OT: The Official COVID/Omicron Variant+ thread

[Clyde_Style]

There is now a potential set-up for one of the greatest Oh No You Don’t moments of all time

Orangina issued a press release saying he’s holding a press conference on January 6th. Yeah, whatever, more impotent flatulence about losing, but still eggregiously dismissive of the consequences of the events of Jan. 6

It would be epic if he is indicted on January 5th or 6th prior to his broadcast from Whor-A-Largo. I’ve already said it is possible indictments by NYC may be imminent. This announcement by Trump is the kind of FU move that may prompt prosecutors to move on him with that date in mind.

Just a thought, but an actual possibility now I think. It would be the ultimate smackdown if it plays out like that.

[Capn'O]

Read on Twitter

That'd be great. Thanks Walter!

[Clyde_Style]

Read on Twitter

That'd be great. Thanks Walter!

Walts are the best

[god shammgod]

Read on Twitter

[Clyde_Style]

Read on Twitter

I bet you many anti-vaxxers will take this and then find some convoluted explanation to justify the irony of it all

They love Regeneron treatments when they are free. But HydroxyC and Ivermectin are pretty dope too

The key is to NOT protect yourself from covid and only treat yourself AFTER you get ill. This way you know you’ve got covid where you want it and can deliver a crunching WWE body slam

[2010]

Not sure what all the whinging is about. If the end result of being vaccinated is less dead people, seems a pretty easy choice to get the shots.

Yes, the new variant particularly is breaking through, but I like to play the odds. The odds of me getting it, spreading it and being dead or getting someone else dead are less if I have a vaccine. Foolish to conclude otherwise when presented with the figures.

Isn’t there a looming concern about overpopulation tho? Especially with too many black people (Africa, welfare tax-payer burdening ghetto hoodrats in America, etc.)

Just let the unvaccinated perish, problems solved!

If the vaccines/boosters are as effective as marketing indicates, then even if those hethens (along with the pigheaded Republicans) continue to be spreaders, the vaccinated will be protected. And even if COVID breaks through, they should either experience mild symptoms or be asymptomatic.

So what’s all the fuss and witch-hunting about? Let mfkrs exercise their freedom of choice and STFU and mind your business until it becomes illegal to make a choice regarding your own health. And should that ever be the case, maybe you’ve just accepted an opened Pandora’s box that you may agree with now, but might not in the future when removal of choices pertain to other things. Then everyone will want to cry about tyranny, oppression, and anti-liberalism.

You’re either for the upholding of rights or you’re not.

Sincerely,

The Black Republican

[thebuzzardman]

Apparently governments never make any decisions about placing limitations on personal freedom for the greater good of the general population. No, I'm not going to argue each and every one of them, which are good and which are obviously bad. Just that, pretty sure it's been a thing as long as there have been governments.

[Clyde_Style]

Apparently governments never make any decisions about placing limitations on personal freedom for the greater good of the general population. No, I'm not going to argue each and every one of them, which are good and which are obviously bad. Just that, pretty sure it's been a thing as long as there have been governments.

Govment bad! Freedumb good!

[j4remi]

You really think getting booster after booster is the right thing to do? The shots are not eradicating the disease so what good will that do? All the shots ALLEGEDLY do is prevent severe symptoms. They do nothing else. Seeing how many people are asymptomatic...how do you even know the shot is helping with the severity of the symptoms? They don't stop the spread. They don't prevent catching the disease. So getting numerous boosters seems like a waste of time.

Ending your social life will help YOU from getting or spreading the virus. If the rest of the world doesn't lock down at the same time ..guess what...it won't help at all to end the disease.

Common sense would suggest that this virus is going to run its course without a worldwide simultaneous lock down for two weeks. That won't happen either.

Mask up and social distancing while washing your hands and getting a vaccine is only proving to help protect the individual who does these things. That's all.

I get a flu shot every year, there are sections of the hospital connected to my job that you're not allowed to walk through without it. These sorts of measures aren't new or bad beyond the mild inconvenience of a sore arm.

How we check for the efficacy of boosters is just based in the numbers. Here's data out of Chile (I like to start with other nations' stats bc it cuts into any conspiracy theories about a government conspiracy in the U.S. cooking the numbers)

Read on Twitter

Here's CDC data comparing risks of unvaccinated to vaccinated and then boosted laid out pretty clearly. So in terms of "how do we know" these sorts of data trends are who we can say that boosted people are safer than vaccinated people who safer than unvaccinated people:

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#rates-by-vaccine-status

But again, this is risk vs reward stuff. If you look at the vaccinated data and feel comfortable where you're at, then more power to you. I'm glad you've taken that step because it really has a big impact. My recommendation is get the booster since it's increasing your odds of not catching COVID to begin with and dramatically decreasing your odds of bad symptoms should you catch breakthrough.

[j4remi]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/22/south-africa-omicron-coronavirus-cases/

Here's some promising news! Omicron peaks seem to come fast and dissipate just as quickly. It's too early to go beyond "seems to" though.

