COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[GeorgiaModerate]

Another one.

https://twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/1478182032303960065

[Hammy]

A little over a week ago, an elderly man was assaulted for not wearing a mask while eating by a maskless woman, on a plane

https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/woman-arrested-for-assaulting-elderly-man-on-flight-eating-without-mask-watch-1894088-2021-12-30

Everyone in this country's lost their minds.

[Blue3]

Not only are the local hospital and nursing home now asking for COVID-positive employees to come in, they're even saying it for employees who HAVE SYMPTOMS. This is in local hospital and nursing home.

https://www.wpri.com/target-12/covid-positive-health-care-workers-called-into-work-in-rhode-island/

I've also heard talk about employers sneakily updating policies so they can sue people who quit their jobs, or at least withhold their last paycheck, no good source yet.

[emailking]

Worldometers says 400K, not sure how they're handling the backlogs because the older numbers aren't much different.

[Oakvale]

https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1478009220624748545

Is Eric Adams America's most based political leader? Discuss.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Worldometers says 400K, not sure how they're handling the backlogs because the older numbers aren't much different.

The highest on Corona Scanner was only 560,726, which was this past Thursday.

[Oakvale]

Worldometers says 400K, not sure how they're handling the backlogs because the older numbers aren't much different.

The highest on Corona Scanner was only 560,726, which was this past Thursday.

I think with omicron case numbers are basically irrelevant since it's so mild the vast majority of those infected won't even bother getting tested.

[compucomp]

Worldometers says 400K, not sure how they're handling the backlogs because the older numbers aren't much different.

The highest on Corona Scanner was only 560,726, which was this past Thursday.

I think with omicron case numbers are basically irrelevant since it's so mild the vast majority of those infected won't even bother getting tested.

Fine then, total hospitalizations in the US are at about 100K and quickly rising. Absolute peak was at 140K last winter. NY and NJ have passed their hospitalization peaks from last winter.

I understand all the hopium and copium that people here are huffing in large quantities on the subject of Omicron, but "mild" does not mean "harmless". Yes, Omicron is milder than Delta, particularly for vaccinated people. No, it's not harmless; there's no way the common cold or the flu caused hospitalizations at this level in the past. And no, the pandemic is not over, despite how much you want it to be. The virus couldn't care less about how over it you are.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/DataDrivenMD/status/1478205885507727362

[TheReckoning]

https://twitter.com/DataDrivenMD/status/1478205885507727362

RIP

[It’s so Joever]

https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1478009220624748545

Is Eric Adams America's most based political leader? Discuss.

He couldn’t solve a crisis for s**t.
Honestly Sliwa would be better.

[Hammy]

Fine then, total hospitalizations in the US are at about 100K and quickly rising. Absolute peak was at 140K last winter. NY and NJ have passed their hospitalization peaks from last winter.

I understand all the hopium and copium that people here are huffing in large quantities on the subject of Omicron, but "mild" does not mean "harmless". Yes, Omicron is milder than Delta, particularly for vaccinated people. No, it's not harmless; there's no way the common cold or the flu caused hospitalizations at this level in the past. And no, the pandemic is not over, despite how much you want it to be. The virus couldn't care less about how over it you are.

Several points about this are questionable:
First and foremost, Delta is still circulating. People seem to be ignoring this point, so trying to hype omicron up into something more significant is grasping at straws.

Second, there have been several articles about the dominant flu strain this year (which is also one of the more severe ones) not matching the vaccines that are out, which is almost certainly behind the increase in hospitalizations.

Third, if you are hospitalized--no matter what reason--and test positive on screening, you are counted among covid hospitalizations. This is a point the CDC has been clear about in their studies, but everybody ignores when reporting the daily numbers. It's also worth noting many ICUs are near capacity even with only a quarter or so of those being COVID patients--we have a major capacity problem in general that is going ignored by much of the media.

And most importantly, the pandemic is now being driven entirely by the unvaccinated. At this point we need either penalization or incentive--hell, I'd be fine with just paying these people $10k or something to get vaccinated so we can get back to a functioning society. Continuing on the Covid Zero nonsense is destructive, both in the short and the longer term.

