COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[beesley]

A good benchmark of a return to normalcy will be the end of isolation for positive tests, which I hope to see implemented soon.

Another benchmark would be the abolition of mask mandates.

Yes - I'm pleased that our Prime Minister has announced as such (at present, he may not be PM when they end).

Didn't Johnson get in trouble for attending a Christmas party in violation of his own regulations? And isn't he facing a challenge from members of his own party? I'm not entirely sure with what's going on, though I know that Johnson's approvals have declined.

Yes and yes. What makes his position that bit more untenable is that he mislead Parliament and the public about it too.

[roxas11]

I just ordered the free covid test and I got to be honest, I'm actually shocked at how easy it was to use the website

I thought it was going to be complicated, but it ended not being like that at all and in less than a minute I had ordered the test

I guess Biden and Dems really did learn from the Obamacare website debacle

[compucomp]

I just ordered the free covid test and I got to be honest, I'm actually shocked at how easy it was to use the website

I thought it was going to be complicated, but it ended not being like that at all and in less than a minute I had ordered the test

I guess Biden and Dems really did learn from the Obamacare website debacle

The ordering was the easy part IMO. The real challenge for the government is if they can actually get the test kits sent to us, both in terms of securing the supply and then getting the USPS to deliver them.

[Oakvale]

https://twitter.com/leeofthemail/status/1484260847782346752

Sending solidarity to my American friends in blue states as Ireland and its peoples have won freedom from the novel coronavirus. It's over.

[Associate Justice PiT]

A good benchmark of a return to normalcy will be the end of isolation for positive tests, which I hope to see implemented soon.

Another benchmark would be the abolition of mask mandates.

Do you mean mandates from government or from private businesses?

I can get behind government no longer mandating them, but private businesses must be allowed to require masks if they so choose.

Government mandates. Private businesses can impose their own mandates, but I would be hopeful that they would not do so. There still won't be normalcy if employees of all stripes are still masked on the job.

     I think masking will be a typical aspect of life in blue states regardless, as people are driven by fear of COVID. Nevertheless, it would be great to simply not have to contend with restrictions in government offices. I have had business with the SSA as of late, and their COVID regulations has made it incredibly hard to do what I need to do because they were tailored with little consideration for the needs of the people. You need to call to make an appointment by phone, but the line is understaffed and usually drops you before you ever get to talk to someone.

https://twitter.com/leeofthemail/status/1484260847782346752

Sending solidarity to my American friends in blue states as Ireland and its peoples have won freedom from the novel coronavirus. It's over.

     Congratulations! Your solidarity with us is appreciated.

[KaiserDave]

We need normalcy now!

We have had normalcy for several months!

What is normalcy to you?

[GregTheGreat657]

We need normalcy now!

We have had normalcy for several months!

If we have achieved normalcy, why are so many places still mandating masks?

[Calthrina950]

We need normalcy now!

We have had normalcy for several months!

If we have achieved normalcy, why are so many places still mandating masks?

Perhaps he's referring to the "new normal", which many people are now pushing for us to accept, and includes permanent or rolling mask mandates.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

We need to get the deaths per day down to under 200 before we can call it normalcy.

[Matty]

I LOVE this

https://mobile.twitter.com/critica18495985/status/1483889174734417922

[compucomp]

This forum probably thinks this was a righteous act of civil disobedience.

American Airlines flight bound for London turns around mid-flight over mask rule compliance

An American Airlines passenger plane bound for London turned around mid-flight due to a mask-related disruption on Wednesday.

"American Airlines flight 38 with service from Miami (MIA) to London (LHR) returned to MIA due to a disruptive customer refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement," American Airlines said in a statement.

Local law enforcement met the flight at Miami International Airport, the airline said.
The Miami-Dade Police Department told CNN it was called by the airline regarding a female passenger who refused to wear a mask.

"Once the plane made it to the gate, the passenger was escorted off the plane by MDPD officers without incident. The passenger was then dealt with administratively by American Airlines staff," said Detective A. Colome from the Miami-Dade Police Department.

[GregTheGreat657]

What are the odds NY drops its indoor mask mandate on Feb. 1?

