COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[compucomp]

Why remove vax mandates? Mask mandates I get, but vax mandates aren't at all interfering with anyone's lives.

This blows my mind. Vaccine mandates force people to get an injection (and forced me to take time off work due to the side effects), and to be enforced requires checking of vax cards and IDs or scanning QR codes, effectively adding a layer of "papers please" government surveillance everywhere. And you're arguing that mask mandates are interfering with people's lives when vaccine mandates don't? Masks actually make it HARDER for the government to track your actions!

The anti-vax, pro-mask left strikes again

I'm so anti-vaccine that last April I spent hours sitting on tracker sites trying to find open appointments in 3 states, and last fall I got a booster before I was even supposed to get one. I believe in defenses in depth and the vaccine is much better than nothing. But to say that the vaccine mandate is a frictionless mitigation that doesn't affect daily life, when it involves getting an injection that essentially causes COVID for a day, and adds a huge layer of "papers please" surveillance everywhere, while the mask mandate is a cumbersome mitigation that substantially affects daily life, is like saying the sun rises in the west. I support vaccine mandates, but there is a quite strong argument against vaccine mandates on privacy grounds, while the argument against mask mandates is "they look funny" and "they feel uncomfortable". There's a reason vaccine mandates run 10 points behind mask mandates in every poll, multiple Democratic politicians have openly criticized vaccine mandates as unjust while none have criticized mask mandates like that, and all 50 states have had a mask mandate.

Maybe it did for you, but that is nowhere near a universal experience. I had no side effects beyond a sore arm for all three shots. And "surveillance"? Please. The government isn't the one enforcing a vaxx mandate, it's the stores/restaurants themselves, and nobody is surveilling anyone. Showing a picture of your vaxx card before going into a bar is not 1984.

That means the vaccine mandate is poorly and unevenly enforced, and that is actually a big sticking point with it because then it becomes a big burden on the hospitality industry, and non-compliance with a vaccine mandate cannot be resolved with a $10 box of surgical masks. Proper accounting and enforcement inevitably involves government surveillance, i.e. with the government taking responsibility for managing the QR codes, all private businesses required to use it, etc.

I don't understand those who are anti-vaccine, whether they are pro-mask or anti-mask, and regardless of which side of the political spectrum they fall on.

Yet another expression about how absolutist this forum is, all or nothing on every issue. Again there is no point in trying to find a middle ground. Expressing reservations about vaccine mandates means I'm anti-vaccine? Then OK, I'll take the 100% position on vaccine mandates instead, anyone not vaccinated by a certain date should be executed and the government should deploy the army to go door to door to enforce this. Better?

[jamestroll]

Yall tried to  with people's children and I am not going to let that go lightly! Ever!

[jamestroll]

If I had kids during covid.. and my children's schools were closed.. I would be banging on the front door kicking and screaming demanding it be reopened.

And now that more students are eligible for vaccines, the lack of effectiveness of cloth masks on omicron and omicron being more mild, I no longer support mask mandates for school children either.

[T'Chenka]

If I had kids during covid.. and my children's schools were closed.. I would be banging on the front door kicking and screaming demanding it be reopened.

You realize that schools being closed means all the teachers went home and the school is empty, right? Also, everybody who sees you having a normal one outside of the school entrance knows that too.

[Oakvale]

So does anyone here have any explanation why there have not been the mass deaths of children in Chicago Public Schools that were promised if their schools were held in person?

No Jimmie they've moved on to fearmongering about how half of all children will get "Long Covid", because this is the perfect excuse to continue their forever war: no one can agree on what "Long Covid" even is and it will take decades before we have any real evidence. Restrictions forever.

[It’s so Joever]

So does anyone here have any explanation why there have not been the mass deaths of children in Chicago Public Schools that were promised if their schools were held in person?

No Jimmie they've moved on to fearmongering about how half of all children will get "Long Covid", because this is the perfect excuse to continue their forever war: no one can agree on what "Long Covid" even is and it will take decades before we have any real evidence. Restrictions forever.

You two genuinely need to like get off the Internet for a few days.

[T'Chenka]

So does anyone here have any explanation why there have not been the mass deaths of children in Chicago Public Schools that were promised if their schools were held in person?

No Jimmie they've moved on to fearmongering about how half of all children will get "Long Covid", because this is the perfect excuse to continue their forever war: no one can agree on what "Long Covid" even is and it will take decades before we have any real evidence. Restrictions forever.

Long COVID is... proven to be a real thing, even though we don't know exactly what it is. Why are you using conspiracy theories to make other people look unreasonable?

