Omicron anecdata?

[I talk to the trees]

7 minutes ago, MEmama said:

I know you’ve been posting the updated maps for awhile but somehow I've missed the data they represent. Do you mind providing a refresher?
Thanks! 

I'm pretty sure those maps are the risk level maps from Covid Act Now.   The darker the state, the worse shape they are in. 😔

[Pam in CT]

The (vaxxed) 27 yo high school friend of my daughter's, who was hospitalized a few days ago with breathing difficulties, is being released today. 

[MEmama]

54 minutes ago, I talk to the trees said:

I'm pretty sure those maps are the risk level maps from Covid Act Now.   The darker the state, the worse shape they are in. 😔

That’s what I was afraid of. 😞

Thanks!

[Janeway]

Anecdotially, I have not yet seen any difference in those with vaccinations and those without. I could say those without are sicker, except that I am guessing that those without vaccinations are usually those not in high risk catagories.

[Pam in CT]

re differences between those with vaccination / those without:

11 minutes ago, Janeway said:

Anecdotially, I have not yet seen any difference in those with vaccinations and those without. I could say those without are sicker, except that I am guessing that those without vaccinations are usually those not in high risk catagories.

Fortunately, Omicron does seem to be more likely to be less virulent.

In the aggregate, though, vaccination status *does* look to be making a difference.

 

Nationwide, death rates (this is over time, so the Omicron effect is mushed in with the other variants):

 

NYC death and hospitalization rates:  (here you can look just at the shaded section of last few weeks where Omicron is the now-overwhelming strain)

 

[Matryoshka]

9 minutes ago, Pam in CT said:

NYC death and hospitalization rates:  (here you can look just at the shaded section of last few weeks where Omicron is the now-overwhelming strain)

This last chart, especially, to me shows that if anything the vaxxes are holding up surprisingly well against Omicron for hospitalization (vs symptomatic illness, where it's obviously not doing so well...).  The curve before 11/21 is likely still mostly Delta, where the vaxxed hospitalization rate was higher already, but with Omicron the vaxxed hospitalization rate has barely budged vs. the unvaxxed one which is going up, up, up.  That seems quite a stark comparison.

Since death rate lags so much, I don't think we'll have a clear picture on how big the difference is there for another few weeks...

[Ting Tang]

13 hours ago, ktgrok said:

If it helps, the shot was a total no big deal to my kids. One said he didn't even feel it - I'd taught him to count starting when it hurt until it stopped hurting, as a coping strategy. He got the shot and said, sort of angry, "mom! I couldn't even get to 1! It was over to fast!"

But mine were eager to get it. Maybe have the younger one watch the Sid the Science kid episode about vaccinations? My 4 yr old has watched it several times and now can't wait to get her Covid vaccine. 

I barely felt my booster---I had a completely different experience with the Moderna booster than my original J&J shot (that made me SICK).  I am hoping for the same with my kids. I have a 4 year old who turns 5 this month, so he won't be eligible for a few more weeks. I am getting nervous taking them after reading Omicron spreads even with transient, brief encounters.  😞  We're expecting a blizzard, so I assume this clinic will be indoors.

Edited January 1, 2022 by KrisTom

[Faith-manor]

8 minutes ago, KrisTom said:

I barely felt my booster---I had a completely different experience with the Moderna booster than my original J&J shot (that made me SICK).  I am hoping for the same with my kids. I have a 4 year old who turns 5 this month, so he won't be eligible for a few more weeks. I am getting nervous taking them after reading Omicron spreads even with transient, brief encounters.  😞  We're expecting a blizzard, so I assume this clinic will be indoors.

My suggestion is that you see if you can find some kid size KN95. Those things do a way better job of decreasing exposure than just a standard cloth mask. My daughter was unable to find any that fit her two year old, so she took an adult one, cut it down, and made it over with new ear loops to fit him. He wears it like a little trooper. I am so proud of him!

If everyone in your group wears that quality of mask, you will probably be okay. I hang mine out in the sunlight to disinfect.

[KSera]

10 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

My suggestion is that you see if you can find some kid size KN95. Those things do a way better job of decreasing exposure than just a standard cloth mask. My daughter was unable to find any that fit her two year old, so she took an adult one, cut it down, and made it over with new ear loops to fit him. He wears it like a little trooper. I am so proud of him!

