Phone rings, door chimes, in comes Omicron

Thanks ElderLez

Lockdown vs. Shutdown.

Semantics=drama

Link to last Thread

Thanks R3!!

Favorite thread title ever ElderLez.

You’re welcome EL, thanks for creating the new thread!

Double vaxxed with AZ, no booster allowed for a few more weeks, I’m fucked.

WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Went to a bunch of stores (masked) yesterday I'll get a test Wednesday (giving it four days), and if it turns out negative I'll proceed to visit my elderly parents for Christmas. In the meantime I'll avoid indoor settings and, in general, people as much as possible—maybe more one trip to a store (masked). Hope that will be safe enough; I'm fully vaxxed (Pfizer) and boosted (Moderna). My brother's three kids are all in quarantine because of a school contact and their au pair is sick with COVID in their house, so a Christmas visit is probably out in their case. This is in the northeast US—we're probably the next Denmark.

Happy holidays!

R9 I’m in the Northeast too. Taking my very elderly parents to necessary med appts monday (double masked), then my household will covid test on Wed in hopes of having xmas dinner together with my parents. We are all double vaxxed and boosted and only curbside store pick ups for me. Still nervous about it though.

I was planning on seeing my mom with Alzheimer's this week. But it would involve interstate travel and I am almost certain I'm canceling.

Instead, I now plan to visit after the worst of Omicron is over.

Does anyone have any guesses when that will be? February?

The jury is still out for me, but right now I feel faith in vaccination and masking. I sing in a chorus, which is risky, but we all wear masks and are vaccinated. Two people came down separately with Covid, but it did not spread at all.

"Just be the three of us,

Only the three of us..."

At your own risk!

Flying to Florida Ian a few days— the land where the pandemic doesn’t exist..in their minds

Who wants r14's stuff?

Thanks, ElderLez, as always. I'm posting this article that you posted at the end of the last thread for those who haven't seen it—some good news for those of us who got Pfizer and/or Moderna? Not so good for those who got the other vaccines (most of the world), although they too seem to have a lower chance of severe illness, if I'm understanding right.

The Atlantic has had some good Omicron articles in the past week

I am delaying my trip, as much as it pains me.

Here's to the ladies who vaxx

r11, infect her and save your inheritance!

Gallows humor!

Dang ElderLez,

You upped the anxiety. You and CNN.

I am trying to find out info on what the J&J shot with a booster will do. Am I fucked?

Friend in London — double-shot, boosted, careful with masks, works from home — has come down with Omicron. He says it's everywhere in the UK.

I am trying hard not to be anxious Tundra. Right now I still have Disney World reservations for January.

If I were unvaxxed I’d be very anxious though because the three pillars of their protection seem like they are in danger of crumbling.

1) The firewall of vaccinated people decreasing their personal risk of infection. If certainly seems like Omicron infects everyone and makes a higher percentage of people efficient spreaders. We can hiss at the filthy unvaxxed all we want, but it doesn’t change the fact that we’ve decreased their chances of catching Delta by not giving it to them.

2) Monoclonal antibody treatment- only one seems to work against the variant and supplies may be limited.

3) Available medical care - staffing in hospitals is going to be an issue. A doctor can only work herself to death taking care of ICU patients if she’s allowed in the ICU.

R25 you make me feel slightly better about what was a very difficult decision.

I hope you are able to see your Mom soon R18. I just saw mine and it was a difficult decision, without a clear right answer.

It’ll be over by February

[quote]It’ll be over by February

Then I'm confused, because Dondon told us COVID would be over by Easter 2020.

One of you is lying!

By "over," I'm only referring to the Omicron wave.

I’ve read.conflicting articles on this. Does having two shots and then a breakthrough infection give you super immunity or not? or do you need three shots and then a breakthrough? Or is there no superimmunity against Omicrom?

there's no immunity against any of them.

“Omicron, omicron you guys!!!!”🎼

You're on a roll with the thread titles, Lez.

The Guardian: Moderna Inc said on Monday that a booster dose of its Covid-19 vaccine appeared to be protective against the fast-spreading Omicron variant in laboratory testing. The company said a two-dose course of its vaccine generated low neutralising antibodies against the Omicron variant, but a 50 microgram booster dose increased neutralising antibodies against the variant 37 fold. A higher, 100 microgram booster dose of the same vaccine drove antibody levels even higher – more than 80 times pre-boost levels.

Meanwhile, BioTech CEO Ugur Sahin says that preliminary data from Britain and South Africa suggests “an efficacy of around 70% after the third dose (of the Pfizer vaccine), and around 20% to 40% after the second dose”. He said he thought South Africa’s estimate of 70% efficacy against severe forms of the infection after just two doses appeared on the low side.

"It’s obvious we are far from the 95% effectiveness that we had against the initial virus. But after the third injection our vaccine seems to provide 70% or 75% protection against any form of the disease, which is still a good result for a vaccine in general – and I think we will be well beyond that for severe forms.”"

I wonder the stats on people who got doses 1 & 2 of Pfizer, and then a Moderna booster.

So how do you know if you have it if it’s so mild? How do you tell the difference between a cold and Omnicron? I plan to rapid test before Xmas family dinner just in case.

My boss has called in sick with cold-like symptoms and a fever. She just got her booster last Sunday. I got mine on Tuesday.

She's had Covid before and had a mild case in that she didn't need hospitalization. Still pretty miserable though. I had it as well, a year ago and had a truly mild case with just a few days of a low-grade fever, achiness, and mild congestion.

We'll see what the next few days brings. I am working remote today, I know that much.

This is in Austin, TX, btw.

Will infection from Omicron give you antibodies that will fight off Delta?

Bury me a little, embalm me just enough.

[quote] A higher, 100 microgram booster dose of the same vaccine drove antibody levels even higher – more than 80 times pre-boost levels.

Then, why on earth didn’t they just shoot us up with a full dose as a booster? Or at least give us the choice if there was some risk.

Triple-vaxxed Jim Cramer -- two shots of Moderna + a Moderna booster -- has a mild case of covid. His wife, who had the J&J vaccine followed by a Moderna booster, also has the virus and is sicker than him.

Andy Cohen's second time at the COVID rodeo

Too bad they don't make a vaccine for wonky eyes.

How is this going to affect the Winter Olympics?

They need to start reporting if these vaxxed people who are getting it stopped taking precautions because they falsely felt too protected by their vaccine. The fact that the people it's hitting who are vaxxed are not the 70+ crowd, most of whom were still acting responsibly, but the 60 and under crowd who, while responsible enough to get vaxxed, were stupid enough to not keep up with other precautions and started going out everywhere and doing whatever they wanted again. I feel bad because those idiots who dropped precautions are now going to bring it home to grandma for Christmas, then we'll see what it does to the older crowd.

I tend to agree with R47, and wish there was more reporting on how complacent people were—i.e. not wearing masks, dining out indoors, etc. I've kept up the precautions (masks and, if possible, distancing when indoors with other people) and will do so even more now with omicron. Our family holiday is gradually moving to zoom; I'll have a test this week and see whether I feel safe visiting my 80+ years old parents.

But it's not exactly an aggressive timetable:

The proof of vaccination requirement for indoor venues will go into effect starting Jan. 15 for everyone ages 12 and up. All patrons and employees will be required to show proof that they have received at least one dose of vaccine. Beginning Feb. 15, everyone will have to show proof of two doses. Starting in March, children will be required to be vaccinated as well.

I wouldn't have a problem with this. I've had one cold in the last decade and it was from sitting right next to a coughing, sneezing, snot-dripping guy on a three-hour flight.

LOL r50.

I've flown a few times during the pandemic, and I can tell you mask-wearing on planes is ALREADY not enforced.

I can claim to be a mask-wearing-on-planes pioneer, as five or six years ago I flew to Paris while still getting over a bad cold, and I bought some masks to wear on board so I wouldn't be coughing all over my fellow travelers.

With Omicron spreading so rapidly all over the world, doesn't this increase the odds -- greatly -- that a much worse variant could pop up? Combining, say, the severity of Delta with Omicron's resistance to vaccines and capacity to spread quickly?

I read something about that yesterday, r53. I'm just glad the prior variants weren't this contagious, maybe we will get lucky.

I was looking forward to seeing my family this month but my pregnant sister has habitually delayed getting her booster and we're all hesitant to be around her now. Hopefully her husband, who is gorgeous but stupid, fails in getting her to attend his unvaxxed family's get-together this year, as last year his siblings gave each other COVID for the holidays.

Indoor mask mandate takes effect tomorrow in DC, slated to run through at least Jan. 31.

The airlines pass out the snacks and drinks to everyone at the same time--so everyone takes their masks off at the same time to eat

That is ridiculous, r57. I can't believe they're doing in-flight service on shorter flights.

If you can't handle flying for 2 or 3 hours without a "snack," then you're an insolent toddler and probably shouldn't be flying anyway.

Flying is an absolute shit show right now. Masking is NOT enforced.

Evidently r52 has never been to Asia- they've been wearing masks everywhere since the SARS outbreak in 2002.

BTW, how have we not noticed this happening in England and France?

I'm not r52, but I have lived in Asia. China to be exact.

Few people actually wore masks. For the ones who did, I always assumed it was due to the ghastly pollution.

A dumb Scandinavian frau on a group chat just sent us all some anti-vax horseshit and said looks like joke is on all of you for getting the vaccine when it's not effective for Omicron, here's hoping the new year brings up freedom to our bodies and natural immunity. This dumb whore already caught delta and was lying about her vaccine status to men on the dating apps.

Her tone is so wildly smug. Would you bitches respond or exit the chat or just let it go? My inclination is to just let it go because she's trying to get a reaction and provoke since everyone else in the chat is triple vaxxed, but god I want to write something back. It's because of anti-vax cunts like her that our travel plans are getting fucked and this will never end. Grrrr.

r61, having travelled to HK, Taiwan, Thailand, Myanmar, Japan and the Philippines since '97, I've seen plenty of Chinese and Japanese tourists wear masks when flying. Interestingly enough, when I was in Myanmar and Thailand in late Dec/1st week of Jan of '19//20, the Asian tourists wore masks everywhere, even in the temples and stores. Makes me wonder if they were already aware of a strange flu going around. I had a co-worker work in Bangkok for 6 weeks in Nov/Dec of '19, and he said most of the crew came down with a strange flu for 3 weeks and none of the doctors could identify what it was. He thinks it was CV19.

[quote] Friend in London — double-shot, boosted, careful with masks, works from home — has come down with Omicron. He says it's everywhere in the UK.

Your friend got it from going out and partying and being irresponsible, and doing it maskless. Your friend lives in “fantasyland”. In’t that right, R47?

I've flown between the US and Mainland China several times, r63. I could probably count on one hand the numbers of masks I saw on all those flights.

Do we really need to give out pretzels on a flight during this pandemic? WTF?

R64, Omicron truly is everywhere in the UK. I know so so many 3x vax friends who have Covid. Fortunately most of them are getting through in unscathed. Most work from home and go out rarely. They are not out partying. It's literally everywhere. I am shocked I haven't had it yet.

I believe you, R67, and I think we’ll all get it no matter what.

R47 vehemently disagrees.

R64, I'm not that OP, but my double jabbed partner caught covid in the UK despite working from home, taking no public transit, and having no social contacts in the previous days. The only things my partner was doing was taking walks outdoors and shopping at the supermarket (masked).

[quote]Would you bitches respond

Probably with something that initially goes right over her head, but sinks in like a stink bomb when she thinks about it. You know, like "Bless your heart!"

London has now canceled its New Year's Eve celebration in Trafalgar Square.

I don't believe NYC will go forward with its Times Square event.

Fox News hates FREEDOM!

r69, it's a stupid question, but did your partner take outdoor walks with his mask on? I see a lot of people not wearing a mask going for walks (I've done it myself a few times).

Omicron is well known to target unmasked, triple vaxxed people while they’re walking outdoors.

Yes, it's maybe the most diabolical strain we've been confronted with thusfar. Extremely wily.

Anyone else feeling pretty bummed out by this? How are you coping? Suggestions from my fellow DLers?

^Cancelling ALL Xmas visitation situations. Simple. Just like last year. It's wonderful. Thinking of inaugurating a permanent new holiday tradition.

My boss has been back in office full time for many months now (she has not forced anyone else to be in office full time) and her Dr told her she had to work from home until this Omicron wave is over because she's on medication from an organ transplant. The Dr hasn't said that to her for other waves.

New case record on NY

It will probably begin to be a shit show here around New Year's. The US seems to surge about two weeks after the UK.

Wolf Blitzer was just SCREAMING on CNN that Omnicron is now the dominant variant in the US. He sounded as if an mega asteroid is headed towards earth.

You're not alone, r76. I'm going to binge watch a binge of film noir from the 1940s and eat a ton of junk food.

I'm just worn out, emotionally.

I just got a news alert on my phone that omicron has taken over as the dominant strain with 75% of positive tests. If that is true, that is really alarming how fast it has spread and taken over.

r92 = binge watch a bunch

I came down with severe body pains and stomach issues this morning. Two people I saw this weekend reached out and said they tested positive. Im 99% sure I have Omicron. I am double vaxxed but not boosted. My friend whom I got it from is triple vaxxed. Everyone is sick right now. Im taking Dayquil and Motrin and hoping its quick because who has the time to be out of commission for 10-14 days? Pain in the ass.

Feel better R85

My friend who is triple vaxxed just texted me he has Covid. I spent 2 hours at a bar with him Friday. I had breakthrough Delta in August and had a booster. I have no symptoms so far Keeping my fingers crossed.

Jim Cramer (stocks guy)has Omicron but is still doing his show tonight. Again a guy who had the booster.

Wow:

For the week ending December 11, Omicron was estimated at 12.6% of circulating virus, versus Delta's 87% (in the US).

For the week ending December 18, Omicron accounted for 73.2% of cases, with Delta making up an additional 26.6%.

R76 I was just asking a friend if he feels his personality has been erased by despondency and depression, because that is where I am at right now. I have no interest in engagement, conversation, hobbies, pretty much anything other than keeping a roof over my head. I hope the past few years have not broken me. And now they are saying the pandemic may last until the end of 2024? I won’t make it.

R86 Thank You so much.

[quote]And now they are saying the pandemic may last until the end of 2024?

Who, specifically, is claiming this?

R89 I hear you. I forget what my personality was pre-covid as well.

[quote] Wolf Blitzer was just SCREAMING on CNN that Omnicron is now the dominant variant in the US.

Was he expecting this not to happen?

R91 It is Pfizer’s prediction, so make of that what you will. I am trying to post a reuters link but am having trouble.

This one?

[quote] His wife, who had the J&J vaccine followed by a Moderna booster, also has the virus and is sicker than him.

Great. That’s me (the vaxxes, not Cramer’s wife.) This SUCKS.

Because the Trump administration set the standard of everybody making up their own rules, that's what everybody's doing. Of course we should still be avoiding crowded places, wearing N95 or KN95 masks in enclosed public spaces, and staying up to date with our vaccines. But people who know better are letting their guards down, and even if they don't suffer much when they get infected, the people they'll be passing it on to will.

[quote]If you can't handle flying for 2 or 3 hours without a "snack," then you're an insolent toddler and probably shouldn't be flying anyway.

Take a tip from me, boys, and bring a snack purse so big they have to put it in the overhead.

[quote]Your friend got it from going out and partying and being irresponsible, and doing it maskless. Your friend lives in “fantasyland”. In’t that right, [R47]?

Not sure why you put fantasyland in quotes, but no: office outbreak.

Our disrupted year-end plans are similar to R82's. I'm on meds that lessen vaccine efficacy, so the worries about being around unboosted relatives cut both ways. The tipping point for my wife was when I got a call about some unusual lab results and was referred to a hem-onc center for further testing. That's weeks away so I'm on lockdown until then with a big stack of Barbara Stanwyck films and library books to fight boredom.

Feel better, R85, and fingers crossed for you, R87 (although someone with my user name writing "fingers crossed" on DL is inviting trouble).

First Omicron death here. 50 year old male, unvaxxed with underlying medical conditions.

Oh yes, r100. I have a stash of library books -- bestsellers from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s -- that should keep me busy until the end of this damned pandemic.

Finishing The Outward Room tomorrow, then it's on to The Hucksters and Moment in Peking.

At this point, are the unvaccinated fucked? Even if they get their first shot tomorrow, there's a high likelihood one dose won't protect them against Omicron. And Omicron is everywhere.

R25 ElderLez, good comments. I was being a bit cynical. I had 3 Moderna shots, wear a mask, and at home except for important errands and appointments. Someone I am close to, has social anxiety, but is getting his 2nd Jansen shot tomorrow at a close-by pharmacy. I suggested he consider a MRA vaccine elsewhere, but he was adament about another J&J because the location & vaccine is conducive to his comfort zone. I see him doing that as being better than not having a second shot, after the first one nine months ago.

I traveled many miles for my first two shots back in January and February, and did the booster in late October. I believe my decisions were prudent.

It is frustrating and discomforting to hear and read the news on the mutations; and yet, there are so many refusing the vaccine.

Appreciate that you did this thread. 22

[quote] Anyone else feeling pretty bummed out by this? How are you coping? Suggestions from my fellow DLers?

