COVID Gains After Mask Rules Dropped

[+ Lucky]

Cases of COVID infection are arising in Asia and Europe following the loosening of restrictions designed to prevent its spread.

From NY Times: As the Asia-Pacific region struggles with its first Omicron surge, it appears that Europe may be heading for a second jump, just as countries on both continents have rapidly lifted most pandemic restrictions.

Global cases, which bottomed out in early March, are rising again, driven by high caseloads in Asia and Europe, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Cases per capita in Europe were already far higher than any other region in the world when they began creeping up again recently...

...In Europe, some are bracing for what could be another Omicron wave, with cases on the rise again in France, Britain, Italy and elsewhere and again approaching record levels in Germany.

Austria, the first Western democracy to impose a general Covid vaccine mandate, abandoned the requirement last week. Caseloads have now surged to record levels there, according to Our World in Data.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/03/16/world/covid-19-mandates-cases-vaccine#asia-is-still-enduring-its-first-omicron-surge-while-europe-may-get-a-second

Edited March 16, 2022 by Lucky
typo

[+ keroscenefire]

Yeah Covid really isn't as over as we think it is. But I guess people have just decided that they don't care and don't want to wear masks or do social distancing. 

[+ sync]

This entire pandemic scenario has been and continues to be surreal to me.

I'm baffled how it is that so many of the Earth's varied populations have and continue to disregard the cautions and recommendations of medical professionals in favor of the half-baked theories of politicians, celebrities, or Internet trolls.

I would love to know what is it that has convinced so many they can dictate to a pandemic.

 

[BeamerBikes]

I just hope they don't slam the hospitals again.  I have another hernia surgery coming up and don't wanna get bumped.  Nor have a bunch of burned out hospital staff.  

Med Surg floor in 2019 there was a good attitude/vibe. The hallways were a walking track with pts encouraging others to get up and keep moving.  

Med Surg floor in 2020 was a serious downer. No one wanted to leave their room. Staff was tired. All the nice pick me up events were canceled. 

[+ Lucky]

The Washington Post reports that the surge in Europe is worrisome to the US, as previous surges there moved on to the States.

Excerpts:

A surge in coronavirus infections in Western Europe has experts and health authorities on alert for another wave of the pandemic in the United States, even as most of the country has done away with restrictions after a sharp decline in cases.

Infectious-disease experts are closely watching the subvariant of omicron known as BA.2, which appears to be more transmissible than the original strain, BA.1, and is fueling the outbreak overseas.

In the past two years, a widespread outbreak like the one now being seen in Europe has been followed by a similar surge in the United States some weeks later. Many, but not all, experts interviewed for this story predicted that is likely to happen. China and Hong Kong, on the other hand, are experiencing rapid and severe outbreaks,

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/03/16/covid-ba2-omicron-surge/

[Guest]

Case rates are irrelevant. What's important are hospitalization rates. Lord (and Xi) only knows what's going on in China, but if their vaccine doesn't work, they should just stop being idiots and use the western vaccines. China is very good on forcing their citizens to do shit, so they shouldn't have any trouble mandating vaccines for all of their citizens and anyone entering the country. Vaccinate everyone--->no one gets seriously ill--->problem solved. 

[NJF]

2 hours ago, Unicorn said:

Case rates are irrelevant. What's important are hospitalization rates. Lord (and Xi) only knows what's going on in China, but if their vaccine doesn't work, they should just stop being idiots and use the western vaccines. China is very good on forcing their citizens to do shit, so they shouldn't have any trouble mandating vaccines for all of their citizens and anyone entering the country. Vaccinate everyone--->no one gets seriously ill--->problem solved. 

There has been very few severe cases in the current omicron surge in China. It is very different from what is happening in Hong Kong. Their continuing pursuit of zero covid policy makes as little sense as their continued support of Putin. 

[+ Lucky]

President Obama isn't the only DC resident to get COVID. Biden had to cancel a meeting with the Irish Prime Minister when the latter tested positive. He had just spent time with Nancy Pelosi!

From the nytimes.com:

A flurry of high-profile coronavirus cases in the nation’s capital — including in people who have been around President Biden — has raised new questions about the trajectory of the two-year-old pandemic, even as the White House has signaled confidence in the country’s ability to resume normal activities...

...In the past week, Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, tested positive for the virus, ...At least nine House Democrats received positive tests this week after a party retreat in Philadelphia and late-night voting at the Capitol.

