COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[2952-0-0]

Even the best US response, where the people are as single-mindedly unified as after 9/11, would still have led to 50,000 deaths.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

If the Omicron variant is truly much less lethal than other variant, we should be encouraging it’s spread, not discouraging it. 

Ultimately, everyone is going to be infected with some form of covid, so the best case scenario is to be vaccinated, have effective treatments available, and be infected with a mild strain.   

Now that we have the Pfizer pill and potentially a relatively harmless strain, it seems like we are approaching that best case.

[soundchaser]

https://twitter.com/BNODesk/status/1464734073897766919?s=20

Which has always been the case: older, unvaccinated people are at high risk of severe disease from pretty much any form of the virus. Still nothing doom and gloom worthy yet.

[YE]

Guys it’s way too soon to conclude anything about this new variant when there’s barely been 100 cases.

[TheTide]

This seems to have bought the idiots who think that lockdowns are a force of nature rather than a government policy option put of the woodwork.

[politicallefty]

We'd be getting through this easily if a significant portion of the country wasn't downright dumb-f-ck stupid. Unfortunately, that's where we are. I think we need to reprioritize the unvaccinated to the back of the line in terms of medical care.

I'm pro-vaccine and I'm also pro-mask, but I'm not pro-lockdown. If we want to defeat the virus or at least beat it down, we need to use every tool we have. The easiest tools are vaccines and masks. Even if it's not masks everywhere, at least as much as possible. At least wear them when you're out shopping, like at the grocery store. Even the current Delta variant is still running rampant right now.

[Inmate Trump]

This seems to have bought the idiots who think that lockdowns are a force of nature rather than a government policy option put of the woodwork.

Who here thinks that?

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

RS trying to use Covid to they're political advantage it's not the same it's Delta, we couldn't go to bars or sports games in 20 we're doing that and no mass deaths in nursing homes

Its Delta a lesser steam brought in by immigrants it started in TX, stop with blaming Biden and he got people vaccinated

[parochial boy]

Code:

The cost of doing nothing is so great that governments need to be going at least as far as they are now. If Omicron does turn out not to be more dangerous than Delta or even somehow less dangerous, that's great but it's better to take a precautionary approach and act to prevent the pessimistic scenario when our knowledge is so poor.

Really?  What are the costs of doing nothing, exactly?  And what are these effective measures governments need to take - more masks?  They've worked so well to stem the tide of Delta (not), I'm sure they'll be effective against a variant that is far, far more infectious.  Travel bans?  Its already in Europe, across multiple countries.  Its almost certainly already on every continent by now.  The last thing governments should do is ineffective, virtue signalling travel bans and NPIs just to make it look like they're "doing something" to their scared, sheep populaces.

Mass death and lockdowns obviously. The cost of preventing the pandemic at the very beginning, or keeping out later variants, is so much less than the cost that America has ultimately suffered.

Or what? Like it or not, Covid is becoming an endemic disease and we are beyond the possibility of ever eradicating it. So what are we supposed to do? React like this to every new variant and make this an annual tradition for ever and ever and ever? Because now we have the vaccine and the ability to adapt that vaccine within weeks for what is, at the end of the day not the deadliest of diseases - we are going to have to accept that that is the only way we are going to be able to control the disease without restricting ourselves forever on the hope that it someday goes away.

Because like it nor not, lockdowns and travel bans are not cost free options. And the more we do them, the heavier and heavier those costs become relative to the actual costs of the disease. Especially for people who are isolated or vulnerable; or who are lower income; or those of us with families abroad. I missed my grandfather passing away because of travel restrictions earlier this year, I have just lost the opportunity to meet my nephew for the first time because of the hysterical overreaction to this variant. Plenty of other people have far, farworse or more harrowing stories because of the fact that some people have developed and irrealistic overreaction to what is becoming a treatable disease.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Code:

The cost of doing nothing is so great that governments need to be going at least as far as they are now. If Omicron does turn out not to be more dangerous than Delta or even somehow less dangerous, that's great but it's better to take a precautionary approach and act to prevent the pessimistic scenario when our knowledge is so poor.

Really?  What are the costs of doing nothing, exactly?  And what are these effective measures governments need to take - more masks?  They've worked so well to stem the tide of Delta (not), I'm sure they'll be effective against a variant that is far, far more infectious.  Travel bans?  Its already in Europe, across multiple countries.  Its almost certainly already on every continent by now.  The last thing governments should do is ineffective, virtue signalling travel bans and NPIs just to make it look like they're "doing something" to their scared, sheep populaces.

Mass death and lockdowns obviously. The cost of preventing the pandemic at the very beginning, or keeping out later variants, is so much less than the cost that America has ultimately suffered.

Or what? Like it or not, Covid is becoming an endemic disease and we are beyond the possibility of ever eradicating it. So what are we supposed to do? React like this to every new variant and make this an annual tradition for ever and ever and ever? Because now we have the vaccine and the ability to adapt that vaccine within weeks for what is, at the end of the day not the deadliest of diseases - we are going to have to accept that that is the only way we are going to be able to control the disease without restricting ourselves forever on the hope that it someday goes away.

