Report: Omicron is much more contagious - Discussion on severity (1 Viewer)

[Stealthycat]

Covid was politicized 

IMO a big reason for the Dems winning the 2020 election is because the person in the WH contributed bigly to covid being politicized.  

It will be interesting to see where we are at with covid and how that plays out in the next presidential election.  I've been surprised a bit by Biden's low grades due to covid, but after thinking about it I guess that would depend on how much blame you put on people not getting vaccinated vs. the government response.   I know where I place most of the blame, fully get the wide array of opinions there.  

I remember Trump downplaying covid ( vs Biden saying "We are looking at a winter of severe illness and death " ) - a stark contrast in stilling panic vs stoking it

No, Democrats led the failed shut down and all that came from that, they politicized and weaponized a virus and they'll now live by the same sword they created with record inflation, record low ratings and record infections/deaths

Biden PROMISED KarmaPolice - and when he did .... did you believe him ? 

 

[Stealthycat]

because of the asymptomatic spread

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32930584/data-shows-asymptomatic-individuals-not-spreading-covid-19-nfl-chief-medical-officer-says

 

[The Commish]

Guess masks don't work anymore.  And yes, therapeutics are for situations where a person contracts covid.  You have so many other steps to take that don't involve getting a test 3x a week, especially when there is a shortage of them.  They should be used, as the FL Surgeon General said to improve outcomes for patients who present symptoms.

I know you want to keep pulling this up several levels from the very specific and common situation that was brought up so please just stop responding to me and simply state those positions outside what I posted.  You're not doing anything but shoving goalposts around to avoid acknowledging how very shortsighted the FL Surgeon General was or acknowledging that there are legit reasons to get tested frequently.  Your responses to me have little to nothing to do with what I posted.  You asked for legit reasons people would need to get tested frequently.  I provided you one of many and your response is "there are other ways to do that".  Yes...there are.  And they are all much more risky and/or costly as well as very disruptive in our quest to "get back to normal".  This all seems to be the lazy man's version of the already lazy "I'm healthy, why should I be the one burdened to do the right thing.  Make the compromised and old people isolate from the rest of us" view, which I thought we were past, but I guess not.

The problem here, which has been true from the beginning, is that there aren't enough tests.  That's easy to remedy...especially when a state has billions sitting in it's coffers for COVID testing and vaccinations.   

 

[The Commish]

By the way......if people are actually looking for covid tests for their home....amazon has plenty.  Takes a week to 10 days...order some  

 

[KarmaPolice]

I remember Trump downplaying covid ( vs Biden saying "We are looking at a winter of severe illness and death " ) - a stark contrast in stilling panic vs stoking it

No, Democrats led the failed shut down and all that came from that, they politicized and weaponized a virus and they'll now live by the same sword they created with record inflation, record low ratings and record infections/deaths

Biden PROMISED KarmaPolice - and when he did .... did you believe him ? 

I get it, the dems are at fault for everything.  

Biden promised what?    I don't hang on Biden's every word and don't believe much of what politicians say to begin with.   Most of the time I hear about all his broken promises is from you guys on the right posting about them in these threads.  

 

[quick-hands]

Covid was politicized 

IMO a big reason for the Dems winning the 2020 election is because the person in the WH contributed bigly to covid being politicized.  

It will be interesting to see where we are at with covid and how that plays out in the next presidential election.  I've been surprised a bit by Biden's low grades due to covid, but after thinking about it I guess that would depend on how much blame you put on people not getting vaccinated vs. the government response.   I know where I place most of the blame, fully get the wide array of opinions there.  

I thought Trump down played the covid.  I just don't get you guys.   Trump should have taken it more seriously?   And done what else.   Fast track a vaccine?    Shut down travel?     Shut down the economy?

I still don't know what Biden has done.   What was his plan to shut down the virus?  Trumps vaccine?    What if that was still 3 years away which the MSM said 18 months ago?    

Want more people to get vaxxed.   Fire fauci and get a new messenger.    Stop making people who are against Biden use the vax as a way to push back.  And drop the pandemic of the unvaxxed, It's stupid and red meat for the left.

 

[KarmaPolice]

I thought Trump down played the covid.  I just don't get you guys.   Trump should have taken it more seriously?   And done what else.   Fast track a vaccine?    Shut down travel?     Shut down the economy?

I still don't know what Biden has done.   What was his plan to shut down the virus?  Trumps vaccine?    What if that was still 3 years away which the MSM said 18 months ago?    

