I was bracing for that. Just checked my email, havent received it yet. But i read the Provost’s email and the reason for the remote learning for the first week of winter quarter was to allow time for people to get tested before returning to class.

I wonder if any other schools in the Big West are making these kind of changes

Riverside has "paused" their men's basketball program indefinitely at this point and Long Beach has recently been cancelling games. It's going to be a weird year in the conference. I just hope this virus doesn't get going like crazy and we end up in complete shutdown again.

At least, at this point, the game tomorrow vs Portland is still on and the women's program will not be affected since they're on the road during the Aggie fan restriction period and the Riverside cancellations only affects the men's program.

The data i looked at yesterday suggested that if you are boosted with moderna or Pfizer you should have reasonable protection against omicron. But Lordy, this is getting old.

I wonder if we’re the only UC starting in remote. Else I’d guess our UC brethren would play fan-less that week.

It's getting more than old and, yes, people who have had the booster have pretty good protection but there have been breakthrough cases. Generally, vaccinated people are not getting seriously ill but those with underlying health conditions are at higher risk at getting very sick. Of course, there's also those unfortunate people who end up with long haul Covid.

If we could get more people vaccinated and boosted, we'd be much better off. The problem now is that we've reached the point where most of the folks who are not vaccinated are the ones who vow never to be vaccinated even when they know that hospitals are currently packed with unvaccinated people who have Covid.

We have a good friend whose adult son refuses to get vaccinated and it's dividing their family. It isn't that he doesn't believe in science, he says he just doesn't want the government telling him what to do. We also have some dear friends that we get together with on Christmas eve for dinner each year. Our friend has a sister who is not vaccinated so she asked her to if she would take a test before coming to the dinner this year and she has refused so they told her she was not welcome this year. The crazy thing is that she retired from a health care career. Go figure! Heaven help us!

I don't know, Mike. I'm not surprised though and it does make sense.

Slack's game at UCR schedued for last Sunday the 19th was apparently canceled at the last minute because of COVID issues with the Highlanders. https://www.hornetsports.com/sports/mbkb/2021-22/releases/20211219qmka34

Blue: with all the break through cases …did your friend who’s hosting ask you and the rest of the guests to test before showing up? None of the rest of her guests have been remotely exposed recently?

No and we do realize that even boosted people can be infected and not know it but we are far less likely to be carrying the virus than someone who has not been vaccinated. We know that the vaccine is not 100% but our friends do not want to knowingly expose themselves to anyone who has not been vaccinated while being in close contact over the course of an evening.

If I were not vaccinated, I would gladly take a test in order to be with my family and friends who want to be safe and if I was not feeling well, even though I'm boosted, I would test before going to the dinner for my own peace of mind and for the safety of others. It's not political for me. It's simply responsible and considerate and our friends feel the same way.

You are correct that the safest thing possible would be for all of us to test even though we're all boosted.

We tested before small party with friends last weekend and will be testing again tomorrow pre-Xmas with the immediate family (and also to check that eldest son's cold is just that).

That's the safest thing to do.

Our son works for Google in San Francisco and they gave all of their employees some kind of Covid test machines so he can test quickly and easily whenever he feels the need even though he's been working remotely for nearly 2 years now. I'm going to have him bring it with him when he's home so we'll be able to test also. Test kits aren't easy to find at the moment and there's some price gouging going on at sites like Amazon.

Martin S.J.@Martin_S_J_ Dec 19

"And not least: case-mortality thus far seem to be ~90% lower than previous waves"

https://twitter.com/Martin_S_J_/status/1472574795929772041?s=20

(((Howard Forman)))@thehowie Dec 19
"Cases in South Africa ~120% of Delta wave peak.

Hospitalizations ~ 45% (may still drift toward 50%) of Delta wave peak.

ICU is 22% of Delta peak (could get to 25+%)

Ventilator use 16% (could get to 20+%)

Not offering an explanation: just saying the outbreak is milder."
***********

So we have a far milder virus that builds immunity? With an RO of 7-10, some claim there is little chance to stop it. Israel says natural immunity up to 27 times stronger than the jab. The jab is short lived, and some claim the new RNA vaccine reduces natural immunity.

And we give Americans NO TREATMENT if they catch it. Welcome to the Big Pharma Industrial Complex. Poor nation's don't have our resources and had to use cheap, harmless therapeutics and drugs - in combination, and early.

I have a ticket for the Dec. 30 game in Hawaii and now have serious qualms about going. I'm boosted and always wear a mask indoors, though, so the only way I won't go is if they cancel the game or block fans from attending. I'd really like to see the Ags play because I think there's a good chance they'll get a rare road win against Hawaii. Plus I haven't been to any game in two years. I agree with agalum that this is getting really old. Does anyone know how the Spanish flu pandemic was ended in an era of no vaccines and very poor public health practices?

