Same thing as happened with delta and the original strain before that.
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And we are going to isolate for ten days? When does that change? Youâd think weâd be at the point now to know how long a vaccinated/boosted person is contagious and itâs not ten days. I donât know why that rule has stuck around for that population. At the very least, schools need to start testing kids in isolation earlier to see if they are still shedding virus.
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Absolutely agree.
The bottom line is that no one should have to quarantine, particularly if theyâre vaccinated. This virus is now endemic and those who want the vaccine (and the booster) have had the opportunity(and continue to have the opportunity) to receive it. Those that choose to forgo it are comfortable with their risk. Both vaxxed and unvaxxed transmit the virus. The vaxxed are as protected as they can be, plus we have treatments for those who have breakthrough infections.
I do support masking in certain situations as it does assist with reduce transmission. But especially on college campuses, the overall demographic is not at high risk from COVID. Do the necessary to protect older people on campus but quarantine and isolation should not be the default.
Just my opinion.
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The snark isnât appreciated.
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Huh? That still says ten days isolation for infected but vaccinated people. Thereâs no change there.
The unvaccinated have swamped hospitals, resulting in cancellations of non-COVID procedures, and triage of other patients. They are a huge drain on both human and financial resources. The treatments you referenced cost far more than a vaccine does.
If the unvaccinated are truly comfortable with their risk of foregoing the vaccine, they should not rush to request Monoclonal antibodies
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Unfortunately the monoclonals arenât effective against Omicron. The oral anti-virals pills will be, but they arenât approved and on the market yet.
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And still much more expensive than a vaccine, but I have moved too far off the college topic so will try to remember to stay on track.
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https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/14/us/cornell-university-covid-cases/index.html
Cornell now reports 903 cases, many of which are Omicron cases.
Princeton just closed, exams will be remote. 34 cases, some omicron.
So the people who donât get a flu shot - shouldnât rush to get a Z-pack when they get the flu?
What a mess. I mean, how fast can kids really leave Cornell, Princeton, any other schools that close now if they are a plane ride away? Not easy to change flights now and itâs the middle of finals so kids canât be traveling if they have a final. Collegesâ decisions about Jan will be interesting with info on omicron coming more and more every day. Will schools that donât test just go back and have students fend for themselves if they feel sick? What will the schools do that surveillance test? Thereâs not enough room to isolate a large percent of the student body all at once if omicron hits. Like I wondered above, will isolation protocols change for vaccinated people so it can be shortened? Can kids isolate in their rooms? Will we know enough about omicron in time for spring semester? Those bills are due early JanâŠ
My prediction, based on dealing with outpatient covid since march 2020, as well as the data we have now that omicron is milder : in the vaccinated population covid is mild or completely asymptomaticâeven pre-omicronâso thousands and thousands of cases are just not known across the campuses that do not test routinely. Those places will continue along as they have. The campuses that test vaccinated students routinely could have a nice big wave of omicron they have to deal with. Howeverâas it does appear more contagious(spreads faster through the population), cases could already be past peak by the time colleges get back to campus mid-January , so just a few weeks of nuisance. It would be wonderful if colleges and cdc etc looked at the data and shortened the isolation for vaccinated cases, and I remain surprised it didnât shorten months ago. Duke had a wave (delta) at the start of this term and they handled it with minimal interruption to normalcy (few weeks of masks in dorms and eating outside), but honestly with omicron milder and 99% students/98%overall campus vax, I donât even think that is necessary and the retrospective data may show âtypicalâ masks donât contain the more contagious omicron very well anyway.
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I hope so but then why are colleges freaking now and sending kids home if omicron is less serious? Cornell and Princeton require the vaccine. I think they see all Covid as a threat to their community as well as their campuses. Seems like we would need to know a lot more definitive info about omicron before those types of schools are comfortable with business as usual. Iâm familiar with Dukeâs spike and they did handle it well but they didnât have 900 kids diagnosed. Not sure what they would have done then. If the CDC doesnât change itâs rule for isolation then those schools will still have the 10 day protocol and canât handle spikes that big.
Seems like we need to change the quarantine process asap. I donât blame schools for closing; they donât want a lot of kids stuck in isolation dorms over Christmas. Airfares are lower now than later this month and some schools are helping needy students with the cost of changes. It really isnât hard to change flights any more, most have waived change fees.
At some point we will accept this is the new normal, like the flu, and stop quarantines.
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I absolutely agree they should not be freaking outâŠbut with the end of term close it is probably âeasierâ to handle it that way. I do think we will be past or passing peak in a few weeks, which will help. Schools with a lot of isolation housing can handle 900 but I am not sure that made sense with the end of term coming(just a guessâmaybe Pton and Cornell donât have that capacity ). Maybe the prospect of large #s for a few weeks will force colleges to do shorter isolations/test-out isolations ?
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NJ mandates 10 days of isolation. Not up to the school.
In case this isnât sarcasm, Zpack is an antibiotic which has zero effect on flu (because itâs a virus).
Maybe the prospect of large #s for a few weeks will force colleges to do shorter isolations/test-out isolations ?
I hope so but we still arenât setup for that much testing right now. My biggest fear is that CDC requires vaccinated peeps to quarantine after exposure, since many vaccinated are being infected.
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