Coronavirus test kits from the U.S. govt have begun arriving at residents' homes. The Biden administration said it would send 500M rapid tests to Americans this month via the U.S. Postal Service after #OmicronVariant strained access to in-person testing https://t.co/eAIvr6g0h8
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 23, 2022
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WHO chief says world at 'critical juncture' in COVID pandemic https://t.co/WACbxdKOUC pic.twitter.com/Q7C4MDayYU
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 24, 2022
Chinese authorities have lifted a monthlong pandemic lockdown on the northern city of Xi’an and its 13 million residents. Access to the city had been suspended Dec. 22 following an outbreak attributed to the delta variant of the coronavirus. https://t.co/Vov8kNP0YK
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 24, 2022
Beijing 2022 organisers ease COVID-19 curbs for Games-related personnel https://t.co/gVzbH0NLAS pic.twitter.com/Y9UYM14vKI
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 24, 2022
… The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced the changes on Monday, which included easing the threshold for being designated positive for COVID-19 from PCR tests and reducing to seven days from 14 days the period for which a person is deemed a close contact.
The changes, which take effect immediately and apply retrospectively, “have been developed in order to further adapt to the reality of the current environment and support the Games participants”, the IOC said in a statement…
Organisers also began reporting data on positive COVID-19 tests among Games-related personnel, with 177 confirmed cases found among 3,115 international arrivals from Jan. 4 to Jan. 23, just one of which was among an athlete or support staffer, according to Beijing 2022 data released Sunday and Monday.
China’s strict COVID-19 protocols have led some team officials to express fear of athletes, including those who have recovered from coronavirus, being blocked from participating.
The changes mean that now only participants whose PCR results show a Cycle Threshold (CT) of less than 35 will be considered positive. Previously, the more sensitive CT of 40 was the threshold for designating those positive, the Games’ medical chief, Brian McCloskey, said on Sunday…
Some Hong Kong civil servants to work from home as COVID spreads https://t.co/V5laPY4JIA pic.twitter.com/gtPH3iYzhx
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 24, 2022
India's Omicron wave may intensify in coming weeks -experts https://t.co/mf9SFbpXE9 pic.twitter.com/2QMDIn4sF6
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 24, 2022
… India reported 306,064 new infections over the last 24 hours, the health ministry said, about an 8% decline from the average daily cases reported in the last four days. Deaths were 439, the lowest in five days.
But weekly positivity rates have risen to 17.03% in the week to Jan. 24, from about 0.63% Dec. 27, led by the highly-transmissible Omicron variant.
“Omicron is now in community transmission in India and has become dominant in multiple metros,” a report by the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) said on Jan. 10 in a report released on Sunday.
Most cases of the Omicron variant have been mild, the advisory group said, although hospitalisations and cases in intensive care were increasing…
India’s tally of overall infections reached 39.54 million, the second-highest globally behind the United States. The country has seen 489,848 people die of the virus.
#Omicron: Fast-rising cases have Japan scrambling to provide boosters. As recently as November, it seemed Japan had beaten back Covid. Daily case counts dropped to almost zero. Masked/vaccinated people went about life w/o pandemic concerns. Now it's back https://t.co/wSyjhunGS3 pic.twitter.com/BF6csPUi8T
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 23, 2022
Pakistan has introduced a series of tough new coronavirus restrictions — including barring anyone not fully vaccinated from entering mosques — after recording the country’s highest known daily number of new cases since the pandemic began. https://t.co/v3ykFB0Efu
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 23, 2022
German Covid protests turn nasty in row over rules and vaccinations https://t.co/9QEGtg3aQG
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 24, 2022
Canadian hospitals strain as Omicron hits health workers https://t.co/8K8oiG4uzD pic.twitter.com/awdv9SKdQL
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 24, 2022
Truckers fighting government vaccine mandate march to Canadian capital https://t.co/lqggWaoJNd pic.twitter.com/wCGoTlCNoY
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 24, 2022
‘March’:
A convoy of truckers started their march from Vancouver on Sunday to the Canadian capital city of Ottawa protesting the government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for truckers, which the industry says would create driver shortages and fuel inflation.