But the recent cases in Washington, and the spread of yet another variant around the world, highlight a challenge for Mr. Biden and his team: how to embrace the country’s desire to move on while being careful not to declare victory over a virus that is still making people sick and killing more than 1,000 Americans each day.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/17/us/politics/washington-coronavirus-cases.html

[+ Axiom2001]

On 3/16/2022 at 12:03 PM, keroscenefire said:

Yeah Covid really isn't as over as we think it is. But I guess people have just decided that they don't care and don't want to wear masks or do social distancing. 

I agree with you, and it's a damn shame.  Having to "socially distance" and wear a mask are two innocuous actions.  Although in the State of California, the wearing of a mask while indoors (excepting medical facilities) has been lifted, I am still wearing mined and am keeping my distance.  [I've been fully vexed as well.]

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Axiom2001 said:

I agree with you, and it's a damn shame.  Having to "socially distance" and wear a mask are two innocuous actions.  Although in the State of California, the wearing of a mask while indoors (excepting medical facilities) has been lifted, I am still wearing mined and am keeping my distance.  [I've been fully vexed as well.]

Well, speak for yourself. The only people being protected from the masking (? I haven't seen any studies showing social distancing is effective, BTW?) are people who aren't interested in being protected (unvaxxed). I personally enjoy going to the opera, plays, bars, restaurants, and other crowded places and not worry about masks. As a fully vaxxed person, I'm at greater risk from a cold, and the unvaxxed don't care whether I wear a mask or not. So not rational. If you want to stay at home, except going to the store and masking up there, good for you. Silly, but it's your choice. I do not want someone else telling me it has to be my choice. 

[+ nycman]

Infectious diseases are a part of everyday life. 

Constant masking isn’t human.

It made sense when our hospitals were overrun and people were dying in droves.
Now, it‘s a cold. Even before the pandemic, sometimes "bad colds" killed people. 
It’s time to start living, people. COVID is now an endemic disease. Nothing more, 
nothing less. 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled program….."Life".
 

Edited March 18, 2022 by nycman

[+ Lucky]

Coincident with the rise of the BA.2 variant, government funding for COVID is running out. It seems as if nothing has been learned about preparedness in the last two years.

latimes.com:

The percentage of Omicron subvariant BA.2 cases is rising in Los Angeles County, a trend seen elsewhere nationwide as officials sound the alarm about Congress’ failure to provide critical funding for vaccinations, tests and anti-COVID drugs.

Officials in L.A. County and nationally have warned about the risk to public health if new pandemic federal funding fails to be approved. There is no money left to reimburse doctors for COVID care for uninsured Americans, and funds will soon run out to provide vaccinations, Xavier Becerra, the U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, said this week.

According to data released Thursday, 14.7% of coronavirus samples analyzed for L.A. County between Feb. 27 to March 5 were the highly contagious BA.2 subvariant. That’s more than double the previous week’s figure of 6.4%.

L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer continued to urge residents to adhere to the strong recommendation issued by her department and state health officials to continue masking in indoor public settings.

 

“Along with the increasing circulation of the more-infectious BA.2 subvariant, everyone, especially those who are at elevated risk or live with someone at elevated risk, should wear a high-quality mask and get vaccinated and boosted,” Ferrer said in a statement Thursday.

 More recent national estimates have suggested BA.2 will quickly become dominant soon. BA.2 comprised an estimated 35% of analyzed samples between March 13 and March 19; the previous week, it made up 22%, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the Southwestern U.S. — which includes California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii — BA.2 made up an estimated 41% of coronavirus samples. The previous week, it was 28%. And for the first time, BA.2 is the now estimated to be the dominant subvariant in the Northeast, making up more than half the analyzed coronavirus cases in New York, New Jersey and New England.

BA.2 is believed to be 30% to 60% more contagious than the earlier Omicron subvariant. BA.2, however, doesn’t appear to result in more severe illness, and it’s likely that people recently infected with the earlier Omicron subvariant will have a decent degree of at least short-term immunity to BA.2.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-25/percentage-of-omicron-subvariant-ba-2-rising-in-l-a-county

 

[+ Coolwave35]

I’m personally over Covid at this point. I agree with the poster above that used all the words. 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Lucky said:

Coincident with the rise of the BA.2 variant, government funding for COVID is running out. It seems as if nothing has been learned about preparedness in the last two years.

latimes.com:

The percentage of Omicron subvariant BA.2 cases is rising in Los Angeles County...