[jamestroll]

The past week or so, I have been a bit more skeptical of Virginia voting Democratic in 2024.

Just seeing how the Democratic areas in Virginia are handling omicron (No school closing proposals, no mask mandates, not major shut downs of services) compared to Democratic areas of the Northeast and Midwest.

[Meclazine for Israel]

Novak Djokovic says he has a medical exemption to come into Australia to defend his Australian Open title:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-04/novak-djokovic-says-received-an-exemption-to-enter-australia/100738536

Not sure if this will fly.

Whether both the Federal and State Governments agree on letting people in for sports reasons is a grey area.

[Meclazine for Israel]

....Delta is still circulating. People seem to be ignoring this point, so trying to hype omicron up into something more significant is grasping at straws.

Omicron is much less lethal than the Delta variant.

75% of ICU beds in NSW are Delta.

90% of New Cases in NSW are Omicron.

And the death rate world wide has plummeted to 0.2% down from between 1.8-2.0%

So that means if people are mainly dying from Delta (say 75% of case deaths) the Omicron mortality rate is 25% of 0.2%.

That comes out at 0.05% mortality rate for Omicron.

We will find out in 2-4 weeks time, but regardless of the final mortality rate for Omicron, it is becoming clear that as Omicron replaces Delta, then we are heading for the exit door of the pandemic.

[Horus]

Chicago Teachers Union gearing up for walk out over COVID safety concerns

https://www.wbez.org/stories/chicago-students-to-return-to-class-monday-amid-debate-over-covid-19-safety/086d207e-9bdc-4a74-9eac-7faf5dc1770d

Major development here in Chicago

This is absolutely ridiculous. If you’re scared about COVID, then get vaccinated, and you’ll be fine. There’s absolutely no reason for anyone to want to work at home anymore, unless you’re counting “wanting to do less work” as a reason.

I agree. I’d add that one complicating factor they’re also weighing is staffing shortages. There’s worry over whether, with so many staff in quarantine or isolation, schools will be able to run properly in person.

A simple solution is a vaccine mandate for teachers so this whole issue can be ended.

I work at an office job in which attendance in the office is optional, but anyone who decides to go into the office must prove that they’re vaccinated.  Despite this, there are breakthrough cases, and a few days before Christmas, the office was shut down (and will remain so at least through the end of this week) because of an uptick in breakthrough cases.  There are no known cases so far in which one person with a breakthrough case in the office infected someone else in the office.  But still, whenever someone gets a breakthrough case, they’re sent home, regardless of whether they’re symptomatic.

So this is the question for in person schooling, I’d think: Even if there’s mandatory vaccination, there’ll be breakthrough cases.  With the current Omicron wave, there are quite a few breakthrough cases, but the vaccines limit the severity of the infections, and in many cases they’re asymptomatic.  So if there’s mandatory vaccination, and all teachers and students are vaccinated, but we get a bunch of asymptomatic breakthrough cases amongst teachers, then do we tell them to show up to teach at school anyway, or do we send them home to quarantine?  If the latter, then you could still have staffing shortages despite the vaccination requirement.

This is the same issue that was previously discussed w/ airline pilots.  If they test positive, they're sent home, regardless of whether they have symptoms.

It's not enough to have a vaccine requirement.  The key turn that would have to happen to end this would be to reach a point where someone getting an asymptomatic breakthrough case is treated as no big deal in terms of their threat to others, such that they can continue on the job rather than being sent home.

Will this ever happen? A solid third, at least, of the country is still absolutely petrified of anything COVID. Even if lethality drops to below that of a cold, they will still be terrified. I'm not confident this will ever occur.

[compucomp]

Fine then, total hospitalizations in the US are at about 100K and quickly rising. Absolute peak was at 140K last winter. NY and NJ have passed their hospitalization peaks from last winter.

I understand all the hopium and copium that people here are huffing in large quantities on the subject of Omicron, but "mild" does not mean "harmless". Yes, Omicron is milder than Delta, particularly for vaccinated people. No, it's not harmless; there's no way the common cold or the flu caused hospitalizations at this level in the past. And no, the pandemic is not over, despite how much you want it to be. The virus couldn't care less about how over it you are.

