I finished a 6 day trip that saw me cross the Atlantic four times, and spend time in Belgium and NYC. When I cleared customs in Chicago they had people handing out free Covid take home covid tests and encouraging people to use them 3-5 days after they got home. I thought that distribution plan was brilliant and targeted.

So I can buy a plane ticket to Chicago and back to get an at home test? Decisions, decisions.

Only at the international terminal. So just fly to Europe and back.

What would be the cheapest and quickest? Would Canada work?

Probably would, yeah. Seemed like NYC had testing sites set up on every corner, and almost all of them had lines. When I was in Munich in November, that's the way it was there. The longest lines were for Covid testing. I did NOT see that in Brussles. In fact, Brussles, was very different from Amsterdam. One is in heavy lockdown, the other only has mask mandates and required vax cards to eat inside, but nothing is really closed.

My very antivax in laws both have covid. Mild symptoms so far, we will see how this goes.

Can you buy the self tests in pharmacies in usa? We have some issues this week as everybody wanted tests before the Christmas Eve but in general you can buy a test for 8€ in any pharmacy and test yourself in 20 mins.

I can say that Omicron was very soft on me, 1.5 bad days and fine after that, either because it’s less dangerous or also because I had the vaccine and booster before it.

The bad news is that despite me being self isolated in a room, my wife tested positive 3 days after me also with self tests, our kids negative so far. But for my wife its even softer than for me, just headache and throat pain, not even fever. Of course the problem is that when you test positive and isolate, you have probably been infecting others for a couple of day already, that is why this is impossible to stop.

My guess and hope is that this is the future of covid post vaccine, a mild infection like the flu that we all will get from time to time without too much troubles except for the people with already bad conditions or too old, exactly like the flu that also kills thousands every year.

Covid won’t disappear and we need to get used to it once it’s not that mortal anymore.

Regarding the antivax… I wouldn’t force them but I would ask them to be tested negative every day to be able to go to work, to bars or any public place and in countries like Spain where the great health system is free or better said, paid by all us with our tax, I would force them to sign an statement renouncing to any free treatment of covid if they get it so it won’t be us vaccinated to pay their free decisions. Freedom yes always but with the responsibility attached to your own decisions.

You can buy the self-tests if they're available, last few days near me they have been out.

Yay Icy and family!

I bought a bunch of home tests on Amazon a few weeks ago. You can get them at lot of different stores - it doesn't have to be a pharmacy, but supply is limited right now. They're usually around $15.

Well crap. Son called and said he tested positive for Covid. He's got a fever etc. and somehow was able to get tested today. Wife and I don't have the major symptoms of lack of smell/taste, fever etc.

I was going to visit optometrist to use up my vision insurance for the year but called and cancelled. That's a bummer.

According to CDC website, suppose to self isolate for 14 days (have to read more about this, is it 5 days now if no symptoms after X days?). It'll be a long 14 days. Will have to start using Kroger order online and pickup again.

My wife is sched to start school on Jan 6'ish. Not sure what they'll tell her to do.

I never got tested when I got sick last week. The drive up sites were packed and I didn’t want to venture into any stores. The confirmation for me was learning the guy next to me in our office was had tested positive.

I had joked with my boss that I was going to milk it for all it’s worth if I ended getting Covid but I was back in the office five days after symptoms ended. And the same day I came back CDC came out with their five day recommendation.

20,000 tested positive in Georgia yesterday, beating the previous record by 6,000 people.

Looks like my daughter finally tested negative after about a week or so...we are all still negative, I think since my son is only 8, she was the one farthest out from her shot (and it was Pfizer). We never bothered with a PCR test because she had symptoms and tested positive at home. I think we'll skip the PCR based on guidance from the CDC in that the rapid tests are probably more indicative of disease and being contagious.

Florida say hoooold your horses:



-----------------

There's been at least 2 promising lab studies published yesterday re: T-Cell response to Omicron, which reinforces the hope that things hold up well on serious disease (which will 'trickle down' to a good degree to moderate cases at home). The consensus in terms of data is the same, the few exceptions (an older swedish study and a newer from South Africa) both have some confounding factors that might skew the results. In addition to the statistical analysis this makes me cautiously optimistic, at least for regions with a high/thick 'immunity wall' and a decently low starting level in hospital ... (On an individual level for me and Family/friends the optimism has been high for almost a year anyway. There's always a risk and as always it's good to be prudent, but that's the thing one can controll and has heen by getting vaccinated.)

whomario,

you seem to be very knowledgeable on this subject. I'm wondering if there have been tests on asymptomatic close contacts of people with flu Do they sometimes test positive? Are we just seeing it with Covid because we are looking?