[j4remi]

Oh and while I'm here, I've seen some heads fall into a fallacy that's VERY easy to get caught up in. Which is that some heads are pointing to the UK hospitalization rate and saying 4 out of 5 hospitalized are vaccinated, therefore the vaccines don't work. But that's failing to account for the fact that 9 out of 10 UK citizens over the age of 12 is vaccinated. So of course more of the raw hospital numbers will be vaccinated people, they make up the lion's share of the population. That's why you'll typically see measures in a "per 100K" format or something similar. Gotta adjust for varying population sizes.

This has been my ted talk...

[Capn'O]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/22/south-africa-omicron-coronavirus-cases/

Here's some promising news! Omicron peaks seem to come fast and dissipate just as quickly. It's too early to go beyond "seems to" though.

Ha - I was just going to follow up your last post asking for thoughts on virulence and there you were one step ahead. Decreased persistence would be very good news.

Would I be correct that shorter duration per case would likely correlate with lower case severity (since the longer cases are typically the ones that go south)?

[j4remi]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/22/south-africa-omicron-coronavirus-cases/

Here's some promising news! Omicron peaks seem to come fast and dissipate just as quickly. It's too early to go beyond "seems to" though.

Ha - I was just going to follow up your last post asking for thoughts on virulence. Decreased persistence would be very good news.

Would I be correct that shorter duration per case would likely correlate with lower case severity (since the longer cases are typically the ones that went south)?

Great question, and the early returns are very hopeful. Here's a piece from Stat News about what they've seen so far from South Africa's data with a small snippet that I'll throw in because it includes the need to be cautious with our conclusions until more data becomes available...but there's a lot to be hopeful about so far:

Early data from South Africa hints Omicron variant may cause less severe Covid, but more research is needed

https://www.statnews.com/2021/12/04/omicron-covid19-south-africa-data/

Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy, told STAT he has “really been impressed by the relative lack of severe illness” seen with Omicron so far. “We’re just not seeing the number of patients that have been seen in previous surges who are seriously ill, even this soon into the surge.”

Amesh Adalja, an expert on emerging infectious disease and pandemic preparedness at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Health Security, said more data are needed but the early indications are “very intriguing.”

“It’s part of a trend of anecdotal reports that we’re hearing that the clinical spectrum seems to be more mild, especially in vaccinated people,” he said.

It appears that the Omicron variant may be more transmissible than past variants of the virus, potentially even the highly transmissible Delta variant. But it was only identified within the past couple of weeks and still makes up only a tiny fraction of cases worldwide, so drawing conclusions at this point is a risky business.

[Capn'O]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/22/south-africa-omicron-coronavirus-cases/

Here's some promising news! Omicron peaks seem to come fast and dissipate just as quickly. It's too early to go beyond "seems to" though.

Ha - I was just going to follow up your last post asking for thoughts on virulence. Decreased persistence would be very good news.

Would I be correct that shorter duration per case would likely correlate with lower case severity (since the longer cases are typically the ones that went south)?

Great question, and the early returns are very hopeful. Here's a piece from Stat News about what they've seen so far from South Africa's data with a small snippet that I'll throw in because it includes the need to be cautious with our conclusions until more data becomes available...but there's a lot to be hopeful about so far:

Early data from South Africa hints Omicron variant may cause less severe Covid, but more research is needed

https://www.statnews.com/2021/12/04/omicron-covid19-south-africa-data/

Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy, told STAT he has “really been impressed by the relative lack of severe illness” seen with Omicron so far. “We’re just not seeing the number of patients that have been seen in previous surges who are seriously ill, even this soon into the surge.”

Amesh Adalja, an expert on emerging infectious disease and pandemic preparedness at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Health Security, said more data are needed but the early indications are “very intriguing.”

“It’s part of a trend of anecdotal reports that we’re hearing that the clinical spectrum seems to be more mild, especially in vaccinated people,” he said.

It appears that the Omicron variant may be more transmissible than past variants of the virus, potentially even the highly transmissible Delta variant. But it was only identified within the past couple of weeks and still makes up only a tiny fraction of cases worldwide, so drawing conclusions at this point is a risky business.

Optimistic indeed. Thank you. Anecdotes, yes but it seems pretty clear that it's more transmissible. Look at how fast it's spreading in the NBA. Like - Team A plays Team B and all of a sudden we hear:

1. Somebody on Team A has it.
2. Five people on Team A have it.
3. Somebody on Team B has it.
4. Seven people on Team B have it.

It's nuts. But haven't heard of many severe cases, at that.

While letting the research lead, in the background I've suspected validity of the pseudo-science truism that "it's really in a virus' best interest to mutate in ways that allow it to spread easily and that don't kill its host." Not that they "try" to do anything but, particularly in a population that can enact controls on diseases those should be the variants that persist.

[2010]

Apparently governments never make any decisions about placing limitations on personal freedom for the greater good of the general population. No, I'm not going to argue each and every one of them, which are good and which are obviously bad. Just that, pretty sure it's been a thing as long as there have been governments.

Yes, it’s a thing. But the key word is “limitations”, which no one is speaking out against. Again, if one is fine with dealing with those “limitations” in connection with their decision to remain unvaccinated, then what’s all the butthurt about? Not from you specifically, but from the farts who want to wag fingers and vilify anyone who doesn’t share their views.

