View allAll Photos Tagged omicron
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/04/covid-ba2-omic...
Is America in the Middle of an Invisible COVID Wave? - The Atlantic
Over the past month, the number of new COVID cases in my social circle has become impossible to ignore. I brushed off the first few—guests at a wedding I attended in early April—as outliers during the post-Omicron lull. But then came frantic texts from two former colleagues. The next week, a friend at the local café was complaining that she’d lost her sense of smell. My Instagram feed is now surfacing selfies of people in isolation, some for the second or third time.
Cases in New York City, where I live, have been creeping up since early March. Lately, they’ve risen nationally, too. On Tuesday, the national seven-day average of new COVID cases hit nearly 49,000, up from about 27,000 three weeks earlier. The uptick is likely being driven by BA.2, the new, more transmissible offshoot of Omicron that’s now dominant in the United States. BA.2 does seem to be troubling: In Western Europe and the U.K. in particular, where previous waves have tended to hit a few weeks earlier than they have in the U.S., the variant fueled a major surge in March that outpaced the Delta spike from the summer.
At least so far, the official numbers in the U.S. don’t seem to show that a similar wave has made it stateside. But those numbers aren’t exactly reliable these days. In recent months, testing practices have changed across the country, as at-home rapid tests have gone fully mainstream. These tests, however, don’t usually get recorded in official case counts. This means that our data could be missing a whole lot of infections across the country—enough to obscure a large surge. So … are we in the middle of an invisible wave? I posed the question to experts, and even they were stumped by what’s really happening in the U.S.
For a while, COVID waves were not all that difficult to detect. Even at the beginning of the pandemic, when the country was desperately short of tests, people sought out medical help that showed up in hospitalization data. Later, when Americans could easily access PCR tests at clinics, their results would automatically get reported to government agencies. But what makes this moment so confusing is that the COVID metrics that reveal the most about how the coronavirus is spreading are telling us less and less. “Why we’re seeing what we’re seeing now is one of the more challenging scientific questions to answer,” Sam Scarpino, the vice president of pathogen surveillance at the Rockefeller Foundation, told me.
Not only is our understanding of case counts limited, but all the epidemiological data we do have in the U.S. is rife with biases, because it’s collected haphazardly instead of through randomized sampling, he said. The data sets we rely on—case counts, wastewater, and hospitalizations—are “blurry pictures that we try to piece together to figure out what’s going on,” Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Brown, told me.
An invisible wave is possible because cases capture only the number of people who test positive for the virus, which is different from what epidemiologists really want to know: how many people are infected in the general population. That’s always produced an undercount in how many people are actually infected, but the numbers are becoming even more uncertain as government testing sites wind down and at-home testing becomes more common. Unlike during past waves, each household can request up to eight free rapid tests from the federal government, and insurance companies are required to reimburse Americans for the cost of any additional rapid tests they purchase. These changes in testing practices leave even more room for bias.
Sheer pandemic fatigue probably isn’t helping, either. People who are over this virus could be ignoring their symptoms and going about their daily lives, while people who are getting reinfected may be getting milder symptoms that they don’t recognize as COVID, Nuzzo said. “I do believe we are in a situation where there’s more of a surge happening, a larger proportion of which is hidden from the usual sort of sensors that we have to detect them and to appreciate their magnitude,” Denis Nash, an epidemiologist at the City University of New York, told me. He was the only expert I spoke with who suggested that we might be in a wave that we’re missing because of our poor testing data, though he too wavered on that point. “I wish there was a clear answer,” he said.
Instead of relying solely on case counts to gauge the size of a wave, Nash said, it’s better to take into account other metrics such as hospitalizations and wastewater data, to triangulate what’s going on. Positivity rate—the percent of tests taken that have a positive result—can be more informative than looking at the raw numbers, too. And right now, the nationwide positivity rate is telling us that an increasing number of people are getting sick: Nationwide, 6.7 percent of COVID tests are coming back positive, versus 5.3 percent last week.
Unlike traditional COVID testing, wastewater surveillance, which is a process of detecting SARS-CoV-2 in public sewage, doesn’t reveal who exactly might be infected in a particular community. But by analyzing sewer data for evidence of the coronavirus, it can provide an early signal that a surge is happening, in part because people may shed virus in their feces before they start feeling sick. Nationwide levels of COVID in wastewater have climbed steadily in the past six weeks, suggesting more of a wave than the case counts indicate, though they vary greatly by region and can’t account for the chunk of the population who doesn’t use public utilities, says Gigi Gronvall, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Scarpino noted a rise in certain areas, including Boston and New York, but he didn’t characterize them as a wave. “Multiple data sets are showing [a] plateau in some places,” he said. “It’s that combined trend across multiple data sets that we’re looking for.”
