COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[roxas11]

I said before and I will say it again this is the worst thing that could have ever happened to Humanity....



There is doubt in my mind that social media played a destructive role during this pandemic. Because of sites like Facebook being Anti-Vax and Anti-Mask became mainstream among politicians and certain celebrities. Even Red state governors nowadays seem to quickly jump on Twitter or Facebook in order to tell their voters that they are passing laws against vaccine mandates and requiring kids to wear masks

something like that would have never happened in the 90s and because of these social media websites disinformation about mask and vaccines spread faster among people than the delta virus ever did

I honestly believe that we would have never gotten rid of Polio had it showed during the Facebook era

You’re a silly goose.  I remember when Biden blamed his failure to reach vaccination goals on Facebook earlier this summer, because that’s been his game for the last year.  I have such a vivid memory of it.  

So Biden and other Democrats told people not to take the vaccination in November and December of last year cause it was acquired by Trump, and he’s not to be trusted in any regard.  Then Biden and the Democrats tried to take credit for his vaccine accomplishment.  https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/07/31/cdcr-j31.html

Then you had the Biden Administration fabricate this nonsense about the vaccinated not being able to contract or spread Covid-19, but the unvaccinated people were capable of transferring it to vaccinated people, somehow.   Everyone knew he was lying, because there was data from overseas that was being suppressed by scientific journals and news outlets.  Suddenly, Fauci starts claiming that they just received this study demonstrating that vaccinated people can spread Covid-19.  
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/07/31/cdcr-j31.html

Also, the premise of your argument is such crap, because countries like Portugal have an 86% vaccination rate, and still can’t get handle on Covid-19.  I won’t believe it until the Administration provides total transparency to the public when it comes to the data collected by patients.  No time in the Trump Administration was it ever so bad that we weren’t getting such shoddy information.  The only party that hid Covid-19 cases and deaths was the Democrats in New York, so they could cover up the nursing home deaths.  Yet, Democrats still lie about DeSantis hiding data.  No.  Democrats have a track record of lying about vital data, so they need to bend over backwards to accommodate the suspicions of the American people.  
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/cuomo-aides-overruled-health-officials-in-bid-to-hide-nursing-home-deaths-report/ar-BB1gaWrW

What about your misinformation?  Why is it your party was telling BLM guys that they could express their first amendment rights last year, but Jews expressing their rights in NYC needed to be rounded up?  Why is it okay that Democrats are allowed to violently riot and campaign, but Republicans aren’t allowed?  Why are the Trump supporters that go attend a rally super-spreaders, but violent protestors attempting an insurrection at the White House just a peaceful protestors?   It’s clear that the Democrat Party’s only move is lying when it’s convenient and blaming others when they don’t trust you for lying.  Democrats had a recovering economy, vaccine and numerous other treatments, and majority-proof Senate.  But Biden’s Administration could handle a single problem.  The guy finally realized that he screwed himself and destroyed his legacy by picking a fight with the Saudis (ally) and Russians when he needed them more than any other nation.  Respectfully, the Democrats can go F-off.  They do have no right to expect others to trust their judgment.  

I’ve literally heard all your talking points from earlier this summer.  I continue to encourage Democrats to blame everyone they can for Biden’s failure.   Keep blaming Trump.  I’m going to laugh on election night when Democrats are crying when Donald J. Trump is re-elected President.  I didn’t think Democrats could pull it off.  

Call me, whatever you like
I stand by my view that nothing good has come of giving these men all of this power



Even trump himself sees just how powerful the CEO of twitter is. Rather, you agree with trump or not I think it's terrifying that these men literally have the power to silence the president if they really wanted to. Angela Merkel is no trump fan, but even she saw that it was problematic that twitter has the power to permanently suspend a president if they do not like what that president has to say


Letting these social media platforms get increasingly more powerful is a threat to all of us no matter which side of the aisle you are on. I think we can call agree that Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey should have a level of power that they currently have

Great. They have too much power.  That was pretty evident to Republicans when Trump was eliminated from all Media platforms.  The fact that China was able to use news and social media to eliminate all whistleblowers, pictures and videos of Covid-19 from those platforms in December 2019 was also a pretty big red flag.  But that wasn't your point.  Your argument was that Facebook needs to be destroyed cause they allow Republicans to spread alleged 'misinformation' that you baselessly blame as the reason people don't trust the vaccine and masks.  No.  They don't trust Biden or the Democrats.  They don't trust the motivation.  