[jamestroll]

Fairfax county a year ago.. closed schools.. open and over crowded bars restaurants and night clubs with no one enforcing capacity limits .. partially due to dc being shut down.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/MattNegrin/status/1491035650220773380

[jamestroll]

So does anyone here have any explanation why there have not been the mass deaths of children in Chicago Public Schools that were promised if their schools were held in person?

No Jimmie they've moved on to fearmongering about how half of all children will get "Long Covid", because this is the perfect excuse to continue their forever war: no one can agree on what "Long Covid" even is and it will take decades before we have any real evidence. Restrictions forever.

Long COVID is... proven to be a real thing, even though we don't know exactly what it is. Why are you using conspiracy theories to make other people look unreasonable?

Yes I am very concerned about long covid.

The nearly two years of learning lost.

The permanent culture of living with no risks.

The "social isolation is okay!" crowd.

Having co-workers never ever see each other and creating a further divide of haves and have nots. By the way, Democratic governors will have a very difficult time navigating between those two cores of their base.. the white liberals who never leave their home and the service workers who have to commute to work.

A generation of social inept people.

Yes, you are right, long covid is a very concerning issue.

[compucomp]

So does anyone here have any explanation why there have not been the mass deaths of children in Chicago Public Schools that were promised if their schools were held in person?

No Jimmie they've moved on to fearmongering about how half of all children will get "Long Covid", because this is the perfect excuse to continue their forever war: no one can agree on what "Long Covid" even is and it will take decades before we have any real evidence. Restrictions forever.

Long COVID is... proven to be a real thing, even though we don't know exactly what it is. Why are you using conspiracy theories to make other people look unreasonable?

Yes I am very concerned about long covid.

The nearly two years of learning lost.

The permanent culture of living with no risks.

The "social isolation is okay!" crowd.

Having co-workers never ever see each other and creating a further divide of haves and have nots. By the way, Democratic governors will have a very difficult time navigating between those two cores of their base.. the white liberals who never leave their home and the service workers who have to commute to work.

A generation of social inept people.

Yes, you are right, long covid is a very concerning issue.

Yes, there was a poster that disputed Maslow's hierarchy, but that means the pyramid may not be absolutely true all the time. You make it seem like social needs should be prioritized over health needs, which is just being absolutist in the other direction and is even more wrong. Will I prioritize not suffering months or years of brain fog, decreased lung function (like being unable to climb one flight of stairs), and losing smell and taste over social needs? Hell yes I will. Clearly you don't believe the health risks are real, but they are, so your argument is effectively the Shrek meme "some of you may die, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make".

[compucomp]

Fairfax county a year ago.. closed schools.. open and over crowded bars restaurants and night clubs with no one enforcing capacity limits .. partially due to dc being shut down.

Yes, this is a great sound bite, but there are some key mitigating factors here:

1. If bars and restaurants are shut down by the government, they and the people put out of work need to be compensated by the government. The efforts to do so (CARES, American Rescue Plan) have led to the inflation we suffer now. Money does not grow on trees.

2. Nobody is forced to go to a bar or restaurant. Everyone goes there voluntarily and at their own risk. However all children are compelled to attend school. If schools cannot safely operate they need to go remote, and I say this believing that remote learning is greatly inferior in quality. As far as I can tell most school districts made every effort to try to keep open during the Omicron surge, even asking cafeteria staff and parents to be substitute teachers.

[jamestroll]

Fairfax county a year ago.. closed schools.. open and over crowded bars restaurants and night clubs with no one enforcing capacity limits .. partially due to dc being shut down.

Yes, this is a great sound bite, but there are some key mitigating factors here:

1. If bars and restaurants are shut down by the government, they and the people put out of work need to be compensated by the government. The efforts to do so (CARES, American Rescue Plan) have led to the inflation we suffer now. Money does not grow on trees.

2. Nobody is forced to go to a bar or restaurant. Everyone goes there voluntarily and at their own risk. However all children are compelled to attend school. If schools cannot safely operate they need to go remote, and I say this believing that remote learning is greatly inferior in quality. As far as I can tell most school districts made every effort to try to keep open during the Omicron surge, even asking cafeteria staff and parents to be substitute teachers.

re: the endless inflation debates: it was caused by an over heated economy, supply chain woes from covid restrictions and unprecedented demand, and a rapid growth of the economy after shut downs of 2020. It will work itself out. Very likely in this calendar year.

The strains a year ago were not particularly dangerous to children and before vaccines, I did not object to masks. And at the time cloth masks were quite effective. I saw no reason to close schools.

