Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“woke” is the new caravan.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

President Biden is doing good where he can, and getting it done.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Donald Jessica Trump found guilty as fuck – May 30, 2024!

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Biden: Oh no. We’ve upset Big Pharma again.

Let me file that under fuck it.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickel?”

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Tuesday / Wednesday, Dec. 14-15

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Tuesday / Wednesday, Dec. 14-15

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40Comments

  1. 1.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY:

    There were 367 new cases on 12/14/21. Things are not improving around here yet.

  2. 2.

    PeakVT

    How many Americans have actually had 1, 2 or 3 doses of #COVID19 #vaccines? For a lot of reasons, we don’t really know. Some States aren’t counting pharmacy-administered, the @CDCgov uses a controversial model to reckon.

    I find it infuriating but unsurprising that we don’t have a national vaccination database at this point. Thanks for nothing (again), federalism.

  3. 3.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports 3,900 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 2,703,140 cases. It also reports 48 deaths as of midnight, for an adjusted cumulative total of 30,956 deaths – 1.15% of the cumulative reported total, 1.17% of resolved cases.

    Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 0.93.

    304 confirmed cases are in ICU, 142 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 4,552 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,615,162 patients recovered – 96.7% of the cumulative reported total.

    Seven new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 6,056 clusters. 246 clusters are currently active; 5,810 clusters are now inactive.

    3,881 new cases today are local infections. 19 new cases today are imported.

    The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 161,828 doses of vaccine on 14th December: 4,105 first doses, 5,016 second doses, and 152,707 booster doses. As of midnight, the cumulative total is 55,209,067 doses administered: 25,935,479 first doses, 25,522,460 second doses, and 3,944,858 booster doses. 79.5% of the population have received their first dose, while 78.2% are now fully vaccinated.

  4. 4.

    Amir Khalid

    In case you guys missed this, from The Guardian’s liveblog..

    A journalist accompanying US secretary of state Antony Blinken on a trip to the UK and southeast Asia has tested positive for Covid. A spokesperson for the state department, Ned Price, said one of 12 members of the travelling press corps on Blinken’s trip tested positive on Wednesday in Malaysia.

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    Straining the system in Seoul.

    South Korea has marked its deadliest day of the pandemic as an unrelenting, delta-driven spread stretched thin hospitals and left people dying while waiting for beds.

    Health experts warn that the country’s medical system is quickly approaching its limits and that fatalities could worsen if the government continues to be slow and hesitant in tightening social distancing.

    The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said 94 virus patients died in the past 24 hours while a record 906 were in serious or critical condition.

    The 5,567 new infections were the highest yet for a Tuesday — daily tallies are usually smaller at the start of the week because of fewer tests on weekends — indicating the virus has continued to gain speed after the government moderately tightened social distancing last week.

    Park Hyang, a senior Health Ministry official, said medical resources are quickly running out in densely populated capital Seoul and nearby metropolitan areas, where around 86% of intensive care units designated for COVID-19 treatment were already occupied. More than 1,480 patients were still waiting to be admitted to hospitals or treatment shelters. At least 17 patients died last week at home or at facilities while waiting for beds. Source

  6. 6.

    VeniceRiley

    Mrs. BR sent test in Monday and still no results by 11:45 Wednesday. England is a hot mess. She still feels unwell.
    Hope everyone from yesterday waiting for results got good news. Waiting is a bitch.
    And why they’re not approving the Pfizer pills first over Merck is extremely baffling!

  7. 7.

    raven

    I ran into a buddy who is an RN at the the hospital up the street and he said it is horrible at work. He’s been a nurse for 4 years and he’s the most experienced on his floor. “Don’t get sick” was his advice.

  8. 8.

    PAM Dirac

    @VeniceRiley:

     

    And why they’re not approving the Pfizer pills first over Merck is extremely baffling!

    The Merck data was submitted about a month before the Pfizer data, so you would expect that a decision on the Pfizer would be about a month behind the Merck. It was about 6-7 weeks from submission to advisory committee meeting for the Merck application so the Pfizer advisory committee meeting should be in the next few weeks. The Merck advisory committee was lukewarm regarding approval and there hasn’t been a final decision made yet after 2 weeks. If the Pfizer submitted data is as good as the published reports indicate I would expect the advisory committee to be more more positive and the final decision to made within a week of the meeting.

