7 votes

Weekly coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - week of March 7

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Tags: ask.survey, recurring.weekly, coronaviruses.covid19, coronavirus

This thread is posted weekly, and is intended as a place for more-casual discussion of the coronavirus and questions/updates that may not warrant their own dedicated topics. Tell us about what the situation is like where you live!

9 comments

  1. [4]
    kfwyre
    Link
    US residents can now get another batch of free COVID tests delivered to them. Here is the official ordering site.

    US residents can now get another batch of free COVID tests delivered to them.

    Here is the official ordering site.

    10 votes
    1. [3]
      krg
      Link Parent
      This question most definitely comes from a place of ignorance.. but I wonder: what does a Covid-19 test do for anyone at this point?

      This question most definitely comes from a place of ignorance.. but I wonder: what does a Covid-19 test do for anyone at this point?

      2 votes
      1. kfwyre
        Link Parent
        It’s a useful tool if you believe you have it or have been exposed. Getting a definitive diagnosis can unlock treatment options, and it also confirms the need to isolate. COVID cases are...

        It’s a useful tool if you believe you have it or have been exposed. Getting a definitive diagnosis can unlock treatment options, and it also confirms the need to isolate. COVID cases are thankfully WAY down in most of the country, but it is still around. I had two coworkers whose kids brought it home with them just last week, for example.

        In the past my husband and I have used them before any in-person meetups to give us some peace of mind that we’re not spreading it (we both work high exposure jobs, so when we meet up with our WFH friends we’re not worried about getting it from them but giving it to them). Cases are so low in our area that we’ll probably stop that for the time being, so this batch will be ones that we sit on for a while and turn to if cases start to go back up.

        11 votes
      2. skybrian
        Link Parent
        It's not too likely, but if you have symptoms, you probably would still want to take a test, just in case?

        It's not too likely, but if you have symptoms, you probably would still want to take a test, just in case?

        1 vote
  2. skybrian
    (edited )
    Link
    Looking at the Washington Post statistics: US cases are down 31% to 13 per 100k (7-day average). The last time they were this low was mid-July. Little change in New York. It's down 9% to 11 per...

    Looking at the Washington Post statistics:

    • US cases are down 31% to 13 per 100k (7-day average). The last time they were this low was mid-July.
    • Little change in New York. It's down 9% to 11 per 100k. (Also mid-July.)
    • California is down 59% to 14 per 100k. The last time it was this low was in mid-December. Alameda is at 8, San Mateo at 14, Monterey at 15. Whatever the blip was last week, it seems to be over?
    • The highest increasing states are Iowa, up 102% to 30, and Washington, up 54% to 24. Hospitalizations are down in both places. I don't see news coverage about what's going on there.
    7 votes
  3. skybrian
    Link
    Vaccines and Omicron mean Covid now less deadly than flu in England (Financial Times) [...] [...] [...]

    Vaccines and Omicron mean Covid now less deadly than flu in England (Financial Times)

    A combination of high levels of immunity and the reduced severity of the Omicron variant has rendered Covid-19 less lethal than influenza for the vast majority of people in England, according to a Financial Times analysis of official data.

    [...]

    For every 100,000 Omicron infections, 35 will result in death, while the equivalent number of flu infections will lead to 40 fatalities, the data showed. Even among the over-80s, where about one-in-200 Omicron infections still results in death, this figure is now lower than the equivalent for flu.

    [...]

    After falling for the past two months since the peak of the Omicron wave, Covid-related hospitalisations are on the rise again across the UK. There were 8,153 admissions recorded in England in the week to March 7, up 21 per cent from the week before.

    [...]

    Pagel attributed the recent rise in hospitalisations to a mix of waning protection from the vaccines, the spread of BA.2 and the end of most Covid measures giving the virus more chance to infect people and cause severe illness. “I would be really surprised if we have a massive new wave. I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up having what we had with Delta where we get stuck at a high plateau for months and months on end,” she predicted.

    5 votes
  4. [2]
    skybrian
    (edited )
    Link
    COVID-19 cases soar in New Zealand, in dramatic shift [...] [...] 341 cases per 100k, according to the Washington Post.

    COVID-19 cases soar in New Zealand, in dramatic shift

    On Tuesday, when new daily cases hit a record of nearly 24,000, officials told hospital workers they could help out on understaffed COVID-19 wards even if they were mildly sick themselves.

    It was the latest sign of just how radically New Zealand's approach to the virus has shifted, moving from elimination to suppression and now to something approaching acceptance as the omicron variant has taken hold.

    [...]

    Across the country, the explosion in cases has left people stunned. Just a month ago, case numbers were around 200 per day. Now, the outbreak is affecting everyone from frontline workers to lawmakers.

    [...]

    One factor that hastened the outbreak was the return of thousands of university students to campuses around the country last month.

    341 cases per 100k, according to the Washington Post.

    5 votes
    1. eladnarra
      Link Parent
      Always kind of darkly funny to see case rates like this being treated as a major emergency... When double that was apparently business as usual in my town.

      Always kind of darkly funny to see case rates like this being treated as a major emergency... When double that was apparently business as usual in my town.

      1 vote
  5. skybrian
    Link
    S. Korea’s COVID-19 cases surpass 340,000 for first time [...] [...] Looking at the Washington Post, they're currently at 511 per 100k, up 43%.

    S. Korea’s COVID-19 cases surpass 340,000 for first time

    Experts here said it will still take two or three more weeks for the omicron wave to peak, and the daily case count is likely to keep going up based on the current trend.

    [...]

    A rise in infections among the student population was anticipated since schools recently started in-person classes. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Education announced that a total of 189,058 COVID-19 cases were found among students and school staff between March 2-7.

    [...]

    Overwhelmed by the sudden escalation in cases, the country is also struggling to cope with COVID-19 testing.

    According to the government, the country is capable of administering some 850,000 polymerase chain reaction tests a day, but over a million people have had to wait several hours to get PCR tests these days. This has been slowing down the overall medical response against the omicron wave, the government noted.

    Faced with the shortage of medical resources to better respond to the crisis, the government said it can replace PCR tests with rapid antigen tests. The government may announce a decision on Friday, it added.

    Looking at the Washington Post, they're currently at 511 per 100k, up 43%.

    5 votes