(1/3) Policymakers shouldn’t be trying to manage COVID-19 as if it were seasonal influenza. It’s not and never will be. SARS-CoV-2’s greater transmissibility leads to faster viral evolution and waves of disease throughout the year, rather than a single winter COVID season.
Thanks to vaccination, COVID-19 is far less deadly than it was. But a virus doesn’t have to hospitalise people to be disruptive. Leaving aside long COVID, frequent waves of infection will grind down economic productivity. 🧵
(2/3) Many seem to believe COVID-19 will become seasonal, but why should it? Influenza generally isn’t very transmissible and infects a small number each year. There’s plenty of time to design vaccines based on what’s happening in the opposite hemisphere.
SARS-CoV-2 is an ongoing free-for-all. The next variant could evolve anywhere, be carried by plane to the other side of the world, and spread rapidly irrespective of season. The short-lived immunity and high transmissibility will see to that.
(3/3) Policymakers must understand that an annual vaccination program (as with influenza) is inadequate.
Offering people the chance to get vaccinated against new strains of SARS-CoV-2 every 6 months would be more realistic.
But vaccination alone won’t stop COVID-19.
We must make the buildings in which we live and work more robust to the threat of airborne disease.
Ventilation and air filtration (which don’t inconvenience anyone) are key to managing COVID-19 and other respiratory pathogens.
@DrZoeHyde
And far-UV which is extremely effective and non-intrusive?
(https://apple.news/ATstDekjnSFKxLFHlvMretw — I haven't heard follow-ups on whether the Situation Room upgrade includes far-UV.)
@DrZoeHyde policymakers should do *_anything at fucking all_*..
They've all abdicated all responsibility. I'm so sick of it.
One would have thought that by now, filtration & mask companies would still be booming. Instead they ended up treating it like a short term pop culture trend, which it kinda was.
But also, if we really want to control diseases like COVID, we'd admit that restaurants and churches are like swap meets for viruses, and mandate new standards for tested-sufficient air handling.
Dr Zoë Hyde
mmalc
Kaladin 🧑🦽💨
Steven Molnar
Frances Larina