  9. 9.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 12/14 China reported 50 new domestic confirmed (none previously asymptomatic) & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region reported 3 new domestic confirmed cases. 10 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 508 active domestic confirmed cases in the region. 

    • Hulun Buir reported 3 new domestic confirmed cases (all at Manzhouli), all are traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine. 10 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 506 active domestic confirmed cases (497 at Manzhouli & 9 at New Barag Right Banner) in the city. 7 sub-districts are currently at High Risk. 2 townships & 2 sub-districts are currently at Medium Risk.
    • At Tongliao there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.

    Heilongjiang Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 6 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 36 active domestic confirmed & 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • At Harbin 6 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 35 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 3 residential buildings & 27 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Qiqihar did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 village is currently at Medium Risk.

    Shaanxi Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (mild). There are currently 4 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.

    • Xi’an reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (mild), a traced close contact already under centralized quarantine since 12/9, a quarantine hotel worker & roommate of the domes confirmed case reported on 12/9. There currently are 3 active confirmed case in the city.
    • At Xianyang there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city.

    Shanghai Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 6 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining. 2 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk. 

    Jiangsu Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Nanjing) & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases (2 at Wuxi & 1 at Xuzhou) remaining in the province.

    Zhejiang Province reported 45 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 260 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Ningbo reported 6 new domestic confirmed cases, all traced close contacts already under centralized quarantine since 12/6. There currently are 57 active domestic confirmed cases in the city, all found within a single sub-district. 2 residential compounds & an office building are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Hangzhou did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 19 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 1 residential building is currently at Medium Risk.
    • Shaoxing reported 39 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 184 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city, 181 at Shangyu District & 3 at Yuecheng District. 2 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk.

    Chongzuo in Guangxi “Autonomous” Region did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case in the city.

    Guangdong Province reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 3 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Dongguan reported 2 new domestic confirmed & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, the 2 domestic confirmed cases are persons who returned from Xi’an in Shaanxi on 12/5 (found via mandatory screening of such persons) & the 2 domestic asymptomatic cases are traced close contacts.
    • At Guangzhou there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city. 1 quarantine hotel is currently at Medium Risk.

    At Dalian in Liaoning Province there currently are 26 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.

    At Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province there currently are 5 active confirmed cases remaining.

    At Rizhao in Shandong Province there currently are 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.

    At Chongqing Municipality there currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.

    At Henan Province 6 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 31 active domestic confirmed cases remaining (28 at Zhengzhou & 3 at Zhoukou).

    Dehong Prefecture in Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 51 active domestic confirmed & 26 active domestic asymptomatic cases at the prefecture. The High Risk zone at Longchuan County has been re-designated to Low Risk.

    Imported Cases

    On 12/14, China reported 17 new imported confirmed cases (none previously asymptomatic), 24 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:

    • Xi’an in Shaanxi Province – 4 confirmed case, 2 Chinese nationals returning from Serbia (via Stockholm) & 1 each from Kazakhstan (via Frankfurt) & Sweden; 9 asymptomatic cases, 7 Chinese nationals returning from Serbia (via Stockholm) & 1 each from Nigeria (via Frankfurt) & the UK (via Brussels)
    • Shanghai Municipality – 3 confirmed cases, 2 Chinese nationals returning from Serbia (via Vienna) & 1 from Singapore
    • Yunnan Province (location not specified) – 3 confirmed cases, 2 Chinese nationals returning from Myanmar & 1 from Laos; 3 asymptomatic cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Laos; all via land border crossing
    • Guangxi “Autonomous” Region (location not specified) – 2 confirmed & 6 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Laos; 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Iran & Laos
    • Foshan in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case, coming from the US, off a flight that landed at Guangzhou
    • Changchun in Jilin Province – 1 confirmed case, no information released
    • Qingdao in Shandong Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from South Korea
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 1 confirmed case, coming from Russia; 1 asymptomatic case, coming from Nigeria
    • Jiangsu Province (location not specified) – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released

    Overall in China, 39 confirmed cases recovered (15 imported), 17 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (all imported) & 2 were reclassified as confirmed cases (both imported), & 6,988 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,460 active confirmed cases in the country (520 imported), 17 in serious condition (5 imported), 452 active asymptomatic cases (404 imported), 1 suspect case (imported). 54,009 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 12/14, 2,630.204M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 9.014M doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 12/15, Hong Kong reported 1 new positive cases, imported. The city has reported 9 imported Omicron cases to date.

