COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[jamestroll]

https://twitter.com/ActionNewsNow/status/1329102851809955840

[Holmes]

I'm not sure if "I'm 100% right and you're all privileged and rich brats" is a strong concluding argument.

What I stated is literally true.

I just feel like the people here who support stringent lockdowns have like no income to lose or aren't in any danger of evictions, etc. I am not in any danger of that either if there was a stringent shut down. But you can scream 100,000 times that there should be a stimulus. But .. there is not a stimulus right now.. so we have to focus on mitigation measures rather than stringent lockdowns.

Why is the anger directed towards me when until recently, I supported greater mitigation measures than almost any Democratic governor? Throw the anger on your governors. Not me.

I just think it’s a failure to act on our government’s side. Lockdowns, yes, but we need to provide people and workers basic income if they can’t go to work, assistance to businesses (especially small businesses) to stay afloat and rent/mortgage relief. The government did the bare minimum on this half a year ago and called it a day and that’s a failure on their part.

[jamestroll]

I'm not sure if "I'm 100% right and you're all privileged and rich brats" is a strong concluding argument.

What I stated is literally true.

I just feel like the people here who support stringent lockdowns have like no income to lose or aren't in any danger of evictions, etc. I am not in any danger of that either if there was a stringent shut down. But you can scream 100,000 times that there should be a stimulus. But .. there is not a stimulus right now.. so we have to focus on mitigation measures rather than stringent lockdowns.

Why is the anger directed towards me when until recently, I supported greater mitigation measures than almost any Democratic governor? Throw the anger on your governors. Not me.

I just think it’s a failure to act on our government’s side. Lockdowns, yes, but we need to provide people and workers basic income if they can’t go to work, assistance to businesses (especially small businesses) to stay afloat and rent/mortgage relief. The government did the bare minimum on this half a year ago and called it a day and that’s a failure on their part.

Well do not take the anger out on me....  Its societies failure not mine. My positions are based on what we have to work with now.

I also see a strong correlation with people who support full on lockdowns do not have a job or income to lose.

[Holmes]

I'm not sure if "I'm 100% right and you're all privileged and rich brats" is a strong concluding argument.

What I stated is literally true.

I just feel like the people here who support stringent lockdowns have like no income to lose or aren't in any danger of evictions, etc. I am not in any danger of that either if there was a stringent shut down. But you can scream 100,000 times that there should be a stimulus. But .. there is not a stimulus right now.. so we have to focus on mitigation measures rather than stringent lockdowns.

Why is the anger directed towards me when until recently, I supported greater mitigation measures than almost any Democratic governor? Throw the anger on your governors. Not me.

I just think it’s a failure to act on our government’s side. Lockdowns, yes, but we need to provide people and workers basic income if they can’t go to work, assistance to businesses (especially small businesses) to stay afloat and rent/mortgage relief. The government did the bare minimum on this half a year ago and called it a day and that’s a failure on their part.

Well do not take the anger out on me....  Its societies failure not mine. My positions are based on what we have to work with now.

I also see a strong correlation with people who support full on lockdowns do not have a job or income to lose.

I didn't take anything out on you.

[emailking]

What if it took years to make a vaccine? We are damn lucky that we are within days of Pfizer being ready to seek emergency use authorization. But what if we had a pandemic that took 5 years to make a vaccine? Are we really going to be ing caged animals for 5 years?

If we're playing what ifs, what if the virus had  50% kill rate. Would you support lockdowns multi-month lockdowns then?

The economy is already turning down even without the lockdowns. Maybe force of law shouldn't be applied at this point, but people definitely shouldn't be out and gathering if it's not necessary.

[jamestroll]

What if it took years to make a vaccine? We are damn lucky that we are within days of Pfizer being ready to seek emergency use authorization. But what if we had a pandemic that took 5 years to make a vaccine? Are we really going to be ing caged animals for 5 years?