If America is indeed not experiencing a big wave at all, that would be breaking with our recent history of following in Europe’s path. One possibility is that “the immunological landscape is different here,” Scarpino said. At the peak of Omicron’s sweep across the U.S., in January, more than 800,000 people were getting infected each day, partly a function of the fact that just 67 percent of eligible Americans are fully vaccinated. Most of those who recovered got an immunity bump from their infection, which might now be protecting them from BA.2. Even with all the data issues we have, the relatively slow rise in new cases “does raise the possibility of there being less population vulnerability” in the U.S., Nuzzo said. But, she noted, this doesn’t mean people should think we’re done with the pandemic. States in the Northeast and Midwest are seeing far more cases than the South and the West. As this wide regional variation suggests, many pockets of the country are still vulnerable.
In all likelihood, we’re seeing elements of both scenarios right now. There could be many more COVID infections than the reported numbers indicate, even while the situation in the U.S. may be unique enough to prevent the same pattern of spread as in Europe. Regardless, the course of the pandemic would be far less uncertain if we had data that truly reflected what was happening across the country. All the experts I spoke with agreed that the U.S. desperately needs active surveillance, the kind that involves deliberately testing representative samples of the population to produce unbiased results. It would tell us what percentage of the general population is actually infected, and how trends differ by age and location. Now that “we’re moving away from blunt tools like mandates, we need data to inform more targeted interventions that are aimed at reducing transmission,” Nuzzo said.
In some ways, not knowing whether we are in an invisible wave is more unsettling than knowing for certain. It leaves us with very little to go on when making personal decisions about our safety, such as deciding whether to mask or avoid indoor dining, which is especially frustrating as the government has fully shifted the onus of COVID decision making to individuals. “If I want to know what my risk is, I just look to see if my friends and family are infected,” Scarpino said. “The closer the infection is to me, the higher my risk is.” But we can’t continue flying blind forever. It’s the third year of the pandemic—why are we still unable to tell how many people are sick?
A permanent installation directed by Romain Tardy & Thomas Vaquié
Hala Stulecia, Wroclaw, Poland.
More details: www.antivj.com/O/
Another very limited bitumen day but roads not quite as rough as that Warri/Warry (I have seen it spelt both ways)gate road. Made some reasonable progress through ever changing landscapes, skipping across the top of the desert and driving through Omicron and Epsilon Station. You spend alot of kilometres driving through Epsilon Station
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
Simmon Omega 120 range finder camera (third model, 1954)
with 90mm f=3.5 Omicron lens in a Wollensak Rapax shutter
This is the first civilian production of the Combat camera made by the Simmon Brothers (known for their range of enlargers). Has a ratchet rapid film advance. The camera was later further developed by Konica to create the Koni-Omega Rapid.
© Dirk HR Spennemann 2011, All Right Reserved
www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/12/omicron-breakt...
Don’t Be Surprised When You Get Omicron
America is in for a lot more breakthrough infections. Here’s what to do if you fall sick.
My breakthrough infection started with a scratchy throat just a few days before Thanksgiving. Because I’m vaccinated, and had just tested negative for COVID-19 two days earlier, I initially brushed off the symptoms as merely a cold. Just to be sure, I got checked again a few days later. Positive. The result felt like a betrayal after 18 months of reporting on the pandemic. And as I walked home from the testing center, I realized that I had no clue what to do next.
I had so many questions: How would I isolate myself in a shared apartment? And why for 10 days, like the doctor at the testing site had advised? Should I get tested again? Following the doctor’s orders, my partner—who had tested negative—dragged a sleeping bag to the couch. Masks came on, windows went up, and flights were canceled. I ate flavorless dinners on my side of the apartment. One by one, the symptoms I knew so well on paper made their real-life debut: cough, fever, fatigue, and a loss of smell so severe, I couldn’t detect my dog’s habitually fishy breath.
Turns out I wasn’t the only one feeling baffled about what to do. “Oh yeah, people are very confused about breakthrough cases,” Peter Chin-Hong, an expert on infectious diseases at UC San Francisco, told me. Now that the Omicron variant is here, many more Americans may soon have to deal with breakthrough confusion. There’s a lot we don’t know about the new variant, but it’s spreading fast. Although the unvaccinated remain most at risk, vaccinated America isn’t in the clear: While the shots still seem effective at preventing hospitalization and death, early reports suggest that they are less effective against milder cases. So if you do get a breakthrough infection right now, what should you do?
