COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Dr. Arch]

8/9 (Today): <Sunday>

• Cases: 5,199,444 (+49,721 | ΔW Change: ↑0.79% | Σ Increase: ↑0.97%)
• Deaths: 165,617 (+547 | ΔW Change: ↑17.13% | Σ Increase: ↑0.33%)

Shoot everything had been going down all week. Maybe just an anomaly.

We can only hope, but things can only get so much better before they get worse again with these badly planned in-person school re-openings. Every time things are improving, the current administration finds another way to make it worse again.

At one point, we were plateauing in the teens, so they "re-opened" the economies, and we shot up to >80k cases a day at one point. Now that things are plateauing at around 50k, they're re-opening schools in person with little to no effective precautions or enforcement. It's preposterous.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

FDA chief on Trump's inaccurate COVID-19 claims: 'Won't get into who's right and wrong'

Stephen Hahn, the Food and Drug Administration commissioner, declined on Sunday to defend or criticize President Donald Trump's inaccurate claim that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases "are totally harmless."

Speaking with CNN's "State of the Union," Hahn, a member of the White House coronavirus task force, said he was "not going to get into who's right and who is wrong" when pressed repeatedly about Trump's Saturday comments. But he called the virus and recent surge in cases "a serious problem that we have."

"We must do something to stem the tide," he said, "And we have this in our power to do it by following the guidance in the White House task force and the CDC."

[tagimaucia]

https://twitter.com/ChrisJoseWSB/status/1292564766100279296

What on earth is the point of shutting down for *two* days?  Like, regardless of my personal views, I can at least comprehend arguments for not shutting down at all or shutting down for a few weeks, but what could possibly be accomplished by a two day shutdown?

[Del Tachi]

The anti-vaccers comprise more than a third of our total population, and most of them are Republicans:

Poll: 35% of Americans, most Republicans would reject COVID-19 vaccine

More than one-third of U.S. adults and a majority of Republicans would not receive a free, government-approved COVID-19 vaccine if one was presently available, a Gallup survey showed Friday.

According to the poll, 35% of U.S. adults said they would not get the vaccine, compared to 65% who said they would. The share was the exact same 65/35 split among both men and women.

The age group that expressed the most skepticism about a vaccine were those between 50 and 64 years old (59%) -- and the group that was most accepting of a vaccine were between 18 and 29 (76%).

By race, the survey found that two-thirds of White Americans (67%) and 59% of non-Whites would take the vaccine, despite the virus more heavily affecting the Black and Latino communities.

At least younger adults are far more pro vax, I really had been scared we were regressing on this issue. Most of the anti vaxxers I know of are under 40.

Interesting that non-Whites are more anti-vax than Whites.  Seems to fly in the face of the "homeschooler" stereotype of anti-vaxxers that get so much airtime...

Anti-vaccination is really cross-ideological.  It encompasses some fundamental, social conservative types, some liberal crunchy granola "eco" types and then anti-NWO lunatics.

[Del Tachi]

https://twitter.com/ChrisJoseWSB/status/1292564766100279296

What on earth is the point of shutting down for *two* days?  Like, regardless of my personal views, I can at least comprehend arguments for not shutting down at all or shutting down for a few weeks, but what could possibly be accomplished by a two day shutdown?

From very letter you copied :

On Monday and Tuesday, the school will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, and the district will consult with the Department of Public Health to assess the environment and determine if there are any additional close contacts for confirmed cases who have not already been identified.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

My big worry is that anti-vaxxism is going to prohibit people from getting this vaccine even if they want it.

[Calthrina950]

https://twitter.com/ChrisJoseWSB/status/1292564766100279296

What on earth is the point of shutting down for *two* days?  Like, regardless of my personal views, I can at least comprehend arguments for not shutting down at all or shutting down for a few weeks, but what could possibly be accomplished by a two day shutdown?

From very letter you copied (learn to red):

On Monday and Tuesday, the school will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, and the district will consult with the Department of Public Health to assess the environment and determine if there are any additional close contacts for confirmed cases who have not already been identified.