I don't care anymore.  Biden is completely finished.  I'm not interested in attacking him.  I need him to get off his butt in Nantucket and plan for the shutdown of all flights while keeping commericial transportation.  Mask mandates need to be put in places.  Vaccines are useless as the Delta is being eliminated by Invest Gamma variant.  The country need to work on a new one, as well as other medical options.  Bring every F-ing scientist to the Washington, and get rid of F-ing Fauci for funding this horrible disease.  

Tomorrow people are going to wake up to a new reality.  

This was not the argument I was making at all and Im sorry if it came off that way because that was not my intention

when I used celebrities as in the example in my original post I was also aiming at some on the left, but I see now that I should have been more clear about that because my post was not meant to just single out republicans nor was I saying lets destroy Facebook simply because Republicans are posting things that I may disagree with

That is a silly argument and it's definitely not one that I would ever support. It's also the kind of argument that people like Mark Zuckerberg loves because as long as he can keep both sides fighting among themselves, they won't notice how powerfully Facebook is getting until it is too late to do anything about it

[roxas11]

Last night I said Joe Biden should institute an international travel ban, and Ds got very upset at me.  I don't know why they would become upset about a policy that is absolutely necessary to slow the spread of a virus.  That's just commonsense.  I guess it's cause Trump supported the travel bans last year, so they thought it was racist or something.

A travel ban alone is not enough

It may buy us some time, but ultimately what we really need is for Our public health agencies to get off their butts and start quickly approving booster shots and the covid pills

I think we also need a stronger consensus among every state when it comes to how we are fighting this virus because what we are currently doing is not working and this state-by-state patchwork Covid-19 response is failing all of us

I think Lincoln said at best "A house divided against itself cannot stand." and there is little chance we will ever beat covid if we are not even united on how to fight the virus in the first place

[roxas11]

This may or may not be true, but as of right now I still think every county should not take any chances and wait for more data before agreeing with South Africa's health minister

https://twitter.com/BNODesk/status/1464327805836083201

[roxas11]

Last night I said Joe Biden should institute an international travel ban, and Ds got very upset at me.  I don't know why they would become upset about a policy that is absolutely necessary to slow the spread of a virus.  That's just commonsense.  I guess it's cause Trump supported the travel bans last year, so they thought it was racist or something.

A travel ban alone is not enough

It may buy us some time, but ultimately what we really need is for Our public health agencies to get off their butts and start quickly approving booster shots and the covid pills

I think we also need a stronger consensus among every state when it comes to how we are fighting this virus because what we are currently doing is not working and this state-by-state patchwork Covid-19 response is failing all of us

I think Lincoln said at best "A house divided against itself cannot stand." and there is little chance we will ever beat covid if we are not even united on how to fight the virus in the first place

A travel ban provides you with more time.  If the travel ban had gone in place sooner in 2020, the country could have had more time to prepare for it before the massive outbreaks in NY.  The disaster in NY was not just a symptom of Nursing Home policy.  

Boosters, antibodies, and pills are needed.  I said that last night.  

I think people were hoping Biden would be a much more moderate individual when he came to office with a +17 approval rating (53-36%).  He did a bad job playing the cards he was dealt. Like we all want unity, but whose version of it?  lol.  

Houses are divided all the time, and still manage to function.  Not all disagreements rise to the level of barbarism.  

With this line I think you just summed up the biggest problem with our current politics

Everybody claims they want unity, but as you said whose version of Unity is it?