History: "What’s even more remarkable about the 1918 flu, say infectious disease experts, is that it never really went away. After infecting an estimated 500 million people worldwide in 1918 and 1919 (a third of the global population), the H1N1 strain that caused the Spanish flu receded into the background and stuck around as the regular seasonal flu.

"But every so often, direct descendants of the 1918 flu combined with bird flu or swine flu to create powerful new pandemic strains, which is exactly what happened in 1957, 1968 and 2009. Those later flu outbreaks, all created in part by the 1918 virus, claimed millions of additional lives, earning the 1918 flu the odious title of “the mother of all pandemics.” ...

"...Since the whole world had been exposed to the virus, and had therefore developed natural immunity against it, the 1918 strain began to mutate and evolve in a process called “antigenic drift.” Slightly altered versions of the 1918 flu reemerged in the winters of 1919-1920 and 1920-1921, but they were far less deadly and nearly indistinguishable from the seasonal flu.

“The 1918 flu definitely lost its real virulence by the early 1920s,” says Taubenberger."

https://www.history.com/news/1918-flu-pandemic-never-ended

From what I've read on these things, the more contagious a variant is, the less deadly it is, which is what we're seeing with Omicron. Makes sense because if it's more deadly, it kills people before it can spread as much. Less deadly means people don't get nearly as sick and therefore the virus can spread easier.

And that tracks with the stats movielover posted. Omicron cases shot up out of nowhere and in some places, have started to drop dramatically also. Hospitalization and death rates have been much lower than Delta. One thing I saw was that Omicron spreads in the upper respiratory system but not the lungs, which is where it does the most damage.

We'll have to see what the next variant brings though.

Dr. Birx talked about the elephant in the room (obesity) in private. Obesity likely also means some combination of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, fatty liver, diabetes, heart disease, etc.

https://twitter.com/HansMahncke/status/1473502894532046848?s=20

The at men's cancelled game on December 28th at UCR will not be rescheduled and will go down as a no contest for both teams.

WBB game vs Riverside on the 28th also cancelled. Conference opener will now be vs HI on Jan 1.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2021/12/23/womens-basketball-aggies-big-west-opener-at-riverside-canceled.aspx

That said, UH just cancelled the Hawaii Bowl, so I would not count on that Jan 1st date holding.

Darn, i guess I’ll have to cancel my Hawaii trip, wink.

I’d be concerned about the men making the trip next week. Hawaii has been strict about quarantines throughout the pandemic.

Yeah, seems unlikely.

Apparently cloth masks are not very effective against the Omicron variant so disposable, surgical masks or N95 or KN95 masks are recommended:

As the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread, some experts say it's past time to reconsider your face mask options -- especially if you're still wearing the cloth variety.

"Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations. There's no place for them in light of Omicron," said CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and visiting professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, on CNN Newsroom Tuesday.

"This is what scientists and public health officials have been saying for months, many months, in fact," Wen added in a separate phone interview.

"We need to be wearing at least a three-ply surgical mask," she said, which is also known as a disposable mask and can be found at most drugstores and some grocery and retail stores. "You can wear a cloth mask on top of that, but do not just wear a cloth mask alone."

Ideally, in crowded places, "you should be wearing a KN95 or N95 mask," which can be as inexpensive as a few dollars each, Wen added. By having a better fit and certain materials -- such as polypropylene fibers -- acting as both mechanical and electrostatic barriers, these masks better prevent tiny particles from getting into your nose or mouth and must be fitted to your face to function properly.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/24/health/cloth-mask-omicron-variant-wellness/index.html

Hawaii cancelled their game for today.

The Hawaii team has 3 players down with injuries but only on with the virus. The game with UC Davis has not yet been cancelled, but I can't recommend flying out here for the game. I'm going to check on Monday to see if I can get a refund on my ticket in any case, even if the game isn't cancelled, which is probable because, as DrMike noted, Hawaii as a whole has been very strict.

article I read yesterday said there were additions to COVID list Friday; that, plus the 4 you mention caused the cancellation

https://news.yahoo.com/hawaii-basketball-team-pulls-christmas-050100498.html

Hawaii has cancelled the game with UC Davis for this Thursday.

https://ucdavisaggies.com/news/2021/12/27/mens-basketball-uc-davis-at-hawai-i-cancelled-due-to-covid-19.aspx

I think we're going to see a whole lot more of these cancellations. The Omicron variant is just so contagious. A lot of people who have been boosted and are following mask mandates are still getting infected. Riverside, Irvine, Long Beach and now Hawaii have all been cancelling games. Who knows what the conference will look like this season...

We have friends who are boosted and extremely careful that just tested positive after traveling to North Carolina for the holidays with family and, unfortunately, some of the elderly family members have now caught it as well. Our friends are now delaying their trip home to help care for them.