22 thoughts on “C-19 Chat Post – March 14 2022”

  1. For the past couple (early) mornings over the radio, I heard some PSAs that it’s still important to get vaccinated even though cases are way down. I don’t recall seeing this info at all on tv or hearing this on the radio throughout the day.

    1. During the past week I have heard / seen such messages on both TV & radio. TV I believe was either USA Network or Olympic Channel. Radio, I don’t recall. I was probably scanning stations.

      1. As Joshua has noted many times, the U.S. has done a very poor job in PSAs with regard to vaccinations. I don’t recall ever seeing one in prime time TV or during an NFL game, for example. I bet there won’t be any PSAs during March Madness.

  2. China has placed ~50 million people in strict lockdown. The authorities there know that there are many susceptible people in China. Hard to know if China will be successful at continuing its Zero Covid policy. I don’t think it will. Omicron BA.2 – and especially the BA.2.2 – is just too transmissible. While masking helps a little, its efficacy is limited as South Korea is demonstrating (massive caseload).

    The only good news is that because many Chinese and Koreans have been vaccinated – albeit with an inferior vaccine – the death rates won’t be as high as they were in the spring of 2020.

    Biggest concern for us is not a massive surge. I really don’t think that will happen. But, there will be a spike. I’m more and more convinced of that. And, with low booster rates it will push the death rate up again. The BA.2.2 is the most concerning of the BA.2 sub-lineages. It appears to be responsible in part for the high death rate in Hong Kong.

    Clearly, the virus isn’t petering out. Maybe it will – let’s hope – after the second Omicron wave.

    1. There may be low booster rates here in the U.S. but cases continue to remain low at the same time mask mandates get lifted.

    2. Thanks Joshua. It is important to remember also that covid positive numbers are no longer representative of the whole. Nor do I believe they represent even half of the whole.

    1. I’m already ahead of the game, I received my #4 Pfizer booster last month. My CDC card is now officially “full”. No more vaccination spaces on it.

      After the nurse stuck the needle, I asked her if I will need anymore shots, she said she didn’t know. Who knows I guess?

      This Pfizer vaccine doesn’t have much staying power if you ask me, not to mention many get the recommended shots and still get Covid. I’ve been most fortunate in that regard so far.

  3. Better late than never. See tweet below on his perspective on BA.2, which I largely agree with. To reiterate, I like Scott Gottlieb. He’s a very intelligent person who cares deeply about science and public health. He’s an old-fashioned Republican: Earnest, conservative, yet tolerant of all points of view so long as they’re not derogatory. https://twitter.com/ScottGottliebMD/status/1503471116677009409

  4. Vicki, I agree. Gottlieb has been too complacent, too many times. He’s also offered too many predictions when a simple “I don’t know” would have sufficed. No one really knows what will happen next. I hope he’s right and this last burst of BA.2 becomes the “exit wave.” But, I am not sure. This virus has behaved in unpredictable ways. No matter what, I’ll be wearing a mask indoors in Britain, except at my daughter’s (she and her boyfriend are triple vaxxed and they had BA.1). I also won’t go to crowded indoor places.

    Here’s what Eric Topol is saying about the European wave. https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1503473725772992512

  5. Just read the following: CDC data today shows a sharp reversal in wastewater containing coronavirus – many sites now rising across the US or plateauing. This parallels the BA.2 wave in Europe, just a few weeks behind.

    1. Thank you for sharing. I had to stop after reading after a few paragraphs, so my view that this is an attempt to skew data may be incorrect. . I will try to go back tomorrow.

      The games we play amaze me. Although the double talk is Impressive. Similar to the case count manipulation. With all of this aside, I absolutely believe that whatever fits our scenario will become the rule and as such be recorded in the history books

  6. We are much better prepared for another wave. Large populations who had omicron and those vaccinated. We have therapeutics, booster etc…

    Again get an enjoy the spring and summer. Life is too short not to.

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