Five Year Anniversary of The COVID-19 Pandemic
The WHO declared the COVID-19 pandemic five years ago this week. Join us in honoring and mourning the loved ones we have lost, over 7 million people globally. Remember that “pandemics are chronic:” Long COVID continues to disrupt the lives of more and more people. And, as we continue to dream and demand a world where all people can thrive, we urge you to understand that it didn’t need to be this way. We can and must still change the state of things going forward. Find a community of people who are working to build a new world where everyone of us can thrive.
Wins
Archivists have recreated the CDC Website, restoring vital information deleted by Trump’s administration. They are hosting it in Europe.
Maryland citizens rapidly organized opposition to a late-breaking anti-mask bill. Groups and individuals appeared in large numbers on short notice to warn Maryland Senators about the harms inherent in their anti-mask legislation. You can watch it here on YouTube.
As vaccine skepticism is dangerously pushed by anti-vax groups in the US and whole communities become more vulnerable to preventable diseases, many wonder if it is possible to break through the noise and get people the healthcare they need. Last week, The Guardian published stories of formerly anti-vax parents on how they changed their minds. From that article, “Johnson learned how misinformation spreads on social media, and re-evaluated the wellness content she had been consuming. She also started listening to more online influencers who had expertise in epidemiology and public health…” We have the collective power to change minds.
Public Health Threats, Briefly
The FDA cancelled the recently scheduled flu vaccine advisory committee hearing. Under normal circumstances, this meeting would be the one at which the composition of next year’s flu vaccine would be selected. We are worried about what this might mean for flu vaccine availability and effectiveness for next year’s season, although the CDC may proceed with using flu vaccine recommendations by WHO.
The Trump administration continues to decimate the public health workforce. This article outlines the many potential repercussions of these firings.
The House of Representatives continues to eye cuts to Medicaid in order to fund Trump’s tax cuts for the rich. Crucially, Kaiser Family Foundation, a research-based health policy organization, published a survey showing that most people do not want Medicaid cut. Tell Congress to Save Medicaid now.
And threats to public health are not only coming at the federal level: a bill would ban mRNA vaccines in Iowa: “A bill to make it a crime to administer mRNA vaccines in Iowa — like the Moderna and Pfizer COVID shots — has cleared initial review in the Iowa Senate. However, the bill’s sponsor plans to adjust the legislation and instead give Iowans a route to sue mRNA vaccine manufacturers.”
El clima
El CDC-based wastewater map was updated on March 6. It shows 18 states with “High” levels of SARS-CoV-2 in the wastewater. These high levels are found throughout the country. Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota have limited coverage, meaning that data from those states are based on less than 5% of the population. There is no data for Guam, North Dakota, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The CDC has determined that national levels are “low.”
As always, remember that the determination of the categories of “Very High,” “High,” “Moderate,” “Low,” and “Minimal” is independent of any relationship to community transmission. We recommend always using as many layers of protection as possible!
Wastewater trends indicate slight decreases in all regions except the Midwest, which slightly increased this past week. Unlike previous peaks, this current peak is dropping but not as fast as other peaks.
Variants
According to the CDC’s variant tracking dashboard, updated on March 1, 2025, there are two variants making up more than 70% of the variants in circulation. Variant XEC (a combination of two JN.1-derived variants: KS.1.1 and KP.3.3) has dropped to 31%, LP.8.1 has increased further to 42%, and KP.3.1.1 has further decreased to 6%.
Graphic source: CDC Variant Tracker
Hospitalizaciones
Hospitalization data shows a slight drop in national COVID-related hospitalizations. Remember that the dashed blue line represents incomplete data.
Flu Updates
We’re hoping that we’re almost on the other side of this disastrous flu season. Flu wastewater levels dropped to “moderate” levels according to the CDC’s National wastewater surveillance system. This week, the CDC estimates nearly 40 million illnesses nationwide, 520,000 hospitalizations, and 22,000 deaths caused by the flu.
In bird flu news, the USDA released a plan to spend up to 1 billion dollars to combat H5N1. Still, RFK Jr seems to think that we should pursue the devastating “let it rip” strategy instead of simply protecting the birds from the virus through a vaccination campaign. He is wrong – and pushing anti-vax, survival-of-the-fittest rhetoric through birds. We need a robust proactive public health response to bird flu. Let’s be clear: the billionaires running this country can afford eggs no matter the price, so they do not care if their magical thinking ruins everything for the rest of us.
