COVID-19 News and Discussions

[erowind]

.

[Yuli Ban]

You can see how the pandemic progressed

First wave, hitting mostly the big cities: the Democrats were being obliterated by COVID

Second wave, hitting both cities and rural areas: Democrats and Republicans were hit, though anti-mask anti-vax Republicans got hit harder

Third wave, with anti-mask and anti-vax hysteria in full force: Republicans getting decimated

Fourth wave (currently starting), same as above: Republicans just as bad as before, almost complete reversal of fortune from the beginning

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

[wjfox]

But hey, it's "just the flu".
/s

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Imperial College study finds Omicron could be just as severe as Delta

2 hours ago
12:44

The Omicron coronavirus variant could be just as severe as the Delta strain, according to early findings from researchers at Imperial College London, in a study which also highlighted the elevated risk of reinfection posed by the new variant and the need for booster shots to combat it.

“The study finds no evidence of Omicron having lower severity than Delta, judged by either the proportion of people testing positive who report symptoms, or by the proportion of cases seeking hospital care after infection,” said the research team, led by Professor Neil Ferguson, an infectious disease modeller and government science adviser.

However, they cautioned that hospitalisation data “remains very limited at this time”. The study said data suggested “at most limited changes in severity compared with Delta”.

The early findings could dash the hopes of some experts that a change in the virulence of the new variant would ease the pressure on health systems despite Omicron’s high levels of infectiousness.

https://www.ft.com/content/48931667-cbb ... aa65d4060e

[Yuli Ban]

From SomethingAwful:

lets check in on my patient dying of covid



They can't prone him anymore because he's developing subcutaneous emphysema. this xray is positive for pneumomediatsinum and pneumopericardium. it's very difficult to make out though and admittedly im not good at looking at them. but basically for a lot of pressure related reasons air is leaving his lungs and going into his skin. this feels like popcorn if you ever experience it with a patient. Can also lead to a pneumo thorax which might be happening the right lung. that's not as well expanded.

for comparison sake, 20 days ago when he was diagnosed with covid.



Also they can't prone him anymore because of the subcutaneous emphysema as well as significant eyelid/scleral edema.

Also vascular is now consulted because they can't find pulses in his left leg. He's now on a heparin drip so it's only a matter of time before neuro gets called back in to consult for a brain bleed.

This is how you die from covid, btw. just death by a thousand cuts.

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

[weatheriscool]

Gov. Mike DeWine orders 1,050 members of Ohio National Guard to assist hospitals amid COVID-related
Source: WKYC

COLUMBUS, Ohio — As the state of Ohio experiences another surge in COVID cases and hospitalizations, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Friday morning that he has ordered 1,050 members of the Ohio National Guard into the state's hospitals.

* * *

"This is the highest number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 this year, and the number of hospitalized patients is rapidly approaching an all-time high," Gov. DeWine's office noted in a press release Friday.

Gov. DeWine also took a moment to encourage everybody to get vaccinated as soon as possible while continuing to follow other safety precautions -- including his suggestion that schools go back to masking for now.

“Our high COVID hospital count is being driven primarily by the unvaccinated," he said. "Nine out of 10 people who have COVID in our hospitals are unvaccinated. That is just the facts.”

Read more: https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/healt ... 07467146f5

[weatheriscool]

A Covid-19 'viral blizzard' is about to hit the US, expert says, with 'millions' to be infected soon
Source: CNN

The coronavirus will hit millions of Americans in a "viral blizzard" within a few weeks as infections from the Omicron variant pile on top of Delta, an expert predicts. Already, hospitalizations are rising as the holiday season gets into full swing. Long lines for Covid-19 testing formed Thursday in metro areas, including New York, Boston and Miami.

The Delta variant remains a problem. And Omicron, with its high transmissibility, could strike millions more soon, said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

"We're really just about to experience a viral blizzard," Osterholm told CNN's Erin Burnett on Thursday. "In the next three to eight weeks, we're going to see millions of Americans are going to be infected with this virus, and that will be overlaid on top of Delta, and we're not yet sure exactly how that's going to work out."


The Omicron variant has been identified in at least 40 states, in addition to Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, according to public statements from hospital systems and state officials in their respective states. It's been just 17 days since the US detected its first case of Omicron.

Omicron will cause a serious strain on the health care system as more workers will likely get sick, Osterholm said, even though most cases from Omicron seem to be mild. "What you have here right now is a potential perfect storm," Osterholm said. "I've been very concerned about the fact that we could easily see a quarter or a third of our health care workers quickly becoming cases themselves."

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/17/health/u ... index.html

[weatheriscool]

N.Y. Covid Cases Top 20,000 for Daily Record as Shutdowns Spread
Source: Bloomberg

New York state is experiencing a dramatic spike in Covid-19 cases, driving a fresh wave of school closings, work-from-home migrations and business disruptions.

The 21,027 new cases reported Friday surpassed the previous record of 19,942 set in January. Of the roughly 263,500 people tested, 7.98% were positive for the virus.

The surge shifted health officials’ focus to hospitalizations and deaths, key gauges of the pandemic that are not -- as yet -- rising commensurately. Patients hospitalized with Covid-19 in New York are at about 3,800. While that’s more than double what they were in early November, it’s far short of the nearly 19,000 patients hospitalized in April 2020.