Because like it nor not, lockdowns and travel bans are not cost free options. And the more we do them, the heavier and heavier those costs become relative to the actual costs of the disease. Especially for people who are isolated or vulnerable; or who are lower income; or those of us with families abroad. I missed my grandfather passing away because of travel restrictions earlier this year, I have just lost the opportunity to meet my nephew for the first time because of the hysterical overreaction to this variant. Plenty of other people have far, farworse or more harrowing stories because of the fact that some people have developed and irrealistic overreaction to what is becoming a treatable disease.

Honestly, this take is also my take. If our reaction and response to a new development with COVID today is a response we would be uncomfortable taking in three years (i.e., “I don’t want to be wearing a mask in 2024!”), we should be uncomfortable taking it now, too, because as far as I’m concerned, the COVID situation is now going to be the same forever.

[BigSerg]

South African President Ramaphosa on Omicron:

- It has far more mutations than other variants
- It's responsible for most infections across country
- Our scientists working hard to gather more data, including vaccine effectiveness
- 4th wave likely if cases continue to rise

[Skunk]

I am about to roll around on the floor and scream!!

Relax.

https://twitter.com/sailorrooscout/status/1464622927333232640?s=20

Chise has consistently given the most level headed and professional responses to COVID-19 compared to most public health officials, which is incredible given she's a furry on Twitter.

[Mr.Phips]

South African President Ramaphosa on Omicron:

- It has far more mutations than other variants
- It's responsible for most infections across country
- Our scientists working hard to gather more data, including vaccine effectiveness
- 4th wave likely if cases continue to rise

And I’m sure you are loving this.

[emailking]

Chise has consistently given the most level headed and professional responses to COVID-19 compared to most public health officials, which is incredible given she's a furry on Twitter.

We don't know that she's right though.

[Skunk]

Chise has consistently given the most level headed and professional responses to COVID-19 compared to most public health officials, which is incredible given she's a furry on Twitter.

We don't know that she's right though.

She helped work on the Moderna vaccine so I trust her opinion much more than talking heads freaking out about Omicron being "vaccine proof."

https://twitter.com/snolen/status/1464226629530624017

[BigSerg]

Chise has consistently given the most level headed and professional responses to COVID-19 compared to most public health officials, which is incredible given she's a furry on Twitter.

We don't know that she's right though.

Chise is fool, just ignore her

[emailking]

Chise has consistently given the most level headed and professional responses to COVID-19 compared to most public health officials, which is incredible given she's a furry on Twitter.

We don't know that she's right though.

She helped work on the Moderna vaccine so I trust her opinion much more than talking heads freaking out about Omicron being "vaccine proof."

She's just posting a quote. We don't know that that person is right.

[BigSerg]

https://twitter.com/BNODesk/status/1465076600836345860?s=20

[soundchaser]

Chise has consistently given the most level headed and professional responses to COVID-19 compared to most public health officials, which is incredible given she's a furry on Twitter.

We don't know that she's right though.

Chise is fool, just ignore her

Good to hear your perspective - let me know when you next work to develop a COVID vaccine.

[Person Man]

South African President Ramaphosa on Omicron:

- It has far more mutations than other variants
- It's responsible for most infections across country
- Our scientists working hard to gather more data, including vaccine effectiveness
- 4th wave likely if cases continue to rise

And I’m sure you are loving this.

The GOP is turning into 12 Monkeys.

[pbrower2a]

If the Omicron variant is truly much less lethal than other variant, we should be encouraging it’s spread, not discouraging it. 

Ultimately, everyone is going to be infected with some form of covid, so the best case scenario is to be vaccinated, have effective treatments available, and be infected with a mild strain.   

Now that we have the Pfizer pill and potentially a relatively harmless strain, it seems like we are approaching that best case.

It could be that the previous variants have already picked off the most vulnerable people. To be sure, people will develop congestive heart failure and late-stage cancers. People with compromised immune systems or who have acted irresponsibly may have died due to earlier variants.

The tendency for almost all viral infections is to evolve into more communicable strains that are less likely to kill. Cadavers, if sealed away in caskets or especially if cremated, cannot spread a viral infection so easily as can the clueless people who are the "Typhoid Marys" of the time.

Some of us remember when HIV/AIDS was a death sentence. It is still to be avoided.   

[It’s so Joever]

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/covid-variant-threat-worldwide-scramble-81417682

Looks like the early “omicron is super mild” talking point was premature.

[Gracile]

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/covid-variant-threat-worldwide-scramble-81417682

Looks like the early “omicron is super mild” talking point was premature.

This article is from yesterday and pretty much states everything we already know about the new variant (spreading rapidly to predominantly young and unvaccinated people in South Africa) - while saying little about the severity of its symptoms for fully vaccinated people or if these patients' illnesses could be attributed to Omicron specifically.

Of course, that didn't stop you from proceeding with your pathetic need to doom with misleading, hyperbolic posts in a time when we should be waiting for scientists to provide more objective data.

[Sestak]

oMacron is fake news, overblown as usual by our lockdown-addicted media class. Not surprised the usual suspects here are Chicken Littling it as always.

[Matty]

Israeli doctors seeing the same thing South African docs are seeing

Omicron variant is producing very mild but distinct symptoms