Reporter asks if there would be any public health benefit to furthering the spread of Omicron if it proves to be more transmissible and less virulent pic.twitter.com/33B629ibkH
— Acyn (@Acyn) December 1, 2021
"I always get back to the fact that people should wind up getting vaccinated and boosted if they're eligible for boost. I keep coming back to that, because that's really the solution to this problemm" Fauci says.
— Jeannie Baumann (@MedResJourno) December 1, 2021
The US reports its first discovery of a person infected with the #Omicron variant. @DrewQJoseph is on it. https://t.co/yafTXT9YER https://t.co/8uQbyeLO0D
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) December 1, 2021
Omicron prompts swift reconsideration of boosters among scientists. Many public health experts were opposed to boosters-for-all. The new variant is changing some minds https://t.co/nB8jjtBl9l
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) December 2, 2021
Exclusive: U.S. to extend transit mask mandate through mid-March – sources https://t.co/zJtTatkWJp pic.twitter.com/ngR1b8FIXp
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 2, 2021
======
WHO reopens debate over fairness of pandemic response. As wealthy countries react to the new #OmicronVariant w/ travel bans & booster shots, the World Health Organization scolded them, calling the steps ineffective & unfair https://t.co/3FEzsCl3Fr pic.twitter.com/dROYuH6av4
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) December 2, 2021
Facebook says a disinformation network with ties to China used hundreds of fake social media accounts to spread an unfounded claim that the U.S. pressured scientists to blame China for the coronavirus. https://t.co/zdWkGjaWXu
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 2, 2021
S.Korea hits new COVID-19 record, halts quarantine exemptions to block Omicron https://t.co/S6j1Bui8wx pic.twitter.com/IyWRA7S20b
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 2, 2021
BREAKING: Japan retracts a ban on new bookings on incoming international flights to defend against new variant due to criticisms. https://t.co/RjdahbOJTp
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 2, 2021
Asked about Japan's ban on new entries of foreigners, Michael Ryan, head of WHO's Health Emergencies, said "Epidemiologically, I find it hard to understand … Does the virus read your passport? Does the virus know …where you are legally resident?” https://t.co/m46HFkm2DV
— Motoko Rich (@motokorich) December 2, 2021
New Zealand's COVID-19 re-opening plans leave Maori feeling exposed https://t.co/G3oPVMHq9p pic.twitter.com/ABlNEHCPIn
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 2, 2021
An Israeli doctor who had contracted #OmicronVariant met with dozens of people. Just one has tested positive so far https://t.co/nZfh1ndk3g
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) December 2, 2021
Vladimir Putin has called for mutual recognition of coronavirus vaccines to help curtail the pandemichttps://t.co/p0pHhuFqaZ
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) December 2, 2021
Governments around the world are weighing new measures for populations tired of hearing about restrictions and vaccines, with the coronavirus delta variant of COVID-19 pushing up cases in Europe and growing fears over the omicron variant. https://t.co/72xVh26jK6
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) December 2, 2021
Time to consider mandatory Covid jabs, EU chief says https://t.co/TepjcJva1z
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 1, 2021
Germany to impose restrictions on unvaccinated to break COVID surge https://t.co/C3WUGUpbNQ pic.twitter.com/vaXTCryIwv
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 2, 2021
First case of Omicron variant case found in mainland France https://t.co/bPZuUzeLJB pic.twitter.com/HABphiPQVG
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 2, 2021
The government has ordered an extra 114-million doses of Covid vaccine, to be used for potential booster programmes.
On #BBCBreakfast Health Secretary Sajid Javid MP says it will “future proof” the vaccination effort. https://t.co/ZGvrRNFoaq pic.twitter.com/08GbsZy1Ll
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) December 2, 2021
South Africa’s new cases of COVID-19 have nearly doubled in just one day. The numbers signal a dramatic surge in the country where scientists detected the omicron variant last week. New confirmed cases rose to 8,561 Wednesday from 4,373 a day earlier. https://t.co/nf9pY2ebUA
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 2, 2021
Botswana's health director says majority of Omicron variant cases were asymptomatic https://t.co/AYTmICTfQy pic.twitter.com/BZhQ3JB9iA
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 2, 2021
Some tourists are delaying international trips amid uncertainty about omicron, and others are pressing ahead as they face new restrictions. The new COVID-19 variant is jolting a tourism industry just starting to regain its footing. https://t.co/4aCrgpo07u
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 1, 2021
======
And https://t.co/rd2V7wp4VT
"in 1/2 of samples in the lab, antibodies in the blood of ppl who'd recovered from #COVID19 were unable to stop the variant.
