Covid-19 certainly didn’t take a vacation this summer. Virus levels in the US have been on the rise for weeks, but it’s hard to know exactly how widely it’s spreading.
Rates of severe disease may be staying at relatively low levels, but experts agree that there are probably more infections than the current surveillance systems can capture.
“There is more transmission out there than what the surveillance data indicates,” said Janet Hamilton, executive director of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. “And we should be paying attention to it, because we are starting to see an increase.”
Weekly hospital admissions have nearly doubled over the past month, including a 19% bump in the most recent week, CDC data shows. And a sample of laboratories participating in a federal surveillance program show that test positivity rates have tripled in the past two months.
There are some hopeful signs: Biobot data shows that wastewater levels may be starting to flatten, and relatively low hospitalization rates suggest that there may be a lower risk of severe disease for many.
I've been wearing a mask in public since I saw people start dropping dead on the streets of wuhan in january of 2020, right through when fauci himself was advocating against public mask wearing (a purposeful lie at the start of the western pandemic, to free up ppe for first responders), and the entire time since then, i'm as vaccinated and up to date on the latest bivalent boosters i can possibly be, and I'm still agog at home many people are walking around like it's over, there's nothing to worry about, grammy will be fine, maybe
right through when fauci himself was advocating against public mask wearing
It was specifically advocating against people who were stockpiling/hoarding disposable masks, which were in limited supply and needed far more by first responders, doctors, nurses, etc. Hospitals at that time literally were running out of masks.
The CDC recommendation at the time was to use reusable cloth masks, which werent/arent as good most of the time, but way way better than nothing at all.
It was a temporary recommendation as the economy was pivoting to bump up supply to compensate. The US proceeded to enlist a bunch of fabric companies to start producing more masks as fast as possible to compensate, so there was about a 2~3 week period where the public needed to prioritize.
It's unfortunate a lot of people have taken to misquoting this time period as "Dr Fauci said using masks was bad" or such, which is deeply misrepresenting the state of things.
yeah people don't seem to get nuance. Ive seen folks complain about people with insufficient masks as being useless and its like. They are not useless and as a matter of fact there are diminishing returns on quality which is why I use a kn95 over an n95 and keep a gater around in case I went out not expecting to be near folks but stumble into needing one. Is it as good. No. Is it wwwaaayyy better than nothing. Yes.
Bite me : https://www.newsweek.com/fauci-said-masks-not-really-effective-keeping-out-virus-email-reveals-1596703
Fauci knew precisely what he was purposefully doing and what he was saying, and sided with trying to defend as many first responders/medical professionals as he could, which is completely understandable, but it's a choice that was made by him, and the trolley question he answered at that time which he later revised to "for gods sake everyone should be wearing masks", which anyone who was watching the people drop dead in Wuhan, already knew
It’s unfortunate a lot of people have taken to misquoting this time period as “Dr Fauci said using masks was bad” or such, which is deeply misrepresenting the state of things.
Let's dispel once and for all with this fiction that he doesn't know what he's doing. He knows EXACTLY what he's doing.
I still mask not because of covid but because I have not been sick in any significant way since 2019. Maybe even late 2018. Before that I used to get sick about once a year. maybe go 18 months without being sick but maybe being sick again in 3 months. Now I have went practically 5 years (I don't recall the last time I was sick I just remember the approx rate it showed up in the before times) and if I don't have something specific I need my mouth hole for then its staying covered unless im at home or outside without being near anyone (like when I walk my dog)
Once a year. And yeah. I know. Crazy right. So. So. Onerous. To wear something on your face like you would your hands, or feet, or top of your head. For some silly reason like its a tad cold, or my religion says I should, or its in fashion. Yeah that is just the type of incredibly disciplined person I am. To take on such an arduous task.