Read: The pandemic of the vaccinated is here
At least for now, Omicron shouldn’t change how Americans act when they get a breakthrough infection. “All of the same things stand, whether it’s Delta, Omicron, or any other Greek letter or non-Greek letter of SARS-CoV-2,” says Stephen Kissler, an epidemiologist at Harvard. “Once you know you’re infected, hang tight, limit your encounters with other people, and just take care of yourself.”
If only the official guidance were this straightforward. Rebecca Wurtz, an infectious-disease expert at the University of Minnesota, told me that people are perplexed “partly because, I think, the guidance is confusing.” The CDC’s guidelines are limited: Isolate if you’ve either tested positive in the past 10 days or are experiencing symptoms, and end your isolation after 10 days only if you’ve gone 24 hours with no fever (without the use of Tylenol or other anti-fever drugs) and your other symptoms are improving—not counting the loss of taste and smell, which could take a couple of weeks to return. “They’re unclear as they’re stated, and they’re a little too complicated in any case,” Wurtz said. (When I reached out to the CDC for comment on its guidance on breakthroughs, a spokesperson pointed me back to the recommendations on the agency’s website.)
If you start feeling anything that resembles COVID symptoms or learn that you’ve been exposed to someone who has tested positive, some experts told me, the first thing to do is to get tested. “If you’re not sure, you have to get tested,” Chin-Hong said. That’s especially true now that we’re heading into the winter, when all sorts of non-COVID illnesses are also circulating. It can be impossible to differentiate between the early symptoms of a cold, the flu, and COVID, and getting tested is the only way to confirm a breakthrough infection. The bottom line is that knowing whether you’re positive is important not just for you, but also for anyone who you’ve been in contact with recently—especially those who are unvaccinated or immunocompromised.
PCR tests are still considered to be the gold standard, but they take much longer to generate results than rapid tests, which you can buy at a pharmacy and take at home. A test is merely a snapshot in time, and because Omicron appears to have a shorter incubation period than past variants, a result from a few days ago may not mean much. More than 60 fully vaccinated people tested positive for Omicron after an office holiday party in Norway, and all had gotten negative rapid-test results just a day earlier.
Read: Omicron’s explosive growth is a warning sign
Wurtz said that if you start to feel sick but haven’t been in contact with anyone and don’t plan to be, the best recourse is to stay home, minimize exposure to other people, and rest. “This may seem a little radical,” she said, “but I don’t think there’s a need in that context to be tested at all, period.” Again, the thing to consider is whether you’ve put anyone around you at risk of infection.
If you do test positive, you should alert your local public-health authority so they can initiate contact tracing, Chin-Hong said. Many testing sites do this automatically, but at-home tests, of course, do not. The CDC advises that after confirming your infection, you should start isolating right away, but unless you are asymptomatic, the first day of symptoms is technically what counts as the start of your 10 days of isolation. I learned the hard way that you aren’t supposed to “test out” of isolation, when a physician assistant yelled at me for getting tested after feeling better on day seven. She said I was putting others at risk, although the CDC guidance didn’t specifically say not to get tested. Explaining that I would have to isolate regardless of the outcome, she never told me my result.
Isolating can be especially tricky if, like many Americans, you don’t get paid sick leave, or if you live with people who have tested negative. That’s a common situation with breakthrough infections: While a positive test in a household full of unvaccinated people may soon lead everyone to test positive, that’s not necessarily the case in a home where everyone is vaccinated. “At the minimum, don’t be in the same room,” Javaid said. “If you have to interact with each other, you should always wear masks.” Considering Omicron’s contagiousness, it’s worth wearing more protective masks, such as N95s or KN95s, in lieu of the cloth masks that are common across the U.S. And even if it’s cold, opening windows four to six inches, Kissler said, can help with ventilation. If people you live with start having symptoms, the same guidelines apply: They too should self-isolate, and test if they’re going to see others.
But as The Atlantic’s Katherine Wu has written, not all public-health experts agree that those with breakthrough infections really need to isolate for 10 days, given recent research suggesting that they clear the virus more quickly than the unvaccinated, for whom the 10-day window was designed. Wurtz said that the 10-day isolation period is “somewhat arbitrary,” but she acknowledged that the cautiousness can be reassuring with a new, less understood variant.