My big worry is that anti-vaxxism is going to prohibit people from getting this vaccine even if they want it.

What do you two think about that high school in Georgia which has had an outbreak in coronavirus cases? Will we see similar outbreaks at other schools? And does it provide justification to those who do not think we are ready to resume in-person instruction this fall?

[Del Tachi]

https://twitter.com/ChrisJoseWSB/status/1292564766100279296

I see opening schools as normal has gone well.

Paging Bandit and DelTachi...

Cuomo also seems to agree that schools should reopen, so why is your criticism only reserved for red state governors like Kemp?  Opening schools is good public policy.

Since Feb. 1, 45 kids in the U.S. have died of COVID-19.  13,088 have died of all other causes.  Why does it make sense to keep schools closed?  Which of the kids at NPHS have been hospitalized, or had anything beyond mild symptoms?   

If you want to compare outcomes in the Sunbelt to New York and other hard lockdown states, go ahead.  That is more than enough evidence that the way to handle this is not panic, not to irreparably disrupt society and children's lives, but to treat COVID-19 as what it is - a manageable medical problem. 

[GeorgiaModerate]

One of the items in today's Political Insider blog at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

After photos of mask-less students at a Paulding County high school went viral, state Rep. Beth Moore had an idea.

The Democrat from Peachtree Corners set up an anonymous inbox -- reportmyschool@gmail.com -- for whistleblower tips, photos and videos about unsafe conditions at Georgia schools.

She says she’s been both overwhelmed and “shellshocked” by the response -- hundreds of messages in the last two days. The worst, she says, came from a teacher she verified as working in a north Georgia school district.

“I am planning for 27 students in my tiny classroom,” the unnamed teacher wrote her. “They are not making masks mandatory. My principal is joking to people that this is ‘god’s cleansing plan.’”

[Del Tachi]

https://twitter.com/ChrisJoseWSB/status/1292564766100279296

What on earth is the point of shutting down for *two* days?  Like, regardless of my personal views, I can at least comprehend arguments for not shutting down at all or shutting down for a few weeks, but what could possibly be accomplished by a two day shutdown?

From very letter you copied (learn to red):

On Monday and Tuesday, the school will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, and the district will consult with the Department of Public Health to assess the environment and determine if there are any additional close contacts for confirmed cases who have not already been identified.

My big worry is that anti-vaxxism is going to prohibit people from getting this vaccine even if they want it.

What do you two think about that high school in Georgia which has had an outbreak in coronavirus cases? Will we see similar outbreaks at other schools? And does it provide justification to those who do not think we are ready to resume in-person instruction this fall?

It's impossible to give a blanket green light to every school reopening plan, because each district is charged with making decisions in the best interest of its students, faculty and community.  Anyone holding their hand out waiting for Trump, Fauci, or whoever to deliver them a perfect reopening plan on a silver platter will be seriously wanting (and that's how it should be).  Reopening schools for in-person instruction remains a top public health priority, as the CDC and several other professionals have now insisted for months. 

The situation at the high school in North Georgia is not surprising.  Georgia recently experienced a surge in cases, and it's very obvious from media reports that the school district did not do enough to make sure social distancing and other preventative measures we're being enforced at the school.  Nonetheless, consider that none of the 9 positive cases seem to have originated within the school and none of the cases appear to be serious (young people appear incredibly resilient to this virus).  The district now seems to be taking time to reassess how to best operate NPHS more safely, and all of the district's other schools remain open.  Hundreds of other districts in states around the country have also sent their students back into the classroom, the only thing that makes this Georgia case so extraordinary is a photo that went viral.   

[tagimaucia]

https://twitter.com/ChrisJoseWSB/status/1292564766100279296

What on earth is the point of shutting down for *two* days?  Like, regardless of my personal views, I can at least comprehend arguments for not shutting down at all or shutting down for a few weeks, but what could possibly be accomplished by a two day shutdown?

From very letter you copied :

On Monday and Tuesday, the school will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, and the district will consult with the Department of Public Health to assess the environment and determine if there are any additional close contacts for confirmed cases who have not already been identified.

It's a school with busy hallways and low mask density.  Isn't everyone in the school a potential "close contact"?

[Bandit3 the Worker]

What do you two think about that high school in Georgia which has had an outbreak in coronavirus cases? Will we see similar outbreaks at other schools? And does it provide justification to those who do not think we are ready to resume in-person instruction this fall?

I didn't expect there to be zero cases, because there's no zero-risk options. Did they actually catch this virus at school, or did they catch it somewhere else? My county only has 90,000 people, yet has had almost 600 cases - and that's considered very low.

In March, one of the first things I would have done is cancel school. But we have to get things moving again, and I just don't see how we have any choice but to bring school back pretty much like normal. Quality education is important.

I'm pretty sure Sweden went back to school without any problems.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

One of the items in today's Political Insider blog at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

After photos of mask-less students at a Paulding County high school went viral, state Rep. Beth Moore had an idea.

The Democrat from Peachtree Corners set up an anonymous inbox -- reportmyschool@gmail.com -- for whistleblower tips, photos and videos about unsafe conditions at Georgia schools.

She says she’s been both overwhelmed and “shellshocked” by the response -- hundreds of messages in the last two days. The worst, she says, came from a teacher she verified as working in a north Georgia school district.

“I am planning for 27 students in my tiny classroom,” the unnamed teacher wrote her. “They are not making masks mandatory. My principal is joking to people that this is ‘god’s cleansing plan.’”

Clearly it's not realistic to require masks in schools. Adults can barely wear one for 5 minutes when they go to the grocery.

I think we can do better than this sort of dystopia.

But I think the photos from the school actually did a positive service. It shows we can have schools that are almost normal even in one of the more hard-hit states. If you can have school in Georgia, why not Vermont or Maine?

[GeorgiaModerate]

One of the items in today's Political Insider blog at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

After photos of mask-less students at a Paulding County high school went viral, state Rep. Beth Moore had an idea.

The Democrat from Peachtree Corners set up an anonymous inbox -- reportmyschool@gmail.com -- for whistleblower tips, photos and videos about unsafe conditions at Georgia schools.

She says she’s been both overwhelmed and “shellshocked” by the response -- hundreds of messages in the last two days. The worst, she says, came from a teacher she verified as working in a north Georgia school district.

“I am planning for 27 students in my tiny classroom,” the unnamed teacher wrote her. “They are not making masks mandatory. My principal is joking to people that this is ‘god’s cleansing plan.’”

Clearly it's not realistic to require masks in schools. Adults can barely wear one for 5 minutes when they go to the grocery.

I think we can do better than this sort of dystopia.

But I think the photos from the school actually did a positive service. It shows we can have schools that are almost normal even in one of the more hard-hit states. If you can have school in Georgia, why not Vermont or Maine?

Seriously?  I see plenty of people (adults, teens, younger kids) wearing masks the whole time they're grocery shopping when I'm there, and for much longer than 5 minutes.   Since Kroger and Walmart instituted their mask mandates, the rate of conformance has been effectively 100%.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Seriously?  I see plenty of people (adults, teens, younger kids) wearing masks the whole time they're grocery shopping when I'm there, and for much longer than 5 minutes.

I don't think people congregate for very long in grocery stores like they did before the pandemic.

[Calthrina950]

Seriously?  I see plenty of people (adults, teens, younger kids) wearing masks the whole time they're grocery shopping when I'm there, and for much longer than 5 minutes.

I don't think people congregate for very long in grocery stores like they did before the pandemic.

I'd have to back up GeorgiaModerate's claim. As I've noted previously, 85-90% of customers at my workplace have been wearing masks since Governor Polis' mask mandate took effect nearly a month ago. Moreover, my workplace (Home Depot) made masks mandatory at all of their stores nationwide late last month, a week or so after Polis' order. I've also seen virtually unanimous compliance at the closest grocery store to me, King Soopers (owned by Kroger) in the same time frame as well. The vast majority of Americans have adapted to wearing masks, and will continue to do so for as long as it is necessary.

