Make sure you're vaxxed and boosted, folks.
While war rages in Ukraine, not much attention is being paid in Europe to rising Covid cases.
Germany has been reporting record high numbers of cases of between 250,000 to 300,000 new infections a day in the last week.
The rise in cases across the continent, from the U.K. and France to the Netherlands and Austria, is being driven by several factors.
I'd say it is going wild. Numbers are higher than they've ever been. I anticipate that to happen here over the next few months.
It isn't just the new variant, it is that most public health mitigation measures were removed. It is the combination of the two.
Aimee, here is an answer to your question:
CNN: Does that mean people can proceed with spring break and other travel plans, or do they need to postpone them?
Dr. Wen: I don't think travel plans need to be put on hold. To be sure, there is uncertainty, as some places might have low rates of Covid-19 now but may have increased rates when you travel. However, that may be the case for the foreseeable future. Very few activities that we do have no risk. Traveling certainly entails risk, but you can reduce that risk by making sure you are vaccinated and boosted. Wearing a mask in crowded indoor settings further reduces risk. In the United States, follow the CDC guidance and make sure to wear a mask in areas that have high Covid-19 community levels. If you are planning international travel, know the rules, including whether you have to have proof of vaccination or a recent negative test.
CNN: Could BA.2 cause another surge in the US, and if so, should restrictions come back now?
Wen: BA.2 could certainly lead to another uptick in Covid-19 infections in the US. There are already some signs that the sharp decline in new cases is leveling out, and if the US follows Europe, as it has before, a rise in cases could be weeks away.
That said, I don't think it means we need to reinstate restrictions. The goal of vaccination is to decouple infections from hospitalizations and severe illness. If there is a surge in infections but hospitalizations don't rise to the point that our health care system becomes overwhelmed, then I think government-imposed mandates are not warranted. Here, the new CDC guidelines are very helpful, as they take into account severe illness -- severe enough to cause hospitalizations -- as the metric for masking, not just any infection.
Of course, just because the government isn't requiring masks doesn't mean that individuals shouldn't mask or take other precautions. At this point in the pandemic, people should make decisions based on their own medical circumstances and tolerance of risk.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/22/health/omicron-covid-variant-wellness/index.html
Jessica:
I'd say it is going wild. Numbers are higher than they've ever been.
Numbers are higher than they've ever been in...Germany and Austria. Not in the rest of Europe where they are still far below the peak of Omicron.
At this point in the pandemic, people should make decisions based on their own medical circumstances and tolerance of risk.
Yup.
Andrew H. - true, only higher in some countries. Others are on the rise and we'll see. Hospitalizations and deaths do not seem to be following, and with each peak, hospitalizations/deaths are lower than preceding.
Current case rates by country can be found on the Worldometers website. You can use the pull-down box at the top to see the change from last week. Many other stats are available.
And so here we go again, 6 wks out and risk of trip cancellation increases. Our last planned trip ended the night before we were to fly out 3/13/20. We travel to Austria, Slovenia and Croatia in May, for now hoping and planning for the best.
As a doctor on the radio noted, watch the cases in the UK. That's where these things start and then head west.
A BBC headline yesterday said there were more people in hospital with Covid than at any time since the pandemic started. In the U.K. overall, cases are increasing, as are hospitalisations. The death rate is lower than it was in spring 2020, but is beginning to tick up.
I am meant to have a school reunion next week, rescheduled from last year due to Covid. Three attendees all living in different parts of England all tested positive yesterday, having escaped it for the past 2 years. Luckily none are seriously ill. It’s 2 years ago today that the U.K. went into lockdown.
Covid infections in Portugal are at their highest for 3 months and death rates with Covid are rising rapidly too.
Fewer restrictions was always going to mean more infections.
I've done my part, two Pfizer shots and the Pfizer booster by the end of Dec 2021, and wearing the mask, actually two of them, a medical one and a cloth one over that whenever out and about, regardless what the local rules are.
Plus, keeping daily informed by way of DW, CNN and PBS and the local SF channels on the pandemic and the gut-wrenching (herzzereißend) pictures/news of the war in the Ukraine.
Thank Jennifer - I think thats what I had in ind when I wrote my initial response (keeping track of so much info about so many things these days). Sorry about the reunion
But are the hospitalizations and deaths increasing?
They are in the UK. Both deaths and hospitalizations. Hospitals have approximately 50% more cases than a few weeks ago. So many of my friends are sick.
We had a quarter of a million new cases over the weekend.
1 in 20 people in Austria have COVID right now, including me. I'm fully vaxxed and have always masked, but now in quarantine for 10 days. COVID rules in Austria have remained strict, particularly in Vienna, so I don't think it is correct to say that cases here are on the increase due to a reduction in restrictions. This strain is just very contagious and particularly prominent in children.
Aimee, Americans pretty much gave up on the metric system year ago.
