[Joey]

"In the coming week, the number of Omicron cases in King County is projected to spike to levels three times higher than the highest peaks we’ve seen in the pandemic."

https://publichealthinsider.com/2021/12/17/public-health-leaders-urge-public-to-prepare-now-for-rapid-surge-in-local-covid-19-omicron-cases/

[Damian]

Our natural inclination would be to lock this.  Prove us otherwise.

[Joey]

Fine, lock it.
But please leave the post up for folks that might want this info.

[zephyr]

Thanks, Joey for this important information.   And I understand Damian's concern.    ~z

[zimmertr]

Here's to hoping that COVID is becoming less deadly with the latest mutation.

[Chief Joseph]

Every discussion on covid that I have seen has turned Political, if there is a forum where it might not, it's here. 

I had covid a few weeks ago and it was pretty brutal. I was mainly just super tired, no appetite, food did not taste good. Had a fever for almost 2 days with a high of 100.4....the fever didn't hit until about a week in. Was pretty much back to normal just under 2 weeks with no lasting effects.

I for sure can recall worse flu's that I have had, with severe sore throat, body aches, chills, fever, etc. But this virus is different in how it affects everyone in a different way. I have a cousin about my age and they became very sick and were in the hospital on a ventilator for 2 weeks, while his wife had symptoms about like mine. Hopefully things will continue to improve, the positive test rate is up but the death rate is down.

[Randito]

An uncle of my son's roommate in Los Angeles recently died from COVID-19.  He was 67 and a lung cancer surviver-- quite the one-two punch.   The roommate had also become infected ,  but his 29 yo body was able to recover after a few days of fever and feeling really bad.  Fortunately my son was able avoid picking up the infection.   We don't know which variant it was.

[Joey]

There are 2 types of COVID tests.
1. Rapid antigen test
2. PCR test  (polymerase chain reaction)

Apparently the rapid antigen test can show that you are negative when in fact you have COVID.  In other words, the test results in a 'false negative'.

Here is a twitter thread from someone whose job it is to know about this stuff.
https://twitter.com/DataDrivenMD/status/1472346556686684162

[Navy salad]

Joey -- Useful information, thanks for posting

(You can tell everyone's staying on their best behavior!)

[Joey]

My wife and I are participating in a COVID study run by UW.  The purpose is to determine the prevalence of COVID in WA.  On Thursday someone will show up at our home, draw blood and do a nasal swab.

Their website indicates people can ask to join the study.
https://thewavesurvey.org/

[Tom]

Given how contagious omicron is not sure I'd want someone showing up right now that had visited a bunch of other households.

[Joey]

[mike]

So far about 1 in 400 people in this country have died of covid. And it's going to get worse rapidly with the explosive growth that we are seeing.

Stay safe folks. With the holidays coming up this is the gift that will keep on giving.

[neek]

[zephyr]