WHO Says Omicron Has Been Found in 23 Countries Across the World (cnbc.com) 259
The World Health Organization said Wednesday that 23 countries across the world have reported cases of the highly mutated omicron Covid-19 variant. From a report: "At least 23 countries from five of six WHO regions have now reported cases of omicron and we expect that number to grow," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters during an update Wednesday in Geneva. "WHO takes this development extremely seriously and so should every country. But it should not surprise us," Tedros continued. "This is what viruses do. And it's what this virus will continue to do, as we long as we allow it to continue spreading."
The new number comes one day after White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said 226 cases of the variant have been detected across 20 countries. Officials have not confirmed a case in the U.S. yet. The variant, which was reported to WHO by South Africa a week ago, has more than 30 mutations to the spike protein alone. Some of the mutations are associated with a decrease in antibody protection and higher transmission, according to the WHO. Tedros said there is still more to learn about the new variant's effect on transmission, the severity of disease and the effectiveness of tests, therapeutics and vaccines. Several WHO advisory groups have met in the last few days to "evaluate the emerging evidence, and prioritize the studies needed to answer these questions," he said.
The new number comes one day after White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said 226 cases of the variant have been detected across 20 countries. Officials have not confirmed a case in the U.S. yet. The variant, which was reported to WHO by South Africa a week ago, has more than 30 mutations to the spike protein alone. Some of the mutations are associated with a decrease in antibody protection and higher transmission, according to the WHO. Tedros said there is still more to learn about the new variant's effect on transmission, the severity of disease and the effectiveness of tests, therapeutics and vaccines. Several WHO advisory groups have met in the last few days to "evaluate the emerging evidence, and prioritize the studies needed to answer these questions," he said.
Yeeaah! (Score:2)
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again
No, no!
(I hope)
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But you can't learn from history when education is being stripped down to only Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic, and sometimes not even all of those three.
Real headline should be: (Score:4)
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"Countries where omicron has not yet been identified need to do a better job of disease surveillance and genetic sequencing of samples because omicron is already there."
This is why WHO switched to the Greek alphabet system. They want to encourage better surveillance. This is the 2nd variant of concern from South Africa, and that's largely attributed to the amount of surveillance and sequencing conducted within that country.
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False. South Africa identified the virus. It did not come from South Africa. It's believed it may have come from Botswana instead [theguardian.com].
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This is why WHO switched to the Greek alphabet system. They want to encourage better surveillance. This is the 2nd variant of concern from South Africa, and that's largely attributed to the amount of surveillance and sequencing conducted within that country.
At this point, unlike their first variant, their low vaccination rate (along with those of neighbors) might have something to do with it.
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Mod parent sadly insightful, even though I must hope it's wrong.
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i think the real problem is letting unvaxxed people fly. there's no other possible explanation for this spreading to 23 different countries. had all of those passengers been vaxxed, this never would have happened.
just get the goddamn vaccine people. it's not hard. it's safe and effective.
WHO? (Score:2)
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The WHO say a lot of things (Score:2)
Our salvation? (Score:2)
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The key is whether further studies confirm that its is significantly less lethal, and if it confers immunity to the more dangerous strains. Its possible.
FFS people (Score:2)
Listen to the experts, doctors, immunologist and public health and not the internet conspiracy trolls and corrupt politicians.
China Winter Olympics (Score:2)
What do the odds makers say about the China Winter Olympics will be postponed?
They say it won't of course, [insidethegames.biz] but I'm thinking a lot of nations won't allow their athletes to participate.
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...Covid will never be over. Vote accordingly.
Wait, I thought it was supposed to be over as soon as Biden got elected?
https://www.independent.co.uk/... [independent.co.uk]
https://www.newsweek.com/clip-... [newsweek.com]
Do trolls synchronize their brain farts? (Score:2)
The answer will not surprise you. No one cares about sock puppets. Not even if they have an Olympic event for synchronized farting.
Re:Until you get rid of the Democrats... (Score:5, Informative)
A significant amount of the population is actively resisting the vaccine, and we're only at 69% vaccinated. Need about 90+% to achieve herd immunity to effectively quench it.
Currently, the unvaccinated die at a 13:1 ratio to those who've been vaccinated. I'll use data from Texas, so as to placate the Deep-Gubmint, or denier morons.
