If people would quit getting tested we’d have far fewer cases.
(I’m really sorry that so many of you are having to deal with all this crap.)
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New daily record today on Worldometers. 309K and still counting. The curve is almost vertical going up. I hope it goes down just as fast.
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…and the CDC just cut in half the length for quarantine after a positive test, from 10 to 5 days. Apparently, industry leaders complained that they were losing too many employees for too long.
This would be laughable if it wasn’t so insane. If you think there’s a lot of people out with COVID now, just wait until you start bringing back employees with active infections.
ETA: this has spawned a meme on Twitter of people offering other recommendations from the CDC, many of which are hilarious.
They might let me out of quarantine after 7 days if I test negative Friday. Of course that will be the third negative test in 7 days so who am I to argue with the KCDC.
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7 days after the last test, or I immediately if you test negative?
Immediately if I test negative but the wife has to stay in quarantine another 3 days.
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KCDC should be a K-Pop style AC/DC tribute band.
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That’s only partially true.
- If you test positive and have no COVID symptoms, it’s five days quarantine after the positive test AND no symptoms the full five days AND you wear a mask everywhere you go for an additional five days.
- If you test positive and have COVID symptoms, it’s five days quarantine after the positive test AND being fever free for 24 hours AND other symptoms are improving (except long-term symptoms like taste/smell) AND you wear a mask everywhere you go for five days.
If the scientific data backs this up - in the context of vaccines/boosters, mask-wearing, and the lesser severity of omicron - then what’s the problem? Most of the backlash I’ve seen about this has more basis in FUD than it is directly and credibly challenging the science.
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This quote implies that the CDC acts in a manner more like what the previous administration wanted and is misleading. While the motivation to reexamine the recommendations may have in part be due to workforce concerns, the decision to shorten the quarantine was based on scientific data ( as Waldo points out). The data indicates the highest risk of transmission to be in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and 2-3 days after. Hence, there is good rationale to shorten the quarantine once symptoms resolve and with continued masking.
We should all bear in mind, however, that the data may change as the virus mutates. My concern is the recent data out of UCSF where the asymptomatic positivity rate has jumped from 0.2% to 7%. That would throw a kink into how to think about “post exposure” quarantine since the likelihood of exposure is so high even when interacting with asymptomatic individuals.
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This doesn’t make any sense.
400,000 new cases today - a new record. Notably, this isn’t with all states reporting, and won’t include anyone who used a home test or anyone who tried but couldn’t get tested today.
We are completely fucked.
My kids were taking me to lunch at Brennan’s tomorrow to celebrate. Brennan’s called today to say they had to close for the New Year’s weekend because Covid had hit the staff.
The final count increased the tally by 20%. 
U-S-A! U-S-A!
Sounds about right.
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While COVID ravages his state, Ron DeathSantis has been notably absent. The most likely explanation is that he has it, and doesn’t want to admit it.
What makes you think he doesn’t want it? I’ve heard folks talking about hosting “Omicron Parties”, trying to get it, thinking that this is the mildest variant and infection is always better than a vaccine.
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If unvaxxed people are doing this, many of them are in for a rude awakening. And by “awakening”, I mean an induced coma on a ventilator…so the opposite of awakening.
It has been posited (by actual scientists) that Omicron may seem mild, because it is mutated enough to infect those who have been vaxxed and/or have had OG COVID, but for whom the symptoms are typically mild because the existing antibodies have a leg up on attacking the new variant. So, while such cases add to the total case count, they are diluting the hospitalization and death statistics.
Anti-vaxxers without a prior infection may be sitting ducks to the new strain.
I agree. But there is a prevailing belief among many that “I’m going to get it, I’d prefer this version”. Also, “if we all get it together, we can all hang out together and not have to isolate.” The latter has been specifically applied to their children and play groups.
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So after Brennan’s closed for Covid, we moved our reservation to Caracol. We just got a text that they’re now closed for Covid.