~*Official #COVID-19 Thread of Doom*~ Revenge of Omicron Prime

[Chris-]

43 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

 

There are thousands of articles about antibody evasion in Omicron. Here is the first hit on Google.

 

Striking antibody evasion manifested by the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2

WWW.NATURE.COM

 

And the only reason vaccinated people previously were less likely to spread the virus was due to the drastically lower chances of catching it in the first place. But once you are infected, there is nothing different about your Covid germs than the next guy. Something we have known for a looooong time, which is why the standard protocol for infected and vaccinated people has always been to isolate.

I posted a tweet earlier that suggests Omicron might spread amongst vaccinated populations at a wildly lower rate; ‘antibody evasion’ and ‘epidemiological control’ are two separate things. We will absolutely see more breakthrough cases, but that is a far cry from vaccines being completely negated. 

[Massdriver]

2022 will bring with it some variant specific boosters afterall from what I’ve read. Moderna is even working on one that will target 4+ variants in one shot. 

[SuperSpreader]

You can be SuperDuperSpreader, "we're all gonna get it anyway!!"

[Joe]

7 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

 

Striking antibody evasion manifested by the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2

WWW.NATURE.COM

 

 

False.

Substantially diminished does not mean none. There have been numerous studies showing the efficacy of the booster against Omicron for infection already.

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, Joe said:

Substantially diminished does not mean none. There have been numerous studies showing the efficacy of the booster against Omicron for infection already.

 

I never said none, and apologies if I wasn't clear enough. The antibody evasion will turn out to be on the worse end of the initial projections, which means the majority of even boosted people will not be protected from infection. And it seems rather likely that the effects of the booster for antibody aid in those for whom it does increase protection drops off terribly fast. Also, don't be fooled by relative statistics! Look at the actual probabilities.

 

10 minutes ago, Chris- said:

I posted a tweet earlier that suggests Omicron might spread amongst vaccinated populations at a wildly lower rate; ‘antibody evasion’ and ‘epidemiological control’ are two separate things. We will absolutely see more breakthrough cases, but that is a far cry from vaccines being completely negated. 

 

They...aren't really. The reason that the vaccines with prior variants proved very successful at controlling spread was precisely because the antibody response was powerful enough to halt infection in the first place, and also decreased the viral load in those who had breakthroughs. So what exactly do you think happens to a person for which their antibodies have no neutralizing effect on the virus, which is the case for the majority of vaccinated individuals? 

[Captain Pickle]

3 hours ago, sblfilms said:

Segregating won’t slow the spread for a variant that is nearly unaffected by vaccination when it comes to preventing infection, and Covid positive vaccinated people spread the virus just the same. Being vaccinated is now wholly about how you want to experience being infected. People need to accept that.

 

The only thing that would slow the spread is individuals en masse deciding to stay home. Vaccines aren’t going to do it.

Says the guy whose whole family has it. Knock on wood but I’ll stick to being super awesome for now.

 

but honestly, hope you guys get through it quickly!

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Captain Pickle said:

Says the guy whose whole family has it. Knock on wood but I’ll stick to being super awesome for now.

 

but honestly, hope you guys get through it quickly!

Amusingly, I got it at my home 😂

[Captain Pickle]

2 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

Amusingly, I got it at my home 😂

Tis the giving season!

[marioandsonic]

I have no idea what to think or believe when reading this thread anymore.

[Ghost_MH]

2 hours ago, sblfilms said:

We are waaaaay past the point of "risky behavior" differentiation.  And spreading it is the issue in the context of segregating people in public spaces. I'm genuinely surprised by how behind you guys seem to be on Omicron. Maybe @AbsolutSurgenwas right about our terrible news coverage here  

 

That's far too binary of a way to look at things. If everyone is going to get Omicron, we'd be better off if it spreads across the entire population slowly. Unless Omicron spreads among vaccinated at the same rate as it does among unvaccinated, it's worth taking whatever measures we can until there are variant boosters available or to simply mitigate the risk of further crushing our already defeated medical system.

