Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Peak wingnut was a lie.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

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

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

He really is that stupid.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Sunday / Monday, Jan. 2-3

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Sunday / Monday, Jan. 2-3

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… Nachmann Ash said the country would pay a price for this and he wanted to see herd immunity achieved via vaccinations instead.

Modellers have warned that up to four million people could be infected by the end of January.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has admitted his current policy will not prevent a big rise in infections…

The prime minister has previously insisted the aim is to prevent a spike in serious illness while keeping the economy open, even though he has not ruled out another lockdown.

Confirmed daily infections in Israel have quadrupled to more than 3,500 in 10 days, but the number of deaths has not seen a similar rise…

Meanwhile another government adviser, Eran Segal from the Weizmann Institute, warned that cases would soon outstrip Israel’s testing capacity, leaving the country unable to identify new infections.

He predicted that between two and four million people would be infected over the coming three weeks – but that a lower number of people would suffer severe illness than in the previous wave…

About two-thirds of Israel’s population of more than nine million have been fully vaccinated, which the health ministry defines as having either had a third dose or recently had a second dose.

However many of those eligible for a third dose have not yet had one…

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Puerto Rico’s actually doing better than many ‘mainland’ states, AFAICT:

… Rafael Irizarry, a Harvard University statistician who keeps a dashboard of Puerto Rico Covid-19 data, tweeted the daunting facts: A third of all coronavirus cases the island has recorded since the start of the pandemic occurred in the past month. The number of cases per 100,000 residents jumped to 225, from three, in three weeks.

In December, the number of hospitalizations doubled — twice…

Without the polarizing politics that have plagued the debate over vaccines in other parts of the country, nearly 85 percent of those in Puerto Rico have received at least one vaccine dose, and about 75 percent have gotten both shots.

But in the face of a highly contagious new variant, a high vaccination rate is not that meaningful anymore, Mr. Irizarry said. Most in Puerto Rico have passed the six-month limit beyond which the vaccine’s effectiveness begins to wane, yet at least 40 percent have yet to receive their booster shots, health officials said…

On Thursday, the Scientific Coalition, a group of scientists and health professionals that has been advising the governor, recommended even stricter measures, such as limits on alcohol sales and shorter hours for bars and other establishments. On Friday, the governor followed the recommendation and ordered businesses closed between midnight and 5 a.m. from Jan. 4 until Jan. 18. He also mandated booster shots for restaurant employees and public safety workers.

“It’s a message that’s hard to digest when two weeks ago the case numbers here were among the lowest in the world,” said Daniel Colón-Ramos, a Yale University professor who is president of the coalition.

The measures are particularly hard in Puerto Rico, he said, where it is hard to overstate the importance of a holiday season that starts at Thanksgiving and lasts until Jan. 6. He described it as “Fourth of July plus the Super Bowl.”…

Reader Interactions

40Comments

  1. 1.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY:

    There were 987 new cases reported according to the NYSDOH. The Monroe County tracker always takes the weekend off.
    I have no idea how many of these were previously reported, if any, but it’s only a third of the numbers from the day before.

  2. 2.

    debbie

    Ohio’s reporting is for 48 hours rather than 24 due to the holiday, but there are 37,626 new cases. Some schools are returning to virtual learning. My work has extended WFH to mid-January. It will probably be like this (two-week extensions) for quite a while.

  3. 3.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    In Connecticut some school districts have decided to close today due to high numbers of teachers, aides and support staff such as bus drivers with COVID-19. I believe Norwalk has decided to follow more stringent rules than the new CDC recommendations because so many of their staff are sick. Something troubling, some experts think young children, whose bodies apparently deal with respiratory infection less effectively, are ending up hospitalized at higher rates than with past variants…

  4. 4.

    satby

    Getting closer… one of the managers at the LensCrafters that the doctor’s office is located in tested positive a day after I filled in for two hours on Friday. I wasn’t near her particularly and never unmasked, but we’ll see how many in our severely short-staffed location end up sick. Including the morbidly obese male who belongs to some fundy religious group and is unvaxxed.

