Omicron anecdata?

[Laura Corin]

Good discussion of effect of Omicron on hospitalisation (hospital numbers given both because of and incidental to Covid), ICU etc. Important to note that the UK has 51 percent of its population boostered, including over 80 percent of the over-sixties, as boostering seems to make a difference to infection severity. 

BBC News - Omicron stats are huge, but look beyond them
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59862568

Edited January 4, 2022 by Laura Corin

[KSera]

On the ground thread from NYC ER dr:

 

[ktgrok]

14 hours ago, Sweets said:

My son felt like he has done everything correctly - masked, stayed away from large parties, and everyone he invited was vaccinated. But this Omicron seems to be very infectious, even with the vaccinated. He says so far that he just feels like he has a really bad flu. 

Unfortunately, the messaging is off. Last Christmas we saw the same thing, most spread was in small gatherings of family/friends. Heck, it is how we've seen spread all along. And how pretty much every case I know about has spread.

Just before Christmas there was some advice to do rapid tests and/or mask if everyone at a gathering was not both vaccinated and boosted. 

But of course, that didn't make more tests appear, so many couldn't do that. And getting together with vaccinated small groups still seems a worthwhile risk in regards to mental health. But it definitely IS a risk.  I'm not saying your son did anything wrong - we can't be total hermits and not see anyone ever! But this is how it is spreading, friend to friend, family to family. 

11 hours ago, KSera said:

Right? There's a video today of the Florida Surgeon General saying that people need to get out of this "testing psychology" and stop testing, while standing behind a podium that says "EARLY TREATMENT SAVES LIVES".  The disconnect is mindblowing.

 

Florida logic. 

[Tree Frog]

41 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

Just before Christmas there was some advice to do rapid tests and/or mask if everyone at a gathering was not both vaccinated and boosted

My family tested the night before a family gathering. It's how we found a positive case. Of course, we immediately cancelled the activity. Everyone in my family and everyone eligible had been vaccinated. I've wondered, if we didn't cancel, would my family still have been willing to come? They've all expressed covid is NBD.

On a different note, we have a friend from Germany visiting who is scheduled to fly home tomorrow. We were concerned about him needing a negative rapid test before flying. That's not needed. All he needs is proof of vaccination. I'm being someone on that plane will be contagious. The airline policies need to change to reflect what's happening with omicron to decrease the spread.

Edited January 4, 2022 by wilrunner

[Faith-manor]

53 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

 

Florida logic. 

Michigan logic is equal to the task! We have an epidemic of stupid here as well.

[Tree Frog]

My neighbor told us last night 2 members of his family tested positive, one asymptomatically whose case was caught due to required job testing upon return from vacation and the other a mild case. He said both people were going to get MABs today. What would be the purpose of getting the antibody treatment if one didn't even know she had it and the other wasn't having problems with it?

[Faith-manor]

1 minute ago, wilrunner said:

My neighbor told us last night 2 members of his family tested positive, one asymptomatically whose case was caught due to required job testing upon return from vacation and the other a mild case. He said both people were going to get MABs today. What would be the purpose of getting the antibody treatment if one didn't even know she had it and the other wasn't having problems with it?

!y guess is to keep it from progressing. The MAB only work in a narrow window which is basically before a person gets pretty sick. I think they have looked at the data and found that once having significant symptoms, they aren't very effective at preventing a person from getting worse, but work well if given early. That said, here they are rationing them because the healthcare system is so overwhelmed in Michigan right now. I doubt either of these people would be able to get them in my neck of the woods.

[Tree Frog]

2 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

!y guess is to keep it from progressing. The MAB only work in a narrow window which is basically before a person gets pretty sick. I think they have looked at the data and found that once having significant symptoms, they aren't very effective at preventing a person from getting worse, but work well if given early. That said, here they are rationing them because the healthcare system is so overwhelmed in Michigan right now. I doubt either of these people would be able to get them in my neck of the woods.

