Covid-19 Update -- December 7, 2022

Updates

December 8, 2022: as Peter Zeihan would say, "the magic of mRNA." Both Moderna and Pfizer have an updated Covid vaccine that "covers" the newest Omicron strains, and which adults are now receiving. Today, the FDA approved these updated Covid vaccines for infant and children > 6 months old. See this link.

Original Post

Elevator speech in Los Angeles:

• Covid-19 cases surging again; hospitals feeling the impact
• the Covid-19 variant remains "omicron" -- new sub-variants
• the new sub-variants, BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are offshoots of previous strain (sub-variant) that caused the previous surge, BA.5 -- very infectious but not particularly lethal
• the current Pfizer vaccine protects against the newest sub-variants

We'll see the updated CDC figures later this week, but for now, coming out of Los Angeles:

• Los Angeles County appears to be in the midst of another full-blown coronavirus surge, with cases doubling since Thanksgiving.
• As L.A. County coronavirus cases leap, more people head to hospitals.
  
• The big rise — which partially captures but likely does not fully reflect exposures over the Thanksgiving holiday — is prompting increasingly urgent calls for residents to get up to date on their vaccines and consider taking other preventive steps to stymie viral transmission and severe illness. 
• Also on the rise is the number of coronavirus-positive patients being cared for in hospitals, sparking concerns about renewed stress on the region’s healthcare system and raising the specter of an indoor public mask mandate if the trends continue, possibly soon after New Year’s Day. 
• COVID-19 deaths also have begun to increase. 
• Fatality rates are highest among those who either haven’t been vaccinated or are not up to date on their booster shot.
• More coronavirus news
• Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said he wanted to keep the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate in place.
• Pfizer is asking U.S. regulators to authorize its updated COVID-19 vaccine for children younger than 5 — not as a booster but as part of their initial series of shots. 

The California state-wide Covid-19 statistics don't yet show a surge in the number of cases. Link here. 

New York appears to be in the midst of a bigger surge than California:

Let's see if we can find another source to corroborate The LA Times story above. Shouldn't be too hard, if accurate.

Okay, so here it is, from the dailynews: 

To put the 29 deaths over three days in perspective, Los Angeles averages one traffic fatality every 30 hours. Link here. So, 30 deaths over three days is 10x the number of expected traffic fatalities. Ten times.

Coverage, link here:

Comment: I wonder if folks remember the original reason for the drastic measures taken in 2020 to control the pandemic? 

Comment: as Peter Zeihan has pointed out, the fact that the newest version of the Pfizer vaccine provides coverage against the current variants causing the surge shows the "magic" of mRNA.