  11. 11.

    PAM Dirac

    @Peale:

     

    Pfizer hasn’t provided the FDA any of its data.

    Pfizer submitted the first round of data last month. The latest batch of data was supposed to be submitted in the last day or so. You are absolutely correct that the FDA only evaluates what is submitted, not what is released elsewhere.

  12. 12.

    New Deal democrat

    Via Dr. Jorge Caballero yesterday:

    “data out of the CDC today demonstrates that our genomic sequencing estimates Omicron at about 3% across the nation, & at about 13% in NY & NJ,”
    https://mobile.twitter.com/DataDrivenMD/status/1470860630265516032

    To which he re-ups a graph of test results in NY showing an anomalous increase in S-dropout cases in NY beginning in early November.

    The Northeast Census region as a whole continues to show a big increase in cases, and looks to be a couple of days from overtaking the Midwest as the worst region in the country. Conversely, cases in the Midwest, including the Ohio Valley, have declined slightly in the past 10 days; and the West is still flat at a low rate, with only HI increasing.

    Every now and then I have been looking at the comparative infection rates of VT, with a very high vaccination rate, and SD, with a very low one until recently. Since the beginning of this year, both have had an increase of about 8% in total confirmed cases among the population. Even Sturgis only created about a 5 week surge in SD.

    Also, Canada is clearly now into another wave, despite being over 75% fully vaccinated (unclear if it is Omicron or not).

    Since the US has hit a wall of anti-vaxxers at about 70% of adults, we are doomed unless Biden, in cooperation with Blue State governors, implements a very stringent Plan B.

    Personally, I am seriously reconsidering my Christmas plans, which involve a visit to the NYC area. I think 10 days from now the situation is going to be much worse.

  13. 13.

    Another Scott

    Garrett’s tweet above “but 2 dose Pfizer is only 33% effective at preventing infection” is borderline misinformation. We don’t want to get people vaccinated to prevent infection. We’ve known from the beginning that the injection doesn’t block infection of the sinuses, etc. What it prevents is serious illness and death. And as of a few days ago the CDC director was saying that nobody vaccinated in the US has died of Omicron.

    She should know better. Twitter is horrible for nuance.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  14. 14.

    Sloane Ranger

    As A/L has posted above, yesterday in the UK we had 59,610 new cases and the rolling 7-day average is up by 12.1%. New cases by nations,

    England – 53,093 (up 8162)

    Northern Ireland – 1581 (up 150)

    Scotland – 3117 (down 639)

    Wales – 1819 (down 2724, but yesterday’s figures will have included significant catch up from the weekend).

    Deaths – There were 150 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. The rolling 7-day average is down by 6.5%. 138 deaths were in England, 4 in Northern Ireland, 6 in Scotland and 2 in Wales.

    Testing – 1,307,252 tests took place on Monday, 13 December. The rolling 7-day average is up by 12.4%. The PCR testing capacity reported by labs on this date was 830,552.

    Hospitalisations – As at Monday, 13 December, there were 7672 people in hospital and 900 people on ventilators. The 7-day average for hospital admissions was up by 10% as of 10th December.

    Vaccinations – As of Monday, 13th, 51,298,838 people had had 1 shot of a vaccine, 46,804,609 had had 2 and 24,075,451 had had a 3rd shot/booster. In percentage terms, this means that 89.2% of all UK residents aged 12+ had had 1 shot of a vaccine, 81.4% had had 2, and 41.9% had had a 3rd shot/booster.

  17. 17.

    rikyrah

    @New Deal democrat:

    I think the travel to NYC will be the worst part of the trip. Don’t you have to show proof of vaccination to get into everything in NYC?

     

    But, I wouldn’t blame you for cancelling. If you go, don’t use public transportation.

  19. 19.

    Cermet

    @Another Scott: Not accurate; yes, vaccination has breakthroughs and nasal infections are even more common (and technically, that is a break through as well. Doesn’t move into the lungs or throat.) All correct – but the vaccine can and certainly does prevent any infection in many people.  Getting vaccinated can and does prevent the virus getting started in many people.