Several points about this are questionable:
First and foremost, Delta is still circulating. People seem to be ignoring this point, so trying to hype omicron up into something more significant is grasping at straws.

Second, there have been several articles about the dominant flu strain this year (which is also one of the more severe ones) not matching the vaccines that are out, which is almost certainly behind the increase in hospitalizations.

Third, if you are hospitalized--no matter what reason--and test positive on screening, you are counted among covid hospitalizations. This is a point the CDC has been clear about in their studies, but everybody ignores when reporting the daily numbers. It's also worth noting many ICUs are near capacity even with only a quarter or so of those being COVID patients--we have a major capacity problem in general that is going ignored by much of the media.

And most importantly, the pandemic is now being driven entirely by the unvaccinated. At this point we need either penalization or incentive--hell, I'd be fine with just paying these people $10k or something to get vaccinated so we can get back to a functioning society. Continuing on the Covid Zero nonsense is destructive, both in the short and the longer term.

More copium here:

1. Delta is rapidly being replaced by Omicron, particularly in the Northeast and South where cases have exploded. Yes the CDC's modeling was proven to be shoddy when they "adjusted" the proportion by 50%, but it's still all we have, and it does line up with the fact that cases are exploding in a fashion we have not seen at any point since March 2020.

2. We're talking number of COVID hospitalizations, flu is not relevant.

3. NYC will soon separate the data in the way that you want. I think you're wrong and that most of these COVID hospitalizations are hospitalizations due to COVID, but we'll see.

4. Having a segment of the proportion unvaccinated is like a law of nature in the USA. There's a bunch of numbskulls that just won't get it and there's enough of them that the Republicans see political advantage in catering to them. They're here to stay and that's not going to change. I find it strange that people on this forum are totally in favor of vaccine mandates but strongly against mask mandates, when vaccine mandates are more intrusive and harder to implement and enforce. Remember every state had an indoor mask mandate at one point.

Calling the current government inaction a "COVID Zero" strategy is just a complete farce, and we all agreed that private entites have the right to restrict themselves or close themselves down. It's great to see private entities particularly in the Northeast recognize that Omicron is a threat and are taking action themselves in place of the government which won't do anything, such as ordering employees to WFH, cancelling holiday parties, restricting their hours, restaurants closing dining rooms, or even shutting down entirely for stretches.

[Horus]

Fine then, total hospitalizations in the US are at about 100K and quickly rising. Absolute peak was at 140K last winter. NY and NJ have passed their hospitalization peaks from last winter.

I understand all the hopium and copium that people here are huffing in large quantities on the subject of Omicron, but "mild" does not mean "harmless". Yes, Omicron is milder than Delta, particularly for vaccinated people. No, it's not harmless; there's no way the common cold or the flu caused hospitalizations at this level in the past. And no, the pandemic is not over, despite how much you want it to be. The virus couldn't care less about how over it you are.

Several points about this are questionable:
First and foremost, Delta is still circulating. People seem to be ignoring this point, so trying to hype omicron up into something more significant is grasping at straws.

Second, there have been several articles about the dominant flu strain this year (which is also one of the more severe ones) not matching the vaccines that are out, which is almost certainly behind the increase in hospitalizations.

Third, if you are hospitalized--no matter what reason--and test positive on screening, you are counted among covid hospitalizations. This is a point the CDC has been clear about in their studies, but everybody ignores when reporting the daily numbers. It's also worth noting many ICUs are near capacity even with only a quarter or so of those being COVID patients--we have a major capacity problem in general that is going ignored by much of the media.

And most importantly, the pandemic is now being driven entirely by the unvaccinated. At this point we need either penalization or incentive--hell, I'd be fine with just paying these people $10k or something to get vaccinated so we can get back to a functioning society. Continuing on the Covid Zero nonsense is destructive, both in the short and the longer term.

More copium here:

1. Delta is rapidly being replaced by Omicron, particularly in the Northeast and South where cases have exploded. Yes the CDC's modeling was proven to be shoddy when they "adjusted" the proportion by 50%, but it's still all we have, and it does line up with the fact that cases are exploding in a fashion we have not seen at any point since March 2020.

