Coronavirus

[mamselle]

Another variant, 'nu' is also popping up...I'll have to re-find the article that just mentioned it..

M.

[AvidReader]

Another variant, 'nu' is also popping up...I'll have to re-find the article that just mentioned it..

M.

Apparently "nu" is now Omicron:
https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-variants-alphabet/fact-check-who-skipped-letters-of-greek-alphabet-while-naming-covid-19-variant-omicron-idUSL1N2SI07K

AR.

[mamselle]

Another variant, 'nu' is also popping up...I'll have to re-find the article that just mentioned it..

M.

Apparently "nu" is now Omicron:
https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-variants-alphabet/fact-check-who-skipped-letters-of-greek-alphabet-while-naming-covid-19-variant-omicron-idUSL1N2SI07K

AR.

Ah.

Got it.

Thanks.

M.

[Langue_doc]

Our elected officials' response to the rapid spread of Omicron: What, me worry?

According to the mayor and the governor, the solution lies in tests and more tests.

Headline in NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/22/nyregion/omicron-nyc-spread.html:

Omicron Is Spreading Fast. Can New York Do More to Slow It Down?

Mayor Bill de Blasio says he doesn't want to impose new government restrictions. But some health experts say more must be done.

In an email blast, the governor reprimands people for being concerned:

But let me be clear: This is not March of 2020. We have defenses. We have people across the State of New York who are doing the right thing.

Is masking in public places required? Yes, What happens if you don't feel like wearing a mask? Nothing.
Shows are being canceled because of the performers and other employees testing positive. Some restaurants have had to close for the same reason.

The mayor-elect, to his credit, has canceled his inauguration ceremony.

It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks with people riding in fully-packed subways, and going to stores and other public places without a worry in the world.

[Sun_Worshiper]

Our elected officials' response to the rapid spread of Omicron: What, me worry?

According to the mayor and the governor, the solution lies in tests and more tests.

Headline in NYT https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/22/nyregion/omicron-nyc-spread.html:

Omicron Is Spreading Fast. Can New York Do More to Slow It Down?

Mayor Bill de Blasio says he doesn't want to impose new government restrictions. But some health experts say more must be done.

In an email blast, the governor reprimands people for being concerned:

But let me be clear: This is not March of 2020. We have defenses. We have people across the State of New York who are doing the right thing.

Is masking in public places required? Yes, What happens if you don't feel like wearing a mask? Nothing.
Shows are being canceled because of the performers and other employees testing positive. Some restaurants have had to close for the same reason.

The mayor-elect, to his credit, has canceled his inauguration ceremony.

It's going to be an interesting couple of weeks with people riding in fully-packed subways, and going to stores and other public places without a worry in the world.

January is going to be brutal.

[mahagonny]

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1191568/reported-deaths-from-covid-by-age-us/

[hmaria1609]

Not a great headline for DC today:
https://wtop.com/coronavirus/2021/12/dc-now-one-of-the-biggest-covid-hot-spots-in-the-us/
Posted on WTOP online 12/23/21

[Hegemony]

I am living in an area where everyone seems to be operating according to business as usual. We have terrible COVID rates and the hospitals are at crisis point, but you wouldn't know it from daily life. I venture out rarely and always with an N95 mask, as I have some health vulnerabilities and co-morbidities, and I'm old enough to be in one of the risky categories anyway. But on my Facebook page I see lots of people older than I am at local high school basketball games, at Christmas parties, at big family dinners in restaurants, and having vigorous social lives, without a mask in sight.

I have not seen a single person wear a mask in a store, even the employees, except for the employees at Best Buy. Someone obviously mandated that they should, and most of them were even wearing their mask over both mouth and nose. Only surgical masks, though, which are sub-optimum compared to N95s. At all other stores, it's like 2019.

I also know of some local families who have had family members die of COVID, with some harrowing suffering along the way. Those people are staying indoors and keeping away from the other folks. But their stories apparently have little effect. 