Want more people to get vaxxed.   Fire fauci and get a new messenger.    Stop making people who are against Biden use the vax as a way to push back.  And drop the pandemic of the unvaxxed, It's stupid and red meat for the left.

He did that too.     

What is it that you don't get about me?  

 

[KarmaPolice]

By the way......if people are actually looking for covid tests for their home....amazon has plenty.  Takes a week to 10 days...order some  

@The Commish

I was just looking to order a few packs.   Is there a brand that you know of that's better than others, or they pretty much the same? 

 

[quick-hands]

He did that too.     

What is it that you don't get about me?  

Your standard for trump on the covid.   And your free pass for Biden.   

I'd like to know what you think Biden has done right other than be in office when the vaccine actually started to be available.    Say after august 2021

 

[tonydead]

By the way......if people are actually looking for covid tests for their home....amazon has plenty.  Takes a week to 10 days...order some  

 

[Max Power]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32930584/data-shows-asymptomatic-individuals-not-spreading-covid-19-nfl-chief-medical-officer-says

Crazy how fast this narrative changed.  

 

[Max Power]

By the way......if people are actually looking for covid tests for their home....amazon has plenty.  Takes a week to 10 days...order some  

I pay Prime for a reason buddy

 

[The Commish]

@The Commish

I was just looking to order a few packs.   Is there a brand that you know of that's better than others, or they pretty much the same? 

When I went hunting for them locally all the pharmacists I spoke with said to get the iHealth ones.  They're always good to have on hand.  We have a lot of groups passing out free testing kits in our area (not sure which ones).  Still does not compute how these groups can get their hands on them but the state can't seem to figure it out to make them more readily available.

 

[The Commish]

I pay Prime for a reason buddy

ha....I hear yeah.  Those timelines are for "free" shipping for Prime members.  

 

[jobarules]

I find it amazing all these Democrats that shut down their cities for months now REFUSE to when cases are MUCH higher. I wonder why.

 

[Max Power]

I thought Trump down played the covid.  I just don't get you guys.   Trump should have taken it more seriously?   And done what else.   Fast track a vaccine?    Shut down travel?     Shut down the economy?

I still don't know what Biden has done.   What was his plan to shut down the virus?  Trumps vaccine?    What if that was still 3 years away which the MSM said 18 months ago?    

Want more people to get vaxxed.   Fire fauci and get a new messenger.    Stop making people who are against Biden use the vax as a way to push back.  And drop the pandemic of the unvaxxed, It's stupid and red meat for the left.

There are many options to be explored here. Plenty of good ideas to try, but Biden doesn't want to try any.

Instead they roll him out in front of a camera 2-3 times a week to tell people to get vaccinated.  That strategy isn't a winner. He isn't making any progress doing it.  I hope some of you guys can see that. 

The OSHA aspect of his approach is causing more harm that good at this point. 

 

[Max Power]

I find it amazing all these Democrats that shut down their cities for months now REFUSE to when cases are MUCH higher. I wonder why.

Ticket needs to shape up for the mid-terms

 

[quick-hands]

Crazy how fast this narrative changed.  

fish said in the Fitzlaw  JRE

Some of McCullough's claims which have been proven false:

Asymptomatic people cannot spread Covid

Vaccinations cause spike proteins to circulate throughout a person’s body and can potentially lead to death.

Covid patients under 50 not only don't need vaccines, they don't even need treatment.

That NFL Dr  better be careful.  Asymptomatic people not spreading covid was,according to Fish, debunked.

 

[KarmaPolice]

Your standard for trump on the covid.   And your free pass for Biden.   

I'd like to know what you think Biden has done right other than be in office when the vaccine actually started to be available.    Say after august 2021

The bolded tells me you don't read my posts.   

I think both dropped the ball, but differently.    IMO Trump talked out of both sides of his mouth - he poo-pooed the virus (me saying he didn't take it seriously), and was putting all his eggs in the vaccination basket so he could sell that.   In the meantime while that was getting manufactured he 100% stoked the political flames red states vs. blue states,  we didn't have a consistence message on how to reduce spread, etc.  

Biden maybe takes it more seriously, but like with other things I've seen this past year - he didn't seem to have a concrete plan.   I think he over estimated how many people will actually take the vaccine, and after that - I am not sure what he was going to do.   He should have had a better plan in place for how to get more behind taking the vaccine if that was our best chance out of this.    Like my post above, I personally put more blame on people not getting the vaccine vs the government (and last year put more blame on people not giving a crap and still acting like nothing is going on than I did the government) but for sure since August of this year he should have had more of a plan in place if we had the vax rates as low as we do.  