No doubt cases are exploding, but some of the crazy numbers we're seeing are due to counties holding case counts until after the holiday weekend and dumping multiple day reports over one or two days. We've been doing this long enough that this has repeated itself multiple times.

Interesting article below. Something I tossed out there in an earlier post and now a preliminary study has been done.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/28/h...ies-delta.html

For those recovered from Omicron ...

Looking at this CDC site with new rules, it says vaccinated+boosted do not need to quarantine if exposed (e.g. from my son).

CDC Updates and Shortens Recommended Isolation and Quarantine Period for General Population | CDC Online Newsroom | CDC

But this other CDC link says

Public Health Guidance for Community-Related Exposure | CDC

Basically, think the CDC site has not yet been reviewed and realigned with new guidance making it contradict itself.

But we are comparing to other days they have done that. So 6,000 more than any day before is 6,000 more than a day they have dome that in the past. We are comparing crazy numbers to crazy numbers.

General tldr: Of course it's a thing with flu as with most (all ?) viruses, doubly so if you mean asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic (post-symptomatic much rarer). Of course with most viruses it is most infectious with symptoms and that phase is longer than the pre-symptomatic phase while asymptomatic folks are on average less infectious. But that is offset to some degree by behavioural changes due to symptoms (by us and those around us).
An extreme example is measles, which is spread 3-4 days before developing the telltale rash and feeling noticeably sick.
As for Flu: It's actually considered a "major source of transmission" as well by the WHO. Early on the hopium/silver lining take for SarsCov2 was that it wasn't happening as often as with flu ...

But best i know later data indicated that it is more of a factor with SarsCov2. Most i remember argued for 30-50% more frequent + most likely for the Rest of cases (the majority do get symptoms, even if they are mild) some 12-24 hours extra time where people are infectious but not yet show symptoms which then also don't really start out very serious for even many folks that later get very sick. (I can't readily compare it with Influenza in that regard, but i think it's more of a 'thing' here. Plus coughing is a late symptom here, which is harder to ignore than most anything else).

But yeah, the smart move in future would be to treat Flu and other Illnesses much the same on a Basic (!) level of caution (for example not visiting an older relative for a couple days while your spouse/partner has symptoms and you don't.).

Here's some basics:

Similarities and Differences between Flu and COVID-19​ | CDC

Obviously it hasn't been documented on this scale with the flu via public testing (people are people. Heck, personally i think now having tests that simultaneously recognise both is going to lower Influenza illness and deaths immensely in the future, especially in hospitals or care home settings) but there have of course been scientific studies specifically looking at this sort of thing for every virus you can think of via so-called "cohort studies", same design as those where the Covid knowledge comes from, that include contact tracing and surveillance of when people develop symptoms. With flu it does happen but simply less frequently. (And if anything i guess that the somewhat smaller scientific studies for Influenza might overestimate the ratio since they are bound to be more complete focussing on smaller groups. But that's me guessing without a clue.)


Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis | PNAS

Though with SarsCov2, as the paper above explains, spread by truly asymptomatic individuals is also a bit less frequent than sometimes thought (The "oh, a sore throat counts as a symptom ? What, a runny nose too ? Yeah, i guess i had that !" syndrome), especially since it is hard work to differentiate between asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic. If you read "asymptomatic transmission" it often means "no symptoms at that time", not "transmission by people never experiencing symptoms".

As a net result of all things mentioned you have people spreading it more often without having any clue (or being more likely to ignore it) which offesets the heightened awareness and any preventive measures taken which were easily supressing Influenza and other viruses globally.

As another aside, i guess that flu being contagious earlier (but for less time and less time unnoticed) is likely part of the reason why truly bad flu waves are pretty steep as well despite not having the same ability to infect big groups in one go. Heck, one leading theory for Omicron is that it kinda is spreading so fast due to being infectious earlier after infection but still being symptomless or mild early on. This pretty much determines the so called 'serial intervall', meaning average time between one person catching it and then passing it on to the next one. This is, best i know, 2-3 days for flu and was 5 for SarsCov2 until Omicron.