I'm curious to see if they get them here, too. Our governor has asked for more tests and more treatments because our state is running low.

[mommyoffive]

Update to CDC's Covid-19 isolation guidance is imminent, source says (msn.com)

[vonfirmath]

My boss is out today.

He evidently left at noon yesterday after finding a family member had come down positive with covid to take a test himself. Results on the rapid were positive. Neither he nor his wife are feeling sick but they are isolating.

 

He is both vaccinated and boosted (A month ago according to his son)

Edited January 4, 2022 by vonfirmath

[Acadie]

CDC Nowcast estimates that Omicron is 95.4% of Covid cases nationwide, for the week ending 1/1/22. Below the national bar graph you can see it broken out visually by region. 

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions

They did make a major downward change in their Omicron estimate a couple weeks ago. Is it too much to hope they learned from that mistake are being more careful with these projections?

Edited January 4, 2022 by Acadie

[Pawz4me]

DS23 came home from work early yesterday, saying he had rapid onset chills and body aches. Temperature 100, rapid test negative. This morning he said he slept better than he expected, but his temperature was 101. I made him an appointment for what I hope will be a PCR test for Thursday morning (earliest I could find). He's going try a no appointment needed/drive up place in a little while. Temperature now down to 99.4.

[KSera]

I've seen a number of doctors today explaining the impact of the "with covid" vs "for covid" distinction. Very brief thread from Ashish Jha on the impact of those "with covid" patients (is everyone able to view these from here? I find I have to click on the date in order to view. And I have no Twitter account, fwiw, so that's not required to view):

 

[Pam in CT]

re distinction between hospitalizations admitted "for COVID" vs admitted "with COVID"

1 minute ago, KSera said:

I've seen a number of doctors today explaining the impact of the "with covid" vs "for covid" distinction. Very brief thread from Ashish Jha on the impact of those "with covid" patients (is everyone able to view these from here? I find I have to click on the date in order to view. And I have no Twitter account, fwiw, so that's not required to view):

 

Concur that the distinction is valuable, and glad to see more hospitals are attempting (in the absence of national reporting guidelines, le sigh) to find DIY ways to distinguish and track both.

But I'm afraid it's becoming YET ANOTHER talking point that minimizes the magnitude of current conditions and/or (and worse) feeds into the conspiracy theory that HCW are intentionally overstating/inflating COVID numbers because (~~reasons~~).

• Even if a kid IS admitted FOR appendicitis... and "merely" WITH COVID... the hospital has an interest/medical imperative to *attempt* to prevent transmission to other patients, and so *has to* test and *has to* attempt to separate; and
• Overwhelmed is overwhelmed, be it "for" COVID or "with" COVID.  While the distinction is important over time, to understand this phase of the battle... IT IS A PROBLEM when hospitals are out of beds / out of ICU beds / out of ventilators / (particularly) out of healthy and functioning staff.

I'm increasingly concerned that the "merely with" COVID is becoming yet another form of fuel to discount the reality (in my region, and coming your way soon) of hospital overwhelm.

[ktgrok]

5 hours ago, wilrunner said:

My family tested the night before a family gathering. It's how we found a positive case. Of course, we immediately cancelled the activity. Everyone in my family and everyone eligible had been vaccinated. I've wondered, if we didn't cancel, would my family still have been willing to come? They've all expressed covid is NBD.

On a different note, we have a friend from Germany visiting who is scheduled to fly home tomorrow. We were concerned about him needing a negative rapid test before flying. That's not needed. All he needs is proof of vaccination. I'm being someone on that plane will be contagious. The airline policies need to change to reflect what's happening with omicron to decrease the spread.

Yes - we all tested before gathering as well, even though the adults were either triple vaxed or double vaxxed plus recent infection. But my sister had access to free tests, so it was a simple matter to test everyone as we were getting ready to leave. Had anyone popped up positive their family would have avoided the gathering. 

THIS is what rapid tests should be for, and it is awful they are not available free and easy to come by in the US. 