 

[GoBirds]

By that time you probably can figure it out.     Yep I'm sick.....nope not sick.

Seriously, you can be done quarantine before you get a test. Or if asymptomatic you won’t get a test and will continue to spread it thinking you aren’t sick. I thought the guy in the White House ran on being able to handle this? 

 

[GoBirds]

I thought Trump down played the covid.  I just don't get you guys.   Trump should have taken it more seriously?   And done what else.   Fast track a vaccine?    Shut down travel?     Shut down the economy?

I still don't know what Biden has done.   What was his plan to shut down the virus?  Trumps vaccine?    What if that was still 3 years away which the MSM said 18 months ago?    

Want more people to get vaxxed.   Fire fauci and get a new messenger.    Stop making people who are against Biden use the vax as a way to push back.  And drop the pandemic of the unvaxxed, It's stupid and red meat for the left.

Why are they still whining about Trump when the guy they voted for has been absolutely a disaster with this? The Trump excuse is irrelevant to the failure we are all dealing with now that they are responsible for voting for. 

 

[KarmaPolice]

I find it amazing all these Democrats that shut down their cities for months now REFUSE to when cases are MUCH higher. I wonder why.

Some of it is because it's not 2020 anymore.   IMO it make much more sense to go that route if you don't have the vaccine at your disposal vs. if you do.    I thought we could have done a better and more consistent job with the "lockdowns" in 2020, but I have little patience for them now, because it's not the same.  

 

[Max Power]

fish said in the Fitzlaw  JRE

Some of McCullough's claims which have been proven false:

Asymptomatic people cannot spread Covid

Vaccinations cause spike proteins to circulate throughout a person’s body and can potentially lead to death.

Covid patients under 50 not only don't need vaccines, they don't even need treatment.

That NFL Dr  better be careful.  Asymptomatic people not spreading covid was,according to Fish, debunked.

Those are likely all true.  They have found spike protiens in reproductive organs.

The last claim was something Megan Kelly brought up last night, but I don't know where she pulled the information from.  The claim was it was presented in a courtroom by Pfizer that unvaccinated 18-30 year olds are at a lower risk of hospitalization and death from covid than a fully vaccinated person over 50. This was used to show why the mandates for the working class doesn't hold water. 

The NFL needs to be careful at it's disinformation.  It's probably true that behind the scenes they are passing out Ivermectin as well. 

 

[The Commish]

There are many options to be explored here. Plenty of good ideas to try, but Biden doesn't want to try any.

Instead they roll him out in front of a camera 2-3 times a week to tell people to get vaccinated.  That strategy isn't a winner. He isn't making any progress doing it.  I hope some of you guys can see that. 

The OSHA aspect of his approach is causing more harm that good at this point. 

Agree with the bold a billion percent.  It's dumb and political and won't get anywhere.  Reality is, Joe needs to punt to the states like Trump did and show the progress/problems at a state level all the while providing whatever money is necessary for the states to succeed.  The federal press conferences should really only consist of verified pandemic numbers, the amount of money provided to the states and the amount of that money used (to date) by the states to get out of this.  The rest is just noise.

 

[quick-hands]

Agree with the bold a billion percent.  It's dumb and political and won't get anywhere.  Reality is, Joe needs to punt to the states like Trump did and show the progress/problems at a state level all the while providing whatever money is necessary for the states to succeed.  The federal press conferences should really only consist of verified pandemic numbers, the amount of money provided to the states and the amount of that money used (to date) by the states to get out of this.  The rest is just noise.

Plus the governors of states actually have constitutional authority to handle public health.

 

[Snotbubbles]

I find it amazing all these Democrats that shut down their cities for months now REFUSE to when cases are MUCH higher. I wonder why.

I would guess that the hospitalization and mortality rate for Omicron isn't what it was for the original strand back in March 2020.  It seems with every new variant, it becomes more contagious but less dangerous (just my personal observation without any scientific support).  

 

[The Commish]

Plus the governors of states actually have constitutional authority to handle public health.

Depends on the state's constitution and what aspects you are speaking of.  In our state the State Health Officer is responsible for declaration of emergencies, isolations, quarantines and health advisories.  

All the states I've lived in, this authority starts with the state legislature.  In some cases they grant that authority to governors.