Also, even when there has been unity, it's never as easy or satisfying as TV shows like the West Wing makes it look. Honestly, I get the sense that the Americans people are more in love with the concept of unity than they are with the reality of it. Just look a recent bipartisan infrastructure bill that just passed, That is the first time I ever saw Mitch McConnell actually vote for a Major bill by a democrat president

But when you look at the process it was long and not everybody got what they wanted in the end. Americans said they were not happy with how the process played out, but that is what real unity looks like. Its mostly an unsatisfying process, where both sides give up something they want in order come to a consensus on a bill

Unity is not the great hollywood fairy tale ending that the american people seem to think it is

[roxas11]

Masks are definitely not costless.  

I have been forced to teach wearing a mask this semester, and it is a total pain in the ass.  The worst of it is during student presentations.  Half of the students don’t speak loudly enough to be heard in the back of the class wearing a mask, and I have to constantly be asking them to speak louder.

Last year, we were allowed to use face shields, but for some reason my university decided to ban them this semester despite the fact that we also have a vaccine mandate (which is a very good thing!) for all faculty and students.

Sadly, I have to agree with you because wearing a mask has definitely caused me some problems

For example me and my sister had gone to Walgreens and I had gotten out of the store before she did. As I was waiting for her outside a manager suddenly comes out of the store to tell me that I had somehow scared 1 of their customers.

apparently because I am a black guy wearing a mask at night the customer actually believed that I going to rob the place lol

Thankfully, my sister had finally come out of the store to clear everything up. But that incident definitely showed me that wearing a mask is not costless especially not in a state like louisiana

[roxas11]

I have seen a lot of conspiracy theories during this pandemic, but this hands down has to be the craziest ones lol

https://twitter.com/Mediaite/status/1464622474679758848

[roxas11]

Masks are definitely not costless.  

I have been forced to teach wearing a mask this semester, and it is a total pain in the ass.  The worst of it is during student presentations.  Half of the students don’t speak loudly enough to be heard in the back of the class wearing a mask, and I have to constantly be asking them to speak louder.

Last year, we were allowed to use face shields, but for some reason my university decided to ban them this semester despite the fact that we also have a vaccine mandate (which is a very good thing!) for all faculty and students.

Sadly, I have to agree with you because wearing a mask has definitely caused me some problems

For example me and my sister had gone to Walgreens and I had gotten out of the store before she did. As I was waiting for her outside a manager suddenly comes out of the store to tell me that I had somehow scared 1 of their customers.

apparently because I am a black guy wearing a mask at night the customer actually believed that I going to rob the place lol

Thankfully, my sister had finally come out of the store to clear everything up. But that incident definitely showed me that wearing a mask is not costless especially not in a state like louisiana

Okay, this is actually a legitimate point for once that isn’t just a mild inconvenience which can easily be fixed.

True and unfortunately this has happened to me a few times since they started requiring everyone to wear a mask

It sucks, but sadly there are some people who will atomically assume that I am up to no good if I walk into a store wearing a mask. They will either keep a close eye on me while I'm in the store or another customer will complain to the manger that I may be some kind of threat

Thankfully, most people are not this ignorant and outside of a few crazy incidents I am overall ok when I wear the mask most of the time

[roxas11]

I don't know what you guys want from the media. Governments were restricting travel ahead of any media reporting about this. Should they have hid that from you? I heard plenty of caveats about how it's precautionary and we need to know more.

I had my probems with the media in the past but when it comes to this I dont have any issue with how the media is covering it

There is a new covid variant that we know very little about

It may be nothing or I could be a big deal either way I don't see the issue with the media putting tons of focus on it because as far as I'm concerned its better to be safe than sorry

Imagine if the new variant turned out of to be very dangerous and the media just ignored it. They would literally be doing the exact same thing they did in late 2019 when they payed hardly any attention to the original covid virus in order to focus more on the latest trump controversy at the time.

now of course some in the media are going to go over the top with it and jump to conclusions before they know anything about the new variant, but I still think most of them did the right thing by giving it massive coverage

[roxas11]

IF it is indeed true that omicron is a mild version of covid that is also very contagious, we need to actively encourage its spread. It would essentially be nature providing us with a free vaccine

Govts should “bomb” entire third world cities and regions with omicron droplets to get as many people infected to commence mass immunity

Or you could just administer the actual vaccine, idiot.

