Shots – Health News : NPR

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How well do rapid COVID tests work to detect omicron? : Shots – Health News : NPR

How much should you trust the results of a rapid antigen test? That's a question many people are asking these days, amid recent research and anecdotes suggesting these tests may be less sensitive to omicron. Researchers are working fast to figure out what's going on and how to improve the tests.

That includes people like Dr. Wilbur Lam, a professor of pediatrics and biomedical engineering at Emory University and one of the lead investigators assessing COVID-19 diagnostic tests for the federal government. His research team began evaluating rapid antigen tests against live samples of the omicron variant last December in the lab, and in early assessments, he says, some tests failed to detect the coronavirus "at a concentration that we would have expected them to catch it if it were another variant."

That finding prompted the Food and Drug Administration to update its online guidance in late December to note that, while rapid antigen tests do detect the omicron variant, "they may have reduced sensitivity."

Weather Update – January 23, 2022

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Today.
Cold !

Mostly Cloudy then Scattered Snow Showers

Scattered snow showers, mainly after 2pm. Mostly cloudy.

South wind 5 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

and

30 degrees , 11 max wind chill, 4:57
sunset.
Tonight.
Cold !

Scattered Snow Showers then Mostly Cloudy

Scattered snow showers, mainly before 9pm. Mostly cloudy.

Wind chill values as low as -2. Calm wind becoming northwest 5 to 8 mph in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

and

5 degrees , -4 max wind chill, 7:16
sunrise.
Monday.
Cold !

Partly Sunny

Partly sunny.

Wind chill values as low as -4. Light and variable wind.

and

24 degrees , -4 max wind chill, 4:58
sunset.
Monday Night.
Feels like …
February 20th.

Chance of Snow Showers

A chance of snow showers. Cloudy.

Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.

and

18 degrees , 7:15
sunrise.
Tuesday.
Feels like …
February 18th.

Scattered Snow Showers

Scattered snow showers. Mostly cloudy.

Light and variable wind becoming northwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

and

35 degrees , 4:59
sunset.
Tuesday Night.
Cold !

Isolated Snow Showers

Isolated snow showers. Mostly cloudy.

Chance of precipitation is 20%.

and

8 degrees , -7 max wind chill, 7:14
sunrise.
Wednesday.
Cold !

Mostly Sunny

Mostly sunny.

and

17 degrees , -7 max wind chill, 5:01
sunset.
Wednesday Night.
Cold !

Mostly Clear

Mostly clear, with a low around -5.

and

-5 degrees , -15 max wind chill, 7:14
sunrise.
Thursday.
Cold !

Mostly Sunny

Mostly sunny.

and

21 degrees , -14 max wind chill, 5:02
sunset.
Thursday Night.
Cold !

Mostly Cloudy

Mostly cloudy.

and

8 degrees , 1 max wind chill, 7:13
sunrise.
Friday.
Cold !

Mostly Cloudy

Mostly cloudy.

and

29 degrees , 8 max wind chill, 5:03
sunset.
Friday Night.
Cold !

Mostly Cloudy

Mostly cloudy.

and

14 degrees , 5 max wind chill, 7:12
sunrise.
Saturday.
Cold !

Partly Sunny

Partly sunny.

and

27 degrees , 5 max wind chill, 5:04
sunset.

Good Morning – January 23, 2022

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Good morning! Happy National Cheese Lovers Day 🧀 !

I mean who can be opposed to globs of dairy fat? I mean, you know all those chubby dairymen who burn like 5,000 calories a day shoveling manure and feed, but still are chubby over all that muscle.

Mostly cloudy and 20 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a south-southeast breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. There are 2 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at Tuesday around noontime. 🌡️

I was hoping to get out to Five Rivers yesterday afternoon, 🐦 but after it finally warmed up a bit, I was summoned to the office downtown to do some work. It’s just been a busy time with work, a lot of research and numbers they’ve been asking for lately. 🤖

So yes, I was downtown most of the afternoon. 👩‍💼 I could have gone to Five Rivers in the morning, but it was so bitterly cold. Sunny, but the mercury around negative 8. But at least I got the heat turned up in my apartment before it got cold out, so it’s been fairly comfortable in my apartment — I have barely turned my space heater over the past two days. I also find that the best way to use the heated blanket is to turn it on briefly before bed, get it nice and warm, then turn it off until I wake either in the morning or night when I’m cold. Actually keeping my bed cooler makes it easier to sleep. 💤

Finally took out the trash downstairs. 🗑 I’ve been regularly taking out the recycling ♻️ and the food waste 🍏 but hadn’t bothered with the actual trash, as over the past month it could barely fill a small plastic shopping bag, back when such things were common. I tend to have more trash in the summer months when I don’t bother with separating out things that are burnable except for paper to keep it dry. 🔥 But then again, it rarely accumulates more then two or three weeks and in many cases, when I’m up in the woods, it’s gone within an hour or two of being created.