Omicron anecdata?

[mom2scouts]

I just tested positive for Covid this morning with a rapid test. It's unlikely I can confirm with a PCR since those appointments are in short supply this week. On Saturday I started feeling some chest congestion that got worse as the day went on. The congestion is all in my chest, but I'm not having any trouble breathing. I was really tired Saturday and went to bed at 8 pm and went right to sleep. I was supposed to get my booster on Sunday morning, but called and told them I'd need to reschedule since I wasn't feeling well. I really thought I just had a mild cold, but decided I'd do a rapid test anyway and it showed an immediate positive. Christmas was supposed to be at our house, but we've told everyone not to come. I'm already feeling better just with continued chest congestion. Hopefully, most cases of omicron are similar to what I'm experiencing.

[KSera]

2 minutes ago, mom2scouts said:

I just tested positive for Covid this morning with a rapid test. It's unlikely I can confirm with a PCR since those appointments are in short supply this week. On Saturday I started feeling some chest congestion that got worse as the day went on. The congestion is all in my chest, but I'm not having any trouble breathing. I was really tired Saturday and went to bed at 8 pm and went right to sleep. I was supposed to get my booster on Sunday morning, but called and told them I'd need to reschedule since I wasn't feeling well. I really thought I just had a mild cold, but decided I'd do a rapid test anyway and it showed an immediate positive. Christmas was supposed to be at our house, but we've told everyone not to come. I'm already feeling better just with continued chest congestion. Hopefully, most cases of omicron are similar to what I'm experiencing.

Oh, darn, I’m sorry! Terrible timing with Christmas. I hope you keep feeling better and your other household members stay healthy over the Holidays. 

[Katy]

SIL of a friend got diagnosed on Saturday and ventilator on Tuesday. She has 2 kids & is still in ICU. Don’t think they had booster yet but were definitely vaccinated. 

[Faith-manor]

7 minutes ago, mom2scouts said:

I just tested positive for Covid this morning with a rapid test. It's unlikely I can confirm with a PCR since those appointments are in short supply this week. On Saturday I started feeling some chest congestion that got worse as the day went on. The congestion is all in my chest, but I'm not having any trouble breathing. I was really tired Saturday and went to bed at 8 pm and went right to sleep. I was supposed to get my booster on Sunday morning, but called and told them I'd need to reschedule since I wasn't feeling well. I really thought I just had a mild cold, but decided I'd do a rapid test anyway and it showed an immediate positive. Christmas was supposed to be at our house, but we've told everyone not to come. I'm already feeling better just with continued chest congestion. Hopefully, most cases of omicron are similar to what I'm experiencing.

I am so sorry this happened! I hope m you recover quickly.

[KSera]

20 minutes ago, Katy said:

SIL of a friend got diagnosed on Saturday and ventilator on Tuesday. She has 2 kids & is still in ICU. Don’t think they had booster yet but were definitely vaccinated. 

That’s very concerning. Is there any history that would be expected to make her vaccines not as protective for her? I hope she is off the vent and recovering very soon. 

[wathe]

Sequencing and S-gene mutation screening is slow here, up to a week.  It's going to take time for the data to catch up with the reality on the ground.

[Katy]

53 minutes ago, KSera said:

That’s very concerning. Is there any history that would be expected to make her vaccines not as protective for her? I hope she is off the vent and recovering very soon. 

I don't think so, but I don't know her that well.  She's very slender, a runner type, cute, smiley. Early to mid 30's I'd guess.

[Innisfree]

1 hour ago, Katy said:

I don't think so, but I don't know her that well.  She's very slender, a runner type, cute, smiley. Early to mid 30's I'd guess.

That's scary.

I hope she recovers quickly!

[popmom]

3 hours ago, Katy said:

SIL of a friend got diagnosed on Saturday and ventilator on Tuesday. She has 2 kids & is still in ICU. Don’t think they had booster yet but were definitely vaccinated. 

Omicron? or Delta? That's so sad. 

Edited December 20, 2021 by popmom

[Katy]

26 minutes ago, popmom said:

Omicron? or Delta? That's so sad. 

I don't know the answer but the area she's in is predominantly Omicron now.

[mommyoffive]

Moderna Says Covid-19 Booster Dose Works Against Omicron in Lab Tests (msn.com)

 

Houston Restaurants and Bars Are Closing Temporarily Due to Concerns Over the COVID-19 Omicron Variant (msn.com)

[Pam in CT]

My extended family is starting to rapid-test before coming together, and this morning two of my nephews in different family branches (both 12-17, both vaxxed-not-yet-boosted, both in school, both playing a lot of sports) tested positive.  One lives in NYC, the other in suburban CT.  We don't know if it's Omicron but presume it is since it's exploding in both locations.

