Coronavirus (Santa Barbara: carpenter, insurance, buy)

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

That article is nearly a year old, which is an eternity in COVID-19 research.

There’s this assumption that something more transmissible becomes less virulent. I don’t think that’s the position we should take,” says Balloux. Variants including Alpha, Beta and Delta have been linked to heightened rates of hospitalization and death — potentially because they grow to such high levels in people’s airways. The assertion that viruses evolve to become milder “is a bit of a myth”, says Andrew Rambaut, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Edinburgh, UK. “The reality is far more complex.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03619-8

The reality is complex, but every single coronavirus in history that has stuck around has mutated to become the common cold. Early signs with Omicron does show that is a plausible outcome in time.

Right now in the UK, with their tidal wave of Omicron, only 10 people are in hospital because of the variant. Now, that will certainly rise but relative to earlier waves thats a pretty dramatic decrease. What were also seeing is that Omicron waves will hit dramatically quick and drop just as quick. If we look at Gauteng in South Africa they are already coming down.

Dr. John Campbell's daily update from the UK:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfO8verFP7E

[wac_432]

Originally Posted by goodheathen

How many people do you think you've infected? That's the reality, if not you specifically, the vaccine-salvation people in general.

Probably none. Fewer than most, and that lets me sleep just fine at night.

I do more activities than pre-vaccination, but I stay masked up and some of those I'm nowhere near doing, because they make some people sick. Not just minimal or transient symptoms (vaccine manufacturers never promised), and vaccines are known to not hugely cut risk of transmission.

Vaccines do hugely cut the risk of transmission for all but possibly Omicron. They also hugely cut the risk of death or serious illness for all variants.

YMMV. Do whatever allows you to sleep at night, but don't exhort everyone to subscribe to your values of never driving for fear of injuring another driver who refuses to wear their seat belt. That brand of absolutism is more damaging to society than the virus.

Between that part of the population and the anti-vaxxers, the virus keeps circulating at high levels and hurting society. Politicians seem to have lost the guts to tell people to police themselves (e.g., don't spend long periods indoors around unmasked strangers), and I think "do what you like" has been taking over for years before the pandemic. "How dare you tell me what to do? Freedom!" And now we're trapped.

Do you live in the Central Valley? Indiana? Michigan? My local society hasn't been hurt by COVID since last February, despite Delta. Likely despite Omicron and the holidays as well. That's thanks to vaccines and people intelligent enough to take them. Reasonable mask-wearing and hygiene helped too.

If the majority of vaxxed individuals acted like you, it would be a Cytokine Storm of overreaction that would do much more damage to society than an Omicron wave.

The Europeans are the ones who are trapped by this sort of absolutism, and look at the violence and damage erupting there. We've--especially here in California--continued to walk a careful line between precautions and freedoms, avoided that sort of violent social disruption, economic and educational crisis, and I call us a vaccine success story.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by stablegenius

Too bad our governor isn't more intelligent like Colorado's.

‘The emergency is over,’ according to Governor Jared Polis, who explained on Colorado Matters on Friday that vaccines have changed the COVID-19 landscape, rendering masks useful but not required in the state’s fight against the pandemic.

Everybody had more than enough opportunity to get vaccinated. Hopefully it's been at your pharmacy, your grocery store, a bus near you, [or at] big events. At this point, if you haven't been vaccinated, it's really your own darn fault.

Those who get sick, it's almost entirely their own darn fault. I don't want to say that nobody [will get the virus if they’re] vaccinated, but it's very rare. Just to put it in perspective, of the about 1400 people hospitalized, less than 200 (or 16 percent) are vaccinated. And many of them are older or have other conditions. Eighty-four percent of the people in our hospitals are unvaccinated, and they absolutely had every chance to get vaccinated.

https://www.cpr.org/2021/12/10/inter...andates-covid/

It's their own fault? One out of every 100 people in the US who are over 65 have died of Covid
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/13/u...americans.html

[goodheathen]

Originally Posted by joosoon

Just the other day you said schools were what we had to watch out for. You literally said something along the lines of "if this gets into schools, we're done for". And for the record, lot's kids I work with are now vaccinated and most of those are in the under 12 category (this is anecdotal, yes). AND they test.

