How the US is handling COVID
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/sZdFRCUhx7
— Tall Eddy, MD (@TallDoctorEddy) January 4, 2022
U.S. President Joe Biden sought to reassure Americans amid a record rise in cases of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus https://t.co/Hh5FhvGLGS pic.twitter.com/JafO9sA99R
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2022
Quoting the @Bloomberg story :
"More than 1 million people in the US were diagnosed with #Covid19 on Monday as a tsunami of #Omicron swamps every aspect of daily American life…cases [reached] the most that any country has ever reported."https://t.co/PsOkBwYkG6— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) January 4, 2022
The explosive increase in U.S. coronavirus case counts is raising alarm, but some experts believe the focus should instead be on COVID-19 hospital admissions. And those aren’t climbing as fast. https://t.co/jsrxzs9vuB
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 4, 2022
The US gov't is doubling its order for Pfizer's Covid antiviral pills. The order will eventually provide enough pills for 10M people, bringing the total to 20M treatment courses. Only 35k of those courses will be delivered in January; 50k in February https://t.co/yBi1wEpIv9
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 4, 2022
In other words, if you're fully vaccinated and have done everything right, this is not the time to get hit by a car.
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) January 5, 2022
I just can't get over the argument — from a U.S. senator! — that instead of getting a vaccine to keep from getting sick, you should get sick to keep from getting sick. https://t.co/7dXZPgQaSx
— Philip Bump (@pbump) January 5, 2022
Actual doctors are reporting Ron Johnson’s tweets for misinformation. I like this analogy:
There are two ways you can learn that sticking your head in a campfire will hurt you. One is that you can be told that doing so will, at a minimum, catch your hair on fire and, more likely, cause extensive burns that will almost certainly demand medical attention. The other way you can learn this is by sticking your head in a campfire.
In both cases, you get to the same point: You have learned that this is a bad idea. You have been immunized against sticking your head into fires in the future, if you will — your body will now be resistant to doing so. But you got to that point through two very, very different paths. Perhaps in one you simply got part of your hair scorched off. Isn’t it still the case that simply having someone explain the dangers to you would have been better than taking that risk at all?..
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China reported a major drop in local COVID-19 infections in the northern city of Xi’an, which has been under a tight lockdown for the past two weeks. With the Beijing Olympics looming, China is doubling down on measures to prevent any sort of an outbreak. https://t.co/7apqndnTDO
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 5, 2022
China's Henan hit by COVID curbs after sporadic cases https://t.co/OhvXc0hj89 pic.twitter.com/LS0t6Nkaj1
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2022
Hong Kong leader announces new COVID measures, including flight bans https://t.co/S9Lq5gwk91 pic.twitter.com/Yqa2Mh3uK5
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2022
Thousands of passengers are being held on a cruise ship in Hong Kong for coronavirus testing after health authorities said nine passengers were linked to a recent omicron cluster and ordered the ship to turn back. https://t.co/OsA4XLkyqK
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 5, 2022
India reported 58,097 new COVID-19 cases, twice the number seen only four days ago, according to health ministry data, taking the total to more than 35 million https://t.co/CWUzDwwJwE pic.twitter.com/iToXQeGp0c
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2022
Curfew in Delhi as India Covid cases surge https://t.co/OGm8lOBs7b
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 5, 2022
S.Korea to appeal court order exempting private schools from vaccine passes https://t.co/v2gmUtUylN pic.twitter.com/Qi49SHG89c
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2022
Japan's Okinawa region appeared to be the epicenter of a new coronavirus surge with cases more than doubling from the previous day, as officials considered imposing emergency steps to contain it https://t.co/J2IkD4Bznz pic.twitter.com/IMdnmXCcZs
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2022
Philippines reports highest daily rise in COVID-19 cases in nearly 3 months https://t.co/CphmbSx0bO pic.twitter.com/oGwMtliF7B
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2022
Australia's daily COVID-19 cases hit a record high for the third consecutive day, further straining hospital resources and testing facilities as public anger grows over the handling of the fast-moving Omicron outbreak https://t.co/XmhfHKAZAx pic.twitter.com/G9MrZ5GFbF
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2022
Even in Israel, an early global leader against the coronavirus, the omicron variant is outpacing the government's ability to make and execute clear pandemic public policy, now a zigzag of rules that seem to change every few days. By @APLaurieKellman https://t.co/dNaBTyUfcP
— AP Middle East (@APMiddleEast) January 5, 2022
Russia on Wednesday confirmed 15,772 Covid-19 infections and 828 deathshttps://t.co/d2OZIKrKXI
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) January 5, 2022
An unprecedented number of coronavirus infections is once again exposing the underfunding and shortcomings of public health care systems, even in developed parts of Europe. By @aritzparra https://t.co/fP3cf2wdBa
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) January 5, 2022
Germany needs 15 million additional boosters to slow Omicron https://t.co/ZE5Hcz2NEl pic.twitter.com/GllUHeeDyv
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2022
Germany considers more contact limits as infections jump https://t.co/fX3mRGpcrY pic.twitter.com/8XrVqZxrar
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2022
Police in Spain seize 300,000 unauthorized Covid tests on the outskirts of Madrid. Near Barcelona, 208,000 antigen tests were stolen from a warehouse on New Year’s Eve https://t.co/y3kfbIvfF4
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 4, 2022
Macron's 'piss off' comments trigger new COVID law debate suspension-media https://t.co/p3p9A2snTI pic.twitter.com/3nbdOleyRZ
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2022
What’s the correct French for ‘snowflake’?
