1/ Most if not all of us who are first generation from #India have close family members who are struggling to fight through this current #covid19 surge

India broke its case record again today with over 330k new cases— no easy answers here either

2/ While a circuit-breaker type event is needed to cut transmission chains, that still means dealing with the backlog of 2 weeks of infections that have already been set in motion today; Moreover, with a large informal sector, small economic shocks can be/are deadly

3/ Need to support people with food/$ security during a lockdown- but we are talking about a very complex environment that has also suffered from serious inequities/extreme poverty even before #covid19

4/ Vaccines will help, but during a large surge like this one, vaccinating your way out isn’t feasible.

Vaccinations must continue but in the meanwhile need to stop ongoing infections & support healthcare system even more than just vaccinating

5/ #Bettermasks- high filtration such as N95- offer immense protection at individual level & can be critically important in very densely populated cities of which India has many

If no access to these, double mask or single still much better than no mask— masks work

6/ At individual level, would strictly avoid indoors, crowds, poor ventilation to the extent possible; easier said than done when need to find food/ shelter etc

Indian government needs to be strict about discouraging/ outlawing large crowded religious gatherings which are cont

7/ With all that being said, international community also needs to step in urgently to assist with capacity— critical resources like O2 and vents, staffing, scaling up vaccine rollout; supporting impoverished communities that may need to lockdown, which can be deadly for them

8/ Humbly, will say even with the above- unsure if anyone can reasonably stop this surge right now

Registering over 330k *detected* cases —> likely more; also, deaths likely undercounted given how slammed hospitals are right now (even before #Covid19 this was a serious issue)

9/ overall, this is a grim situation that the world is watching unfold in shock

The Modi government should have been anticipating any worst case scenarios but instead they/he seem to be focused on his election- sounds like someone we once knew here in the US