[mommyoffive]

[lewelma]

These maps have been unbelievable over the past two weeks. ☹️

[lewelma]

I don't know if people want to hear it, but still no omicron in NZ and we were down to 27 cases of Delta in the entire country yesterday.

 

[SanDiegoMom]

Are we adding personal anecdotes? My son tested positive yesterday (assuming Omicron). Double Vaxxed but not boosted, we had a family vacation with parents in law whom we had not seen in about 3 years.  Son has low grade fever, cough and nasal congestion. Says it feels like a bad cold, and not as bad as the cold we all caught two weeks ago.

We are all getting tested today.

Two of our closest sets of friends both had their entire family catch it around the same time frame, all different places. One in Vancouver, One here in San Diego, and we were in Palm Springs, CA.  All were vaxxed and some were boosted.  All caught it.  

 

[Roadrunner]

I have hopes of another vaccine because right now what we haven’t wouldn’t even pass the 50% threshold FDA uses to be approved against the current version of the virus. I mean even with a booster, does it prevent at least 50% of infections? I am glad we have what we have, but it simply isn’t good enough.

And I have a stuffed nose for the past couple of days. There is no at home test in the stores. And I refuse to go stand in line to get tested because if I do, I am 100% guaranteed to pick up Covid in that line. They really need to work on making cheap at home tests available everywhere. After 2.5 years, this is ridiculous. 

[Tree Frog]

1 hour ago, ktgrok said:

Yes - we all tested before gathering as well, even though the adults were either triple vaxed or double vaxxed plus recent infection. But my sister had access to free tests, so it was a simple matter to test everyone as we were getting ready to leave. Had anyone popped up positive their family would have avoided the gathering. 

THIS is what rapid tests should be for, and it is awful they are not available free and easy to come by in the US. 

The tests absolutely should be easier to come by and cost significantly less. Our German friend was surprised at how much they cost here. He brought 2 tests with him that cost about $3 each. When we found enough tests to test all 6 of us, we paid about $75. Huge cost difference and enough that folks who are already struggling financially wouldn't be able to afford.

I really appreciate the businesses and schools that offer free tests. I wish it were more widespread.

[freesia]

2 minutes ago, wilrunner said:

The tests absolutely should be easier to come by and cost significantly less. Our German friend was surprised at how much they cost here. He brought 2 tests with him that cost about $3 each. When we found enough tests to test all 6 of us, we paid about $75. Huge cost difference and enough that folks who are already struggling financially wouldn't be able to afford.

I really appreciate the businesses and schools that offer free tests. I wish it were more widespread.

It's huge even for those of us who aren't struggling.  We have/had 6 at home, too.  Running 6 tests is a huge expense and I have only done it to visit my 81 year old mother.  Even so, we have spent a lot of money on tests for various reasons.  I was just putting it into the computer last week.  Using rapids for folks with symptoms, to see my mother at Christmas, and to send ds to a camp that didn't require testing we have spent over $200.  That is not even touching the tests we've done at CVS, Walgreens, Colleges, and urgent cares for camps, college, symptoms and travel.  $200 is not a drop in the bucket for us.  I easily could have doubled that.

[Tree Frog]

2 minutes ago, freesia said:

It's huge even for those of us who aren't struggling.  We have/had 6 at home, too.  Running 6 tests is a huge expense and I have only done it to visit my 81 year old mother.  Even so, we have spent a lot of money on tests for various reasons.  I was just putting it into the computer last week.  Using rapids for folks with symptoms, to see my mother at Christmas, and to send ds to a camp that didn't require testing we have spent over $200.  That is not even touching the tests we've done at CVS, Walgreens, Colleges, and urgent cares for camps, college, symptoms and travel.  $200 is not a drop in the bucket for us.  I easily could have doubled that.

Between the 2 set of tests we've taken, we've spent about $150. It eats into the budget very quickly for sure!