[Don Vito Corleone]

Rich seeing the resident CCP stan accuse someone else of being a POS.

[GeneralMacArthur]

...it involves getting an injection that essentially causes COVID for a day, and adds a huge layer of "papers please" surveillance everywhere...

COVID must be pretty bad, because my Moderna booster shot destroyed me for 2 days. Splitting headache, gut ache, nausea. I cannot imagine that the virus would be much worse.

I have not had a gut ache in over 10 years,m and each COVID vaccine shot just destroyed me.

But all better now.

The COVID vaccine is basically just baby COVID.  If you had that severe of a reaction to the vaccine, then the real thing would have probably killed you.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

...it involves getting an injection that essentially causes COVID for a day, and adds a huge layer of "papers please" surveillance everywhere...

COVID must be pretty bad, because my Moderna booster shot destroyed me for 2 days. Splitting headache, gut ache, nausea. I cannot imagine that the virus would be much worse.

I have not had a gut ache in over 10 years,m and each COVID vaccine shot just destroyed me.

But all better now.

The COVID vaccine is basically just baby COVID.  If you had that severe of a reaction to the vaccine, then the real thing would have probably killed you.

What is your evidence of this?

I’ve seen a couple people throw this claim around here, but I’ve never seen anyone site any sort of study or evidence for it.

In particular, we know that older people are thousands of times more likely to suffer sever covid than young people.  But I’ve never seen any evidence that older people suffer much more severe side effect from the vaccine.

[GP270watch]

 Covid cases are crashing and politicians are dropping Covid-19 measures, it's amazing how that works.

[Green Line]

https://twitter.com/LVozzella/status/1491120397659611137

Laws such as this are needed in every state to prevent the Covid freaks from ever masking our children again.

[Ancestral Republican]

https://twitter.com/LVozzella/status/1491120397659611137
Laws such as this are needed in every state to prevent the Covid freaks from ever masking our children again.

Wow, how heroic. I'm sure you're nutting yourself since you're too much of a baby to handle putting cloth on your face for ten minutes. You're so soft.

[emailking]

The Moderna booster was the sickest I've felt in my adult life. Thankfully, it only lasted one night. It surprised me since the first 2 were annoying but tolerable, and the booster is only a half dose.

[DaleCooper]

The Moderna booster was the sickest I've felt in my adult life. Thankfully, it only lasted one night. It surprised me since the first 2 were annoying but tolerable, and the booster is only a half dose.

I've heard from a lot of people that the boosters were a lot more intense than the first shots.

[jamestroll]

Its time for Peterson for Governor in 2025.

[Green Line]

Laws such as this are needed in every state to prevent the Covid freaks from ever masking our children again.

Wow, how heroic. I'm sure you're nutting yourself since you're too much of a baby to handle putting cloth on your face for ten minutes. You're so soft.

Yes, I am a hero.  Also not sure where in the world you live, but pretty sure children have been wearing masks for more than 10 minutes a day.  So sorry that this is happening to you.

[jamestroll]

If this is going to be an endemic... we are doing our children a disservice by not exposing them to covid. It is very important we get them some exposure while they are young.

[jamestroll]

Also masking is illegal in Virginia

§ 18.2-422. Prohibition of wearing of masks in certain places; exceptions.
It shall be unlawful for any person over 16 years of age to, with the intent to conceal his identity, wear any mask, hood or other device whereby a substantial portion of the face is hidden or covered so as to conceal the identity of the wearer, to be or appear in any public place, or upon any private property in this Commonwealth without first having obtained from the owner or tenant thereof consent to do so in writing. However, the provisions of this section shall not apply to persons (i) wearing traditional holiday costumes; (ii) engaged in professions, trades, employment or other activities and wearing protective masks which are deemed necessary for the physical safety of the wearer or other persons; (iii) engaged in any bona fide theatrical production or masquerade ball; or (iv) wearing a mask, hood or other device for bona fide medical reasons upon (a) the advice of a licensed physician or osteopath and carrying on his person an affidavit from the physician or osteopath specifying the medical necessity for wearing the device and the date on which the wearing of the device will no longer be necessary and providing a brief description of the device, or (b) the declaration of a disaster or state of emergency by the Governor in response to a public health emergency where the emergency declaration expressly waives this section, defines the mask appropriate for the emergency, and provides for the duration of the waiver. The violation of any provisions of this section is a Class 6 felony.

Code 1950, §§ 18.1-364, 18.1-367; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15; 1986, c. 19; 2010, cc. 262, 420; 2014, c. 167.

it is time we move to a lawful society again.