The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 228 (728)

Were it not for the two articles I read this morning on a BA.2.2 variant and a recombinant variant for now called AY.4/BA.1, likely to be redesignated as XD in the near future, I might agree that the novel coronavirus we worried so much about two years ago really is on its last steps to endemicity. In taking notes for each day's entries, one of the online sources I check is The Guardian. It's out there before the daily digest emails from the AP, New York Times, CNN, etc. arrive in my inbox. This morning, I looked at a couple of articles on the war in Ukraine and a general human interest item or two on my way, I thought, to the section of articles under the heading "Coronavirus." Section after section passed, and I arrived at the site's end never having found a Coronavirus section. The New York Times is cutting to three weekly coronavirus emails, and we'll see if The Guardian's section is back tomorrow.

China certainly is not seeing the end or even any lapsing of the coronavirus. There were 1,100 new cases Friday; 1,524 on Saturday; and 3,122 on Sunday. A week ago there were just a couple hundred each day. Not too far away, cases in South Korea increased 104 percent over the past two weeks. Right in the middle of the most recent week, the presidential election took place. It was a close one, but I have yet to hear if it will or even can be contested. Both countries have extremely high vaccination rates.

Oregon and Washington both have among the lowest total cases and deaths per capita. They are also both lifting statewide mask mandates. Masks will continue to be required in nursing homes, hospitals, taxis, and public buses. School districts will be allowed to set their own rules. Here, local schools may no longer mandate students wear masks; that decision is left to parents. Kids can, though, once they get to school, remove the masks they are still required to wear on the bus. There are no in-school mask police. The local school board will discuss staff and visitor masking--which are still required--at an upcoming meeting. 

The recombinant vaccine mentioned above has also been called Deltamicron or Deltacron. It was originally thought that people with this were suffering simultaneously from Delta and Omicron, though simultaneous infections are a rarity. Now, it is thought that someone did get both, and when the two viruses invaded the same cell, they reproduced into the new variant, a hybrid that then started to spread on its own. We'll have to see how this progresses.

So far the exodus of Ukrainian refugees has not resulted in super-spreading covid or any other disease, but it likely will eventually. The relatively low Ukrainian vaccination rate--barely a third of the population--will not help. In the meantime, though, a Ukrainian physician notes that, "People are not frightened about covid any more. People are frightened of the war." As would I, were I to be Ukrainian.