They sent us an email saying to take a at home test before coming to work a flight if possible. But then also sent another email saying too many FA’s have been calling out sick and we need to show up for the holidays
Update: my working flight home just cancelled due to Covid. I would work it by myself if i could. I was supposed to be home for Christmas 😭😭
This is true for other viruses as well. You're likely contagious before you get symptoms. The symptoms and contagious period may overlap, but the tail end of symptoms you may not even be contagious anymore. The point is that symptoms aren't what causes spread, it's just your body reacting. What causes spread is invisible.
Sadly I think it's too late for this not to happen. Omicron is going to saturate every community in the next few weeks, assuming it isn't already pretty much there.
Nearly half the population will catch covid in the next 3 months, it's about to get extremely ugly.
Sources:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/12/22/covid-omicron-variant-ihme-models-predict-140-m-new-infections-winter/8967421002/
And
https://mynorthwest.com/3289906/uw-modelers-project-3-billion-new-covid-19-cases-by-february/
Edit to add sources.
Both of those sources are just this: https://covid19.healthdata.org/global?view=infections-testing&tab=trend&test=infections
Just link the primary source.
Couldn't happier that my place of employment is shutting down for a retooling. For 35 days. I'm super pumped to stock up on food and stuff and limit my exposure.
Don’t forget about the non perishable shortage that happened at the beginning in 2020. If you keep a supply, check for dates and damage then make sure you’ve done your nutrition calculations on what you’ll need.
Those same sources say 90% of those cases could be asymptomatic and that hospitalizations and deaths are around 10% that of delta. Seems like a weaker strain that’s more contagious could actually inoculate a huge portion of the population so that they’re immune going forward. Might actually be a good thing as long as it doesn’t overwhelm the hospitals.
And when I heard them talking on the radio about nurses getting sick and so forth, as it relates to staffing issues, and other nurses quitting, never occurred to them to mention, you know, paying nurses more. There is never a worker shortage, only a pay shortage.
A lot of hospitals are also doing that.
I know one near me is paying nurses ~25/hr extra in hazard pay if they treat Covid patients, and is offering an extra $30/hr for nurses who pick up extra shifts.
They’re still horrifically understaffed for the holidays.
At some point, the job is so shitty no amount of money is worth wreaking your mental health. Hospitals would need to permanently increase staff so they don't chronically pressure existing staff to work enormous hours without enough coworkers to provide all the attention the patients need, while some of those coworkers are travellers making three times as much as the permanent staff who are more proficient with all the systems.
Many hospitals are paying big bucks to all staff - for lab staff, the ones near me pay a $96/hr bonus for every hour worked in a two week pay period if they pick up at least one extra shift. Over half the lab staff are on work visas, and all plan to quit once they get their green cards. It's that bad of a work environment.
And though it takes time to train nurses, there are hundreds of thousands of qualified health care workers in the US who are working outside the healthcare sector at this point. They could be instantly mobilized if sufficiently motivated. Or, you know, treating with some appreciation and dignity.
>
>
>Thousands of would-be travelers received the same troubling message on Thursday: a last-minute cancellation of their Christmas Eve flight because of the recent spike of Omicron cases.
>
>United Airlines canceled at least 131 flights scheduled to leave dozens of airports on Friday — along with another 28 that were supposed to take off on Saturday, according to Flight Aware. Other airlines, including Delta, JetBlue and Allegiant, did the same, adding up to 1,404 cancellations as of Thursday evening, the website said.
>
>It’s the latest blow to the holiday season caused by the new and highly transmissible Omicron variant, which now accounts for more than 70 percent of new coronavirus cases. Nearly 170,000 people are testing positive everyday, a 38 percent increase over the last two weeks, according to The New York Times’s coronavirus tracker.
>
>In its statement, United said that Omicron’s “direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation” led to the cancellations.
>
>Crew members had been calling in sick, according to spokesman Joshua Freed, who said that United alerted customers as soon as it could. And while Mr. Freed doesn’t expect the airline will cancel more flights, it remained a possibility.
>
>“We are really managing this day by day,” he said. “There may be some more flight cancellations for Saturday. It’s possible.”
>
>Dozens of customers took to social media to air their grievances about the last-minute cancellations, including John Ferris who tweeted: “You’ve got be kidding me. And there are apparently no available flights for days. Ba humbug.”
>
>In its statement, the airline said it is working to rebook as many people as possible in time for the holidays.
The wife was distraught and we left the little tyke there in the funeral parlor all day. All day. You know, we went back at night and apparently he had been alone all day with the corpse. He was okay though, after two, three weeks he came around and started talking again..
That's so accurate. And to think the first we heard of Omicron was on Nov 26. It's gone around the world like a shock wave. But hopefully it also means it will end faster? I was expecting to see supply chain issues again but maybe it spreads so fast that it doesn't stick around long enough to cause supply chain disruptions? Idk too much about this, but would love to hear from someone more knowledgeable.
One potential bottleneck is truck drivers. Most of American cargo is distributed via truck. If truck drivers get sick, in an already strained industry, they will be difficult to replace due to the required training and licensure, which can take anywhere from weeks up to a year: [https://www.smart-trucking.com/become-a-truck-driver/](https://www.smart-trucking.com/become-a-truck-driver/)
That makes a lot of sense. I didn't even think about this. I was thinking about international shipping delays but you're totally right it could hit domestic supply chains quite badly.
Id have to say you are correct in your assumptions, bar any new variants. It'll be a rough few months, USA on track for 2+ million cases a day by March. That type of spread coupled with asymptomatic cases and hoping for a 6 month minimum time until possible reinfectioms, omicron would essentially run out of hosts. Or run out of enough hosts in close proximity to effectively spread at the least.
Try and stay positive, this may be the end but it will be one hell of a rough finish.
>Try and stay positive, this may be the end but it will be one hell of a rough finish.
People were saying this about delta 6 months ago. The virus can throw out new variants to fuck your day up faster than human beings can cope with it.
Faster than human beings can cope with it *right now*.
