COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Blue3]

Let's see if we can last 6 months without a scary new variant making waves. It is the #3 cause of death in the US again.

[Horus]

Let's see if we can last 6 months without a scary new variant making waves. It is the #3 cause of death in the US again.

Do we have a heart disease or cancer thread stickied?

[emailking]

Or renamed The BA.2 Awakens.

[Blue3]

Let's see if we can last 6 months without a scary new variant making waves. It is the #3 cause of death in the US again.

Do we have a heart disease or cancer thread stickied?

Are they new, contagious pandemics?

[Inmate Trump]

COVID is endemic at this point, so we need to go back to 2019, in terms of public health measures, and no quarantining for asymptomatic, vaccinated individuals

I don't know.

We've been here before, where cases are really low only to see them rise exponentially again. It's too early to see it's endemic, IMO.

[GregTheGreat657]

COVID is endemic at this point, so we need to go back to 2019, in terms of public health measures, and no quarantining for asymptomatic, vaccinated individuals

I don't know.

We've been here before, where cases are really low only to see them rise exponentially again. It's too early to see it's endemic, IMO.

The most contagious variants have become the most dominant strains, and the case numbers have basically been flat over the past two months.

[Not Me, Us]

COVID is endemic at this point, so we need to go back to 2019, in terms of public health measures, and no quarantining for asymptomatic, vaccinated individuals

I don't know.

We've been here before, where cases are really low only to see them rise exponentially again. It's too early to see it's endemic, IMO.

The most contagious variants have become the most dominant strains, and the case numbers have basically been flat over the past two months.

For all the talk about BA.2, it doesn't seem like it's caused much of an uptick in cases. That's a big indication to me that we're well past Covid being a big concern.

[It’s so Joever]

COVID is endemic at this point, so we need to go back to 2019, in terms of public health measures, and no quarantining for asymptomatic, vaccinated individuals

I don't know.

We've been here before, where cases are really low only to see them rise exponentially again. It's too early to see it's endemic, IMO.

The most contagious variants have become the most dominant strains, and the case numbers have basically been flat over the past two months.

For all the talk about BA.2, it doesn't seem like it's caused much of an uptick in cases. That's a big indication to me that we're well past Covid being a big concern.

This is faulty logic. Just because it didn’t happen this time with a sub variant doesn’t mean we can’t/won’t get another variant that changes the situation dramatically.

[Not Me, Us]

COVID is endemic at this point, so we need to go back to 2019, in terms of public health measures, and no quarantining for asymptomatic, vaccinated individuals

I don't know.

We've been here before, where cases are really low only to see them rise exponentially again. It's too early to see it's endemic, IMO.

The most contagious variants have become the most dominant strains, and the case numbers have basically been flat over the past two months.

For all the talk about BA.2, it doesn't seem like it's caused much of an uptick in cases. That's a big indication to me that we're well past Covid being a big concern.

This is faulty logic. Just because it didn’t happen this time with a sub variant doesn’t mean we can’t/won’t get another variant that changes the situation dramatically.

If such a variant arises, like one that's significantly deadlier, then it's possible new restrictictions may be warranted. But there's no indication of a variant like that developing right now, and we shouldn't be crafting public policy based on random hypotheticals. It's also possible that an asteroid hits the Earth tomorrow, but that doesn't mean we should mandate helmets just in case. Covid is in a stage where people should take precautions if they want to, but none should be forced on anyone. If you want to wear a mask, more power to you, I couldn't care less, but that doesn't mean I should have to.

[It’s so Joever]

COVID is endemic at this point, so we need to go back to 2019, in terms of public health measures, and no quarantining for asymptomatic, vaccinated individuals

I don't know.

We've been here before, where cases are really low only to see them rise exponentially again. It's too early to see it's endemic, IMO.

The most contagious variants have become the most dominant strains, and the case numbers have basically been flat over the past two months.

For all the talk about BA.2, it doesn't seem like it's caused much of an uptick in cases. That's a big indication to me that we're well past Covid being a big concern.

This is faulty logic. Just because it didn’t happen this time with a sub variant doesn’t mean we can’t/won’t get another variant that changes the situation dramatically.

