The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 343 (843)

Monkeypox opener: WHO is reconsidering whether to declare monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern. Over 6,000 cases have been identified in 58 countries.

"They're the Houdini of covid. They're the escape artists." Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 now account for over 70 percent of covid samples in the US; BA.5 is pulling ahead of BA.4. Both do better at evading immune system defenses than any other variant so far. In other words, the opening description from an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco is quite accurate. Singapore is just one country in which BA.5 has grown into the second highest case peak after the original Omicron BA.1. Hospitalizations are still rising as well. 

Symptoms of BA.4 and BA.5 are similar to those of BA.1: cough, runny nose, sore throat, fatigue, headaches, and muscle pains. Loss of the sense of smell or taste happens much less often. BA.5 is very much an upper respiratory infection including sinus congestion. A BA.5 sore throat can be as sore as that accompanying strep throat. I haven't had strep throat in many decades, but I remember how painful it seemed to my kids when they were little.

In response to a spike in new cases of covid, Cyprus has reinstated a mask mandate for indoor public spaces. Beijing has instituted a vaccine passport to be required to enter libraries, museums, and other public places. Older people are being encouraged to get vaccinated. As of early May, 82 percent of people over the age of 60 had gotten two doses of vaccine, while only 51 percent of people over 80 had. The mRNA vaccines being used in the US are not approved for use in China.

A Pew Research Center survey of 10,282 adults showed the public is losing trust in government leaders and public health experts. There is also a wide partisan gap. Fifty-two percent of respondents said that public health officials had done an excellent or good job. This 52 percent was composed of 72 percent of the respondents identifying as Democrats and 29 percent of those identifying as Republican. Public confidence in medical centers and hospitals remains high. In general respondents were less worried about catching covid or unintentionally spreading it, and most thought the worst of the pandemic was over. Only 25 percent saw the coronavirus as a significant threat to their personal health. 

I'll be taking a three-hour needle felting class via Zoom tomorrow afternoon, so if the blog post is that sparse, maybe I'll include a photo of the sheep we are supposed to be making. I've done some needle felting before but feel especially weak on making the metal armature over which the wool is positioned. I'll be paying extra attention to that part of the class.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 181 (681)

Son of Omicron? Omicron: The Sequel? Omicron, Part 2? How about we try BA.2 otherwise known as "Stealth Omicron." BA.2 is a sublineage of BA.1, that is, Omicron. BA.2 can only be detected by PCR testing, but has already been found in over 40 countries including Denmark, Sweden., Norway, and Singapore. It makes up about half of Denmark's covid cases. BA.2 cases are, right now, doubling every four days. So far, it is classified as a "variant under investigation." If it ever moves on to become a  "variant of concern," we may be in trouble.

A new survey reveals that 84 percent of Americans like the free masks and test kits the government is providing. That 84 percent reflects the views of vaccinated Americans. Forty-four percent of the survey respondents had already ordered free tests.This included half of vaccinated respondents but just 20 percent of unvaccinated people. 

Survey results are popular today. A survey of 4,411 people conducted this month asked how worried people were about getting sick from covid within the next year. Interestingly, respondents ages 65 and older were the least concerned despite the fact that three out of every four covid deaths recently are people in that age range. The survey also asked whether people would make changes to their normal activities to prioritize safety and public health or continue normal activity as much as possible. Prioritizing safest and public health was cited by 65 percent of Democrat respondents and 30 percent of Republicans. Flip those numbers on the other end of the continuum. For Democrats, 30 percent will continue normal activity compared with 65 percent of Republicans. In terms of how worried a person was about getting covid within the next year, vaccinated people, boosted or not, were more concerned than unvaccinated people. Interesting or not?

S(n?)ide remark on vaccinations. There was an anti-vaccine, anti-mandate protest in Washington, DC this past weekend. A reporter asked one of the protesters whether she thought she would ever get vaccinated. Her reply was "I'd die first." The obvious comeback to that is "Yes, yes you will."

