Press Secretary Jen Psaki countered the claim that the country has ‘lost control’ of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying ‘200 million people are vaccinated. Those are people who are seriously protected from illness and death from the virus’ https://t.co/O2zYCNYltR pic.twitter.com/2pqHFobQfq
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 5, 2022
.@CDCDirector endorses the recommendation from #ACIP that 12 to 15 yos be urged to get a Covid booster 5 months after their 2nd shot and that the recommendation for 16-17 yos be strengthened to say they *should* be boosted. https://t.co/u9aR43x4gv
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) January 6, 2022
Pfizer expects updated COVID-19 vaccine data for kids under 5 by April https://t.co/FxdlsK4Grl pic.twitter.com/9ZeywzhVb0
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 6, 2022
The rolling seven-day average number of new COVID-19 cases in the United States hit 540,000, a new high for an eighth consecutive day, forcing administrators to grapple over how and whether to keep classrooms open https://t.co/enK7b1hWSF pic.twitter.com/qZgV5qJDDk
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 6, 2022
CDC now recommends that people stay 'up to date' on booster shots. Although the agency said it wasn't changing its definition of 'full vaccination,' it did say 3 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna’s vaccines should be considered up to date inoculations https://t.co/EnkfMXT9ob
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 5, 2022
Thread of scary numbers, from an expert who isn’t a doom-poster:
I keep looking at New York State as the indicator for what's to come in the US. For new cases/capita, it's leading the US. If it were a country, it would now be the 2nd highest in the world after Ireland. In contrast to the CDC, the state has a lot of solid new data to review /1 https://t.co/gqyNo6A59P pic.twitter.com/byud6eRaXP
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) January 6, 2022
Not enough nurses: US hospitals are seeing a different kind of Covid surge this time. They're dealing with serious staff shortages because so many healthcare workers are getting sick w/ #OmnicronVariant https://t.co/WLwh62UCj8
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 6, 2022
======
Nearly 900,000 new cases in USA today.
Latest data on #COVID19 from largest epidemics in the world. pic.twitter.com/qKqjyVC3U6— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) January 6, 2022
China's Henan imposes more COVID curbs as cases spike, though numbers small https://t.co/gF3yYRSWQQ pic.twitter.com/JUAAr4fLeP
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 6, 2022
More cities in central China’s Henan province imposed COVID restrictions as infections there rose sharply, while authorities in the northwestern city of Xian apologised on Thursday to a woman whose miscarriage during lockdown stirred public outrage.
Henan reported 64 domestically transmitted infections with confirmed symptoms for Wednesday, up from just four a day earlier, official data showed on Thursday.
While those numbers are small by global standards, and no cases of the highly transmissible Omicron variant have been reported so far in Henan, several cities there imposed new limits on travel and other activities in response…
Nearly all of the more than 4 million residents of Xuchang in Henan province, meanwhile, were to be tested for COVID-19 on Thursday and Friday and movement of people was to be minimised, while the 1 million residents of Yuzhou city, under Xuchang’s juridiction, were in lockdown.
Mainland China has only announced a handful of Omicron cases from international travellers and at least one locally transmitted infection, but it has intensified efforts to reduce the risk of the variant being brought from overseas.,,
International passenger flights into Xian’s airport were halted from Wednesday, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday. Domestic passenger flights had already been suspended.
The messy cost of China's Covid lockdown in Xi'an https://t.co/6j1aHQVRWq
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 6, 2022
Omicron spreads in India's big cities but hospitalisations still low https://t.co/74VARPL18K pic.twitter.com/xJB6eclZ9y
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 6, 2022
Hong Kong suspends flights from 8 countries, including the US fearing a 5th coronavirus wave https://t.co/GusKTt1YqE
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 5, 2022
The U.S. military is ordering personnel stationed in Japan to wear masks when going off base to curb the spread of COVID-19 infections. American forces have come under fire after a recent increase in coronavirus cases in areas where they are assigned. https://t.co/2Fgz1v57M0
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 6, 2022
Indonesia survey finds 85% of population have COVID-19 antibodies https://t.co/5ZMXFtVJoc pic.twitter.com/879JLtRjNd
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 6, 2022
Thailand raises COVID-19 alert level due to Omicron spread https://t.co/d55jSRDelc pic.twitter.com/SjkQfpck0n
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 6, 2022
Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison said over 222,000 COVID-19 vaccine booster shots were administered on Wednesday, even as daily infections soared to a fresh peak, overwhelming hospitals and putting a strain on businesses and supply chains https://t.co/iBk3sVO4IJ pic.twitter.com/0m9mEA6hqd
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 6, 2022
Australia has seen another day of rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations amid fears that changes to testing requirements could mask the full scale of the outbreak. The country reported 72,000 cases nationwide. https://t.co/Xbzg9747jB
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 6, 2022
Russia on Thursday confirmed 15,316 Covid-19 infections and 802 deathshttps://t.co/GhDXU9fwp9
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) January 6, 2022
No emmerde!
