Dr. Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, noted on Sunday on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” that many new infections, especially in people who are vaccinated and boosted, result in no symptoms or mild symptoms, making the absolute number of cases less important than it was for previous versions of the virus.
“As you get further on and the infections become less severe, it is much more relevant to focus on the hospitalizations as opposed to the total number of cases,” Dr. Fauci said.
That advice is in keeping with what many epidemiologists have said all along. Despite the daily drumbeat of case counts, the number of positive tests has never been a perfect indicator of the course of the epidemic.
To be fair, an Antarctic research station is a very closed venue in a cold environment. Regardless of pre-travel precautions it’s propitious for spread.
A significant faction thereof has been on that line since the very beginning of the whole thing.
Remember how around Thanksgivingish PR was being held up in media as the Great Vaccination Success Story?
Well yes, we were (are!), and the protection measures had been getting adjusted nice and gradually.
Problem was, too many people on the ground began seeing that publicity and decided it meant “Victory is declared! WooHoo!” And the pressure to capitalize on that to say “let’s project that HERE is where you should come travel!” became a bit too irresistible.
Now, if people had been wise they we could have been pitched as an attractive destination in the sense of being a safe destination. I know there were Dopers who went there in that spirit.
But what happened was that the promotions entities were pressured to try and sell it as the destination where you no longer needed to be worried. And part of that was restarting large arena concerts and similar events, just as omicron was hitting.
By mid-December the Tourism Office were still announcing that dozens of multi-thousand-passengers cruise ships were going to make port. By Xmas of course all that had all gotten tossed and let’s go back on the defensive.
And NOW we even are finally getting a strong antivaxx pushback, from the usual Facebook University graduates who figure out that all this means that all the measures taken before were worthless.
Oh I am in a similar situation. The “Blue Book” has been blown apart by the supply chain entanglement. Theoretically my 2018 is now worth on the street about as much as dealer invoice on a 2022. If it weren’t that I can’t get a 2022 for anywhere close to that…
Covid is not going to disappear. It becoming less serious is great news. I expect to encounter the virus at some point in my life. If it’s asymptomatic or the sniffles, it’s really not that big a deal.
Yup, but no need to panic about case numbers, as Dr Fauci and many others have been saying.
With Omicron, case numbers are decoupled from hospitalizations and deaths. Deaths are remaining flat. Hospitalizations are up, but not at the same levels as early last year.
I agree. What will happen is that case numbers (and deaths) will start dropping soon, simply because there will be fewer and fewer people either unvaccinated or unexposed to covid. Exponential growth is not sustainable for long.
The situation in the US is that delta has not yet been displaced by omicron, but that’s happening fast. It’s a good thing because omicron is milder.
We are gradually moving towards a situation where the pandemic will be over. I expect that by this time next year, or maybe even within six months, we will be more or less back to normal.
This may help explain why some friends of mine on the Gulf coast suddenly decided to go to Puerto Rico two weeks before Christmas. I was really surprised to see them posting pictures of all the great places they were going and hanging out maskless in a bar with “these really cool people we just met”. I couldn’t figure out what the hell they were thinking. Fortunately, they didn’t get sick.
Hawaii is topping 3000 new cases every day now. Just a month ago, it was low double digits. The wife works part-time in a condominium office, and a property manager she often deals with recently came back from Vegas and promptly tested positive. He was not in close proximity to her since returning though.
Omicron may be less severe, but it still can cause severe disease and death. Hospitals all over the country are being pushed to the brink. Not everyone just gets the sniffles. It’s actually possible that omicron is more deadly (i.e. causes more deaths when left unchecked) due to how well it spreads.
It is very obviously not the time to stop trying to fight the virus and let it infect everyone. And I do not understand why anyone is suggesting it. You don’t know you’ll just get the sniffles, and, even if you do, you don’t know if you’ll pass it on to someone who will get worse.
Fortunately, early signs from places like South Africa suggest that the surge will blow through quickly. So it’s very possible we won’t have to do it for long. And, even if not, we know that everyone is working hard on omicron vaccines, meaning we have an tunnel in sight to avoid actually getting it.
I literally just got through writing a post how to stay safer to post on my Facebook page, because I know that’s where a lot of people get their news. It never even occurred to me that I’d need to combat the idea that we should just all let ourselves get infected, while making sure I don’t actually give people that idea.
Please do not spread this idea that we should just give up and let ourselves get infected. Omicron is overwhelming hospitals when we’re actually trying to stop it.
I didn’t say that. I think people should take reasonable precautions. I don’t agree at all with the lax attitude towards mask wearing in the US, and I think people should get vaccinated and boosted.
