COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Not Me, Us]

Just curious, has anyone around here gotten the vaccine? Wondering the range of side effects were. One of my brother’s friends got it and said all he had was a sore arm. Hopefully getting mine next month.

My sister got her first dose a couple weeks ago, no side effects other than sore arm. She gets her second dose on Tuesday though, and I've heard side effects can be worse for second doses.

[Not Me, Us]

Cuomo should be impeached. What a horrible man.

[Not Me, Us]

What's the timeline for the bill actually getting passed? We need COVID relief yesterday.

[Not Me, Us]

Anybody else who’s young fine with waiting on getting a J&J? I might be able to get one of the others starting next and if I get offered on, I’ll definitely take it but I don’t need the efficacy of the others and the one shot and done sounds much better.

I think I'll try and wait to get Moderna or Pfizer. I'm only 19, but have a comorbidity (Type 1 Diabetes) which makes me want a more effective vaccine. Then again, I could always get J+J for some protection and then get a booster down the road.

[Not Me, Us]

Isn't it just the nature of exponentials? I know we've been having these long tails, but in theory the graph of cases should be a bell curve, and it goes down as fast as it went up.

That is what I was thinking at the start, and in most cases, yes. But then in the USA another bell curve came, and then another more devastating bell curve was superimposed on top of that.

The only saving grace is that the mortality rate is dropping as time progresses (treatment, less venerable hosts, vaccination)

Never anticipated people would be so against vaccination. We need a lot of people vaccinated to make sure this thing does no become endemic like the flu.

I think people opposed to vaccination are a tiny minority. They may be vocal, but all the anecdotal evidence I am seeing is that there aren’t that many people opposed to it.

A doctor (epdemiologist) in Australia has said that 70% of the world will not be vaccinated until 2027.

Is that because of lack of supply/bad distribution, or demand?

It's probably due to developing countries, where they're getting way fewer vaccine doses and the logistics of vaccine delivery are much more complicated.

[Not Me, Us]

Incredible how quickly case numbers have dropped. Looks like deaths are starting to drop too! We may have this virus under control by summer!

[Not Me, Us]

Sorry for the double post:

The right is screaming about Biden being "beholden" to the teachers union. The left is pissed Biden is sending teachers back into "dangerous" environments.

I do not envy the tight rope Biden has to walk on this issue. Hopefully all schools are opened by September.

It's been almost a year. Numbers are way down. The vaccines are doing marvelously. Kids need to be back in school. I could've accepted the safety argument in September but not now, it's time to go back.

I understand that argument, but I still feel that it's too early. We're making incredible progress, and I'm wary of doing anything that might jeopardize that. I say keep things remote for the rest of this school year, and then reopen fully at the beginning of next year, when the vats majority of US adults will have been vaccinated, and cases will probably be extremely low.

[Not Me, Us]

I think schools should have reopened long ago. 

But I don't understand why all teachers and school staff wouldn't have already had the opportunity to be vaccinated, and thus there should really be no issue whatsoever.

Are they really states where they haven't been vaccinated yet?  Shouldn't they be the frontest or frontline essential workers?

I think schools should reopen only when educators are vaccinated.

I would agree with this. While online school is obviously not ideal for kids, I don't think endangering the teachers, who make extremely little money, is worth the benefit of in-person school. Not to mention many kids live with their grandparents or otherwise vulnerable people that they could COVID back to, even if the kids aren't at much risk.

[Not Me, Us]

May I ask a serious question?

How come much of the left has been very pro-lockdown when it clearly hurts the poor the most? and when you argue against lockdowns, they respond with retorts so dismissive that its clear they did not read past the first sentence.

Not trying to insult anyone or start a fight here.

I'm generally pro-lockdown, but I also believe that the government should be monetarily supporting those who the lockdown impacts. We should be compensating small businesses for their lost income and should be paying Americans at least $2,000 a month to stay home, if not more.

[Not Me, Us]

Why are cases still going up? We're vaccinating more people and there haven't been any major superspreader events, so what gives?

[Not Me, Us]

Maybe it’s weird, but Canada is doing four months between shots, so I’m not really sure you have much to worry about in comparison...

Is that just because Canada's supply is so low or is there another reason for it?

[Not Me, Us]

So this is awful, right? Cases should not be going up. It's starting to seem like this pandemic will never end.

[Not Me, Us]

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1375530494461308931

Didn't we do over four million a week or two ago? Or am I misremembering?

[Not Me, Us]

Officially scheduled for my first Pfizer dose on April 9th!

[Not Me, Us]

Wow, a decrease in cases for the first time in a while. You love to see it!

[Not Me, Us]

https://twitter.com/johnfraher/status/1378996450051379202

What the hell is South Africa doing?

[Not Me, Us]

Just got Pfizer dose #2.

When I got my first dose three weeks ago (at a local rec center in a small town with ~20,000 population), there were maybe 20 people in the building in the process of getting vaccinated while I was there.

When I came back today, same place, same day of the week, same time of day, there were at least 10 times as many people in line to get vaccinated.  

I guess we must have gotten A LOT more vaccine in the last few weeks!

Wonderful news!

[Not Me, Us]

Just got my first dose of Pfizer in Washington, DC about an hour ago. Very well-run and there were easily over 100 people getting vaccinated while I was there. So far, no side effects.

[Not Me, Us]

Michigan, a state that has seen unprecedented and unconstitutional restrictions implemented in response to the coronavirus, is seeing a record surge.  Yesterday, the state recorded over 8000 cases.

