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*** OFFICIAL *** COVID-19 CoronaVirus Thread. Fresh epidemic fears as child pneumonia cases surge in Europe after China outbreak. NOW in USA (3 Viewers)

Oh the difference a few days make. After being out of COVID home tests for several weeks, we received a case and started selling them. What would have been sold in a couple hours is being ignored. It doesn’t help that our chain decided to bump the price up from $9.99 to $11.99. 😡 Nobody wants them unless they’re free. Which for a good chunk of customers (Medicare, Tricare), they can’t be billed to insurance. Clearly we were way too late getting most of these initiatives out.

 
And for my final rant - the discussion about Ro and removing mask requirements in school. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t Ro essentially the acceleration or deceleration of spread in the community? I’ve seen a couple people saying that the Ro is at the lowest point of the entire pandemic and I find that to be a deceiving conclusion.

Spread is rapidly decreasing because of how bad it was just a few weeks ago. I’d you’re driving 110 MPH and slam on the breaks the deceleration is going to steep but it doesn’t mean you’re driving slowly. Just people because it’s not as crazy as it was, doesn’t mean that there isn’t significant community transmission. Other countries have seen prolonged plateaus with cases. If we follow the trends of previous waves ours will have an even longer plateau at higher levels.

Which brings us to ‘when can we remove the masks in schools’ question. The smart answer is not for awhile. Which means that they will be done away with soon. I don’t get the mentality that we’ve a couple rough months and that we should reward ourselves with removing restrictions. It’s the exact reason why we plateau at such high case loads for longer than most countries. We get antsy and don’t finish the job.

 
And for my final rant - the discussion about Ro and removing mask requirements in school. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t Ro essentially the acceleration or deceleration of spread in the community? I’ve seen a couple people saying that the Ro is at the lowest point of the entire pandemic and I find that to be a deceiving conclusion.

Spread is rapidly decreasing because of how bad it was just a few weeks ago. I’d you’re driving 110 MPH and slam on the breaks the deceleration is going to steep but it doesn’t mean you’re driving slowly. Just people because it’s not as crazy as it was, doesn’t mean that there isn’t significant community transmission. Other countries have seen prolonged plateaus with cases. If we follow the trends of previous waves ours will have an even longer plateau at higher levels.

Which brings us to ‘when can we remove the masks in schools’ question. The smart answer is not for awhile. Which means that they will be done away with soon. I don’t get the mentality that we’ve a couple rough months and that we should reward ourselves with removing restrictions. It’s the exact reason why we plateau at such high case loads for longer than most countries. We get antsy and don’t finish the job.
This isnt going away...ever

 
Which brings us to ‘when can we remove the masks in schools’ question. The smart answer is not for awhile. Which means that they will be done away with soon. I don’t get the mentality that we’ve a couple rough months and that we should reward ourselves with removing restrictions. 
That's not really the argument though -- it's not about rewarding ourselves.  It's that it's almost certainly not good for kids to go two years without interacting with one another face-to-face, and it's worth putting up with marginally more community spread to help facilitate normal childhood development.  If that means that I'm placed slightly more at risk when I go out for coffee, that's fine.  I'm good with that tradeoff.

 
And for my final rant - the discussion about Ro and removing mask requirements in school. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t Ro essentially the acceleration or deceleration of spread in the community? I’ve seen a couple people saying that the Ro is at the lowest point of the entire pandemic and I find that to be a deceiving conclusion.

Spread is rapidly decreasing because of how bad it was just a few weeks ago. I’d you’re driving 110 MPH and slam on the breaks the deceleration is going to steep but it doesn’t mean you’re driving slowly. Just people because it’s not as crazy as it was, doesn’t mean that there isn’t significant community transmission. Other countries have seen prolonged plateaus with cases. If we follow the trends of previous waves ours will have an even longer plateau at higher levels.

Which brings us to ‘when can we remove the masks in schools’ question. The smart answer is not for awhile. Which means that they will be done away with soon. I don’t get the mentality that we’ve a couple rough months and that we should reward ourselves with removing restrictions. It’s the exact reason why we plateau at such high case loads for longer than most countries. We get antsy and don’t finish the job.
It's been 2 years. We've seen numerous peaks and valleys. If we have another valley some people in here will just say we need masks just in case of another variant. It never ends.

