COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[rosin]

https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1386837979453399049

I'm just gonna mention the....interesting claim that Carlson said a Pew survey "from last March" found that "64% of white Americans who classify themselves as liberal or very liberal have been diagnosed with an actual mental health condition".

Carlson seems to be considering mask-wearing to be akin to a mental illness. It's insane how the anti-mask rhetoric from the right continues on, more than a year into the pandemic. Fortunately, the vast majority of Americans are still wearing masks in public.

Wow. A prime example that "creative" (read: messed-up) definitions might lead you to any result you wish.

[rosin]

Video: Tucker Carlson defends fake vaccine cards.

Click here to watch ... https://us.cnn.com/videos/media/2021/09/04/tucker-carlson-fake-vaccine-cards-schaffner-nr-vpx.cnn

He's behaving more and more like a cartoon villain.

[rosin]

https://twitter.com/PaulBrandITV/status/1465240129216331779?t=iJf6i_ycDzNagYlsbj...

This means that the omicron variant has already spread across the planet, and may have been spreading for weeks prior to being detected in South Africa. It's only a matter of time now before the first American case is reported.

It was in Europe long time before it was detected in SA

The new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, was present in the Netherlands earlier than previously thought, officials say.

It was identified in two test samples taken in the country between 19 and 23 November, which is before the variant was first reported by South Africa.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59473131

[rosin]

What does the data look like on Omicron hospitalizations? 

Yet we've only got a few handfuls of cases, all recently infected. I doubt that's enough to make meaningful statistics from.

[rosin]

If the reports are true that Omicron is considerably milder than past strains, isn't this a good thing?  Don't we want it yo become the dominant strain?  Zero covid is never going to happen, but it will eventually likely be pretty harmless.

Though, unless it significantly evades natural immunity, I think much of the South will have a hard time spiking again, at least not to the extent of previous waves.

Yes. IF it is considerably milder.
Emphasis on IF, because that is not known.

Isn’t there usually a trade off between virulence and transmissibility? If a virus kills its host it dies off with it.

If the virus is less prone to kill a victim, yes, it will have a evolutionary plus. But death rate and hospitalization rate doesn't neccesarily correlate well, and the latter one is the most important one for the society (pressure on the health system).