Sigh.

I feel like March 2020 all over again, the way this is slamming in so FAST.  This variant was only *identified* a month ago.

(I know it's different, we know so much more, we have more tools, there's a treatment. But hospitals are going to be overwhelmed and the supply of MCAB is limited.)

[TexasProud]

Well now 73 percent of cases are Omicron now in the US.  Last week it was 12 percent.  I have this horrible feeling of dread about all of this!! It feels like March of 2020. 

[popmom]

Over 90% here in the SE U.S. ETA: I don't know where the news outlets are getting this. My state only had its first confirmed Omicron case 4 days ago. 

Delta peaked here months ago, so our hospitals have had a bit of a break. I would imagine it will be another week before we see any increases in hospitalizations here due to Omicron.

Pure speculation here...maybe y'all know something about this... Since the virus replicates like crazy in the bronchi but not the aveoli, does it follow that very serious cases will be more like serious flu--cytokine storm-- rather than COVID pneumonia?

I read that there are (edited) 129 in the UK with and because of confirmed Omicron.  Obviously, the way this is spreading will still burden hospitals--especially if there is also flu in the area. I wonder if the UK has much flu right now...

Edited December 21, 2021 by popmom
HALF not have lol

[mommyoffive]

Omicron becomes the dominant COVID variant in the U.S. (msn.com)

[Ottakee]

I am pretty worried about Michigan.  Last week the positivity rate in my area was over 27%.  Hospitals are maxed out, refusing transfers, sending people home that in "normal" times would be admitted, etc.

I am also in an area with quite a bit of vaccine hesitancy/refusal, especially in the 20-60 age range.

Medical personnel I know are swamped already and hospitals don't have the staff or room for more cases.   They  mentioned today that one issue is often people are hospitalized for 2-4 days in normal times.  Now with COVID people are hospitalized for 2+ weeks meaning beds are full and not emptying out even as new patients keep coming in and in and in.

Personally, we are vaccinated and boostered and da and I are in a NIH study where we each rapid test twice a week at home for next 12 weeks.

[KSera]

3 hours ago, Pam in CT said:

My extended family is starting to rapid-test before coming together, and this morning two of my nephews in different family branches (both 12-17, both vaxxed-not-yet-boosted, both in school, both playing a lot of sports) tested positive.  One lives in NYC, the other in suburban CT.  We don't know if it's Omicron but presume it is since it's exploding in both locations.

Sigh.

I feel like March 2020 all over again, the way this is slamming in so FAST.  This variant was only *identified* a month ago.

(I know it's different, we know so much more, we have more tools, there's a treatment. But hospitals are going to be overwhelmed and the supply of MCAB is limited.)

I'm sorry about your nephews. My extended family just called off having us all get together for Christmas (after rapid testing) as we had previously planned. Just feels too risky right now, with so many gatherings where people test negative, and then still there is an outbreak affecting most of them, and it was causing more stress trying to figure out how to do it safely. But darn 😞.

Not only is the supply of MCAB limited, but most of what we have doesn't appear to work against omicron. We really need pavloxid to come through. There's just not going to be near enough of it, though.

[Starr]

Young adult friend of ours, working from home, vaccinated tested positive. I'm not sure about his wife. She's vaccinated and works for a private midwestern university requiring vaccinations.

[mommyoffive]

Restaurants Nationwide Temporarily Close as Staff Test Positive, Case Counts Rise (msn.com)

 

 

WHO director recommends you cancel or postpone holiday events amid COVID-19 surge: 'Better than a life canceled' (msn.com)

 

U.S. records first death believed related to Omicron variant -ABC News (msn.com)

 

 

Omicron variant can infect vaccinated people and reinfect recovered patients, WHO warns (msn.com)

[popmom]

4 hours ago, popmom said:

Over 90% here in the SE U.S. ETA: I don't know where the news outlets are getting this. My state only had its first confirmed Omicron case 4 days ago. 

Delta peaked here months ago, so our hospitals have had a bit of a break. I would imagine it will be another week before we see any increases in hospitalizations here due to Omicron.

Pure speculation here...maybe y'all know something about this... Since the virus replicates like crazy in the bronchi but not the aveoli, does it follow that very serious cases will be more like serious flu--cytokine storm-- rather than COVID pneumonia?

I read that there are several hundred hospitalized in the UK with confirmed Omicron. Good news is that HALF were admitted for another reason and Omicron was an incidental finding. So only half are actually being treated for COVID symptoms. Obviously, the way this is spreading will still burden hospitals--especially if there is also flu in the area. I wonder if the UK has much flu right now...

Quoting myself to clarify: I was WRONG on UK hospitalizations. It is not several hundred. Apparently, there are only a total of 129 symptomatic patients hospitalized in the UK with Omicron. ( I do not know numbers for Delta)  I am assuming then that there are about that many hospitalized with Omicron as an incidental finding. 

Edited December 21, 2021 by popmom

[Laura Corin]

4 hours ago, popmom said:

Quoting myself to clarify: I was WRONG on UK hospitalizations. It is not several hundred. Apparently, there are only a total of 129 symptomatic patients hospitalized in the UK with Omicron. ( I do not know numbers for Delta)  I am assuming then that there are about that many hospitalized with Omicron as an incidental finding. 

It's many more with Delta,  but we are still in that delay of a couple of weeks between infection  and - possible - hospitalisation. The Omicron wave here is still very new.

[LauraClark]

11 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

Omicron becomes the dominant COVID variant in the U.S. (msn.com)

Wow!  That makes a lot of sense. DH (2nd grade teacher at public school) has had a huge surge of cases at their school. They have been mask optional since October but really haven't seen any cases, thankfully. Then, end of last week it was case after case after case. He has only 6 students today that either aren't positive or aren't quarantined! I've been guessing it was omicron, but it seemed so new I wasn't sure. Symptoms seem pretty mild for the kids-but really so did other stains of covid for the most part. DH and one son are stuffy. I tested son yesterday and it was negative. But we are literally getting over 2 colds back to back, so it seems pretty odd that it would be yet another cold. 

[fairfarmhand]

On 12/19/2021 at 7:40 AM, Spryte said:

I don’t know if our area is testing for variants regularly, the info is not readily available, but holy cannoli, I know a lot of sick kids right now. Covid or flu, the jury is still out, but I can’t recall ever heading into the holidays with this many sick teens and younger kids in our orbit. Not hospital level sick, but high fever, need IV fluids at urgent care type sick. We will be getting a slew of test results over the next few days.
 

 

 

On 12/19/2021 at 9:17 AM, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

We are seeing very high levels of RSV, both in babies and adults.   Even younger adults who are usually immune or don’t get very sick with RSV are seeking treatment at the emergency room.  And the flu has started to hit as well.  We have a lot of Covid, but there’s also a lot of very sick people who don’t have Covid.  I’m so tired of it all.

 

On 12/19/2021 at 9:20 AM, Spryte said:

It sounds exhausting for you.

Whatever is making the rounds here is starting with a sudden onset high fever. Like 103, even in teens. I think that points to flu, more than Covid? 

Around here it’s just a nasty cold virus. Multiple people tested for flu and covid and it’s negative but the virus is dreadful. Fevers, body aches for 2-4 days followed by so much runny nose and coughing that takes almost 2 weeks to shake.

[Longtime Lurker]

13 hours ago, Ottakee said:

I am pretty worried about Michigan.  Last week the positivity rate in my area was over 27%.  Hospitals are maxed out, refusing transfers, sending people home that in "normal" times would be admitted, etc.

I am also in an area with quite a bit of vaccine hesitancy/refusal, especially in the 20-60 age range.

Medical personnel I know are swamped already and hospitals don't have the staff or room for more cases.   They  mentioned today that one issue is often people are hospitalized for 2-4 days in normal times.  Now with COVID people are hospitalized for 2+ weeks meaning beds are full and not emptying out even as new patients keep coming in and in and in.

Personally, we are vaccinated and boostered and da and I are in a NIH study where we each rapid test twice a week at home for next 12 weeks.

Our county dropped down from 27% to 21% as of 12/11 (the positivity rate always takes a while to update) and the daily case numbers have continued to drop since then. So that is good news, but sad that 21% is something to celebrate. I am very concerned, though, that it will spike right back up again with omicron spreading now.

[mommyoffive]

Yes, omicron has overtaken delta. No, it's not March 2020. (msn.com)

[mommyoffive]

14 hours ago, Ottakee said:

I am pretty worried about Michigan.  Last week the positivity rate in my area was over 27%.  Hospitals are maxed out, refusing transfers, sending people home that in "normal" times would be admitted, etc.

I am also in an area with quite a bit of vaccine hesitancy/refusal, especially in the 20-60 age range.

Medical personnel I know are swamped already and hospitals don't have the staff or room for more cases.   They  mentioned today that one issue is often people are hospitalized for 2-4 days in normal times.  Now with COVID people are hospitalized for 2+ weeks meaning beds are full and not emptying out even as new patients keep coming in and in and in.

Personally, we are vaccinated and boostered and da and I are in a NIH study where we each rapid test twice a week at home for next 12 weeks.

How did you get into that?

[Spryte]

1 hour ago, fairfarmhand said:

 

 

Around here it’s just a nasty cold virus. Multiple people tested for flu and covid and it’s negative but the virus is dreadful. Fevers, body aches for 2-4 days followed by so much runny nose and coughing that takes almost 2 weeks to shake.

Sounds miserable. I updated later in the thread but should have edited that post. Oops. Here it’s all turned out to be Flu A. Yuck. 

[AbcdeDooDah]

On 12/19/2021 at 3:29 PM, AbcdeDooDah said:

My DIL (the one whose father was very sick) has Covid. Not sure how we would know it's omicron or not. She's doing fine. Pretty much following the pattern mine, pretty mild. 

DS has not gotten it and he's taking care of her. He tested today at 6 days in and it was negative. 

DS got negatives Sunday and yesterday. Positive today.

[desertflower]

3 minutes ago, AbcdeDooDah said:

DS got negatives Sunday and yesterday. Positive today.

I hope it's nothing serious.

[mom2scouts]

Omicron is slamming my area. They're turning people away from mass testing sites. DH just talked to clients of his who were driving all over this part of the state looking for testing. He was going to give them our last rapidtest which I wasn't at all happy about because they're impossible to get, we have Covid in the house, and we all haven't tested yet. I remembered a small medical school in an out of the way area that was doing testing and we sent them there instead. They got tested and said it was quick and easy.

Oh, I'll update you on my Covid symptoms which are likely omicron. After fatigue and chest congestion for about 24 hours, it turned into something like a bad head cold that lasted about the same amount of time . Today I just feel like I've got a normal cold. I'm a bit tired, have a runny nose, and have some sneezing. DH has some coughing and got a light positive on the rapid test today. My Covid test showed an immediate and very strong positive, so hopefully he won't get too sick. We've cancelled our Christmas plans anyway.

[popmom]

About the shortage of testing sites... even with plenty of testing we can assume that there is much more Omicron cases than the case numbers show--because so many won't get tested because their symptoms aren't bad enough. That along with what @mom2scouts is seeing is going to compound that. 

I am praying two things over this. That flu levels will stay low and this will peak super fast--not be so long and drawn out as Delta has been. Add a third prayer: that this will displace Delta and give relief to those areas where Delta is still high.

[wathe]

Systems are starting to unravel at the edges here:

Hospitalizations are up 9% over last week.

Hospitalizations increased 45% from yesterday to today. (284 to 412) This might be a fluke (numbers tend to vary day to day, sometimes widely), but this is the biggest one day jump we've had in some time.

And those numbers only count those with active cases.  Those who linger in hospital post-covid, but aren't actively infectious (defined as 2 weeks post-positive test, I think) are not counted in the covid hospitalization numbers even though they are there because of covid and remain because of complications of covid.

Very local hospitalizations for covid almost doubled over the weekend.

Hospital staff sick calls for covid and manadatory quarantine are rising. How we are going to keep the place staffed is a legitimate concern.

Testing systems are strained - long wait-times, lengthening TAT, cannot keep centres adequately staffed..

Rapid tests are not easily available.  There are some free tests being distributed at pop-up sites.  People line up for hours, and supply runs out within 30 min.  All legitimate vendors that I can find are sold out.  It's been on the news warning that reselling provided-for-free-by-government tests is considered a breach of emergency government orders, with a fine of up to $100 000.

To quote a twitter from I forget who "Exponential growth is exponential.  Lagging indicators lag." 

And here we are.

Edited December 21, 2021 by wathe

[Ottakee]

6 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

How did you get into that?

https://covidtestypsiaa.org/learn-about-the-study.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

 

I don't know if it is open only to those in Michigan or not.  I got the link through our county health department covid update email.

[Spryte]

@mom2scouts I’m so sorry you’ve been sick, and hope you feel better and better! May no one else catch it, and your DH stay mild!

My eldest and DIL were turned away from a mass testing site yesterday. They were told, oddly, that their state is reducing the number of tests they are offering. I don’t know the reason, but it’s terrible timing.

Your symptoms sound very similar to our son’s. Feel better soon!

[KSera]

6 hours ago, AbcdeDooDah said:

DS got negatives Sunday and yesterday. Positive today.

How many days from exposure would that be then before he turned positive? We have two extended family members who were close contacts in the past week, and are wondering how comforted to be by a negative PCR at five days. The other one only just today had their PCR. One exposed seven days ago and one five days ago at this point. 