 
And for my final rant - the discussion about Ro and removing mask requirements in school. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t Ro essentially the acceleration or deceleration of spread in the community? I’ve seen a couple people saying that the Ro is at the lowest point of the entire pandemic and I find that to be a deceiving conclusion.

Spread is rapidly decreasing because of how bad it was just a few weeks ago. I’d you’re driving 110 MPH and slam on the breaks the deceleration is going to steep but it doesn’t mean you’re driving slowly. Just people because it’s not as crazy as it was, doesn’t mean that there isn’t significant community transmission. Other countries have seen prolonged plateaus with cases. If we follow the trends of previous waves ours will have an even longer plateau at higher levels.

Which brings us to ‘when can we remove the masks in schools’ question. The smart answer is not for awhile. Which means that they will be done away with soon. I don’t get the mentality that we’ve a couple rough months and that we should reward ourselves with removing restrictions. It’s the exact reason why we plateau at such high case loads for longer than most countries. We get antsy and don’t finish the job.
But the Ro has matched the case load and rates.   During delta the Ro accelerated and the case go up ....  The Ro would plateau along with everything else.  The fact that its lowest that its ever been here is a great indicator that the spread is slowing down.   Of course its rapidly decreasing thats a good thing.  In the past it was a slow decline that mirrored the surge.

Not sure why you think the spread is the lowest it has ever been since covid has been tracked is seen as great indicator it is slowing down.   We are well past our plateau here - for now

As far as mask last summer the cdc said we didnt need them indoor.    :shrug:   If we get to those numbers again why not :shrug:

 
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“We need to get back to normal,” I say, while I continue to live my life normally, having barely changed my behavior and lifestyle—or faced any of the horrifying consequences millions of other people have—during the entirety of this still-ongoing pandemic.

“When can we go out to dinner again?” I say as I walk into a restaurant full of people indoor dining.

“When can I see my friends again?” I ask my friends, whom I’m eating dinner with right now.

“When will these restrictions end so we can finally start living our lives?” I demand while I buy tickets on my phone for a mega-concert in Las Vegas.

“This is the kind of stuff we’re missing out on because of lockdown,” I say, sitting in the front row at a packed showing of a new Marvel movie.

“Stop making me wear a mask!” I shout, maskless.

“When will we stop being governed by fear?” I ask, quizzing random people at the mall while I live-stream. They’re too busy shopping to answer.

“Your kids should be in school right now!” I say to a mom, who is constantly anxious because her kids are, in fact, still in school.

“The federal government has to stop with all these lockdowns,” I insist, in a country whose government has never once implemented a lockdown.

“This is Orwellian!” I declare while riding a crowded subway car.

“I just want my life back!” I yell to my Tinder date over the noise in this crowded bar.

“I’m done with COVID,” I say on a TV show broadcasting across a country where thousands of people are dying every day from COVID.

“Enough is enough—we can’t do this forever,” I say, as I continue to exist the same way I have my entire life, not caring to take any precautionary measure on behalf of the health and safety of other people.
Nailed it.

 
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This is all i know .
I just moved from Ma to Florida 2 months ago. My girlfriends kids ,ages 11 and 16, enrolled in school just after the Christmas break . They have NO mask mandates here ,and the kids said nobody wears masks ,students or teachers. On Sunday the 11 yo didnt feel well ,he  had an upset stomach and overall felt like crap ,that lasted 2 days and he has been fine since Wednesday. I felt off on Monday , my symptoms were all over the place ,slight occasional cough, nausea for half a day, some body aches and hot n cold flashes .By Thursday i was feeling better  ,and today im just tired . The 16 yo felt nausea for one day ,nothing more than that. My GF `s mother runs a hospice back in Ma and we have home tests for Covid on hand . We all tested positive . My Gf is negative so far . 

