Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #103

[tabitha111]

Minor rant: delivering newspapers this morning, there was an elderly couple (remember I live in a retirement community) waiting in the lobby for their driver - they are taking the train to CT. ( a 4- 5 hour train ride)which means stops in Philly and NYC as more passengers board (I have taken this train before to Boston) and the kicker is they were NOT wearing masks, driver came with no mask and loaded up their luggage and off they went...why am I the "mother hen" around here and everyone else is oblivious? This is how it starts is all I could think as I wished them Merry Christmas. I shudder to think what the next weeks will look like here.

 

[kkdj]

Minor rant: delivering newspapers this morning, there was an elderly couple (remember I live in a retirement community) waiting in the lobby for their driver - they are taking the train to CT. which means stops in Philly and NYC as more passengers board (I have taken this train before to Boston) and the kicker is they were NOT wearing masks, driver came with no mask and loaded up their luggage and off they went...why am I the "mother hen" around here and everyone else is oblivious? This is how it starts is all I could think as I wished them Merry Christmas. I shudder to think what the next weeks will look like in our community.

Exactly one of the main problems imo!
Please stay low for your own safety.

 

[mickey2942]

Minor rant: delivering newspapers this morning, there was an elderly couple (remember I live in a retirement community) waiting in the lobby for their driver - they are taking the train to CT. ( a 4- 5 hour train ride)which means stops in Philly and NYC as more passengers board (I have taken this train before to Boston) and the kicker is they were NOT wearing masks, driver came with no mask and loaded up their luggage and off they went...why am I the "mother hen" around here and everyone else is oblivious? This is how it starts is all I could think as I wished them Merry Christmas. I shudder to think what the next weeks will look like here.

Well, they will have to wear a mask on the train. Unless they get a private suite/room.

 

[ilovewings]

Shout out to CharlestonGal---- thinking of you and wondering how you are doing-- hoping you are feeling better----

 

[IceIce9]

Airlines cancel more than 300 holiday flights due to omicron impacts on crews

What a mess for those who planned to travel.

 

[CharlestonGal]

Out of curiosity, why would it be medically necessary to know which variant it is for any one particular individual? Would it change the recommended treatment?

No, it doesn't change the treatment and is unnecessary, which is why insurance denied it. My doctor is just trying to figure out why I got so sick, so fast (within 24 hours of apparent exposure).

 

[CharlestonGal]

Shout out to CharlestonGal---- thinking of you and wondering how you are doing-- hoping you are feeling better----

I'm here. I can't say I'm feeling any better. But on the bright side, I'm not feeling any worse. Sats are still excellent at 97-98%. No sign of lung involvement yet. I managed to get up and make some coffee, but I can't taste it which is a bummer.

 

[anneg]

I'm here. I can't say I'm feeling any better. But on the bright side, I'm not feeling any worse. Sats are still excellent at 97-98%. No sign of lung involvement yet. I managed to get up and make some coffee, but I can't taste it which is a bummer.

Dang, I hate it when I lose smell/taste. I've had this happen several times in the past when I've had a bad upper respiratory infection.

 

[jjenny]

Out of curiosity, why would it be medically necessary to know which variant it is for any one particular individual? Would it change the recommended treatment?

It could. Regeneron antibodies work for delta but not for Omicron.

 

[Niner]

No, it doesn't change the treatment and is unnecessary, which is why insurance denied it. My doctor is just trying to figure out why I got so sick, so fast (within 24 hours of apparent exposure).

I would think this doctor would want to do the test - for his own curiousity - to find out "what" it is you have. And then he can call you and let you know - free of charge! Maybe ask him - wouldn't HE like to know which variant this is? Maybe a new one - called CharlestonGalOVID.

 

[jakat]

Booster shots protect against symptomatic Omicron for about 10 weeks which could mean more doses for some in 2022. More at link...

Booster shots protect against symptomatic Omicron infection for about 10 weeks, study finds — which could mean more doses for some in 2022

 

[CharlestonGal]

https://www.italy24news.com/local/312171.html

Bartolomeo Pepe, former senator of the 5 Star Movement, died on Thursday evening from acute interstitial pneumonia caused by the coronavirus. The former Member of Parliament had been hospitalized for Covid Saturday December 18 at the Cutugno hospital in Naples and his condition had immediately appeared critical. According to reports The morning, the 59-year-old Campania politician was infected in recent days and with the worsening of his health conditions he had been intubated in the intensive care of the Neapolitan hospital in “a very situation criticism“, To be monitored and kept under control, as the doctors who were assisting him had explained.

Pepe, who in recent months had firmly opposed the vaccination campaign against the coronavirus, he was elected by the 5 Stars in the Senate in 2013. Two years later he left the Movement and joined the Autonomies group until the end of the legislature. During his parliamentary term he also tried to organize a screening of the film Vaxxed, a pseudo-scientific propaganda documentary against vaccinations, but had to give up due to numerous protests. He recently called citizen fears of Covid a “ridiculous hysteria”.

