The COVID-19 Data Dispatch is going on hiatus for the month of August 2022. Here are some tips for keeping track of COVID-19 numbers while we’re on this break, and a bit of context about why we’re taking four weeks off.
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This weekend, I traveled to Denver, Colorado for a fellowship trip. It’s a risky time to be traveling, thanks to the ongoing BA.5 surge; here are some things I did to stay safe on the plane and throughout the trip.
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As official COVID-19 case data become less and less reliable, wastewater surveillance can help provide a picture of where and how much the virus is spreading. This week, I put together a new COVID-19 Data Dispatch resource page that outlines major national, state, and local wastewater dashboards across the U.S.
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New York City has been closing PCR testing sites, even as the city faced a major Omicron resurgence this spring. The trends I found in a local story—and the pushback that the piece received from city health officials—are pretty indicative of the national state of COVID-19 testing right now.
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It takes a lot of effort to remain hopeful as the U.S. fails to respond to the continued pandemic. Here are some suggestions, inspired by a recent story by Ed Yong in The Atlantic.
Read MoreYou might have seen this statistic from President Biden or other White House officials: “COVID deaths are down nearly 90%.” The statistic is misleading and incorrect, to the point that I’d consider it misinformation—especially right now, as the U.S. faces a largely-ignored surge.
Read MoreSources and updates for the week of July 31 include slow vaccine uptake for young kids, next-generation vaccines, COVID-19’s origins, and more.
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The U.S.’s Omicron BA.5 wave appears to be creeping past its plateau, according to several major indicators. Nationwide, 1% fewer new cases were reported this week compared to last week, the second week in a row of clear deceleration in this metric.
Read MoreMany of the public health failures we saw early in the COVID-19 crisis are now being repeated with monkeypox—which the WHO just declared a global health emergency.
Read MoreSources and updates for the week of July 24 include drug overdose deaths, COVID-19 testing options, a Congressional hearing on Long COVID, and more.
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As of last Monday, the CDC is no longer reporting data about COVID-19 outbreaks on cruise ships. This change comes in the middle of a massive surge (including on cruise ships!).
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Reported COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions seem to suggest that maybe the BA.5 surge is slowing down, at the national level. (And it is, definitively, the BA.5 surge, with almost 80% of new cases caused by this subvariant in the week ending July 16). According to CDC data, new cases only increased by 1% this week, compared to the week prior; last week, they increased by 17%.
Read MoreSources and updates for the week of July 17 include antimicrobial resistance, PCR testing sites, and a new vaccine authorization.
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