If everyone in your group wears that quality of mask, you will probably be okay. I hang mine out in the sunlight to disinfect.

This KF94 is very small (2-5 year old sized) and the boat shaped masks tend to fit a wider variety of faces than the KN95 bifold anyway. Earloops are adjustable, which will be essential with a 2 year old:

https://kollecteusa.com/collections/kids/products/kf94-toddler-kids-mask-youandkidsOh 

[mommyoffive]

3 hours ago, I talk to the trees said:

I'm pretty sure those maps are the risk level maps from Covid Act Now.   The darker the state, the worse shape they are in. 😔

Correct, that is where they are from. Sorry I didn't say that.

[mommyoffive]

[Pam in CT]

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has expanded its projection tool (linked a few days ago over in the mondo thread) that helps a lot to visualize the big picture (along different scenarios based on assumptions about masking levels and increased vaccine uptake).

The tool opens up with the global projection, and you have to pick the US or other nation from the dropdown menu at the top and then individual states from there.  Then you can play around with the scenarios for deaths, hospitalizations and etc.  I don't think (?) my selection of the US / hospitalizations will carry over on the link so I'm screenshotting, but their hospital scenarios look pretty grim for the next ~6 weeks:

and for my state, which (as was true back in the first weeks of the first onslaught of the initial variant) is getting Omicron-blasted a few weeks ahead of much of the rest of the nation:

 

My husband is on the BoD of one the local hospitals here, and these projections are very consistent with both the current on-the-ground experiences and also with the projections they're working with.

So we're just trying to keep healthy until the other side of the slam, which -- here -- we expect within the next 3-4 weeks. After that, I think it's looking pretty inevitable that we'll get it along with the rest of the world.

 

Edited January 1, 2022 by Pam in CT
inserted wrong chart

[livetoread]

11 hours ago, crazyforlatin said:

I haven’t read through all the posts.

I am close to 2 elderly people who will never get the shot. I know of more in this situation but those are too old at this point to get the shot per doctors opinions (shots may do more harm). Is the data showing that omicron is more infectious but less deadly? I read today that it does not damage the lungs at much as delta. And our area is 80% vaxed.

 Is it too early to have that data?

I have never heard of age being a disqualifier for the vaccine (as in "too old"). My 97 yo mil with heart issues has had all three. Personally, unless I heard the doctor him/herself saying someone was too old, I'd question that was said - sounds like a made up excuse from someone who doesn't want the vaccine. If I heard the doctor saying it, I'd question the doc myself given how deadly covid is for old people and how not deadly the vaccine is for them.

I do know some people have medical conditions that prevent them getting the vaccine, and maybe those old folks also have those, but age isn't one of them.

[Spryte]

7 minutes ago, livetoread said:

I have never heard of age being a disqualifier for the vaccine (as in "too old"). My 97 yo mil with heart issues has had all three. Personally, unless I heard the doctor him/herself saying someone was too old, I'd question that was said - sounds like a made up excuse from someone who doesn't want the vaccine. If I heard the doctor saying it, I'd question the doc myself given how deadly covid is for old people and how not deadly the vaccine is for them.

I do know some people have medical conditions that prevent them getting the vaccine, and maybe those old folks also have those, but age isn't one of them.

DH’s 96 yr old grandmother has had three shots, too. And thank goodness, as she’s got Covid right now. Fortunately, the shots/boosters are doing their jobs and she’s pretty mild.

[sbgrace]

My sibling and her family tested positive for COVID yesterday (day of symptom onset).

My sister and her husband have boosters. The kids (10th, 8th, 6th, 4th) are all vaccinated. All are COVID positive. My BIL (51, boostered with early boosters as a doctor) is feeling pretty sick--high fever, chills, etc--flu like). The rest of them, so far, are mostly nasal and throat with low grade fevers.

They always mask, though with cloth or surgical masks generally, in a high masking and high vaccination rate community. My sister has no idea where/how they caught it. None of them have had anything remotely high risk contact lately. But they are thinking it's likely Omicron. 

