COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[pbrower2a]

At this point, Donald Trump is one day less than six months away from "still being President", and the Delta mutation of COVID-19/SARS-2 is giving an unwelcome resurgence to a horrid disease. I suggest starting a new thread to this effect and closing this one, with the caveat that the infection and death counts be allowed to migrate to (COVID-19 Megathread 7.

[pbrower2a]

Donald Trump has lost relevance to current policy, but others on the Right and the many anti-vaccination fools and veritable deniers in certain media are creating their own needless extension of the COVID-19 crisis. 

I suggest that the previous thread be archived but only after the opportunity to bring the infection and death count over. COVID-19 is becoming less strictly a concern about Americans in America.

[pbrower2a]

here we go again:

Wall Street Journal: “The Delta variant is hardening a divide between people who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and those who aren’t, prompting hospitals to brace for new case surges and health authorities to redouble vaccination efforts. Now the most common strain in the U.S., Delta is spreading as public life resumes at restaurants, sporting events and other public settings across the country.”

[GeorgiaModerate]

I can't believe you didn't title it "Delta Dawn".

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/NewDay/status/1417070883164803077

[7,052,770]

The 7th thread should be "The Virus Awakens"

[Calthrina950]

Are you sure this thread won't be shut down and moved back into the previous one? The moderators seem to be determined to keep that thread open, with the title that it's had for almost a year now. I don't understand why, but that's how it is.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Are you sure this thread won't be shut down and moved back into the previous one? The moderators seem to be determined to keep that thread open, with the title that it's had for almost a year now. I don't understand why, but that's how it is.

I don't understand either, but I do think this would be a good time for a new thread. The Biden Administration has successfully responded to the pandemic, with two large exceptions over which they have no control: 1) the hardcore anti-vaxxers who apparently make up a good third of population, and 2) the Delta strain of COVID (and possibly other variants, though I hope not), which is being greatly exacerbated by #1.

[DabbingSanta]

If this is only impacting the unvaccinated, why is there a need for reintroducing restrictions?  The argument is that unvaccinated people are still spreading the illness to people who are wearing protection and vaccinated, but that doesn't really make sense. The surges seem to be in primarily urban (Democrat) areas, see the new mask mandate in Los Angeles County as an example.

I also don't understand why doctors are suggesting children be forced to wear masks for the 2021-22 school year.  I thought all the vulnerable people have already been vaccinated?  Only 336 children have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.  Seems like a massive overreaction, again.

I'm proud to say I do not believe the fake news media, and haven't really bought into this "pandemic" from the start.  People like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott are going to have huge bursts in popularity when Democrat run areas continue to be run into the ground by useless and unnecessary restrictions.  The vax rate is never going over 60% in America, so I guess you'll either be living in this sh**tty "new normal" or giving up and living your life at some point.  Will the left still be wearing masks in 2022? What about 2024 or 2028? It's hilarious but really sad.

[emailking]

If this is only impacting the unvaccinated, why is there a need for reintroducing restrictions?  The argument is that unvaccinated people are still spreading the illness to people who are wearing protection and vaccinated, but that doesn't really make sense. The surges seem to be in primarily urban (Democrat) areas, see the new mask mandate in Los Angeles County as an example.

I also don't understand why doctors are suggesting children be forced to wear masks for the 2021-22 school year.  I thought all the vulnerable people have already been vaccinated?  Only 336 children have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.  Seems like a massive overreaction, again.

I'm proud to say I do not believe the fake news media, and haven't really bought into this "pandemic" from the start.  People like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott are going to have huge bursts in popularity when Democrat run areas continue to be run into the ground by useless and unnecessary restrictions.  The vax rate is never going over 60% in America, so I guess you'll either be living in this sh**tty "new normal" or giving up and living your life at some point.  Will the left still be wearing masks in 2022? What about 2024 or 2028? It's hilarious but really sad.

I don't think the kids should be required to wear masks in schools anymore. But you don't need to put pandemic in scare quotes. It absolutely is a pandemic by any reasonable standard of what that entails.

And I agree this is probably going to get merged into Part 6. If not, oh well.

[Calthrina950]

If this is only impacting the unvaccinated, why is there a need for reintroducing restrictions?  The argument is that unvaccinated people are still spreading the illness to people who are wearing protection and vaccinated, but that doesn't really make sense. The surges seem to be in primarily urban (Democrat) areas, see the new mask mandate in Los Angeles County as an example.

I also don't understand why doctors are suggesting children be forced to wear masks for the 2021-22 school year.  I thought all the vulnerable people have already been vaccinated?  Only 336 children have died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began.  Seems like a massive overreaction, again.

I'm proud to say I do not believe the fake news media, and haven't really bought into this "pandemic" from the start.  People like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott are going to have huge bursts in popularity when Democrat run areas continue to be run into the ground by useless and unnecessary restrictions.  The vax rate is never going over 60% in America, so I guess you'll either be living in this sh**tty "new normal" or giving up and living your life at some point.  Will the left still be wearing masks in 2022? What about 2024 or 2028? It's hilarious but really sad.

I don't think the kids should be required to wear masks in schools anymore. But you don't need to put pandemic in scare quotes. It absolutely is a pandemic by any reasonable standard of what that entails.

And I agree this is probably going to get merged into Part 6. If not, oh well.