French parliament approves Macron's vaccine pass https://t.co/zKIZlLrsKE pic.twitter.com/ELQOxN4Abm
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 6, 2022
Italy has made COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for people over the age of 50. The country is seeing an average of more than 150 deaths per day over the last two weeks amid a steadily rising case load of the highly contagious Omicron variant https://t.co/OYkN78PRRd pic.twitter.com/73AsTS3BUv
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 6, 2022
Sweden’s public health authorities have advised restaurants, cultural venues and leisure centers to ask their customers to show digital proof of COVID-19 vaccination starting next week. https://t.co/N256whlXYl
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) January 5, 2022
Britain reports record COVID-19 prevalence as Omicron surges https://t.co/0yq5qa4TKV pic.twitter.com/SV8pOAp71k
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 6, 2022
#Omicron peak may be over in London, UK.
Early evidence suggests London may be past the worst of the #OmicronVariant, beginning to move beyond a peak that was lower than some models predicted & has remained manageable for hospitals.https://t.co/5Cjqw5TxER #COVID19
— MicrobesInfect (@MicrobesInfect) January 5, 2022
Norah Magero designed a fridge for areas without mains electricity
The fridge is small enough to fit on a bicycle and is now helping distribute Covid vaccines in Kenya https://t.co/whW1GWvJEV
— BBC Business (@BBCBusiness) January 5, 2022
Panama tightens vaccination requirements for public officials as COVID cases rise https://t.co/JhTwiKO22v pic.twitter.com/a5nUDuAGzS
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 6, 2022
======
Do rapid tests accurately detect the #Omicron variant?@RealTimeCOVID19 has the latest: https://t.co/p3KSNEUHh7#RealTimeCOVID19 pic.twitter.com/Fsh3hCzZhk
— IDSA (@IDSAInfo) January 5, 2022
Note: ‘Flurona’ just means you’ve been unlucky enough to contract two different infections at the same time. Ignore the fringe speculation about a ‘superbug’ that somehow combines the two viruses, because that’s hardly biologically possible:
A number of articles this week about coinfection with COVID-19 and flu. This isn't new and has been observed since the early days of the pandemic. 206 people in the U.S. are currently hospitalized with a COVID/influenza coinfection https://t.co/JKUBvStfFu
— BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk) January 5, 2022
Did #Omicron evolve in a mouse? New report in the Journal of Genetics and Genomics suggests "reverse zoonotic transfer." Scientists posit the virus underwent many of its spike protein mutations in mice before being transferred back to humans. Plausible? https://t.co/pRkeJ1pIWj pic.twitter.com/w2ZEI4RYKD
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 5, 2022
======
Context: there are 140K schools in US
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) January 5, 2022
California is struggling to staff hospitals and classrooms as a spike in coronavirus infections hits the state. The fast-spreading omicron variant is sidelining exposed or infected health care workers even as the number of people hospitalized jumps. https://t.co/IidFoEl3nz
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 6, 2022
He was denied entry for being unvaxed.
“It’s unclear what Djokovic can now do to enter Australia.”
Yeah, that is a real mystery for the ages. https://t.co/S8aXHIjGYX
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) January 5, 2022
YY_Sima Qian
On 1/5 China reported 132 new domestic confirmed (30 previously asymptomatic) & 10 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Shaanxi Province reported 63 new domestic confirmed cases (all mild). 38 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 1806 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 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 19 active domestic confirmed (all at Dongguan) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Foshan) cases in the province.
At Guangxi “Autonomous” Region there currently are 19 active domestic confirmed (all at Dongxing in Fangchenggang) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Chongzuo) cases in the province. 1 village at Fangchenggang remains at High Risk.
At Hulun Buir in Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region 9 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 7 active domestic confirmed cases remaining (all at Manzhouli).