Vaccinated people get Covid 20x less than vaccinated -e.g. 1:20, or out of 100 people who acquire Covid, only 5 will have been vaccinated, 95 won't have been.
https://dshs.texas.gov/immuniz... [texas.gov]
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
And fortunately these same people are the vast majority dying from covid. It's a wonderfully self-limiting feedback. The more people resist, the more they die. Like this guy [cbsnews.com] or this guy [newsweek.com].
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Well, first, they're people, and as a rule, I have enough empathy to care when someone's life is snuffed out-- it tends to have devastating effects on their friends and family. Assuming you have friends and family.
On the other hand, most of these deaths are conservatives who would have voted Republican.
So really, the Republican party is just being self-destructive.
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Need about 90+% to achieve herd immunity to effectively quench it.
Unfortunately, this is almost certainly not true. See this Lancet article:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(21)00258-1/fulltext [thelancet.com]
Fully vaxed, boosted, and not denying the efficacy of the vaccine in reducing mortality and complications.
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The problem is, sars-cov-2 is out-evolving us.
For those who don't believe in evolution, take a look at covid-- and time is on covid's side.
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IMHO, the best arguments for vaccination are to reduce the risks when infected, to reduce the mortality rate, and to reduce the possibility of long haul covid symptoms--all very worthwhile on their own.
I said unfortunately, because given what Fauci has said about Covid being endemic, and the data reported in this article (amongst others), it seems like vaccination doesn't really do nearly as much as hoped to decrease the spread or rate of infection.
We keep improving vaccines, we keep improving treatments, a
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No, you need around 90%+ people with immunity to achieve herd immunity. Most of that will come from vaccines, some will come from natural immunity. Remember that about half of all people who have covid show no symptoms, and pretty much everybody who dies from it is 70+ years old.
And, in case you want to argue against these easily verifiable facts with ad hominem attacks, I'm getting my booster tomorrow at 4:00PM. Sorry.
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People overlook that herd immunity doesn't have to apply to the entire population of the world. If you have an adult care home full of elderly and often immune-compromised patients, and within the walls of that facility you have 90%-100% immunity of those entering the building. That can be enough to eliminate the long wait times at the funeral home.
Sorry healthcare workers. You have to be immunized to do your job. All my family had to get TB tests and vaccines to do their healthcare jobs back in the 1980's
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Sigh. You don't need to be "immunized", you need to be "immune". If you've had covid, that's at least as good as having been vaccinated. We need to check for antibodies, not vaccinations.
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thank you for the constructive pendency
Re: Until you get rid of the Democrats... (Score:2)
The former always refers to artificial immunisation (e.g. via a vaccine) whereas the latter refers to any immunisation that provides immunity (e.g. either vaccine or natural virus exposure).
Re: Until you get rid of the Democrats... (Score:2)
Immunisation is any process that provides immunity, often by inoculation (artificial), but also by viral exposure (natural).
Immunity is the state (noun). Immunise is the transitive verb. Immunisation is the process (noun). Immune is the adjective.
If you are immune then you have been immunised, and you have immunity.
Inoculation is when artificial immunisation occurs, for example via a vaccine.
Natural immunisation is when a virus immuni
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From that, can you compute how long it'll be before enough of the unvaccinated die off for us to have herd immunity the hard way?
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A significant amount of the population is actively resisting the vaccine, and we're only at 69% vaccinated. Need about 90+% to achieve herd immunity to effectively quench it.
Currently, the unvaccinated die at a 13:1 ratio to those who've been vaccinated. I'll use data from Texas, so as to placate the Deep-Gubmint, or denier morons. Vaccinated people get Covid 20x less than vaccinated -e.g. 1:20, or out of 100 people who acquire Covid, only 5 will have been vaccinated, 95 won't have been.
https://dshs.texas.gov/immuniz... [texas.gov]
Need about 90% effective vaccination rate for herd immunity. Please tell me more on how you plan to achieve that with a vaccine that is about 60% effective at stopping transmission. Gonna vaccinate 150% of the population?
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Actually it's pretty much all true. The Fauci part is correct, along with the advice to get vaccinated and move on. But what I think the person meant to say in the last sentence is that Covid restrictions, mania and general paranoia won't end until Democrats lose political power. Because they are completely unwilling to stop taking full advantage of this crisis to further their party goals.
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Because they are completely unwilling to stop taking full advantage of this crisis to further their party goals.
You mean Republicans, right? I ask because I doubt anyone is not getting vaccinated because of "build back better" but they are certainly avoiding them because of the wide breadth of conservative lies.