 

"Fuck it, I'm going to get it anyway, YOLO" isn't going to be much relief to those that can't get help for whatever COVID or non-COVID related illness or injury they sustain over the next year.

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, marioandsonic said:

I have no idea what to think or believe when reading this thread anymore.

You’re vaccinated and boosted, you’re very likely fine and will experience nothing worse than what I am right now, very mild cold symptoms.

 

2 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

That's far too binary of a way to look at things. If everyone is going to get Omicron, we'd be better off if it spreads across the entire population slowly. Unless Omicron spreads among vaccinated at the same rate as it does among unvaccinated, it's worth taking whatever measures we can until there are variant boosters available or to simply mitigate the risk of further crushing our already defeated medical system.

 

"Fuck it, I'm going to get it anyway, YOLO" isn't going to be much relief to those that can't get help for whatever COVID or non-COVID related illness or injury they sustain over the next year.

 

You are misinterpreting what I’m saying. My point isn’t “YOLO”, it’s that segregating the unvaccinated from the vaccinated will not make a meaningful impact on the rate of spread because Omicron antibody evasion is essentially complete in the vast majority of vaccinated people, meaning the protective potential from infection has fallen off the face of the earth. The protection once infected remains stellar, which makes the likelihood of vaccinated people ending up taking up resources in the healthcare system fairly small.

 

Unvaccinated people aren’t going to catch the virus at a slower rate by being forced into unvaccinated only spaces, which is what logically ends up happening. And if we are being honest with ourselves, we have come close to running out of willing participants even when things like jobs are on the line. Maybe we squeeze another couple of percentage points out with strong vaccine requirements in public spaces, but we also know it still isn’t primarily public spaces where spread is occurring. It’s stories more like mine where infected people come to your house for an hour and end up getting everybody else sick.

 

So what exactly is the strategy being employed here that slows the spread?

[Joe]

Gottlieb retweeted this.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Joe said:

Gottlieb retweeted this.

Yes, symptomatic infections. Not infections broadly! Boosters help fight off the symptoms at a higher rate than 2 doses only. I mean, I’ve had the faintest of symptoms. Had many worse bouts after allergic reactions to mowing my lawn 😂 Were it not for the confirmed exposure I really wouldn’t have assumed it was Covid.

 

The vaccines are incredible, but in their current form against the current variant, they are tilted much more towards their core purpose of stopping symptoms from getting bad. Hopefully the pharmas can spin up some new versions that target the spike mutations and get us back to a place where the vaccines are very effective at preventing infection in the first place as that would indeed lead to slower spread😊

[PaladinSolo]

So my sons test from sunday came back negative for COVID but positive for Rhinovirus, my wife and daughters results still haven't come back from friday at a NYS testing site, while my positive from Dr.'s office on friday came back christmas day, but my sons test has me thinking i'm asymptomatic for COVID and just have a cold, as mine and everyone elses symptoms are mild congestion, and the kids slight fevers.

[CayceG]

44 minutes ago, marioandsonic said:

I have no idea what to think or believe when reading this thread anymore.

 

 

We're just all bullshitting around things. 1% is real actual "what do I do" situations or just venting. 

 

If you're vaxxed and boosted and wear a mask, your risk is pretty low. In times of large community spread (now) I personally curtail more of my public appearances. That's about it. 

[Joe]

14 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

Yes, symptomatic infections. Not infections broadly! Boosters help fight off the symptoms at a higher rate than 2 doses only. I mean, I’ve had the faintest of symptoms. Had many worse bouts after allergic reactions to mowing my lawn 😂 Were it not for the confirmed exposure I really wouldn’t have assumed it was Covid.

 

The vaccines are incredible, but in their current form against the current variant, they are tilted much more towards their core purpose of stopping symptoms from getting bad. Hopefully the pharmas can spin up some new versions that target the spike mutations and get us back to a place where the vaccines are very effective at preventing infection in the first place as that would indeed lead to slower spread😊

Right but if you’re asymptomatic, you’re not spreading the virus unless the science on that has changed.

