Infectious-Disease Experts Say WHO’s Covid Guidelines Could Harm People
Health experts told CIDRAP that the new guidelines that are meant to protect health care workers and patients might actually put them at risk. For example, they said, the guidelines "suggest using symptoms to screen people" despite current knowledge about asymptomatic transmission. The guidelines also still adhere to "droplet dogma" instead of airborne spread, they said, and do not fully acknowledge that N95 respirators offer better protection than surgical masks.
CIDRAP:
Updated WHO COVID Prevention Guidance May Endanger Rather Than Protect, Some Experts Say
The World Health Organization's (WHO's) newly updated COVID-19 prevention and control guidelines purport to protect healthcare workers, patients, and the community, but some experts say they may encourage risky behavior by propagating long-disproven ideas about how viruses spread. "I think they put healthcare workers and patients and the community at significant risk," said Lisa Brosseau, ScD, CIH, an expert on respiratory protection and infectious diseases and a CIDRAP research consultant. One of the main problems, said Raina Macintyre, MBBS, PhD, professor and head of the biosecurity program at the Kirby Institute in Sydney, Australia, is that the document doesn't incorporate many of the lessons learned during the pandemic—such as the major role of COVID-19 spread among people with no symptoms. (Van Beusekom, 1/26)
In other covid news —
CIDRAP:
US Respiratory Virus Activity Still High But Continues To Ebb
Markers for all three of the main respiratory viruses that are making Americans sick declined this week, and new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest that the current flu season has been moderate so far and that people with chronic conditions continue to make up the bulk of flu hospitalizations. In its respiratory virus snapshot, the CDC said activity is still elevated but decreasing across most of the country. More specifically, flu and COVID-19 activity are stabilizing or decreasing, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections continue to decline. (Schnirring, 1/26)
Boston Globe:
Investment In Vaccine Development Is Lagging, Report Finds
Covid vaccines saved nearly 20 million lives worldwide, by one estimate, and generated billions of dollars for several drugmakers. But investment in experimental vaccines for dozens of other diseases remains modest and should be much higher, according to a new biotechnology industry report. (Saltzman, 1/26)
CIDRAP:
COVID Drugs More Often Given To Medicare Patients Who Least Need Them, Study Suggests
A greater proportion of nonhospitalized Medicare enrollees infected with COVID-19 but at low risk for severe disease received drugs to combat the disease than those at higher risk in 2022, weakening their public health benefit, finds an observational study published today in JAMA Health Forum. (Van Beusekom, 1/26)
Los Angeles Times:
Why Some High-Risk Patients Aren't Getting Drugs To Combat COVID
As the toll from the COVID-19 pandemic continued to mount, antiviral medications such as Paxlovid were hailed by health officials as an important way to reduce the risk of severe illness or death. Yet the drugs have remained underused, studies have found. In Boston, a group of researchers wanted to know why — and what could be done about it. (Reyes, 1/26)
Los Angeles Times:
‘If It’s COVID, Paxlovid’? For Many, It Should Be Easier To Get. Here’s What To Know About Antivirals
Officials at both the federal and state level have implored healthcare providers to properly prescribe Paxlovid and other antivirals when indicated. “Antivirals are underused,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement Thursday. “Don’t wait for symptoms to worsen.” In its own advisory, the California Department of Public Health said, “Most adults and some children with symptomatic COVID-19 are eligible for treatments ... Providers should have a low threshold for prescribing COVID-19 therapeutics.” (Lin II, 1/28)
Also —
Axios:
Health Care Workers Kept Leaving The Industry After Pandemic: Study
There's been a "substantial and persistent" increase in health care workers leaving the industry since the pandemic, as staff who stayed on during the worst of COVID-19 leave for new opportunities in a robust jobs market, according to a new study in JAMA Health Forum. While exit rates have been matched by an uptick in hiring, the constant churn can disrupt the continuity of care and result in poorer patient outcomes, researchers wrote. (Reed, 1/29)
KFF Health News:
How Fringe Anti-Science Views Infiltrated Mainstream Politics — And What It Means In 2024
Rates of routine childhood vaccination hit a 10-year low in 2023. That, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, puts about 250,000 kindergartners at risk for measles, which often leads to hospitalization and can cause death. In recent weeks, an infant and two young children have been hospitalized amid an ongoing measles outbreak in Philadelphia that spread to a day care center. It’s a dangerous shift driven by a critical mass of people who now reject decades of science backing the safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccines. State by state, they’ve persuaded legislators and courts to more easily allow children to enter kindergarten without vaccines, citing religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs. (Maxmen, 1/29)
