Steve Thode has been tracking the COVID-19 data for this blog from the onset of the pandemic. Here's his latest:
For the month of December, Lehigh County recorded a total of 11,464 new COVID cases while NorCo recorded a total 10,872 new cases. That's a new single month record for both counties.
The combined total for Lehigh/NorCo of 22,336 new cases for December smashes the old record set in December 2020 when 16,836 new cases were recorded for the two counties.
December ended with Lehigh/NorCo setting a new record for 7-day new cases with a total of 8,027 new cases reported between Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. By comparison, this is almost 85% higher than the peak 7-day case rate last winter which was set on January 10, 2021:
Blogger's Note: Though Omicron is raging, it may be less severe. One recent study suggests it spares the lungs.
I follow a local basketball team whose players are regularly tested. Though showing no symptoms, three starters (and one or two others) tested positive yesterday and will be unable to play or practice for five days. Before they do, they must visit a cardiologist.
All players have been vaccinated.
14 comments:
My brother in law saw fit to ignore the virus and rejected getting vaccinated. An avid Trumper and gun nut and basic creep. Covid landed him in the ICU and now he is at deaths door after suffering several strokes. Beware you unbelievers! Russian roulette will get you killed.A totally avoidable situation will end in misery for those left behind.
Latest return-to-work guidance from PA DOH is dated July 30,2021. (PADOH 2021-PAHAN-583-7-30-UPD).
Not helpful.
That is so sad. So sorry for the family too
The 30% club who choose to not get vaccinated are the reason why we are not out of the woods. Common sense, WTF!
Vax & Mask or Die!
So I guess we're not posting comments relating to the Biden Administration's handling of the virus?
Indulge my ignorance, please. From what I have read, the home tests can’t detect the strain of Covid and hospitals/doctors are saying home tests are so accurate, additional testing isn’t necessary. So, delta is very bad, but omicron better. BUT, if you don’t know the strain and are sending people back to work too early, a bigger issue is created. Either a 10-day quarantine was always too extreme or now the five-day isolation is for convenience. Which is it?
The ever-changing protocols erode public faith more than anything else.
Stop with the vaxxed/unvaxxed nonsense. My business is 95% vaxxed and 60% sick right now. We've been masking, taking staggered lunch breaks, and sanitizing on each shift since 3/20/20. The unvaxxed are certainly getting sicker. That's their problem. But the thought that they've prolonged this is simply absurd. Virulent variants that are less deadly are how these things end. We're all getting Omicron. There's no hiding from it. And that may well be a good thing, as Delta was killing large numbers of people.
Hey @ 1:37 - Remember when Donald Trump sabotaged the initial pandemic response (lied-denied-golfed) which led to the collapse of our economy, 800,000+ needless deaths, untold suffering, trauma, heartbreak, misery, 2 lost years, & the most divided country since the Civil War.
What's that about President Biden you ask?
@7:31 - While its certainly not entirely the anti mask/vaxer's fault, they can't be completely absolved either. Its all #'s and probabilities at this point. The more "hosts" the virus finds, the longer it will persist AND worse for all of us that will increase the odds of mutation into newer variants.
There are absolutely no guarantees that wearing a mask or getting vaccinated will keep you safe, but it does reduce your odds of catching it. What those odds are can certainly be debated, but there is no argument that there is a reduction.
It is all about limiting the spread, those who ignore or can't be bothered with it anymore are a part of the persistence we are all dealing with.
Trump golfed 307 times during his presidency at a cost of over $150,000,000 to taxpayers. Biden?
3:19, None of the common tests can detect the strain, including the PCR tests. For that you need to actually sequence the virus. The tests aren't perfect; they have extremely low false positive rates but about 20% false negative rates (i.e., they miss about 20% of positive cases), but they aren't designed to be a diagnostic test like the molecular tests. They are designed to be quick and easy to use to prevent the virus's spread.
The new protocol was initially sloppy, although I am a bit more satisfied with the update that allows shorter quarantine with a negative test. The issue is that the virus isn't the same for everyone. Most people won't still be contagious by day 6, but some might still be contagious on day eight. The guidance is really less about the new strain of covid than it is about minimizing the probability that someone will have to quarantine for days after they are no longer contagious.
I say we take the cost trump inflicted upon this country out of his businesses, his bank accounts, and his family. I feel $4 or $5 billion would be a good number and what ever he can't pay make him and his family earn by cleaning toilets at illegal immigrant concentration camps he wanted to inflict.
We missed out on the opportunity to ferret out so many of the weak of mid with the Delta variant. Could have resolve so many problems if it would have run its course fully and completely.
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