Shanghai Municipality did not report any new domestic asymptomatic cases. 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 5 new domestic confirmed & 1 new domestic asymptomatic cases. All 5 domestic confirmed cases are reported by Beilun District in Ningbo, all traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine. The domestic asymptomatic case is reported by Jinhua, a driver who had used the same gas station restroom as the 2 domestic positive cases reported by Zhoukou in Henan, when they were doing deliveries in Zhejiang Province. 104 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 358 active domestic confirmed (spread across Shaoxing, Ningbo & Hangzhou) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Jinhua) cases in the province. 1 factory & 1 village at Beilun District in Ningbo are currently at Medium Risk.
At Suzhou in Anhui Province the domestic confirmed case recovered.
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 64 new domestic confirmed (30 previously asymptomatic) & 9 asymptomatic cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 90 active domestic confirmed & 22 active domestic asymptomatic cases.
At Yunnan Province 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 18 active domestic confirmed (10 at Dehong Prefecture & 5 at Kunming) & 8 active domestic asymptomatic (6 at Dehong Prefecture & 2 at Sipsongpanna Prefecture) cases in the province. 1 residential compound at Kunming is currently at Medium Risk.
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 1/5, China reported 57 new imported confirmed cases (6 previously asymptomatic), 35 imported asymptomatic cases, 2 imported suspect cases:
Overall in China, 198 confirmed cases recovered (39 imported), 12 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (11 imported) & 36 were reclassified as confirmed cases (6 imported), & 3,889 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 3,282 active confirmed cases in the country (939 imported), 30 in serious condition (3 imported), 629 active asymptomatic cases (583 imported), 2 suspect cases (both imported). 41,619 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 1/5, 2,872.017M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 8.456M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 1/6, Hong Kong reported 38 new positive cases, 34 imported & 4 domestic (3 connected to imported cases & 1 from cryptic community transmission).
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
THE NYSDOH website says 1749 new cases yesterday.
I got a robocall from one of my doctors to confirm an appointment on Monday, and it said it was an “in office appointment” at the hospital. The first thing I did when the office opened the next morning was change it to a Zoom call. No way I’m going near a hospital right now if I don’t have to.
New Deal democrat
In the past 10 days, hospitalizations in the US have increased by 70% from 70,000 to 120,000, and are only about 12,000 under their all-time high from one year ago. They are likely to top that record within 3 days. Cases had increased 60% in the 10 day period before that, meaning that so far there is no indication that cases on average have been milder. I saw several more graphs yesterday that failed to properly show the lag in the hospitalization data, although a few experts I follow, notably Eric Topol and Conor Kelly, have picked up on the same thing.
I got a question yesterday whether the proper comparison isn’t with the previous Delta wave. That got me to thinking whether the pattern would hold true for *all* previous waves. So here is the ratio of cases at peak to deaths at peak for all previous waves plus Omicron so far:
Spring 2020: 14.3
Summer 2020: 60.1
Winter 2020-21: 74.4
Delta: 78.7
Omicron (so far): 97.4
Here is the same ratio at the troughs following the 4 previous waves:
Spring 2020: 39.5
Summer 2020: 49.0
Winter 2020-21: 51.4
Delta: 61.8
The pattern is clear. Each successive wave has been “milder” in terms of the percentage of cases that have resulted in deaths. That might be because of better treatments, behavior adjustments, the inherent nature of each variant, or increased resistance in the population due to vaccinations or previous infection, or some combination of them. In any event, it suggests that future waves are likely to have progressively less impact.
One thing is clear: vaccinations alone will never work for the US. Portugal is the most vaccinated country in Europe, with 89% of its population fully vaccinated, and yet their cases went from 10 to 240 per 100,000 in Omicron so far, although deaths have not increased yet significantly.
There are a few signs that the places in the US first hard hit may be peaking, as NY, HI, and PR have not had a significant increase in cases in the past 3 days.
Finally, South Africa’s news is not so good, as cases have risen again slightly, and deaths made another new Omicron high, having risen 7x from their pre-Omicron low (but still at a low level compared with previous peaks).
p.a.
Soooo… US rapid antigen tests are NG testing for omicron because they take nasal and not throat samples? ☹️ I’m reading that correctly?
Matt McIrvin
@New Deal democrat: But as with South Africa, I’m hearing from doctors that a lot of these are incidental hospitalizations–people admitted for something else who then test COVID positive. So it’s mostly an indication of how hellaciously contagious this is. The fraction who go into the ICU is lower. But not so low that it makes sense to not treat this as dangerous.