Thankfully, most breakthrough infections tend to be mild cases, and that seems likely to hold true with Omicron too (especially for those with booster shots). If you’re feeling unwell, the usual treatment for respiratory infections—cold-and-flu medications, anti-fever drugs, liquids, and rest—are sufficient for most people with breakthrough COVID, Wurtz said. Although monoclonal antibodies are effective at treating COVID, Chin-Hong said he offers them only to people who are older or immunocompromised, because they are the most vulnerable, even after getting vaccinated. (Soon, we’ll have yet another treatment option: antiviral pills.) Breakthrough infections are unlikely to lead to hospitalization for most people, but you should seek emergency care if you develop any severe symptoms, such as trouble breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, or confusion.
Read: Timing is everything for Merck’s COVID pill
At some point, as we learn more about Omicron, the guidance regarding what to do after getting a breakthrough infection could change. “I think it’s important with the new variant that we’re seeing right now to consider getting the boosters as soon as possible,” Javaid said. But aside from that, the best thing vaccinated people can do is make sure they’re ready for a breakthrough infection before it strikes. Stock up on rapid tests so you’re not in a bind if any COVID symptoms suddenly appear. Talk to your family or roommates about where the best place to isolate is in your home. Be prepared to miss 10 days of work if you’re in person.
Thankfully, I’m fully recovered from my breakthrough infection, except for the ongoing inability to smell my dog’s breath. For now, what makes breakthroughs like mine so confusing is that the U.S. is in an “awkward transition phase,” Wurtz said, between following somewhat random rules—such as isolating for 10 days—and more deeply understanding what COVID-19 does to our bodies. I’ve since gotten a booster, and accepted that I’ll probably get sick with COVID again, maybe many times. COVID will someday turn endemic, and having it may become more like having a cold or a bout of flu: a normal, albeit exasperating, part of everyday life for most people (though not everyone). Eventually, even with Omicron, breakthroughs will become a lot less stressful. “I do think it is time to start normalizing breakthrough infections,” Wurtz added. “We have to learn to live with them.”
Nurses hold national day of action Jan. 13 to demand employers, Biden administration protect RNs, health care workers
Registered nurse members of National Nurses United (NNU), the nation’s largest union of RNs, hold actions across the country on Thursday, Jan. 13 — including a candlelight vigil in Washington, D.C. for nurses who lost their lives to Covid-19, and a national virtual press conference — to demand the hospital industry invest in safe staffing, and to demand that President Biden follow through on his campaign promise to protect nurses and prioritize public health.
NNU nurses emphasize that in recent weeks, the Biden administration has ripped away critical protections from health care workers and the public, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) weakening Covid isolation guidelines and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announcing that it intends to withdraw critical Covid protections for health care workers—right when the Omicron variant is exploding across the country and hospitalizations are skyrocketing. Nurses emphasize that being left unprotected by the government and by their profit-driven hospital employers which have failed to invest in safe staffing and provide critical health and safety protections, has created such unsafe working conditions that nurses are being driven away from the profession.
#ProtectNurses
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/hundreds-of-americans-will...
Hundreds of Americans Will Die From COVID Today
Over the past week, an average of 491 Americans have died of COVID each day, according to data compiled by The New York Times. The week before, the number was 382. The week before that, 494. And so on.
For the past five months or so, the United States has trod along something of a COVID-death plateau. This is good in the sense that after two years of breakneck spikes and plummets, the past five months are the longest we’ve gone without a major surge in deaths since the pandemic’s beginning, and the current numbers are far below last winter’s Omicron highs. (Case counts and hospital admissions have continued to fluctuate but, thanks in large part to the protection against severe disease conferred by vaccines and antivirals, they have mostly decoupled from ICU admissions and deaths; the curve, at long last, is flat.) But though daily mortality numbers have stopped rising, they’ve also stopped falling. Nearly 3,000 people are still dying every week.
We could remain on this plateau for some time yet. Lauren Ancel Meyers, the director of the University of Texas at Austin’s COVID-19 Modeling Consortium, told me that as long as a dangerous new variant doesn’t emerge (in which case these projections would go out the window), we could see only a slight bump in deaths this fall and winter, when cases are likely to surge, but probably—or at least hopefully—nothing too drastic. In all likelihood, though, deaths won’t dip much below their present levels until early 2023, with the remission of a winter surge and the additional immunity that surge should confer. In the most optimistic scenarios that Meyers has modeled, deaths could at that point get as low as half their current level. Perhaps a tad lower.
