Bronchial Battle

Posted on by Thor

Omicron is here. It has been found in 100 % of the waste water samples in Orlando Florida.The only reason it isn’t being reported officially is because it is not being sequenced in labs.

Omicron is in a battle against the already raging Delta Variant in America.  In South Africa Omicron completely overwhelmed and replaced Delta in a matter of weeks. In that case however Delta was already on the downswing. It is hard to know exactly how two variants battling against each other for human fuel will play out. The unvaccinated will all face this threat. Even the vaccinated could be re-innfected but cases should be more mild.

In New York City the Rockettes canceled its run because of infections among the cast. Hamilton, Mrs Doubtfire and other Broadway shows are shutting down. The NFL is canceling games because too many players are infected. In a struggle for normalcy players can get back on the field after just 1 negative test.  School children are much he same they do not need to isolate as long as they do not test positive. Asymptomatic spread is being ignored. 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.

A case study in Japan found that Omicron is much better at infecting Bronchial tissue. The brochus are the tubed that lead down to the lungs. They found that it infects bronchus tissues 70% more than Delta. That means there is plenty of viral partials expelled when any infected person breaths, or speaks. Another finding was that Omicron infects actual lung tissue 10% less than Delta. That means there might be less need for supplemental oxygen or intubation. With milder symptoms an infected person might feel free to go out and infect many more people.

The Omicron variant is incredible transmissible. Super spreading events are happening daily since everyone has let their guard down. To stay safe the rules remain the same, social distance, wear a quality N95 mask and wash your hands often. Vaccinate, get boosted and stay vigilant. This holiday season is going to be a viral battle ground.

Omicron Blizzard

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Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota,  told CNN on December 16, 2021 that the U.S. is facing an imminent COVID-19 “viral blizzard.” “In the next three to eight weeks, we’re going to see millions of Americans are going to be infected with this virus, and that will be overlaid on top of Delta,” said Osterholm.

New York City, America’s original pandemic epicenter, is displaying warning signs of yet another drastic surge of the virus, this time likely driven by the Omicron variant.

A new study showed that having had COVID-19 offers little protection against the Omicron variant, Bloomberg reported. Booster shoots could bring up protection to 90%. President Biden warned unvaccinated Americans that the Omicron variant will start to spread more rapidly in the U.S. if they do not receive their shots soon.

In a mater of a few weeks Omicron has already circumvented the world. It is everywhere. The surge is happening quickly in a matter of weeks rather than over months. At Cornell University here in the U.S. 900 cases were detected among the students. Many of those Omicron infections were among fully vaccinated students. Some even had booster doses. Vaccines can blunt the serious illness associated with infection. There have been no reports of severe infections requiring hospitalization. The school shut down its campus and lessons are being taught online.

A study not yet pier reviewed showed that Omicron replicates 70% faster that the original COVID-19 virus and the Delta variant in the bronchus or airways to the lungs. This can explain why people are so infectious. They also found that Omicron does replicated 10 times slower in the lungs which could be good news meaning there might be far less serious infection requiring oxygen and incubation. Only time will tell how this Blizzard of infection will effect America’s unvaccinated population. I am keeping my eyes on England which is several weeks ahead of us in this global wave of infection.

NFL Scrambles With COVID

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Over 100 NFL players are now on the reserve COVID list. This is a record number, in a three day period, since the pandemic began. Many of those players are fully vaccinated. According to the league, two-thirds of them are asymptomatic and the rest have very mild symptoms.

Players also lied about their vaccination status, putting team mates at risk. Some idiot quarterback takes his medical advice from  Joe Rogan, a podcaster rather than doctors or scientists. The NFL temporarily suspended Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown and two other players for lying about their Covid-19 vaccination status. They will miss three games, which is a slap on the wrist that will be more of a short vacation for these highly paid players. Brown males $6.25 million dollars a season.

Adjustments are being considered for the COVID player protocols. The first three months of the season had few COVID-19 cases. The league  profited from full stadiums, and fewer masks. Fans and athletes seemed to forget there ever was a pandemic.