Deaths tell a similar story. There were 60 new fatalities reported on Friday. The number of deaths have increased in recent weeks but in the beginning of 2021 daily fatalities were consistently above 100, a total that has not been topped since February. In April 2020, New York deaths caused by the virus in a single day peaked near 800.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... day-record

[Xyls]

NIH scientists urge pursuit of universal coronavirus vaccine


https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-re ... us-vaccine

A growing body of scientific evidence, considered together with ecological reality, strongly suggest that novel coronaviruses will continue to infect bats and other animal reservoirs and potentially emerge to pose a pandemic threat to humans. To counter future coronavirus outbreaks, the global scientific and medical research community should focus a major effort now on three goals: characterize the range of coronavirus genetic diversity in multiple animal species; better understand coronavirus disease pathogenesis in laboratory animal models and people; and apply this knowledge to the development of long-lasting, broadly protective coronavirus vaccines. So argue physician-scientists Anthony S. Fauci, M.D., Jeffery K. Taubenberger, M.D., Ph.D., and David M. Morens, M.D., of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, in a new commentary in The New England Journal of Medicine.

This is the end game folks. This pandemic will not end until a UCV is produced and administered. All research might should be directed to this goal immediately...

[Yuli Ban]

STATE BY STATE ROUNDUP

God i have no life.

Alabama: Omicron found.
https://www.brewtonstandard.com/2021/12 ... n-alabama/

Alaska: Omicron found
https://www.frontiersman.com/news/c...749c977755.html

Arizona: Stretched thin
https://ktar.com/story/4808832/banner-h ... ched-thin/

Arkansas: 2 month high
https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2021/dec ... -new-high/

California: ICU admissions double in Santa Barbara
https://keyt.com/health/coronavirus/202 ... -holidays/

Colorado: Overwhelmed, again
https://www.npr.org/sections/health...ss-is-unsustain

Connecticut: COVID is up 150% in two weeks
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/17/us/c ... icron.html

Delaware: Number go up - but goon says all hospitals over capacity
https://delawarebusinessnow.com/2021/12 ... ases-by-5/

Florida: Positivity rate doubled
https://www.wfla.com/community/health/c ... n-doubled/

Georgia: 60% case increase in two weeks
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlant ... TSOCEYNBQ/

Hawaii: surge
https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/12/hawai ... ta-spread/

Illinois: Hospital beds scarcer than ever
https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavi ... story.html

Indiana: Dire situation
https://www.wthr.com/article/news/h...27-65fe92b7befa

Iowa: Hospitalizations at peak
https://www.kciiradio.com/2021/12/17/io ... wo-deaths/

Kansas: A tornado warning to the community
https://www.kansascity.com/news/coronav ... 81317.html

Kentucky: Omicron found
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/n ... 850555002/

Maine: ICU hits record
https://www.pressherald.com/2021/12/14/ ... ay-period/

Maryland: Surge
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va ... -capacity/

Massachusetts: Cutting non essential procedures
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/ma ... w/2588011/

Michigan hits a Pandemic high
https://www.wxyz.com/news/coronavirus/i ... e-holidays

Minnesota hospitals hitting capacity
https://www.sctimes.com/story/news/2021 ... 910482002/

Missouri: 420 ICU people
https://abc17news.com/news/2021/12/12/s ... -covid-19/

Montana: Has no shots for kids
https://www.mtpr.org/montana-news/2021- ... al-montana

Nebraska: Beds at 92% occupancy
https://www.3newsnow.com/news/coronavir ... maha-metro

Nevada: Case go up
https://www.8newsnow.com/news/healt...spread-looming/

New Hampshire: Its bad
https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/op ... 493320001/

New Jersey: NO LONGER IMMUNE
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronav ... g/3456378/

New Mexico: More cases
https://www.krwg.org/post/new-mexico-co ... ore-deaths

New York: Fucked and sucked at applebees
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/17/new-yor ... 21000.html

North Carolina: Scared of Omicron
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/coron ... 88542.html

North Dakota: Death surge
https://bismarcktribune.com/news/lo...a0b81ea812.html

Ohio: "Real bad, getting worse"
https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-he ... -christmas

Oklahoma: Worried about staffing shortages (40/145 hospitals reporting it)
https://kfor.com/news/local/oklahoma-ho ... -increase/

Oregon: Surge incoming
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-ne ... vid-surge/

Pennsylvania: Strained health care system
https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronav ... 11217.html

Rhode Island: Partial Mask mandate
https://www.providencejournal.com/s...kee/6492745001/

South Carolina: Surge
https://www.thestate.com/news/coronavir ... 75237.html

South Dakota: cases jump
https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/ ... 937615002/

Tennessee: Labor shortages
https://www.knoxnews.com/story/money/20 ... 895641002/

Texas: Bracing for another wave
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/12/17 ... -covid-19/

Utah: Number go up
https://www.abc4.com/coronavirus/utah-a ... -children/

Vermont: OMICRON
https://www.necn.com/news/local/omicron ... r/2637547/

Virginia: 8.5% positivity
https://www.whsv.com/2021/12/16/virgini ... -thursday/
Washington: New safety guidance
https://www.doh.wa.gov/Newsroom/Art...ing-tournaments

West Virginia: Active cases at 9k
https://www.wboy.com/news/health/corona ... -virginia/

Wisconsin: ICU Beds dwindling
https://www.fox6now.com/news/wisconsin- ... rovide-aid

Wyoming: Omicron found
https://kgab.com/omicron-covid-19-varia ... n-wyoming/

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

[andmar74]

That's really great..

The dominant strain of influenza that's circulating this season has picked up a troublesome mutation, making this year's flu vaccine a "bad match," a new study suggests.

https://www.livescience.com/flu-vaccine ... eason-h3n2

The influenza activity is increasing in Europe:
https://flunewseurope.org/

Omicron + flu can really sink hospitals and other health care this season.

[Yuli Ban]

Right in time for the weekend, so the stock market doesn't get affected

[Yuli Ban]