By any measure, that is still a lot of people dying every day. No one can say with any certainty what 2023 might have in store, but as a reference point, 200 deaths daily would translate to 73,000 deaths over the year. COVID would remain a top-10 leading cause of death in America in this scenario, roughly twice as deadly as either the average flu season or a year’s worth of motor-vehicle crashes.
COVID deaths persist in part because we let them. America has largely decided to be done with the pandemic, even though the pandemic stubbornly refuses to be done with America. The country has lifted nearly all of its pandemic restrictions, and emergency pandemic funding has been drying up. For the most part, people have settled into whatever level of caution or disregard suits them. A Pew Research survey from May found that COVID did not even crack Americans’ list of the top 10 issues facing the country. Only 19 percent said that they consider it a big problem, and it’s hard to imagine that number has gone anywhere but down in the months since. COVID deaths have shifted from an emergency to the accepted collateral damage of the American way of life. Background noise.
On one level, this is appalling. To simply proclaim the pandemic over is to abandon the vulnerable communities and older people who, now more than ever, bear the brunt of its burden. Yet on an individual level, it’s hard to blame anyone for looking away, especially when, for most Americans, the risk of serious illness is lower now than it has been since early 2020. It’s hard not to look away when each day’s numbers are identically grim, when the devastation becomes metronomic. It’s hard to look each day at a number—491, 382, 494—and experience that number for what it is: the premature ending of so many individual human lives.
People grow accustomed to these daily tragedies because to not would be too painful. “We are, in a way, victims of our own success,” Steven Taylor, a psychiatrist at the University of British Columbia who has written one book on the psychology of pandemics and is at work on another, told me. Our adaptability is what allowed us to weather the worst of the pandemic, and it is also what’s preventing us from fully escaping the pandemic. We can normalize anything, for better or for worse. “We’re so resilient at adapting to threats,” Taylor said, that we’ve “even habituated to this.”
Where does that leave us? As the nation claws its way out of the pandemic—and reckons with all of its lasting damage—what do we do with the psychic burden of a death toll that might not decline substantially for a long time? Total inurement is not an option. Neither is maximal empathy, the feeling of each death reverberating through you at an emotional level. The challenge, it seems, is to carve out some sort of middle path. To care enough to motivate ourselves to make things better without caring so much that we end up paralyzed.
Perhaps we will find this path. More likely, we will not. In earlier stages of the pandemic, Americans talked at length about a mythic “new normal.” We were eager to imagine how life might be different—better, even—after a tragedy that focused the world’s attention on disease prevention. Now we’re staring down what that new normal might actually look like. The new normal is accepting 400 COVID deaths a day as The Way Things Are. It’s resigning ourselves so completely to the burden that we forget that it’s a burden at all.
In the time since you started reading this story, someone in the United States has died of COVID. I could tell you a story about this person. I could tell you that he was a retired elementary-school teacher. That he was planning a trip with his wife to San Diego, because he’d never seen the Pacific Ocean. That he was a long-suffering Knicks fan and baked a hell of a peach cobbler, and when his grandchildren visited, he’d get down on his arthritic knees, and they’d play Connect Four, and he’d always let them win. These details, though hypothetical, might sadden you—or sadden you more, at least, than when I told you simply that since you started this story, one person had died of COVID. But I can’t tell you that story 491 times in one day. And even if I could, could you bear to listen?
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
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Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
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Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
Class of 2015 Cadet Sally Sitnick sings the National Anthem as more than 750 athletes participated in the 2013 Hudson Valley Regional Special Olympics May 4 at West Point. Supporting the event were more than 1,000 cadets from 4th Regiment volunteering as sponsors and escorts as well as a dozen corps squad and competitive club cadet teams cheering on the athletes at Shea Stadium, Arvin Gymnasium and Gillis Field House. In its 29th year, the regional spring games were presented by Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society. Class of 2013 Cadet Matthew Walsh was the cadet in charge. U.S. Army photo by Mike Strasser/USMA PAO
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
OmiCron in the Fractal Forest (the interactive tech area of the Anon Salon NYE party, Sea of Dreams)
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
Pictured:
Row One: Kathleen Savelkoul; Margaret Carlson, Vice President; Margie Jackson. Row Two: Karen Johnson, Treasurer; Linda Bennett; Gretchen Putz, President. Not Pictured: Carol Mattheis, Secretary.
www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cdc-new-omicron-subvariant-ba-2...
