THE LATEST UPDATE ON THE OMICRON VARIANT

Worldometer indicates that the U.S. has 334 million people, and there have been 50,801,455 cases of COVID-19, or 1 in 6.6 people. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 1 in 3 people in this country has been infected. How can two sources be so different? Not only is this difference unexplained, but the CDC said that they estimate the actual number of cases is three times the official count. If you divide 3 into 6.6, this number is 2.2 times, not 3, so now I'm doubly confused, as you too should be. It gets worse, showing that you sometimes need to be careful about some news reports.

Further said in this CNN article, New Jersey and Alabama tie for the most deaths/100,000 people with 332. The lowest two states are Vermont with 69 deaths/100,000 and Hawaii with 75. No other state is lower than 100.

Well, actually, this CNN article is wrong again, by a factor of 100. If I do the appropriate mathematics, the numbers should have been:

New Jersey and Alabama tie for the most deaths/100,000 with 3.3.
Vermont has 0.69 deaths/100,00 and Hawaii 0.75.
No other state is lower than 1.0.

You would think that these same states should be at these extremes for cases/100,000, but--these are the corrected numbers:

North Dakota leads with 219 and Tennessee with 196. Regarding the lowest cases/100,000, it is reversed, with Hawaii the lowest with 63 and Vermont next with 90. Clearly, Hawaii has done relatively well because we are an island state, where you can easily track incoming traffic, with a very cautious governor.

How do our states compare with the world?

Cases/100,000 Deaths/100,000

World 35 0.7
USA 152 2.5
India 25 0.3
UK 158 2.1
Russia 69 2.0
Czechia 217 3.2
Peru 67 6.0
South Africa 52 1.5
Japan 14 0.15
Sweden 121 1.5
S. Korea 10 0.8
Australia 9 0.8
China 0.07 0.003
Taiwan 0.7 0.04

There are worse countries than the USA, but we are among them. Our infected states rank among the world worst, while our less afflicted states are better than South Korea, Japan and Australia in deaths/100,000.

As of December 9 the Omicron variant has been detected in 63 countries.

Early signs show that Omicron is spreading faster than Delta.
In the UK, Omicron is doubling every two to three days and will become the dominant variant by the end of the year.
However, it's only been three weeks, but COVID-19 cases seem to be already peaking in South Africa, where Omicron was first detected in abundance. The positivity rate also dropped from a high of 30%, now down to 15%. Hospitalizations in Gauteng fell from 207 to 64 over this same period.
In South Africa, the ICU occupancy was 6.3%, MUCH LOWER than when Delta peaked in July.
These promising developments when South Africa has only added some light restrictions, like a curfew from 12-4AM. And ONLY 23% of the population has been fully vaccinated.
Fully vaccinated people are catching this virus, but mostly in super-spreading events. The obvious clue here is, DON'T GO TO THESE GATHERINGS!!!
Also, Pfizer suggested that their third dose increases Omicron resistance 25-fold, compared to two doses.

Last week one of my postings was entitled: MAYBE OMICRON REPLACING DELTA MIGHT BE OKAY FOR HUMANITY.

This is looking more and more prescient.
The initial deep anxiety will hopefully spur more to get inoculated as quickly as possible.
Rather than outright government mandates, if more countries allow health plans to pass on hospital costs to unvaccinated individuals, as is now occurring in Singapore, herd immunity will more quickly be reached.
THE AVERAGE COST OF HOSPITAL CARE FOR COVID-19 RANGES FROM $51,000 TO $78,000, BASED ON AGE. Under 20 paid $68,271, while over 60 averaged $77,323. It gets worse for longer hospital stays: $324,285 if under 20 years of age and $152,388 for patients over 60. And even worse, if over 15 days: $980,821 for 21-49 year old patients, and $460,989 for those over 60.
If you don't have a medical plan, you are in deep trouble that could ruin your life forever, but if you do, much of the current resistance to getting inoculated should disappear.
As the FDA/CDC allow vaccinations for the rest of the younger population, parental reluctance will also melt away.
Inpatient COVID-19 hospitalizations cost the U.S.healthcare system between $9.6 billion and $16.9 billion in 2020. Of course, there is 2021 and then 2020 to come.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for several months. This is caused by stress more than anythi

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been

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