There remain just four games in the regular season before the playoffs begin. At this rate there will be no players on the field to play them. Commissioner Roger Goodell said there had been no discussion about postponing any games. Sills said that for the first time this season, the virus has begun spreading within team facilities. Immunity among vaccinated players and coaches is waning.

League officials felt some urgency to take action quickly as the reserve COVID-19 list ballooned. The league is encouraging booster shots. Since some players are afraid of needles that is a weak option for weak willed players. The league is mandating boosters for coaches and staff. To keep bodies on the field, they want fully vaccinated players who have tested positive to return to team activities with just one negative test. Currently, a vaccinated player needs two negative tests 24 hours apart in order to return before the end of the normal 10-day quarantine period.

Masking, social distancing and virtual meetings are returning to team facilities. I’m amazed these basic protocols were ever dropped. Some members and officials from the players union are advocating for a return to daily testing for all players, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated. Right now, only unvaccinated players (the ones they know about) are tested every day. Vaccinated players are tested once a week. More testing for everyone would almost certainly reveal more asymptomatic cases. League officials are resistant to the idea of daily testing. Because, hell that is a cost. The NFL is, for the second year in a row, in a race with the virus to the end of the season.

Omicron Blitz

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Omicron is “the most significant threat” to public health in the U.K., authorities warned on December 15, 2021, as the WHO cautioned that the highly contagious Covid-19 variant was spreading at an unprecedented rate.

The number of Covid-19 infections over the coming days will be “quite staggering” compared to previous variants, said Jenny Harries, the head of the U.K. Health Security Agency.

England has entered a wartime stance against the advancing Omicron variant.  The country reported a record number (78,610) of new daily Covid-19 cases on December 15, 2021. This surpassed the previous high of 68,053 cases reported on January 8, 2021.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that Britain faces a “tidal wave” of omicron infections, and has announced that England would be speeding up its booster program to offer all adults a third dose of a vaccine by the end of the year.

Long lines have been seen outside vaccination centers in many U.K. cities and towns with the government putting its booster program on overdrive to try to get a third vaccine shot to as many people as possible.

Johnson confirmed on December 13, 2021 that at least one patient infected with the new omicron variant had died in the country. It was the first publicly confirmed death globally from the new heavily mutated strain. Some restrictions, including mask mandates in shops and instructions to work from home where possible, have been reintroduced in England throughout December 2021. France imposed a travel ban on U.K. travelers. The United States will be following the U.K. in two to three weeks. Omicron is already prevalent in Orange County waste water meaning it is spreading Central Florida.

Professor Shabir Madhi, a leading vaccinologist, said that Omicron is NOT less virulent than Delta but deaths have been 10 times less in South Africa. This may be because so many people (73%) had prior infections resulting in some immunity. Discovery Health of South Africa reported on a study of 3.7 million people from the first thee weeks of the Omicron outbreak. Omicron now accounts for 90% of the cases having displaced Delta. Omicron has peaked faster than any other variant of COVID-19.

Two doses of Pfizer Bio-NTech now only offer 33% protection against infection. Cases however are mild when infection occurs. The two doses of Pfizer offer 70% protection against hospitalization. Booster doses should bring immunity levels back up  to 90%. For someone with a prior infection of COVID there is a 40% risk of re-infection.If you are unvaccinated, then you are screwed. The virus will find you.

In South Africa the chance of hospitalization with Omicron is 29% lower than Delta. There is less of chance of intensive care admission. Children under the age of 18 have a 20% higher risk of admission. There is also an increase of admissions for children under the age of 5. Most children presented with mild symptoms such as sore throat, nasal congestion, headache, and a fever that resolved in two or three days.

Tower of Babel

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On the evening of December 10, 2021, a huge series tornados ravaged central and southern states. The death toll has risen over 80. A stretch of more than 250 miles from Arkansas to Kentucky might have been hit by one violent, long-track twister, CNN meteorologists said.