If we're playing what ifs, what if the virus had  50% kill rate. Would you support lockdowns multi-month lockdowns then?

The economy is already turning down even without the lockdowns. Maybe force of law shouldn't be applied at this point, but people definitely shouldn't be out and gathering if it's not necessary.

Of course I would! But Covid 19 does not have a 50% kill rate. And we currently do not have a stimulus to support millions of workers. You know what would be worse? Having millions homeless due to forced lockdowns.

And I have made it crystal clear I oppose any conventions or large gatherings!

And a point was made by another poster earlier: How the hell does closing down non essential shops help? When it will just make everyone go to big box stores.  Any store, even big box stores, should remain open with occupancy limits.

Edit: If a virus had a 50% fatality rate but was not contagious at all I would of course oppose multi month lockdowns.

[emailking]

Of course I would! But Covid 19 does not have a 50% kill rate.

And the vaccine isn't going to take 5 years. People are suggesting we just get through this since the vaccine is coming soon.

And I have made it crystal clear I oppose any conventions or large gatherings!

Large and small should be avoided if not necessary.

[jamestroll]

Of course I would! But Covid 19 does not have a 50% kill rate.

And the vaccine isn't going to take 5 years. People are suggesting we just get through this since the vaccine is coming soon.

And I have made it crystal clear I oppose any conventions or large gatherings!

Large and small should be avoided if not necessary.

Yes but there are people willing to throw millions unemployed and with no income for months!

You can blame McConnell all you want but that is the fact of the situation.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

New Pfizer Results: Coronavirus Vaccine Is Safe and 95% Effective

The companies said that out of 170 cases of Covid-19, 162 were in the placebo group, and eight were in the vaccine group.

If the F.D.A. authorizes the two-dose vaccine, Pfizer has said that it could have up to 50 million doses available by the end of the year, and up to 1.3 billion by the end of next year.

However, only about half of its supply will go to the United States this year, or enough for about 12.5 million people — a sliver of the American population of 330 million. Americans will receive the vaccine for free, under a $1.95 billion deal the federal government reached with Pfizer for 100 million doses.

[Former Dean Phillips Supporters for Haley (I guess???!?) 👁️]

Of course I would! But Covid 19 does not have a 50% kill rate.

And the vaccine isn't going to take 5 years. People are suggesting we just get through this since the vaccine is coming soon.

And I have made it crystal clear I oppose any conventions or large gatherings!

Large and small should be avoided if not necessary.

Yes but there are people willing to throw millions unemployed and with no income for months!

You can blame McConnell all you want but that is the fact of the situation.

McConnell is more likely to let more stimulus through if there are additional large economic hit from this current wave and additional lockdowns and/or other significant measures taken to bring the virus under control. The most likely way this would occur is that things continue to get worse in more states, and eventually red state governors are forced to take drastic measures as a last resort as the medical systems in their states get overwhelmed and deaths mount. Over the short term this would be worse for the economy, because of course the economic hit (not to mention the humanitarian hit) would be very bad. But over the medium run this would be better for the economy, because more spending power would be pumped into the system and eventually in a few years we would have a stronger recovery than otherwise.

Not saying that that is the reason to lockdown and/or impose other policies to take the current rampant outbreak seriously of course, but that is the fact of the situation.

[GP270watch]

NYC is closing public schools because they have crossed testing threshold.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

It's pretty sad how nobody gives a damn about education anymore.

[GP270watch]

NYC is closing public schools because they have crossed testing threshold.

Very dumb — testing in schools had a positivity rate of just 0.18%, with a 3% rate citywide. State guidance only enforces closures at 9% community positivity.

Tomorrow in NYC, pubic schools will be closed but gyms will still be open...

I think schools should stay open based on the best available scientific data to date. I'm not sure why they closed schools outside of an agreement the teachers and city leaders compromised on. While children are relatively safe their teachers are not in the same boat and it doesn't matter what the city and society wants if the teachers don't show up.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

NYC is closing public schools because they have crossed testing threshold.

Very dumb — testing in schools had a positivity rate of just 0.18%, with a 3% rate citywide. State guidance only enforces closures at 9% community positivity.

Tomorrow in NYC, pubic schools will be closed but gyms will still be open...

I do worry that there could be a fair bit of undetected, asymptomatic transmission going on in the schools, but strongly agree that it makes absolutely no sense to have far more risky things like restaurants and gyms open while the schools are closed.

That being said, we definitely need to prioritize teachers for vaccination once that becomes available, maybe not quite in the same priority tier as health care workers, but probably one step below that.

[It’s so Joever]

First of all, lol at three percent being the threshold.

Secondly, I think Atlas and New York need to differentiate between two groups.
Lumping in everyone 5-18 when it comes to health decisions is an incredibly dumb concept, especially when it comes to Covid.

For one, we have had evidence since this summer that younger children and teenagers experience the virus differently and one group has been proven to be more likely to transmit the virus, which is the latter.
There isn’t a perfect cut-off point, but puberty seems to have a pretty significant impact on how the body reacts to this.

In general primary schools should almost always be kept open when possible. Not only are these younger children significantly less likely to spread the virus but they are more likely to suffer from online education relative to their older peers.

In most states we should probably keep at least high schools closed down, although there are a few exceptions, but that list gets smaller each day we continue to act so stupidly as Americans.

There also should be the option for some in-person instruction provided by the school districts for those with severe learning disabilities in all grades of course.

[Joe Biden 2024]

So I work in a grocery store, and on the time clock, there's a memo from corporate that more or less says "brace yourselves".

[Dr. Arch]

We're on track to hit >200,000 new cases >2,000 deaths in one day before the end of this week. Things are spinning out of control.

[It’s so Joever]

We're on track to hit >200,000 new cases >2,000 deaths in one day before the end of this week. Things are spinning out of control.

But Green Line said this would just be a flu!

[GeorgiaModerate]

Two more House members announced Wednesday they have tested positive for Covid-19 and are isolating, the latest in a string of diagnoses that have hit Capitol Hill.

The cases brings CNN's tally to 26 House members and eight senators that have so far tested positive or been presumed positive.

Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican from Washington and Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican from Colorado, announced separately they had tested positive for Covid-19.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/18/politics/covid-19-house-members-congress-capitol-hill/index.html

[Calthrina950]

Two more House members announced Wednesday they have tested positive for Covid-19 and are isolating, the latest in a string of diagnoses that have hit Capitol Hill.

The cases brings CNN's tally to 26 House members and eight senators that have so far tested positive or been presumed positive.

Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican from Washington and Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican from Colorado, announced separately they had tested positive for Covid-19.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/18/politics/covid-19-house-members-congress-capitol-hill/index.html

My own Representative has it! That means two members of Colorado's delegation-Perlmutter and Lamborn-have now contracted coronavirus. As I said elsewhere, the virus is spreading through the halls of Congress like wildfire.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

We're on track to hit >200,000 new cases >2,000 deaths in one day before the end of this week. Things are spinning out of control.

Yeah, death and hospitalization numbers are both getting really bad. New case numbers for today are definitely higher than yesterday, so still hard to say what the trend is there.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

Two more House members announced Wednesday they have tested positive for Covid-19 and are isolating, the latest in a string of diagnoses that have hit Capitol Hill.

The cases brings CNN's tally to 26 House members and eight senators that have so far tested positive or been presumed positive.

Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican from Washington and Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican from Colorado, announced separately they had tested positive for Covid-19.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/18/politics/covid-19-house-members-congress-capitol-hill/index.html

My own Representative has it! That means two members of Colorado's delegation-Perlmutter and Lamborn-have now contracted coronavirus. As I said elsewhere, the virus is spreading through the halls of Congress like wildfire.

Given how much of Congress is made up of 60 and 70 year olds, hardly a surprise at this point. I can only hope that maybe if more of them get it, maybe more of them will take it seriously as a national issue.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1329223825930665984

Test positivity rate is just astronomically high in some states right now, which suggests we probably aren't coming even remotely close to catching everything.

[Dr. Arch]

The updated numbers for COVID-19 in the U.S. are in for 11/18 per: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

I'm keeping track of these updates daily and updating at the end of the day, whenever all states finish reporting for that day.

ΔW Change: Comparisons of Weekly Day-to-day Growth or Decline of COVID-19 Spread/Deaths.

• IE: Comparing the numbers to the same day of last week, are we flattening the curve enough?

Σ Increase: A day's contribution to overall percentage growth of COVID-19 cases/deaths.

• IE: What's the overall change in the total?

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11/8: <Sunday>

• Cases: 10,288,480 (+105,662 | ΔW Change: ↑48.15% | Σ Increase: ↑1.04%)
• Deaths: 243,768 (+511 | ΔW Change: ↑28.07% | Σ Increase: ↑0.21%)

11/9: <M>

• Cases: 10,421,956 (+133,476 | ΔW Change: ↑43.22% | Σ Increase: ↑1.30%)
• Deaths: 244,448 (+680 | ΔW Change: ↑32.81% | Σ Increase: ↑0.28%)

11/10: <T>

• Cases: 10,559,184 (+137,228 | ΔW Change: ↑8.46% | Σ Increase: ↑1.32%)
• Deaths: 245,799 (+1,351 | ΔW Change: ↓19.25% | Σ Increase: ↑0.55%)

11/11: <W>

• Cases: 10,708,728 (+149,544 | ΔW Change: ↑38.82% | Σ Increase: ↑1.42%)
• Deaths: 247,398 (+1,599 | ΔW Change: ↑36.32% | Σ Increase: ↑0.65%)

11/12: <Þ>

• Cases: 10,873,936 (+165,208 | ΔW Change: ↑39.81% | Σ Increase: ↑1.54%)
• Deaths: 248,585 (+1,187 | ΔW Change: ↑5.60% | Σ Increase: ↑0.48%)

11/13: <F>

• Cases: 11,064,364 (+190,428 | ΔW Change: ↑36.94% | Σ Increase: ↑1.75%)
• Deaths: 249,975 (+1,390 | ΔW Change: ↑8.85% | Σ Increase: ↑0.56%)

11/14: <S>

• Cases: 11,226,038 (+161,674 | ΔW Change: ↑30.14% | Σ Increase: ↑1.46%)
• Deaths: 251,256 (+1,281 | ΔW Change: ↑24.73% | Σ Increase: ↑0.51%)

11/15: <Sunday>

• Cases: 11,366,379 (+140,341 | ΔW Change: ↑32.82% | Σ Increase: ↑1.25%)
• Deaths: 251,832 (+576 | ΔW Change: ↑12.72% | Σ Increase: ↑0.23%)

11/16: <M>

• Cases: 11,538,057 (+171,678 | ΔW Change: ↑28.62% | Σ Increase: ↑1.51%)
• Deaths: 252,651 (+819 | ΔW Change: ↑20.44% | Σ Increase: ↑0.33%)

11/17 (Yesterday): <T>

• Cases: 11,695,550 (+157,493 | ΔW Change: ↑14.77% | Σ Increase: ↑1.36%)
• Deaths: 254,253 (+1,602 | ΔW Change: ↑18.58% | Σ Increase: ↑0.63%)

11/18 (Today): <W>

• Cases: 11,873,727 (+178,177 | ΔW Change: ↑19.15% | Σ Increase: ↑1.52%)
• Deaths: 256,254 (+2,001 | ΔW Change: ↑25.14% | Σ Increase: ↑0.79%)

[Dr. Arch]

We're on track to hit >200,000 new cases >2,000 deaths in one day before the end of this week. Things are spinning out of control.

Welp... it was today for the latter. Sigh.