COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[It’s so Joever]

Also, when I say Trump genocide, things like this are what I mean.

https://www.politico.com/amp/news/2020/10/05/trump-cdc-coronavirus-report-change-425538


This is an attack on children and teachers to increase his chances at re-election.
Any virus truthers want to even try to defend this?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/RoKhanna/status/1313145421657640962

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/ddiamond/status/1312038486183219200

[Indy Texas]

Does Trump not understand how bad it's going to look if he goes to the debate and is so out of breath that he nearly falls over?

[100% pro-life no matter what]

The WHO now estimates the IFR at just 0.13%.  Covid may be super contagious, but, in terms of severity of the illness, it literally is just the flu.

https://twitter.com/AlexBerenson/status/1312180625412038656

[Calthrina950]

The WHO now estimates the IFR at just 0.13%.  Covid may be super contagious, but, in terms of severity of the illness, it literally is just the flu.

https://twitter.com/AlexBerenson/status/1312180625412038656

This does seem to confirm what has been speculated for months-that far more people have contracted (and recovered) from the virus than official figures would suggest. And it is blatantly obvious by now that the virus most severely affects the elderly, obese, and those with pre-existing conditions. But I'm not sure if I'm willing to go so far and dismiss this virus as "just the flu." This is the most serious pandemic which has struck in decades, and more than 200,000 Americans have died from it-a number that also shouldn't be dismissed.

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Unless he's quoting a knowledgeable source directly, there is no reason to ever (ever) take Berenson's word on COVID seriously.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

The WHO now estimates the IFR at just 0.13%.  Covid may be super contagious, but, in terms of severity of the illness, it literally is just the flu.

https://twitter.com/AlexBerenson/status/1312180625412038656

This does seem to confirm what has been speculated for months-that far more people have contracted (and recovered) from the virus than official figures would suggest. And it is blatantly obvious by now that the virus most severely affects the elderly, obese, and those with pre-existing conditions. But I'm not sure if I'm willing to go so far and dismiss this virus as "just the flu." This is the most serious pandemic which has struck in decades, and more than 200,000 Americans have died from it-a number that also shouldn't be dismissed.

I agree that this is the worst pandemic in my lifetime (that's obvious), but that is almost wholly explained by covid being more contagious than the flu, not by it being an especially severe illness to those who get it.  Swine flu was also super contagious (maybe even moreso than covid), but it's now believed that it was as much as 10 times less deadly than the seasonal flu.  So, I think it's unfair of people on the right who try to compare covid to swine flu.  If anything, a severe flu season that happens to be caught by 2-3x as many people is the best comparsion.

An interesting comparison to me looks like 1957-58's "Asian Flu", which is estimated to have sickened 15-20% of the global population, but had a low fatality rate as well (listed as "<0.2%" on Wikipedia).  To my knowledge, that didn't cause major stops to society or modifications in how we live our lives.

[Mike Thick]

Unless he's quoting a knowledgeable source directly, there is no reason to ever (ever) take Berenson's word on COVID seriously.

Also... does he think that in spite of missing hundreds of millions of cases, we managed to detect and count every single death?

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Unless he's quoting a knowledgeable source directly, there is no reason to ever (ever) take Berenson's word on COVID seriously.

Also... does he think that in spite of missing hundreds of millions of cases, we managed to detect and count every single death?

That's a fair point, although I would add that it's a lot easier to miss mild or asymptomatic cases than it is to miss deaths, and there is the debate of what exactly is a covid death (which there isn't really a perfect answer for), so it's never going to be possible to get an exact IFR.  Maybe 0.2-0.25% is more fair, but there is some overcounting in addition to some undercounting.

[Calthrina950]

The WHO now estimates the IFR at just 0.13%.  Covid may be super contagious, but, in terms of severity of the illness, it literally is just the flu.

https://twitter.com/AlexBerenson/status/1312180625412038656

This does seem to confirm what has been speculated for months-that far more people have contracted (and recovered) from the virus than official figures would suggest. And it is blatantly obvious by now that the virus most severely affects the elderly, obese, and those with pre-existing conditions. But I'm not sure if I'm willing to go so far and dismiss this virus as "just the flu." This is the most serious pandemic which has struck in decades, and more than 200,000 Americans have died from it-a number that also shouldn't be dismissed.