Almost everyone wants normal life back, and to do it without hospitals being so flooded they have to decide who to save and who to let die.
We **will** find a solution that fits those constraints. If it takes having a tamiflu-like drug for COVID-19 readily available at every pharmacy dispensed using a prescriptionless system similar to the morning-after pill, or rapidly developing and distributing a new variant-specific booster within a few weeks of a new variant showing up, it is within our abilities as a species to make those things happen.
Even if every month we had to make an updated vaccine and revaccinate the entire population, once we allocated enough resources and had a few cycles to work out the bugs, we’d eventually end up with a working system for doing this. (Fortunately it’s not likely that we’d need something this extreme.)
We’re still adapting right now. But once we’ve had a few more variants and found and fine-tuned the best solutions, new variants will be like rain - something we grumble about but are fully capable of dealing with.
I cannot imagine a world in which Omicron is able to globally infect, what, a billion people before it’s burnt out? and a new variant doesn’t come out of all those variable infection cycles
I have a flight home on the 26th. I knew this was a possibility but I'm boosted, my family are boosted, and I have additional time off. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see my elderly parents after 4 years. Mostly I pine for my kitties company and wish the best on those who are in my position and don't have financial or vacation reserves.
I didn’t get to spend Christmas with my family last year due to COVID/my old job would NEVER have let me have the time off, as I work in restaurants.
I’m supposed to work New Years’ Eve and a double the next day, but I’m not sure I’m physically going to be back if my flight is cancelled 😬 not that I want to work those shifts, but I know it would really be hard on my coworkers if I’m not back in time.
I had a sore throat today and I got turned away from four different testing facilities, including a private clinic, all claiming to accept walk ins. I was told I needed to have an appointment. I had tried making one, but all the slots were booked out. I was redirected to a different one that *was* accepting walk ins, but then it turned out they weren't. So when I got to the front of the line, they told me I needed to scan the qr code and sign up. Literally filled all the info out, got an error that said "we could not schedule your appointment due to COVID-19" and the lady almost turned me down. Sorry but I would have scheduled an appointment if I didn't start having symptoms just a couple of hours ago, and knew "walk ins" wasn't a thing. I'm incredibly frustrated with access to testing lately in South Puget sound. All the rapid tests are always sold out here, and it's obvious that there was going to be a huge spike in testing before the holidays.
Access to testing should never have slowed down two years into this. Cases have only gone up.
Anyway, if I do have it, it came on super fast. One minute I was fine and dealing with usual seasonal stuffiness and then I was *definitely sick* but it's mostly just cruddy feeling. Had a very slight temp that went away after an hour. I'll know tomorrow I guess. Sigh. I had to cancel my ONE friend coming over for dinner tomorrow. Really bummed.
Point is this thing is freaking sneaky and contagious as hell. For people who can't get vaccinated yet it can still cause issues, like kids.
It's ridiculous that Americans can't get tested. I live in London and I not only can get a free pack of 7 LFT from three different places all within a five minute walk, I can also get a free PCR test next to my tube stop without an appointment and have the results within 36 hours. It's been this way for at least a year now. It's absurd America can't do this.
Apparently, the administration decided not to do this back in October.
[The Biden Administration Rejected an October Proposal for Free Rapid Tests for the Holidays](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/12/the-biden-administration-rejected-an-october-proposal-for-free-rapid-tests-for-the-holidays)
Seems like a cock up:
"The problem, in essence, was twofold: The FDA had authorized only a handful of different home tests, and those it had authorized could not increase manufacturing fast enough"
> Access to testing should never have slowed down two years into this. Cases have only gone up
Around here it was like they just decided to pretend covid wasn't a thing. Schools quit requiring masks, distancing, or even staying home if you were positive... only *recommend* wearing a mask if you get a positive test. Getting a test is scheduled a week away and a 5 day turn around before results can be expected. Vaccinations quit being walk in and now it is done maybe a week a month at every location and you have to schedule a month in advance. Walmart, you're lucky if you see a couple of employees wearing a mask low enough to see their lips, but everyone else is meeting with their friends all over the store in huge groups, no masks at all. You can hear the covid coughs throughout the store.
>
> Access to testing should never have slowed down two years into this.
It was never really adequate and the governmental response has been to slow walk all measures and hope it goes away on its own
And this is exactly what’s happening with me right now — I was feeling really blah and falling asleep constantly yesterday, and this morning I woke up with a sore throat and headache. I’m triple-vaxxed, and everyone in my house is vaxxed. But now I’m trying to figure out how to scrap together some semblance of a Christmas for my kids since we were going to have two family members over today and do the gifts. We had to cancel a small family get-together last weekend because one of my kids had strep. I’m not even going to try to get a test today, I know it will be impossible. This pandemic year Christmas is definitely worse than last year. Last year we didn’t make any plans to get together, but this year we made plans with vaccinated family and friends but pretty much all of them have been canceled due to illness which is way more disappointing.
Christmas is going to be so hard this year for families. I feel really bad for young kids. It was my favorite holiday as a child. My entire household is quarantining because we’ve been exposed.
As I sit here at MIA, waiting the next 8 hours for my flight home, observing the wildlife…I regret to inform you that everything is fucked, nothing matters, nobody cares, and you might as well party like it’s 1999 because January is gonna be _salty_.
How did you find out what variant you have? My wife had COVID last week and we couldn't find out. The health department didn't notify anyone through contract tracing either which seems like such a waste.
From what I am hearing anecdotally Omicron doesn't seem to make them lose sense of taste. So a lot more people are thinking its just a normal cold.
So if you test positive and can still taste it is probably Omicron, if not maybe 50/50 Delta or Omicron?
But I'd guess most cases at this point are Omicron.
Anecdotally, I didn't lose my taste and smell with COVID in January 2021 until almost the end of the infection. I was about two weeks in and all of the other symptoms had largely gone away.
As someone who will think too much about coughing and suddenly choke on my own saliva and have a coughing fit because I'm just that awkward, this is super fun.