Up north it seems ALL my friends and their families all got covid since we moved away , kind of crazy it hit so many so fast in one big cluster ,but it has to be the Omicron variant  as nobody went to any hospitals and clearly nobody died . A lot of my friends ,the men for sure ,are not pictures of health. All are middle aged ,overweight and drink and smoke and eat what they want. IMO after watching this all unfold and now feeling Covid first hand i believe this variant is the end result more of less ,of a more powerful virus .its weakening as nature intends . I will continue to live my life as i have been ,which is as normal as possible . Florida is the perfect state to do that .

 


Yeah- we've discussed how regional this is and how different our experiences are but I just laugh at anybody in my area still complaining or posting memes.  We literally have had no restrictions whatsoever for like 18+ months.  If you had put me in a time machine in January of 2020 and dropped me here today there's only 3 things I can think of that would even give me an indication that Covid was around or an issue still:

  • WFH - I work from the house full time but I love it - understand not everyone is so fortunate or like it as much as me
  • Seeing people out and about wearing masks
  • Requiring masks at doctor offices and hospitals
I'm really struggling to come up with a list beyond that when thinking of restrictions or things being different.

Don't get me wrong, I do all the right things still - got my booster, stay home most of the time and especially if I'm sick, social distance, wear my mask when out.  But I'm talking about somebody complaining about things - I'm unclear what the complaints are locally.  I understand regional differences, however.

 
Agree for the adult population. But eff them kids, apparently.
Even the "masks in schools" thing is starting to feel weird, like a debate over trade policy taking place in some other country.  We dropped these last year and I don't get the impression that they're even up for discussion right now.  

Maybe this is just on my mind right now.  I'm part of a community that spent the last week debating the relative merits of various kickoff techniques in end-of-game situations in mind-numbing detail, while the actual decision-makers involved are putting together their draft board and making plans for free agency.  It's a weird disconnect between people who emotionally stuck somewhere and the people who move on.  It occurred to me that our national pandemic debate has become something very similar.  

 
I told my daughter that there is talks of removing mask mandates "soon" - it could be march/april in reality.

SHe was like "that will be weird, i don't know about that".  I felt sad for her.  She is 16 and a good kid but the fact that she is "worried" makes me sad.  And we are not OMG YOU HAVE TO MASK OR YOU WILL DIE PEOPLE$#!@#$  Yes we were careful and have been but also have loosened up also.    I'm like you have practice indoors without masks  lol

Just an anecdote about what kids are going through.   Their emotions all over the place

 
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I told my daughter that there is talks of removing mask mandates "soon" - it could be march/april in reality.

SHe was like "that will be weird, i don't know about that".  I felt sad for her.  She is 16 and a good kid but the fact that she is "worried" makes me sad.  And we are not OMG YOU HAVE TO MASK OR YOU WILL DIE PEOPLE$#!@#$  Yes we were careful and have been but also have loosened up also.    I'm like you have practice indoors without masks  lol

Just an anecdote about what kids are going through.   Their emotions all over the place
My son has been in JHS for 2 years, all with masks. Im not sure he knows what his classmates even look like without masks. I know he has anxiety about not wearing a mask in school and it is not related to catching covid at all. Its sad.

 
Yeah- we've discussed how regional this is and how different our experiences are but I just laugh at anybody in my area still complaining or posting memes.  We literally have had no restrictions whatsoever for like 18+ months.  If you had put me in a time machine in January of 2020 and dropped me here today there's only 3 things I can think of that would even give me an indication that Covid was around or an issue still:

  • WFH - I work from the house full time but I love it - understand not everyone is so fortunate or like it as much as me
  • Seeing people out and about wearing masks
  • Requiring masks at doctor offices and hospitals
I'm really struggling to come up with a list beyond that when thinking of restrictions or things being different.

Don't get me wrong, I do all the right things still - got my booster, stay home most of the time and especially if I'm sick, social distance, wear my mask when out.  But I'm talking about somebody complaining about things - I'm unclear what the complaints are locally.  I understand regional differences, however.


I get called some sort of nutjob for suggesting this thing has been over for a year.   This is exactly my experience.  I go out and even thru peak Omi you wouldn't know anything was going on since about August last year except a couple randoms here and there wearing a useless mask.  

