Covid-19 News and Information

[BoulderSooner]

Mask mandate ended on Tinker AFB this morning

https://www.tinker.af.mil/

[Bill Robertson]

Mask mandate ended on Tinker AFB this morning

https://www.tinker.af.mil/

I bet we do that next week then also.

[Mott]

Yes, after almost exactly two years of keeping a meticulous spreadsheet, I can't even provide updates because the numbers are now erratic and have ceased to make sense.

Oklahoma is still averaging hundreds of cases per day, so it's very odd that the state has decided to no longer track data in a meaningful way.

Wonder if it’s bad management, incompetence, or political?

[TheTravellers]

Wonder if it’s bad management, incompetence, or political?

D) All of the above?

[Bill Robertson]

D) All of the above?

That would be my thought.

[soonerguru]

Just in time for Omicron BA2 to begin taking over cases in the US. Hopefully that does not lead to a spike; I've done a lot of reading about it and it mostly seems to be impacting areas that were not hit hard by the initial Omicron wave, such as New Zealand. It's postulated that vaccination plus previous Omicron infection yields significant protection from reinfection. Hoping that's the case.

Of course, as we speak, one third of Oklahoma adults remain unvaccinated, so they will keep getting it and many of them will continue to die. I suspect that a significant percentage of the deaths will be among people who are in the governor's voting base. As our former president noted: "It is what it is."

[PhiAlpha]

Just in time for Omicron BA2 to begin taking over cases in the US. Hopefully that does not lead to a spike; I've done a lot of reading about it and it mostly seems to be impacting areas that were not hit hard by the initial Omicron wave, such as New Zealand. It's postulated that vaccination plus previous Omicron infection yields significant protection from reinfection. Hoping that's the case.

Of course, as we speak, one third of Oklahoma adults remain unvaccinated, so they will keep getting it and many of them will continue to die. I suspect that a significant percentage of the deaths will be among people who are in the governor's voting base. As our former president noted: "It is what it is."

Given that much of both the vaccinated and unvaccinated population here likely caught the omicron variant during the surge, I doubt that will be the case.

[Bill Robertson]

D) All of the above?

After more thought I don't know about political. Could be but I turn a blind eye toward a lot of political BS.
But the bad management and incompetence is obvious to me. There are tons of data tracking/analytical systems out there. For 77 counties you have 77 sites to report every day by say 9:00AM. Each site logs in and reports. At say 9:15 you can get a notification of which sites haven't reported. You contact them and inquire why. Once the data has all been entered the system automatically reports totals, difference in yesterday compared to today in number and percentage, same for 7 or 14 days and pretty much anything else you want to create math to set up. It ain't rocket science. This is why I have had such an issue with the OSDH having sooooo many issues collecting and reporting really pretty simple data.

[oklip955]

For the third of us who are not vaccinated, there are those of us who cannot for legit medical reasons. Many of us who cannot, its not they we are anti vacs, its that we have reasons that prevent us. Also among the vaccinated, there are those who do not have good protection due to health reasons. There is nothing political about us. Its just some of us dont have choices. Sure there are those who choose not to get vaccinated. Just please remember that there are some of us without choices. Not having good information on how covid is spreading or were there are hot spots does us a disservice. How are we suppose to move forward from here since most restrictions are being dropped? I will continue to mask (n95) and avoid crowds. Still with all that, I am finding that I have to get out a bit to shop for items that you just cannot choice online. I had to have a plumber into my house and asked him to wear a mask, yah go figure how that went. just sort of on his face. Folks just dont want to understand or care about us who are higher or higher risk and cannot be vaccinated. Sorry if I keep up the gripe.

