Alexander Tin 's avatar

Alexander Tin

@alexander-a-tin.bsky.social

702 followers 746 following 819 posts

Reporting for CBS News in D.C. on federal public health agencies. Raised in sunny Nevada. Email TinA@CBSNews.com, ask for Signal.

More places you can find me: github.com/tinalexander


Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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www.cbsnews.com/news/florida...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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CDC now says in this week's respiratory virus data report:

"Some areas of the country are experiencing consistent increases in COVID-19 activity"

www.cdc.gov/respiratory-...

bsky.app/profile/alex...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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This summer's COVID-19 surge isn't just out west, per new CDC figures out today

COVID-19 emergency room visits in Florida have also climbed steeply in recent weeks, and are now near this past winter's peaks

covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-t...

2 replies 41 reposts 69 likes


Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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Per new CDC SARS-CoV-2 variant projections

Nationwide picture similar to last update, with KP.3 in lead at 31.3% as of July 6

One new variant on rise is KP.4.1, which remains <2% across much of country but reached 17.9% as of June 22 in HHS Region 6

covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-t
...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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Per CDC's new report, both conjunctival and respiratory samples were taken from new Colorado bird flu case

But while case reported had only pink eye symptoms, sounds like only their respiratory sample turned out to test positive for H5 virus

www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/i...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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You'll recall that CDC's flu officials have previously acknowledged that it might be difficult to get dairy workers to don masks and goggles, especially as temperatures get warmer this summer bsky.app/profile/alex...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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More details from Colorado on new bird flu case:

- no household contacts developed symptoms
- not enough virus may be to blame for "inconclusive" testing results at state level
- farm had been given PPE, but unclear if worker was wearing it when exposed

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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www.cbsnews.com/news/tattoo-...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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What ever happened to FDA's plan to propose front-of-package nutrition labeling?

FDA's Jim Jones told WSJ event recently...

"we hope to have a proposed rule on the street for public to comment on this fall"

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-t...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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It came as CDC says it is still too early to say whether this year's summer COVID-19 surge has actually arrived

"COVID-19 activity was lower than at any time since the start of the pandemic. Recent increases need to be considered from that baseline"

www.cdc.gov/respiratory-...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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But you'll notice that COVID-19 trends are now looking like they are trending down in Hawaii

CDC's forecasters estimated last week that COVID-19 cases in one state -- Hawaii -- were "likely declining"

www.cdc.gov/forecast-out...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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Last week, CDC's wastewater tracking of SARS-CoV-2 officially reached "high" across western states

Some of worst levels in this region have been in Hawaii, which has also been seeing COVID-19 ER visits higher than recent peaks

covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-t...

2 replies 20 reposts 35 likes


Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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Studies by FDA of tattoo and permanent makeup inks are still finding contamination, this time with anaerobic bacteria

"no clear link between a product label claiming sterility and the actual absence of bacterial contamination"

asm.org/Press-Releas...

1 replies 1 reposts 1 likes


Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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BioFire's dashboard also has norovirus at higher levels than at this time last year

syndromictrends.com

But CDC's tally of norovirus outbreaks reported in NoroSTAT states was still plummeting to (the normally) low levels, as of early June

www.cdc.gov/norovirus/ph...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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This now marks the fourth straight week of norovirus test positivity increasing

Per CDC's National Respiratory and Enteric Virus Surveillance System

June usually marks one of the lowest points of year for this stomach bug

www.cdc.gov/nrevss/php/d...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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An update from ASPR's Meghan Pennini on private insurance coverage of mpox vaccines, as commercial switchover looms

"while they’re not fully obligated right now, we are hearing that they do intend to cover, and we are hearing that there is coverage"

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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Amid this year's bird flu outbreak, ASPR to fund $176M for "late-stage development" of Moderna's mRNA vaccine for H5N1

But don't expect it to be rolled out this year:

"timeline may change, but we anticipate starting phase three trials in 2025"

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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You'll recall FDA said last month Diamond Shruumz brand chocolates tested positive for

- psilacetin (aka "synthetic shrooms")
- desmethoxyyangonin, dihydrokavain, kavain (aka Kava derivatives)

Company has blamed high levels of "muscimol" for recall

www.fda.gov/food/outbrea...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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New from FDA and CDC on probe of those recalled "microdosing" Diamond Shruumz candies

- now 1 death being investigated
- 48 illnesses, 27 hospitalizations
- 24 states, adds FL, ND, OK, SD

www.cdc.gov/environmenta...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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From CDC's Nirav Shah today on investigation of H5N1 detections in San Francisco Bay Area

"area is not known for its dairy industry. So that’s not high on our list of hypotheses. What is higher on the list is at least one or two live bird markets"

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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CSL confirmed to us this week that they are also now in talks with FDA

"regarding the review and approval process. We will work to follow the necessary regulatory pathways for this pre-pandemic vaccine"

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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A reminder CSL was tasked this month to fill-finish 4.8 million doses of H5N1 vaccine

ASPR's Dawn O'Connell confirmed to reporters today:

"timeline continues to hold, and we will begin seeing the doses middle of July continuing to roll off through August"

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

2 replies 1 reposts 4 likes


Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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Why antivirals instead of bird flu vaccine?