I’ve always assumed cases were being undercounted by a huge factor in the spring 2020 wave, so it makes sense for that to be a big outlier in terms of CFR. But they’re probably being undercounted by a large factor now too.
NotMax
Locally,
Culled from the AP.
rikyrah
Just approve the booster ? for 12-15 year olds ?
rikyrah
@NeenerNeener:
I feel you
Kay
Just ripping thru kids here. One third of our local school district students (K-8) were absent yesterday. About 1/4 of staff were out.
Matt McIrvin
@rikyrah: The CDC did that yesterday.
John S.
@rikyrah:
I think they just did. And just in time for me to get my 14 year old a booster now that he’s 6 months out from his second shot. ?
lowtechcyclist
Clearer context, perhaps: about 1 out of every 30 U.S. schools are closed.
One missing piece of context: does this include weather-related closures? Schools in my county are open today for the first time since before Christmas, but it’s been due to snow, and downed trees and power lines resulting from the snow. I’m sure the DC area isn’t the only place that got hit this week.
sdhays
I wish Pfizer wasn’t the only vendor with trials going for under 5 year olds.
John S.
@Kay:
Here too. But that was expected here in Ron Deathsantis’ Freedumb state. My daughter told me that there’s a lot of kids missing from her middle school this week. Mostly the ones who didn’t wear masks.
Kay
@sdhays:
They’re not. Moderna has 6 months to 5 years trials all over the country.
Kay
@sdhays:
My grandaughter is in a Moderna 6 m to 5 yrs trial in NY and it’s complete. There’s also one in Wisconsin.
laura
Thinking of Amir Khalid this morning. Get well soon.
Kay
@John S.:
Ours have to wear masks. The superintendent held firm in the face of a lot of Trumpist screaming last year (it’s a 65% Trump county) but the screaming waned and now no one talks about it anymore- every kid is masked every day.
But we have less than 40% vaccinated, so I assumed it would hit hard.
Asparagus Aspersions
France – We’re at 1753 cases per 100,000, with positive testing rate of 15.88 %, and 129 percent increase in case numbers since last week. Anecdotally, I have never known so many people with COVID, as a number of friends and acquaintances have tested positive over the past week or two. Most of them did a home test, and then had the results confirmed with a rapid antigen or PCR test (I’m not sure about smaller towns, but in Paris it is incredibly easy to get a rapid antigen test at a pharmacy. I think the longest line we waited in was about 20 minutes. The tests are 25 euros but are fully covered if you’re vaccinated, or have a prescription).
sdhays
@Kay: It looks like that study is set to end in the middle of next year. I was more lamenting that we seem to have to wait for April at the earliest (and hope this time Pfizer has something that works). I was really hoping there would be an approved vaccine available for children younger than 5 by now. I got overly expectant with the rollout of vaccines for adults and older children.
Starfish
@Kay: It is almost like it was a coordinated attack on schools, and none of those folks had kids in the school district.
Kay
@lowtechcyclist:
15 of the largest 100 districts were closed yesterday- two due to weather.
There’s some confusion about this (or ignorance, don’t know) because there’s a divide between majority/minority districts and majority white districts that has been true thru the whole pandemic, where majority/minority district parents are more concerned about covid and more supportive of school closures. So Detroit and Toledo were closed, but one shouldn’t assume Detroit and Toledo parents don’t support this- many of them do.
OzarkHillbilly
But it’s all good down in Florida: Crisis, what crisis? Florida Republicans deny Omicron is straining hospitals
I really wonder how they can have such sun shiny outlooks with their heads so far up their asses.
Mousebumples
@Kay: we live 2+ hours from Madison (the + is more referring to winter driving, lol), and i considered trying to enroll my 2 year old when they started up there in August.
I haven’t heard details on progress or results, other than what you’ve shared. So thanks for that glimmer of hope that I won’t need to wait until April to vaccinate my little girl.
Kay
@sdhays:
I don’t know about all the trials but my daughter was told the NY trial was complete and they expected approval in February. She too is anxious for approval because she doesn’t know if her daughter got the vaccine or not- it was blind and 1/4 didn’t get the real vaccine.
New Deal democrat
@Matt McIrvin: Here is a thread from Dr. Tom Moultrie in South Africa I just read this morning:
https://mobile.twitter.com/tomtom_m/status/1478795238978248713
“the data on hospitalisations (this from http://sacmcepidemicexplorer.co.za) from the DatCov system show numbers of admissions that are lower than in previous waves, but not as dramatically as much as the deaths are lower.”
