COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Calthrina950]

Certain people are certainly still cheerleading for, if not lockdowns, an increase in distancing measures and business restrictions. It usually takes the form of scaremongering articles that undermine vaccine confidence. But there's no political will to enforce it by any governor, nor would they be able to without massive protests that would dwarf anything in 2020.

Certainly true. Governor Polis, for example, has been resisting calls to reimpose a mask mandate, or any broader business restrictions. Instead, he's made all adult Coloradans eligible to obtain a booster shot, and has continued to emphasize the importance of getting vaccinated. Hopefully other Democratic Governors will follow his example.

[Pericles]

The Netherlands has actually gone into a partial lockdown-with business closures but not the stay at home orders-and they have a higher vaccination rate than the US. While Australia's lockdown is over, New Zealand's largest city is still going with the lockdown-likely until November 29. So it's not an impossible response everywhere. At the moment, I don't see it happening in the US, and the states where the outbreak could get really bad are not going to impose any extra restrictions.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

NO MORE LOCKDOWNS!!

There literally hasn't been anything that could sanely be called a "lockdown" in the United States in more than a year. What are yall on about with this nonsense.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

NO MORE LOCKDOWNS!!

There literally hasn't been anything that could sanely be called a "lockdown" in the United States in more than a year. What are yall on about with this nonsense.

That's not quite accurate. Places like NY and CA did have major businesses like amusement parks and indoor dining closed into 2021 in some cases.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/charles_gaba/status/1459565881214836743

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

https://twitter.com/charles_gaba/status/1459565881214836743

Epically pwning the deplorables over their reactions to the pandemic is old news at this point. We all know they're killing themselves and one another to own the libs and there's not much to say about it that hasn't been said already.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

NO MORE LOCKDOWNS!!

There literally hasn't been anything that could sanely be called a "lockdown" in the United States in more than a year. What are yall on about with this nonsense.

That's not quite accurate. Places like NY and CA did have major businesses like amusement parks and indoor dining closed into 2021 in some cases.

I really don't think the term "lockdown" makes sense other than for the more extreme measures early on in the pandemic, such as when all non-essential businesses were closed and there were strict stay-at-home orders, and probably for the period immediately after that where most non-essential retail businesses were open but all businesses still were required to operate under very strict capacity restrictions. Restrictions on certain narrowly-defined types of businesses, like restaurants or amusement parks, don't really feel like they should be lumped in with the much more drastic economy-wide restrictions from the first few months of the pandemic.

That's not saying there aren't reasonable debates on when those more narrow restrictions should have been lifted - for instance, I'm generally in the camp that the restaurant restrictions were reasonable, but outdoor activities like amusement parks should have had restrictions dropped sooner - but just as a matter of words having coherent meanings, I don't see how anyone could call that sort of thing a lockdown.

[DrScholl]

So the latest crazy theory is that bathing in borax will remove the vaccine from your body.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-you-cant-undo-a-covid-vaccine-with-a-borax-bath-but-you-could-hurt-yourself-11636754961?link=sfmw_tw

Wash your clothes with borax — not your body.

The powdery chemical compound often used as a cleaning agent was trending on Twitter on Friday, after a news report claimed that some antivaxers have been using it in a potentially dangerous detox bath to “undo” their COVID-19 vaccines.

The NBC News report highlighted a viral TikTok video featuring Dr. Carrie Madej, an osteopathic internal medicine doctor who has posted a number of debunked theories about COVID vaccines to Twitter. The original video was removed by TikTok last month, but clips and the recipe have continued to spread across social media. Madej claims that one can “detox the vaxx” by soaking in a bath of baking soda and Epsom salt — which are safe enough, but don’t act the way she claims they will.



This feature is powered by text-to-speech technology. Want to see it on more articles?


Wash your clothes with borax — not your body.

The powdery chemical compound often used as a cleaning agent was trending on Twitter on Friday, after a news report claimed that some antivaxers have been using it in a potentially dangerous detox bath to “undo” their COVID-19 vaccines.

The NBC News report highlighted a viral TikTok video featuring Dr. Carrie Madej, an osteopathic internal medicine doctor who has posted a number of debunked theories about COVID vaccines to Twitter. The original video was removed by TikTok last month, but clips and the recipe have continued to spread across social media. Madej claims that one can “detox the vaxx” by soaking in a bath of baking soda and Epsom salt — which are safe enough, but don’t act the way she claims they will.

“Baking soda and Epsom salts, she falsely claims, will provide a ‘radiation detox’ to remove radiation Madej falsely believes is activated by the vaccine,” writes reporter Ben Collins. “Bentonite clay will add a ‘major pull of poison,’ she says, based on a mistaken idea in anti-vaccine communities that toxins can be removed from the body with certain therapies.”

