Shanghai Disneyland will close in effort to contain coronavirus

The trouble is in order for a monoclonal antibody treatment to work you have to administer it quickly sort of like the flu treatments that have been on the market. By the time you’re truly sick it may be too late for it to work. Bottom line is if you can afford at home testing you should have a relationship with a doctor. Talk to them first!

Why would anyone who is asymptomatic be going to a hospital to begin with, and once there why would they be allowed into an ER?

I couldn't tell from reading the article if they are being asked to go home (but still causing problems because of staff time, etc.) or actually taking up ER room.

I can't even imagine taking a Covid test if I had no symptoms, unless I needed a negative test to, you know, take a cruise or something.

OhioStater said:

I can't even imagine taking a Covid test if I had no symptoms, unless I needed a negative test to, you know, take a cruise or something.

My daughter has no symptoms but we have to get her tested, partly for peace of mind (so we can meet with extended family since we were unable to for Christmas), but mostly so she can return to school next week. An urgent care place near us has drive-up COVID testing but the wait today was 3 hours to even get the test administered, and we were not allowed to leave the parking lot if we decided to wait (which makes no sense to me). We plan to go tomorrow when it opens, but I’m unsure what kind of wait times to expect.

I get it if you have to (school, concerts, whatever); that was my point. It sounds like people in Vermont are just getting tested for the hell of it, which is weird. If it gives you peace of mind, do what gives you peace of mind.

But to go to an ER when you have no symptoms?

That makes no sense.

As far as I am concerned, I am fully vaccinated, so to me, the pandemic is pretty much over. I still take precautions, like mask up and social distance in public, to prevent infection. But I don't worry anymore.

All these infected people panicking and running to the ER for more tests are probably the same unvaxed ratlickers who are addicted to pandemic misinformation. People who understand how things work know that they do not go to the ER to get tested for COVID. It's common sense for most of us.

I've accepted that some people are stupid and will never change. It's not even worth arguing about anymore.

To be fair, there was no mention of a number or percentage, and the guy interviewed didn't use the word "clog," but he heard stuff from other people.

A little critical thinking is in order when local TV is reporting something. This is not news.

“It’s not so much the beds that are the precious resource, it’s the staff at this time. So we have to have some of our clinical staff providing care to those people and they can’t provide care to the folks in the ER,” Hildebrant explained.

May not be a cog but it is still diverting resources who could be better used for people who really are in trouble.

Between the point of worrying again and saying "got all 3, rest easy," is where I am. The worry comes from my shock at how many of my friends (with "all 3") are turning up positive. And where I work; more in the last week than all of last year. But as usual, not very sick.

At our house we host an annual holiday party that has grown in popularity and notoriety over the years. In ‘20 the party was rescheduled as Christmas in July in ‘21. This year we planned to have it as usual and the day was to be today, 12/26. Invites went out and many responses came back to us. We asked everyone to be vaxxed, boosted, and everyone was compliant.
Now, in the meantime, we’ve heard from two couples who had tested positive in spite of having trusted all the precautions. Another guest called in with a case of non-Covid related flu. Nobody is gravely ill, so that’s good, but all are slightly symptomatic. We started second guessing ourselves and put out an opinion poll to see if anyone was nervous or was having misgivings. Turns out everyone is just fine with staying home should we cancel, so that we did.
We’re frustrated and slightly heartbroken over it but we came to the agreement that we’d rather have a summer patio party again than turn our party into a spreader event.
Yes, all of our invitees (like all of our friends) see the advantage of being vaxxed. But who knows who they see at home, church, bars, or other parties? This seems all of a sudden quite worrisome. Again.

That's the tricky part. All-3 people may in fact be infected with little illness, but potentially at the cost of spreading it around to people with less robust immunity and higher potential for severe illness or death. It's still a tale of two cohorts that will experience different outcomes.