CDC: New Omicron Subvariant BA.2.12.1 Takes Over as Dominant Coronavirus Strain
A highly contagious subvariant of omicron has taken over as the dominant strain circulating in the U.S., according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
BA.2.12.1 was responsible for 58% of recorded new coronavirus cases last week, according to the updated data. That’s up from 49% of infections the week prior.
The omicron subvariant takes the spot over from another omicron subvariant, BA.2, or “stealth omicron.” That strain dropped to 39% of new infections last week.
BA.2.12.1 is believed to be about 25% more transmissible than BA.2, but there are no signs yet that it causes more severe disease.
The development comes as coronavirus cases are increasing in the U.S., but mitigation measures have largely fallen by the wayside. According to a recent Gallup survey, more than a third of Americans believe that the pandemic is over.
The U.S. is averaging over 100,000 new coronavirus infections each day. It’s just a fraction of the surge seen during the winter omicron wave, which peaked at an average of over 800,000 new cases each day in January.
Still, it’s a significant increase from two months ago, when new cases were averaging 27,000 per day. And experts believe the current surge is significantly underestimated.
“Depending on which tracker you use, we're at about 100,000 infections a day,” White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha said at a press briefing last week. “And we know that the number of infections is actually substantially higher than that – hard to know exactly how many, but we know that a lot of people are getting diagnosed using home tests.”
Coronavirus deaths, on the other hand, have leveled off at under 300 fatalities per day.
Experts are concerned that waning immunity from both prior infections and vaccines will fuel a surge in the fall and winter. Federal officials have authorized a second booster shot for Americans ages 50 and older in the hopes of increasing protection for the vulnerable, though uptake for the shot has been slow. According to CDC data, just 20% of the age group has received the shot.
www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/taiwan-kept-covid-below-15-0...
Taiwan kept COVID below 15,000 cases for all 2021. Now it has 80,000 a day, testing its 'new model'
TAIPEI, May 24 (Reuters) - Billed a COVID-19 success story as its economy boomed through the pandemic, Taiwan is now battling a record wave of infections as it eases restrictions that had kept outbreaks at bay to start life with the virus.
For the whole of 2021, Taiwan reported less than 15,000 locally transmitted cases. Now, it's registering around 80,000 cases a day - a startling reversal after the effectiveness of its long-standing zero-COVID policy won it international praise.
"We could no longer achieve the goal of zero COVID because it was too contagious," former vice president Chen Chien-jen, an epidemiologist, said in a video released by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party on Sunday. Most cases in Taiwan are of the less severe Omicron variant, with more than 99.7% of cases exhibiting mild or no symptoms, he said.
"This is a crisis but also an opportunity, allowing us to walk out of the shadow of COVID-19 quickly," Chen said.
Despite a peak of infection forecast for this week, the government is determined to end a policy that included largely closing its borders. It has relaxed restrictions, such as shortening mandatory quarantines, in what it calls the "new Taiwan model" - gradually living with the virus and avoiding shutting down the economy.
Unlike some countries where new case spikes overwhelmed medical systems and disrupted everyday life, Taiwan hospital beds earmarked for COVID patients are at 56% occupancy. Shops, restaurants and gyms remain open, and gatherings continue, with mandatory mask-wearing.
Still, the island of 23.5 million people is recording 40 to 50 deaths a day, bringing its year-to-date total to 625 deaths. Deaths stood at 838 from 2020 through to end-2021.
'NO REAL CHOICE'
Taiwan's approach stands in contrast with China, where strict measures to control outbreaks have led to the prolonged lockdown of Shanghai - a city of 25 million people - and movement curbs in numerous cities including Beijing.
Former vice president Chen said Taiwan would be ready to reopen to tourists when 75-80% of the population had received a third vaccination shot. The rate currently stands at 64%.
Taiwan is focusing on eliminating serious illness while easing disruptions, allowing milder cases to see doctors online with home delivery of oral antiviral products.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said on Monday that Taiwan aims to keep the death rate below 0.1%. The current rate is around 0.06% and rising slowly.
Opposition parties said the government was ill-prepared, citing an initial shortage of home rapid test kits when cases started spiking last month, and criticised it for moving too slowly to secure vaccines for children under 12.
The surge in cases is now sparking new precautions. Starting this week, classes in Taipei schools were moved online while subway ridership has fallen to about half average levels.
"Taiwan didn't really have a choice. Naturally, we need to move on to coexist with the virus," said Shih Hsin-ru, who leads the Research Center for Emerging Viral Infections at Taiwan's Chang Gung University.
She said the government was not well prepared for the shift away from the zero COVID approach, pointing to the initial shortage of resources, from vaccines to antivirals. But things are looking better after what she described as a "scramble" by the government.
