COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[roxas11]

Maybe it's just me, but honestly, I think this current debate over mask is kind of idiotic and pointless

now don't get me wrong, I get why mask was needed at the start of covid and I understand why there was such a big push for mask mandates at that time, but now that we have the vaccines I think this current debate over mask feels like something that should have stayed in 2020...

rather than wasting our time fighting over mask agian I think we all should be far more focused on pushing the vaccines because by the end of the day if we don't find a way to get more people vaccinated than all mask mandates in the world is not going to matter in the end..

[roxas11]

Wow

https://mobile.twitter.com/jendeben/status/1421235516998144000

I don't see what is so shocking or even surprising about this statement

even if biden himself does nothing Americans will still be facing more Covid restrictions simply because big companies are now starting to mandate the vaccines and some are even brining back mask mandates

Again, even if Biden himself does not lift a finger we will still see a rise in Covid restrictions

Also, Biden white house clearly said today that "We are not going to head towards a lockdown."Our goal is to make sure that we are not headed towards that and that is not going to be the direction that we take, because we have the tools to prevent that. So any Covid restrictions Biden is talking about will most likely be far more limited in scope since He knows full well that Republican governors in red states will never go along with another lockdown

[roxas11]

https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1421229518749044739

My favorite four words to describe the media prove to be fitting once again.

As far as I'm cornered nytimes are not better the Tucker Carlson or the crazy people on Facebook

They are purposely spreading misinformation about the vaccines simply because they know it will get them more attention and clicks

nytimes knows full well that Vaccinated people do not transmit this virus at the same rate as the unvaccinated. They should be ashamed of themselves for potentially putting some of thier readers lives at risk by scaring them away from getting vaccinated and making them think that vaccines are not as effective when it comes to protecting them

[roxas11]

I don't understand why anybody in their right mind would be defending any news organizing that is going around pushing hyped up claims about the vaccines not being able to protect people in the middle of worsening pandemic

The irony is that had tucker Carlson or somebody else posted that same headline about the vaccine on social media, the New York times would have been the first news origination to attack them lol

[roxas11]

Nothing spells Red Wave 2022 like another series of lockdowns.

Well, I guess that means the Dems don't have much to fear since the Biden white house said this today

https://twitter.com/Quicktake/status/1421274951793975301
As said before Biden knows full well the GOP governors will never go along with another lockdown and that is why is it pointless to even attempt it.

[roxas11]

Some of the posts here about the media are hyperbolic and kind of cringy but I absolutely see where they're coming from. https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1421209879629422594
You see headlines like this? A majority of readers are only going to see "125,000 people test positive" and wrongfully assume that vaccines aren't working. Emphasizing the 125,000 people testing positive and not the fact that they represent less than .08% of vaccinated Americans is just going to promote vaccine hesitancy when vaccines are proven to be the most effective way of combatting COVID.

Skunk you hit nail right on the head

most people will not read beyond the headline and that is why it's such a big problem when these news organisations either don't get it right or the headline ends up not reflecting what the actual story is really about

[roxas11]

Nate Silver “trolling” the idiotic/dangerous media people is genuinely great.

https://twitter.com/natesilver538/status/1421230734686228489?s=21

The NYT tweet is just a slide title from the CDC slides (stating that it's what the report says).

As I said yesterday had Tucker Carlson or anybody else at Fox News went on in social media and posted the exact same tweet that the NYT did

The New York times would be attacking them right about now and you better believe that they would not care at all about the "it was just a slide title from the CDC slides excuse"

[roxas11]

Nate Silver “trolling” the idiotic/dangerous media people is genuinely great.

https://twitter.com/natesilver538/status/1421230734686228489?s=21

The NYT tweet is just a slide title from the CDC slides (stating that it's what the report says).

As I said yesterday had Tucker Carlson or anybody else at Fox News went on in social media and posted the exact same tweet that the NYT did

The New York times would be attacking them right about now and you better believe that they would not care at all about the "it was just a slide title from the CDC slides excuse"

What does that matter? I'm not a fan of Carlson but I've defended him before when he's gotten BS criticism on this site.

It matters because it shows that The New York Times is capable of pushing the same kind of BS that they themselves would have criticized other news organization for doing

[roxas11]

It matters because it shows that the new York times is capable of pushing the same kind of BS that they themselves would have criticized other news organization for doing

So it's just an excuse to dump on the NYT? Because I haven't heard an argument yet that what they tweeted was incorrect.

I'm just calling them out for being the hypocrites they are for putting out a tweet like that yet they would be the first in line to attack somebody else for doing the same...

[roxas11]

I'm just calling them out for being the hypocrites they are for putting out a tweet like that yet they would be the first in line to attack somebody else for doing the same...

In the end, the vaccinated may not be as effective transmitters as the unvaccinated, but if there's credible information to suggest they might be, as the CDC does, I think we need to know that.

Ironically, this is actually a far better headline than what the New York Times actually posted on social media lol

maybe they should just hire you and replaced the guy they currently have posting lazy and ridiculous headlines on social media

[roxas11]

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1421576405142355974

The number coming out of Florida is insane
If things keep going this way I wonder if this will actually start to hurt Ron Desantis politically

[roxas11]

It’s clear at this point that Republicans are trying to prolong the pandemic in order to gain political points. They want Biden’s term to be as chaotic as possible to win in 2022, and then steal 2024.

That is a huge mistake on their part, since the red states are being hit the hardest by the current surge of covid

I mean just look at the Covid case spike in a state like Vermont


and compare that to what is currently going on in Florida



It's blatantly obvious whose voters will suffer more from this
if the GOP continues to play political games with peoples lives...