2. We're talking number of COVID hospitalizations, flu is not relevant.

3. NYC will soon separate the data in the way that you want. I think you're wrong and that most of these COVID hospitalizations are hospitalizations due to COVID, but we'll see.

4. Having a segment of the proportion unvaccinated is like a law of nature in the USA. There's a bunch of numbskulls that just won't get it and there's enough of them that the Republicans see political advantage in catering to them. They're here to stay and that's not going to change. I find it strange that people on this forum are totally in favor of vaccine mandates but strongly against mask mandates, when vaccine mandates are more intrusive and harder to implement and enforce. Remember every state had an indoor mask mandate at one point.

Calling the current government inaction a "COVID Zero" strategy is just a complete farce, and we all agreed that private entites have the right to restrict themselves or close themselves down. It's great to see private entities particularly in the Northeast recognize that Omicron is a threat and are taking action themselves in place of the government which won't do anything, such as ordering employees to WFH, cancelling holiday parties, restricting their hours, restaurants closing dining rooms, or even shutting down entirely for stretches.

A poke in the arm 2-3 times a year is far, far less intrusive than having an anti humanity mask forced on you for the rest of your life.

[compucomp]

Fine then, total hospitalizations in the US are at about 100K and quickly rising. Absolute peak was at 140K last winter. NY and NJ have passed their hospitalization peaks from last winter.

I understand all the hopium and copium that people here are huffing in large quantities on the subject of Omicron, but "mild" does not mean "harmless". Yes, Omicron is milder than Delta, particularly for vaccinated people. No, it's not harmless; there's no way the common cold or the flu caused hospitalizations at this level in the past. And no, the pandemic is not over, despite how much you want it to be. The virus couldn't care less about how over it you are.

Several points about this are questionable:
First and foremost, Delta is still circulating. People seem to be ignoring this point, so trying to hype omicron up into something more significant is grasping at straws.

Second, there have been several articles about the dominant flu strain this year (which is also one of the more severe ones) not matching the vaccines that are out, which is almost certainly behind the increase in hospitalizations.

Third, if you are hospitalized--no matter what reason--and test positive on screening, you are counted among covid hospitalizations. This is a point the CDC has been clear about in their studies, but everybody ignores when reporting the daily numbers. It's also worth noting many ICUs are near capacity even with only a quarter or so of those being COVID patients--we have a major capacity problem in general that is going ignored by much of the media.

And most importantly, the pandemic is now being driven entirely by the unvaccinated. At this point we need either penalization or incentive--hell, I'd be fine with just paying these people $10k or something to get vaccinated so we can get back to a functioning society. Continuing on the Covid Zero nonsense is destructive, both in the short and the longer term.

More copium here:

1. Delta is rapidly being replaced by Omicron, particularly in the Northeast and South where cases have exploded. Yes the CDC's modeling was proven to be shoddy when they "adjusted" the proportion by 50%, but it's still all we have, and it does line up with the fact that cases are exploding in a fashion we have not seen at any point since March 2020.

2. We're talking number of COVID hospitalizations, flu is not relevant.

3. NYC will soon separate the data in the way that you want. I think you're wrong and that most of these COVID hospitalizations are hospitalizations due to COVID, but we'll see.

4. Having a segment of the proportion unvaccinated is like a law of nature in the USA. There's a bunch of numbskulls that just won't get it and there's enough of them that the Republicans see political advantage in catering to them. They're here to stay and that's not going to change. I find it strange that people on this forum are totally in favor of vaccine mandates but strongly against mask mandates, when vaccine mandates are more intrusive and harder to implement and enforce. Remember every state had an indoor mask mandate at one point.

Calling the current government inaction a "COVID Zero" strategy is just a complete farce, and we all agreed that private entites have the right to restrict themselves or close themselves down. It's great to see private entities particularly in the Northeast recognize that Omicron is a threat and are taking action themselves in place of the government which won't do anything, such as ordering employees to WFH, cancelling holiday parties, restricting their hours, restaurants closing dining rooms, or even shutting down entirely for stretches.

A poke in the arm 2-3 times a year is far, far less intrusive than having an anti humanity mask forced on you for the rest of your life.