Edited January 1, 2022 by sbgrace

[Ali in OR]

3 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

I hang mine out in the sunlight to disinfect.

The first thing that popped into my brain was "Where do you find direct sunlight this time of year?" Such an Oregonian! That said, we are actually supposed to have some sun today before a week of a lot of rain.

[Acadie]

Thanks so much for that link, @Pam in CT. At the moment they're projecting cases in Ohio peaking ~Jan 21, which makes sense given the spread we've already seen over the past few weeks. 

At the beginning of the pandemic Dd19 was exposed to Covid in March 2020 before school shut down (though we didn't know until weeks later when she had Covid toes), and dd16 has Covid now, along with dozens of other people we know.

I think northeast Ohio is way more connected to the east coast than I realized--our cases seem to rise just a couple weeks after NYC and Boston. 

Edited January 1, 2022 by Acadie

[Faith-manor]

44 minutes ago, Ali in OR said:

The first thing that popped into my brain was "Where do you find direct sunlight this time of year?" Such an Oregonian! That said, we are actually supposed to have some sun today before a week of a lot of rain.

LOL, we have our grey days for sure. But we also have freezing temps for several days in a row, so I assume between UV and the cold, we get a pretty good disinfection of the masks! Michigan, Oy vey!!!

Edited January 1, 2022 by Faith-manor

[Spryte]

People who’ve already been through omicron infections … what do you think?

MIL in nursing home is ill. Coughing, continual dry cough, oxygen level is 88. They are starting oxygen, and giving cough meds and morphine. She has rapid tested negative, and they only do a PCR if the rapid test comes back positive (sounds to me like they need to update their testing policies to reflect omicron’s potential false negatives on RATs, but I can’t change their policy). 

FIL is in room with her. I feel like the chances that MIL is Covid positive are high, and I’m worried about FIL. Frankly, I’m worried about my mom, too, who visits with my ILs when they go to activities. There are ten positive staff members, 2 residents, that we know of right now. 

Would you all suspect Covid as well, or am I jumping the gun? I wish we had a way to request that they separate MIL and FIL, but it’s not practical unless she’s testing positive, at which point she would go to the quarantine wing. 

[Harriet Vane]

4 minutes ago, Spryte said:

People who’ve already been through omicron infections … what do you think?

MIL in nursing home is ill. Coughing, continual dry cough, oxygen level is 88. They are starting oxygen, and giving cough meds and morphine. She has rapid tested negative, and they only do a PCR if the rapid test comes back positive (sounds to me like they need to update their testing policies to reflect omicron’s potential false negatives on RATs, but I can’t change their policy). 

FIL is in room with her. I feel like the chances that MIL is Covid positive are high, and I’m worried about FIL. Frankly, I’m worried about my mom, too, who visits with my ILs when they go to activities. There are ten positive staff members, 2 residents, that we know of right now. 

Would you all suspect Covid as well, or am I jumping the gun? I wish we had a way to request that they separate MIL and FIL, but it’s not practical unless she’s testing positive, at which point she would go to the quarantine wing. 

You are not jumping the gun. I definitely suspect covid, and I would move heaven and earth to get a pcr test. In the interim while you're all arguing about the pcr test, push for multiple rapid tests. The issue with false negatives with rapids is real for omicron.

[KSera]

6 minutes ago, Harriet Vane said:

You are not jumping the gun. I definitely suspect covid, and I would move heaven and earth to get a pcr test. In the interim while you're all arguing about the pcr test, push for multiple rapid tests. The issue with false negatives with rapids is real for omicron.

Could you do a rapid test and include a throat swab while doing it? That’s been showing earlier, more accurate results for many people recently. 

[heartlikealion]

8 hours ago, I talk to the trees said:

I'm pretty sure those maps are the risk level maps from Covid Act Now.   The darker the state, the worse shape they are in. 😔

Weird to me how the picture from 12/31 didn't have CA in dark red. My sister lives there and says it's like 1 out of 5 getting omicron. I went to the website today and CA was in dark red. 

[ktgrok]

39 minutes ago, Spryte said:

People who’ve already been through omicron infections … what do you think?