[soonerguru]

For the third of us who are not vaccinated, there are those of us who cannot for legit medical reasons. Many of us who cannot, its not they we are anti vacs, its that we have reasons that prevent us. Also among the vaccinated, there are those who do not have good protection due to health reasons. There is nothing political about us. Its just some of us dont have choices. Sure there are those who choose not to get vaccinated. Just please remember that there are some of us without choices. Not having good information on how covid is spreading or were there are hot spots does us a disservice. How are we suppose to move forward from here since most restrictions are being dropped? I will continue to mask (n95) and avoid crowds. Still with all that, I am finding that I have to get out a bit to shop for items that you just cannot choice online. I had to have a plumber into my house and asked him to wear a mask, yah go figure how that went. just sort of on his face. Folks just dont want to understand or care about us who are higher or higher risk and cannot be vaccinated. Sorry if I keep up the gripe.

Excellent point and thank you for the reminder. Reading it gives me even more outrage, however, at people who could but won't get vaccinated, making things exponentially more risky for those of you who cannot.

[chssooner]

Thankfully, the BA.2 variant is susceptible to antibodies created by previous infections, of which Oklahoma has a lot of.

Even the NYT has said that the new variants coming along are not likely to cause major spikes. I hope, eventually, we can stop with the fear-mongering over every new variant until kingdom come from journalists and news channels. But there is money to be made in fear. On both sides.

As someone vaccinated, I'm glad to not have to stress a ton over the new variants.

[Bill Robertson]

For the third of us who are not vaccinated, there are those of us who cannot for legit medical reasons. Many of us who cannot, its not they we are anti vacs, its that we have reasons that prevent us. Also among the vaccinated, there are those who do not have good protection due to health reasons. There is nothing political about us. Its just some of us dont have choices. Sure there are those who choose not to get vaccinated. Just please remember that there are some of us without choices. Not having good information on how covid is spreading or were there are hot spots does us a disservice. How are we suppose to move forward from here since most restrictions are being dropped? I will continue to mask (n95) and avoid crowds. Still with all that, I am finding that I have to get out a bit to shop for items that you just cannot choice online. I had to have a plumber into my house and asked him to wear a mask, yah go figure how that went. just sort of on his face. Folks just dont want to understand or care about us who are higher or higher risk and cannot be vaccinated. Sorry if I keep up the gripe.

I have absolutely nothing against those who simply can't get vaccinated. And I feel badly about them having to deal with a world where people who can won't.

Such as this which I heard about yesterday:
A fellow contractor at work who I work with pretty closely felt bad last week and stayed out all week. He tested positive yesterday. Isn't vaccinated for no other reason than "I don't want to". The worrying part is he's 67 and has been trying to find a suitable replacement so he can retire. Plus he smokes every time he can get outside the building. Coughs pretty consistently all the time. Has a standing quarterly appointment with his pulmonologist and cardiologist. I'm worried about him. He's a prime candidate for COVID not being good to him.

[kukblue1]

Covid is far from dead but you wouldn't know that from the media coverage right now. I never hear about covid anymore especially national news.

[Pete]

Covid is far from dead but you wouldn't know that from the media coverage right now. I never hear about covid anymore especially national news.

I can't report any Oklahoma numbers because the state is not providing them in a timely or meaningful way.

[oklip955]

Understand Pete. World meter had a number for Okla. yesterday of 234. Was it a one day, two day or 4 day? who knows. Postings on world meter seem to be random. Seems like the state is not releasing any meaningful info. How is one who is trying to stay safe or anyone who is interested in the numbers make any sense out of it. I rate this as a fail. At least they could do a Monday, Wednesday, Friday update with Monday catching the weekend number of cases. Just seems like so inconsistant.

[Bill Robertson]

Understand Pete. World meter had a number for Okla. yesterday of 234. Was it a one day, two day or 4 day? who knows. Postings on world meter seem to be random. Seems like the state is not releasing any meaningful info. How is one who is trying to stay safe or anyone who is interested in the numbers make any sense out of it. I rate this as a fail. At least they could do a Monday, Wednesday, Friday update with Monday catching the weekend number of cases. Just seems like so inconsistant.

