WP Perspectives - November 21, 2022

-The COVID-19 public health emergency will remain in effect until at least mid-January. The public health emergency was first declared in January 2020 and has been renewed every 90 days since. It helped get treatments and vaccines approved at breakneck speed and meant Americans did not have to pay for them. The extension ensures that policies such as expanded Medicaid benefits, telehealth coverage, and extra payments to hospitals and doctors will continue. Once the public health emergency ends, the federal government will stop paying for COVID-19 vaccines, tests and treatments, shifting the costs to the commercial sector. The Hill 11/14/22

-RSV hospitalizations in seniors is much higher than at any point in prior seasons. Doctors say kids infected by the latest surge are, in turn, infecting adults. ABC News 11/15/22

-Moderna said its targeted booster shot increases the body’s defense against omicron subvariants. “In blood drawn from people who received the bivalent booster, omicron-blocking antibody levels shot up 15 times higher than their pre-booster levels.” Washington Post 11/14/22

-Keeping indoor humidity levels at a “sweet spot” may reduce spread of COVID-19. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) team reports that maintaining an indoor relative humidity between 40 and 60 percent is associated with relatively lower rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths. For perspective, most people are comfortable between 30 and 50 percent relative humidity, and an airplane cabin is at around 20 percent relative humidity. MIT News 11/16/22

-Traveling during the holidays? See below for tips on staying healthy.

-U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week is November 18-24, 2022. During U.S. #AntibioticAwareness Week, #BeAntibioticsAware and learn when #antibiotics are needed and when they’re not. More about antibiotics. #USAAW22 Test your antibiotic knowledge. Take the quiz.

-More than 100,000 Americans missed work last month because of child-care problems, an all-time high that’s surprisingly even greater than during the height of the pandemic, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Washington Post 11/15/22

-Public schools that continued to require students to wear masks reported fewer coronavirus infections, Washington Post reports. The study was based on schools in the Boston area and found ending mask requirements was “associated with an additional 45 coronavirus cases per 1,000 students and staff members.”

Improve Your Indoor Air Quality to Defend Against a ‘Tripledemic’

Health Action Alliance 11/16/22

Nationally, doctor visits for flu-like illness are at levels we don’t usually see until late December, when the flu season hits its first peak. Hospitalizations for flu are higher now than at any similar point of the flu season since 2010.

Whether this means we’re in for a long, brutal flu season, or simply that the peak is coming earlier, is too soon to say.

On top of all this, COVID-19 levels are holding steady, and we are already seeing peak levels of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) — putting the U.S. in what’s being called a “tripledemic.”

RSV is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms — but it can cause serious illness in young children, older adults and people with immunodeficiency.

WHAT COMPANIES CAN DO

Improving your indoor air quality through ventilation (bringing in outside air to dilute the virus) and filtration (removing virus particles from circulation) is one of the most effective actions you can take against COVID-19, RSV and the flu virus.

· Upgrade air filters. HEPA filters are best (capturing over 99.9% of COVID-sized particles). If that’s not an option, install filters rated MERV-13 or higher. MERV-13 filters are 85% efficient at capturing COVID-sized particles; MERV-14 are 90% efficient. By contrast, a MERV-8 filter is only 20% effective.

· Double up. A new study out of the University of Southern California indicates that running a portable air purifier with a HEPA filter at top speed while also running HVAC system with a MERV 13 or 14 filter can further “drastically” reduce COVID-sized particles in a classroom-sized room, in just 15 minutes.

· Do it yourself. As a temporary measure, you can build a simple air cleaner from HVAC filters and box fans.

· Ventilate ahead of time. Run the HVAC system at maximum outside airflow for 1-2 hours before and after the workplace is occupied, or at the end of the day.

· Assess your indoor airflow. Revisit the layout of workspaces (including employee movement) to ensure an airflow that moves from “clean” to “less clean” and not the other way around.

· Go further. Implement additional tips to improve ventilation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency.

THE BUSINESS CASE

· By investing $40 per person per year to double the ventilation rate, employers can recoup $6,000-$7,000 per person per year in higher productivity, apart from the protection from infectious disease.

· Having about twice as much clean air moving into rooms reduced sick leave by 35%, in a study of 4,000 employees in over 40 buildings.

The Importance of Smartphones for Lower-Income Americans

Often, we think of smartphones as a luxury only the upper and middle class can afford, but that simply isn’t the case. It may seem surprising, but many lower income families are switching to a mobile plan and abandoning broadband service to access the internet at home.

From 2013 to 2021, reliance on smartphones rather than broadbands increased from 12% to 27% for people with average incomes less than $30,000. In contrast, households with incomes over $100,000 increased from 5% to 6%. With such a variety of “pay as you go” plans and devices available to the public, purchasing a smartphone has become much easier—and more affordable—than it used to be. While wealthier Americans can diversify their internet usage across different devices (i.e tablets, laptops, mobile phones), smartphones have become the cheapest way for lower-income Americans to talk to their families, look for jobs, and access their bank accounts on the go.

Low-income families are far more likely than others to rely on a smartphone as their only internet connection. Think of ways you can connect by using this nationwide trend. Read more.

Pamela Chitwood, Population Health Community Coordinator, Pamela.chitwood@vdh.virginia.gov 540-484-0292 ext. 223

How to minimize coronavirus exposure while flying.

For the past 2½ years, travel has been upended by the pandemic, and this holiday season could lead to a surge of coronavirus infections. The COVID protocols we saw in 2020 and 2021 to limit exposures are no longer in place.

The biggest concern with flying is waiting in security lines and boarding and disembarking from the aircraft. Many planes are equipped with HEPA filters, and the circulation onboard helps to minimize the risk of infection.

But these filters do not guarantee that a person will not contract the coronavirus, which is why many health experts still recommend wearing masks during air travel and “throughout the entire flight,” according to Daniel Culver, a pulmonologist at the Cleveland Clinic.

Travelers can also protect themselves by being vaccinated. “Even if you get sick during your travels, the new vaccines will prevent you from becoming hospitalized,” Culver said. Washington Post 11/14/22

Ticks are still here.

In Virginia, the blacklegged tick can carry Lyme Disease, Powassan Virus and several other illnesses that you may not have heard about. These diseases can cause severe illness and some could be fatal if they aren’t treated. VDH has a tick activity dashboard and is asking citizens who find ticks on themselves to send them in to be identified as part of the Virginia Tick Survey.