COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Nate makes a good point here.  The goal is not to eradicate COVID completely, which is probably impossible, but to control it to a level that the world can handle with a minimal amount of disruption, much like we do with the flu.

Yet the United States seems to have adopted a "zero covid" approach. Most states haven't lifted restrictions since the vaccine began being issued.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

The number of currently hospitalized in the U.S. just crashed below 100,000. It's down to 97,561.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

The deaths are dropping now. The peak of the 7-day average was Jan. 26 when it was 3405. Now it's already down to 3124.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

What's the exit strategy, folks?

If it goes on this long, it is by definition no longer an emergency that needs to have governors barking down orders. Instead, orders should have review by other branches of government.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

My own state of Virginia seems like it may be the only big state in the country resisting the nationwide trend of consistently falling cases.  We are below our mid-January peak, but week-over-week cases have now risen 6 of the last 7 days.  And there is no sign of declining deaths yet.  I have no idea whether this is a leading indicator of national trends or a lagging one.

CovidActNow says Virginia has an R0 of 0.85, so it's probably because of more testing.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Hospitalizations in the U.S. just cratered below 75,000.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

We're back to having very low positivity rates again. The 7-day positivity rate is the lowest since Oct. 25.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I don't know about hospitalizations yet, but new case numbers in the U.S. just absolutely crashed today - 64,297.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I don't know about hospitalizations yet, but new case numbers in the U.S. just absolutely crashed today - 64,297.

Real or just reporting delays?

I'm pretty sure it's legit. This is the number Worldometer gave at the end of the day.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

The positivity rate today was only 4.79%, and the 7-day positivity rate is down to 5.75%.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I saw an article a week or two ago where the reporter visited a school in Montana that was pretty much normal. Many districts all across the country and the world are pretty much normal now, if not entirely normal. I don't know about Ohio, because they're a little bit behind there, but some states are better.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

The new case count for the U.S. on Worldometer today collapsed to 52,785.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

How come much of the left has been very pro-lockdown when it clearly hurts the poor the most?

Because they're fake wokesters and narcissists, not real leftists.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Which states are in an actual lockdown right now, rather than just social distancing restrictions?

I don't think there's any in the U.S. that are under a "stay-at-home" order right now, but I don't know if Kentucky ever officially lifted theirs. I think Kentucky just sort of gave up on it last May.

I think California and New Mexico were the only states that issued a second "stay-at-home" order.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Thanks everyone! So far, I haven't missed a day in what's been, incredibly, almost a year now. I'm glad to know that people check them regularly, since sometimes I feel like they go unnoticed when chatter dies down.

I look at those each evening. One thing about yesterday is that there was a very high number of tests issued. As a result, the nationwide positivity rate was down to 4.33%, the lowest since Oct. 11.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Brace yourselves, because apparently there's a huge backlog of 30,000 cases coming. Corona Scanner reports a mysterious 30,000 cases just today, and I don't know where they're from.

Also, I saw something that said cases in nursing homes in Kentucky have been reduced to just about zero after the vaccine came out.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

We have to be careful from now on when we count U.S. cases, because Iowa has begun counting each positive test, rather than each person who tests positive. I think this is what gave us the 30,000 extra cases on Corona Scanner, and Worldometer has backdated about 30,000 cases from Iowa going back for weeks. Iowa has ridiculously high case counts on some days.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

In the end, people who opposed lockdowns and masks but supported vaccines are going to be vindicated. Their stance was the pandemic playbook that was in force before 2020, and should have been followed all along.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Why would people who oppose masks be vindicated?

Lockdowns and masks clearly don't work, but it appears as if vaccines do.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I always knew Bandit was a mask Karen but I'm surprised he's admitting that vaccines work seeing as his favorite "left wing" pundits are anti vaxx.

Most left-wing pundits are strongly pro-vaxx.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/02/25/ohio-school-3-feet-social-distancing-masks-teacher-vaccination-golodryga-dnt-lead-vpx.cnn

Good solid measures in order to open a school. One can't go too lax but schools can be opened.

I'm waiting for Facebook to demand the entire state of Ohio gets shut down because there were 1 or 2 kids in that video without masks.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Mister Rogers never would have put up with any of this.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

If wearing masks in public didn't work why is this one of the least potent flu seasons ever?

Then why are there so many COVID-19 cases?

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I still keep hearing about restrictions expanding. Someone posted on another forum that a bunch of high schools in their area canceled sports for next fall.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Positivity rate crashed down to 3.64% today.