COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Aurelius]

The last few pages are seemingly an exercise in collective sociopathy and lack of any coherent idea part from rubbishing anyone who says that restrictions are still necessary, even if the evidence backs them up.

Exactly! This forum has seriously lost its mind on the subject of COVID. They claim to be "pro-freedom", but they've already won that battle in the US; there are no government policies causing any business shutdown or restricting any behavior. But it's not enough for this forum, as they are actually the authoritarian ones. They want a coerced return to the normal of 2019, regardless of what COVID is doing and the threat it poses. They want to deny us the freedom to take COVID seriously and change our behavior to protect ourselves. In their world, masks and hand sanitizer would be controlled substances, COVID would be a censored word, all testing would stop, and WFH and takeout/delivery services would be banned.

You have the right to never leave your house again and outsource the risk to the working class through instacart, etc. You do not have the right to force everyone else to do the same. And even private educational institutions have duties to the public that they should not be allowed to abdicate out of misguided hysteria while continuing to rake in profit from an inferior product.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I think the big problem is that the risk a COVID infection poses to someone who has been triply vaxxed has dropped significantly as the pandemic has worn on, even in the midst of this Omicron surge, but the risk COVID is currently posing to our society and infrastructure is huge because of how infectious it is and because of how many hospitalizations we’ll have to deal with among the unvaccinated.

Individual ease but collective peril is sort of hard to wrap our minds around, and it makes it easy for us to throw up our hands in frustration and say we’re finished. But even for those of us who have done the right thing, an overwhelmed hospital system and a fire department running at 35% really isn’t good.

So if the reality is that our society is still under threat even if our own lives are less so, what do we do? I am done sacrificing, and honestly, I think that’s fair. Seems to me we need to marginalize and exclude the unvaccinated as much as we possibly can in order to suppress their case rates and keep them from clogging up hospitals. That’s easy to say in British Columbia where we’re at, like, 90% vaccinated, because society is on board… but what do you do in places where 40% of the people, including many of the people who are running things, are not on board? Compliance with any measure to exclude the unvaccinated is going to be pretty low in some parts of the country. Long story short, the US really is in a bind.

[Can't Bear]

Interesting data from UK.

https://twitter.com/PaulMainwood/status/1479528897259712513



So boosters vs 2 dosses reduce risk of hospitalization by ~50% for 50+.

[compucomp]

The last few pages are seemingly an exercise in collective sociopathy and lack of any coherent idea part from rubbishing anyone who says that restrictions are still necessary, even if the evidence backs them up.

Exactly! This forum has seriously lost its mind on the subject of COVID. They claim to be "pro-freedom", but they've already won that battle in the US; there are no government policies causing any business shutdown or restricting any behavior. But it's not enough for this forum, as they are actually the authoritarian ones. They want a coerced return to the normal of 2019, regardless of what COVID is doing and the threat it poses. They want to deny us the freedom to take COVID seriously and change our behavior to protect ourselves. In their world, masks and hand sanitizer would be controlled substances, COVID would be a censored word, all testing would stop, and WFH and takeout/delivery services would be banned.

You have the right to never leave your house again and outsource the risk to the working class through instacart, etc. You do not have the right to force everyone else to do the same. And even private educational institutions have duties to the public that they should not be allowed to abdicate out of misguided hysteria while continuing to rake in profit from an inferior product.

Nobody is forcing you to do anything. There are no government restrictions closing any business nor preventing you from doing anything; mask mandates don't count. You won that battle, but it's clearly not enough for you, because it just so happens that in a free market system, if 30% of the population changes its behavior, businesses have to respond. This is why conventions, concerts, holiday parties, etc are being cancelled and restaurants are closing their dining rooms. The government did exactly nothing to cause that. So now you reveal yourself as a full-on authoritarian by forcing your risk assessment of COVID on the whole population and denying us the freedom to treat COVID seriously and protect ourselves. You even confirm this with the second part of your statement. I don't ever want to hear about "freedom" again on COVID from the likes of you because you revealed that argument to be a complete and total lie.

[GoTfan]

The last few pages are seemingly an exercise in collective sociopathy and lack of any coherent idea part from rubbishing anyone who says that restrictions are still necessary, even if the evidence backs them up.