MIL in nursing home is ill. Coughing, continual dry cough, oxygen level is 88. They are starting oxygen, and giving cough meds and morphine. She has rapid tested negative, and they only do a PCR if the rapid test comes back positive (sounds to me like they need to update their testing policies to reflect omicron’s potential false negatives on RATs, but I can’t change their policy). 

FIL is in room with her. I feel like the chances that MIL is Covid positive are high, and I’m worried about FIL. Frankly, I’m worried about my mom, too, who visits with my ILs when they go to activities. There are ten positive staff members, 2 residents, that we know of right now. 

Would you all suspect Covid as well, or am I jumping the gun? I wish we had a way to request that they separate MIL and FIL, but it’s not practical unless she’s testing positive, at which point she would go to the quarantine wing. 

Given that they have an outbreak I think it is totally reasonable to think Covid. My son has 3 friends he knows that are positive (online gaming friends, no exposure to him, lol) and all 3 had negative rapid tests and then positive PCR. 

[Spryte]

37 minutes ago, Harriet Vane said:

You are not jumping the gun. I definitely suspect covid, and I would move heaven and earth to get a pcr test. In the interim while you're all arguing about the pcr test, push for multiple rapid tests. The issue with false negatives with rapids is real for omicron.

I will see what we can do about getting a  PCR. We have tried once, grrr, and they were not receptive.

[Harriet Vane]

21 minutes ago, Spryte said:

I will see what we can do about getting a  PCR. We have tried once, grrr, and they were not receptive.

Ah the joys of dealing with bureaucracies. They don't pivot quickly, and they prioritize systems and procedures over people. I'm sorry you've got to deal with this.

[Acadie]

1 hour ago, KSera said:

Could you do a rapid test and include a throat swab while doing it? That’s been showing earlier, more accurate results for many people recently. 

Seconding the throat swab. I also saw on Twitter today that swabbing the back 1/3 of the tongue or cheeks can also increase the sensitivity of a rapid test. That's much easier to do and less risk of the person coughing on whoever is doing the swab. Just don't eat or drink right before, to avoid a false positive. 

I looked for the tweet and couldn't find it--will post if I see it again.

 

[Tree Frog]

3 minutes ago, Acadie said:

Seconding the throat swab. I also saw on Twitter today that swabbing the back 1/3 of the tongue or cheeks can also increase the sensitivity of a rapid test. That's much easier to do and less risk of the person coughing on whoever is doing the swab. Just don't eat or drink right before, to avoid a false positive. 

I looked for the tweet and couldn't find it--will post if I see it again.

 

My mom told me last night she'd heard that saliva tests were just as accurate as nasal swabs, but less uncomfortable. Has anyone heard about this? She specifically said the tube you shoot into is the sample tested.

[freesia]

38 minutes ago, wilrunner said:

My mom told me last night she'd heard that saliva tests were just as accurate as nasal swabs, but less uncomfortable. Has anyone heard about this? She specifically said the tube you shoot into is the sample tested.

My dd had one for camp last summer. I had heard they are not quite as accurate. I thought it was great, but dd12, who has been tested multiple times says she hated spitting into the tube and prefers the nasal swabs. Go figure 🤷🏼‍♀️ 

[catz]

1 hour ago, wilrunner said:

My mom told me last night she'd heard that saliva tests were just as accurate as nasal swabs, but less uncomfortable. Has anyone heard about this? She specifically said the tube you shoot into is the sample tested.

My son did these a bunch at his university.  He actually prefers the swabs too.  It takes some skill to do them right evidently.  

[Ausmumof3]

@Roadrunner

This is not specific to omicron unfortunately but might be relevant to the questions you were having about kid hospitalisations and with/for Covid.

[popmom]

I continue to have muscle aches and joint pain off and on. Today has been terrible. I’m very grateful I don’t feel fatigued—just in pain.

So I started digging around about these NAATs. They aren’t all picking up Omicron. 
 

https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coronavirus-covid-19-and-medical-devices/sars-cov-2-viral-mutations-impact-covid-19-tests?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery#omicron-reduced

My test was done through Quest Diagnostics and Walmart pharmacy. So I found out that one of the tests they use is made by Roche. 
 