    Two friends are recovering from breakthrough cases they caught from their grandchildren. One kid vaxxed, one still too young. It was similar to a three day bout of flu, according to my friend. Edit: both vaxxed and boosted.

  6. 6.

    satby

    @Baud: ???!

    Edit: with allergies and asthma, I cough and sneeze a lot, and have for 50 years. I wouldn’t even notice those as symptoms so ? every day all day!

  8. 8.

    Ken

    Passengers on the cruise ship MSC Preziosa had to wait more than six hours to disembark

    A hundred years ago, they’d have waited a week or more. Maybe we should use “21st-century problem” for this, by analogy with “first-world problem” but time instead of space.

    Then again, maybe the proper response should be to wait a week.

  9. 9.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports 2,690 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 2,767,044 cases. It also reports 19 deaths as of midnight, for an adjusted cumulative total of 31,532 deaths – 1.14% of the cumulative reported total, 1.16% of resolved cases.

    Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 0.99.

    188 confirmed cases are in ICU, 81 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 3,535 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,695,751 patients recovered – 97.4% of the cumulative reported total.

    Three new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 6,137 clusters. 206 clusters are currently active; 5,931 clusters are now inactive.

    2,390 new cases today are local infections. 300 new cases today are imported.

    The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 94,040 doses of vaccine on 2nd January: 1,264 first doses, 1,340 second doses, and 91,436 booster doses. As of midnight, the cumulative total is 57,841,435 doses administered: 26,001,229 first doses, 25,617,720 second doses, and 6,422,084 booster doses. 79.6% of the population have received their first dose, 78.4% their second dose, and 19.7% their booster dose.

  10. 10.

    satby

    @debbie: thanks, but I’m not overly worried. I’ve probably been in closer proximity to contagious people multiple times over the last 22+ months than I was on Friday, and now it’s mutated to an apparently milder form. Masks and distancing have worked so far, and if a breakthrough happens, it’s at least less dangerous than it was. And afterward: MOAR ANTIBODIES!!

    It’s evolving to an endemic form of the virus.

  11. 11.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 1/2 China reported 101 new domestic confirmed (nine previously asymptomatic) & 4 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Shaanxi Province reported 92 new domestic confirmed cases (all mild). 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 1679 active domestic confirmed cases (including 10 serious & 3 critical) in the province.

    • Xi’an reported 90 new domestic confirmed cases (all mild). 80 from persons already under home or centralized quarantine & 10 from mass screening. 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 1,652 active confirmed cases in the city. 1 university campus & 1 sub-district have been elevated to High Risk. 2 university campuses & 1 sub-district are currently at High Risk. 6 sub-districts have been elevated to Medium Risk. 46 sub-districts & 18 communities are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Yan’an reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (mild), a traced close contact already under centralized quarantine since 12/30. There currently are 13 active domestic confirmed cases in the city. 3 communities have been elevated to Medium Risk. 5 communities, 1 residential compound, 1 village & 1 company are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Xianyang reported 1 new domestic confirmed case (mild), a traced close contact already under centralized quarantine since 12/23. There currently are 13 active domestic confirmed case in the city.
    • At Weinan there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city.

    At Yuncheng in Shanxi Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case, a person arrived from Xi’an in Shaanxi.

    Guangdong Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation There currently are 22 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • At Dongguan 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 22 active domestic confirmed cases, a secondary cluster spilled over from Xi’an in Shaanxi. 1 residential building remains at Medium Risk.
    • At Guangzhou the domestic confirmed recovered & the domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation.
    • At Foshan there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case in the city, a medical staff treating overseas arrivals.

    Guangxi “Autonomous” Region did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 19 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • At Fangchenggang there currently are 19 active domestic confirmed cases in the city (all at Dongxing), a cluster seeded by a smuggling operation. 1 village is currently at High Risk. 1 village is currently at Medium Risk.
    • At Chongzuo there currently is 1 active domestic asymptomatic case, infected by an imported positive case that had bypassed border control.

    At Hulun Buir in Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 30 active domestic confirmed cases remaining (all at Manzhouli).