Moderna [said] blood samples from vax'ed people seemed to generate less of an immune response when exposed to the variant…"— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) December 2, 2021
From @trvrb https://t.co/FfZqNAY30P on #OmicronVariant a few vital insights:
– the virus 1st emerged between between Sep 9 & Oct 13
– spreading at a doubling time rate of 4.9 days
– Rt of #Delta is 0.8; Omicron is abt 2.5
– the Ro depends on population vax rate— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) December 1, 2021
Annual revaccinations against Covid will likely be needed "to maintain very robust and high levels of protection", Pfizer boss Dr Albert Bourla tells the BBC in an exclusive interview https://t.co/9juW4kYUGw pic.twitter.com/AKeX42fWiA
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 2, 2021
Scientists think they’ve found the trigger of rare blood clots after the AstraZeneca vaccine – a protein in the blood is attracted to a key component of the vaccine starting a chain reaction – fascinating stuff from @JamesTGallagher https://t.co/W0tzBhg1F6
— Rebecca Morelle (@BBCMorelle) December 2, 2021
======
"I'm enraged…that this pandemic has continued so long." Listen to these people who are doing everything they can to protect their loved ones + their communities, as they describe their anger + frustration towards those who won't join that effort.https://t.co/xcj8emeRj8
— William Brangham (@WmBrangham) December 2, 2021
California assures residents the state is prepared for #OmicronVariant after confirmation in the San Francisco Bay area of the 1st U.S. case of the newly identified coronavirus variant https://t.co/hCKFyZJN6H
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) December 2, 2021
Eyes are nervously on #OmicronVariant but #DeltaVariant is storming across Minnesota with ferocity. How could Omicron be worse than this?https://t.co/4BUuBFF7zJ
andhttps://t.co/jgGgdmGt1q
andhttps://t.co/EyJXA1cphI— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) December 2, 2021
We should be calling the immunity you may get from having Covid “infection-acquired immunity.“ Don’t concede the point that vaccine immunity is unnatural.
— Lindsay Beyerstein (@beyerstein) November 28, 2021
Non-natural immunity would include being infused with antibodies, as opposed to an immune response your own body mounts to the virus or a vaccine.
— Lindsay Beyerstein (@beyerstein) November 28, 2021
good reminder that a very good number of insane elected officials became radicalized the same way as their constituents by marinating for hundreds of hours in internet conspiracy filth until their brains broke & they now exist to serve only the facebook sewers https://t.co/dK7JboIbpq
— kilgore trout, uatx professor of turnip studies (@KT_So_It_Goes) December 1, 2021
YY_Sima Qian
On 12/1 China reported 53 new domestic confirmed & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region reported 53 new domestic confirmed & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 185 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the region.
At Heilongjiang Province 4 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 32 active domestic confirmed (all at Heihe) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases (at Qiqihar) in the province.
At Shanghai Municipality there currently are 3 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining. 3 residential compounds remains at Medium Risk.
At Xuzhou in Jiangsu Province there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case remaining.
At Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province there currently are 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.
At Dalian in Liaoning Province 6 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 6 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 134 active domestic confirmed & 13 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 Medium Risk site was re-designated to Low Risk. 3 sites remain at Medium Risk.
At Hebei Province 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 17 active confirmed cases (4 at Shijiazhuang & 13 at Xinji) in the province.
At Rizhao in Shandong Province there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 5 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.
At Sichuan Province 2 confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 3 active domestic confirmed cases remaining (2 at Chengdu & 1 at Zigong).
Chongqing Municipality 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 4 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.
At Henan Province there currently are 63 active domestic confirmed cases remaining (47 at Zhengzhou & 16 at Zhoukou).
