COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

This forum probably thinks this was a righteous act of civil disobedience.

American Airlines flight bound for London turns around mid-flight over mask rule compliance

An American Airlines passenger plane bound for London turned around mid-flight due to a mask-related disruption on Wednesday.

"American Airlines flight 38 with service from Miami (MIA) to London (LHR) returned to MIA due to a disruptive customer refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement," American Airlines said in a statement.

Local law enforcement met the flight at Miami International Airport, the airline said.
The Miami-Dade Police Department told CNN it was called by the airline regarding a female passenger who refused to wear a mask.

"Once the plane made it to the gate, the passenger was escorted off the plane by MDPD officers without incident. The passenger was then dealt with administratively by American Airlines staff," said Detective A. Colome from the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Why does the plane need to turn around in these cases?  That seems counterproductive to everyone.  Why not just have him arrested when the plane lands at its destination?

[Dan the Roman]

This forum probably thinks this was a righteous act of civil disobedience.

American Airlines flight bound for London turns around mid-flight over mask rule compliance

An American Airlines passenger plane bound for London turned around mid-flight due to a mask-related disruption on Wednesday.

"American Airlines flight 38 with service from Miami (MIA) to London (LHR) returned to MIA due to a disruptive customer refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement," American Airlines said in a statement.

Local law enforcement met the flight at Miami International Airport, the airline said.
The Miami-Dade Police Department told CNN it was called by the airline regarding a female passenger who refused to wear a mask.

"Once the plane made it to the gate, the passenger was escorted off the plane by MDPD officers without incident. The passenger was then dealt with administratively by American Airlines staff," said Detective A. Colome from the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Why does the plane need to turn around in these cases?  That seems counterproductive to everyone.  Why not just have him arrested when the plane lands at its destination?

Bigger mystery is that with Plan B still in effect were they planning not to comply with mask rules in the UK? European police are tired and media demonization of American anti-vaxers has conflated them with anti-maskers and reduced both to caricatures. Americans can expect very little indulgence from police currently inclined to expect and think the worst of them.

I do expect that to change in a few months however. Everyone is sick of this not just in the US but in Europe. But I do think the difference will be that whereas anti-vaxxers seem to have managed to piggyback on anti-maskers(latter are numerous and reasonable former nutty), the reverse has happened elsewhere. Ie. even Younkin's EO's dropping requirements for state employees would be seen as cultish and fringe.

[emailking]

2700 deaths today. Very bad.

On the plus side we're now 2 weeks out from the probable peak in cases, so hopefully the deaths are peaking soon.

[roxas11]

I LOVE this

https://mobile.twitter.com/critica18495985/status/1483889174734417922

This just sums up the silliness of America's response to this pandemic

Here we have a kid who is basically saying that because she does not like mask adults should all bow down to her and let her take the risk of getting infected while also potentially infecting the other students around her

Now to be clear, I have no issue with anyone making an argument against covid restrictions, but I'm no fan of anybody who uses their kids as a prop in order to get their point across.

The fact is we know full well that this kid did not drive herself to this meeting in order to give that speech. If her parents felt so strongly about it, then they should be the ones speaking up instead of hiding behind their child

[Calthrina950]

What are the odds NY drops its indoor mask mandate on Feb. 1?

I'm more worried about which state will be the first to enact an outdoor mandate. I think a few states had one last winter.

Oregon already had one back in the fall, but if another state does it, my money would be on California

My guess is New Mexico.

Not too far-fetched. New Mexico has been particularly strict about mask mandates throughout the pandemic. It hasn't had a better outcome than Colorado, however, and Polis pointed to this state as an example when justifying his decision not to re-implement a statewide mask mandate.

[DINGO Joe]

What are the odds NY drops its indoor mask mandate on Feb. 1?

I'm more worried about which state will be the first to enact an outdoor mandate. I think a few states had one last winter.

Oregon already had one back in the fall, but if another state does it, my money would be on California

My guess is New Mexico.

Not too far-fetched. New Mexico has been particularly strict about mask mandates throughout the pandemic. It hasn't had a better outcome than Colorado, however, and Polis pointed to this state as an example when justifying his decision not to re-implement a statewide mask mandate.

New Mexico has had a much better outcome than Arizona which it's much more similar to demographically than Colorado.  Of course, Arizona has proven to be the kings of death in the pandemic.

