Covid-19 miscellany

[Elixir]

In NH, 67% are reported fully vaccinated. Assuming that there are at least some partially vaccinated people, that means the unvaccinated are less than a third of the population. Yet they make up 2/3 of the hospitalizations. They are not only serving to spread and mutate the virus, they are monopolizing health care resources to the detriment of everyone else.

I hear a lot of "Omicron will save us from Delta ... some day", but they fail to mention that meanwhile NOTHING is going to save a lot of people from otherwise preventable deaths, due to hospitals filled with happy plague rats.

"Omicron isn't that bad", they said. Come on, kids it'll be fun!

A five-fold increase in pediatric admissions in New York City this month. Close to double the numbers admitted in Washington, DC. And nationwide, on average, pediatric hospitalizations are up 48% in just the past week.

"It's almost like you can see the train coming down the track and you're just hoping it doesn't go off the rails," Dr. Claudia Hoyen, director of pediatric infection control at UH Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland told CNN.
"It's going to be a very interesting couple of weeks. We've just had all of these kids mixing together with everybody else during Christmas. We have one more holiday to get through with New Year's, and then we'll be sending everybody back to school," Hoyen said.
"Everybody is kind of waiting on the edge, wondering what we'll end up seeing."

Sounds like they need a little pep talk from Metaphor. I'm having a hard time getting on board.
I give Meta's Happy Talk at least double the chance of Derec's predictions did a year or so ago, but that was near zero in the first place.

 

[bilby]

The emergence of this variant displaces a more deadly variant, and it is resulting in fewer hospitalisations and deaths.

Why do you believe that an additional variant displaces one?
I'm no virologist, but I'm pretty sure that new variants are in addition to the previous ones. That is, having some level of immunity to the old one doesn't give you protection from the new one.

Australia masked, distanced and was at 90% vaccination level when omicron emerged.

Australia has a 90% vaccination rate? Here in the USA, I'm not sure 90% of the population is approved for vaccination.
I'm finding that claim implausible.

Tom

It's nonsense.

Unfortunately, it's the nonsense on which our politicians are basing their decisions.

The vaccination rates reported in Australia are 'of the originally eligible population', ie those over the age of 16.

Our population is fairly young; The 90% figure implies something around 70-75% of the whole population, which is woefully inadequate to achieve the herd immunity on which our new policies rely.

It's going to get very ugly.

In Queensland, over a third of ALL cases diagnosed in the state over the two years of the pandemic were diagnosed in the last two days.

 

[Elixir]

The emergence of this variant displaces a more deadly variant, and it is resulting in fewer hospitalisations and deaths.

Why do you believe that an additional variant displaces one?
I'm no virologist, but I'm pretty sure that new variants are in addition to the previous ones. That is, having some level of immunity to the old one doesn't give you protection from the new one.

Australia masked, distanced and was at 90% vaccination level when omicron emerged.

Australia has a 90% vaccination rate? Here in the USA, I'm not sure 90% of the population is approved for vaccination.
I'm finding that claim implausible.

Tom

It's nonsense.

Unfortunately, it's the nonsense on which our politicians are basing their decisions.

The vaccination rates reported in Australia are 'of the originally eligible population', ie those over the age of 16.

Our population is fairly young; The 90% figure implies something around 70-75% of the whole population, which is woefully inadequate to achieve the herd immunity on which our new policies rely.

It's going to get very ugly.

In Queensland, over a third of ALL cases diagnosed in the state over the two years of the pandemic were diagnosed in the last two days.

What percent is Omicron? If it's high enough, you're saved! </meta-med>

 

[Elixir]

In my movie thriller version, this variant or maybe the one after it or the one after that, will turn out to have a 98% mortality rate within 6 years. This effect was not discovered until 2024, when the TrumpII administration decided to let the virus run rampant. Promoting herd immunity became an easy sell for politicians. After all, they were selling to an audience pre-conditioned by TrumPutin propaganda to fear and loathe vaccines, so people were very much okay with contracting the virus. Of course not knowing that it was a deferred death sentence was helpful.
The net effect in a few decades was that global human population went down 30 percent, average IQ went up 20% and the social and technological infrastructure of civilization survived with a newfound awareness, and most of them lived happily ever after.
Koom-Buy-Fuckin-Yeah

 

[barbos]

Community spread omicron was detected in Russia.
I wonder if we get 200K a day like GB

Or a lot more, given that the Russian population is much larger and less vaccinated. Fortunately, it appears deaths are not rising where Omicron spreads, afaik.

Had a "discussion" with older and not so much ladies a week or more ago.
They told me there is another "virus" which looks like flue/common cold but not covid-19. Lots and lots of kids get infected and adults too, covid test shows negative so doctors write it as flu/common cold. One pretty old lady I know apparently had it and is fine now.
I expressed my skepticism that anything other than C19 can be spreading now. But they are convinced it's not C19.