You're just wrong on this. I'm in favor of vaccine mandates but telling people that they have to inject a substance into their bodies is far more intrusive than telling them they have to wear a certain piece of clothing. You wear a shirt and shoes to get service, right? Also smoking is not allowed indoors?

People on this forum are totally out of touch with reality on this. Remember all 50 states implemented indoor mask mandates even without the federal government applying any coercion.

[Horus]

Fine then, total hospitalizations in the US are at about 100K and quickly rising. Absolute peak was at 140K last winter. NY and NJ have passed their hospitalization peaks from last winter.

I understand all the hopium and copium that people here are huffing in large quantities on the subject of Omicron, but "mild" does not mean "harmless". Yes, Omicron is milder than Delta, particularly for vaccinated people. No, it's not harmless; there's no way the common cold or the flu caused hospitalizations at this level in the past. And no, the pandemic is not over, despite how much you want it to be. The virus couldn't care less about how over it you are.

Several points about this are questionable:
First and foremost, Delta is still circulating. People seem to be ignoring this point, so trying to hype omicron up into something more significant is grasping at straws.

Second, there have been several articles about the dominant flu strain this year (which is also one of the more severe ones) not matching the vaccines that are out, which is almost certainly behind the increase in hospitalizations.

Third, if you are hospitalized--no matter what reason--and test positive on screening, you are counted among covid hospitalizations. This is a point the CDC has been clear about in their studies, but everybody ignores when reporting the daily numbers. It's also worth noting many ICUs are near capacity even with only a quarter or so of those being COVID patients--we have a major capacity problem in general that is going ignored by much of the media.

And most importantly, the pandemic is now being driven entirely by the unvaccinated. At this point we need either penalization or incentive--hell, I'd be fine with just paying these people $10k or something to get vaccinated so we can get back to a functioning society. Continuing on the Covid Zero nonsense is destructive, both in the short and the longer term.

More copium here:

1. Delta is rapidly being replaced by Omicron, particularly in the Northeast and South where cases have exploded. Yes the CDC's modeling was proven to be shoddy when they "adjusted" the proportion by 50%, but it's still all we have, and it does line up with the fact that cases are exploding in a fashion we have not seen at any point since March 2020.

2. We're talking number of COVID hospitalizations, flu is not relevant.

3. NYC will soon separate the data in the way that you want. I think you're wrong and that most of these COVID hospitalizations are hospitalizations due to COVID, but we'll see.

4. Having a segment of the proportion unvaccinated is like a law of nature in the USA. There's a bunch of numbskulls that just won't get it and there's enough of them that the Republicans see political advantage in catering to them. They're here to stay and that's not going to change. I find it strange that people on this forum are totally in favor of vaccine mandates but strongly against mask mandates, when vaccine mandates are more intrusive and harder to implement and enforce. Remember every state had an indoor mask mandate at one point.

Calling the current government inaction a "COVID Zero" strategy is just a complete farce, and we all agreed that private entites have the right to restrict themselves or close themselves down. It's great to see private entities particularly in the Northeast recognize that Omicron is a threat and are taking action themselves in place of the government which won't do anything, such as ordering employees to WFH, cancelling holiday parties, restricting their hours, restaurants closing dining rooms, or even shutting down entirely for stretches.

A poke in the arm 2-3 times a year is far, far less intrusive than having an anti humanity mask forced on you for the rest of your life.

You're just wrong on this. I'm in favor of vaccine mandates but telling people that they have to inject a substance into their bodies is far more intrusive than telling them they have to wear a certain piece of clothing. You wear a shirt and shoes to get service, right? Also smoking is not allowed indoors?

People on this forum are totally out of touch with reality on this. Remember all 50 states implemented indoor mask mandates even without the federal government applying any coercion.

Human breath =\= smoking.

[Sir Mohamed]

So we have broken the all time record of over 1 million new cases in a single day? A few months ago, I would have freaked out about this. But at least this is getting us herd immunity sooner than later, kind of a "natural vaccination" for anti-vaxxers. As sad as it is. I just hope hospitals don't get overwhelmed, especially to protect non-Covid patients as cancer and other diseases don't pause because of a pandemic.

