Pretending It's Over Amplifies the Pandemic

I have a new post up on the World Health Network site arguing that is time to recommit to public health measures and work to end the pandemic.

Here's the intro.

In a chaotic world where a nuclear power entered a war of choice, and multiple mass shootings have grabbed our attention, the ongoing pandemic is receding from the headlines. But try as we might, ignoring the virus in our global game of peek-a-boo isn't working.

In recent months, the Biden administration has crowed about falling case numbers. But those figures were artificially lowered by the shift towards at-home tests, most of which aren't tracked, and such tests reportedly miss up to 40% of infections. They also dropped support for subsidized PCR tests, and repeatedly doled out at-home tests, which furthered the shift towards at-home testing. (That they didn’t provide a mechanism for reporting results with those tests suggests a desire to hide them from the totals.) Given those factors, our case numbers are significantly minimized, and many people are likely not isolating or seeking treatment due to false negatives, thereby fostering additional transmission. The lack of insight harms our ability to adapt to the circumstances and leaves public health officials guessing.

Read the full post here.

One additional note, this is the current state of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the US. Hopefully, it's about to trend down again, but this surely isn't over yet.