Our neighbors went to the south part of town for their tests. The southern part has more migrants and minorities and much lower incomes than where we live. He said his wife was charged $578 for a covid test. I don't know why they went so far, but I really hope the charge isn't standard in that part of town. There are a few places listed on our city's website that charge, but most of the PCR testing costs only in the time one did in line 

[freesia]

26 minutes ago, wilrunner said:

Between the 2 set of tests we've taken, we've spent about $150. It eats into the budget very quickly for sure!

Our neighbors went to the south part of town for their tests. The southern part has more migrants and minorities and much lower incomes than where we live. He said his wife was charged $578 for a covid test. I don't know why they went so far, but I really hope the charge isn't standard in that part of town. There are a few places listed on our city's website that charge, but most of the PCR testing costs only in the time one did in line 

Our PCR’s have all been covered, thank goodness!

[KSera]

2 hours ago, Pam in CT said:

re distinction between hospitalizations admitted "for COVID" vs admitted "with COVID"

Concur that the distinction is valuable, and glad to see more hospitals are attempting (in the absence of national reporting guidelines, le sigh) to find DIY ways to distinguish and track both.

But I'm afraid it's becoming YET ANOTHER talking point that minimizes the magnitude of current conditions and/or (and worse) feeds into the conspiracy theory that HCW are intentionally overstating/inflating COVID numbers because (~~reasons~~).

• Even if a kid IS admitted FOR appendicitis... and "merely" WITH COVID... the hospital has an interest/medical imperative to *attempt* to prevent transmission to other patients, and so *has to* test and *has to* attempt to separate; and
• Overwhelmed is overwhelmed, be it "for" COVID or "with" COVID.  While the distinction is important over time, to understand this phase of the battle... IT IS A PROBLEM when hospitals are out of beds / out of ICU beds / out of ventilators / (particularly) out of healthy and functioning staff.

I'm increasingly concerned that the "merely with" COVID is becoming yet another form of fuel to discount the reality (in my region, and coming your way soon) of hospital overwhelm.

I agree, and those were the points made by Ashish Jha in the Twitter thread I was sharing. People are making a big deal of that distinction, but it's a big deal no matter whether people are there "with covid" or "for covid". In addition to your points, he adds the point that a lot of the "with covid" people are people with medical conditions that might have otherwise been well managed, yet catching covid threw their chronic condition into crisis, so now they need hospital care for it at a time when hospitals are overwhelmed. They would be considered "with covid" but covid has made their situation serious and they need a hospital bed.

The distinction is definitely being misused by people to try to downplay the current crisis as if it means covid doesn't matter and isn't causing the crisis that it is.

[Faith-manor]

2 hours ago, KSera said:

I agree, and those were the points made by Ashish Jha in the Twitter thread I was sharing. People are making a big deal of that distinction, but it's a big deal no matter whether people are there "with covid" or "for covid". In addition to your points, he adds the point that a lot of the "with covid" people are people with medical conditions that might have otherwise been well managed, yet catching covid threw their chronic condition into crisis, so now they need hospital care for it at a time when hospitals are overwhelmed. They would be considered "with covid" but covid has made their situation serious and they need a hospital bed.

The distinction is definitely being misused by people to try to downplay the current crisis as if it means covid doesn't matter and isn't causing the crisis that it is.

This. If one more person say, "but they had pre-existing conditions", I am going to scream. This is NOT a reason to just write people off like " collateral damage", and that is exactly what they are doing. Someone even said this to me about our six year old grandson. I guess she thought it was acceptable for him to be a human sacrifice foe the sake of "economy" and "freedumb". You can imagine my response!

[Ting Tang]

4 hours ago, ktgrok said:

Yes - we all tested before gathering as well, even though the adults were either triple vaxed or double vaxxed plus recent infection. But my sister had access to free tests, so it was a simple matter to test everyone as we were getting ready to leave. Had anyone popped up positive their family would have avoided the gathering. 

THIS is what rapid tests should be for, and it is awful they are not available free and easy to come by in the US. 

