Omicron anecdata?

[popmom]

45 minutes ago, kokotg said:

huh. That's strange. I mean, Delta wasn't surging before omicron like the article says. There certainly was plenty of Delta circulating, but nationwide numbers went down from September until November. There were some modest increases in early November and then really sharp increases starting in later November and into December. Basically, I don't see an increase in pre-omicron numbers that would support a 60% increase in deaths. The increase in deaths started a few weeks after the omicron surge started, just like you would expect; I believe 3-4 weeks has been the lag in every wave. Suggesting that somehow deaths started increasing rapidly a few weeks after omicron cases did but that this time it had nothing to do with the surge in cases seems...mathematically improbable to me. But I am, of course, not an epidemiologist. But the models the epidemiologists are making seem to think there will be plenty of omicron deaths in the coming months: https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-omicron-covid-19-deaths-08f8db29985b992d5ef98ccfa1459eb7

Delta WAS surging in many places. It’s been discussed. Take Ohio for example. This article is from end of December. Ohio certainly wasn’t the only state with a late Delta surge—it’s just the one that I vividly remember from recent news. https://www.ideastream.org/news/northeast-ohio-counties-lead-the-nation-in-covid-19-infection-rates-newly-released-data-show

This article was just 6 weeks ago when New England and the Midwest were being hammered by Delta. Also keep in mind that non survivors of COVID have much lengthier hospital stays—often 90+ days. Add to that the lag in reporting deaths… https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-12-02/as-omicron-looms-us-is-still-battling-the-delta-wave?context=amp

eta: I can’t find the source for that 90 day statistic, so take that with a grain of salt. I have an acquaintance who lost her father to the Delta variant. He was hospitalized for several months. I was researching it at that time, and I can’t find where I found the data on that. 

Edited January 19, 2022 by popmom

[kokotg]

2 minutes ago, popmom said:

Delta WAS surging in many places. It’s been discussed. Take Ohio for example. This article is from end of December. Ohio certainly wasn’t the only state with a late Delta surge—it’s just the one that I vividly remember from recent news. https://www.ideastream.org/news/northeast-ohio-counties-lead-the-nation-in-covid-19-infection-rates-newly-released-data-show

sure, but deaths aren't going up only in places where delta was especially bad pre-omicron. If you look right now at charts of places that have had huge omicron surges, you can see a corresponding rise in deaths (though, thankfully, a less dramatic one than the surge in cases). DC, NJ, NY....all of them had pretty flat numbers until omicron came along, then the characteristic vertical line as cases rose with deaths following a few weeks later.

[popmom]

3 minutes ago, kokotg said:

sure, but deaths aren't going up only in places where delta was especially bad pre-omicron. If you look right now at charts of places that have had huge omicron surges, you can see a corresponding rise in deaths (though, thankfully, a less dramatic one than the surge in cases). DC, NJ, NY....all of them had pretty flat numbers until omicron came along, then the characteristic vertical line as cases rose with deaths following a few weeks later.

Did you read my edit?

never mind. I’m sure you’re correct. It’s all pretty bad.

Edited January 19, 2022 by popmom

[TCB]

45 minutes ago, popmom said:

I can see this—that it’s still Delta. Many critical cases are hospitalized for weeks—months. Delta was still present significantly through the end of the year in some areas. So I agree with the above article. It will be awhile before we know how many deaths can be attributed to Omicron. I’m in the southeast where Delta peaked back in summer. Our Delta and overall COVID numbers were very low until the holidays when Omicron hit. Our 7 day death average is 2. As in single digit 2 for the entire state. This number will no doubt increase over the coming weeks, but hopefully nowhere near Delta numbers. Our hospitals are reporting far less need for ventilators among those currently hospitalized. NOTE: I am NOT MINIMIZING THE DANGER OF OMICRON OR ITS IMPACT ON THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM. Thank you. 🙂

We are just getting going on our Omicron wave here so it’s too early for me to tell from personal experience.

[Roadrunner]

So is the consensus now that Omicron is only mild among the vaccinated? 
 

I now know several completely asymptomatic people, all vaccinated and tested only due to work. But I also know a triple vaccinated who died. She was 80+ with medical conditions. 😞

Just hoping we are mostly over the worst in CA. It’s been a crazy ride here with case numbers. 

