【Editor's Note】
Xu Xiaofei, a contributing author of The Paper (www.thepaper.cn), has traveled from One Outbreak Center, New York, to Paris, another, since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic. Despite receiving three doses of the vaccine, he contracted Opichron in late 2021 and is fortunately recovering. This article is his personal feelings after being infected with Amiqueron, as well as his observations on the epidemic prevention measures in Paris.
In Paris in mid-December 2021, gray is the main tone – gloomy weather, wet stone bricks after cold rains, tight coats and scarves for passers-by. Still, the gradual hanging of Christmas decorations on the streets embellishes the joy of the city, and everyone is planning their Own Christmas and New Year holidays – reunions with their families, gifts under the Christmas tree. The first discovery of the New Coronavirus variant of Aumechjong in South Africa was already spreading in Europe by this time. However, unlike last year's panic in the face of the alpha variant, this time everyone has basically received two doses of the new crown vaccine. In the face of the highly contagious Omiljung, the overall response of French society is still calm - vaccinations, the use of health codes according to the requirements of the government, and peace of mind.
Among the peaceful citizens of Paris was me. For the sake of my work, I have been tracking and reporting the spread of Aumicron in Europe, and I have also booked my own date for the reinforcement needle. Life goes on, it's time to work, it's time to drink and drink, and everything is quiet. After French Prime Minister Castel announced that all nightclubs in France would be closed from mid-December, I joked with my friends that it was good not to jump in December, and that I had booked a New Year's holiday in Athens and could not get sick before.
however...... Flags really can't be erected casually...
On the night of December 14, I suddenly felt a sore throat when I came home from work, and for a day or two I had obvious cold symptoms: nasal congestion, headache, fatigue, and sore limbs. Because there is no fever and no loss of smell or taste, I don't think it's a big problem. However, out of social responsibility, I decided to do a quick test. After experiencing the first few times I poked my nose after the outbreak began, I was walking home from the pharmacy, thinking about where to go to buy Christmas trees. The phone vibrates slightly, and the text message indicates that my test results are out. After entering my birthday and password, what I saw was not the familiar green, but a red reminder I had never seen before:
"You tested positive for Covid-19 on December 16, 2021 at 11:20 a.m."
"You have to self-isolate immediately for 10 days, starting on the day you first develop symptoms or, if there are no symptoms, from the day you test positive."
"Do not use your health code during this time."
Immediately afterwards I received a text message from the French health department reminding me that I must have been infected on December 12 and asking me to contact all those who had close contact during this period. I thought about it for a while, and on the 12th I happened to meet a friend. After contacting friends, he also went to test immediately, and the result was also positive, and the nucleic acid test after that showed that he was infected with Omicron.
Two years after the outbreak of the new crown pandemic, from New York to Paris, from one epidemic center to another, I finally hit the Omicron at the end of the 2021 spin.
I'm here to record my 10 days at home and against Opmikeron. I also hope that I can show up and say that everyone can rest assured that in the face of the highly contagious Omicron, as long as the vaccine is taken, there is basically no problem.
My positive test report. The pictures in this article are all provided by the author
Cold or COVID-19? Omikron is harder to tell
If you want to talk about the first characteristic of Aomi Kerong, it is naturally a change in symptoms. During the entire period of my infection, I did not have two typical SYMPTOMS: fever or loss of taste and smell. Instead, it was like I had a lengthy cold. Headaches, fatigue, cough, sore limbs, nasal congestion, and dizziness are common cold symptoms. Therefore, now Western countries are calling on people not to blindly believe that there is no fever or no loss of taste and smell to mean that they are not infected with the new crown, as long as there are cold symptoms, they will immediately go to rapid testing or home testing.
To say why I didn't develop severe symptoms, of course, is first and foremost thanks to the vaccine. I received two doses of the National Medicine vaccine in China in February this year, and then came to France to get another dose of Pfizer vaccine to meet the EU immunization requirements. Although I was infected before I had a booster injection at the end of the month, given that I was young and had no chronic diseases or respiratory problems, vaccination was enough to ensure that I did not develop severe symptoms.
And the friend who was infected with me, because I was unknowingly injected after the infection, the time of symptoms was shorter than mine, but after a slight cough for three or four days, it was completely fine. After that, he tested negative for antigen on December 23 and got rid of the new crown.
