Let’s go to the mainstream news.

by Dave Crow | Dec 2, 2021

Let’s go to the mainstream news for a moment. Forget about all the conspiracy theories, misinformation and anti-vaxxism (anti-fascism) that I republish and write on this website. Also, scroll down this article until you get to the type and forget about the visual hyperbole in the image above. Maybe Sheriff Joe dreams about breaking down our doors, but he hasn’t ordered that…yet.

From STAT News (a mainstream news source): Biden’s new Covid plan: more boosters, free home testing, and monoclonal antibody strike teams, Dec 2, 2021

President Biden will announce a new plan Thursday afternoon for combating the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. The plan includes a new campaign to increase uptake of booster shots, new policies meant to provide Americans with free at-home coronavirus tests, and more stringent policies on international travel.

Public health officials still don’t know much about the Omicron variant, including whether it causes milder symptoms than other forms of the coronavirus, or whether it is more transmissible than other variants. The first case of the Omicron variant detected in the United States was announced by U.S. health officials on Wednesday.

Biden’s new plan focuses largely on speeding up the slow uptake of booster shots in the U.S., particularly among older adults. It will include new public relations campaigns from the Department of Health and Human Services and from AARP, the interest group for Americans over age 50, to push booster shots.

The push comes on the heels of a Monday announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that it is now recommending all adults get a booster six months after receiving their second shot of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines or two months after receiving a shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. […]

The new policy will require that all international travelers to the U.S. test negative for Covid-19 within one day, regardless of a travelers’ vaccination status or nationality. The policy is expected to be enacted “early next week,” according to a fact sheet on the plan. Fully vaccinated travelers previously were required to test negative for Covid-19 within three days of departure for the U.S.

Biden will also pledge to deploy more than 60 emergency response teams throughout the country to help combat the spread of Omicron this winter, including more than 20 “monoclonal antibody strike teams” to help administer these treatments, which can help prevent serious illness and death from Covid-19, and more than 15 “CDC expert deployments” to help state and local health officials track Covid-19 outbreaks.

From the WHO (certainly mainstream news): Current knowledge about Omicron, Nov 28, 2021

Researchers in South Africa and around the world are conducting studies to better understand many aspects of Omicron and will continue to share the findings of these studies as they become available.

Transmissibility: It is not yet clear whether Omicron is more transmissible (e.g., more easily spread from person to person) compared to other variants, including Delta. The number of people testing positive has risen in areas of South Africa affected by this variant, but epidemiologic studies are underway to understand if it is because of Omicron or other factors.

Severity of disease: It is not yet clear whether infection with Omicron causes more severe disease compared to infections with other variants, including Delta. Preliminary data suggests that there are increasing rates of hospitalization in South Africa, but this may be due to increasing overall numbers of people becoming infected, rather than a result of specific infection with Omicron. There is currently no information to suggest that symptoms associated with Omicron are different from those from other variants. Initial reported infections were among university students—younger individuals who tend to have more mild disease—but understanding the level of severity of the Omicron variant will take days to several weeks. All variants of COVID-19, including the Delta variant that is dominant worldwide, can cause severe disease or death, in particular for the most vulnerable people, and thus prevention is always key.

From The Lancet (a mainstream news go-to medical journal): The epidemiological relevance of the COVID-19-vaccinated population is increasing, Dec 1,2021

mainstream news

High COVID-19 vaccination rates were expected to reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in populations by reducing the number of possible sources for transmission and thereby to reduce the burden of COVID-19 disease. Recent data, however, indicate that the epidemiological relevance of COVID-19 vaccinated individuals is increasing.

In the UK it was described that secondary attack rates among household contacts exposed to fully vaccinated index cases was similar to household contacts exposed to unvaccinated index cases (25% for vaccinated vs 23% for unvaccinated). 12 of 31 infections in fully vaccinated household contacts (39%) arose from fully vaccinated epidemiologically linked index cases. Peak viral load did not differ by vaccination status or variant type [[1]].

In Germany, the rate of symptomatic COVID-19 cases among the fully vaccinated (“breakthrough infections”) is reported weekly since 21. July 2021 and was 16.9% at that time among patients of 60 years and older [[2]].

This proportion is increasing week by week and was 58.9% on 27. October 2021 (Figure 1) providing clear evidence of the increasing relevance of the fully vaccinated as a possible source of transmission. A similar situation was described for the UK. Between week 39 and 42, a total of 100.160 COVID-19 cases were reported among citizens of 60 years or older. 89.821 occurred among the fully vaccinated (89.7%), 3.395 among the unvaccinated (3.4%) [[3]].

One week before, the COVID-19 case rate per 100.000 was higher among the subgroup of the vaccinated compared to the subgroup of the unvaccinated in all age groups of 30 years or more. In Israel a nosocomial outbreak was reported involving 16 healthcare workers, 23 exposed patients and two family members. The source was a fully vaccinated COVID-19 patient. The vaccination rate was 96.2% among all exposed individuals (151 healthcare workers and 97 patients). Fourteen fully vaccinated patients became severely ill or died, the two unvaccinated patients developed mild disease [[4]].

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies four of the top five counties with the highest percentage of fully vaccinated population (99.9–84.3%) as “high” transmission counties [[5]].

Many decisionmakers assume that the vaccinated can be excluded as a source of transmission. It appears to be grossly negligent to ignore the vaccinated population as a possible and relevant source of transmission when deciding about public health control measures.

See references in article.