Officials in L.A. County and nationally have warned about the risk to public health if new pandemic federal funding fails to be approved....There is no money left to reimburse doctors for COVID care for uninsured Americans...

 

What absolutely boggles my mind is that there are people out there who don't seem to understand how extraordinarily different things are now from how they were 2 years ago. There are extremely safe and effective vaccines out there, and the virulence (danger) of all of the current strains out there is LESS THAN THAT OF THE COMMON COLD to the vaccinated. Also, in California, it's 100% ILLEGAL not to have health insurance:

https://www.coveredca.com/marketing-blog/why-are-californians-required-by-law-to-have-health-insurance/

"...all individuals in California are mandated to be covered by health insurance..." (fines typically are what you would have paid for basic insurance, so no financial incentive to break the law). Why should my tax dollars go to someone who both acts like a fool, and breaks the law? What's next? Should we encourage drunk driving? 

The ONLY people at risk from the illness at this point are the unvaccinated (and probably the subset of unvaccinated who haven't already contracted the virus, which is becoming a pretty small subset). I, and most people I know, have ZERO interest in inconveniencing myself simply to reduce a risk in someone who likes to act the fool. I go to crowded restaurants, bars, clubs, movie theaters, parties, etc., where everyone is maskless. I've had two episodes so far this year of having a sore throat for 2 days. I didn't test myself and frankly couldn't care less knowing whether I had Omicron or not. I tested myself before going to get an official test before our trip to Guatemala (we're now in Belize and will have to get tested before returning). That's the only reason to test--because of outdated laws. 

(Interestingly, Belize dropped its testing mandate prior to entry about a month ago. Guatemala was completely silly with the 72 hours prior to boarding testing which is nearly useless. Guatemala also does silly, completely useless "precautions" such as masking outdoors and hand sanitizers prior to entering any building--though we've known since summer of 2020 that the virus isn't transmitted through hand contact. After a few stores, my hands started getting swollen! Absolutely inane to take measures which are known to be useless just to put off a show of "doing something." Thankfully, the leadership of Belize is much wiser)

Edited March 26, 2022 by Unicorn

[jeezifonly]

It’s a shame that there aren’t science and medical experts who might warn about developments like this. 🙄
“O’er the Land of the Marginally Inconvenienced, and The Home of The Willfully Ignorant!”

Play ball!

And stay safe!

[CuriousByNature]

26 minutes ago, Unicorn said:

What absolutely boggles my mind is that there are people out there who don't seem to understand how extraordinarily different things are now from how they were 2 years ago. There are extremely safe and effective vaccines out there, and the virulence (danger) of all of the current strains out there is LESS THAN THAT OF THE COMMON COLD to the vaccinated. Also, in California, it's 100% ILLEGAL not to have health insurance:

https://www.coveredca.com/marketing-blog/why-are-californians-required-by-law-to-have-health-insurance/

"...all individuals in California are mandated to be covered by health insurance..." (fines typically are what you would have paid for basic insurance, so no financial incentive to break the law). Why should my tax dollars go to someone who both acts like a fool, and breaks the law? What's next? Should we encourage drunk driving? 

The ONLY people at risk from the illness at this point are the unvaccinated (and probably the subset of unvaccinated who haven't already contracted the virus, which is becoming a pretty small subset). I, and most people I know, have ZERO interest in inconveniencing myself simply to reduce a risk in someone who likes to act the fool. I go to crowded restaurants, bars, clubs, movie theaters, parties, etc., where everyone is maskless. I've had two episodes so far this year of having a sore throat for 2 days. I didn't test myself and frankly couldn't care less knowing whether I had Omicron or not. I tested myself before going to get an official test before our trip to Guatemala (we're now in Belize and will have to get tested before returning). That's the only reason to test--because of outdated laws. 

(Interestingly, Belize dropped its testing mandate prior to entry about a month ago. Guatemala was completely silly with the 72 hours prior to boarding testing which is nearly useless. Guatemala also does silly, completely useless "precautions" such as masking outdoors and hand sanitizers prior to entering any building--though we've known since summer of 2020 that the virus isn't transmitted through hand contact. After a few stores, my hands started getting swollen! Absolutely inane to take measures which are known to be useless just to put off a show of "doing something." Thankfully, the leadership of Belize is much wiser)

