COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[GeneralMacArthur]

The gaslighting about early in the pandemic is so intense right now that it's rare for me to run into someone who actually does have an accurate recollection of how things went down.

I'm an election nerd and watched the daily White House press briefings, Andrew Cuomo's daily briefings, and anything Fauci said, so I remember it all very vividly and thoroughly.  I started lifting a lot more during lockdown and would just run the tape of these briefings every day while I did my workouts.

Like do you really think "public health officials" (who?) made any promises about when we'll be back to normal?  At the time they were criticized, often to their faces by Trump on live television, for being very pessimistic about the timeline.  Trump was promising it would miraculously disappear, and that we'd have a vaccine "very very soon", meanwhile Fauci was saying there was basically no end in sight.  Which turned out to be accurate.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Chicago schools are said to be mandating masks for everyone whether vaccinated or not.

How do they expect to enforce this?

If you're not wearing a mask you get sent home?

But they're getting rid of remote "learning."

I'm assuming they'll just force them to wear masks in much the same way they'd be forced to remain in their seats or go to class on time. Sending them home isn't unprecedented because schools are able to send students or staff home if they have head lice or contagious conditions like chickenpox, but in those cases the students clearly are unwell and contagious and not capable of safely learning. In this case, there's a presumption of "guilt" (or rather, infection) regardless of evidence. 

The generation after Gen Z will be lifelong Republicans because of this.

Not gonna happen.

[GM Team Member and Deputy PPT WB]

The gaslighting about early in the pandemic is so intense right now that it's rare for me to run into someone who actually does have an accurate recollection of how things went down.

I'm an election nerd and watched the daily White House press briefings, Andrew Cuomo's daily briefings, and anything Fauci said, so I remember it all very vividly and thoroughly.  I started lifting a lot more during lockdown and would just run the tape of these briefings every day while I did my workouts.

Like do you really think "public health officials" (who?) made any promises about when we'll be back to normal?  At the time they were criticized, often to their faces by Trump on live television, for being very pessimistic about the timeline.  Trump was promising it would miraculously disappear, and that we'd have a vaccine "very very soon", meanwhile Fauci was saying there was basically no end in sight.  Which turned out to be accurate.

Things that are popular and things that are the truth don't always line up. People always will like the idea that a crisis ends soon, even when that's clearly not the case.

[jamestroll]

The most amusing part of this pandemic to me is the embrace of remote work by the left. They will not be embracing it so much when all those jobs that are done in US Homes end up in random countries you have never even heard of. Oh and of course, it exacerbates inequality greatly.

[jamestroll]

I am not opposed to public measures but fear the agenda behind the people who advocate them the most.

its just a slippery slope... I am not against public health measures but fear the agenda behind it. The same people who want strong public health measures want to use it as an excuse to increase the surveillance state and overthrow capitalism. There is a hidden agenda.

The leaders in St. Louis City and County who reinstituted mask mandate will next shut down businesses within the next few weeks in an effort to mask to crime statistics and make an illusion of crime. That will only will only make crime rate worse.

The left has a weird obsession with winning Texas and Florida, so they will use lockdowns this winter in a ploy to get people from places like New York and New Jersey to move to move to Florida and Texas in a fruitless attempt to make those two states Democratic.

There will be a major backfire as all the people who move to those two states to escape lockdowns will be conservative leaning.

[The Undefeatable Debbie Stabenow]

I am not opposed to public measures but fear the agenda behind the people who advocate them the most.

its just a slippery slope... I am not against public health measures but fear the agenda behind it. The same people who want strong public health measures want to use it as an excuse to increase the surveillance state and overthrow capitalism. There is a hidden agenda.

The leaders in St. Louis City and County who reinstituted mask mandate will next shut down businesses within the next few weeks in an effort to mask to crime statistics and make an illusion of crime. That will only will only make crime rate worse.

The left has a weird obsession with winning Texas and Florida, so they will use lockdowns this winter in a ploy to get people from places like New York and New Jersey to move to move to Florida and Texas in a fruitless attempt to make those two states Democratic.

There will be a major backfire as all the people who move to those two states to escape lockdowns will be conservative leaning.

I hope you stretched before that massive, completely unsubstantiated reach

[compucomp]

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/27/cdc-to-reverse-indoor-mask-policy-to-recommend-them-for-fully-vaccinated-people-in-covid-hot-spots.html

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to recommend Tuesday that fully vaccinated people begin wearing masks indoors again in places with high Covid-19 transmission rates, according to people familiar with the matter.

Finally the CDC corrects its mistake from May, better late than never. Dread it, run from it, mask mandates arrive all the same.

Anti-maskers in this forum are looking like this around now:

[It’s so Joever]

Can someone explain or show me videos about this "promise."
I'm not trying to be snarky or negative, but I'm serious that I don't remember hearing "promises."

They promised it all the time.

It's just like how they promised lockdowns would be only 2 weeks.

It's like how they promised school would be 100% normal by New Year's 2021.

It's been a trail of broken promises and lies since day one.

So no videos of this promise from top officials. Got it.

[compucomp]

The CNBC article I linked was expanded, with another blurb I think is worth taking note:

Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine advocate who has served on advisory panels for both the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration, told CNBC earlier this month that the U.S. was still “undervaccinated,” with about half of the population not fully vaccinated.