“We have great confidence that our original molecular test design, incorporating two targets that focus on regions of the virus that don’t tend to change, still holds up to all currently identified variants.”

https://diagnostics.roche.com/us/en/article-listing/assays-detect-coronavirus-variants.html

In reading Quest’s guidance they say that  if you have a known exposure and symptoms, treatment and isolation decisions shouldn’t be made based on a negative PCR. 
 

I’m going to call the pharmacy tomorrow to see if they can tell me which test I had. I just didn’t know this was a thing. I mean it makes sense after reading how the tests work…

I really don’t want to see a doctor in person, but I may need blood work done to see what else might be off and causing my pain. 
 

How much confidence do y’all have in the molecular tests? 

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by popmom

[Catwoman]

On 12/31/2021 at 10:02 PM, Faith-manor said:

This. I have a grandson with a heart condition. So I am way covid conscientious as is DH so it is reasonably safe for us to be around him. We boostered, and now we KN95 if we have to be in a store - and we try to do as much online, drive through, delivery etc. as we can - and we do not ever go around my brother and his wife who are not vaccinated and take no precautions of any kind. Anything we can do to keep from transmitting this to our grandson, we do.

I’m glad you posted this, because for many of us, it’s not as though we are being mean or making a political statement by trying not to be around unvaccinated people; it’s just that we have vulnerable family members (or are high risk ourselves,) and we want to take as many precautions as we can to keep everyone healthy. 

One of my friends is strongly anti-vax, but she is also a wonderful person who would do anything to help me if I needed it. I’m not spending time with her because of her vaccination status, but she understands why we have opted to be vaccinated, and neither of us resents each other for approaching Covid differently — and she would feel terrible if she ever exposed us to Covid, so she is fine with not seeing me. She and her family do, however, mask everywhere they go, and they do everything else they can to avoid contracting the virus (but her dh works in Manhattan, so it’s tough to avoid exposure.) I would probably have a much harder time with her position if she was being completely careless and was an anti-masker, in addition to being anti-vax. 

 

[Laura Corin]

12 hours ago, livetoread said:

I have never heard of age being a disqualifier for the vaccine (as in "too old"). My 97 yo mil with heart issues has had all three. Personally, unless I heard the doctor him/herself saying someone was too old, I'd question that was said - sounds like a made up excuse from someone who doesn't want the vaccine. If I heard the doctor saying it, I'd question the doc myself given how deadly covid is for old people and how not deadly the vaccine is for them.

I do know some people have medical conditions that prevent them getting the vaccine, and maybe those old folks also have those, but age isn't one of them.

Yes, my 97 yo mother has had three Pfizers.

[Melissa Louise]

5 hours ago, Catwoman said:

I’m glad you posted this, because for many of us, it’s not as though we are being mean or making a political statement by trying not to be around unvaccinated people; it’s just that we have vulnerable family members (or are high risk ourselves,) and we want to take as many precautions as we can to keep everyone healthy. 

One of my friends is strongly anti-vax, but she is also a wonderful person who would do anything to help me if I needed it. I’m not spending time with her because of her vaccination status, but she understands why we have opted to be vaccinated, and neither of us resents each other for approaching Covid differently — and she would feel terrible if she ever exposed us to Covid, so she is fine with not seeing me. She and her family do, however, mask everywhere they go, and they do everything else they can to avoid contracting the virus (but her dh works in Manhattan, so it’s tough to avoid exposure.) I would probably have a much harder time with her position if she was being completely careless and was an anti-masker, in addition to being anti-vax. 

 

I'm in this situation with a friend. She entirely understands where I'm coming from, and is glad I've been boosted etc 

Nothing to do with hating ppl, everything to do with risk management. 

[Guest]

19 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

I’m sure it will soon be subsumed as well, but I remember thinking when COVID first began spreading in the US, I wondered why West Virginia was the very last state to record cases of Covid. Now it is the last state in the region that isn’t dark red. But I wonder what factors make that so. I think the state lacks research hospitals. They could simply turn up later because they don’t have the data. However, if that is the case, it seems likely that is true for some other states with a lot of rural living and few/no research hospitals. 