Going to NYC over Thanksgiving we used our vax cards to get in restaurants and wore masks where they asked, and that was fine because otherwise you couldn't see Hamilton.  Did that stop the omicron? No, the anime convention saw to that.  

For people that followed the shot rules, omi and this thing is less risky than the flu.  It's been that way for a year.  It's over.  There are a tiny number of people that will still die of this like the flu, and I'm sure a few of them will be missed.  It happens.

 
Lol at masks in schools, been gone here for the duration of this year.  Even before little kids could get shots.  And this is in a district where they had plexiglass and masks for 2020.  

 
AAABatteries said:
  • WFH - I work from the house full time but I love it - understand not everyone is so fortunate or like it as much as me
  • Seeing people out and about wearing masks
  • Requiring masks at doctor offices and hospitals
I'm really struggling to come up with a list beyond that when thinking of restrictions or things being different.

.  But I'm talking about somebody complaining about things - I'm unclear what the complaints are locally.  I understand regional differences, however.
I will add to the list.  Again this is regional as I live in California but here it goes:

  • LA and SF and other locations like Palm Springs requiring vaccines to visit restaurants, bars etc
  • CA dems pushing hard to require vax in kids 5 and up to attend schools
  • Masks in schools
I know masks in schools is still regular in many places around the country and places like Denver & Boulder have indoor mask mandates.  CA implemented a "mandate" in December requiring indoor masks through January which was then extended to mid-February.  Its not a mandate because our gov didnt hand it down and therefore it is not a law which is why business owners are choosing to ignore it mostly.  Sadly this nonsense will continue in this trainwreck of a state until the people running this circus are removed from control. 

I have traveled frequently (32 flights) since this began and its refreshing to visit places like Florida and Texas. 

 
IvanKaramazov said:
Even the "masks in schools" thing is starting to feel weird, like a debate over trade policy taking place in some other country.  We dropped these last year and I don't get the impression that they're even up for discussion right now.  

Maybe this is just on my mind right now.  I'm part of a community that spent the last week debating the relative merits of various kickoff techniques in end-of-game situations in mind-numbing detail, while the actual decision-makers involved are putting together their draft board and making plans for free agency.  It's a weird disconnect between people who emotionally stuck somewhere and the people who move on.  It occurred to me that our national pandemic debate has become something very similar.  
Yes, all of this makes sense. But I live in Illinois, and it seems we are masking our kids in perpetuity. Our school district is one of ~150 districts who filed a suit against the mask mandate. The ruling was supposed to come down this week from the judge in Springfield, and thus far crickets. My optimistic side is hoping the judge is thinking to herself 'I WANT to rule in favor of the plaintiffs, but if I just string it out a few more days the case numbers will be lower and there might be less blowback'. But in reality, she'll probably just leave the mandate in place. Nobody crosses the Democratic/Pritzker machine in Illinois.

 
culdeus said:
I get called some sort of nutjob for suggesting this thing has been over for a year.   This is exactly my experience.  I go out and even thru peak Omi you wouldn't know anything was going on since about August last year except a couple randoms here and there wearing a useless mask.  

Going to NYC over Thanksgiving we used our vax cards to get in restaurants and wore masks where they asked, and that was fine because otherwise you couldn't see Hamilton.  Did that stop the omicron? No, the anime convention saw to that.  

For people that followed the shot rules, omi and this thing is less risky than the flu.  It's been that way for a year.  It's over.  There are a tiny number of people that will still die of this like the flu, and I'm sure a few of them will be missed.  It happens.


Well, that's because it's not over for the unvaxxed and for medical professionals - sure you can say neither of those are you but we had like 5-6k people die the last two days.  Hard to take somebody completely serious that says this is over.

 
In this area, looking at human behavior, it has been "over" for a while. Packed ballgames, packed restaurants, packed churches, large crowd events (rodeos, boat shows, etc.). Nobody cares.

Related: In the last 2 weeks, schools across the area have been forced to shut down due to staffing shortages and/or majority of student population out sick. And as of yesterday, we were just 2 shy of our highest daily number of hospitalizations since the pandemic began. 

