# Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Thread - 2022 Breaking News
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone
**Tags:** covid-quarantine
**Created:** [January 1, 2022, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022 "2022-01-01T05:02:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 7
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2022, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/121 "2022-01-11T11:30:59Z")
Japan:
> **[Japan keeps border controls as it prepares for omicron surge](https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-japan-fumio-kishida-617a84062ebff5513332b4b5e9c2bf26)**
>
> Japan says it will keep its borders closed to most foreign citizens through February as it attempts to accelerate coronavirus booster shots for elderly people and expand hospital capacity to cope with the rapidly spreading omicron variant.
> [@](#):
>
> Japan will keep its borders closed to most foreign citizens through February as it attempts to accelerate coronavirus booster shots for elderly people and expand hospital capacity to cope with the rapidly spreading omicron variant, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday.
>
> Japan briefly eased border controls in November after COVID-19 cases rapidly declined, but quickly reinstated a ban on most foreign entrants after the highly transmissible new variant emerged.
>
> Kishida said the stringent border controls have helped slow the variant’s spread and “bought time” to prepare for an imminent surge.
>
> Japan had few cases until late December, but infections have since shot up to thousands a day.
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2022, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/122 "2022-01-11T11:32:10Z")
Europe:
> **[WHO: 7 million new omicron COVID cases in Europe last week](https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-denmark-western-europe-world-health-organization-0cd236bec88830d3e578e670aad84da8)**
>
> COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — There were more than 7 million new cases of the omicron variant of COVID-19 across Europe in the first week of January, more than doubling in just two weeks, the World Health Organization said.
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2022, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/123 "2022-01-11T12:20:12Z")
Here’s some news (gifted link):
> **[U.S. breaks record with more than 145,000 covid-19 hospitalizations](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/01/10/covid-hospitalized-omicron/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJpZCI6IjI3NjI4NDAxIiwicmVhc29uIjoiZ2lmdCIsIm5iZiI6MTY0MTkwMzUyMCwiaXNzIjoic3Vic2NyaXB0aW9ucyIsImV4cCI6MTY0MzExMzEyMCwiaWF0IjoxNjQxOTAzNTIwLCJqdGkiOiI1NGE2Y2NlZi0yODE3LTQzZjMtOTA2Ni05YTcxYzNhMzc0YTgiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vaGVhbHRoLzIwMjIvMDEvMTAvY292aWQtaG9zcGl0YWxpemVkLW9taWNyb24vIn0.F4yi97eRgyiJsIArrwr4CvLt2JxTEfrCJ78-aZVekQ4&itid=gfta)**
>
> But it may get much worse. Already struggling hospitals could house about 300,000 covid patients later this month if models are correct.
> [@](#):
>
> The United States is poised to surpass its record for [covid-19 hospitalizations](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/coronavirus-us-cases-deaths/?itid=lk_inline_manual_3) as soon as Tuesday, with no end in sight to skyrocketing case loads, falling staff levels and the struggles of a medical system trying to provide care amid an unprecedented surge of the coronavirus.
>
> Monday’s total of 141,385 people in U.S. hospitals with covid-19 fell just short of the record of 142,273 set on Jan. 14, 2021, during the previous peak of the pandemic in this country.
>
> But the highly transmissible [omicron variant](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/14/south-africa-omicron-coronavirus/?itid=lk_inline_manual_6) threatens to obliterate that benchmark. If models of omicron’s spread prove accurate — even the researchers who produce them admit forecasts are difficult during a pandemic — current numbers may seem small in just a few weeks. Disease modelers are predicting total hospitalizations in the 275,000 to 300,000 range when the peak is reached, probably later this month.
> As of Monday, Colorado, Oregon, Louisiana, Maryland and Virginia had declared public health emergencies or authorized [crisis standards of care](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/17/hospitals-ration-care-covid/?itid=lk_inline_manual_9), which allow hospitals and ambulances to restrict treatment when they cannot meet demand.
---
### Author:  [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2022, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/124 "2022-01-11T13:01:29Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#):
>
> If “learn to live with it” is the utter chaos that we are seeing around the world at the moment, then perhaps “learning to live with it” isn’t the best of options.
I guess you missed that omicron cases are already starting to drop in many places, and are likely to drop as quickly as they went up.
