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[TD1]

My entire family's had covid at some point or other, myself excluded. That's seven people total, none of whom were vaccinated. Very minor symptoms, two of them still having some trouble with taste.

[delphonso]

Omicron BA.2 “stealth” variant is gaining traction around the world.
Another wave developing?

Certainly will make its rounds around the US.

[scriver]

Stealth how? Ba what?

[Trapezohedron]

Stealth how? Ba what?

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-02-02/covid-omicron-subvariant-ba-2-what-do-we-know-about-vaccines-infections?utm_medium=cpc_search&utm_campaign=NB_ACQ_DSAXX_DSATESTTCPAXX_EVG_XXXX_XXX_COALL_EN_EN_X_BLOM_GO_SE_XXX_XXXXXXXXXX&gclid=CjwKCAjwlcaRBhBYEiwAK341jZlVxbMI5xBF544emEe52NvLpKbiOdsFLjraTmrRy8ETqnqT6nIADBoCMogQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Starver]

In case you don't like all that bumf[1] in that URI, try https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-60233899

Both are 2/Feb/2022 (or Feb/2/2022, if you prefer) so more than a month of understanding, and development of scenarios, has passed since it was originally newsworthy. I expect that much of the possible tracking has been wound down, even though what tracking is done is now more nuanced. So as long as BA.2 continues to be "not generally worse", and no other VOI arises, I don't think it means more than Covid cases rising in general does, nor will it stop the total lifting of various restrictions/precautions (which I'm not convinced is 'following the science', just politics telling the cautious science that it's not more convincing than the shouty finance).

Still officially keeping masks in Scotland, and I'm not intending to stop this trivial precaution for the forseeable future...

[1] Probably the question-mark onwards could be snipped, which may be how they track shares but really isn't necessary and I see no need to consciously help them. But I also imagine Bloomberg is also embedded-ad-heavy if I try it and check myself, so excuse me if I don't.

[None]

buy a covid take-home kit because the local testing place is now only mon-wed-fri testing by appointment only, sucks to suck chucklefucks

they only come in two packs

fuck it, buy a ten pack of AA batteries while i'm there

$40

that's over half a day's wage if you're poor, #blessed to have a job that pays a living wage

good news- insurance will reimburse the covid test purchase

you can't do it over the phone

you need to make an account on their website even when you already have insurance with them

you need to print out a pdf

you need to mail the pdf and the receipt

the fucking website is down inaccessible from my home network, way to go privatized healthcare

but don't worry guys, covid numbers are way down

(take home results are inconclusive - was that a line by the T? if i squint really, really hard? it's gone five minutes later)

this country is a scam

[martinuzz]

You have contracted the new Schrödinger variant

[lemon10]

In case you don't like all that bumf[1] in that URI, try https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-60233899

Both are 2/Feb/2022 (or Feb/2/2022, if you prefer) so more than a month of understanding, and development of scenarios, has passed since it was originally newsworthy. I expect that much of the possible tracking has been wound down, even though what tracking is done is now more nuanced. So as long as BA.2 continues to be "not generally worse", and no other VOI arises, I don't think it means more than Covid cases rising in general does, nor will it stop the total lifting of various restrictions/precautions (which I'm not convinced is 'following the science', just politics telling the cautious science that it's not more convincing than the shouty finance).

Still officially keeping masks in Scotland, and I'm not intending to stop this trivial precaution for the forseeable future...

Yeah, its definitley about the politics instead of about the science.

That said, people are indeed fed up with masks, especially re: Children, so if the goverments keep up the mask mandates that will just lead to anti-vax pro-covid people taking over and dismantling anything intended to combat covid.

So in a way it is scientifically based even if the science is "Yeah, Trump/Bolsanaro's spiritual brother will take power and make sure more people get covid which is bad".
---
They just dropped mask mandates in schools here in Cali this week, which as someone that works at a school is worrying. It won't stop me from keeping my mask on.

I wouldn't mind a covid lockdown but it might have to be organized in a rolling fashion around the world and all the places with outbreaks at once.

Do you think Omicron will be the last big wave? I don't know but I hope so. If the scale of it goes down at some point I'd hope we might have enough pandemic savvy to eliminate it if that's possible.

No, Omnicron will never be eliminated (barring medicine advancing to the sci-fi level or the apocalypse) any more then the common cold will be eliminated. The reason for this is that it can infect animals including cats (including big cats), dogs, deer, ferrets, gorillas, otters, and certainly many others.
So even if we 100% get rid of it in humans it will just spread beck to humans from deer or pets.

