The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 187 (687)

Leading up to the Olympics, over 8,000 people had arrived in Beijing as of Saturday, 211 of whom tested positive for covid. Some experts say in a negative tone that China's "closed loop" and strict covid rules may be better at keeping covid from escaping to the outside rather than protecting the people inside the loop from becoming infected. I thought that was the whole point of the bubble or closed loop. It fits with China's zero covid policy; the counts inside can go as high possible as long as the count outside stays as low as possible. Locals volunteering or otherwise being inside the closed look won't be able to return to their homes until they've quarantined. Quarantine for someone testing positive inside the bubble could be for as long as five weeks. Even the trash will be isolated in keeping with China's opinion that some cases have come from virus on an object or surface.

Austria is ending the lockdown of all unvaccinated people even as it prepares to approve a vaccine mandate for all adults. As of Monday, unvaccinated people can leave their homes. They still won't be allowed to enter nonessential shops, restaurants, or cultural institutions for two weeks. Once the vaccine mandate is in place, failure to provide proof of vaccination could mean a fine of $4,000.

It did not surprise me to see stats counting US adults by their political party and vaccination status. Of Democrats, only nine percent are unvaccinated, 29 percent have had shots but no booster, and 62 percent have had a full set of shots including a booster. For Republicans, the percentages in those same three categories would be 36 percent, 30 percent, and 32 percent. For independents, 22 percent, 39 percent, and 37 percent. In other words, more Republican adults are unvaccinated than have gotten the full shots plus booster. Vaccination makes a huge difference, and so does a booster. The weekly average numbers of deaths per 100,000 people in October and November 2021 (in other words, pre-Omicron) were 7.8 for unvaccinated, 0.6 for vaccinated but no booster, and 0.1 for those with vaccinations including a booster. 

I have learned a bit more about the Omicron family. There are actually four members discovered so far. BA.1 is what we know as "Omicron." BA.2 is the "stealth" variant. There is also a BA.3 that appears to be the product of viral sex, with BA.1 and BA.2 simultaneously infecting the same person with their combination making a new viral hybrid. Finally, there is something called BA.1.1.529 about which I could find nothing but a mention. Right now, BA.2 makes up 82 percent of cases in Denmark, nine percent of cases in the UK, and eight percent of cases here in the US. While Omicron numbers are dropping in most states, the emergence of BA.2 could slow those downward trends.

Of the pandemic, he governor of New Jersey says, "We're not going to manage this to zero. We have to learn how to live with this." He is not the only governor feeling this way. It may take a while, though. Hospitals are still full; some are getting fuller. Deaths are still rising. Once the Omicrons have had their way with us, that endemic philosophy might be the way to go as long, that is, as no other, more serious variant has emerged. And more variants will emerge as long as so much of the world remains unvaccinated. 

My free covid tests courtesy of the federal government are supposed to arrive in today's mail. Here's hoping we have no reason to use them any time soon.