My sister in The Woodlands is reporting similar to you for the school she works at. The working theory floating around there is that everyone has already had it.
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Iām in this area and seriously lost count of the number of people I know that had it over the break.
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I quite seriously need a mental break from my whole family but omicron caused me to cancel the 3 days in a hotel alone I had planned for next weekend (planned for months, for after the holidays decompressionā¦). Any ideas how to get a little break? Iām sort of thinking of staying in my bedroom an entire day and early evening and not allowing anyone to come in, but it has the pitfalls of 1. Also DH room and 2. DD10 would probably freak out thinking Iām sick when Iām not. Iām sure people would be banging on the door all day. Itās cold enough here that I donāt want to go hang around outside a long time either. Iām usually very good at coming up with breaks like this for when Iām overwhelmed but I like to be inside and right now inside is the devil.
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This reminds me of a story I heard - maybe Mark Twain talking of his mom.
When she wanted alone time, sheād be sure to have a damp cloth nearby. When a kid would come to her with something to show sheād get the cloth and say, just a minute darling, thereās something on your face . . .
Peace and quiet
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This is the encouragement HCW are getting now. I am in tears. This is not how healthcare is supposed to work. I have never in my entire career seen a system-wide email like this. This is desperation.
āTo our dedicated co-workers,
As we experience together the strains of this pandemic and we transition from conventional, to contingency, to crisis standards of care, we want you to know you have our support. Both now and into the future. Even when things go wrong and we have bad outcomes. That support includes your local and system risk teams and senior leadership. It also includes malpractice insurance and legal defense if ever needed. We have a well-deserved reputation for the strongest representation of our team members, even when mistakes are made.
We are in this together. And, we are committed to stay with you in the roughest of times. We will not abandon you.ā
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I am so sorry that HCW are in this position. To someone who took up a career because they wanted to help people, it must be heart wrenching to know that bad outcomes are likely coming despite your best efforts. 
(I wish there was a hug pic without the big smile.) I know that what you really need is additional qualified personnel and fewer patients, but is there anything that a layperson could do to help? And if so, where that would do the most good? (Regional hospital, hospital in major metro area, etc.)
Please know how much I admire you and all of the HCW that are doing their best to help us weather this storm at great personal cost. Things would be so, so much worse without your help and care.
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Sending ALL the hugs. Iām so sorry. Whatās being asked of HCWs right now is just beyond.
#medtwitter is in despair. We have broken our healthcare system. Specifically the irreplaceable part, the staff.
Even if people donāt give a flip about them as people, you think theyād selfishly at least want a functional healthcare system to exist for them and their loved ones in the future.
Many medical people are leaving, or are gallantly just trying to hang on until the pandemic ends.
I just donāt know how theyāre holding it together, honestly. Whatever most of us have been asked to endure for this pandemic pales in comparison.
Itās just 
. They are basically at war for us, and instead of rallying support on the home front, thereās just broad spread myopic apathy.
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Just got this in my email. We are members for a year, as it was more cost effective than buying regular tickets last summer for our family of 5. We were planning on going 1/26, so this should be interesting.
This is the aquarium in Baltimore.
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Wow reading that made me tear up. I am so sorry that you are working under such crippling circumstances. I wish there was more I could do to show support for you and all our other hcws.
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To echo the others, thanks for all you do. I canāt comprehend the stress involved with having to ration care and services and be woefully understaffed in such a critical operation.
I thought of you when I stopped by a couple pharmacies this week, and I made sure to share my appreciation with the pharmacists, who seemed grateful. That doesnāt make much of a difference, but I guess itās better than nothing.
Everyone handles stress and frustration differently, but if I were in your position, I would stubbornly try to block out the frustration and look at myself knowing Iāve done everything I personally can, and there are just too many things out of my control. Of course easier said than done. Some people will be sick that didnāt have to be. Some people will die that didnāt have to. People just blatantly donāt care about the same things others care about. Sad but reality. You donāt feel it now, but this experience for you will become a positive at some point and you will end up stronger than you ever thought you could be. Thatās going to benefit you, your DH, and the kids in the future. Hugs. You are very loved, respected, and appreciated here. 
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To add to the hospitalizations data convo, this is just a blip in time but seems a decent way of comparing now to delta wave in San Francisco.
UCSF is the prestige research hospital here. I think they are testing all hospital patients for covid right now.