 

[CharlestonGal]

More than 2,000 flights canceled on Christmas Eve - CNN

New York (CNN Business)Airlines have canceled thousands of flights on Christmas Eve, including hundreds of US domestic flights, as staff and crew call out sick during the Omicron surge.

Globally, airlines have canceled over 2,000 flights, 454 of which are within, into or out of the United States.

Operational snags at airlines are coming as millions are still flying in spite of rising coronavirus cases. The TSA says it screened 2.19 million people at airports across the country on Thursday, the highest figure since the uptick in holiday travel started a week ago.

 

[jakat]

I'm here. I can't say I'm feeling any better. But on the bright side, I'm not feeling any worse. Sats are still excellent at 97-98%. No sign of lung involvement yet. I managed to get up and make some coffee, but I can't taste it which is a bummer.

Feel better soon. Do you think your booster shot lost effectiveness?

Scary thought if the boosters only last approximately 10 weeks. I was boosted at the beginning of November, so middle of January it will start to be ineffective, if I'm reading the article correctly.

 

[CharlestonGal]

Feel better soon. Do you think your booster shot lost effectiveness?

Scary thought if the boosters only last approximately 10 weeks. I was boosted at the beginning of November, so middle of January it will start to be ineffective, if I'm reading the article correctly.

I'm not due for a booster until March 2022. My initial vaccination was delayed until Aug/Sep because I needed heart surgery first, which kept getting canceled due to the pandemic. Even if they move the booster schedule up (and I think they will) I can't get one until 90 days after the mab infusion I got yesterday - which is, ironically, Mar 2022.

 

[Rose in SC]

Scary thought if the boosters only last approximately 10 weeks. I was boosted at the beginning of November, so middle of January it will start to be ineffective, if I'm reading the article correctly.

That's the way I read it too. I got mine on December 3, so mid-February at best for me. Great.

 

[CharlestonGal]

It's funny sometimes how things work out. Quest finally responded to my doctor and confirmed S-gene dropout on my PCR. This is what I read about Omicron and S-gene dropout:

"Several labs have indicated that for one widely used PCR test, one of the three target genes is not detected (called S gene dropout or S gene target failure) and this test can therefore be used as marker for this variant, pending sequencing confirmation."

The funny part? Quest sends all S-gene dropouts to DHEC for sequencing. The catch is the samples are de-identified (contain no patient information) before being forwarded to DHEC and DHEC does not provide the sequencing info back to the doctor or the patient or Quest.

Quest did provide the sample ID number assigned to my test and told my doctor she could try contacting DHEC in a week or so but said, "Good luck with that."

ETA: Both Quest and my doctor are comfortable concluding the variant I have is indeed Omicron.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

NJ, too.

N.J. reports 15,482 COVID cases, in a tremendous jump that shattered the state record for 2nd straight day

New Jersey on Thursday shattered its single-day record for COVID-19 cases for a second straight day, reporting another 15,482 confirmed positive tests — as well as another 33 confirmed deaths a day before Christmas Eve.

That’s nearly 6,000 cases more than the record set on Wednesday, when the state reported 9,711 positive tests as a new winter surge and the rise of the omicron variant continue to grip the state and other parts of the world.

Before that, the most cases the state had announced in one day was 6,922 on Jan. 13, when vaccine rollout was still in its early stages.

My daughter's Christmas plans just exploded. She is in Philly, her fiance's family in Jersey. Six, SIX different family members have come down with "something"... three already tested positive for covid. It's almost as if we are all "glad" that it happened just before Christmas, rather than during.....

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Right?? I asked the doctor at the hospital (not my doctor) if my immune system was shot or what?? I am FULLY VACCINATED. He basically said nope and something about Omicron replicating 70x faster in the upper respiratory system than Delta and that it overwhelms people quickly. He said based only on my +covid test he could not confirm it was Omicron, but he was personally convinced, based on my presentation, that it was. He gave me his card with his email address and asked me to send my final results to him. He was very sweet actually and if my daughter did not already have a boyfriend I would set her up with him in a heartbeat. He seemed genuinely interested and concerned. Very, very nice young doctor.

""big smiley face" inserted here....

 

[mickey2942]

My daughter's Christmas plans just exploded. She is in Philly, her fiance's family in Jersey. Six, SIX different family members have come down with "something"... three already tested positive for covid. It's almost as if we are all "glad" that it happened just before Christmas, rather than during.....

Insanity. Anyone with sense could see that this year was too soon to just start partying like the Pandemic was over. It will never be "over". We travel too much now, too quickly. There are too many people who are not vaccinated, living in close quarters, and it spreads, mutates too fast now.

Hate to say it, but my personal belief is that it is inevitable that at some point, we will all get this. Vaccinated or not. It is just a matter of time.

Omicron COVID-19 variant identified in Gallatin and Missoula Counties

Here is an example, small town in Montana, already has the "Omicron". From two people who were in South Africa. The last pandemic, no one traveled from Africa to Montana within a day!