But then the recipe calls for adding a cup of borax into the mix — a cleaning agent that the Food and Drug Administration has banned as a food additive because it’s a potentially harmful skin and eye irritant, and can cause digestive problems. Madej claims that borax will “take nanotechnologies out of you,” although it’s unclear what she means by this. She has falsely claimed that there is a “liquified computing system” inside coronavirus vaccines, however, such as in a “Reawaken America” podcast.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

So the latest crazy theory is that bathing in borax will remove the vaccine from your body.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-you-cant-undo-a-covid-vaccine-with-a-borax-bath-but-you-could-hurt-yourself-11636754961?link=sfmw_tw

Wash your clothes with borax — not your body.

The powdery chemical compound often used as a cleaning agent was trending on Twitter on Friday, after a news report claimed that some antivaxers have been using it in a potentially dangerous detox bath to “undo” their COVID-19 vaccines.

The NBC News report highlighted a viral TikTok video featuring Dr. Carrie Madej, an osteopathic internal medicine doctor who has posted a number of debunked theories about COVID vaccines to Twitter. The original video was removed by TikTok last month, but clips and the recipe have continued to spread across social media. Madej claims that one can “detox the vaxx” by soaking in a bath of baking soda and Epsom salt — which are safe enough, but don’t act the way she claims they will.



This feature is powered by text-to-speech technology. Want to see it on more articles?


Wash your clothes with borax — not your body.

The powdery chemical compound often used as a cleaning agent was trending on Twitter on Friday, after a news report claimed that some antivaxers have been using it in a potentially dangerous detox bath to “undo” their COVID-19 vaccines.

The NBC News report highlighted a viral TikTok video featuring Dr. Carrie Madej, an osteopathic internal medicine doctor who has posted a number of debunked theories about COVID vaccines to Twitter. The original video was removed by TikTok last month, but clips and the recipe have continued to spread across social media. Madej claims that one can “detox the vaxx” by soaking in a bath of baking soda and Epsom salt — which are safe enough, but don’t act the way she claims they will.

“Baking soda and Epsom salts, she falsely claims, will provide a ‘radiation detox’ to remove radiation Madej falsely believes is activated by the vaccine,” writes reporter Ben Collins. “Bentonite clay will add a ‘major pull of poison,’ she says, based on a mistaken idea in anti-vaccine communities that toxins can be removed from the body with certain therapies.”

But then the recipe calls for adding a cup of borax into the mix — a cleaning agent that the Food and Drug Administration has banned as a food additive because it’s a potentially harmful skin and eye irritant, and can cause digestive problems. Madej claims that borax will “take nanotechnologies out of you,” although it’s unclear what she means by this. She has falsely claimed that there is a “liquified computing system” inside coronavirus vaccines, however, such as in a “Reawaken America” podcast.

I say this realizing that it is going to sound extreme, but seriously, jail these people. Crap like this is going to get people killed.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

NO MORE LOCKDOWNS!!

There literally hasn't been anything that could sanely be called a "lockdown" in the United States in more than a year. What are yall on about with this nonsense.

It’s not quite a lockdown, but most of the fast food restaurants in my area still have never reopened for in-person dining.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

It’s not quite a lockdown, but most of the fast food restaurants in my area still have never reopened for in-person dining.

Some of them are open around here, but a lot of them are still closed.

[compucomp]

It’s not quite a lockdown, but most of the fast food restaurants in my area still have never reopened for in-person dining.

Some of them are open around here, but a lot of them are still closed.

Is there any government policy, federal, state, or local, which is forcing these restaurants to stay closed? I'm not aware of any such policy in the NY/NJ area for at least the past 6 months. Or is it the choice of the restaurants themselves? If it's the latter, why are you blaming the government, or Joe Biden, or the Democrats?

[GeorgiaModerate]

It’s not quite a lockdown, but most of the fast food restaurants in my area still have never reopened for in-person dining.

Some of them are open around here, but a lot of them are still closed.

Is there any government policy, federal, state, or local, which is forcing these restaurants to stay closed? I'm not aware of any such policy in the NY/NJ area for at least the past 6 months. Or is it the choice of the restaurants themselves? If it's the latter, why are you blaming the government, or Joe Biden, or the Democrats?

In Georgia, no restaurants are required to have their dining rooms closed.  Most are open, but there are a few fast food places that are still doing drive-through only.  This may be more due to difficulty finding enough staff than out of concern for COVID.

I also encountered a hybrid model at a Steak N Shake up in Fort Oglethorpe (NW corner of Georgia) a couple months ago.  Their dining room was open, but they no longer had table service.  Instead, you placed your order at the counter and they called you when it was ready to pick up, packed in to-go bags like a drive-through order.  Every second table was closed off to create social distancing.  There were bins of silverware, napkins, condiments, etc. from which you served yourself.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

NO MORE LOCKDOWNS!!

