Tony's Diary Package — page 4

ewsHour segment on Ebola with considerable Apparently, CDC is upset because I am saying that this is on a course to be as bad a year as 2017-2018 and 2014-2015. In fact, the flu infection "numbers" are exactly on tract with those years. However, there are less total deaths and hospitalizations. This is due to the fact that Influenza B has predominated early that this hits kids more severely. Since the elderly account for most of the deaths and hospitalizations, the total of these are down; however for this time compared to other years, the number of pediatric deaths is way up. And so it depends what you mean by a 'bad' season. I say it is a bad season and CDC says no. There was a discussion between Azar and Nancy Messonnier of CDC about this and about my statements, but no one thought of getting me on the conference call. Not good. Typical CDC! Jan. 15, 2020 - Did interview on WTOP Radio on the number of pediatric flu deaths. I explained the issue of predominance of Influenza B and children and the poor match of the vaccine to circulating virus with Influenza B Victoria. Jan. 16, 2020 - The situation in Wuhan, China continues. Now have 2 deaths and 2 cases in Thailand and 1 in Japan. Was in on a PCC meeting via the NIH SCIF with the NSC chaired by Anthony Ruggiero. CDC and DHS have decided to do entry screening at 3 USA airport in people coming directly and indirectly from Wuhan: Kennedy in NYC, LAX, and SFO. Tomorrow night at 10:00 PM a 747 from Wuhan will arrive at Kennedy and will be the first to get screened. nCoV_PCC_SOC_FIN AL.docx I appeared this evening on a PBS NewsHour segment on Ebola with considerable exposure in the piece. Jan. 17, 2020 - appeared on radio with NPR "Here and Now" on the pediatric Influenza B situation. Influenza B predominating yet the Victoria B in the vaccine is only a 58% match and so children are getting a double whammy with B predominating early in the year and continuing and the vaccine is not well matched. In this regard, there are more pediatric deaths (39) thus far at this point in the season compared to most other years. The infection slope is high for all infections yet the total deaths and hospitalization are not that high, likely because there is little H3N2 and that is the virus that affects the elderly the most and the elderly accound for most of the hospitalizations and deaths. Jennifer Ashton of ABC World News Tonight called me in a panic about 15 minutes before she is to go on the air about the Wuhan virus (2019nCoV). She wanted to get my take on the airport screening and the potential seriousness of the situation. I emphasized that we need to take this seriously and the airport screening is entirely appropriate. We are now doing entry screening at JFK, LAX and SFO of flights from Wuhan. There are a couple of direct flights per week from Wuhan to JFK and SFO