And I'm pretty certain that the partial vaccination rate is over 60%, although we fell short of Biden's July 4 goal to have 70% of the adult population partially vaccinated. I'm not sure what the exact number is now, though.

[jamestroll]

There will never be any wide spread in the United States. The public will not tolerate it lol.

[LabourJersey]

I would like to point out that it's entirely plausible (not guaranteed obviously but worth pointing out), that you can have new variants in COVID that may be transmissible but significantly less deadly. Not every single evolution of the virus is world-ending or horrific

[Joe Biden is your president. Deal with it.]

How likely is it the country locks down again? I recently got a job at our local movie theater and our business is booming. We had our best weekend yet with Black Widow and Space Jam 2. I would hate for us to close down again.

[LabourJersey]

How likely is it the country locks down again? I recently got a job at our local movie theater and our business is booming. We had our best weekend yet with Black Widow and Space Jam 2. I would hate for us to close down again.

Very unlikely--almost certainly not going to happen outside from some specific counties/regions in a state

[Mr.Phips]

How likely is it the country locks down again? I recently got a job at our local movie theater and our business is booming. We had our best weekend yet with Black Widow and Space Jam 2. I would hate for us to close down again.

Very unlikely--almost certainly not going to happen outside from some specific counties/regions in a state

Yeah not gonna happen.  Politics won’t allow it.

[DabbingSanta]

How likely is it the country locks down again? I recently got a job at our local movie theater and our business is booming. We had our best weekend yet with Black Widow and Space Jam 2. I would hate for us to close down again.

Very unlikely--almost certainly not going to happen outside from some specific counties/regions in a state

Yeah not gonna happen.  Politics won’t allow it.

Which is a good thing.  Thank your Republican governors, senators, and representatives in government for safe guarding your freedoms.

[cg41386]

How likely is it the country locks down again? I recently got a job at our local movie theater and our business is booming. We had our best weekend yet with Black Widow and Space Jam 2. I would hate for us to close down again.

Very unlikely--almost certainly not going to happen outside from some specific counties/regions in a state

Yeah not gonna happen.  Politics won’t allow it.

Which is a good thing.  Thank your Republican governors, senators, and representatives in government for safe guarding your freedoms.

I can’t roll my eyes at this nearly enough. Good lord.

[pbrower2a]

http://

I can't believe you didn't title it "Delta Dawn".

I was tempted because the song is about a delusional woman entering middle age... but I found a reference to one of the greatest movie sequels ever. The Evil Empire is still as evil as ever, and the virus is basically the same.

People are in deep delusion if they think that they are completely safe from the virus without being inoculation. People not inoculated should be scared out of their wits except to see a sign at some pharmacy that says "FREE COVID-19 VACCINE" and recognize that that vaccine can alleviate what should be real fears.

The fellow recently giving a grim play-by-play of infections and deaths is no longer giving us that, so we need a new thread.

The story remains the same: get your shots, wear a mask until the immunity time is real, and have pity upon those who either cannot get the shots or are stupid enough to not get them who end up dying, getting a long incarceration in Ventilator Hell and still manage to survive and endure organ damage, diabetes, sexual dysfunction (that should get people!), or perhaps even brain damage.

  

[pbrower2a]

https://twitter.com/NewDay/status/1417070883164803077

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I am not a doctor but the flu is has to do with you A1C and surgery levels, I feel fine after I had the vaccine, alot of the people coming in have very high sugar levels, fevers are caused by high sugar levels

It's just not Covid, but it's chronic illnesses as well, high blood pressure, heart disease all caused by too many red Blood cells measured by A1C

[emailking]

The Delta Force Awakens might work too.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1417158581258899456

[DabbingSanta]

And I'm pretty certain that the partial vaccination rate is over 60%, although we fell short of Biden's July 4 goal to have 70% of the adult population partially vaccinated. I'm not sure what the exact number is now, though.

I think you might be right.  The Google vaccine tracker considers the entire population, including people under 12, when calculating the rate.  On their site it says 56% have been partially vaxxed, but that's including children who are not eligible atm.  Taking this into consideration, it's safe to say the US will be well over 60% when we are done, possibly as much as 65%, but still below herd immunity levels.  There isn't much barring literal fascism that will change this.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

97% Of People Entering Hospitals For COVID-19 Are Unvaccinated

ROCHELLE WALENSKY: This is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated. We are seeing outbreaks of cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk.

AUBREY: So officials again urged people to get vaccinated.

KELLY: And is it these two factors you were just talking about - unvaccinated people and the delta variant? These are the two factors driving this case increase right now.

AUBREY: Yes, absolutely. The delta variant is estimated to be up to 225% more transmissible than the original strain. So, you know, once it finds pockets of unprotected people, it can spread very quickly. Over just the last week, 10% of U.S. counties moved into what the CDC categorizes as high transmission risk. All of these counties have low vaccination rates. Now, there are breakthrough cases where fully vaccinated people are getting infected. But typically, Mary Louise, they're not ending up in the hospital. In fact, 97% of people who are hospitalized from COVID now are unvaccinated.

Moderm Republicanism in a nutshell: Scream about 'rights' and 'freedoms' while doing what they want and giving no concern to consequences for anyone, be it themselves, others or the country as a whole. Then, once they've created a massive problem, whine that the Democrats aren't fixing it fast enough while simultaneously complaining that fixing it is socialism.