Sherman R. Frederick
Marinscope
The Omicron surge peaked on Jan 9 in Marin. The highly virulent, but less deadly, form of COVID-19 hit Marin at the end of December, moderately driving up hospitalizations. Then it retreated by mid January.
The rest of California and the United States were expected to see similar peaks in the virus by the end of January or February, leading experts to predict the world may begin to treat the disease like the seasonal flu.
Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and philanthropist who warned that the globe wasn’t ready for a pandemic, shared a new prediction last week on the fate of COVID-19: “Once omicron goes through a country, then the rest of the year should see far fewer cases, so COVID can be treated more like seasonal flu.”
At the same time, new CDC data confirmed that booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines overwhelmingly prevented hospitalizations from the Omicron variant.
This was consistent with the Marin County Health Department advice going into the Omicron surge to get vaccinated and boosted. The CDC data also showed that booster shots reduced the likelihood of a visit to the hospital and in preventing death among people over 50.
“During the past three weeks, California has had over 1.9 million new cases of COVID-19, the Marin County Health Department reported. “We have now surpassed 7 million cases at the state level. This translates to roughly 18% of California residents who have been diagnosed with COVID over the course of the pandemic, and 5% of those cases occurred this month. Within that same time frame, Marin County has seen over 6,200 new cases.”
The death count in Marin increased by 3 in the last county reporting, going from 200 to 203.
CLOSINGS
It’s been a grim story for small businesses struggling to survive the pandemic and government shutdowns.
The Marin Brewing Company in Larkspur announced last week that it would close on Jan. 31 after 33 years in businesses. COVID-19 and an inability to get help from relief funds were blamed for the impending closure. See a letter from the owner on page 5A.
The Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce chronicled the suffering of restaurants in a recent story on its website. It read:
“In a letter sent to the leaders of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives and signed by 25 current and former mayors, representing cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago, among others, the mayors said the omicron variant may cause many restaurants to shut down for good, estimating that 86% of independent restaurants and bars that previously didn’t receive grants from the federal Restaurant Revitalization Fund risk closing.
“The struggles are exacerbated by the long-term staffing shortage, coupled with the need to shut down or limit operations as remaining staff test positive or pre-emptively close their dining rooms, revert to takeout and add new safety measures. Throughout the pandemic, health experts have maintained that indoor dining is one of the riskiest activities because people must remove their masks to eat and drink — and some have specifically warned against indoor dining amid the omicron surge.
“‘Restaurants and bars are months beyond struggling, they are dying in plain sight,’” the letter stated, estimating that 90,000 restaurants have closed during the pandemic nationwide.”
SAN QUENTIN
Unlike the rest of Marin, San Quentin State Prison experienced an explosive surge in Omicron. In a 14 day span, 240 prisoners and 128 staff members fell ill to the disease. The week before only 6 inmates and 73 staff were infected.
MANDATE WEARY
A social divide on government mandates grew wider in the Bay Area. On one side, Sen. Scott Weiner of San Francisco proposed a bill that would allow children to get vaccinated against COVID-19 without parental consent.
On the other side, a group opposed to COVID-19 mandates, demonstrated last Sunday in Marin.
In a press release, the group said: “Dozens of parents from all sides of the political spectrum are joining together with one voice demanding an end to Governor Newsom’s Emergency Powers and an end to the Corona virus mandates in California. Marin Parents United, a newly formed parents organization, is announcing plans to sue the Marin County Health Director Dr. Matt Willis and Mary Jane Burke, Superintendent of Schools over mask and vaccine mandates for children in the district.”
Leave a Reply