The P&R Plague Thread (Covid-19)

[teachercd]

46 minutes ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

I get the fatigue. I've read numerous articles about omicron. The one thing they know is it spreads like wildfire. One expert even went as far as to say "We all have a date with Omicron". Talked it over with my wife. We have two littles that can't be vaxxed, they still go to daycare because we still have to go to work. So what the hell are we suppose to do, skip Christmas with family we haven't seen in 2 years? Skip having a beer with buddies I haven't seen in two years? For what? Just to get Omicron one week later from daycare or the hospital we work at? I understood the mitigation tactics early on, but the cat is out of the bag now. 

I agree with you and I think normal people agree with you, even people on this site that will claim they don't really do.

 

Your situation is one that most people face where you will be exposed no matter what measures you take unless you lock yourself inside 24/7 and your kids too.  

 

I coach a winter sport, indoors, every single day after school I am around 100 people that I don't know, that are not wearing masks, that might be infected...what am I supposed to do?  We have proven that being vaxxed helps but doesn't stop it, it is proven that makes help but doesn't stop it.

 

We have people on this board that I bet have had it and have been super careful.  

[FrantzHardySwag]

6 minutes ago, VectorVictor said:

Think Knapplc just answered your question. Having full hospitals and reduced staff due to (among other things) Boomer retirements and staff tired of putting up with idiots that don't want to get vaccinated puts everyone in danger. 

My wife and I both work at said hospitals. My point was more so, I've followed rules, I'm triple vaxxed, I still have to drag my a$$ to the overcrowded, under staffed hospital weekly - nothing is keeping me from my family and friends this holiday season. 

[teachercd]

5 minutes ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

My wife and I both work at said hospitals. My point was more so, I've followed rules, I'm triple vaxxed, I still have to drag my a$$ to the overcrowded, under staffed hospital weekly - nothing is keeping me from my family and friends this holiday season. 

I bet between me and you we are around 1,500 - 2,000 germy people each day.  The nice difference for you is you know the people you see are sick.  I am stuck around Maddie, Addie, Maddy and Cassie, who were just out with Jaxton, Braxton, Chad and Brad* all weekend, doing anything they wanted. 

 

Names changed to protect them. 

[FrantzHardySwag]

1 minute ago, teachercd said:

I bet between me and you we are around 1,500 - 2,000 germy people each day.  The nice difference for you is you know the people you see are sick.  I am stuck around Maddie, Addie, Maddy and Cassie, who were just out with Jaxton, Braxton, Chad and Brad* all weekend, doing anything they wanted. 

 

Names changed to protect them. 

I'd just assume they all are infected at this point haha. I know people want to prevent the next wave but look at New Zealand, 100 day lockdowns just delayed the inevitable, look at NYC, high vaccination rate, stricter rules in place - still getting slammed (I realize its way busier than Omaha). We're gonna get slammed too. Hospitals are gonna be insane for a few weeks, then we get past it. Hopefully there isn't a next wave, but if there is, we're gonna have to take that punch too. 

[nic]

12 minutes ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

My wife and I both work at said hospitals. My point was more so, I've followed rules, I'm triple vaxxed, I still have to drag my a$$ to the overcrowded, under staffed hospital weekly - nothing is keeping me from my family and friends this holiday season. 

We traveled for Christmas for lots of good reasons. We are vaccinated, but that doesn’t appear to stop omicron, anyway. We masked up on the plane and washed hands a lot. I think Omicron is the beginning of the end for this pandemic. Good riddance to it.

[teachercd]

5 minutes ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

I'd just assume they all are infected at this point haha. I know people want to prevent the next wave but look at New Zealand, 100 day lockdowns just delayed the inevitable, look at NYC, high vaccination rate, stricter rules in place - still getting slammed (I realize its way busier than Omaha). We're gonna get slammed too. Hospitals are gonna be insane for a few weeks, then we get past it. Hopefully there isn't a next wave, but if there is, we're gonna have to take that punch too. 

I did not know that about NZ but I do remember people pointing out how amazing of a job they were doing and how it was the model for everyone to follow.

 

If people want to stay inside and hide, that is fine with me.  

[commando]

8 minutes ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

I'd just assume they all are infected at this point haha. I know people want to prevent the next wave but look at New Zealand, 100 day lockdowns just delayed the inevitable, look at NYC, high vaccination rate, stricter rules in place - still getting slammed (I realize its way busier than Omaha). We're gonna get slammed too. Hospitals are gonna be insane for a few weeks, then we get past it. Hopefully there isn't a next wave, but if there is, we're gonna have to take that punch too. 

do you know if anyone anywhere reached the 85% vax rate to reach herd immunity?  and if they did.....how are they holding up to omicron?