The 3 most basic differences are Colorado only has 14.6% of the pop 65 and over while AZ and NM are at 18.0%.  Colorado has an adult obesity rate of 24% while NM and AZ are at 31%.  NM has a Native American pop of 9% with AZ at 4% and CO at 1%. 

While NA pop everywhere have had higher death rates from Covid is was really extreme in NM, especially in the first year of Covid.

[emailking]

Boosters provide the best protection against Omicron variant, CDC studies show, raising new questions about what it means to be fully vaccinated

Three large new studies from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlight the importance of getting a booster shot to provide the best protection against the Omicron coronavirus variant.

This is the first real-life data to examine the effect of boosters against Omicron, which now accounts for more than 99% of coronavirus cases in the United States. The studies, released Friday, raise the question of whether people with just two vaccine doses should still be considered fully vaccinated.

"I think we have to redefine fully vaccinated as three doses," said Dr. William Schaffner, a longtime CDC vaccine adviser who was not involved with the studies.

The studies have an enormous scope, involving millions of cases, hundreds of thousands of visits to emergency departments and urgent care centers, and tens of thousands of hospitalizations among adults.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/21/health/cdc-omicron-booster-studies/index.html

[Can't Bear]

Omicron is now 99.5% of USA cases and there were 2300 deaths today. Are we still going with this is almost all Delta, and the super mild Omicron is causing negligible deaths?

I tried to warn, but this "data-driven" (LMAO) blogg can't comprehend, that for unvaxxed Omicron is just 30-40% (at best 50%) less dangerous. For vaxxed all variants are less dangerous than flu, so who cares anyway?

Those who reported to die today, got covid ~3 weeks ago. Per CDC 3 weeks ago, 90% had Omicron and 10% Delta, so it's fairly safe to assume, that at lest 50% of today's deaths are due to Omicron. Consequentially, it means that Omicron-related deaths will keep rising during next ~3 weeks and start to decrease after that. As it happened in South Africa https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/south-africa-covid-cases.html

[OSR stands with Israel]

I LOVE this

https://mobile.twitter.com/critica18495985/status/1483889174734417922

This just sums up the silliness of America's response to this pandemic

Here we have a kid who is basically saying that because she does not like mask adults should all bow down to her and let her take the risk of getting infected while also potentially infecting the other students around her

Now to be clear, I have no issue with anyone making an argument against covid restrictions, but I'm no fan of anybody who uses their kids as a prop in order to get their point across.

The fact is we know full well that this kid did not drive herself to this meeting in order to give that speech. If her parents felt so strongly about it, then they should be the ones speaking up instead of hiding behind their child

How about this , you let people decide what precautions they want to take .

Also you are claiming  kids have no ability to tell if they they oppose masks or not . How silly given they are forced to wear it

[Migrant Crime]

Omicron is now 99.5% of USA cases and there were 2300 deaths today. Are we still going with this is almost all Delta, and the super mild Omicron is causing negligible deaths?

I tried to warn, but this "data-driven" (LMAO) blogg can't comprehend, that for unvaxxed Omicron is just 30-40% (at best 50%) less dangerous. For vaxxed all variants are less dangerous than flu, so who cares anyway?

Those who reported to die today, got covid ~3 weeks ago. Per CDC 3 weeks ago, 90% had Omicron and 10% Delta, so it's fairly safe to assume, that at lest 50% of today's deaths are due to Omicron. Consequentially, it means that Omicron-related deaths will keep rising during next ~3 weeks and start to decrease after that. As it happened in South Africa https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/south-africa-covid-cases.html

It was reported by Gov Hochul a couple weeks ago that 50% of all "covid hospitalizations" in NYC were actually there for reasons unrealted to Covid, but that seems to have been memory holed by the media.  Can't imagine why...  The death tolls being reported right now are totally misleading.  They've been misleading since March 2020, but its worse than ever right now.

[Calthrina950]

I LOVE this

https://mobile.twitter.com/critica18495985/status/1483889174734417922

This just sums up the silliness of America's response to this pandemic

Here we have a kid who is basically saying that because she does not like mask adults should all bow down to her and let her take the risk of getting infected while also potentially infecting the other students around her

Now to be clear, I have no issue with anyone making an argument against covid restrictions, but I'm no fan of anybody who uses their kids as a prop in order to get their point across.

The fact is we know full well that this kid did not drive herself to this meeting in order to give that speech. If her parents felt so strongly about it, then they should be the ones speaking up instead of hiding behind their child

How about this , you let people decide what precautions they want to take .