[It’s so Joever]

One of the items in today's Political Insider blog at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

After photos of mask-less students at a Paulding County high school went viral, state Rep. Beth Moore had an idea.

The Democrat from Peachtree Corners set up an anonymous inbox -- reportmyschool@gmail.com -- for whistleblower tips, photos and videos about unsafe conditions at Georgia schools.

She says she’s been both overwhelmed and “shellshocked” by the response -- hundreds of messages in the last two days. The worst, she says, came from a teacher she verified as working in a north Georgia school district.

“I am planning for 27 students in my tiny classroom,” the unnamed teacher wrote her. “They are not making masks mandatory. My principal is joking to people that this is ‘god’s cleansing plan.’”

Clearly it's not realistic to require masks in schools. Adults can barely wear one for 5 minutes when they go to the grocery.

I think we can do better than this sort of dystopia.

But I think the photos from the school actually did a positive service. It shows we can have schools that are almost normal even in one of the more hard-hit states. If you can have school in Georgia, why not Vermont or Maine?

I can’t tell if you are illiterate, or just have lost a bunch of blood flow to the brain.
There were nine f**king Covid cases one the first week at the “normal school”. Do you not see the problem?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Stop playing roulette with our lives as students because you have some grandeur delusions of returning to normal during a goddamn pandemic! It’s not so fun when you are on the receiving end of terrible beliefs and delusions held by fossils from Kentucky. I’m sure this will get reported, but someone needs to honestly stand up to your bulls**t.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I'd have to back up GeorgiaModerate's claim. As I've noted previously, 85-90% of customers at my workplace have been wearing masks since Governor Polis's mask mandate took effect nearly a month ago. Moreover, my workplace (Home Depot) made masks mandatory at all of their stores nationwide late last month, a week or so after Polis' order. I've also seen virtually unanimous compliance at the closest grocery store to me, King Soopers (owned by Kroger) in the same time frame as well. The vast majority of Americans have adapted to wearing masks, and will continue to do so for as long as it is necessary.

My observation is that compliance isn't as high, and those who do comply just don't spend much time in the store. They buy a couple things and leave as soon as possible.

[Calthrina950]

I'd have to back up GeorgiaModerate's claim. As I've noted previously, 85-90% of customers at my workplace have been wearing masks since Governor Polis's mask mandate took effect nearly a month ago. Moreover, my workplace (Home Depot) made masks mandatory at all of their stores nationwide late last month, a week or so after Polis' order. I've also seen virtually unanimous compliance at the closest grocery store to me, King Soopers (owned by Kroger) in the same time frame as well. The vast majority of Americans have adapted to wearing masks, and will continue to do so for as long as it is necessary.

My observation is that compliance isn't as high, and those who do comply just don't spend much time in the store. They buy a couple things and leave as soon as possible.

You do have a point there. It is impossible to obtain 100% compliance to a mask mandate. I noted in my prior post that 85-90% of customers are wearing masks (and of course, all employees). However, that still leaves you with about 10-15% of customers who do not wear masks. My store's management has made it clear to us that we should not confront or turn away maskless customers, because they don't want us to jeopardize our safety.

I'm sure you aware of the numerous instances in which people refused to wear a mask, and things turned violent. Nevertheless, our County's Coroner had said back in June (before Polis' mask mandate was issued), that at least 90% of us needed to be wearing masks in public to get the virus under control, and those numbers have now been obtained thanks to Polis' mandate. Cases in Colorado have also plateaued over the past month, and the mask mandate has been named as one of the contributing factors to this.

[lfromnj]

One of the items in today's Political Insider blog at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

After photos of mask-less students at a Paulding County high school went viral, state Rep. Beth Moore had an idea.

The Democrat from Peachtree Corners set up an anonymous inbox -- reportmyschool@gmail.com -- for whistleblower tips, photos and videos about unsafe conditions at Georgia schools.

She says she’s been both overwhelmed and “shellshocked” by the response -- hundreds of messages in the last two days. The worst, she says, came from a teacher she verified as working in a north Georgia school district.

