OT: The Official COVID/Omicron Variant+ thread

[Jalen Bluntson]

Anecdotally we were hovering around 4 teams with 1-2 patients/12-13 COVID+ patients up until December. The lists today look more like 5-8/12-13. Vast majority with respiratory issues are unvaccinated (fully unvaccinated) the rest are a combination of being here for something else but COVID+ or having other viral symptoms (diarrhea or PO intolerance --> AKI, or can't walk and are elderly). For context in the peak pandemic we were 13/13 COVID+ patients with 8 teams and anyone not requiring significant O2 were shipped to the field hospital.

I'm vaxxed and boosted. We were doing restaurants up until mid December. We paused for now and are sticking to home gatherings with a small circle that I know doesn't wyl out. I think this thing will sweep through NYC within 4-6 weeks. I'm nowhere near as stressed about it as I was, part of our conservativeness with COVID is we can't really get sick and miss work/expose our patients because our hospitals are so overloaded and staff are getting sick left/right.

How do you imagine this pandemic playing out? Do you feel it may taper off any time soon? Keep up the great work. You're a superhero IMO.

[HarthorneWingo]

Anecdotally we were hovering around 4 teams with 1-2 patients/12-13 COVID+ patients up until December. The lists today look more like 5-8/12-13. Vast majority with respiratory issues are unvaccinated (fully unvaccinated) the rest are a combination of being here for something else but COVID+ or having other viral symptoms (diarrhea or PO intolerance --> AKI, or can't walk and are elderly). For context in the peak pandemic we were 13/13 COVID+ patients with 8 teams and anyone not requiring significant O2 were shipped to the field hospital.

I'm vaxxed and boosted. We were doing restaurants up until mid December. We paused for now and are sticking to home gatherings with a small circle that I know doesn't wyl out. I think this thing will sweep through NYC within 4-6 weeks. I'm nowhere near as stressed about it as I was, part of our conservativeness with COVID is we can't really get sick and miss work/expose our patients because our hospitals are so overloaded and staff are getting sick left/right.

How do you imagine this pandemic playing out? Do you feel it may taper off any time soon? Keep up the great work. You're a superhero IMO.

Well, I’m NYS we’re back to over 100 deaths per day. I reckon that this number will only go up in the coming weeks. So there’s that.

[thebuzzardman]

Looks like those Trump children just got subpoenaed in the NYS Trump tax thing.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/donald-trump-jr-ivanka-subpoenaed-letitia-james-1277920/

[Clyde_Style]

Looks like those Trump children just got subpoenaed in the NYS Trump tax thing.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/donald-trump-jr-ivanka-subpoenaed-letitia-james-1277920/

Ivanka was at the heart of at least some of their real estate money laundering deals

Also read this neighboring article. Scary

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/doomsday-glacier-thwaites-antarctica-climate-crisis-1273841/

[NoDopeOnSundays]

Read on Twitter

?t=MpbOXPTLU-8cDhW7vNY2fg&s=19

[dakomish23]

I dislike Trump as much as the next sane person, but he's been out of office a year now and this recent surge falls at the feet of Biden. There were major missteps that got us here, the rush to drop mask wearing by the administration to prove they had it "beat" and other stupid things done just for optics. And just like Trump the economy comes before safety of people with Biden just the same.

If you’ve read my posts, you know I’m in Florida. Most of them have not masked up for a long time now even though there is a slight uptick the past two weeks. The mandate to mask up falls upon local jurisdictions, not Joe Biden. And I can tell you that even when there were county-wide decrees that you were required to wear a mask in public places there were plenty of people here who ignored it.

Covid was going to spread no matter what and it is not Biden’s cross to bear if the public decides to spread it to each other. And Omicron came out of South Africa and in several weeks had colonized the globe.

You know what Biden did? Something highly unpopular with many Americans. He mandated vaccinations or regular testing within federal agencies and private companies with more than 100 employees. But he could do an Irish jib all day long trying to get Americans to mask up and it wouldn’t make a difference. Those who are going to mask up don’t need to be told to do it. The rest can’t be forced to do it. And covid will spread as a result.

Let’s not even begin to compare the efforts of the two administrations please. One was a grotesque, profiteering, self-agrandizing middle finger to scientific reason and another is doing the best they can. If Europe can’t stop Omicron from spreading, what makes you think that Biden could do any better anyway?

I'm in NY, the local government here took cues from Fauci / CDC that said people with vaccines could drop mask wearing, that is a blunder that falls squarely on this administration. They relaxed and it's come back on them, so many people here stopped wearing masks as a result, it went from 90% adherence down to maybe 50\50 at best. They should have never said people with vaccines don't need to wear masks.