I agree that this is the worst pandemic in my lifetime (that's obvious), but that is almost wholly explained by covid being more contagious than the flu, not by it being an especially severe illness to those who get it. Swine flu was also super contagious (maybe even moreso than covid), but it's now believed that it was as much as 10 times less deadly than the seasonal flu.  So, I think it's unfair of people on the right who try to compare covid to swine flu.  If anything, a severe flu season that happens to be caught by 2-3x as many people is the best comparsion.

An interesting comparison to me looks like 1957-58's "Asian Flu", which is estimated to have sickened 15-20% of the global population, but had a low fatality rate as well (listed as "<0.2%" on Wikipedia).  To my knowledge, that didn't cause major stops to society or modifications in how we live our lives.

For many people, this is the case, but it's certainly not true for all-as the death figures would indicate. What I was more getting at is that this virus shouldn't be dismissed so easily, especially given the massive effects it has had on societies everywhere this year. Hopefully, we have learned lessons from this pandemic that will enable us to avoid such a systematic disruption of life in the future, whenever the next pandemic strikes (and there will be another one, I'm certain of that at this point).

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

White House Blocks New Coronavirus Vaccine Guidelines

Top White House officials are blocking strict new federal guidelines for the emergency release of a coronavirus vaccine, objecting to a provision that would almost certainly guarantee that no vaccine could be authorized before the election on Nov. 3, according to people familiar with the approval process.

“The public must have full faith in the scientific process and the rigor of F.D.A.’s regulatory oversight if we are to end the pandemic,” the biotech industry’s trade association pleaded on Thursday, in a letter to President Trump’s health secretary, Alex M. Azar II, asking for release of the guidelines.

The Food and Drug Administration submitted the guidelines to the Office of Management and Budget for approval more than two weeks ago, but they stalled in the office of Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff. Their approval is now seen as highly unlikely.

[Dr. Arch]

The updated numbers for COVID-19 in the U.S. are in for 10/5 per: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

I'm keeping track of these updates daily and updating at the end of the day, whenever all states finish reporting for that day.

ΔW Change: Comparisons of Weekly Day-to-day Growth or Decline of COVID-19 Spread/Deaths.

• IE: Comparing the numbers to the same day of last week, are we flattening the curve enough?

Σ Increase: A day's contribution to overall percentage growth of COVID-19 cases/deaths.

• IE: What's the overall change in the total?

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9/27: <Sunday>

• Cases: 7,320,669 (+33,108 | ΔW Change: ↓11.39% | Σ Increase: ↑0.45%)
• Deaths: 209,453 (+276 | ΔW Change: ↓6.12% | Σ Increase: ↑0.13%)

9/28: <M>

• Cases: 7,361,611 (+40,942 | ΔW Change: ↓1.22% | Σ Increase: ↑0.56%)
• Deaths: 209,808 (+355 | ΔW Change: ↓8.51% | Σ Increase: ↑0.17%)

9/29: <T>

• Cases: 7,406,146 (+44,535 | ΔW Change: ↓13.89% | Σ Increase: ↑0.60%)
• Deaths: 210,785 (+977 | ΔW Change: ↑1.24% | Σ Increase: ↑0.47%)

9/30: <W>

• Cases: 7,447,282 (+41,136 | ΔW Change: ↓1.15% | Σ Increase: ↑0.56%)
• Deaths: 211,740 (+955 | ΔW Change: ↓14.88% | Σ Increase: ↑0.45%)

10/1: <Þ>

• Cases: 7,494,671 (+47,389 | ΔW Change: ↑3.20% | Σ Increase: ↑0.64%)
• Deaths: 212,660 (+920 | ΔW Change: ↓2.65% | Σ Increase: ↑0.43%)

10/2: <F>

• Cases: 7,549,323 (+54,652 | ΔW Change: ↓6.92% | Σ Increase: ↑0.73%)
• Deaths: 213,524 (+864 | ΔW Change: ↓4.21% | Σ Increase: ↑0.41%)

10/3: <S>

• Cases: 7,600,846 (+51,523 | ΔW Change: ↑18.78% | Σ Increase: ↑0.68%)
• Deaths: 214,277 (+753 | ΔW Change: ↑2.17% | Σ Increase: ↑0.35%)

