A Covid-19 dispatch | No. 176 — December 26, 2021

I have covid-19 (and seem to have contracted it from someone who was boosted)

Dear readers,

I am on my third day of experiencing rather punishing symptoms from contracting Covid-19. I have shakes and shivers, a mild fever, congestion, severe fatigue, and hypersensitivity to touch on my torso. These are the hallmarks of the Omicron variant of the virus — and with no way to confirm that (as standard tests do not sequence the virus, so cannot distinguish between variations), I’m going to assume that is what I contracted.

This is a reasonable assumption, I think, as cases are increasing nearly exponentially in the places I have spent the most time over the past two weeks: Austin, Texas, and Washington, DC (which is seeing a particularly bad wave). See here for the data:

A big part of this story is that I have received two shots of the Pfizer vaccine. This is worth noting, as my family members who have their boosters (and were all exposed by the same person, who had their booster and a positive test!) have much milder symptoms.

There is a lot to say here, and several potential stories to write about. A few big questions strike me as worth answering. First: Is the increased contagiousness of the Omicron variants going to change the demography and geography of higher per-person cases and deaths? I can imagine that US counties with higher population densities will be hit harder by the transmission of the newest covid-19 strain. And will the partisan divide in cases and deaths be sharper than it was before?

Answering these questions will be crucial to the next phase of the White House’s response to the pandemic. And as much as I want to answer them for you this week, I can feel myself fading, and must sign off. When I am feeling better, I will answer some of these questions for subscribers.

In the meantime, if you have not yet been boosted, I suggest you do so. It strikes me that 3-4 days of an on-and-for fever and discomfort was avoidable if I just dragged myself to the nearest clinic 2-3 weeks ago. I will regret that as I drift asleep.

Elliott