  20. 20.

    New Deal democrat

    @rikyrah: Actually, it’s several stops in N and S Jersey, and meeting Sibling Unit north of NYC for lunch.

    I am adding up the number of people I will encounter, plus the likely further exponential growth in the next 10 days, and reconsidering if it is worth the risk. But thanks!

  21. 21.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    Following up on the CNN Cornell link @ Top, Cornell’s dashboard shows approx. 4.2% positivity rate for the week, BUT:

    Breaking it down by day shows a 1.2% positivity rate for the first 4 days of the week, followed by a 6.6% rate for the last 3 days of the week, among a population that is 97% fully (two-dose) vaccinated — which is … I believe the scientific term is “way alarming”.​ ​

    That is one hell of a sudden jump. The infectivity / positivity rate at Cornell more than quintupled literally overnight.​

  22. 22.

    Another Scott

    @Cermet: My recollection is that the original trials of the P and M mRNA vaccine is the headline efficacy numbers were for symptomatic infection.  Yes, the vaccine is sterilizing in some/many cases, and those numbers seem lower with Omicron (especially for those months away from dose #2 and without a booster).  But humans on Twitter especially look at numbers in isolation without context.  Vaccines still work even with Omicron, and severe disease and death from Omicron seems to be less likely than with Delta (from SA, Hong Kong, and early US data).

    Anything that discourages vaccination (“it doesn’t work well at all, might as well not bother…”) is counterproductive.

    We’ll know more by early January…

    Thanks.

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  23. 23.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    @Another Scott: ​

    Garrett’s tweet above “but 2 dose Pfizer is only 33% effective at preventing infection” is borderline misinformation. We don’t want to get people vaccinated to prevent infection.

    Also, given the way vaccine effectiveness is calculated, it gives a pretty misleading picture of the actual effective in layman terms: a 33% effectiveness rate means unvaccinated people are still TWICE as likely to catch Covid than a vaccinated person.​

  24. 24.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    Greece: new cases seem to be trending down a bit (5,736 in yesterday’s report, according to Worldometers), but hospitalizations are still high (700 intubated patients in ICUs according to Kathimerini) and deaths have just about hit their worst level since the pandemic began (130 dead reported yesterday). Granted, deaths are a trailing indicator, but it’s still a strong indication that the pandemic is by no means over, or even fading.

    My office is taking precautions, urging masking whenever possible, mandating no more than two people in any one office space, and footing the bill for weekly PCR tests for the entire staff (tests are recorded in the national database and can be used for EU certificates if needed; my test yesterday came out negative).

    When I travel to the US to visit loved ones for Christmas, I’m bringing a bunch of self-tests with me. At four and a half euro apiece, they’re not a major expense for peace of mind for my better half and her family.

  27. 27.

    Soprano2

    Heard this story on NPR this morning about the U.S death toll hitting 800,000.  It took about halfway into the story before they even mentioned people who are resistant to getting vaccinated. The beginning was all “not enough people are vaccinated, who knows why?” kind of tone. It’s maddening, they should say upfront that there was a massive propaganda disinformation campaign to make people think the vaccines were suspicious or “not tested enough” (I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that from people here!). Also, that TFG did almost nothing to get people vaccinated while Biden’s administration has done literally everything they can to get people to get the shots.

    Yesterday, I saw a friend on FB was looking for “human grade ivermectin”. My comment was “Why? Do you have a parasitic infection? You should go to the doctor for that! I highly doubt any doctor is going to prescribe medicine for something it doesn’t treat or cure”. This woman does customer service for a health insurance company! She’s not dumb, and I didn’t think she was vulnerable to disinformation about Covid, but I guess I was wrong.

  28. 28.

    dmsilev

    @Lacuna Synecdoche: Yikes. We’re a significantly smaller school than Cornell (our surveillance testing program runs about 3500 tests per week), but even scaling down to match populations, that case rate is bonkers high. Just the number reported for yesterday is more, as a fraction of population, than we have seen cumulatively since June.

  29. 29.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    @New Deal democrat: ​

    My recollection is that Cornell counted one dose of J&J as fully vaccinated, and that is what a lot of students had. So not quite so alarming.

