The new COVID thread

[revo]

An anti-vax Republican elections official in Wayne County, Michigan, who amplified Former Guy's BS about election fraud and initially didn't certify the votes before changing his tune, amazingly died from covid. Shocking. Not. But he does join the exclusive Herman Cain Award club.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/anti-vaxx-republican-official-refused-114105774.html

[Ken]

Got it. So what did your doctor say?

Or are you suggesting you don't even listen to your own doctor?

Never heard back from either person who was suggesting aspiration. This wasn't rhetorical, it was a serious question that I'm interested in hearing about.

Did your doctor agree? Did they provide any recommendations or cautions?

I find it hard to believe that someone would be this interested in a topic and not even talk to their own doctor, so I have to assume there was a conversation. How did it go?

[Sour Masher]

I got boosted yesterday. So far, no real side effects. I'm tired, but I am attributing that to going to sleep too late last night and having two kids, not the booster.

Also, my kids got their second dose yesterday and my wife said they get candy as a reward. You damn right I made her buy me some candy as a reward as well.

Lol, my 7 year old gets his secoond shot today. He had absolutely zero side effects from the first, and got a huge ice cream out of it, so he is actually looking forward to his booster.

[Sour Masher]

good op-ed piece from Adam Grant in NYT - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/10/o...logy-fear.html

Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. Another factor he does not address, likely, because doing so would potentially undermine the message that everyone needs to do their part to stop the spread, as a service to society as a whole, is that many folks, younger folks, realize that the virus was never all that deadly to them. I know that is an uncomfortable thing to get into, because, again, many are selfish, and amplifying that message will only lead to more bad behavior, more spread, and more dead. But to me, it has always been a poor strategy to combat that reality, which the right fully embraced from the get go, with deflection. The argument for all to be as careful as possible and to get vaccinated has always been about that being a no brainer, because not doing so not only puts you at risk, it helps spread a disease that will absolutely kill other people. Who wants to be a part of that? Sadly, far too many.

But yeah, in the context of this article, the dulled fear response for many younger, healthy folks is amplified by the reality that they are far less likely to get really sick and die from any variant of COVID than older folks (95% of deaths in the US are people over 50, over 50% are people over 75, and the mortality rate for those under 18 is virtually non-existent, and lower than many other activities young people engage in). So, for such an individual, it is natural for them to be less afraid of a virus that affects them far less than it does others. But again, acknowledging the reality that this is a pandemic that is far more dangerous to the elderly and not very dangerous to most young people, is politically charged, and leads to bad and selfish behavior (speaking of, I had a student come into my office hours sick early this week who planned to get tested after, did, and told me yesterday had covid, but he said he wanted to come face-to-face to talk anyway...I didn't let him stay long once I realized he had symptoms, but he didn't really see the problem, since he was masked, but also, I am sure, because the virus is less of a big deal to him as a health 18 year old than it would be to me as a 45 year old).

[umjewman]

I got boosted yesterday. So far, no real side effects. I'm tired, but I am attributing that to going to sleep too late last night and having two kids, not the booster.

Also, my kids got their second dose yesterday and my wife said they get candy as a reward. You damn right I made her buy me some candy as a reward as well.

[Moonlight J]

good op-ed piece from Adam Grant in NYT - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/10/o...logy-fear.html

[TranaGreg]

... But I can't get too happy, since Omicron spreading so rapidly seems to make it inevitable that future variants emerge, and they may be worse. ...

last year I did some technical reading on what caused the end of the Spanish Flu a century ago, and it was a similar story - the worst form of the virus is one that is transmissible but has a long incubation period - if it takes a couple of weeks for symptoms to appear then an individual will have passed it on to a lot of people; the best case is a variant that is very transmissible & has a short incubation period. The key is that the new variant takes hold faster than the previous giving no opportunity for the old variant to infect an individual (since the new variant will have already infected them). This is how delta basically made the previous variants almost invisible in a very short time period ... and the hope is that omicron does the same to delta.

If omicron provides the kind of immunity that the previous variants have - and my sense is that there's no data on this yet but there's no reason to think it won't - well, this would be a very good scenario.

It's a form of natural selection - fast-to-infect, milder variants should always overpower slow-to-infect, more deadly versions (the virus simply can't replicate as fast with dead people as it can with living ones)

[TranaGreg]

Dr Jake Paul's latest data driven analysis ... I'd link a traditional media source, but they are so concerned with panic and dumbed down trash, that I can't find any.

Let's hope the optimistic initial data coming from SA, and now Norway, continues to tell the same story over the next few weeks. Because omicron could be the beginning of the end of the pandemic.