    Shanghai Municipality reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, a traced close contact of the imported asymptomatic case reported in 1/1. The imported asymptomatic case had passed through the mandatory centralized quarantine, but had tested positive during the following home quarantine. The new domestic asymptomatic case is a cohabitating family member. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 

    Jiangsu Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • At Nanjing there is 1 active domestic confirmed case, a Yangtze River boat pilot found via regular screening.
    • At Wuxi there currently are 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.

    Zhejiang Province reported 9 new domestic confirmed cases, all at Ningbo (in Beilun District), all workers in the same factory. Zhoushan Port, the 3rd busiest in the world, is located in the heart of Beilun District. There currently are 456 active domestic confirmed cases in the province (spread across Shaoxing, Ningbo & Hangzhou). 1 factory & 1 village at Beilun District in Ningbo are currently at Medium Risk.

    At Suzhou in Anhui Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city, part of the transmission chain from Zhejiang. The Medium Risk village has been re-designated to Low Risk.

    At Chengdu in Sichuan Province 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city, an airport logistics worker.

    At Xiamen in Fujian Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining, a quarantine hotel worker.

    At Chongqing Municipality there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining.

    Henan Province reported 3 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 20 active domestic confirmed & 12 active domestic asymptomatic cases.

    • At Zhengzhou there currently are 17 active domestic confirmed cases in the city.
    • At Zhoukou there currently are 2 active confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city.
    • Luoyang reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, a traced close contact already under centralized quarantine since 12/31. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 8 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city, all at Xin’an County. The county has completed the 2nd round of mass screening, all results negative. 1 community & 1 village are currently at Medium Risk.
    • Xuchang reported 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases, 1 found at hospital intake for in-patient care & the other is a traced close contact, both work at the same factory. Connection to existing outbreaks is still uncertain. 1 factory, 1 community & 1 village have been elevated to Medium Risk.

    Yunnan Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 20 active domestic confirmed & 10 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • At Kunming there currently 5 active domestic confirmed cases, a family cluster of 4 connected to outbreak elsewhere in China & the student who had traveled to Sipsongpanna Prefecture. 1 residential compound is currently at Medium Risk.
    • At Sipsongpanna Prefecture there currently are 2 domestic asymptomatic cases (at Jinghong), both tourists from Hunan Province.
    • At Dehong Prefecture 2 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 2 domestic asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There currently are 15 active domestic confirmed & 8 active domestic asymptomatic cases at the prefecture.

    At Tongren in Guizhou Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city, a person who returned from Jinghong, Sipsongpanna Prefecture in Yunnan.

    Imported Cases

    On 1/2, China reported 60 new imported confirmed cases (7 previously asymptomatic), 31 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect case:

    • Shanghai Municipality – 26 confirmed cases, 7 Chinese nationals returning from the US, 4 from Canada, 3 from Ethiopia, 2 each from the DRC (via Addis Ababa) & the UK (1 each via Copenhagen & Helsinki), & 1 each from Australia, Côte d’Ivoire (via Paris CdG), Uganda (via Addis Ababa), Denmark, Georgia (via Amsterdam Schiphol), Russia, Spain, Serbia (via Amsterdam Schiphol)
    • Guangxi “Autonomous” Region (location not specified) – 7 confirmed (3 previously asymptomatic) & 2 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 4 confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 2 Chinese nationals returning from Canada & 1 each from Bolivia (via Amsterdam Schiphol) & Kenya; 9 asymptomatic cases, 5 Chinese nationals returning from Kenya, 2 from Timor Leste & 1 each from Canada & France
    • Foshan in Guangdong Province – 2 confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 1 each coming from Bolivia & the US; 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 each coming from Guatemala & the UK; all off flights that landed at Guangzhou 
    • Hohhot in Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region – 5 confirmed cases, all off a flight diverted from Beijing
    • Beijing Municipality – 4 confirmed cases, 2 Chinese nationals returning from Sweden & 1 each from Thailand & the UK (via Stockholm)
    • Tianjin Municipality – 2 confirmed cases, no information released, yet; 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Italy
    • Xiamen in Fujian Province – 2 confirmed cases, Chinese nationals returning from the US & 1 from Serbia (via Amsterdam Schiphol)
    • Fuzhou in Fujian Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 each coming from Australia & Japan
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province –  2 confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), no information released
    • Yunnan Province (location not specified) – 2 confirmed cases, both Chinese nationals returning from Myanmar; 6 asymptomatic cases, 4 Chinese nationals returning from Laos & 2 from Myanmar; all via land border crossings
    • Kunming in Yunnan Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Bangladesh & Indonesia
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 1 confirmed case, coming from the South Sudan; 4 asymptomatic cases, 3 coming from Spain & 1 from Australia
    • Jinan in Shandong Province – 1 confirmed case, coming from the UAE
    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic), a Chinese national returning from Canada
    • Nanchong in Sichuan Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Austria; the case had landed at Shanghai on 12/11, passed through the 14 days of centralized quarantine & tested negative multiple times, upon releaser from quarantine on 12/25 the case flew to Chongqing & was transferred to Nanchong & re-entered centralized quarantine, testing positive on 1/2
    • Xi’an in Shaanxi Province – 1  confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Qatar (via Baku)
    • Shenyang in Liaoning Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
    • Changsha in Hunan Province –  1 asymptomatic case, no information released