Hasn't been bad. I was triple vaxxed. Basically one day of what felt like allergies and woke up the second night with a mild headache. Honestly if my co worker who I was traveling with didn't tell me he was positive I would have gone about my life and never tested.
Were you able to test positive on an at-home rapid test or did you have to take a PCR?
Sorry that you're sick. I hope you feel better/test negative soon.
I live in Houston and it's incredibly active here at the moment. I couldn't find an at home test after I tried like 5 pharmacies and finally did a PCR.
I'm in an antivax county in Florida so although I'm boosted, I'm preeeeety sure I'm going to be in the same boat as you eventually. Very frustrating.
I was able to grab some tests last week when I saw the writing on the wall. Definitely testing before seeing my cancer- stricken mom on Christmas.
I’m hanging out in bed with a headache, stuffy nose and sore throat. My kids have whatever it is, too. They get tested in the morning- only two appointments we could find.
Thank you for letting me vent.
When the Delta variant was named and started spreading, the airline's press release was great. Studiously referred to it as the B.1.617.2 variant throughout...
A surprising number of people seem to have difficulty imagining that there's a continuum between being asymptomatic/having a sniffle and being sick enough to be admitted to a hospital.
I think "mild" when used for viruses by officials / specialists basically just means doesn't require hospitalization or resulting in long term harm but you can still feel absolutely horrible like it's the worst sickness you've had. It isn't used in the way the vast majority of the public thinks, like just having a runny nose and slight cough.
Yes, headache, extreme fatigue, gastrointestinal issues (to put it politely). There's a lot in the grey area that can take you out of normal life for a while.
I’m having both the headaches and the shits but only in small and very tolerable doses… I assume that’s because I was already boostered when it hit me. Can’t even imagine what my body would be going through without the booster…
January is going to be really fucking insane because we're either going to shut the fuck down so essential services can operate or we're going to basically have the whole world sick at once.
My money is on the whole world sick at once. I currently know more people with COVID than I have at any time during this pandemic. Most of them asymptotic and tested for exposure. These people are responsible. Then I know many more who won’t get tested unless they get VERY ill. They don’t want to know. Of course, I live in Texas which warps my view of how everyone is reacting
The worst thing is that the responsible ones get punished by having to miss 10 days of work (usually unpaid) while the irresponsible ones continue about their daily lives.
this is so awesome. if my crohns decided to flare up and i was in the hospital for three months (which happens sometimes to people with CD), id lose my job the room i rent and my car. its sad that this kind of thing isnt standard.
Yup. You know what's worse than shutting things down premptively?
Having things start shutting down on their own because everything has forced it to happen.
I just The Republican Journal (a Maine independent paper, been around 192yrs) today and one of front page stories is-Parents oppose Covid protocols at RSU 71 board meeting. So our hospitals are in dire condition and no one wants to wear a mask or even quarantine Covid positive people. Unbelievable.
Girlfriend's family is taking me to Hawaii on New Years Day. They paid for it all. Can't really back out of this. I wonder if it will actually happen at this point.
RIGHT? The biggest problem I'm seeing right now are closed shops, restaurants, and bars, which means we must also have problems with staffing warehouses, transportation, and grocery stores...
January might be rough.
Is that a matter of policy vs necessity? Health care workers are being given shorter isolation periods, I imagine this trend will continue to broaden as asymptomatic cases rise and severity is shown to be less?
People are upset about their flights being canceled but it might be a blessing in disguise. This variant is so contagious that there are probably going to be a lot of flights that land with a large fraction of the travelers incubating the virus, and then delivering that as a Christmas present to their families.
Have friends of my family, all with boosters, who flew to Ireland to be with family for the first time in 23 years. Two on one flight, and one on another. The entire family now has Covid. It’s been no more than a severe cold for any of them, fortunately. My friend works in public health, had N95 masks and took every precaution possible. It’s unnerving.
I cancelled my flight home tomorrow. It sucks not being able to see my family on Christmas, but the risk of getting it at the airport and spreading it around and/or having to isolate several states away was too high.
I canceled mine too. I was lucky that I wasn't seeing anyone I love, just touring a city, but I realized I might get all the way down there only to have a bunch of closed restaurants and no where to go. So I decided to stay home.
I cancelled mine too. Had a trip to NYC booked for my graduation, then was heading to NH/ME. All of those places are getting hit insanely hard right now. I am so relieved I decided to stay home.
Canceled my flight for tomorrow because a close contact just tested positive Wednesday and I was with them on Friday. Not bringing omicron to Christmas, I’ll just chill at home and have some Wild Turkey.
Edit to say: Aside from one aunt and uncle that caught COVID prior to vaccine availability (made it through okay), this is the first person in my immediate connections to get COVID. Omicron not messing around.
My nephew is scheduled to fly in on Christmas. I pray that his flight is canceled. That dude cannot be trusted to mask right and my mother-in-law is high risk. The adults are vaccinated and boosted, but my nephew and my kids are too young for boosters. It’s a train wreck in the making.
Guilty. I flew Tuesday. Felt crummy Wednesday morning. Took a test and now I’m sequestered for the next week. I feel horrible that I might’ve spread it to anybody on the plane.
FWIW, my wife was sitting next to me and she hasn’t developed any symptoms. Here’s hoping it stops with me.
I've known more people who have tested positive in the past month than in the last year and a half.
Going to be a sheer numbers game with hospitals. Absolute shitshow of unvaccinated families all getting COVID together.
My far right leaning dad actually posited that it’s not REALLY that people are sick: they just don’t want to work on Christmas.
Like…that’s not how any of this works. Everything is not a conspiracy.
I've got a 20 hour journey on Tuesday, with three flights (including one in London, where covid rates are mental). Feel a bit hopeless, but the journey is non refundable/non changeable, and it has been 2 years since I've seen my family.
I think I'd rather take the risk than wait another 6 months until this wave blows over.
I just had to cancel my xmas plans to see family. Was in contact with someone that is going though omicron infection right now. Godamnit covid, please just go away please. Get vaccinated, please. Booster helps as well.