Take this all with a salt shaker as i am not an expert and haven't kept up with things as much as i might have earlier.

This is probably neither here nor there, but within the past week there have been local articles on the COVID deaths of both a police officer and a firefighter.

(Also an aside on firefighters. I thought these guys were supposed to be STUDS, like the ones in those calendars middle-aged ladies are all hot for. But every time I see an obit for one, they are...not exactly in great shape?)

I've been feeling pretty sick the last day and a half (chills, cough, runny nose) and I probably should get a covid test. However there are no immediate appointments that I can find.

And yes I've been vaccinated but I've been procrastinating on the boosters.

Hope you feel better.

But we really want to know ...

I felt like this too right after Christmas. Went to the drive-thru testing place and the line had to snake around for a mile. Gave up and went home. Feeling fine now so either it was a mild case of Covid or some other bug.

Getting tested right now is really difficult in some areas. UW Medicine is only offering pre-surgery testing right now and all Washington State public schools are closed Monday to encourage students and faculty to get tested before returning to school.

I finally got tested. negative.

yay!

So I went into the office last Wednesday for the first time in 3 weeks since surgery. My boss came in, after a week out of town, feeling sick. He was in the office for 3 hours, fully masked. He and his wife tested negative 2 days earlier, but she's got pneumonia. He went to the doctor on Thursday morning, tested positive (of course).

I have zero symptoms and likely wasn't in close contact by the strict definition, but I went to the Little Clinic for a test this morning to confirm I'm negative before going back into the office to be safe (and because my office would ask me to do so). They told me if you're asymptomatic, a rapid test is useless as you'll test negative whether or not you're positive, so they did a PCR test that gets sent to a lab and I likely won't have results back until Wednesday or Thursday at latest. And, insurance might not cover it since I have no symptoms, and in that case, the visit and lab tests will cost me about $195. So, I'll be working from home this week.

I should have just stayed home, not gotten tested, and gone back to work on the 10th.

“When a mayor has swagger, the city has swagger. We’ve allowed people to beat us down so much, that all we did was wallow in COVID.”

— NYC Mayor Eric Adams (D) pic.twitter.com/rgKN13Ssnm

— The Recount (@therecount) January 3, 2022

So no actual plan, then. Just SWAGGER the virus into submission.

Yeah, that's gross... his benevolent swagger shines down on us all.

Ha ha, you puny virus! You can’t harm me!

Well that is still better than the Florida Surgeon General who said the problem is we test too much.

Testing situation here sucks. Wait time is over 3 hours to even get a test and who knows on results. My brother was exposed at work and we hung out over the weekend.

Texas Medical Center released their weekly numbers this morning, as scheduled. Refresher: this is a pooled dataset from largest collection of hospitals in a single medical center the world so it's a good aggregator of what is going on with Houston with a lot of noise removed.

I like to think of the pandemic dashboards in three numbers: leading (positivity rate), current (case numbers), and trailing (hospitalizations). The TMC dashboard graphs are weekly averages, to reduce noise, and cover all 4 peaks (original 2020 summer, alpha 2020 winter, delta 2021 summer, and omicron current) so you can compare to see which were better or worse.

Weekly Average Of Daily New Covid-19 Positive Cases - Texas Medical Center
Cases: 232 -> 721 -> 2094 (!) -> 5390 (!!!) -> 5695
Case numbers are the least helpful as they're limited by how many we can count and I'm sure have been undercounted all along. People rarely test if they're asymptomatic and often don't test even if they are, for a number of reasons ranging from no testing availability to unsure if sick to wanting to go to work and testing would make them ineligible. It was pretty clear we hit testing capacity during the 2020 summer wave and those were badly undercounted. Also, it looks clear that we've hit it again now. During Delta, we hit a weekly high of 4892 so last week's 5390 eclipsed that. However, what was more scary was that it took 7 weeks to get from early summer valley to the high. This time it took only 3 weeks.

Weekly Average Of Covid-19 Testing Metrics Across TMC Hospital Systems - Texas Medical Center
Positivity Rate: 2.7 -> 6.2 -> 15.4 (!!) -> 28.0 (!!!!!)
This one's staggering. The highest we had previously was in summer 2020 with 22.0% but, again, you practically had to be coughing up a lung for them to test you as there just weren't tests available. I'm sure we're resource constrained again as the number of tests is the highest it's even been but not by much (4595 vs previous high of 4116 during alpha). However, if 28% of 4595 tested positive, that means 1286 people are confirmed just from hospital tests alone. The worst during Delta, for instance, was 15% of 3876, or 581. In other words - less than half.