For many people, that's not acceptable. We must have mandates, and mandates are a net positive for society. They are also, in their view, a necessity. Many students, interestingly enough, are now advocating for virtual learning and for mask mandates. They want the restrictions that have been imposed, to remain, and they don't want to discard them. In public schools and on college campuses alike, this seems to be true for a large segment of people.

[Chief Justice PiT]

I LOVE this

https://mobile.twitter.com/critica18495985/status/1483889174734417922

This just sums up the silliness of America's response to this pandemic

Here we have a kid who is basically saying that because she does not like mask adults should all bow down to her and let her take the risk of getting infected while also potentially infecting the other students around her

Now to be clear, I have no issue with anyone making an argument against covid restrictions, but I'm no fan of anybody who uses their kids as a prop in order to get their point across.

The fact is we know full well that this kid did not drive herself to this meeting in order to give that speech. If her parents felt so strongly about it, then they should be the ones speaking up instead of hiding behind their child

How about this , you let people decide what precautions they want to take .

For many people, that's not acceptable. We must have mandates, and mandates are a net positive for society. They are also, in their view, a necessity. Many students, interestingly enough, are now advocating for virtual learning and for mask mandates. They want the restrictions that have been imposed, to remain, and they don't want to discard them. In public schools and on college campuses alike, this seems to be true for a large segment of people.

     Because fear overwhelms reason. Children and young adults objectively have a negligible risk of serious injury from COVID. It is the situation wherein mandates make the least sense.

[DINGO Joe]

I LOVE this

https://mobile.twitter.com/critica18495985/status/1483889174734417922

This just sums up the silliness of America's response to this pandemic

Here we have a kid who is basically saying that because she does not like mask adults should all bow down to her and let her take the risk of getting infected while also potentially infecting the other students around her

Now to be clear, I have no issue with anyone making an argument against covid restrictions, but I'm no fan of anybody who uses their kids as a prop in order to get their point across.

The fact is we know full well that this kid did not drive herself to this meeting in order to give that speech. If her parents felt so strongly about it, then they should be the ones speaking up instead of hiding behind their child

How about this , you let people decide what precautions they want to take .

For many people, that's not acceptable. We must have mandates, and mandates are a net positive for society. They are also, in their view, a necessity. Many students, interestingly enough, are now advocating for virtual learning and for mask mandates. They want the restrictions that have been imposed, to remain, and they don't want to discard them. In public schools and on college campuses alike, this seems to be true for a large segment of people.

     Because fear overwhelms reason. Children and young adults objectively have a negligible risk of serious injury from COVID. It is the situation wherein mandates make the least sense.

https://people.com/human-interest/florida-siblings-are-among-167000-children-orphaned-by-covid-we-have-to-stay-together/

[roxas11]

I LOVE this

https://mobile.twitter.com/critica18495985/status/1483889174734417922

This just sums up the silliness of America's response to this pandemic

Here we have a kid who is basically saying that because she does not like mask adults should all bow down to her and let her take the risk of getting infected while also potentially infecting the other students around her

Now to be clear, I have no issue with anyone making an argument against covid restrictions, but I'm no fan of anybody who uses their kids as a prop in order to get their point across.

The fact is we know full well that this kid did not drive herself to this meeting in order to give that speech. If her parents felt so strongly about it, then they should be the ones speaking up instead of hiding behind their child

How about this , you let people decide what precautions they want to take .

Also you are claiming  kids have no ability to tell if they they oppose masks or not . How silly given they are forced to wear it

Like I said in my last post I have no problem with people making arguments against covid restrictions. My problem is that I simply do not think that a child should be the one who is making those arguments, it's one thing to say that an adult should decide if they want to take precautions or not because they know full well what the consequences are but it's another to say that child is also fully aware are those risks


The kid in the video talked about being stressed over wearing a mask, but that is nothing compared to the stress that she would feel if she ended giving one of her friends at school covid. Trust me, that is is a not good feeling because last year my sister's husband took me and my brother the to get tested for covid. We both tested positive and a few days later, my sister's husband took sick and had to be a hospitalized

Thankfully, he ended up making it, but the guilt I felt knowing that I could have potentially gave him covid is something I would not wish on my worst enemy. That is a burden that I hope nobody has to bare especially not a kid

[Chief Justice PiT]

I LOVE this

https://mobile.twitter.com/critica18495985/status/1483889174734417922

This just sums up the silliness of America's response to this pandemic

Here we have a kid who is basically saying that because she does not like mask adults should all bow down to her and let her take the risk of getting infected while also potentially infecting the other students around her

Now to be clear, I have no issue with anyone making an argument against covid restrictions, but I'm no fan of anybody who uses their kids as a prop in order to get their point across.