[KSera]

1 hour ago, whitestavern said:

Well our CDC director says they’re mostly Delta, which is why I’m trying to find actual numbers for Omicron. 

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-covid-hospitalizations-up-about-33-deaths-up-about-40-over-past-week-cdc-2022-01-12/

 

Well, quite honestly, Walensky says a lot of pretty off things when she's shooting from the hip. She also said how "encouraging" it was that 75% of omicron deaths were in people with pre-existing conditions (which besides being totally gross, means she had death numbers to be taking that 75% of something from). There's also the new study showing a 91% lower death rate from omicron vs Delta. 9% of a much bigger number of cases is still turning out to be a large number of people. It's exceedingly fortunate that it's significantly lower than with Delta (although, South Africa is continuing to see deaths rise and I'm concerned with the number of PE events that are happening post covid and what that will due to the excess deaths numbers overall).

43 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

So is the consensus now that Omicron is only mild among the vaccinated? 
 

I now know several completely asymptomatic people, all vaccinated and tested only due to work. But I also know a triple vaccinated who died. She was 80+ with medical conditions. 😞

 

I don't think it's only mild among the vaccinated, just that it's much more likely to be mild among the vaccinated, and far more likely to lead to hospitalization or death with unvaccinated than with vaccinated. But certainly, just as from the very start of this, there will be unvaccinated people who are fortunate enough to have asymptomatic or mild cases. Unfortunately, they then tend to insist that means it's mild for everyone, and meanwhile the death toll continues to mount 😥.

Edited January 19, 2022 by KSera
typo

[Corraleno]

The CDC death counts tend to lag way behind other data sources, including state counts, because first there's the delay in getting the death certificates from the states to the CDC, then the CDC has to process them, and they requires that all covid death certificates be coded by hand.

The CDC is currently showing ~850K deaths while Worldometer is showing ~877K, a difference of 27K. The CDC count generally catches up with the Worldometer count a few weeks later, so it may be that the deaths Wallensky is referring to as being "mostly delta" are actually from early December, and were the result of delta infections contracted in October or November, but when they finally get around to processing the extra 27K deaths that are already showing up in Worldometer, they may find that the deaths that are happening now, in January, are predominantly omicron. Telling us what was happening a month or six weeks ago as if it were happening how is really not helpful — the CDC has been like a lumbering, outdated, hard-to-steer battleship in a fight that really requires the ability to maneuver quickly and efficiently and turn on a dime. They have been playing catch up since day 1 (with the whole testing debacle) and still cannot even get on top of things, let along get ahead. 

[Roadrunner]

So what percentage of cases are they actually sequencing? I really hope they are sequencing the virus type among the dying and severely ill.

I do think it’s important to understand how this damn virus is evolving so far in terms of severity, but I do think the highly vaccinated population might be the reason why this variant seems milder. 

 

Edited January 19, 2022 by Roadrunner

[KSera]

1 hour ago, whitestavern said:

Well our CDC director says they’re mostly Delta, which is why I’m trying to find actual numbers for Omicron. 

 

 

Timely. This AP story just came through:

US faces wave of omicron deaths in coming weeks, models say

Quote

 

The wave of deaths heading for the United States will crest in late January or early February, Shea said. In early February, weekly deaths could equal or exceed the delta peak, and possibly even surpass the previous U.S. peak in deaths last year.

Some unknown portion of these deaths are among people infected with the delta variant, but experts say omicron is also claiming lives.

“This is omicron driven,” Shea said of the coming wave of deaths. The combined models project 1.5 million Americans will be hospitalized and 191,000 will die from mid-December through mid-March. Taking into account the uncertainty in the models, U.S. deaths during the omicron wave could range from 58,000 to 305,000.

 

 

Quote

But the notion that a generally less severe variant could still take the lives of thousands of people has been difficult for health experts to convey. The math of it — that a small percentage of a very high number of infections can yield a very high number of deaths — is difficult to visualize.

 

[TexasProud]

9 hours ago, ktgrok said:

when data means nothing to you I guess not

BUT IT IS DATA. In my world, I could care less what statistics say about the fact that vaccinated gets it less when my loved ones are all getting it as well as closer friends. Statistics are meaningless in that case. The truth in my world is that vaccinations have not protected them from getting it. Now it HAS prevented hospitalizations so far. Who knows about long Covid. And again, statistical studies do not matter as much as my personal experience FOR ME. It affects my world if that makes sense.