Average Daily New Covid-19 Hospitalizations By Week (Monday-Sunday) - Texas Medical Center
Hospitalizations: 56 -> 68 -> 110 -> 210 -> 401 (!!)
Finally, hospitalizations hit an all time high this week so that's really not promising as we're at the start of this wave. This is twice as steep as the previous fastest (pre-Alpha) wave. Hopefully it's quicker than previous ones - currently, we have a good number of beds as we're still just in Phase 1 (see other slides). The first wave also resolved fastest but we were in real dire shape for hospital beds then. Some capacity and planning has gone into adding Phase 2, 3, and temporary beds so there's more than there was back then. But if this stretches out for months like Alpha or even lasts as long as Delta, at a staggering 400 patients a day, those fill up fast. And this is assuming this is the peak value and not just another stairstep on the way up. If next week, we jump again to 600 or continue geometric progression to 800 - things get grim quickly. With better treatments, better therapeutics (except monoclonal antibodies off the table), and a seemingly milder Omicron due to a combination of better community protection and a differently constituted virus, outcomes should be better than in past waves. But when hospitals fill to capacity, mortality jumps an order of magnitude as there just aren't enough caretakers.

So, yes, even with the "good" news from omicron, today's numbers are a bit sobering for Houston.

SI

We're now at 62% fully vaccinated (2 shots).

> 12 is at 71.1%.

At least one dose is 72.3%.

> 12 is at 83.5%.

So there is approx 10% that took one dose but have not finished the second for whatever reason. I don't get why health/government can't reach out to them specifically and ask/incent them. We know who they are.

I've watched a lot of football lately. Admittedly I've flipped channels quite a bit (and fell asleep on the couch more than once) but I remember only seeing 2 ads for vaccination. One was a generic let's get vaccinated (Covid not mention).

Still a frakking lackluster "change" program IMO.

CDC COVID Data Tracker

I think we're well past the point where it's like the warning label on cigarettes. Anyone who cares whether or not smoking is bad for your health, knows that it is.

For the missing 10%, we need to know why. I don't think we have that info (or my google-fu isn't good enough).

We know who they are. Do a survey and understand why. Then create a plan(s) to address their concerns, their apathy etc.

The problem is we don't know why and it doesn't seem the government wants to spend the money (and we have plenty of that right now) to figure it out.

Yeah, people either want it or they don't at this point. And if you breakdown the numbers by region, it tells how political the vaccine is. Chicago for instance is at 72% fully vaccinated.

I do think they can and should do a better job of making the vaccine more accessible to people in certain communities. Setting up mobile vaccine units that can reach areas with low rates and low accessibility would probably have helped a lot in Chicago.

I don't know how accurate the one-dose numbers are either. The CDC has some major issues with their data. It seems if you get your 1st and 2nd dose at different places, it may not be accurately reported. Same if you forget your vaccine card.

It probably varies by region, but getting shots is not as easy as it should be. We have a bout a 3-week wait to schedule a booster shot around here. And when you do get your initial shot, you have to schedule a second dose at the same time. So people would be scheduling an appointment for that 2nd shot 6-7 weeks out. Not easy for people who have hectic schedules that could change.

But that's the choice we made when we chose to put our eggs in the private sector basket for vaccine distribution.

Orange County's Kelly Ernby Dead of COVID at 46 | PEOPLE.com

"Politician Was Outspoken Vaccine Mandate Opponent"

She died as she lived- owning libs by denying science.

Florida has reached over 4 million covid cases. Not sure if that is in total or active, but still a massive number and DeSantis continues to dodge the media.

Yes, but he gave a 'press' conference today saying essentially people need to stop getting tested, basically blaming "hysterical" people for taking tests away from the (in his mind very few,l i wager) who need them by getting tested "all the time".

I'm pretty sure his plan is working.

As someone pointed out, he's big on the monoclonal antibody treatment, but if you can't get tested, how do you know if you need it?

Lets also not forget he had someone arrested for exercising their first amendment rights.

