COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Not Me, Us]

Combo of camps 3 and 4 for me. Vaccinated people should have no restrictions whatsoever, but there should be a nationwide vaccine mandate (though that is obviously never going to happen).

[Hammy]

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/health/coronavirus-questions-answers/#how-can-i-get-free-face-masks

The Biden administration will soon be distributing 400 million N95 masks from the Strategic National Stockpile.

Americans will be able to pick up free N95 masks from various pharmacies and community health centers. The program will be “fully up and running by early February,” a White House official said, and each person will be limited to 3.

Biden doing what Trump should've done two years ago.

2800 deaths today and yesterday was revised to 3100 which is the most since last winter. Very bad.

That number could be 300,000 and this forum still wouldn't change its mind, it's that entitled and spoiled and dead set on "return to normal".

The entire country should not have to come to a halt because the same 30% who refuse to participate in civilized society have done so again by reusing to vaccinate.

[beesley]

I too consider myself to be camp 5 - at least for the long term if not now.

[Calthrina950]

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.

2800 deaths today and yesterday was revised to 3100 which is the most since last winter. Very bad.

That number could be 300,000 and this forum still wouldn't change its mind, it's that entitled and spoiled and dead set on "return to normal". It's even starting to borrow old Trump talking points, demanding the end of testing and saying that hospitalizations and deaths are inflated, insinuating that there is a conspiracy in the hospitals to label unrelated things as COVID.

I'm not sure if you saw my question from the other day. Which of these COVID view camps do you fall into? Should we be aiming to eliminate the virus entirely? And if so, should we return to the vigorous lockdowns of March 2020 and impose even more stringent protocols? Should we implement mask mandates on a vast scale, ban all nonessential business activities, return to virtual learning for schools, and impose strict travel restrictions? Perhaps quarantines of cities or regions that are hotspots for the virus? And perhaps the implementation of a federal vaccine passport system? Should the President call out the National Guard to staff the nation's hospitals?

I voted in this poll. No, I oppose returning to the measures of March 2020, because if the government shuts down business, it is obligated to support them, and I'm not interested in paying more taxes to support them nor do I want more inflation, which was the result after the historic deficit spending. Quarantine of regions wouldn't be effective since every region of the country has already has vast community spread. Schools should stay open since remote learning is inferior to in person learning but remote needs to be kept available for times when the spread is so bad that schools have to use cafeteria staff and parents as substitute teachers. The only practical option for containment in the US now is to keep up mask and vaccine mandates to make public spaces mostly safe, support hospitals during surges with federal resources and hope that with evolution, better vaccines, better treatments, and natural immunity from the population contracting COVID repeatedly, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID go to the seasonal flu "baseline".

No, this is not the normal of 2019, but it keeps the economy running mostly normally, slows down the spread, and keeps public spaces mostly COVID safe. To me, this is close enough to normal that I'm happy to accept it to have some societal protection against an ultra-contagious and still potent virus.

I will say that I'm glad to see that you don't support a return to lockdowns or similar measures. I continue to disagree with you about the necessity of mask mandates, but I do agree with what you say about supporting hospitals.

[Dr. Arch]

I'm on Camp 4.5 as of today. I believe that vaccinations should be required in workplaces and services that involve continued contact with members outside of one's household. Proof of vaccination for indoor dining and such should stick around for another month or two (at least in PR, we're over 80% fully vaccinated), but we should be phasing out of those, masks, and the like, within two months, barring anything paradigm shifting.

[Calthrina950]

I'm on Camp 4.5 as of today. I believe that vaccinations should be required in workplaces and services that involve continued contact with members outside of one's household. Proof of vaccination for indoor dining and such should stick around for another month or two (at least in PR, we're over 80% fully vaccinated), but we should be phasing out of those, masks, and the like, within two months, barring anything paradigm shifting.

By the way, I know that you stopped keeping track of cases and deaths, but do you know what the present numbers are? Or where I could find them?

[Dr. Arch]

I'm on Camp 4.5 as of today. I believe that vaccinations should be required in workplaces and services that involve continued contact with members outside of one's household. Proof of vaccination for indoor dining and such should stick around for another month or two (at least in PR, we're over 80% fully vaccinated), but we should be phasing out of those, masks, and the like, within two months, barring anything paradigm shifting.