So I see we've reached the point where the zero COVID crowd just calls anyone who understands transmissibility and basic science a sociopath.

Waah! I don't want to wear a tiny bit of cloth on my face! Waah!

[Aurelius]

The last few pages are seemingly an exercise in collective sociopathy and lack of any coherent idea part from rubbishing anyone who says that restrictions are still necessary, even if the evidence backs them up.

Exactly! This forum has seriously lost its mind on the subject of COVID. They claim to be "pro-freedom", but they've already won that battle in the US; there are no government policies causing any business shutdown or restricting any behavior. But it's not enough for this forum, as they are actually the authoritarian ones. They want a coerced return to the normal of 2019, regardless of what COVID is doing and the threat it poses. They want to deny us the freedom to take COVID seriously and change our behavior to protect ourselves. In their world, masks and hand sanitizer would be controlled substances, COVID would be a censored word, all testing would stop, and WFH and takeout/delivery services would be banned.

You have the right to never leave your house again and outsource the risk to the working class through instacart, etc. You do not have the right to force everyone else to do the same. And even private educational institutions have duties to the public that they should not be allowed to abdicate out of misguided hysteria while continuing to rake in profit from an inferior product.

Nobody is forcing you to do anything. There are no government restrictions closing any business nor preventing you from doing anything; mask mandates don't count. You won that battle, but it's clearly not enough for you, because it just so happens that in a free market system, if 30% of the population changes its behavior, businesses have to respond. This is why conventions, concerts, holiday parties, etc are being cancelled and restaurants are closing their dining rooms. The government did exactly nothing to cause that. So now you reveal yourself as a full-on authoritarian by forcing your risk assessment of COVID on the whole population and denying us the freedom to treat COVID seriously and protect ourselves. You even confirm this with the second part of your statement. I don't ever want to hear about "freedom" again on COVID from the likes of you because you revealed that argument to be a complete and total lie.

I'm not forcing my risk assessment on the entire population, and that's an incredible piece of projection.

If someone wants to never leave their house again, that's their prerogative.

If someone wants to triple mask, avoid all social gatherings, and avoid eating indoors, that's their prerogative.

If someone wants to avoid travel, that's their prerogative.

I have loved ones who are doing things like this and while I strongly disagree with their approach I have no problem with them choosing to do it and reacting to the virus as their risk/benefit calculus sees fit.

It is those advocated for continued NPIs who are forcing their risk/benefit calculus on the entire population. This is such a simple and self evident point that I feel no need to belabor it.

I've also never said restaurants, bars, etc should be forced to stay open. The only area of private institutional choices where I've advocated state intervention is private higher ed, which is a realm with a unique level of public impact and responsibility which, furthermore, just so happens to be charging record high fees for an inferior product that is also cheaper to administer.

"Freedom" doesn't simply mean "authoritarianism is when the government does stuff, and the less the government does, the more freedomer it is". I'm not a doctrinaire libertarian and I consider that an asinine doctrine. A crucial part of freedom is the ability to live a normal human life free of absurd, unjustified impingement. If carefully targeted government action enhances that ability, then it's a pro-freedom intervention, not an anti-freedom one.

[cg41386]

Exactly! This forum has seriously lost its mind on the subject of COVID. They claim to be "pro-freedom", but they've already won that battle in the US; there are no government policies causing any business shutdown or restricting any behavior.

There's mask mandates all over the place now.

For the thousandth time, mask mandates don't prevent anyone from doing anything. Exceptions are always carved out for food/drink serving establishments.

They obstruct people from breathing, and they tell toddlers not to wear them.  At least they did when I was an EMT.  Hasn't obstructed my breathing, don't know anyone else it has

They can cause headaches from a build up of carbon dioxide, particularly the N95 see above

They fog my glasses which impairs my vision and ability to work, and they can mess with the site of people that don't wear glasses.  there are ways to get around that

They cause psychological issues for children. I work with children, and not one is showing any psychological issues due to mask wearing

Seriously, how uninformed are you guys that still don't that masks have side effects.  This has been settled science for decades.  And the new studies on kids are particularly distressing.  You should post these "studies" as most of your claims seem like BS or grossly exaggerated

Don't get F-ing mad us cause you don't read anything of scientific substance. Sure thing, boo.