I hope you’re not imagining that the current situation will continue as it is in the long term. Viruses tend to become less harmful over time, populations become more resistant, vaccines and treatments keep improving.
Every epidemic ends or goes down to a liveable level sooner or later. We may be seeing the last big wave.
> **[End mass jabs and live with Covid, says ex-head of vaccine taskforce](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/08/end-mass-jabs-and-live-with-covid-says-ex-head-of-vaccine-taskforce)**
>
> Dr Clive Dix says we should treat the virus like flu
> Covid should be treated as an endemic virus similar to flu, and ministers should end mass-vaccination after the booster campaign, the former chairman of the UK’s vaccine taskforce has said.
> Dix was instrumental in helping pharmaceutical firms create the Covid vaccines that have transformed the risk to most people. He said he supported the current booster campaign, but a “new targeted strategy” was needed to get the UK to a position of “managing Covid”. He added: “We should consider when we stop testing and let individuals isolate when they are not well and return to work when they feel ready, in the same way we do in a bad influenza season.”
---
### Author:  [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2022, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/125 "2022-01-11T13:22:38Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#):
>
> I guess you missed that omicron cases are already starting to drop in many places, and are likely to drop as quickly as they went up.
…I guess you’ve missed that over the last two years of the pandemic cases have gone up…then gone back down again. Then they’ve gone back up, then down. It would be presumptuous of anyone to say that we are at the end of the cycle, and not just in the middle of another series of waves.
> [@GreenWyvern](#):
>
> I hope you’re not imagining that the current situation will continue as it is in the long term. Viruses tend to become less harmful over time, populations become more resistant, vaccines and treatments keep improving.
I’m not presuming anything. But this has nothing to do with “learning to live with” anything, let alone assuming that China will fail to contain the latest series of outbreaks.
> [@GreenWyvern](#):
>
> Every epidemic ends or goes down to a liveable level sooner or later. We may be seeing the last big wave.
Or we might not be. And if we aren’t: then it’s entirely sensible to not just “let it rip”, and to continue to mitigate the spread as much as possible where you can.
And there are plenty of well qualified people that disagree with Dr Dix. “Stoping trying to halt the spread” and “managing the disease” sounds an awful lot like “Herd Immunity” and Great Barrington Declaration nonsense to me.
So you can’t explain why it is inevitable. Gotcha. And this is no longer a breaking news discussion, so I’ll end it here.
---
### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2022, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/126 "2022-01-11T13:40:22Z")
> [@GreenWyvern](#):
>
> Every epidemic ends or goes down to a liveable level sooner or later. We may be seeing the last big wave.
You are seeing the survivor effect. Some species are believed to have gone extinct due to epidemic disease.
No, i don’t think covid will drive humanity extinct. That’s never seemed plausible. But it’s possibly it will permanently shorten our expected life span.
---
### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2022, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/127 "2022-01-11T13:42:46Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#):
>
> And this is no longer a breaking news discussion, so I’ll end it here
Oops, good point. Now that I’m moderating this forum i need to be more careful about that.
Moderating: please take any further discussion of how we ought to respond, the inevitably of any result, etc. to another thread, either the omicron thread or a new one.
And a mod note to myself for going on too long.
---
### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2022, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/128 "2022-01-11T19:10:19Z")
They finally updated the Johns Hopkins site. Most states are in the red, there are more additions to the Record Daily High COVID cases reported (7-day average) as of January 9 and 10 than at first appear
**Connecticut** – 10370
**Delaware** – 3185
**Florida** – 79779 on January 9
**Pennsylvania** – 26981 on Jan 9
**Virginia** – 19003
**Michigan** – 24053
**North Carolina** – 24914
**Indiana** – 13455 on Jan 9
**Louisiana** – 11580 on Jan 9
**Oklahoma** – 8374
**Colorado** – 15268
**New Mexico** – 3376
**Nevada** – 5196
**Utah** – 8506 on Jan 9
**Arizona** – 15795
**Alaska** – 1735
**Washington (state)** – 16175
**Oregon** – 7311 on Jan 9
**California** – 104703
**Hawaii** – 4206 on Jan 9
13 on the 10th and 8 on the 9th
US as a whole jogged upwards again.