By the way, I know that you stopped keeping track of cases and deaths, but do you know what the present numbers are? Or where I could find them?

Nowadays, I reference https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/ for general numbers, and I track vaccination rates at https://covidactnow.org/?s=28371717.

[pbrower2a]

You do not treat a dog bite like the bite of a venomous snake.

[Matt24]

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.

2800 deaths today and yesterday was revised to 3100 which is the most since last winter. Very bad.

I'm old enough to remember when 3000 people died so we changed our society, went to war in multiple countries, and spent trillions of dollars. Now, that many people are dting every day or two and people keep whining about how uncomfortable masks are and how they want things to go back to normal. Quite a difference.

Then which of the Covid view camps do you fall into? Your comments seem to suggest that you fall into Camp #2.

If we want to have any hope of getting this virus under control, we need to be in camp 2.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

I’m in camp 2 as far as unvaccinated people go, but camp 5 for the vaccinated.

[#TheShadowyAbyss]

I'm between camp 2 and 3, I live with someone who is immunocompromised and deal with many people every day even at the height of the pandemic at best maybe 45% of people  wore masks and now it's both low and racially polarized and lower than is has ever been

[Green Line]

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.

2800 deaths today and yesterday was revised to 3100 which is the most since last winter. Very bad.

I'm old enough to remember when 3000 people died so we changed our society, went to war in multiple countries, and spent trillions of dollars. Now, that many people are dting every day or two and people keep whining about how uncomfortable masks are and how they want things to go back to normal. Quite a difference.

Then which of the Covid view camps do you fall into? Your comments seem to suggest that you fall into Camp #2.

If we want to have any hope of getting this virus under control, we need to be in camp 2.

“Getting the virus under control” has to be one of the most LOL worthy statements you can make at this point.  Why do we seem to be one of the shrinking number of countries who think we can control it?  Why have some folks not learned after 2 years of this?

[Matt24]

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.

2800 deaths today and yesterday was revised to 3100 which is the most since last winter. Very bad.

I'm old enough to remember when 3000 people died so we changed our society, went to war in multiple countries, and spent trillions of dollars. Now, that many people are dting every day or two and people keep whining about how uncomfortable masks are and how they want things to go back to normal. Quite a difference.

Then which of the Covid view camps do you fall into? Your comments seem to suggest that you fall into Camp #2.

If we want to have any hope of getting this virus under control, we need to be in camp 2.

“Getting the virus under control” has to be one of the most LOL worthy statements you can make at this point.  Why do we seem to be one of the shrinking number of countries who think we can control it?  Why have some folks not learned after 2 years of this?

Having hundreds of deaths a day is unacceptable. Period. And plenty of countries have done better than us.

[Hammy]

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.

2800 deaths today and yesterday was revised to 3100 which is the most since last winter. Very bad.

I'm old enough to remember when 3000 people died so we changed our society, went to war in multiple countries, and spent trillions of dollars. Now, that many people are dting every day or two and people keep whining about how uncomfortable masks are and how they want things to go back to normal. Quite a difference.

Then which of the Covid view camps do you fall into? Your comments seem to suggest that you fall into Camp #2.

If we want to have any hope of getting this virus under control, we need to be in camp 2.

“Getting the virus under control” has to be one of the most LOL worthy statements you can make at this point.  Why do we seem to be one of the shrinking number of countries who think we can control it?  Why have some folks not learned after 2 years of this?

Having hundreds of deaths a day is unacceptable. Period. And plenty of countries have done better than us.

Vaccines would stop that, but people still refuse to get them.

[Not Me, Us]

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.

2800 deaths today and yesterday was revised to 3100 which is the most since last winter. Very bad.

I'm old enough to remember when 3000 people died so we changed our society, went to war in multiple countries, and spent trillions of dollars. Now, that many people are dting every day or two and people keep whining about how uncomfortable masks are and how they want things to go back to normal. Quite a difference.

Then which of the Covid view camps do you fall into? Your comments seem to suggest that you fall into Camp #2.

If we want to have any hope of getting this virus under control, we need to be in camp 2.

“Getting the virus under control” has to be one of the most LOL worthy statements you can make at this point.  Why do we seem to be one of the shrinking number of countries who think we can control it?  Why have some folks not learned after 2 years of this?

Having hundreds of deaths a day is unacceptable. Period. And plenty of countries have done better than us.

