Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #107

[MimosaMornings]

Our school district is ending the mask mandates in schools starting next week.
Omicron has peaked and hospitalizations have dropped significantly here in Ohio.

The school districts around here have been using the positive test rate and daily new rates, the ptr has to be below 5% for a consecutive number of days to end the mask mandate. It was above 30% but think it’s hovering in the mid 20’s.
Glad your numbers are low there.

 

[CSIDreamer]

Sweden lifts COVID restrictions, stops testing | whas11.com

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Sweden has halted wide-scale testing for COVID-19 even among people showing symptoms of an infection, putting an end to the mobile city-square tent sites, drive-in swab centers and home-delivered tests that became ubiquitous during the pandemic and provided essential data for tracking its spread.


The move puts the Scandinavian nation at odds with most of Europe, but some experts say it could become the norm as costly testing yields fewer benefits with the easily transmissible but milder omicron variant and as governments begin to consider treating COVID-19 like they do other endemic illnesses.

“We have reached a point where the cost and relevance of the testing is no longer justifiable.” Swedish Public Health Agency chief Karin Tegmark Wisell told the national broadcast SVT this week.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Just another issue that is affecting widows/widowers of Covid death victims. Social Security offices are either closed or so jammed up, none can get services or their expected social security benefits on a partners death.

Closed Social Security offices make it hard for COVID widows to get benefits - Poynter

 

[CSIDreamer]

Just another issue that is affecting widows/widowers of Covid death victims. Social Security offices are either closed or so jammed up, none can get services or their expected social security benefits on a partners death.

Closed Social Security offices make it hard for COVID widows to get benefits - Poynter

I just need a statement for my mother. It's enough to make one cry.

 

[KALI]

It's an election year in the USA.
My .02 cents. ;-)

Dropping Indoor Mask Mandate, New York Joins Blue States Easing Covid Rules

I'm pretty distraught about this, and confused as well.

Wasn't it just a minute ago that we were being urged to wear only n-95 masks? That a cloth or surgical mask was not enough? And the federal government sent masks to pharmacies to ensure our safety?

Gov. Hochul recently filed an appeal to extend mask-wearing after a judge said it wasn't constitutional, and the appeals court allowed her to keep masks indoors at least through February.

The CDC director is all over MSM saying that it's not the right time to forego masks indoors.

Then the governors of NJ and Connecticut started to drop mask laws indoors, and now in NY too?

I will continue to wear my 95 but will feel much less safe now.

 

[KALI]

I cannot fathom how many lives throughout the World have been upended due to this curse of a virus. Unfortunately, I rarely see the news media covering individual stories. Those silent stories are the ones I really want to hear about. MOO

Yes. It is a revolving door. Teachers who have Covid-19, get it from, or give it to their own children. So, they are out not only with their illness, but their children as well.

At least the CDC has changed the quarantine protocol. It is down to five days now. Previously, it was two weeks.

Pretty much, where I work, gals with young kids, quit due to day care and school issues.

 

[mickey2942]

COVID vaccination status on your resume? More people are doing it.

Crazy. I have been running across this issue lately. And with the "Vaccine Mandate", pretty much dead in the water, I am not sure what to think.

 

[SouthAussie]

COVID vaccination status on your resume? More people are doing it.

Crazy. I have been running across this issue lately. And with the "Vaccine Mandate", pretty much dead in the water, I am not sure what to think.

One of my clients is having customers asking if the people who will be working at their houses are vaccinated (otherwise they don't want them at their homes).

And the schools, childcare centres, and retirement homes where they have jobs definitely require vaccinated tradespeople ... the work orders from those places clearly state the requirement.

So, we had to get a copy of everyone's vaccination status from his staff. And my client has to carefully schedule his staff now, to honour the client requests.

Fortunately, he only has 2 staff members (out of 17) who are unvaccinated. The unvaccinated ones are usually scheduled to work at vacant properties where they sometimes have work. The unvaccinated ones sometimes get less hours than the vaccinated people, even though they are good at their trade.
But my client is not about to not honour the requests of his customers, because he has a good reputation to maintain.

I can see this being a consideration when my client needs to hire additional or new staff.

 

[KALI]

Is this pandemic over? What do you think?

 

[Fika]

Sweden lifts COVID restrictions, stops testing | whas11.com

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — Sweden has halted wide-scale testing for COVID-19 even among people showing symptoms of an infection, putting an end to the mobile city-square tent sites, drive-in swab centers and home-delivered tests that became ubiquitous during the pandemic and provided essential data for tracking its spread.


The move puts the Scandinavian nation at odds with most of Europe, but some experts say it could become the norm as costly testing yields fewer benefits with the easily transmissible but milder omicron variant and as governments begin to consider treating COVID-19 like they do other endemic illnesses.

“We have reached a point where the cost and relevance of the testing is no longer justifiable.” Swedish Public Health Agency chief Karin Tegmark Wisell told the national broadcast SVT this week.