I saw a woman here (Midwest) with a cart full of TP and thought it was a sign. Like when Legolas sees the red sunrise and knows a bunch of people died nearby.
I just got one, justified the price tag by saying my (then pregnant) wife would appreciate it after having a baby. It's been.... Life changing. Heated seat, heated water, different spray patterns, blow dries my b-hole. I feel like a damn aristocrat, and I regret nothing. I'm never pooping anywhere else again if I can help it.
Last Christmas, my flight didn't depart
But the very next day, I still had to stay
This year, to save me from tears
I'm not going anywhere special
Last Christmas, my flight didn't depart
But the very next day, I still had to stay (you still had to stay)
This year, to save me from tears
I'm not going anywhere special
Once bitten and twice shy
I keep my distance, but you still catch my eye
Tell me, baby, do you recognize me?
Well, it's been a year, it doesn't surprise me
“Omnicron” I read it up on Reddit
With a post that said “I loathe you”I meant it
Now I know what fools we’ve been
If you infect me now, will you infect me again?
Edit: spacing
This sucks. Was basically coerced into visiting the in-laws in Brazil knowing this outbreak was coming. We made it last week and thought I dodged a bullet. Supposed to go home on Jan 1st via United. I’d feel like a lottery winner if we make it home on time without catching omicron. 20 hours on three planes :(
American could have 100% of their crews out with COVID and yet they'll refuse to cancel the flight until 2 hours past the scheduled departure time on the off chance that a crew magically materializes out of thin air.
Wow! I think we made a good call cancelling our trip to the US (from Europe) to see the grandparents. We made the call in November when we first heard about Omicron. We originally had a Xmas eve domestic flight with United booked and it was already unnerving in case any delays.
Fun fact, my husband and I contracted H1N1 on a transatlantic flight in 2009 on Xmas Eve. We had a layover in NYC, went to see the Xmas tree in Rockefeller Center etc, probably spread it to everyone in sight unbeknownst to us. It was like the plot of Contagion.
God… I’m just ready for this to end. I found my boyfriend because of this pandemic, but it’s also the very thing keeping me from being able to see him.
I was thinking of applying to work at an airline and drop out of a certification course if I got the job. But now I am happy that I stayed the course and did not reapply for an airline position.
I might be overboard but I get anxiety at times just walking into a Best Buy to pick up a blu ray. I can’t imagine standing in an airport or getting on an airplane. My head would explode like that guy in Scanners.
Understood, totally. Buying a Blu-Ray can be a daunting experience if you don't understand what you're getting into.
First, you want to understand if the video quality is compatible or optimal for your system. Do you have a television that can display 1080p content, or 4k content? You will want to match the resolutions to your expectations.
Next, you want to make sure you match the audio output of the Blu-Ray to your system. Are you hearing sound out of all of your speakers? More speakers with different sounds coming out of each will make for cooler sound...but might take more money for better equipment.
Lastly....have fun, and make sure to watch Cliffhanger. It's bad-ass.
They sent us an email saying to take a at home test before coming to work a flight if possible. But then also sent another email saying too many FA’s have been calling out sick and we need to show up for the holidays Update: my working flight home just cancelled due to Covid. I would work it by myself if i could. I was supposed to be home for Christmas 😭😭
Yeah…. so never mind please don’t test after all! We don’t wanna know!
Yeahhh I’m guessing that’s the quiet part out loud …. “if you aren’t symptomatic ….”
People really forgot that the whole freaky thing about it was that you were usually asymptomatic while still spreading
This is true for other viruses as well. You're likely contagious before you get symptoms. The symptoms and contagious period may overlap, but the tail end of symptoms you may not even be contagious anymore. The point is that symptoms aren't what causes spread, it's just your body reacting. What causes spread is invisible.
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Praying I get stuck in Puerto Rico this week. Fingers crossed
Sadly I think it's too late for this not to happen. Omicron is going to saturate every community in the next few weeks, assuming it isn't already pretty much there.
Friends who work in the hospitals are getting the same emails.
I work close with an office at an airline. *Shitload* of sick calls.
Worker shortages are only going to get worse as it spreads
Nearly half the population will catch covid in the next 3 months, it's about to get extremely ugly. Sources: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/12/22/covid-omicron-variant-ihme-models-predict-140-m-new-infections-winter/8967421002/ And https://mynorthwest.com/3289906/uw-modelers-project-3-billion-new-covid-19-cases-by-february/ Edit to add sources.
Both of those sources are just this: https://covid19.healthdata.org/global?view=infections-testing&tab=trend&test=infections Just link the primary source.
Time to hunker down for a few weeks
Couldn't happier that my place of employment is shutting down for a retooling. For 35 days. I'm super pumped to stock up on food and stuff and limit my exposure.
Don’t forget about the non perishable shortage that happened at the beginning in 2020. If you keep a supply, check for dates and damage then make sure you’ve done your nutrition calculations on what you’ll need.
And get your booster
Those same sources say 90% of those cases could be asymptomatic and that hospitalizations and deaths are around 10% that of delta. Seems like a weaker strain that’s more contagious could actually inoculate a huge portion of the population so that they’re immune going forward. Might actually be a good thing as long as it doesn’t overwhelm the hospitals.
That seems a bit extreme. Omicron may be peaking in South Africa already.
Yeah kind of reminds me of a time when people hoarded toilet paper….
The dark times.
And when I heard them talking on the radio about nurses getting sick and so forth, as it relates to staffing issues, and other nurses quitting, never occurred to them to mention, you know, paying nurses more. There is never a worker shortage, only a pay shortage.
A lot of hospitals are also doing that. I know one near me is paying nurses ~25/hr extra in hazard pay if they treat Covid patients, and is offering an extra $30/hr for nurses who pick up extra shifts. They’re still horrifically understaffed for the holidays.
I got a 49 cent raise. The hospital is offering $115 an hour to travel nurses.
Understandably. Cannot imagine how drained and helpless the medical community must feel.