The fact is we know full well that this kid did not drive herself to this meeting in order to give that speech. If her parents felt so strongly about it, then they should be the ones speaking up instead of hiding behind their child

How about this , you let people decide what precautions they want to take .

For many people, that's not acceptable. We must have mandates, and mandates are a net positive for society. They are also, in their view, a necessity. Many students, interestingly enough, are now advocating for virtual learning and for mask mandates. They want the restrictions that have been imposed, to remain, and they don't want to discard them. In public schools and on college campuses alike, this seems to be true for a large segment of people.

     Because fear overwhelms reason. Children and young adults objectively have a negligible risk of serious injury from COVID. It is the situation wherein mandates make the least sense.

https://people.com/human-interest/florida-siblings-are-among-167000-children-orphaned-by-covid-we-have-to-stay-together/

     I can also post links to stories of children tragically orphaned in other ways. For example this: https://www.blackenterprise.com/5-children-orphaned-after-father-dies-in-car-crash-months-after-mothers-untimely-death/. Does that mean we should make everyone work from home because automobile incidents kill 30-40k Americans every year and children like these are forced to confront the reality that they will never see their parents again? Not to diminish the human suffering here, but at some point we need to accept that we live in a world where death is a reality and bad things happen to people who don't deserve it. Now that Omicron, a strain that is substantially less deadly than those that preceded it, is the predominant mode of COVID infection, it seems like an ideal time for society as a whole to begin exiting the pandemic and getting back to normal.

[emailking]

Judge in Texas blocks enforcement of federal employee vaccine mandate nationwide

A Texas federal judge on Friday blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a vaccine mandate for federal employees, dealing another blow to President Joe Biden's campaign to increase the country's lackluster vaccination rate.

Judge Jeffrey Vincent Brown called the mandate an overstep of presidential authority and cited the recent Supreme Court decision to strike down a separate administration mandate that had applied to private sector workers.

"The President certainly possesses 'broad statutory authority to regulate executive branch employment policies,'" Brown wrote. "But the Supreme Court has expressly held that a COVID-19 vaccine mandate is not an employment regulation. And that means the President was without statutory authority to issue the federal worker mandate."

The Justice Department immediately appealed the decision to a circuit court.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/21/politics/employee-vaccine-mandate/index.html

[Frodo]

https://twitter.com/ErinBanco/status/1484677169632755712

The CDC director called for broadscale investment in public health — including helping to hire more nurses locally, staffing emergency departments and recruiting statisticians and data crunchers. Walensky’s focus on strengthening public health offices underscores the extent to which she thinks the CDC must improve its federal response by revitalizing the local and state health systems it relies upon.

Walensky said the CDC has made some improvements to its data-collection methods, including setting up a more accurate and sustainable system to obtain hospital information. But she plans to put the agency’s data modernization effort front and center in the coming year.

“The pipes have to connect,” Walensky said. “We also have to get to a place where each state is collecting data that … can feed in in a way that can be crosstalk with all the other states.”

Those changes will likely take years to implement. In the meantime, Walensky said the CDC is trying to augment the information it has with other forms of data from international allies and academic institutions.

But accurate, real-time data will become increasingly important as the country tries to move from the pandemic.

[Calthrina950]

https://twitter.com/ErinBanco/status/1484677169632755712

The CDC director called for broadscale investment in public health — including helping to hire more nurses locally, staffing emergency departments and recruiting statisticians and data crunchers. Walensky’s focus on strengthening public health offices underscores the extent to which she thinks the CDC must improve its federal response by revitalizing the local and state health systems it relies upon.

Walensky said the CDC has made some improvements to its data-collection methods, including setting up a more accurate and sustainable system to obtain hospital information. But she plans to put the agency’s data modernization effort front and center in the coming year.

“The pipes have to connect,” Walensky said. “We also have to get to a place where each state is collecting data that … can feed in in a way that can be crosstalk with all the other states.”

Those changes will likely take years to implement. In the meantime, Walensky said the CDC is trying to augment the information it has with other forms of data from international allies and academic institutions.