French parliament suspended debate on a new COVID-19 law early on Wednesday as opposition lawmakers demanded explanations from President Emmanuel Macron about comments in which he said he wanted to “piss off” unvaccinated people.
With a presidential election looming in April, in which he is expected to run, Macron may have calculated that enough people are now vaccinated – and upset with those who have not been vaccinated – for his comments to go down well with voters…
The draft bill will make it mandatory for people to show proof of vaccination to enter a restaurant, cinema, or take the train.
In the interview, Macron also said unvaccinated people were “irresponsible” and that he planned to make their lives so complicated that they would end up having a vaccine.
“Irresponsible people are no longer citizens,” he said, in another comment criticised by the opposition…
France has historically had more vaccine sceptics than many of its neighbours, and pandemic restrictions have triggered many street protests, but it now has one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the European Union. Nearly 90% of French aged 12 and over have been vaccinated…
The “piss off” comments – “emmerder” is a slang verb that can also be translated as “annoy” – was made in response to one of these readers, a nurse, who asked him about surgeries postponed for some vaccinated people because hospitals are busy treating non-vaccinated sick with COVID-19.
For months, people have had to show either proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test at many public venues. But as infections with the Delta and Omicron variants surge, the government has decided to drop the test option in the new bill.
Well worth clicking over to read John Burn-Murdoch’s long, data-intensive thread:
Excellent data-rich thread on Omicron mostly reporting on UK picture. Headline: less pressure on ICUs than this time last year, but far higher pressure on overall health sector due to COVID-caused staff shortages? https://t.co/eIfSp7qMkP
— Theo Farrell (@WarProf) January 5, 2022
COVID-19 testing rules in UK to be relaxed to reduce staff shortages -The Telegraph https://t.co/G3s2fOfg9z pic.twitter.com/NlQngduMT8
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2022
Rio cancels Carnival street parades due to rising COVID-19 cases, Omicron threat https://t.co/AaEOJQT5PN pic.twitter.com/cur5tyFQfP
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2022
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Thank @EricTopol for summarizing evidence that #Omicron is less virulent in lungs compared to #Delta & other #SARSCoV2 variants.
Still unclear is how much of lower hospitalization rates in current surge are due to viral factors vs to population immunity (vax + prior infections). https://t.co/iy8vZfeD9O— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) January 4, 2022
A persistent decline in lung function has been detected in individuals with Covid, who didn't require hospitalization. New research published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases https://t.co/SlQWZU8UzB
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 5, 2022
Study suggests that #COVID19 mRNA vaccination was associated with a lower incidence of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) in adolescents https://t.co/C3fhBYEBmb
— JAMA (@JAMA_current) December 20, 2021
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"NY #COVID Hospitalizations Top 2021 Surge Levels The risk of breakthrough infections >5X'ed in December, risk of hospitalizations nearly doubled; unvaccinated NYers are getting infected at >6x the rate of vax'ed ones & hospitalized at 14x the rate".https://t.co/iZFkMGBbmy
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) January 4, 2022
NJ covid cases way up….among the unvaccinated.
for those fully vaccinated, 1.5% got Covid. less than 1% hospitalized. pic.twitter.com/9Y0LIEgXQO
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) January 5, 2022
Massachusetts enters the new year with more than 2,000 hospitalized Covid-19 patients; we haven't seen today's death number since May, 2020 https://t.co/BYob8FB8YD pic.twitter.com/grbcC8pX9v
— Adam Gaffin (@universalhub) January 5, 2022
rikyrah
Peanut is out of school. Hopefully, they will do remote learning for the next couple of weeks.
Called the pharmacy. She just said to watch the website and when they get the okay, they will start accepting appointments for 12-16 booster ?
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
According to the Monroe County COVID website there were 1995 new cases reported with 18.5% test positivity.
THE NYSDOH website says 770 new cases yesterday.
Once these numbers get closer together the holiday backlog will have been cleared out.
satby
Given my exposure to a confirmed covid case Friday and because I started having symptoms night before last, I went for a covid test yesterday. The rapid test showed negative. I have to repeat in a couple of days before I go back to work, I’ll get the PCR test then. Right now I just have a really bad head cold-like illness, no fever.
Edited to add, hope Amir is ok!
Baud
There go my weekend plans.
satby
@Baud: this pandemic has just sucked the fun out of EVERYTHING!
debbie
@satby:
? for a second negative test.
debbie
Only 6 of 88 counties in Ohio have reached a vaccination rate of 60%. I’m in one of those counties, but it doesn’t feel like it’s a cause for celebration.
satby
@debbie: Well, if it’s a cold I’ll still be pissed, because how would I catch a cold masked? But I think right now it’s (so far) mild covid; I’m potentially exposed almost every day and my number had to come up at some point.
going to go have some Nyquil and go back to bed, everyone have a good day!
Kay
@debbie:
I’m in a low vaccination rate county and my nurse practitioner – our kids went to school together, I know her quite well- says health care people are struggling with feeling all their work over the past two years was futile. I get that. Most of them really do go into it to help people. She’s acting as a kind of cheerleader at her clinic, pointing out that they got thousands vaccinated who wouldn’t have done it without persuasion and nagging, so saved hundreds of lives. She says it’s a “new low” in morale and she didn’t think they go lower.
p.a.
