Weekly coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - week of November 29

Some recent COVID related satire from The Beaverton:

Unvaccinated Toronto Police officers on unpaid leave told that if they wanted paid leave they should have shot somebody

Fake doctors take brave stand against real medicine

Single drop of sweat falls down local dad’s face as he tells daycare worker his child doesn’t have runny nose

Canadian mothers reject Omicron variant: “We have perfectly good Delta at home!”

Missouri health department found mask mandates work, but didn’t make findings public

The comparison showed infection rates in “masked” jurisdictions were higher than the rest of the state in the six weeks prior to the emergence of the delta variant. Case rates then fell below other regions as the surge gathered force in late May and have remained lower since that time.

The statewide data shows that, from the end of April to the end of October, jurisdictions with mask mandates experienced an average of 15.8 cases per day for every 100,000 residents compared to 21.7 cases per day for every 100,000 residents in unmasked communities.

Missouri is by no means an outlier in terms of lacking a statewide mask policy or discouraging local governments from creating their own; Missouri is one of six states that never implemented a statewide mask mandate during the pandemic.

But Missouri's decision not to release public health data showing a demonstrable difference in COVID-19 infection and death in masked communities is notable and reflects the deep political polarization surrounding pandemic policies, one expert said.

I'm really not enjoying seeing people getting sick with Omicron despite boosters. I know vaccines are meant to prevent severe cases and hospitalizations, yadda yadda, but some of us are chronically ill/disabled and want to avoid getting it altogether because even a mild case may affect us long-term... :(

How are other folks handling the swinging between "yay we're vaccinated/boosted" and "oh no here comes Delta/Omicron"?

Tracking COVID-19 variant Omicron

This page (which they say they will keep updating) has counts of confirmed and probable Omicron cases in each country. 22 countries so far.

Omicron variant may have picked up a piece of common-cold virus

The Omicron variant of the virus that causes COVID-19 likely acquired at least one of its mutations by picking up a snippet of genetic material from another virus - possibly one that causes the common cold - present in the same infected cells, according to researchers.

This genetic sequence does not appear in any earlier versions of the coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, but is ubiquitous in many other viruses including those that cause the common cold, and also in the human genome, researchers said.

By inserting this particular snippet into itself, Omicron might be making itself look "more human," which would help it evade attack by the human immune system, said Venky Soundararajan of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based data analytics firm nference, who led the study posted on Thursday on the website OSF Preprints.

This could mean the virus transmits more easily, while only causing mild or asymptomatic disease. Scientists do not yet know whether Omicron is more infectious than other variants, whether it causes more severe disease or whether it will overtake Delta as the most prevalent variant. It may take several weeks to get answers to these questions.

Cells in the lungs and in the gastrointestinal system can harbor SARS-CoV-2 and common-cold coronaviruses simultaneously, according to earlier studies. Such co-infection sets the scene for viral recombination, a process in which two different viruses in the same host cell interact while making copies of themselves, generating new copies that have some genetic material from both "parents."

This new mutation could have first occurred in a person infected with both pathogens when a version of SARS-CoV-2 picked up the genetic sequence from the other virus, Soundararajan and colleagues said in the study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.

The same genetic sequence appears many times in one of the coronaviruses that causes colds in people - known as HCoV-229E - and in the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS, Soundararajan said.

Parents knowingly send COVID-positive child to class, forcing 75 NorCal students into quarantine

ಠ_ಠ

Canada - Unvaccinated travellers over the age of 12 barred from planes and trains as of today

Unvaccinated travellers over the age of 12 won't be able to board a plane or passenger train in Canada beginning today, and a negative COVID-19 test will no longer serve as a substitute for most people.

The policy came into effect on Oct. 30, but the federal government allowed a short transition period for unvaccinated travellers who could board as long as they provided a negative molecular COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours before their trip.

The stringent new requirement comes into effect as Canada reacts to the emergence of the new, highly mutated omicron variant of the coronavirus.

While anyone coming into Canada or boarding a plane or train inside the country must be vaccinated, there are currently no quarantine measures in place except for people who have recently transited through southern Africa.

While many airlines have so far been doing random spot checks to ensure travellers are vaccinated, Air Canada and West Jet have confirmed they will ask for proof from everyone boarding in Canada as of today.

The government has issued warnings on social media that even Canadians and permanent residents abroad will not be able to return home and skip quarantine without a full slate of approved vaccines.

Pentagon denies Oklahoma governor's request and insists National Guard members must be vaccinated

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin denied a request from Oklahoma's governor to exempt his state's National Guard members from the Pentagon's Covid-19 vaccine mandate.

Austin emphasized that the vaccine mandate is a lawful order that promotes "the health, safety and readiness of our military personnel, regardless of duty status" in the letter, which CNN obtained a copy of.

But Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt didn't appear ready to back down. In response to Austin's letter, a spokesman for Stitt said the governor "appreciates" the letter but "maintains his position that the governor is commander in chief for all members of the Oklahoma National Guard while they are on" state orders.