Dehong Prefecture in Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 34 active domestic confirmed & 30 active domestic asymptomatic cases at the prefecture. 1 zone & 1 village at Ruili remain at Medium Risk.
Imported Cases
On 12/1, China reported 20 new imported confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 12 imported asymptomatic cases, 1 imported suspect case:
Overall in China, 35 confirmed cases recovered (20 imported), 22 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (15 imported) & 1 was reclassified as confirmed case (imported), & 2,103 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 906 active confirmed cases in the country (415 imported), 7 in serious condition (2 imported), 441 active asymptomatic cases (380 imported), 2 suspect cases (all imported). 31,646 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 12/1, 2,516.38M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 8.405M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 12/2, Hong Kong reported 6 new positive cases, all imported.
MikefromArlington
Fauci explaining why would be helpful too. I.e. letting it spread rampant increases the chances of mutations, etc
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports 5,806 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 2,644,027 cases. It also reports 49 deaths as of midnight, for an adjusted cumulative total of 30,474 deaths – 1.15% of the cumulative reported total, 1.18% of resolved cases.
Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 0.95.
368 confirmed cases are in ICU, 145 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 7,246 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,551,253 patients recovered – 96.5% of the cumulative reported total.
Six new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 5,959 clusters. 227 clusters are currently active; 5,732 clusters are now inactive.
5,795 new cases today are local infections. 11 new cases today are imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 142,607 doses of vaccine on 1st December: 4,744 first doses, 7,347 second doses, and 130,516 booster doses. As of midnight, the cumulative total is 53,671,277 doses administered: 25,858,982 first doses, 25,411,143 second doses, and 2,590,730 booster doses. 79.2% of the population have received their first dose, while 77.8% are now fully vaccinated.
mrmoshpotato
I call for this shitstain to admit he fucked around with our elections in 2016, Dump is his fascist, orange bitch, and they will throw themselves into the Sun immediately.
debbie
Ohio had 8,944 new cases yesterday. Thanks, Thanksgiving.
Matt McIrvin
Some early active-virus polio vaccines were actually mildly contagious, and the resulting “contact immunity” helped the vaccination effort along. But I don’t think there’s any evidence that omicron COVID infection confers helpful levels of immunity against other variants, nor is it harmless. So, bad idea.
There seems to be this really strong cognitive appeal to contrarian “promote the disease to fight the disease” approaches to COVID, to the extent that some people will leap to them without strong evidence. I suppose folk understandings of inoculation point in that direction. But I think it’s also related to the strange will to human sacrifice (particularly among conservatives and libertarians) that I mentioned in the discussion of Dr. Oz. Also to the idea that understanding something counterintuitive to the point of sounding backwards makes you the cleverest person in the room.
Barbara
@mrmoshpotato: I think this is as close as Putin has ever come to admitting failure — that his disinformation campaign to tarnish non-Russian vaccines has boomeranged and he now needs more credible health agencies to rescue the situation in Russia. I bet he still won’t allow release of transparent data.
New Deal democrat
This is probably the first day since before the Thanksgiving holiday where comparing week over week trends is valid.
In the US as a whole, the 7 day average was 86,700. Deaths were a little over 900.
Only 6 States – RI, KS, DE, KY, NJ, and CT – have a higher 7 day average of cases than they did one week ago. Regionally only the South and Northeast Census regions have close to as many cases as they did one week ago. The Midwest and West have substantially fewer.
We can expect the rebound in the data to last at least 2 more days, as they will be compared with the two holiday weekdays last week. Within about a week, we should get a feel for how many people contracted COVID over Thanksgiving dinner, as they present to doctors and hospitals.
So far, the data is consistent with an attenuated winter wave, but we really won’t know if it is just a temporary pause or not for another 10 days or so.
Internationally the EU seems to be stabilizing at a ratio of about 9 cases per capita for every 10 in the U.K., which is still below its Delta peak, and continues to have a relatively low death rate. Canada continues to have an excellent record, with cases having slowly risen in Ontario and Quebec – to levels below any US State except for FL, GA, LA, AL, HI, and also PR. Israel’s decline has ended – at a level equivalent to Canada.
