- Rancho Las Positas Elementary School known cases on site: 16
- Livermore cases: 6,861; overall vaccination rate: 73.5%
- Alameda County cases: 119,277; deaths: 1,475; overall vaccination rate: 78.3%
- U.S. cases: 50,479,000+; deaths: 800,000+; overall vaccination rate: 61.3%
*Note that the vaccination rate data has changed from “eligible” to “overall”. Alameda County was no longer giving me a top-level “eligible vaccination rate” percentage (they data is broken down by age group instead), so I couldn’t easily pull the same data.
Omicron.
Omicron is the new thing. The new variant spreading across the globe. SARS-CoV-2|Ο was first detected in South Africa on Nov 24 and became a variant of concern due to the large number of mutations affecting the spike protein (which is what the current vaccines target). It also appeared to be significantly more contagious than prior strains and was rapidly detected throughout the world.
What any of that means, epidemiologically, is still to be determined. It’s only been detected for 3 weeks and is spreading widely, but we know that earlier strains had multi-week lag times from infection, to hospitalization, to death. So the world is still waiting for clear data on overall severity compared to other strains. The faster spread, however, is well established and it appears to be handily out-competing the delta strain.
According to the current Wikipedia article on the variant, data suggests the reproduction number is 2.4 times greater than delta, placing it somewhere from 10-18 which puts it on par with measles.
Jess got a booster shot on Thursday 12/2 and that afternoon the girls both got their second doses. Which was a much more difficult experience than the first one–they both went into full on feral freak-out mode. Like animals caught in a trap: eyes darting around wildly, muscles tensed, adrenaline pumping. I eventually managed to get Heather focused on math (which helps tremendously to keep her grounded). After repeated unsuccessful attempts to engage Corinne’s prefrontal cortex we had to just pin her down and get it done. It was less than fun for everyone.
Jess had side effects which knocked her out for a couple of days. The girls felt lousy and had fevers on Friday and Saturday, but were fine by Sunday.
Alameda County has continued to require masks in all indoor public spaces. And California instated a statewide mask requirement for all indoor public settings until Jan 15. Of course, there will probably be no enforcement, so I don’t expect it will change anything.
My work status hasn’t changed. Still only required to be on site one day a week, but not uncommon to be there more frequently to complete necessary tasks. I’m off through the end of the year now via vacation and holiday time.
My favorite news quote for past few months is this blurb from NPR which reads like the intro to a medical/sci-fi thriller:
South African officials raised the alarm about the heavily mutated variant, B.1.1.529, on Nov. 24. Two days later, the WHO classified it as a variant of concern and dubbed it omicron.
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/12/15/1064432010/omicron-spread-variant-coronavirus