COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Alben Barkley]

It will be hilarious if the vaccine takes off right after Biden gets inaugurated.

It would be a lot like the Iran hostage crisis being resolved right after Reagan was sworn in.

[Alben Barkley]

It will be hilarious if the vaccine takes off right after Biden gets inaugurated.

It would be a lot like the Iran hostage crisis being resolved right after Reagan was sworn in.

Very hilarious, indeed. Besides the fact that the sooner people get vaccinated, the more will be saved. But Orange Bad would get mad!

I want it to be available as soon as safely possible, never said otherwise, but it looks like that’s gonna be shortly after Biden is sworn in. I’m just commenting on the irony of that.

Also by your own logic, wouldn’t more people trust it and therefore take it during the Biden administration (thanks of course to us horrible Dems, and not at all due to the fact that Trump has lied thousands of times and botched everything about this virus, making him untrustworthy in the extreme), thus more lives would be saved, thus it might actually if anything be wrong to want it earlier?

ALSO imagine still “ironically” saying “orange man bad” at this point, when you’d have to be certifiably crazy to think this fascist f—k who’s trying to destroy centuries of democratic transfer of power, is NOT “bad.”

[Alben Barkley]

I went to Ohio yesterday and got the vaccine (J&J). Feel like absolute crap now, side effects are hitting me like a ton of bricks. Feels exactly like the flu.

Obviously that shouldn’t stop anyone from getting the vaccine, but be prepared with some Tylenol.

[Alben Barkley]

Nate Silver accuses Fauci of “gaslighting” for claiming we still don’t know if vaccines can stop transmission:

https://twitter.com/natesilver538/status/1380920891463364610?s=21

[Alben Barkley]

Well now I’ve gotta worry if I’m gonna die for the next week or two.

Thanks J&J.

[Alben Barkley]

After seeing that… Stewart 2024? (Or 2028?)

I’m still thinking he could win in a landslide. Probably would have a better chance of winning back average Joes and blue collar workers than any actual Democratic politician, certainly Kamala Harris. And the man’s rhetorical skills still are clearly godlike. He certainly does have the potential to be a great politician if he really wanted it. I still think he should have primaried Menendez, that was his perfect opening. Despite all his denials of interest in running, I even wishfully thought at the time part of the reason he was retiring might have been to prepare for a future run.

[Alben Barkley]

So here’s why some scientists downplayed the lab leak theory last year:

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/lab-leak-theory-science-scientists-rcna1191

”At the time, it was scarier to be associated with Trump and to become a tool for racists, so people didn't want to publicly call for an investigation into lab origins," she said.

You’ve gotta be kidding me. Well guess what you’ve done, idiots? Given Trump and his supporters a massive win. Now they can all say that you politicized science, how can anyone trust you again, Trump was right (or at least on to something) all along and you covered it up, etc. It severely undermines the credibility of both the media and the scientific community at the worst possible time.

How about this: Right-wingers don’t deny legitimate scientific consensus and turn things like masks and vaccines into political wars, and “liberal” scientists never again even think about the political implications of the science. It’s not your job to worry about whether it proves Trump right about one thing or could be used by “racists.” Diehard Trump supporters will believe he is right and say racist things anyway! But the rest of us have a right to know the truth. Don’t obscure it, downplay it, evade it, pretend that a legitimate possibility is a fringe conspiracy theory, anything of the sort. By doing so, you just damage your own credibility and potentially send more people running towards the right. So actually, if you’re really worried about the long-term political effects, this is the worst thing you could possibly do!

Damn I can’t believe this even needs to be said. And the worst part is that the real beneficiary of all this is the CCP, who I’m seeing not just tankies anymore but smug “liberal” BeliEvE tHe ScIencE types defend all over Twitter, wittingly or not. The implication is that it’s impossible or even somehow racist to believe that a literally genocidal authoritarian regime that just so happens to study coronaviruses in Wuhan might have covered it up if it leaked from that lab, as if they would NEVER do anything dishonest! Never mind that they tried to cover up the outbreak from the beginning!

[Alben Barkley]

California Dems continue to be an embarrassment. I wonder if the more sane Republicans feel the same about the Arizona GOP or something.

[Alben Barkley]

At this point I unironically believe that mask mandates are oppressive. Simply because they target even those who are fully vaccinated and have done everything right, whereas most of those who refuse to get vaccinated are also not going to wear masks anyway. That's a textbook form of collective punishment as far as I'm concerned. Literally the entire thing is now a performative stunt among people who already are effectively immune from the virus (or its worst effects at least) trying to show off to each other how woke and enlightened they are because they cover their faces with a placebo cloth. While the only people who might possibly benefit from it shun and scoff at it. It's incredibly bizarre to me, and alienates me even farther from "my side" (the left) than I already was. And I can't imagine I'm alone in that.

My philosophy about this whole thing now is simple:

1. Let those who insist on dying die. Don't try to interfere with the will of Darwin!

2. Let those of us who long ago made the decision to take the f--king shot and get on with our lives actually do so, rather than continue to try in vain to "protect" those who clearly and adamantly do not want to be "protected."

3. Don't worry about the children, as even an unvaccinated child is still exponentially less likely to die from COVID than a vaccinated middle aged adult, who himself has a smaller risk of dying from COVID than from a bee sting.

The entire thing at this point strikes me now less as a public health concern and more as some bizarre religious ritual crossed with a dick measuring contest. Just STOP. Just STOP already. Leave me alone, leave the kids alone, leave EVERYONE alone. If they are stupid enough to expose themselves to the virus unvaccinated, LET THEM! That is THEIR choice and THEIR problem! Ours is NOT an authoritarian country like China, or at least it's not supposed to be.