    Most places count one dose of J&J as fully vaccinated, no doubt including Cornell. So perhaps I shouldn’t have emphasized dual-dosing, but my understanding is that J&J accounts for less than 4% of vaccinations in the US. Unless Cornell is wildly different from the rest of the US in that regard, then I have to assume more than 90%, 95%, the vast majority of Cornell’s population has rec’d two doses.

    In any event, whether it’s single dosing of J&J, or double-dosing of Pfizer or Moderna, a 400% increase in the infectivity rate remains alarming, IMO.

    YMMV.

  31. 31.

    New Deal democrat

    @Lacuna Synecdoche: “J&J accounts for less than 4% of vaccinations in the US. Unless Cornell is wildly different”

    That is what I read – that the number was much higher (sorry, I can’t find the link).

    But I think the Cornell story is a harbinger of many stories to come between now and New Year’s.

  32. 32.

    Fair Economist

    @Jinchi: I’ve mentioned this before, but part of the decreases in vaccine effectiveness is an artifact of the non-vaccinated population having more resistance because more have had COVID. Not all of the decrease vs. Omicron, but some.

  33. 33.

    Fair Economist

    There’s a sixth grade class in Yorba Linda CA where 37 out of 50 students tested positive. This is not something CA has seen in any prior wave, and is even more remarkable given that resistance via vaccination and prior infection is at an all time high. Omicron is certainly something different.

  35. 35.

    Matt McIrvin

    I feel as if all of the categories, policies, websites, etc. that we developed to track this stuff in the earlier stages of the pandemic need a re-think. There’s inadequate tracking of booster doses vs. initial and second doses, also no allowance for waning immunity from the initial series of shots. So we get these situations where “90% vaccinated” populations start getting COVID outbreaks, but the data don’t show any of the distinctions that would allow us to move beyond “OMG the vaccines don’t work” and track what does work.

  36. 36.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Fair Economist:  I strongly suspect that nearly every one of us is going to get Omicron unless we can hold off long enough to get an Omicron shot (3+ months at least). What that actually means in terms of impacts seems to depend on vaccination among other things. I heard about a new study saying Omicron reproduces in much greater numbers in the bronchi but much less than even wild-type COVID in the lungs, which might be why cases seem less severe.

    There are a lot of people going “if it’s mild, this will crowd out the bad variants and end the pandemic!” and it feels like pure wishful thinking. If Delta infection doesn’t protect against Omicron, why would Omicron crowd out Delta?

  37. 37.

    Peale

    @Matt McIrvin:Yep. I think if Omicron crowds out Delta, it will be because too many people are home sick with Omicron’s “mild” symptoms to be going about catching Delta. Its rather alarming, but I think that we may be heading towards 500,000 cases per day by the end of January.

  38. 38.

    Matt McIrvin

    The chair of the South African Medical Association talks about Omicron:

    https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/1535915/omicron-symptoms-intense-headache-unvaccinated-patients

    Main symptoms are fatigue, headache and body aches, but they’re considerably worse in unvaccinated people. Vaccination seems to lead to faster recovery (a few days, typically) and milder symptoms. Waiting about a day after onset of symptoms to take an antigen test leads to more reliable detection.

    Overall, per patient, it seems like much less of a horror than the other COVID variants we know, but if the total number of infections is far larger, that could still cause a lot of severe disease.

  39. 39.

    Bill Arnold

    @New Deal democrat:

    plus the likely further exponential growth in the next 10 days, and reconsidering if it is worth the risk.

    NY State instituted a statewide indoors public places mask requirement Monday (Dec 13). I’ve only been to a pizza place since then but employees and the one other customer were masked, and they were not a few weeks ago.
    Masks on everyone (source control) will make a difference with Omicron. And influenza too, probably.
    Masks are also a bit better now than they were in the early days. I’m seeing >50 percent surgical masks or similar. (I use (and re-use until the band breaks) a N95 for shopping. And shave to improve the fit/reduce the leakage.)

  40. 40.

    Bill Arnold

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I strongly suspect that nearly every one of us is going to get Omicron unless we can hold off long enough to get an Omicron shot (3+ months at least).

    I will be trying to avoid Omicron infection. The odds have improved now that NY State (my location) now has an indoor public places masking requirement. So does general mask discipline/routine, personally with an N95. NY State is in the intervention arm of the masks-required natural experiments vs combined Delta and Omicron pandemic/community spread.

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