You are not alone. I’m sick of 3 hour walks by myself just to chew up time and can’t read another book. I found sticking my head in the sand by NOT watching CNN helps. The lowest and most embarrassing is to go to Wal Mart at 6am when it opens with no customers and grocery shop and wander around aimlessly looking at all the Chinese made junk for sale.

Yep, my life sucks at the moment, but we can only endure.

Someone posted on the last thread that Binex cost $14 where he/she is.

Honey, those fucking things cost $24 bucks before tax in nyc. after tax it's $26 bucks. (contains 2 tests inside)

Binex tests are also absolutely, completely impossible to buy in NYC drugstores. I've tried. Hoping that situation changes.

R106 I've purchased Binax tests in three states, none of which were NY, and all cost $24 before tax.

R105 oh my god yes. The long walks alone. Today I was walking for 2 hours just to break up the afternoon.

I feel the exact same way.

The exercise is good for you, quitcher bellyaching/

In my worse, more melodramatic moments, I feel like a prize fighter who's going down for the final time. And I've been quite fortunate during all of this. But watching others suffer takes its toll as well, especially when at least some of that suffering could have been prevented. I just feel dead inside. I did order a meditation book today. Might as well give it another shot, while my monkey mind is so under the weather.

Hi ElderLez (EL), I feel like its time for another pronouncement from you about what we should do for the next few weeks? We are triple- vaxxed in CA with Pfizer and have not been sick, yet. I'm 59 and partner 80. I'm inclined to just hibernate for the next 6 months. I worry for, oh, everyone. I am not afraid for myself, just for my partner. He is healthy still. Happy Holidays!

The hospital I work for sent an email saying to prepare for a surge of patients in the coming weeks. Obvious, but still.

I actually know of another death from Omicron in the US, but it hasn’t been reported yet by the media. I don’t know why. It imagine it’ll make the news soon. I hope it does, because the deceased does not fit the profile we might imagine.

Don we now our plague apparel….

Spotted a "doctor" on Instagram who's "just asking questions" about vaccine efficacy, why the vaccines aren't working, why aren't doctors using "natural" immunity treatments against COVID, etc. etc. etc.

Reported the cocksucking motherfucker. Felt good. Whether it gets him booted off Instagram, who the fuck knows.

Beyond done with the misinformation machine. Absofuckinglutely done.

i report those accounts,r116. twitter closes accounts spreading misinformation.

Australia is tossing covidiots into prison

First Omicron-related death in US was an unvaccinated person

From CNN's Dave Alsup

A man in Texas, whose death was related to the Omicron coronavirus variant, was unvaccinated and had previously been infected with Covid-19, according to a release from Harris County Public Health.

"The individual was at higher risk of severe complications from Covid-19 due to his unvaccinated status and had underlying health conditions," the release said.

The case is the first known confirmed Omicron-related death in the United States.

County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced the death on Monday, saying the man was in his 50s.

Biden had close contact with Covid-19-positive staff member

From CNN's NikkI Carvajal

A member of the White House staff who is a close contact of the President tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday, the White House revealed in a statement.

The individual, who the White House described as a “mid-level staffer,” tested positive on Monday morning after experiencing Covid symptoms on Sunday.

“Three days earlier, on Friday, that staff member had spent approximately 30 minutes in proximity to the President on Air Force One, on the way from Orange, South Carolina to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,” the statement from press secretary Jen Psaki said. “This staff member is fully vaccinated and boosted, and tested negative prior to boarding Air Force One, as is required for everyone traveling with the President. This staff member did not begin to experience symptoms until Sunday, and was tested on Monday.”

The President received a negative PCR test on Monday and will take another one on Wednesday, the White House said.

“As CDC guidance does not require fully vaccinated people to quarantine after an exposure, the President will continue with his daily schedule,” the statement reads.

Earlier Monday, Psaki told reporters that breakthrough cases of Covid-19 are expected in response to a question about whether there had been recent outbreaks of the virus at agencies within the administration or the White House itself

“The President has a full schedule today and is not in need of quarantine,” Psaki said, answering specifically whether President Biden had been a close contact of any Covid-positive staffers. “We will provide information to all of you as outlined with our commitment from just a few months ago about being transparent about close contacts. I don't have any updates for you at this point in time.”

She said that Covid protocols within the White House “go above and beyond CDC guidelines.”

“We expect there to be breakthrough cases across the country, and certainly in the federal government," Psaki continued, stressing that the important factor is that 99% of White House staff is vaccinated.

Pressed on if there had been outbreaks Psaki responded: “I point you to different agencies to give any additional information but I would just note that we do expect there to be breakthrough cases.”

Later, Psaki said the President was “regularly” tested, but did not know offhand when he was last tested. She added that anyone in close contact with Biden must be tested daily.

London cancels New Year’s Eve event in Trafalgar Square over Covid-19 concerns

From CNN’s Lauren Kent and Samantha Beech

A planned New Year’s Eve event in London has been canceled over Covid-19 concerns, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan tweeted on Monday.

“Due to the surge in Covid cases, we’ve taken the difficult decision to cancel our NYE event in Trafalgar Square,” said the tweet from Khan’s verified account. “The safety of all Londoners must come first. A spectacular NYE celebration showcasing our city will still be shown on midnight on BBC1 – I urge all Londoners to tune in.”

A statement attached to the tweet said the planned celebration was expected to host 6,500 people in Trafalgar Square.

“This will be very disappointing for many Londoners, but we must take the right steps to reduce the spread of the virus,” Khan said. “I’m proud that we will still have an incredible broadcast spectacular to watch on our screens, which will showcase our great city to the rest of the world.”

Some context: London isn’t the first European city to cancel or amend New Year’s Eve celebrations over Covid-19 concerns. On Saturday, Paris canceled its traditional fireworks display over the Champs-Elysées Avenue to welcome the New Year due to the renewed Covid-19 surge. In Italy, Rome is among several cities which have decided to cancel New Year's festivities over Covid-19 health concerns.

30 Covid-19 cases tracked to a local nightclub in Honolulu

From CNN's Michelle Watson

The Hawaii Department of Public Health has tracked at least 30 new Covid-19 cases to a local night club, according to a Sunday news release.

The cases were tracked to concerts held at the Republik nightclub on Dec. 10 and 11, the department said. 1000 people attended the sold-out Dec. 10 concert and 900 people attended the Dec. 11 concert, according to Matty Hazelgrove, one of the club's co-founders.

Masks and negative tests taken within 48 hours were required for each concert, Hazelgrove said.

"Our business has been closed since March 15, 2020. December 10th & 11th was our first weekend back in operation, and we followed all guidance given to us by the City and County of Honolulu to re-open safely," Hazelgrove said. "Maybe it is time to re-evaluate the guidelines so people can gather together while minimizing the potential spread of the virus."

The positive cases were among concertgoers and staff, Hazelgrove added.

There are currently 31 cases of the omicron variant in Hawaii, according to Brooks Baehr, Covid-19 & Pandemic Response Administrative Assistant for the department of health.

Quebec will close schools and bars and return to teleworking as Covid-19 cases increase

From CNN's Raja Razek

Quebec will implement new restrictions, closing schools, bars and casinos as Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations increase, Quebec's Health Minister Christian Dubé said during a news conference on Monday.

"The situation is critical," he said. "With the increase of cases and hospitalization, we must put in place new measures, starting at 5 p.m. today, we are closing bars, casinos, movies theaters, and performance venues. Teleworking is now mandatory."

"Regarding schools, we are closing elementary and high schools," he said. "The return to class in attendance will be on Monday, January 10."

Gyms and spas would also be closed, "with the exception of personal care," according to the health minister.

Additionally, professional, and amateur sports performances "will have to be behind closed doors," according to Dubé, and restaurant hours would be limited from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.

"I know the situation is tough, but now is the time again not to get discouraged and to be strong. I ask everyone to be part of the effort again. It can make all the difference," Dubé said.

I think DeBlasio will cancel the Times Square New Year's after Christmas.

On the news today they said he would make the decision before Christmas R124.

oh ok thanks r125

It is so odd on CNN. They have people warning against large gatherings (even outside) and then the commercial is the Andy idiots promoting their dreary New Year's special.

It’s interesting too that CNN closed their US offices to non-essential workers this week due to the COVID surge. At least three workers were fired for not getting vaccinated.

I had the Moderna booster vaccine last Sunday morning and it triggered a headache that lasted two days, culminating in vomiting last night, plus intense fatigue and body aches. My arm at the injection site felt as if a dog had bitten it. I had zero reaction to the first and second AZ vaccines.

I assume this is because Moderna is a stronger vaccine? I'm going to be reluctant to have a fourth one though.

Shit, I keep hearing how the Moderna booster really is a kick in the gut. I have mine scheduled for Monday.

R128 next time, make sure you have an ice pack (or simply a package of frozen vegetables) at hand. Press it on the injection site for an hour and your arm will be fine.

Thanks, R129.

London just cancelled its Trafalgar Square events.

I didn't find the Moderna booster to be a kick in the gut r129. Mildly fatigued for about 24 hours.

Why is Moderna such a killer?

Another hundred people just got COVID today / It's the OMICRON kind / And another hundred people wait for ECMO machines....

What time is Biden making his address?

Eh, I had my Moderna booster on Saturday morning, and had a hypoglycemic crash just after, some soreness at the site, and tiredness, which is fading. I had a terrible reaction to the first two, but the third wasn't so bad for me.

R135, it's 2:30 ET.

Thanks r137!

So ... around 3:00 ET lol.

R112 I wish I knew what was the right thing to do. I’m at war with myself at the moment about what my wife and I should do. There’s a part of me that is very numbers based that is saying triple-vaxxed = 20 times lower chance of death = similar risk of death as death risk from from flu, and that is the part that decided to do things like see a Broadway show this past weekend, cause we are all triple vaxxed. And now I am completely paranoid about anyone getting sick and I am back to working from home.

If you feel like hibernating though I think that is a fine choice. It is completely reasonable for anyone. And again I think it is very likely that medical care is going to be unavailable because the workers are sick so reducing risk of any illness or injury makes sense.

r73, why would you wear a mask outdoors? The virus rarely spreads outdoors. It's the people inside that need to wear them. You have less than a 1% chance of catching it outside without a mask.

I asked this in another thread, but I'm reposting here because this is a topic I never see addressed.

For anyone who has a "mild" case -- how are you treating it? Are you taking any over the counter cold or flu meds? Does anything help? There's a scarcity of info about how to treat COVID at home once you have it. I remember early int the pandemic, someone suggesting Mucinex so I stocked up on that.

I didn't wear a mask outside during the Delta surge ( I'm vaxed 2x plus Booster). But I will with Omicron. I live in a city where the surge is active, and it's high transmissible and aerosolized.

Thank you R132 R136 — Fingers crossed for Monday!

@R141 if you are "lucky" to only experience mild symptoms, you simply treat it like any other cold. Lots of sleeping, drinking tea, maybe paracetamol or ibuprofen if you have a headache, watching stupid series, etc.

you need to wear a mask outside if it's a busy outdoors. for me, the sidewalks are not quiet and people have coughed and sneezed as I walked past them.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

[quote]A man in Texas, whose death was related to the Omicron coronavirus variant, was unvaccinated and had previously been infected with Covid-19

"natural immunity"

R116 What exactly did this Doc mean by "natural immunity treatments" ? Chickenpox parties come to mind, but not certain if that's what you're referencing.

I do find it odd that some in the medical community think it is unwise or foolish to recommend Vit D, Zinc, healthy diet, etc... they certainly give people a fighting chance, and there is substantial published evidence of the fact.

This gets tangled up with the "trust the vaccines mantra"... It shouldn't be the approach. Vaccines aren't therapeutics in my mind. We need every tool in the toolbox, so long as it isn't harmful, or misguided advice. Stressing Vitamin supplements, exercise, losing weight, etc. isn't quite the same thing as Dr. Toe Bogan's kitchen sink of antibiotics, Ivermectin, and HCQ.

I wear a mask when I go to the supermarket even though I'm triple vaxxed. I don't want even a tiny bit of COVID cooties.

I won't leave my house until Omicron is gone. All food is delivered via instacart with instructions for the driver to knock twice and leave the food at the door.

Sylbia...nighttime cold/flu shit and stay in bed till it breaks. Three days or so. I found myself ravenous too, so frozen pizza was sufficient.

[quote]I do find it odd that some in the medical community think it is unwise or foolish to recommend Vit D, Zinc, healthy diet, etc... they certainly give people a fighting chance, and there is substantial published evidence of the fact.

I've seen studies that correlate supplements and food with covid survival, but no conclusive evidence.

[quote]Chickenpox parties

Greg - Any menu ideas?

Chicken. Duh.

Scientists know that coronavirus immunity lasts only 4-6 months. That means, "natural immunity" lasts only 4-6 months.

It's not like chicken pox, which lasts nearly a lifetime.

r154 this is an aside, but I had chicken pox twice as a child, at age 1.5 and at age 6.

Then a few years ago, when I started a new job, I had to get a number of vaccines, including Varicella. I told them that I'd had chicken pox as a child (I'm in my thirties) and they tested me. I didn't have any antibodies.

(Specific to the US) I wish they would give health care workers and other hospital workers with direct patient serving roles, like janitorial staff, boosters after three months. Given how fast omicron is moving that seems more potentially useful as a priority than vaccinating the unvaxxed, who are all in deep doo-doo at the moment and 5-6 weeks is too late to extricate them from it imho.

[quote]I do find it odd that some in the medical community think it is unwise or foolish to recommend Vit D, Zinc, healthy diet, etc... they certainly give people a fighting chance, and there is substantial published evidence of the fact.

A few observational studies link lower blood vitamin levels with a higher risk of testing positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. But studies like these cannot prove that vitamin D protects people against infection. Further, a randomized controlled study of people with moderate to severe COVID-19 who received a high dose of vitamin D showed no benefit.

Similarly, a 2021 study of zinc and vitamin C demonstrated no benefit for people with mild COVID-19. The researchers found that people receiving the supplements, whether individually or combined, had no improvement in symptoms or a faster recovery when compared with otherwise similar patients receiving neither supplement.

I’m feeling like we’re looking at another lockdown.

A big middle finger to all the anti-vax deplorables. They’re not only killing themselves, they’re killing Christmas.

THe post about Chickenpox being a lifetime immunity still does not answer the question of WTF is a Natural Immunity Treatment. Hoping someone can clarify, as this isn't a medical term. We are left to infer what this alleged Doc was pushing.

There are people intentionally expising thrmselves to Omicron, similar to those old pox parties.

You can still get it and spread it vaxxed or not. You people are foolish. It will run its course, whatever that entails.

Foolish people brush off serious infectious diseases as ‘running its course’.

Well, how has "controlling" it worked so far, dimwit?

[quote]Well, how has "controlling" it worked so far,

Quite well for those whose IQs are higher than room temperature and have gotten vaxxed and boosted.

Yeah...

[quote] THe post about Chickenpox being a lifetime immunity still does not answer the question of WTF is a Natural Immunity Treatment.

Maybe it means using antibody treatments--although they weren't particularly effective when used early in the pandemic

Aaron Rodgers claimed he had natural immunity treaments ... some combination of drugs and vitamins, including ivermectin and zinc, that quack homeopathy "doctors" contend will prevent covid. We saw how that worked for Aaron.

Who exactly is the dimwit? Be as childish as you like insulting posters, but don't be vague cowards! Direct your insults appropriately, and sign your posts if you dare.

This thread, and another Omicron I'm reading seem full of angry people foaming and frothing at the mouth. It doesn't need to be this way. Many of you need a time out.

The two monoclonal antibody treatments that are primarily used in the US don’t work for omicron. My employer no longer offers them and I expect most health care entities will follow suit. The unvaxxed are in for a world of hurt.

I am a healthy weight, I try to get enough sleep, I have supplemented my vitamin D for about a decade and I eat tons of fruits and vegetables. It’s all generally good advice, but neither a treatment for nor a means of prevention of omicron. That’s the idiotic magical thinking that gets people killed. It’s like women who think they can’t get raped because they don’t wear miniskirts or drink in public.

Who is frothing? Do you sign your posts?

No one knows WTF is going to happen. And it will "run its course" no matter what human intervention.

Logic.

[quote]sign your posts if you dare. —Anonymous

Physician heal thy cowardly self.

EL I respectfully beg to disagree with you.Supplements are not magical thinking, when much of the world is deficient in Vit D, and such a deficiency puts one at a higher risk of contracting all sorts of viruses.

Dr. Fauci himself takes a higher dose of Vit D each day, than what is even recognised by US health authorities to be standard. Whyever have you been wasting your hard earned money supplementing ten years if this amounts to magical thinking? It doesn't, and most physicians recommending D are not anti-jab. It's both, NOT vitamin tablets in lieu of jabs.

Love the Radioactive Basic Gays on here who don’t believe Vitamin C & D levels affect your immune system but probably drink tons of diet sodas and take a plethora of pharmaceuticals.

R171 I have not insulted anyone here. I'm not a physician either, just a writer who happens hold an MPH.

Of course, vitamin supplements can improve your health if you are deficient in certain. But they won't magically ward off covid, whether or not you're vaccinated.

FWIW, my doctor is completely against vitamins and supplements. I don't listen to him and take them anyway.

