Exciting new project launched out of Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health: Communivax. “The coalition will conduct rapid ethnographic research related to COVID-19 vaccination among historically underserved communities of color in the United States. Local research teams will listen to community members and work with them to develop suggestions on how to strengthen COVID-19 vaccine delivery and communication strategies”.
The Great Barrington Declaration is dangerous
The argument to “open up” society for everyone who is determined to not be at high risk does not take into account the true numbers of who fits in that category.
•Obesity, increasing age, diabetes, and other cardiometabolic conditions are just a few of the factors that have been observed to be associated with an increased risk of severe COVID-19 illness and/or death.
•In 2017-2018, over 35% of the entire US population (children and adults) were determined to be obese
•Furthermore, it is estimated that 13% of the adult US population has diabetes.
•This doesn’t even take into account the percentage of US adults that have other pre-existing conditions that put them at greater risk of severe COVID-19.
Click here for a critical review of the Great Barrington Declaration (by Collin Catalfamo, MPH 1, Mark Nichter, PhD, MPH 2 from University of Arizona)
Health Care Workers and COVID-19
Check out the newest set of COVID resources slide deck focused on Health Care Workers -cases-mortality- stress and burnout and attrition. Health-care workers account for 1 in 7 coronavirus cases recorded by the World Health Organization. We need to focus effort on protecting these vulnerable frontline workers.
Action Needed: COVID-19 Pandemic
The HCW Hosted team of healthcare workers & family members, public health professionals, and health social scientists has launched an advocacy campaign to encourage the public to stay the course with COVID-19 recommendations as a means of protecting themselves, their communities and our healthcare workers.
We need your support to get the word out! Please sign and share the HEALTH CITIZEN PLEDGE: healthcitizenpledge.org
We are in the early days of the Pledge, trying to build momentum so every share, every endorsement, every signature counts! Once we have enough signatures, we will be taking the Pledge to elected officials to ask them to support the Pledge and we will hold them accountable. The WHO recently came out with a call to government leaders to keep healthcare workers safe. The Pledge echoes this plea. It is your opportunity to stand with our health care workers and reaffirm your commitment to the social contract upon which our democracy is based. And if you are a member of an organization that would like to co-sponsor the Pledge , please let me know.
Mark Nichter : Lifetime member of the AAA, former president of the SMA, one of the founding members of HCWhosted.org
New Resources
As the United States continues to break single-day records in new coronavirus cases, stay up to date in latest information by reviewing a COVID-19 primer by Dr. Mark Nichter and other useful resources such as how to read COVID statistics and details on the Arizona outbreak.
See the attached update of the COVID-19 Primer from Dr. Mark Nichter. This updated primer includes new information on testing, contact tracing, pool testing, and antigen testing. Additional information on long term effects of COVID and cytokine cascades leading to severity. Updated information on < 40 age group transmitting virus more. Further information emphasizing impact of social distancing and the wearing of makes --compared hygiene and cleaning surfaces.
Migrants Returning to Native – A Humanitarian “Side Effect” of Pandemic, India by Anuj Ghanekar, Social Anthropologist, India
This piece throws light on how and why migrant workers in country decided to return to native villages. This is the significant humanitarian crisis generated in India as a result of Pandemic. This piece discusses the impact on the pandemic on precarious population in India
Please see the work of engaged anthropologist Mark Nichter, Ph.D. (University of Arizona Regents’ Professor Emeritus), who has been collaborating locally to establish a consortium in Tucson to address the needs of health care workers as they battle COVID-19. The mission of HCW Hosted is to provide temporary housing to the healthcare workforce throughout the COVID-19 pandemic surge & offer physical, psychosocial support, and protection to their families and community
Check it out at: HCW HOSTED
As an incredible additional resource HCW Hosted has provided steps for setting up a HOSTED network in your community: https://hcwhosted.org/how-to-replicate