The real decoupling from prior waves was in deaths.
Also, according to
https://mobile.twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1478919822125645825
“The level of patients requiring ICU beds is nearly as high as the monster 3rd wave (well below the 1st wave)” in NYC.
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly: IF you give me a few minutes, I can dig through 1984 and find the quotes about Party loyalty and the control of truth.
Kay
@Mousebumples:
Oh, it must be so hard. My daughter is a PA and she’s worked thu the whole thing and worried about the baby getting it the whole time. Her daughter had zero side effects in the trial- the biggest issue was the blood draws, which she (understandably) hated, but we don’t know if she got the vaccine or the control so “zero side effects” doesn;t mean much :)
Starfish
@Kay: I got softblocked on Twitter by a school board member as she cheered return to school yesterday. I told her that the behavior was gross.
Soprano2
@Matt McIrvin: Cases will always be undercounted with Covid because there are so many asymptomatic cases. Lots of people have had Covid and don’t know it, and will probably never know for sure. Asymptomatic cases are only found when people are tested for other reasons – hospital admission, for example.
sdhays
@Kay: Oh, wow. It seems I only hear about Pfizer maybe being available in the nearer term. That gives me hope!
Soprano2
@Kay: We’re probably going to see the same thing here because so many people are unvaccinated, and the local school district was forced to discontinue their mask mandate by the stupid state government. The Delta peak of daily cases was 406; yesterday’s was 473., which could possibly be a holiday bump. The 7-day case average is 248, and the positivity rate is 9%. I think in a week or so it’s going to be absolutely brutal here.
Percysowner
Uh, get vaccinated and wait until it’s taken effect? He won’t make whatever match he wanted to play, but it’s not like he doesn’t have options. A check of the article says his medical reasons are that he had COVID, to nothing that says he can’t be vaccinate.
Of course his father is saying
So the antivax is strong in this family
Cermet
The rate for boosters isn’t encouraging; and I am extremely glad that the 6 month to 5 year old’s will soon be able to get the vaccine (but not soon enough for Omicron); however, the total number of vaccinated in this country will never be even remotely close enough to control Omicron. But then, considering this should burn out by February(?), maybe not as important. As long as a new variant does not appear that burns through, we might – with vaccinated and the fool’s that get immunize the hard way – get through this pandemic and ‘just’ see an epidemic for a while.
Another Scott
@Cermet: Never is a very long time. Mandates work (look at the DoD).
It will be interesting to see how the mandate goes in France.
Cheers,
Scott.
Robert Sneddon
The testing organisations and approval authorities have to be careful. Biologically speaking, babies are not toddlers, toddlers are not young children and young children are not teenagers. Safety first is the guiding principle.
Rushing things could lead to pediatric wards in hospitals filling up with kids with serious adverse reactions to vaccines that were developed and tested primarily on adults. Sure the various vaccines have been successful and safe in widespread use but that success and safety is only provably true for adults and now older children.
Starfish
@Cermet: There are a number of reasons people are not boosted yet. Some of it may be “they dragged their feet on the first two vaccines and have not had enough time between the second and third vaccine.” I did not consider this possibility until someone who did this explained it to me. They had their second vaccine in September, so they had not had six months to get boosted. They dropped the requirement to five months yesterday, so hopefully that opens up boosters to more people.
Jay
Making life fun, we have 58 people at work out, ( sick, quarantine, testing), 1/3rd of all staff, including Part Timers, all since Dec 30 “case 1”.
So yesterday, 15 hours of store opening, there was just 1 guy in tool rental.
Nobody in Plumbing or Flooring.
Kay
@Starfish:
I think it’s been really hard for schools and anyone who assumes bad faith on the part of schools should not be listened to. They have been grinding thru this a long time now. Also! Don’t forget! They also got slammed with the critical race theory panic for months.
There are honest brokers on public schools, people absolutely can criticize public schools- they’re a public entity and accountable to the public- but there are also a lot of people who have a political/ideological ax to grind and are using CRT/covid/whatever as an excuse to attack them.
You just have to figure out who to listen to.
Yarrow
For those with kids in schools or who deal with schools, this is a good thread on how to make air safer in schools. It’s UK based so some of the links may not be as useful but it’s good for general principles. Of course also applies to other indoor situations.
