Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

“woke” is the new caravan.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

We still have time to mess this up!

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

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

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

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

Let me file that under fuck it.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: January 10, 2024

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: January 10, 2024

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COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: January 10, 2024

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COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: January 10, 2024 1

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: January 10, 2024 2

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: January 10, 2024 3

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: January 10, 2024 4

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COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: January 10, 2024 5

… “In the beginning of the pandemic, we were really looking at seven to 10 days as the window of time where people had to quarantine or isolate after an exposure,” says Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at Johns Hopkins University. “That has shortened significantly now.”

An incubation period is the length of time it takes someone to develop symptoms after exposure to a pathogen. The incubation period for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has shortened considerably since the virus first began circulating, recent data suggest. Incubation periods averaged about five days when the Alpha variant was dominant, about 4.5 days when Beta and Delta were dominant, and about 3.4 days once Omicron took over, according to a 2022 research review.

Newer research from various countries, including Japan, France, and Singapore, also suggests Omicron strains have incubation periods of about three days, or even a little less.

The virus’ incubation period is likely shrinking for a few reasons, says Shane Crotty, chief scientific officer at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. The virus has evolved over time, becoming faster and more adept at infecting humans, Crotty says. Nearly everyone has also now had at least one brush with COVID-19, whether through vaccination or illness. Each encounter leaves behind instructions for the immune system, helping it recognize the virus faster the next time it appears.

“You having symptoms is all about your immune system being activated,” Crotty explains. “The whole pre-symptomatic period is bad news because your immune system has not managed to pull the fire alarm yet.” A shorter incubation period means that your body is “recognizing the virus faster and pulling those sprinkler systems faster.”

Federal health authorities, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, recommend testing no sooner than five days after a COVID-19 exposure, unless you develop symptoms earlier. But since current variants seem to have incubation periods of around three days, Pekosz says it’s appropriate to test as soon as day three, again unless symptoms start earlier…

Given all this variation, Pekosz recommends monitoring your health for up to a week after an exposure and wearing a mask around other people during that time. Remember, too, that false negatives are possible on at-home tests. If you get a negative result, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends taking at least one more test 48 hours later to confirm it…

Supplementary:

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COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: January 10, 2024 6

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: January 10, 2024 7

Reader Interactions

50Comments

  1. 1.

    rekoob

    Thank you, Anne Laurie, for doing this. We are all grateful for your updates and they’ve been a crucial part of dealing with COVID.

  2. 2.

    Matt McIrvin

    Boston-area wastewater seems to have hit a peak slightly above last winter’s maximum right around New Year’s Day, but all the counts of impacts are still down by about half compared to last winter.

    I still have trouble going from the wastewater counts to claims that this is “the second-worst wave ever” or anything along those lines. Around here, the worst wave of COVID by far was the very first one in spring 2020. In that pre-Omicron era, the amount of virus around was probably actually lower than in the current wave but close to 1% of everyone who got it died. At the peak, over a thousand people a day died in Massachusetts alone. Every one of the past four waves has been far worse than this one.

  3. 3.

    Central Planning

    We are all recovered at my house although I’m the only one that can’t taste or smell anything. Sadly that hasn’t curbed my appetite :)

    The approximate 3 days to symptoms is interesting and tracks what happened in my house, and that means my wife got it on the last day or two of school. Sadly, the parents continue to send in their sick kids and the administration doesn’t give a shit or make parents come get their plague factories.

  5. 5.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Central Planning: This one was weird for me: I probably caught it from my wife, and we were both showing symptoms around the same time, but she tested positive around December 23 and I didn’t, and seemed to recover. Then I felt sick again around the 29th and tested positive. I suspect I had COVID the whole time but at some level a fast antigen test couldn’t detect.

    This was a very mild infection even compared to the one I had in late January 2023. I never had worse than a mild cold and a bit of feeling down in the dumps. But I did notice that any kind of physical exertion, even when I thought I was OK, was far more likely to lead to prolonged muscle soreness, which I took as a warning to take it easy (I have heard that pushing this can be a long COVID trigger).

  9. 9.

    ColoradoGuy

    Back to the N95 for public spaces, and no more restaurant dining for the next several months. Looking forward to more effective vaccines, but have no idea when they will appear.

  10. 10.

    eclare

    @rekoob:

    I also endorse this comment times 1000.  I woke up yesterday very congested, which lasted throughout the day, and with a lot of sneezing and an itchy nose.  This seems more allergy related, but nothing is blooming, and even if it were, I haven’t done any yard work.

    I took two Benadryls last night, and luckily the desire to jam a rake up my nose and scratch has passed, and I’m not as congested, but this experience seems odd.  My aunt recommended Flonase for congestion, I may pick some up today.