[Frodo]

New thread.

Old thread: https://talkelections.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=370528.0

"COVID-19 Megathread 6: The Delta Variant Strikes Back"
---------------

Virginia, if you are not going to start a brand new COVID megathread, can you at least update the title of this one?  

[cg41386]

Exactly! This forum has seriously lost its mind on the subject of COVID. They claim to be "pro-freedom", but they've already won that battle in the US; there are no government policies causing any business shutdown or restricting any behavior.

There's mask mandates all over the place now.

For the thousandth time, mask mandates don't prevent anyone from doing anything. Exceptions are always carved out for food/drink serving establishments.

I am so whiny and entitled I can't tolerate minor inconveniences to contain a deadly pandemic.

Fixed it for you.

Wearing mask for two years is not a minor inconvenience.  That's a huge life change for someone that wears a mask for 8 hours a day.

I'm listening to the Democrat arguing with Justice Alito, because she won't answer any questions.  Alito asks him to repeat the question and she says something completely different.  Then he gets her to admit that the vaccines have side effects, because she can't lie in court.   

It is a minor inconvenience. There are so many other things that are inconveniences, this isn't one of them. And, god willing. it won't be necessary sooner than later.

[cg41386]

Exactly! This forum has seriously lost its mind on the subject of COVID. They claim to be "pro-freedom", but they've already won that battle in the US; there are no government policies causing any business shutdown or restricting any behavior.

There's mask mandates all over the place now.

For the thousandth time, mask mandates don't prevent anyone from doing anything. Exceptions are always carved out for food/drink serving establishments.

I am so whiny and entitled I can't tolerate minor inconveniences to contain a deadly pandemic.

Fixed it for you.

Wearing mask for two years is not a minor inconvenience.  That's a huge life change for someone that wears a mask for 8 hours a day.

I'm listening to the Democrat arguing with Justice Alito, because she won't answer any questions.  Alito asks him to repeat the question and she says something completely different.  Then he gets her to admit that the vaccines have side effects, because she can't lie in court.  

It is a minor inconvenience. There are so many other things that are inconveniences, this isn't one of them. And, god willing. it won't be necessary sooner than later.

Exactly! This forum has seriously lost its mind on the subject of COVID. They claim to be "pro-freedom", but they've already won that battle in the US; there are no government policies causing any business shutdown or restricting any behavior.

There's mask mandates all over the place now.

For the thousandth time, mask mandates don't prevent anyone from doing anything. Exceptions are always carved out for food/drink serving establishments.

I am so whiny and entitled I can't tolerate minor inconveniences to contain a deadly pandemic.

Fixed it for you.

Exactly! This forum has seriously lost its mind on the subject of COVID. They claim to be "pro-freedom", but they've already won that battle in the US; there are no government policies causing any business shutdown or restricting any behavior.

There's mask mandates all over the place now.

For the thousandth time, mask mandates don't prevent anyone from doing anything. Exceptions are always carved out for food/drink serving establishments.

I am so whiny and entitled I can't tolerate minor inconveniences to contain a deadly pandemic.

Fixed it for you.

IT'S NOT DEADLY OR DANGEROUS IF YOU'RE VACCINATED. GET THAT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULL ALREADY!

No need to get angry. Unfortunately for too many who choose to be unvaccinated, it can be deadly/dangerous. I guess that's their problem, but oh well.

[Meclazine for Israel]

If someone wants to never leave their house again, that's their prerogative.

If someone wants to triple mask, avoid all social gatherings, and avoid eating indoors, that's their prerogative.

If someone wants to avoid travel, that's their prerogative.

So you've met my girlfriends' patents then?

[Lief 🗽]

Jimmy Dore

Yikes!

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Jimmy Dore is probably the best reporter out there right now.

[Doomer]

It may have been discussed, but if so I missed it.

Is there any reason to worry about the supposed combination of Delta and Omicron? It’s apparently not a logging mistake but rather a genuine new evolution.

