Has Omicron Peaked In Georgia?

While the Omicron variant is still pushing the country’s daily case reports to record levels, with more than 800,000 new infections being reported nationwide each day, infection levels seem to have peaked in some of the places that were hit first. Puerto Rico, Cleveland, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C. are among the places beginning to see improvement.

Here in Georgia, the average number of new cases per day began to skyrocket in late December, reaching over 20,000 new cases per day by January 13, twice the previous record.  But the rate of increase had already started to slow about a week prior to the January 13 peak and is now fluctuating around 18,000 cases per day, suggesting that this latest wave of infections may have peaked.  It remains to be seen if the average number of new cases starts to fall or not.  

With many people testing themselves with at-home tests and other infections going undetected, reported cases are an undercount of actual infections, but still are a general indicator of how the virus is spreading. 

Since the start of the year, I've had a phlegmy kind of cough.  It wasn't persistent, but when it hit I felt like I was clearing out my windpipe. It didn't seemed to have settled into my lungs. Since I hadn't experienced a fever or any other flu-like symptoms, and since I've been pretty much self-isolating anyway and wearing a KN-95 when I did go out, I didn't pay it much mind.

Then today, I noticed I couldn't smell my morning coffee.  I put my nose right over the mug and inhaled deeply.  I could feel the warm, moist air up in my nose and sinuses, but no coffee aroma.  Concerned, I went to the cupboard and opened the ground coffee package and that I could smell, but only faintly.  I was relieved when I opened a jar of salsa in the fridge and was able to smell that.

This afternoon I changed out the kitty litter per my usual routine, normally a fairly stinky job.  It's not that I wanted to smell the acrid stench of cat urine, but I couldn't help but notice that today I smelled nothing.  While not smelling the litter may be more of a blessing than a curse, it got me concerned again about potential covid-like symptoms.

I had a home test kit sent to me by the Fulton County (Georgia) Department of Health, so I went ahead and self-tested.  I swabbed out the nostrils as instructed and followed the directions on soaking the swab in the reagent and preparing the test strip.  I braced myself for the results.

Negative.  No evidence of covid-19 antibodies in my test sample.  Apparently, I'm healthy (or the victim of a false-positive test).

I understand that loss of smell can last weeks or even months after an infection.  I wonder if I didn't indeed have the Omicrons in the beginning of the month, when I was coughing that phlegmy cough, but have since recovered except for the loss of smell.

Public Service Announcement: As you probably know, the federal government is now distributing free at-home covid tests.  If you haven't already, go to covidtests.com and order your free kits - it's quick and easy, and will give you peace of mind if you can't smell your coffee or the cat's pee.