In fairness to Matty even the South African doctor who was one of the first to discover omicron said this on Sunday

https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1465056653200351239

Now if that does turn out to be the case than I don't think Matty is completely out of line for believing Omicron could potentially end up giving more people protection without any serious issues. Now, having said that I agree with you that everyone should just get vaccinated but if Omicron does in fact end up being very mild than I think we should not be so quick to dismiss the idea of just letting nature take its course

It sucks that we even have to consider something as crazy as this, but unfortunately there are simply too many people who will never get vaccinated and if we don't find a way to change that then we will never get out of this covid mess

[roxas11]

It’s increasingly becoming clear that Democrats will not win another national election for a generation.
https://twitter.com/hotlinejosh/status/1465808271466536968?s=21

Just like it was also clear the Republicans would not win another national election for a generation after the economic collapse and their big 2008 loss

Here is just a sample of how convinced people were that the GOP was doomed for a generation





The moral of this story is clear

It's foolish for anybody to run around claiming that a party will not win power for another generation because if history tells us anything the American people will always end up making those kinds of silly predictions look ridiculous on election day lol

[roxas11]

This is fantastic news out of Suid Afrika

https://mobile.twitter.com/Alicia_Smith19/status/1466820411287552016


Also, I read somewhere that the hospitalization increase is an artifact of the fact that South Africa is finally allowing Afrikaners to get hospital treatment for covid.

If true this is a great news and if Omicron does turn out be milder than I think it's safe to say that the world just dogged a giant bullet

Hopefully this Omicron scare has shown everyone just how important it is to get as many people around the world as possible vaccinated otherwise we may not be so lucky if another more dangerous covid variant shows up....

[roxas11]

What if scientists created an uber-infectious version of COVID with zero death rate and then let it spread throughout the world, to completely outcompete actually deathly variants of COVID. Sort of like what they're doing with some mosquitoes to get rid of malaria

A Maze Runner-esque solution of course (and not one I support due to how easily it could go awry and how horrible it could get if the people at the top don't have the right intentions or are incompetent), but interesting to think about

This guy would love that idea..


Even if your plan worked Alex Jones and the crazy people on Facebook would still find a way to paint it in a negative light. They will most likely claim that if scientists can create an uber-infectious version of COVID with a zero death rate that would mean they also could have created the original covid virus in the first place....

[roxas11]

I'm actually surprised that there is a debate on here about the severity of Omicron when even the CDC Director recently said this

https://twitter.com/Newsweek/status/1468945537244274688

by comparsion it did not take very long at all to know that Delta was a very deadly variant nor did the CDC Director at the time ever claim that it was mild

even early on almost nobody was taking that way about Delta....

[roxas11]

I was fortunate enough to watch Chuck Todds Interview with Kansas Senator Roger Marshall and the Senator made some good Points about "Natural Immunity".

Does the Biden Administration and their Clowns Fauci or Dr. Walensky even know that word because they continueally acting like it doesn't even exist.

Delta was a deadly variant and any so called natural immunity was not worth the many lives that virus took. I know family members who caught delta and unfortunately many of them never lived to see that "Natural Immunity" that you seem to love so much

In the case of Omicron it may very well end up being very mild but I still would not tell anybody to go out and purposely get the virus in order to have "Natural Immunity"

[roxas11]

GWU going to online instruction. Unreal. Casedemic is here

I am telling y’all right now:

If a case surge costs us the nfl, cfb playoffs, in person instruction, etc

The dems will be absolutely blasted into the moon by voters in November.

