Omicron: Our New Fierce Foe
How To Decide if Holiday Gatherings Are Safe For Your Family
I’m a Boston-based cancer doctor and I’ve been writing weekly fact-based-no-blame-no-rumors-all-science-all-the-time essays about Covid-19 since March 2020.
You can read my older views on why you should get your cold symptoms tested here — or about boosters here — or you can read about vaccines/anti-vaxxers throughout history here
It is hard for me to recall such a week of unrelenting bad news. I spent the week reading eight gajillion texts saying, “My daughter in Brooklyn had 15 friends turn positive this morning” or “Everybody in our carpool got it” Or “We had 20 people at our office party and 16 tested positive.”
And likewise there were at least 15 gazillion notifications about drugs not working, vaccines not working, the little kids’ vaccine trial not working — a very tough week for us all.
Out of all of this has emerged new science, new data, new forecasts, and new ways to think about the holidays.
Here Comes Santa Claus, Along With An Omicron Surge
Omicron is so wildly contagious we are now inevitably moving into another surge, which will be “fierce” in terms of cases, hospital burden, and life disruption.
