Roy Exum
If you live in Alabama, the chance you’ll test positive for COVID are now greater than not. In the state of Alabama 54.59 percent of COVID-19 tests are now coming back positive. This week in Georgia the test positivity rate is 37.82 and in Tennessee it’s 36.78. In all three states these are record numbers, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, as the virus continues to explode across the South and elsewhere in the nation. Georgia has recorded 89,063 new cases of the disease in the past week, Alabama 69,566 new cases, and Tennessee 50,894.
Further, the experts tell us that the reported numbers are actually less because fully vaccinated persons with mild cases aren’t going to the hospitals; their symptoms not so severe to warrant it.
On the other hand, hospitals are bulging with cases that need to be admitted. This weekend there were about 25 COVID patients in Erlanger Hospital’s emergency room awaiting beds and similar scenarios are straining the nation’s hospitals to their limits.
It is being reported that 75-to-80 percent of hospitalized patients are not vaccinated.
Derek Hawkins, writing in Sunday’s editions of The Washington Post, tells us, “One eye-opening study out of Norway looked at an omicron outbreak at a Nov. 30 holiday party where 66 people of 117 fully vaccinated attendees tested positive for the virus and 15 had probable cases. Health authorities investigating the outbreak found that cough, nasal congestion, fatigue and sore throat were the most common symptoms, followed by headache and fever.
“More than a dozen of those infected said their symptoms cleared in a couple of days, while 62 attendees said they were still experiencing some symptoms around the one-week mark. None of the cases required hospitalization as of Dec. 13, two weeks after the party, researchers found.
“People with mild COVID — of whatever strain — tend to bounce back in a week or two, according to Johns Hopkins. Research shows they probably aren’t at risk of spreading the virus to others 10 days after the onset of symptoms, provided that their symptoms have improved in that time and they aren’t feverish,” Hawkins wrote.
“Severe cases, on the other hand, can stretch for more than a month and leave people contagious for longer. There also is the vexing problem of “long COVID,” which can cause some symptoms to linger for many months, even in vaccinated people.”
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‘MAJOR DISASTER WAITING TO HAPPEN’
FROM KCRA-TV 3, Sacramento: Health care workers who test positive and are asymptomatic for COVID-19 are allowed to return to work, according to new guidelines announced on Saturday by the California State Department of Public Health. No quarantine or testing is required.
The latest rules go on to say that health care providers who have been "exposed and asymptomatic may return to work immediately without quarantine and without testing." However, an N-95 respirator (face mask) must be worn.
"It's a major disaster waiting to happen," said Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, president of the California Nurses Association. "I think it's callous and it's putting our patients and ourselves in grave danger."
A Department of Health representative did not respond to KCRA 3's questions about whether the new guidelines could expose patients to COVID-19, but wrote, "Due to the critical staffing shortages currently being experienced across the health care continuum because of the rise in the omicron variant ... CDPH is temporarily adjusting the return-to-work criteria."
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CRITICAL STAFF SHORTAGES GROW
(CNN) About 24 percent of U.S. hospitals are reporting a "critical staffing shortage," according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services, as public health experts warn the COVID-19 surge fueled by the Omicron variant threatens the nation's health care system.
"Given how much infection there is, our hospitals really are at the brink right now," Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, told CNN on Sunday.
Of the approximately 5,000 hospitals that reported this data to HHS on Saturday, nearly 1,200 -- about 1 in 4 -- said they are currently experiencing a critical staffing shortage, the largest share of the entire pandemic. More than 100 other hospitals said they anticipate a shortage within the next week.
The U.S. health care system is Jha's greatest concern, he said, noting the Omicron surge could hamper its capacity to care for patients suffering from conditions other than COVID-19.
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