WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION DECLARES COVID NO LONGER AN INTERNATIONAL EMERGENCY. DR.KATELYN JETELINA TELLS YOU WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU AND THE WORLD
Si quiere leer la versión en español, pulse aquí. Friday, the World Health Organization declared the end of the Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). This is a huge moment in our story arc of the fight against COVID-19. Here is what it does and does not mean.
What this meansThe WHO Emergency Committee believes three things:
A PHEIC is a key legal mechanism within global health security. The hope is that it catalyzes timely action to limit the societal impacts of emerging risks. Since the PHEIC mechanism started in 2005, a PHEIC has ended five (out of seven) times. So this is a fairly new mechanism. But essentially the end of the PHEIC means:
The WHO now sees COVID-19 as a threat in our regular repertoire of things-trying-to-kill-us. These things will still happen but with less urgency. What it does not meanThis doesn’t mean the end of a pandemic. Declaring a PHEIC is not the same thing as declaring the end of a pandemic. “Pandemic” is rhetoric that governments use as a communication tool—it indicates the widespread occurrence of an infectious disease across the globe at a particular time. In theory, the end of a PHEIC comes far before the end of a pandemic. This doesn’t mean that COVID-19 is gone. SARS-CoV-2 is currently mutating 2 times faster than the flu. We will get future waves, but hopefully these will be “wavelets” given the population-level immunity from vaccines and infections. And wavelets will happen several times a year. The probability of a variant of concern (which would be named Pi) is still ~20% in the next 1.5 years. If one emerges, it would likely cause a tsunami. (We saw something similar happen after the 1918 flu emergency ended.) And we cannot ignore the fact that COVID-19 is a leading cause of death in many countries. This will likely remain for years. This doesn’t mean that we can go back to pre-pandemic times. This does not mean that some countries (cough, cough U.S.) don’t have serious underlying problems that need to be addressed. It’s beyond time to confront the threats to our individual and collective health so we are not in a constant state of emergency. We cannot keep living in a perpetual cycle of panic and neglect. Bottom lineI welcome this decision to end the emergency for the same reasons I thought it was time to end the American national emergency. We now find ourselves in an awkward phase with this virus—somewhere between a full-blown emergency and an endemic state of predictability. (Epidemiologists don’t have a word for this phase.) Use this time to take a deep breath, cry, reflect, hit a pillow, meditate and/or celebrate surviving (figurately and literally) the past 3.5 years. We deserve all the feelings today, especially for those of us on the front lines who sacrificed so much. Today is a monumental symbol of this life-changing event. But then we need to hold our heads high and continue fighting COVID-19 and improving our systems so we don’t repeat our failures. The end of an emergency is the beginning of preparedness. Love, YLE “Your Local Epidemiologist (YLE)” is written by Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, MPH PhD—an epidemiologist, data scientist, wife, and mom of two little girls. During the day she works at a nonpartisan health policy think tank and is a senior scientific consultant to a number of organizations, including the CDC. At night she writes this newsletter. Her main goal is to “translate” the ever-evolving public health science so that people will be well equipped to make evidence-based decisions. This newsletter is free thanks to the generous support of fellow YLE community members. To support this effort, subscribe below. |
NEW! INTRODUCING THE COUNTY EXECUTIVE’S WEEKLY UPDATE IN PRIME TIME ON WPCNR THE MAY 1 WEEKLY UPDATE
WPCNR ACROSS THE EDITOR’S DESK. By John Bailey Owner & Publisher, White Plains CitizeNetReporter Since 2000 A.D.:
I am going to run the entire future County Executive Weekly Update on WPCNR.com in prime time on the day it is internetcast.
This morning, WPCNR.COM begins a new feature of Westchester County Executive George Latimer’s Weekly Update.
The Weekly Update began in 2019, 5 years ago. It rapidly turned into the Covid Update over the last four years.
Week-in, week-out, Mr. Latimer kept our spirits up with covid figures, often trying to point out to viewers of his reporters what we needed to do to stop the relentless spread of the epidemic, and encouraging with relentless enthusiasm the need to get vaccinated once the vaccines came like the Pfizer Calvary to the rescue in January 2021.
