July 11, 2022
Dear friends,
It has never been so difficult for me to get a post published. On Friday, with most of this written, I finally just gave up. I thought I had recovered from Covid and then another wave hit me. It feels ridiculously hopeless. My rational mind knows better, but under the spell of this fatigue, I feel unlike myself.
Covid numbers are up. On Friday, the city’s 7-day positivity rate was 14.6 percent. Today, it’s over 15 percent.
Here is the explanation for why the city retired its color-coded alert system last week.
We are re-evaluating the city’s COVID Alert system. Check back here for updates in the coming weeks. We remain committed to transparency and will continue to share COVID-19 data on our website.
There are currently high transmission levels of COVID-19 throughout the city.
The bold above is mine. On Friday, I went to return a library book and saw this sign on the door. At least the libraries are still working.
“The color-coded system was fighting an old war. And as COVID shifted, it became a new war,” he said. “So we’re not going to hold onto something that’s an old weapon merely because we had it. No, we’re going to create new weapons to fight this new war.”
“What this administration won’t do, we won’t remain stagnant,” he added. “As COVID continues to evolve, a new variant, new variants are finding their way into the city. And as they come about, we continue to pivot and shift, a term I use all the time.”
Again, we are ignoring the realities of the pandemic and opening ourselves to the ravages of Covid. Late last month, the mayor indicated that there would be no enforcement of mask mandates for private businesses. Broadway theaters lifted their mask mandate on July 1. And now, the mayor is defending efforts to dampen the very public health messaging that might help people to respond rationally.
Retiring a recognizable tool for informing people in a public health crisis is irresponsible. A pivot suggests a new plan. Absent a new plan, this is just a dereliction of responsibility.
Let the mayor know that clear public health information is still a priority.
A large study was led by Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist at Washington University in St. Louis.
The study, which is based on the health records of more than 5.6 million people treated in the VA Health System, found that, compared with those with just one Covid-19 infection, those with two or more documented infections had more than twice the risk of dying and three times the risk of being hospitalized within six months of their last infection. They also had higher risks for lung and heart problems, fatigue, digestive and kidney disorders, diabetes and neurologic problems.
Common new diagnoses after reinfections included chest pain, abnormal heart rhythms, heart attacks, inflammation of the heart muscle or the sac around the heart, heart failure and blood clots. Common lung issues included shortness of breath, low blood oxygen, lung disease, and accumulation of fluid around the lungs, Al-Aly said.
Al-Aly says the researchers saw these increased risks even after they weighted the data to account for the effects of age, sex, medication use and the person's underlying health before they got Covid-19.
The friend who alerted me to this news is a health researcher herself, and she noted that it should be bigger news than it seems to be.
We are weary, to be sure. The problem with leadership on Covid-response is not just a local matter.
But Gov. Hochul — who is up for election in November — has yet to appoint any investigators or even seek proposals from outside consultants who would help with such an effort, according to Gotham Gazette, though RFPs could be released in the months ahead.
At every level of government, addressing the pandemic is a political minefield. Hochul was, after all, part of the Cuomo administration.
Biden’s dilemma is just the latest in a string of pandemic-era communications challenges. At this moment, though, the politics of public health messaging may matter more than any other point in his presidency. In part because of Biden’s poll numbers, Democrats are widely expected to lose control of the House of Representatives, and perhaps even the Senate, in November’s election. Meanwhile, the White House is engaged in an ugly fight on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers’ unwillingness to spend more money on the federal Covid response might force the government to begin rationing tests, vaccines, and therapeutics.
Chuck Schumer tested positive this weekend and is working from home. I may be taking the rest of the week off, but before I do, I want to remind him that we can’t keep getting this wrong.
Contact Senator Schumer to get Congress to commit resources to new vaccines for new variants.
The National Institutes of Health is rolling out a large study of long Covid, or post-acute sequelae of Covid, or PASC. By the end of the year, the study, called Recover, aims to enroll 40,000 patients who are contending with different combinations of over 200 symptoms.
Meanwhile, millions of Americans are struggling to access health care.
Call on Congress to cap health care costs. This 15-second action is from Moms Rising.
Wear your mask.
with love,
L
Feel Better Lynn!