Truckers under the banner Freedom Convoy 2022 had raised C$2.7 million ($2.2 million) by Sunday through a gofundme campaign to fight the mandate. The funds raised would be used to help with the costs of fuel, food and lodgings, the gofundme page said. The convoy is expected to reach Ottawa on Jan. 29…
Canada imposed the vaccine mandate for the trucking industry from Jan. 15, under which unvaccinated Canadian truckers re-entering Canada from the United States must get tested for COVID-19 and quarantine themselves…
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has resisted industry pressure to delay the mandate since it was first announced in November.
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There's no shortage of misperceptions about Omicron. A review of the abundant new data helps clear a lot of those up https://t.co/SyCmCzkBQX pic.twitter.com/P3MTBCYzlt
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) January 23, 2022
An #Omicron 'sub-variant' is raising new coronavirus questions. Scientists are keeping close watch on the recently discovered Omicron sub-variant, BA.2. U.K. health officials identified ~400 BA.2 cases. Detected so far in 40 countries; can spread quickly https://t.co/2LRrTMly6n pic.twitter.com/z2uSHzX9N7
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 23, 2022
Laurie Garrett expects the worst, but then LG *always* expects the worst:
A traveler from India came down with #COVID19 in Guangzhou, China just after Christmas — China CDC genomic analysis revealed it was BA.2 and, "compared with the Wuhan reference sequence, the strain displayed 67 nucleotide variation sites." https://t.co/XNHnGzuwRC
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) January 23, 2022
Counter-thread:
Guys, BA.2 isn’t new. It’s been around since last year. It’s a sub-lineage to BA.1. They’re both still Omicron. It isn’t expected to be any more severe or expected to cause another wave. It might just eventually replace BA.1. End of the day, still Omicron. Let’s not lose focus.
— Chise ???? (@sailorrooscout) January 21, 2022
New research shows that COVID-19 vaccines do not cause infertility – but getting #COVID19 mighthttps://t.co/XUkAqQeF60
— MicrobesInfect (@MicrobesInfect) January 23, 2022
Animals infecting humans is scary. It’s worse when we infect them back. Mink farms threaten to become a source of new coronavirus variants — and an object lesson in how ‘spillback’ can make deadly diseases even deadlier https://t.co/V9H9uFbYqg
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 24, 2022
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Covid still spreading widely in Los Angeles County, though signs of decline continue. Health officials say there are encouraging signs the #Omicron wave may be past its peak https://t.co/gN4tgBcOcL
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 24, 2022
There's a shrinking number of nurses in the Deep South, and they're now deep into another Covid wave. An exodus of medical workers during the pandemic has been brutal for small, nonprofit safety-net hospitals where millions of Americans seek care https://t.co/AgWZu2wUBL
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 24, 2022
“It’s death all around you all the time” — In Hospital Strained by #Omicron, Weary Nurses Treat Too Many Patients. Texas hospital can’t keep up as a depleted staff works overtime and more beds are shifted to #Covid19, by @_melaevans
https://t.co/EwkGeSVuUK @WSJhealth #nursing— André Picard (@picardonhealth) January 23, 2022
New study: “Virus spread was 62 percent higher in school districts without mask rules.” https://t.co/4d1DvtlvJh
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) January 23, 2022
… Absolutely *nothing*. But with MASSIVE resolve!
Q: The Covid test positivity rate in your state is 41 percent. What are you doing to bring that down?
KRISTI NOEM: We are doing exactly what we have been doing the last two years. pic.twitter.com/WjqvnsCkJQ
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 23, 2022
Dumbest people in the world: Anti-vaxxers march in Washington DC —a city that mandates Covid vaccines —to protest vaccine mandates. The gathering was a jarring spectacle: A crowd of demonstrators, many unmasked, decrying vaccine mandates as #Omicron surges https://t.co/KYeKZCwvc8
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 23, 2022
Del Bigtree once again invoking the Holocaust at the antivaxx rally in D.C., using it to threaten journalists and Dr. Fauci.
"Unlike the Nuremberg Trials that only tried those doctors that destroyed the lives of those human beings, we're going to come after the press." pic.twitter.com/sH3qZNuSoE
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) January 23, 2022
(Drew Sheneman via GoComics.com)
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Sunday / Monday, Jan. 23-24Post + Comments (79)