To add. Since OSDH went weekly World Meter, New York Times and Washington Post have all had numbers occasionally other than the Thursday OSDH release. But the numbers don't match each other and don't match the OSDH numbers when they are released. Then there's the CDC numbers. Today they still show Oklahoma with a 2700 7 day average! The system always had way too many glitches but it's become a complete catastrophe.

[Mott]

For those that need to be concerned about getting Covid, it’s pretty irresponsible for the state not to give them the best numbers they can, in order to make the best decisions for their health. Politically out of sight out of mind. Willing to go out without a mask, but if there were numbers indicating an uptick, I might change my mind.

[soonermike81]

Covid is getting bad again in many other countries. FDA needs to approve Novavax's vaccine asap, since we know the current vaccines are as effective against variants.

[oklip955]

Covid is getting bad again in many other countries. FDA needs to approve Novavax's vaccine asap, since we know the current vaccines are as effective against variants.

Agreed. Also I have a friend that is a third stage trial recipient of another vaccine. He did get covid and got over it in about a week. He was told that that vaccine to date has had no one died or wind up hospitalized with covid. Its a conventional vaccine. It should soon be going to market but not in the US since there suppositly too much competition. Other vaccines are also looking for FDA approval. See what happens. I am hoping there will be one that I can receive. The antibody injection is reserved for very high risk people and even at that its hard to come by. I have another friend looking into it.

[soonermike81]

Agreed. Also I have a friend that is a third stage trial recipient of another vaccine. He did get covid and got over it in about a week. He was told that that vaccine to date has had no one died or wind up hospitalized with covid. Its a conventional vaccine. It should soon be going to market but not in the US since there suppositly too much competition. Other vaccines are also looking for FDA approval. See what happens. I am hoping there will be one that I can receive. The antibody injection is reserved for very high risk people and even at that its hard to come by. I have another friend looking into it.

I'm in the clinical trial for Novavax. Got my initial shots in Dec '20 and Jan '21. Got my booster this past January. Side effects were next to nothing for me. Literally nothing for my initial shots, and only a sore arm and a little malaise when I got my booster. My paranoia is high so I've gotten quite a bit of covid tests done, and I have yet to test positive. This vaccine is a protein based vaccine, very similar to the flu shot that most people get every year. And from everything that I've read, there efficacy and safety data is excellent compared to what's currently out there.

[Bill Robertson]

Today's report:
459 new cases for the week
66 is the 7 day average
459 hospitalized
45 in ICU

But they didn't change the dates these numbers came from when they have a week to get it right. Not confidence inspiring.

[kukblue1]

Today's report:
459 new cases for the week
66 is the 7 day average
459 hospitalized
45 in ICU

But they didn't change the dates these numbers came from when they have a week to get it right. Not confidence inspiring.

With all the home test now that are out there. Heck I have 5 of them now, all for free, we will no longer get true number of cases. Hospitalization should be number to watch. I know there is a lag but it's going to be the only true way to tell at this point if we have an increase.

[Bill Robertson]

With all the home test now that are out there. Heck I have 5 of them now, all for free, we will no longer get true number of cases. Hospitalization should be number to watch. I know there is a lag but it's going to be the only true way to tell at this point if we have an increase.

I've really only cared about hospitalizations for months now. Those look good for now. Over 2000 in January. Just at 200 now.

[soonerguru]

With all the home test now that are out there. Heck I have 5 of them now, all for free, we will no longer get true number of cases. Hospitalization should be number to watch. I know there is a lag but it's going to be the only true way to tell at this point if we have an increase.

Exactly. And thanks to you and Bill for continuing the conversation. Ever the optimist (despite my online reputation), I'm skeptical that this lull will carry on much longer. But, I remain hopeful, as many others here have been in the past when being so was borderline idiotic.

[Bill Robertson]

The FDA just approved a 4th shot for everyone over 50.