 

Btw, are you folks going to take the COVID test? If you mentioned it, I missed it. I saw that if your symptoms are very mild, basically a cold, then there’s a chance you don’t actually have the virus. Could be your antibodies preventing infection which would be pretty neat.

[AbsolutSurgen]

12 minutes ago, Joe said:

Right but if you’re asymptomatic, you’re not spreading the virus unless the science on that has changed.

 

Btw, are you folks going to take the COVID test? If you mentioned it, I missed it. I saw that if your symptoms are very mild, basically a cold, then there’s a chance you don’t actually have the virus. Could be your antibodies preventing infection which would be pretty neat.

The science has always shown that asymptomatic and presymptomatic people spread the virus. 

[Joe]

6 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

The science has always shown that asymptomatic and presymptomatic people spread the virus. 

For some reason, I thought there was a distinction where the asymptomatic didn’t, but the presymptomatic did. Could be something very early on that changed.

[AbsolutSurgen]

 

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, Joe said:

Right but if you’re asymptomatic, you’re not spreading the virus unless the science on that has changed.

 

Btw, are you folks going to take the COVID test? If you mentioned it, I missed it. I saw that if your symptoms are very mild, basically a cold, then there’s a chance you don’t actually have the virus. Could be your antibodies preventing infection which would be pretty neat.

As noted by @AbsolutSurgen, umm, that is wrong  

 

I got tested mostly as a proxy for our family unit. Timeline matched up with the onset of symptoms relative to exposure, but I had the latest arriving and mildest. So figured if I was positive pretty slam dunk that all of us are. I don’t think it is super necessary for every possible infected person to get tested. Not really anything to do about it. Just firmed up the plan already to stay isolated!

[Jason]

Very cool that we're cutting isolation times for reasons that have nothing to do with new evidence about how long you're infectious for.

 

 

[Jason]

 

[thewhyteboar]

Just got my booster 5 minutes ago. My wife's maternity leave ends this week so she will go back to the office. She will be getting hers in a week or two.

[rc0101]

My wife took two rapid tests both positive. So we went to Walgreens and took the lab test that will show positive. Whole family is vaccinated so we will just hang out for two weeks? I’m guessing that’s the basic protocol here? 

[Joe]

45 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

This was on a phone call with governors. Come on with this crap.

[SimpleG]

11 minutes ago, rc0101 said:

My wife took two rapid tests both positive. So we went to Walgreens and took the lab test that will show positive. Whole family is vaccinated so we will just hang out for two weeks? I’m guessing that’s the basic protocol here? 

5 days per the CDC

CDC shortens recommend quarantine duration, with restrictions

WWW.CNET.COM

---

Infected people now only need to self-isolate for a minimum of five days.

 

[thewhyteboar]

38 minutes ago, Joe said:

This was on a phone call with governors. Come on with this crap.

Yup. It's a 5 second clip that's been cropped to hell. Let's not play the Daily Caller game.

[CayceG]

1 hour ago, Joe said:

This was on a phone call with governors. Come on with this crap.

 

And it still didn't sound any better in the full clip. He still kicks the can down to the states, knowing that there's a whole range of ways states are reacting to it--both doing what they can to help, and to perpetuate it. Asa Hutchinson himself (the guy Biden was responding to) has fought federal vaccine mandates and is on record regretting signing a law prohibiting schools from instituting mask mandates. Biden's response just completely misses those failures. 

 

He is the de facto head of the political party that is in power. He controls the largest bureaucracy on the planet. He has the House, 48 members of the Senate, plus two shitheads to arrange a response that advances where we are not just as a country but globally in this thing. 

 

Maybe there's not really a lot the president himself can do here. But they're in power to fix shit. And our rotten gerontocracy should have enough collective knowhow of how this government works to come up with something creative. 

 

 

But no. 

 

The Democrats through 2021 have pissed away the last bits of confidence I have in their ability not just to govern, but to lead. 

Bring on the rotating white hairs and give us our own Brezhnevs/Chernenkos/Andropovs until the country falls apart because all we can think of is "getting everyone back to work" and not the actual wellbeing of the people. 