Canada and Israel show that an EU-style winter wave is not inevitable. In general recent Delta outbreaks seem to blunt renewed impact from colder weather, including in many parts of the US.
Barbara
@Matt McIrvin: I just can’t fathom the complete indifference to the fact that such a strategy will nonetheless kill thousands of people.
Matt McIrvin
@Barbara: I don’t think it’s indifference–I think that’s part of the appeal. Accepting solutions that involve mass death means you’re a steely-eyed pragmatist, not a bleeding-heart softie. Playing with other people’s lives conveys a feeling of power.
I think accelerationist “heighten the contradictions” politics on the far left has similar motivations. I can even feel some of the emotional pull there.
lowtechcyclist
I would like to know what the Democratic Party is doing (if anything) to harness this rage.
Negative partisanship, dammit. Use it.
Wvng
Every time I’m ready to drop subscription to the FTFNYT they do some amazing investigative reporting, or do something like this: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/12/01/science/coronavirus-aerosol-simulation.html?smid=tw-share
NotMax
FYI.
rikyrah
@Barbara:
You will never convince me that Putin is vaccinated with the Russian vaccine.
I believe that he has Pfizer or MODERNA making his antibodies.?
rikyrah
So, Cousin Omicron is here ?
Like Ms. Delta Rona, he’s out here looking for the Unvaccinated ?
rikyrah
@NotMax:
Fire them
Post the jobs
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat: Last year, the big post-Thanksgiving spike became visible around December 2-3. But Thanksgiving was one day later, as well, and the COVID variants circulating at the time had a longer latency period. So that may not be a reliable indicator.
Robert Sneddon
The Scottish health authorities are reporting that a tenth verified case of Omicron variant COVID-19 is not connected with the previous cluster of nine other cases detected. Those previous cases were all connected to a single social event a couple of weeks ago. This indicates the Omicron variant is now spreading more widely through the population here. There is still no news of anyone suffering from this variant requiring hospitalisation, two weeks after the initial outbreak.
It’s likely that most of the people infected with the Omicron variant were vaccinated although the urban area (Glasgow and Lanarkshire) where the outbreak happened in has a lower uptake of vaccines than the rest of the country, in part because of its younger population.
Matt McIrvin
@lowtechcyclist: It’s tricky because in US electoral politics, awareness of cause and effect is very hard to push beyond blaming things on the President. If people are feeling bad, that reflects poorly on Joe Biden, not on anyone else, regardless of who caused it. Yes, that makes many forms of sabotage trivial–when a Democrat is in the White House, Republican politicians can win simply by hurting their own constituents. We saw that during the Great Recession.
Central Planning
Has anyone heard of getting omicron first provides immunity against delta or any other covid variants? Is the long-term bet for covid boosters similar to the flu vaccine where there will be protection for multiple variants, or is it too early to tell?
bluegirlfromwyo
@Barbara: It’s easy. They pat themselves on the backs for “letting us be born” (yes, that is a quote from a wingnut former friend) and, after that, it’s a free for all. If you don’t survive, sucks to be you (aka God’s will).
New Deal democrat
Tidbits on the Omicron front:
From Trevor Bedford:
https://mobile.twitter.com/trvrb/status/1466076807698862080
“This updated analysis gives a median estimate of the common ancestor to Omicron viruses of Sep 30 with a 95% credible interval of between Sep 9 and Oct 13.
“I’m now masking spike which has issues of spurious within-Omicron diversity due to amplicon dropout during sequencing.
“based on wildly divergent spike protein, I’m guessing that immune escape will be substantial and so I still suspect that it’s quite possible that Omicron will show lower intrinsic transmissibility than Delta.”
Consistent with Bedford’s analysis:
https://mobile.twitter.com/billcarlosbills/status/1466133320715153412
“Professor Hotez describes a possible “syndemic,” where omicron fails to unseat delta amongst the unvaccinated, but infects those with waning immunity (either from distant prior infection or vaccination but no booster).”