Now I wonder how sensitive russian covid19 tests to omicron.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

When looking at the numbers, I thought 500,000 new daily cases in the US would be close to the spike. Today, 466,000. And Texas and California haven't even started yet. Those numbers, 1 to 2 million for peak? Yeah, that'll have to burn out quick. We don't have enough people to keep it going.

 

[Angra Mainyu]

Community spread omicron was detected in Russia.
I wonder if we get 200K a day like GB

Or a lot more, given that the Russian population is much larger and less vaccinated. Fortunately, it appears deaths are not rising where Omicron spreads, afaik.

Had a "discussion" with older and not so much ladies a week or more ago.
They told me there is another "virus" which looks like flue/common cold but not covid-19. Lots and lots of kids get infected and adults too, covid test shows negative so doctors write it as flu/common cold. One pretty old lady I know apparently had it and is fine now.
I expressed my skepticism that anything other than C19 can be spreading now. But they are convinced it's not C19.

Now I wonder how sensitive russian covid19 tests to omicron.

I too am pretty skeptical about a new virus spreading like that, though I guess some of the cases might be common cold.
As for the tests, all the info I've seen (though I haven't seen any from Russia) says tests have no trouble detecting Omicron - most don't distinguish between the variants, but they do detect it's sars-cov-2.

 

[crazyfingers]

I've posted previously my disgust that the company I work for still officially requires employees to be in the office 3 days a week. That was when cases in the county were around 20/100,000. Cases per 100k are now over 10x higher at 344. Essex county N.J is now the 3rd highest in the country. No change in policy.

Glad i don't report into the N.J. office, i'm remote and have only 18 working days (subtracting weekends and vacation carryover from Jan31) left until retirement.

 

[crazyfingers]

Community spread omicron was detected in Russia.
I wonder if we get 200K a day like GB

Or a lot more, given that the Russian population is much larger and less vaccinated. Fortunately, it appears deaths are not rising where Omicron spreads, afaik.

Had a "discussion" with older and not so much ladies a week or more ago.
They told me there is another "virus" which looks like flue/common cold but not covid-19. Lots and lots of kids get infected and adults too, covid test shows negative so doctors write it as flu/common cold. One pretty old lady I know apparently had it and is fine now.
I expressed my skepticism that anything other than C19 can be spreading now. But they are convinced it's not C19.

Now I wonder how sensitive russian covid19 tests to omicron.

I too am pretty skeptical about a new virus spreading like that, though I guess some of the cases might be common cold.
As for the tests, all the info I've seen (though I haven't seen any from Russia) says tests have no trouble detecting Omicron - most don't distinguish between the variants, but they do detect it's sars-cov-2.

I was reading that the home rapid tests are not quite as good at detecting omicron as they were delta.

 

[Angra Mainyu]

When looking at the numbers, I thought 500,000 new daily cases in the US would be close to the spike. Today, 466,000. And Texas and California haven't even started yet. Those numbers, 1 to 2 million for peak? Yeah, that'll have to burn out quick. We don't have enough people to keep it going.

Yeah, as long as the number of deaths doesn't go up as well, it's not a big problem.

Community spread omicron was detected in Russia.
I wonder if we get 200K a day like GB

Or a lot more, given that the Russian population is much larger and less vaccinated. Fortunately, it appears deaths are not rising where Omicron spreads, afaik.

Had a "discussion" with older and not so much ladies a week or more ago.
They told me there is another "virus" which looks like flue/common cold but not covid-19. Lots and lots of kids get infected and adults too, covid test shows negative so doctors write it as flu/common cold. One pretty old lady I know apparently had it and is fine now.
I expressed my skepticism that anything other than C19 can be spreading now. But they are convinced it's not C19.

Now I wonder how sensitive russian covid19 tests to omicron.

I too am pretty skeptical about a new virus spreading like that, though I guess some of the cases might be common cold.
As for the tests, all the info I've seen (though I haven't seen any from Russia) says tests have no trouble detecting Omicron - most don't distinguish between the variants, but they do detect it's sars-cov-2.

I was reading that the home rapid tests are not quite as good at detecting omicron as they were delta.

It might depend on the test, but some seem to work just as well.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2021/12/23/how-to-get-a-home-test/#KJVGMAWEYFAG3LKPJL44LANSKE

SARS-CoV-2 Viral Mutations: Impact on COVID-19 Tests

Includes specific molecular tests impacted by viral mutations and recommendations for clinical laboratory staff and health care providers.

www.fda.gov

 

[Rhea]

Had a "discussion" with older and not so much ladies a week or more ago.
They told me there is another "virus" which looks like flue/common cold but not covid-19. Lots and lots of kids get infected and adults too, covid test shows negative so doctors write it as flu/common cold. One pretty old lady I know apparently had it and is fine now.
I expressed my skepticism that anything other than C19 can be spreading now. But they are convinced it's not C19.

We’ve had a big spread of that in our school system. Bad cold, everyone tests negative for COVID. My son had it 2 weeks ago. They think it really is just a cold.

