Coronavirus, Mid December Edition, 2022
Nationwide,
the estimated number of cases, using official numbers, has risen. From 256,000 on Nov 14. to 350,000 on Dec 7. The
official numbers continue be
under-counted by a factor of 3-10, depending on the source of the
estimate.
More
in keeping with reality, the number of people hospitalized with Covid
for this wave has increased from around 22,200 to 30,000 for around the same time
period.
The New York Times Interactive graph ( It can be found here...) has slightly different numbers and is reporting a slight rise in the number of cases. My source may not be as accurate as theirs, but I'll stick with it because it is an easy scrape, and is good enough. This is more about trends than anything else.
Dominant Variants in the US:
BQ's 63% up from 44% in mid November.
BA.5 15.2% This was the main variant in October, now down from 79%.
BF.7's 6.3% Up from under 7.3% mid November
XBB 5.5% Up from nearly naught in November
BN.1 4.6% Up from nearly naught in November
BA.4's 2.3% Down from 5.7% since mid November.
All
of these are Omicron (BA5) descendants. All have minor refinements that will make the them more infectious, and nullify some treatments, see below. The latest booster, which was
designed with BA4 and BA5 in mind. Early studies show that it is effective against these variants.
Per CDC tracker...
The major effect of the rise of the BQ variants is that monoclonal antibodies, which once were THE major treatment for Covid, even before the vaccinations were available, are ineffective against the BQ's. One article on this is here...
Paxlovid continues to be an effective treatment, but needs to be taken early on for best effects. And Paxlovid is reported as "Under prescribed". So you may have to push for it.
Hospitalized, Vaccinated v. Unvaccinated.
I know I have written about this before, but it bears repeating. Of the hospitalized with Covid, 80% continue to be from the unvaccinated population. The unvaccinated represent about 21% of the population overall.
Which works out to be that the unvaccinated are 16 times more likely to be hospitalized from Covid than vaccinated.
A recent article on UC Davis for October 27, has 27 hospitalizations from Covid, 6 are vaccinated.
The unvaccinated also have worse outcomes, or require more extensive treatment. In the UC Davis article, of the 27 unvaccinated hospitalized, 5 required ICU care. None of the vaccinated did.
What is not mentioned in the statistics is if the "unvaccinated" include previously infected Covid. Which should beget some additional protection. Though studies have shown not as much as the vaccines.
Free Tests
Free test kits are no longer available via government sources, but are available, free to the user, if you are willing to jump through the hoops, from various stores, paid for my your health insurance.
For example. Google Blue Cross free covid tests. you will get a CVS advertisement for 8 free tests, per month. See Here... Also available via Medicare, and probably many other insurance plans and outlets like WalMart, Rite Aid, etc...
No comments:
Post a Comment