 

[FrantzHardySwag]

4 minutes ago, commando said:

do you know if anyone anywhere reached the 85% vax rate to reach herd immunity?  and if they did.....how are they holding up to omicron?

 

I don't think they're at 85% but it feels like people are using Denmark as the high vaccination, omicron experience. Looks like they are around 80% fully vaxxed with a ton of people having boosters. Despite that they are setting records for case count. Good news is hospitalizations and deaths are quite lower than the last wave, that'd be good news if it holds. 

[commando]

1 minute ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

I don't think they're at 85% but it feels like people are using Denmark as the high vaccination, omicron experience. Looks like they are around 80% fully vaxxed with a ton of people having boosters. Despite that they are setting records for case count. Good news is hospitalizations and deaths are quite lower than the last wave, that'd be good news if it holds. 

between the high vax rate and omicron not being as nasty is why hospitalization is lower?

[Jason Sitoke]

https://fortune.com/2021/12/22/omicron-covid-infections-lower-risk-hospitalization-south-africa-study/

 

Obviously not a perfectly controlled study, but once again some encouraging circumstantial evidence.

[Scarlet]

36 minutes ago, commando said:

between the high vax rate and omicron not being as nasty is why hospitalization is lower?

The first part appears to play a big role.  The second, whether or not it's less severe, is to be determined.  The US will be the perfect petri dish to figure that out depending on how the unvaxxed fair.  We'll know much more in about a month.  

[FrantzHardySwag]

38 minutes ago, commando said:

between the high vax rate and omicron not being as nasty is why hospitalization is lower?

Yeah, Seems to be more mild, plus vax rates and natural immunity helping. 

[Jason Sitoke]

2 minutes ago, Scarlet said:

The first part appears to play a big role.  The second, whether or not it's less severe, is to be determined.  The US will be the perfect petri dish to figure that out depending on how the unvaxxed fair.  We'll know much more in about a month.  

I would think South Africa would be a much better indicator, as they have a much lower vax rate than the US.

[Scarlet]

1 minute ago, Jason Sitoke said:

I would think South Africa would be a much better indicator, as they have a much lower vax rate than the US.

They also have a younger population and more prior exposure to Covid in general and higher, more recent exposure to Delta.  

 

It does look encouraging.  Coupled with the study out of Hong Kong that indicates Omicron does not infect the lungs as readily as Delta maybe we'll come out it decent shape. 

 

The problem I see is that some people are already banking on Omicron being less virulent so they're doing next to nothing to mitigate their chances like vaccination and boosting.  I have two guys at work who had prior infection with COVID but won't get vaxxed because "natural immunity is always better.". The dead dude in Texas highlights that risk.  

[NM11046]

1 hour ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

My wife and I both work at said hospitals. My point was more so, I've followed rules, I'm triple vaxxed, I still have to drag my a$$ to the overcrowded, under staffed hospital weekly - nothing is keeping me from my family and friends this holiday season. 

Hey Frantz - thank you.   I know that all medical professionals are answering the call to step up during these times.

 

I too work in hospitals (not as medical professional) and the only thing I can compare what I'm seeing is to what I imagine war-time medicine in the field is like.  Sure you theoretically have beds, and tvs in the hospitals, but with staffing down, and medical professionals burnt out, abused, under paid, cobbling together treatments like MacGiver (I do think this has gotten better in 2 years thank god) I expect we'll see suicides and mental health issues with physicians and nurses who have been on the front line for the foreseeable future.  The people choosing to retire or change careers based on how they're being treated will impact us for the next 20 years.  Think of all the expertise we are going to loose - think about how exhausted these folks are - do you want a surgeon doing open heart on you after 2 years of covering the covid units on his/her off days?  How out of practice are surgeons on some of the procedures that have been put on hold due to high risk and no beds available?

 

The lack of compliance of 30% of the US will detrimentally impact our medical care for years, and they will overload our system until they die because it's not just during the covid infection that they're going to be unhealthy.  Long term covid is real, and those folks will be begging for transplanted lungs, artificial limbs, dialysis etc.  

 

And on the flip side - we do what we can to protect ourselves so we can live life.  I'm 3x vaxxed, masked always inside and I won't spend time with those who have chosen to avoid the vaccine.  "Are you covid vaxxed?" Is the new "when was your last HIV test?" from the 90's in the dating world.