"We are slowly getting back on track," she said. "We are likely to see less impact compared to neighbouring countries."
A permanent installation directed by Romain Tardy & Thomas Vaquié
Hala Stulecia, Wroclaw, Poland.
More details: www.antivj.com/O/
Omicron, unité de production :
En raison de la diversité de ses clients, Omicron est spécialisée dans la fabrication haute qualité du prototype à la série, pour les secteurs les plus exigeants (médical, nucléaire, militaire, ...).
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
QMC Nottingham after trying to visit a friend due to some very mild virus called Omicron, she is in lockdown and feeling poorly.
By the way, she caught Omicron whist in here after a very serious issue,
Koni-Omega Microfilm Camera HK-35
Manufactured by Konishiroku Photo Industries (distributed by Berkey Photo) fitted with Omicron 70mm f/5.6
© Dirk HR Spennemann 2012, All Rights Reserved
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
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Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
www.reuters.com/world/uk/betting-omicron-has-peaked-briti...
Betting Omicron has peaked, PM Johnson drops COVID rules in England
Summary
■ PM Johnson drops so-called 'Plan B' measures
■ PM buffeted by lockdown party furore
■ England seeks to live with the virus, in contrast to others
LONDON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the end of COVID-19 measures including mandatory face masks in England as he looks to live with the virus after a peak in cases caused by the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
Johnson's light touch approach to dealing with Omicron saw him introduce work-at-home advice and vaccine passes as well as more mask-wearing on Dec. 8, although he stopped short of more onerous restrictions seen globally.
While cases soared to record highs, hospitalisations and deaths have not risen by the same extent, in part due to Britain's booster rollout and the variant's lesser severity.
Johnson's pledge to avoid lockdowns and live with the virus contrasts with a zero tolerance approach to COVID-19 in China and Hong Kong, and tougher restrictions in many other European countries.
"Many nations across Europe have endured further winter lockdowns... but this government took a different path," Johnson told lawmakers, saying the government had got the toughest decisions right and that numbers going into intensive care were falling.
"Our scientists believe it is likely that the Omicron wave has now peaked nationally... because of the extraordinary booster campaign, together with the way the public have responded to the Plan B measures, we can return to Plan A."
Johnson said none of the so-called Plan B measures would remain in England when they lapse on Jan. 26, as face masks would not be legally enforced anywhere and COVID passes would not be mandatory.
The government said it would also no longer ask people to work from home, effective immediately.
Johnson cited official figures that showed infection prevalence levels falling from a record high.
But scientists warned that cases could still turn higher again if people's behaviour returned to normal quickly.
"There's no guarantee that the levels are going to continue to fall as they are at the moment," University of Warwick virologist Lawrence Young told Reuters, who said he favoured a more gradual approachgiven that cases are still high.
"I just don't think we've got any room for complacency at the moment, but I do understand the economic imperative. People want to get back to normal."
PANDEMIC 'NOT OVER'
Johnson has faced criticism for his handling of the pandemic overall, and Britain has reported 152,872 deaths, the seventh highest total globally. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have followed their own anti-coronavirus measures, generally with tougher restrictions, but have also begun to ease them.
Johnson hopes to reset his agenda following furore over the lockdown gatherings at his office, which has some in his party plotting to remove him.
The lifting of Plan B measures, along with the navigation of Omicron without resorting to a stringent lockdown, could help Johnson appease vocal opponents of restrictions in his own caucus amid the party unrest.
Johnson said if data supported it, he may end the legal requirement for people to self-isolate if they test positive before the regulation lapses in March.
"But to make that possible, we must all remain cautious during these last weeks of winter," he said, warning of continued pressure on hospitals.
"The pandemic is not over."
Susan Hopkins, the Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Health Security Agency, said she expected cases would continue to fall, but it would not be linear.
"We believe that overall, we will continue to see declines in cases. That may plateau at some points as the infection is in various different populations," she said at a news conference.
"People's behaviour and how they react to the removal of Plan B will determine how fast infection can spread in the population."
news.yahoo.com/white-house-says-distribute-400-100006508....
White House says it will distribute 400 million free N95 masks to protect against omicron
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will make 400 million N95 masks available for free at thousands of locations across the country, a White House official said Wednesday, as health experts stress the importance of high-quality face coverings to protect against the omicron variant of the coronavirus.
The plan consists of working with pharmacies and community health centers to distribute the nonsurgical masks, which will come from the Strategic National Stockpile. The administration will begin shipments this week and hopes to have the program fully operational by early February, the White House official said.
