Here is Dr. Klotman’s March 22nd video update. This week’s virus highlights are:
- Influenza is very active in the states surrounding Texas – particularly Oklahoma and New Mexico.
- US Measels outbreaks continue in areas of inadequate vaccine uptake – no big surprise
- US COVID hospitalizations continue to decline
- The Texas COVID wastewater levels are down to ~140% of what they were in June 2020
- COVID strain JN.1 still accounts for most US cases; there are two subvariants JN.1.13 and JN.1.18 that are increasing in prevalence but account for about ~10% of new cases
- Confirmed COVID deaths during the pandemic are about 7 million worldwide, but excess deaths during the pandemic are actually 30 million (more on this below)
- Lessons from the pandemic
- While the US was rated most highly on the Global Health Security Index for pandemics, we had the highest excess mortality per capita. WTF?
- Policy demanded that the CDC do all testing until it approved tests from academic institutions – big mistake
- Masking and vaccination were politicized (and continue to be) – big focking mistake!
- Republicans had higher mortality than non-Republicans – politically-motivated suicide at its most predictable.
- Data-driven public policy was undermined by the Trump administration’s incompetence (DJT claimed that we shouldn’t be doing so much testing)
- The US was late to do viral genetic sequencing – an essential part of pandemic response
- American socio-economic inequality contributed to the spread of COVID – low wage (essential) workers suffered the brunt of the pandemic
- Multi-generational families (often among the poorest in our economy) suffered a disproportionate level of COVID mortality
- Shutting down an economy during a pandemic only worked as a strategy to enable mass vaccination. Otherwise, it was a failure. When the shutdowns ended, the unvaccinated still got sick and died. Sigh.
- While the US was rated most highly on the Global Health Security Index for pandemics, we had the highest excess mortality per capita. WTF?
- Dr. Klotman recognized Dr. Bert O’Malley who has been the head of the BCM department of Cell Biology since I was a student there (more below)
- Dr. Klotman also recongnized BCM students during Match Day (see my post on the Ides of March)
With regard to COVID deaths, these were reckoned from the start of the pandemic in 2020 to the present. Not everyone who died of COVID during the pandemic had COVID testing and confirming clinical data that COVID was the cause of death. Many people died at home or in some health care setting (a nursing home or assisted living facility, etc.) never receiving a definitive diagnosis. Excess mortality is a way of trying to capture undocumented COVID deaths. For my money, during any pandemic, excess mortality is the best way to calculate the burden of mortality due to the pandemic. Thirty million deaths worldwide represent quite a toll.
With regard to the socio-economic dimension to pandemic mortality, I can only say that as retired physicians in a two-physician household, avoiding human contact during the pandemic was straightforward for Susan and me. We could order home-delivered meals, do curbside grocery pick-up, and we had no obligations to show up for work. Working folks earning a subsistence wage did not have this option. Families living paycheck to paycheck with young children and grandparents in the same home fared much worse than we did. Alas!
Last, not least, Dr. O’Malley’s research department in Cell Biology has made many contributions to basic research. On this occasion, his group has been recognized for elucidating certain immune pathways that can respond to cancer (in mouse models). Before Susan began medical school with our class in 1976, she had worked for some years as what I call a lab rat – a research assistant in Dr. O’Malley’s department. We celebrate the achievements of all our teachers and mentors. Without them, we could not have made this journey.