 

 

[Joe]

50 minutes ago, CayceG said:

 

And it still didn't sound any better in the full clip. He still kicks the can down to the states, knowing that there's a whole range of ways states are reacting to it--both doing what they can to help, and to perpetuate it. Asa Hutchinson himself (the guy Biden was responding to) has fought federal vaccine mandates and is on record regretting signing a law prohibiting schools from instituting mask mandates. Biden's response just completely misses those failures. 

 

He is the de facto head of the political party that is in power. He controls the largest bureaucracy on the planet. He has the House, 48 members of the Senate, plus two shitheads to arrange a response that advances where we are not just as a country but globally in this thing. 

 

Maybe there's not really a lot the president himself can do here. But they're in power to fix shit. And our rotten gerontocracy should have enough collective knowhow of how this government works to come up with something creative. 

 

 

But no. 

 

The Democrats through 2021 have pissed away the last bits of confidence I have in their ability not just to govern, but to lead. 

Bring on the rotating white hairs and give us our own Brezhnevs/Chernenkos/Andropovs until the country falls apart because all we can think of is "getting everyone back to work" and not the actual wellbeing of the people. 

 

 

“As you look for federal solutions that will help alleviate the challenge, make sure that we do not let federal solutions stand in the way of state solutions.” 
 

This is the quote he was responding to. It’s clear that he’s making sure these governors understand that he will not get in their way with any solution he proposes.

 

To take this quote out of context and make it seem like his administration is doing nothing to combat the virus and leave it all in the hands of the states is utter bullshit. 
 

But if people like you and Jason want to do the right’s dirty work for them, by all means sir.

 

Meanwhile I’m grateful for this administration’s vaccine mandate, for their ability to recognize their fuck-up regarding mailing people free tests, and even the new announcement that there will now be federal testing sites!

 

 

[CayceG]

We're a year in to the presidency and when he was inaugurated things were just about as bad as they are now. Where were the federal testing sites? 

 

I'll give him the vaccine mandate. That's fair. 

 

He still hasn't released the patents to help the rest of the world that's still waiting on 1st vaccine doses. 

 

And you can claim I'm doing the right's dirty work all you want. That's just not true. Criticizing Biden isn't helping the right wing. That's foolish. Don't look at me like I'm in some political team binary. I want Biden to live up to the standards and promises he made to get to where he is. So far he has not. 

 

He isn't 100% to blame with where things are either. I can lob just as many grenades at the right and their followers. But when it comes to exercising power to do what he said, he's fallen well short.

[Joe]

1 minute ago, CayceG said:

We're a year in to the presidency and when he was inaugurated things were just about as bad as they are now. Where were the federal testing sites? 

 

I'll give him the vaccine mandate. That's fair. 

 

He still hasn't released the patents to help the rest of the world that's still waiting on 1st vaccine doses. 

 

And you can claim I'm doing the right's dirty work all you want. That's just not true. Criticizing Biden isn't helping the right wing. That's foolish. Don't look at me like I'm in some political team binary. I want Biden to live up to the standards and promises he made to get to where he is. So far he has not. 

 

He isn't 100% to blame with where things are either. I can lob just as many grenades at the right and their followers. But when it comes to exercising power to do what he said, he's fallen well short.

Biden made a monumental movement to get people vaccinated when he was inaugurated. Maybe some have forgotten? I myself got both doses in a FEMA site in the Meadowlands in NJ as did countless NJ residents.

 

I’m not saying he’s above criticism (the new CDC rule is bullshit), but let’s not help promote right wing out of context clips.

[Joe]

 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

Whoopsie!

[Guest]

Third day since symptoms presented and I’m back to normal. My PCR test just came back positive and Omicron is the stated variant found in my sample.

 

Wife has a slight bit of congestion, but kinda feels like even that will clear up by dinner time. Kids are all fine, but are faking so their aunt will keep taking care of them 😂

 

Vaccines are wonderful

[Fizzzzle]

Damn, I finally got around to scheduling a booster appointment and I couldn't get one until the end of January.