Coronavirus 7: Ring in Delta Plus and then Omicron Takes Over

[Smash!]

@adidas So sorry your cases are this high and it‘s not even Winter in Australia.

We will have a 5 person family Christmas. I could do without but my mom wants to have a family get together. I managed to find a doctor who boosted my sister off label ahead of time so we at least are all boosted. Still, sister will be seeing quite a few other people and I hope she won’t get infected and carries it to our Christmas.

[WiseGirl]

Found out I had a possible exposure. Getting an appointment for a test or finding an over the counter test is impossible. Something told me to go to CVS. After seeing two people get tests from behind the counter another woman I followed the clerk to the beauty department.  We both ended up getting our tests. I feel like I won the Golden Ticket in Willy Wonka. 

[adidas]

Over 5700 cases in my state today. Holy crap. 

[FiveAcres]

Obituary found at HCA (Herman Cain Award subreddit) behind spoiler. The writer's pain seems almost palpable.

Spoiler

Quote

Michael Joseph Malecki died needlessly from Covid-19 on Monday, November 15, 2021, at the age of 70. He did not believe in masks, tests, vaccines, or the virus; he was ill for less than 48 hours. Born in Schenectady, NY, on March 26, 1951, Mike was a son of Joseph and Jessie Malecki. He was a member of the last graduating class of St. Columba's High School (1969), and attended SUNY Albany (now UAlbany), Maria College, and Hudson Valley Community College. While living in the Capital Region, Mike worked as a bartender in Latham and Albany, most notably at the Moon Restaurant, with Nick Cavaleri. In the late 1970s, Mike moved to California, where he continued working in the hospitality business. By the mid-1980s, Mike had relocated to the Dallas, Texas area. He most consistently worked in sales, selling investment shares in oil and gas exploration and drilling. As he had since the 1970s, he also traded commodities and commodity options, which he continued to do up to his death. Throughout his life, Mike was interested in weight-lifting, souped-up cars, and smooth cigars. A brief marriage in the 1970s ended in divorce. He liked to say he lived his life according to his favorite songs, "My Way" and "I Gotta Be Me." He was certainly him, and it probably killed him. Mike was predeceased by his parents, many aunts and uncles, several cousins, his brother-in-law John L. Polnak, and at least one favorite dog. He's survived by his sister, Maryanne Malecki (Schenectady), and brother, John Malecki (Christiane Wittek; NYC). He also leaves behind his life-long friends from his youth spent in the Stockade section of Schenectady, and hanging out in Riverside Park. Mike didn't like going to funerals or any services related to death, and attended very few. Out of respect for his feelings, it does not seem appropriate to make him start going now. Instead, the family will sponsor a memorial bench in the park near his childhood home, where Mike liked to walk along the Mohawk River whenever he visited his parents. Donations in Mike's name can be made to either National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (https://www.nfid.org/), 7201 Wisconsin Avenue - Suite 750; Bethesda, MD 20814, or (https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/), USA Headquarters, 40 Rector St., 16th Floor; New York, NY 10006.

 

Not Omicron, since date of death was November 15 of a 70 year old guy who was ill for less than 48 hours. Reading between the lines, I could only think, "What a waste of a human life." 

Obituary: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/dailygazette/name/michael-malecki-obituary?id=31981585

Reddit: 

 

Edited December 23, 2021 by FiveAcres

[Howl]

OK, y'all, Trump was bragging about getting a booster and now his MAGA alcolytes are in a kerfuffle. 

QAnons could be in a better place to deal with this, because they can always be encouraged to "Trust the Plan" even if nobody is able to articulate what the plan is.   

[Smee]

I’m in the same state as @adidas (in the newcastle area - are you up here too?) and watching the rapid daily case numbers with worry. It’s like our government went “ok 95% of over 12s are vaccinated so we can just let it rip” and now they’re pushing boosters but MOST OF US AREN’T ELIGIBLE YET COZ YOU FUCKED UP THE INITIAL ROLLOUT. Also, my kids are 5, 7 and 10 and vaccines for 5-11yr olds start Jan 10th but I can’t get into my portal to book them an appointment and the hold time on the phone is 45min+. At least it’s school holidays now but they’re about to spend 2 weeks with their dad and I know ex-MIL will want to go out to a billion places, cafes etc.

The state government finally brought back an indoor mask mandate that they should never have taken away. Perrotwat aka Domnicrom aka ConDom (premier Dominic Perrottet) is all about tHe EcONoMy and couldn’t wait to lift every restriction he could, despite masks having zero impact on the economy anyway.

 

[Ozlsn]

7 hours ago, Smee said:

It’s like our government went “ok 95% of over 12s are vaccinated so we can just let it rip” and now they’re pushing boosters but MOST OF US AREN’T ELIGIBLE YET COZ YOU FUCKED UP THE INITIAL ROLLOUT.

Yep. And watching the debate between the "it's mild, no wuckers" and the "if the case numbers are high enough we will still see the hospital system in crisis" mobs is tiring to say the least.  At least some of the jump is definitely due to asymptomatic or low symptomatic people getting tested in order to cross state borders, but even so Newcastle managing to reach the same infection rate as Hume (~1 in 51 people) in about a third of the time is a testament to the transmissibilty of Omicron. I notice that the hospitalisations have also started to rise again, sigh.

