By Carly Severn
June 12, 2024
Source: KQed
Photo / Image Source: Unsplash,
Editor's Note (Shidonna Raven, Chief Editor): It has been reported that several pharmaceutical companies have begun circumventing the physician/doctor prescribing method for a direct to market method, where 'patients'/consumers can buy these prescriptions online directly from platforms established by Big Pharma companies.
For years the pharmaceutical industry has been marketing directly to potential patients regarding their pharmaceutical products including disease identifications and the effects of their products, some of which is required by the FDA and industry marketing laws. Since COVID-19 many Big Pharma, including Eli Lilly and Pfizer, companies have taken the unprecedented approach of direct to consumer - led by COVID-19 controversial vaccines.
COVID-19 vaccines have remained controversial from the on-set and since the race to find a vaccine that lasted just less than a year sending shock waves through the medical community and medical market. The clinical trial procedure approved by the FDA previously lasted 7-15 years to prove the efficacy of a drug for FDA approval. Since the establishment of the FDA the government agency effectiveness, itself, has steadily being eroded moving from a consumer interest focused agency created to protect consumers from mis-leading and harmful foods and drugs, consequently regulating these markets in the interest of the consumer.
Over time the FDA board is full of and ran by medical professionals who receive kickbacks, have conflicts of interest and get paid to fast-track drugs to the market circumventing the market checks put in place by the FDA to protect consumers. COVID-19 literally fast-tracked this process in the midst of world panic in the interest of 'public safety'. While the public at large seemed very concerned about the matter, it was clear that they were not all to convinced with the reports being issued on the news nor the COVID-19 vaccine.
And now pharmaceutical companies have circumvented, the supposed licensed medical professionals and its industry, for direct-to-consumer purchasing. Not that there has not been for years of reports of harmful drugs and treatments causing more harm than good from the very pharmaceutical markets that used these same medical professionals to push the medical products.
The underlying implication is while there was something seriously amiss in the medical industry causing this harm - medical professionals blamed the pharmaceutical companies and the pharmaceutical companies remained fairly hush with both sides subject to lawsuits. These very reports of more medical harm than good pushed the United States from an epidemic/Opioids until it than joined the world in the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we have observed an increase in medical foundations, organizations and other entities producing medical news with some question of conflict of interest. These foundations such as Kaiser are often associated with Big Pharma companies who have an interest in promoting their products.
With a hyper-shortened clinical trial period and direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical purchasing now available what crisis and mal-report increasing consumer suspicion of the medical industry is next?
What’s going on with COVID in the Bay Area’s wastewater right now?
The Bay Area’s own COVID-19 wastewater levels are “higher than where they were this time last year and on average as high as we saw during the winter peak earlier this year,” said WastewaterSCAN’s Bidwell.
In the last weeks, the Stanford team has observed a particularly pronounced rise in San Francisco’s wastewater. Bidwell told KQED that the data shows “some of the highest wastewater levels we’ve observed at these 2 SF sites to date.”
A graph showing WastewaterSCAN data from July 19 illustrating COVID-19 levels in San Francisco wastewater, aggregated from the city’s two wastewater sites. (WastewaterSCAN)
The San Francisco Department of Public Health told KQED in a June 11 email that it’s “difficult to determine an exact cause of why COVID-19 detections have increased” locally, noting that “it can be the result of various factors, including waning immunity, the increase in travel and gatherings associated with the summer season, and the emergence of new subvariants.”
The agency also pointed to the seasonal behavior of the virus in previous years, notably the “increase in COVID-19 activity around late spring to late summer, followed by another increase during the winter.”
Nationally, COVID-19 wastewater levels have kept rising across the country, and levels of the virus are currently classified as “High” on WastewaterSCAN’s dashboard of all its sites around the United States.
COVID swelled earlier this summer than it did in 2023. Why?
In 2023, “late June is when we started to see a summer increase,” said WastewaterSCAN’s Bidwell — but this 2024 swell started several weeks earlier than that.
It’s undoubtedly become harder in 2024 to materially track COVID-19 levels in a certain area. As of May 1, the CDC no longer requires hospitals nationwide to report the number of patients admitted with COVID-19. This had been one of the remaining indicators of rising COVID-19 levels in an area, along with PCR tests. Now, health officials must rely on a combination of wastewater data and hospital deaths of patients with COVID-19.