I will say the ER doctor quoted who basically opines against quarantine policies being what they are ā this is the first doctor in media or who I know personally who I have heard opine that way so I donāt think that opinion is consensus locally. I have heard there are staff shortages locally getting in the way of medical care as usual. But the biggest message from public health has been donāt gum up the 911 and ER for testing or because youāre worried well, keep us available for the life threatening stuff.
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The City where I work has a population of about 96,500. This was sent out regarding covid here:
The daily average is now 298 cases. Since 1/11/22 there has been 28 new cases.
Eight new hospitalizations since 1/11/22. In the last 7 days there have been 44 hospitalizations, a 91% increase from the prior 7 days.
Two new deaths since 1/11/22. Four deaths in the past 14 days.
At first I though 1/11 had to be a typo as that was yesterday. But with 44 new hospitalizations in 7 days, 8 since yesterday seems reasonable.
Take away for me ā¦ Omicron may be milder, but I believe these to be the worst number for hospitalization and deaths weāve seen. Could it be Delta? Or a mix of Omicron and Delta cases? I just do not know.
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Hmmmm. Iām struggling with this reporting.
Whether intentional or through lack of due diligence, it definitely leaves a much different impression of the hospitalized with/from Covid situation at UCSF than the data that UCSF has released. I find it very troubling they didnāt include that data, but instead anecdotal data implying the opposite.
The UCSF data in the tweets I shared is from this verified source:
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Another possibility ā¦ many, many unreported Omicron cases which lead to an increased raw number hospitalizations (compared to Delta) even if the percentage of hospitalizations is lower (compared to Delta).
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It could just be the sheer numbers of Omicron.
10% of 100 and 1% of 1,000 is the exact same amountā¦10.
So while hospitals were busy with a larger percentage of Delta patients, the huge increase in number of people with Omicron makes up for the fact that a significantly smaller percentage of them need hospitalization.
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Welp. Itās hit us. Sigh. Weāve held out for so long, but with Omicron and the kids still skating, I canāt say Iām surprised. DH took an at-home test this morning and it came up positive. He has a mild sore throat and headache, and thatās it! DD was up last night with an upset stomach, so, right now, Iām assuming sheās got it, too.
He called Mayo this morning (our local clinic) to schedule PCRs for everyone and I was very surprised with their answer. An at-home positive is good enough to document as āpositive for covidā - no need to come in for a PCR confirmation. DS and I do not need to test since weāre vaxxed and no symptoms. They suggested taking an at-home test in a few days - maybe over the weekend. My problem is now, Iām in my head. Tickle in my throat? Iāve got it! Headache? Got it! Nevermind that Iāve been staring at a computer for 5 hours straight.
So, DH and DD are going in for a PCR test this afternoon. Yay for being at Mayo - theyāve got availability for tests within a few hours. DS is at school (masked) since we didnāt know DH was positive when he left this morning. Their policy is that if youāre vaxxed, no need to stay home. Iām not sure what weāll do with him the rest of the week.
Hockey is off, for everyone, for a while. That was our biggest risk - the only place anyone went without a mask. Honestly, Iām relieved. This time of the season is a drag for me.
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He is a reputed guy around here. His own thread links to a WaPo column he coauthored. From reading that, my understanding would be that there are different methodologies of dividing patients into āforā and āwith,ā so two sources using the same data might conclude different proportions.
I donāt think this is the reporterās fault.
Wachter is my fave local source for my own decision-making because he tends to be risk-averse like I am. However he is viewed as one end of the spectrum in the medical punditry in the Bay Area. So it is not surprising another doctor would go to the media to share a different POV. Both can be valid and are not mutually exclusive. They are just different people analyzing the same situation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/01/07/hospitalization-covid-statistics-incidental/
Sorry about DH. I hope you all stay healthy and DH recovers quickly.
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He is great. Iāve been following is twitter feed for awhile and check it a couple times a week. The thread about sonās experience was interesting. Intellectually, as a professional in the field, he knew his sonās risk of serious illness was low, but as a father, he remained concerned about worst case scenarios. One could also sense his emotion over this situation, and how much he loved and wanted to protect his grown son.
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This is me in a nut shell! I feel fine. Until someone asks me if I have a headache. Now that I think about it ā¦ maybe it does hurt a little. etc. etc. I blame an active imagination!
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