You know who follows CDC guidance? Trump buildings in NYC. I work in one (my firm signed the 10 year lease before he became President, trying to get them to take the name down or we’re out in 2 years). They are pretty strict for “just the flu”.

[Clyde_Style]

If you’ve read my posts, you know I’m in Florida. Most of them have not masked up for a long time now even though there is a slight uptick the past two weeks. The mandate to mask up falls upon local jurisdictions, not Joe Biden. And I can tell you that even when there were county-wide decrees that you were required to wear a mask in public places there were plenty of people here who ignored it.

Covid was going to spread no matter what and it is not Biden’s cross to bear if the public decides to spread it to each other. And Omicron came out of South Africa and in several weeks had colonized the globe.

You know what Biden did? Something highly unpopular with many Americans. He mandated vaccinations or regular testing within federal agencies and private companies with more than 100 employees. But he could do an Irish jib all day long trying to get Americans to mask up and it wouldn’t make a difference. Those who are going to mask up don’t need to be told to do it. The rest can’t be forced to do it. And covid will spread as a result.

Let’s not even begin to compare the efforts of the two administrations please. One was a grotesque, profiteering, self-agrandizing middle finger to scientific reason and another is doing the best they can. If Europe can’t stop Omicron from spreading, what makes you think that Biden could do any better anyway?

I'm in NY, the local government here took cues from Fauci / CDC that said people with vaccines could drop mask wearing, that is a blunder that falls squarely on this administration. They relaxed and it's come back on them, so many people here stopped wearing masks as a result, it went from 90% adherence down to maybe 50\50 at best. They should have never said people with vaccines don't need to wear masks.

You know who follows CDC guidance? Trump buildings in NYC. I work in one (my firm signed the 10 year lease before he became President, trying to get them to take the name down or we’re out in 2 years). They are pretty strict for “just the flu”.

I posted earlier a news item about some MAGAs who went to Trump Grill in Trump Tower and the cops had to be called when they flipped out because they were asked to show their vaccination cards to enter the restaurant.

[dakomish23]

I'm in NY, the local government here took cues from Fauci / CDC that said people with vaccines could drop mask wearing, that is a blunder that falls squarely on this administration. They relaxed and it's come back on them, so many people here stopped wearing masks as a result, it went from 90% adherence down to maybe 50\50 at best. They should have never said people with vaccines don't need to wear masks.

You know who follows CDC guidance? Trump buildings in NYC. I work in one (my firm signed the 10 year lease before he became President, trying to get them to take the name down or we’re out in 2 years). They are pretty strict for “just the flu”.

I posted earlier a news item about some MAGAs who went to Trump Grill in Trump Tower and the cops had to be called when they flipped out because they were asked to show their vaccination cards to enter the restaurant.

It’s amazing, isn’t it? They’re just now figuring out that he doesn’t GAF about their causes

[Clyde_Style]

You know who follows CDC guidance? Trump buildings in NYC. I work in one (my firm signed the 10 year lease before he became President, trying to get them to take the name down or we’re out in 2 years). They are pretty strict for “just the flu”.

I posted earlier a news item about some MAGAs who went to Trump Grill in Trump Tower and the cops had to be called when they flipped out because they were asked to show their vaccination cards to enter the restaurant.

It’s amazing, isn’t it? They’re just now figuring out that he doesn’t GAF about their causes

At my local cafe I talk to a salty 85 year old Korean War vet. He hates Trump and whenever I see him he says stuff like I can't wait to see that cksckr go down, etc. It's pretty entertaining. The other day we were talking about the Maxwell conviction and I said she now has a very small window to spill her guts to get a reduced sentence. A guy at another table chimed in that would be bad news for Hunter Biden. I said um, what does he have to do with Epstein? And he starts muttering, oh it's out there (it isn't). So I asked him if he thought Rudy still had all of his marbles left and whether he thought the laptop he claimed to discover was authentic. And he got angry and demanded "what side of the divide are you on?" and I said I wanted to see Donald Trump brought to justice. And I added that if Trump were convicted of indisputable crimes would that change his opinion? His face got red and he said "Good Day to You Sir!!!!" and got up and walked out.

I don't know how much more or less than a third of the nation lives in this state of cognitive dissonance, but one thing you can bank on is they are all snowflakes. Some of them are just dumb, some of them are violent snowflakes, but when you ask any of them a direct question they short circuit and either withdraw in anger and draw their weapons.