We were able to all test before our Christmas gathering with my other SIL's family and husband's parents.  I know they are not 100% accurate, but we'd also had some time between possible exposures and getting together, so I felt a lot more at ease.  It's hard to point any fingers right now.  Almost everything is a potential exposure opportunity. I did grocery pick up today. I went alone, and the employee loaded my groceries into my truck.  I wore a mask in the van with all of my windows partially rolled down. The employee was masked, too.  I figure if omicron is as transmissible as they say, that could have been an exposure.  But we don't have grocery delivery, so this is the next best thing for us. 

[The Governess]

Re: rapid tests - I bought some on Amazon. $17.99 for a pack of 2. The description said they wouldn’t arrive for 2 weeks but they came in 2 days, in case anyone else checked there and didn’t buy them due to that timeline.
 

Here in CA they are supposed to be sending home free rapid tests with all public school students this week. Our county is also offering drive thru locations where you can pick up 2 free tests per vehicle.  
 

They are also opening new testing locations in my city. We were down to one free testing center and they are adding three more this week. 
 

 

[catz]

17 minutes ago, The Governess said:

Re: rapid tests - I bought some on Amazon. $17.99 for a pack of 2. The description said they wouldn’t arrive for 2 weeks but they came in 2 days, in case anyone else checked there and didn’t buy them due to that timeline.


 

 

I bought some of these too and it’s been over 2 weeks for me.  Says they are coming tomorrow, we will see!

[The Governess]

3 minutes ago, FuzzyCatz said:

I bought some of these too and it’s been over 2 weeks for me.  Says they are coming tomorrow, we will see!

Oh wow! I wonder how I got so lucky. 

[ScoutTN]

4 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

I have hopes of another vaccine because right now what we haven’t wouldn’t even pass the 50% threshold FDA uses to be approved against the current version of the virus. I mean even with a booster, does it prevent at least 50% of infections? I am glad we have what we have, but it simply isn’t good enough.

And I have a stuffed nose for the past couple of days. There is no at home test in the stores. And I refuse to go stand in line to get tested because if I do, I am 100% guaranteed to pick up Covid in that line. They really need to work on making cheap at home tests available everywhere. After 2.5 years, this is ridiculous. 

Sorry you are sick!
 
Do you not have drive through testing? All testing that I have seen here is drive-through, since very early on.

The vaccines seem to prevent a lot of serious illness and death, and I am happy to have that protection.

 

[ScoutTN]

4 hours ago, freesia said:

It's huge even for those of us who aren't struggling.  We have/had 6 at home, too.  Running 6 tests is a huge expense and I have only done it to visit my 81 year old mother.  Even so, we have spent a lot of money on tests for various reasons.  I was just putting it into the computer last week.  Using rapids for folks with symptoms, to see my mother at Christmas, and to send ds to a camp that didn't require testing we have spent over $200.  That is not even touching the tests we've done at CVS, Walgreens, Colleges, and urgent cares for camps, college, symptoms and travel.  $200 is not a drop in the bucket for us.  I easily could have doubled that.

My state has handled most covid related things poorly, some horrendously. BUT, testing in my city is widely available and free, even without insurance. Since early summer 2020. All drive through, so no spreading contagion while you wait. 

[Longtime Lurker]

My sister tested positive last night. Fully vaxed and boosted. She is an ER attending and is expected to continue to work (in an N95 of course) since she does not have a fever.

Her booster was just last week in order to be 6 months after her second shot. Her second shot didn't happen until 6 months ago because she was waiting for her cardiologist to clear her for vaccination. She was waiting for clearance because of the myocarditis caused by her March 2020 case of covid which she contracted working pre-PPE in the ER of a major metro area that was hit horribly hard.

Despite working with covid patients every day, she did not contract covid (this time) at work because she wears intensely thorough PPE. She got it from the significant other of a family member who came to a small family gathering after having been exposed (but did not tell anyone or mask). That person had a positive PCR come back yesterday morning and my sister had a positive rapid last night. She is so angry! 