I'm not even sure *I* care any more bc it doesn't matter. It just frustrates the hell out of me, tbh. The cabin in the woods looking better and better. It may be time to bump my "build a compound" thread again. 

 
Well, that's because it's not over for the unvaxxed and for medical professionals - sure you can say neither of those are you but we had like 5-6k people die the last two days.  Hard to take somebody completely serious that says this is over.


Why should I care if the unvaxxed die?  At this point it's on them.  Yeah it sucks to be a nurse right now, but they seem to be making bank thru this with pay raises at least anecdotally.  

 
A second version of omicron is spreading. Here's why scientists are on alert

clickbait headline, but tl;dr: "stealth Omicron" aka BA.2 is likely responsible for the current lengthening/resurgence in Denmark, and could very well do the same in the U.S. 

Is omicron BA.2 as transmissible as omicron BA.1?

Over the past several weeks, omicron BA.2 has begun to surprise scientists. And it's starting to look like it can, in some countries, outcompete its sibling omicron BA.1 — and, really, any other variants.

Back in December, omicron BA.1 caused a massive surge in cases in Denmark, similar to the surge in the United States. But then, just as cases began to decline, BA.2 started spreading very rapidly in Denmark. After only a few weeks, BA.2 took over the outbreak there and has lengthened Denmark's surge. Denmark's cases are climbing steeply, with more than 40,000 recorded each day. Since the second week in January, BA.2 has caused more than 50% of those cases, according to the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen.

Omicron BA.2 is also growing exponentially in England and Germany, where it's causing at least 5% of cases in both places. Scientists are concerned it could lengthen surges in those locations as well as possibly in the United States.

Together, this data indicates that BA.2 is not BA.1's weaker sibling, but rather that BA.2 is quite strong and possibly more contagious.

....

"Scientists there have found that there was no increased risk in going to the hospital if you have BA.2 compared to if you have BA.1," Chin-Hong says. "That could change, but that's what we know so far."



 
Well, that's because it's not over for the unvaxxed and for medical professionals - sure you can say neither of those are you but we had like 5-6k people die the last two days.  Hard to take somebody completely serious that says this is over.


Why should I care if the unvaxxed die?  At this point it's on them.  Yeah it sucks to be a nurse right now, but they seem to be making bank thru this with pay raises at least anecdotally.
Because those unvaxxed are people's friends or neighbors or daughters or whatever. Listen, I think the unvaxxed are terribly misinformed and have been duped but man, it sucks to just throw our hands up and say "well, too bad". Lots of people dying, regardless of their political/religious/conspiracyism., etc sucks. It is bad for us as a people.

 
Why should I care if the unvaxxed die?  At this point it's on them.  Yeah it sucks to be a nurse right now, but they seem to be making bank thru this with pay raises at least anecdotally.  
Im unvaxxed and i couldnt care less who cares if i get sick or die , No more than i care if someone i dont know is vaxxed and still dies . We ALL die , nobody gets out alive . It would be like me worrying about every person that smokes a pack of butts a day ,will they get cancer and die ? Most likely ,and thats on them . We could say this about EVERYONE who lives an unhealthy lifestyle and develope many underlying health issues that will eventually kill them . Life goes on all around us

 
Why should I care if the unvaxxed die?  At this point it's on them.  Yeah it sucks to be a nurse right now, but they seem to be making bank thru this with pay raises at least anecdotally.  


I'm not asking you to care - I'm just saying that even if you don't care about them it doesn't mean that it's over.  I guess I'm fine with saying it's over for you - but even that needs a qualifier, IMO.  Those qualifiers for me is continuing to be smart and do all the smart things, get a booster sometime later this year (most likely) and most important (again IMO), being flexible to change gears as things change (mask up more, go out less, etc.).

 
Maybe it would help to distinguish between "I don't care" and "I don't want to anything about this."  

On a philosophical level, I do care when unvaccinated people die of covid.  I'd prefer that that didn't happen to anybody.  