Sorry, my mom had a really bad day on Monday. Calling back and forth yesterday to check on her and trying to decide if I need to drive there. But I get my stitches out this morning  and then classes, so I cannot leave until 4pm. The part time caregiver has been taking a vacation with her husband to Oklahoma and is supposed to be back tomorrow, but with Omicron, I don't think I want her there, but that would mean I need to go.

And now my daughter just texted me from Indiana, she woke up with a sore throat and congestion. She is calling the health center when they open at 8:30 to get tested. I guess we will see what the University policy is now. Hoping they have a place for her to quarantine.   I have no clue whether to head 3 hours west or 15 hours northeast at 4pm today... I am overwhelmed.

So yeah. Statistics are meaningless when it affects you.

[Laura Corin]

9 hours ago, whitestavern said:

They are actually reporting that those are from Omicron? If so can you share a link? Our state doesn’t break down by variant. I can’t find anywhere that does. 

The UK has been almost 100 percent Omicron for a long time. On 16 December 75 percent of cases in London were Omicron and it was spreading very fast.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/16/omicron-could-lead-to-record-daily-covid-hospitalisations-chris-whitty-mps-told?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Here are the deaths 

https://ourworldindata.org/covid-deaths

[TravelingChris]

11 hours ago, FuzzyCatz said:

Thank you for putting that inline.  It is really striking to look at!  Definitely a better looking situation than I was expecting.  

 

This is why it good to look at data from a broader scale.  This is based on data from 888,000+ breakthrough cases.  I will say, I am in a sea of vaxxed and boosted people here.  I know plenty of people with exposures in the past month who haven't gotten covid either.  Including us.  My college student is testing today from an exposure last week, but he is at 6 days post exposure now and asymptomatic (and recently boosted) so not really worried about it.  I do know a handful of breakthrough cases in the past month.  I mean, unless you're pretty locked down, a lot of us have probably been exposed.  

But do we really know whether we got it?  If you are asymptomatic, probably not.  For example, we did quarantine for 5 days after dd1 and dsil1 got Omicron after vaccination.  BUt neither dh nor 1 had any symptoms so we didn't test.  Why would we?  After all, if you are asymptomatic, you have no idea you have it and unless you have a giant box of tests, you aren't going to be testing each time you meet another person.  

 

[TravelingChris]

10 hours ago, whitestavern said:

In my circle of acquaintances, many of the vaxxed are getting “colds” or “allergies” and don’t consider Covid as a possibility so they’re not testing. One of my coworkers didn’t test until she lost her taste. 

DH and I can't be testing each day we cough= I cough most mornings once or twice and coughed outside two days ago when I was near the junipers I am allergic too.  Dh coughs a lot- he has asthma and refuses to treat it= this has been going on since before COVID.  He isn't sick, either.  Or my fatigue-  I get fatigue, confusion, etc almost every day of my life.  I get digestive issues at least 3 times a week.  Etc, etc,.

 

[TravelingChris]

A day or two ago, my local news announced a study result regarding COVID tests that was done by Vanderbilt tthough it actually came out in late Nov. Apparently,  you are most likely to get an accurate test midday or afternoon and very likely to get a false positive if you test in the late evening or night.  Best time to test- 2pm and worse 2am

[Pawz4me]

7 hours ago, Roadrunner said:

So what percentage of cases are they actually sequencing?

 

According to this CNN article from last month, in the US about 80,000 samples are sequenced per week, which (at that time) meant about one in seven PCR positive tests got sequenced. Since the case numbers have skyrocketed in the past few weeks I don't know what that means for sequencing. If we're still doing 80,000 a week that's obviously not going to be anywhere close to one in seven. From other articles I've read the percentage of tests that are being sequenced is very state dependent, with some states having much greater capability and capacity than others.

[whitestavern]

1 hour ago, TravelingChris said:

DH and I can't be testing each day we cough= I cough most mornings once or twice and coughed outside two days ago when I was near the junipers I am allergic too.  Dh coughs a lot- he has asthma and refuses to treat it= this has been going on since before COVID.  He isn't sick, either.  Or my fatigue-  I get fatigue, confusion, etc almost every day of my life.  I get digestive issues at least 3 times a week.  Etc, etc,.

 

I totally agree. I think there are more vaxxed that have had it than what’s been estimated exactly because of this reason. There are also a lot of positives that weren’t reported anywhere because they were at home rapid tests. 