[compucomp]

Fine then, total hospitalizations in the US are at about 100K and quickly rising. Absolute peak was at 140K last winter. NY and NJ have passed their hospitalization peaks from last winter.

I understand all the hopium and copium that people here are huffing in large quantities on the subject of Omicron, but "mild" does not mean "harmless". Yes, Omicron is milder than Delta, particularly for vaccinated people. No, it's not harmless; there's no way the common cold or the flu caused hospitalizations at this level in the past. And no, the pandemic is not over, despite how much you want it to be. The virus couldn't care less about how over it you are.

Several points about this are questionable:
First and foremost, Delta is still circulating. People seem to be ignoring this point, so trying to hype omicron up into something more significant is grasping at straws.

Second, there have been several articles about the dominant flu strain this year (which is also one of the more severe ones) not matching the vaccines that are out, which is almost certainly behind the increase in hospitalizations.

Third, if you are hospitalized--no matter what reason--and test positive on screening, you are counted among covid hospitalizations. This is a point the CDC has been clear about in their studies, but everybody ignores when reporting the daily numbers. It's also worth noting many ICUs are near capacity even with only a quarter or so of those being COVID patients--we have a major capacity problem in general that is going ignored by much of the media.

And most importantly, the pandemic is now being driven entirely by the unvaccinated. At this point we need either penalization or incentive--hell, I'd be fine with just paying these people $10k or something to get vaccinated so we can get back to a functioning society. Continuing on the Covid Zero nonsense is destructive, both in the short and the longer term.

More copium here:

1. Delta is rapidly being replaced by Omicron, particularly in the Northeast and South where cases have exploded. Yes the CDC's modeling was proven to be shoddy when they "adjusted" the proportion by 50%, but it's still all we have, and it does line up with the fact that cases are exploding in a fashion we have not seen at any point since March 2020.

2. We're talking number of COVID hospitalizations, flu is not relevant.

3. NYC will soon separate the data in the way that you want. I think you're wrong and that most of these COVID hospitalizations are hospitalizations due to COVID, but we'll see.

4. Having a segment of the proportion unvaccinated is like a law of nature in the USA. There's a bunch of numbskulls that just won't get it and there's enough of them that the Republicans see political advantage in catering to them. They're here to stay and that's not going to change. I find it strange that people on this forum are totally in favor of vaccine mandates but strongly against mask mandates, when vaccine mandates are more intrusive and harder to implement and enforce. Remember every state had an indoor mask mandate at one point.

Calling the current government inaction a "COVID Zero" strategy is just a complete farce, and we all agreed that private entites have the right to restrict themselves or close themselves down. It's great to see private entities particularly in the Northeast recognize that Omicron is a threat and are taking action themselves in place of the government which won't do anything, such as ordering employees to WFH, cancelling holiday parties, restricting their hours, restaurants closing dining rooms, or even shutting down entirely for stretches.

A poke in the arm 2-3 times a year is far, far less intrusive than having an anti humanity mask forced on you for the rest of your life.

You're just wrong on this. I'm in favor of vaccine mandates but telling people that they have to inject a substance into their bodies is far more intrusive than telling them they have to wear a certain piece of clothing. You wear a shirt and shoes to get service, right? Also smoking is not allowed indoors?

People on this forum are totally out of touch with reality on this. Remember all 50 states implemented indoor mask mandates even without the federal government applying any coercion.

Human breath =\= smoking.

COVID breath is more noxious than secondhand smoke. Also you conveniently ignored the part where you claimed that getting injected is less intrusive than putting on a piece of clothing, a clearly ludicrous statement.

[DaleCooper]

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.

[Horus]

Fine then, total hospitalizations in the US are at about 100K and quickly rising. Absolute peak was at 140K last winter. NY and NJ have passed their hospitalization peaks from last winter.

I understand all the hopium and copium that people here are huffing in large quantities on the subject of Omicron, but "mild" does not mean "harmless". Yes, Omicron is milder than Delta, particularly for vaccinated people. No, it's not harmless; there's no way the common cold or the flu caused hospitalizations at this level in the past. And no, the pandemic is not over, despite how much you want it to be. The virus couldn't care less about how over it you are.