[Jalen Bluntson]

You really think getting booster after booster is the right thing to do? The shots are not eradicating the disease so what good will that do? All the shots ALLEGEDLY do is prevent severe symptoms. They do nothing else. Seeing how many people are asymptomatic...how do you even know the shot is helping with the severity of the symptoms? They don't stop the spread. They don't prevent catching the disease. So getting numerous boosters seems like a waste of time.

Ending your social life will help YOU from getting or spreading the virus. If the rest of the world doesn't lock down at the same time ..guess what...it won't help at all to end the disease.

Common sense would suggest that this virus is going to run its course without a worldwide simultaneous lock down for two weeks. That won't happen either.

Mask up and social distancing while washing your hands and getting a vaccine is only proving to help protect the individual who does these things. That's all.

I get a flu shot every year, there are sections of the hospital connected to my job that you're not allowed to walk through without it. These sorts of measures aren't new or bad beyond the mild inconvenience of a sore arm.

How we check for the efficacy of boosters is just based in the numbers. Here's data out of Chile (I like to start with other nations' stats bc it cuts into any conspiracy theories about a government conspiracy in the U.S. cooking the numbers)

Read on Twitter

Here's CDC data comparing risks of unvaccinated to vaccinated and then boosted laid out pretty clearly. So in terms of "how do we know" these sorts of data trends are who we can say that boosted people are safer than vaccinated people who safer than unvaccinated people:

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#rates-by-vaccine-status

But again, this is risk vs reward stuff. If you look at the vaccinated data and feel comfortable where you're at, then more power to you. I'm glad you've taken that step because it really has a big impact. My recommendation is get the booster since it's increasing your odds of not catching COVID to begin with and dramatically decreasing your odds of bad symptoms should you catch breakthrough.

I'm vaccinated. I mask up etc etc. That protects me. I haven't been sick since December pre Covid. I was deathly ill for two weeks and had a nagging cough another month after that. I haven't been sick since but...being told that I have emphysema gave me reason to vaccinate in September. Originally I was told to get a booster 8 months later. I plan on it. I don't speak out against the vaccines. I just point out that they aren't stopping the spread...which they aren't. They may help slow it some but...boom...variants. Now what? Boosters every 3 months? No. Not for me. Seems rather dumb actually.

The flu vaccine is changed every year or two to keep up with it. I have gotten one flu shot years ago. It made me very sick. Seeing how that shot would not even work today... so what. This isn't the flu BTW but...it most likely will be very similar in the end. It is already a 97-99% survival rate. Mostly high risk people are dying. Protect them and let everyone else make their own decisions. It has been two years. If people can't figure it out by now...oh well. That's all.

They haven't figured out how much natural immunity helps. They never really had solid advice about masks. The lockdowns made no sense. Etc etc. This virus has been a mess from day one the way EVERYONE has handled it. Misinformation. Lack of studies. Lack of testing. Etc etc etc. Most people don't even know they have it. Protect yourself the best way you can.

[2010]

Apparently governments never make any decisions about placing limitations on personal freedom for the greater good of the general population. No, I'm not going to argue each and every one of them, which are good and which are obviously bad. Just that, pretty sure it's been a thing as long as there have been governments.

Govment bad! Freedumb good!

You sure had issues with government when “Orangina” was in office. Stop tryna make this a game of categorizing folks. It’s not pro-gov’t vs. anti-gov’t. It’s not pro-vaccs vs. anti-vaccs. It’s not Republicans vs. Liberals. It’s not smart vs. dumb. It’s not good guys vs. bad guys. It’s not black vs. white.

[2010]

Until exercising one’s currently legal right to opt out of vaccination becomes ILLEGAL, you farts should STFU and let people deal with the repercussions of their decisions.

Surely, at some point Government will save the stupits from themselves and legislate them into joining you on the moral and intelligent side of things. Until then let the stupits and ignorants suffer the consequences of their faulty decision-tree. They are slow thinkers so the process will need to play out some. Until then, just enjoy your protection until Government saves us all.

[Clyde_Style]

Apparently governments never make any decisions about placing limitations on personal freedom for the greater good of the general population. No, I'm not going to argue each and every one of them, which are good and which are obviously bad. Just that, pretty sure it's been a thing as long as there have been governments.

Govment bad! Freedumb good!

You sure had issues with government when “Orangina” was in office. Stop tryna make this a game of categorizing folks. It’s not pro-gov’t vs. anti-gov’t. It’s not pro-vaccs vs. anti-vaccs. It’s not Republicans vs. Liberals. It’s not smart vs. dumb. It’s not good guys vs. bad guys. It’s not black vs. white.

Relax man. I was playing around with Buzz

Most of us do fall within the middle of a spectrum where we are encouraging vaxxing while leaving it up to the individual

And Orangina had zero interest in serving the public. They were a full-time grifter and you already knew that so invoking him in regards to nominal trust of elected officials actually trying to do their job is neither here nor there

[Zenzibar]

and in the meantime, enjoy all of your favorite vaccinated NBA players joining the others in covid protocols.