Confusion is the coin of the realm deep into this Omicron variant.
Table of Contents
Schools
Scores Of NYC High Schoolers Walk Out Of Classes Demanding Remote Learning During COVID Surge (Gothamist, 11 Jan 2022)
We kept getting Covid alerts, first 11, then 28, and the numbers keep growing. It’s very scary not seeing the teachers that I’m close to.
–Lauren, a 15-year-old sophomore at University Neighborhood High School in Lower Manhattan
Here’s Why You’re Wrong For Supporting Either In-Person Or Virtual School (McSweeney’s, 7 Jan 2022)
It’s like a schizophrenic Choose Your Own Adventure:
The science could not be more clear on this. There are millions of children who [STILL CANNOT GET VACCINATED/HAVE ALREADY SUFFERED FROM YEARS OF ISOLATION]. If we wait just a little longer to bring our kids back to classrooms, they’ll be dramatically more [SAFE/STUNTED]. How can you live with yourself, knowing you have absolutely no regard for the [PHYSICAL/MENTAL] health of our youth?
Testing
Biden’s been getting mixed-to-bad reviews for his management of testing availability. He recently appointed a doctor who coordinate the effort, and several noted his outstanding credentials. Hopefully on the way to closing this gap.
Biden Team to Prod Covid Test Production Even After Demand Fades (Bloomberg, 12 Jan 2022)
For at least a couple of months, there have been popup kiosks on corners around Midtown offering take-home tests. Last week I had what felt like a cold for a couple of days so I went to the one on our corner and picked one up. Not sure if I did the nose thing correctly (more uncomfortable than I expected), but if so, I joined the feted single line club:
Masks
Masks, throughout the pandemic, have been one of the main subjects where everyone is an expert (at least with people not denying the existence of the pandemic). Weird situations make for weird sources of pride.
To mask or not to mask? Here’s what 2 years and hundreds of COVID-19 experts say (Deseret News, 12 Jan 2022)
This unlikely source news, from Utah, had a link to a Tweet by a Washington Post reporter that included a graph from the Wall Street Journal (the news version of “my best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend”).
The Deseret News article also links to the CDC report: Maximizing Fit for Cloth and Medical Procedure Masks to Improve Performance and Reduce SARS-CoV-2 Transmission and Exposure, 2021 (CDC, 19 Feb 2021, one year ago). From it, here is a comparison of the effectiveness of surgical masks, cotton plus surgical masks, and “knotted” surgical masks:
I’ve been double-masking for the last two weeks, so those results were a relief.
Spread
One other link pointed to a report from The University of Hong Kong a month ago HKUMed finds Omicron SARS-CoV-2 can infect faster and better than Delta in human bronchus but with less severe infection in lung (UHK, 15 Dec 2021). Side note: I’ve seen this UHK report referenced across several respectable outlets. That report shows that Omicron “infects and multiplies 70 times faster than Delta” but replicated in the lungs 10 times less effectively than the original virus. And though it doesn’t talk about masks, it includes an electron micrograph of infected “bronchus tissue” showing those little Omicron bastards on the battlefield:
