COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[compucomp]

Okay so, they're probably planning to lift it in the spring/summer if it becomes reasonable to do so, with the emphasized statement to the public that "you should expect a very realistic chance of it returning in the fall / winter but we'll see how things evolve between now and then".

Sounds... about right?

It should never be brought back, period.

Making definite statements about how safety protocols should be in the future despite not knowing what the conditions could be is foolish.

You would support seasonal mask mandates? Between this and permanent mask mandates, it's alarming to me that so many people are willing to accept a change such as this. But I've been predicting that this would be the case for some time now.

I understand nobody is changing their mind on this and we're basically yelling at each other from entrenched positions, but we're talking about a mitigation that has low cost, low effort, and doesn't prevent anyone from doing anything. We're not talking about closing restaurants and bars seasonally. We're not talking about closing schools seasonally. We're not talking about applying capacity limits seasonally. We're not putting anyone out of work , shutting down any business, or causing inflation by trying to compensate for it. Why is it disturbing to require someone to put on a piece of clothing for public health? If hypothermia were contagious winter coats would be mandated every winter too.

Also, the fact that people are now willing to support permanent or seasonal mask mandates is an indication of where politics are today. It's clear that anti-maskers will not accept any form of masking, judging by the reaction of this forum when Biden made a speech urging people to wear masks and sent out 400 million N95 masks. So if the opponent is entrenched and will accept only 0% of your position and will fly into a rage at anything greater than that, why bother arguing for anything short of 100%?

People who compared Covid to the flu two years ago were dumb and wrong. People who don't think they're similar today (with some age-related discrepancies) are correspondingly incorrect.

I don't think they're similar. Omicron killed as many people in January as the flu does in a really bad year (whole year).

Agreed, the per case severity of COVID might be close to the flu now but COVID is by now much, much more contagious. The containment measures that merely slowed down COVID actually drove flu numbers to near-zero last winter.

[Don Vito Corleone]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

“There should never be mask mandates again ever”
“What if circumstances change in the future”
“Omg you support *scary voice* seasonal mask mandates!!!”

What’s the problem with bringing them back when there’s a Covid surge and getting rid of them when it subsides?

[Horus]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

[Horus]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

[compucomp]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

It's rich to accuse us of gaslighting when you're the ones who are trying to convince us that COVID is not a threat. News flash the seasonal flu doesn't cause 450K deaths a year or spread like measles.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

[Horus]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

He's the president. He should be encouraging us to move on from the pandemic and not wallow in it. He's not just some guy at the store.

[compucomp]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

This is why no compromise is possible, and why we might as well argue for permanent mask mandates. These people don't just hate mask mandates, they hate masks period. When Biden made his speech encouraging mask wearing and sent out 400m N95 masks, they flew into frothing-at-the-mouth rage. If they're going to do that for the weakest possible pro-mask measure, at a time when Omicron was surging to cartoonish levels, they're clearly incorrigible ideologues and there's no point to trying to come to an agreement with them.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

He's the president. He should be encouraging us to move on from the pandemic and not wallow in it. He's not just some guy at the store.

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1489758419552722945?s=20&t=8AoPv0CrgDOFpg...

I’m sorry he’s not changing his own lifestyle to suit your desires, which I know anti-mask libertarians love. But at some point it would be really helpful for people in this thread to realize that they are in fact allowed out of their homes.

[Horus]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

He's the president. He should be encouraging us to move on from the pandemic and not wallow in it. He's not just some guy at the store.

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1489758419552722945?s=20&t=8AoPv0CrgDOFpg...

I’m sorry he’s not changing his own lifestyle to suit your desires, which I know anti-mask libertarians love.

I never claimed he was pro lockdown. And I'm pretty sure my -5 econ score means I'm not a libertarian, but please rage on.

Wearing a mask outdoors is neurotic and anti science.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

He's the president. He should be encouraging us to move on from the pandemic and not wallow in it. He's not just some guy at the store.

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1489758419552722945?s=20&t=8AoPv0CrgDOFpg...

I’m sorry he’s not changing his own lifestyle to suit your desires, which I know anti-mask libertarians love.

I never claimed he was pro lockdown. And I'm pretty sure my -5 econ score means I'm not a libertarian, but please rage on.

Wearing a mask outdoors is neurotic and anti science.

Whatever. It’s not worth it to keep arguing with people who think the real problem is that an 80-year-old man wears a mask and is therefore somehow “wallowing in it”.

[Horus]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

He's the president. He should be encouraging us to move on from the pandemic and not wallow in it. He's not just some guy at the store.

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1489758419552722945?s=20&t=8AoPv0CrgDOFpg...

I’m sorry he’s not changing his own lifestyle to suit your desires, which I know anti-mask libertarians love.

I never claimed he was pro lockdown. And I'm pretty sure my -5 econ score means I'm not a libertarian, but please rage on.

Wearing a mask outdoors is neurotic and anti science.

Whatever. It’s not worth it to keep arguing with people who think the real problem is that an 80-year-old man wears a mask and is therefore somehow “wallowing in it”.

The president sets an example for the entire country. So long as a mask is still on his face, we are not out of pandemic mode. The fact that he happens to be 80 is irrelevant, unless you support permanent mask mandates for the elderly or something.

