMedicine talks about the importance of supporting of patients with symptoms. publichealthinsider.com/2024/07/17/jus…

Do your part to enhance community immunity. Protect yourself, family and friends by taking steps to ensure you are up to date with measles vaccination.

Like with many other communicable diseases, when infections increase, vulnerable populations are impacted the most. This year, there have already been 159 cases of measles in the US, more than all of 2023: cdc.gov/measles/data-r…

Have you talked to your doctor about your measles vaccine status? Now is a good time to have that conversation. Ahead of travel, I would talk to my doctor about vaccines and treatment I would need to stay safe while away. This is important for adults and children.

Why do we care about measles? Not only is it easily spread but it can cause serious complications such as pneumonia and encephalitis. Vaccination can provide effective long-term immunity so making sure we have immunity is an important step for all of us to take.

Measles is a highly contagious virus and folks can get an infection from an individual up to 2 hours after they have left a space (especially true indoors where ventilation is not great). If you're not immune and are exposed, there's a good chance the infection will affect you.

Confirmed case of measles in King County - please review this important announcement. Staying up to date with recommended vaccinations especially ahead of international travel is important in preventing these infections from coming back and establishing in our communities.

@AWangMPH Thanks for sharing this important update. The summer peaks come at a time when people are traveling and least expect to have a respiratory illness. Masking, vaccination, testing, ventilation, isolation should be integrated into our activities as pandemic lessons learned.

I appreciate their update especially this part: “COVID-19 activity tends to fluctuate with the seasons, meaning it has some seasonal patterns. Data from four years of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths show that COVID-19 has winter peaks (most recently in late December 2023 and early January 2024), but also summer peaks (most recently in July and August of 2023). There is no distinct COVID-19 season like there is for influenza (flu) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). While flu and RSV have a generally defined fall/winter seasonality and circulate at low levels in most parts of the United States in the summer, meaningful COVID-19 activity occurs at other times of the year.”

Each of us should do our part to help reduce infections especially when COVID-19 activity increases: vax, mask, ventilate, isolate when ill.

Important time to remind folks that when community infections increase, those people who will carry a disproportionate burden of the COVID-19 complications are those who have higher risk for severe disease and those that continue to experience disparities in healthcare access.

Since the start of the pandemic, the @UW Latino Center for Health has helped elevate the impacts that COVID-19 has had on our Latino communities. Now they are leading the efforts to characterize the impacts of Long COVID among the Latino population: latinocenterforhealth.org/covid-19-and-l…