COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[brucejoel99]

The CDC is evidently starting to feel as if they're able to actually do their jobs again:

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1329476104067952641

[brucejoel99]

I had a great work out in the gym in the middle of the night last night! And this evening I will order take out from subway. But only to spite the pro-lockdown people!

Ordering take out from subway to own the libs.

Not to mention, in what remotely logical &/or rational way does ordering take-out even serve to "spite the pro-lockdown people?" Ordering take-out has literally been the recommended method of consuming restaurant food since the start of the pandemic.

[brucejoel99]

https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1334482802121781251

I'd be happy to get my vaccine on camera too if it moves me up the priority list.
Clinton and Bush are elderly, but I don't see any reason why Obama would be able to get a vaccine before the healthy general public in April or May.

So did you just not read the linked article then? Because you clearly didn't if you think this means he's higher up the priority list than (& therefore getting the vaccine before) the healthy general public, since he's literally quoted in it as saying that "I promise you that when it's been made [available] for people who are less at risk, I will be taking it."

[brucejoel99]

Meanwhile, on Earth 2, Gov. Chris King has actually been caring about fighting the pandemic.

[brucejoel99]

Trump fixated on his own political fate as virus kills record number of Americans

[...]

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-fixated-political-fate-virus-kills-record-number/story?id=74536821

The GA rally tomorrow will be crazy. There'll be so much rambling & whining about how he's such a victim. I expect very little mention of COVID & wouldn't be surprised if he even forgets that he's there to help Perdue/Loeffler.

[brucejoel99]

COVID helped Biden, not Trump. Trump would have won if not for COVID.

COVID could have been a gift to Trump if he and his administration acted competently and smart though. Just look at how his approval rating spiked when the pandemic first started. That was a sign that Americans, regardless of their personal feelings towards him, were looking to him to finally prove himself as a leader and he failed miserably in turn by getting overconfident and shooting himself in the foot (as always) by prioritizing shallow concepts like the stock market over transparency and public health. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Additionally when that was finally evident (probably beginning with the infamous "inject disinfect" press conference) Biden was then able to be that leader Americans looked to, especially Democrats. Trump handed him a real opportunity to have a coherent, unifying message and major contrast. As I saw it, the pandemic was what really caused Biden skeptics from the primary, among others like anti-Trump Republicans some of whom turned Independents or Democrats as well, to embrace him and unite behind him against Trump's failed leadership.

Honestly, given the final closeness in crucial states like GA, AZ, & WI, a Trump win wouldn't have even required him finally proving himself as a leader as you describe so much as literally just going so far as to maybe wear a mask every now & then, & maybe giving an extra sh*t or 2 about a Sept. stimulus check. That he couldn't just further proves what a complete dumbass he is, always has been, & always will be.

[brucejoel99]

The CDC has been given broad statutory authority (an intelligible principle, if you will, for anybody who knows about the nondelegation doctrine) to take actions deemed reasonably necessary to prevent the spread of a communicable disease. This would clearly constitute such an action.

[brucejoel99]

I don't think masks are going away anytime this year. And if SARS-CoV-2 becomes endemic (as is expected now) like the cold and flu, it's quite likely mask-wearing will become the cultural norm, especially and particularly during flare-ups. That doesn't mean shutdowns. It just means wear your mask, wash your hands, and use common sense. The rest of the world is going to have to take a page from Asian countries on that one. That's not a bad thing though.

Maybe they'll still be required in places like airports, congregate care facilities, doctor's offices, & the like, but even though mask-wearing would obviously still be beneficial in such a circumstance from a public health perspective, it's naive to believe that peer pressure & ridicule won't kill masks - at least here in the U.S. - as soon as the general public has gotten their vaccine & they feel safe once again. Remember: if the irresponsible didn't care about it during the pandemic, then they sure as hell won't be caring about it after either.

[brucejoel99]

I don't think masks are going away anytime this year. And if SARS-CoV-2 becomes endemic (as is expected now) like the cold and flu, it's quite likely mask-wearing will become the cultural norm, especially and particularly during flare-ups. That doesn't mean shutdowns. It just means wear your mask, wash your hands, and use common sense. The rest of the world is going to have to take a page from Asian countries on that one. That's not a bad thing though.

Maybe they'll still be required in places like airports, congregate care facilities, doctor's offices, & the like, but even though mask-wearing would obviously still be beneficial in such a circumstance from a public health perspective, it's naive to believe that peer pressure & ridicule won't kill masks - at least here in the U.S. - as soon as the general public has gotten their vaccine & they feel safe once again. Remember: if the irresponsible didn't care about it during the pandemic, then they sure as hell won't be caring about it after either.

I would hope you're wrong about that. Maybe I am naïve, but I can't remember the last time I've seen someone in public without a mask. These mandates have been in place for a long time now in most places. It's really one of the easiest parts of dealing with this too. Vaccines aren't going to return us to where we were before the pandemic. As I said, if it becomes endemic as many believe, maybe mask-wearing in public will have to return during certain flare-ups like during winter. It also has the added bonus of generally protecting people from the cold and flu as well.

Try living in a (non-Atlas) red state.

[brucejoel99]

Thank you Senator, very cool!

https://twitter.com/ryanstruyk/status/1367515798735097862

[brucejoel99]

The "if yours works, why do I need one" argument has been debunked many times in this thread.

So you're saying that the facts don't care about their feelings?

[brucejoel99]

If covid turns out to be endemic, like many of thinking now, what exactly will that mean for our way of life going forward?  Are we gonna have to hole up in our homes indefinitely or will it end up being not that big of a deal even if it IS endemic?

No, we're not gonna have to hole up in our homes indefinitely. Yes, it'll end up being not that big of a deal even when it's endemic.

Normalcy is coming back: endemic means that some people will still get it with localized outbreaks, but its impact on our pre-COVID day-to-day life will be very minimal. That is, it'd be endemic in much the same way that the flu is endemic (or, more aptly, in much the same way that the other 4 coronavirus relatives became common colds), wherein it's not going anywhere, but everybody is able to deal with it moving forward to such a substantially significant extent that its existence is no longer detrimental to the functioning of society, not least because the vaccines work against all of the known mutations & the virus is never again gonna have as many chances to randomly mutate as it did over this past year (it actually doesn't mutate all that fast to begin with; it's just had way, way too many hosts this past year, but once you've vaccinated 60+% of the planet, it'll obviously have far fewer potential hosts). Depending on how long the immunity gained from the vaccine lasts, an annual COVID shot similar to the annual flu shot would likely become a thing. IIRC, Moderna is even working on a two-in-one (hopefully an mRNA-based flu vaccine would also be more effective than the standard one, but development may take a bit of time).