I supplement D because my vitamin D is normally low and that is associated with worse outcomes in people with Crohn’s. I don’t think it is useless, but it isn’t something that puts a person in remission either. It’s just baseline healthy practice, not a treatment.

Soda is disgusting R173.

Taking high dose vitamin C has a lot of side effects so be careful with that.

R176 shitting is the side effect of too much vitamin c

This...

And this...

PLENTY more from where that came from...

[quote] Supplements are not magical thinking, when much of the world is deficient in Vit D, and such a deficiency puts one at a higher risk of contracting all sorts of viruses.

There's tons of controversy over what is the amount of Vit D a body should have. Something is off when people who are in the sun all day also get low Vit D levels. No , we didn't evolve so that everyone needs vitamin D supplementation.

What's worse, is that we see no proof that vit D pills do what natural vit D does--particularly with reducing bone fractures. Pill do nothing.

It's not only North Americans living above a certain line who have D defiency, but many Northern Europeans as well. Heavier people require more Vitamin D as well, according to recent studies.

The Vitamin is cheap and effective.

We only absorb 20% of the vitamins we take, lower with absorption issues

The long-term-effects are yet to be known on any of these variants. Avoid them like the plague; they are.

The flippant attitude towards this virus is exactly why it’s spread so fiercely. Stupid people think that they’re infallible.

R184 the virus is NOT going away, you stupid cunt! No matter how much you mask or vaxx, it’s not infallible. The mental health and economic issues are becoming far worse for society than just letting this variant rip through.

Thanks for revealing your true agenda, r185.

If you think man will ever control Mother Nature, you are the fool.

R186 don’t you dare leave the house! How irresponsible. You better be ordering in all your groceries and avoiding all human contact. The virus can infect through eyes and ears too! DO NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE!!!!!

[quote]PLENTY more from where that came from...

Are you advocating for or against Vit. D? Your links don't prove anything either way:

"Research findings about vitamin D and COVID-19 have been mixed and sparse"

"Some of the evidence about vitamin D and COVID-19 doesn’t pass the smell test"

There’s common sense and there’s deliberit stupidity.

Back off the caffeine and relax r188

Deliberate *

...and the frothing and name calling continues

Nice false dichotomy there, R187.

Ok...

Vitamin D (Plus Zinc, C) likely helps marginally against covid. But must be taken regularly beforehand, like 5k units daily) As for its marginal help against covid casinos have a 2% marginal edge over the players and always win in the long run. So BE A CASINO and take your D!) )

Not sure what your point is, R195, if you're trying to support R187 and R185. The bubonic plague is indeed under control at the moment; at the time it ran rampant precautions against it were poorly understood in any case; and "letting it rip through" was pretty much a disaster.

What happened to sensibility? This could have been behind us.

We had the most awful leadership when this hit and we are still in a stupidity spiral. .

[quote]we are still in a stupidity spiral

So true, especially here in NYC. Rumor now is idiot outgoing mayor de Blasio will let the Times Square NYE public event go on with modifications. One being requiring that attendees be masked.

I assume the NYPD will enforce this mandate. I wonder who will make sure the NYPD is masked. My experience over the past few months had been that very few cops are wearing them.

MARY! me all you want, but I am ready to hunker down through the month of January at this point. Back to working at home five days a week and venturing out only when necessary.

R199 BDB is a complete idiot who just can’t help but repeat his past mistakes. The problem is the event is also unleashing close a million people (likely tourists) into an omicron-infested city.

Elderlez, stop appealing to the gays. Everybody knows lesbians don’t care about show tunes.

My theory about low levels of Vitamin D (including myself): Sun exposure awareness- I surf and run, but use sunscreen everyday, including days where I'm not exercising outside. Plus more people spend less time outdoors, given the computer-run culture and streaming lifestyle.

LOL R201 them’s fighting words to this Sondheim loving dyke who randomly breaks into (off-key) show tunes IRL. My wife was thrilled that Hamilton was canceled so we could see Company instead. And there were a number of other lesbian couples in the surrounding rows. It’s the little things you catch together…

I sense a lot of stress on this thread. Control what you can control like wearing your mask and try not to worry if you are boosted.

R172 I really appreciated your respectful comment disagreeing with me and I hope you are right and I am wrong.

Much like EL, I see-saw so much about my travel plans that I'm motion sick.

On the one hand, great N95 masks, airplane filtration, boosted. Anecdotes from relatives who've flown with no issues.

But Omicron. And many DL anecdotes of masks not being enforced on planes. Then there's the airports.

Trip is scheduled for a month after Xmass, which should be Peak Omicron in the USA?

My frau friend with a bunch of kids (she lives in Maryland) doesn't understand my nervousness about Omicron... said as long as you're vaccinated, it's like the flu - who cares - she's not stopping her life again because of this.

I'm having flashbacks to pre-vaccine COVID when everyone had different opinions about what to do and I felt crazy for taking it so seriously. Anyone else? Very specific feeling.

[quote] My theory about low levels of Vitamin D (including myself): Sun exposure awareness- I surf and run, but use sunscreen everyday, including days where I'm not exercising outside. Plus more people spend less time outdoors, given the computer-run culture and streaming lifestyle.

It takes 14 seconds of standing in sunlight to get enough Vit D. The very fact that you surf and run (in a sunny place, I presume), and still have low levels goes towards the idea that the level some labs call "low" is too high--and that is the raging controversy.

Sure, you wear sun screen, but it's not a lead shield.

[quote] Peak Omicron in the USA?

R204, it may depend on where in the US. The northeast is being hit pretty bad now, but the surge may be subsiding by then, whereas places that are just starting to see the surge (and that generally have lower vax rates than the northeast) may be a lot worse then.

R14 it exists but NY is one of the epicenters. Frankly. I'd rather be in Florida right now.

At least in FL, you're more likely to be outdoors, diminishing the risk somewhat

R207, isn’t the surge happening basically everywhere in the US? If it isn’t in, say, Texas at the moment, won’t it be by tomorrow? That’s how fast Omicron moves, at least if you go by how quickly it went from less than 10% of cases to 73%…

Yes, it always starts in the big US cities and then quickly moves. I think it's been reported in 45 states already

Yes, R210. The numbers are already shooting up in TX and FL, just somewhat behind those in the northeast. Hasn't quite reached the unvaccinated denizens of Alabama or Arkansas yet, though, God help them.

I think your frau friend is basically correct, R205.

The only thing that stopped me in my tracks was when I heard yesterday about a young, triple-vax’d person who died (this one hasn’t made the news yet), supposedly with Omicron. That got me worried. But it seems to be an outlier. I also have no idea why it hasn’t been reported to the media yet.

It’s somewhere north of 90% in New York already, rapidly approaching 100%, which is good insofar as Delta cases are going away. Omicron plus delta is worse than omicron alone.

I think the frau friend has probably forgotten how terrible the flu is. If you want to get stuck at home, lying in bed with no desire to eat and constant pain? Have at it.

R213 Where did you hear it if it has been reported?

I know two cases of tripled vaxxed, strict about masking guys who got omicron. Both are doing okay with mild symptoms. One got it from his brother. The other doesn't know where he could have possibly gotten it,

Most vaxxed & boosted people aren’t experiencing flu-like symptoms. They’re experiencing mild cold symptoms or none at all. Unless that’s changed in the last day.

if it hasn't been reported? R216

[quote] R213 Where did you hear it if it has been reported?

I live in NYC, where the deceased lived, and I know two people—who don’t know each other at all—whose significant others knew the deceased personally. (A weird coincidence, but that’s how this particular industry is in NYC.)

Pay no mind to the trolls masquerading as DL insiders, R203 (EL). A Sondheim reference? Pshaw!

Your informative (and convivial) posts have doubtless made you a target of those people whose only job is to sow disinformation.

[quote] tripled vaxxed, strict about masking guys who got omicron .... One got it from his brother.

I'm guessing he wasn't masked when he got it from his brother.

OP in another COVID thread is in her 30s and triple vaxxed and tested positive and feels like shit. Sounds similar to the flu. I understand why people are minimizing the flu (because it's not Covid and in this weird new world - we just want to avoid Covid) but I think it's also easy to forget how bad the flu feels. I had it once years ago and it was horrible.

I'll be relieved when Christmas is over.

[quote] I'm guessing he wasn't masked when he got it from his brother.

No, but the getting it from his brother is a guess. The brother tested positive and then negative a day later--no symptoms. It's the only link my friend has to Covid

What it really reminds me of are the Frauen who insist on "cosleeping" with their babies, despite the well established fact that adults roll over and smother their infants all the time. Thoughts and fucking prayers, you selfish assholes.

What I learned from work (film industry, where my "pod" of people gets tested 3x week due to being with unmasked actors) is that if you contract CV19, for the next 3 months you will test positive for the virus if you take the rapid test- the test cannot distinguish between a "dead' and "live" virus. You have to take the PCR test to get a negative result.

Link to Biden's address:

12,502 new cases yesterday in Ohio

R140, anything written about transmissability before Omicron is worthless now. It's that much more transmissable. Basically, get vaxxed and boosted, mask like crazy, and stay away from humans as much as possible. That's all they really at this point because if Omicron does spread as easily as measles, if you don't do those very simple things, you are going to get it and pass it on. So, don't be a piece of shit and get it and pass it on.

How about groceries and mail? I stopped being careful (washing, disinfecting, leaving it aside for a few days) after I got vaccinated. Are the fomites more powerful with omicron?

Biden's live

[quote]Phone rings, door chimes, in comes...

That's what my gentleman callers do. hehe

R231, it's still a virus and viruses don't live well on surfaces. I'd say it's still okay to not disinfect groceries. Just be careful about sticking your fingers in your mouth or near your nose and eyes after touching the things for the first little bit after you bring them home in case someone sneezed directly on something.

[quote]No , we didn't evolve so that everyone needs vitamin D supplementation.

We did evolve living on the open plains of Africa and, even after moving into caves and primitive housing, spent almost all of our times outdoors. Evolution is a slow process and we now live lives that require supplementation.

Does anyone know of any studies that have found out why Omicron is more transmissible?

Doctor on MSNBC just now advocating a fourth booster now after 3-4 months of the first booster. I’m game but how would they convince folks when 40% of the country hasn’t received even one jab.

i'm nearly 4 months out from my booster, but I'd rather wait at this point to see how things evolve before getting a fourth shot, especially since the vax currently does so little to prevent Omicron. If they can develop a newer version, I'll be first in line.

R235: it's because of the way it takes up residence in the lungs. You can find the articles online if you look it up.

Thanks, R234. But I just remembered that I stuck my finger in my nose just before, after touching mail and doorknobs. I know I'm gonna get something now.

R73, my partner wasn't masked while walking outside, and we do live in a busy residential area. That's something we definitely could get better at in the UK.

I'm also delighted to share that my partner and I both tested negative on lateral flow tests today - looks like we're covid free after only a week!

R235, in contrast to other variants which did better in lung tissue, Omicron replicates most efficiently, and much faster, in the bronchi. That means there’s more virus available earlier and higher up in the RT.

While that’s great news for LRT involvement, it’s horrible for transmissibility.

walgreens said they are limited 4 binex home test kits per customer.

Excuse me, when I bought them in NYC several weeks ago, I was only allowed to buy 1. the cashier was a cunt. I've seen someone buy 2, this was all before the omicron came about.

Thank you R241, I was going to say that, too. I don’t know why R238 said Omicron is more transmissible because of how it takes up residence in the lungs. It *doesn’t* generally take up residence in the lungs, but rather replicates in the nose, making it easier to transmit through sneezing and maybe just breathing (? — That’s a guess on my part, about breathing).

Previous strains infected the lungs a lot more.

Of course this tendency of Omicron to infect the nose only in most cases is what makes it less lethal. People don’t end up on ventilators, dying.

Although that could change, I guess… somehow.

^^a couple of caveats to what I just wrote:

1. That’s an ex vivo study, but it does mirror what we’re seeing in patients.

2. I should have made it clear that by “great news for LRT involvement,” I meant in people who have been vaccinated and boosted. Without quick neutralization, there’s no reason to suspect it won’t disseminate to the lungs.

Walmart limits ordering of at-home COVID-19 tests

Walmart said on Tuesday that demand for at-home COVID-19 testing kits was “extremely high” and that it had set a limit of eight test kits per online order.

Shares of Walmart barely changed in afternoon trading, gaining 34 cents, to $139.54.

Glad I bought mine in-store. I got 16.

It’s awful that the USA doesn’t provide one free for each person every week or two. In Germany the residents get theirs for €1.00. Here, being the profit driven, shit machine I’m forced to go to Walmart and feel like $14.00 is a value.

Better than the $25.00 I was paying at Walgreens!

South Africa today says Omicron is 50-80% less severe than prior variants including Delta.

R247 So let’s part like it’s over! Get a grip. We don’t know the long term ramifications nor do we need to spread this plague.

Party like it's two-zero-one-nine!

I don't read R247 as encouragement to act like the pandemic's over, just as a small ray of hope that omicron may clog up the hospitals less than we fear and that if you get it it may not be as bad as delta would have been.

Here’s another thread about reduced severity relative to Delta (this one says 50% reduction in infection fatality rate). This is from New South Wales, which is a better comparison for population than South Africa. Though I would note they had very low natural immunity. I’m guessing other countries (US, UK, et al.) would be somewhere in between South Africa and NSW in that regard?

Serious DLers, please read this one and let me know what you think. It’s a long thread.

If Omicron is indeed way, WAY less lethal, that would be great news.

3,000 new Covid 19 cases in LA County

Well, I'm going to start wearing my glasses when I'm out again, to prevent myself from touching my eyes. If I do need to touch them, I do it with my knuckles (I touch nothing with my knuckles) and not my fingertips- that method has helped me avoid colds and flus.

HANDS OFF YOUR FACE!

My United flight from Austin to San Francisco (and back) STRICTLY enforced mask-wearing at all times.

The pilot even said, "You may remove your mask to eat, but don't be THAT GUY who 'eats' the entire flight. Finish it and put it back on!"

Israel will now offer a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to vulnerable groups

From CNN's Andrew Carey and Amir Tal Israel will begin rolling out a fourth dose of the coronavirus vaccine with immediate effect. The additional dose will be given to people over 60 years-old, medical workers, and people with a suppressed immune system, the prime minister’s office announced, following a recommendation from the country’s panel of coronavirus experts.

“Wonderful news, do not waste time – go get vaccinated,” Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said in a statement.

Those eligible for the fourth dose will be given it provided at least four months have passed since their third dose.

“The State of Israel is continuing to stand at the forefront of the global effort to deal with the pandemic. The citizens of Israel were the first in the world to receive the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and we are continuing to pioneer with the fourth dose as well,” Bennett said.

In a related announcement, the recommended gap between a second and third dose is also being shortened from five months to three months.

One of the members of the expert panel told Israeli radio Tuesday evening that the decision to go for a fourth dose had not been an easy one.

“We don’t really have data yet on the level of immunity, like we did when we decided on the third dose, but on the other hand, there is really scary data out there in the rest of the world, Professor Galia Rahav said.

“In a situation like this, if you don’t act immediately, you miss the train,” she added.

New measures: The government’s ministerial committee tasked with driving policy on the pandemic also met Tuesday, deciding on a number of new measures in the wake of the new wave of infections brought on by the Omicron variant.

In particular, schoolchildren living in areas of low vaccine up-take among under-18s could find themselves back in online schooling as early as this week.

In areas with high Covid-19 case numbers, known as red or orange communities, only classes in which at least 70% of children have received at least one dose of the vaccine will be taught at school. Classes with lower vaccination rates will be taught online. The new policy goes into immediate effect for children age 13 and above; for younger children, it will take effect in three weeks’ time.

There will also be an increased requirement on Israelis to produce a "Green Pass" when out shopping. For instance, it will now be mandatory to show the pass to enter or work at a store larger than 100 square meters.

Earlier in the evening it was announced that public sector workplaces would reduce the number of staff working onsite by half. The measure will go into effect on Sunday and be in place for at least a month.

A few days ago, Prime Minister Bennett asked private sector businesses to encourage staff to work from home as much as possible.

Some context: Latest Omicron data in Israel shows 341 confirmed cases, of which more than two thirds were in people either fully vaccinated or recently recovered from the disease. In addition, there are more than 800 cases in which there is a high suspicion of the Omicron variant.

The total number of new Covid-19 cases in Israel topped 1,300 on Monday, a figure not reached since the middle of October.

The R co-efficient – the number of people infected by each Covid-19 positive person – is at 1.28, its highest figure since the height of the fourth wave at the beginning of August.

Delta Air Lines urges CDC to shorten isolation period for vaccinated people

From CNN’s Pete Muntean

Delta Air Lines is urging the CDC to shorten the isolation period for vaccinated people who become infected with coronavirus.

"With the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, the 10-day isolation for those who are fully vaccinated may significantly impact our workforce and operations," Delta CEO Ed Bastian and the company's top health officers wrote in a letter to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky on Tuesday.

The letter notes that "over 90 percent" of Delta's workforce is vaccinated.

Delta suggests shortening the isolation period to five days "from symptom onset for those who experience a breakthrough infection," the letter said. "Individuals would be able to end isolation with an appropriate testing protocol."

"Our employees represent an essential workforce to enable Americans who need to travel domestically and internationally," the letter said.