[Migrant Crime]

Sonia Sotomayor spewed more false information about Covid today in the Supreme Court than MTG or any anti vaxxer could ever hope to.  Hopefully she is relentlessly censored and fact checked by big tech (i know, lol).  Amazing and frightening that these out of touch, zero-Covid boomers are in positions of such high authority.

https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1479500787583758346

Fine then, also kick out Gorsuch for overestimating annual flu deaths by an order of magnitude to pretend that "COVID is like the flu":

https://twitter.com/ElieNYC/status/1479497902653329408

I heard about this. Most observers seem to believe that the Court is leaning against the OSHA vaccine mandate, but it's likely to be a closely divided decision. As of right now, I'm thinking that it might be 5-4, with Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett voting to strike down the mandate, and Roberts, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan voting to uphold it, although Roberts could plausibly go the other way.

Interestingly enough, Sotomayor is the only Justice who wears a mask on the bench during oral arguments. Of course, she has diabetes and is in more perilous health than her colleagues, so that makes sense.

I would keep an eye on Amy Coney Barrett. She has made pro-containment decisions before as a circuit judge in 2020, upholding JB Pritzker's emergency orders and rejecting a challenge to the vaccine mandate of Indiana University.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/01/08/sotomayors-false-claim-that-over-100000-children-are-serious-condition-with-covid/

“We will not address remarks made by Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, which some readers also thought were wrong. The official court transcript suggested he had made an inflated statement about the annual flu: “Flu kills — I believe — hundreds of thousands of people every year.” The flu kills between 12,000 and 52,000 people in the United States a year, but the audio of the argument shows Gorsuch actually said that “flu kills, I believe, hundreds, thousands of people every year.” So the transcript is incorrect.”

Oops.  You posted a lie.

[Horus]

The last few pages are seemingly an exercise in collective sociopathy and lack of any coherent idea part from rubbishing anyone who says that restrictions are still necessary, even if the evidence backs them up.

So I see we've reached the point where the zero COVID crowd just calls anyone who understands transmissibility and basic science a sociopath.

Waah! I don't want to wear a tiny bit of cloth on my face! Waah!

Could you have your nervous breakdown somewhere else? Thanks

[Roll Roons]

https://movieweb.com/spider-man-no-way-home-8th-biggest-movie-ever/

Spider-Man continuing to rake in money at the box office. Almost like people don't want to live in fear forever.

[MATTROSE94]

The last few pages are seemingly an exercise in collective sociopathy and lack of any coherent idea part from rubbishing anyone who says that restrictions are still necessary, even if the evidence backs them up.

Exactly! This forum has seriously lost its mind on the subject of COVID. They claim to be "pro-freedom", but they've already won that battle in the US; there are no government policies causing any business shutdown or restricting any behavior. But it's not enough for this forum, as they are actually the authoritarian ones. They want a coerced return to the normal of 2019, regardless of what COVID is doing and the threat it poses. They want to deny us the freedom to take COVID seriously and change our behavior to protect ourselves. In their world, masks and hand sanitizer would be controlled substances, COVID would be a censored word, all testing would stop, and WFH and takeout/delivery services would be banned.

Hawaii, California, Illinois, Oregon, New Mexico, DC, and Washington still have social distancing requirements and other strong COVID NPIs in place.

[Mr. Illini]

Restaurants should adapt to the new normal, de-emphasize their dining rooms and emphasize their takeout and delivery options. It would probably help if there were some regulation on Doordash/Seamless/Ubereats as they are probably acting like a cartel right now with their fees.

You’re telling on yourself if you call this a “new normal” rather than “emergency measures.” No one wants this “new normal,” as evidenced by the extremely joyous and vibrant summer that occurred in the US in 2021.

People will leave their homes again.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Exactly! This forum has seriously lost its mind on the subject of COVID. They claim to be "pro-freedom", but they've already won that battle in the US; there are no government policies causing any business shutdown or restricting any behavior.

There's mask mandates all over the place now.

For the thousandth time, mask mandates don't prevent anyone from doing anything. Exceptions are always carved out for food/drink serving establishments.

I am so whiny and entitled I can't tolerate minor inconveniences to contain a deadly pandemic.

Fixed it for you.

Wearing mask for two years is not a minor inconvenience.  That's a huge life change for someone that wears a mask for 8 hours a day.