@satby: Including myself, I know ~ 6 people with various symptoms (if any fever, very mild, <100F) who tested multiple times (-), and one person who tested (+) for non-covid flu. All claimed fully vaxxed. ‘Tis the season, and I think many vaxxed got a bit lazy with masking and got contact with the usual seasonal bullshit that we avoided last year. Pretty sure gf and I got it from a waitress who was not sounding too well. This was 3 weeks ago. Back to takeout and pickup after that.
Betty
@Kay: What a heavy burden these people are carrying. Some have reached the breaking point.
YY_Sima Qian
On 1/4 China reported 41 new domestic confirmed (2 previously asymptomatic) & 22 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Shaanxi Province reported 35 new domestic confirmed cases (all mild). 20 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 1781 active domestic confirmed cases (including 10 serious & 3 critical) in the province.
At Yuncheng in Shanxi Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case, a person arrived from Xi’an in Shaanxi.
At Guangdong Province there currently are 21 active domestic confirmed (all at Dongguan) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Foshan) cases in the province. All areas in the province are now at Low Risk.
Guangxi “Autonomous” Region did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 19 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Hulun Buir in Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 16 active domestic confirmed cases remaining (all at Manzhouli).
Shanghai Municipality reported 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 1 is a traced close contact of imported asymptomatic case reported on 1/1 (under centralized quarantine since then) & 3 are traced close contacts of domestic asymptomatic cases reported on 1/3 (under centralized quarantine since then). 1 domestic confirmed case recovered & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 8 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
Jiangsu Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Zhejiang Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed cases, both at Ningbo (in Beilun District), both traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine. All 26 cases in the new cluster are workers in the same factory. There currently are 457 active domestic confirmed cases in the province (spread across Shaoxing, Ningbo & Hangzhou). 1 factory & 1 village at Beilun District in Ningbo are currently at Medium Risk.
At Suzhou in Anhui Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city, part of the transmission chain from Zhejiang.
At Xiamen in Fujian Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining, a quarantine hotel worker.
At Chongqing Municipality there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining.
Henan Province reported 4 new domestic confirmed (2 previously asymptomatic) & 18 asymptomatic cases. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 27 active domestic confirmed & 43 active domestic asymptomatic cases.
Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 18 active domestic confirmed & 9 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Tongren in Guizhou Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city, a person who returned from Jinghong, Sipsongpanna Prefecture in Yunnan.
Imported Cases
On 1/4, China reported 50 new imported confirmed cases (3 previously asymptomatic), 49 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in China, 56 confirmed cases recovered (22 imported), 22 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (21 imported) & 5 were reclassified as confirmed cases (3 imported), & 3,106 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 3,291 active confirmed cases in the country (921 imported), 31 in serious condition (3 imported), 632 active asymptomatic cases (565 imported), 1 suspect case (imported). 42,454 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 1/4, 2,863.561M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 8.336M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 1/4, Hong Kong reported 39 new positive cases, 36 imported (from Italy, the Philippines, Canada & the US) & 3 domestic (1 from the restaurant cluster seeded by an infected flight crew & 2 cohabitating family members of another infected flight crew). 1 preliminarily domestic positive case (suspected to be Omicron) does not have source of infection identified, lives & works in a different district from the restaurant cluster. Due to the risk of Omicron in the community, the city is halting dining in at restaurants & night markets, closing bars/karaokes/fitness centers/theme parks, & suspending sporting events & other mass gatherings. Due to the rapid escalation in imported cases, the city is also triggering a 7 days circuit breaker suspension of all inbound flights from 8 countries w/ high COVID-19 prevalence & account for most inbound traffic – the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, France, India, Pakistan & the Philippines. Both sets of decisions will generate massive grumbling against the city’s government, especially from the foreign expat community.
debbie
@Kay:
How can they not be discouraged? This whole situation is heart-breaking.
New Deal democrat
Not such good news internationally, as South Africa’s decline has stalled out at roughly a 65% decline from peak, while deaths have made a new high for the wave at 6.5x their pre-Omicron low. Canada’s death rate also continues to rise sharply, having more than doubled in the past week to a level 2/3’s of its Delta peak. At its Delta peak, Canada recorded 5000 cases per day, the same level as 3 weeks ago. In other words, deaths in Canada, which started its a Omicron wave a little before the US, appear to be increasing much more sharply than in South Africa. By contrast, deaths in the UK have only increased about 10% vs. pre-Omicron.
In the US, *maybe* NY, HI, and PR, which were hit hard early, are peaking, as cases have leveled off in the past 2 days – but this may still be an artifact of holiday reporting. Hospitalizations increased over 5% again yesterday, have exceeded their Delta peak, and are likely to exceed their all time peak within about 3 days. Ten days ago new cases were below last winter’s peak, so this suggests that COVID has not been “mild” in the US in terms of cases needing hospitalization.
One other important news items yesterday. The “Job Openings and Labor Turnover” report was issued yesterday, showing a record number and rate of health care workers quitting their jobs:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?id=JTS6200QUL,
600,000 heath care workers, or 3% of the total – 30% higher than the highest level ever recorded pre-pandemic – quit their jobs *in November*, I.e., after Delta abated but before Omicron. This is an absolute crisis. In addition to pay and other “normal” considerations, it is clear that putting up with abuse from anti-vaxxer patients and their families is driving health care workers to the exits. This is creating a further crisis for all other non-COVID patients requiring help.