Texas, a state which lifted their remaining restrictions a month ago, is near an all time low in cases.  They are nearly 3x the population of Michigan, but they only recorded 2500 cases yesterday.

It is clear what works and what doesn't.  If you still support lockdowns and mask mandates at this point, there is no point having a reasonable conversation.  If you only selectively support "freedom" and democracy when it benefits your side, you are part of the problem.  It is time to reopen America now, and fully, before it is too late.

You have forgotten California, the largest state in the union and home to over almost 40 million Americans, has only seen 3000 cases yesterday to Texas' 2750 cases.

Clearly, the conclusion to draw here is what works is having Governors who have 6-letter last names. I'm sorry Michigan, shouldn't have elected 7-letter Whitmer.

California had 40,000 cases per day during their peak in December and January.  Quite possible that the virus has simply run out of people to infect there.  No proof that lockdowns work, so why destroy your country?

Oh, so now you bring up the information that would destroy your own hypothesis. Newsflash, Texas was also suffering from a similar high peak back in January and February, averaging around 26,000 cases a day, similar to CA's peak per capita. Michigan's peak, meanwhile, was only around 8,000 in November, which per its population was rather low, along with being rather late compared to the other peaks that occurred early this year. But of course, this information isn't important because it doesn't support your line of reasoning...until it is important when California is brought up.

Look, we have a multitude of evidence on the effectiveness of lockdowns and mask mandates, from scientific papers and real-life country evidence, to just basic logic. If you get COVID from the air, wearing something that catches particles from the air when you breathe works. And if people aren't meeting other people because lockdown, then the virus can't spread. These aren't radical concepts this is something that a child can figure out.

If you want to try to disprove hundreds of scientific journals, real-life, and basic logic, perhaps you should use something stronger than "State A had X cases today, while State B had Y cases today, therefore everyone else is wrong, checkmate".

Let's be honest, nobody is going to be convinced that the other side is right, so what's the point.  Even if the data did show lockdowns worked, I would still be opposed to them because I value personal freedom.  The reality is the pro lockdown folks do not value individual freedom and ultimately want to implement communism.  Let's stop using "science" to defend bizarre authoritarian fantasies.

Based.

[Not Me, Us]

May I ask an honest question to the online left here ?

Almost everything is open in the United States. What is your end goal for the pandemic? At what point would you feel comfortable leaving your houses, at what point will you not shame people for leaving their houses? At what point will you be comfortable with kids in school?

I feel comfortable leaving my house right now, and I regularly do so. I'll feel comfortable being in public without a mask, which is what I think you actually mean, two weeks after I get my second dose, which is currently scheduled for April 30. I don't shame people for leaving their house and never have. I believe that once people are vaccinated, they should have no restrictions. I support fully reopening schools next Fall, with a vaccine requirement for students, teachers, and staff, obviously excluding those who can't get the vaccine for legitimate medical reasons. Any more strawmen arguments you'd like to make?

[Not Me, Us]

I feel comfortable leaving my house right now, and I regularly do so.

Wait, what? Haven't you felt comfortable leaving our house until now? Going (and cycling) outside has been one of few pleasure we could afford ourselves, since people were allowed to leave their home for walks (you had basically stay home at 2 months here during the lock-down a year ago). We didn't even really need to use masks, because we live near a park and a river, where you can easily keep physical distancing. Perhaps, you live in super-urban area with no parks and don't own a car/bike?


https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/337199
Mask use in the context of COVID-19

- WHO advises that the general public should wear a non-medical mask in indoor (e.g. shops, shared workplaces, schools - see Table 2 for details) or outdoor settings where physical distancing of at least 1 metre cannot be maintained.

Follow the science! (Though, we kept at least 3 meters).

You misunderstand me. I go on regular walks maskless and have since the pandemic began. I've also met with friends outside many times since the pandemic began, though usually with masks. I've also worked retail for the entire duration of the pandemic, I leave my house all the time, I just do it safely.

[Not Me, Us]

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1384174964610371584

This is a good milestone.  I wonder if we'll make it to 75% with all the vaccine skeptics out there.

I believe we will. 50+ has a high percentage of vaccination, but 18-29 is only 28.2% vaccinated, there's a lot of room to grow there yet. I think we'll end up hitting around 80-85%.

[Not Me, Us]

https://twitter.com/therecount/status/1383093445829525504

Perhaps, the most pro-science Gov of US. There is virtually no reasons for vaccinated people to act differently than they do during a flue season. At best, there are "solidarity" reasons.

I think DeSantis is an awful Governor and responsible for the deaths of many people, but he's right on this. I get my second dose on the 30th, but two weeks after that, the pandemic is over for me. I'll still wear a mask inside if there's still a mandate in PA or if the business requires it, but otherwise I won't be wearing a mask indoors anymore. I'm also going to see my grandparents in Minnesota in July for the first time in over a year, because we'll all be fully vaccinated by then. I feel like people are still trapped in the pandemic mindset, and I still am too, to an extent, but at some point we have to open up. Not yet, but by June, when anyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get a vaccine, restrictions should be lifted.

[Not Me, Us]

Moderna knocked me and my wife out for about a day starting about 12 hours after the stab. I had chills, a mild fever, minor nausea, and just general exhaustion. Yet by around 36 hours afterwards I felt fine.

First dose or second?

[Not Me, Us]

https://twitter.com/samstein/status/1385587437699837952

People of Wisconsin...please get rid of this jerk if he runs again.

Ron Johnson is quickly climbing the ranks of the worst people in the US Senate.