It is also because I did not have symptoms that were so serious that I interfered with normal life and rest, during the entire infection period, I was still working from home, and sometimes I was still replying to emails at ten o'clock at night, which may have delayed the recovery of my body, and I finally tested negative for antigens on December 25, Christmas morning. Although the symptoms of fatigue and headaches still persist, my doctor said that this is normal, I have defeated the new crown, I am no longer contagious, and I can move freely.
The Paris epidemic prevention system under the pressure of Aumicron
Although because of the protection of the vaccine, I did not develop serious symptoms during the entire period of COVID-19 infection. However, after this infection with the new crown, I was able to experience the French home epidemic prevention system first-hand. Because the epidemic in paris is too severe, it is also true that the system is gradually not working.
Because the French government encourages people, especially those who have received two doses of vaccines, to stay at home after infection with the new crown, the government has introduced a series of companionship measures. The results of the entire french test are networked with the Ministry of Health in real time. Less than half an hour after I tested positive, I received a text message from the French Ministry of Health reminding me that the health department staff would contact me as soon as possible, hoping that I would have my own list of close contacts ready to facilitate their notification. At the same time, the text message also told me that the health department staff would accompany me through the 10-day quarantine period, and that someone would call every three days to track my situation. I can also ask a nurse to come to the door for a check-up.
Of course, the ideal is very full, and the reality is very bone. I didn't receive a call from anyone until my 10-day quarantine expired. As for what to accompany through isolation, it is impossible to say. The reason is because the Ile-de-France region, where Paris is located, is the hardest hit area of the Aumechjong epidemic in France. On December 19, shortly after I became infected, the infection rate in Paris exceeded 1,000 people/100,000 inhabitants, far exceeding the 50/100,000 residents cordon set by the French government. In the 20-29-year-old range, the average infection rate in Paris from December 21 to December 27 reached a staggering 4623 people per 100,000 residents on the seventh day. That's to say that nearly 5 out of every 100 young people in the 20-year-old range in Paris are infected.
This is also in line with my personal feelings. For the first time since the outbreak, this is the first time I've seen so many friends or colleagues around me test positive in just one or two weeks. Friends who can't go home before Christmas because of a sudden covid-19 infection can't count with one hand.
Under such circumstances, it is not difficult to understand that the entire epidemic prevention tracking system in the Paris area has failed under heavy pressure. In the face of a tsunami of positive cases and their close contacts, the health authorities in Paris are completely out of touch. A friend of mine lives in Lille, north of Paris, and is the fourth largest city in France. He said his friends reported that the situation there was much better, and people who tested positive could basically get calls from the health department the same day.
It should be noted that after vaccination, most healthy adults infected with the Omikejong variant are actually no different from colds. Early reports from South Africa and the United Kingdom also showed a 70% drop in hospitalization rates for the Ami kerong variant compared to the Delta variant. At the same time, many patients infected with Omikejong, such as myself, no longer have the typical COVID-19 symptom of loss of taste or smell, which blurs the line between COVID-19 and influenza.
At the entrance to the emergency room at St. Louis's Hospital near my home, even in the face of an unprecedented number of cases, there is no COVID-19 crowd in the emergency room for the time being. It's all thanks to vaccines.
In the face of Omicron, we should be cautiously optimistic
However, it must be emphasized that all my experiences are based on the fact that I have been vaccinated. At the same time, as a young person without underlying diseases, I was not originally a high-risk group for COVID-19. The highly contagious Omekejon is dangerous for the elderly or unvaccinated populations. French Health Minister Verand reminded on December 23 that although the lethality of Aumechjong has been greatly reduced, because of its super contagiousness, the French medical system will still be under great pressure in the face of "three or four times the patient".
Therefore, in the face of Omicron, we should maintain a rational, cautious and optimistic attitude. After the vaccination, my personal experience showed that Aumechjong was not terrible. However, if It spreads widely, it will always increase the risk to high-risk groups. At this stage, the most important thing is to follow the government's instructions to vaccinate or strengthen the vaccine in a timely manner. In the face of COVID-19, vaccines remain our most important umbrella.
On the last day of 2021, I have left Paris for sunny Athens for a rare holiday. Just the day before, more than 200,000 confirmed cases had been reported across France. The next week or two will be a critical period for the French healthcare system. Whether the tsunami of confirmed covid-19 cases will lead to a surge in hospitalizations will be the news that France and Europe as a whole will pay the most attention in the new year.
(Xu Xiaofei, graduated from Columbia University School of Journalism, now living in Paris)