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Update on Omicron

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Re: Update on Omicron

#591

Post by choeger »

There's little that can be done, sadly. We had so many shutdowns/lockdowns that did not really help (here in Germany, lockdowns were usually announced when the growth rate had already leveled off). Closing schools and kindergarten hurts kids. Home office might be an idea, where it is not already standard.

What I wonder is: Instead of only restricting movement in the general population, why are there not many more tests? Why can we not PCR test the whole population every single day? Using a relatively straightforward pooling scheme that should not be too difficult, should it?

At the same time: Why on earth is it so difficult to coordinate vaccination? Why is no industrialized nation capable of vaccinating 10-20% of its population on a given day?

I really feel like government response has been disproportionate so far: Many restrictions and few, if any, actual actions.

Re: Update on Omicron

#592

Post by shlant »

rayxc wrote: post #582

[flagged]

not sure why you are bringing up Portugal as if it's some sort of gotcha. It's doing very well in terms of deaths, similar to the UK, Canada etc. who also have high vaccination rates.

Re: Update on Omicron

#593

Post by DyslexicAtheist »

noarchy wrote: post #574

This variant is already being found on nearly every continent as I type this. We still don’t seem to know if this variant is more or less contagious or more or less deadly. It’s too late to stop it’s spread. So then what? Just keep pushing the worldwide vaccination campaign? I don’t see what else can be done that wouldn’t simply be kicking the can down the road more.

> We still don’t seem to know if this variant is more or less contagious (R0 of 2)

we already know it's far more contagious but not if it's more deadly than delta with an r0 of 2:

> The estimated reproduction number, the average number of people that an individual is likely to infect, is almost 2 in Gauteng compared with nearly 1.5 nationally. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2299194-omicron-how-dan...

Re: Update on Omicron

#594

Post by mpfundstein »

shlant wrote: post #576

good twitter thread that provides a level-headed perspective based on what we actually currently know: https://twitter.com/sailorrooscout/status/146422268073182004...

why should we trust this weird twitter account?

where is this person even from? She/he says senior scientist? Of what?

Re: Update on Omicron

#596

Post by dageshi »

incrudible wrote: post #586
namanaggarwal wrote: post #578

For those commenting that it's just common cold and about herd immunity, I think we should not miss out on overload on our medical system. This is what happened in India, due to high number of cases (even if mild) the medical infrastructure completely crashed under the load and lead to far more deaths than just a flu could have caused. Wear mask and stay indoors if possible

> Wear mask and stay indoors if possible For all we know about transmission, you should stay outdoors, if possible. If this isn't possible, maximize ventilation. Limit contacts in general. Masks have a very modest impact on transmission.

I imagine they mean, avoid leaving home as much as possible.

Re: Update on Omicron

#597

Post by [deleted] »

xlii wrote: post #575

Does anyone actually have source to that? Yesterday we've seen WHO's update about Omicron which was basically "it looks like something we need to investigate, we don't know a lot yet" Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29373066 Today there's anonymous WHO representative (no mention in article who exactly and when gave the statement) that there's global risk on Reuters and there are dozens of re-publications…

[deleted]

Re: Update on Omicron

#598

Post by YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo »

mpfundstein wrote: post #594
shlant wrote: post #576

good twitter thread that provides a level-headed perspective based on what we actually currently know: https://twitter.com/sailorrooscout/status/146422268073182004...

why should we trust this weird twitter account? where is this person even from? She/he says senior scientist? Of what?

Just go to the source: https://www.who.int/news/item/28-11-2021-update-on-omicron

Re: Update on Omicron

#600

Post by Stranger43 »

scotty79 wrote: post #561
incrudible wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get reinfected with all sorts of respiratory viruses. Like I said, nothing to lose sleep over. Antivirals have a very limited window of opportunity. Nothing will make our concerns disappear. At some point, we need to move on.

I don't think we can move on because we haven't adjusted our health services to way larger number of sick and dying people every flu season.

We might have to, there is no guarantee that mRNA vaccines or lockdowns will ever stop covid to to point where no one ever gets hospitalized with covid.

This is the inconvenient truth that absolutely nobody in the establishment is even remotely willing to even consider and a big part of the debate that is being replaced with an accusation contest.

What do we do when the vaccination program only works as promised by the scientists developing it, and not as hoped for by the politicians ordering it?

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