COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[It’s so Joever]

Here's another chart-topping smash from the "why nobody trusts the media" greatest hits collection.

The media has reported multiple times that South Dakota (the state with the most lenient covid rules) has the highest per capita number of covid deaths. But this isn't even close to being true. New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts make up the top 3, and those states were pretty strict.

Not sure why the media chooses to make up stuff. Maybe it's something against the northern Plains, or the Midwest in general. Maybe they're mad because a person from South Dakota hurt their feelings or something.

There were some journalists and commentators who I respected a lot before this, but my respect for them is out the window now.

Do they explicitly say highest death/per capita death rate for the entire span of the pandemic, or are they implying within the past few weeks?
That would be important to know.
And yes the situation in the Dakotas was pretty damn bad and arguably was one of the worst purely by the numbers just a few weeks ago anyways.

[It’s so Joever]

Yeah, complete and utter .... Sure lockdowns add some risks, they also take away others (traffic and workplace accidents). I won't pretend to know which way the balance goes, but to pretend that it significant in either direction is very questionable. In Belgium excess deaths track very strongly with reported Covid deaths. If the effects of lockdowns have a significant influence, we'd expect the excess deaths to fall slower than Covid deaths. (As the lockdown lowers case numbers, Covid deaths go down, but "lockdown" deaths go up). This simply does not happen.

I always love seeing "lack of medical care" in those lists of the risks of lockdowns as well. Medical systems do not delay procedures because there is a lockdown. They delay other medical procedures because they are overburdened by Covid cases. Lockdowns make sure capacity in the medical system remains available for other medical issues.

Of course, I'm not sure why I'm even trying to argue with someone who jumps straight to "conspiracies by the global capitalist elite"

Don’t even try.
These people don’t live in reality, I actually think it’s some sort of mental issue.
They need to believe in some conspiracy because it’s more comforting than reality.
Downplaying Covid is a coping mechanism, it’s just a shame it hurts those around.

[It’s so Joever]

https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1337417029033275392

Don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it...

[It’s so Joever]

https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1337417029033275392

Byrd, a former teacher and principal, in 2018 was accused by three former students of sexually assaulting them in the 1980s when he coached their girls basketball team at Wayne County High School.

He never publicly denied the allegations, but said he has done nothing wrong while in office.

WTF is wrong with half of this country???

Mental illness.

[It’s so Joever]

I have given up.

I will just wait for herd immunity through large number of cases and vaccinations. I now encourage everyone to go out and not wear a mask so the vaccine trails can be expedited.

The major vaccine trials are completed. Pfizer vaccine just got approved. Now it has to be mass manufactured be distributed, and you should wear a mask so you don't inadvertently infect others in the meantime who are waiting for the vaccine.

ill wear a mask of course.

I am just frustrated  and have conceded to the virus at this point

At this point I understand that.
While I don’t agree, I have sometimes pondered whether I should even care about if other people get sick. I only care now because it increases my risk of exposure.

[It’s so Joever]

It’s probably somewhere in the middle. One month is incredibly optimistic but not impossible, but I think it will be in February/March we see real vaccine effects in case numbers. I hope I am wrong and bandit is right, I would love more vaccines to be distributed as early as possible.

[It’s so Joever]

I don’t really see why life can’t return to close-to-normal once the majority of the vulnerable population has been vaccinated by February.  I mean, wearing masks im confined spaces is fine, but certainly nothing should be closed.  The virus is not enough of a threat to young and healthy people alone to merit that sort of disruption to our daily lives.

COVID-19 (coronavirus): Long-term effects

COVID-19 symptoms can sometimes persist for months. The virus can damage the lungs, heart and brain, which increases the risk of long-term health problems.

Older people and people with many serious medical conditions are the most likely to experience lingering COVID-19 symptoms, but even young, otherwise healthy people can feel unwell for weeks to months after infection

There’s no doubt that the virus -can- cause long-term damage tp health in young people.

But the relevant question is whether the likelihood and seriousness of that damage is so debilitating to our health care system and society as a whole to merit an unprecedented disruption in our daily lives, a disruption which has led to long term economic devastation for a millions and likely permanent damage to the education of an entire generation of children.

I have seen no evidence that the answer to this question should be yes.

I would agree with that...if we had universal healthcare so that the people forced back into an unsafe environment aren’t also developing crippling debt because of their medical bills.
The fact is, our lack of a strong social safety net is going to make Covid long term effects a double whammy. Both to the organs, and to the wallet.

[It’s so Joever]

Florida's Sun Sentinel found an odd gap in state COVID-19 deaths ahead of the election

 Florida has done a suspect job with Covid stats since this thing started.