That can't be true, he never shuts up about censorship!

And I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that monoclonal antibodies are reimbursed by the feds so none of that money comes out of his pockets. Also, his top donor makes money off it (tho there's some context there).
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/cor...255556531.html
https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden...424e19b3ed994f
Ron DeSantis and Regeneron connection on monoclonal antibody treatments, explained


SI

It also doesn't work against Omicron which is probably why he likes it.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nyt...icron.amp.html

That's for 2 Tests to a pack, right ? (only did a quick google search for a Walmart sales page)


Just for reference: Over here it is 20ish € (22,5 USD) for a 5-pack from a good test (per our ministry doing a study) i and my family use, over the counter. Gets considereably cheaper from dedicated sellers on these when scaling these orders up to bigger volumes (10 pack of the same for 30, 5x5 for 60).

The nurses I saw on Monday when I went to get tested with no symptoms told me that rapid tests are useless because I will come back negative either way given the new strain. So I don't know what good an at-home test would be for those with no symptoms. It does make me curious, though - does the level of symptom equate to the transmissibility? Because if it doesn't, and asymptomatic people can transmit it about as easily as someone who knows they are sick, then asymptomatic spread is a real issue if most quick tests are going to tell you you're negative.

You are most contagious 1-2 days before symptoms come on and the first few days of symptoms.

Edit: Simply to add to what miked said, which i scrolled past before typing my novel and is essentially what one needs to know ;)


It's a misconception that's still hanging around from early days and poor messaging in the time since ... The tests improved leaps and bounds.

True: They detect only highish viral load where anything lower you are unlikely to be able to spread it (not impossible and of course this is at time of test, 12/24 hours later is a different story again)

True: Viral load is highest early when symptoms start, then goes down in the following days

True: Most people develop some sort of symptoms (but often ignore them, brush them off)

True: Thus it's most likely to show positive and most likely a negative is a definitive negative when having symptoms.

Not true: It only works when you have symptoms

Why ? Because all the true things aren't 1/0 binaries. Viral load can already be pretty high before symptoms and in asymptomatic (this is a big part of why it spreads so well !). So if you know you had contact with someone with Covid it makes a lot of sense to get a rapid test before meeting others.

If negative, there is a very high chance you are not currently infectious to others at that exact moment/next couple hours (if test is done well, meaning thoroughly and not barely brushing the nose hairs ;) !). It however is not as reliable to show you are not infected as a PCR is. You might simply not yet (or not anymore) have highish viral load. If positive there is a very high chance you are and either asymptomatic or simply not yet having any symptoms.

A PCR shows lower amounts of virus, thus is more accurate of a diagnostic tool over a larger swaths of time, both earlier and later (it is a diagnotic test showing you are infected). So if you want to know if you have Covid early after exposure or your recent symptoms were Covid (or say you know of a gathering with lots of positives) a PCR is really important.

But if one wants to know if one is infectious right now, that's what rapid tests were designed for. It's the "take before going to meet people (especially vulnerable) test" and also the "find out if you are still infectious/need to isolate test", not so much the "find out if you are definitely infected or not test".

It's also why it makes little sense to take once and be done unless you have symptoms. And the Timing matters. Remember that incubation is 4-5 days on average (btw asymptomatic have this as well. While a rarer, they can also have high viral load. Their immune system simply combats it very well) but can of course range from 2-14 with both extremes being unlikely. So if you get a rapid test 7 or 8 days after exposure it's more likely a negative is an all clear than on day 3.

https://mobile.twitter.com/michaelmi...51234263597067

(He's a tad obnoxious but one of the authorities on this stuff i'd say)

Edit 2: It turns out more and more that with Omicron especially Saliva (throat) works better/earlier and symptom onset is earlier as well. So this might skew things towards what the nurses seem to be experiencing !

https://mobile.twitter.com/michaelmi...98030618906632

The CDC answers to these questions are here: COVID-19 Quarantine and Isolation | CDC

If you successfully decipher what it is you should do, you should have no problems with the GRE. Plus, I think they've hidden the recipe for that mall-brand chocolate-chip cookie in there.

Yeah, their communication on this has been botched and all the corrections don't help

The CDC explains its new Covid guidelines pic.twitter.com/YRG9GuUGDo

— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) January 5, 2022

Remember when the CDC was revered around the world many years ago?