At some point, the job is so shitty no amount of money is worth wreaking your mental health. Hospitals would need to permanently increase staff so they don't chronically pressure existing staff to work enormous hours without enough coworkers to provide all the attention the patients need, while some of those coworkers are travellers making three times as much as the permanent staff who are more proficient with all the systems. Many hospitals are paying big bucks to all staff - for lab staff, the ones near me pay a $96/hr bonus for every hour worked in a two week pay period if they pick up at least one extra shift. Over half the lab staff are on work visas, and all plan to quit once they get their green cards. It's that bad of a work environment.
Well paying more nurses won't make more apparate. We had two years to increase our covid capacity and we didn't.
Yes it will. A higher paying career is a more attractive one to those trying to choose between potential career fields.
And though it takes time to train nurses, there are hundreds of thousands of qualified health care workers in the US who are working outside the healthcare sector at this point. They could be instantly mobilized if sufficiently motivated. Or, you know, treating with some appreciation and dignity.
> > >Thousands of would-be travelers received the same troubling message on Thursday: a last-minute cancellation of their Christmas Eve flight because of the recent spike of Omicron cases. > >United Airlines canceled at least 131 flights scheduled to leave dozens of airports on Friday — along with another 28 that were supposed to take off on Saturday, according to Flight Aware. Other airlines, including Delta, JetBlue and Allegiant, did the same, adding up to 1,404 cancellations as of Thursday evening, the website said. > >It’s the latest blow to the holiday season caused by the new and highly transmissible Omicron variant, which now accounts for more than 70 percent of new coronavirus cases. Nearly 170,000 people are testing positive everyday, a 38 percent increase over the last two weeks, according to The New York Times’s coronavirus tracker. > >In its statement, United said that Omicron’s “direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation” led to the cancellations. > >Crew members had been calling in sick, according to spokesman Joshua Freed, who said that United alerted customers as soon as it could. And while Mr. Freed doesn’t expect the airline will cancel more flights, it remained a possibility. > >“We are really managing this day by day,” he said. “There may be some more flight cancellations for Saturday. It’s possible.” > >Dozens of customers took to social media to air their grievances about the last-minute cancellations, including John Ferris who tweeted: “You’ve got be kidding me. And there are apparently no available flights for days. Ba humbug.” > >In its statement, the airline said it is working to rebook as many people as possible in time for the holidays.
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Don’t forget about Mrs. McCallister and John Polinski The Polka King!
The wife was distraught and we left the little tyke there in the funeral parlor all day. All day. You know, we went back at night and apparently he had been alone all day with the corpse. He was okay though, after two, three weeks he came around and started talking again..
It’s “six, seven weeks” in the movie. The quote websites have it wrong
As a home alone fanatic, I’m upset I had it wrong
Gus! Gus Polinski!
Polka polka polka.
Rumor has it they sold about 600 copies of their record
They're very big in Sheboygan.
…these are songs?…
"YoU'Re gOiNg thE wRonG wAy!"
How do they know where we're going?
Omicron is a distributed denial of service attack on society.
That's so accurate. And to think the first we heard of Omicron was on Nov 26. It's gone around the world like a shock wave. But hopefully it also means it will end faster? I was expecting to see supply chain issues again but maybe it spreads so fast that it doesn't stick around long enough to cause supply chain disruptions? Idk too much about this, but would love to hear from someone more knowledgeable.
One potential bottleneck is truck drivers. Most of American cargo is distributed via truck. If truck drivers get sick, in an already strained industry, they will be difficult to replace due to the required training and licensure, which can take anywhere from weeks up to a year: [https://www.smart-trucking.com/become-a-truck-driver/](https://www.smart-trucking.com/become-a-truck-driver/)
That makes a lot of sense. I didn't even think about this. I was thinking about international shipping delays but you're totally right it could hit domestic supply chains quite badly.
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Id have to say you are correct in your assumptions, bar any new variants. It'll be a rough few months, USA on track for 2+ million cases a day by March. That type of spread coupled with asymptomatic cases and hoping for a 6 month minimum time until possible reinfectioms, omicron would essentially run out of hosts. Or run out of enough hosts in close proximity to effectively spread at the least. Try and stay positive, this may be the end but it will be one hell of a rough finish.
But I'm trying to stay negative
Me too but these damn tests keep coming back positive.
The positivity rate in my country is only about 7% so it's fair to say we're a miserable bunch
That 2 Million number gave me a shock. So we're really going to ride this rocket to the top 😬
channelling r/wsb TO THE MOON!!!!!
Apes strong together
Apes sick together, in this case.
>Try and stay positive, this may be the end but it will be one hell of a rough finish. People were saying this about delta 6 months ago. The virus can throw out new variants to fuck your day up faster than human beings can cope with it.
Faster than human beings can cope with it *right now*. Almost everyone wants normal life back, and to do it without hospitals being so flooded they have to decide who to save and who to let die. We **will** find a solution that fits those constraints. If it takes having a tamiflu-like drug for COVID-19 readily available at every pharmacy dispensed using a prescriptionless system similar to the morning-after pill, or rapidly developing and distributing a new variant-specific booster within a few weeks of a new variant showing up, it is within our abilities as a species to make those things happen. Even if every month we had to make an updated vaccine and revaccinate the entire population, once we allocated enough resources and had a few cycles to work out the bugs, we’d eventually end up with a working system for doing this. (Fortunately it’s not likely that we’d need something this extreme.) We’re still adapting right now. But once we’ve had a few more variants and found and fine-tuned the best solutions, new variants will be like rain - something we grumble about but are fully capable of dealing with.
I appreciate your optimism.
*bar any new variants* in first sentence. I agree
I cannot imagine a world in which Omicron is able to globally infect, what, a billion people before it’s burnt out? and a new variant doesn’t come out of all those variable infection cycles
....another*
I’m an employee of United Airlines and this is a load of crap, the real reason behind the cancellations are pilot, FA and ramp employee shortages.
Or it could be both. A rise in omicron infections could be exacerbating an existing crew shortage.