If such a variant arises, like one that's significantly deadlier, then it's possible new restrictictions may be warranted. But there's no indication of a variant like that developing right now, and we shouldn't be crafting public policy based on random hypotheticals. It's also possible that an asteroid hits the Earth tomorrow, but that doesn't mean we should mandate helmets just in case. Covid is in a stage where people should take precautions if they want to, but none should be forced on anyone. If you want to wear a mask, more power to you, I couldn't care less, but that doesn't mean I should have to.

Not saying we should change policy, just saying to not be so optimistic yet.

[Pres Mike]

What ever happened to B.A.2? The media and Fauci were hyping another wave that never happened. Typical

[emailking]

They didn't hype it.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

What ever happened to B.A.2? The media and Fauci were hyping another wave that never happened. Typical

Their hype was a failure, just like how they've failed at everything else.

[Blue3]

What ever happened to B.A.2? The media and Fauci were hyping another wave that never happened. Typical

My state has risen from record low back to medium for COVID cases.

[Hammy]

What ever happened to B.A.2? The media and Fauci were hyping another wave that never happened. Typical

My state has risen from record low back to medium for COVID cases.

Wouldn't record low be zero?

[jamestroll]

What ever happened to B.A.2? The media and Fauci were hyping another wave that never happened. Typical

Their hype was a failure, just like how they've failed at everything else.

they probably are the same people who want Biden to send everyone 2000 dollar checks each month.

I find it very interesting that just as Bernie Sander's campaign was beginning to falter that covid magically appears...

makes you think....

[emailking]

Vice President Kamala Harris tests positive for Covid

Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday after returning from a weeklong trip to California, the White House announced.

"Today, Vice President Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on rapid and PCR tests. She has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from the vice president's residence," said Kirsten Allen, the vice president's press secretary, in a statement.

Allen added, "She has not been a close contact to the President or First Lady due to their respective recent travel schedules. She will follow CDC guidelines and the advice of her physicians. The Vice President will return to the White House when she tests negative."

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/26/politics/kamala-harris-positive-covid/index.html

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Vice President Kamala Harris tests positive for Covid

Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday after returning from a weeklong trip to California, the White House announced.

Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday after returning from a weeklong trip to California, the White House announced.

Allen added, "She has not been a close contact to the President or First Lady due to their respective recent travel schedules. She will follow CDC guidelines and the advice of her physicians. The Vice President will return to the White House when she tests negative."

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/26/politics/kamala-harris-positive-covid/index.html

Why was she tested in the first place?  That's pretty much always going to be my reaction to "xyz tests positive for covid" stories at this point.

[Matty]

Kamala Harris is going to have zero symptoms

For gods sake


STOP TREATING IT AS NEWSWORTHY WHEN A VACCINATED PERSON TESTS POSITIVE

I AM AT MY WITS END

[jamestroll]

Vice President Kamala Harris tests positive for Covid

Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday after returning from a weeklong trip to California, the White House announced.

Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday after returning from a weeklong trip to California, the White House announced.

Allen added, "She has not been a close contact to the President or First Lady due to their respective recent travel schedules. She will follow CDC guidelines and the advice of her physicians. The Vice President will return to the White House when she tests negative."

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/26/politics/kamala-harris-positive-covid/index.html

Why was she tested in the first place?  That's pretty much always going to be my reaction to "xyz tests positive for covid" stories at this point.

And this pandemic now!

Stop testing!!! Unless you show REAL symptoms.. for the love of god.. stop testing. This is how we go back to normal.

[emailking]

Yeah I'm not with you all on that. I think it's significant. Yes she'll probably be OK, thankfully.

[Kamala's side hoe]

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-being-anti-science-is-now-part-of-many-rural-americans-identity/

In subsequent research conducted before the pandemic, Motta and his colleagues found possible paths to countering vaccine hesitancy. “One way we can try to get skeptics on board with vaccinating is to just make an effort to understand why they’re skeptical, and portray the benefits of vaccinating in those terms,” Motta said. For example, Americans who felt that vaccines tainted their moral/bodily purity were given information about how viruses also attacked and invaded the body, which raised their opinions of vaccines.

