COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

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Attention doomers:

https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1373994298312691714

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https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1376509943260573699

And we should trust the Chinese government and their puppets in the WHO because?

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Thursday afternoon! I have never been more excited to get a vaccine in my life.

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Why are Biden and Harris still wearing masks inside the White House since they and all of the others there are vaccinated?

Probably to set an example, since there are still a lot of people who haven't gotten vaccines yet. But when we get to the point where everyone who wants a vaccine can get one, we can start ditching masks.

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Just found out my work is ending all covid guidelines in mid May.

No masks.

No temperature checks.

No social distancing.

Visitors allowed.


I’m glad I got the vaccine in January and February but this makes me extremely worried.  I work in a small space with about ten other people for 12 hours.  Almost all of my coworkers are morons and most didn’t get the vaccine and say they never will.

Who cares? Since you got it, you'll be fine.

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The one year anniversary of this:

Trump suggests 'injection' of disinfectant to beat coronavirus and 'clean' the lungs

The depressing part is that this ended up being fairly irrelevant in the end.

The predicted Biden surge among senior voters certainly did not materialize. If it had, he would have won Arizona and Georgia by more and would have come closer in Florida, Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, and Texas.

Biden did improve with seniors. It just wasn't by as much as polls indicated. The swing he got probably pushed him over the finish line.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7PB1-66ues&t=1s

Republican doctors in Congress put out a PSA urging people to get the vaccine and calling it the only way to get back to normalcy. This is absolutely true.

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I have a feeling it may not be too much longer before the 7-day average drops and stays below 50K.

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So looks like we'll almost certainly have a 7-day average of less than 50K tomorrow. How quickly will it take us to reach 40K? 30? 20?

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Attention Biden and CDC:
https://twitter.com/scottlincicome/status/1391068289841893378

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Ohio holding a lottery only open to people who have been vaccinated:

https://twitter.com/GovMikeDeWine/status/1392597174014332929

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https://twitter.com/GregAbbott_TX/status/1394090593672994822

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Worldometers 7-day case average is below 30K for the first time since June 21. Could we get below 20K by Memorial Day?

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Governor's office: Florida will no longer release daily COVID-19 case, death reports

Gov. Ron DeSantis' press secretary Christina Pushaw told The News Service of Florida on Friday there is no need to keep issuing the daily reports.

“COVID-19 cases have significantly decreased over the past year as we have a less than 5% positivity rate, and our state is returning to normal, with vaccines widely available throughout Florida,” Pushaw said in an email.

The change is immediate: COVID-19 case and vaccine reporting now will be available on a weekly basis at floridahealthcovid19.gov every Friday.

Sounds like the situation is getting out of hand and they need more time to manipulate the numbers.

And this is what they call BlueAnon.

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House Republicans urge Pelosi to open up the Capitol: shorturl.at/cfCK9

I know this letter has some unsavory signatories (MTG, Clyde, Good, Gohmert), but I completely agree with the premise. If some idiot gets sick because they refused to get vaccinated, that's entirely on them at this point. Keeping the Capitol closed is nothing but pointless theater.

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My prediction is that there'll be another wave thanks to the deplorables refusing to get vaccinated. This one will be the worst one.

You’re delusional.

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WHO Urges Fully Vaccinated People To Continue Wearing Masks As Delta Variant Spreads—But No Word From CDC

World Health Organization (WHO) officials stressed Friday the need for fully vaccinated people to “continue to be appropriately cautious” and keep up with social distancing measures like mask wearing as the highly infectious Delta variant of the coronavirus becomes increasingly dominant in the U.S. and spurs new Covid-19 surges around the world—including in highly vaccinated countries.

[...]

“Us[ing] masks consistently” and following other social distancing measures like avoiding crowds, hand washing and being in well-ventilated spaces is “extremely important, even if you’re vaccinated,” Dr. Mariangela Simao, WHO assistant director-general for access to medicines and health products, said, warning, “Vaccine alone won’t stop the community transmission.”

I have a sick feeling that we declared victory too early. It's just becoming summer too. I don't think we have a clear picture as to what's going to happen later in the year.

Of course the CCP-controlled WHO is saying this, they have no credibility. The Chinese vaccine has been an embarrassing failure, and now they're trying to convince the rest of the world that our vaccines are too. Luckily I think the United States will largely ignore this.

Yes, lets just ignore the fact that the Delta variant is spreading to vaccinated people just so you can pretend you haven't been brainwashed by Trump cultists and Fox News.

