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Update on Omicron

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Re: Update on Omicron

#31

Post by john_moscow »

ajmurmann wrote: post #8
chasil wrote: post #2

This new variant has been called "mild." I hope this proves to be true, and is not used as an excuse for another lockdown. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-diseas...

Why do you say "excuse for another lockdown"? Are you implying that someone in government has alterior motives to desire a lockdown?

You can always follow the money to see who benefits from a decision, and who gets penalized.

The initial lockdowns penalized many small businesses (small shops, hairdressers) that could not operate and benefited large online retailers and chains like Walmart that were declared exempt, that got extra business.

The lockdowns also justified large-scale payout of benefits, that were funded by increasing the money supply. This benefited the owners of limited-supply assets (stocks, real estate, even the f*cking crypto) at the expense of people with cash savings and those with fixed/slowly changing income (most salaried employees).

Since most members of government are major real estate owners and stock investors, they absolutely had benefited from the lockdown-related economic measures more than an average salaried employee.

It is also notable that the effects of increasing the money supply are delayed. We are starting to see the inevitable rise of inflation over a year after the start of the pandemic. It will take a long time for it to taper down, and we are yet to see how it will affect the average quality of life (i.e. salary/expense ratio).

Re: Update on Omicron

#33

Post by chiefalchemist »

metamet wrote: post #19
ajmurmann wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you say "excuse for another lockdown"? Are you implying that someone in government has alterior motives to desire a lockdown?

This narrative is so silly to me. Same with those who think that mandating mask wearing is some flex by the government to exert control. It's common sense that in order to stop the spread of highly contagious respiratory viruses, having folks stay away from one another for a bit works... if people follow the lockdown, which too many don't. If anything, politicians are hesitant to invoke a lockdown due to the vocal mi…

Based on people I've discussed this with their explanation is: The data doesn't support lockdowns and madates for the masses. Deaths are typically a select subset of the population. Hospitalizations much the same. Using a one size fit all solution - when surgical solutions are more appropriate -makes them suspect.

Please don't shoot this messenger. I'm just providing context that tends to be missed elsewhere.

p.s. fwiw, there were these in the past week or so:

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-heal...

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211122-could-mrna-make-...

Both of those certain raise a reasonable eyebrow.

Re: Update on Omicron

#34

Post by oezi »

m12k wrote: post #25
swader999 wrote: post #6

In general, respiratory viruses tend to get less severe over time. With this mass vaccination approach it may not turn out that way by some accounts I've read.

In order for there to be an evolutionary pressure toward becoming less severe, having higher severity has to give some disadvantage - e.g. killing the host before it can spread the disease or giving stronger symptoms so hosts can be isolated before they can spread it. The corona virus is pretty unique in how much it can spread before/without any symptoms showing up, which should mean there's relatively less room for…

I think it is the other way around, there is no pressure to maintain a high severity as long as the virus can spread thus leading to mutations that lose the severe traits.

Re: Update on Omicron

#35

Post by Mountain_Skies »

afavour wrote: post #27
rafale wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is way better than what the media has been "speculating".

I do wish people would be more specific when saying “the media”. There are a lot of media outlets out there, some are level headed, some are hysterical.

Which ones do you believe are level headed?

Re: Update on Omicron

#36

Post by ceejayoz »

polote wrote: post #13
ajmurmann wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you say "excuse for another lockdown"? Are you implying that someone in government has alterior motives to desire a lockdown?

> https://www.ft.com/content/620e3d31-ba90-4cb6-ae27-6e2d0740d... 19% of britons are in favor of eternal curfews. It seems very likely that some percentage also desire lockdowns

There's a 10-20% proportion on any poll that'll pick the insane option.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/02/14/277058739...

Sometimes out of ignorance, sometimes out of "I'll pick one at random".

Re: Update on Omicron

#37

Post by markdown »

marchingtomars wrote: post #30
ajmurmann wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you say "excuse for another lockdown"? Are you implying that someone in government has alterior motives to desire a lockdown?

It doesn't have to be someone in government. It could be a group of people acting strategically towards a particular goal, in a series of steps. Those steps would include paying funds for the following: Lobbying governmental officials across all three branches, Strategically networking & "giving gifts" (quid pro quo), Sponsoring scientific studies, Paying journalists to report certain things. For example, Amazon Exec…

But what about the frogs turning gay?

Re: Update on Omicron

#38

Post by belter »

South Africa's COVID-19 adviser, Prof Barry Schoub told Sky News that so far, most Omicron cases, were mild.

https://youtu.be/3RSRtuRm92o

Edit: "South African doctor who raised alarm about omicron variant says symptoms are ‘unusual but mild’"

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-diseas...

"Dr Angelique Coetzee said she was first alerted to the possibility of a new variant when patients in her busy private practice in the capital Pretoria started to come in earlier this month with Covid-19 symptoms that did not make immediate sense.

They included young people of different backgrounds and ethnicities with intense fatigue and a six-year-old child with a very high pulse rate, she said. None suffered from a loss of taste or smell."

Re: Update on Omicron

#39

Post by Negitivefrags »

ajmurmann wrote: post #8
chasil wrote: post #2

This new variant has been called "mild." I hope this proves to be true, and is not used as an excuse for another lockdown. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-diseas...

Why do you say "excuse for another lockdown"? Are you implying that someone in government has alterior motives to desire a lockdown?

I think the ulterior motive is ass-covering.

If you don't order a lockdown and it was needed then lots of people die, this is very bad.

If you do order a lockdown and it wasn't needed then you can say that you were just being safe. And it's hard to even tell when a lockdown wasn't needed because the very act of doing it changes the result and leads to less cases. The lockdown was successful!

It's always easy to say "We did it to save lives" and few people will hold you to account for it.

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