[mommyoffive]

There is good news - by Katelyn Jetelina (substack.com)

[mommyoffive]

Walmart, Kroger Raise Prices of Covid-19 Test Kits - WSJ

[mommyoffive]

New ‘IHU’ B.1.640.2 Covid-19 Coronavirus Variant Detected In France (forbes.com)

 

I hadn't heard about this.    

[lewelma]

Cases continue to fall in NZ. Down to 17 nationwide. I find it interesting that the international media is silent on our numbers. Public health measures continue with ALL indoor venues requiring masks. We have 100% compliance from my observations even though there is currently not a single case on this island (I'm in the south island right now). We have had two omicron cases in the community last week that they have contained through contact tracing and isolation.

[Roadrunner]

https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2021/12/us-army-creates-single-vaccine-effective-against-all-covid-sars-variants/360089/
 

Within weeks, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research expect to announce that they have developed a vaccine that is effective against COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide. 

[Arcadia]

35 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

New ‘IHU’ B.1.640.2 Covid-19 Coronavirus Variant Detected In France (forbes.com)

 

I hadn't heard about this.    

https://time.com/6133106/ihu-new-covid-variant/
“The World Health Organization said a coronavirus variant found in France hasn’t become much of a threat since it was first identified in November.

The variant “has been on our radar,” Abdi Mahamud, a WHO incident manager on Covid, said at a press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday. “That virus had a lot of chances to pick up.”

The variant was identified in 12 people in the southern Alps around the same time that omicron was discovered in South Africa last year. The latter mutation has since traveled the globe and kindled record levels of contagion, unlike the French one that researchers at the IHU Mediterranee Infection — helmed by scientist Didier Raoult — nicknamed IHU”

[Mom_to3]

7 hours ago, KSera said:

I agree, and those were the points made by Ashish Jha in the Twitter thread I was sharing. People are making a big deal of that distinction, but it's a big deal no matter whether people are there "with covid" or "for covid". In addition to your points, he adds the point that a lot of the "with covid" people are people with medical conditions that might have otherwise been well managed, yet catching covid threw their chronic condition into crisis, so now they need hospital care for it at a time when hospitals are overwhelmed. They would be considered "with covid" but covid has made their situation serious and they need a hospital bed.

The distinction is definitely being misused by people to try to downplay the current crisis as if it means covid doesn't matter and isn't causing the crisis that it is.

I am disliking Ashish Jha more and more. The two examples of "with covid" patients he gave I wouldn't consider them as incidental to their covid illness  at all (or "for covid"): An 86 year old who dehydrated due to covid, and that dehydration gave him kidney failure. A 60 year old with covid who fell and broke a hip (did covid weakness or dizziness cause the fall?? I know the one time I had the flu in my 20s I could barely get to the bathroom, and didn't take a shower for days). These are pretty life-alterating, and in one of the cases potentially life-ending complications from covid (and will that hip surgery be delayed due to hospitals being in crisis mode, leading to further complications?).. All this distinction (is it for billing purposes in Jha's examples?) does it cause people to downplay Omicron and keep on partying.

I am just really upset by people like this. My state has a collapsed medical system, as does Jha's state. A colleague of DH's, in his 50s, had his heart surgery postponed until next month (and may well get postponed again). Could have a heart attack at any time - he's very symptomatic. Really terrible. I know my parents will likely catch Omicron. They may well end up dying from it, but Jha would likely classify it as "with covid". Give me a break!

[Pam in CT]

The PCR test sites in my (suburban) area are all drive-through. Is that not the case elsewhere?  That's how it's been done here since the earliest months of March-April 2020.  In the more urban community health center where I've also gone, there are these long tent-covered semi-protected walkways for the pedestrians who arrive by foot/public transportation.  Which can be cold, but at least are reasonably ventilated and well spaced.

