America! Has opinions! How will changing opinions about the state of public health affect the people who provide that health?
Vaccination rates are up. Infection spread is down. Mask use is down. And the average American believes that the pandemic isn't over but that it's getting better. See how you line up with the opinions expressed below. And check out the important news that we gathered about healthcare's supply chain, too. Because none of our jobs have totally been put on pause while we deal with the coronavirus crisis.
- The nation is split nearly half and half on whether the country, its healthcare providers, and the normal course of life will get back to normal or not. Ever. Despite this, public opinion is more optimistic about the threat of COVID-19 than it has been in more than a year.
- It's difficult to know how much these opinions are affected by the ascendancy of the Delta variant, which is now the number one most common strain of the virus in the U.S. (congrats!). It is worth noting as healthcare professionals some of the differing symptoms that can be present in Delta variant patients.
- But all of our optimism ought to go up given the encouraging news that mixing different vaccines' doses is not only safe but fully effective. And HHS is increasing its support for monoclonal antibody treatments to reduce the severity of COVID-19 outcomes.
- It's undeniable that PPE demand - even if it's gone down - isn't back to normal. Hence the national stockpile once again dwindling to unsafe levels.
- As if we didn't have enough to worry about, some Avid kits have been recalled due to serious risk of fungal infection.
We've been dealing with viruses, now we're worrying about fungal infections, and soon it'll probably be... giant ants from space? Is that the next logical step?
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