Augie RayJan 19, 2023

A #COVID19 update for the weekend:

- COVID risks are moderate in the US right now. The CDC's transmission map shows 71% of the US at the highest level of COVID transmission, but its community level map only has 14% of the US in the High category. (The community level map feels like the wrong tool for the wrong time--it only turns red when hospitals fill up WITH COVID, but the primary risk isn't acute illness but long-term risks of repeated COVID infections.) https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view?list_select_state=all_states&list_select_county=all_counties&data-type=Risk

COVID Data Tracker

CDC’s home for COVID-19 data. Visualizations, graphs, and data in one easy-to-use website.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Show threadAugie RayJan 19, 2023
- If you're in the mid-Atlantic or Southeast US, you should be masking in crowds. Even by the lax standards of the CDC's community levels map, everyone in metropolitan New York City, New Jersey, Delaware, and much of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina should be masking (not to mentions portions of other southern and Midwestern states.) https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view?list_select_state=all_states&list_select_county=all_counties&data-type=CommunityLevels
COVID Data Tracker

CDC’s home for COVID-19 data. Visualizations, graphs, and data in one easy-to-use website.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Show threadAugie RayJan 19, 2023

- And, if you followed WHO guidance, which changed this past week, you'd be masking EVERYWHERE without regard for current COVID status. Its guidance is masks “for anyone in a crowded, enclosed, or poorly ventilated space.” https://www.who.int/news/item/13-01-2023-who-updates-covid-19-guidelines-on-masks--treatments-and-patient-care

- The trends right now in the US all point to a better week ahead. COVID in wastewater is declining. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#wastewater-surveillance

WHO updates COVID-19 guidelines on masks, treatments and patient care

The update is part of a continuous process of reviewing such materials, working with guideline development groups composed of independent, international experts.

Show threadjanetkenney2Jan 20, 2023
@augieray you are misrepresenting WHO’s guidance.
Show threadAugie Ray
@janetkenney2 I am not.
Jan 20, 2023 at 7:14amWeb
Show threadAugie RayJan 20, 2023
@janetkenney2 I tire of how easy it is for people to say “you're wrong” and how much effort it requires to prove otherwise, but I figured my reply to you deserved more detail than you provided me. WHO says clearly that masking is advised “for anyone in a crowded, enclosed, or poorly ventilated space” and “recommends their use irrespective of the local epidemiological situation.” Please reread WHO's guidance before telling others they're incorrect about masking recommendations.