I was talking about Omicron specifically. Maybe San Diego can hold that off. Other school districts are more lax. Some are reckless and have hardly any protections.

So, how often are *you* getting tested? Just wondering...
It's not like there aren't plenty of free opportunities to do so.

I'm not getting any regular testing. I don't see anything free, quick, and convenient. I'm in I believe the lowest-risk category above shut-in. The gym is the only possibly risky place I regularly spend a moderate amount of time in, I mask up and don't converse in there, and now it's enforcing the vaccine passport. If the government or gym were to ask me to be tested regularly, I'd act differently. Or if someone here who is vaxxed and wants to live life to the fullest is willing to make a deal, I'll get tested more if that person will.

[goodheathen]

Vaccines do hugely cut the risk of transmission for all but possibly Omicron. They also hugely cut the risk of death or serious illness for all variants.

No, they don't cut transmission well, not after the first few months. And when breakthrough infections happen, people at the start are as contagious as unvaccinated individuals. I still say every little bit helps and it's a much-lowered risk of serious complications, but it appears the government is lying by omission about transmissibility to not undercut vaccination efforts.

YMMV. Do whatever allows you to sleep at night, but don't exhort everyone to subscribe to your values of never driving for fear of injuring another driver who refuses to wear their seat belt. That brand of absolutism is more damaging to society than the virus.

Always the driving analogy, like they all tune into Fox News, Joe Rogan, or something.

Do you live in the Central Valley? Indiana? Michigan? My local society hasn't been hurt by COVID since last February, despite Delta. Likely despite Omicron and the holidays as well. That's thanks to vaccines and people intelligent enough to take them. Reasonable mask-wearing and hygiene helped too.

I don't know where you are, though I guess you're in somewhere relevant, which is California for this thread. I should trust your assertion that your region isn't being harmed now because? As far as I know, COVID-19 is hurting almost all regions, inside and outside this state. People these days seem to not believe in duties, but I say you and other residents have a duty to help reduce the spread of the virus. Let the government do most of the burden of propping up the economy while people are less social.

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

It's their own fault? One out of every 100 people in the US who are over 65 have died of Covid
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/13/u...americans.html

I don’t think anyone is talking about those who died before or in the early days of the vaccine. But if you’re at risk and you refuse the vaccine and you die, yeah it is your fault.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by goodheathen

I was talking about Omicron specifically. Maybe San Diego can hold that off. Other school districts are more lax. Some are reckless and have hardly any protections.




I'm not getting any regular testing. I don't see anything free, quick, and convenient. I'm in I believe the lowest-risk category above shut-in. The gym is the only possibly risky place I regularly spend a moderate amount of time in, I mask up and don't converse in there, and now it's enforcing the vaccine passport. If the government or gym were to ask me to be tested regularly, I'd act differently. Or if someone here who is vaxxed and wants to live life to the fullest is willing to make a deal, I'll get tested more if that person will.

Under 12? Isn’t that the lowest risk category?

[Carpenter858]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

Intelligent?

Colorado's confirmed virus case rate per 100k in the past 14 days: 582.6, California's: 225.5
Colorado's confirmed death rate per 100k in past 14 days: 9.5; California's: 2.6

Doesn't take much to be more intelligent than our dictator. Sure, higher now, but overall Co is 41st (1,740 per m) in death rate and Ca is 35th (1,915 per m). Ca is tied with Nv for highest unemployment rate (7.3%) compared to Co at 34 (5.4%) as of October. Wonder what November will show?

Polis likely didn't get his funding from Daddy Getty like Newsolini. Started and sold several successful companies more on his own than our dictator. Does this make him more intelligent? Not sure, but makes him more likable and competent than what we're seeing here with all the useless mandates which have not worked.

[stablegenius]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

I don’t think anyone is talking about those who died before or in the early days of the vaccine. But if you’re at risk and you refuse the vaccine and you die, yeah it is your fault.

EXACTLY. ****ing cherry pickers. I was specifically citing how Polis said "at this point" everyone has had the opportunity to get vaxxed.

[tikkasf]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Under 12? Isn’t that the lowest risk category?

I believe that is correct. It is probably more about reducing transmission to other groups of higher risk