[roxas11]

https://twitter.com/LindseyGrahamSC/status/1422272144059289602

Thank goodness Lindsey made it very clear that things could have been a lot worse had he not been vaccinated. For once he did the right thing by not feeding into the BS Anti-Vax narrative and also making sure people see that this symptom only ended being mild because he had gotten the shot

had someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene or any other far right nutcase had contracted the virus after getting vaccinated they would have would have used that news as a way to further raise questions about the vaccine's effectiveness on social media

[roxas11]

Louisiana is a prime example of why you do not elect "moderate" Democrats.  Their "moderate" governor just passed a mask mandate.  Disgusting display of government overreach.

Well, speaking as someone who is currently in Louisiana
things are really bad down here and it looks like it's getting worse by the day when it comes to covid

I don't blame our governor at all for doing what he feels he need to do in order to keep people safe nor do I believe that somehow he is no longer a moderate simply because he supported mask mandates in the middle of a worsening pandemic that is currently spiraling out control..

[roxas11]

When it comes to rather or not mask actually work here is a bit a of a personal story

5 months ago I rode with a some of my family to a grocery store
At the time I was the only one who was wearing a mask and to honest even I skeptical about rather or not theses silly mask would actually be able to protect people from getting the virus

A couple a days after that ride to the grocery store we had found out that 1 of my family members was diagnosed with covid and soon everbody who was in that car that night had also gotten it

except for me.....

After that I never questioned the effectiveness of mask ever again lol
mask may not be perfect, but I will be forever grateful that I just happened to be wearing 1 that fateful night....

[roxas11]

I dont understand why some people are getting so worked up over mask in the first place

As far I'm concerned if some state wants to bring back mask mandates than more power to them. On the other hand, if some states don't want to bring back mask mandates than I am fine with that as well

I don't feel strongly about it one way or the other because by the end of the day I truly believe that the only way to get this virus under control is for more people to actually go out and get vaccinated

In the end all the mask and mask mandates in the world won't make a difference if we can't find a way to get more people to actually take the damn vaccines

[roxas11]

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

Because, unfortunately too many Americans are now getting their news from this guy...

[roxas11]

Deaths arent ticking up at all. The variant is infecting people but no one is getting very ill from it. Hospitalizations continue to fall.

Cases in the UK beginning to fall as well, I think this is the last gasp of the virus.

I hope you end up being right about all of this

I just dont wont to wake up one day and find out that now we all have to worry about the new Florida or Alabama variant...

[roxas11]

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

Democrats go full circle and support segregation.

ElectionsGuy you are better than this

Look, if you don't support the policy than that is fine and I'm not going to criticize or attack you for that but calling people who do support it segregationist, is just wrong and is way over the line

[roxas11]

An interesting poll that shows who the vaccinated and the unvaccinated blame for the current surge in covid cases

[roxas11]

The false equivalence between the "systemic racism" of disproportionate impact and Jim Crow is silly, but no sillier than much of what the equity-obsessed have been peddling over the past year. It was dumb when Joe Biden described Georgia's voting laws in those terms too.

Anyway, it's wrong to force this on businesses, it's wrong to force this on patrons, and it would be wrong even if there were not substantial ethnic disparities in vaccination rates. Let's not concede that point.

...they've done it again. It's not just a classic Atlas gotcha anymore. Boston's mayor has rejected the idea of applying a similar mandate in her city, comparing vaccine papers to slave papers:

https://twitter.com/RyanDEnos/status/1422867209697779713?s=20

E: Granted, it's not totally clear whether she means only to make a point about disparate impact. There's also a tinge of "our government has a history that proves that civil liberties are a vital safeguard against abuses of public trust." Which is true

The Boston mayor still seems to be under the delusion that she can convince people to take vaccine simply by begging them to do it lol

The fact is the reason we are even talking about vaccine mandates in the first place is because the covid lotteries and simply encouraging people to go get vaccinated has failed. Maybe that kind of approach would have worked 20 years ago, but in an era of Facebook disinformation we are going need more than just words and covid lotteries if we really want to get more people vaccinated

[roxas11]

122,471 new cases today and 739 deaths today.

How likely the US goes into a lockdown now? We were averaging about 15,000+ cases when we had our first lockdown.

There is a big difference between then and now....


This country is not going lockdown again, simply because people, mainly in red states chose not to get the vaccinated.

[roxas11]

https://twitter.com/HelenKennedy/status/1423800493671948289

More natural selection in action. I have lost all ability to feel sorry for these people.

 

I admit that people like this guy sometimes make me lose all hope when comes to the unvaccinated

To the point where I start to feel like ivan drago from Rocky IV....


but then I realize that there are still some good people even among the unvaccinated and their lives are worth saving. I personally know family members who will not get vaccinated simply because some idiot on Facebook has convinced them that the vaccines are the mark of the beast

The crazy people on Facebook have also made them believe that the vaccines have microchips in them

[roxas11]

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

I think it's a fair criticism that some on the left was far less concerned about lollapalooza than they are currently about Sturgis

Images like this from lollapalooza worry me far more





Then something like this from Sturgis


Frankly, there should have been equal if not more concern from the media and some of the left when it comes to lollapalooza because by the end of the day this virus does not care if it infects people on the left or on the right.

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

[roxas11]

Some good news

The reproduction rate has fallen below 1 in Arkansas and Missouri, and is on the cusp of falling below 1 in Louisiana.

We’re about to see a decline in cases there

On the other hand, R(t) is increasing in the Midwest and northeast.

This is very good news

Im not to worried about northeast since vacanaion rates are mutch higher there compared to the
south but the Midwest could be problem