Take Action – Check out all our new campaigns
Keep on fighting, it works! Funding for telehealth services through Medicare by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid was extended until the end of March of 2025 due to your outreach. However, the Trump administration plans on limiting access beginning April 2025 by bringing back rural and facility restrictions. Private insurance companies will likely follow suit, resulting in many more millions of Americans losing access to this important type of care. Call and write to your members and tell them to fund telehealth indefinitely. Calls are most impactful. Find their contact information here. Use our Action Network to submit a letter to your members of Congress both the House and the Senate. As always, personalizing your letter is most impactful.
Although RFK Jr was voted in as Secretary of HHS, we thank you for sending nearly 2,000 opposition letters and we applaud groups like the APHA for loudly opposing his nomination. Now, we must oppose his attempts to stifle public comments with health policy decisions by ending the Richardson Waiver. More organizations must speak up against this action. Call your representatives to demand they pressure HHS to reopen public comments for any health policy decisions.
Oppose confirmation of Jayanta Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, nominated for Director of the National Institutes of Health by the Trump administration, supports nationwide unchecked spread of infectious disease such as COVID-19 and potentially other infectious diseases. His approach to public health relies solely on natural infection-induced immunity, putting millions of lives at risk from infectious diseases. The US Senate HELP Committee had their confirmation hearing on his nomination on Wednesday, March 5, 2025 and the Senate vote will be very soon. Send a letter opposing his nomination (over 3,000 letters sent already!) and contact your Senator in opposition!
Oppose confirmation of Marty Makary, MD, nominated by the Trump Administration as the next Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has direct financial conflicts of interest with this position and has had a substantial role promoting ineffective treatments for infectious diseases such as COVID-19. The nomination hearing by the US Senate HELP Committee for Marty Makary was held on Thursday, March 6, 2025 and the Senate vote will be very soon. We seek your support in opposing this candidate as the next leader with oversight on food, pharmaceuticals, and biomedical devices. Opposing this nominee is crucial in protecting the health of the American public from dangerous and ineffective products and other healthcare related devices. Follow our instructions to send a letter opposing his nomination (nearly 1,000 letters sent already) or directly contact your senator in opposition!
The Trump administration continues to destroy current and future public health programs by deeply cutting health agency budgets. Join us and National Nurses United (NNU) in signing a petition to tell the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought to protect public health and stop the cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Keep yourself and your community safer. As always, with the ongoing spread of infectious disease including COVID, flu, measles, and Tb here in the US we need to keep ourselves and our communities safe using KF94/KN95/N95 masking and as many layers of protection as possible. Our updated Safer Gathering Guide provides recommendations to be safer. Continue to share it!
Most importantly, we always need to disrupt the current state of so-called “order” in which very few very rich people control what we can eat, breathe, and say. Find ways to do this locally: start a tenants association, organize your coworkers, join debt strikes and debt collectives. Join your community garden or spend time in other mutual aid organizing efforts in your community. And, wear and share masks to keep everyone safer while doing it.
Notes: 1) The numbers in this report were current as of 3/8/2024. 2) Check out the links throughout & see our website for more at https://peoplescdc.org. 3) Subscribe to our newsletter: People’s CDC | Substack.
If you’re donating to us through Substack, consider getting the Substack for free (it’s not paywalled!) and donating to us directly. That way, there are fewer fees between your bank account and ours! Also, get your FIGHT FASCISM–WEAR A MASK T-shirt today.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
El CDC del pueblo es una coalición de profesionales de la salud pública, científicos, trabajadores de la salud, educadores, defensores y personas de todos los ámbitos de la vida que trabajan para reducir los impactos dañinos de COVID-19.
Brindamos orientación y recomendaciones de políticas a los gobiernos y al público sobre COVID-19, difundiendo actualizaciones basadas en evidencia que se basan en la equidad, los principios de salud pública y la literatura científica más reciente.
Working alongside community organizations, we are building collective power and centering equity as we work together to end the pandemic. The People’s CDC is volunteer-run and independent of partisan political and corporate interests and includes anonymous local health department and other government employees. The People’s CDC is completely volunteer run with infrastructure support being provided by the People’s Science Network.
Though the People’s CDC was supported initially through a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant, that grant has long expired. We no longer pursue or accept grant funding. We are now entirely funded by people who donate to us. Most of these donations make their way to us through our Substack platform (which anyone can access for free!) or through purchases of People’s CDC swag. Our website now has a donate link for anonymous donations.
The content that we put out is entirely created by volunteers who receive no funding for their work. We pay one person for their labor–a digital organizer. They help us update and maintain our website, make sure we all know what meetings are happening and when, post our content on social media, and monitor our email. They also act as the point person between our organization and our fiscal sponsor, People’s Science Network.
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