As I said before, from a federal level, all they should be doing is showing actions/results of the states as the states make the decisions on navigation.

 

[Battersbox]

Sure. I'm not claiming the pandemic hasn't been harmful to kids. It's been harmful to nearly everyone. I'm arguing two things:

1. Some harm to children will need to occur for the collective benefit of society, as part of pandemic mitigation.

2. Kids tend to be far more resilient than (some) adults give them credit. 

I don't have kids, but most of my friends do. I babysit a few of them, and certainly care about their well-being. I know that's not the same as being a parent; nonetheless, I'm not oblivious to their plight.

I also believe the best way to minimize harm to all of us is keeping our healthcare infrastructure intact. Kids will suffer a lot more from losing loved ones than wearing masks/learning remotely while surges are occurring.

Possibly of note: My friends with children who also work in healthcare complain far more about vaccine hesitancy than their kids' suffering. They all seem to be handling things pretty well though.

Thank you for your reply, we just fundamentally disagree about how much of the burden should be applied to kids. 

Things change. Kids are at far less risk of losing a parent than they once were due to vaccinations, treatments, and all the rest. Losing a grandparent, possibly (though still a remote possibility). 

And it's nice your friends' kids are handling things well. But, those are kids from stable and probably more upper-class homes. Not representative of the masses who need school and all the stability it provides that they often lack in the home. Remote learning is largely a joke for the majority of kids, but even worse it's damaging for a significant cohort of kids for other reasons as well (social well being, lunch, safety, diagnosis of potential abuse, etc).

Not to mention, we have little proof that remote schooling even slows spread. Kids are more likely to catch Covid outside of school than in school, so ultimately closures really don't help the situation anyway. Keeping kids out of school is a radical measure that should be proven as helpful to easing the pandemic to even arrive at a cost/benefit discussion, and I don't think anyone has ever shown it to be helpful through data. 

 

[Max Power]

I would guess that the hospitalization and mortality rate for Omicron isn't what it was for the original strand back in March 2020.  It seems with every new variant, it becomes more contagious but less dangerous (just my personal observation without any scientific support).  

This seems to be what is happening.  Covid just has a scary name tied to it which is causing people to be cautious and/or overreact. It's worth it if Omicron really does protect against all the prior strains as well.  Nature's vaccine in a way.  

 

[Doug B]

ha....I hear yeah.  Those timelines are for "free" shipping for Prime members.  

I have Prime. Was looking at iHearth kits online on Sunday 1/2. Delivery wasn’t going to be until 1/16, so I passed. Needed tests this week.

 

[The Commish]

I have Prime. Was looking at iHearth kits online on Sunday 1/2. Delivery wasn’t going to be until 1/16, so I passed. Needed tests this week.

Ordered mine on 1/1 (to have for future...still had some in the stockpile) and they will be here tomorrow.  Missed it by a day GB   

 

[Doug B]

Ordered mine on 1/1 (to have for future...still had some in the stockpile) and they will be here tomorrow.  Missed it by a day GB   

Looking at my browser history ... I did actually look on 1/1, but it must've been near bedtime. The delivery time now (just looked) is given as "2-3 weeks" and "January 11-24", which don't jibe, but whatever.

By the time these tests come in, our local stores will have them restocked and the general run on drugstore tests will be abated. I'd wager, anyway.

 

[The Commish]

Looking at my browser history ... I did actually look on 1/1, but it must've been near bedtime. The delivery time now (just looked) is given as "2-3 weeks" and "January 11-24", which don't jibe, but whatever.

By the time these tests come in, our local stores will have them restocked and the general run on drugstore tests will be abated. I'd wager, anyway.

wow...change quickly I guess

what about the "on go" ones?  Those were the other option the doctors suggested.

 

[Doug B]

what about the "on go" ones?  Those were the other option the doctors suggested.

Same delivery time.

My son and I took PCRs yesterday morning and my wife will take an in-hospital PCR tomorrow afternoon as part of her pre-op. So generally, we'll all have PCR results at roughly the same time. By the time the home tests would arrive, they'd be too late to do any good.

 

[tonydead]

Guys!   Until Biden get's his #### together leave few tests that are out there for the people who really need them.

Hopefully you will be able to test your entire family multiple times a week by Labor Day.   

 

[tonydead]

Looking at my browser history ... I did actually look on 1/1, but it must've been near bedtime. The delivery time now (just looked) is given as "2-3 weeks" and "January 11-24", which don't jibe, but whatever.

