Coronavirus (Freedom: converting, settlers, houses)

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Coming soon

[goodheathen]

The pandemic isn't over. When maybe this spring a pill is available to most people at appreciable risk for urgent-care usage after infection, it might be over to the government beyond vaccination requirements, which I expect to stay as long as there are millions unvaccinated or with protection months out of date.

People saying Omicron is not troublesome are wrong. On a symptoms level, yes, that might be true in most cases, more likely when already vaccinated
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/know...135300256.html
But if it becomes endemic, then without cheap, very accurate, rapid testing that can be done anywhere, anyone with the common cold and maybe the average person with cold-like allergy symptoms gets caught in a major hassle and employers that need workers on site are extremely burdened.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by goodheathen

The pandemic isn't over. When maybe this spring a pill is available to most people at appreciable risk for urgent-care usage after infection, it might be over to the government beyond vaccination requirements, which I expect to stay as long as there are millions unvaccinated or with protection months out of date.

People saying Omicron is not troublesome are wrong. On a symptoms level, yes, that might be true in most cases, more likely when already vaccinated
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/know...135300256.html
But if it becomes endemic, then without cheap, very accurate, rapid testing that can be done anywhere, anyone with the common cold and maybe the average person with cold-like allergy symptoms gets caught in a major hassle and employers that need workers on site are extremely burdened.

If it becomes like the common cold why shouldn't we just treat it as such?

[ohio_peasant]

Originally Posted by goodheathen

...
But if it becomes endemic, then without cheap, very accurate, rapid testing that can be done anywhere, anyone with the common cold and maybe the average person with cold-like allergy symptoms gets caught in a major hassle and employers that need workers on site are extremely burdened.

A "major hassle" is not an emergency, and nowise merits an emergency response. While I sincerely sympathize with anyone waylaid by a debilitating illness, be it Covid or anything else, the nature of life is to get ill and to either sustain it or to eventually die. True emergencies are catastrophic departures from the norm, on a mass-scale. A mere hassle, however oppressive on an individual level, is entirely within the norm, of what it means to be human!

[goodheathen]

Originally Posted by sav858

If it becomes like the common cold why shouldn't we just treat it as such?

You know that's not the common cold and that more than a small percentage of people will get flu-like symptoms and be stuck at home for a while. Probably some people will get post-viral symptoms also, and maybe a few people will die. It's worth pointing out we're nowhere near lifting quarantine for a variant because it's milder.

I'm not saying that would justify more than testing and mask requirements and it's not my idea of a health emergency, but it might be an economic emergency (burden on businesses and healthcare systems). If Omicron is extremely contagious, that is. In which case many or most places will mandate masks for their own self-interest. It might even lead to more outdoor masking than seen post-lockdown.

[wac_432]

Originally Posted by goodheathen

Officials throughout the entire country thought the vaccines would accomplish a lot. Probably the same for other nations with different vaccines. Not really their fault that hasn't worked out, though they should start pointing fingers at the makers. It was a mistake to rapidly lift most restrictions (premature signal to relax, which the virus likes), and no I don't see curfews coming or anything only that could accomplish.

Maybe things haven't changed for you, but my kids are back in school, back in ballet/piano/choir/sports, we're going over to friends' houses, we had a neigborhood block party/potluck. This summer we went to water parks, festivals, etc. There's no store we can't visit and we are dining indoors without a problem, (except that it's even more not worth the money now). We're flying and travelling just as often as before (barring international travel), libraries are open. My parents are attending packed sporting events.

Vaccines did all that. Not masks, not shutdowns, vax.

Covid-19 is in the rearview for everyone vaccinated. Yes, it can make you sick, but it wasn't that severe to begin with and with the vax it's a non-issue. I've probably already caught it, but barely felt anything thanks to the vax. Now the variants are faster-spreading and 30% less virulent, we're well down the pathway to the common cold, and those vaxxed are already there.

Also very cool is the fact that the MRNA vax didn't turn us into satanic lizard people or zombies. So I'm looking forward to next year's flu/RSV/COVID Variant booster combination shot. Hopefully they throw in the common cold too.

Finally, all this focus on health and a little bit of masking/sanitizing/hand washing, plus fast food and grocery workers being compelled to wear masks has meant that I haven't been significantly sick since 2019. That's awesome. I hope the food service industry at the minimum, and hopefully all of us, follow how the Asians do it and masks become commonplace in everyday life even after they're no longer compulsory.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by goodheathen

You know that's not the common cold and that more than a small percentage of people will get flu-like symptoms and be stuck at home for a while. Probably some people will get post-viral symptoms also, and maybe a few people will die. It's worth pointing out we're nowhere near lifting quarantine for a variant because it's milder.

I'm not saying that would justify more than testing and mask requirements and it's not my idea of a health emergency, but it might be an economic emergency (burden on businesses and healthcare systems). If Omicron is extremely contagious, that is. In which case many or most places will mandate masks for their own self-interest. It might even lead to more outdoor masking than seen post-lockdown.

We don't really know that right now and I'm not just talking about Omnicron but any future variant. What if it does evolve to be a very mild sickness like the common cold, which other coronaviruses are already are? Shouldn't we treat it as such?

[goodheathen]

It will be several months or maybe much longer than that to determine whether Omicron is truly mild enough to be treated more like the common cold than 'traditional' COVID-19. I say don't count on any thriving variant to be mild. It appears to be myth that nasty diseases ever mutate into harmless ones. As is, anticipate life becoming more of a hassle this winter and maybe beyond.

[goodheathen]

Originally Posted by wac_432

Maybe things haven't changed for you, but my kids are back in school, back in ballet/piano/choir/sports, we're going over to friends' houses, we had a neigborhood block party/potluck. This summer we went to water parks, festivals, etc. There's no store we can't visit and we are dining indoors without a problem, (except that it's even more not worth the money now). We're flying and travelling just as often as before (barring international travel), libraries are open. My parents are attending packed sporting events.

Vaccines did all that. Not masks, not shutdowns, vax.

Covid-19 is in the rearview for everyone vaccinated. Yes, it can make you sick, but it wasn't that severe to begin with and with the vax it's a non-issue. I've probably already caught it, but barely felt anything thanks to the vax. Now the variants are faster-spreading and 30% less virulent, we're well down the pathway to the common cold, and those vaxxed are already there.

Also very cool is the fact that the MRNA vax didn't turn us into satanic lizard people or zombies. So I'm looking forward to next year's flu/RSV/COVID Variant booster combination shot. Hopefully they throw in the common cold too.

Finally, all this focus on health and a little bit of masking/sanitizing/hand washing, plus fast food and grocery workers being compelled to wear masks has meant that I haven't been significantly sick since 2019. That's awesome. I hope the food service industry at the minimum, and hopefully all of us, follow how the Asians do it and masks become commonplace in everyday life even after they're no longer compulsory.

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

[sav858]

Originally Posted by goodheathen

It will be several months or maybe much longer than that to determine whether Omicron is truly mild enough to be treated more like the common cold than 'traditional' COVID-19. I say don't count on any thriving variant to be mild. It appears to be myth that nasty diseases ever mutate into harmless ones. As is, anticipate life becoming more of a hassle this winter and maybe beyond.

How is that a "myth"? We'd all be dead if diseases just kept mutating into more deadly ones.

Most virologists tend to agree, suspecting that SARS-CoV-2 will follow a similar evolutionary trajectory to the four endemic coronaviruses that cause the “common cold”, prosaically called 229E, HKU1, NL63 and OC43.

The coronavirus could end up mild like a common cold