It might keep getting milder, and at some point it might not be any more dangerous then the cold, but its entirely possible that it will only get a bit milder (read: Has a decent chance of causing permanent long term damage or killing you if you are already unhealthy) then just stay at that danger level forever.

[martinuzz]

In South Korea, corona numbers are exploding out of control.
In just the past 4 weeks, 8.8 million people tested positive for corona.
In the entire first two years of the pandemic, less than a million people were infected.

The total number of infected in the country is now 11.8 million. In early februari, the total was 900000.

The Korean government says the omikron variant is responsible for the vast outbreak. They say they will treat it like they would treat a seasonal flu. According to the government, there are no deaths under 60 years of age for those that are vaccinated and boosted.
Yet, over the past week, 300-400 deaths have been reported, where before it were only a few dozen per week.
The South Korean ministry of Health has asked crematoria to work longer hours, and expand their capacity. It also lifted restrictions, allowing bodies to be moved across region boundaries for cremation, to relieve pressure on local crematoria.

Corona is also on the rise in Germany (4,7 million infections over the past 4 weeks) and Vietnam (5,7 million infections)

[King Zultan]

Oh boy sounds like a new wave's starting, what number are we on now like ten or something?

[delphonso]

Shanghai is almost entirely locked down. We're I'm living we just had 7 cases, and everything was returning to normal after slightly tighter measures.

You get tested when you fly from risky locations and they come scoop you up if you test positive. Downside is that it takes about 10 hours. Some dude flew in yesterday, checked into a hotel and hit the town. Coffee shop, restaurant, then bar. My friend was at the bar when the medical staff arrived. Everyone shipped off to a quarantine hotel. Probably hundreds contacted, if not a thousand people (popular cafe and busy bar-night). It's looking very likely we'll have a bad wave of covid here. Particularly bad because a lot of people here haven't gotten their 3rd shot. It was so low risk here before, the vaccines were sent to Shenzhen and Shanghai instead.

[Starver]

Just a personal note that an actual relative (first cousin, once removed) has told me they've tested positive. The first time that it's come to my attention that anyone I am related to by blood (enumeratably close, that is) has been in this predicament. It sounds like it's not a health issue, and obviously it's post-(multiple-)vaccination and presumably the 'milder' strain (insofar as that goes).

No idea of the context of the test, how/if their immediate (same-home) family or beyond had tested, what they're doing regarding isolation. It was just a quick note to let me know, and I really didn't wish to pry when I passed on my best wishes.

I don't know if it was tests left over from before the free-LFTs stopped the other day (was in England), more recent personally bought-in ones or what.

It does make me feel better about my New Year illness, that I just suffered through being already pretty much isolated and not getting the 'key' symptoms. It makes it even less likely I caught Covid (which I already doubted it was!) from these people during my last contact with them around Christmas, as it sounds like they'd been testing semi-regularly/at need, and there was no such note as this, at the time. And three months is a little while, but it significantly reduces the chances of it being a 'reinfect' event.


All of this is just speculation on my part, I know the logic isn't absolute. But the biggest thing going through my mind is that it's just at the point where (for some) the 'inexorable and irreversal return to normality' has been pushed into being. And, surprise surprise, after two years of generally dodging the bullet I've for the first time actually been close enough to hear one ricochetting around. Correlation ≠ causation, for this so-far singular personal datum, but it'll do as anecdotal data.

edited for annoying and tablet-typical typos... Also awful sentence construction, but that was just bad choices, not typos, so that aspect left alone.

[TD1]

I'm the only person in my family not to get it, hah. They're all unvaccinated and got it at various points over the last few years. No issues with any of them, including the 70 year olds thankfully.

[Loud Whispers]

I'm the only person in my family not to get it, hah. They're all unvaccinated and got it at various points over the last few years. No issues with any of them, including the 70 year olds thankfully.

My friends and I are having a contest to see who can make it the longest without ever catching it. We're now down to just two people, after my doctor friend caught it last week. Despite my job being to get people to cough up their lungs for a living, I'm still in the running! Precautions seem to work well when you're diligent, whereas all but one of my family managed to come down with Covid over Christmas because they didn't wash their hands. Now kids are wonderful, but if they give you anything - a truffle, a sweet or a tangerine, doesn't matter what it is, they're giving you a flu. That was wisdom I learned way before Covid but it bears repeating

[martinuzz]

Despite my job being to get people to cough up their lungs for a living

I've been puzzling what your job is. With your frequency of posting I was thinking, submarine crew, oil rig crew.. Off the grid for a week, then back to posting.

But I think I got it now! You are a coal mine overseer! No internets 1 mile below the earth xD