[Middle-aged Europe]

This forum probably thinks this was a righteous act of civil disobedience.

American Airlines flight bound for London turns around mid-flight over mask rule compliance

An American Airlines passenger plane bound for London turned around mid-flight due to a mask-related disruption on Wednesday.

"American Airlines flight 38 with service from Miami (MIA) to London (LHR) returned to MIA due to a disruptive customer refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement," American Airlines said in a statement.

Local law enforcement met the flight at Miami International Airport, the airline said.
The Miami-Dade Police Department told CNN it was called by the airline regarding a female passenger who refused to wear a mask.

"Once the plane made it to the gate, the passenger was escorted off the plane by MDPD officers without incident. The passenger was then dealt with administratively by American Airlines staff," said Detective A. Colome from the Miami-Dade Police Department.

I don't get people like that. Even when you're opposed to wearing masks, it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that you will be eventually escorted off the plane if you're refusing to do so. So people like that are deliberately missing their flights, which they had already paid for, just to make a point? Too much money in the account, I guess.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

What are the odds NY drops its indoor mask mandate on Feb. 1?

I'm more worried about which state will be the first to enact an outdoor mandate. I think a few states had one last winter.

[GregTheGreat657]

What are the odds NY drops its indoor mask mandate on Feb. 1?

I'm more worried about which state will be the first to enact an outdoor mandate. I think a few states had one last winter.

Oregon already had one back in the fall, but if another state does it, my money would be on California

[Bandit3 the Worker]

What are the odds NY drops its indoor mask mandate on Feb. 1?

I'm more worried about which state will be the first to enact an outdoor mandate. I think a few states had one last winter.

Oregon already had one back in the fall, but if another state does it, my money would be on California

My guess is New Mexico.

[Roll Roons]

What are the odds NY drops its indoor mask mandate on Feb. 1?

I'm more worried about which state will be the first to enact an outdoor mandate. I think a few states had one last winter.

I would have said NY or DC, but Omicron has already peaked in both.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

This forum probably thinks this was a righteous act of civil disobedience.

American Airlines flight bound for London turns around mid-flight over mask rule compliance

An American Airlines passenger plane bound for London turned around mid-flight due to a mask-related disruption on Wednesday.

"American Airlines flight 38 with service from Miami (MIA) to London (LHR) returned to MIA due to a disruptive customer refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement," American Airlines said in a statement.

Local law enforcement met the flight at Miami International Airport, the airline said.
The Miami-Dade Police Department told CNN it was called by the airline regarding a female passenger who refused to wear a mask.

"Once the plane made it to the gate, the passenger was escorted off the plane by MDPD officers without incident. The passenger was then dealt with administratively by American Airlines staff," said Detective A. Colome from the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Why does the plane need to turn around in these cases?  That seems counterproductive to everyone.  Why not just have him arrested when the plane lands at its destination?

[Dan the Roman]

This forum probably thinks this was a righteous act of civil disobedience.

American Airlines flight bound for London turns around mid-flight over mask rule compliance

An American Airlines passenger plane bound for London turned around mid-flight due to a mask-related disruption on Wednesday.

"American Airlines flight 38 with service from Miami (MIA) to London (LHR) returned to MIA due to a disruptive customer refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement," American Airlines said in a statement.

Local law enforcement met the flight at Miami International Airport, the airline said.
The Miami-Dade Police Department told CNN it was called by the airline regarding a female passenger who refused to wear a mask.

"Once the plane made it to the gate, the passenger was escorted off the plane by MDPD officers without incident. The passenger was then dealt with administratively by American Airlines staff," said Detective A. Colome from the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Why does the plane need to turn around in these cases?  That seems counterproductive to everyone.  Why not just have him arrested when the plane lands at its destination?

Bigger mystery is that with Plan B still in effect were they planning not to comply with mask rules in the UK? European police are tired and media demonization of American anti-vaxers has conflated them with anti-maskers and reduced both to caricatures. Americans can expect very little indulgence from police currently inclined to expect and think the worst of them.