Hey BlueAnoner, stop spreading misinformation. It's like you idiots want to be locked down forever. I'm normally a moderate, but I've run out of patience with liberals and their restrictions.

At this point, any American who wants a vaccine has been able to get it for months. They are extremely effective, even against "muh scary variants". It's why I hate the media. They're losing views and clicks without Trump, so they try to gin up fear of COVID (despite it clearly being on its way out in the US) to keep up their ratings.

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As far as I'm concerned, there is no point in lockdowns. The only people who are truly at risk for COVID are the unvaccinated, and if you still refuse to get the vaccine at this point, I don't care what happens to you, unless you have a legitimate medical reason for not doing so. If the antivaxxers want to play with fire, let them get burned. We should not place restrictions on the vaccinated because the minority refuses the vaccine. It's an issue of personal responsibility at this point.

This times a thousand. I'm a congressional staffer, and Nancy's refusal to reopen the Capitol is really pissing me off. If Marjorie or Boebert gets sick, it's entirely on them at this point.

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As far as I'm concerned, there is no point in lockdowns. The only people who are truly at risk for COVID are the unvaccinated, and if you still refuse to get the vaccine at this point, I don't care what happens to you, unless you have a legitimate medical reason for not doing so. If the antivaxxers want to play with fire, let them get burned. We should not place restrictions on the vaccinated because the minority refuses the vaccine. It's an issue of personal responsibility at this point.

This times a thousand. I'm a congressional staffer, and Nancy's refusal to reopen the Capitol is really pissing me off. If Marjorie or Boebert gets sick, it's entirely on them at this point.

Pretty sure the coup attempt is a factor here.

Not anymore. The last fences came down this weekend. It's that out-of-touch old hag and her liberal grandstanding. I don't think a Speaker Hakeem Jeffries would be doing this.

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I am going to visit relatives in Alabama (my mother is from Alabama) and many of them are anti-vaxxers.

Which precautions should I take?

If you're fully vaccinated, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

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I am going to visit relatives in Alabama (my mother is from Alabama) and many of them are anti-vaxxers.

Which precautions should I take?

If you're fully vaccinated, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

I mean, the vaccine is not 100% effective and is less effective against certain variations (i.e. Delta).

Wow, you're really f**king stupid.

It's like some people want the pandemic to continue forever.

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As far as I'm concerned, there is no point in lockdowns. The only people who are truly at risk for COVID are the unvaccinated, and if you still refuse to get the vaccine at this point, I don't care what happens to you, unless you have a legitimate medical reason for not doing so. If the antivaxxers want to play with fire, let them get burned. We should not place restrictions on the vaccinated because the minority refuses the vaccine. It's an issue of personal responsibility at this point.

This times a thousand. I'm a congressional staffer, and Nancy's refusal to reopen the Capitol is really pissing me off. If Marjorie or Boebert gets sick, it's entirely on them at this point.

Do you mind me asking which congressman you work for?

TBH, I'd rather not share. I do work for a Republican, but not a very Trumpy one.

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Something worth noting as the talk of breakthrough cases is on the rise, it appears the adverse outcomes are lower than what the media is reporting, as they're reporting the numbers without context:

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/health-departments/breakthrough-cases.html



Essentially, suppose you go to the hospital for appendicitis or car accident, are fully vaccinated, you're tested and come back positive (without symptoms) you'll still be counted as a breakthrough hospitalization.

Yet another reason the media is the Enemy of the People. Constant fearmongering.

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Something to note: Delta now apparently makes up more than 80% of cases nationwide.

Per Worldometers, the 7-day average was just under 50k - no worse than it was at the beginning of May. And it was already lower yesterday than it was the day before, indicating that we've probably already hit a peak. Seems like people are just dooming for the sake of it or falling for the media's fearmongering.

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Biden will announce vaccination requirement across federal government on Thursday

President Joe Biden will announce on Thursday a requirement that all federal employees and contractors be vaccinated against Covid-19, or be required to submit to regular testing and mitigation requirements, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.

The announcement will come in remarks where Biden is also expected to lay out a series of new steps, including incentives, in an attempt to spur new vaccinations as the Delta variant spreads rapidly throughout the country. It will also follow the decision by the Department of Veterans Affairs to require its frontline health care workers to be vaccinated over the course of the next two months.

Biden alluded to the looming announcement on Tuesday.

"That's under consideration right now," Biden said, when asked if he would impose a vaccination mandate on federal workers.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/27/politics/vaccine-mandate-for-federal-employees-under-consideration/index.html

Good. With this, hopefully Pelosi wises up and reopens the Capitol.