Anybody have any idea how many people get the flu in a given season? I’ve been thinking a lot about the relative virulence of Omicron. Even if it’s flu-like to vaccinated, could our medical systems handle everyone getting the flu at the same time? If we concede that everyone will get/be exposed to the virus (reasonable enough) there are still two very different scenarios: one where everyone gets exposed in the next month or one in which it takes years for everyone to get exposed. I don’t have any real grasp on how “oh well” I feel about the former or what the implications of the scenarios are but the difference doesn’t strike me as trivial.

Our workplace is "stay home if possible" once again for everyone this week, and my guess, will be extended beyond the one week.

Everyone had to be vaccinated by this point, but in the past two weeks COVID knocked a bunch of people out. Every day you heard about more people testing positive and staying home.

I'm signed up to be boosted, but I'm some two weeks out from the earliest appointments I could find when booked. You'd think at this point it would practically be walk-in availability, but guess not!

CDC estimates that 9-41 million got sick with flu each year in US between 2010 and 2020. 140-710k hospitalizations. 12-52k deaths.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html

Last year we canceled Thanksgiving and Christmas/New Years gatherings. Was expected leading up to the holidays. This year, Thanksgiving was pretty much normal. Christmas/New Years was on target to be pretty much normal too. Until a week or two ago. Then people started getting sick/canceling plans. Yesterday was just my wife, my kids, me and my dad (my dad was last minute add because my sister got sick earlier this week and he would have been at her house). So this year will look very much like last week did in terms of the December holidays.

and the guy interviewed didn't use the word "clog," but he heard stuff from other people.

A little critical thinking is in order when local TV is reporting something. This is not news.

Unless the assertion is that Dr. Rick Hildbrant is lying…it sure seems like news.

Dr. Rick Hildebrant is RRMC’s medical director. He says some people who test positive with a rapid test go to the emergency room looking for a PCR test.

Hildebrant says the flood of asymptomatic people is preventing others in need of immediate care from getting it.

I think we all know that people clogging up health care access is newsworthy…no?

Vater said:

An urgent care place near us has drive-up COVID testing but the wait today was 3 hours to even get the test administered, and we were not allowed to leave the parking lot if we decided to wait (which makes no sense to me). We plan to go tomorrow when it opens, but I’m unsure what kind of wait times to expect.

Then you, my friend, should consider purchasing the COVID-testing fast pass (trade mark pending). You can still enjoy the same amazing COVID-testing experience with reduced wait times. Or better yet, the platinum COVID-testing fast pass, and immediately sneeze your way to the front of the line.

I've not encountered any kinds of a wait here in WV for a COVID shot or test. My people and I got vaccinated at Walgreens or Walmart Pharmacy. You walk up, ask for the shot, and get it immediately. You go to the health department or drive through testing at the hospital, get swabbed up the nose, and your test result is posted online in less than 24 hours.

Maybe the convenience is because we are less populated than other areas. Maybe it's something else.

ApolloAndy said:

could our medical systems handle everyone getting the flu at the same time? If we concede that everyone will get/be exposed to the virus (reasonable enough) there are still two very different scenarios: one where everyone gets exposed in the next month or one in which it takes years for everyone to get exposed.

I'll choose the path that ends this sooner than later. Using the #'s from GoBucks, roughly 1.5% of the people who get the flu end up going to the hospital. I think we could hack it.

Unless you live in Vermont.

sws said:

Then you, my friend, should consider purchasing the COVID-testing fast pass

Wouldn’t have helped much, the capacity sucked.

3 hour standby line for a COVID nose swab > Rip Ride Rockit

OhioStater said:

But to go to an ER when you have no symptoms? That makes no sense.

For some folks, if they do develop symptoms later, their insurance won't pay for treatment (including effects of long covid, etc.) if they can't show an official test result. So they need to go somewhere to get one, and if their doctor isn't available because of the holidays, or if they don't have a relationship with a PCP, off to the ER they go. For other folks, if they want to self-quarantine rather than going to work at the restaurant or Amazon warehouse or whatever, they may need an official test result as proof, in order to take sick time or avoid being fired. So again, it's off to the ER.

It may be the case there are better options than ER for at least some of these folks, but the fact is for a large proportion of the populace, the ER is their PCP. (I've been in that situation.)