Dr. Tom Inglesby, the administration's Covid testing coordinator, said in an interview, "We know that these masks provide better protection than cloth masks."
The N95 masks will be made available to everybody, and recipients will not be prioritized based on vulnerability to Covid, income or other criteria. Inglesby said the administration was "confident that people who want to access them will be able to access them," but it was not immediately clear how many masks a person could receive at one time.
The White House website to order free at-home Covid tests went live Tuesday. The website says: "Every home in the U.S. is eligible to order 4 free at-home COVID-19 tests. The tests are completely free. Orders will usually ship in 7-12 days."
Inglesby said the new approach to providing masks and tests is part of a longer-term strategy to bolster supplies well beyond the omicron variant, as public health officials acknowledge that the virus may require prevention, mitigation and treatment in addition to vaccines.
Some public health experts have criticized President Joe Biden for not doing more to encourage people to wear N95 or KN95 masks rather than less protective cloth masks as Covid hospitalization numbers have spiked because of the highly contagious omicron variant.
Administration officials have been divided over how strongly to encourage people to wear high-filtration masks, such as N95 respirators. Some have been calling for more widespread distribution of the N95 variety, while others have expressed concern that discouraging cloth masks could lead people to stop wearing masks altogether if they do not like the fit of the N95.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance on masks for the general public Friday, saying people "may choose" to wear N95 and KN95 masks because they offer the best protection against Covid. But the agency stopped short of recommending that people seek out certain masks over others.
Higher-quality masks increase the time it could take for Covid to spread between people.
During the early days of the pandemic, people in the U.S. were urged to leave N95 masks and the KN95 versions made in China for health care workers. But since then, the U.S. has bolstered its manufacturing capacity, and the country now has a stockpile of 750 million N95 masks as part of the Strategic National Stockpile for health care workers.
The White House official said Wednesday that the distribution of 400 million masks would be the largest deployment of personal protective equipment in U.S. history.
Some members of Congress have pressured Biden to more aggressively address the financial cost of Covid tests and masks to shift the burden away from U.S. households. The N95 masks can sell for as little as $1 and be reused several times, but they can add up to be more expensive than reusable cloth masks over time.
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., joined Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and other Democrats last week to push for a bill that would provide three N95 masks to every person living in the U.S., while a group of medical experts who advised Biden during the transition publicly encouraged the White House last week to give people vouchers to buy masks from retailers.
Inglesby said that the administration was "absolutely preparing for the possibility of additional variants in the future" and that people could expect the government to make N95 masks "more and more available."
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi greeting new members during the chapter's second ever Bid Day at TCU. For those of you who don't know what Bid Day is...and I didn't either...all the sororities assemble on the Campus Commons. Then the newbies are released one chapter at a time to run toward their new sisters. It's kinda like a cattle drive, but with a much happier ending.
I also rolled about 90 seconds of video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qnt0kMEWWQ&list=UUlJLPNVzTQB...
You can learn more about AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
Koni-Omega Microfilm Camera HK-35
Manufactured by Konishiroku Photo Industries (distributed by Berkey Photo) fitted with Omicron 70mm f/5.6
© Dirk HR Spennemann 2012, All Rights Reserved
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption:
The Lambda Rho chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi at TCU held their 2014 Big-Little Reveal on Friday, October 3.
Sierra, a student at USC, describes the Big-Little reveal this way in her blog: "The day every new member and to-be Big waits impatiently for all semester long is finally here, the day where Little has to wonder no more of which girl she would call Big from this day on for the rest of her life. It's the day of reveal and as all of the Bigs are stressing to get the final touches done and set up the activities for the day, the Little's wait anxiously, excited to finally be united with their one and only but nervous about what is in store for them until that point." For the rest of her post, see www.thisonelifeblog.com/blog/big-little-reveal-week-day-4....
You can learn more about the Lambda Rho chapter of AOII here:
www.facebook.com/AOIILambdaRho
This album is part of the event coverage for the Fort Worth Portrait Project. The project tells the story of Fort Worth from 2014 - 2044 one captioned portrait at a time, but I also enjoy covering events like this one too.
Please follow the Fort Worth Portrait Project:
www.redeemedexpressions.com/fort-worth-portrait-project/
www.facebook.com/fortworthportraitproject
www.twitter.com/FWPortraitProj
www.instagram.com/fortworthportraitproject
Do you want to be featured in the project? Just head to the following site with a photo and a caption: