I’m wondering if he’s on a ventilator.
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Or at least sick enough that he doesn’t dare get in front of a camera.
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Bingo.
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Just heard this:
“Anyone who thinks that a vaccine will change their DNA should see this as a chance to improve themselves.”
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These GQP grifters just abandon ship at the first sign that shit’s getting hard don’t they… They have no interest in governing, so they should just leave it to people who give a shit about the lives of others and go join a god damn MLM company or something.
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So we’ve had our last accurate count of COVID-19 cases in Ontario 
at 13,807/day or 95/100k, positivity over 30%. PCR testing is maxed out, RAT’s are in short supply, so both are now for particular situations only.
If you have COVID symptoms, you have COVID, and isolation is 5 days if you are vaccinated. School is delayed two days to pass out N95’s for teachers and set out a few more HEPA filters. The medical advice, to improve testing and to improve masking as a condition to keeping schools open, has been ignored and only the “keep schools open” part was heard. (Seems our government’s attention span is down to 3 words at this point)
Dr. Kieran Moore says Omicron is “54% less likely to result in hospitalization” but gave no source or details as to whether that was for everyone, for un-vaccinated individuals only…
I wish I felt better about this… it smells of politics, it feels like the government has given up on control, and all that remains is to clean up once the train wreck stops sliding and burns itself out.
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That’s more or less exactly how I feel about the Australian capitulation announcement yesterday.
But economists say the economy is on track for recovery, so… yay? (Just so long as we know where the priorities are.)
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Looks like Florida has got it’s shit together when it comes to this virus
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at first i was going to say cancun, but hospitalized does sound more likely.
i read the us had nearly a 1/2 million all on our own 
eta:
“good luck on your covid test turtle” lol.
it’s frightening to think that florida’s numbers are probably low because of slow reporting due to the holidays. and the only way to understand lines as long as those is their administration trying to keep the numbers even lower
as if those “numbers” aren’t actual people who need help 
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Prof. Dr. Isabella Eckerle of the Geneva Centre for Emerging Viral Diseases has urgently posted some preliminary data and a pre-print that indicates Rapid Antigen Tests may be returning as high as 50% false negatives against the Omicron variant. The following article in The Toronto Star highlights the additional factor of tests being in unpracticed hands.
Meanwhile, our neighbours in Quebec have gone into full lockdown and closed schools for two weeks… Très bien fait, mes amis, et bonne chance.
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All the more reason not to attend a scheduled professional conference next weekend. I appreciate this update. Kind of a “I knew I needed to cancel, but final nail” kind of thing.
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Oh shit. Eckerle’s Lab has the reputation to be quite thorough in their research and does neither need to grab headlines nor the inclination to be alarmist.
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Ah, that would explain why our generally cautious, 
ex-pat, Dr. Peter Jüni (Scientific Director of the Ontario 
Science Advisory Table) was so quick to highlight the work.
Thank you @LutherBlisset for your reputational data point.
The manufacturer of the most widely used test in Ontario, BTNX, came out last week (finally) with a statement that its test worked, but didn’t post any hard estimates, data, methodology etc.
BTNX has completed experiments to confirm that Rapid Response® COVID-19 antigen Rapid Test
Device can detect the recombinant nucleocapsid protein of the Omicron variant. The detection limits for the Omicron variant and the wild-type strain are similar, therefore, we conclude that the Rapid Response® COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test Device can effectively detect the Omicron variant.
(One is left wondering: where’s the actual “science”)
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Clinically, we’ve been seeing this for a while now. (“Clinically” being medical code for seeing something and saying “That’s weird, it’s not supposed to work like that!” But not having actual data to back you up.) Not certain how much is the technology, how much is user error, but the sum total is that they are nice, but iffy, and if it’s important, a PCR backup of a negative test is required.
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The Pope prayed on it and God answered… “Don’t be stupid, why are you even asking?”
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis canceled his New Year’s Eve tradition of visiting the life-sized Nativity scene set up in St. Peter’s Square to discourage large crowds from forming.
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I’ll need to have a look at the original statement by Drosten. He has been quoted out of context so many times since January 2020 that I am sceptical about every bit of media coverage citing him.
That said, I am generally relieved slightly ir he - as this seems to indicate - thinks that the data indeed seems to indicate less severe COVID-19 for Omicron.
Drosten is one of the best sources of information we had so far, even in cases when he erred. And this didn’t happen frequently during the last two years.
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The latest from Missouri – our covid emergency is over! Thank you Gov. Parson for all that you’ve done for your citizens.
/s
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