I do expect that to change in a few months however. Everyone is sick of this not just in the US but in Europe. But I do think the difference will be that whereas anti-vaxxers seem to have managed to piggyback on anti-maskers(latter are numerous and reasonable former nutty), the reverse has happened elsewhere. Ie. even Younkin's EO's dropping requirements for state employees would be seen as cultish and fringe.

[emailking]

2700 deaths today. Very bad.

On the plus side we're now 2 weeks out from the probable peak in cases, so hopefully the deaths are peaking soon.

[roxas11]

I LOVE this

https://mobile.twitter.com/critica18495985/status/1483889174734417922

This just sums up the silliness of America's response to this pandemic

Here we have a kid who is basically saying that because she does not like mask adults should all bow down to her and let her take the risk of getting infected while also potentially infecting the other students around her

Now to be clear, I have no issue with anyone making an argument against covid restrictions, but I'm no fan of anybody who uses their kids as a prop in order to get their point across.

The fact is we know full well that this kid did not drive herself to this meeting in order to give that speech. If her parents felt so strongly about it, then they should be the ones speaking up instead of hiding behind their child

[Calthrina950]

What are the odds NY drops its indoor mask mandate on Feb. 1?

I'm more worried about which state will be the first to enact an outdoor mandate. I think a few states had one last winter.

Oregon already had one back in the fall, but if another state does it, my money would be on California

My guess is New Mexico.

Not too far-fetched. New Mexico has been particularly strict about mask mandates throughout the pandemic. It hasn't had a better outcome than Colorado, however, and Polis pointed to this state as an example when justifying his decision not to re-implement a statewide mask mandate.

[DINGO Joe]

What are the odds NY drops its indoor mask mandate on Feb. 1?

I'm more worried about which state will be the first to enact an outdoor mandate. I think a few states had one last winter.

Oregon already had one back in the fall, but if another state does it, my money would be on California

My guess is New Mexico.

Not too far-fetched. New Mexico has been particularly strict about mask mandates throughout the pandemic. It hasn't had a better outcome than Colorado, however, and Polis pointed to this state as an example when justifying his decision not to re-implement a statewide mask mandate.

New Mexico has had a much better outcome than Arizona which it's much more similar to demographically than Colorado.  Of course, Arizona has proven to be the kings of death in the pandemic.

The 3 most basic differences are Colorado only has 14.6% of the pop 65 and over while AZ and NM are at 18.0%.  Colorado has an adult obesity rate of 24% while NM and AZ are at 31%.  NM has a Native American pop of 9% with AZ at 4% and CO at 1%. 

While NA pop everywhere have had higher death rates from Covid is was really extreme in NM, especially in the first year of Covid.

[emailking]

Boosters provide the best protection against Omicron variant, CDC studies show, raising new questions about what it means to be fully vaccinated

Three large new studies from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlight the importance of getting a booster shot to provide the best protection against the Omicron coronavirus variant.

This is the first real-life data to examine the effect of boosters against Omicron, which now accounts for more than 99% of coronavirus cases in the United States. The studies, released Friday, raise the question of whether people with just two vaccine doses should still be considered fully vaccinated.

"I think we have to redefine fully vaccinated as three doses," said Dr. William Schaffner, a longtime CDC vaccine adviser who was not involved with the studies.

The studies have an enormous scope, involving millions of cases, hundreds of thousands of visits to emergency departments and urgent care centers, and tens of thousands of hospitalizations among adults.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/21/health/cdc-omicron-booster-studies/index.html

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

Omicron is now 99.5% of USA cases and there were 2300 deaths today. Are we still going with this is almost all Delta, and the super mild Omicron is causing negligible deaths?

I tried to warn, but this "data-driven" (LMAO) blogg can't comprehend, that for unvaxxed Omicron is just 30-40% (at best 50%) less dangerous. For vaxxed all variants are less dangerous than flu, so who cares anyway?

Those who reported to die today, got covid ~3 weeks ago. Per CDC 3 weeks ago, 90% had Omicron and 10% Delta, so it's fairly safe to assume, that at lest 50% of today's deaths are due to Omicron. Consequentially, it means that Omicron-related deaths will keep rising during next ~3 weeks and start to decrease after that. As it happened in South Africa https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/south-africa-covid-cases.html