COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[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.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

All the universities in my area are going back to online classes, even though there aren't that many cases, and far fewer deaths.

How can universities continue justifying such tuition for this sort of lousy experience? Students should be suing the pants off of these universities for not delivering the services they promised.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

The only states in the U.S. that locked down last winter were California and New Mexico.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I wonder if vaxxed people are spreading omicron more per capita.

In my spreadsheet document where I estimate the percentage of people who are immune in each state, the omicron wave seems to be hitting much harder in states with more immunity.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Good news from South Africa:

https://twitter.com/ShabirMadh/status/1478814055590727685

So basically it's less than a cold, and we're acting like it's the plague.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

https://twitter.com/deitaone/status/1479474991922098176?s=21

Really?!?!?! Naaawwwwwwww!!!!!

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Also, my spreadsheet document tries to compute the death rate by computing the deaths divided by known cases. Right now it's only 0.26%, the lowest of the entire pandemic. Just 3 weeks ago it was 0.93%, and in June it was over 2%.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Also, my spreadsheet document tries to compute the death rate by computing the deaths divided by known cases. Right now it's only 0.26%, the lowest of the entire pandemic. Just 3 weeks ago it was 0.93%, and in June it was over 2%.

What’s the case-death lag period you account for in your spreadsheet?

The lag is only 3 days. I could adjust it to make it longer.

The reason it's only 3 days is that some fatal cases are reported to state agencies at the same time as the death.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

So what are the off-ramps now to end restrictions?

Now that the vaccine has been approved for kids as young as 5 for the past 2 months, you never hear anything anymore about ending restrictions.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Exactly! This forum has seriously lost its mind on the subject of COVID. They claim to be "pro-freedom", but they've already won that battle in the US; there are no government policies causing any business shutdown or restricting any behavior.

There's mask mandates all over the place now.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Jimmy Dore is probably the best reporter out there right now.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

If you don't want a booster (3rd, 4th, 10th, whatever) then don't take it.

A lot of people keep saying they're going to be required, but that hasn't happened. They're good for people who want them.

Some colleges require them now.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Today is the first day since Dec. 15 in which the 7-day case average in the U.S. dropped.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I actually suspect we had a coronavirus pandemic in the late 1980s. I remember a time there where there was definitely something going around for probably several years.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Remember a year ago when Biden talked about 100 days of masks?

Pepperidge Farm remembers.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

According to my spreadsheet document, the deaths divided by known cases is down to 0.21%. It was close to 8% back in April 2020. Of course, this includes just known cases, not cases that were never found.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Isn't Oregon about to make its mask mandate permanent?

[Bandit3 the Worker]

That is indeed the problem. The point has been made that very few people actually followed or cared about CDC recommendations prior to the pandemic, but since the pandemic, their recommendations-particularly on masking-have been converted into law in many jurisdictions.

Someone told me that schools and other institutions could be sued if they didn't follow CDC rules on masks, even though the CDC is not a legislative body. But I asked them why restaurants can't be sued for serving sushi or hamburgers that aren't completely overcooked, which the CDC also advises against. But they just shrugged.

I also read that schools were requiring masks because their insurers would drop them if they didn't. So a lot of this is being commandeered by insurance companies.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

It's just maddening to me that so many people have had their minds "screwed up" by this pandemic and the response to it.

A lot of this was caused by TV.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Last winter's peak in the U.S. was on Jan. 11. This winter's peak was on Jan. 13. But I'm sure it's different from state to state.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Omicron is now 99.5% of USA cases and there were 2300 deaths today. Are we still going with this is almost all Delta, and the super mild Omicron is causing negligible deaths?

Most of the deaths are people who caught it a long time ago, so they would have to be Delta.

Also, my spreadsheet document says deaths divided by known cases is down to 0.2%. It was 0.6% as recently as Christmas.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

What are the odds NY drops its indoor mask mandate on Feb. 1?

I'm more worried about which state will be the first to enact an outdoor mandate. I think a few states had one last winter.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

What are the odds NY drops its indoor mask mandate on Feb. 1?

I'm more worried about which state will be the first to enact an outdoor mandate. I think a few states had one last winter.

Oregon already had one back in the fall, but if another state does it, my money would be on California

My guess is New Mexico.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

It's been 2 years. The ridiculousness must end.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Thoughts on NY's mask mandate being ruled unconstitutional?

We spent the 2010s fighting against the school-to-prison pipeline.

But the 2020s have been spent turning schools into prisons.

Masks in schools must go, and there must be accountability for those who enforced it.