[ktgrok]

2 hours ago, TexasProud said:

BUT IT IS DATA. In my world, I could care less what statistics say about the fact that vaccinated gets it less when my loved ones are all getting it as well as closer friends. Statistics are meaningless in that case. The truth in my world is that vaccinations have not protected them from getting it. Now it HAS prevented hospitalizations so far. Who knows about long Covid. And again, statistical studies do not matter as much as my personal experience FOR ME. It affects my world if that makes sense.

Sorry, my mom had a really bad day on Monday. Calling back and forth yesterday to check on her and trying to decide if I need to drive there. But I get my stitches out this morning  and then classes, so I cannot leave until 4pm. The part time caregiver has been taking a vacation with her husband to Oklahoma and is supposed to be back tomorrow, but with Omicron, I don't think I want her there, but that would mean I need to go.

And now my daughter just texted me from Indiana, she woke up with a sore throat and congestion. She is calling the health center when they open at 8:30 to get tested. I guess we will see what the University policy is now. Hoping they have a place for her to quarantine.   I have no clue whether to head 3 hours west or 15 hours northeast at 4pm today... I am overwhelmed.

So yeah. Statistics are meaningless when it affects you.

 I'm really sorry about your mom and I hope your daughter turns out to just have a regular cold!

And I think those things can be true. You can know lots of people who are vaccinated who are getting it, and it can also be true that being unvaccinated makes you even more likely to get it. That's all anyone was trying to say. That's what the numbers say. You don't have to care about them, but that doesn't make them not true. That's all.

[TexasProud]

3 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

 I'm really sorry about your mom and I hope your daughter turns out to just have a regular cold!

And I think those things can be true. You can know lots of people who are vaccinated who are getting it, and it can also be true that being unvaccinated makes you even more likely to get it. That's all anyone was trying to say. That's what the numbers say. You don't have to care about them, but that doesn't make them not true. That's all.

And that is fine. But my feelings count.

[mommyoffive]

Antigen Tests: Real World Data - Your Local Epidemiologist (substack.com)

 

[mommyoffive]

WHO counts 18 million virus cases last week as omicron slows (msn.com)

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

32 minutes ago, TexasProud said:

And that is fine. But my feelings count.

They do count. I am tired of people in my life saying “but at least you’re not hospitalized.”  Yes, I am thrilled that neither my children or I or any number of my friends and family who caught Covid in the last few weeks are hospitalized.  But hospitalizations and deaths, while super important, are not the whole story.  One of my healthy coworkers is still having severe fatigue and shortness of breath three weeks later. Vaxxed and boostered. My kids are out of school with Covid; my oldest is really struggling mental health wise between Covid anxiety and being out of routine. My friend has been out two weeks between her Covid quarantine and then her kids caught it—she’s a special education teacher and her students are also struggling with not having their regular teacher.  My mother in law hasn’t been able to get out of bed in three days and can’t eat. Everyone of these cases is in a fully vaccinated person.  Even mild cases have long lasting effects, physically, emotionally, financially, socially, and I think it’s perfectly okay to be angry about the situation.

You can be grateful no one has a severe case due to the vaccination and angry that Covid is still circulating, still disruptive, and it’s looking more and more like we just learn to live with it.  It’s okay to wish we were back in spring of 2021 when it really looked like we’d be able to halt the spread through vaccination.

[catz]

4 hours ago, TravelingChris said:

But do we really know whether we got it?  If you are asymptomatic, probably not.  For example, we did quarantine for 5 days after dd1 and dsil1 got Omicron after vaccination.  BUt neither dh nor 1 had any symptoms so we didn't test.  Why would we?  After all, if you are asymptomatic, you have no idea you have it and unless you have a giant box of tests, you aren't going to be testing each time you meet another person.  

 

Sure.  We are absolutely missing many cases.  Some were estimating case counts at possibly being 5x10 times recorded for this wave.  Some states are doing an awful job in general.  Some states definitely lost it on their peaks this time around.  But we are also missing unvaccinated cases too.  Initially when vaccines came out, we didn't know if they'd prevent infection or spread at all.  The fact there is some pretty clear data indicating there is likely lower infection rates in the vaccinated for a very different variant is good news.  I also think if people are having asymptomatic or low level symptomatic cases, I don't find that hugely problematic.  People may still be building some immunity toward this strain.   We're not eliminating covid at this point, best case scenario is it becomes endemic.  If it is not hugely problematic for many, transmission goes down because there is less circulation, and we have good antivirals that work for the more vulnerable, that will be an improvement.  There was encouraging data out this week WRT long covid and the vaccinated too.  I still think this charting places have done is likely representative and positive news.   Obviously we don't know what's coming next.  

Our state is recording breakthrough data.  5.8% of vaccinated people have recorded a break through case w/0.187% requiring hospitalization.  I'm starting to be ok with those odds in terms of getting back out in the world when we get further on the other side of this wave.

I totally get the emotions that surround this pandemic.  I had crippling anxiety for months with panic attacks.  I personally had to make a decision to stop doom scrolling and look for the light instead of the dark to stay sane.  I mean I am going shopping in a mall with my teen today for the first time since covid started.  And I'm nervous about it.  We will be KN95ed.  She needs an outfit for a performance coming up.  Which will have a very limited audience and will be live streamed.  But that said, my kid's lives are definitely going better this year than last year.  I mean, I have eaten in 2 restaurants in 2 years.  We had alone holidays both years.  My MIL died suddenly of a stroke early in the pandemic I still wonder about.  We had an outdoor funeral with 10 people in the snow.  We're all just trying to hang in there.

I have ALL the sympathy for you Mrs Tiggywinkle.  I personally think the uncooperative covid+ person you transported should be cited and you should not have to transport people like that.  We should be giving our health care workers all the support, money, resources, and back up right now.

Edited January 19, 2022 by FuzzyCatz

[Arcadia]

My school district just updated their numbers for their dashboard for the first two weeks of school. It was originally showing 18 for first week and 0 for second for students. Now it is showing 350 for 1st week, 405 for second. They wait for county health dept confirmation to update their dashboard. My county is saying the cases are community spread and not school spread.

[YaelAldrich]

2 hours ago, Arcadia said:

My school district just updated their numbers for their dashboard for the first two weeks of school. It was originally showing 18 for first week and 0 for second for students. Now it is showing 350 for 1st week, 405 for second. They wait for county health dept confirmation to update their dashboard. My county is saying the cases are community spread and not school spread.

Every article and personal communication with schools says exactly that -not school spread but community spread. I'm finding it kind of hard to believe though. Not that I don't think community spread is real, because I do! But there should Kent that much less school spread, especially inland without any Covid mitigation strategies.

[Harriet Vane]

2 hours ago, Arcadia said:

My school district just updated their numbers for their dashboard for the first two weeks of school. It was originally showing 18 for first week and 0 for second for students. Now it is showing 350 for 1st week, 405 for second. They wait for county health dept confirmation to update their dashboard. My county is saying the cases are community spread and not school spread.

Community versus school spread is a chicken-egg question. With the amount of spread and the high rate of infection and the almost total lack of contact tracing it's not something any health official can determine at this point.

[Arcadia]

1 minute ago, Harriet Vane said:

Community versus school spread is a chicken-egg question. With the amount of spread and the high rate of infection and the almost total lack of contact tracing it's not something any health official can determine at this point.

I do agree. It is very much a PR statement. My district is also not counting positive cases whose results were on non-school days. So the cases are actually higher. So far the majority of the cases are in the high schools.

[mommyoffive]

More states and cities have seen COVID-19 infection rates peak and start to come down, roughly four weeks after the surge began. Infections have peaked in all the states of the Atlantic seaboard, except for the Carolinas, as well as California. Plus, cases are down by a third or more in New York City and Washington, D.C., where the surge started early. Rates also appear to be peaking this week in several Midwestern states and metropolitan areas.

A similar trend is apparent internationally. Canada and France have joined the U.K. and South Africa in seeing the beginning of a downtrend. Of course, infections will still be high for a while after the peak occurs, but the end is in sight. A benefit of the omicron-variant surge is the near elimination of the delta variant, which appeared to hospitalize more people on a per-case basis. As omicron subsides, is it possible that a life could begin to return to normal? Future variants are likely, but if their severity is less, then yes, it is possible.

 

This is from Kiplinger

[mommyoffive]

'Plateaus and downturns' in new cases of omicron; how to get your free tests: Live COVID updates (msn.com)

[TexasProud]

So with my mom at cancer center. She threw up all night. Getting fluids. Daughter is positive. They are moving her to apartment on campus. Missed lunch and my class today. Will try to get something in mom when we go back to her house. 