But accurate, real-time data will become increasingly important as the country tries to move from the pandemic.

As someone who's been critical of Walensky and the CDC, I'm glad to see that she seems to recognize some of the issues which the agency has and has proposals to address them.

[GP270watch]

 How about actually having universal healthcare for every American, everything else is window-dressing.

[emailking]

2700 deaths today. Very bad.

On the plus side we're now 2 weeks out from the probable peak in cases, so hopefully the deaths are peaking soon.

2800 deaths today and yesterday was revised to 3100 which is the most since last winter. Very bad.

[compucomp]

2700 deaths today. Very bad.

On the plus side we're now 2 weeks out from the probable peak in cases, so hopefully the deaths are peaking soon.

2800 deaths today and yesterday was revised to 3100 which is the most since last winter. Very bad.

That number could be 300,000 and this forum still wouldn't change its mind, it's that entitled and spoiled and dead set on "return to normal". It's even starting to borrow old Trump talking points, demanding the end of testing and saying that hospitalizations and deaths are inflated, insinuating that there is a conspiracy in the hospitals to label unrelated things as COVID.

[Calthrina950]

2700 deaths today. Very bad.

On the plus side we're now 2 weeks out from the probable peak in cases, so hopefully the deaths are peaking soon.

2800 deaths today and yesterday was revised to 3100 which is the most since last winter. Very bad.

That number could be 300,000 and this forum still wouldn't change its mind, it's that entitled and spoiled and dead set on "return to normal". It's even starting to borrow old Trump talking points, demanding the end of testing and saying that hospitalizations and deaths are inflated, insinuating that there is a conspiracy in the hospitals to label unrelated things as COVID.

I'm not sure if you saw my question from the other day. Which of these COVID view camps do you fall into? Should we be aiming to eliminate the virus entirely? And if so, should we return to the vigorous lockdowns of March 2020 and impose even more stringent protocols? Should we implement mask mandates on a vast scale, ban all nonessential business activities, return to virtual learning for schools, and impose strict travel restrictions? Perhaps quarantines of cities or regions that are hotspots for the virus? And perhaps the implementation of a federal vaccine passport system? Should the President call out the National Guard to staff the nation's hospitals?

[DINGO Joe]

I LOVE this

https://mobile.twitter.com/critica18495985/status/1483889174734417922

This just sums up the silliness of America's response to this pandemic

Here we have a kid who is basically saying that because she does not like mask adults should all bow down to her and let her take the risk of getting infected while also potentially infecting the other students around her

Now to be clear, I have no issue with anyone making an argument against covid restrictions, but I'm no fan of anybody who uses their kids as a prop in order to get their point across.

The fact is we know full well that this kid did not drive herself to this meeting in order to give that speech. If her parents felt so strongly about it, then they should be the ones speaking up instead of hiding behind their child

How about this , you let people decide what precautions they want to take .

For many people, that's not acceptable. We must have mandates, and mandates are a net positive for society. They are also, in their view, a necessity. Many students, interestingly enough, are now advocating for virtual learning and for mask mandates. They want the restrictions that have been imposed, to remain, and they don't want to discard them. In public schools and on college campuses alike, this seems to be true for a large segment of people.

     Because fear overwhelms reason. Children and young adults objectively have a negligible risk of serious injury from COVID. It is the situation wherein mandates make the least sense.

https://people.com/human-interest/florida-siblings-are-among-167000-children-orphaned-by-covid-we-have-to-stay-together/

     I can also post links to stories of children tragically orphaned in other ways. For example this: https://www.blackenterprise.com/5-children-orphaned-after-father-dies-in-car-crash-months-after-mothers-untimely-death/. Does that mean we should make everyone work from home because automobile incidents kill 30-40k Americans every year and children like these are forced to confront the reality that they will never see their parents again? Not to diminish the human suffering here, but at some point we need to accept that we live in a world where death is a reality and bad things happen to people who don't deserve it. Now that Omicron, a strain that is substantially less deadly than those that preceded it, is the predominant mode of COVID infection, it seems like an ideal time for society as a whole to begin exiting the pandemic and getting back to normal.

You can't come up with anything that orphans like COVID, so go on trying to compare grapes to watermelons.  I agree that Omicron is less deadly than Delta though for whatever reason, deaths continue to be extremely elevated and for whatever reason, deaths were much younger last year than the first year of COVID--2020 81% of deaths were 65 and over. 2021 it was 69%.  It'll be a good time to ease when sick and dead people stop piling up.

