COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[pppolitics]

How is it that we're going backwards 8 months after the vaccine came out?

....because of the anti-vaxxers

[pppolitics]

Biden should roll out door-to-door vaccination campaigns in Democratic areas.

[pppolitics]

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1422555523644264453

Democrats go full circle and support segregation.

What an ignorant, disgusting comment.

It's an ignorant, disgusting policy. I will never apologize for calling out government-mandated segregation. And I would think political moderates would think this is an extreme policy.

Where does the "segregation" part comes in?

[pppolitics]

Arkansas governor says he regrets ban on mask mandates

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/04/politics/asa-hutchinson-arkansas-mask-mandate/index.html

[pppolitics]

Hundreds of Thousands of Bikers Expected in Sturgis Despite Delta Variant

Although most large events shut down last summer because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally forged ahead, panicking health experts as nearly a half-million motorcycle enthusiasts descended on the Black Hills of South Dakota.

This year’s rally, which began on Friday, is expected to draw an even larger crowd, just as the infectious Delta variant is producing more new virus cases nationwide than this time last year.

What path the virus will take through Sturgis remains to be seen.

Transmission is more difficult outdoors, vaccines greatly reduce the risk of serious illness, and South Dakota has the fewest new virus cases per capita in the United States. At the same time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers Delta as contagious as chickenpox, and people are traveling from across the country — several Southern states are in their worst outbreaks of the pandemic — to a region with a relatively low vaccination rate.

[...]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/06/us/politics/sturgis-motorcycle-rally-covid.html

[pppolitics]

I find it interesting that posters on here are going hard against sturgis, but were utterly silent about lollapalooza

It would help if you have actually read the article!

[...]

Other large outdoor events have returned this summer, in part because of the availability of vaccines. Attendees at the recent Lollapalooza music festival, which packed people into downtown Chicago, had to either provide proof of vaccination or show a negative coronavirus test from the previous 72 hours.

The motorcycle rally in Sturgis will not have a similar screening process. Vaccines will be made available at the event, including the one-dose Johnson & Johnson shot, but it takes time for them to strengthen immune systems.

[...]

[pppolitics]

Bill Cassidy Slams Ron DeSantis for Hampering Local Mask Mandates

Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, criticized Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican, for banning local officials from implementing mask mandates for schools amid a surge in COVID-19 infections in the southern state.

DeSantis, who is seen as a likely 2024 GOP presidential contender, banned schools across his state from implementing mask mandates, despite guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommending all teachers and students wear masks amid a nationwide surge in COVID-19 infections driven by the Delta variant. Florida also currently has the highest daily average of new COVID-19 infections in the country, and hospitalizations of patients with the novel coronavirus have broken records in recent days.

During a Sunday interview with CNN, Cassidy was asked about the decision by DeSantis, as well as that of Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, who has banned local mask mandates.

[...]

https://www.newsweek.com/bill-cassidy-slams-ron-desantis-hampering-local-mask-mandates-im-conservative-1617287

[pppolitics]

I will also point out that yes, I know that in the case of the lollapalooza Event organizers said they wanted proof of full vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test before being able to enter the festival, but again when you look at sheer amount of people piled up against each other there is still the threat of breakthrough infections

Hospitalizations from breakthrough infections are rare.

Deaths from breakthrough infections are even rarer.

Most of these cases involve people who are immunocompromised and haven't developed sufficient immunity after recieving the vaccine.

[pppolitics]

If you require proof of vaccination at a large public event, there will likely be breakthrough infection, but these should really be nothing to worry about, since all the data suggest that catchining covid if you are vaccinated is much less dangerous than the flu or any number of other viruses.   This is complete different than a public event that doesn’t require vaccination.

While the body count will/is far less, does it not still equally facilitate the mutation of new variants, including one that might as to which the existing vaccines are not effective? Just asking. I am not sure. The idea that one can contract the virus outside after 15 seconds of contact is sobering.

Sure, but this is a way to reward people who are vaccinated.

If people see that they can do X, Y, and Z if and only if they are vaccinated, they are more likely to get vaccinated.

[pppolitics]

I expect South Dakota to explode in COVID cases due to the motorcycle rally.

Everyone said that last year too. But it never happened.

You remember wrong.

Aside from SD, there were also surges in nearby states that were attributed to the rally.

It did.

[pppolitics]

I expect South Dakota to explode in COVID cases due to the motorcycle rally.

Everyone said that last year too. But it never happened.

You remember wrong.

Aside from SD, there were also surges in nearby states that were attributed to the rally.

It did.

That study from those economists was debunked.

COVID doesn't exist.

Fake news!

[pppolitics]

'Your child will wait for another child to die.' Amid Covid-19 surge, Dallas County has no pediatric ICU beds left, county judge says

(CNN) -- Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations are surging and in Dallas County, Texas, there are "zero ICU beds left for children," county judge Clay Jenkins said in a news conference Friday morning.

"That means if your child's in a car wreck, if your child has a congenital heart defect or something and needs an ICU bed, or more likely if they have Covid and need an ICU bed, we don't have one. Your child will wait for another child to die," Jenkins said. "Your child will just not get on the ventilator, your child will be CareFlighted to Temple or Oklahoma City or wherever we can find them a bed, but they won't be getting one here unless one clears."

The judge added no ICU beds have been available for children for at least 24 hours. The Texas Department of State Health Services told CNN the shortage of pediatric ICU beds is related to a shortage in medical staff.

"Hospitals are licensed for a specific number of beds and most hospitals regularly staff fewer beds than they are licensed for. They can't use beds that aren't staffed. With the increase in COVID cases, hospitals are experiencing a shortage of people to staff the beds that they are licensed for," department spokesperson Lara Anton said in an email, adding that staffing agencies in the state are working on recruiting medical surge staff from across the US.

[...]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/13/us/dallas-county-no-pediatric-icu-beds-left/index.html

[pppolitics]

South Dakota Covid cases quintuple after Sturgis motorcycle rally

Two weeks after the annual motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, reported Covid infections in the state have risen nearly sixfold.

South Dakota counted 3,819 new cases in the past two weeks, including seven deaths, up from 644 cases in the 14 days preceding it. That makes it the state with the largest percent increase in Covid cases in the past two weeks.

The state's rate of Covid-19 infections per capita in the past two weeks is in the bottom half of the country, but it's the sharp and sudden increase in case counts that sets it apart.

Meade County, home to Sturgis, has counted 330 new cases in the last two weeks, up from the 20 reported in the two weeks before the rally, according to Johns Hopkins University's case count. The 1,550 percent increase comes after the motorcycle rally, which usually draws around half a million people, possibly had its biggest year ever, according to County Sheriff Ron Merwin.

[...]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/south-dakota-covid-cases-quintuple-after-sturgis-motorcycle-rally-n1277567

[pppolitics]

Judge rules against Florida governor's ban on mask mandates in schools

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban on mask mandates in schools will not remain in place, Leon County’s 2nd Judicial Circuit Court Judge John Cooper ruled Friday.

The court said that under the law the defendants “did not have the authority for a blanket mandatory ban against face mask policy, that does not provide a parental opt-out. They simply do not have that authority,” the judge said. 

The order will not take effect until the written order is issued, Cooper said. The court expected the written order to be issued early next week.

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-08-27-21/h_55ad5dfbee4d2ef803a352b6e41a156b

[pppolitics]

https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1431421299407130631

[pppolitics]

https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/1436027065170530311

[pppolitics]

Biden really declared victory too soon.

Biden is already victorious.

The vaccine is readily available.

The overwhelming majority of people who are dying from COVID are unvaccinated.