I think we all know what this is...but if we say it we will get modded because the truth is “hyperbole”

[It’s so Joever]

I don't understand the people in the media who keep insisting everyone is going to have to wear masks and practice social distancing for months after the vaccine is administered.

There are people on Reddit who have praised every covid restriction - no matter how ridiculous - and have attacked anyone who dares to oppose it. But even these folks say now they're pretty much done, now that the vaccine is out. Yet the media keeps interviewing "experts" who say the restrictions will need to continue for months, maybe over a year.

So they're saying the vaccine won't do any good? Then what was the point of even creating a vaccine?

I have noticed the goalposts have moved yet again. When states first locked down, it was "flatten the curve", and then it was "until a vaccine", and now it's...?

As long as I and my family get vaccinated I don’t care anymore.
Unfortunately that will take a while.

[It’s so Joever]

Honestly, what is wrong with people like you?

You mean the states that don't threaten to throw people in jail just for leaving the house?

How about just wearing a mask when you're around others that don't live with you and maintaining a certain distance from others? I never realized that was so hard to abide by.

God, bandit makes me look intelligent when it comes to these things.

[It’s so Joever]

Prioritizing teachers before the elderly is certainly a unique take.
I can see the reasoning and would agree with it if I wasn’t a student myself.

However, doing such would be basically letting old people die in exchange, which obviously is not something society would ever be okay with.

[It’s so Joever]

Best strategy at this point is to vaccinate the elderly population and that young and healthy people should now not wear masks and throw covid parties and deliberately get infected. That would be the fastest way to achieve an end to this pandemic.

This is a great plan if your goal is to make sure that a bunch of people who are currently young and healthy end up with permanent lung damage.

I do not understand this widespread view that somehow all COVID cases fall into two categories, either death or complete recovery. It's not that simple.

People such as Jimmie are simple minded and don’t think about these things. Unfortunately people like Jimmie are the ones running school districts, cities, police stations, and entire states.

[It’s so Joever]

Hopefully the next pandemic we just immediately go into a wuhan style lockdown at start of outbreak and pay people who cant work from home so we can end it very quickly.

If there's anything like this in the future, this country will almost assuredly do nothing of the sort. We can't even get everyone to put masks on, quite literally one of the easiest things for an individual to do. I'm surprised so many on the right are pushing for a new Cold War with China. We argue about keeping our government open while China has plans for the next 50-100 years. We stand no chance with our current political paradigm. That said, the Chinese government has powers no Western country would ever accept from their government. They literally used the full power of their government to quarantine all of Wuhan for months and forced people to stay home, not even to go out for so-called essentials. Also, it's been awhile now, but how can we forget that China built a 1000-bed hospital in 10 days.

The post-WW2 generations are spoiled and don’t understand that sacrifices are necessary in times of hardship. I think this most applies to Silents, Boomers and Gen Xers, but I’m sure millennials and Gen Zers are only marginally better.
Our prosperity has killed us in that we now demand life to be normal even in dire circumstances.
There is no care for this country that goes beyond waving a flag and saying Murica first! on Twitter.

We are and have been a decaying empire. Covid-19 is just a bellwether for our downfall.
China won’t last as a superpower forever either, the same arrogance which is screening us now will apply to them in 50-200 years. These are just natural cycles imo.

[It’s so Joever]

New ‘worrying’ Covid strain found in South Africa is ‘more severe among young adults'

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1374779/covid-strain-latest-new-coronavirus-variant-south-africa-young-adults

501.V2 may cause more critical illness among young people with no comorbidities. I don't see any statistics yet.

Extremely worrisome, although without any empirical data or reliable sources reporting on this it is still hard to say whether this actually is more dangerous.
Let’s hope this strain works with the current Covid-19 vaccines (or technically doesn’t work as a result of them)

[It’s so Joever]

https://twitter.com/someknew/status/1341248026719875072

She and her descendants must never be forgiven.

[It’s so Joever]

We don’t know exactly how bad the post holiday spike will be. I would caution against predicting the worst case yet.

[It’s so Joever]

I’m somewhat skeptical of the numbers from Dec 22 to Jan 1/2. The holidays really are a time when testing will likely be different and I am not sure if directly comparing them to the more “normal” days prior really is a good metric.

I just hope we get a more clear picture of where this is moving the week after New Years.
The numbers should catch up by then.

Good news is that Colorado has been locally seeing drops.
I hope this continues even with ski season coming (ugh, I hate it even in normal years)

[It’s so Joever]

with WV and SD at the top with just over 2%.

So now can we all stop dumping on these states and acting like they're full of reactionary weirdoes just because they didn't lock down harder? Remember, Bernie Sanders won every county in West Virginia in 2016.