Several points about this are questionable:
First and foremost, Delta is still circulating. People seem to be ignoring this point, so trying to hype omicron up into something more significant is grasping at straws.

Second, there have been several articles about the dominant flu strain this year (which is also one of the more severe ones) not matching the vaccines that are out, which is almost certainly behind the increase in hospitalizations.

Third, if you are hospitalized--no matter what reason--and test positive on screening, you are counted among covid hospitalizations. This is a point the CDC has been clear about in their studies, but everybody ignores when reporting the daily numbers. It's also worth noting many ICUs are near capacity even with only a quarter or so of those being COVID patients--we have a major capacity problem in general that is going ignored by much of the media.

And most importantly, the pandemic is now being driven entirely by the unvaccinated. At this point we need either penalization or incentive--hell, I'd be fine with just paying these people $10k or something to get vaccinated so we can get back to a functioning society. Continuing on the Covid Zero nonsense is destructive, both in the short and the longer term.

More copium here:

1. Delta is rapidly being replaced by Omicron, particularly in the Northeast and South where cases have exploded. Yes the CDC's modeling was proven to be shoddy when they "adjusted" the proportion by 50%, but it's still all we have, and it does line up with the fact that cases are exploding in a fashion we have not seen at any point since March 2020.

2. We're talking number of COVID hospitalizations, flu is not relevant.

3. NYC will soon separate the data in the way that you want. I think you're wrong and that most of these COVID hospitalizations are hospitalizations due to COVID, but we'll see.

4. Having a segment of the proportion unvaccinated is like a law of nature in the USA. There's a bunch of numbskulls that just won't get it and there's enough of them that the Republicans see political advantage in catering to them. They're here to stay and that's not going to change. I find it strange that people on this forum are totally in favor of vaccine mandates but strongly against mask mandates, when vaccine mandates are more intrusive and harder to implement and enforce. Remember every state had an indoor mask mandate at one point.

Calling the current government inaction a "COVID Zero" strategy is just a complete farce, and we all agreed that private entites have the right to restrict themselves or close themselves down. It's great to see private entities particularly in the Northeast recognize that Omicron is a threat and are taking action themselves in place of the government which won't do anything, such as ordering employees to WFH, cancelling holiday parties, restricting their hours, restaurants closing dining rooms, or even shutting down entirely for stretches.

A poke in the arm 2-3 times a year is far, far less intrusive than having an anti humanity mask forced on you for the rest of your life.

You're just wrong on this. I'm in favor of vaccine mandates but telling people that they have to inject a substance into their bodies is far more intrusive than telling them they have to wear a certain piece of clothing. You wear a shirt and shoes to get service, right? Also smoking is not allowed indoors?

People on this forum are totally out of touch with reality on this. Remember all 50 states implemented indoor mask mandates even without the federal government applying any coercion.

Human breath =\= smoking.

COVID breath is more noxious than secondhand smoke. Also you conveniently ignored the part where you claimed that getting injected is less intrusive than putting on a piece of clothing, a clearly ludicrous statement.

It is. Getting injected lasts a few seconds per year.. Wearing an unnecessary piece of cloth for hours a day that limits human interaction, makes the world impossible to access for deaf people and makes society dystopian is far, far more damaging.

Fortunately omicron is the end of COVID.

[compucomp]

So we have broken the all time record of over 1 million new cases in a single day? A few months ago, I would have freaked out about this. But at least this is getting us herd immunity sooner than later, kind of a "natural vaccination" for anti-vaxxers. As sad as it is. I just hope hospitals don't get overwhelmed, especially to protect non-Covid patients as cancer and other diseases don't pause because of a pandemic.

In a democracy, the people get what they want, and the loudest people are heard the clearest. If this forum is to be believed, the anti-containment people are the loudest, so the politicians hear them and thus the government won't do anything. Even if we had a majority of pro-containment people, it's pretty clear that we can't mobilize it. I've long given up on trying to get governments in the US to do anything, but it is encouraging that private entities are stepping up to some degree in the Northeast and taking action themselves against COVID. Maybe you will see the same soon in California.