Another thing: If you are wondering why FOX and Repubs are trying to pronounce "Novak Djokovic" while screaming:

Novak Djokovic Australian Open: Visa bungle and exemption paperwork delay world No.1’s entry into Australia

Australia has done some weird shit this pandemic with regard to their borders (and i don't mean closing them as an island nation but how they dealt with exceptions throughout, taking a year to come up with any improvements, going with Plan "let's hope it'll all go away by itself" ) and would have also very much benefitted from PR advice as well. Then again Djokovic is perfectly easy to dislike even ignoring his Covid commentary (and his father is batshit crazy).

EDIT: Now the serbian President (yes, of the country, not the tennis federation) is involved fighting for his rights and freedom.

I also want to mention that Serbia is 48% vaccinated and has 75% + more people dying than usual for weeks now. I want to wager that Djokovic could have swayed some of those into protecting themselves.

The whole thing is weird. The Australian Open gave him the exemption, but no one thought to coordinate approval for entry into the country? This sounds more like a reactionary decision by the PM in response to criticism over favorable treatment for a big draw for the tournament. So, everyone comes out smelling like shit. Well done!

You kindof wonder how these decisions get made - you think that in a vacuum, of course it looks awful. Then you remember that these same putzes get away with dozens of unethical decisions (I originally had it as "bad" decisions but that could just mean stupid as opposed to morally wrong) that don't make a ripple for every one that does so I think they're surprised whenever one doesn't quite work out.

SI

The negative reaction was 100% certain to occur, there is no way anybody in charge was surprised into a reaction here.

Yes, these are new rules but the basic principle is the same as ever. I mean, i got granted a visa for NZ after sending a bunch of copies and filled out forms but stil l had to provide a bunch of original documentation upon arrival. And if i had applied for one visa but provided documentation needed for another ... He was granted an exemption based on the provided information but this was anonymous by design. So i certainly wouldn't know how much was actually there. It may well be that there were no actual original documents (or how redacted they were) given they'd likely give the medical Reviewers clues on identity. Maybe it was just a collection of 'data' on a form. So the exemption was granted with the provision of documentation upon entry.

Now i have no idea why this wasn't pre-sent to be audited but the fact the exception was granted was known the same day he boarded a flight (again, the process was anonymous so who knows when anybody even knew who got one ?). Remember the tight time frame, up until yesterday nobody knew if Djokovic even applied for an exemption, was sitting this one out or heck, maybe got vaccinated. He literally announced him getting an exemption from the departure airport. Before that, nobody knew, at least in the public (and i kinda doubt any border officials either).

Presumably, he has someone who handles travel arrangements. When you travel as much as a professional tennis player and there are dozens of countries with different rule sets and different official languages, it's a lot to do it all yourself. Add to that the changing nature of COVID and travel exceptions, I'd hesitate to make any judgment.

Different subject... Hub Arkush violates the forum rule to take a shot at Aaron Rodgers. Unlike Rodgers, I'm quite familiar with Arkush - his family founded Pro Football Weekly, which was essentially Twitter for the NFL before there was Twitter. Arkush got dozens of NFL execs to talk honestly about the game by being pretty good about promising anonymity. I don't know which says more - that Arkush went on a negative rant about a star player (PFW was usually quite positive, which was nice - I enjoyed reading it) or that Rodgers has no knowledge of who he is. I wonder if there's some mutual grudge there dating back to Rodgers' inexplicable drop in the draft.

That's what I'm saying, the whole thing is weird. Did he and the AO think they could do this at the last-minute and he would essentially bully his way into the country? That's the way it looks, and it backfired when the PM got pissed about it (probably a combination of the last-minute plan and the controversy from tennis players' reactions).

Deleted that part as info was confusing ... And sure, i don't expect him to have done any of the paperwork himself ;) (with the possible exception of the documentation re: Covid, what with Dr/Patient confidentiality).

Official statement is that he "failed to provide appropriate evidence". Seeing the saga played out over hours and it's Djokovic, one can bet that there was back and forth for missing information with his doctors etc.

I'm fairly certain I have a mild case of covid right now, but there is literally no testing sites within reach that have openings before next Wednesday. I live alone & work from home, so I'm not particularly risking much by staying untested as long as I isolate anyway, but I sure wish I could get tested.