[Terabith]

1 hour ago, Quill said:

I’m sure it will soon be subsumed as well, but I remember thinking when COVID first began spreading in the US, I wondered why West Virginia was the very last state to record cases of Covid. Now it is the last state in the region that isn’t dark red. But I wonder what factors make that so. I think the state lacks research hospitals. They could simply turn up later because they don’t have the data. However, if that is the case, it seems likely that is true for some other states with a lot of rural living and few/no research hospitals. 

I know early on, West VA was the last to have cases because they simply refused to test anyone.  Their infrastructure is poor, and they have a ton of covid deniers, so I am guessing it’s a combination of poor access to testing and disinclination to test.  

[Spryte]

1 hour ago, Terabith said:

I know early on, West VA was the last to have cases because they simply refused to test anyone.  Their infrastructure is poor, and they have a ton of covid deniers, so I am guessing it’s a combination of poor access to testing and disinclination to test.  

Yes.

Anecdotally: DS lives just over the line in WV, and got sick the week before Christmas. He and DIL could not find testing anywhere, and were told repeatedly by HCWs at testing sites that WV was deliberately “slowing down” the testing available. The implication was that it was a decision made to keep the numbers looking better.

ETA: The last sentence was the conclusion of DS and DIL. Whether they are right or wrong — I have no idea.

Edited January 2, 2022 by Spryte

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Spryte said:

Yes.

Anecdotally: DS lives just over the line in WV, and got sick the week before Christmas. He and DIL could not find testing anywhere, and were told repeatedly by HCWs at testing sites that WV was deliberately “slowing down” the testing available. The implication was that it was a decision made to keep the numbers looking better.

ETA: The last sentence was the conclusion of DS and DIL. Whether they are right or wrong — I have no idea.

I can see that…it jibes with what a certain politician said about not testing because it “makes cases go up.” 

[Pam in CT]

2 hours ago, Quill said:

I can see that…it jibes with what a certain politician said about not testing because it “makes cases go up.” 

It is similarly a well known fact that if you don't take a pregnancy test...

[KeriJ]

20 hours ago, Spryte said:

People who’ve already been through omicron infections … what do you think?

MIL in nursing home is ill. Coughing, continual dry cough, oxygen level is 88. They are starting oxygen, and giving cough meds and morphine. She has rapid tested negative, and they only do a PCR if the rapid test comes back positive (sounds to me like they need to update their testing policies to reflect omicron’s potential false negatives on RATs, but I can’t change their policy). 

FIL is in room with her. I feel like the chances that MIL is Covid positive are high, and I’m worried about FIL. Frankly, I’m worried about my mom, too, who visits with my ILs when they go to activities. There are ten positive staff members, 2 residents, that we know of right now. 

Would you all suspect Covid as well, or am I jumping the gun? I wish we had a way to request that they separate MIL and FIL, but it’s not practical unless she’s testing positive, at which point she would go to the quarantine wing. 

Maybe not Covid.  We recovered from Covid over a week ago. Then 3 days ago my kids had symptoms like you described.  It's a virus going through our town. None of those who have it tested positive for covid even with multiple tests. And the symptoms are nothing like we had with Covid. 

[Guest]

37 minutes ago, Pam in CT said:

It is similarly a well known fact that if you don't take a pregnancy test...

Yeah and people shouldn’t get mammos because then we’re going to make the breast cancer cases go up…

[Spryte]

26 minutes ago, KeriJ said:

Maybe not Covid.  We recovered from Covid over a week ago. Then 3 days ago my kids had symptoms like you described.  It's a virus going through our town. None of those who have it tested positive for covid even with multiple tests. And the symptoms are nothing like we had with Covid. 

That’s good. I’d obviously prefer something else for MIL! 

Just got more updates from the facility: they are up to 12 positive staff and 3 residents. Of course, they are only doing RATs, no PCRs, so I suspect the real number might be higher. Who knows?

MIL is still on oxygen, and they are trying to keep her in the facility. She has very clear comfort care only orders—like a step down from hospice—so while they might have sent someone else out, they are trying to care for her in house.

 

[Cecropia]

3 hours ago, Spryte said:

Yes.