In Kentucky alone more than 70 have been reported dead. The tornado hit the Mayfield Consumer Products Candle Factory which had 110 people working inside when the roof caved in. Workers were working through the night to meet Christmas demand. Workers who heard warning sirens wanted to get home to shelter in place, but they were told they would likely be fired if they left. Some left despite the threat of loosing their jobs. Dozens are feared dead.

In Edwardsville Illinois, an Amazon warehouse was blown open killing 6. Walls on both sides of the warehouse collapsed inward, while the roof collapsed downward. Workers in the warehouse were banned from having cell phones which could be a life saving device if a worker were conscious and trapped under rubble. In such an emergency it wold be good to be able to get in touch with loved ones to see if they are safe. “After these deaths, there is no way in hell I am relying on Amazon to keep me safe,” an Amazon worker from a nearby facility in Illinois told Bloomberg. “If they institute the no cell phone policy, I am resigning.”

On December 10, 2021 the same day as the tornado, 2,064 people died from COVID-19 in America. That is like having 25 of these tornados killing people across the country every day.

Tropical Tree Crealde

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On Sundays I teach Urban Sketching at Crealde School of Art. We spend most of our time outside sketching on the campus. This is the safest option to teach the class.

I did this sketch of Tropical Tree by John Walfe to demonstrate negative shapes in a sketch. Though the sculpture it the focus of the sketch, the pick up actually takes up more space o the page.

Rather than focusing on the trunk like yellow and green shapes I instead focused on the triangular shapes between the trunks. The same applied to the tree trunk in the background.

I also rushed this sketch to show that the paint does not have to be delicately applied to the sketch. I literally spattered paint and threw it at the page to create blunt rough textures.

I am always stressing perspective and making sure the viewer knows where the ground plane is. The cement base of the sculpture is the one hint about the ground plane while most other object are viewed rather straight on creating a flat image.

Mother Nature’s Solution

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Humanity has botched it’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic from the start. It seems humanity has little to no ability to think in terms of self preservation. A large section of society is actively avoiding a life saving vaccine.

Mother Nature may be stepping in to save the unvaccinated from themselves. Professor Eleanore Riley, a professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Edinburgh University said that the Omicron variant could act as a natural vaccine for the unvaccinated.

Since Omicron is 4 times more transmissible than the Delta variant, we will all be exposed in the next couple of weeks. The hope is that many will be asymptomatic, with mild symptoms, but it is too early to be certain.

The first case of Omicron was reported in England on November 27, 2021. 16 days later it now accounts for over 50% of all cases in the country. December 13, 2021 England reported the first death from Omicron.

Those who were previously infected will be re-infected, those with just 2 jabs of vaccine may be infected since the variant can evade the vaccine immune response, and of course the virus will find and burn through the unvaccinated. The United States will soon follow in this amazing tsunami of infections.

The good news is that being infected with Omicron will result in an immune response for a period of time. Having milder symptoms means that people will circulate and therefor further spread the virus. Each person infects 4 others and those people infect 4 others, that is what results in such an exponential spread of disease. It is still advisable to wear masks, social distance and wash hands often as this waves swamps the country. The virus will continue to evolve.

 

Crealde Thumbnails

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On Sundays I teach an Urban Sketching class at Crealde School of Art. We work outside on the campus to stay safe from the virus. Masks are required in the     classroom but they are voluntary outside. I just insist that students put on their mask if they get within six feet of another student or myself.

This class was about doing a series of small sketches that explore the campus. The goal was to get 9, 4 or in my case 3 sketches on the page. I encouraged the students to thing in terms of a cinematic panorama.

As always I stressed the importance of using perspective to make it clear how each thing in the sketch is planted on the ground plane. Shadows under any object also help plant it in the scene.

I have a super talented student this semester and I am just encouraging her to keep the sketches in her sketchbook oriented in a similar way so that anyone who pucks up the sketchbook and flips through will not need to turn the sketchbook upside down or sideways to experience the next page or spread.

All week I work in the studio doing horrific images each day that document the pandemic and peoples ignorance, so it is nice to take one day a week to feel the sun on my face and simply put pastoral scenes on the page. Gustave Klimt put it perfectly, “Art is a line around your thoughts.”