[Catwoman]

12 minutes ago, KSera said:

How many days from exposure would that be then before he turned positive? We have two extended family members who were close contacts in the past week, and are wondering how comforted to be by a negative PCR at five days. The other one only just today had their PCR. One exposed seven days ago and one five days ago at this point. 

I’m not sure, but I was reading today that the time from exposure to symptoms is faster with Omicron than with past variants. I don’t know how accurate the information is, but I read that the average time from exposure to symptoms may only be 3 days.

I wish I had a link to post, but I was only on my phone for a few minutes and was quickly skimming through a few news sites, so I didn’t note where I read it.

[Acadie]

4 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

I’m not sure, but I was reading today that the time from exposure to symptoms is faster with Omicron than with past variants. I don’t know how accurate the information is, but I read that the average time from exposure to symptoms may only be 3 days.

That's what I've read and also what I'm seeing here, with Omicron exploding. 

[Melissa in Australia]

Apparently there is not a single case of omicron in hospital here in Australia atm. And all cases are very very mild

[katilac]

There is a cluster of teens out with Covid at a local high school, including my great niece. I'm not aware of any of them knowing which variant they have. Most are rapid testing, so those cases won't be counted unless they get sick enough to go in. Niece tested positive on Sunday, cough has been the worst symptom, fever hasn't gone higher than about 101 since I was last updated. She was too sick to do all of her remote classes but did do a couple of them. So, not super sick at all so far, but also a kid who probably hasn't missed school due to illness for five years or more. 

Today was the last day of school (yesterday and today were virtual). I'm guessing there will be a set of kids who don't bother with even a rapid test, bc today was the last day of school. Hopefully the ones planning Christmas visits test! 

[livetoread]

College student daughter was scheduled for her booster at 11pm tonight. CVS called and cancelled an hour ago saying they didn't have the staff. Luckily they also said she can walk in tomorrow since they already processed our insurance. Hopefully she won't have to wait too long.

[KSera]

23 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

I’m not sure, but I was reading today that the time from exposure to symptoms is faster with Omicron than with past variants. I don’t know how accurate the information is, but I read that the average time from exposure to symptoms may only be 3 days.

I wish I had a link to post, but I was only on my phone for a few minutes and was quickly skimming through a few news sites, so I didn’t note where I read it.

I have read the same. Of course, there’s also still lots of delta circulating, so it depends what variant. I was wondering for AbcdeDooDah since she said he was negative at 6 days and later turned positive. 

[Not_a_Number]

Hmmm. Between @Katy's depressing anecdata and the fact that very few of the people cited on here are on the older side, I feel like we're definitely still waiting for data 😕 . It's really scary. 

Edited December 22, 2021 by Not_a_Number

[Drama Llama]

36 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

Apparently there is not a single case of omicron in hospital here in Australia atm. And all cases are very very mild

Is this that there aren't any cases they've sequenced, or they sequence every hospitalized person and none of them have it?

[Not_a_Number]

8 minutes ago, Baseballandhockey said:

Is this that there aren't any cases they've sequenced, or they sequence every hospitalized person and none of them have it?

That's a very good question... 

[wathe]

8 minutes ago, Baseballandhockey said:

Is this that there aren't any cases they've sequenced, or they sequence every hospitalized person and none of them have it?

Can't answer for Aus, but here we are sequencing hospitalized patients.  The trouble is that it take a week or so to get a result.   We we might not know that we have hospitalized Omicron cases yet  (and I think that we probably do).  

[wathe]

The covid cases I admitted on Friday still have their sequencing pending as of right now.

[KeriJ]

1 hour ago, KSera said:

How many days from exposure would that be then before he turned positive? We have two extended family members who were close contacts in the past week, and are wondering how comforted to be by a negative PCR at five days. The other one only just today had their PCR. One exposed seven days ago and one five days ago at this point. 

I think generally after day 5, you can assume the best.

[Roadrunner]

Some of the positivity rates you guys are mentioning is terrifying. Ours is at its worst - 3.9%. Yes, more than doubled recently. I can’t imagine 22%+ positivity. 
 

[Not_a_Number]

1 minute ago, Roadrunner said:

Some of the positivity rates you guys are mentioning is terrifying. Ours is at its worst - 3.9%. Yes, more than doubled recently. I can’t imagine 22%+ positivity. 
 

NY was getting close to 10% last I checked, and we test plenty 😕 . 

[wathe]

We are at 9.9% positivity in Ontario.  We also test plenty.