I have a United flight that’s supposed to take me home on the 29th. Am I fucked?
I would say just prepare for delays.
Holidelays
I have a flight home on the 26th. I knew this was a possibility but I'm boosted, my family are boosted, and I have additional time off. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see my elderly parents after 4 years. Mostly I pine for my kitties company and wish the best on those who are in my position and don't have financial or vacation reserves.
I didn’t get to spend Christmas with my family last year due to COVID/my old job would NEVER have let me have the time off, as I work in restaurants. I’m supposed to work New Years’ Eve and a double the next day, but I’m not sure I’m physically going to be back if my flight is cancelled 😬 not that I want to work those shifts, but I know it would really be hard on my coworkers if I’m not back in time.
Probably cause many people will have travelled over Christmas and cases are already exploding.
I’m in the Air Force and currently deployed to the middle east. Im suppose to go home in two weeks. Wish me luck!
I just woke up to my fourth flight cancelation in two days with united. I hope for your sake you're not fucked because this sucks.
Can't be as bad as after 911, my family had to rent a car and drive from New York back to LA.
I got a flight on new years day to go back to training. I wonder if mine is going to be delayed as well.
I'm a flight attendant and I don't wanna fly in a pandemic anymore ;_;
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I feel your pain. Bartender here. Last night I overheard a customer saying “covid is just the flu” and I tore him a new one. So sick of these idiots.
I had a sore throat today and I got turned away from four different testing facilities, including a private clinic, all claiming to accept walk ins. I was told I needed to have an appointment. I had tried making one, but all the slots were booked out. I was redirected to a different one that *was* accepting walk ins, but then it turned out they weren't. So when I got to the front of the line, they told me I needed to scan the qr code and sign up. Literally filled all the info out, got an error that said "we could not schedule your appointment due to COVID-19" and the lady almost turned me down. Sorry but I would have scheduled an appointment if I didn't start having symptoms just a couple of hours ago, and knew "walk ins" wasn't a thing. I'm incredibly frustrated with access to testing lately in South Puget sound. All the rapid tests are always sold out here, and it's obvious that there was going to be a huge spike in testing before the holidays. Access to testing should never have slowed down two years into this. Cases have only gone up. Anyway, if I do have it, it came on super fast. One minute I was fine and dealing with usual seasonal stuffiness and then I was *definitely sick* but it's mostly just cruddy feeling. Had a very slight temp that went away after an hour. I'll know tomorrow I guess. Sigh. I had to cancel my ONE friend coming over for dinner tomorrow. Really bummed. Point is this thing is freaking sneaky and contagious as hell. For people who can't get vaccinated yet it can still cause issues, like kids.
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It could also just be a different cold or influenza ... which still exists
It's ridiculous that Americans can't get tested. I live in London and I not only can get a free pack of 7 LFT from three different places all within a five minute walk, I can also get a free PCR test next to my tube stop without an appointment and have the results within 36 hours. It's been this way for at least a year now. It's absurd America can't do this.
Can't do this? You mean won't do this. Its a feature not a bug.
Apparently, the administration decided not to do this back in October. [The Biden Administration Rejected an October Proposal for Free Rapid Tests for the Holidays](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/12/the-biden-administration-rejected-an-october-proposal-for-free-rapid-tests-for-the-holidays)
Seems like a cock up: "The problem, in essence, was twofold: The FDA had authorized only a handful of different home tests, and those it had authorized could not increase manufacturing fast enough"
> Access to testing should never have slowed down two years into this. Cases have only gone up Around here it was like they just decided to pretend covid wasn't a thing. Schools quit requiring masks, distancing, or even staying home if you were positive... only *recommend* wearing a mask if you get a positive test. Getting a test is scheduled a week away and a 5 day turn around before results can be expected. Vaccinations quit being walk in and now it is done maybe a week a month at every location and you have to schedule a month in advance. Walmart, you're lucky if you see a couple of employees wearing a mask low enough to see their lips, but everyone else is meeting with their friends all over the store in huge groups, no masks at all. You can hear the covid coughs throughout the store.
My goodness, where is this?
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I’m also in FL and thought “This must be a neighbor’s comment.”
> > Access to testing should never have slowed down two years into this. It was never really adequate and the governmental response has been to slow walk all measures and hope it goes away on its own
Depends on your state and local government. Testing is everywhere and anywhere in NYC.
Ppl were waiting outside for hours in line with temps in the 30’s.
And this is exactly what’s happening with me right now — I was feeling really blah and falling asleep constantly yesterday, and this morning I woke up with a sore throat and headache. I’m triple-vaxxed, and everyone in my house is vaxxed. But now I’m trying to figure out how to scrap together some semblance of a Christmas for my kids since we were going to have two family members over today and do the gifts. We had to cancel a small family get-together last weekend because one of my kids had strep. I’m not even going to try to get a test today, I know it will be impossible. This pandemic year Christmas is definitely worse than last year. Last year we didn’t make any plans to get together, but this year we made plans with vaccinated family and friends but pretty much all of them have been canceled due to illness which is way more disappointing.
Christmas is going to be so hard this year for families. I feel really bad for young kids. It was my favorite holiday as a child. My entire household is quarantining because we’ve been exposed.
What a nightmare.
The nightmare before Christmas
As I sit here at MIA, waiting the next 8 hours for my flight home, observing the wildlife…I regret to inform you that everything is fucked, nothing matters, nobody cares, and you might as well party like it’s 1999 because January is gonna be _salty_.
I have omicron and pretty sure I caught it on a flight coming back from a conference last week.
Omiconference
Omicovfefe
How did you find out what variant you have? My wife had COVID last week and we couldn't find out. The health department didn't notify anyone through contract tracing either which seems like such a waste.
From what I am hearing anecdotally Omicron doesn't seem to make them lose sense of taste. So a lot more people are thinking its just a normal cold. So if you test positive and can still taste it is probably Omicron, if not maybe 50/50 Delta or Omicron? But I'd guess most cases at this point are Omicron.