 

[bilby]

Had a "discussion" with older and not so much ladies a week or more ago.
They told me there is another "virus" which looks like flue/common cold but not covid-19. Lots and lots of kids get infected and adults too, covid test shows negative so doctors write it as flu/common cold. One pretty old lady I know apparently had it and is fine now.
I expressed my skepticism that anything other than C19 can be spreading now. But they are convinced it's not C19.

We’ve had a big spread of that in our school system. Bad cold, everyone tests negative for COVID. My son had it 2 weeks ago. They think it really is just a cold.

There's been a lot of RSV about in the Southern Hemisphere winter.

It's usually misidentified as the common cold, but the last couple of years there's been a more diligent focus on identifying respiratory diseases, even in mild cases.

It's gone away in the last few months, maybe it flu north for the summer?

 

[TSwizzle]

The United States has hit a record of nearly 500,000 daily coronavirus cases - the most any country has ever reported - and risks grinding to a halt as experts say that the latest surge of infections will only get worse in the next month. On Wednesday, 489,267 positive Covid cases were reported. According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), anywhere from 40 to 70 percent of new cases in America are of the Omicron variant

Daily Mail

#Let’s Go Brandon !!

And this is the recorded cases. There must be thousands of unrecorded cases.

After feeling mild symptoms on Monday I took a home covid test on Tuesday and it was positive. And so was my wife and two kids and at least two other people who were at my house over Christmas.

 

[TomC]

And this is the recorded cases. There must be thousands of unrecorded cases.

I'm sure that's true.

Trump really fucked this up royally. And as usual, the Republican's replacement gets the blame.
Due to the lying main stream media who don't care about anything but audience share and the ability to sell advertising.
Tom

 

[Harry Bosch]

The United States has hit a record of nearly 500,000 daily coronavirus cases - the most any country has ever reported - and risks grinding to a halt as experts say that the latest surge of infections will only get worse in the next month. On Wednesday, 489,267 positive Covid cases were reported. According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), anywhere from 40 to 70 percent of new cases in America are of the Omicron variant

Daily Mail

#Let’s Go Brandon !!

And this is the recorded cases. There must be thousands of unrecorded cases.

After feeling mild symptoms on Monday I took a home covid test on Tuesday and it was positive. And so was my wife and two kids and at least two other people who were at my house over Christmas.

Have you or your wife lost your sense of taste?

 

[TSwizzle]

Nobody has lost sense of taste or smell. Two people have puked. I just have slight cough and runny nose. My wife feels like she had a cold. There are six of us in the house at the moment. One of my in-laws took a home test earlier today and it was positive. The other in-law has tested negative. A bit strange that. But will try to go to a clinic and get tested later. Maybe the negative in-laws had it earlier and is now negative? Or didn’t do the test properly

 

[Worldtraveller]

The United States has hit a record of nearly 500,000 daily coronavirus cases - the most any country has ever reported - and risks grinding to a halt as experts say that the latest surge of infections will only get worse in the next month. On Wednesday, 489,267 positive Covid cases were reported. According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), anywhere from 40 to 70 percent of new cases in America are of the Omicron variant

Daily Mail

#Let’s Go Brandon !!

And this is the recorded cases. There must be thousands of unrecorded cases.

After feeling mild symptoms on Monday I took a home covid test on Tuesday and it was positive. And so was my wife and two kids and at least two other people who were at my house over Christmas.

Have you or your wife lost your sense of taste?

Obvious joke is obvious.

 

[Harry Bosch]

The United States has hit a record of nearly 500,000 daily coronavirus cases - the most any country has ever reported - and risks grinding to a halt as experts say that the latest surge of infections will only get worse in the next month. On Wednesday, 489,267 positive Covid cases were reported. According to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), anywhere from 40 to 70 percent of new cases in America are of the Omicron variant

Daily Mail

#Let’s Go Brandon !!

And this is the recorded cases. There must be thousands of unrecorded cases.

After feeling mild symptoms on Monday I took a home covid test on Tuesday and it was positive. And so was my wife and two kids and at least two other people who were at my house over Christmas.

Have you or your wife lost your sense of taste?

Obvious joke is obvious.

My question was sincere. I have a few "long haulers" friends who continue to have chronic fatigue and no taste, months after contracting COVID.

 

[TSwizzle]

My question was sincere. I have a few "long haulers" friends who continue to have chronic fatigue and no taste, months after contracting COVID.

I know quite a few people who lost their sense of taste and smell for months.

I mentioned earlier I had my booster shot and flu shot about two weeks ago as did everyone else in my household.

 

[Harry Bosch]

My question was sincere. I have a few "long haulers" friends who continue to have chronic fatigue and no taste, months after contracting COVID.

I know quite a few people who lost their sense of taste and smell for months.

I mentioned earlier I had my booster shot and flu shot about two weeks ago as did everyone else in my household.

Gotcha. I had assumed that you weren't vaccinated.