COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Malarkey Decider]

https://twitter.com/ErinBurnett/status/1422707825265020928
Start chilling the champagne.

This is huge. Could encourage an additional 3-5% to get vaccinated. Every person counts.

[Frodo]

https://twitter.com/ErinBurnett/status/1422707825265020928
Start chilling the champagne.

When I first saw the headline, I thought they were talking about that third booster shot.  

All in all, a positive development, and a necessary step to eventually imposing a vaccine mandate nationally.  People would be more amenable to both the vaccine and a federal mandate if it had the imprimatur of the Food & Drug Administration on it.  

[jamestroll]

I am excited that kids will be back in school nation wide this month! Almost unanimous.

Also I am pleased that Virginia law requires in person instruction now.

[LabourJersey]

An interesting poll that shows who the vaccinated and the unvaccinated blame for the current surge in covid cases

Very small sample, but I want to meet some of those unvaccinated people who blame...themselves?...for rising cases.

I guess those are people who have only now recognized the dangers and regret not getting a vaccine yet?

I was one of them. I was hesitant about the vaccine (general anxiety about needles) and simply avoided going out at all until I was ready so I didn't contribute to the spread.

I see--makes sense then.

[Meclazine for Israel]

So now there's a lambda variant? This is just getting silly.

I can safely say this coming up right when I'm finally feeling confident to go out again really isn't good for the anxiety.

Turn off the news and you'll be fine.  Fully vaccinated people are not dying in record numbers.  In fact, they aren't really dying at all.  You might get a cold... so what? You're more likely to get into a fatal auto accident or be a victim of gun violence.  Seriously~!

I have literal anxiety and panic disorder so rationalizing it away doesn't work unfortunately. I've also permanently ceased going on various main roads around here due to a few close calls. If anything checking the news (at least Atlas, I've avoided cable news already for years prior) is removing unknowns and what ifs that I'd otherwise dwell on.

It's just frustrating feeling just as I feel able to overcome one worry, here comes another possible one.

Try this. I had an old girlfriend on the weekend talking herself into oblivion over COVID-19 over the phone. I actually had to stop her and say she needs to pay attention to other things.

Just make a rule. No negative self-talk.

What happens with the vast majority of humans is when things start going bad, the brain predicts things will get worse. Unequivocally, when events go really well, human beings will continue to predict that the future will go even better (and go and buy a rolex and a sports car on credit).

So with the COVID-19 thing, people enter a downward negative trend, and when it is over, they are still trapped in that mental mindset, and unless they have friends and family to lift their spirits, it's almost impossible to break quickly.

The trick is to stop any "negative self-talk".

It sounds simply, but it's not very easy.

But one needs to only say positive things, dont think negative thoughts about others (even in your own private mind) and change the topic and/or avoid talking about COVID altogether.

That really helps me break that cycle of negativity feeding back into itself after I experience a negative experience in life.

[GeneralMacArthur]

https://twitter.com/ErinBurnett/status/1422707825265020928
Start chilling the champagne.

When I first saw the headline, I thought they were talking about that third booster shot.  

All in all, a positive development, and a necessary step to eventually imposing a vaccine mandate nationally.  People would be more amenable to both the vaccine and a federal mandate if it had the imprimatur of the Food & Drug Administration on it.  

I wish they'd do redundancy tests.  It seems pretty clear at this point that Pfizer is the big winner in the vaccine war, and we can easily make enough to vaccinate everyone.  For people like me who got J+J, there's a lot of us who'd like to take Pfizer as well, not only because it's more effective but also because all the subsequent R+D is probably going to be using Pfizer as a baseline (booster shots, etc.) and I want in on that.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Last year when Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year's were canceled, our overlords said not to worry, because everything would be normal this year.

But now they're saying it'll probably all be canceled this year too.

I don't have the articles handy, but I saw this a week or two ago.

[emailking]

WHO calls for a moratorium on booster shots

The World Health Organization is calling for a moratorium on Covid-19 vaccine booster shots until at least the end of September, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday. 

“Even while hundreds of millions of people are still waiting for their first dose, some rich countries are moving towards booster doses,” Tedros said. “So far more than 4 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally. More than 80% have gone to high and upper middle income countries, even though they account for less than half of the world’s population.”