Barbara
Of all the interesting data points, the two I find most significant are (1) the percentage of people who are hospitalized with other diagnoses who are determined to have asymptomatic Covid and (2) data I have read elsewhere about the number of people who are flooding ERs in order to get a Covid test. The latter is an example of the most suboptimal behavior you can imagine from a public health perspective, and yet, here we are. The simple, cheap preventive technology — vaccine — is spurned in favor of the mostly useless and overpriced intervention that coincidentally has the collateral effect of putting large numbers of other people at risk.
My county has not been perfect by any means but it did set up three free testing sites throughout the county so that people could get a test without going to an ER. It also mandated masks for students and staff in schools. It’s also doing pooled testing to identify school cases.
topclimber
@Another Scott: Macron‘s bill passed by better than 2-1.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 11,300 new cases of COVID-19 reported, again with the caveat that PCR testing at the central labs is backed up due to the increased load and the long holiday weekend just past. Test positivity rate is 23%. I can’t see a current breakdown of case numbers, Omicron variant versus Delta variant but a couple of weeks ago it was 80% Omicron. If the Omicron variant is going to displace the Delta variant it should be much higher now.
There were 18 deaths of people with a positive diagnosis of COVID-19 within the last 28 days reported. Hospitalisation numbers have increased again but ICU and mechanical ventilation bed patient numbers remain lower than the level they were at two months ago when the caseload was all Delta variant.
The vaccination and booster programs have started up again in Scotland after the holidays. Initial vaccinations (first and second dose) seem to be concentrated now in the 12 to 17 year old age group which are exceeding the vaccination percentages of supposedly sensible adults in the 18-39 age group who have been eligible for vaccination for over six months.
sdhays
@Robert Sneddon: I totally appreciate that. Like I said, the other age groups just rolled out in the timeframe they originally announced, so I got my hopes up that younger children would get the vaccine similarly “on time”.
Sloane Ranger
Wednesday in the UK we had 194,747 new cases. This is an increase of 40.1% in the rolling 7-day average. New cases by nation,
England – 150,232
Northern Ireland – 7133
Scotland – 16,103 (but see Robert Sneddon’s post above)
Wales – 21,279.
Deaths – There were 334 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. This figure probably contains an element of catch-up from the festive period. The moving 7-day average is up by 131.6%. 316 deaths were in England, 3 in Northern Ireland, 5 in Scotland and 10 in Wales.
Testing – 2,050,101 tests took place on Tuesday, 4th January. This is an increase of 7% in the rolling 7-day average. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs on this date was 965,447.
Hospitalisations – On Tuesday, 4th, there were 17,276 people in hospital and 911 on ventilators. The 7-day average for hospital admissions was up by 58.5% as of 28 December.
Vaccinations – As of Tuesday, 4th, 51,845,518 people had had 1 shot of a vaccine, 47,523,676 had had 2 and 34,586,810 had had a 3rd shot/booster. In percentage terms this means that 90.2% of all UK residents aged 12+ had had 1 shot, 82.6% had had 2 and 60.1% had had a 3rd shot/booster as of that date.
Stacy
My fully-vaccinated 7 year old tested positive with an at-home test on Saturday and positive on a PCR test on Monday. She had cold-like symptoms for 2 days and then was fine. My vaxxed and boosted husband started having symptoms on Tuesday, yesterday he said it felt like a bad cold, today he says it feels like he’s getting over a bad cold. I haven’t had any symptoms at all, and we’ll all be getting a PCR tomorrow. We live in northern CA, almost everyone is vaxxed here. We’re pretty sure my daughter got it from a swim lesson last week. It was outside, but she and the teacher were very close for 30 minutes. He had a mask on but I don’t think it would have done much since it was wet.
Gravenstone
This is simply calling out the obvious, but if anyone needed additional proof that Russia is cooking their covid numbers, just compare their 60 day curve relative to the other countries included in that tweet above. They are the only country to have a persistent negative slope.
?BillinGlendaleCA
Positive rate in LA County is at 20%, but testing has been low so those that are being tested may already think they’re infected so that may bump the rate up a bit. We had a lot of folk out sick at the Home of the Orange Apron.
Lacuna Synecdoche
I’m guessing it’s the human Klein bottle effect – you get that when your head is so far up your ass it pops out of your own mouth.
Bill Arnold
@Gravenstone:
Russia’s official COVID-19 stats are an insult to statisticians.
(Anyone with any skill, and dice or an RNG, could generate more believable sequences of daily stats.)
daveNYC
Dunno, the case numbers in the USA (and in most countries other than China) would seem to indicate that things are pretty much out of control now that omicron is on the sceen.