[compucomp]

“Nobody is arguing for permanent mask mandates, you’re just being hysterical”
“Masks aren’t even a big deal guys and bringing them back for half the year is perfectly fine. Also, it’s your fault people support permanent mask mandates”

Please pick one narrative and stick with it. The constant gaslighting/goal post shifting is exhausting.

The gaslighting is the point.

I feel like the gaslighting is coming much more from the anti-restrictions camp that’s acting like Biden is some sort of pro-lockdown Twitter lib than from people who support mask mandates.

He could be doing far more. Absolutely no excuse for him to still be wearing a mask, especially outdoors. And I know this word has been used a lot but the SOTU capacity limit is outright dystopian.

So you’re mad at him because he personally wears a mask? This is ridiculous.

He's the president. He should be encouraging us to move on from the pandemic and not wallow in it. He's not just some guy at the store.

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1489758419552722945?s=20&t=8AoPv0CrgDOFpg...
I’m sorry he’s not changing his own lifestyle to suit your desires, which I know anti-mask libertarians love.

I never claimed he was pro lockdown. And I'm pretty sure my -5 econ score means I'm not a libertarian, but please rage on.

Wearing a mask outdoors is neurotic and anti science.

Whatever. It’s not worth it to keep arguing with people who think the real problem is that an 80-year-old man wears a mask and is therefore somehow “wallowing in it”.

It's too bad Biden cancelled the plan to directly send masks to households. It would have been worth the $5 to send these people N95 masks and watch them spontaneously combust in rage.

[Mr. Illini]

On the Illinois front...

A federal judge has struck down Gov. Pritzker's mask and quarantine mandates for schools; State will appeal

School districts scrambled over the weekend to figure out how to handle the ruling when classes opened on Monday morning.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-school-mask-mandate-ruling-20220207-gqxdvyrysbcgpp62zhs7yoevxa-story.html

---

Gov. Pritzker will drop state's mask mandate "as soon as we possibly can;" Lightfoot says vax mandate will go soon as well

Illinois has been under a mask mandate since August 2021, when the delta surge began.

https://wgntv.com/news/coronavirus/we-should-remove-masks-as-soon-as-we-can-pritzker-considering-easing-covid-19-restrictions-as-cases-drop/

[Calthrina950]

On the Illinois front...

A federal judge has struck down Gov. Pritzker's mask and quarantine mandates for schools; State will appeal

School districts scrambled over the weekend to figure out how to handle the ruling when classes opened on Monday morning.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-school-mask-mandate-ruling-20220207-gqxdvyrysbcgpp62zhs7yoevxa-story.html

---

Gov. Pritzker will drop state's mask mandate "as soon as we possibly can;" Lightfoot says vax mandate will go soon as well

Illinois has been under a mask mandate since August 2021, when the delta surge began.

https://wgntv.com/news/coronavirus/we-should-remove-masks-as-soon-as-we-can-pritzker-considering-easing-covid-19-restrictions-as-cases-drop/

Hopefully Pritzker does it sooner rather than later, especially since his school mask mandate has been struck down. But slowly and surely, it seems like some Democrats may finally be getting off the mask bandwagon.

[It’s so Joever]

Why remove vax mandates? Mask mandates I get, but vax mandates aren't at all interfering with anyone's lives.

[MATTROSE94]

Why remove vax mandates? Mask mandates I get, but vax mandates aren't at all interfering with anyone's lives.

I agree. I was in NYC a month ago and pretty much every place checked my vaccine status. It wasn’t a big deal at all considering that I have my vaccine card stored in a phone app. I feel that vaccine mandates are much preferable to mask mandates. Besides, it is also funny seeing MAGA supporters get triggered by vaccine mandates.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

If Biden wants to voluntarily wear a mask, he should absolutely do so.  And he should continue to encourage people to wear masks if they are vulnerable or they are feeling sick.

But he needs to drop the mask mandates.  Eliminating them at the federal level would set a good example for local governments to move away from their mandates.

Also, we need to stop counting deaths of unvaccinated adults as covid deaths.  These are suicides.

[Aurelius]

Some interesting news out of California.

https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2022/02/endemic-covid-california-strategy/

[Mr. Illini]

Why remove vax mandates? Mask mandates I get, but vax mandates aren't at all interfering with anyone's lives.

Restaurants and their representatives have been asking for it due to the burden of enforcing it, especially amidst staffing shortages.

Worth noting that it is also in effect at the county level here, and the Cook Co President has not spoken about whether she will roll it back at that level.

[MATTROSE94]

Some interesting news out of California.

https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2022/02/endemic-covid-california-strategy/

Interesting. I thought California was eying a Zero COVID strategy instead.

[It’s so Joever]

Why remove vax mandates? Mask mandates I get, but vax mandates aren't at all interfering with anyone's lives.

Restaurants and their representatives have been asking for it due to the burden of enforcing it, especially amidst staffing shortages.

Worth noting that it is also in effect at the county level here, and the Cook Co President has not spoken about whether she will roll it back at that level.

Thank you that makes sense.

[compucomp]

Why remove vax mandates? Mask mandates I get, but vax mandates aren't at all interfering with anyone's lives.

This blows my mind. Vaccine mandates force people to get an injection (and forced me to take time off work due to the side effects), and to be enforced requires checking of vax cards and IDs or scanning QR codes, effectively adding a layer of "papers please" government surveillance everywhere. And you're arguing that mask mandates are interfering with people's lives when vaccine mandates don't? Masks actually make it HARDER for the government to track your actions!