Germany, the UK, and Israel have all announced plans to provide booster shots for certain vulnerable populations.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-08-04-21/h_ac3c02e64fbb8b0bd50ccd5073493b1a

[Mr. Morden]

Not sure if this is happening elsewhere in the US as well, or if this is a one-off:

https://sfist.com/2021/08/03/if-you-got-the-johnson-johnson-shot-sf-general-will-give-you-a-supplemental/

Starting later this week, if you received the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you're eligible to drop into the vaccination clinic at SF General and get a "supplemental" mRNA vaccine dose — but don't call it a booster.

The decision was made Monday by Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG) and San Francisco's Department of Public Health (SFDPH), as ABC 7 reports, following multiple reports that the J&J vaccine may not be as effective in preventing infection from the Delta variant as mRNA-based Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. With the first variants of COVID-19 that were spreading last year, the J&J vaccine was seen as highly effective in preventing severe illness, but new data suggests that the mRNA vaccines provide strong protection against what appears to be a stronger and more infectious variant.

But they are being careful to call it a "supplemental dose," not a booster.

[Not Me, Us]

Not sure if this is happening elsewhere in the US as well, or if this is a one-off:

https://sfist.com/2021/08/03/if-you-got-the-johnson-johnson-shot-sf-general-will-give-you-a-supplemental/

Starting later this week, if you received the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you're eligible to drop into the vaccination clinic at SF General and get a "supplemental" mRNA vaccine dose — but don't call it a booster.

The decision was made Monday by Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG) and San Francisco's Department of Public Health (SFDPH), as ABC 7 reports, following multiple reports that the J&J vaccine may not be as effective in preventing infection from the Delta variant as mRNA-based Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. With the first variants of COVID-19 that were spreading last year, the J&J vaccine was seen as highly effective in preventing severe illness, but new data suggests that the mRNA vaccines provide strong protection against what appears to be a stronger and more infectious variant.

But they are being careful to call it a "supplemental dose," not a booster.

Are they only getting one dose or the full two dose set?

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

WHO calls for a moratorium on booster shots

The World Health Organization is calling for a moratorium on Covid-19 vaccine booster shots until at least the end of September, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday. 

“Even while hundreds of millions of people are still waiting for their first dose, some rich countries are moving towards booster doses,” Tedros said. “So far more than 4 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally. More than 80% have gone to high and upper middle income countries, even though they account for less than half of the world’s population.”

Germany, the UK, and Israel have all announced plans to provide booster shots for certain vulnerable populations.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-08-04-21/h_ac3c02e64fbb8b0bd50ccd5073493b1a

Yeah, that'll be a no.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

WHO calls for a moratorium on booster shots

The World Health Organization is calling for a moratorium on Covid-19 vaccine booster shots until at least the end of September, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.  

“Even while hundreds of millions of people are still waiting for their first dose, some rich countries are moving towards booster doses,” Tedros said. “So far more than 4 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally. More than 80% have gone to high and upper middle income countries, even though they account for less than half of the world’s population.”

Germany, the UK, and Israel have all announced plans to provide booster shots for certain vulnerable populations.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-08-04-21/h_ac3c02e64fbb8b0bd50ccd5073493b1a

So between this announcement by the WHO and this article I saw about a golfer's reasons for not getting vaccinated:

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/31958173/bryson-dechambeau-returns-being-covid-positive-regret-not-getting-vaccinated

...it occurred to me that some people in the US may still be hesitant about getting the vaccine because they are worried about denying a scarce dose that could be going to someone in greater need, especially in a less privileged country.  

This is especially true given that so much of the discussion around vaccines in the first half of the year revolved around the ethics of vaccine access for various groups, and how this was tied up with notions of privilege, both within the US and across countries.  

So if someone's argument for not being vaccinated is "I'm young and healthy and privileged, and I'd like the vaccine dose to go to someone who has less access to health care and who is more likely to be affected by the virus", how do we counter that?  And given the recent WHO statement, should we try to counter it?

[GeorgiaModerate]

WHO calls for a moratorium on booster shots

The World Health Organization is calling for a moratorium on Covid-19 vaccine booster shots until at least the end of September, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.  