10/4 (Yesterday): <Sunday>

• Cases: 7,636,912 (+36,066 | ΔW Change: ↑8.93% | Σ Increase: ↑0.47%)
• Deaths: 214,611 (+334 | ΔW Change: ↑21.01% | Σ Increase: ↑0.16%)

10/5 (Today): <M>

• Cases: 7,679,644 (+42,732 | ΔW Change: ↑4.37% | Σ Increase: ↑0.56%)
• Deaths: 215,032 (+421 | ΔW Change: ↑18.59% | Σ Increase: ↑0.20%)

[Smeulders]

The WHO now estimates the IFR at just 0.13%.  Covid may be super contagious, but, in terms of severity of the illness, it literally is just the flu.

https://twitter.com/AlexBerenson/status/1312180625412038656

The WHO very much does not estimate the IFR at 0.13%, unless the WHO also officially estimates that the deaths are equal to those reported. Time and again, we see that officially reported deaths are significantly lower than excess mortality and that is in first world countries.

Whenever anyone feels the need to report a speculative IFR below < 0.25% they should explain how that is consistent with the very certain .28% of NYCs total population reported to die of Covid, or Lima's excess deaths of .4% of total population, or Lombardy's excess deaths of .25% in March and April alone. All of these are for total population, not infected.

[Beet]

^ ^ ^

I agree with that, but it does seem to be getting less deadly with time. Not sure why exactly that is. Perhaps the less deadly strains are also less likely to give you symptoms but are more infectious. It makes sense, as people who don't show symptoms are less likely to take precautions and more likely to transmit the virus. But the virus they are transmitting may be less potent to begin with. Also, random mutations over time may make the virus a less effective killer. Finally, treatment methods may be getting better with more experience.

[Badger]

https://twitter.com/RoKhanna/status/1313145421657640962

This post cannot be repeated enough.

[Badger]

Oh, so, typhoid Donnie went home to the White House late last night. His statements and actions even in doing that are - - - totally special.

Worst. President. Ever.

Worst. Presidential. Supporters. Ever.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

New Woodward audio: Trump said in March he was too busy to meet with Fauci

    TRUMP: "Yes, I guess, but honestly, there's not a lot of time for that, Bob. It's a busy White House. This is a busy White House. We've got a lot of things happening. And then this came about. Look, we have the greatest economy on Earth. The greatest economy we've ever had. And in one day, this thing came in and we had a choice to make. Close everything up and save potentially millions of lives, you know hundreds of thousands of lives. Or don't do anything and watch, look at body bags every day being taken out of apartment buildings."

    FAUCI: "Who told you that?"

    TRUMP: "Me. I told me that."

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1313475629833228289

[Sir Mohamed]

New Woodward audio: Trump said in March he was too busy to meet with Fauci

    TRUMP: "Yes, I guess, but honestly, there's not a lot of time for that, Bob. It's a busy White House. This is a busy White House. We've got a lot of things happening. And then this came about. Look, we have the greatest economy on Earth. The greatest economy we've ever had. And in one day, this thing came in and we had a choice to make. Close everything up and save potentially millions of lives, you know hundreds of thousands of lives. Or don't do anything and watch, look at body bags every day being taken out of apartment buildings."

    FAUCI: "Who told you that?"

    TRUMP: "Me. I told me that."

For sure he prefers making stupid Tweets and playing gold rather than having a meeting where he needs to listen to subborn facts and stupid science.

Mr. Trump's whole attitude as prez was just to feed his own fragile ego, enrich himself and advance vile GOP policies including being their useful idiot appointing Federalist Society judges. It was never about serious policies and solving complex problems. He's neither interested nor capable of that. As a result, we're all paying a horrible price.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1313504391257821185

[GP270watch]

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1313504391257821185

Bruh, what is wrong with these people?

[Citizen (The) Doctor]

https://twitter.com/JuliaDavisNews/status/1313504391257821185

Wait is that Tom Cotton to his right? Could he have become infected?

[riceowl]

He just pulled the plug on any relief bill until after the election. The dumb mother finkser. Why is he so bad at populism??

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313551795646541824

[GP270watch]

He just pulled the plug on any relief bill until after the election. The dumb mother finkser. Why is he so bad at populism??

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1313551795646541824

Dow just swung 400-500 points moments after this tweet.