Both Democrats and Republicans are concerned about children falling behind academically and socially if schools move from in-person to virtual. However, Democrats are more worried about children catching covid while attending school in person. 

While the number of Omicron cases is on a downward trend in the US, the number of deaths is as high as it was during the Delta wave. As noted above, 75 percent of the deaths are among people ages 65 and older. Unvaccinated people are 100 times more likely to die from covid than those people who have gotten three doses of either Moderna or Pfizer. 

On the global front, Denmark and the Netherlands are dropping all covid restrictions despite having record numbers of infections. As of the start of February, European Union residents with valid vaccination certificates, certificates of recent recovery, or negative test results not older than 72 hours will be able to travel between countries with no quarantine requirements. An Australian aid ship going to Tonga has 23 people who have tested positive. This is of significant concern given that Tonga has only had one covid case, and that was in October. Looking at the Olympics from just a week away, 55 people have tested positive for covid upon arrival in China. Another 35 Olympic personnel on the ground have tested positive. Participants who test positive and are asymptomatic will quarantine inside the Olympic bubble. Others will go to one of two hospitals. 

It seems that more and more of what I read about the ongoing pandemic repeats itself over and over. I am interested in how the Olympics will come off; I don't really have a good feeling about them. Stealth Omicron is a new topic, one I hope not to pursue further. Vaccination rates don't seem to be changing much any longer. Those who want to be vaccinated are and those who don't want to be aren't. It will be telling to see what happens in Europe after covid restrictions are dropped. I guess it's all less same old same old than I thought.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 66

I've been hiding in the basement today which is not bad since that's where my sewing room/studio is. I've got three more scrub caps in progress. I also did one of those "I really should do that" chores done, which was printing off each page of the quilt guild website I manage and making a website notebook. The dog came down to sniff me once, but I have not seen the cat.

The husband has turned the dining room table into his office as he participates in a proposal review meeting for--probably--the Department of Energy. Normally, this would have been done around a table in a room in Washington, DC or elsewhere. In the new normal, it's being done via Zoom. He came down on one break and noted that he missed being able to lean over to the person next to him and whisper something. He said that not being able to do that makes things go slower. The meeting is from 11:00 to 7:00 today; tomorrow's schedule will be determined by how things go today. I did warn the husband that I might, around 5:00, set a beer or glass of wine just off screen to tempt him.

The governor's presser was pretty matter-of-fact today. Phase 1 has been going on for five days, with Phase 2 being at least nine days away. I'll have to check the Health Department metrics next Thursday morning, since I imagine he will announce in Thursday's presser if Phase 1 will be extended. 

I'm seeing more and more colleges and universities say they will be person-to-person come fall. Most are more than tweaking the semester schedule, though. Several are starting in August, cancelling fall break and any fall holidays, and ending person-to-person mode at Thanksgiving. Exam review and exams will happen in December, but not in person. That schedule actually doesn't sound too bad. The kids aren't going home or away for any breaks from which they could gather nasty germs. They go home for Thanksgiving and then are gone until January. The other schedule template is to start in September, cancelling fall break and any fall holidays, holding classes on the day before Thanksgiving, and finishing everything else in December in person on campus. I can't say that plan thrills me. If someone goes home for Thanksgiving and brings the virus back, people would start getting sick as exams are starting. I think that plan needs work.

Survey people might be interested to know that the local university sent a survey to three years of the undergraduate student population asking about various schedule options. The response rate was 70 percent. Anyone who's done a survey knows that that is an incredibly high figure. That shows how important the issue is to students. The husband says no one has asked faculty members about what schedule option(s) they might prefer. That's probably to be expected. The students bring tuition dollars into the university while the faculty members take salary dollars away from the university.

Day 66. If I'm still doing this on Day 666, then everything really will have gone to Hell in a handbasket or via other transportation.