There is no way to prevent them. Full stop. Short of putting everyone under house arrest, hundreds of people will die. Omicron spreads far to quickly to try and control, it's impossible. #ZeroCovid people live in a fantasy land. Covid is never going away. There is nothing we can do to stop it other than getting vaccinated. Continuing lockdowns, mask mandates, and shutting down schools does way more harm than good, and wouldn't stop the spread anyway. We just have to let it burn itself out and hope it becomes endemic.

[Middle-aged Europe]

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.

2800 deaths today and yesterday was revised to 3100 which is the most since last winter. Very bad.

I'm old enough to remember when 3000 people died so we changed our society, went to war in multiple countries, and spent trillions of dollars. Now, that many people are dting every day or two and people keep whining about how uncomfortable masks are and how they want things to go back to normal. Quite a difference.

Then which of the Covid view camps do you fall into? Your comments seem to suggest that you fall into Camp #2.

If we want to have any hope of getting this virus under control, we need to be in camp 2.

“Getting the virus under control” has to be one of the most LOL worthy statements you can make at this point.  Why do we seem to be one of the shrinking number of countries who think we can control it?  Why have some folks not learned after 2 years of this?

Having hundreds of deaths a day is unacceptable. Period. And plenty of countries have done better than us.

There is no way to prevent them. Full stop. Short of putting everyone under house arrest, hundreds of people will die. Omicron spreads far to quickly to try and control, it's impossible. #ZeroCovid people live in a fantasy land. Covid is never going away. There is nothing we can do to stop it other than getting vaccinated. Continuing lockdowns, mask mandates, and shutting down schools does way more harm than good, and wouldn't stop the spread anyway. We just have to let it burn itself out and hope it becomes endemic.

Aside from the minor point that I don't see how mask mandates can do "more harm than good" (there it is again, that weird Atlas fetish with masks) I agree with your post more than I disagree.   Well, and while schools should remain open IMO, a mixed or hybrid system of in-presence and remote learning should be maintained because many of the students are often temporarily quarantined at home.

[compucomp]

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.

2800 deaths today and yesterday was revised to 3100 which is the most since last winter. Very bad.

That number could be 300,000 and this forum still wouldn't change its mind, it's that entitled and spoiled and dead set on "return to normal". It's even starting to borrow old Trump talking points, demanding the end of testing and saying that hospitalizations and deaths are inflated, insinuating that there is a conspiracy in the hospitals to label unrelated things as COVID.

I'm not sure if you saw my question from the other day. Which of these COVID view camps do you fall into? Should we be aiming to eliminate the virus entirely? And if so, should we return to the vigorous lockdowns of March 2020 and impose even more stringent protocols? Should we implement mask mandates on a vast scale, ban all nonessential business activities, return to virtual learning for schools, and impose strict travel restrictions? Perhaps quarantines of cities or regions that are hotspots for the virus? And perhaps the implementation of a federal vaccine passport system? Should the President call out the National Guard to staff the nation's hospitals?

I voted in this poll. No, I oppose returning to the measures of March 2020, because if the government shuts down business, it is obligated to support them, and I'm not interested in paying more taxes to support them nor do I want more inflation, which was the result after the historic deficit spending. Quarantine of regions wouldn't be effective since every region of the country has already has vast community spread. Schools should stay open since remote learning is inferior to in person learning but remote needs to be kept available for times when the spread is so bad that schools have to use cafeteria staff and parents as substitute teachers. The only practical option for containment in the US now is to keep up mask and vaccine mandates to make public spaces mostly safe, support hospitals during surges with federal resources and hope that with evolution, better vaccines, better treatments, and natural immunity from the population contracting COVID repeatedly, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID go to the seasonal flu "baseline".

No, this is not the normal of 2019, but it keeps the economy running mostly normally, slows down the spread, and keeps public spaces mostly COVID safe. To me, this is close enough to normal that I'm happy to accept it to have some societal protection against an ultra-contagious and still potent virus.

I will say that I'm glad to see that you don't support a return to lockdowns or similar measures. I continue to disagree with you about the necessity of mask mandates, but I do agree with what you say about supporting hospitals.