A while back I got into a heated exchange with several other commenters about anti-vaxxer patients benefiting from triage. Well, if your system of triage is driving your health care providers to the exits, exacerbating the crisis, it is failing.
HinTN
Everybody reports the fact that omicron has a lower hospitalization rate as a good thing. Nobody reports that the number of folks infected provides a far greater opportunity for the thing to mutate. This is a long way from over.
New Deal democrat
@Kay: see my comment above about the JOLTS survey. Health care workers have been quitting in record numbers, even before Omicron.
Coddling the unvaccinated is failing.
Kay
@debbie:
It was interesting because it’s not “the abuse” from the most vehement anti-vaxxers, she says that has been going on for years, it’s that they hear over and over from a much larger group that vaccines “don’t work”. If you’ve spent the last two years begging and cajoling and doing radio interviews (which she does) to encourage vaccines and people now wave you off with “they don’t work” that would be discouraging.
YY_Sima Qian
@HinTN: My nightmare is if by chance Omicron picks up some mutations that a allow the virus to replicate better in lung cells. Not even necessarily to the same level as Delta, just half the replication rate would be catastrophic from public health perspective.
New Deal democrat
@HinTN:
“the fact that omicron has a lower hospitalization rate”
Except that the decline in hospitalizations relative to cases has not been that much. In NY, for example, hospitalizations climbed from 4000 to 10,000 in the past 20 days (about 150%). In the 20 day period starting 10 days previously, the average number of cases rose from 9400 to 24,700 (about 160%). Properly lagged, hospitalizations have been rising at almost the same rate as cases.
Robert Sneddon
Because masks aren’t perfect protection? Too many folks believe that wearing a mask makes them invulnerable, and it doesn’t.
Wear a mask AND maintain social distance AND don’t go visit Grandma on Thanksgiving AND get vaccinated and boosted when the opportunity arises. Even then it’s a crapshoot, but masks are way down the list of options to prevent catching any respiratory disease.
lowtechcyclist
@Kay:
Especially because the consequence of “they don’t work” is that there’s no end in sight. Even during last winter’s horrible third wave, they could hold onto the knowledge that vaccines were coming, and once practically everyone got vaccinated, their burden would return to more or less normal levels.
We’ve had the vaccines for a year, but there’s a big chunk of the population that won’t get vaxxed, and here we are. What reason do they have to hope now?
Steeplejack
I find the evolving situation sort of mystifying. A lot of people seem to be seizing on the fact that Omicron is “less dangerous” to let down their guard, possibly spurred by COVID fatigue. People really want to go back to “normal” life. But, even if Omicron is less dangerous, the much larger number of people infected translates to more people being hospitalized and more people dying. To (over)simplify, 0.1% of 1,000 people is just as bad as 1% of 100 people in raw numbers.
I see it in my own social group. My brother and his husband got back Sunday night from a week’s vacation in London. (I had my doubts about that, but they booked the trip before Omicron.) I picked them up at the airport and gave them a ride home (all of us masked N95 or KF94). Then they invited me over for dinner Monday night. Yeah, no. It’s great that you got negative COVID tests before your flights, but then you spent 10-12 hours on two crowded airplanes (London-Orlando, Orlando-D.C.). I’ma wait a few days or so to see how things go.
What also surprised me is that some mutual friends, a gay couple in their early 50s, apparently did go over for dinner on Monday. WTF. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t give it a miss. But apparently people are getting more casual about their precautions. So now I’m starting to wonder whether I’m being too “stringent.” I don’t think so, but, as I said, the situation is getting confusing. I have the luxury of using isolation as my primary anti-COVID strategy, but at some point I, too, would like to get back to something like “normal life” (whatever that will turn out to be).
p.a.
@lowtechcyclist:
Fucking head of Providence RI police union just on the news this a.m. opposing mandatory vax because “they don’t work.”
Baud
Numerically equivalent, but morally different since today the vast majority of the dead have willingly chosen that path.
Sloane Ranger
Back from my cruise yesterday. Have already sent off my PCR test and am self-isolating while waiting for the result as per government regulations for England. So, a belated Happy New Year to everyone and, without further ado, the UK numbers (which are a bit of a mess after the festive period with different home nations reports covering different time periods). Nevertheless, here is what the official site is reporting.
Yesterday (4th January), we had 218,724 new cases. This is a 50.9% increase in the rolling 7-day average. Case numbers reported by individual nations are,
England – 148,725
Northern Ireland – 30,423 (covers at least 4 days)
Scotland – 17,259
Wales – 22,317 (covers at least 2 days).
Deaths – There were 48 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. The rolling 7-day average is up by 51.8%. 25 deaths were in England, 15 in Northern Ireland, 8 in Wales and none in Scotland.
Testing – 1,703,612 tests took place on Monday, 3rd January. The rolling 7-day average for tests conducted is up by 1.2%. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs on that date was 928,747.
Hospitalisations – As of Friday 31st December, there were 14,126 people in hospital and 883 on ventilators. The 7-day average for hospital admissions was up by 50.1%as of 27th December.