[cintinative]

20 minutes ago, TexasProud said:

So with my mom at cancer center. She threw up all night. Getting fluids. Daughter is positive. They are moving her to apartment on campus. Missed lunch and my class today. Will try to get something in mom when we go back to her house. 

Things have been so challenging for you for so long. It's a lot to carry. Prayers that the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ (Phil 4:6).  

[Roadrunner]

4 hours ago, Arcadia said:

My school district just updated their numbers for their dashboard for the first two weeks of school. It was originally showing 18 for first week and 0 for second for students. Now it is showing 350 for 1st week, 405 for second. They wait for county health dept confirmation to update their dashboard. My county is saying hers,  the spread and not school spread.

We have a total of 80 including 4 staff/teachers. Ours is updated daily, but they are telling us most cases were over the break and identified before kids retired back to school. 🤞They are testing a lot.

[Arcadia]

49 minutes ago, Roadrunner said:

We have a total of 80 including 4 staff/teachers. Ours is updated daily, but they are telling us most cases were over the break and identified before kids retired back to school. 🤞They are testing a lot.

Staff was 48 for first week and 45 for second week after backfilling. The numbers were originally 0 before backfill. Testing is voluntary for students, weekly testing for staff. Test positivity in my county is currently at a 7 day average of 16.7%.

[Spryte]

Local nursing home is up to 37 cases. There are more sick residents who have symptoms that sure look like Covid, but are testing negative on RAT. 
 

[mommyoffive]

Fauci says FDA could authorize Pfizer's Covid vaccine for kids under 5 in the next month (cnbc.com)

 

Here's the latest research into the accuracy of at-home rapid COVID tests : NPR

[mommyoffive]

What America Lost by Delaying the Vaccine Rollout (msn.com)

[TravelingChris]

8 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

More states and cities have seen COVID-19 infection rates peak and start to come down, roughly four weeks after the surge began. Infections have peaked in all the states of the Atlantic seaboard, except for the Carolinas, as well as California. Plus, cases are down by a third or more in New York City and Washington, D.C., where the surge started early. Rates also appear to be peaking this week in several Midwestern states and metropolitan areas.

A similar trend is apparent internationally. Canada and France have joined the U.K. and South Africa in seeing the beginning of a downtrend. Of course, infections will still be high for a while after the peak occurs, but the end is in sight. A benefit of the omicron-variant surge is the near elimination of the delta variant, which appeared to hospitalize more people on a per-case basis. As omicron subsides, is it possible that a life could begin to return to normal? Future variants are likely, but if their severity is less, then yes, it is possible.

 

This is from Kiplinger

Are area has peaked =largest city in Alabama

[Laura Corin]

This article about whether it's too soon for England to lift restrictions also has the below interesting graph: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-60059761

[Faith-manor]

On 1/19/2022 at 8:10 AM, whitestavern said:

I totally agree. I think there are more vaxxed that have had it than what’s been estimated exactly because of this reason. There are also a lot of positives that weren’t reported anywhere because they were at home rapid tests. 

This. My former boss's wife emailed me to let me know he has covid. Unvaxed, but she is vaxed. He took a home test and has been recovering without medical intervention. The health department is not logging positives on home tests. She has symptoms, very mild, and isn't bothering to home test. He was a special speaker at a seminar this past weekend - about 100 people in attendance with reception afterward and no masks in sight - and waited until three days after his positive test to let the organizers know he was probably communicable. His positive was Sunday morning.

So two people not included in the data, a hundred people exposed. Our national response to this crisis can only be described as  "totally effed up". This lack of clear data makes it impossible to truly tackle the issue of spread. Here, most parents are not having their kids tested. It is absolutely spreading in the schools and there needs to be a four week shut down/return to virtual in order to get it under control. But not testing the kids allows the schools to throw their hands up and say, " we don't have that many reporting covid so it isn't spreading in the school setting". 😠 Sure. Because it spreads in restaurants and bars when people are in there for only a couple of hours, but NOT at schools without mask mandates for six/seven hours per day, with 30 kids per room, a vax rate of only 11% for 12-17 year olds, and parents sending kids to school sick so they don't have to stay home from work! Sure. Dry that one out and we can fertilize the lawn with it!