That's where I'm at right now. It's real mild, scratchy throat, little tired, some coughing that cough drops have helped with. Wouldn't have thought twice about it before Covid. And it still could be just a mild cold or allergies for all I know. But it would be nice to get tested so I don't sit at home for the next week out of fear I'll infect someone.

Although the good news is that Biden said we just need to Google or "ask around" about where to get all these tests he claims are out there.

It's not really weird. The Australian Open doesn't have a say in immigration rules and regulations. They just gave him exemption to appear in the tournament.

His visa was cancelled and the rules are pretty straightforward for entering the country and what documents you need to provide. He either thought the rules didn't apply to him or did this as some dumb publicity stunt.

And I'm not buying the argument that someone else handles it for him and messed up. He's the top tennis player in the world and extremely wealthy. Travels to dozens of countries a year which all have special requirements to enter. This is not some first time traveler.

My piece of shit republican sister and her piece of shit husband decided to come to family Christmas festivities ....while sick....and unmasked...and didn't tell anyone...and then they spread covid to most of my family...

I so hate rpublicans

I'd like to know on what basis Djokovic was granted that medical exemption. I can guess it was just his celebrity status but would like to know for sure.

I can also believe his "travel team" screwed up due to their incomplete/incompetent checking process.

Unless the medical exemption is real-real, the Australian government is right to deny his entry. A teachable moment for the others next time.

Both links above go into that ;) The problem, if (!) exemption was for past infection, is simply that the australian government literally does not accept that as an exemption. Meaning the organisers, who were reportedly told so in November, created an exemption for playing that the federal government does not recognize for entering. Of course a whole bunch of other info is incomplete, including others getting an exemption (again, the process was anonymous, Djokovic chose to make him getting one public)

I understand the two are separate, but that's what makes this debacle weird. Someone on his team had to know that getting the AO exemption didn't guarantee entry into the country. I can only guess that they just thought he'd be allowed in because of who he is and having gone public about getting the AO exemption. Which is, of course, really stupid.

That sucks. Sorry CF.

In the words of DJ Khaled...

Anti-Vax Podcaster Who Got COVID at a Conspiracy Conference Has Died

Man I really wish I could see these guys faces when they get to wherever they are going and see how wrong they were. Is there a Purgatory for COVID?

I took my boys to see their grandparents in Maine for the Christmas holiday. Since my FIL died just before Christmas, I flew back by myself to keep my wife company who a) is Jewish so typically doesn't come on this trip (plus, peace & quiet at home! ) and b) didn't really want to see anyone for obvious reasons.

Anyway, while I was back in Chicago I knew my sister was going to come up with her family to visit my folks while my boys were there. I knew as of this summer that she was unvaccinated (which is, IMO, irresponsible, as she has two young kids, her husband has MS, and she's obese). So, I asked if she was still unvaccinated. She said yes. I asked if she'd wear a mask around my kids. She said no. I asked her not to come. She agreed.

Bullet. Dodged. Because her husband tested positive a few days later, and then her son, and now I hear she's not feeling well.

I should note that she's anti-vax and anti-mask because of the evangelical church she attends, where the pastor (or whatever) preaches all that. My wife noted a post on FB from just before Christmas of my sister singing in the church choir with everyone unmasked.

Anyway, I'm hoping her husband (who I like), her kids, and my parents (she came up a couple of days after I left with my boys, so she probably exposed them) are all OK. I hope she gets intubated as a lesson in the idiocy of relying on religious leaders for medical advice.

The whole thing is stupid and I want it all to end.

I still don't understand the anti-vax as religion angle. I have attended a few churches, and never has vaccination doctrine ever come up.

Just people using religion as a cover for their political beliefs.

I mean, I get it. Really it's just another thing that seems to chip away at the legitimacy of religion. Especially the more it is accepted.

I think religious people claim vaccines are created from aborted fetuses, you know, sanctity of life and all that...

It’s crazy the Serbian government response to this - the PM and President are both doing news conferences on Djokovic.

I just want someone to ask them if something like the Serbian swimming federation gave an exemption to someone who didn’t qualify for the governmental requirements to enter Serbia, would they be Ok with that?

It really feels like a publicity stunt by them. I mean, Serbia doesn't exactly have a stellar track record in regards to people entering their country.

All Australia has to do is point to the scoreboard in regards to their COVID policy. They've embarrassed most of the world which is maybe where the vitriol comes from.