Fact of the matter is COVID-19 can now safely be considered a nuisance virus like the flu that CAN be deadly to those who refuse to take the vaccine against it, but ultimately is basically a complete non-threat to those who do and isn't even likely at all to kill most of those who don't. We'll probably be stuck with it forever, like the flu, but we don't HAVE to be stuck with ridiculous Draconian measures to "stop" it forever unless we choose to. These tactics will never actually successfully purge the thing from the Earth but they can and will anger many reasonable people who might otherwise sympathize with the side of the political aisle that is pushing them.

I mean seriously, some of the takes I'm seeing from Twitter and elsewhere seem to be logically implying that any risk whatsoever in life, no matter how minute, is absolutely unacceptable and anyone who believes otherwise is a literal murderer. By this "logic," driving a car is murder, as it is now far, far, far, far, infinite number of FARs more likely to kill a vaccinated adult or child than COVID.

I say the loons who unironically believe we all still need masks can go ahead and lock themselves in bubbles for the rest of their lives and the rest of us can laugh at them as they argue with George Costanza about the correct spelling of "the Moops." But they have to f--k off and leave the rest of us who are not severely psychologically crippled alone to live our lives!

[Alben Barkley]

At this point I unironically believe that mask mandates are oppressive. Simply because they target even those who are fully vaccinated and have done everything right, whereas most of those who refuse to get vaccinated are also not going to wear masks anyway. That's a textbook form of collective punishment as far as I'm concerned. Literally the entire thing is now a performative stunt among people who already are effectively immune from the virus (or its worst effects at least) trying to show off to each other how woke and enlightened they are because they cover their faces with a placebo cloth. While the only people who might possibly benefit from it shun and scoff at it. It's incredibly bizarre to me, and alienates me even farther from "my side" (the left) than I already was. And I can't imagine I'm alone in that.

My philosophy about this whole thing now is simple:

1. Let those who insist on dying die. Don't try to interfere with the will of Darwin!

2. Let those of us who long ago made the decision to take the f--king shot and get on with our lives actually do so, rather than continue to try in vain to "protect" those who clearly and adamantly do not want to be "protected."

3. Don't worry about the children, as even an unvaccinated child is still exponentially less likely to die from COVID than a vaccinated middle aged adult, who himself has a smaller risk of dying from COVID than from a bee sting.

The entire thing at this point strikes me now less as a public health concern and more as some bizarre religious ritual crossed with a dick measuring contest. Just STOP. Just STOP already. Leave me alone, leave the kids alone, leave EVERYONE alone. If they are stupid enough to expose themselves to the virus unvaccinated, LET THEM! That is THEIR choice and THEIR problem! Ours is NOT an authoritarian country like China, or at least it's not supposed to be.

Fact of the matter is COVID-19 can now safely be considered a nuisance virus like the flu that CAN be deadly to those who refuse to take the vaccine against it, but ultimately is basically a complete non-threat to those who do and isn't even likely at all to kill most of those who don't. We'll probably be stuck with it forever, like the flu, but we don't HAVE to be stuck with ridiculous Draconian measures to "stop" it forever unless we choose to. These tactics will never actually successfully purge the thing from the Earth but they can and will anger many reasonable people who might otherwise sympathize with the side of the political aisle that is pushing them.

I mean seriously, some of the takes I'm seeing from Twitter and elsewhere seem to be logically implying that any risk whatsoever in life, no matter how minute, is absolutely unacceptable and anyone who believes otherwise is a literal murderer. By this "logic," driving a car is murder, as it is now far, far, far, far, infinite number of FARs more likely to kill a vaccinated adult or child than COVID.

I say the loons who unironically believe we all still need masks can go ahead and lock themselves in bubbles for the rest of their lives and the rest of us can laugh at them as they argue with George Costanza about the correct spelling of "the Moops." But they have to f--k off and leave the rest of us who are not severely psychologically crippled alone to live our lives!

This post is just wrong on several counts:

1. At this point, nobody is safe from COVID. It's abundantly clear by now that with Delta, breakthrough cases are not rare events at all, and may even be stretching to call them uncommon. There's still protection against severe disease but new data show that is waning; this is why there is now a push for booster shots.

2. Masks are no "placebo", they have repeatedly proven effective at stopping respiratory disease transmission.

3. Masks are a zero cost mitigation measure, a surgical mask costs 5-10c apiece. They don't harm the economy at all, a mask doesn't prevent one from doing anything once the usual exceptions for bars and restaurants are carved out.

If that doesn't convince you, how about this: mask mandates are supported by a majority of the public (source: https://www.monmouth.edu/polling-institute/documents/monmouthpoll_us_080221.pdf/), including 85% of Democrats. Do you really want to associate yourself with the Trumpist pro-COVID forces, who stormed the Capitol, believe the vaccine is a conspiracy for Bill Gates to mind control the world, and take horse dewormer for COVID? No? Then get in line with your party.

You seem to be under the mistaken impression that I care more about what "the party" or even "the public" feels than about what the facts and the evidence show. Sadly for you, that is not now, has not ever been, and never will be the case.

As I thought I made pretty clear, BOTH the raving right-wing lunatics who think horse dewormer is a magic cure AND the smug lefties who seem to think that masks are a magic cure are simply dead wrong. And I won't pretend otherwise no matter how convenient or not it is to any particular narrative.