Vaccinations – As of Monday, 3 January, 51,820,652 people had had 1 shot of a vaccine, 47,482,789 had had 2 and 34,363,986 had had a 3rd shot/booster. So, as of that date, 90.1% of all UK residents aged 12+ had had 1 shot, 82.6% had had 2 and 59.8% had had a 3rd shot/booster.
rikyrah
@satby:
??????For Amir
rikyrah
@satby:
??????For a second negative test
Nelle
@Betty: This may sound simplistic, but I encourage reaching out to health care workers, especially those in hospital settings, by text or bringing them a meal or something. January looks bleak enough without the surge. We’ve taken homemade cinnamon rolls to a neighbor who is so tired but gets in her car and goes to the hospital everyday she is scheduled. I’m thinking about a lasagna next week. (We got Christmas goodies from a neighbor we don’t see that often and he said that they wanted to thank me for working to get out the vote. I appreciated being remembered that way so much!)
rikyrah
@New Deal democrat:
Coddling these muthaphuckas was always the wrong thing ??
topclimber
@New Deal democrat: Wouldn’t the proper comparison be between delta-level rates vs. the omicron ones of the past month?
Kay
@lowtechcyclist:
That’s a really good point.
I think there’s exhaustion and burn out in a lot of public- facing roles at work. I’m never rude to service people but I’ve been trying to buck them up- good job!- whatever. Maybe it helps.
One of the “symptoms” of burn out is “not caring”, obviously a real concern for health care people. They have to care about outcomes.
rikyrah
@Steeplejack:
Protect yourself
You are not being too stringent
Steeplejack (phone)
@Baud:
True.
To add to my previous comment, another somewhat hidden factor is the attrition of health-care workers as they drop out with battle fatigue. And, as others have noted, keep your fingers crossed that you don’t have to go to the hospital for a non-COVID reason.
The Pale Scot
I had to GTFA for a few days, so I’m at Madeira Beach, looking longingly at the mid 60’s F Gulf. Two years ago I’d dive right in. I did laps at the Municipal and then went to the beach at night. Every day for 15 years. But now? The hotel has a a full length mirror which I don’t at home, I’m a mess, I’ve lost 20-30lbs of muscle. This pandemic is going to take a decade off my lifespan. With the jack up in rents, I can’t get a place located like I had before.
Two years ago someone said we had a choice between keeping the bars open or keeping the schools open, we choose the bars. One out of five healthcare workers have left, a year from now I’d bet half because there is only so much death you can watch, especially death cheerfully chosen by the unvaccinated.
CNN is reporting that the Chicago teachers gave the school system the bird today. The long tails of the teacher population will leave also. The teachers that have ten years invested and a mortgage will have to gut it out, those close to retirement will stick it out, the young people starting out are gone. The nut jobs on CNN are calling the no shows a catastrophe for children. Huh yea, and there’s been 2 years to find a solution, where the fuck were u asshole?
Like this is unexpected. There’s already another variant in the batting circle. People are so fucking stupid
The only solution is refuse care to the unvaccinated, for anything. Fuc’em
NotMax
Panama now country #68 to report more than 500k total cases.
Meanwhile, in the Windy City,
Baud
@Steeplejack (phone):
I was in the hospital last week and may need to go again next week. But it’s not the ER or ICU, so I’m hoping it works out.
Nelle
@rikyrah: Agree!
Another Scott
@Steeplejack: We met a former colleague at Huntley Meadows on NYE. She was telling us about an aunt’s family that all tested positive. The husband only tested positive 5 days after everyone else. You’re right to continue to be careful.
Good luck! Stay safe, everyone.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@satby: Good luck and feel better!
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Baud: Hoping for the best. Hang in there!
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Baud:
I hope it’s nothing major. ?
My recent surgery, recounted in gory detail here, was delayed because of COVID and staffing shortages at the medical center. It wasn’t a hardship, but it would be for people needing, say, a knee replacement or sudden critical care.
Steeplejack (phone)
@rikyrah:
Thanks. I think I’m doing the right thing, but I’m surprised at some of the people around me.
Soprano2
Talk to anyone who interacts with the public on the phone or in person – they are worn out. I talked to my chiropractor’s office manager about it yesterday. She said for the last year people are angrier and ruder when she talks to them. Our front desk person here says the same thing. Everyone is worn out and on edge. I don’t know how any of you can not get that. I think a lot of people believed the vaccines would put an end to the pandemic – I certainly did. I didn’t anticipate that so many people would decide to learn the lesson about Covid the hard way, rather than the easy way. I agree, it’s time to quit coddling the unvaccinated – they’ve made their bed, let them lie in it. Getting governments and other entities to agree to that is a different matter
ETA – aren’t all the high Covid numbers distorted by the holiday weekend? Again, reporting with no context. Someone told me Israel is reporting that there is a Covid/flu hybrid, which sounds unlikely to me, so I’m going to Google it and see what I can find out. Ok, I found out – it’s a woman who has both the flu and Covid at the same time, not some mutant Covid/flu hybrid virus. Sheesh, the things people believe and are spreading. Hope I can stop him from telling that to more people.
New Deal democrat
@topclimber:
“Wouldn’t the proper comparison be between delta-level rates vs. the omicron ones of the past month?”
Continuing with the example of NY, during Delta cases rose roughly 16x from 325 to 5200, while hospitalizations rose 4.3x from roughly 700 to 3000.
So far, Omicron is worse than Delta in the rate of increase in hospitalizations vs. infection, while the absolute ratio of both cases and hospitalizations has been lower since before a Omicron took off. In math terms, absolute value lower, first derivative roughly the same.