I’m not surprised about that at all. There has been a talk about skipping the tests for general population and only test few risk groups for a while now. Not surprised that they decided to drop it all together.

So restrictions are dropped and more people are going back to work physically. My bf got an email saying that they are welcome back to the office from Monday.
Transportation is twice as busy since yesterday mostly in the mornings.
I still see many people masked up and most keep their distance. I think that keeping the distance from one another is so rooted in our thinking by now that it will stick for a long time.

 

[Fika]

Is this pandemic over? What do you think?

I think that it’s far from over. Big proportion of world population is still unvaccinated. Virus will mutate and the new variant might evade all immunity that we have created by vaccination and natural immunity.
After delta surge life was almost normal(here) until omicron came swiped us with extreme levels of sickness. This can and will most likely happen again.

 

[MimosaMornings]

Is this pandemic over? What do you think?

In a county that averaged 204 new confirmed cases per day (91.0 for every 100,000 residents). and 28.9% positivity rate? Nope.

Perhaps there are areas where it has come and gone - the numbers are very low? I’m not working or living in counties with high vaccination rates, low cases per day or low positivity rates - doesn’t appear over to me.
JMO

 

[Lilibet]

Is this pandemic over? What do you think?

Nope. More and more vaxxed people I know have gotten it, including my doctor. Nothing has changed for us, and I don’t anticipate that it will for a long time. Sad, but true IMO.

 

[indicolite22]

Unions and scientists claim Boris is moving 'too far, too soon' as rules set to be gone in fortnight | Daily Mail Online

Latest figures from the UK Health Security Agency — which count deaths as those within 28 days of a positive test — show 1,663 fatalities were registered in England and Wales during the week ending January 28.

But looking at the data by the number of death certificates mentioning the virus, however, shows there were only 1,385 logged.

And if the data is broken down to show where the virus was the underlying cause of death, only 986 were posted — 40 per cent below the official tally.

That means that for every three people that died from Covid, additional two died with it.

 

[indicolite22]

Unions and scientists claim Boris is moving 'too far, too soon' as rules set to be gone in fortnight | Daily Mail Online

A YouGov poll of nearly 5,000 Britons shows just 17 per cent of people believe the self-isolation requirement should no longer be legally required.

According to the article, nearly half of the polled think that self-isolation should never be dropped and a quarter argue that it should stay in place for a few more months.

 

[Elley Mae]

The South African doctor who discovered the Omicron strain has revealed she was 'pressured' into describing the variant as more dangerous than it really is.

South African doctor who discovered Omicron says she was 'pressured' into making variant sound worse | Daily Mail Online

Dr Angelique Coetzee was one of the first to report the new variant in November last year and said it caused 'mild' symptoms for those in her country.

But she claims she was told by scientists and politicians from around the globe that her description was wrong.

 

[katydid23]

Whew....I think I made it home safely, with none of us catching Covid...

Just got back from flying up North to visit my Mom in her retirement community. I have been home now for 5 days, with no symptoms of illness. My daughter has no symptoms and My 92 yr old Mom is fine as well.

So even though I had to go through airports 4x and fly, and all that, no harm, no foul....And it was a lovely trip.

 

[tabitha111]

Is this pandemic over? What do you think?

BA.2 expected to get dominant in the US in March. But is anyone
listening? MOO

Yaneer Bar-Yam
@yaneerbaryam
·
16h
BA2, a second variety of Omicron but with many different mutations, and can reinfect those who were infected by BA1, rapidly growing in US–close to 4%—3X in a week. Horror sequels are better kept to movies. We should learn from previous variants and stop them in the real world.

 

[tabitha111]

Whew....I think I made it home safely, with none of us catching Covid...

Just got back from flying up North to visit my Mom in her retirement community. I have been home now for 5 days, with no symptoms of illness. My daughter has no symptoms and My 92 yr old Mom is fine as well.

So even though I had to go through airports 4x and fly, and all that, no harm, no foul....And it was a lovely trip.

I would be interested to hear how the retirement community handles Covid. Were residents wearing masks- was there indoor dining en masse? Did it seem like the pandemic was over as it seems like where I live?

 

[Elley Mae]

COVID-19 seems to increase risk of serious heart ailments year after recovery: report

COVID-19 seems to increase risk of serious heart ailments year after recovery: report

Any infection with COVID-19—regardless of severity—seems to increase the risk of heart ailments for survivors, according to a new study that one researcher called "stunning."

The study found an increased risk of 20 different heart and vessel issues for those who’ve had the virus a year earlier, Science magazine reported.

Reuters reported that the study found that those who recovered from the virus had about a 63% higher risk of having a heart attack and a 52% greater risk of stroke one year later. The news outlet also said those who recovered had a 72% higher risk of heart failure. The elevated risks seemed to impact everyone, regardless of sex, age or whether there were pre-existing conditions, the report said. The magazine pointed out that even those who were not hospitalized also had greater risk of cardiovascular disease.