“I am planning for 27 students in my tiny classroom,” the unnamed teacher wrote her. “They are not making masks mandatory. My principal is joking to people that this is ‘god’s cleansing plan.’”

Clearly it's not realistic to require masks in schools. Adults can barely wear one for 5 minutes when they go to the grocery.

I think we can do better than this sort of dystopia.

But I think the photos from the school actually did a positive service. It shows we can have schools that are almost normal even in one of the more hard-hit states. If you can have school in Georgia, why not Vermont or Maine?

Yet the same schools send anyone home for violating a dress code lol.

[lfromnj]

One of the items in today's Political Insider blog at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

After photos of mask-less students at a Paulding County high school went viral, state Rep. Beth Moore had an idea.

The Democrat from Peachtree Corners set up an anonymous inbox -- reportmyschool@gmail.com -- for whistleblower tips, photos and videos about unsafe conditions at Georgia schools.

She says she’s been both overwhelmed and “shellshocked” by the response -- hundreds of messages in the last two days. The worst, she says, came from a teacher she verified as working in a north Georgia school district.

“I am planning for 27 students in my tiny classroom,” the unnamed teacher wrote her. “They are not making masks mandatory. My principal is joking to people that this is ‘god’s cleansing plan.’”

Clearly it's not realistic to require masks in schools. Adults can barely wear one for 5 minutes when they go to the grocery.

I think we can do better than this sort of dystopia.

But I think the photos from the school actually did a positive service. It shows we can have schools that are almost normal even in one of the more hard-hit states. If you can have school in Georgia, why not Vermont or Maine?

I can’t tell if you are illiterate, or just have lost a bunch of blood flow to the brain.
There were nine f**king Covid cases one the first week at the “normal school”. Do you not see the problem?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Stop playing roulette with our lives as students because you have some grandeur delusions of returning to normal during a goddamn pandemic! It’s not so fun when you are on the receiving end of terrible beliefs and delusions held by fossils from Kentucky. I’m sure this will get reported, but someone needs to honestly stand up to your bulls**t.

Literally even driving kids to school is roulette. Im not that worried about students(However the spread they may cause is a worry). The real problem is we need to use the threat of reopening schools to force teacher unions to stop making up bs trying to limit their live online instruction. If they don't want to do live instruction just do mass scale classrooms and just shove Khan Academy or whatever.

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

One of the items in today's Political Insider blog at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

After photos of mask-less students at a Paulding County high school went viral, state Rep. Beth Moore had an idea.

The Democrat from Peachtree Corners set up an anonymous inbox -- reportmyschool@gmail.com -- for whistleblower tips, photos and videos about unsafe conditions at Georgia schools.

She says she’s been both overwhelmed and “shellshocked” by the response -- hundreds of messages in the last two days. The worst, she says, came from a teacher she verified as working in a north Georgia school district.

“I am planning for 27 students in my tiny classroom,” the unnamed teacher wrote her. “They are not making masks mandatory. My principal is joking to people that this is ‘god’s cleansing plan.’”

Clearly it's not realistic to require masks in schools. Adults can barely wear one for 5 minutes when they go to the grocery.

I think we can do better than this sort of dystopia.

But I think the photos from the school actually did a positive service. It shows we can have schools that are almost normal even in one of the more hard-hit states. If you can have school in Georgia, why not Vermont or Maine?

Yet the same schools send anyone home for violating a dress code lol.

Only detention I ever got in high school was for a dress code violation!

(Also got suspended, but that's a different story...)

[Nyvin]

No further stimulus is coming from Congress:

https://twitter.com/BresPolitico/status/1292871439243268098

[Calthrina950]

No further stimulus is coming from Congress:

https://twitter.com/BresPolitico/status/1292871439243268098

Many Americans are going to experience significant financial distress over the next three months because of Congress' (and Trump's) inability to act.

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

No further stimulus is coming from Congress:

https://twitter.com/BresPolitico/status/1292871439243268098

Well done guys and girls! Y'all really came together in a great show of bipartisanship and teamwork during America's time of need.