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 11, 2022, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/129 "2022-01-11T23:26:02Z")
Here’s some news:
> **[US shoppers find some groceries scarce due to virus, weather](https://apnews.com/article/grocery-store-supply-chain-issues-166cc40b0ff095af9d0bf4041fa1b5fc)**
>
> Shortages at U.S. grocery stores have grown more acute in recent weeks as new problems — like the fast-spreading omicron variant and severe weather — have piled on to the supply chain struggles and labor shortages that have plagued retailers since...
> [@](#):
>
> Shortages at U.S. grocery stores have grown more acute in recent weeks as new problems — like the fast-spreading omicron variant and severe weather — have piled on to the supply chain struggles and labor shortages that have plagued retailers since the coronavirus pandemic began.
>
> The shortages are widespread, impacting produce and meat as well as packaged goods such as cereal. And they’re being reported nationwide. U.S. groceries typically have 5% to 10% of their items out of stock at any given time; right now, that unavailability rate is hovering around 15%, according to Consumer Brands Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman.
> [@](#):
>
> The average U.S. household spent $144 per week at the grocery last year, according to FMI, a trade organization for groceries and food producers. That was down from the peak of $161 in 2020, but still far above the $113.50 that households spent in 2019.
>
> A deficit of truck drivers that started building before the pandemic also remains a problem. The American Trucking Associations said in October that the U.S. was short an estimated 80,000 drivers, a historic high.
>
> And shipping remains delayed, impacting everything from imported foods to packaging that is printed overseas.
---
### Author:  [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2022, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/130 "2022-01-12T01:34:14Z")
Did Florida switch back to reporting daily Covid numbers instead of weekly on Friday? I’m looking at Worldometer and I see they reported 47,709 cases today on a Tuesday.
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2022, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/131 "2022-01-12T02:10:13Z")
314,090,366 total cases
5,521,031 dead
261,659,479 recovered
In the US:
63,390,876 total cases
863,896 dead
42,641,852 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#):
>
> 311,034,676 total cases
> 5,512,167 dead
> 260,647,243 recovered
>
> In the US:
>
> 62,661,272 total cases
> 861,336 dead
> 42,505,374 recovered
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2022, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/132 "2022-01-12T14:03:20Z")
Puerto Rico:
> **[Puerto Rico police detain fugitive couple in COVID-19 case](https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-caribbean-puerto-rico-fugitives-6ba5d505cd52bc1c694774a7fa2a4e73)**
>
> SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A couple accused of refusing to fill out the required COVID-19 entry form at Puerto Rico's airport and providing proof of a negative test for the coronavirus were detained after they locked themselves in their minivan for...
---
### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2022, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/133 "2022-01-12T15:48:48Z")
Very few additions to the New Record Daily Covid Case Reports as of January 11 2022
**California** – 111659
**Oklahoma** – 8017
**Colorado** – 18290
**Pennsylvania** – 28547
**Virginia** – 18596
**Georgia** – 30296
The US caseload is down from its peak a few days ago.
---
### Author:  [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)
#### Post date: [January 12, 2022, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/134 "2022-01-12T19:25:33Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> **Colorado** – 18290
I was just logged into my patient account at UCHealth in Colorado, and this was the top news item. This is for their hospital network, so not including other hospitals in the state.
| Class | Unvaccinated | Vaccinated |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Hospitalized | 256 | 108 |
| ICU | 89 | 20 |
| Ventilator | 68 | 7 |
| About 80% of adults in Colorado are vaccinated. | | |
Additionally over 25% of tests are returning a positive result, and they estimate 1 in 10 people in Colorado currently has COVID-19. \frac{2}{3} of patients in the hospital who test positive came to the hospital for non-COVID reasons (a ski injury, for example); fortunately most of those are not needing treatment for COVID-19.
I saw another article saying that total hospital beds and ICU beds in Colorado are down, because of (primarily COVID-19 related) staffing shortages.
---
### Author:  [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2022, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/135 "2022-01-13T01:59:42Z")
“At a Senate hearing Tuesday, Fauci said that unvaccinated people are 20 times likelier to die, 17 times likelier to be hospitalized and 10 times likelier to be infected than the vaccinated. In that same session, acting commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration Janet Woodcock said that “it’s hard to process what’s actually happening right now, which is most people are going to get covid.”
