Both positive trends and concerning news happening on COVID in recent days. Great news in the 40% reduction in reported new cases since the peak 3 weeks ago. Lowest daily numbers since November. But… 1/x https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

..still >1 million people per wk getting diagnosed w/ COVID in the US and nearly 100,000 people are hospitalized. >3,000 people dying on average every day – more than died in 9/11. COVID is leading weekly cause of death in US. This pandemic remains serious and out of control 2/x

Major variants pose evolving dangers to the US and the world. More than 400 cases of the UK variant in 30 US states and now 3 cases of S Africa variant and 1 case of Brazilian variant. A number of the cases have no known travel exposure which means they are circulating here. 3/x

Very low level of genomic surveillance in US up until now (though that is starting to change) compared to the UK which does genomic surveillance on 5-10% of every COVID case. 4/x

Given the minimal surveillance in US, we need to presume that our number are much higher for all the variants of concern, and act accordingly. 5/x

While tests done show far show vaccines seem to continue to provide strong protection against variants, the variants accelerate transmissibility (which will lead to more people dying), and the UK strain may also directly increase mortality risk in an individual who gets it 6/x

Its also very clear the virus is evolving and may continue to do so in dangerous ways, and the best way to stop new mutations from appearing is to diminish the number of people who get infected. 7/x

To start, this means we should all be wearing masks when out of our houses and near any other people. Even now just 75% of country wears masks consistently, and some states it's as low as 50% 8/x

University of Washington study this week concluded that we would save more than 30,000 lives in next 3 months if 95% of us wore masks consistently. (That would mean hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and millions of infections avoided too) 9/x

Masks should be 2 or 3 ply woven fabric, as per CDC, & should fit snugly over nose/on cheeks and under chin so that air goes through the mask, not around the edges. Hold your mask up to the light and it should block the light out (or its too thin). 10/x https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/about-face-coverings.html

Dangers posed by the ongoing pandemic in the US and the spread of variants here also mean we should physically distance, avoid large gatherings, stay home when sick and get tested, remain isolated after exposure. And it means… 11/x

If you work or go to a school in an indoor place outside the home, then do what you can to improve ventilation and air filtration. We also should have paid leave in place to make sure people who are sick or exposed can stay home without losing their paychecks. 12/x

And of course its critical for people to get vaccinated when they get the opportunity. 13/x

Finally - Congress should pass the American Rescue Plan to fund these programs to slow this pandemic down, increase funding to make schools a lot safer, expand testing + PPE and other important COVID efforts. 14/end