The New Normal

[MarzNC]

Anyone care to guess when Omicron started spreading in New England? Suppose someone flew into Logan from South Africa in early November and then drove home to Maine, and stopped for a meal in New Hampshire. Note that they had to be fully vaccinated to fly internationally. So could well be there were never any noticeable symptoms so if such a person had a breakthrough case, they would never have a reason to get tested soon after getting home. For that matter, could well have tested negative with a home rapid test.

This is from CovidActNow Trends (bottom of a state's webpage) starting with MA, and then I added VT, NH, ME. Can also see metropolitan areas like NYC or Atlanta separately from their state. Best to only look at past 180 or 90 days. Options for the Metric to graph include Cases, Hospitalizations, ICU, etc.

The recent increases in hospitalization are probably related to holiday socializing by unvaccinated people.

 

[Campgottagopee]

That said unlike March 2020 or even late 2020 there are no dead bodies in body bags in hallways, no patients bedded in hallways and no shortage of PPE or vents.

If there is a positive it's this. Thank God for that.

 

[raisingarizona]

FIFY

mm

The vax doesn’t stop the spread

It actually masks the symptoms

 

[Campgottagopee]

The vax doesn’t stop the spread

I wonder if had we "marketed" this vax as a covid "shot" if it would've been more widely accepted. It seems as though the word vax turns some people off. While I understand what mandates mean, I think some are confused by the word. They may start to understand once they start losing privilege's, which could start to happen on a larger scale.

 

[Andy_ROC]

The vax doesn’t stop the spread

It actually masks the symptoms

Well actually I think it's more like vaxed people reduce the spread. My understanding is that vaxed people are contagious for a shorter period of time because they can produced antibodies quickly to stop the replication of the virus within their bodies. Because of this vaxed people should have lower viral load and the duration of that load is shorter thus reducing the spread.

 

[raisingarizona]

Well actually I think it's more like vaxed people reduce the spread. My understanding is that vaxed people are contagious for a shorter period of time because they can produced antibodies quickly to stop the replication of the virus within their bodies. Because of this vaxed people should have lower viral load and the duration of that load is shorter thus reducing the spread.

Maybe. I’m no scientist so it’s hard saying not really knowing. My point is though that it doesn’t make public spaces fool proof for the spread. What we think is really just an opinion until there’s some concrete data.

 

[jasonwx]

What's ironic is I've never had a flu shot until this year. Got both my flu and booster shot the same day, in the same arm. I felt that one....lol

savage

 

[Harvey]

What's ironic is I've never had a flu shot until this year. Got both my flu and booster shot the same day, in the same arm.

Me too for all.

 

[MarzNC]

The vax doesn’t stop the spread

It actually masks the symptoms

Better wording . . . vaccination limits the symptoms to mild ones that are like a bad cold or the flu.

With Omicron, neither natural immunity from having had COVID-19 before November 2021 nor vaccination helps much to prevent infection. But in either case, the person is much more likely to avoid getting so sick that they need to be hospitalized.

Heard today that 90% of the NC hospitalizations are of people who are unvaccinated. I assume that's true in all hospitals in N. America. From what I've seen, the 10% of people who are vaccinated and hospitalized are high risk for assorted reasons. When someone who is over 65 and had medical problems dies with COVID-19, hard to say which medical issue was the actual cause of death.

 

[MarzNC]

Well actually I think it's more like vaxed people reduce the spread. My understanding is that vaxed people are contagious for a shorter period of time because they can produced antibodies quickly to stop the replication of the virus within their bodies. Because of this vaxed people should have lower viral load and the duration of that load is shorter thus reducing the spread.

That was true with Delta and earlier variants. Vaxxed people still are contagious for a shorter period than unvaxxed at this stage. But with Omicron, if someone who is vexed vaxxed thinks there is no need for masking or avoiding close contact with friends and family, or strangers, even when they have symptoms then . . . that's why detected case counts have gone up so fast in places with high vax rates.

I used to say "Delta changed the situation" after June 2021. Now we are at "Omicron changed the situation" and that started in November 2021, not December.