There literally hasn't been anything that could sanely be called a "lockdown" in the United States in more than a year. What are yall on about with this nonsense.

It’s not quite a lockdown, but most of the fast food restaurants in my area still have never reopened for in-person dining.

I feel like that's a business decision that might be as tied to the labor issues as anything else. In NJ, most of the big fast food chains have but I know a lot of local restaurants that haven't.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Maybe some of these places would have closed even if COVID had never happened, but I guess that's because we have an economic system that just isn't workable. I think lockdowns made it worse though by creating conditions where more and more people just aren't able to meet the demands of their workplaces.

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1459235004597350409

👀

[Inmate Trump]

They say the booster restores effectiveness back to 95% or so.

Does that include against variants like Delta?

[DINGO Joe]

I'm scheduled for my booster on Tuesday.  Thought about mixing it up, but I'm just getting Pfizer again.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1459235004597350409

👀

The big problem with this graph is that the way it defines the population “eligible” for boosters is not how the US actually defines it.  But this is also somewhat our own fault in that it has been very unclear for months who is actually eligible.  I got my booster a month ago, but I’m still really have no idea if I was technically ellgible for this.

[emailking]

I had a dream that I tested positive for Covid. I had no symptoms.

[pbrower2a]

It’s not quite a lockdown, but most of the fast food restaurants in my area still have never reopened for in-person dining.

Some of them are open around here, but a lot of them are still closed.

Is there any government policy, federal, state, or local, which is forcing these restaurants to stay closed? I'm not aware of any such policy in the NY/NJ area for at least the past 6 months. Or is it the choice of the restaurants themselves? If it's the latter, why are you blaming the government, or Joe Biden, or the Democrats?

In Georgia, no restaurants are required to have their dining rooms closed.  Most are open, but there are a few fast food places that are still doing drive-through only.  This may be more due to difficulty finding enough staff than out of concern for COVID.

I also encountered a hybrid model at a Steak N Shake up in Fort Oglethorpe (NW corner of Georgia) a couple months ago.  Their dining room was open, but they no longer had table service.  Instead, you placed your order at the counter and they called you when it was ready to pick up, packed in to-go bags like a drive-through order.  Every second table was closed off to create social distancing.  There were bins of silverware, napkins, condiments, etc. from which you served yourself.

I've seen this in Michigan.

I prefer to go inside because waiting in a drive-through line eats gasoline. Twenty minutes of idling is one gallon of gasoline, and I look at that as a cost of the meal.

[AGA]

They say the booster restores effectiveness back to 95% or so.

Does that include against variants like Delta?

If the study was done recently, then it has to.

[Del Tachi]

It’s not quite a lockdown, but most of the fast food restaurants in my area still have never reopened for in-person dining.

Some of them are open around here, but a lot of them are still closed.

Is there any government policy, federal, state, or local, which is forcing these restaurants to stay closed? I'm not aware of any such policy in the NY/NJ area for at least the past 6 months. Or is it the choice of the restaurants themselves? If it's the latter, why are you blaming the government, or Joe Biden, or the Democrats?

In Georgia, no restaurants are required to have their dining rooms closed.  Most are open, but there are a few fast food places that are still doing drive-through only.  This may be more due to difficulty finding enough staff than out of concern for COVID.

I also encountered a hybrid model at a Steak N Shake up in Fort Oglethorpe (NW corner of Georgia) a couple months ago.  Their dining room was open, but they no longer had table service.  Instead, you placed your order at the counter and they called you when it was ready to pick up, packed in to-go bags like a drive-through order.  Every second table was closed off to create social distancing.  There were bins of silverware, napkins, condiments, etc. from which you served yourself.

I have also noticed it's become more common in my area for full-service restaurants that used to be open all day to now close for a couple of hours between the lunch and dinner shifts (2:00p to 5:00p), presumably for staffing reasons. 

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

They say the booster restores effectiveness back to 95% or so.

Does that include against variants like Delta?

Yes. Both clinical studies and real-life data from UK indicated it.

https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1459235004597350409
👀

The big problem with this graph is that the way it defines the population “eligible” for boosters is not how the US actually defines it.  But this is also somewhat our own fault in that it has been very unclear for months who is actually eligible.  I got my booster a month ago, but I’m still really have no idea if I was technically ellgible for this.

Well, Covid won't care about your definitions. We have now enough, even though noisy, data to conclude, that vaccine efficacy vanes considerably for non-healthy/elder people after 4-5 months (for Pfizer - for Moderna you have probably add 1-2 months more).

[jamestroll]

I'm off to get my covid booster and flu shot.

Just the thought of being vaccinated makes me feel good.