    Fully vaccinated for covid and flu, so I’m not worried.  Just perplexed.

  12. 12.

    Princess

    The tweet by Gregory is false — all currently circulating variants come from the Omicron lineage. This has been true for a year or more and makes me disinclined to trust Gregory as a source.

  13. 13.

    Princess

    @Matt McIrvin: I don’t think they even started testing wastewater for Covid in a widespread way in 2020.  I tried to find a date but couldn’t — lots of discussion in Canada from 2021. So I agree the comparison is misleading -/ though massive widespread infection really began in December 2021 with omicron because before that we were masking, distancing etc.

     

    @Matt McIrvin:

  14. 14.

    TF79

    For a while there, I was hopeful that the new norm would be that if you feel crummy, you stay home. But it sounds like there’s a lot of reversion to the old norm of “as long as you can physically haul yourself to work, you go.” Pretty telling about the incentives in many workplaces.

  15. 15.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    Swimming in Moderna mRNA.  Got it at a dinner theater after almost 4 years of missing it week after the War on Xmas officially ended.  Was on travel so didn’t test until I got home. Nobody, including my wife, got it and she was at the theater, etc. Once I tested positive, I masked at home and slept in the office until night before last.

    Kicking myself b/c I’ve typically still masked at large events but having been to a similar-sized concert the week before with no issues…oops.

    Only difference is that she caught it in June 2022.  Looks like we’re typical examples of how things are going at this moment.

  16. 16.

    New Deal democrat

    It seems more likely than not that we are near peak (per Biobot), but we won’t know until the wastewater counts affirmatively turn down. This would be on par with the last two winters, where as soon as the holiday gatherings ended, so did the surge.

    Per Biobot, at 1400 particles per mL, only the original Omicrom wave was worse, which peaked at 4600. Last winter’s peak was 1160 particles. There is considerable regional variation, with three regions flat or slightly declining, while the Northeast has continued to increase to 35% of its Omicron peak. Nationally the increase was only 4% in the past week.

    Hospitalizations have continued to spike to 34,000, vs. 44,000 one year ago at peak. Deaths as of the week of December 16 were 1460. I suspect these will rise to about 2000 once this week’s numbers are reported in a few weeks. This compares with 3900 deaths at peak one year ago. (I suspect BNO’s higher number comes from the change in the cumulative number of COVID deaths in the latest weekly CDC report, but this increase is spread over 3 or 4 weeks of actual deaths).

    The CDC also updated its variant analysis last Friday, showing JN.1 accounting for 62% of all cases. It is spreading slightly slower than forecast a few weeks ago. It will probably be 75% or more of all cases by the time of the next report.

    In large part I suspect that JN.1’s “success” is that it is a throwback to the BA.2 line, which last was dominant 18 months ago. Resistance to this line has probably faded. On the other hand, lethality has continued its dramatic decline.

    I echo all the commentators who have recommended returning to your full COVID protocols until this wave has receded.

  17. 17.

    TBone

    Here in rural small town central PA, our health care system (complete with aptly named Evangelical Hospital) is ignoring the fact that our county has been in “high transmission” code red for weeks.  Nary a mask in sight anywhere out there not even at the hospital.  I am livid about this, hubby went to cardiologist appointment at said hospital on Monday unmasked despite my reminding him that my already non-optimal immune system is currently further suppressed by prednisone.  I woke up achy and snuffly today on a pillow soaked through from night sweats.  Gatdamnit.

  18. 18.

    Tom Levenson

    .My wife came tested positive this week. I’m negative so far, but I fear the pattern we experienced last year, when I tested positive on NYE, and my other half followed suit about three days later.  Will be testing in a few minutes. (We almost certainly picked that up at a Christmas Eve dinner).

    I’m supposed to travel for a well-paid gig next week. Not sure it’s going to happen.  Also—gotta get a book MS to my publisher by Monday.

    Fun times!

    As to where we got it? Unclear. Maybe on NYE, when we had dinner with friends—except they’re hale. Otherwise? We aren’t dining out; I don’t teach in Jan.; haven’t been seeing people? If the virus really now does have a ~3 day incubation period, this could be just one random bad luck encounter.

    Oy.

  20. 20.

    hrprogressive

    @Princess:

     

    Yeah, this is exactly why I’ve basically stopped paying attention to what the Zero Covid crowd has had to say for the last year and change.

    He can call the variants whatever mythical monster he wants, but the bottom line is they still all descend from the Omicron lineage.

    Should there be a debate as they get further and further mutated about another Greek letter variant? Maybe, I think that’s potentially worth discussion.

    But a lot of this crowd ruined their credibility with nonsense like “SARS-3” and “Airborne AIDS”. I’m sorry.