Kay
@Soprano2:
Well, I do sort of get that since I brought it up and I’m public facing and worked in person thru the whole thing. Mine just wasn’t that hard because I don’t get the general public in my office and I’m kind of stern if they act up so they’re a little afraid of me :)
But I agree. I see the stress on clerks, etc. I saw it at the airport. I don’t fly that much but when I did last month you could feel “I’m done with this shit” from the employees.
pajaro
Kid Number 2–his older kid (grandkid number 4, 4 years old and unable to be vaccinated) tested positive. His MIL tested positive as well.
Kid Number 3–her younger kid (grandkid number 5) tested positive, and then she and her husband (vaxed and boostered) tested positive.
In both cases, they were traveling and visiting others, but always with only vaxxed individuals, and always masked indoors. In neither case do they know how they got it. Maybe it was in the airport, even though all of them were masked, maybe in a bathroom in a rest stop. (none of the relatives they visited have reported having it). In both cases, it was the three and four year olds, who were too young to be vaxxed, who brought it into the family.
All have flu symptoms–little kids have low fever and not much else, adults have sore throats, muscle aches, runny nose, fatigue–but nothing dire.
so far Ms. Pajaro and I are unaffected. We have the ability to isolate ourselves, and are going to do so for a few weeks, until this wave has subsided in our part of the world.
bottom line from our anecdotes–this variant is really, really contagious, and the precautions that would have been sufficient to keep us safe during delta do not seem to have worked this time.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud:
@satby:
LOL! Thanks for the laugh on this cold, windy morning.
Percysowner
A semi good news story. On Monday, right before I was supposed to watch my granddaughter my son-in-law calls and says my daughter is feeling sick with all the symptoms of COVID or just a bad cold. Since I have my second chemo session Thursday, I’m off child care duty for now. My daughter tries to find a quick test facility. Everyone is booked up. She goes to a walk in place gets a negative antigen test, but is told that it’s too soon to be a sure thing. She gets a PCR test but is told that it will take a WEEK AND A HALF to get results. All this time I’m telling her to call her doctor and get them to order the test and she’s saying since the self schedule tests show NO openings, surely a doctor’s order won’t change anything.
Anyway, she had an appointment for a checkup this week and called to cancel and the doctor ordered a PCR test, which she got yesterday. The results came back today and they are negative. She now has to take the kiddo for a test, since the kiddo is now showing symptoms. But the pediatrician has ordered the test and the kiddo goes in this morning. My daughter did call to say I was right about contacting the doctor for the test.
If any of you guys need a test, call the doctor, don’t wait for an online schedule. Doctors do have ways to get you tested more quickly.
Cermet
So, this is going to be a very difficult January, and likely February; March/Spring (can’t wait!) should bring relief unless a new variant develops that supersedes Omicron. But can’t even, really, look that far ahead as January unfolds so badly. Still, we here are all doubled vaxxed, and most boosted or waiting their turn so regardless, we will weather this storm even as we endure it. Meanwhile I and I’d assume many here are dreading the “When our turn occurs to receive our extra ‘natural’ vax via getting the damn thing” happens. All thanks to the truly stupid and their evil leaders.
mrmoshpotato
@p.a.:
Just another version of “You can’t tell me what to do!”
The city should throw out their union contract while saying no one can tell them not to take it and toss it.
satby
@Robert Sneddon: dude, frustrated rhetorical question. I work in healthcare, but thanks for the mansplain.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 16,300 cases reported today but again with the caveat that testing is backed up and reporting, especially of RT-PCR lab tests is uncertain. Test positivity rate is 27%. Five deaths of people with a COVID-19 diagnosis within 28 days were reported. This is almost certainly an undercount given no reporting of deaths happened over the past four days due to holidays. I expect corrected numbers will be released before the weekend.
Hospitalisation numbers continue to climb, reaching over 1,200 but ICU/mechanical ventilation bed occupancy remains low at just over 40.
Freemark
According to the NYT data in the State of DeathSantis hospitalizations have been doubling every week the last three weeks. If that happens for even one more week they’re in for a world of hurt.
Ghost of Joe Liebling*s Dog
@p.a.:
Why does Providence even have a police force, since having one hasn’t ended all crime?
Policing obviously doesn’t work.
Ohio Mom
@Percysowner: Even if I only had a mild case, confirmed somehow without my PCP’s involvement, I would drop her a note via my My Chart account, just to keep her in the loop. Because I am getting old and acquiring conditions, I think it wise to maintain a strong connection. Also, considering there is lots to learn about the after affects of Covid, I’d want the dates of my illness documented.
On another note, today’s Cincinnati Enquirer headline is “Virus is bad, getting worse.” That’s strong words from them, they generally coddle their mainly Republican readership.
Other items announce reduced hours at the public library, Cincinnati University going online, and Northern Kentucky Universoty delaying the start of classes. It looks to me we are going to have a de facto lockdown.
Soprano2
@Kay: I know, I’m not talking about you. I know you worked in the office the whole time, as did I and many of the people I work with. I’m talking about the people who seem to believe none of this is that hard, and that everyone can work at home anyway so what’s the big deal. I get so frustrated by these discussions that “everything in the workplace has changed we’re never going back to the office”, because for a large number of people this is not true! I heard a co-worker talking about it this morning, saying “Most people are just done with this. One of the local hospitals has said now you can’t wear cloth masks there anymore, it has to be a special one they give you. What’s up with that?”. And this is true, I heard it last night on the news. People who don’t read Covid news regularly are tired, confused, and fed up with how the rules seem to change daily. It has the effect that they just stop thinking about it altogether. This co-worker is vaxxed, BTW. It’s not just the unvaxxed idiots who feel this way.