I’m talking a 45 seat loss

I’m not saying you’re wrong about Dems taking a beating.

But lockdowns and school/work from home largely occurred under Trump’s administration. More so than Biden’s.

Well Trump isn’t President anymore. So people aren’t going to blame him for anything that is going on under Biden’s watch.

You're not wrong.

My point is that lockdowns were almost entirely under Trump.  So stop with the "dEmS aRe LoCkInG uS dOwN!" nonsense.

Trump wasn’t the one ordering lockdowns across the country in 2020.

In March of 2020 Trump actually praised governors for locking down their states

President Trump applauded California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for taking "strong and bold steps" by ordering all nonessential workers to stay home” in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus

Looking back, it's clear that in the early months of the pandemic Trump had no problem with state lockdowns and he supported the governor who did it...

[roxas11]

STOP FEAR MONGERING OVER  OMICRON. It is not a big deal. I know first hand.

To me, the real threat is not Omicron its the fact that the hospitals could end up being overwhelmed by a lot of people rushing to the ER simply because they fear they may have the virus

even if the cases do end being mild and overwhelmed health care system will still end up getting a lot of people killed

[roxas11]

Trump should really stop doing this. Has there ever been any issue on which he's been so out of touch with his own base?

Part of the problem is that most people on the left and on the right do not actually believe Trump when he tells his voters that he wants them to go get vaccinated

Because If truly believed that all of his supporters should get vaccinated, he would have been the first president to take the Covid vaccine on camera. instead Biden was the one to do it and we only heard the news about Trump privately getting the shot after he had already left the white house

Trump spent most of his life shamelessly selling every product he could think of to the American people.....



Yet when it came to the vaccine he did not even try to sell it and his voter picked up on that. They saw it as proof that despite what he says in public about the vaccines he really does not actually mean it, nor is he really pushing them to actually get the shot

[roxas11]

Not sure if this has already been discussed but as I predicted SCOTUS to hear Oral Arguments regarding Vaccine Mandates.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/22/supreme-court-special-session-vaccine-requirements-526030

My guess is that the Vaccine Mandate for Health Care Workers will probably stay while the Vaccine Mandate for Private Businesses having more than 100 Employees will I think be struck down.

Historically the Supreme court has been very pro mandate when it comes to vaccines

For example, in 1905, the Supreme Court ruled that a state can impose “reasonable regulations” to protect the public health, even when such regulations interfere with individual rights.

based on that fact alone, I think there is a good chance that the Biden administration will end up winning both cases

[roxas11]

We should be looking at deaths rather than cases to determine how bad things are

if we looked at deaths or hospitalizations instead of case numbers no reason for hysteria

If Omicron was what the virus had started as in 2019, I wonder how world would have reacted

exactly the same. the goal was to get trump out of office somehow by triggering a recession, with it being kept up because enriching billionaires with lockdowns/new restrictions/mandates is something popular among politicians of both parties

So let me get this straight you are actually blaming others for Trump being an incompetent president at the start of the pandemic

In 2020 nobody put a gun to his head and forced him to say idiotic stuff like this...



by the end of the day the buck stops with the president so stop blaming everybody else for his failures

[roxas11]

This has to be the most self-centred population in recent history. It's a good thing most of you weren't alive during WWII or we would almost certainly have lost. It's no wonder this country is fracturing as it is. There is no common cause or common sacrifice anymore. It's all about "me", "me", and "me'. Being forced to wear a mask in a grocery store? That's apparently the new oppression. That is despite the fact that one lives in the United States, where one is not oppressed.

But hey, let's all try to get this virus transmitted across the population as quickly as possible. That's what most of you want. Obviously, mitigation efforts are too oppressive for some people. I honestly say "f-ck you" to those that think a mask somehow inhibits a trip the grocery store. I have no respect for those that think only of themselves.