According to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), the state’s seven-day test positivity rate — the average percentage of people each week who get a positive diagnostic test result from a lab after taking a PCR test — has kept rising since April 27 (from 1.9% to 12.8%, with the last available data from July 15).
However, since this data doesn’t include at-home antigen testing, it doesn’t represent the full picture of COVID-19 positivity around the state.
“Of course, it’s hard to use wastewater to tell you how many people that represents,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), of the recent observed rise in sewage. “But nevertheless, the trend is important.”
As for why the Bay Area could now be seeing a summer rise in COVID-19 wastewater levels over a month earlier than it did in 2023, Chin-Hong said a big factor is our collective waning immunity against the virus.
“One year ago, last year, many more people had gotten additional vaccines,” he said. “They had additional immunity that was more recent.”
But in 2024, “we only have about 22% or so of Americans vaccinated” nationally, Chin-Hong said. In California, only 14.9% of people statewide are up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccines. So if someone hasn’t been infected with COVID-19 recently and they haven’t gotten the latest vaccine, they’re left extra-vulnerable to rising COVID-19 levels in their community.
How much are new COVID variants driving this rise?
You might hear about new COVID-19 variants informally called “FLiRT”: KP.1.1, KP.2 and KP.3.
These latest omicron descendants, nicknamed for the letters used for their mutations, have risen in prominence recently around the country, overtaking the previous leading variant, JN.1 — the one that “was ruling the roost for a lot of the winter and spring,” Chin-Hong said. Now, KP.3 has become the most dominant strain nationwide.
In the Bay Area, WastewaterSCAN’s Bidwell said that KP.2 is still the dominant variant in the three Bay Area wastewater sites where the Stanford team sequenced this data on specific variants.
The new variants matter because each new one brought increased transmissibility during the pandemic. This means that although much of the general population will not get particularly sick with these new COVID-19 variants when they become dominant, there will still be higher-risk groups that will get seriously ill, Chin-Hong said.
“Maybe that’s the fact of life, but my point is: It shouldn’t be the fact of life because we have so many tools” to reduce COVID-19 spread and treat infectious people, Chin-Hong said.
The CDC has also stated that based on current data, “there are no indicators that KP.2 would cause more severe illness than other strains.”
As for the reformulated seasonal COVID-19 vaccine, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended on June 5 that the new, updated COVID-19 vaccine that will be offered in the fall should in fact be based on the JN.1 variant.
Who is the most at risk for COVID right now?
“I’m not worried about the general population because people have seen it so many times already,” Chin-Hong said. “The majority of folks [are] going to be OK.”
But “I’m worried about the most vulnerable,” he said, pointing to low vaccination rates among people age 65 and older — despite an extra COVID-19 vaccine dose being made available to this age group back in February because of their heightened risk levels. Read more about finding an additional COVID-19 vaccine if you’re 65 or older.
While it may feel confusing and frustrating — or like a personal step backward — to still think about COVID-19 precautions in 2024, that’s understandable. But there are actions you can take in response to a rise in COVID-19 numbers to protect the health of you and your loved ones, stop community spread among the most high-risk people and reduce the disruption that a COVID-19 infection in your household can bring to your lives, your work and much-anticipated summer travel plans.
Got COVID (Again)? Here's What the CDC Says About 2024 Isolation Guidelines
During a rise in COVID-19 levels locally, this might include bringing a well-fitting N95 mask along to indoor spaces that you know could be crowded, like the grocery store or BART during rush hour. Or, if you’re hosting people indoors in your home, ensure the space has good ventilation by taking measures like opening windows. If the weather allows, you might also consider favoring outdoor hangouts and meetups with friends and family at this current time.
And if you’re at higher risk for serious illness or hospitalization from COVID-19, it’s an especially good idea to take extra precautions against the virus during a rise in COVID-19 locally. These groups can include older people, immunocompromised and disabled folks.
It also includes people who aren’t up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccines, so if you haven’t already gotten the latest vaccine, you can still find a free COVID-19 shot near you. Remember, people 65 and older are also eligible for an extra COVID-19 vaccine dose.
One more reason you might consider being extra cautious about COVID-19 right now is if you’ve got upcoming travel plans. Even if your symptoms are mild, a COVID-19 infection can require isolation from other people for well over a week. And you can double that timeline if you get a rebound (i.e., second) infection, which is surprisingly common even in people who don’t take the antiviral treatment Paxlovid.
Have you taken the vaccine? Were you mandated to? By whom?
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