    Overall in China, 47 confirmed cases recovered (32 imported), 16 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (14 imported) & 7 were reclassified as confirmed cases (all imported), & 4,207 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 3,127 active confirmed cases in the country (850 imported), 22 in serious condition (3 imported), 562 active asymptomatic cases (529 imported), 1 suspect case (imported). 42,313 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 1/2, 2,847.898M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 6.629M doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 1/2 Hong Kong reported 26 new positive cases, 25 imported (17 asymptomatic) & 1 domestic (possibly related to infected flight crew that breached home quarantine protocols & went to a restaurant). On 1/3 Hong Kong reported 29 new positive cases, 28 imported & 1 domestic (connected to the restaurant cluster).

  12. 12.

    New Deal democrat

    It’s *way* too early to declare “good news” about hospitalizations and deaths in the US. Hospitalizations have shot up by over 35% in the last week, and we really won’t know what is happening with deaths for about another week, since the Omicron wave really took off in the US beginning December 15, less than 3 weeks ago.

    In Canada and the UK, both of which started the Omicron wave before the US, deaths have increased 40% and 30%, respectively, in the past week, albeit both from very low levels. Deaths in the Northeastern US, where Omicron hit first, are also continuing to increase by about 10% per week. On the other hand, I did see a graph from New South Wales in Australia which clearly showed fewer hospitalizations and deaths over one month since Omicron hit there.

    Also, case reporting for the US still sucks, since many States haven’t bothered to report over the holiday weekend. So expect a *huge* increase later this week.

  13. 13.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    Almost 45,000 positive test results here in LA County, though the lack of reporting over the holiday may have inflated that amount.  We’ll see what this evening’s dashboard shows, I’m off to work in 1/2 an hour(5am), lucky me.

  15. 15.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Baud: Yes, at a minimum of set hours* and not working mornings.  There are probably others as well.

    *Part time hours vary day to day, week to week

    Oh, when…not sure, probably a week or two, takes time to process stuff.

  16. 16.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Anti-vaccers are making themselves into coal mine canaries and letting the rest of us know is it safe outside by if their dying or not.

  17. 17.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I’m off to work in 1/2 an hour(5am), lucky me.

    Yes, from what they are saying today and tomorrow will be the peak contagious with the folks who got infected during New Years.

  18. 18.

    Matt McIrvin

    The discourse on long COVID is driving me nuts–it seems like a potentially far bigger issue now that we expect mild/asymptomatic infection to be almost unavoidable over the long term even for the vaccinated, but we’re working in the dark. There’s also a catastrophizing social-media contingent who are blowing it up into a new “vaccines are useless now” narrative, which seems potentially harmful in itself.

  19. 19.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Ken: The word “quarantine” literally comes from “forty”, meaning forty days of isolation for a ship in port during the Black Death.

  20. 20.

