Public health experts on Sunday warned that the U.S. public may not be getting a full, accurate picture of their risk of contracting the coronavirus — and their need to take precautions like masking in public indoor spaces — as a number of high-profile Covid-19 cases were reported on Capitol Hill several weeks after mitigation efforts were largely droppedYou can find them in all parts of the country.
At least 67 people who attended the annual Gridiron Club dinner last weekend — more than 10% of the guests — have now tested positiveCovid-19 includes Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack and Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Rep. Adam Schiff (D.Calif.).
Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker (D-Calif.), was unable to attend the annual gathering of politicians, media and business leaders. However, she tested positive last week after speaking with President Joe Biden as well as Vice President Kamala Harris.
Crystal Watson from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security told The Hill Sunday that it is “hard to tell” exactly how indicative the high-profile surge in cases is of nationwide trends, but added, “I do think we’re going to see an uptick nationally,” while other experts cautioned that the current status of Covid-19 transmission and case numbers in the U.S. is hard to gauge.
BA.2, a subvariant to the Omicron variant that is more easily transmitted, now accounts in 72% of reported Covid-19 cases.
However, due to a lack of testing and heavy reliance on at-home tests — the results of which are generally not included in tallies by state health officials or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — “case counts and testing are progressively becoming shaky indicators” of the state of the pandemic, Dr. Jonathan Quick of the Duke Global Health Institute told NBC News.
“I do think we are in the middle of a surge, the magnitude of which I can’t tell you,” Dr. Zeke Emanuel, vice provost of global initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania, told the outlet. “We just don’t have a lot of case counts.”
With more than 66% of people in the U.S. having received at least two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine — but fewer than 30% having gotten a booster shot — the population is far better protected from severe cases, hospitalizations, and death than it was before the vaccines were widely available. Some public health experts warn that this is not the best time to get vaccines. looming end of funding for oral antiviral treatments, vaccines, surveillance of new variants, and tests may severely weaken the country’s defenses in the coming weeks.
According to NBC NewsThere is not enough funding available to purchase fourth vaccine doses for all Americans, and testing capacity will decrease in the coming months.
Some public health experts have expressed frustration with the federal government’s messaging and accounting of Covid-19 cases and current risk levels, with George Washington University professor Dr. Jonathan Reiner and Scripps Research Translational Institute founder Eric Topol criticizing the CDC’s “misleading” promotion of its “County-level Covid-19 Community Levels” tool.
This is misleading and will give BA.2 a greater chance of spreading. https://t.co/Y40CSorOLg
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) April 8, 2022
The tool shows whether hospitals in each county have capacity and if there is a “high potential for healthcare strain” — not whether the virus is spreading widely in communities.
While much of the Northeast is green on the Covid-19 Community Levels map, indicating a “low” level, those counties are largely red or orange on the community transmission map,Indicating at least 50 new cases for every 100,000 people within the last seven days. The CDC says those counties have a “substantial” or “high” transmission level.
“This is what individuals should use to gauge individual risk,” Reiner said of the community transmission map.
This is CDC’s community transmission map. This is what individuals should use for assessing their individual risk. It’s not so easy to find on the CDC website. Only 24% have low transmission rates. https://t.co/NtQ8CYhVIi pic.twitter.com/eEj4sRrkTG
— Jonathan Reiner (@JReinerMD) April 8, 2022
Dr. Leana WEN, a professor in public health at George Washington University, is the author. argued last Thursday that while the Gridiron dinner — where guests had to show proof of vaccination but not a negative test—”was probably a Covid-19 superspreader… events like this should still go on.”
Individuals should be “thoughtful about their own risks and the risks they pose to others,” she added.
Critics said that this guidance is lacking in leadership from policymakers on masking and testing requirements for large-scale events.
“This is not the new normal,” saidReiner of Gridiron event. “Covid is surging in places like D.C. and New York. CDC’s map has hidden this. We are not at the endemic level that we need to live with. When the virus is surging we should reinstitute masks in public places.”
While there is “nothing abnormal about socializing,” said Dr. Abraar Karan, an infectious diseases physician at Stanford University, “there’s something very abnormal about mass infections. If you can’t understand that distinction you may have given up on the possibility that our government can do better.”