Spoiler

 

No idea how many of that cohort are unvaccinated, my guess is nearly all of them. 

[Howl]

Several high profile folks I follow on political twitter (2 shots & boosted) with Omicron breakthrough  cases are letting everyone know it's no damn joke.  Their symptoms were not mild. 

We DVR Maddow and watch her in the morning, so we were watching last night's "episode."  

Remember that one possible side effect of COVID is losing sense of smell.  

Apparently Yankee scented candles have a particular and very strong scent.  

Rachel reported on a  researcher who created a graph of social media complaints about Yankee scented candles having no scent against a graph of the abrupt spike in Omicron cases.  Yup, they track.  

The abrupt spike in Washington DC cases was nearly vertical on the graph.  Scary. 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by Howl

[adidas]

@smee I’m a little north of you, but the majority of our family and friends with it are in Newy.

@Ozlsn yesterday on the news they said 65% are unvaxed.

Want to know what I loved most of all about the press conference? When they said ‘please don’t go to get a pcr test because we are so busy’

??!!!??!! 

I get it. You’re overloaded. Annastacia caused a kerfuffle and you didn’t anticipate such a situation, but for Brad Health-Hazzard to say that in the good old days when only 40,000 tests were being done per day the pathology system could cope … and now that there are 160,000 tests are being done it’s hard for them to keep up … perhaps employ more people? Idiots.

[Smash!]

Holy shit. My sister tested positive with a lateral flow test this morning. She took about three tests, all came back positive. She got the booster shot about two weeks ago. We were planning on celebrating Christmas this evening with my parents. My boyfriend and I still went (two negative nasalpharyngeal antigentests today/yesterday). I‘m still shocked but VERY grateful she tested positive today and not tomorrow thus not exposing my high risk unvaccinated mom (who wore kn95 mask the whole time we were there). So far her symptoms are very mild and I hope it stays that way.

[treehugger]

Well, my husband just tested positive, and I am suddenly dreading this next week. All the kids home from school, and an 11 month old baby.  And there’s just no way any of us haven’t been exposed now. Fingers crossed I don’t get it, or if I do that it will be very mild. And if you are the praying type, my husband is immunocompromised and on several immune suppressant medications so while his symptoms are currently mild, I’m worried about it. We are both double vaxxed and careful, but weren’t elegible for our boosters yet.  

[Bluebirdbluebell]

On 12/17/2021 at 3:44 AM, Bluebirdbluebell said:

A young friend of mine has COVID. I'm not sure if she had the third shot booster, but she had the first two shots and is not antivax. She's having a very mild case, but it worries me. She's stressed, because there's not a lot to do and she was hoping to fly home for Christmas. She's very responsible person and she isn't sure how she got COVID. Please send good vibes. 

Good news! My young friend tested negative and made it home for Christmas! I'm so happy for her. 

Stay safe, everyone. I'll pray for everyone. 

[anachronistic]

Good Christmas but full of worry about omicron. My toddler nibling had one of their daycare teachers come down with it this weekend. Toddler doesn’t mask, and if they have it they’ve undoubtedly spread it around the extended family currently gathered at my dads house. Nobody has symptoms but me, but I took a rapid test and it was negative, so it’s probably just allergies and fibromyalgia, as usual. I don’t want to wait in line in my car for hours for a PCR test tomorrow but am also terrified. My nibling will do a rapid test this week and I will do a PCR test if they’re positive. (Of course we should all be quarantining now but my family isn’t, of course. They’re all certain that our health and booster shots protect us.)

 

I’m trying very hard to look at the big picture. My dads house was built in 1840. The people who lived within these walls knew plagues. This is a plague. Humanity will survive plagues……. I just hope that *we* all will, selfish as it is. I want these specific people, you specific people, to survive. Because I’m becoming incredibly uncertain. 

[Bluebirdbluebell]

Now a different friend is battling COVID. He's vaxxed and tried to be safe. I haven't seen him in person, so I can't catch it. However I am concerned for him, especially since he has some mild side effects. Please send him good thoughts.

[Smash!]

To everyone battling Covid get well soon! ❤️‍🩹

I‘ve read that rapid tests are only effective after 2 days of symptom onset. And unfortunately I‘ve heard of more and more triple vaxxed people getting Covid. Omicron is a beast. 

[clueliss]

I went to the store earlier this morning to pick up a few things that I needed came back as I was coming back I noticed one of the upstairs neighbors coming out of her apartment wearing a mask to walk the dog. This is not typical behavior here. Now I’m concerned is the upstairs neighbor quarantining or just the upstairs neighbor have Covid?

[Dandruff]

I'd be amazed if some people in my building don't have Omicron since it's rampant in the DC area and many here don't wear masks at all.  I've been wearing an N95 in indoor public areas since news of Omicron began a few weeks ago.  Not wearing a mask when I'm outside, but I try to avoid getting in close proximity to other people.

I'm shopping much less frequently now.