When you say, "...the virulence (danger) of all of the current strains out there is LESS THAN THAT OF THE COMMON COLD to the vaccinated..."  are you meaning those who are healthy and vaccinated, or do you also include the immunocompromised in that statement?  I ask because my understanding is that those with compromised immune systems are still at risk of serious effects, even if they are boosted.  I would love it if they were just as protected, but from what I have read, it doesn't seem like it.  For that reason I still wear a mask much of the time - just in case I somehow have contracted COVID and could potentially pass it on to someone unable to fight it as well as I am able to.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, CuriousByNature said:

When you say, "...the virulence (danger) of all of the current strains out there is LESS THAN THAT OF THE COMMON COLD to the vaccinated..."  are you meaning those who are healthy and vaccinated, or do you also include the immunocompromised in that statement?  I ask because my understanding is that those with compromised immune systems are still at risk of serious effects, even if they are boosted.  I would love it if they were just as protected, but from what I have read, it doesn't seem like it.  For that reason I still wear a mask much of the time - just in case I somehow have contracted COVID and could potentially pass it on to someone unable to fight it as well as I am able to.

I include all comers, including the immunocompromised. According to CDC statistics, which I've referenced in prior posts, show a 1 in 100,000 risk for hospitalization, and 1 in a million for death. Of course, an immunocompromised person can die of a common cold, but that's no different from before the pandemic. 

[CuriousByNature]

1 hour ago, Unicorn said:

I include all comers, including the immunocompromised. According to CDC statistics, which I've referenced in prior posts, show a 1 in 100,000 risk for hospitalization, and 1 in a million for death. Of course, an immunocompromised person can die of a common cold, but that's no different from before the pandemic. 

Thanks for clarifying - I hope that proves to be case going forward as well.

[Guest]

9 hours ago, CuriousByNature said:

Thanks for clarifying - I hope that proves to be case going forward as well.

Well, if things change, we can change our approach. Things are most definitely not now as they were 2 years ago--both biologically and in terms of our knowledge. We should not be behaving the same. If things change again, we can change along with it. That's called wisdom. To clarify, those statistics were for the fully (3X) vaccinated. Figures were about 80 times higher for the completely unvaccinated. Still not horrific risks, but one has to keep in mind the marked contagiousness of the virus. 

[+ Lucky]

I cannot fathom why @Unicornis so committed to keeping his views here a priority. He's on vacation in Belize!

He may be right, and I hope that he is, but do  I want to bet my health on it? No, I don't.

[+ WilliamM]

1 hour ago, Lucky said:

I cannot fathom why @Unicornis so committed to keeping his views here a priority. He's on vacation in Belize!

He may be right, and I hope that he is, but do  I want to bet my health on it? No, I don't.

Many members here likely consult there own doctors with all due respect to retired Doctor Unicorn.

[Rudynate]

58 minutes ago, WilliamM said:

Many members here likely consult there own doctors with all due respect to retired Doctor Unicorn.

He is just another of those people who resent the mask mandates  and say silly stuff like "My body - my choice."  The difference is that Unicorn has constructed an elaborate pseudo-scientific justification for his resentment of mask mandates.   And clever people can make a set of statistics say almost anything they want them to say.

[Guest]

48 minutes ago, Rudynate said:

He is just another of those people who resent the mask mandates  and say silly stuff like "My body - my choice."  The difference is that Unicorn has constructed an elaborate pseudo-scientific justification for his resentment of mask mandates.   And clever people can make a set of statistics say almost anything they want them to say.

Bullshit. What I have discussed involves hard statistics for which I have provided references (i.e. from the CDC). It's simply a statistical fact, not a matter of "opinion," that the current variants of the virus are less dangerous than the common cold to those fully vaccinated. Facts are what they are, regardless of whether you want to close your eyes and form a different "opinion." If you have other facts to share (which you don't), present them. Otherwise it'd be best to keep silly "opinions" based on ignorance to yourself.

[+ WilliamM]

On 3/17/2022 at 3:24 AM, Unicorn said:

Case rates are irrelevant. What's important are hospitalization rates. Lord (and Xi) only knows what's going on in China, but if their vaccine doesn't work, they should just stop being idiots and use the western vaccines. China is very good on forcing their citizens to do shit, so they shouldn't have any trouble mandating vaccines for all of their citizens and anyone entering the country. Vaccinate everyone--->no one gets seriously ill--->problem solved. 

My doctor is much more measured in his conversations with me, perhaps polite is s better word.

Try it, my friend.

[Rudynate]

I will continue to guided by the pros.  After all, epidemiologists deal with this stuff every day.