COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Raccoon]

The government never had any right to order businesses shut.

[emailking]

I fully believe that this isn't a natural virus, but rather one created in and leaked from a lab. I've believed this for some time. I don't think it's that radical of an idea, but rather the most likely.

A lab leak doesn't mean it was created in a lab.

Anyway, the last I heard Fauci speak about it, he still thought animal to human transfer was the most likely explanation. If he changes his tone, I'll give the idea more credence. Right now it's just reporting that some in the UK government think it's a likely explanation of the origin.

[Skill and Chance]

This looks interesting



-As expected, a lot of vaccinated Trump voters in retirement areas of Florida and a lot of unvaccinated Biden voters in the cultural South (particularly in Atlanta)

-Less well known is the high concentration of vaccinated Trump voters in Appalachia (!)

-On the other hand, vaccination rates are even lower than would be expected in the Ozarks

-Little or no evidence of an anti-vax granola left effect as NorCal and the Pacific NW have higher vaccination rates than predicted by election results

-Western NM/Eastern AZ are doing really well and look like the Northeast here

-Southside VA looks like the Deep South here and it spills into NE NC

Image Source: https://twitter.com/Mill226/status/1490438915156676610/photo/1

Fascinating map.
Why no data from VT?

IDK.  VA also didn't have county level vax data until about 6 months ago.  Based on the statewide data and the population distribution, VT is likely to be near uniformly high like the rest of of New England.

[インターネット掲示板ユーザー Punxsutawney Phil]

This looks interesting



-As expected, a lot of vaccinated Trump voters in retirement areas of Florida and a lot of unvaccinated Biden voters in the cultural South (particularly in Atlanta)

-Less well known is the high concentration of vaccinated Trump voters in Appalachia (!)

-On the other hand, vaccination rates are even lower than would be expected in the Ozarks

-Little or no evidence of an anti-vax granola left effect as NorCal and the Pacific NW have higher vaccination rates than predicted by election results

-Western NM/Eastern AZ are doing really well and look like the Northeast here

-Southside VA looks like the Deep South here and it spills into NE NC

Image Source: https://twitter.com/Mill226/status/1490438915156676610/photo/1

Fascinating map.
Why no data from VT?

IDK.  VA also didn't have county level vax data until about 6 months ago.  Based on the statewide data and the population distribution, VT is likely to be near uniformly high like the rest of of New England.

Ah I see.
That makes sense.

[GeneralMacArthur]

But I was told that this is a wacky conspiracy theory on par with thinking the Earth is flat and that believing it might be true means you hate all Asian people.

It was a wacky conspiracy theory because people were taking it a step further and saying the entire pandemic was intentional and a way for ~the elites~ to assert control over the population or whatever.  Or like it was biological warfare from China against the rest of the world.  All that has to look pretty silly in retrospect.

[GregTheGreat657]

What do you guys think the odds are that NYS drops it school mask mandate on March 7th when it is set to expire?

[Bandit3 the Worker]

What do you guys think the odds are that NYS drops it school mask mandate on March 7th when it is set to expire?

Over 50/50.

[Can't Bear]

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/iceland-lift-all-covid-19-restrictions-friday-media-reports-2022-02-23/
Iceland to lift all COVID-19 restrictions on Friday

COPENHAGEN, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Iceland will lift all remaining COVID-19 restrictions on Friday, including a 200-person indoor gathering limit and restricted opening hours for bars, the Ministry of Health said on Wednesday.

"Widespread societal resistance to COVID-19 is the main route out of the epidemic," the ministry said in a statement, citing infectious disease authorities.

"To achieve this, as many people as possible need to be infected with the virus as the vaccines are not enough, even though they provide good protection against serious illness," it added.

Bold.

[Trump Is A Maoist]

Why is Iceland going out of their way to kill and injure people? Not commenting on what they are doing by WHY they say they are doing it.

[Horus]

Why is Iceland going out of their way to kill and injure people? Not commenting on what they are doing by WHY they say they are doing it.

Because dodging COVID is impossible and Iceland is going to be 80% vaccinated within a month. I'm pretty sure the experts in Reykjavik know more than you.

[GregTheGreat657]

What do you guys think the odds are that NYS drops it school mask mandate on March 7th when it is set to expire?

Over 50/50.

I’ll be knocking on wood for that to happen

[Trump Is A Maoist]

Why is Iceland going out of their way to kill and injure people? Not commenting on what they are doing by WHY they say they are doing it.

Because dodging COVID is impossible and Iceland is going to be 80% vaccinated within a month. I'm pretty sure the experts in Reykjavik know more than you.

Plenty of experts have been saying for over a year that trying to infect everybody as fast as possible is not a good strategy. They didn't stop saying this during omicron. Again, I'm not objecting to what they're actually doing. I'm objecting to their reasoning / objectives.

