Top RI Physician Says Data Shows RI Should Resume Inside Masking

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

GoLocalProv News Team

 

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Dr. Michael Fine

The Delta variant — the more contagious and more serious strain of the coronavirus — now comprises 83% of all new cases in the United States, according to the CDC.

And, in Rhode Island, there are growing concerns about the lack of testing now being conducted by the state as well as a growing number of cases.

On Tuesday, RI recorded 65 cases on fewer than 3,700 tests. 

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Governor Dan McKee's office defends the collapse of testing. "There are 14 fixed, State-run testing locations throughout Rhode Island, and Rhode Islanders can also get tested in retail pharmacies, respiratory clinics, the offices of primary care providers, and at mobile and pop-up testing opportunities. On top of all this, the State is supporting school districts in developing expanded plans for on-site testing in school in the fall (symptomatic testing, outbreak testing, and asymptomatic testing)," said Mckee's spokeswoman Alana O'Hara.

But, testing has fallen by about 80% under McKee.

 

Emerging Trends

Now, former Rhode Island Director of Health Michael Fine warns that there are four emerging data trends that point to the need to resume vigilance in combating the coronavirus.

“There are four reasons why Rhode Island should resume inside masking now,” said Fine.

“First, new laboratory evidence from Israel suggests that the duration of vaccine protection may be as little as six months.  I normally don’t give much weight to laboratory evidence only.  But many of our elders and most vulnerable fellow citizens were vaccinated about six months ago, so it that six months or protection proves to be true, some of those people may be losing protection from the vaccine as I write this,” warns Fine.

“Second, new evidence, also from Israel, suggests that people who are at most risk for hospitalization and death from vaccine failures are people with multiple chronic diseases, again exactly the people who were vaccinated earliest in Rhode Island,” said Fine.

"Third, there is strong evidence that the Delta variant COVID-19 is spreading widely in the US and in RI, and that we are at the beginning of a new surge.  While the most intense virus spread is in less vaccinated states, Rhode Island remains about thirty percent unvaccinated, a population large enough to allow this more virulent virus to spread.  There is strong evidence that community spread is mushrooming in Rhode Island now, earlier than it mushroomed last fall," said Fine who identified the deadly surge in the fall of 2020 months before state health officials took action.

"Though the number of new cases per day is still lower than it was last winter, it has still doubled in about two weeks, and those numbers come from a much lower intensity of testing – we are testing about 4,000 people a day, instead of 20,000 people a day.  Adjusted for testing, we are likely seeing the equivalent of 25 or more new cases/100,000 per day or 150-200 new cases/100,000/week, is a significant amount of community spread, and above the level that calls for new intervention," Fine said. 

Fine cites that there continues to be good news on one of the most important measures -- hospitalizations.

"The good news is that our hospital rate appears stable at the moment, and with so many people immunized, we would expect far fewer hospitalizations and deaths even with robust community transmission.  That said, hospitalizations and death usually lag three to four weeks behind increases in community spreads, so it is not possible to know how significant and how dangerous our community transmission is," said Fine.

Fine added, "Finally, masks have almost no risk.  They are a hassle to be sure.  But an abundance of caution approach says, mask indoors now and hope to blunt the community spread, prevent hospitalizations and deaths and hope we don’t need to do more social distancing to contain this new surge."

 

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