Inside Medicine. What Are You Seeing? [COVID-19 medical news]

My DC’s school make it very clear that they will NOT accept a home test for their return to campus.

That’s good. I confirmed with my D’s school that they will accept a home test. I had already scheduled a PCR test but nice to know it was an option.

Note that if you want to use a PCR test for precautionary testing, you need to quarantine a week before the target date if you want to avoid bringing a virus that escapes detection by the test due to timing. For example:

  • Day -7: when you have to start quarantining to avoid an infection that comes too soon before the test to be detectable.
  • Day -3: when you take the PCR test to get results before day 0.
  • Day 0: what you are doing precautionary testing for (heading back to college, visiting relatives, going into surgery).

Note that on days -6 to -3, you could get infected, but not have enough virus to be test-detectable, and on days -2 to -1, you could get infected after being tested. Hence the need to quarantine if you want to PCR test to have some assurance that you are not bringing unwanted viral guests.

(“Quarantine” in this case means being maximally careful to avoid being exposed to possible virus.)

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/07/health/covid-test-throat-swab-fda-wellness/index.html

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The record for Covid admissions in our hospital is just over 860. Today we have just over 770. The projections are we will have over 1800 by February 3rd if things stay on the current path. Conservative estimate puts it at 1200.

are those admissions as a result of covid, or folks being admitted for other reasons – say, appendicitis, or auto accident – and are found to to be covid-positive when tested upon admission.

Do you know what the break down is between unvaccinated and vaccinated admits. I keep looking for clear data on the breakdowns and find it difficult to find. So sorry you (and all of us really), are dealing with this mess. Best wishes.

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I just looked at one H told me about eons ago and they’ve updated theirs to include boosted folks separately. They’re in SC.

I’m not sure what the vaccination or booster rates are for the area, but at a glance boosters appear to have helped.

ETA - the image came from their FB site.

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No, I don’t know the exact percentages but most are unvaccinated, followed by people with 2 doses. Fewest are vaccinated + boosted.
Work has mandated the booster by the end of the month (we had the 2-dose mandate months ago). Over 2,500 vaccinated employees have been diagnosed with Covid, only 1 has been admitted. About a third of employees have received the booster already.

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Here’s the latest weekly update from San Diego County:

https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/dam/sdc/hhsa/programs/phs/Epidemiology/COVID-19%20Watch.pdf

The daily report isn’t broken out by vaccination status:

https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/sdc/hhsa/programs/phs/community_epidemiology/dc/2019-nCoV/status.html

The County has a tremendous amount of data, even on boosters:

https://www.sandiegocounty.gov/content/dam/sdc/hhsa/programs/phs/Epidemiology/COVID-19%20Demographics%20of%20Residents%20Who%20Received%20a%20Booster%20Dose.pdf

Positivity rate has been increasing day by day from 23.3 to 24 to 25.1 to 25.4 to 25.8%. Of course this excludes at home tests. And includes people who went to medical facilities for likely symptoms, I assume. So not a random population.

Good question. It’s a mixture but the estimates are based on the community spread, R-value, percent of tests positive, rates of admission, etc. I think it was a day last week that the percentage of tests that were positive was almost 70%. Admissions and deaths are lagging indicators of community spread.
There will be admissions for the usual things and patients end up being found to be asymptomatic COVIDs. The estimates I mentioned are more based on the rising admissions for illness. Plus, the hospital is starting to shut down due to staffing shortages so the asymptotic COVIDs will be a steady state or decreasing. Like I said in another post, they’re actually offering to pay for hotel rooms for patients who are medically cleared to free up beds and staff. The asymptomatic COVIDs as a percentage will be going down.

The reason I ask is bcos New York just published statewide numbers: of those NYS hospitalizations with covid, 49% of them were due to covid, so the other half just tested positive while admitted for other medical issues.

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Wow the vaxxed and unvaxxed are so similar.

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But at least in some cases Covid still may have triggered or worsened the condition that brought them to the hospital.

Yes I remember it was mentioned there was a mix of both but I don’t remember if they said any percentage but if they did the asymptomatics were a minor component.

My school district stopped quarantining for high schools, and has now suspended contact tracing. They don’t “test to stay,” either. Vaccinations not required. Masking still for now, but it is inconsistent. CDC guidelines have always been on an ala carte basis for schools, under the guise of what’s “feasible” or “practicable.”

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Massachusetts will start reporting hospital rates differently next week, separating primary and incidental COVID cases in hospitals.

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The University of Michigan hospital gives a very informative breakdown you might find informative:

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thanks for sharing that really easy to read chart. I especially like the triangle details. Wonder how similar that hospital is to others?

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I have a doctor friend who just shared that in her hospital system, 30% of patients being admitted for other reasons are coming up positive for Covid.