Fine then, total hospitalizations in the US are at about 100K and quickly rising. Absolute peak was at 140K last winter. NY and NJ have passed their hospitalization peaks from last winter.

I understand all the hopium and copium that people here are huffing in large quantities on the subject of Omicron, but "mild" does not mean "harmless". Yes, Omicron is milder than Delta, particularly for vaccinated people. No, it's not harmless; there's no way the common cold or the flu caused hospitalizations at this level in the past. And no, the pandemic is not over, despite how much you want it to be. The virus couldn't care less about how over it you are.

Several points about this are questionable:
First and foremost, Delta is still circulating. People seem to be ignoring this point, so trying to hype omicron up into something more significant is grasping at straws.

Second, there have been several articles about the dominant flu strain this year (which is also one of the more severe ones) not matching the vaccines that are out, which is almost certainly behind the increase in hospitalizations.

Third, if you are hospitalized--no matter what reason--and test positive on screening, you are counted among covid hospitalizations. This is a point the CDC has been clear about in their studies, but everybody ignores when reporting the daily numbers. It's also worth noting many ICUs are near capacity even with only a quarter or so of those being COVID patients--we have a major capacity problem in general that is going ignored by much of the media.

And most importantly, the pandemic is now being driven entirely by the unvaccinated. At this point we need either penalization or incentive--hell, I'd be fine with just paying these people $10k or something to get vaccinated so we can get back to a functioning society. Continuing on the Covid Zero nonsense is destructive, both in the short and the longer term.

More copium here:

1. Delta is rapidly being replaced by Omicron, particularly in the Northeast and South where cases have exploded. Yes the CDC's modeling was proven to be shoddy when they "adjusted" the proportion by 50%, but it's still all we have, and it does line up with the fact that cases are exploding in a fashion we have not seen at any point since March 2020.

2. We're talking number of COVID hospitalizations, flu is not relevant.

3. NYC will soon separate the data in the way that you want. I think you're wrong and that most of these COVID hospitalizations are hospitalizations due to COVID, but we'll see.

4. Having a segment of the proportion unvaccinated is like a law of nature in the USA. There's a bunch of numbskulls that just won't get it and there's enough of them that the Republicans see political advantage in catering to them. They're here to stay and that's not going to change. I find it strange that people on this forum are totally in favor of vaccine mandates but strongly against mask mandates, when vaccine mandates are more intrusive and harder to implement and enforce. Remember every state had an indoor mask mandate at one point.

Calling the current government inaction a "COVID Zero" strategy is just a complete farce, and we all agreed that private entites have the right to restrict themselves or close themselves down. It's great to see private entities particularly in the Northeast recognize that Omicron is a threat and are taking action themselves in place of the government which won't do anything, such as ordering employees to WFH, cancelling holiday parties, restricting their hours, restaurants closing dining rooms, or even shutting down entirely for stretches.

A poke in the arm 2-3 times a year is far, far less intrusive than having an anti humanity mask forced on you for the rest of your life.

You're just wrong on this. I'm in favor of vaccine mandates but telling people that they have to inject a substance into their bodies is far more intrusive than telling them they have to wear a certain piece of clothing. You wear a shirt and shoes to get service, right? Also smoking is not allowed indoors?

People on this forum are totally out of touch with reality on this. Remember all 50 states implemented indoor mask mandates even without the federal government applying any coercion.

Human breath =\= smoking.

COVID breath is more noxious than secondhand smoke. Also you conveniently ignored the part where you claimed that getting injected is less intrusive than putting on a piece of clothing, a clearly ludicrous statement.

It is. Getting injected lasts a few seconds per year.. Wearing an unnecessary piece of cloth for hours a day that limits human interaction, makes the world impossible to access for deaf people and makes society dystopian is far, far more damaging.

Fortunately omicron is the end of COVID.

BS, injecting a substance into your body causes a direct effect on bodily functions in a way that no piece of clothing can do and thus is a far more intrusive act. In extreme cases, injecting heroin could affect you for the rest of your life, and executions are performed via injections. The fact that the vaccine is not a poison doesn't change the fact that it's still an injection and thus intrusive by nature.