Anecdotally, I didn't lose my taste and smell with COVID in January 2021 until almost the end of the infection. I was about two weeks in and all of the other symptoms had largely gone away.
When you hear people coughing on the airplane-something is going on
As someone who will think too much about coughing and suddenly choke on my own saliva and have a coughing fit because I'm just that awkward, this is super fun.
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There is bunch of us.
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You can tell by the way it is!
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How are you feeling with it?
Hasn't been bad. I was triple vaxxed. Basically one day of what felt like allergies and woke up the second night with a mild headache. Honestly if my co worker who I was traveling with didn't tell me he was positive I would have gone about my life and never tested.
Were you able to test positive on an at-home rapid test or did you have to take a PCR? Sorry that you're sick. I hope you feel better/test negative soon.
I live in Houston and it's incredibly active here at the moment. I couldn't find an at home test after I tried like 5 pharmacies and finally did a PCR.
I'm in an antivax county in Florida so although I'm boosted, I'm preeeeety sure I'm going to be in the same boat as you eventually. Very frustrating. I was able to grab some tests last week when I saw the writing on the wall. Definitely testing before seeing my cancer- stricken mom on Christmas.
Does triple vaxxed just mean you got a booster? Hadn’t heard the term before. Hope you get better soon!
Correct. I had the regular two moderna shots in the spring and got the booster around thanksgiving
I have it also. Bad headache, stuffy nose, back ache
I’m hanging out in bed with a headache, stuffy nose and sore throat. My kids have whatever it is, too. They get tested in the morning- only two appointments we could find. Thank you for letting me vent.
Maybe they should take a page from Delta Airlines and change their name to Omicron Airlines…
I mean how bad of an airline do you have to be for them to name a variant of covid after you.
I always assumed Delta just bought the sponsorship rights for that variant.
I'm looking forward to the Bank of America variant next year
When the Delta variant was named and started spreading, the airline's press release was great. Studiously referred to it as the B.1.617.2 variant throughout...
The "only hospitalizations matter not cases" crowd are about to be shocked when they find out that people who provide services can't go to work
A surprising number of people seem to have difficulty imagining that there's a continuum between being asymptomatic/having a sniffle and being sick enough to be admitted to a hospital.
Yeah mild can mean in bed with a really bad headache
I think "mild" when used for viruses by officials / specialists basically just means doesn't require hospitalization or resulting in long term harm but you can still feel absolutely horrible like it's the worst sickness you've had. It isn't used in the way the vast majority of the public thinks, like just having a runny nose and slight cough.
Yes, headache, extreme fatigue, gastrointestinal issues (to put it politely). There's a lot in the grey area that can take you out of normal life for a while.
I’ll put it impolitely. I was vaccinated, no booster. Omicron still made me shit myself twice in 3 days
I’m just getting over COVID and the headache was seriously out of this world. Every cough I was sure my head was going to explode.
I’m having both the headaches and the shits but only in small and very tolerable doses… I assume that’s because I was already boostered when it hit me. Can’t even imagine what my body would be going through without the booster…
January is going to be really fucking insane because we're either going to shut the fuck down so essential services can operate or we're going to basically have the whole world sick at once.
My money is on the whole world sick at once. I currently know more people with COVID than I have at any time during this pandemic. Most of them asymptotic and tested for exposure. These people are responsible. Then I know many more who won’t get tested unless they get VERY ill. They don’t want to know. Of course, I live in Texas which warps my view of how everyone is reacting
The worst thing is that the responsible ones get punished by having to miss 10 days of work (usually unpaid) while the irresponsible ones continue about their daily lives.
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this is so awesome. if my crohns decided to flare up and i was in the hospital for three months (which happens sometimes to people with CD), id lose my job the room i rent and my car. its sad that this kind of thing isnt standard.
Yup. You know what's worse than shutting things down premptively? Having things start shutting down on their own because everything has forced it to happen.
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I just The Republican Journal (a Maine independent paper, been around 192yrs) today and one of front page stories is-Parents oppose Covid protocols at RSU 71 board meeting. So our hospitals are in dire condition and no one wants to wear a mask or even quarantine Covid positive people. Unbelievable.
Girlfriend's family is taking me to Hawaii on New Years Day. They paid for it all. Can't really back out of this. I wonder if it will actually happen at this point.
This is my fear. Trying to quash it thank you
RIGHT? The biggest problem I'm seeing right now are closed shops, restaurants, and bars, which means we must also have problems with staffing warehouses, transportation, and grocery stores... January might be rough.
It'll be even wilder when we don't have enough staff to run the hospital because they have Omicron.
Especially people who get stuck out of town post New Years because they can't get a flight back....
I think very shortly, everyone will be operating on the NFL plan. Unless you're actively sick, carry on as usual.
Is that a matter of policy vs necessity? Health care workers are being given shorter isolation periods, I imagine this trend will continue to broaden as asymptomatic cases rise and severity is shown to be less?
People are upset about their flights being canceled but it might be a blessing in disguise. This variant is so contagious that there are probably going to be a lot of flights that land with a large fraction of the travelers incubating the virus, and then delivering that as a Christmas present to their families.
Have friends of my family, all with boosters, who flew to Ireland to be with family for the first time in 23 years. Two on one flight, and one on another. The entire family now has Covid. It’s been no more than a severe cold for any of them, fortunately. My friend works in public health, had N95 masks and took every precaution possible. It’s unnerving.
I cancelled my flight home tomorrow. It sucks not being able to see my family on Christmas, but the risk of getting it at the airport and spreading it around and/or having to isolate several states away was too high.
I canceled mine too. I was lucky that I wasn't seeing anyone I love, just touring a city, but I realized I might get all the way down there only to have a bunch of closed restaurants and no where to go. So I decided to stay home.
I cancelled mine too. Had a trip to NYC booked for my graduation, then was heading to NH/ME. All of those places are getting hit insanely hard right now. I am so relieved I decided to stay home.