    I’ve been particiularly cautious for almost 4 full years now, and I just can’t take those people seriously.

    That said, this update does make me a little nervous. Just decided to go to a sporting event for the first time in ages on Saturday. Was already planning to use my N95 and I don’t care if I’m the only one doing it. Just hope it’ll be enough.

  21. 21.

    New Deal democrat

    @Matt McIrvin: As usual, you and I are on the same page, just with slightly different emphases. I know you pay much more attention to local data than I do.

    Parenthetically, the CDC’s wastewater reporting has been diverging significantly from Biobot (e.g., the CDC shows the epicenter of the surge is currently the Midwest). I am sticking with Biobot.

    Also, it is beyond annoying that the CDC is so far behind the ball at times like this. By now they should realize that COVID will spike from Thanksging through New Year’s, and update more timely and frequently, e.g., twice a week.

  23. 23.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Tom Levenson: Had a similar situation – my better half and I went to her family’s place for Christmas, she was exposed to her nephew who’d been quite sick on Christmas Eve (we’d tested negative before going), then she started feeling crappy on Christmas Day, was hammered on Boxing Day, and by mid-week was flattened. Took several days for us to think COVID, by which time she and I were both positive. By the time of my flight back, I’d tested negative twice, but she was still testing positive. COVID didn’t hit me much harder than a common cold, despite the fact that my vaccination was back in June while hers was in October.

  24. 24.

    Linden

    @Princess: Lurker from the UK, posting for the first time.

    All the variants are “Omicron” because the WHO is refusing to designate new variants with a new Greek letter.

    Most of the variants circulating now are informally known as Pirola variants, by variant trackers that are actually doing the work.

    Pirola has a great many changes from Omicron, and should have had its own letter. But let’s not scare the proles!

  26. 26.

    Tony G

    @TF79: In a lot of (maybe most?) workplaces, NOT hauling your sick body into work increases your risk of getting fired and losing your income.  In many cases, irresponsible behavior by employees is a rational response to a toxic workplace.

  27. 27.

    Soprano2

    @Central Planning: That’s interesting. When I couldn’t taste or smell anything, I would quit eating as soon as I wasn’t hungry anymore because the food didn’t taste particularly good. I lost 8 pounds in about two weeks. I guess YMMV.

  28. 28.

    hrprogressive

    @Linden: ​
     

    Again, there may be a little truth to the fact that the latest variants have more mutations than OG-Omicron, but it does not diminish the fact that their ancestry absolutely traces back to the OG Omicron from 2021/2.

    T. Ryan Gregory and his ZC Gang are doing just fine “scaring the proles” with their own doomcasting about the CovidPocalypse, so, yeah.

  29. 29.

    Soprano2

    @Princess: The state of MO sewershed covid testing project dates to July 2020. They had to a) know they needed to do it and b) develop ways to test for Covid in wastewater. Since they had already been testing for a lot of other things in wastewater, it wasn’t that hard to add Covid. When you think about the fact that we only knew of Covid in a widespread way in March of 2020, that’s pretty fast. If you look at the historic data, what we’re seeing now is far from the largest or second largest Covid peak. I don’t know where they’re getting that. Back in July 2023 in MO they changed the way they tested for Covid, which means it’s impossible to compare the older data to the newer data, because the newer data is more sensitive to Covid. The peak of Covid in MO was January 2022; the second peak was December 2020. Here’s a link if you want to look at it yourself. I’ve always thought wastewater testing was fascinating, because they can learn a lot from it.

  31. 31.

    arrieve

    More anecdata about people being “too eager to move on” from Covid: I live in NYC and have never stopped masking indoors, and though the number of people masking in places like supermarkets has greatly declined, I’m never the only person in a mask.

    I just took a 16-day cruise in the Mediterranean and Red Sea. The ship was only half full because of the itinerary and the Gaza war, but there were still about 250 people. And I was literally the only one, passenger or crew, wearing a mask. Which didn’t bother me, because I’m a crotchety old lady who doesn’t care what anyone else thinks, but what was interesting was that I realized how much seeing other people in masks acts as a visual cue to check my own, or to pull it up again if I’ve been eating or drinking. Several times I’d get back to my room after eating a meal in the dining room and realize that my mask was still around my neck. The same thing happened after eating on the flight home.

    There were few or no masks on the flights, and very few at Istanbul airport, where I had to change planes. I got back Monday and still feel fine apart from jet lag, so I’m going to keep my fingers crossed for another few days.

  32. 32.