Thanks for sharing johnny; this is still initial data and much of this is anecdotal, but this is indeed hopeful. Ideally, in a few weeks, we should drop all restrictions, let everyone get omicron, and then enjoy the spring. (I say that flippantly, obviously there are a lot of considerations wrt immunocompromised people, elderly, etc ... but it's still hopeful)

[Bene Futuis]

From your lips to God's ears, as they say. The CDC (I know some folks think their statements are wroth jack squat, but I am still compelled to share them) confirms this same point, saying of the very SSS so far in the US of about 40 cases, there has only been one hospitalization and overall, so far, here it is playing out like in SA--mild cases with cold-like symptoms. Which is great. But I can't get too happy, since Omicron spreading so rapidly seems to make it inevitable that future variants emerge, and they may be worse. But who knows. I sure don't. But I am sure all of us are with you in hoping this is all good news and it will lead to the end of the pandemic.

Also, if this info really was coming from Jake Paul, way, way more people would be aware of it and believe it, so even if/when the COVID pandemic is over, we still will have the outsized influence of influencers pandemic to deal with.

Look, buddy. Jake Paul doesn't care about partisan bullshit and just follows the data, ok? That's just good science, Sour Masher.

[Sour Masher]

Yesterdays's influencer viral video from Dr David Dobrik had an interesting discussion about a new research paper on Omicron, which points to a new genetic modification that it seems to have adopted from the common cold virus. This could explain Omicron's cold-like symptons and also why it appears so much less virulent than Delta.

If Omicron kills off Delta (as has happened in SA), and isn't hospitalizing vaccinated (or previously infected) people ... then the pandemic could be done (in the heavily vaccinated developed world in any case).

Still Ifs and buts ... but some positive potential emerging ... light's and tunnel's and what not.

From your lips to God's ears, as they say. The CDC (I know some folks think their statements are wroth jack squat, but I am still compelled to share them) confirms this same point, saying of the very SSS so far in the US of about 40 cases, there has only been one hospitalization and overall, so far, here it is playing out like in SA--mild cases with cold-like symptoms. Which is great. But I can't get too happy, since Omicron spreading so rapidly seems to make it inevitable that future variants emerge, and they may be worse. But who knows. I sure don't. But I am sure all of us are with you in hoping this is all good news and it will lead to the end of the pandemic.

Also, if this info really was coming from Jake Paul, way, way more people would be aware of it and believe it, so even if/when the COVID pandemic is over, we still will have the outsized influence of influencers pandemic to deal with.

[johnnya24]

Yesterdays's influencer viral video from Dr David Dobrik had an interesting discussion about a new research paper on Omicron, which points to a new genetic modification that it seems to have adopted from the common cold virus. This could explain Omicron's cold-like symptons and also why it appears so much less virulent than Delta.

If Omicron kills off Delta (as has happened in SA), and isn't hospitalizing vaccinated (or previously infected) people ... then the pandemic could be done (in the heavily vaccinated developed world in any case).

Still Ifs and buts ... but some positive potential emerging ... light's and tunnel's and what not.

[johnnya24]

Dr Jake Paul's latest data driven analysis ... I'd link a traditional media source, but they are so concerned with panic and dumbed down trash, that I can't find any.

Let's hope the optimistic initial data coming from SA, and now Norway, continues to tell the same story over the next few weeks. Because omicron could be the beginning of the end of the pandemic.

[umjewman]

This is a new one. We've battled our way through misinformation about ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, ingesting bleach, sticking a UV light up your butt, intentionally getting COVID, and a slew of other home remedies and fake cures. But now Republican Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) thinks we can just Listerine our way out of this COVID nightmare. He said recently, "By the way, standard gargle, mouthwash, has been proven to kill the coronavirus. If you get it, you may reduce viral replication. Why not try all these things?" Listerine was forced to debunk this claim on their website. At least this one won't (likely) hurt anyone, so there's that.

Don’t be so dismissive. I use Listerine daily and have not tested positive for the coronavirus yet. Therefore, science!

[Bene Futuis]

This is a new one. We've battled our way through misinformation about ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, ingesting bleach, sticking a UV light up your butt, intentionally getting COVID, and a slew of other home remedies and fake cures. But now Republican Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) thinks we can just Listerine our way out of this COVID nightmare. He said recently, "By the way, standard gargle, mouthwash, has been proven to kill the coronavirus. If you get it, you may reduce viral replication. Why not try all these things?" Listerine was forced to debunk this claim on their website. At least this one won't (likely) hurt anyone, so there's that.

[Ken]

i am glad i was able to narrow the argument down to whether or not to aspirate. it's a small victory.

Did you ever get vaccinated? Or are you still delusional on that topic too?