Here's an article I read where an ER doc describes Omicron symptoms he's seeing in unvaccinated, vaccinated but not boosted, and boosted individuals.  Sounds like good reasons to get vaccinated and boosted:

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronavirus/nyc-er-doc-breaks-down-how-omicron-affects-the-boosted-vaxxed-and-unvaccinated/3468742/

[SassyPants]

My nephew (triple vaxed, married to PhD RN) and their kids 4 and 2 have COVID. So far, not too sick. My niece remains negative-

[Howl]

I just read a twitter thread by Dr. Eric Feigl-Ding, epidemiologist and health economist.  He's been posing COVID updates since January 2020. 

This thread on the transmissibility of Omicron scared the crap out of me.  Some are hypothesizing that its transmissibility is equal to measles.  

Also new findings coming out about the virus lingering in organs for months and it's ability to cause cellular damage in the brain, even in "mild" cases. 

This is what scared me the most: Dr. Ding linked to New York's Mt. Sinai hospital's statement that Monoclonal antibodies are apparently NOT effective against Omicron and they have stopped offering it as a treatment.  

Unroll of Dr. Ding's twitter thread: Remember that this twitter thread was posted on Dec. 20.  Things have gotten worse in one week: The #Omicron wave will hit hospitals hard—pray for doctors, nurses & respiratory therapists over the holidays. #MaskUp #GetBoosted Stay safe 🙏

Mast up and stay safe, y'all. 

[Coconut Flan]

There's one monoclonal antibody that still seems to work.  Extra orders are in play for that one.  Some states have run out and will have to wait until January for the next delivery.  The anti-COVID pills are due to be available any day now, but will be in limited quantities.  This is all hitting together with holidays and the possible peak of Omicron.   

I moved from visiting one house to another today (we're all vaccinated and adults boosted and tested then were together in one house Christmas Eve through Christmas night and have stayed home otherwise.)  This daughter, who works at a hospital, was telling me hopefully we'll get the steep rise and hairpin curve of South Africa so if we can stay inside for ten days or two weeks we can miss the worst of it.  The scariest part for me is I have to go to the hospital for treatment tomorrow.  

[Ozlsn]

Covid testing here has been overwhelmed in places by people needing tests done - not just for symptomatic/exposure reasons but also for travel - some states require a negative result within certain timeframes to cross borders. A friend and her family drove to three separate places that were turning people away before lining up at a drive through one at 10.45pm and sleeping in the car overnight. When they arrived they were 10th in line, the centre reached capacity before 6am and didn't actually open until 8am.  They got the tests done, God knows if they'll get the results in time. There have already been problems with one pathology centre releasing incorrect results this week, and twitter is full of people who are spending hours on the phone chasing up results. The holiday season is not helping things - some centres and pathology labs closed for the Christmas/New Year break, so people are now overwhelming hospital ERs to get tests done. Honestly I would really just like the states and federal government to work together, and maybe stop pretending the pandemic is over? At mart read the Doherty report in full including the "vaccines with public health measures" part. It was never just vaccines, sigh.

[AmazonGrace]

This was completely predictable but still, pretty striking graphs. https://acasignups.net/21/12/20/request-how-delta-wave-has-ravaged-red-america-month-month

somebody put together graphs of how many people are dying of Covid in heavily Trumpian districts versus blue districts. This is September:

 

[Smash!]

@Howl Honestly I stopped following Eric Feigl-Ding because I think he‘s an alarmist and doesn‘t put information into context. There are monoclonal antibody treatments that still work against omicron but the question is how much of that was ordered. I guess the hospital stopped offering them because they don’t have enough of the ones that are still effective.

Yes Omicron is highly transmissible. But there are several studies saying the disease is milder for those who are double/triple vaxxed. In the end what we can do against Omicron stays the same with other variants: get vaccinated, get your 3rd dose, upgrade your mask, find one that doesn‘t leak and is comfortable, stay home if possible. I have several doctor/hospital appointments in the next month and just bought FFP3 masks (3M, model „Aura“). Their fit is great.

To the long term side effects of Covid: This scares me as well. The vaccine seems to be the best protection at the moment even if there are cases of double vaxxed people with Long Covid. 

[Howl]

Infusion centers in my city (Austin, TX) are out of the monoclonal antibody that is effective against Omicron, so it's struck home, literally. 

5 hours ago, Smash! said:

Honestly I stopped following Eric Feigl-Ding because I think he‘s an alarmist and doesn‘t put information into context.

I get your point about him personally, but it's a dire situation and he shares a lot of information that IS accurate.  And there are still an amazing number of our fellow citizens who aren't alarmed and should be. 

Also, fuck Louis DeJoy.  I ordered KN 95 masks from a local mask factory (ArmbrustUSA.com) that is about a 15 minute drive from my house. They filled and shipped my order on Christmas Day (!), it went to a post office less than a 15-minute drive away and it still isn't delivered. 

[Howl]

Excellent twitter thread by Andy Slavitt, that takes many "informed"  views into account:

Unroll: COVID Update: I’ve interviewed well over 100 experts now. With omicron, the graphs & opinions are many but the truths are muddled.

 

Edited December 28, 2021 by Howl