Here's a snapshot of the current vaccination status in the US

From CNN’s Deidre McPhillips

Here’s the latest data on vaccination efforts in the United States, published Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

Fully vaccinated: 61.6% of the total US population (all ages), about 205 million people

Not vaccinated: 22.8% of the eligible population (age 5+) have not received any dose of Covid-19 vaccine, about 72 million people

Current pace of vaccinations (7-day average): 1,542,936 doses are being administered each day

That’s down about 19% compared with a month ago.

More than half – about 1 million – are booster doses.

An average of about 225,000 people are initiating vaccination each day.

An average of about 296,000 people are becoming fully vaccinated each day.

About 62.2 million people have received an additional dose, or booster

33.1% of fully vaccinated adults (18+) have received a booster

44.9% of fully vaccinated people 50 and older have received a booster

55.4% of fully vaccinated seniors (65+) have received a booster

Note: CDC data on Covid-19 vaccinations are estimates. The agency notes that data on people who are fully vaccinated and those with a booster dose may be underestimated, while data on people with at least one dose may be overestimated.

US has highest number of new Covid-19 cases worldwide, WHO data shows

From CNN’s Virginia Langmaid

Cases of Covid-19 declined by 12% in the United States last week and increased in several other countries, but the US still had the highest number of new cases of any country, according to data published Tuesday in the World Health Organization’s weekly epidemiological report.

There were 4.1 million new cases around the world from Dec. 13 to Dec. 19, a slight decline from the previous week. The number of new deaths fell 9%, to nearly 45,000.

The US, the UK, France and Germany reported the highest number of new Covid-19 cases last week. Cases in the US declined by 12% to 725,750, while cases in the UK increased 45%.

The WHO African region had the largest increase in cases, and this region and the Western Pacific were the only ones to see new cases increase in the past seven days, according to WHO data. Europe had the highest total number of new cases and accounted for 63% of new cases reported.

Covid-19 cases fell 10% in the Americas, but a quarter of countries in the region reported increases in the week. The US, Canada and Argentina had the highest number of new cases in the region. Cases increased 55% in Canada and 91% in Argentina.

Weekly deaths increased by 15% in the African region, the only region to see any increase in new deaths. The Americas saw a 15% decrease in new deaths, the largest of any region.

I'm 438 from the previous Omicron thread who was wondering about a NYE/60th Birthday party that my siblings were planning for me at the end of the year. Turns out I don't have to make the decision, as my brother suggested it be cancelled since it'll be 5 days after everybody has their family Christmases, and somebody could inadvertently invite Omicron or Delta along before they start showing symptoms.

Works for me.

So, in the Spring when we can be outside, we're going to celebrate all the milestone birthdays that have occurred throughout this pandemic. Hopefully.

Happy Birthday upcoming birthday R261!!! I hope you have the most wonderful celebration this spring.

Thanks ElderLez. R262

I'm pretty stoopid, but why is Omicron such a big deal if it's not as deadly? Just because we'll all have it in a few weeks?

I read that part about Israel going for a forth booster to some populations. As an organ transplant recipient, I got my booster in the summer (August), and have been wondering if I'm due for another.

[quote]South Africa today says Omicron is 50-80% less severe than prior variants including Delta.

The population age and prior infection numbers make this almost irrelevant to the rest of the world.

R264, not everyone is going to get this. Why do people keep saying that? The unvaxxed and irresponsible vaxxed people are all going to get it. That's the more correct statement.

It's a matter of making sure that Omicron isn't as deadly. We have preliminary data from South Africa, but need more from elsewhere. We'll know in a week or two, given the rapidly rising counts.

NHL players won't be participating in the Beijing Olympics.

To be honest, I wish they'd cancel the entire thing. It would serve China right.

Omicron may be less deadly, but it's so fucking contagious that hospitals are still going to get overwhelmed, particularly since we have so many unvaxxed idiots with pre-existing conditions.

Which is why the unvaxxed need to be denied all medical care until they get vaccinated. The end.

Attention R257-R260: we all know how to punch www.cnn.com into a browser. No need to post the full text of every COVID related article on DL. We understand where and how to find CNN and can read all their articles/propaganda there.

I agree with you in theory, r269. But that's not how our medical system works in practice.

is there long covid with this variant?

Australia's New South Wales reports record new Covid-19 cases for second straight day

From CNN’s Sophie Jeong

Australia’s most populous state reported a record 3,763 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, a day after surpassing 3,000 daily infections for the first time.

New South Wales also reported two Covid-related deaths: a woman in her 80s who had received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine and had underlying health conditions, and a woman in her 70s who was not vaccinated and had underlying health conditions.

According to NSW Health, there are currently 302 Covid-19 patients in hospital, with 40 people in intensive care, 12 of whom require ventilation.

The total number of cases in the state since the beginning of the pandemic is 106,621, NSW Health said.

As of 11:59 p.m. local time on Monday, 94.9% of people age 16 and older in NSW have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine; 93.4% have taken two shots.

Canada's British Columbia closes bars and gyms over rising Covid-19 cases

From CNN's Raja Razek

British Columbia, Canada's westernmost province, announced a series of restrictions to address the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country.

A news release from the Province said it would ban organized indoor social events and close gyms, bars, and nightclubs starting Wednesday.

Additionally, the Ministry of Health said it's postponing non-urgent scheduled surgeries starting Jan. 4.

"The provincial health officer is implementing additional measures to address rising COVID-19 case counts that could result in increased hospitalizations and critical care admissions and the potential to overstress the health-care system," the release said.

A young relative of mine and his girlfriend got breakthrough Covid, despite being double vaxxed (but not boosted).

Mild symptoms, but still.

He had it before the vaccines, and had moderate symptoms. A lot of coughing and hard to breathe, but did not need to go to hospital. So I'm assuming he had Delta first, and has Omicron now.

If the numbers are doubling every two days and NYC is already at 100,000 infections a day as of yesterday then everyone (kind of sort of) is infected in NYC in the next two weeks, which with a mandatory 10 day isolation period for infection plus quarantines for significant exposure, results in societal collapse (Mary!) when 50% or more of doctors, police, fire, jail, transit and essential store workers are all confined to their homes at the same time. I hope I am wrong, but I feel like l am watching a train wreck.

R276

Elderlez, thankfully we have a lot more people in the country than we know, but I do agree that our society is about to change because of Covid, and permanently.

For example, entry level positions are going begging. Every Dunkin Donuts, fast food joint, etc. has help wanted signs. There is a shortage of staff. This actually works out great for high school students who get the unheard-of starting salary of $15 an hour. But businesses are going to have to offer more if they want to retain their entry level staff. Could this mean a living wage for high school graduates?

Also, nursing homes are very short staffed and vulnerable patients are being released -- to go where?

R272

We don't know. It hasn't been around long enough for anyone to determine.

Hello ElderLez R276 — I think the number of new infections will taper off in the coming days, with Christmas keeping people at home / staying within their bubble.

Let’s hope so.

I’m sometimes amazed I haven’t gotten covid yet, but then again I always disliked crowded places and events. I guess my introversion is my saving grace.

[quote] I guess my introversion is my saving grace.

I find introversion is always a saving grace Dutchie.

doesn't seem to be a plan to counteract this

Right you are, R280

500 million home self test kits isn't enough.

[quote]500 million home self test kits isn't enough.

Yes, not nearly.

r281 r283 r284

The Guardian: NHS leaders in England have reportedly been told to make plans for temporary “field hospitals” in hospital car parks in preparation for the expected surge of Covid patients over the next five weeks.

Health Service Journal reports NHS England held a series of calls on Tuesday during which they asked local leaders to review the capacity of their mortuaries.

Leaders were also asked to identify hard standing areas where temporary “field hospitals” could potentially be erected, which would effectively be large “tents” with a capacity for around 100 patients, according to one source.

Now this is a lockdown:

In northern China, the city of Xi’an has ordered its 13 million residents to stay home in a strict lockdown. From midnight on Thursday, all households may only “send one household member outside once every two days to purchase necessities”, Agence France-Presse reports. Everyone else must remain indoors except in the case of an emergency.

r286 r287

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

Would anti-vaxxers be more inclined to take a shot developed by the army? They do love the military.

r289

you could just un-ignore folks, dumbfuck.

Jesus H Christ. I thought the r288, r289, r290 troll had been banned,

r291 r292

If you’re not boosted, can I have your stuff?

Something positive? At least a ton of people are getting tested before Christmas. Today was the first time I've seen a line at the local testing van.

[Quote] I'm pretty stoopid, but why is Omicron such a big deal if it's not as deadly?

You don’t choose what variant you get

I have mixed emotions about this. I do get to work from home longer but now I have to remain celibate longer too!

r296 r297

R298 click on the three parallel dashes on the upper right hand of the screen, scroll down to ignored and read the comments there.

I've handled the lockdown, the work from home and the lack of socializing okay thus far but entering the third year of this with a highly contagious variant on the rise and record breaking cases reported every day, even I've reached a breaking point. This Christmas seems worse than last year. At least last Christmas, you knew it wasn't going to be a big thing, if at all. But this year with vaccinations and boosters, making plans wasn't out of the picture. Now everything's being canceled.

A few things make this surge feel darker to me r300

The first series of lockdowns began in March 2020. I've always loved spring; to me, it signifies hope and possibility. I could walk outside every day and enjoy the warm spring weather, despite the uncertainty of COVID.

And Christmas 2020 also came with optimism: vaccines were being rolled out, Biden was taking office in less than a month, and it felt like we could see the light at the end of the tunnel -- both of the Trump admin and COVID.

Now ... days are very short, weather is awful, we have a ton of unvaccinated people and a variant that can evade the vaccines we do have, and Trump talking about a 2024 run.

Everything looks bleak.

I feel safer being in lockdown here in the Netherlands than back home in NYC. There is pretty about 95% mask compliance on public transportation. Only about 3 out of 18 million Dutch have gotten the booster so far, though. I’ll feel even safer in Germany next week where the percentage of those having gotten the booster is among the highest.

Are you that American who chose to live in Romania, R302?

People should avoid getting in ANYONE's face. You know there will be kissing over the holidays and as nice as it is, there is no place for it right now.

R302 to be fair I'm seeing 95% compliance of masks on the NY subway/buses right now too....

R301, one positive thing is yesterday was the shortest day of sunlight of the year and now it will be lighter for a minute longer each day.

R307, it actually started staying lighter later in the afternoon back on December 13. The overall length of the days increases starting today (or was it yesterday?), but that has to do with the timing of sunrise as well, not just sunset.

What I mean by that is, starting Dec. 13, the sunset times got a little later, starting by one minute (we went from a 4:28 sunset in NYC to 4:29, from one day to another), but after Dec. 13, the sun*rise* times continued getting later. In fact, they’ll keep getting later until January 8!

I personally am never awake before sunrise, so I don’t care what time it happens. For me it’s all about the darkness in the afternoon. I HATE it.

My apologies for the off-topic post, but if you want to look at a chart showing the sunrise and sunset times for any region, year-round, here’s an awesome website. It links to NYC data but you can change that.

Fox has canceled its New Year's Eve show due to Omicron. Kind of an odd move for a network whose news division denies the severity of the virus.

I suspect they'll pivot to "COVID is a Democrat plot to kill Republicans!!!" any day now r309

I really appreciate the link to the sunrise/set times. I get S.A.D., have a light box, etc. The lengthening days are very cheering.

I am waiting to hear if my boss' 2nd test is positive or not. She's not doing so hot. Severe sore throat and now she's coughing and having asthma symptoms. I'm really worried about her. She only just got her booster shot, so not enough time probably to give her more immunity if this is indeed Covid.

Oh thank goodness, now make it official.

[quote] Are you that American who chose to live in Romania, [R302]?

No.

This is likely the Trip To Netherlands poster that everyone has been complaining about. (Someone who began a thread back in September whining about Covid affecting travel plans for a Christmas trip to Holland. It was suggested that the poster keep the worldwide pandemic in mind. Yet the poster was angrily insistent on travel plans despite the burgeoning Omicron.)

Poster travels from USA to Holland and then gets caught in a Holland Hard Lockdown and now reports that the Holland holiday is now spent watching Dutch tv.

The Danish version of CDC just updated the stats of effectiveness of Pfizer & Moderna vaccines against Omicron. At month 4, the vaccine becomes a negative effect against covid. More proof of Antibody Dependent Enhancement (ADE).

r314

Biden receives another negative Covid-19 test after close contact with positive staffer

From CNN's Kyle Blaine

President Biden on Wednesday tested negative for Covid-19, the White House announced, his second negative PCR test since coming into close contact with a staffer who later tested positive for the virus.

Biden tested negative on a PCR test on Monday, after receiving a negative rapid result on Sunday.

The White House revealed on Monday evening that a mid-level staff member who is "a close contact" of the President tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday morning after spending about 30 minutes "in proximity to the President on Air Force One" on Friday.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends testing five to seven days after close contact with someone with suspected or confirmed Covid-19.

UK reports more than 100,000 daily Covid-19 cases for the first time since pandemic began

From CNN’s Arnaud Siad

The United Kingdom reported 106,122 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, crossing the 100,000 threshold for the first time since the pandemic began, according to government figures.

The UK has seen a 58.9% increase in confirmed cases in the last seven days.

On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there will be no further Covid-19 restrictions brought in for England before Christmas, adding that there is not currently "enough evidence" to justify tougher measures.

He did not rule out bringing in any further measures after Christmas, however, adding “if the situation deteriorates we will be ready to take action if needed.”

Aircraft passengers are twice or even three times more likely to catch Covid-19 during a flight since the emergence of the omicron variant, according to the top medical adviser to the world’s airlines.

Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth's daughter, quarantining after husband tests positive for Covid-19

From CNN's Max Foster in London

The United Kingdom's Princess Anne is quarantining after her husband, Sir Tim Laurence, tested positive for Covid-19, a royal source told CNN on Wednesday.

Laurence is isolating and following the appropriate coronavirus rules, the source added.

The Covid-19 exposure means that Princess Anne and her husband will not attend Christmas Day celebrations at Windsor Castle.

Princess Anne, officially known as The Princess Royal, is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II.

You could not pay me to fly right now r318

paxlovid has just been approved by the FDA.

Surprised no one has posted this here yet.

I wouldn’t fly either, but I do read the links that people post to see if they match the claims. R318’s post cites a “physician and medical advisor” who says we have to assume the risk of catching Covid while flying is 2 to 3 times higher with omicron because it is 2 to 3 times more transmissible. And he says that the risk he is doubling of tripling is low.

Sigh.

[quote]Princess Anne, Queen Elizabeth's daughter

Oh that Princess Anne.

Not that this matters to anyone, but I resent the perverse incentives that this latest surge and the media frenzy around it has created.

The adults in my household have been jabbed 3x. The teenagers have gotten it 2x and will get the 3rd as soon as they're eligible. If the CDC recommends it for dogs, we'll probably do that too. We wear masks everywhere, work from home, don't travel, and are not planning any major holiday visits. What more does society want from me? What more do I owe society?

Instead, I'm preparing for further lockdowns and even more aggressive social distancing measures (I'm in the tristate area) to make sure that scarce medical resources are made available *for the willfully unvaccinated.*

To me, this is very much like the way codependent people enable drug addicts, shielding them from the outcome of their actions. Maybe it averts short-term harm, but in the longer term, it just buffers them from the consequences of their actions. I and other rule-marms like me are busting our asses and being super-conscientious, so that others can continue to be reckless.

Until people who refuse to get vaccinated are forced to bear some of the social cost of their refusal (like being fired, facing higher insurance deductibles, and/or being billed directly for the exorbitant costs of extended ICU/vent care), I don't see a constructive way out of this. And I see the panicked news coverage around omicron as being directed primarily at people who are already vaxxed/boosted, wearing masks and social distancing. They're preaching a tired message to the already converted.

No, Dutchie/R303. That’s not me. I’ve lived in NYC since 1978.

R313, yeah, it’s me. I find it a tad amusing that those like you get triggered by envy to such an extent that you feel the need to attack a fellow poster using ridiculous examples. Like my watching Dutch TV from time to time-I also get the BBC, Italian, French and German channels, too, by the way. Jealous, bitch?

Wow, I'm a bit surprised by the strong resistance aganst Vit D supplements here in the four or five posts. Sometimes the circumstantial evidence upon meta-analysis lies beneath the surface of caveats like "we cannot say whether Vit D prevents against Covid infection.

We have learnt the value of maintaining proper levels, (though there remains disagreement upon actual numbers) as well as the overall benefit of supplemntation from other studies, i.e. TILDA, SHARE, et. al... particularly in older people.

I'm curious as to the thinking which leads to rejecting the idea of supplements. Unless one has Sarcoidosis, or explicit warnings from their personal physician, I can't fathom the harm, as It's exceedingly difficult to overdose with Vit D.

Considering most people are deficient, I think it best to err on the side of caution, and supplement at least during Winter months, perhaps beginning in Autumn.

Study from Scotland shows similar results to South Africa, re: Omicron severity compared to Delta.

Just going to keep posting these study results here even though they’re primarily good news and this thread is more focused on bad news and worry.

I agree with you R324 jeangenie. It’s one thing to take no delight in another person’s misfortune. It’s quite another to endanger your own well-being to save a person engaging in antisocial behavior from the natural consequences of their actions such that they never learn to make better choices. In the US we might need to disconnect with love from the anti-vaxxers. (Al-anoners have I butchered that phrase?)

Hey I am all for supplementing vitamin D, but my personal anecdotal experience is years of taking vitamin D never protected me from the flu (on the years there was a bad guess on the vaccine or I got it early from Australian tourists in Scotland) or other viral infections.

Vitamin D only seems to “do” anything when taken in very high doses, like 5000 IU every two days or so.

America’s Fauci takes 6000 IU daily, if I recall correctly?

Either way, those little pills of only 1000 IU or less won’t do shit. Mind you, I’m just parroting what my friend (a virologist) explained to me.

[quote]I'm curious as to the thinking which leads to rejecting the idea of supplements. Unless one has Sarcoidosis, or explicit warnings from their personal physician, I can't fathom the harm, as It's exceedingly difficult to overdose with Vit D.

My physician thinks all supplements are useless because they're just excreted in your urine. Nonetheless, I take a daily D vitamin in the winter because sunshine is a rare commodity in my area from November-February.

I thought so too but I've been taking a supplement and my numbers went way up when I got my blood test results back.

I generally take 10,000 a day because Crohn’s, although I did mess up and bought a 1,000 bottle recently so I’ve been taking a few pills a day instead of one daily. 10,000 a day gets me from very low to completely normal vitamin D levels.

And I don’t want to discourage anyone from taking vitamin D. A doctor I very much respect told me vitamin D supplementation was as healthy as smoking cigarettes is unhealthy as far as health impacts. I am just concerned about being over confident about it’s protective qualities.

R299, poor lezzie thinks only one person uses this account. How quaint

Another brief and valuable read below.

The physicians I know who are presently treating Covid patients in hospital presently have all said there are Vit D protocols upon admission. Some test levels, whilst others begin immediate supplementation. This is occurring in the UK and the US.

I think the value is there to supplement for many good reasons, it’s a cheap insurance policy really.

Lately I’ve been reading on Vit D levels and cancers, and it seems there is strong evidence it is an immune modulator. It’s much more than a vitamin, more like a hormone.

My partner and I just received confirmation of a negative travel ready Covid test. We both received 2 doses of Moderna vaccine and booster shots. We leave tomorrow out of San Diego for a 10 day Mexico cruise. The cruise line has mandatory mask wearing on board. We figure we are going have to live with Covid for some time so start living now.

While there is strong evidence that normal levels of Vit D are good for things like preventing bone fractures, there is little to no evidence that taking Vit D in pill form comes close to mimicking what natural Vit D does. In fact, when you take a blood test, it will tell you if that Vit D is chemically made or naturally made. If a blood test can tell you, your body can tell the difference .

[Quote] We leave tomorrow out of San Diego for a 10 day Mexico cruise.

A fucking cruise???? Are you nuts??

Who wants r337's stuff?

[quote] A fucking cruise????

Pics please.

Good article on Vitamin D R336. Another good discussion about it can be found at Dr. John Campbell's youtube; he agrees it's astounding that the CDC bows to pharma and neglects to inform the public about our massive D/K2 deficiency. There's such a difference getting info from scientists as opposed to the breathless lazy media.

lol going on a cruise???? oooooof.

[R339] do your very, very best to follow and understand the science. We have masked up, maintain social distancing and practice a good hand washing routine. We have eaten at restaurants, visited the homes of family and friends and regularly go to the cinema. We even went to Bear Week in Ptown this past July all without testing positive for Covid. Hopefully you will come to terms and realize that Covid is here to stay and, at some point, leave your parent’s basement.

R344 oh bitch please. I've done all of those things too (except BEAR WEEK). I've also gone to the theater and concerts. And traveled. GASP.

Omicron is a different animal. It's basically vaccine resistant. If you want to go cruise to Mexico - have a grand old time. A lot of shit has changed in the past 2 weeks. It's not about our parents' basements.

And you didn't even answer the question.... can we have your stuff?

Whoops. Someone’s triggered.

Update.

None of that now, R347.

Back to our regular scheduled Vitamin D / ‘traveling during Omicron?!’ / shaming of the boosted-and-unmasked doom posting.

The average age in the UK is 42 while the average age in the US is 89 so that data is hardly comparable.

And don’t EVEN get me started on South Africa, where the average age is 12 and everyone has had nasty Delta infections… which makes them better prepared to fight off Omicron than those of us who are fully vaccinated and boosted… wait, what?

A cruise may be one of the safest things you could do. We took a cruise over Thanksgiving and the protocols were way above and beyond what is required for flying or other activities. All passengers were required to have proof of vaccination, all passengers had to have a negative test within 48 hours of boarding, all crew was tested regularly, and crew was not allowed to leave the ship while in port. I actually felt safer there than most anywhere else.

'Less likely to send people to the hospital" is great news, but not a reason to be complacent. That still means flu-level, stay-at-home illness for an escalating number of people. So lots of people out of work, out of commission, everything slowing down—and more people dying among the unvaccinated simply because of the surging numbers of infections.

r350 = Christine Duffy

Sorry, R352. Wrong cruise line.

This shows how ridiculous the testing process is

"Omicron is a different animal..."

Right. Based on South Africa's experience, omicron appears to be displacing Delta, causes less severe illness. fewer hospitalizations, and lower death rate. Whatever will you do R345 when you no longer have the Covid axe to bludgeon people?

[quote]So, I make a tik tok about it

The motto of an entire generation

R355, those getting omicron in South Africa are younger and, often, vaccinated. It’s still hard to determine if the less severe illness is because of these factors

It should be noted that the correct pronunciation of the TikToker’s surname shared by R354 is Dumb ass.

It is less severe. If you are in an area where you don’t know that yet, you will soon. In areas where there are high levels of vaccination the issue will be worker shortages because of the isolation rules. In areas where there are low levels of vaccination the lowered level of severity will be be overpowered by the fact that the available monoclonal antibodies won’t be effective and all the unvaxxed (and I do mean all) who need hospital level care will arrive at the ERs at the same to discover that the doctors are home binge watching Narcos while having the sniffles and can’t help them.

[quote] That still means flu-level, stay-at-home illness for an escalating number of people. So lots of people out of work, out of commission, everything slowing down—and more people dying among the unvaccinated simply because of the surging numbers of infections.

The good thing about Omicron, despite the flu-like symptoms for some people, is it’s spreading so rapidly that the wave will be over as quickly as it began.

There really are more positives than negatives to Omicron (no pun intended). I wish I could get it, but I’m vaxxed and boosted and KN94’d constantly… sadly.

Yes, we heard about worker shortages, and is the reason 7 instead of 10 day quarantine will likely be implemented. Omicron is a different, much nicer animal.

However, couldn't it give rise to a more dangerous variant?

No, why would it R362?

[quote]the doctors are home binge watching Narcos while having the sniffles and can’t help them.

Except the really, really smart ones who will be watching Inspector Koo.

R314, the text says "The negative estimates in the final period arguably suggest different behaviour and/or exposure patterns in the vaccinated and unvaccinated cohorts causing underestimation of the VE. This was likely the result of Omicron spreading rapidly initially through single (super-spreading) events causing many infections among young, vaccinated individuals."

R205 I am siding with your friend on this. I am watching my friends spiral into panic and isolation like this is ebola. Some have gone a bit too far with the covid martyrdom and I think they secretly like the drama of it all and don’t want it to end.

[quote]The cruise line has mandatory mask wearing on board.

Yeah, so did this one.

so you read dl, r366...

[quote]I agree with you in theory, [R269]. But that's not how our medical system works in practice.

Not yet anyways.

Omicron detected in wastewater in Allegheny County, though we haven't had any official cases (I'm not sure how hard the Health Dept is looking, honestly.) Time for my Kevin McCarthy routine.

28 people in CA who attended a party for only vaccinated people tested positive for Covid!

R372, were they unmasked at the party? Of course they were. Why do they keep forgetting to report that part of the story? Even after you get vaxxed, wear your fucking masks and stay away from people as much as humanly possible.

R373 Maybe they did indicate maskless. I took it from a headline. Though I think one can safely assume at a party like a restaurant people aren't masked. UR right which is why I declined an invitation to go to an indoor restaurant this week citing a wait-n-see attitude.

[quote]Was just briefed by a major hospital network CEO. It's not just that they're beyond capacity. The families of their unvaccinated patients are ATTACKING caregivers for not giving them the 'right' meds and (quack) treatments.

[quote]25 incidents EVERY DAY.

[quote]This. Is. INSANE. - Rep. Casey Weinstein

The Reddit post from the doctor linked in that thread at R375 is CHILLING.

TL;DR in advance.

I feel like could have written a lot of that Reddit post. And before anyone starts screaming that I obviously live and work in a Trumpian dystopia and therefore deserve what I get; it’s the opposite.

I’m in an extremely liberal area with one of the highest vaccination rates in the country, but what people don’t seem to realize is that once these creatures crash their local systems, the rest of us get stuck with them.

The reward for communities that do the right thing is having someone else’s freakshow flown in to fill ECMO beds and/or await the transplants that our locals don’t need because they took things seriously. Care must be blind; we can’t judge; blah blah blah.

I posted at the end of the last thread about a friend who was attacked while trying to free a nurse from a COVID patient who had her by the neck. She gave her notice the next morning. He just started with a sore throat after a positive Binax at home last night and a subsequent negative rapid test and PCR this morning. It’s still early, so a positive PCR is definitely in his future.

We were amused that Binax picked it up before the PCR did. He has an assortment of lateral-flow tests as well as a Cue being delivered tomorrow. He’s going to keep testing as an experiment because he’s bored. He’s a brilliant, intuitive, quick-thinking pulmonologist and he’s completely fed up. At 43, he wants out.

Closer to home, I’ve just heard that a tiny little nurse who did PRN shifts with us last summer on top of her regular full-time job to help support her family in the Philippines is about to undergo her third spinal surgery after being kicked in the neck by a patient who had been shipped in from meth country. Merry Christmas to you, sweet Marikit.

And there are the families. Ohhhh, the families…

I could make this even longer and more boring with dozens upon dozens of detailed paragraphs about the things I’ve personally experienced, but here’s just a tiny sampling:

Being lunged at, screamed at, grabbed, slapped, and punched by women. Men just glare and threaten. One promised to follow me home and go back and rape my girlfriend or wife while I was at work. Gurrrrl, if only…

Being told that my big white teeth gave me away as an actor. This person had never seen me without a mask.

Being laughed at more than once when I’d start to tell a family about their ventilated patriot’s acute kidney injury. They laughed because they thought I had forgotten my script and said “kidney” instead of “lungs,” and they all knew that the minor cold/flu their family member was suffering wasn’t anywhere near their kidneys. Haha, gotcha!

And my all-time favorite: the ECMO patient who, after weeks of therapy (and a speaking valve on his trach), used what little energy and ability he had to sloooowly gag-croak-cough-whisper to me that as a big horror-movie fan he knew too much about film makeup and special effects for us to run our scam on him. He knew that the gigantic blood tubes sticking out of his neck were just stuck on with some type of glue which he named, and that the ECMO circuit to which they were attached was just a “n*gger-rigged Slurpee machine.”

They just reported that out of 6500 cases in today in LA, only 135 are Omicron. So what's causing the surge? I'm guess it's all the people who needed to get tested before travel in two days. It's still weird but it makes sense that more tests will = more cases.

R373, they were not masked, and only some were boosted.

[quote]Face coverings were not required at the indoor party, which was held before the state re-instituted a universal mask mandate, said Dr. Matt Willis, the health officer.

[quote]The event hosts insisted that all attendees be fully vaccinated, and asked that everyone take a rapid COVID test at home to confirm they were not infected on the day of the party, Willis said. Many of the people in attendance also had gotten booster shots.

[quote]But more than half of the 50 to 60 attendees have now tested positive, Willis said. All of them have reported mild illness or no symptoms, and none have been hospitalized.

I’m not sure why they added the part about the statewide mandate. It’s irrelevant. Marin hadn’t had an indoor mandate for a long time. When the state mandate went into effect, they were allowed to reimpose their own earlier version which is filled with exemptions for churches, gyms, carpools, offices, etc.

R377 I should hope you handed in your notice earlier this month?

This Chinese city found a Covid cluster. All 13 million residents are now under lockdown

From CNN's Jessie Yeung in Hong Kong

On Tuesday, the central Chinese city of Xi'an recorded 52 new Covid-19 cases. By Wednesday, authorities had imposed strict lockdown measures on its estimated 13 million residents.

The sweeping restrictions, which prevent people from leaving their homes, come as the country braces for the Lunar New Year travel rush, followed swiftly by the 2022 Winter Olympics, due to begin in the capital Beijing on February 4.

Xi'an, an ancient city known internationally as the home of the 2,000-year-old Terracotta warriors sculptures, detected its first case connected to the latest outbreak at a quarantine hotel on December 9. The virus is believed to have then spread into the community via an infected hotel worker.

Officials believe the cluster is linked to an inbound flight from Pakistan on December 4, where at least six passengers were found to have the Delta variant. So far, there have been no reported cases of the Omicron variant in Xi'an.

Authorities moved swiftly, suspending schools and conducting mass testing for the entire city. Cases have continued to climb, however. Since December 9, the city has recorded a total of 206 cases. On Wednesday, authorities recorded 63 new locally transmitted cases, Xi'an's highest daily figure this month.

Lockdown rules: By noon on Wednesday, more than 30,000 people who were believed to have come into contact with a confirmed case were placed in quarantine, according to state-run newspaper China Daily. That same day, the city imposed a strict lockdown until further notice for all residents.

Xi'an is now designated a "controlled area," China's second-highest category of lockdown -- meaning residents are banned from leaving their homes except for urgent cases like medical emergencies. Each household is only allowed to send one designated person out of the house to buy groceries every two days.

Fourth Covid-19 shot needed, according to German Health Minister

From CNN's Nadine Schmidt in Berlin

Germany's health minister Karl Lauterbach said Germans will need a fourth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine to maintain protection from the Omicron variant.

"We will need a fourth vaccination," Lauterbach told public broadcaster ZDF on Wednesday night, adding that "We know this already -- we need a specific variant vaccination against Omicron."

The protection of the booster vaccination administered so far "is not too durable --- and we are prepared for that," Lauterbach went on to say.

Germany has ordered vaccine doses from Pfizer/BioNTech specifically targeting Omicron "80 million doses in total, which we expect in April or May", Lauterbach said.

Omicron could soon be dominant: On Wednesday, the head of Germany's public health institute, the Robert Koch Insitute (RKI), said that the Omicron variant could be dominant in the country in two to three weeks.

Vaccination drive in full force: Lauterbach said that vaccination centers will be kept open over the Christmas holidays to keep Germany's booster campaign up to speed and administer 30 million booster vaccinations by the end of the year.

In addition, Germany aims to get another 30 million vaccine shots administered by the end of January. Lauterbach said this strategy could 'dramatically' slow the spread of the virus.

In Germany, 70.5% of the population is fully vaccinated and 33.8% have received a booster shot, data from the RKI showed Thursday.

Germany's new chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to achieve a first-time vaccination rate of 80% in Germany by January 7, Scholz' spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit announced Wednesday.

Why can't everyone just come out and say, "Expect to have to receive a booster every six months until we figure this shit out?" I'm tired of governments around the world (USA especially) trying to play mind games with the mindless. Fuck them. Just admit reality; those of us who believe in reality will adjust and carry on.

I have hopes for the Walter Reed vaccine, but who knows when that will be available. How will the manufacture of that work, since it was invented by the US government? I assume the Army would have to contract with a company to produce the vax? Let's hope they don't choose Lockheed Martin.

I don’t see how it’s possible that there’s no Omicron in Pittsburgh yet, Sylvia. I’m guessing they just aren’t sequencing enough? It makes up 75% of sequences cases in the US, and PA’s neighbor to the north is 95% Omicron.

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Is Trump pivoting in his approach to the vaccine? Too little and too late, obviously, since his supporters are firmly set against it, but it's interesting that he's pushing back at this point. Perhaps a vain hope to soften the taint of the hundreds of thousands of dead Americans that will forever be associated with his name in history textbooks?

Did Trump (whom I loathe with the heat of a thousand suns, make no mistake) ever say that vaccines are bad or that people shouldn't get them? I don't think he did. He's said lots of other stupid, inflammatory bullshit but I don't think he did that.

It seems to be a weird Q Anon/Fox "News" thing his followers latched onto. If anybody has a link to Trump saying anything negative about Covid vaccines, I'll be happy to be proven wrong.

I don't recall him saying the vaccines were "bad." I clearly recall him consistently downplaying the threat of covid, telling Americans that it's like the flu and instructing his lackeys to follow his lead. He got his own vaccine shot in the dead of night, without announcing it, when making a big production of it could have made a huge impact on his cult.

Here you go r387

Trump did this in August, suggested vaccines were good before an audience in Alabama, and was roundly booed so he slightly backed off—he responded, “That’s alright. You got your freedoms. But I happen to take the vaccine. If it doesn’t work, you’ll be the first to know. I’ll call Alabama and say, ‘Hey you know what?’ but it is working. But you do have your freedoms.”

He apparently got booed again for the same thing the other day in Dallas. His MAGAts love him, but they have their limits!

r390, he's lost control of his sheep.

R377 thank you - that was really interesting to read. I don’t know how you do it. Unreal.

Sending you and your colleagues love and gratitude.

When these morons are all shuffling around on oxygen, widowed, fat kids dead, struggling to take care of their orphaned grandkids. Family and health destroyed by covid, will they ever realize how wrong they were? How will they react? I predict violently and not towards the people who deserve it? I'm shocked there hasn't been a hospital shooting yet.

Coming to a U.S. hospital near you: so many caregivers out with covid that there's too few left to treat patients.

[quote] Did Trump (whom I loathe with the heat of a thousand suns, make no mistake) ever say that vaccines are bad or that people shouldn't get them? I don't think he did. He's said lots of other stupid, inflammatory bullshit but I don't think he did that.

No, but he was silent about them except for one or two mentions at his post-presidency rallies. He and Melania got shots privately (and she got the shot before she was even qualified to get it).

Instead of being an advocate to convince people to get vaccines, he remained quiet.

Cruise are so safe! Testing all the time! blah blah blah.

Royal Caribbean cruise skips two islands after 55 test positive for Covid-19

Cruises are petri dishes, whether there's a pandemic or not.

Germany records first Omicron-related death

From CNN's Nadine Schmidt

The first person in Germany has died with the Omicron coronavirus variant, the country's public health agency, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), said Thursday. Data from the RKI shows that the person was between the age of 60 and 79.

There were 810 new Omicron cases reported from Tuesday to Wednesday – an increase of 25% from the previous day – bringing the total number of Omicron cases to 3,198, the data showed. Of these, 48 people are being treated in hospital, the RKI said.

The RKI data also showed that Omicron infections are most frequently detected in the 15 to 34 year-old age group, with nearly 1,500 cases. For the age group of 34 to 59 year-olds, 1,050 infections have been recorded.

The RKI said the only cases counted are those that are detected by whole-genome sequencing or a variant-specific PCR test.

Earlier this week, the head of the RKI said that the Omicron variant could be dominant in Germany in two to three weeks' time.

On Thursday, Germany recorded 44,927 new cases within 24 hours and 425 deaths related to Covid-19. Overall, 109,749 people have died from coronavirus since the pandemic began, the RKI said.

Another US Senator tests positive for Covid-19

From CNN's Manu Raju and Lauren Fox

US Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware, announced he has tested positive for Covid-19 and said he has minimal symptoms so far.

“In recent weeks I have been tested for COVID-19 regularly, both with rapid tests and PCR tests, and last night I got bad news – I tested positive. I have minimal symptoms so far and am optimistic I will recover well after isolating and following CDC guidelines. Like millions of other families, it seems we’ll also be wrestling with another holiday spent on Zoom and cancelled plans for travel or gathering," Coons said in a statement released Thursday.

“As we deal with the sharp rise in Omicron cases here in Delaware and across the country, I urge you to get tested regularly, and get vaccinated and boosted if you haven’t already. We all must continue to do our part to fight this pandemic and keep each other healthy,” he added.

Coons is one of several lawmakers to test positive in recent days, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of New Jersey as well as Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado shared that they had tested positive for Covid-19 via tweets from their official accounts,

US FDA authorizes second pill to treat Covid-19

From CNN’s Amanda Sealy and Ben Tinker

The US Food and Drug Administration has now authorized two new antiviral pills to treat Covid-19.

The FDA on Thursday authorized Merck’s antiviral pill, molnupiravir, to treat Covid-19 “for the treatment of mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in adults with positive results of direct SARS-CoV-2 viral testing, and who are at high risk for progression to severe COVID-19, including hospitalization or death, and for whom alternative COVID-19 treatment options authorized by the FDA are not accessible or clinically appropriate.”

This is the second Covid-19 antiviral pill authorized for ill people to take at home, before they get sick enough to be hospitalized. Merck has an agreement with the US government for the company to supply 3.1 million courses of molnupiravir upon this authorization.

Molnupiravir was narrowly recommended by the FDA’s advisers in a 13-10 vote at the end of November after data showed it cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 30% among high-risk adults. This was lower than an earlier analysis suggesting that number could be about 50%.

Dr. Eliav Barr, senior vice president of global medical affairs at Merck, told CNN this month that he was optimistic this treatment would work against the Omicron variant.

“The Omicron variant is primarily different from the other types of Covid at the spike protein. Our drug works in completely different part of the virus. So we’re very optimistic that the drug will continue to be effective against Omicron, and we’re studying that right now," he said.

The FDA authorized Pfizer’s antiviral pill, Paxlovid, on Wednesday.

Remdesivir, sold under the brand name Veklury, is the only antiviral approved by the FDA for treatment of Covid-19. It's given intravenously, not as a pill that can be taken at home.

"Veklury"...Who comes up with the ridiculous names for these medications?

I can’t believe all these deaths with Omicron! We’re up to, what, 14 now worldwide? It is NOT mild, folks.

Get boosted and tested TODAY if you haven’t already, but stay away from all people, never take your mask off, and cancel ALL plans. This isn’t over yet.

You’re a jerk

[quote] "Veklury"...Who comes up with the ridiculous names for these medications?

It is a gross name. Still not as offensive to me as “Paxlovid.” Ugh

^It's not death that I feel like I am avoiding. It's "the worst flu I've ever had in my life" that I don't want right now, and believe me, the threat of catching something like that FAR outweighs any hypothetical interest I might have in being sequestered in any house with my surviving family members for even the shortest period of "holiday cheer." NO THANKS. It's all cancelled, with PLEASURE.

Since the beginning of the pandemic the covidiots have been pushing this nonsense that "a very small percentage of people die from it, so stop worrying." Why should they drop their false dichotomy now?

France, Italy and the UK all reported record infection tallies today.

Italy is joining Spain in making mask-wearing mandatory outdoors again.

R378, it's not that all cases besides the 135 known Omicron cases are other variants. When they test you, they often don't try to find out which variant it was, because that takes extra work. So a lot of the other cases are just undetermined when it comes to which variant they are.

Indeed more tests may lead to "more cases," but you can look at test positivity rate -- if it's low during this time, that's a somewhat reassuring sign that there's not a bunch of other people out there who are positive but not tested.

Meanwhile, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research has quietly developed a vaccine that is "effective against COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide. The achievement is the result of almost two years of work on the virus. The Army lab received its first DNA sequencing of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020. Very early on, Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch decided to focus on making a vaccine that would work against not just the existing strain but all of its potential variants as well." They’ve just completed Phase 1 testing, which took longer than anticipated because they had to recruit people who were both unvaccinated and had not previously had Covid. If this works, and it was developed entirely by the feds, hopefully they’re won’t be any of the patent BS and it’ll be generic and available worldwide.

^^Guess it doesn't hurt to repeat it every 100 posts or so.

But do it "quietly"...

The original concept that right wing leaders like Trump, Bolsonaro and Johnson took for granted--that only the frail elderly, morbidly obese and those with serious chronic illnesses were at any risk, and for everybody else it would be a mild infection that would leave them permanently immune--is sure as hell not proving to be true.

[quote] Germany records first Omicron-related death

If there's anything Germans hate, it's a mess.

they haven't tested it against the omicron. that's what I read.

R377, I'm really sorry you and your colleagues have to go through that. I know that you have to give care even to the worst-behaved, but if a family member hits you, can't you bring the police in, or at least have a security guard frogmarch them out of the building? I bet other visitors would take notice!

[quote]can't you bring the police in

The doctor on the Reddit thread who was cold-cocked by a patient's wife explained that if you do that, the crazy network comes after you – doxxing, death threats, stalking your family, etc. The inmates are ruling the asylum.

Our county health department has just now let us know that they've officially detected omicron in two cases -- from Dec.7 & Dec.13!

Frustrated experts explain how confusion, distrust, and a single-minded fixation on vaccinating Americans left testing on the back burner for so long.

[quote] R377 I should hope you handed in your notice earlier this month?

My “real” work is in clinical trials, so while I do deal with some patients, most of my day is spent on the phone/laptop, in sweats. I love it.

When trials were put on hold, I foolishly thought I was doing the right thing by wading into the cesspool. Never again.

[quote]can't you bring the police in, or at least have a security guard frogmarch them out of the building?

Ours were already outside of the building for the most part, and we always had security nearby. But there was a period of complacency as the patient/families gradually changed from those who didn’t have the option of getting vaccinated to those who had the option and rejected it.

The rapid tests are apparently pretty unreliable, to the extent that you have to get a PCR test to verify the accuracy of the result. With Omicron, its infectiousness indicates that if you socialize with people this season, you might as well *expect* to be exposed to the virus; whether it makes you sick or not is something that isn't very well understood at this point, but it seems clear that the fully vaxd are getting "breakthrough" infections in significant numbers. I think the vaccine is MUCH more important than the rapid tests. And a good palliative treatment is certainly urgently needed, and supposedly coming soon.

Sadly, there’s more good news out of Gauteng, South Africa…

[quote] #Omicron epidemic in hard hit #Gauteng province in South Africa is rapidly abating with thankfully much less relative impact in terms of daily hospitalizations and deaths than past Covid waves. ICU admissions down ~80% on relative basis; hospital stays were generally less acute.

For some odd reason, there just aren’t as many deaths from this wave, like there were in the last 3. Surely it doesn’t mean Omicron is a milder variant.

Guess it’s back to Decadron and Remdesivir.

Hey there’s paxlovid now R424! It isn’t Kaletra, but it does contain ritonavir so my February 2020 self feels belatedly partially vindicated.

The pretty but stupid brother-in-law I mentioned at R55 has COVID symptoms as of today. They're trying to get their hands on OTC tests and have vowed to get boosted as soon as they can.

Health care workers with Covid-19 no longer need to isolate for 10 days, CDC says

From CNN Health’s Michael Nedelman

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday released updated guidance for health care workers who test positive for Covid-19, saying they can return to work after seven days if they are asymptomatic and test negative. "”That isolation time can be cut further if there are staffing shortages,” CDC said in a statement, citing surging cases due to the Omicron variant. "

In a statement, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said, “our goal is to keep healthcare personnel and patients safe, and to address and prevent undue burden on our healthcare facilities.”

The agency also specified that health care workers don’t need to quarantine “following high-risk exposures” if they’ve gotten all recommended vaccinations, including a booster shot. (Remember: Quarantine refers to people who have been exposed to the virus but have not yet been diagnosed with an infection.)

CDC stressed that the new guidelines don’t extend to the general public and only apply to health care workers.

“CDC continues to evaluate isolation and quarantine recommendations for the broader population as we learn about the Omicron variant and will update the public as appropriate,” the agency said.

New Jersey reports more than 15,000 new Covid-19 cases, a 59% increase in one day

From CNN’s Evan Simko-Bednarski

New Jersey reported a massive spike in Covid-19 cases on Thursday, reporting a record-setting 15,482 positive cases in one day.

The surge shatters the previous record, 9,711 positive cases, set on Wednesday — marking a 59% increase in just one day.

The state's reported hospitalization numbers lag behind new reported Covid-19 cases by one day, but they remain relatively steady. Covid-19 hospitalizations on Thursday stood at 2,241 in the Garden State, compared to Wednesday's 2,100 and Tuesday's 1,900.

At a Monday press conference, Gov. Phil Murphy attributed the lower hospitalization rates during the Omicron surge to the state's high vaccination rate. More than 6.3 million people in New Jersey have received a full initial dose of Covid-19 vaccine, with just over two million people boosted, according to New Jersey Department of Health data.

Roughly 9.3 million people live in the state, per the US Census Bureau.

France reports record 88,000 new Covid-19 infections amid Omicron wave

From CNN’s Xiaofei Xu in Paris

France reported 88,000 new Covid-19 infections on Thursday, an all-time high since the beginning of the pandemic, French Health Minister Olivier Véran told reporters, warning that much higher numbers will emerge in the coming days. "“The number of positive cases doubles almost every two days,” Véran said. “I had talked about 100,000 positive cases per day between Christmas and New Year. Maybe it will be very close to Christmas, closer to Christmas than to New Year.”"

France also recorded a further 179 deaths from Covid-19 in hospitals on Thursday.​

Even though early reports from countries like the UK and South Africa show that Omicron is less dangerous that Delta, Véran noted that if France has “three times as many or four times as many patients,” the Omicron wave will still pose significant challenge to the health system just like the Delta wave.

The health minister reiterated the government’s calls for people to get vaccinated, including children between the ages of 5 and 11, who became eligible for vaccinations on Wednesday. Almost 15,000 appointments were booked that day, according to Véran.

He also announced that the government will look into loosening the isolation rules for Omicron contact cases without symptoms to avoid “standstill in the country.”

[QUOTE] The average age in the US is 89

It's 41, you spaz.

The latest research from the UK found that Omicron is 50-70% less likely to result in hospitalisation than Delta, so the fact that it's sweeping Delta aside to become the dominant strain is a good thing. The UK has 90-100k new cases a day since Omicron hit, but the daily death toll is lower than it was in October.

How will the Covid Doom Troll cope?

Rudely quoting myself:

[quote]Never again.

I posted that a few hours ago and here and I am agreeing to fill in for a newly positive colleague who was hustled out of the building. I never have a problem saying "NO!!!!" to the suits, usually with a bitter laugh just to rub it in, but she called me in tears because they're pressuring her and she might have exposed her mother and asthmatic husband and her kid is too young to be vaccinated and it's Xmas and they have a vacation planned next week and on and on and on...

I caved.

At least it's fairly dead and I can sit around and eat Christmas junk.

Delta and United are canceling flights because their crews are getting infected.

“ and they have a vacation planned next week”

Wait, what?

It's fine, R433. She hasn't had a full week off in two years and they were supposed to drive to an Airbnb near Tahoe where they could take the toddler sledding for the first time without leaving the property.

No planes; no hotels; no Puerto Vallarta superspreaders.

More bad news:

Cases are falling in SA, Denmark, and Norway, and it’s not because people can’t get tested. 😕 Omicron really does seem to be petering out.

Fingers crossed for it to keep a stranglehold on the UK and US for at least a few more months… with hospitalizations and deaths bringing us to our knees. Masks UP!

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You are a good person R341. I hope you have any easy time of it and your fried has a wonderful vacation. And you are back to case report forms sooner than expected.

My employer is only allowing vaccinated visitors in the hospitals during this wave, with certain very limited exceptions for end of life etc. Maybe that’s something that other places whose staff are being abused could do.

It looks like Omicron is the gift we didn't expect (and for some of you: didn't deserve) — hospitalisations among the vaccinated are down 40-60% (UK, Denmark, Germany), those who get infected report suffering symptoms akin to "a heavy cold" for 3-4 days. It's replacing the more dangerous Delta, and any variant coming after Omicron is expected to be even less severe.

Please join me in FFing the sarcastic wit at R435 etc., who seems to be denying the real problems cause by the surge, however quickly it does or doesn't abate.

Thanks, ElderLez. I'm home now and I can't shake the feeling that I picked up tonight (well, I guess it's already tomorrow but I haven't been to bed yet). It wasn't busy at all so the atmosphere should have been somewhat light and Christmasy, but everyone was listless.

I didn't recognize half of the people and the longest conversation was a miserable recollection of how last year at this time we were all so excited to be getting our second dose in a few days. I brought up Paxlovid as a bit of good news and was met with a blank stare and, "you know who will be getting all of it."

It was just so bleak, even here where there's nothing going on. It popped into my head while I was driving home that this is the damage that's been hidden beneath the adrenaline all along.

[quote] I brought up Paxlovid as a bit of good news and was met with a blank stare and, "you know who will be getting all of it."

Well, that's true, at least at first. There will be a very limited supply and it will be hoarded by the rich and powerful.

That's not what they meant. They were referring to rumors of which states would be prioritized.

Meaning states with more people?

It will be given to the highest risk patients first. In New York at least the medical institutions are working together to come up with a common system to determine priority for it and the one remaining monoclonal antibody so patients can’t hospital shop. And yes some of those eligible with be the anti-vaxxers, but a lot will be the people with real medical reasons why they couldn’t be vaxxed or why while vaxxed a medical reason why it was ineffective.

Oh R442, which states do you think? That I hadn’t heard, just that there wasn’t going to be much in New York for a while and it was super important to have a fair, consistent way to distribute.

Apparently there's a lot of talk about how carefully the messaging will have to be managed in order to minimize the appearance of anti-vax areas being rewarded while also ensuring that higher-income, highly vaxxed areas don't benefit too much. In other words, the drug is great but everything surrounding it is going to be a shit-show.

If it's new and unvetted, why won't the antivaxxers REFUSE to have anything to do with it? Wouldn't that be hypocritical of them?

Oh, R447, you sweet country mouse.

It’s a Christmas miracle, brought to us by the divinely directed actions of Larry Kramer, ACT UP and Tony F.

That’s my personal messaging around Paxlovid.

CONTAGION should be required viewing for everyone….followed by COVID/Delta vaccination mobile vans in the parking lot(?)…just a thought….

^^^masks are required. Free concession stands items - all hotdogs, popcorn, etc. A part of BBB.

^^^concession items made available AFTER viewing in the parking lot. (Requires ticket stub in order to qualify).

^^^requires a ticket stub to verify qualification(?).

Oops.

So is the fact that Omicron is infecting people who are vaxxed and even people who are boosted going to make anti-vaxxers even more resistant and say "well, what's the point in getting vaxxed if I may still get it anyway?"

If 112 pilots died in the USA in 2021 in the first 9 months when the number of deaths was only 1 in all of 2019 and 2 in 2020, why did 112 pilots die after taking the vaccine?

They were compelled to take the vaccine or lose their jobs. Losing 112 pilots in only 9 months is 111 more than 2019. If the USA has around 600,000 pilots, this number represents 150/year or around 148 more than normal.

[quote]So is the fact that Omicron is infecting people who are vaxxed and even people who are boosted going to make anti-vaxxers even more resistant and say "well, what's the point in getting vaxxed if I may still get it anyway?"

Have you read this thread r456?

You are citing a website called truthseeker R457? FF

Who cares what the unvaxxed think anymore R456? Between the wonderful vaccines reducing death by 95% and the repurposed AIDS drug that reduces severe illness and death by 88% (which will become widely available starting in April) they can’t hurt anyone but themselves anymore. They’ll be like the crazy people smearing excrement on themselves instead of the typhoid Mary’s they were previously.

Marys, not Mary’s

Oh dear

Pretty astonishing figures from The Guardian:

One in 35 people in England had Covid last week, new figures show, with 1.7 million people testing positive across the UK – the highest number on record so far.

The figure rises to one in 20 people for London, which has seen the highest number of Omicron cases detected..

In Wales, around one in 45 people had Covid that week, while Scotland’s rate was one in 65 and Northern Ireland’s was one in 40.

The data includes people who tested positive outside of hospital or a care setting in the week ending 19 December.

Pilot’s Union Magazine (ALPA) Reveal That Pilot Deaths Increased 1700% Post Vaccine Mandate

r460 Elderlez ... do you believe these pilot’s union magazine death stats are incorrect? Check out the screenshot from the ALPA Pilot's magazine and note the jump from 2019 - 2021.

Why would pilots die as a result of mRNA vaccines at a higher rate than other groups? For example, at the university where I work, over 96% of the staff is vaccinated, and over 99% of the students. There has been no increased number of deaths in these groups over 2021. Unless you can correlate the pilots' "in memoriam" notices with vaccine-related side effects or the like, stop jumping to conclusions.

Give it a rest, R463:

"The page ... does not reveal 111 pilots died in 2021, compared with six in 2020 and one in 2019. Rather, it shows 111 families had reported prior to the Oct-Nov issue the deaths of relatives who were ALPA members in 2021."

Even if you take the number of dead pilots at face value, there's no indication of how many of them were retired and how many were active pilots who were subject to the vaccine mandate. I would suspect that most, if not all, were retired.

Just curious, R463 -- were you aware that you were spreading lies or are you simply in the habit of unquestionably accepting MAGAt misinformation?

Won't someone think of the pilots??!!

lolz

cnbc-- World Health Organization officials recently criticized blanket Covid-19 vaccine booster programs as poor countries struggle to obtain initial doses, warning that the unequal access to immunizations could lead to more mutated variants that drag out the crisis.⁠ ⁠ "Blanket booster programs are likely to prolong the pandemic, rather than ending it..." the WHO Director-General said. "No country can boost its way out of the pandemic.”⁠ ⁠ The comments come as health officials in the U.S. promote vaccine booster shots for all residents over the age of 16 amid a surge in Covid cases driven by the omicron strain.⁠

More risk in flying.

If R463 is all they've got left anymore, that is fucking hilarious. Hm, was there anything going on in the world between 2019 and 2021 that might have lead to a lot of deaths of older white males? I bet if you think really, really hard R463, you might be able to come up with something. Here, I'll give you a clue...it starts with 'C'. Moron.

And, the saddest part is that I'm not sure this idiot is a troll. He's just this stupid.

Harris tests negative for Covid-19

From CNN's DJ Judd

Both Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff tested negative for Covid-19 today, just two days after a staffer and close contact tested positive for coronavirus in Washington, DC.

“This morning, the vice president and second gentleman received an antigen test and tested negative,” the White House told the pool of reporters traveling with them. “The vice president also received a PCR test and we will have results later this afternoon.”

The vice president is in Los Angeles for the Christmas holiday.

About 600 flights have been canceled within, into or out of the US on Christmas Eve

About 600 flights have been canceled within, into or going out of the US on Christmas Eve so far, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware.

As of 2:30 p.m. ET, exactly 602 flights were canceled and more than 1,800 were delayed.

Globally, there were nearly 2,300 flight cancellations in total, according to FlightAware.

More than 180 United Airlines flights, 165 Delta flights and 72 JetBlue fights have been canceled, according to FlightAware.

The Transportation Security Administration said it screened 2.19 million people at airports across the country on Thursday, the highest figure since the uptick in holiday travel started a week ago.

Biden says there are no plans to shorten Covid-19 isolation period for everyone

From CNN's DJ Judd

President Biden told reporters Friday there are no plans to shorten the isolation period for everyone testing positive for Covid-19.

“Well, I just listen to my team, the docs, and they think we should keep it the way it is for now,” Biden told reporters at the White House, adding he tested negative for Covid-19 Thursday.

Some context: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is shortening the isolation time for health care workers who test positive for Covid-19, as it anticipates a surge in hospitalizations due to the Omicron variant.

The agency's new guidelines say health care workers with Covid-19 may return to work after seven days if they are asymptomatic and test negative, and that the "isolation time can be cut further if there are staffing shortages," according to a statement Thursday.

Italy reports more than 50,000 new daily Covid-19 cases

From CNN's Livia Borghese

Italy reported a record-breaking 50,599 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, the highest daily figure since the pandemic began, according to health ministry data, an increase from Thursday's record of 44,595 cases.

The country also reported 141 more deaths on Friday.

Research from Italy's Superior Health Institute published Thursday shows that the Omicron variant is "rapidly increasing" across the country.

France reports record-breaking number of new daily Covid-19 cases

From CNN's Xiaofei Xu

France reported a record-breaking 94,124 Covid-19 cases on Friday, the highest daily number since the pandemic began, according to health ministry data.

That is up from Thursday's record of 91,608 daily cases.

France also recorded 169 more coronavirus deaths in hospitals on Friday.

The French government announced that President Emmanuel Macron will host a virtual meeting with ministers on Monday to discuss the pandemic.

NY says the crowds will still be allowed for New Years Eve ball drop BUT they will have to socially distance????!!!

New York announces over 44,000 new Covid-19 cases, a 14% increase from previous record-breaking day

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I'll never understand the appeal of a cruise. You are trapped on a big ship with nowhere to go.

With the NYPD who will be mostly unmasked as is their norm, enforcing the social distancing R478.

[quote]The celebration in Times Square typically holds around 58,000 people in viewing areas, but this year it will be limited to 15,000 people and visitors will not be allowed entry into the area until 3 p.m., the office said in a news release. Additionally, everyone will be required to wear a mask and show photo identification at the fully outdoor event, de Blasio's office said.

Good luck enforcing ANY of that.

This piece has some interesting and sobering food for thought. What is Omicron doesn't displace Delta, but instead they coexist occupying separate ecological niches?

And Merry Christmas to all of you bitches. I love the DL COVID contingent...thanks for helping me get through another year of this shit.

This fatass "didn't like being told what to do," so he went unvaccinated.

Ultimately COVID told him what to do.

[quote]If you need to be right before you move you will never win.

Amen to that R486!!!

Merry Christmas to you Sylvia/R484. You make me wish I had grandkids to tell the story of the DL COVID contingent bitches to some day. (A most bizarre and improbable story)

Some good news from New York. Omicron is supplanting Delta here. Maybe in the end Omicron will save us from a winter Delta increased wave that would have otherwise occurred. The two viruses running concurrently would be a nightmare so I am very relieved so far.

Merry and safe Christmas to all who are celebrating.

[quote] Omicron is supplanting Delta here

Good to know. I think the opinions in the Intelligencer article are based on UK data.

God bless us, every one!

R450, the guy who plays the doctor who gives Matt Damon the bad news about Gwyneth, was my high school bully. Watched him write "faggot" on my locker.

That's sad to hear. He's good looking.

R485, amazing how obese people convince themselves they are “healthy”

R489, the movie is now CANCELLED!!

"Short-staffed, undertrained and overworked coroners and medical examiners took families at their word when they called to report the death of a relative at home. Coroners and medical examiners didn’t review medical histories or order tests to look for COVID-19.

They, and even some physicians, attributed deaths to inaccurate and nonspecific causes that are meaningless to pathologists. In some cases, stringent rules for attributing a death to COVID-19 created obstacles for relatives of the deceased and contradicted CDC guidance."

Italy reports 3rd consecutive day of record new daily Covid-19 cases

From CNN’s Arnaud Siad and Nicola Ruotolo

Italy reported its third consecutive day of record-breaking new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, according to health ministry data.

With 54,762 new daily Covid-19 cases on Saturday, this is the highest daily figure since the pandemic began. That's up from Friday’s record of 50,599, which itself had surpassed the previous day’s record 44,595 cases.

The country also reported a further 144 deaths and 33 more patients in intensive care units on Saturday.

Canada secretly tracked 33 million phones during COVID-19 lockdown: report

Canada’s federal government admitted to secretly surveilling its population’s movements during the COVID-19 lockdown by tracking 33 million phones.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) clandestinely tracked the devices to assess “the public’s responsiveness during lockdown measures,” the agency acknowledged last week, according to Blacklock’s Reporter, which first reported the disclosure.

Canada’s entire population totals 38 million, according to Statistics Canada.

“Evidence is coming in from many sources, from countries around the world, that what was seen as a huge surveillance surge — post 9/11 — is now completely upstaged by pandemic surveillance,” David Lyon, author of “Pandemic Surveillance” and the former director of the Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen’s University in Ontario, told the National Post.

The PHAC bought location and movement data from Canadian telecom giant Telus to “understand possible links between the movement of populations within Canada and the spread of COVID-19,” an agency spokesperson said, according to the paper.

The public health organization plans to continue tracking population movement for at least the next five years to control “other infectious diseases, chronic disease prevention and mental health,” the unnamed rep said.

R492, HA!

It was really surreal to see the film and recognize him. His name is Steve NOT Stef.

Isn't the mailing out 500 million tests kind of dumb? I mean a week later you'd have to do it again. Rinse Repeat etc.

So there already was a Steve Tovar in SAG?

Just got boosted, bitches!! ⚡️

Now I’ve had AstraZeneca, BioNtech/Pfizer, and Moderna. Wish me luck for the coming 24h!

Well, this is depressing.

Word to the wise….. I got the booster, 2nd shingles jab AND a flu shot at the same time. Get it all over with. JUST SAY NO! Dumbest move I ever made. My face looked like a beach ball, every inch of my body hurt and a headache designed for an elephant.

I’ve made hundreds of bone head decisions in my life, but this one takes the cake.

R497, hopefully they’ll mail at least 10 test to each household in one package. This way, it’s be a stopgap until store shelves can be restocked.

In England, people. An walk into a drug store and get a 10-pack of tests for free.

That’s a blog post only looking at people seeking care for symptoms R500, but not comparing to all infected and ignoring hospitalization numbers . Don’t get depressed.

Indeed. Lez.

I’d like Omicron please. Hold the Delta.

My completely non-scientific, no evidence whatsoever, feel free to ignore me on this cause I am probably wrong opinion is that the vaccines and prior infection probably provide no protection from infection because it’s kinda sorta two coronaviruses in one, and they don’t protect against the other one, but that many of the infections last less than 24 hours and are completely asymptomatic and so don’t register since there is such a narrow time window to test positive and no real reason to test.

And to be clear, everyone should get boosted, protection from symptoms is what matters.

Australian COVID lab incorrectly informed patients they tested negative

Thanks ElderLez. While I have always considered WebMD to be a good source, I'm beginning to wonder as they're posting slanted blogs like this.

Read the first full paragraph of the link at R500:

“The study finds no evidence of Omicron having lower severity than Delta, judged by either the proportion of people testing positive who report symptoms, or by the proportion of cases seeking hospital care after infection,” says a blog post by researchers from the U.K.’s Imperial College London. “However, hospitalization data remains very limited at this time.”

In other words, they don’t know and it’s from a blog post.

Crap, no more getting fucked for a few more months!

[quote]There were only 24 known cases of hospitalization caused by Omicron, the study said, meaning more research will be needed in that area.

How does this fit with the article that it's not less severe? Hundreds of thousands of infections and 24 hospitalized isn't less severe?? And, there's no way there are only 24 people hospitalized with Omicron.

And, in the BBC article linked above, they say people with Omicron are...

[quote]50% to 70% less likely to be admitted to hospital for treatment

But, isn't it likely that, since hospitals are filled or filling up that they are less likely to admit people who would have been admitted previously?

Holy shit, r501, the 2nd shingles vax kicked my ass worse than any of the Pfizer jabs. But to get a trifecta of jabs??? I even declined the flu shot with my booster- I had to work the next day, so didn't want to chance feeling crappy.

I don't understand them allowing people to get so many vaccines at once. Yes, it's probably doable but it will be harder for an overloaded immune system to work properly.

I staggered my flu, pneumonia, shingles #1 and booster shots since September because I know my immune system would be shrieking “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING TO ME?”

I had a flu, tetanus and 1st shingle shot all at once. I had a Moderna booster a month prior.

[Quote] Yes, it's probably doable but it will be harder for an overloaded immune system to work properly.

It’s not. Your immune system is constantly fighting off attacks simultaneously. There’s no evidence of any “immune system overload.” Kids get multiple vaccinations at the same time without it’s whatsoever

Hopefully they will put the next boosters in the flu shots so we only need one shot a year

[quote]Kids get multiple vaccinations at the same time without it’s whatsoever

That's what my doctor said to me when I questioned getting three vaccines at once.

[quote]But, isn't it likely that, since hospitals are filled or filling up that they are less likely to admit people who would have been admitted previously?

Patients who have to be admitted, have to be admitted.

If they’re maintaining an oxygen level of ≥94% on room air; have nothing alarming in their imaging; nothing in their labs requiring immediate testing; no comorbidities of the type that bear watching, they’re sent home.

We’re having both Delta and Omicron surges as it’s gotten colder and many families are gathering for the holidays. The Delta strain is still putting everyone in the hospital

Hi r521…. Where are you located?

I can't imagine what the next two to three weeks hold for the US after every idiot (and their mother, literally) traveled all over the place and gathered indoors. And, now they're all going to go hand out drunk with their friends for New Years. Omicron is about to hit the granny set, brought to them as a present from their children and grandchildren. Hospitalizations and deaths are going to skyrocket once the 60+ crowd starts passing it around. Fucking morons who just couldn't stay home during the worst surge of this entire pandemic.

My friend got the 2nd dose shingrex and had more reactions than his covid vax shots. The injection site on his arm swelled up and was red for like 5 days. But hey, it's better than getting shingles.

Yes, the shingrix side effects suck, but thankfully they’re short too

"Hospitalizations and deaths are going to skyrocket once the 60+ crowd starts passing it around. Fucking morons who just couldn't stay home during the worst surge of this entire pandemic."

Except the data says the exact opposite. Hospitalizations and deaths are going down and will continue to do so. Omicron is the beginning of the end of the pandemic. It's time to be hopeful again.

I had one single bout of chills with the 1st COVID shot.

The first shingles shot kicked my ass.

Still better than getting shingles, yes.

[quote]Omicron is the beginning of the end of the pandemic

Not quite, R56. Omicron can infect you many times over and it doesn't prevent you from catching other variants (such as Delta). There is nothing good about it, other than the fact that fully-vaccinated people have a lot lower risk of serious illness (but many still will).

Sorry, I meant R526, not R56.

Can we please nuke China!?!

No, R530. You may [bold]NOT[/bold] nuke China.

Now go to your room.

r528 all evidence now points to Omicron being less severe than Delta in symptoms and deaths. This was the goal of the vaccine...to lower your risk of getting severely ill or having to be hospitalized. Omicron might infect you if you're vaccinated or boosted, but the odds are really low that you will die from it. This is the same science that applies to the flu. Some people catch it and are ok after a few days. Others catch it and will need to go to the hospital. A few die.

This is the end. Omicron will weaken the more it runs through the unvaccinated. A lot of them will die. At this point, we don't care. But I've had the flu and it was no joke which is why I get my flu shot each year. I will also keep getting boosters for this as long as it's still around but most people lived their lives not afraid of getting the flu and never get flu shots. This is why this is a good thing. Your chances of catching it are still VERY low just as with the original strain. I've gone two years without catching it and have been out in public spaces, amongst crowds etc. I know a few people who caught the deadly strain and were fine. I know one person who died from before the vaccine was available and he was a lung transplant patient in his late 70s. These infections happened not all at the same time, but spread out over 2019. To believe that everyone in the world is going to catch Covid all at the same time is ridiculous.

Stop being afraid.

[quote]r73, why would you wear a mask outdoors? The virus rarely spreads outdoors. It's the people inside that need to wear them. You have less than a 1% chance of catching it outside without a mask.

You bother to check if that 2020 rule applies to Omicron with a much higher potential for infection, or are you intentionally tossing out disinformation to confuse people?

Fuck off, troll.

“There’s nothing about this variant that would suggest it would spread more easily outdoors or with more difficulty indoors,” said UC Berkeley infectious disease expert John Swartzberg. “(Omicron) is going to behave like every other variant in terms of how it spreads outdoors versus indoors.”

Do your own homework, r533

R528, that link is a blog post and it doesn’t say anything about whether or not you can be reinfected many times over by Omicron. It talks about reinfection from Omicron in cases of people infected with earlier variants.

No one on this thread other than the elder microbiologist/immunologist should be doing our own homework. We don’t have the tools to do that homework. Google isn’t a lab.

Personally I am assuming this thing is more infectious everywhere and it’s cold outside so a mask is no problem to wear. But my wife refuses to wear a mask outside. And we don’t argue about because we know that we don’t know.

You have a smart wife, Elder Lez. Masks outdoors were never necessary and still aren't.

Cloth masks do help warm up the cold winter air. (Paper masks don't warm air up as well.) Discovered last winter that it's actually easier to do winter morning walks while wearing a mask because I'm not breathing in cold air that makes me cough.

To the idiot proclaiming the end of the pandemic in the form of Omicron and pretending that it is less virulent when the studies DO NOT show that (except the blog post you are clinging to in the face of the actual studies) and pretending that it won't be hospitalizing and killing a ton of old people once it starts hitting that population (so far it's been mostly infecting the under 60 crowd because they stopped taking precautions while the old people continued to do so at a higher level)...FUCK OFF. You know nothing at all.

[quote] Hospitalizations and deaths are going down and will continue to do so.

No they’re not, R526. 7 day averages of Covid hospitalizations and deaths continue to increase.

Where are you getting this disinformation from, your ass? And why are you posting it?

CDC reports the 7-day average for hospitalizations is up 4.4% from last week and deaths are up 8.2%.

ya'll so weird.

you must all be on Humira or something.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Calm the fuck down.

In earlier waves, rising death rates would follow an increase in cases; the impact of rising cases on death rates could be seen visually and validated statistically. Deaths would follow cases upward, and peak roughly two to three weeks after new cases began trending downward. With Omicron, however, we not only don’t see the rise in death rates that were associated with the first waves, but we actually see a continuing decline in death rates, despite a radical increase in cases. It’s still, of course, early days. While it is possible that death rates due to Omicron may rise later, at the moment in the U.K., Covid-19 daily cases no longer meaningfully link to deaths. So, according to the math, Omicron cases rising no longer automatically means impending doom and gloom, nor does it require apocalyptic language like we’re hearing from the media and political leaders implying mass waves of death with rapidly increasing case rates.

She’s brilliant R537. But she also got COVID last winter.

Hopefully Omicron provides four months protection against Delta, which gets us to April when Paxlovid becomes widely available. Paxlovid the two years late culmination of my naive hopes as per response 68 in the attached.

More good news re: Omicron

Tl;dr — Much milder as long as you’re vaccinated.

That's great, R546, I just want to know who are all these people who go to an ER because they're experiencing mild cold symptoms?

WaPo: Coronavirus can last in body for nearly 8 months.

The coronavirus spreads rapidly to multiple organs and can remain in the body for as long as 230 days after infection, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the University of Maryland.

Upon infection, the coronavirus “disseminates across the human body and brain early in infection at high levels,” researchers wrote in the preprint study.

The virus can spread to tissue in the brain, eyes, colon and other parts of the body, according to the study, and even children and adults with mild or asymptomatic cases of covid-19 “can also experience systemic infection.”

An increased understanding of how the coronavirus persists in the body can improve care for people struggling with long-haul covid, which has left some people with lingering symptoms long after infection, such as exhaustion, pain, confusion and loss of taste or smell.

Maybe they tested positive on a home test, they called their primary care physician and the PCP said go to the ER and try to get monoclonal antibody treatment don’t come here and infect me R547.

Anyway it really sucks to be an unvaxxed now, with most of the monoclonal antibody treatments useless, Paxlovid in extremely limited supplies as yet and an extraordinarily infectious variant circulating.

What was the pill that 60 Minutes had a story about. Some guy tried it on his horse racing crew and found good results

Tell me more, R550.

Today, NYS mandated that people visiting prisons present proof that they vaccinated or show proof of a negative COVID test.

TODAY. December 27th. SMDH

Every one of the bitches lined up for a mile in & out of the parking lot at the local walk in clinic grousing about why Joe Biden didn’t prepare for this was an unvaxxed toenail fungus on two feet. They wouldn’t get vaxxed and they want to get on a plane for the holidays. They old ones all have that gravelly cigarette & booze voice and the younger ones are self centered brats. Some of them were paying $250 to get rapid results. Vax is free & they're blaming Biden for being unprepared. Stupid cement heads.

Here’s the 60 Minutes episode about Fluvoximine, an obsessive/compulsive disorder drug that shows good results for Covid infection

60 minutes link

Vaccination should be mandated to fly or use the train or Greyhound

NY is insane right now. Huge lines crowding on sidewalks for tests, maybe 70% of these potential infected are masked? It’s going to be a rough winter.

My friend took the test in NJ 5 days ago. Fusion Diagnostics results are still "pending" and all calls go to voicemail. He is pissed because he waited outside, in a freezing long line, for the test and had to end up using the less reliable 15 min home test to visit his parents.

BTW - stock up on those home tests if you can!

R554 - hell no, that drug has bad side effects!

Scary shit r560!

I’d say there’s a 50-50 chance they are going to have to start allowing asymptomatic, but infected, hospital employees to keep working. (the in-person ones, the WFH ones already are obviously)

R226 thank you for posting this information, as this is the line of work I am in (although I haven't worked much this year).

At least the PCR tests they have us take a day (or two) prior to work will show negative, yet the one they spring up on us on the day of actual work will most likely show positive...

From Donald G McNeil Jr, ex lead reporter on the pandemic for the NYTimes. Come for why many who are positive are testing negative. Stay for the new mutation on Omicron found by NYU Langone which could mean the transmissibility of Omicron and the severity of Delta.

I loved McNeil's earlier reporting for the Times, until he got dismissed in a stupid "woke purge."

Doctors keep saying everyone should be wearing N95 masks. Since this is the case, the US government should have them mass produced and distributed to the citizens.

The NYT’s firing of McNeil was a terrible decision. That’s an interesting post R565!

Dr. tenOever is pretty invested in Omicron being milder, so of course he’s not overly concerned about the change to the cleavage site. And i am pretty emotionally invested in Omicron being milder so la-la-la I can’t hear you.

Also do you want to just move the conversation to the regular Coronavirus thread? Or continue to have an Omicron specific one?

I request that Omicron be in the new thread title at least.

Regarding the R565 article: what's the medical definition of "moderate fever" vs "high fever"?

R568 Covid = omicron these days, may as well merge the threads.

I like this thread, Elder Lez. And I like your titles and leadership here. (My first read response of O'Neil piece was also la la la I can't hear you.)

--R565

Unfortunately we are only up to 90 on the main coronavirus thread. I could add Omicron to the next one though, I have an idea for a title.

You know best, Elder Lez.

McNeil, not O'Neil on R571

Nearly 100 NFL players test positive for Covid-19 on Monday

From CNN's Kevin Dotson

The National Football League had 96 of its players test positive for Covid-19 on Monday, the league announced today.

With an additional 10 positive tests among players over the weekend, a total of 106 players have been placed on the league’s Reserve/Covid-19 list since Christmas.

Apple makes all NYC stores pickup only as Covid-19 cases rise

From CNN’s Kate Trafecante

Apple has closed all of its New York City store locations to in-person shoppers due to Covid-19, Monica Fernandez, a spokesperson for the company, said in a statement.

All of the stores are still open for customers to buy a product online and pick it up at the store, Fernandez said.

“We regularly monitor conditions and we will adjust both our health measures and store services to support the wellbeing of customers and employees. We remain committed to a comprehensive approach for our teams that combines regular testing with daily health checks, employee and customer masking, deep cleaning and paid sick leave,” the company said in a statement.

CDC shortens recommended Covid-19 isolation and quarantine times

From CNN’s Maggie Fox

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shortened the recommended times that people should isolate when they’ve tested positive for Covid-19 from 10 days to five days if they don’t have symptoms – and if they wear a mask around others for at least five more days.

The CDC also shortened the recommended time for people to quarantine if they are exposed to the virus to a similar five days if they are vaccinated, and often to no time if they are boosted

“Given what we currently know about COVID-19 and the Omicron variant, CDC is shortening the recommended time for isolation from 10 days for people with COVID-19 to 5 days, if asymptomatic, followed by 5 days of wearing a mask when around others,” the CDC said in a statement on Monday.

“The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after. Therefore, people who test positive should isolate for 5 days and, if asymptomatic at that time, they may leave isolation if they can continue to mask for 5 days to minimize the risk of infecting others.”

Quarantine refers to the time people stay away from others if they are exposed to a disease but not yet testing positive or showing symptoms.

CDC changed those recommendations, too. “For people who are unvaccinated or are more than six months out from their second mRNA dose (or more than 2 months after the J&J vaccine) and not yet boosted, CDC now recommends quarantine for 5 days followed by strict mask use for an additional 5 days,” it said.

“Alternatively, if a 5-day quarantine is not feasible, it is imperative that an exposed person wear a well-fitting mask at all times when around others for 10 days after exposure. Individuals who have received their booster shot do not need to quarantine following an exposure, but should wear a mask for 10 days after the exposure. For all those exposed, best practice would also include a test for SARS-CoV-2 at day 5 after exposure. If symptoms occur, individuals should immediately quarantine until a negative test confirms symptoms are not attributable to COVID-19.”

President Biden was briefed today by his Covid-19 team on the CDC's decision, according to a White House official.

OK in the interest of trying to please everyone and potentially pleasing no one (and certainly being accused of being a hall monitor) could we move all general COVID and “official” type posts whether or not Omicron related to the main coronavirus thread linked below?

I posted before about my friend who was attacked by a COV+ patient and his testing experiment. In order:

Pos Binax

Neg BioMedomics rapid test

Neg PCR

Neg Binax

Pos Cue (2x, one after the other - new toy)

Neg BM

Neg PCR

And finally, from a swab eight days post-exposure...

Pos PCR!

New York City pediatric Covid-19 hospitalizations increase nearly 5-fold over 3 week period, data shows

From CNN's Melanie Schuman

Pediatric coronavirus hospital admissions in New York City have increased nearly five-fold since the week ending Dec. 11 through Dec. 23.

Compared to the week of Dec. 5 to Dec. 11 when there were 22 pediatric admissions in New York City, there is a near five-fold increase through Dec. 23, when the state reported 109 pediatric admissions, according to New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett who announced the data Monday.

During the same period, there was a two-and-a-half-fold increase from 70 admissions to 184 statewide.

This data will be revised because Dec. 19 to Dec. 23 is currently a partial week of data reporting from the state.

CNN reported Sunday that officials issued a health advisory late last week which indicated a four-fold increase in New York City’s pediatric admissions through data available as of Dec. 19.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul once again encouraged parents Monday to get their children vaccinated and noted a gap between first and second doses for pediatric vaccines.

While acknowledging the time lag between first and second dose, Hochul said 27.3% of 5- to-11-years-old statewide have received one dose, a number which mirrors nationwide statistics. Hochul said 16.4% have completed the series which is up from 11% two weeks ago.

Two million testing kits which contain two tests each are going to New York City schools by Friday.

Meanwhile, about a third of the 608 nursing homes across New York state have at least one resident with a Covid-19 infection, but only about two thirds of nursing home residents have been fully vaccinated and boosted, Bassett said Monday.

“We have done pretty well in getting the nursing home residents vaccinated – nearly 90% are fully vaccinated. But we are not doing as well as we would like in getting people boosted. And this seems to be particularly important in protecting against adverse outcomes of Omicron infection,” Bassett said.

She added that officials are working in a “very granular way,” county by county to improve the booster rate.

New Omicron specific thread for less official, Omicron specific posts.

Oh my R578!

About those tests not picking up Omicron....people have been detecting it with throat swabs. Seems it hangs out more in the throat than the nose.

COVID virus can spread to heart, brain days after infection, study says

The virus that causes COVID-19 can spread to a patient’s heart and brain days after infection — and survive for months in organs, according to a new study that may shed light on the so-called “long COVID.”

Scientists at the US National Institutes of Health in Maryland studied tissues taken from 44 people who had died after contracting the illness during the first year of the pandemic in the US, Bloomberg News reported.

They discovered SARS-CoV-2 RNA in various parts of the body — including the heart and brain — for as long as 230 days after the onset of symptoms, according to the news outlet.

The delayed viral clearance was cited as a possible contributor to long-haul COVID, also called “post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2,” which is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a range of long-lasting

“This is remarkably important work,” Ziyad Al-Aly, director of the clinical epidemiology center at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri, told Bloomberg.

“For a long time now, we have been scratching our heads and asking why long COVID seems to affect so many organ systems,” said Al-Aly, who has led separate studies into the long-term effects of the illness.

“This paper sheds some light, and may help explain why long COVID can occur even in people who had mild or asymptomatic acute disease,” he added.

Scientists have cited evidence both for and against the likelihood that the deadly bug infects cells outside the lungs and respiratory tract, Bloomberg noted.

“Our results collectively show that while the highest burden of SARS-CoV-2 is in the airways and lung, the virus can disseminate early during infection and infect cells throughout the entire body, including widely throughout the brain,” said the team, led by Daniel Chertow, who runs the NIH’s emerging pathogens section.

Raina MacIntyre, professor of global biosecurity at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, told Bloomberg that the research “provides a warning about being blasé about mass infection in children and adults.”

MacIntyre, who was not involved in the study, told the outlet: “We don’t yet know what burden of chronic illness will result in years to come.

“Will we see young-onset cardiac failure in survivors, or early onset dementia? These are unanswered questions which call for a precautionary public health approach to mitigation of the spread of this virus,” she added.

The NIH scientists suggested that infection of the pulmonary system may cause an early “viremic” phase, in which the coronavirus is present in the bloodstream throughout the body.

MacIntyre told Bloomberg that the findings also support previous research that shows that the virus directly kills heart muscle cells — and that surviving patients suffer cognitive deficits.

The virus was detected in the brains of all six patients who died over a month after they developed symptoms, as well as in most areas studied in the brains of five others, including one who died 230 days after the onset of symptoms, the outlet said.

Al-Aly said the focus on multiple brain areas is particularly helpful.

“It can help us understand the neurocognitive decline or ‘brain fog’ and other neuropsychiatric manifestations of long Covid,” he told Bloomberg.

“We need to start thinking of SARS-CoV-2 as a systemic virus that may clear in some people, but in others may persist for weeks or months and produce long Covid — a multifaceted systemic disorder,” he added.

Ah Sylvia R582 so maybe the saliva PCR tests are also more accurate than the nasal swab ones now?

US flight attendant union criticizes new CDC isolation requirements

From CNN's Greg Wallace

The Association of Flight Attendants is criticizing the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new isolation guidelines for those who test positive for Covid-19, saying it will be on the lookout for employees being pressured to return to work prematurely. The association notes that the five-day period only applies to those who are asymptomatic.

“The CDC gave a medical explanation about why the agency has decided to reduce the quarantine requirements from 10 to five days, but the fact that it aligns with the number of days pushed by corporate America is less than reassuring," the association says in a statement.

"We cannot allow pandemic fatigue to lead to decisions that extend the life of the pandemic or put policies on the backs of workers. Already the lack of paid sick leave creates pressure on workers to come to work sick. Corporations that fail to recognize this with paid sick leave, or pressure workers to come to work sick or face discipline, are failing their workers and their customers," the statement continues.

Earlier Monday, the CDC shortened the recommended times that people should isolate when they've tested positive for Covid-19 from 10 days to five days if they don't have symptoms – and if they wear a mask around others for at least five more days.

R575 R575 R579 R585 Would you PLEASE stop regurgitating word for word every fucking CNN post you read?

ElderLez, did you intend on both your links to go to the Mega 11 thread? :-)

No Elder moment thanks R587!

Hold me David. I'm so scared.

Whoever is doing it, keep copying and pasting the CNN articles. I love that you make R586’s head explode.

I'm not R586 but if I wanted to read full CNN articles I would simply open a browser and navigate to www.cnn.com. What is the point of pasting full text here?

LOL people on DL seem to think they "found something!" when they read a rando article on CNN or other mainstream media site, as if everyone here hasn't already seen all that. Must be an old person thing.

[quote]US flight attendant union criticizes new CDC isolation requirements

Criticism from other corners, too:

In the last 24 hours the local library has gone from completely open to curbside pick-up only to completely closed until at least January 3rd.

I think the pharmacy goes next.

^I'm close to Atlanta and NOBODY much is wearing masks in the grocery store, in restaurants of course, and the liquor store. Bars are open and full of people. Everybody is acting completely clueless about the fact that Omicron is supposed to be swirling everywhere around them. Educated, fully vax'd folks having big dinner parties in their houses...We'll see how it all goes.

^Same here in West Michigan. I'm hoping the vicious Delta surge we've had in the past two months will give us some protection against Omicron because nobody's practicing mitigation strategies.

Love this meme

In most big cities, office workers are still working from home. I can’t imagine what would happen to the numbers of everyone were back using public transportation and going to work as normal.

r594 what state are you in?

The main reason the CDC cut its quarantine time is the CEO of Delta Airlines asked it to

New York, like with the wild type we are going first in the US.