[Clyde_Style]

So Ivanka and Donald Jr. filed to block their subpoena from Letitia James.

The reason? They fear that testifying to NY State will incriminate them in other criminal proceedings. Seems more like a confession than a viable defense.

The whole family is in the vice now.

[WargamesX]

Read on Twitter

Less than a week and I’m already like

[Clyde_Style]

Read on Twitter

Less than a week and I’m already like

I spent the whole clip trying to figure out what his actual point was. For New Yorkers’ sake, I hope he matures into the job quickly, because that was not a guy ready for prime time.

[seren]

Read on Twitter

Less than a week and I’m already like

Really sad we have to deal with this for four years. Nobody is going back unless they are absolutely forced to. A whole lot of city workers either retired or quit for a better job in a private sector. One thing that made public sector job attractive was stability and pensions. Now you are telling workers who may have underlying conditions to take one for the team. You can’t beg or threaten people to risk their health because some Dunkin in Manhattan doesn’t do the business it used to do. What is a pension good for if you may just drop die before retirement.

He seems to not get that 4.5 million people quit their jobs in November. The job market is sellers market right now. If a company forces people to go back before this whole covid thing totally dies down, they would just quit and find something else. Even after all is done, the five day a week died down and will never come back for a whole lot of office jobs. Companies can save money from lease by getting smaller offices, workers don’t want to go. They figured they can live any where and work. At best, this will be a 2-3 day thing for the private sector once all is settled.

[Zenzibar]

"According to data collected by the CDC from 2010 to 2020, the agency estimates that the flu has caused 12,000–52,000 deaths annually. During that time, the flu also caused 9 million–41 million illnesses, and 140,000–710,000 hospitalizations. Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the flu kills 290,000 to 650,000 people per year."

The stress in the hospitals can also be cause by the yearly flu season.

[Clyde_Style]

It’s now Sean Hannity’s time in the barrel. The investigation has contacted him for an interview. They are sitting on a collection of his texts to the WH and Meadows that the committee indicates show intimate knowledge of the planned insurrection. He was acting in more than the capacity of a media figure. It appears he was advising the WH and is now a material witness.

[Jethrobodine123]

I hope you are all doing well, crazy times for sure. Here's hoping that Omicron peaks very soon and then nosedives as it's done in other countries. We had been one of least affected places in the world here in Nova Scotia but the Omicron has really changed that and quickly, although we've seen much lower hospitalization and deaths. Hopefully, this will turn into the endemic phase sooner than later.

We're watching what looks like the collapse of democracy in your country, so many things going on nationally and especially State wide that seem to be a harbinger of some bad things to come. There seems to be a lack of imagination of what could happen and how it could affect everyday life. Perhaps it's the whole "American Exceptionalism" that make people think that it couldn't happen, some people need to deal with reality. Biden and the democrats need to see this as an existential threat to the country, they need to pass voting rights too the suite, time is of the essence. Also, they need to begin to talk over and over about what could happen if authoritarians take over the country. They need to take a cue from the Republicans and repeat stuff over and over, ad nauseam, to what this would mean to the average Joe Public. As a follower of politics, with a background in Economics and the Markets, the general public must be made aware that if democracy goes down, their houses would not be worth what it is now, the stock markets would not be where it is now, their pensions could be affected, their jobs could disappear, so many more negative consequences would be in the offing, you don't want to go there because once it starts, it's almost impossible to stop it.

Amazing watching what's going on now in the United States, fascinating for sure, but very scary.

Jethro

[Clyde_Style]

I hope you are all doing well, crazy times for sure. Here's hoping that Omicron peaks very soon and then nosedives as it's done in other countries. We had been one of least affected places in the world here in Nova Scotia but the Omicron has really changed that and quickly, although we've seen much lower hospitalization and deaths. Hopefully, this will turn into the endemic phase sooner than later.

We're watching what looks like the collapse of democracy in your country, so many things going on nationally and especially State wide that seem to be a harbinger of some bad things to come. There seems to be a lack of imagination of what could happen and how it could affect everyday life. Perhaps it's the whole "American Exceptionalism" that make people think that it couldn't happen, some people need to deal with reality. Biden and the democrats need to see this as an existential threat to the country, they need to pass voting rights too the suite, time is of the essence. Also, they need to begin to talk over and over about what could happen if authoritarians take over the country. They need to take a cue from the Republicans and repeat stuff over and over, ad nauseam, to what this would mean to the average Joe Public. As a follower of politics, with a background in Economics and the Markets, the general public must be made aware that if democracy goes down, their houses would not be worth what it is now, the stock markets would not be where it is now, their pensions could be affected, their jobs could disappear, so many more negative consequences would be in the offing, you don't want to go there because once it starts, it's almost impossible to stop it.