    Chris

    Realllllllllly love the post-holiday tradition of people being sick but coming into work anyway as if we didn’t just live through a global pandemic caused by airborne transmission of a highly transmissible virus

    Honestly, I increasingly hate this entire holiday season for exactly this reason: Thanksgiving to New Year is the month where everybody gets sick and yet it’s simply unthinkable to just stay the fuck home and/or in your room like a sane person if that means skipping one of the holiday events.  Work is bad enough, but you can’t even catch a break on the home front.  I increasingly want to skip this whole damn season and just make up for it at Halloween or Easter or summer holidays or whatever.

    (Yes, I know.  Bah humbug to me too).

  33. 33.

    Chris

    @Tony G:

    @TF79: In a lot of (maybe most?) workplaces, NOT hauling your sick body into work increases your risk of getting fired and losing your income.  In many cases, irresponsible behavior by employees is a rational response to a toxic workplace.

    Yep.

    My workplace is not free of dumbass management decisions, but it’s one of the few that hasn’t reverted to pre-Covid mean, which I’m very grateful for.  They tried to get us to a mandatory “three days at work, two days at home” model twice back in 2021, both times the plan was shelved when Covid rates spiked again, and at this point they seem to have pretty much given up on it.  It doesn’t hurt that a lot of the managers themselves seem very happy to work mostly from home.

    In most workplaces, sadly, it’s back to the standard of “better you make the clients and the entire office sick, than we establish a precedent that says your health matters.”

  34. 34.

    narya

    I am traveling to visit my old and immunocompromised parents . . . I take Amtrak and get a room, and I wear a mask in every other space, so I’m crossing my fingers. I have these masks with a filter pocket that I got for running in 2020, and I think I might even sleep in one of those. My understanding is that their filtering system is pretty good, but every little bit. My biggest risk, I suspect, is the night I’ll be at my brother’s house, as he and my SIL basically ignore Covid.

  35. 35.

    Peke Daddy

    The budget deal in Washington calls for clawing back $6 billion in unspent Covid relief funds. Hope they won’t be needed.

  36. 36.

    Miss Bianca

    OK, Jackals, I am finally set to get my COVID booster tomorrow and I’m a little nervous about it. Last time I got it, ’twas pretty much of a nothingburger in terms of reaction (as opposed to the first two/three), but I’ve heard reports ranging from “eh” to “OMG I was in fever and delirium for DAYS” this time round.

    Reports from the BJ field? I am really hoping, naturally enough, for the former reaction rather than the latter.

  37. 37.

    narya

    @Miss Bianca: I was tired and slow for a day–that’s become my default reaction to all vaccinations (most recently RSV+flu). I had the updated Covid in September on Day 1 of availability, and it was pretty much that.

  38. 38.

    frosty

    Thanks for doing these updates AL. I’m glad they’re down to weekly to give you a break. This new wave has me worried and I wouldn’t know about it without your roundup. I have a retirement party and a Happy Hour to go to next week and I’m thinking of bailing on the latter. Don’t want to get sick just before we leave on our Snowbird trip!

  43. 43.

    smith

    I also had a very sore shoulder for several days. This time the shot was placed way high up, well above where they usually go — don’t know why — and I attributed the extra soreness to that, since it also happened in my other arm where I had a flu shot.

  44. 44.

    Linden

    @hrprogressive:  Here on plague island, we’re quietly living the CovidPocalypse so I have a little more sympathy with the “ZS gang” than with the blithely unconcerned.

    Very few people in my age group have been allowed to have the updated booster. The UK government put outdated (and proven ineffective) boosters into the arms of 2M vulnerable and old people. Hospitals are, in fact, overflowing and declaring critical incidents. I’m the only one masking at work. Everyone had “flu” over the Christmas break. Those who kept testing came up Covid positive. The government wants to force children to come into school sick, and the shadow Education secretary has not said a single word about improving conditions for children in classes.

    Covid may not be airborne AIDS, but it is not the flu either. It does cumulative, and for some, profound damage.

  45. 45.

    Kristine

    @eclare:

    This seems more allergy related, but nothing is blooming, and even if it were, I haven’t done any yard work.

    Idk where you live and what the weather has been, but I get occasional allergy flares mid-winter here in NE Illinois. When I check the allergy reports, Dust & Dander are always sky high. Pretty sure it’s air quality-related and that the house duct system needs a good cleaning.

  47. 47.

    AJ of the Mustard Search and Rescue Team

    AL cannot thank you enough for these. So very helpful, thank you.

  50. 50.

    VFX Lurker

    @Miss Bianca: I got my 2023-2024 COVID and flu shots at the same time in September 2023.

    I didn’t drink enough water afterwards, so I had the ghost of a headache hanging over me 24 hours later. However, my head felt fine the next day.

    I also didn’t rotate my shoulders, so the injection site was sore to the touch for a few days after that.

    Drink lots of water, and consider rotating your arms to reduce soreness. Good luck!

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