 

[Catwoman]

4 hours ago, Longtime Lurker said:

My sister tested positive last night. Fully vaxed and boosted. She is an ER attending and is expected to continue to work (in an N95 of course) since she does not have a fever.

Her booster was just last week in order to be 6 months after her second shot. Her second shot didn't happen until 6 months ago because she was waiting for her cardiologist to clear her for vaccination. She was waiting for clearance because of the myocarditis caused by her March 2020 case of covid which she contracted working pre-PPE in the ER of a major metro area that was hit horribly hard.

Despite working with covid patients every day, she did not contract covid (this time) at work because she wears intensely thorough PPE. She got it from the significant other of a family member who came to a small family gathering after having been exposed (but did not tell anyone or mask). That person had a positive PCR come back yesterday morning and my sister had a positive rapid last night. She is so angry! 

I’m so sorry to hear about your sister — and I don’t blame her for being angry!!! I hope she recovers very quickly this time.  

[Catwoman]

46 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2021/12/us-army-creates-single-vaccine-effective-against-all-covid-sars-variants/360089/
 

Within weeks, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research expect to announce that they have developed a vaccine that is effective against COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide. 

Wow! That would be amazing!

Thank you for posting this, as I hadn’t heard about it before now.

[Starr]

12 minutes ago, Pam in CT said:

The PCR test sites in my (suburban) area are all drive-through. Is that not the case elsewhere?  That's how it's been done here since the earliest months of March-April 2020.  In the more urban community health center where I've also gone, there are these long tent-covered semi-protected walkways for the pedestrians who arrive by foot/public transportation.  Which can be cold, but at least are reasonably ventilated and well spaced.

 

Sadly no.

[KSera]

1 hour ago, Mom_to3 said:

I am disliking Ashish Jha more and more. The two examples of "with covid" patients he gave I wouldn't consider them as incidental to their covid illness  at all (or "for covid"): An 86 year old who dehydrated due to covid, and that dehydration gave him kidney failure. A 60 year old with covid who fell and broke a hip (did covid weakness or dizziness cause the fall?? I know the one time I had the flu in my 20s I could barely get to the bathroom, and didn't take a shower for days). These are pretty life-alterating, and in one of the cases potentially life-ending complications from covid (and will that hip surgery be delayed due to hospitals being in crisis mode, leading to further complications?).. All this distinction (is it for billing purposes in Jha's examples?) does it cause people to downplay Omicron and keep on partying.

I am just really upset by people like this. My state has a collapsed medical system, as does Jha's state. A colleague of DH's, in his 50s, had his heart surgery postponed until next month (and may well get postponed again). Could have a heart attack at any time - he's very symptomatic. Really terrible. I know my parents will likely catch Omicron. They may well end up dying from it, but Jha would likely classify it as "with covid". Give me a break!

I think I am interpreting him differently than others. I took this as him saying why all the people downplaying “with Covid” are wrong.  I don’t think he’s  saying that he’s the one who would classify these people as “with Covid”, but that in the technical statistics, they would be classified as with Covid and not for Covid, but yet  when you look closer, that’s not the full story, as the give examples of above.  I read it as him saying the same thing and that that’s why people shouldn’t think that those “with Covid” shouldn’t count or matter. Plus the fact that even if they’re there for a broken limb or surgery or something, that’s a whole lot of infection control that has to happen in order to treat them takes time and people. (I do disagree with Jha going so easy on the CDC’s misguided 5 day policy, even though he initially had said tests should be required.)

1 hour ago, Pam in CT said:

The PCR test sites in my (suburban) area are all drive-through. Is that not the case elsewhere?  That's how it's been done here since the earliest months of March-April 2020.  In the more urban community health center where I've also gone, there are these long tent-covered semi-protected walkways for the pedestrians who arrive by foot/public transportation.  Which can be cold, but at least are reasonably ventilated and well spaced.