Anecdotally: DS lives just over the line in WV, and got sick the week before Christmas. He and DIL could not find testing anywhere, and were told repeatedly by HCWs at testing sites that WV was deliberately “slowing down” the testing available. The implication was that it was a decision made to keep the numbers looking better.

ETA: The last sentence was the conclusion of DS and DIL. Whether they are right or wrong — I have no idea.

I live in WV.  Just now, I checked my local drug store testing options.  There are still 4 locations near me and they all have many times available for PCR tests, though some have Monday's slots full.  Plus I know the urgent care centers have been and still are offering walk-in rapid and PCR testing.

[General comment, not directed at Spryte] I spent most of my life in the suburbs of a major northern city and have been living in WV for about 10 years.  I have to say, I feel that this state and its citizens are too quickly painted with a myopic brush by other Americans.

[Toocrazy!!]

In WV as well. You can get tested at all the major pharmacies, the hospital offers drive through PCR every week day and the county Health Departments offer daily PCR testing in more populated counties every day and smaller counties every few days. 

That said, I think we'll be dark red once numbers are updated. I know about 10 people with Covid right now. It's definitely hitting here. We've got our triple vaccinated, our covid deniers, and our legislators pushing against mask mandates. It's a diverse state when it comes to almost anything. covid is no exception. 

[Spryte]

For clarity, DS and DIL could not find any testing within two hours of their location the week before Christmas. I didn’t quite believe them, and went on the CVS and Walgreens’ sites on that Monday evening, and also found nothing (other than places in VA, nearly two hours away). I think there was possibly a rush to get tested before the holidays, and it was difficult to find an appointment that week. It may not reflect the availability of testing all the time, but there were no available tests to be found the week before Christmas.

They did attempt to go to a mass testing site on Tuesday, but apparently by the time they arrived, there were no slots left. They were told to come back at 4:30, which they did, waited, and then again told that there were no tests available that day.

I was (perhaps unfairly) quick to think that my adult kid just could not figure out how to access testing — as of course it must be available! — but when I tried to find them appointments, there was … nothing. We opted to cancel our plans for Christmas, since they were symptomatic at that point.

That said, I’m not sharing this to disparage WV! Just sharing the real, lived experience of my (still sick!) 30 yr old son who probably has had Covid, and missed Christmas with us. 

Edited January 2, 2022 by Spryte

[popmom]

My state (Alabama) broke its record for 7 day average positivity. It’s 31%. 
 

Saw a report from Baldwin County stating just over 50% of sequencing is Omicron. I’m thinking—okay…What’s the other 50%???? 

 

[cintinative]

4 minutes ago, popmom said:

My state (Alabama) broke its record for 7 day average positivity. It’s 31%. 
 

Saw a report from Baldwin County stating just over 50% of sequencing is Omicron. I’m thinking—okay…What’s the other 50%???? 

 

This is my concern as well. I think people are assuming if they get COVID they will get Omicron but I don't  know that we can be sure of that.  I know people who are blaming Omicron for their COVID but until we have better sequencing I don't think we can know that all the cases locally are Omicron.  And if you are making a decision about being less cautious thinking that it is only Omicron going around, I don't know that that is a correct assumption.  I fear some people I know are doing that.

 

[freesia]

Re:testing. There is very little available here in a NYC suburb. Dd made her appt two weeks ago in order to travel and it was for the wrong day. There were no tests available for at least 5 days and many places were booked until January 11th.  We finally found an express test only for travelers, not for anyone with symptoms who needed to see a doctor—phew! There are no rapid tests anywhere, either. Our numbers are clearly not representative of what is actually going on rn. 

[regentrude]

Re testing: the availability of a test appointment means nothing when the results of a PCR test take more than a week to come back, as just happened to a (symptomatic) friend. That is simply ridiculous and fairly useless.

Edited January 3, 2022 by regentrude

[cjzimmer1]

1 hour ago, regentrude said:

Re testing: the availability of a test appointment means nothing when the results of a PCR test take more than a week to come back, as just happened to a (symptomatic) friend. That is simply ridiculous and fairly useless.

The first appointment I could find for DD was 8 days away which was 10 days after her symptoms started.  Really no point to test then.  All the walk in places I found were closed for the holidays.  But I agree without quick access to both testing and results, there isn't much point.