Even people who are fully protected have cause for concern when it comes to Covid variants, Offit said. While the vaccines protect well against severe disease and death, they may not protect as well against mild disease or spreading Covid to others, he said. No vaccine is 100% effective, he noted.

Emphasis mine. Finally public health officials are starting to drop the untenable and false position, espoused by many here, that the vaccine is a virus repelling force field that allows one to do whatever they want safely, without any mitigation, regardless of the exposure. Finally they are acknowledging reality, that the vaccine is not 100% effective and the effectiveness is fluid and may be lower now than it was before, and are warning of the danger of breakthrough infections. It took way too long but better late than never.

[here2view]

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/27/cdc-to-reverse-indoor-mask-policy-to-recommend-them-for-fully-vaccinated-people-in-covid-hot-spots.html

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to recommend Tuesday that fully vaccinated people begin wearing masks indoors again in places with high Covid-19 transmission rates, according to people familiar with the matter.

Finally the CDC corrects its mistake from May, better late than never. Dread it, run from it, mask mandates arrive all the same.

Lol ok guy, I literally don't care. I live in a county where 70% of those eligible (12+) are already fully vaccinated. My fiancee and I had COVID in January and both of us are fully vaccinated now (Moderna for me and Pfizer for her.) We've gone to malls, baseball games, visited friends out of state, etc. since May.

I could not care less about the CDC recommending this for people in high transmission rates. I don't live in Alabama.

(And I'm the furthest thing from an anti-masker considering I'm a teacher who taught in-person this past year.)

[pppolitics]

In Louisiana, Vaccine Misinformation Has Public Health Workers Feeling ‘Stuck’

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/25/us/politics/louisiana-covid-vaccine-misinformation.html

[Skunk]

I'm sure people in rural Arkansas and rural Missouri care a lot about what the CDC has to say about this.

Anyway, removing one of the most popular vaccine incentives for people is a dumb policy. They should really just recommend vaccine mandates since that would, you know, actually work instead of a mask "suggestion" that only vaccinated doomers will follow. But CDC and the rest of society would rather coddle anti-vaxxers than actually try and end this pandemic.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Masks for people in areas of high transmission? Cool. That means it doesn't apply to me.

[Skunk]

Even people who are fully protected have cause for concern when it comes to Covid variants, Offit said. While the vaccines protect well against severe disease and death, they may not protect as well against mild disease or spreading Covid to others, he said. No vaccine is 100% effective, he noted.

Emphasis mine. Finally public health officials are starting to drop the untenable and false position, espoused by many here, that the vaccine is a virus repelling force field that allows one to do whatever they want safely, without any mitigation, regardless of the exposure. Finally they are acknowledging reality, that the vaccine is not 100% effective and the effectiveness is fluid and may be lower now than it was before, and are warning of the danger of breakthrough infections. It took way too long but better late than never.

So what? There have been around 5,500 hospitalizations or deaths of fully vaccinated patients according to CDC. Around 160,000,000 Americans are fully vaccinated. And most of those aforementioned deaths are those over 65. You have a significantly higher chance of dying in a car crash, so if you're driving anywhere you're putting yourself at a greater risk of injury or death than being hospitalized from COVID.

[YE]

No one is denying vaccines aren’t 100% effective. They’re effective at no longer making the coronavirus a threat to our healthcare system.

[jamestroll]

This situation is awkward for me as I know that masking in indoor venues that are crowded is a very good idea.

But I worry of the political fall out and the slippery slopes.

[NYSforKennedy2024]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/27/health/cdc-masks-indoors-delta-variant.html

Absolute clownshow.

[THG]

I’m vaccinated and I will not be following their guidelines.

[NYSforKennedy2024]

I’m vaccinated and I will not be following their guidelines.

I will be buying a Gaetz-esque gas mask if we return to this sh**t.

[GP270watch]

 I am fully vaccinated and still wearing an N-95 mask. Every door shut on a potential infection no matter how unlikely moves us away from Covid faster. Why can't people still not understand this?

[NYSforKennedy2024]

I am fully vaccinated and still wearing an N-95 mask. Every door shut on a potential infection no matter how unlikely moves us away from Covid faster. Why can't people still not understand this?

Why can't I just put the star on my chest?

[GP270watch]

I am fully vaccinated and still wearing an N-95 mask. Every door shut on a potential infection no matter how unlikely moves us away from Covid faster. Why can't people still not understand this?

Why can't I just put the star on my chest?

     Comparing a public health protocol to save Americans to the white supremacy of the Nazis and their hatred of Jews, a campaign that had the ultimate goal of killing them, is the height of stupidity.

[Calthrina950]

I hope that a mask mandate does not return to my workplace or to Colorado. I would be sorely disappointed if I had to wear one again, as I've been fully vaccinated for over two months now.

[jamestroll]

Ohh no I hope glenn youngkin does not win over this.. I hope Phil Murphy does not get held to a single digit over this!!

[THG]

I am fully vaccinated and still wearing an N-95 mask. Every door shut on a potential infection no matter how unlikely moves us away from Covid faster. Why can't people still not understand this?

Why can't I just put the star on my chest?

I can understand being angry at mask mandates but the Holocaust comparison is infantile. Please do not use that, it makes you look terrible.