CDC's Shah told reporters today:

"if our goal is to reduce the number of infections that may occur, we have to wonder whether vaccination is the best route for that"

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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As shots near completion, talks have now begun on whether to vaccinate U.S. dairy workers for bird flu

Per CDC's Nirav Shah, decision will hinge on:

- expected demand, given perceived severity
- whether antivirals will achieve goal better

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

3 replies 6 reposts 12 likes


Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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As agricultural fairs get underway this summer, USDA has updated its guidance on bird flu outbreak in dairy cows to include a new plea

"CDC recommends fair organizers stock and use NIOSH approved PPE, if needed"

www.aphis.usda.gov/sites/defaul...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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USDA has urged dairy farms to step up "biosecurity" precautions to curb spread of H5N1

Rosemary Sifford of APHIS told reporters:

"in all of the herds that we have found to be affected, we have found epidemiological links to other herds"

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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Why can't we vaccinate cows for bird flu?

USDA said this week:

"challenging" to develop and "going to take some time"

still hoping "we will be able to eliminate this disease from the dairy herd in the absence of a vaccine"

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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So what about aerosol route?

USDA later told reporters, of herds investigated with H5N1 infection:

"We have no evidence of respiratory transmission in any case involving dairy cattle."

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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Update from USDA this week on their lab study of infecting cows with H5N1:

- evaluated aersol and intrammamary route
- "can be replicated" via intramammary route
- additional data "in the not too distant future"

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

1 replies 4 reposts 7 likes


Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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FDA also announced this week it will launch studies

"to assess the survival of H5N1 HPAI virus in raw milk cheeses under various parameters over the aging process"

www.fda.gov/media/179559...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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Do we know if any of the H5N1 infected herds so far were supplying raw milk for cheese?

USDA's Eric Deeble said this week

"We don’t have any herds that are known to be infected that are contributing to raw milk supply off farm"

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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FDA's Don Prater said it will be "several weeks for the results to be published" which will include raw milk cheese and other products

"We do plan to sample approximately 155 dairy products as part of this next round of sampling."

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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We know raw milk is even more of a risk during this year's bird flu outbreak, but what about raw milk cheese?

FDA says it now plans to test retail samples of this product for H5N1 as well, as this year's outbreak in dairy cows continues to grow

www.fda.gov/food/alerts-...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-v...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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LB.1's rise comes as we've seen trends climb highest so far out west, at or near "high" levels by CDC's benchmarks

But LB.1's prevalence looked to be largest on opposite coast in New York and New Jersey area (aka HHS Region 2) at 30.9% thru June 8

covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-t...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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So far, CDC says of the new LB.1 variant of SARS-CoV-2 that's been on the rise:

"currently no evidence that KP.3 or LB.1 cause more severe disease"

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

1 replies 1 reposts 3 likes


Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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You'll recall Puerto Rico declared an emergency earlier this year over record dengue surge there

Some U.S. states have also reported local transmission in recent years. Florida reported its eighth locally acquired case of 2024 this week

www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-and...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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From CDC today warning of increased dengue risk, in wake of record surge this past summer across South America

"a higher-than-expected number of dengue cases have been identified among U.S. travelers (745 cases) from January 1 – June 24, 2024"

emergency.cdc.gov/han/2024/han...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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So far this year, 403 cases have been reported to CDC of streptococcal toxic schock syndrome

That's not far off from 412 cases that were reported by this time last year, but is far higher than ~200 that were reported by this week in 2019 and 2018

wonder.cdc.gov/nndss/static...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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Out this month from PAHO and WHO about surges of invasive group A strep in some Latin American countries

Chile has been tracking outbreak this year, Argentina through end of last year saw rates of invasive group A strep dwarfing past years

www.paho.org/en/documents...

1 replies 1 reposts 1 likes


Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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This week, CDC announced it has closed investigation into counterfeit or mishandled Botox

"Overall, 13 (76%) people were hospitalized and 6 (35%) were treated with botulism antitoxin because of concerns that the botulinum toxin could have spread"

www.cdc.gov/botulism/out...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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Co-authored preprint by CDC'er on bioRxiv looking at B. parapertussis

(believed to be milder, less common whooping cough cousin of pertussis)

"protection against Bpp from whooping cough vaccines may have weakened significantly in the last 20 years"

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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From CDC's EID journal by authors at Emory and University of Pittsburgh, looking at H5N1 and H1N1 on milking surfaces

"virus is stable in unpasteurized milk and that influenza A virus deposited on milking equipment could remain infectious for >3 hours"

wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/
...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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Califf also relayed that "nightmare" he has had re: his legacy

"he allowed the country to eat so much that they gained a pound per year on average as a country, and then encouraged people to develop a drug that costs $20,000 a year to reverse it"

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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Califf later mentioned FDA's effort on front of package nutrition labeling, calling it part of "the baseline state"

"How can we not do that? But, there are a lot of people opposed to it. I got to tell you."

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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At a diabetes conference last week, FDA Commissioner Califf hailed looming breakthroughs for type one diabetes, but warned

"for the larger epidemic of type two diabetes, we’re failing right now. And I don’t say that lightly"

tinalexander.github.io/notes/2024/0...

2 replies 2 reposts 6 likes


Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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It's not just Europe seeing an out-of-season surge of norovirus this summer

CDC's NREVSS figures updated over weekend show test positivity from this notorious stomach bug climbing in June

This is a time when trends are typically lowest of all year

www.cdc.gov/nrevss/php/d...

0 replies 1 reposts 1 likes


Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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This past weekend cracked some daily heat records around D.C. region

CDC's data now show that translated to a surge of heat-related ER visits

Saturday in HHS Region 3 recorded worst daily rate of heat-related ER visits since 2019 heat wave

ephtracking.cdc.gov/Applications...

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Alexander Tin 's avatar Alexander Tin @alexander-a-tin.bsky.social
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www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-s...

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