 

Drive through is what we mostly have here as well, though some people go to urgent care. What seems like a terrible idea to me is when I hear people referring people to get tested at the lab on the 5th floor of the hospital. Why woils you send sick people up the elevator and to the tiny lab waiting room to get tested? Drive through or outside is the way to go, though I appreciate that for people with no cars in cold locations, they will need another option. 

[Corraleno]

1 hour ago, KSera said:

I think I am interpreting him differently than others. I took this as him saying why all the people downplaying “with Covid” are wrong.  I don’t think he’s  saying that he’s the one who would classify these people as “with Covid”, but that in the technical statistics, they would be classified as with Covid and not for Covid, but yet  when you look closer, that’s not the full story, as the give examples of above.  I read it as him saying the same thing and that that’s why people shouldn’t think that those “with Covid” shouldn’t count or matter. Plus the fact that even if they’re there for a broken limb or surgery or something, that’s a whole lot of infection control that has to happen in order to treat them takes time and people. (I do disagree with Jha going so easy on the CDC’s misguided 5 day policy, even though he initially had said tests should be required.)

That is how I read it as well — he's saying that many of the so-called "with covid" cases may actually have been caused by covid, even if indirectly, and even the covid-positive patients whose issues are truly unrelated to covid still need to be cared for in covid wards, which creates further stress for exhausted and overworked HCWs. He's saying that all covid cases, whether "for" or "with" count when the system is overwhelmed.

[Ausmumof3]

Going back to the original anecdata theme I actually have some after two years of not knowing anyone with covid.  A family here got together over Christmas. One of the kids unknowingly was exposed before Christmas and tested positive the day after. Although he and his wife got it no one else at the Christmas lunch got it.  I’m not sure of the exact timeline from exposure to the Christmas lunch but it did give me some hope that it’s not inevitable that once one person has it everyone there will get it.

[ktgrok]

My pastor's wife has it 😞

She's triple vaccinated, and super cautious. This is the church that required masks of all, vaccinated or not, the whole time unlike EVERY other church, does all kid activities outside, held a vaccination clinic at the church, has a moment in the announcements EVERY service reminding people masks are required whenever indoors, has masks and hand sanitizer set up everywhere when you walk in in case someone forgets, the bulliten reminds people to get vaccinated, etc etc. So yeah, I know she was cautious. It is just rampant here. 

Also, my realtor that had covid a few weeks ago is still having "post covid complications". I don't know specifics and certainly am not going to ask. 

[Carrie12345]

Based on stats and symptoms, I’m pretty confident my mom’s strain is Omicron. She is double vaxxed and boosted, no identified exposure to point to, doesn’t spend much time in public, definitely masks indoors when running in for quick trips.  Even gloves up to pump gas.
She is on Day5 of symptoms, which are basically a sore throat and slight cough.

I just put in a message to my doctor because I can’t find PCR testing for symptomatic people in my area. I also only have 1 home test on hand, and I’m super worried about wasting it too soon.
I mostly only have a sore throat.  Maybe a slight headache.  And I slept until 7am which is well outside of my norm of 4-6am. So… maybe?
I have no known exposures.  I’m mostly a hermit. Dh and dd do have more outside exposure than I do. Both are vaxxed and boosted (me, too) and say they’re staying masked up. My few interactions with humans are always with me masked. 
I did order furniture from an unmasked salesperson in a large warehouse last week. 🤷‍♀️ 
I have no other “reason” to have a sore throat for more than 24 hours.

[1234]

I don’t know which thread to put this in, so I’ll ask here. Are they still saying you should allow up to two weeks for symptoms to appear? I’m curious because we’ve been staying away from people since our Chicago trip. I fully expected us to get it because we ate inside unmasked several times and were at the aquarium (which was crazy packed) and sat in the food areas without a mask several times. We were just around so many people and not masked all the time (and some people wouldn’t wear a mask inside places at all) and all I hear is how contagious this one is, but so far all five of us feel fine. We’re a week out from the trip and I’m wondering if things are different with timing at all these days.