Yarrow
@satby: In UK people are finding that nasal swabs alone don’t always pick up Omicron. They have symptoms consistent with Omicron, test with nasal swab (at home test) and it’s negative. Do another test and this time swab their throat and it’s positive.
Anyway
@Soprano2:
I agree completely. We dump on the unvaxxed here (and yes, they deserve all the condemnation) but communication on the vaccines has been awful. In retrospect the May CDC recommendation to drop masks if vaccinated was the wrong call. We should have continued masking indoors even among vaccinated. The May decision got wide play. Stores have signs citing the CDC recommendation about masking required for unvaccinated.
Yes, I am pointing fingers at the CDC – it’s their job to communicate clearly to the public. All the emphasis is on vaccines – but the fact that mitigation measures are still necessary for vaccinated and boosted folk is kind of glossed over.
satby
@Yarrow: Yes, I think the old tests don’t pick up Omicron as well. Which is what I assume I most likely have. I haven’t had a “cold” for at least 5 years.
The Thin Black Duke
Sooner or later, Big Biz is going to find out that truckloads of people dying is bad for their bottom line. Sometimes I wonder how big a number it has to be. I bet there’s going to be a lot of zeros and commas.
Starfish
@satby: A lot of people with COVID were testing negative on the rapid test with the omicron variant.
Robert Sneddon
@Anyway: You are totally wrong but, hey…
The CDC, the WHO, the JCVI and every other national and international health authority has been screaming “Get vaccinated!” for the past year and more. No mixed messaging there. Distracting mentions of advice about masks doesn’t absolve the cohort of poor “confused” anti-vaccination types of blame for their stupid actions. They have all sorts of reasons for not getting vaccinated, from “natural immunity” through to truly mind-boggling dark conspiracies by supposed elites. Poor messaging by all these agencies isn’t one of them.
As for masks, the way Joe Public selects and wears them makes them less than effective as a serious barrier to infection but they’re all we had pretty much until vaccination was possible. At worst they gave people an excuse to go out and catch and spread this disease, visit with friends, eat out, party and attend sports events and the like while “masking”.
Starfish
So school is starting back today. The school district sent an attachment from public health saying to expect their ability for contact tracing to be overwhelmed and that they will not be able to inform us of all the COVID contacts in the school because they expect that many due to omicron.
VOR
Re: Ron Johnson’s stupidity, Will Rogers called it years ago.
Lacuna Synecdoche
AP via Anne Laurie @ Top:
Patrick Chovanec:
Well, uh … that ramped up quickly.
I’m guessing the downplayers will move to “But when we said hospital admissions, we really meant ICU admissions.” To be followed by, “Maybe we should be concentrating on death counts instead?”
To be fair, I do agree that, depending on the context, hospitalization counts may be the more relevant figure in some cases. But it seems like a lot of people are just using that as an excuse to downplay Omicron and avoid taking any measures to slow down the case rate.
Anyway
@Robert Sneddon:
Pushing vaccinations and boosters is good – I have no problem with that. But the message that life does not go back to “normal” after vaccination is not as well communicated. That the vaccinated still have to follow mitigation measures and they can still get and transmit the virus gets glossed over.
Lacuna Synecdoche
Reuters via Anne Laurie:
I’m nowhere near fluent in French – I know maybe a few tourist phrases – but even I can see that the root of emmerder is merde. So wouldn’t the proper translation be something like “shit on”?
Can someone fluent in French enlighten us?
laura
Sending out healing thoughts to our dear commenter Amir Khalid.
Tenar Arha
@Ohio Mom: They are de facto locking down. The Arisia convention in Boston was just canceled. But even before that, the program tracks were light. (I’m not in the loop, but I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of rollover memberships & program cancellations were increasing during December).
smith
@Anyway: What’s usually missing in discussions of whether vaxxed people still need to mask is the paramount importance of the level of community transmission you’re living with. Last June, when that level was very low, it probably wasn’t necessary to mask to stay safe. Now, it’s dumb not to. People want some absolute guidelines that will be true forever, but the actual answer is, it depends. We need a lot more emphasis on WHAT it depends on.
Lacuna Synecdoche
@Steeplejack:
You’re not.
Take a look at the skyrocketing case numbers, hospitalizations, and deaths in the charts Anne Laurie has at top if you need confirmation for that.
scav
@Lacuna Synecdoche: Yes merde is shit, but if one translates for meaning rather than exact word for word, piss off or annoy captures the essential tone. Emmerder is really common — in at least the crowds I ran with it was — so I can understand why the translators went with the common English equivalent In English, having a president announce a policy of shitting on you is a bit more of a step than his trying to piss you off or inconvenience you.
Lacuna Synecdoche
@Soprano2:
Or die in it, as the case may be.
Lacuna Synecdoche
@scav:
Merci.
Pity. I’d like to shit on the willfully unvaccinated myself, and I liked Macron a little better when I thought he did too.
unrelatedwaffle
I’m working from home with my almost-3-year-old kid being looked after by my unemployed husband again, since daycare is too much of a crap shoot. I HOPE we can send her back in February, but who knows.