I think a very underrated negative aspect of the March 2020 measures, on this forum and forums like r/coronavirus, is that it caused the government to deficit spend in a completely unsound way at levels never before seen. In lesser countries like Greece this would have resulted in runaway inflation and their creditors cutting them off immediately. For a long time in 2020 and 2021 I was shocked that "money printer go brrrr" looked like a legitimate fiscal and economic strategy but the laws of economics held up in the end and now we're paying the price with all the inflation. It's just too bad that this strategy stopped the bleeding for Trump's fortunes and damn near got him re-elected, while Joe Biden is now left to hold the bag. I suppose Joe is complicit himself with the American Rescue Plan but he was kind of boxed in with his campaign promises which were built on the fleeting success of the 2020 stimulus bills.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

There is no way to prevent them. Full stop.

This is completely false.  The only reason there are hundreds of death a day is that so many people are not vaccinated.

So there are really two choices: (a) pass a vaccine mandate with real teeth to it (i.e. get vaccinated or get sent to a labor camp in the ANWR; or (b) just accept that the people who are now dying are doing so of their own choice and stop concerning ourselves with them.

[roxas11]

There is no way to prevent them. Full stop.

This is completely false.  The only reason there are hundreds of death a day is that so many people are not vaccinated.

So there are really two choices: (a) pass a vaccine mandate with real teeth to it (i.e. get vaccinated or get sent to a labor camp in the ANWR; or (b) just accept that the people who are now dying are doing so of their own choice and stop concerning ourselves with them.

There really is not two choices because even if Biden came out tomorrow a tried to pass a vaccine mandate with real teeth most Republican states will not comply with it and the supreme court will most likely strike it down.

Sadly, I think we will just have to accept the fact that there will always be a sizable amount of people in this country who will never get vaccinated and nothing you or I say is ever going to change that.

The best thing we can do now is hope that there is not an even worse virus that will hit us a few years from now because if covid has taught us anything in the era of Facebook America and the world are no longer capable of eradicating a virus like they did with Polio

[Inmate Trump]

Girl I know was anti vax.

Her husband got covid and literally almost died.

She got the vaccine after that, and her husband is going to get it as soon as he's able.


That's the only way to convince these people...having their very own brush with death because of their ignorance. It's unfortunate, but that's the reality Republicans have made.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

There is no way to prevent them. Full stop.

This is completely false.  The only reason there are hundreds of death a day is that so many people are not vaccinated.

So there are really two choices: (a) pass a vaccine mandate with real teeth to it (i.e. get vaccinated or get sent to a labor camp in the ANWR; or (b) just accept that the people who are now dying are doing so of their own choice and stop concerning ourselves with them.

There really is not two choices because even if Biden came out tomorrow a tried to pass a vaccine mandate with real teeth most Republican states will not comply with it and the supreme court will most likely strike it down.

Sadly, I think we will just have to accept the fact that there will always be a sizable amount of people in this country who will never get vaccinated and nothing you or I say is ever going to change that.

The best thing we can do now is hope that there is not an even worse virus that will hit us a few years from now because if covid has taught us anything in the era of Facebook America and the world are no longer capable of eradicating a virus like they did with Polio

A significantly worse virus would result in an America that was thoroughly vaccinated, though at an even higher death toll than the hundred of thousands of Americans who have died already.

[GP270watch]

Girl I know was anti vax.

Her husband got covid and literally almost died.

She got the vaccine after that, and her husband is going to get it as soon as he's able.


That's the only way to convince these people...having their very own brush with death because of their ignorance. It's unfortunate, but that's the reality Republicans have made.

 Social media is filled with dumbass people who get sick or have a family member die and say something to the effect of

"This Covid-19 is very serious guys"


 and a previous post history mocking Covid-19 precautions and filled with insane ramblings and memes.
 

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Is there any resource that compiles data on deaths among vaccinated people only?

[Frodo]

So it is looking like Valentine's Day (or thereabouts) will be the peak for the Omicron variant in the United States.  Thereafter, it will gradually fade away:
 
Coronavirus Update: Fauci Predicts Omicron Variant Will Reach Peak In February

I am definitely staying in Camp 3 until late March or early April. 

[emailking]

That doesn't make sense to me because it seems very likely the peak was Jan 7 (or maybe the week after if you want to smooth it out) and we're just not hitting numbers that high anymore. Of course that could change, it could have been a false peak, but like >90% chance we're past it.

Unless of course he means a peak in deaths, which remains to be seen when it will happen.