On the other hand, vaccines are just sitting there for free.  Before you ask me to change my behavior to make you safer, I expect that you'll do your own due diligence first.  If you're not going to do that, I'm not going to worry about it and I'll just go on with my life.  I have yet to encounter an anti-vaxxer either online or IRL who isn't perfectly happy with that solution. 

So yeah, I care.  But you can share all the anecdotes you like of unvaxxed parents dying, leaving their wives widows and their kids orphans, and it's not going to make me strap N95s on vaccinated 3rd graders.  Why should they bear the burden of some adult's poor decision making?  (Again, I want to acknowledge that anti-vaxxers seem cool with this).  

 
belljr said:
I told my daughter that there is talks of removing mask mandates "soon" - it could be march/april in reality.

SHe was like "that will be weird, i don't know about that".  I felt sad for her.  She is 16 and a good kid but the fact that she is "worried" makes me sad.  And we are not OMG YOU HAVE TO MASK OR YOU WILL DIE PEOPLE$#!@#$  Yes we were careful and have been but also have loosened up also.    I'm like you have practice indoors without masks  lol

Just an anecdote about what kids are going through.   Their emotions all over the place
My daughter (14) sort of prefers the masks in a way.  Partially the introvert in her...part of it her sarcastic way of making faces when someone says something dumb and she doesn't want her face to show as much for that.    I laughed at her and told her the mask isn't hiding her eyes as she rolls them so she is already out of luck there.

 
Maybe it would help to distinguish between "I don't care" and "I don't want to anything about this."  

On a philosophical level, I do care when unvaccinated people die of covid.  I'd prefer that that didn't happen to anybody.  

On the other hand, vaccines are just sitting there for free.  Before you ask me to change my behavior to make you safer, I expect that you'll do your own due diligence first.  If you're not going to do that, I'm not going to worry about it and I'll just go on with my life.  I have yet to encounter an anti-vaxxer either online or IRL who isn't perfectly happy with that solution. 

So yeah, I care.  But you can share all the anecdotes you like of unvaxxed parents dying, leaving their wives widows and their kids orphans, and it's not going to make me strap N95s on vaccinated 3rd graders.  Why should they bear the burden of some adult's poor decision making?  (Again, I want to acknowledge that anti-vaxxers seem cool with this).  
Honestly, outside of caring about people dying and the sanity and health of our healthcare workers, I do think there’s a valid concern for all of us, even the soulless curmudgeons like culdeus ;)  - that is overwhelmed medical facilities.  It’s small in the grand scheme of things but I had an ankle surgery delayed and my sister had a couple of visits to the doctor moved due to Covid.  That’s been happening a lot from what we’ve heard and that’s more an argument for folks getting vaccinated than you caring but it does impact us all.

 
I love to live in a country where the healthcare system is making bank while crying about over crowed hospitals.  Its not like we been adding beds over the last decade, its the exact opposite.  

Plus let's have a judge force workers to stay at a hospital instead of getting employment at a different facility with better pay.  All this after the original hospital wouldn't match the offer.  Insanity.

 
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I love to live in a country where the healthcare system is making bank while crying about over crowed hospitals.  Its not like we been adding beds over the last decade, its the exact opposite.  

Plus let's have a judge force workers to stay at a hospital instead of getting employment at a different facility with better pay.  All this after the original hospital wouldn't match the offer.  Insanity.
Bro hospitals are getting slaughtered.  We have to pay 3x for clinical staff what we typically pay and we have to cancel lucrative elective procedures.  Oh, you must be talking about the mythical $30k covid payment that I'm going to get fired for if my bosses ever find out that I'm not making our hospitals take advantage of.

Hospitals have been harmed by covid in many ways that will take years to unwind and recover from.

Making bank...SMH

 
Bro hospitals are getting slaughtered.  We have to pay 3x for clinical staff what we typically pay and we have to cancel lucrative elective procedures.  Oh, you must be talking about the mythical $30k covid payment that I'm going to get fired for if my bosses ever find out that I'm not making our hospitals take advantage of.

Hospitals have been harmed by covid in many ways that will take years to unwind and recover from.

Making bank...SMH
Okay.  Let's start with my statement.  Are hospitals losing money now?  If they are disseminate that to employees is a different discussion.  

 

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