For some mysterious reason it’s holding steady in France at about 140,000 to 150,000 a day. Hospitalizations and deaths are low. ICU is at 30%. Perhaps it’s because so many people got Omicron (500,000 a day) and the vaccination rate is high?
I just came back from a large PCR testing center. Very slow trickle of patients, only one tester, open only a few hours a day. In November, there were lines, four testers working at once, long hours.
.........and meanwhile, the heads of the larger airlines have asked for the mask mandate on planes be allowed to expire, as well as to drop the requirement for a negative covid test.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/business/airlines-mask-mandate.html
Sooooooo, folks, that could mean individuals traveling here could bring any number of future variants, as well as not wear a mask while spreading them on the plane. You would be in that metal tube for how many hours with a good chance of active infections on board and with those people not in masks? For real?
If airline requests are honored, (and I hope they are not honored as soon as April) I somehow do not see my household traveling until maybe well into 2023 (or until covid spikes stop happening anywhere on the globe...likely not anytime, soon, sadly). Even if you are just flying from maybe Ireland to NYC, no telling where that particular plane may have been earlier in the day or where your fellow passengers traveled from/thru.
I remember on one of my international flights several years ago, well before covid, the flight attendant very kindly, quietly suggested my changing seats (the plane was not full), indicating there were empty rows back in coach (we were in coach comfort,premium, or whatever it was called). She made that suggestion twice with 10 minutes. Then later, she winked at me and said something like "there are people from all over the world that travel with various diseases." I did not ask, but it made me wonder what she knew about that particular seat location/vacinity from maybe the previous flight. She also commented to me that it was wise that I had brought my own pillow case to put over the airline pillows (for same reason). I do not think she was a germophobe.....unlikely a germophobe would choose that profession. Flight attendants see a lot.
Agree with Mike.....be vaxed, boosted (and even double boosted if it as been 6 months since your booster, if you are flying in the next few months)
Maggie, I did not know airlines reused pillows that don't have pillow cases that are changed. That seems gross. Also, my perhaps mistake impression was airlines were sanitizing the planes between flights.
There's a decent chance saliva and so forth are on the reused pillow.
edit: I see Delta Airlines does a good job. *https://www.delta.com/us/en/travel-planning-center/on-the-plane/cleanliness-and-safety-on-board
*
Disclaimer: I do not nor know anyone who works at Delta, nor do I invest in the company.
Also, my perhaps mistake impression was airlines were sanitizing the planes between flights.
Hah, that's a good one. Those UV-light-ray-shining, disinfectant-fog-spraying robots they showed off at the beginning of the pandemic were reassuring, weren't they?
On most flights, notice how the seats are still warm from the last passenger who just sat there on the previous flight. No time for the disinfectant-fog-spraying robots, or much else in the way of tidying up. If you're lucky, the larger bits of trash from previous passengers have been removed from the seat-back pocket. Realistically, on flights nowadays I would not expect much more "sanitization" than that.
To be fair, it turned out that COVID is spread by tiny droplets in the air (being "airborne" is actually the worst-case scenario for viral spread, because it's so hard to avoid - as we have seen). There have few (perhaps zero) documented cases where COVID was actually spread by contact (by touching things). It's always been a good idea to keep your hands clean (considering how often most people touch their mouth, eyes, nose, face, etc.) but the dirty little secret is that all the hand-sanitizer the world has been bathing in for the past 2+ years is mostly theater. Sure, use that sanitizer between hand-washes (especially if you're about to start eating things using your fingers) but if you are going to catch COVID, you're going to inhale it, not eat it.
Nigel can you find a source for this?
https://youtu.be/9llyJvSeggs zoe study tim
https://youtu.be/j3UFRrXqqUI zoe study tim a week earlier
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51768274 BBC - drill down to hostotization by region
The BBC unfortunately do not keep their morning news programme Breakfast more than 24 hours. Yesterday's interview with the Scottish Public Health officer was very illuminating, but the interview is gone.
and the dashboard https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/
I keep a daily check on this
over what period, Aimee?
part of the reason the stats are becoming harder to find is that at a national level there is a head in the sand attitude and it is the local county health departments saying what is happening in local hospitals so much harder to aggregate. Cambridge was interviewed on local news tonight and said that she is seeing between 10 and 25 percent of all cases developing long covid, including in the 5 to 10 year olds.
Can we please stop using gender pronouns like "he" and "she," and their derivations?
Can we please stop using gender pronouns like "he" and "she," and their derivations?
the fact that a top scientist is female should be covered up?
BigMikeWestByGodVirginia wrote:
"Can we please stop using gender pronouns like "he" and "she," and their derivations?"
Mike, huh? So, you want to be referred to as an "it?"
(To everyone else, sounds like it had a really bad day going on. We should all forgive it and overlook its tense posts.)
Smile.... I hope it accepts this with the humor intended.
@Maggie I’m dying right now. LOL!