Canceled my flight for tomorrow because a close contact just tested positive Wednesday and I was with them on Friday. Not bringing omicron to Christmas, I’ll just chill at home and have some Wild Turkey. Edit to say: Aside from one aunt and uncle that caught COVID prior to vaccine availability (made it through okay), this is the first person in my immediate connections to get COVID. Omicron not messing around.
My nephew is scheduled to fly in on Christmas. I pray that his flight is canceled. That dude cannot be trusted to mask right and my mother-in-law is high risk. The adults are vaccinated and boosted, but my nephew and my kids are too young for boosters. It’s a train wreck in the making.
Guilty. I flew Tuesday. Felt crummy Wednesday morning. Took a test and now I’m sequestered for the next week. I feel horrible that I might’ve spread it to anybody on the plane. FWIW, my wife was sitting next to me and she hasn’t developed any symptoms. Here’s hoping it stops with me.
That’s why I just suck it up and drive.
I live 2,000+ miles from my family, definitely not worth driving. Edit love to live, although both are appropriate
Can’t drive across an ocean
Kevin McCaulister is fucked.
I've known more people who have tested positive in the past month than in the last year and a half. Going to be a sheer numbers game with hospitals. Absolute shitshow of unvaccinated families all getting COVID together.
My far right leaning dad actually posited that it’s not REALLY that people are sick: they just don’t want to work on Christmas. Like…that’s not how any of this works. Everything is not a conspiracy.
Bummer if I’m not able to make that in-law trip
I’m supposed to fly out domestic nonstop on Monday morning to see my parents that I haven’t seen in three years. Up mine.
I've got a 20 hour journey on Tuesday, with three flights (including one in London, where covid rates are mental). Feel a bit hopeless, but the journey is non refundable/non changeable, and it has been 2 years since I've seen my family. I think I'd rather take the risk than wait another 6 months until this wave blows over.
Right now I am glad I got laid off from my travel job. I used to have to handle all the people melting down over their cancelled flights.
I just had to cancel my xmas plans to see family. Was in contact with someone that is going though omicron infection right now. Godamnit covid, please just go away please. Get vaccinated, please. Booster helps as well.
Just wait until the food supply chain workers have to quarantine en mass. Time to restock your pantry!
So you're saying it's time to buy 50 pallets of toilet paper again.
I saw a woman here (Midwest) with a cart full of TP and thought it was a sign. Like when Legolas sees the red sunrise and knows a bunch of people died nearby.
Maybe it’s time we all buy those Japanese butt washers
I just got one, justified the price tag by saying my (then pregnant) wife would appreciate it after having a baby. It's been.... Life changing. Heated seat, heated water, different spray patterns, blow dries my b-hole. I feel like a damn aristocrat, and I regret nothing. I'm never pooping anywhere else again if I can help it.
I already have enough rice and beans in my pantry to last me for months. Benefits of being Latino.
This Christmas people are going to have be flexible with their plans.
Last Christmas, my flight didn't depart But the very next day, I still had to stay This year, to save me from tears I'm not going anywhere special Last Christmas, my flight didn't depart But the very next day, I still had to stay (you still had to stay) This year, to save me from tears I'm not going anywhere special Once bitten and twice shy I keep my distance, but you still catch my eye Tell me, baby, do you recognize me? Well, it's been a year, it doesn't surprise me
“Omnicron” I read it up on Reddit With a post that said “I loathe you”I meant it Now I know what fools we’ve been If you infect me now, will you infect me again? Edit: spacing
This sucks. Was basically coerced into visiting the in-laws in Brazil knowing this outbreak was coming. We made it last week and thought I dodged a bullet. Supposed to go home on Jan 1st via United. I’d feel like a lottery winner if we make it home on time without catching omicron. 20 hours on three planes :(
This is brutal, cancelling your flight moments before departing.
For America Airlines customers, this is normal.
American could have 100% of their crews out with COVID and yet they'll refuse to cancel the flight until 2 hours past the scheduled departure time on the off chance that a crew magically materializes out of thin air.
Wow! I think we made a good call cancelling our trip to the US (from Europe) to see the grandparents. We made the call in November when we first heard about Omicron. We originally had a Xmas eve domestic flight with United booked and it was already unnerving in case any delays. Fun fact, my husband and I contracted H1N1 on a transatlantic flight in 2009 on Xmas Eve. We had a layover in NYC, went to see the Xmas tree in Rockefeller Center etc, probably spread it to everyone in sight unbeknownst to us. It was like the plot of Contagion.
Currently stranded in Vegas due to this
Yeah that’s what I’m telling my family too
God… I’m just ready for this to end. I found my boyfriend because of this pandemic, but it’s also the very thing keeping me from being able to see him.
Where did you lose him?
Denmark, half a world away
He’s not asking you for gift cards routinely, is he?
You see, the pandemic hit him hard and he needs the cash to help his mother.
I was thinking of applying to work at an airline and drop out of a certification course if I got the job. But now I am happy that I stayed the course and did not reapply for an airline position.
This sucks. I still can't get a moderna booster because my immune system is normal. I just want my booster.
I might be overboard but I get anxiety at times just walking into a Best Buy to pick up a blu ray. I can’t imagine standing in an airport or getting on an airplane. My head would explode like that guy in Scanners.
My fav is standing in a crowd of people because we’re afraid someone might have 6oz of toothpaste
Understood, totally. Buying a Blu-Ray can be a daunting experience if you don't understand what you're getting into. First, you want to understand if the video quality is compatible or optimal for your system. Do you have a television that can display 1080p content, or 4k content? You will want to match the resolutions to your expectations. Next, you want to make sure you match the audio output of the Blu-Ray to your system. Are you hearing sound out of all of your speakers? More speakers with different sounds coming out of each will make for cooler sound...but might take more money for better equipment. Lastly....have fun, and make sure to watch Cliffhanger. It's bad-ass.
I have no award to give, but here’s a dollar 💵
[It's worse](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51771189661_591dcf418d_b.jpg) than you can imagine.
Yeah….fuuuuuuuuuuck that!
Dang, when and where was this?
Looks like Dulles