    Another Scott

    Police Officer’s Wife Still Dreads Getting Phone Call That Her Husband Has Been Vaccinated https://t.co/IiwSHos8FT pic.twitter.com/RoCU4UWyv5

    — The Onion (@TheOnion) December 29, 2021

    Thanks for the continuing updates AL and everyone. Infections continue to explode around DC. It’s too early to be sanguine – hospitals are being swamped – but fingers crossed that this is the last bad wave. (Of course, hope is not a plan…)

    Stay safe.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  21. 21.

    Asparagus Aspersions

    Here in France the numbers are shockingly high — according  to my site of reference Covidtracker.fr, we are up to 1518 cases per 100,000. We’ve been averaging between 150k-200k cases per day for at least a week now, so at this point I just assume that wherever you are, you’re essentially  swimming in a sea of COVID.

    I’m grateful to have gotten my booster two weeks ago, and beyond grateful that vaccination for kids 5 to 11 was just approved — Asparagus Aspersions Jr. has an appointment this week for the first dose. I’m so thankful to have widely available vaccines. At this time last year, we had curfews (first 8 pm, then 6 pm), overflowing hospitals, closed borders, and a very slow vaccine rollout. 2022 starts with the booster campaign full-speed ahead.

  22. 22.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — the reported numbers are still subject to distortion because of the holidays, but a new record number of new COVID-19 cases was reported today, over 20,000. The test positivity rate is also up there in lights, 35%. Hospitalisations have spiked to over a thousand, about what it was three months ago but the ICU occupancy is remaining reassuringly low. It is believed that some of the increased bed occupancy associated with COVID-19 is from people who were asymptomatic and admitted to hospital for other reasons and they were found to be positive when tested on admission i.e. they weren’t noticeably sick from their COVID-19 infection. This correlates with the low numbers of people with COVID-19 in ICU and/or requiring mechanical ventilation.

    There hasn’t been an announcement of deaths of people with a positive COVID-19 test within 28 days due to the weekend and holidays. There also hasn’t been a statement of how many positive test results are verified to be the Omicron variant. The last number I saw on that was 80%, a few days ago.

    My layman’s guess is that the Delta variant is still spreading in Scotland alongside Omicron and, again this is a guess, it is Delta that is actually causing the majority of serious illness and deaths while Omicron is mainly responsible for the high case numbers. This may be due to the high vaccination rates here in Scotland combined with the “mildness” of the infection process attributed to Omicron.

    More and more I’m starting to think that the Omicron variant is effectively a new disease, COVID-21 perhaps, that has evolved sufficiently from its brutish ancestors to the point where it isn’t the same thing.

  23. 23.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Something that just occurred to me – one of the reasons why the doctors are so freaked out by the anti-vaccers is they know those clowns are going to accuse the doctors of using them a control group in some Tuskegee Experiment, because white conservatives always have to be the victim even when it’s their own damn fault.

  24. 24.

    Kristine

    @satby:

    Edit: with allergies and asthma, I cough and sneeze a lot, and have for 50 years. I wouldn’t even notice those as symptoms so ? every day all day!

    Same. I have Winter Head and allergies and felt bad enough last week that I worried I had contracted Covid. Resumed my OTC allergy med–I had stopped taking it because I didn’t think it was doing any good–and felt better within a day or two.

  25. 25.

    jonas

    @Robert Sneddon: Keep in mind that the perception that Omicron is “milder” than delta or previous variants is partly due to the fact that breakthrough cases *among the vaccinated* are pretty mild for the most part. From what I’ve been hearing, however, if you’re unvaxxed, omicron is just as dangerous as delta.

  26. 26.

    Fair Economist

    @Matt McIrvin: Infections are not unavoidable; they could be minimized if everybody wore a high quality mask indoors in public at all times. That would be a big hit on restaurants and bars, but life would go on. It would be a legitimate question to ask if that’s worth it for the risk, but we do have options.

  28. 28.

    Tazj

    @Matt McIrvin: It’s definitely a very disconcerting time. You’ll see stories on social media about people getting COVID who have been vaccinated and boosted, and someone will inevitably respond that there’s no point to the vaccines. Someone else will say that the overwhelming majority of those who get COVID who were vaccinated have very mild cases so you shouldn’t worry but then what about long COVID?