We did this for 6 months in 2020, and it sucked the life out of me then, when she was still pretty unaware. The poor tyke has never had a birthday party, can’t play with friends, is acting out in many ways big and small. I’m so fucking angry and sad every day for what she’s been robbed of, what all the kids are missing out on because the willfully denying, selfish, lazy, greedy adults are the real children.
The only thing that restores my faith in humanity is reading doctors’/scientists’ Twitters. They are still working their asses off to help people. They have achieved unbelievable, incredible!!! feats of human ingenuity that our country full of duds can’t even comprehend on a 6th grade level. They go the extra mile every single day for people who literally spit on them in parking lots. They tear up when their patients are discharged instead of dying. They endure discomfort all day to keep as many people safe as possible. They stare infuriating ignorance in the face and say “today, I choose to learn more and to keep fighting.” Flying Spaghetti Monster bless every one of you, you give me the will to go on.
scav
@Lacuna Synecdoche: They’re certainly fussy enough with him as is — and many are running with the shit connotations rather than the legally more problematic statement that irresponsible people aren’t citizens.
Fair Economist
@YY_Sima Qian: Absolutely. And if not Omicron, then the next hypermutated variant. Whatever hypermutated Omicron is still out there, and it will make more.
J R in WV
So pissed off that the moment someone regarded as “in authority” hinted that masking was not essential today, everyone jumped on “I never need to wear a mask again. Hurray!!” and never looked back, even when the sign on the medical waiting room says “You HAVE to WEAR a MASK to be in here!”
And at Kroger’s where I go to pick up our prescriptions, mask wearing is at a real low now. Yesterday I went to town for the first time since the week before Xmas, and it seemed like I was the only person wearing a mask until I ran into my neighbor who works at the Health Dept and was wearing a KN95 mask, as I was.
I saw several guys wearing a bandanna, like a bandit robbing a train… I guess that’s better than nothing, but only a tiny little bit. I’m going back to my 3M industrial respirator, which is N100 for particulates, intended for use in environments with toxic particulates, like Corona virus. It also doesn’t fog my glasses, which is a good thing. Grrrr.
Unvaccinated folks should be banned from the hospitals — then when they ask why they should get vaccinated if it doesn’t work, we can say because you won’t be allowed into the hospital if you don’t get fully vaxed. And there will be room for vaccinated people who need treatment. I’m supposed to go in for a colonoscopy next month… hmm.
Kay
@Starfish:
What do you think about that at this point? Would you rather contact tracing and a quarantine/”test and stay” approach?
Honestly asking – it’s a hard problem.
Percysowner
@J R in WV:
Now in my Kroger, most people are wearing masks. The sign says you have to and they do. I’m in an upper middle class part of Columbus and I suspect a lot of my neighbors are vaccinated as am I and we all seem to be aware of the dangers of not masking.
Can you get your colonoscopy at a stand alone facility? That’s where I had mine, in 2020. It avoided any hospital interaction. Or in West Va do they just do it all at the hospital?
dnfree
@satby: My husband had those symptoms the week before Christmas. They did both flu and Covid tests, and he had flu. They said they’re seeing a lot of that too.
Munira
@Lacuna Synecdoche: Both translations are correct. https://www.wordreference.com/fren/emmerder
satby
Everyone keeps talking about “coddling the unvaccinated”, but I don’t think they are. Mandates imposed get overturned by courts (not all the time, but enough), Republican legislatures are rushing legislation to outlaw requiring vaccines, etc. Short of having the military arrest and mass vaccinate people, what exactly is supposed to be done? We only have so many tools: if someone is willing to lose a job, family, or military career over it there’s not much else that can be done short of living in a police state… which we’re against.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@satby: Really bad head cold is what my case of COVID last year was like. Sneezing, screaming headache, low grade fever for a few days and a week or so of severe fatigue. I hope you get well soon and no after affects! Of the 5 of us that met up in August before my daughters wedding, all 5 got COVID. The two who got a Rapid test first tested negative , then positive with a PCR test 24 hours later.
satby
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: In spite of the negative result I’m assuming it is covid and isolating. Will repeat a test in two or three more days. Considering I’m in a denialist/refusenik red state and work with the public, I’m just happy I was able to evade it as long as I have so that I could get vaxxed, boosted, and have it be as mild as this seems to be. Science is wonderful!
StringOnAStick
I normally do my shopping early and on weekdays, but to beat the impending snow storm I went to the store Sunday afternoon; I won’t be making that mistake again. Up until now it was always 100% masked, likely because it is the local small organic market. Sunday there were several nose exposers and a fully unmasked person; I’ve never seen either there before.
I think people have reached their critical mask fatigue point just in time for Omicron to smash what’s left of our medical workers ability to keep doing their jobs.
featheredsprite
@unrelatedwaffle: Hang on sweetheart. Tip from an old woman:
Don’t judge your performance until the emergency is safely over. Just go for it.
Another Scott
I’ve seen bits and pieces of the information in this story, but it’s good to have all the details in one place. STATNews (from 1/5):
Since Delta hasn’t gone away, a sensible approach (if one has enough test kits on hand) may be to use one test in the nose and one in the throat. IANAMD, just spitballing. It will be interesting to see how the home test recommendations evolve over the coming weeks and months.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
It’s a big problem.
(via LOLGOP)
Cheers,
Scott.