Coronavirus news – December 2022

For the Harvard Chan community: Find the latest updates, guidance, useful information, and resources about Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) here.

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:

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.