However from what I hear the Serbs are fanatical about their showers.

Besides the overlap of political beliefs and religious beliefs, my impression from Christian anti-vaxxers seems to be a rejection of the idea of "living in fear". I hear them talk about the idea that the Bible tells them explicitly to live in trust of Jesus and so they feel that it opposes their beliefs to "give in" to fear.

I think there's a personality component that underwrites both the political position and the religious one too: being opposed to doing new things, changing the status quo, and objecting to the way things are.

In the space of the last 24 hours I learned a couple of the folks I play D&D with have tested + for covid too, and like 3 others on my team at work were sick today (I haven't been in the same space with any of these folks for weeks FWIW) & the CEO sent out a company wide email about the number of reported sicknesses inside the company & within the carriers/companies that we work with over the next couple weeks. Overnight I went from no covid in my orbit to everything/everybody in my orbit covered with covid.

These the same people who buy gun upon gun?

Same people who have meltdowns over teaching about slavery in schools and seeing a gay couple kiss on TV. Their whole life is living in fear.

Yeah, the hypocrisy is real. But they somehow divide the two. Owning guns is being prepared! Now they don't have to be scared! Simply wearing a piece of cloth on your mask somehow is letting fear run your life. I don't know, I don't get it, but I think that's what they feel their reasoning is. The pastors tell them which things to be scared about I guess.

Reminds me of a conversation in here where a former member insisted he refused to live his life in fear, because he had stowed a handgun every 5 feet in his house.

I remember that well.

Israel started on 4th dose for some front liners. Fauci saying need to monitor how effective 3rd dose is first before talking about 4th dose.

I think western countries and a few others can keep up the pace with production/purchase & delivery but rest of world won't be able to.

Not going to complain about getting semi-annual booster shot. But I wish it was more convenient. I can get a flu-shot during flu season without making an appointment. It would be great if I could walk into CVS anytime and get a shot for Covid.

If you need to have a handgun every 5 feet in your house, it would seem to me like that's the exact definition of living in fear!

If someone breaks into my house, I watched all 4 seasons of Cobra Kai and I am sure I could unleash fury.

It's simpler than that. It's just tribal/cultural. Guns are a symbol of the in-tribe, so they are OK. Masks are a symbol of the out-tribe, so they are bad. But you can't say that, so you come up with the "Live in fear" line. It has nothing to do with fear.

If you can remember way way back to the pre-Delta days, most of us were stopping wearing masks b/c you were either vaxxed and didn't need one or unvaxxed and hadn't ever been wearing one. Which meant that suddenly the MAGA crowd couldn't use being un-masked as their way of showing tribal affiliation. Because maybe being unmasked just meant that you were, gasp, vaccinated. The issue was going away, which was great news for the 80% of us who hated the whole thing and just wanted things to be normal again.

But for the 20%? That is when you started seeing the folks making the yellow Stars of David with "Unvaxxed" on them. They needed to keep the tribal wars going. That all ended up going away with Delta b/c it started making sense to mask again. So they could just unmask to show their tribe.

It's not about fear. It's not about masks. It's not even about the virus. It's about in-team and out-team.

From the least-surprising-news file:

All US Cruises Have Confirmed or Suspected COVID on Board: CDC

You could pay me enough to take a cruise.

But it would be around $100,000.

That people pay to go on them in 2022 is jaw dropping.

I got my boostershot today. Yay, I guess?

Over here, the semi-lockdown since mid December after not quite yet a lockdown in late November, it was either insufficient or came too late to avoid the mass spread of the omicron variant. Today, we had a nationwide positive test record was reported. It spiked up to 35K, roughly 10K more than the previous record. As if the end isn't in sight yet. But at the same time the hospitalization and fatality numbers are decreasing, almost suggesting that part of this wave is on the decline. It feels tricky to think, let alone say or write it, but could this new variant be the start of the fade out of COVID-19?

I suspect you're just old enough to remember such a thing as a "chicken pox party" for kids? I think the denier group has adopted that approach. We're all gonna get it, most people seem fine, surf's up dude.

I'm not a denier, but I'm not all *that* far from that approach. I.e., I expect to get omicron multiple times. Not because I want to, but it's contagious enough that it can't reasonably be avoided IMO. 'Cost of living', as it were.

You could say the same thing about every school and office building at this point.