    I have to say I’m worried this week because of back to school. My kids are fortunate enough to be vaccinated but aren’t boosted yet. One is old enough to get his booster shot this week. The FDA has just approved boosters for ages 12-15 but it probably take a couple weeks to get final approval and get appointments.
    Everyone knows that schools are just a breeding ground for viruses. My kids have been sick several times this year already, although thankfully not with COVID. How long is that going to hold out? And what about younger kids who can’t be vaccinated yet?
    It’s very hard for me, a lay person, to discern how worried I should be about long COVID. There are doctors and scientists on social media warning people about it yet we as a society are being told to move forward in the middle of the Omicron wave.

  30. 30.

    Matt McIrvin

    @jonas:

    From what I’ve been hearing, however, if you’re unvaxxed, omicron is just as dangerous as delta.

    My impression is that that’s not true–there’s growing acknowledgement that Omicron is intrinsically less dangerous, per infection, across the board. Immunity from prior infection or vaccination explains some of the difference in South Africa and the UK, but probably not all of it.

    However, “less dangerous” does not mean “not dangerous”. The difference isn’t great enough that it makes any sense to run immunologically naked. A lower probability of a bad case, combined with many more infections, still means a bad situation even if it’s not quite as bad.

  31. 31.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Tazj:

    The FDA has just approved boosters for ages 12-15 but it probably take a couple weeks to get final approval and get appointments.

    Given past behavior, I think the CDC is going to sign off by Wednesday or so. How fast I can get my kid in is another question–last time it was pretty quick.

  32. 32.

    Peale

    @jonas: yep. It’s just been difficult to sort through the noise. Has been from the beginning. “Our hospitals are filling up with people who have a mild illness”.  O.k. If it’s so mild, why are they in the hospitals? It’s like the definition of mild has shifted.

  34. 34.

    Freemark

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: They’ve already voiced similar. Talking about how it’s ‘highly suspicious’ that only the unvaccinated are dying in high numbers. The New World Order changed the virus to target the unvaccinated. I shit you not.

  35. 35.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Fair Economist: I’ve upgraded my masks, myself, and I have been unwilling to eat in restaurants to a degree that frustrates my family. But all this seems to be hard for people to adhere to.

    There are times when I wonder if restaurants and bars as we know them, with indoor dining and drinking, should simply be banned, forever. Shut down the industry. But I know that will never happen. And there likely will come a time when it’s comparatively safe.

  36. 36.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Fair Economist: …Anyway, what I was more thinking of is the near-certainty that we were all going to be infected by our daughter bringing Omicron home from school. That was before I heard that the FDA had finally authorized Pfizer boosters for her age group. But that’s not every kid.

  38. 38.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Peale: There’s circumstantial evidence that people are being admitted to hospital here in Scotland for medical problems other than COVID-19 and being tested and found positive for COVID-19. Wintertime is always a peak patient load for the NHS with assorted respiratory diseases, slips and falls on ice, car accidents etc.

    A lot of these patients will be vaccinated and some of them boosted and most recently many others will have caught the Omicron variant. They will be counted as taking up a hospital bed while being infected with COVID-19 even though that’s not the reason they were hospitalised in the first place (it’s obviously not a good thing for them of course).

    This is wild speculation and uneducated guesswork by myself, based on the vastly increased numbers of new cases reported by testing (6x that compared to two months ago), the gradual increase in “hospitalised with COVID-19” numbers (2x that of two months ago) and the failure of the ICU and ventilation bed numbers to similarly soar (currently less than two months ago). The reported death rate (based on confirmed positive COVID-19 test within 28 days of death) is also not soaring.

  39. 39.

    Ruckus

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    because white conservatives always have to be the victim even when it’s their own damn fault.

    It’s never their fault. Just because they do/don’t do the proper thing, in this case vaccination, doesn’t mean they can be blamed for their pig headed stupidity, they are after all just trying to conserve their best attribute – gross fucking stupidity, which is, if I recall correctly, 3 levels above pig headed stupidity.

  40. 40.

    texasdoc

    @Robert Sneddon: I’m seeing such a patient right now–a fellow with urinary symptoms due to a markedly enlarged prostate and previously undiagnosed prostate cancer.  He tested positive for Covid, but has no symptoms related to that.

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