I can't speak for everyone else on this, but that is not how I feel at all

I would honestly prefer if people would just get vaccinated over contracting this virus. Omicron may be mild compared to previous variants, but I still would not tell anybody to go out and purposely get it just because it may give them some immunity. I just think the reality is there are many people in the country who will never get vaccinated or even wear as mask and nothing you or I say is ever going to change that

I hate to say it, but at this point omicron may be the best change at getting unvaccinated people some protection against future variants. It's sad that it has even come to this, but that is the crazy world that we now live in

As I said at the start I wish people would just get vaccinated or at least wear as mask but at this point if Omicron spreading to the unvaccinated is what it takes to get us out of this mess than so be it


 

[roxas11]

Jesus, the liberal egghead outlets like NYT, Washington Post, and NPR are in full-on propaganda mode right now. They're putting out daily headlines fear-mongering about Omicron and not-so-subtly smearing the heroes that are trying to make sure school actually stays open. If these social media companies actually wanted to be consistent about their misinformation policies they would ban or at least threaten to ban these publications too. I don't want that to happen, but I'm just saying that the COVID lies go far beyond the Q people.

Eventually people are going to move on with their lives and no amount of fear mongering from the NYT and the Washington Post is going to change that

If anything all they are really doing is destroying what is left of their credibility because it is now very clear that omicron is simply not the dangerous variant that they were hyping it up to be in the first place

Omicron is no Delta and all the spin in world from the media is not going to change that fact

[roxas11]

https://twitter.com/HotlineJosh/status/1476920190193569795

GOP are so lucky, Biden won't follow Adams or Polis.

This is a silly comparsion

Being a local government is one thing, It's another to be a sitting president who has to deal with a mainstream media that is currently hyping up Omicron as the worst thing ever. I don't for 1 second think Adams or Polis numbers on covid would be as good if they were the actual president of the United States right about now because the media would still to be fearmongering over Omicron and blaming them for letting it spread

[roxas11]

https://twitter.com/HotlineJosh/status/1476920190193569795
GOP are so lucky, Biden won't follow Adams or Polis.

This is a silly comparsion

Being a local government is one thing, It's another to be a sitting president who has to deal with a mainstream media that is currently hyping up Omicron as the worst thing ever. I don't for 1 second think Adams or Polis numbers on covid would be as good if they were the actual president of the United States right about now because the media would still to be fearmongering over Omicron and blaming them for letting it spread

Do you know, what city New York Times is in? Adams gives press conferences and goes to different media everyday and calmly keeps hammering his simple, yet sane message.
https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1478087531451359237

But ,uh, whatever, keep defending Biden. Better for GOP, hehe, if he keeps doing his thing (hiding in the basement).

first off I did not defend anybody, so I'm not sure what the heck you are even talking about

Secondly You and I both know that there is a big difference between the level of media scrutiny that a governor or a Mayor gets compared to a sitting president. For example Sarah Palin got great press when she was just a governor of Alaska, but that all changed the second people saw her as being 1 heart beat away from being president had McCain won in 2008

Now if you want to believe this fantasy that Eric Adams would be getting the same positive numbers on covid if was the actual president during this current covid surge than be than be my guest but I dont buy it at all  

[roxas11]

It will never, ever cease to amaze me that with all of our modern technology, this pandemic is going to end up lasting longer than the 1918 pandemic.

That so called modern technology is what is causing us so may problems in the first place because The negative misinformation about vaccines on Facebook spread to the American public much faster than Delta or Omicron ever did

Luckily for the people who lived thru the 1918 pandemic Facebook and social media did not exist back then otherwise that pandemic would have also lasted a lot longer.

I just think that it not longer possible for America or the world to do anything when it comes to stopping the spread of any future virus unless people are willing to finally do something about the massive disinformation campaign that is happening on these social media websites

[roxas11]

I just ordered the free covid test and I got to be honest, I'm actually shocked at how easy it was to use the website

I thought it was going to be complicated, but it ended not being like that at all and in less than a minute I had ordered the test

I guess Biden and Dems really did learn from the Obamacare website debacle