Amazing watching what's going on now in the United States, fascinating for sure, but very scary.

Jethro

You're good, because Omicron absolutely hates Gaelic dancing

America does hang in the balance. I try not to be optimistic anymore and prepare for the worst, because if that many people can vote for a blatantly obvious criminal and moronic fascist then it could be much worse if they elect one a fascist who is not a moron.

There is justice coming. Trump will be dispossessed of a number of his assets by NY State soon enough and NYC will take his liberty. The congressional committee investigating the insurrection has been truly fantastic and has given me some comfort that some of the wrongs committed against democracy can be righted.

But it may be too little, too late as Trump was the symptom, not the disease. And America is fairly terminal in its ability to agree on what is the common good and how to preserve actual democratic processes.

[HarthorneWingo]

School official receives death threat for investigating Neo-Nazi students.

This is how it got started in Germany. This would’ve never been tolerated in my middle class high school or our community. This makes me feel like we’re losing this battle. They use the same bullying tactics to cause normal and decent school board members to resign over death threats and then take over their positions and change education policies.

Watch on YouTube

[Jethrobodine123]

School official receives death threat for investigating Neo-Nazi students.

This is how it got started in Germany. This would’ve never been tolerated in my middle class high school or our community. This makes me feel like we’re losing this battle. They use the same bullying tactics to cause normal and decent school board members to resign over death threats and then take over their positions and change education policies.

Watch on YouTube

It's straight out of the authoritarian handbook:

Weaponize Fear – Embrace a language of violence, promote a more punitive culture, leverage military might at home. Give critics reason to believe they’ll be harmed if they oppose.

Target Outsiders — Stoke the fires of xenophobia by demonizing immigrants and foreigners. Blame domestic problems including economic woes on these scapegoats, and depict political opponents as sympathetic to these imagined enemies.

Undermine Institutions — Take over the courts, eliminate checks and balances, undo established treaties and legislation that limits executive power, weaken protections for free and fair elections.

Rewrite History — Exert control over schools and the media to indoctrinate the public with beliefs that reinforce autocratic power.

Exploit Religion — Appeal to the religious majority while targeting minorities. Conflate national identity with religious identity.

Divide and Conquer — Use hate speech and encourage violent actors to widen social rifts and use manufactured crises to seize more power.

Erode Truth — Attack the press as an “enemy of the people”; dismiss negative reports as “fake news,” counter legitimate information with disinformation, or “alternative facts.” Blast the media landscape with endless scandal and contradiction to overwhelm the traditional fail-safes.

J

[HarthorneWingo]

School official receives death threat for investigating Neo-Nazi students.

This is how it got started in Germany. This would’ve never been tolerated in my middle class high school or our community. This makes me feel like we’re losing this battle. They use the same bullying tactics to cause normal and decent school board members to resign over death threats and then take over their positions and change education policies.

Watch on YouTube

It's straight out of the authoritarian handbook:

Weaponize Fear – Embrace a language of violence, promote a more punitive culture, leverage military might at home. Give critics reason to believe they’ll be harmed if they oppose.

Target Outsiders — Stoke the fires of xenophobia by demonizing immigrants and foreigners. Blame domestic problems including economic woes on these scapegoats, and depict political opponents as sympathetic to these imagined enemies.

Undermine Institutions — Take over the courts, eliminate checks and balances, undo established treaties and legislation that limits executive power, weaken protections for free and fair elections.

Rewrite History — Exert control over schools and the media to indoctrinate the public with beliefs that reinforce autocratic power.

Exploit Religion — Appeal to the religious majority while targeting minorities. Conflate national identity with religious identity.

Divide and Conquer — Use hate speech and encourage violent actors to widen social rifts and use manufactured crises to seize more power.

Erode Truth — Attack the press as an “enemy of the people”; dismiss negative reports as “fake news,” counter legitimate information with disinformation, or “alternative facts.” Blast the media landscape with endless scandal and contradiction to overwhelm the traditional fail-safes.

J

Well, that was perfectly laid out. That’s exactly what’s happening. I don’t know if you got to watch Frontline last night but they covered the neo Nazi groups and events leading up to the 1/6 insurrection. I’m sure you can find it on the pbs website. Lots of interviews with members from all of the right wing groups. It’s very scary especially because we don’t know what - if anything - is being done to throttle them.