COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Devout Centrist]

If herd immunity isn't real, how do we explain the decline in cases in places that were already hit the hardest?

It isn't a strategy. It's just something that's already happened. We can't reverse it now that it's happened already.

Cyclical cause and effect.  Places that get hit hard go in for more social distancing (whether mandated or not).  Then when cases understandably go down as a result, social distancing relaxes and cases go back up again.  

Herd immunity has not been reached to any significant degree anywhere in the U.S. except possibly the New York City area.

I’m not sure how you explain the trends in Arizona other than herd immunity.  They had the highest per capita case rate for quite a while, and then cases suddenly dropped almost 90% over the last eight weeks.  Did they really do anything drastically different than any other state?

It’s a combination of temporary immunity, mask usage, and some (but not a lot) of decrease in activity.

But nowhere else has seen a 90% drop in cases in the last two months.  Has Arizona really enforced masks and decreased activity that much better than everywhere else?

Yes. Anecdotally, we went from ~20% of people wearing a mask in public to ~95% in most urban places

[Devout Centrist]

I cannot believe there are people defending the school administration in this debacle. They knew full well the risks of having students on campus and they chose to go ahead with in person classes to benefit their bottom line. Now that college students are acting like, well, college students, they’re feigning surprise and pocketing their tuition.

Disgusting behavior and frankly, it will hurt our efforts to contain COVID.

[Devout Centrist]

Also it’s hilarious.
The same side that cries about “muh right to deny service” is the one crying about the expulsion itself.
You can be upset with the money theft, but the expulsion was perfectly justified and honestly a good thing.

No, 'honestly', it was not. It's a draconian response to something mundane and it will hurt our efforts to contain this disease.

Young people have been confined indoors for the better part of seven months and they're disproportionately suffering from anxiety, stress, and depression. Without in-person social connections, I think we'll see mental health indicators decline even more. Expelling kids for small in-person gatherings is ludicrous and counterproductive.

[Devout Centrist]

Have we finally turned a corner on the coronavirus?

Pandemic seems to be leveling off in U.S., but numbers remain troublingly high, experts say

The coronavirus pandemic appears to be leveling off in most of the United States, with new cases, deaths and hospitalizations all down over the past week, but the plateau leaves the country with high and persistent infection numbers and worries of a post-Labor Day surge in some areas.

The number of new cases reported daily peaked above 70,000 in July and has been falling since. The decline now seems to be slowing, with the daily number hovering near 40,000 for more than a week, a review of nationwide data showed Tuesday. That is one sign that the infection may be leveling off.

Although that is good news, the numbers suggest continued high levels of infection and a long road ahead, particularly as cold weather and the flu season approach. Without a vaccine or a major advance in treatment, significant reductions in new cases would probably require voluntary or mandated changes in behavior that experts say are unlikely six months into the public health crisis.

Didn't this happen in May?

[Devout Centrist]

https://twitter.com/NinaStrohminger/status/1412014055976538112
Very sad news folks