COVID-19 Cases Skyrocket as Omicron Spreads

The Florida Department of Health is reporting a record level of new COVID-19 cases thanks to the highly contagious Omicron variant.  According to the Florida Department of Health, there were 125,201 new cases of COVID-19 last week.  That’s the highest number of weekly cases since last summer.

Fortunately, Florida fatalities remain very low. As you can see in the chart below, the COVID-19 fatalities are well below the highs that were seen in the summer.  Initial reports indicate that the Omicron variant is not as deadly as other variants like Delta.

Furthermore, if the state is reporting 125,201 new cases, the reality is going to be significantly greater.  Many people go untested.  Plus, thanks to in-home test kits, many people are testing conveniently at home.  Those home test results don’t get reported to the State of Florida.

NOT SO BAD

I got COVID and it wasn’t so bad.  I’m sure it was the Omicron variant.  I’m sure the vaccine helped me fight it off faster.  But I want to share what we experienced to dispel some fears and call out some of the BS.

My 17 year old vaccinated daughter was the first to feel some congestion during her last week of school.  She never got a fever and we dismissed her symptoms as a minor cold.

My 10 year old son got a fever two weekends ago.  He was not vaccinated and complained of a headache.  We gave him Tylenol and Ibuprofen and it lowered the fever and reduced his headache.  That’s when we tested him and learned he was COVID positive.  The 10 year old was back to himself within 48 hours.

We also tested our daughter and learned that she was positive.  She had lingering congestion, but then tested negative after about a week.

Our 15 year old vaccinated son had no symptoms, but tested positive.  He ended up getting some congestion, no fever, and continued working out and running as he normally does.  Ahhh youth.

Yours truly tested negative when we tested everyone in the house initially, but when I felt like I was coming down with a common cold and had some body aches I suspected I’d be positive.  Sure enough, the next test was positive.  I drank lots of Orange Juice and some supplemental vitamins to help boost the immune system.  I did not get monoclonal antibodies or Ivermectin or any other medicines.  Just Tylenol and Ibuprofen for a couple of days and that was it.  I treated it like a normal cold.  Now, I’m fine.

Did it help that I was double vaccinated?  I don’t think it hurt.

LIES WE WERE TOLD

“You won’t get COVID if you get vaccinated.”

There’s a lot of BS going around regarding COVID.  I think most of us know this by now, but if you’ve been “vaccinated” you are not immune to COVID.  Vaccinated people can and probably will get COVID.  Everyone in my home was fully vaccinated except for our 10 year old son.  With the exception of my wife, we all got COVID within the last 2 weeks and now we’re all doing fine. We believe my wife might have already gotten COVID at the beginning of the pandemic before COVID lockdowns and massive testing was in place.

The point is this.  We believe vaccines help you fight COVID-19, but as proven in my own household, the “vaccine” does not prevent a COVID-19 infection.  For the record, we recommend unvaccinated adults to get the vaccine.  I’m just letting you know, you can still get COVID.  And speaking only anecdotally, it wasn’t that bad.

“If you get vaccinated you are protecting others.” 

How?

The “vaccine” doesn’t stop anyone from catching the disease.  How does it protect others?  It doesn’t.  If you are vaccinated you can still spread the disease to others.  In our case, our vaccinated daughter got it.  And then she spread it to her siblings and her father.  She was fully vaccinated. It did nothing to prevent the spread.

Bottom line.  The vaccinated can get COVID and can spread COVID.

“It’s a vaccine.”

The COVID-19 “vaccine” is not a vaccine.  We’ve all taken vaccines all our lives.  When you take a vaccine, you become immune to the disease and don’t catch the disease.  I’ve never had Measles because I’ve been vaccinated from Measles.  I don’t fear catching Measles since I’ve been vaccinated.

However, the COVID vaccine is not a traditional vaccine.  It’s more like a medical treatment that helps you fight the disease.  And that’s good, but we we should be honest and stop calling it a vaccine.  It’s not.  It’s a medical treatment that strengthens your immunity and your ability to fight the disease.  For the record, I’m thankful for this as I was able to fight it off without much fuss.  But it is disingenuous to call the COVID vaccine a vaccine when it doesn’t provide permanent immunity like all the other vaccines we’ve taken through life.

Natural Immunity

We need to learn a lot more about natural immunity.  The Federal Government needs to study what the strength is of Natural Immunity and how long effective is it at preventing future reinfection.  There’s an Israeli study that claims Natural Immunity provides 13 times greater protection than the “vaccine.”  Now that I’ve been vaccinated and also have “Natural Immunity,” I’d like to know what kind of protection do I have and how long will it last?

Unfortunately, we don’t have good information on this front.

COVID RISKS BY AGE GROUP

Over the last two years, we’ve only lost 31 kids under 16 to COVID.  Nearly all of these cases were children suffering from another disease severely impacting their bodies natural ability to fight the virus.  As you can see, over half a million children have been reported to have caught COVID.  Plus, thousands more that have never been reported (like my two boys that were tested with at home kits).  As parents, unless your child has a severe life-threatening disease, they are likely to handle COVID without much to worry about.

However, despite Omicron’s less deadly impact, I would be very careful with adults 65 and older.  The case fatality rate remains high at 9.4%.  Even if you’re vaccinated, we strongly recommend wearing a mask if you are 65 and older.  And those who are older should get vaccinated if they have not yet been vaccinated.  Plus, get the booster shot if you are due for a booster.  The vaccine or medical treatment or whatever you want to call it, does save lives.

COVID TESTING

In home test kits have been hard to come by these days as so many people have been infected with OMICRON.  CVS, Walgreens, Publix, and Navarro were all sold out of the in-home test kits.  However, you can still get tested at the Miami Springs Lion’s Club weekdays from 9am – 5pm.  While the lines were not short when we passed by last week, we suspect these lines are far shorter than the lines at other test locations.