By the time these tests come in, our local stores will have them restocked and the general run on drugstore tests will be abated. I'd wager, anyway.

  Translation:  We're not sure when our container ship from CHINA is going to get unloaded.

And just to be clear, none of these are from Amazon.  They are third party sellers.  

 

[Biff84]

Let’s be clear on the NFL asymptomatic spread - the NFL has a lot more resources than the average person. They are all tested quite frequently and will catch infections as soon as their positive and immediately quarantine people.

True asymptomatic spread is probably unlikely but the problem is when people lump in pre-symptomatic or view themselves at asymptomatic but actually aren’t. The NFL can control that with early testing and medical staff monitoring symptoms.

 

[The Commish]

Same delivery time.

My son and I took PCRs yesterday morning and my wife will take an in-hospital PCR tomorrow afternoon as part of her pre-op. So generally, we'll all have PCR results at roughly the same time. By the time the home tests would arrive, they'd be too late to do any good.

Yeah, that doesn't make sense.  We were running low and had none at any of the stores around us so I ordered more.

 

[Max Power]

Guys!   Until Biden get's his #### together leave few tests that are out there for the people who really need them.

Hopefully you will be able to test your entire family multiple times a week by Labor Day.   

Co-worker's wife works in the athletics department for a small college and they just donated their tests to local healthcare entities and will forgo testing their players weekly for now.  

 

[unckeyherb]

My question is why get tested? You can't go anywhere for 5 days anyway.

I'd like to know if I have Covid.

 

[Doug B]

Hopefully you will be able to test your entire family multiple times a week by Labor Day. 

No one's talking about this. You're throwing in an unnecessary jab.

 

[Doug B]

And just to be clear, none of these are from Amazon.  They are third party sellers. 

Speaking of China ... what's the price of tea over there?

 

[tonydead]

No one's talking about this. You're throwing in an unnecessary jab.

HTH

 My wife and I thought it important to try and do whatever was necessary to keep those two patients safe so we got tested three times during the week

 

[tonydead]

Speaking of China ... what's the price of tea over there?

I don't know, but, it usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks.  

 

[Doug B]

No one's talking about this. You're throwing in an unnecessary jab.

HTH

 My wife and I thought it important to try and do whatever was necessary to keep those two patients safe so we got tested three times during the week

You should quote his full post instead of cherry-picking to make him look unreasonable:

Various threads have answered this questions extensively, but I'll give you my personal reason.  Over Christmas we had a kidney transplant patient coming to our house as well as a person in kidney failure coming to stay at our house.  Four of us are fully vaccinated and one not eligible.  Two of us with the boosters.  The other two not old enough.  My wife and I thought it important to try and do whatever was necessary to keep those two patients safe so we got tested three times during the week prior to their showing up and after the third test, only my wife or myself left the house if necessary.  Fortunately, we didn't have to stand in line as we could just go to our Walgreens and get tested plus we had a few "at home" tests also.  However, had that not been an option, we most certainly would have gone and stood in line for those reasons listed above.

 

[tonydead]

You should quote his full post instead of cherry-picking to make him look unreasonable:

You said nobody was talking about testing their entire family multiple times a week.

I provided an example of a poster that tested their entire family three times in one week.

  It doesn't get any simpler.  

 

[Doug B]

You said nobody was talking about testing their entire family multiple times a week.

No ...no one was talking about this:

Hopefully you will be able to test your entire family multiple times a week by Labor Day.

Further, no one's talking about testing their families multiple times per week out of a sense of panic or anything like that. When people want to have home tests on hand, that's not what they want them for (excepting specific good-reason cases).

 

[The Commish]

No ...no one was talking about this:

Further, no one's talking about testing their families multiple times per week out of a sense of panic or anything like that. When people want to have home tests on hand, that's not what they want them for (excepting specific good-reason cases).

It's not worth it....context doesn't matter.  Never has, never will.

 

[tonydead]

No ...no one was talking about this:

Further, no one's talking about testing their families multiple times per week out of a sense of panic or anything like that. When people want to have home tests on hand, that's not what they want them for (excepting specific good-reason cases).

I didn't assign any sense to it. You did.  

Full circle - Hopefully Biden get's his #### together and you can have a stockpile of tests for yourself by Labor Day or so.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

I'd like to know if I have Covid.

Yep.  If I were sick, I would like to know if it was covid just so I know if I've had a prior infection.  Not a huge deal, but more information about my health history is better than less information about my health history.