san diego: dialed in: CoViD-19: Omicron Detection Increasing Across US, World | Biden Bumps Up Boosters, Testing | US Averts Government Shutdown | Inflation Or Corporate Greed?

Courtney Barnett from the Archives (Taken at House of Blues 10.11.2017)

Even though I got a couple hours in at the San Diego Zoo this afternoon, I feel like I've been working all day long. I got up early, did actual work for my actual job, did the listings while watching two media briefings and then a Senate committee meeting that I didn't realize was back from October.

I know I like to keep up with news up to the minute, but if you don't, just know that media is seizing the omicron variant as an opportunity to get clicks, which either means inducing panic and fear or saying all the panic and fear is overblown. And I guess they're both right and they're both wrong, but the consensus remains that we're now about 10 days from having any definitive information about omicron, and even longer knowing what kind of severity of illness it causes since that is a lagging indicator. All you can do is mask up- and maybe with some higher quality N95 or KN95s for precarious indoor situations, consider 3 shots of mRNA vaccines as fully vaccinated, and consider your risk in any situations that aren't your own home, and even in your own home if you have people in your household exposed to high-risk situations. Hopefully antigen tests do drop in price or become free so everyone can just have them in their medicine cabinets when they're needed. I'm not panicking yet. If I was unvaccinated or knew anyone who was, I certainly would be gravely concerned. And if you do test positive after air-traveling from abroad, you should notify your local health department that they might want to sequence your sample.

And a correction. On Tuesday, I posted a map of California that showed San Diego was showing a 0.69 R-eff (The more under 1, the better. Over 1 is not good.) This was considered great news. Today while gathering my data, I saw this note. "Delays in case reporting lead to underestimates of R-eff. It is likely that decreased testing volume over the Thanksgiving holiday has resulted in abnormal trends." So we're back at 0.93 which is still under 1, but considered "likely stable" instead of "likely decreasing".

Stay safe out there.

COVID-19:

Newsom: Omicron variant won't spark California shutdown - kpbs (12.1.21)
Biden’s new Covid plan: more boosters, free home testing, and ‘monoclonal antibody strike teams’ - STAT News (12.2.21)

The White House's plan to combat winter COVID-19 surges: 8 things to know - Becker's Hospital Review (12.2.21)
‘Just stupid stuff’: Logistics and lack of testing stymied finding the Omicron variant in the U.S. - Stat News (12.2.21)

Omicron Update: Dec 2 - Your Local Epedimiologist (12.2.21)
Omicron coronavirus variant found in multiple US states - AP News (12.2.21)

Second U.S. omicron Covid case reported, in Minnesota resident who had traveled to New York City - CNBC (12.2.21)

The Darkest Predictions:

Some experts suggest Omicron variant may have evolved in an animal host - STAT (12.2.21)
Omicron will likely ‘dominate and overwhelm’ the world in 3-6 months, doctor says - CNBC (12.2.21)
Omicron seems to carry higher Covid reinfection risk, says South Africa. Scientists warn of higher rate of repeat infections but say vaccines appear to protect against serious illness - The Guardian (12.2.21)

Increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 reinfection associated with emergence of the Omicron variant in South Africa (Article Preprint/NOT peer-reviewed) - MedXRiv (12.2.21)

Politics:

The Fifth Circuit Court got the science wrong on OSHA’s vaccination mandate - STAT First Opinion (12.1.21)
Senate passes stopgap funding bill, avoiding shutdown - AP News (12.2.21)

Congress approves a short-term funding bill to avoid a government shutdown - npr/kpbs (12.2.21)

News:

City Of San Diego (via Twitter): Friday morning City staff will be releasing a nontoxic red dye into Mission Bay to study water circulation patterns. Data collected from the project will be used to design future water quality improvements and environmental projects at the bay. (Note, this is also during king tides, so it is possible that the red dye water could be seen in possible coastal flooding, though the tides tend to be ocean water, not bay.)

Other Reading:

How San Diego Zoo works to prevent COVID-19 cases and protect animals - kpbs (12.1.21)
Yesterday I was ranting about inflation. Since then, OPEC+ agreed to stick with their 400k+ barrels per day of output as they had agreed to last January. And Judd Legum of Popular.Info joined forces with More Perfect Union to make an explanatory video that should be spread far and wide, just like the rest of his investigative reporting.

Opec to pump more oil but keeps door open for cuts over Omicron risk. Oil cartel will put stop to planned increase if new Covid variant leads to further travel and trade restrictions. - The Guardian (12.2.21)

And also HOLY SHIT. "A litre of petrol reached a record h 144.9p last month." 144.9p = $2.87/liter. 3.78541 liters/gallon. Therefore 1 gallon of gas in the UK is $10.86. (Did I math right?)