> **[Virus may infect most, Fauci says, but risk of severe illness 'very, very...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/01/12/covid-omicron-variant-live-updates/)**
>
> Vaccinated Americans will be best protected against severe disease. The unvaccinated will "get the brunt" of the surge.
---
### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2022, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/136 "2022-01-13T02:12:37Z")
317,319,184 total cases
5,529,994 dead
262,769,645 recovered
In the US:
64,344,694 total cases
866,882 dead
42,805,090 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#):
>
> 314,090,366 total cases
> 5,521,031 dead
> 261,659,479 recovered
>
> In the US:
>
> 63,390,876 total cases
> 863,896 dead
> 42,641,852 recovered
---
### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2022, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/137 "2022-01-13T06:57:39Z")
Two compounds found in hemp have been found to inhibit infection by Covid. I don’t know if they’re found in mj, but most likely are. They’ve only tested against alpha and beta variants; they need more money to test against delta and omicron
> **[OSU research shows hemp compounds can help prevent COVID-19](https://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/osu-research-shows-hemp-compounds-can-help-prevent-covid-19/article_c24b1c9b-1246-5d0e-bf39-5eb49945a95a.html)**
>
> Hemp compounds can help prevent the virus that causes COVID-19 from entering human cells, according to a study led by Oregon State University Professor and researcher Richard van Breemen.
---
### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2022, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/138 "2022-01-13T13:40:02Z")
New results from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus site on Daily new reported COVID cases (7-day average):
New record highs as of January 12 from
**New Hampshire** – 3700
**Massachusetts** – 27494
**Connecticut** – 11368
**Virginia** – 23555
**Georgia** – 35031
**North Carolina** – 28582
**Wisconsin** – 16706
**Illinois** – 35129
**Indiana** – 13068
**Kentucky** – 9269
**Tennessee** – 19380
**Minnesota** – 12783
**North Dakota** – 1488
**South Dakota** – 2125
**Oklahoma** – 9394
**Montana** – 1317 – first new record high since Nov 2020
**Wyoming** – 972 – ditto
**Colorado** – 21426
**New Mexico** – 4753
**Idaho** – 1659 – first new record since Nov 2020
**Nevada** – 6696
**Utah** – 11045
**Alaska** – 1946
**Washington (state)** – 19529
**Oregon** – 8811
**California** – 19078
26 states set new record highs yesterday. Many others did in the past few days.
The US as a whole set a new daily record (7-day average) of 859006 yestrerday
---
### Author:  [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2022, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/139 "2022-01-13T14:16:28Z")
[https://apnews.com/article/omicron-changing-news-outlets-covid-data-da9272f7c4c8a109c3bfb56bed9e9c76](https://apnews.com/article/omicron-changing-news-outlets-covid-data-da9272f7c4c8a109c3bfb56bed9e9c76)
---
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [January 13, 2022, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coronavirus-covid-19-2019-ncov-thread-2022-breaking-news/957022/140 "2022-01-13T16:58:51Z")
[https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/put-ya-lighters-study-finds-132414748.html](https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/put-ya-lighters-study-finds-132414748.html)
> Scientists from Oregon State University and Oregon Health & Sciences University published a new peer-review study that examined[three cannabis compounds](https://madamenoire.com/1145992/keep-anxiety-at-bay-in-these-quarantimes-with-these-cbd-gummies/) that are found in THC and CBD: cannabigerolic acid, which scientists dubbed CBG-A; tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, known as THC-A; and cannabidiolic acid, or CBD-A.
>
> After extracting them from the plant, the biological compounds were then incubated with the spike protein from COVID-19 (SARS-COV-2 virus) and were injected into human epithelial cells after 24 hours. Scientists discovered that the virus’s cells had been miraculously treated by the CBDA and CBGA compounds. The cells[had no trace of the COVID-19 RNA](https://madamenoire.com/1304647/cdc-recommends-shorter-isolation-period-covid/), essentially blocking high concentrations of the virus from entering.
Spark up, everybody! Oh, wait…
> [R]esearchers said the compounds would most likely have to be consumed in the form of a[pill or liquid](https://madamenoire.com/1304496/fda-authorizes-covid-19-pill/) in order for people to truly experience their benefits
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