“Even while hundreds of millions of people are still waiting for their first dose, some rich countries are moving towards booster doses,” Tedros said. “So far more than 4 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally. More than 80% have gone to high and upper middle income countries, even though they account for less than half of the world’s population.”

Germany, the UK, and Israel have all announced plans to provide booster shots for certain vulnerable populations.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-08-04-21/h_ac3c02e64fbb8b0bd50ccd5073493b1a

So between this announcement by the WHO and this article I saw about a golfer's reasons for not getting vaccinated:

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/31958173/bryson-dechambeau-returns-being-covid-positive-regret-not-getting-vaccinated

...it occurred to me that some people in the US may still be hesitant about getting the vaccine because they are worried about denying a scarce dose that could be going to someone in greater need, especially in a less privileged country.  

This is especially true given that so much of the discussion around vaccines in the first half of the year revolved around the ethics of vaccine access for various groups, and how this was tied up with notions of privilege, both within the US and across countries.  

So if someone's argument for not being vaccinated is "I'm young and healthy and privileged, and I'd like the vaccine dose to go to someone who has less access to health care and who is more likely to be affected by the virus", how do we counter that?  And given the recent WHO statement, should we try to counter it?

I would be sympathetic to this argument only from those who pledge to never come into contact with any other people in their community.  Remember that it's not just their own health they're risking by not getting vaccinated.  It doesn't matter if they're young and healthy; that doesn't help the older or immunocompromised person they subsequently infect.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Microsoft said Tuesday it will require employees to be vaccinated against the coronavirus in order to enter its U.S. offices, starting in September. The software company will also seek proof of vaccination for vendors and guests visiting the campus.

The move comes a week after U.S. government agencies and other technology companies said they will require vaccinations for workers, as the delta variant of the virus becomes more common in the country.

Microsoft said its U.S. facilities will have a full reopening no earlier than Oct. 4.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/03/microsoft-will-require-vaccines-for-us-workers-vendors-visitors.html

[It’s so Joever]

The statement from the World Health Organization is sensible. I don't understand how most of the people clamoring for more restrictions expect this to end.

Maybe they would understand if we had not begun referring to the India variant with a euphemism. There is no good reason why Americans should be getting booster shots that provide marginally increased protection while elderly people in poorer countries are denied a chance at anything. Rich countries will not embrace this logic, but an international organization should be insisting on it.

? How does calling it Delta make it worse? You’re out of straws, I don’t even know what you are grasping for anymore.
I don’t even disagree with you on booster shots, but you had to turn a decent post into this for what?

[Calthrina950]

The statement from the World Health Organization is sensible. I don't understand how most of the people clamoring for more restrictions expect this to end.

Maybe they would understand if we had not begun referring to the India variant with a euphemism. There is no good reason why Americans should be getting booster shots that provide marginally increased protection while elderly people in poorer countries are denied a chance at anything. Rich countries will not embrace this logic, but an international organization should be insisting on it.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. I myself have said before that people in poorer countries would literally crawl over broken glass to obtain access to the vaccines which so many of us in America have taken for granted. The WHO has been wrong about many things, but they are taking the correct position on this issue.

[Gass3268]

Military to institute vaccine mandate soon.

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1423028548281974786?s=20

[Gass3268]

Vaccine mandate working in New York City.

https://twitter.com/JStein_WaPo/status/1423025229312503810?s=20

[roxas11]

The false equivalence between the "systemic racism" of disproportionate impact and Jim Crow is silly, but no sillier than much of what the equity-obsessed have been peddling over the past year. It was dumb when Joe Biden described Georgia's voting laws in those terms too.

Anyway, it's wrong to force this on businesses, it's wrong to force this on patrons, and it would be wrong even if there were not substantial ethnic disparities in vaccination rates. Let's not concede that point.