Against the Wind

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Is a slower outdoor wind speed is associated with an increased risk of transmission when individuals socialize outside? A study done between March 16th and December 31st, 2020 took a look at wind speed and maximal daily temperature to see if they might affect the infection rates of COVID-19.

Cases were very high in the initial wave but diminished once lockdown procedures were enacted. Analyses revealed that days with temperatures ranging between 60° and 82°F where wind speed was < 5.4 miles per hour (MPH) had an increased COVID-19 chance of infection.

The risk of transmission of COVID-19 in the summer was higher on days with low wind speed. Outdoor use of increased physical distance between individuals, improved air circulation, and use of masks may be helpful in outdoor environments where airflow is limited.

Most known respiratory viruses spread during the cold season in the temperate Northern hemisphere. As temperatures drop the chance of infection from COVID-19 may increase outdoors but good airflow will reduce the chance of infection.

COVID-19 transmits via aerosolized viral particles that begin shedding before symptoms are evident. As a result, approximately half of those diagnosed with COVID-19 report not knowing where they may have become infected. This lack of knowledge may be because COVID-19 transmits in outdoor spaces that are believed to be safe. COVID-19 can transmit through the air over relatively long distances. The new Omicon variant has been found to linger in the air longer making it far more transmissible that the previous variants.

The bottom line is to keep wearing masks where air can stagnate, particularly indoors,  social distance and wash hands often. If you are near others outside and there is no wind it would also be advisable to wear a mask. Omicron is a game changer being so highly transmissible. It is advisable that you consider anyone you meet in the next few weeks to be potentially infected.  We will all be exposed to Omicron in the next month or so.

COVID Caught a Cold

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A gene sequence from the common cold virus has worked its way into the Omicron variant of COVID-19. This gene sequence was not in any of the previous mutations of the virus (Alpha, Beta, Delta).

This happened through a process known as switching. The COVID virus invaded a cell and at the same time a common cold virus invaded the same cell. The genes of the two viruses then get mixed up together. This new combination makes the virus more competitive and virulent.

The virus became far more transmissible but perhaps less pathogenic. Patients in South Africa are nor requiring as much oxygen as was needed for patients suffering from Delta.

Omicron is evading vaccines and people who have been infected in the past are being re-infected. Pfizer-BioNTech,  has announced that three doses of vaccine are needed to combat Omicron. Research has shown that a third vaccine shot increases antibodies by 25%. They did not say how long those antibodies last. The company is rushing to develop an Omicron specific version of the vaccine which should be available by March 2022.

Omicron is the most transmissible of all the variants of COVID-19 to date. It is 4 times more transmissible than Delta. It has now been detected in 57 countries. Those numbers change by the hour. It will dominate the world stage in several weeks time. We will all be exposed to this variant. Symptoms include, Body aches and pains, muscle pain, headache, tiredness (1 to 2 days), and a slight sore throat. People are not getting a severe cough, or runny nose. These symptoms are consistent with my everyday existence for the past 20 months. A loss of smell or taste is no longer a symptom with Omicron. The fact is that many people will not realize that they have COVID-19 with these symptoms. Most will not go to hospitals and will recover at home. It is important to note however that there has been an slight increase in hospitalizations in South Africa, but it has not been a huge spike consistent with the amazing exponential growth in infections.

Though Omicron looms in the near future, the fact is that Delta is causing a huge spike in hospitalizations and death in states like Michigan and Minnesota. Despite these rising cases and deaths, most Americans are done with the pandemic and have returned to pre-pandemic life styles. Thanksgiving travel rivaled pre-pandemic travel and cases that resulted from all that mingling are just now reaching their peak. People have let their guard down and the virus will take full advantage of that weakness.

Children are the new victims of the virus. 132,000 children have been reported with infections in the last week across the country. Children will be infected by the Omicron variant at an increased rate. Children need to be vaccinated and even boosted if they are eligible. In South Africa 80% of the patients admitted to hospitals and diagnosed with COVID were under the age of 50. This is a younger age profile than existed with the Delta surge.