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In the wake of an outbreak of coronavirus that began in China in 2019, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health experts have been speaking to a variety of media outlets and writing articles about the pandemic. We’ll be updating this article on a regular basis. Here’s a selection of stories in which they offer comments and context:
2023
February 1: The U.S. COVID-19 public health emergency ends in May. Here’s what will change (Time)
Ending the COVID-19 public health emergency will make it harder for some people—depending on their health insurance status—to access things like free vaccines, COVID-19 tests and treatments, and telehealth care. The change may also lead to higher hospital care costs for some COVID-19 patients. Health inequities could result, noted Jose Figueroa, assistant professor of health policy and management. “Will [the end of the public health emergency] change the trajectory of the pandemic?” he said. “It’s something we are going to have to watch.”
February 1: End of national emergencies brings new challenges to US COVID response (The National Desk)
Access to free testing will be one of the biggest changes when the COVID-19 public health emergency ends. Different people may have to pay different amounts for tests, depending on their insurance coverage. “It’s unclear what individual [health] plans will do but that’s a major, major change,” said Jose Figueroa, assistant professor of health policy and management. “There’s concerns that there’s going to be a lot less testing happening out in the community.” Access to free vaccines could also end for some, which could further quell vaccine uptake. “If when they’re free, not everyone’s taking them, can you imagine if you have to now pay for it?” he said. “It’s going to be less and that will contribute to potentially future outbreaks.”
February 1: What the End of the Covid Public Health Emergency Could Mean for You (New York Times)
Jose Figueroa, assistant professor of health policy and management, quoted.
January 30: FDA panel votes to make all COVID-19 shots bivalent (Everyday Health)
An advisory panel to the FDA recommended that all COVID-19 vaccines be the bivalent version going forward. The panel also discussed the possibility of establishing an annual COVID-19 booster shot—but held off. “I think it’s quite reasonable to think of another [update to the booster] for the fall [of 2023], but it’s hard to say that it’s going to be annual at this point,” said panel member Eric Rubin, adjunct professor of immunology and infectious diseases.
January 26: The COVID emergency might end after 3 long years – but the virus is still a threat (CBC)
Experts discussed how COVID will continue to threaten us for years to come. Although vaccinations, treatments, and prior immunity make COVID much less dangerous for most people, there are still those who remain vulnerable, including older people and other high-risk individuals. Bill Hanage, associate professor of epidemiology, noted that not much has been done to protect the most frail individuals living in nursing homes in North America. “I think that it’s kind of crazy that we [hadn’t] previously developed ways to robustly rapidly test people who work in nursing homes, to prevent them bringing in respiratory viruses,” he said.
January 19: Davos 2023: Chief executive of ‘world’s largest vaccine maker’ on the state of the pandemic (World Economic Forum)
Harvard Chan School Dean Michelle Williams was quoted.
January 19: Public health agencies are retooling as COVID-19 response winds down. A slim majority of adults trusts them to manage another pandemic (Morning Consult)
Vish Viswanath, Lee Kum Kee Professor of Health Communication, said that the CDC and other health institutions “have taken a real hit” in terms of trust during the pandemic. He cited politicization and communication mistakes among the reasons for the decline.
January 19: How scientists trained computers to forecast COVID-19 outbreaks weeks ahead (Los Angeles Times)
Mauricio Santillana, adjunct professor of epidemiology, and colleagues developed a machine learning system for predicting when and where COVID-19 outbreaks will occur. Said Santillana, “Our work is aimed at documenting what techniques and approaches might be useful not just for this [the COVID-19 pandemic], but the next pandemic.”
January 11: FDA vaccine advisers ‘disappointed’ and ‘angry’ that early data about new Covid-19 booster shot wasn’t presented for review last year (CNN)
Eric Rubin, adjunct professor of immunology and infectious diseases, was among members of an FDA advisory committee who expressed dismay that they weren’t told last year about data suggesting that Moderna’s then-new bivalent COVID booster may not be any more effective at preventing the disease than the original vaccines. The committee members said the information would have been important for them to have as they discussed whether or not the booster should be made available to the public. “It’s not a group of children,” Rubin said. “We understand how to interpret these results.”
January 10: Coronavirus FAQ: How do I avoid catching COVID while flying in 2023? (NPR)
With COVID surging in China and the highly contagious XBB variant circulating, experts are suggesting taking precautions when flying, such as wearing a high-quality mask. Leonard Marcus, founding co-director of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI) and co-director of NPLI’s Aviation Public Health Initiative, also recommended distancing during boarding and deplaning, wiping surfaces such as bathroom door handles and seat trays with alcohol wipes, and turning on air vents. “The ventilation pushes clean air from above to the floor,” he said. “The more of that the better.”
2022
December 19: 1,000 days later, experts say the COVID shutdown was the right move (WBUR)
William Hanage, associate professor of epidemiology, is among experts who think that Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker made the right decision in March 2020 in ordering non-essential businesses to shut down to stop the spread of the pandemic. If anything, Baker should have made the call sooner, he said. “A lot of people died in Massachusetts during that first surge, and not that many people needed to die,” he said.
December 18: ‘Tripledemic’ viruses still spreading. What science shows about being contagious. (NBC News)
Yonatan Grad, Melvin J. and Geraldine L. Glimcher Associate Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, and other experts discussed how long people with COVID-19, flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) remain infectious.
December 16: Employees navigate working through covid when there are no more office precautions (BNN Bloomberg)
Even as COVID-19 cases spike in the U.S., Joseph Allen, associate professor of exposure assessment science and director of the Healthy Buildings program, said he doesn’t think people “should be forever masking and forever testing. That was part of the emergency of COVID.” Instead, he recommended that businesses upgrade their buildings’ ventilation and filtration systems and that people should stay home when they’re sick.
December 16: Winter surge: SARS-CoV-2, RSV, and the Flu (HMS News)
William Hanage, associate professor of epidemiology, was among experts from the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness quoted in this Q&A about COVID-19’s shifting landscape in the context of new variants as well as the spread of flu and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
December 16: As COVID cases rise, White House announces more prevention efforts, including free tests (Yahoo News)
COVID cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are on the rise. But members of the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness—including William Hanage, associate professor of epidemiology—told reporters on December 14 that they’re not particularly worried about the currently circulating variants, such as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, because antivirals can effectively treat them and they don’t appear likely to cause more severe disease than other variants.
December 16: COVID-19 is about to explode in China. What that could mean for the United States (USA Today)
Now that China has lifted its restrictive COVID-19 policies, the country is likely to see waves of infections and deaths. William Hanage, associate professor of epidemiology, said that China could see more than 2 million deaths in the coming months. He and other experts noted that China is very vulnerable because its population is undervaccinated and lacks natural immunity from infection, and because the country has a limited supply of treatments.
December 12: Is COVID a common cold yet? (The Atlantic)
Yonatan Grad, Melvin J. and Geraldine L. Glimcher Associate Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, said that COVID has not yet been tamed into a common cold; SARS-CoV-2 till seems to spread more efficiently and more quickly than a cold, and it’s more likely to trigger severe disease or long-term illness.
December 9: India’s measles outbreak a consequence of Covid-19 health services slowdown (IndiaSpend)
In this Q&A, K. Srinath Reddy, adjunct professor of epidemiology, spoke about how a slowdown in essential health services in India during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in decreasing measles vaccination rates, leading to a current outbreak. “There were so many ways that COVID took our eye off other health conditions,” Reddy said.
December 9: Omicron completely changed the pandemic. Are we prepared for what’s next? (CBC News)
William Hanage, associate professor of epidemiology, quoted.
December 9: Want to improve air quality? Open some windows (Medpage Today)
Improving ventilation in indoor spaces is key to reducing transmission of infections such as the coronavirus, said Joseph Allen, associate professor of exposure assessment science and director of the Healthy Buildings program, in this Q&A. “Decades of science are showing [that the current standard is] not acceptable,” he said. “We got this virus spread entirely indoors that has slammed up against a building architecture and design that’s been designed without thinking about health. It’s no wonder we’ve had the disaster we’ve had.” He urged that building codes be updated to more stringent ventilation standards.
December 8: David Cutler on Cities After the Pandemic (IMF Podcasts)
Health economist David Cutler, Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, spoke about an article he co-authored with Harvard colleague Edward Glaeser titled “Cities After the Pandemic.” He said that cities now need to put more emphasis on public health to keep economies healthy.
December 7: China’s Zero-Covid policy succeeded–until it didn’t. Here’s what went wrong and what experts think could happen next. (Forbes)
If China proceeds with lifting its stringent COVID restrictions, it should do so gradually, ensure that vulnerable people are vaccinated, and keep an eye on factors such as hospital capacity, said Winnie Yip, professor of the practice of global health policy and economics. She also stressed the need for public education programs about vaccination and what to do if one gets infected.
December 6: Bump or spike? COVID in wastewater has experts unsurprised but wary (WBUR)
William Hanage, associate professor of epidemiology, said that a post-Thanksgiving uptick in the level of COVID in Boston-area wastewater “is not out of line with the fluctuations we have seen over the last few months.” He predicted that levels will fall again, then increase again as people hold more holiday gatherings.
December 5: How China can pivot from ‘zero covid’ while preventing calamity (Washington Post)
Winnie Yip, professor of the practice of global health policy and economics, was quoted in this opinion piece by George Washington University’s Leana Wen. Yip said that China’s “zero COVID” policy, involving strict lockdown measures, should be scrapped. “People’s lives have been completely disrupted,” she said. “I think they are ready to hear and spread the message that you could get infected, but you’re protected by vaccines, there is treatment, and you can resume your normal life.”
December 2: China lifts some COVID lockdowns, but it’s unknown how fast policy will change (NPR)
Winnie Yip, professor of the practice of global health policy and economics, said that recent protests against the Chinese government’s tough pandemic control policies may have pushed the government to loosen those restrictions on a faster timeline.