COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

I probably wear a mask more than the average person and I'm fine (even supportive of) businesses asking people to wear them. What I'm not fine with anymore is states of emergency and governors issuing wide-reaching fiats based on them. The endgame of that is insanity like in NYC last week.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Has there still been no data on Moderna‘s efficacy against Omicron?

Moderna has been oddly cagey about their data, even when it comes to Delta, but the relatively small number of breakthrough cases with their vaccine seems to say a lot.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

It's all about CYA at this point, not the science.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

This does not seem to have been very well handled at all. Part of the problem is that if this is going to be enforced, the eating establishments need to enforce it. Having the cops go in and ask for vax papers, and then if the patrons don't have them, they need to drop their half eaten burger on the plate and go into the paddy wagon (without paying the bill?), is well, nutter. Myself I assume that eating inside a restaurant is a risky scheme, period. This display is not going to change that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yV3YUHGrxJ4

The sheer amount of chaos De Blasio is causing in his last few days is staggering.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

I would much rather be somewhat sick for a few days than miss a concert or sporting event I really want to go to.  Or certainly cancel an international trip or major conference.  And we’ve been missing these for most of two years now.  I just can’t fathom how people think this trade-off is sensible (at least now that we’re vaccinated).

Because we value keeping hospital space and staff available to those who have an urgent need for them over "not missing a concert or sporting event".

The fully vaccinated are highly unlikely to need hospital space and staff, especially from Omicron.

The unvaccinated dealing with Delta was essentially Russian Roulette. The vaccinated dealing with Omicron is largely comparable to crossing the street. Sure, things could go horribly wrong, but it's very long odds.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

I would much rather be somewhat sick for a few days than miss a concert or sporting event I really want to go to.  Or certainly cancel an international trip or major conference.  And we’ve been missing these for most of two years now.  I just can’t fathom how people think this trade-off is sensible (at least now that we’re vaccinated).

Because we value keeping hospital space and staff available to those who have an urgent need for them over "not missing a concert or sporting event".

Are you saying that we should be canceling events and reimposing lockdowns? Perhaps reimposing a statewide mask mandate? I'm not sure if people are going to tolerate such moves at this point.

I think mask mandates would largely be met with grumbling, but probably wouldn't help much anyway given how transmissible Omicron is.

Lockdowns and closures, there is no way for that to happen without mass unrest that would make 2020 look like nothing, I think.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

https://twitter.com/shailjapatel/status/1475605944251858949?s=20

I know the last few years have left us traumatized in a lot of ways, but, uh.

Acknowledging global vaccine inequality and politicization of the pandemic exist is one thing, but saying “everyone’s going to get it” is really just epidemiology.

This is the woman who referred to Israeli babies as "pre-combatants" and legitimate targets, in case anyone wonders how much she actually values human life.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

This woman's son tested positive for COVID...

...so she decided to put him in the trunk of her car.

And she is, of course, a teacher.

https://m.worldstarhiphop.com/web/video.php?v=wshhv3mDO4TV6VpQE1v0

Reminds me of this thing much earlier in the pandemic, where a woman talked about how her five-year-old daughter was exposed at school and had to be quarantined in her room for two weeks. She talked about how she could hear the girl crying and begging to be let out, and it was so hard on her. She posted on Twitter seeking sympathy. She did not get it.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Largely in camp four, but tiptoeing into camp three when it comes to surges like we're in now. I did my part and I won't be shamed into restricting my activities, but masks in crowds are probably the least onerous part of this. I made it through NYCC this year without getting con crud for the first time I can remember, so I'm definitely not opposed to private companies requiring masks.

As for the vaccines, they're definitely effective at keeping people from dying of Omicron. But if they're not curtailing spread significantly, we either need to drop the focus on cases or drop the mandates.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

You have to keep in mind that the official statistics do not capture all of those who have ever contracted the virus. Many people never got tested for it or were asymptomatic, and didn't even know that they had it. In my home state of Colorado, there was a report not too long ago that over 80% of Coloradoans have immunity to the Omicron variant.

It's sort of like how I had COVID in January, but it was never reported to health authorities. I just knew I had it, and stayed home for 5 days.

I had it in March 2020, about a week before the lockdowns. Testing capacity was nil, treatment options were nil, and hospitals were a location of serious spread. I rode it out at home and luckily didn't deteriorate, but my case was definitely never counted.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

The places being hit hardest by BA2 seem to be the ones who kept a tighter lid on Omicron through restrictions. Every successive variant seems to be just a little better at getting past defenses - but unless the damage they do starts reversing course, it won't be enough to cause total chaos. And a place that was heavily hit by Omicron like US/UK is likely to see only a minor effect due to how few reinfections there will be.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

I think every county in Massachusetts is green on the CDC map.

Cases are creeping up again. There's going to be a surge.

Probably, at least in relative terms, and it will mean next to nothing to those of us who are vaccinated or had a previous bout of Omicron.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

I read that 40% of people dying of COVID are now fully vaccinated. Thanks to the anti-vaxxers, our vaccines no longer work. **** this country.

And where did you read that exactly?

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Some of you seriously need to be muted from this thread... permanently.

Compucomp is already gone and that took care of 99% of the problem.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

The United States is moving from "zero COVID" to "zero flu." Now some venues are enacting mask mandates solely because of the flu, not COVID.

This is proof that lockdowns and masks were intended all along to be permanent.

I haven't heard of this practice.  Do you have some examples (in the US)?

Some hospitals are reinstating masks because of the flu.

If there's one place where mask mandates are understandable, it's a hospital.

On the other hand, LA county has been making noises about bringing back its overarching mask mandate recently...

https://abc7.com/covid-19-indoor-masking-la-county-mask-mandate/12516325/

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

https://twitter.com/MikeSington/status/1603522523814981634

This is not likely to go over well, but they say it's only two weeks.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

This is not likely to go over well, but they say it's only two weeks.

To be quite frank, I hope people disobey it.

This mask business has gotten way out of hand.

It'll be 2023, and they're stuck in 2020.

It's mostly just dumb, because if your kids are sick with post-holidays crud....don't send them to school, masked or not!

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

I do believe covid measures hurt Democrats a bit in 2020 election. Though I do believe Virginia Governor 2021 was the only major race lost due to predominantly covid measures.

I think Nevada in 2022 was. Some other states came really close.

Whitmer was definitely vulnerable until the Republicans tripped over fifty rakes on the way to the election. NM was also probably closer than it would have been due to this factor.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

I do believe covid measures hurt Democrats a bit in 2020 election. Though I do believe Virginia Governor 2021 was the only major race lost due to predominantly covid measures.

I think Nevada in 2022 was. Some other states came really close.

Whitmer was definitely vulnerable until the Republicans tripped over fifty rakes on the way to the election. NM was also probably closer than it would have been due to this factor.

New York was the big one. That was almost the upset of the evening.

I think that one might have had more to do with crime - Hochul wasn't in office for most of the Covid crackdowns.