To which Dr. Jorge Caballero chimes in:
https://mobile.twitter.com/DataDrivenMD/status/1466192560733392899
“If you were in my mentions yesterday telling me I was misinterpreting the data, then surely you understand the significance of amplicon dropout in a region interest [this is the anomalous non-Alpha S-region dropout variant that surged in the U.K. in September and early October].
“We’ll keep finding earlier cases. Like I said: it’s been circulating under the radar for weeks-to-months. I stand by that statement.”
New Deal democrat
@Matt McIrvin: Hence, why I expect a continued rebound for at least a few days, and the dust won’t be settled for a week to 10 days.
Matt McIrvin
@Central Planning:
It’s way too early to determine anything like that.
Also too early, but I would not be surprised for this to be the long-term response to endemic COVID. I know Moderna has been testing combined COVID-flu vaccines, so it stands to reason they could also combine a multivalent COVID shot with a multivalent flu shot and cut down the number of shots.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Matt McIrvin: Don’t underestimate to appeal of the lazy ‘solution’ that allows you to do what you wanted to do anyway, like go back to pre-COVID normal. The GOP are good at coming up with these (cut taxes and it magically fixes the deficit). The fact that these ‘solutions’ never work and make things worse takes time to prove. Even if you can conclusively demonstate their ideas suck, they will keep spinning away to deny and distract.
Scout211
In local news, getting people vaccinated in underserved areas means going to the people.
Yes, there is still good news out there and progress is still being made getting more people vaccinated. It’s nice to read a positive story, right?
Matt McIrvin
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: The thing that gets me, though, is that getting vaccinated really is a lazy solution! It’s so easy! And conservatives are knocking that.
I’m not completely back to pre-COVID normal, but I got my booster and we went down to New York and went to a couple of shows and a convention and ate in restaurants, and then we went down to Virginia and (after a couple of negative fast-antigen tests) visited my folks for Thanksgiving. We had a great time! I was running some risk of infection, but my main concern was infecting my parents (who were boosted too), and the testing helped allay that. And all that was because of vaccination, and readily available tests, and, in the case of NYC, normalized vaccination checks at public places.
We might have to back off a bit because of omicron, but I don’t see a return to kind of discipline we had to exercise in spring 2020. It’s not as if most people in the US are advocating a zero-COVID approach.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County NY:
Monroe County website says 624 new cases yesterday. The National Guard is being deployed to area hospitals to help out the medical staff.
Percysowner
I totally admire Dr. Fauci for so many reasons. The top of list today is that when the reporter asked if we should let Omicron infect everyone he didn’t say “What kind of IDIOT are you?”, because I would have said it and I’m sure he was thinking it.
Matt McIrvin
@Percysowner: It’s an idea I’d seen knocking around on social media, because of course it would.
jnfr
Colorado is down from over 3000 cases/day to under 2000 cases. It’s still holding way too high though, and positivity is still over 9%.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Matt McIrvin: You would think vaccination would be the easy solution, but apparently needles are too scary for these big bold Trumpublicans.
burnspbesq
@Barbara:
The reports of Russians flocking to Serbia to get U.S. vaccines might also have something to do with it.
*Nobody* trusts Sputnik.
burnspbesq
@Percysowner:
That. Dr. Fauci’s response was much more polite and measured than mine would have been.
JustRuss
So that article about the surge of Covid deaths in Minnesota never mentions what percentage of the dead or hospitalized is unvaccinated. Seems like a bit of an oversight.
JaneE
I would really like to see hospitals refuse to treat Covid-19 patients unless they were vaccinated. That won’t happen, and probably really should not happen but the people who are denying care to others by deliberately choosing to take all the resources in the community for themselves need to have some kind of blowback.
Ruckus
@mrmoshpotato:
I like. I agree.
Ruckus
@Percysowner:
What the good doctor was likely thinking was more along the line of:
“What kind of FUCKING IDIOT are you?”
Ruckus
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
It’s that they think there is a computer/radio in the shot, that will first show the government what they are thinking, which is never a good thing to know, and because of that will show them to be the massive idiots they know they are, which is obvious because – just read the above.
Matt McIrvin
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: They’re fine with needles when they’re used for the Regeneron monoclonal antibody treatment! Those are Trump-endorsed needles.