The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 139 (639)

Shades of spring 2020, Cornell University in Ithaca, New York is shutting down for the semester. Students and staff are being sent home. The remaining final exams will be moved online. They had almost 500 new student cases at one time, and that was too many. They also had a percent positivity rate of 3.01. Ha! The percent positivity rates of the local university are 4.56 for students and 4.92 for faculty and staff. Finals here end on Friday, and numbers of cases are about what they've been all semester, so we may be okay. There was no word in the Cornell press releases about spring semester, so the best may be yet to come.

Happy first anniversary! One year ago today, the first dose of covid vaccine was given to a front-line nurse. That seems so short time ago at the same time as it feels longer than one year. Last week was two years since the first confirmed case; now we're one year since having vaccines that help prevent it. Early on, the demand for vaccines greatly exceeded the supply. As the pandemic appeared to lessen and restrictions were relaxed, the demand for vaccines plummeted. 

The Air Force dismissed 27 service members for refusing to get vaccinated. Each branch of military services set their own vaccination deadline, and the Air Force's was the earliest, November 2. All 27 had fewer than six years of service. The military has granted no religious exemptions, though it has granted medical ones. It also has allowed those members whose service is ending within a certain time frame not to be vaccinated. The Pentagon has not yet declared whether boosters will also be required. 

Omicron is expected to become the dominant strain in Denmark this week. England has seen the first death from Omicron, and 10 people have been hospitalized. If even a small percentage of people with Omicron need to be hospitalized, it could overwhelm the health system. South Korea just saw its deadliest day of the pandemic. Ninety-four people died in 24 hours; some died waiting for hospital beds. Another 906 people are in serious or critical condition. 

Here, a senior official in the Biden administration warns, "Everything points to a large wave. A large wave is coming. It will be fast. It won't be as severe, but regrettably, there will be plenty of hospitalizations." One article described Omicron as a dress rehearsal for the next pandemic. Yes, we already have vaccines and treatments. But the next pandemic will come on as rapidly as Omicron did and without warning. Are we ready? I hope so, but my gut reaction is that we probably are not. 

If you're looking for a good read relating to the pandemic, get The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis. I'm about halfway through it, and it is spell-binding.