Pulling out my copy of Microbiology by Bauman (2004) there is a brief discussion of diseases caused by Coronaviruses. At the time it was mostly a discussion of the common cold, but also included a brief description of the SARS-CoV-1 pandemic of 2003-4. It was amazing how quickly that pandemic made it into text books. This new virus had made the headlines everywhere. But let’s return to the current pandemic.
In late 2019 the only Coronavirus mentioned in Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) was a few articles on MERS-CoV (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and an outbreak in Pakistan, all were related to camels, where the virus originated. By May, 2020 the first articles on SARS-CoV-2 were starting to appear in EID. This was six months after the first cases in China. There was enough time between that case and the first science journals that social media had plenty of time to start spreading disinformation, which they did spreading rumors and lies like wildfire. In June there was a rapid increase in articles in EID, and by July SARS-CoV-2 was dominating print space in EID, as well as other scientific journals. Some people, again using social media claimed there was a cover-up and made other allegations against the scientific community. But that was not the case. In having an article published in a journals it involves data collection, analysis and peer review. Most recent articles lag by many months behind the occurrence of the topic. By late 2020 pre-publication started to appear in many scientific journals, streamlining efforts to get the most recent information into the scientific community. It had become obvious that without tremendous efforts the new SARS-CoV-2 could rival the 1918-19 influenza pandemic.
In July, 2021 SARS-C0V-2 (Covid-19) still dominated the headlines in all of the journals, but now the attention had shifted to the new delta-variant. In July and now August there has been a steady increase in the U.S. in both numbers of new cases and deaths, the majority (90%+) in unvaccinated individuals. Currently, in Michigan where I live, the number of breakthrough cases (infections in vaccinated individuals) have steady increased, but still make up only about 4-5% of cases, and less in deaths. In Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and especially Texas numbers are rising rapidly due to very low numbers of people who have been vaccinated.
On 18 August 2021, the number of deaths from SARS topped 1,000 for the first time in months, after it had been steadily decreasing. The number of daily new cases topped 150,000.
It seems that starting this Fall people will need to get booster shots, recommended at eight months after your previous final dose. This makes sense, just like getting an annual influenza vaccine (flu shot) in the fall. Don’t debate the issue, just get vaccinated.
Another issue has been the idea of having a vaccination passport. Surprise- many of us already have them, some for many years before the current pandemic. There are many places in the world where you cannot travel without proof of vaccination. Those of us who travel know that, and keep of vaccination “yellow cards” with our passports. International travelers have respect of this, knowing that is both good science and common sense.
Well, it’s time for me to head off and read some of the thirty or so journal articles that I have downloaded on the SARS pandemic from Science, Nature, The Lancet, EID and more. See you tomorrow…
Michael's Place 