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News Sparks: In NY and NJ, Omicron Found at a Rate of 13% of all Cases, Versus 3% Nationally: and More

News Sparks: In NY and NJ, Omicron Found at a Rate of 13% of all Cases, Versus 3% Nationally: and More

By Yehudit Garmaise

Scientists Finding Omicron Much More in NY and NJ, Than in Rest of Country

COVID patients who infected with the Omicron variant are increasing in number across the U.S., but even more so in New York and New Jersey, where scientists, who use genomic sequencing to detect the variant, are finding in locally at a rate of 13%, compared to the 3% rate seen in the rest of the country, said Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPD, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Delta, which comprises 96.7% of all strains nationally, and is fueling the nationwide hospitalization spike, said Dr. Walensky, who also warned that, just as Delta overtook the Alpha COVID variant last spring, Omicron could soon overtake Delta.

Although we have vaccination this time around and early data shows that Omicron could be create less severe symptoms, Dr. Walensky said, "You still have a lot of people who are getting sick," and some of the most vulnerable people could experience severe COVID-related illness or some death. “The alarming spread rate of Omicron makes vaccinations all the more crucial.”

Dutch Politician Tweets Non-Sensical Messages Comparing Unvaccinated to both Jews and Nazis

After a right-wing populist lawmaker from the Netherlands, Thierry Baudet , posted four tweets that drew comparisons between coronavirus lockdown measures and the treatment of Jews by the Nazi regime, a Dutch judge ordered him to remove the tweets within 48 hours, or for each day that the tweets remain online, he must pay 25,000 euros, which is equivalent to $28,000.

Two Jewish organizations and a group of Holocaust survivors, who demanded the removal of the tweets, argued in the Amsterdam court that Baudet’s tweets were “seriously insulting and unnecessarily hurtful to the murdered victims of the Holocaust, survivors, and relatives.”

In addition to comparing the suffering of those on lockdown to the Jews in concentration camps, Baudet also nonsensically called unvaccinated people both Jews and Nazis, when he called them, “the new Jews, the exclusionists who look the other way: the new Nazis and NSBers,” referring to the acronym for the National Socialist Movement, the Dutch branch of the Nazi party.

In a reaction on Twitter, Baudet called the judgment, “insane, incomprehensible,” and he added “We are angry and combative. And, of course, we will appeal.”

Israel Extends Ban on Foreigners for an Additional week: At Least to Dec. 29

At the end of November, Israeli foreign ministers set into place a ban on non-citizen entering the country for two weeks, but as the Omicron variant continues to spread worldwide, Israel has extended that ban for the second time: with Dec. 29 set as the earliest the ban will expire. 

Although not all applications are granted, first-degree family members of couples making weddings, families making bar and bas mitzvahs and of close relatives of women who are giving birth can apply for special exemptions to the ban on non-Israelis entering.

Israel was largely shut to tourism from March 2020 through November 1, 2021, when the recent reopening proved to be short-lived.


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