But we are a nation whose political structure has always been "head into the sand, pretend it isn't happening" until it is too late. Reactive, never proactive, and half the citizenry, for the most part, is totally all for that because god forbid someone tell them they might have to alter their lifestyle for a while or do something for the collective good.

Edited January 20, 2022 by Faith-manor

[kbutton]

16 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

What America Lost by Delaying the Vaccine Rollout (msn.com)

This was interesting and more nuanced than the title suggests. Thanks!

[mommyoffive]

GOP and Democratic governors reinstate Covid emergency orders to combat omicron surge (msn.com)

 

Austria becomes first country in Europe to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for all adults (msn.com)

 

Will this COVID-19 wave lead to herd immunity? Are you less likely to get sick again if you had omicron? Why this ‘milder’ variant is a double-edged sword (msn.com)

 

A record 9 million Americans are out sick amid COVID surge (msn.com)

 

Which Major U.S. Cities Are Seeing Rising Omicron Cases and Which Are Seeing Rates Drop? (msn.com)

 

[Condessa]

We all have it here.  Symptoms have been unpleasant but manageable.  We thought that ds7 didn't catch it, or at least so mildly that he wasn't symptomatic, but found out yesterday that he is neutropenic and has it too, but that his white blood counts are so low that his immune system isn't producing symptoms.  We're having to pause his chemo until his blood counts improve.

[Ali in OR]

I teach in a high school, and students and staff have all been masked all year. Windows open too. While I have had many students get Covid, I still haven't seen an obvious spread within one of my classes. At this point I lean toward the theory that transmission happens outside of the classroom--activities where kids are not masked, lunch where kids are not masked, family gatherings and travel, weekends socializing with friends, etc.

[KSera]

55 minutes ago, Condessa said:

We all have it here.  Symptoms have been unpleasant but manageable.  We thought that ds7 didn't catch it, or at least so mildly that he wasn't symptomatic, but found out yesterday that he is neutropenic and has it too, but that his white blood counts are so low that his immune system isn't producing symptoms.  We're having to pause his chemo until his blood counts improve.

I'm so sorry it came to your house and that your ds has had to pause chemo. I hope he's all over it soon. How's the baby?

[Condessa]

4 hours ago, KSera said:

I'm so sorry it came to your house and that your ds has had to pause chemo. I hope he's all over it soon. How's the baby?

The baby’s pretty much over it already.  He’s had a very mild, brief case.  The pediatrician says that is probably because I had it before him and was giving him antibodies in my milk before he even contracted it.  So I’m actually giving Ri (ds7) my breastmilk, too, to try and help him fight it, though he doesn’t know it.  I’m just mixing it half-and-half with his normal whole milk in a cup.

[KSera]

34 minutes ago, Condessa said:

The baby’s pretty much over it already.  He’s had a very mild, brief case.  The pediatrician says that is probably because I had it before him and was giving him antibodies in my milk before he even contracted it.  So I’m actually giving Ri (ds7) my breastmilk, too, to try and help him fight it, though he doesn’t know it.  I’m just mixing it half-and-half with his normal whole milk in a cup.

That’s a great idea. It struck me a few weeks ago that it’s too bad my youngest has weaned—would have been a stop gap until vaccines are out. 

[Ausmumof3]

On 1/20/2022 at 8:40 PM, Laura Corin said:

This article about whether it's too soon for England to lift restrictions also has the below interesting graph: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-60059761

We got figures on this yesterday at the press conference and it’s approximately 15pc for south Australia with mostly omicron 

[mommyoffive]

2 years after 1st COVID case, US is battling biggest surge (msn.com)

[Acadie]

8 hours ago, Condessa said:

The baby’s pretty much over it already.  He’s had a very mild, brief case.  The pediatrician says that is probably because I had it before him and was giving him antibodies in my milk before he even contracted it.  So I’m actually giving Ri (ds7) my breastmilk, too, to try and help him fight it, though he doesn’t know it.  I’m just mixing it half-and-half with his normal whole milk in a cup.

That's brilliant. I'd have done the same when we were at that stage.

And I'm really glad to hear your baby is doing well 💜

[mommyoffive]

As wastewater indicates omicron decline has begun elsewhere in U.S., Wisconsin experts await the same sign (yahoo.com)

[mommyoffive]

Parents and caregivers of unvaccinated kids say they've hit rock bottom : NPR