I'm listening to the Democrat arguing with Justice Alito, because she won't answer any questions.  Alito asks him to repeat the question and she says something completely different.  Then he gets her to admit that the vaccines have side effects, because she can't lie in court.   

It is a minor inconvenience. There are so many other things that are inconveniences, this isn't one of them. And, god willing. it won't be necessary sooner than later.

Wearing a mask is a minor inconvenience.  If you are vaccinated, so is getting covid.   And I’d much rather experience a minor inconvenience for a week than for two years.

[DaleCooper]

The last few pages are seemingly an exercise in collective sociopathy and lack of any coherent idea part from rubbishing anyone who says that restrictions are still necessary, even if the evidence backs them up.

So I see we've reached the point where the zero COVID crowd just calls anyone who understands transmissibility and basic science a sociopath.

Waah! I don't want to wear a tiny bit of cloth on my face! Waah!

What offends me most about the mask requirements is that it disproportionately impacts people that are out trying to do their jobs, which are disproportionately the lowest-paid people in the country. Why should a waiter have to wear a mask while AOC gets to take hers off at the table? It's totally arbitrary, unless leftists just can't bear to let their servants breathe the same air as them.

[Calthrina950]

The last few pages are seemingly an exercise in collective sociopathy and lack of any coherent idea part from rubbishing anyone who says that restrictions are still necessary, even if the evidence backs them up.

So I see we've reached the point where the zero COVID crowd just calls anyone who understands transmissibility and basic science a sociopath.

Waah! I don't want to wear a tiny bit of cloth on my face! Waah!

What offends me most about the mask requirements is that it disproportionately impacts people that are out trying to do their jobs, which are disproportionately the lowest-paid people in the country. Why should a waiter have to wear a mask while AOC gets to take hers off at the table? It's totally arbitrary, unless leftists just can't bear to let their servants breathe the same air as them.

It's ironic that you mention Ocasio-Cortez, because she tested positive for coronavirus today. She was recently seen vacationing with her boyfriend in Florida, maskless and among large crowds of people.

[Wrong about 2024 Ghost]

The last few pages are seemingly an exercise in collective sociopathy and lack of any coherent idea part from rubbishing anyone who says that restrictions are still necessary, even if the evidence backs them up.

So I see we've reached the point where the zero COVID crowd just calls anyone who understands transmissibility and basic science a sociopath.

Waah! I don't want to wear a tiny bit of cloth on my face! Waah!

What offends me most about the mask requirements is that it disproportionately impacts people that are out trying to do their jobs, which are disproportionately the lowest-paid people in the country. Why should a waiter have to wear a mask while AOC gets to take hers off at the table? It's totally arbitrary, unless leftists just can't bear to let their servants breathe the same air as them.

AOC's actions aside, it's because we (the United States) refuse to either pay the price to deal definitively with COVID, or provide a sufficient social safety net that everyone people can pass on jobs like "wait staff during a pandemic". As for why people eating food need to take their masks off, I trust that you're able to figure that one out for yourself.

[emailking]

Why should a waiter have to wear a mask while AOC gets to take hers off at the table? It's totally arbitrary, unless leftists just can't bear to let their servants breathe the same air as them.

That was outside right? Did her waiter actually have to wear a mask? I just saw the pic of her and her bf.

[Holmes]

The last few pages are seemingly an exercise in collective sociopathy and lack of any coherent idea part from rubbishing anyone who says that restrictions are still necessary, even if the evidence backs them up.

So I see we've reached the point where the zero COVID crowd just calls anyone who understands transmissibility and basic science a sociopath.

Waah! I don't want to wear a tiny bit of cloth on my face! Waah!

What offends me most about the mask requirements is that it disproportionately impacts people that are out trying to do their jobs, which are disproportionately the lowest-paid people in the country. Why should a waiter have to wear a mask while AOC gets to take hers off at the table? It's totally arbitrary, unless leftists just can't bear to let their servants breathe the same air as them.

It's just a face mask. You're really not making the point you think you're making here. Wearing a mask isn't a burden or taking a toll on the working class or anyone really, and I can't believe 2 years later we're still having this conversation. The pandemic will never end.