Netherlands:
New York City:
I wish we had a “thumbs-up” thingy, but since we don’t, here it is. 
274,539,303 total cases
5,366,770 dead
246,342,381 recovered
In the US:
51,696,205 total cases
827,206 dead
40,515,145 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
Hawaii’s starting to freak out. We were down to low double-digit new cases for a while there, but these last two days have seen new cases top 700.
A report from South Africa yesterday:
The hospitals have 7,915 Covid-19 patients of which 6.7% are in intensive care units, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said in a report on Saturday. Of the 532 people in ICU, 209 are on ventilators, the institute said.
The number of people in hospital due to Covid-19 is, so far, a fraction of the total at the height of earlier infection waves. Covid-19 inpatients peaked at nearly 20,000 in January and July, the peaks of the country’s second and third waves respectively.
Lockdown is still being maintained at the lowest level here, and will be reviewed again next week.
When I look at the UK data, I’m seeing the same pattern as SA, though a couple of weeks behind.
I seem to be almost a lone voice here, but I still think people are panicking unnecessarily about Omicron, focusing on case numbers instead of hospitalizations and deaths. What we are seeing is an uncoupling of case numbers with severe illness.
People seem to be grasping at straws to find reasons why the SA experience with Omicron doesn’t apply elsewhere, but in fact most countries in Europe and the US have higher exposure rates and higher vaccination rates than SA, and there’s no real reason why the experience with Omicron would be different.
Worst case modelling is misleading here. It’s too early for hard science and peer-reviewed studies, and so most scientists are still covering their asses and unwilling to commit themselves – but there’s such a thing as risk evaluation and common sense.
Plus you have a freaking blizzard forecast, don’t y’all?
That was last week, and only above 12,000 feet. So just the Big Island.
If you have already decided for certain that Omicron is less severe regardless of the paucity of stratified data that is currently available, you may indeed be a lone voice. Most of us hope it is less severe, but it’s still way too early to know for sure.
All current data tends to show that it’s less severe, and every day that’s becoming clearer.
27 posts were merged into an existing topic: The Omicron Variant
Maybe politicians should move forward with the knowledge that public rejection of vaccines is dying off.
Moderating:
All, this is a very interesting discussion. However, in this thread for breaking news only, it is a hijack, and a lengthy one. Please start another thread to discuss the issue of lifting sanctions if you wish to carry on with it. Thanks.
ETA: After a discussion with @puzzlegal in her capacity as an interested poster, I’ve agreed to move the hijacked posts to the Omicron Variant thread.
Not-so-good news, everyone!
Elizabeth Warren has tested positive. She’s vaccinated, and so far has mild symptoms.
275,007,350 total cases
5,370,192 dead
246,674,846 recovered
In the US:
51,765,714 total cases
827,323 dead
40,539,875 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
Based on these numbers, and 1,000 deaths per day, I guessed 833,045 by 00:00 January 1st. Seventeen days left in the year, so 17,000 more deaths expected (844,323) by New Year’s Day. I have a feeling we’ll meet my original guess. 
US professional sports are experiencing some inconveniences:
I’ve been away for almost a week, so here’s catch-up with places having record numbers of new COVID cases (seven-day averages, from the Johns Hopkins site)
Puerto Rico – after being quiet for a long time, new cases have suddenly skyrocketed to a new record high of 1508, far higher than the 1107 reported on April 15. This rise seemed to take only a week to go from 110 cases/day to 1508 cases/day on December 19
New York – I can’t get the screen to plot, but it appears to be a new high of 18,713
Delaware – not yet a new record, but at 822 and rapidly rising I have no doubt it will soon set a new record. The previous one was 827 on January 7
New Jersey – a new record of 7402, eclipsing the 6191 set back on January 12. And it’s still rising rapidly.
Hawaii hasn’t set a new record, but it’s now 718 and rising very fast towards its previous high of 921 set back in August.
The US is still the country with the highest averaged daily COVID cases reported, but we seem to be stuttering to a stop. The UK, though, is now in second place and rising rapidly, followed closely by France in third.