When I talk to the non-masking, non-vaccinated folks — outdoors — they say things like, "My immune system's always been strong, no reason it should fail me now!" I point out the death rates. They counter that the death rates are exaggerated "so the companies can make money." And that the vaccines are too new to trust. And that "when it's your time to go, you're gonna go, no matter what."

Meanwhile obviously it's the time to go for many residents of the area, because the death rates were already high and now they're climbing. So far most of the local people I know have been lucky. But with Omicron, I have a feeling some of them will cease to be lucky. It's like being present at a slow-motion train wreck. It's really depressing.

[nebo113]

Hegemony notes:Meanwhile obviously it's the time to go for many residents of the area, because the death rates were already high and now they're climbing. So far most of the local people I know have been lucky. But with Omicron, I have a feeling some of them will cease to be lucky. It's like being present at a slow-motion train wreck. It's really depressing.

Even if Omicron causes fewer serious cases and a lower death rate, it does seem to be having a very negative effect on health care facilities, and is apparently hitting children particularly hard.  Yes, it's discouraging and depressing.

[Parasaurolophus]

Hegemony notes:Meanwhile obviously it's the time to go for many residents of the area, because the death rates were already high and now they're climbing. So far most of the local people I know have been lucky. But with Omicron, I have a feeling some of them will cease to be lucky. It's like being present at a slow-motion train wreck. It's really depressing.

Even if Omicron causes fewer serious cases and a lower death rate, it does seem to be having a very negative effect on health care facilities, and is apparently hitting children particularly hard.  Yes, it's discouraging and depressing.

Obviously it depends on the numbers, but when you trade a dip in severity for a rise in virulence it can end up being a bit of a wash.

[mleok]

Hegemony notes:Meanwhile obviously it's the time to go for many residents of the area, because the death rates were already high and now they're climbing. So far most of the local people I know have been lucky. But with Omicron, I have a feeling some of them will cease to be lucky. It's like being present at a slow-motion train wreck. It's really depressing.

Even if Omicron causes fewer serious cases and a lower death rate, it does seem to be having a very negative effect on health care facilities, and is apparently hitting children particularly hard.  Yes, it's discouraging and depressing.

Obviously it depends on the numbers, but when you trade a dip in severity for a rise in virulence it can end up being a bit of a wash.

Except that the severity is a multiplicative factor, whereas the transmissibility enters in an exponential. The only cold comfort is that the virus may end up burning through susceptible hosts very quickly.

[apl68]

Some friends of mine have now come down with it.  They had been trying very hard not to catch it and had (I think) been vaccinated.  The whole family of four is now in quarantine.  Fortunately they all seem to be having minor cases of it.  They were out in the back yard working when I went by their house to check on them over lunch.  I wore my mask, and they stood way back.

[hmaria1609]

From WTOP Radio: DC Public Schools students and faculty have to test negative before going back next Wednesday:
https://wtop.com/dc/2021/12/all-dcps-students-staff-need-to-show-proof-of-negative-covid-test-before-return-to-school/
Scroll past ad breaks to read article. Posted 12/29/21

[the_geneticist]

We are supposed to test negative before returning to campus on MONDAY.
Can we get tested on campus?  Of course not!  It's a holiday and campus is closed.

[Parasaurolophus]

Hegemony notes:Meanwhile obviously it's the time to go for many residents of the area, because the death rates were already high and now they're climbing. So far most of the local people I know have been lucky. But with Omicron, I have a feeling some of them will cease to be lucky. It's like being present at a slow-motion train wreck. It's really depressing.

Even if Omicron causes fewer serious cases and a lower death rate, it does seem to be having a very negative effect on health care facilities, and is apparently hitting children particularly hard.  Yes, it's discouraging and depressing.

Obviously it depends on the numbers, but when you trade a dip in severity for a rise in virulence it can end up being a bit of a wash.

Except that the severity is a multiplicative factor, whereas the transmissibility enters in an exponential. The only cold comfort is that the virus may end up burning through susceptible hosts very quickly.

Yes, I meant that the increased virulence washes out (or worse) the decreased severity.