Instead of blaming covid on some farmer in South Dakota who wasn't wearing a mask when he plowed his field, blame the FDA for declaring that it's not approving the Oxford vaccine until April (even though Britain already approved it yesterday).

I get it, you don’t want people to take responsibility for killing their neighbors.

[It’s so Joever]

If this is a sign of the effect of Covid-19 on the general population, as it may well be, then this is catastrophic news to close out 2020.

Ohio State study: 30% of student athletes have heart damage linked to COVID-19

In a study published in September, researchers from Ohio State University found that out of more than two dozen athletes from the university who tested positive for COVID-19, 30% had cellular heart damage and 15% showed signs of heart inflammation caused by a condition known as myocarditis.

After mapping the hearts of 26 Ohio State University athletes using a process known as cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), researchers found that not only 15% of students exhibited the rare heart condition but 30% showed cellular damage.

The good news is most myocarditis does heal over time, it just necessitates treatment and lifestyle changes. Everyone should get an MRI scan of their heart, brain, and lungs post Covid imo.
However, this further goes to show that this virus is not just a common cold and willfully murdering students based on preconceived notions and angry tweets from parents is borderline genocidal and must not be tolerated.

[It’s so Joever]

If this is a sign of the effect of Covid-19 on the general population, as it may well be, then this is catastrophic news to close out 2020.

Ohio State study: 30% of student athletes have heart damage linked to COVID-19

In a study published in September, researchers from Ohio State University found that out of more than two dozen athletes from the university who tested positive for COVID-19, 30% had cellular heart damage and 15% showed signs of heart inflammation caused by a condition known as myocarditis.

After mapping the hearts of 26 Ohio State University athletes using a process known as cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR), researchers found that not only 15% of students exhibited the rare heart condition but 30% showed cellular damage.

The good news is most myocarditis does heal over time, it just necessitates treatment and lifestyle changes. Everyone should get an MRI scan of their heart, brain, and lungs post Covid imo.
However, this further goes to show that this virus is not just a common cold and willfully murdering students based on preconceived notions and angry tweets from parents is borderline genocidal and must not be tolerated.

Some do, but not all do. Further, the numbers are absolutely astounding. According to a July JAMA paper, 60 out of 100 patients had some sign of myocarditis and 78 of 100 had some sign of heart damage. That's massive. Further, during the incidence of Covid-19 in Lombardy, there was a 58% rise in identified cardiac arrests. Realistically, only a fraction of people at most are going to get a full heart, brain and lung scan, even if you do a massive public relations campaign to get people to do it, on top of the campaign to get people vaccinated. Given that more severe forms of myocarditis can cause permanent damage, we may be living with the effects of this pandemic for 50-60 years.

Agreed with the last part, even though I do think most of the damage will be reversible, some certainly won’t and we will be dealing with the consequences as a society for years after.
That’s why I am so personally scared of contracting the virus as well, and why I am not willing to pretend everything is okay so Bandit’s feelings don’t get hurt.

If there is anything good about this, the long term effects may force some sort of publicized healthcare system in the US due to the extreme quantity of people who have contracted Covid.

We also know that this damage is coming from the body’s immune response to the virus itself and not the actual virus.

[It’s so Joever]

That’s the final straw. I refuse to vote for Jared Polis again for any office whatsoever. Whether that means voting GOP in the gubernatorial in 2022 is still up to debate although it’s not likely. And yes that means if he ever is VP or top ticket for a presidency run, I won’t vote for him. Considering the new jump coming post-holidays, the new strain found in Elbert which spreads easily among children, and all the other stupid libertarian crap he has done before Covid, I’m done.

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/01/01/colorado-covid-level-red-restrictions-polis/

[It’s so Joever]

Polis is right this time.

Your approval alone is a barometer of the sheer stupidity of his actions.

[It’s so Joever]

https://twitter.com/Pervaizistan/status/1346283751861608449

The tweet is misleading.  The directive is to save oxygen for the sickest patients, not leave them to die at home.  FFS, and people seriously wonder how the media isn't public enemy #1?  

The photo in the picture doesn’t match because that is directive 7.
If you look at the Twitter thread a photo of the transport directive is also provided below.
Frankly I’m more annoyed that he didn’t use the transport order photo first because I knew certain people would twist any story given on here just to live in fantasyland and that these types of people seem to also be the types who can’t be bothered to even open up a tweet before commenting.

But sure, it’s the “evil media” and libruhl left’s fault you didn’t look before writing.

[It’s so Joever]

I just got the first dose of the Moderna vaccine.

Lucky!
Hopefully you don’t feel too many side effects. The more people we get vaccinated the better (although I strongly believe Atlas posters should get priority over everyone else)

[It’s so Joever]

How are people getting vaccines now?
Are you guys like 70 or something?