Stitt ordered Brig. Gen. Thomas Mancino, the newly appointed head of the Oklahoma National Guard, not to enforce the vaccine mandate. Mancino, who acknowledged it put him in an awkward situation, said that under state orders, his commander was the governor. But he also said that if the guard were called up under federal orders, called Title 10, he would enforce the vaccine requirement.

A defense official who briefed reporters on the issue said that members of a National Guard unit, even under state orders, called Title 32, are still required to meet federal mission requirements, including medical requirements such as vaccine mandates.

Guard members who refuse to get vaccinated risk losing their status in the National Guard and the federal pay that comes as part of training, drills and more.

Both Title 32 and Title 10 are paid for by the federal government, not the states.

5 Omicron Cases Confirmed In Alameda County (California)

The patients, said to be mildly symptomatic, were among 12 COVID cases linked to a Nov. 27 wedding in Wisconsin, which one person attended after traveling internationally.

[…]

A state lab used genomic sequencing to identify the five East Bay cases. The sequencing has not been completed for all 12 cases.

The 12 people, all of whom had been vaccinated and most of whom had received boosters, are between the ages of 18 and 49. One lives in Berkeley, and the rest are from elsewhere in Alameda County.

Looks like it’s currently at 38 in the US.

First confirmed US case of Omicron coronavirus variant detected in California

In a White House news briefing, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the case was in an individual who traveled from South Africa on November 22 -- before travel restrictions were in place -- and tested positive for Covid-19 on November 29.

That individual, Fauci said, is self-quarantining and close contacts have tested negative for the coronavirus so far.

The person was fully vaccinated and is experiencing "mild symptoms, which are improving at this point," Fauci said. Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco's director of public health, said the person had not had a booster shot.

Survivors of severe COVID-19—especially those younger than 65 years—may be at more than twice the risk of dying within the next year than those who had mild or moderate illness or were never infected

Survivors of severe COVID-19—especially those younger than 65 years—may be at more than twice the risk of dying within the next year than those who had mild or moderate illness or were never infected, finds a study today in Frontiers in Medicine.

Another finding of the analysis of electronic health records of 13,638 patients who tested positive or negative for COVID-19 is that only 20% of those who had severe COVID-19 (requiring hospitalization) and died did so because of complications of their infection, such as abnormal blood clotting, respiratory failure, or cardiovascular problems.

Rather, 80% were due to different reasons typically considered unrelated to COVID-19.

"Since these deaths were not for a direct COVID-19 cause of death among these patients who have recovered from the initial episode of COVID-19, this data suggests that the biological insult from COVID-19 and physiological stress from COVID-19 is significant," wrote the University of Florida at Gainesville researchers.

Patients younger than 65 at triple the risk

Of all patients, 178 had severe COVID-19, while 246 were mildly or moderately ill, and the rest tested negative. Among all patients, 2,686 died within 12 months of their COVID-19 diagnosis.

Relative to uninfected patients, those recovered from severe COVID-19 younger than 65 years had a 233% increased risk of dying in the next year. The increased risk was greater than that of survivors of severe COVID-19 who were 65 or older.

The authors noted that the deaths observed in the study often occurred long after the patients had recovered from their infection; thus, their families and physicians may never have linked the two events.

Patients' overall health likely declined

The finding that most deaths were not due to COVID-19 complications suggests that the health of these patients had declined since their initial diagnosis, leaving them susceptible to different medical conditions, the researchers wrote.

The results also underscore the importance of reducing the chances of severe disease through vaccination, said lead author Arch Mainous III, PhD, of the University of Florida, in a Frontiers news release.

"Taking your chances and hoping for successful treatment in the hospital doesn't convey the full picture of the impact of COVID-19," he said. "Our recommendation at this point is to use preventive measures, such as vaccination, to prevent severe episodes of COVID-19."

All 53,000 attendees of Anime NYC urged to get tested after one got Omicron

Omicron is the new coronavirus variant whose first known US case made the news only yesterday, but is now also identified in California, Minnesota, Colorado and New York State as well, less than a week after being classified by the World Health Organization. Several fully vaccinated people have tested positive. In a press conference today, New York governor Kathy Hochul said her state alone now has five confirmed omicron cases, and NYC mayor Bill de Blasio warned New Yorkers that they should assume there’s community spread. Hochul suggested that so far, all the US cases of the omicron variant have been minor, with very light symptoms; the man who attended Anime NYC has reportedly already recovered.

The man is from Minnesota; the Minnesota Department of Health says he had already been vaccinated, and developed mild symptoms the day after the convention. He hadn’t been outside the United States recently, according to The New York Times, suggesting he may have gotten it at the convention.

Omicron outbreak at Norway Christmas party is biggest outside S. Africa, authorities say

At least 13 people in Oslo have been infected with the omicron variant of the coronavirus following a corporate Christmas party described as a “super spreader event,” and their numbers could rise to over 60 cases, authorities said on Friday.

The outbreak took place at a Christmas party on Nov. 26 organized by renewable energy company Scatec, which has operations in South Africa where the variant was first detected.

“This party has been a super spreader event,” Preben Aavitsland, a senior physician at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, told Reuters by email.

“Our working hypothesis is that at least half of the 120 participants were infected with the omicron variant during the party. This makes this, for now, the largest omicron outbreak outside South Africa.”