Sternberg on COVID this week: Getting better? We’ve been hearing reports that the spike in cases and deaths from the Omicron variant of COVID-19 has peaked and is decreasing. This is certainly true in metropolitan New York. Epidemiologists have estimated that greater than 40 percent of the City’s population has been infected with Omicron even though the confirmed case rate is much lower. Most people infected there probably experienced mild or no symptoms and didn’t even bother to get tested.…
Online home of The Freeman's Journal and Hometown Oneonta
Advertisement
omicron
Stealth Omicron By Richard Sternberg, M.D. While Omicron appears to be peaking in New York overall (though not yet in Otsego County) we have now been told that there is a new “stealth” version of Omicron named BA.2 that is beginning to replace the variant we have been experiencing for the last two months. While it is too early to know for sure, BA.2 does not seem to be more virulent than the original Omicron BA.1, but appears to be…
In-Patient Visitation Suspended Across Bassett Healthcare Network Bassett Healthcare Network temporarily suspends visitation to inpatient units across all of its hospitals beginning January 19, 2021. Network officials say the community virus spread around Central New York remains high with the “extremely contagious Omicron variant,” leading to measures to protect the safety and health of its patients and staff. Bassett said its hospitals will consider extenuating circumstances on a case-by-case basis, including for end-of-life patients or those who are cognitively impaired.…
Editorial: Omicron’s Paradox A COVID-weary public confronts the conundrum daily: Is this good news? Is it bad news? We have to admit that we’re a little bit confused. The Omicron caseload is frightening on its surface — ridiculously high numbers on a daily basis, top-of-the-fold newspaper coverage, lead-story status. We’re so attuned to scary numbers and frightening graphs that when we hear about record-shattering daily positive tests coming back, the first thing we want to do is retreat to our…
Life during COVID: December in Otsego By Richard Sternberg M.D. Checking the Otsego County Department of Health dashboard on December 20 showed a distinct uptick in a number of cases of COVID in recent days. Most of these still are probably from Delta, but also are beginning to reflect the Omicron variant. The website did not identify the specific variant of those cases. Dr. Fauci says the number of cases of the Omicron across the United States doubles every two…
Omicron rising COVID update December 20 Covid-19 numbers continue to rise across the country and the world with the Omicron variant heightening concerns as holiday gatherings are set to begin this week. The latest information from the Otsego County Health Department shows:…
Editorial: Omicron, is it? It sounds a lot like something out of Hollywood — one of those action/sci-fi movies that demand we suspend our disbelief more than usual and go along for the ride in a world where it can’t happen here. The problem, of course, is that it can. And it is. We had barely dried the Thanksgiving dinner dishes when word came out of the World Health Organization that it was meeting in emergency session over a newly…
Omicron…New York in a State of Emergency Saturday, November 27, 2021. 1:00 PM Yesterday morning we had not heard of SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.529. The New York Times did not mention it and The Economist had no information in their morning news feed. It was then one of many variants of the virus that causes COVID. Then the World Health Organization named it Omicron. WHO reserves Greek letter names for variants of particular concern. Omicron is one of them. The global…