[compucomp]

2700 deaths today. Very bad.

On the plus side we're now 2 weeks out from the probable peak in cases, so hopefully the deaths are peaking soon.

2800 deaths today and yesterday was revised to 3100 which is the most since last winter. Very bad.

That number could be 300,000 and this forum still wouldn't change its mind, it's that entitled and spoiled and dead set on "return to normal". It's even starting to borrow old Trump talking points, demanding the end of testing and saying that hospitalizations and deaths are inflated, insinuating that there is a conspiracy in the hospitals to label unrelated things as COVID.

I'm not sure if you saw my question from the other day. Which of these COVID view camps do you fall into? Should we be aiming to eliminate the virus entirely? And if so, should we return to the vigorous lockdowns of March 2020 and impose even more stringent protocols? Should we implement mask mandates on a vast scale, ban all nonessential business activities, return to virtual learning for schools, and impose strict travel restrictions? Perhaps quarantines of cities or regions that are hotspots for the virus? And perhaps the implementation of a federal vaccine passport system? Should the President call out the National Guard to staff the nation's hospitals?

I voted in this poll. No, I oppose returning to the measures of March 2020, because if the government shuts down business, it is obligated to support them, and I'm not interested in paying more taxes to support them nor do I want more inflation, which was the result after the historic deficit spending. Quarantine of regions wouldn't be effective since every region of the country has already has vast community spread. Schools should stay open since remote learning is inferior to in person learning but remote needs to be kept available for times when the spread is so bad that schools have to use cafeteria staff and parents as substitute teachers. The only practical option for containment in the US now is to keep up mask and vaccine mandates to make public spaces mostly safe, support hospitals during surges with federal resources and hope that with evolution, better vaccines, better treatments, and natural immunity from the population contracting COVID repeatedly, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID go to the seasonal flu "baseline".

No, this is not the normal of 2019, but it keeps the economy running mostly normally, slows down the spread, and keeps public spaces mostly COVID safe. To me, this is close enough to normal that I'm happy to accept it to have some societal protection against an ultra-contagious and still potent virus.

[Calthrina950]

2700 deaths today. Very bad.

On the plus side we're now 2 weeks out from the probable peak in cases, so hopefully the deaths are peaking soon.

2800 deaths today and yesterday was revised to 3100 which is the most since last winter. Very bad.

That number could be 300,000 and this forum still wouldn't change its mind, it's that entitled and spoiled and dead set on "return to normal". It's even starting to borrow old Trump talking points, demanding the end of testing and saying that hospitalizations and deaths are inflated, insinuating that there is a conspiracy in the hospitals to label unrelated things as COVID.

I'm not sure if you saw my question from the other day. Which of these COVID view camps do you fall into? Should we be aiming to eliminate the virus entirely? And if so, should we return to the vigorous lockdowns of March 2020 and impose even more stringent protocols? Should we implement mask mandates on a vast scale, ban all nonessential business activities, return to virtual learning for schools, and impose strict travel restrictions? Perhaps quarantines of cities or regions that are hotspots for the virus? And perhaps the implementation of a federal vaccine passport system? Should the President call out the National Guard to staff the nation's hospitals?

I voted in this poll. No, I oppose returning to the measures of March 2020, because if the government shuts down business, it is obligated to support them, and I'm not interested in paying more taxes to support them nor do I want more inflation, which was the result after the historic deficit spending. Quarantine of regions wouldn't be effective since every region of the country has already has vast community spread. Schools should stay open since remote learning is inferior to in person learning but remote needs to be kept available for times when the spread is so bad that schools have to use cafeteria staff and parents as substitute teachers. The only practical option for containment in the US now is to keep up mask and vaccine mandates to make public spaces mostly safe, support hospitals during surges with federal resources and hope that with evolution, better vaccines, better treatments, and natural immunity from the population contracting COVID repeatedly, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID go to the seasonal flu "baseline".

No, this is not the normal of 2019, but it keeps the economy running mostly normally, slows down the spread, and keeps public spaces mostly COVID safe. To me, this is close enough to normal that I'm happy to accept it to have some societal protection against an ultra-contagious and still potent virus.

These positions would place you in Camp 3. Will your change your views if we begin to a decline in cases and deaths over the next few months?