[Dr. MB]

1. It requires people to get an injection that causes COVID for a day and possibly repeat this process every 6 months. This is a far greater imposition than to ask someone to put on a mask, an additional piece of clothing.

The vaccine literally does not "cause COVID for a day" or any other length of time, as there is no part of the actual virus in the vaccine, but instead uses pieces of the spike protein that bridges to allow the actual viral infection.

You know what I mean, the side effects of this vaccine are far beyond any other vaccine I've taken, I needed to take time off work for the fever and chills, and this is a common reaction. Now I willingly tolerated this three times but wearing a mask never made me feel so ill I had to go to bed.

After the 2nd vaccine I had a headache for a day vs the booster shot where I only had arm pain for a couple days. Compared to when I got a meningitis B vaccine which woke me up one night with shooting pain up and down my arm, it’s nothing.

[Crumpets]

If the current case load trajectory continues, we will probably be at our lowest weekly average nation-wide since the initial rise of Delta last summer within just a few days.

[Move Forward]

So, could this be the end of covid? Cases in my town went from 362 to 21 over the course of a month.

[Lurker]

Why is Iceland going out of their way to kill and injure people? Not commenting on what they are doing by WHY they say they are doing it.

They've probably looked at the situation in the countries that have opened up (including all of Scandinavia), and managed to avoid the bizarre hysteria so widespread among American liberals.

[Trump Is A Maoist]

Why is Iceland going out of their way to kill and injure people? Not commenting on what they are doing by WHY they say they are doing it.

They've probably looked at the situation in the countries that have opened up (including all of Scandinavia), and managed to avoid the complete hysteria so widespread among American liberals.

Their stated intentions were to infect as many citizens as possible, as quickly as possible. Other countries that are opening up are not doing so for the same reasons. This strategy is dangerous and not recommended by most epidemiologists.

[emailking]

So, could this be the end of covid? Cases in my town went from 362 to 21 over the course of a month.

It's not the end, but it's possible it could be a long time before we get high case counts again.

Note: our cases are still higher than they were the first several months of the pandemic. But they're likely to fall below that in the next few weeks.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

So, could this be the end of covid? Cases in my town went from 362 to 21 over the course of a month.

Covid will never be eradicated, but it wouldn't surprise me if we're heading for another period like late April through early July of 2021 where the virus retreated so far as to be basically forgotten about for a little while.

[MATTROSE94]

https://twitter.com/Telegraph/status/1496364357814476802

Interesting theory, though this goes against my belief that COVID was around as early as late 2018.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

https://twitter.com/Telegraph/status/1496364357814476802

Interesting theory, though this goes against my belief that COVID was around as early as late 2018.

There is nothing to suggest that covid-19 was around in 2018.  Coronaviruses have been around for millennia, but any theories of covid being around before the fall of 2019 don't make a lot of sense.  I'd buy it spreading at low levels in China by October 2019, Europe by Christmas, and the US by January 2020, but it is true that it exploded in March 2020.

[Zohranism is OUR future]

https://twitter.com/Telegraph/status/1496364357814476802

But I was told that this is a wacky conspiracy theory on par with thinking the Earth is flat and that believing it might be true means you hate all Asian people.

You're smarter than this.
It isn't racist to want to investigate based on the fact that China infamously does have poor regulation and to determine a likely cause through that investigation. What was racist was when attacks were made on politicians such as Pelosi for *gasp* going to Chinatown in February (when LITERALLY everything else was still open and covid was seen as a non issue in the US)

The assumption that it was a lab leak without ruling out the more obvious cause (the same bats which literally caused Sars 1) was not racist at all, but it was just f**king stupid and irrational.

[Frodo]

CDC to significantly ease pandemic mask guidelines Friday

[Calthrina950]

CDC to significantly ease pandemic mask guidelines Friday

Good. There will be a change at my workplace. Two days ago, some of my coworkers told me that corporate has decided to lift the employee mask mandate, but it hasn't been announced yet. Apparently, the change could be made by next week. The CDC relaxing its recommendations, as I've hoped, would provide the final push.

[compucomp]

CDC to significantly ease pandemic mask guidelines Friday

Good. There will be a change at my workplace. Two days ago, some of my coworkers told me that corporate has decided to lift the employee mask mandate, but it hasn't been announced yet. Apparently, the change could be made by next week. The CDC relaxing its recommendations, as I've hoped, would provide the final push.

This is not the change you want that would stop recommending masks, full stop. This is along the lines of what I predicted where they will change the definition of "high transmission". This is the right reason for a change for the CDC because Omicron is in fact milder than the prior variants so it's reasonable what "high" means.