This report is hard to put together every week.
After watching the covid reports and now the Weekly Updates and featuring local Mayors, leaders, County Commissioners Mr. Latimer, reports good and disappointing news in a stalwart “let’s get through it, the only way out is through” optimism that mitigates disappointing news moves on, injecting hope and encouragement.
Not since Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia’s reading the comics on the radio in the 1930s, FDR’s Fireside Chats, has a leader in this area worked so tirelessly to inform the citizens he governs so effectively and believably.
He has a real ability to do that. He is a natural.
Mr. Latimer is also on the radio every Tues morning on WVOX 1460 Radio 7:10 A.M. live--no tapes for him– on the Dennis and Tonny Good Morning Westchester program.
His Weekly Updates continue faithfully every week, live and delivered without reading a script always looking at the camera. You get more information on the Weekly Update on the county than any other source.
Figures on covid activity are not as timely or informative as they used to be (by New York State decision) and the shadow of the disease seems to be almost under control. I am crossing my fingers.
Mr. Latimer’s Weekly Update has now turned even more informative,to trend-spotting facts, events and efforts that has made it must-viewing for citizens wanting to know what is happening to them
The trouble is the internetcast at 2 in the afternoon is when not many have a chance to see it.
Watching Monday’s briefing last Monday was really packed with information everyone should have heard. It was newsworthy on the situation with the budget effect on Westchester, the impact on citizens’ mental health from a talk by the Commissioner of Mental Health, Michael Orfe and an inside analysis of why the Albany Budget is more of a political process than practical sound management.
I realized that Mr. Latimer will only be doing these 30 to 55 minute Weekly Updates for three more years.
He should get an Emmy for this report.
It is professionally produced by Catherine Cioffi, the Westchester Director of Communications and her crack production staff. It has the always clear and compelling George Latimer “Voice of Reason” as the magnetic personality that sets it apart. It is government communication that is state of the art.
I was slapped up the side of the head after watching this week’s update:
Once his successor comes in as county executive in three years, press opportunities like the Weekly Update will disappear. You will be lucky to even see the next County Executive half as much as you see Mr. Latimer.
The Latimer team assembles Weekly Update over the weekend…for presentation on Monday (it really is an all-week job of scheduling guest appearances, and sorting out what the public needs to know in most often a positive manner.
This is unheard of. A weekly address by a leader revealing plans in advance to people who might be affected by them.
I have had an epiphany. I have realized why these updates are so important and why it is that they be more timely when available.
So with the permission of Westchester County, I am going to run the entire Weekly Update on the WPCNR.com
website on Mondays at 8 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time.
Last Monday’s weekly update of May 1 will be the first such presentation and that is why
We hope you will take advantage weekly with Mr. Latimer’s awesome communcation effort, the Weekly Update with this morning’s first Weekly Update (replay replay replay) of the May 1 report
John Bailey
Owner & Publisher
White Plains CitizeNetReporter
Founded 2000 A.D.
WHITE PLAINS WEEK MAY 5 REPORT on www.wpcommunitymedia. org
LWVW CHAPTERS PROTEST INDIAN POINT HOT WATER–DEMAND TENTS OVER DOME DEMOLITION.
COMMISSIONER OF MENTAL HEALTH, MICHAEL ORFE ON STATE OF MENTAL HEALTH IN WESTCHESTER
SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER RANDY STEIN RESIGNS. ROSEMARIE ELLER VALERIE DANIELI AUTOMATICALL GO ON THE BOARD FOR THE 2 SEATS. LWV FORUM CANCELLED , NO CONTEST.
COUNTY EXECUTIVE GEORGE LATIMER ON STATE PLAN TO WITHHOLD FEDERAL MONEY FROM MEDICAID–COULD CREATE DEFICIT IN COUNTY PRESENT YEAR BUDGET
VACCINATION REPORT CARD– COVID AT THE CROSSROADS.
JOHN BAILEY AND THE NEWS
THIS WEEK EVERY WEEK
ON WHITE PLAINS WEEK
FOR 22 YEARS