...they've done it again. It's not just a classic Atlas gotcha anymore. Boston's mayor has rejected the idea of applying a similar mandate in her city, comparing vaccine papers to slave papers:

https://twitter.com/RyanDEnos/status/1422867209697779713?s=20

E: Granted, it's not totally clear whether she means only to make a point about disparate impact. There's also a tinge of "our government has a history that proves that civil liberties are a vital safeguard against abuses of public trust." Which is true

The Boston mayor still seems to be under the delusion that she can convince people to take vaccine simply by begging them to do it lol

The fact is the reason we are even talking about vaccine mandates in the first place is because the covid lotteries and simply encouraging people to go get vaccinated has failed. Maybe that kind of approach would have worked 20 years ago, but in an era of Facebook disinformation we are going need more than just words and covid lotteries if we really want to get more people vaccinated

[Lief 🗽]

First they demanded that we close schools for a year until vaccines were available.

Then they demanded that they be first in line for the vaccine.

Now they demand no vaccine mandates!!

Abolish teachers unions and fire, without pensions, all teachers who refuse to get vaccinated.

https://twitter.com/musicsf/status/1423044387601207301?s=21

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

First they demanded that we close schools for a year until vaccines were available.

Then they demanded that they be first in line for the vaccine.

Now they demand no vaccine mandates!!

Abolish teachers unions.

https://twitter.com/musicsf/status/1423044387601207301?s=21

It's weird how people are acting like we've never mandated vaccines for schools before.

[Mr. Morden]

WHO calls for a moratorium on booster shots

The World Health Organization is calling for a moratorium on Covid-19 vaccine booster shots until at least the end of September, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.  

“Even while hundreds of millions of people are still waiting for their first dose, some rich countries are moving towards booster doses,” Tedros said. “So far more than 4 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally. More than 80% have gone to high and upper middle income countries, even though they account for less than half of the world’s population.”

Germany, the UK, and Israel have all announced plans to provide booster shots for certain vulnerable populations.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-08-04-21/h_ac3c02e64fbb8b0bd50ccd5073493b1a

So between this announcement by the WHO and this article I saw about a golfer's reasons for not getting vaccinated:

https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/31958173/bryson-dechambeau-returns-being-covid-positive-regret-not-getting-vaccinated

...it occurred to me that some people in the US may still be hesitant about getting the vaccine because they are worried about denying a scarce dose that could be going to someone in greater need, especially in a less privileged country.  

This is especially true given that so much of the discussion around vaccines in the first half of the year revolved around the ethics of vaccine access for various groups, and how this was tied up with notions of privilege, both within the US and across countries.  

So if someone's argument for not being vaccinated is "I'm young and healthy and privileged, and I'd like the vaccine dose to go to someone who has less access to health care and who is more likely to be affected by the virus", how do we counter that?  And given the recent WHO statement, should we try to counter it?

I would be sympathetic to this argument only from those who pledge to never come into contact with any other people in their community.  Remember that it's not just their own health they're risking by not getting vaccinated.  It doesn't matter if they're young and healthy; that doesn't help the older or immunocompromised person they subsequently infect.

But that's true of all the people in other countries who are not getting the vaccine because rich countries are hoarding so many of the doses.  If we actually cared about doing the most good worldwide instead of just in the US, then why wouldn't we prioritize sending doses of the vaccine to wherever in the world it would do the most good, ahead of young and healthy people in the US?

[Inmate Trump]

I've been exposed to someone who was exposed.

Me and the person who was exposed are fully vaccinated.

The person who was exposed was around the sick person about 10-15 minutes on Monday, before they knew they had covid.  Found out today the girl has covid.

I was around the person who was exposed at various times, sometimes close contact, yesterday and today.

I'm worried, and I'm not sure if I should be.  Guess I'm hoping someone here can reassure me.

[Frodo]

I work out at a gym without wearing a mask, and I am sure there are people there who are unvaccinated, or those who have been exposed to those who are.  Given I am healthy and fully vaccinated with two recommended Pfizer doses, I don't let it bother me.  In fact, the only time I put on a mask is when I am using public transit. 

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I've been exposed to someone who was exposed.

Me and the person who was exposed are fully vaccinated.

The person who was exposed was around the sick person about 10-15 minutes on Monday, before they knew they had covid.  Found out today the girl has covid.

I was around the person who was exposed at various times, sometimes close contact, yesterday and today.

I'm worried, and I'm not sure if I should be.  Guess I'm hoping someone here can reassure me.

Considering I go to Kroger every couple days without a mask, and am vaccinated, I think you're safe.