The COVID-19 vaccines, however, were rolled out without much of that targeted messaging. Worsening the matter, then-President Donald Trump and his administration made a series of missteps and promoted misinformation, which only further hampered the country’s ability to form a coherent plan. On top of that, the virus was fast moving from the beginning of the pandemic, and the United States is a big country with multiple public health agencies, each with a different level of authority. The authority that state and local health departments have varies by state, which meant communication strategies were varied as well. Meanwhile, in much of rural America, hospitals had already gone through waves of closures, in addition to decades of underinvestment in rural public health.

Importantly, Barker and his colleagues defined anti-intellectualism not as a respondent's ability or personal level of education. Instead, it was about respondents having positive feelings about trusting one’s gut and having negative feelings toward experts, schools and “the book-smarts of intellectuals.” In their paper, the researchers wrote that those who distrust scientists and other official sources of authority “distinguish those who are ‘book smart’ from those who have common sense, the latter of which they view as a superior means of ascertaining truth.”

“It’s more how people think of themselves versus where they are,” Lunz Trujillo said. She cited the political scientist Katherine J. Cramer’s well-known work on rural resentment, which illustrated that many rural people disdained anything perceived to be urban — racial and ethnic minorities, liberals, the LGBTQ community, cultural elites — and tied it to their rejection of intellectuals and intellectualism as well.

The key insight to all this work is that those who distrust vaccines, science and expertise aren’t doing so necessarily because they have a knowledge gap or a misunderstanding. Distrusting experts is part of their identity. Motta and his colleagues’ work suggests that being anti-vaccine has become an identity, too. In some respects, distrusting experts has become a political choice, which means that any message from an official source — whether it’s a researcher, head of a government agency or a journalist — is more likely to inspire the opposite of its intended reaction from those who view that source as part of the political opposition.

This is what I'm talking about when I say national Dems are tone-deaf and have messaging issues. Experts really need to be able to communicate with people they're trying to reach on their own level and signal that they have common (cultural/identity) ground with them.

What struck me most about my time with Naylor and Jackson is that they were both also hunters and, despite being experts in their field, already had a level of trust with the hunters they were trying to convince. They spoke with mid-Southern accents, drove trucks and wore camo. They’re well-educated experts, but it’s hard to imagine that local and out-of-state duck hunters would see them as eggheads that could be easily dismissed. When Booth described his staff’s expertise to me, he said they had “dirt under their fingernails,” which was similar to how Lunz Trujillo explained the kind of experiential knowledge valued by farmers and other rural folks.

But not every issue manifests locally, with local experts able to gather people for friendly dinners. Regarding climate change, Fisher says in her work now she is finding that people are often spurred to action only when the environmental damage becomes an extreme personal risk to them and their family, and when it is seen as preventable. Part of the problem with mitigating COVID-19, she said, was that many people didn’t see the virus as a personal risk — they thought they themselves would be OK, even if so many other people were dying.

[Frodo]

At this point, it would be more noteworthy if you haven't had COVID.  Most of us have had little to no symptoms (thank you Pfizer and Moderna), so it is entirely plausible:

More than half of Americans have had Covid, including three of four children
A CDC report showed a striking increase in those with coronavirus antibodies between December and February

More than half of Americans show signs of a previous Covid-19 infection, including three out of every four children, according to a new report released on Tuesday.

The findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) come after researchers examined blood samples from more than 200,000 Americans and looked for virus-fighting antibodies made from infections, not vaccines. They found that signs of past infection rose dramatically between December and February, when the more contagious Omicron variant surged through the US.

For Americans of all ages, about 34% had signs of prior infection in December. Just two months later, 58% did.

“I did expect it to increase. I did not expect it to increase quite this much,” said Dr Kristie Clarke, co-leader of a CDC team that tracks the extent of coronavirus infections.

In the CDC report, the most striking increase was in children. The percentage of those 17 and under with antibodies rose from about 45% in December to about 75% in February.

[emailking]

I certainly haven't had any symptoms.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I'm sure it's way more than 58%.