Everyone getting vaccinated being by far the easiest and most cost effective means of ending all of this.
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Everyone getting vaccinated being by far the easiest and most cost effective means of ending all of this.
I'm old and cynical through hard earned experience. In what world do people pick the easy, smart and rational way over the hard, stupid and short-sighted way?
People tend to follow what they believe their peers expect of them. Most people don't want to get excluded from their social groups or stand out in a negative way. Unfortunately letting the mob decide things about your health is a mistake, because the mob is less than the sum of its parts.
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Everyone getting vaccinated being by far the easiest and most cost effective means of ending all of this.
Though I can easily understand why people want to believe this, it just isn't that simple. If it were, 99.9999% vaccinated Gibraltar would be Covid-free by now, but it isn't.
https://www.riotimesonline.com... [riotimesonline.com]
Re: rewriting the narrative (Score:2)
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Apparently their government considers it serious enough for this to happen:
The Gibraltar government recently announced the cancellation of “official Christmas parties, official receptions, and similar gatherings” and advised the public to avoid social events and parties for the next four weeks. Outdoor venues are recommended over indoor venues, touching and hugging are discouraged, and masks are recommended.
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until Democrats lose political power.
They seem to have trouble pushing things through even with the Executive branch and thin majorities in the Legislative branch. With those two branches tied up and ineffective, most of the power rests in the hands of the Judicial branch.
I'm of the opinion that the conservatives thoroughly beat the liberals in 2020, even if the media puts Biden's victory and Trump's defeat front and center. There is so much more to the US's system than the current party that sits in the Oval Office. Especially when it seems l
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If you're actually a high-income earner, you're either not paying taxes, or you're incompetent at understanding tax law. And that was under Trump.
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Sad that you consider common sense, and attempting to end the covid pandemic by, you know, medicine, is considered "taking advantage of the crisis".
Sometime last year, a fairly popular youtuber was complaining bitterly about the fact that San Francisco had some of the harshest lockdown measures in place, even though they had a very low contagion rate. The idea that the contagion rate was so low BECAUSE of the lockdown measures, apparently was too complex a thought for his brain to comprehend.
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Well, covid started during republican rule, along with the first "shutdown", so I don't think you can blame this whole ordeal squarely on just the democrats.
If we could fix our electoral system, so that we could stop choosing between a rock and a ham sandwich for some of these critical leadership roles, we might actually see some sanity return to government. But, I doubt I'll ever see that day come to pass.
Re:Until you get rid of the sock puppets... (Score:2)
(1) You are playing with a troll.
(2) You should change the Subject to avoid feeding the sock puppets.
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(foregoing mod points to post)
This. The problem is is that the entire US election and political system are set up to promote the financial success of elected officials.
Most of the entire US political system, from local councils to the federal president, has become a way for elected officials to to get favors and wealth, from expenses related to speaking engagements to flat out graft. It starts with the funding required to run and continues through the pay-back process that elected officials offer those
Re:Until you get rid of the Democrats... (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, a truly "farcical" impeachment. Because it's perfectly normal for a president to ask the head of a foreign government to create a fake investigation of a political opponent and have it tied to receiving aid.
Just like it's perfectly normal for a president to call up state election officers and tell them they need to find more votes.
Completely normal.
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Wait, are you saying that impeachable crimes should be allowed during a pandemic? Or maybe just that things weren't already extremely polarized BEFORE the impeachments?
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You mean the same vaccines Republicans are saying they won't take, that you can't make them get the vaccine, and are fighting tooth and nail to prevent people from getting the vaccine, that had the head of their party denigrate and downplay getting the vaccine, who got the vaccine in secret because he didn't want to appear weak? You mean that vaccine?
Re: Until you get rid of the Democrats... (Score:2)
They also have a lot of retirees (Score:2)
Re: Until you get rid of the Democrats... (Score:2)
Your ability about one punch vs 100 slaps is inaccurate. It is more like one punch vs 3 slaps, where the net effect of the slaps is smaller than the effect of the punch. (I canâ(TM)t even be bothered with editing to avoid Unico
Re: Until you get rid of the Democrats... (Score:2)
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(I canâ(TM)t even be bothered with editing to avoid Unicode Mojibake on Slashdot anymore)
Sorry for the somewhat OT Post:
On an iPhone/iPad, simply hold down the Quote/Doublequote on the onscreen keyboard (about 3/4 second), and the alternate characters will pop-up. The quote-variant you want should be the one Highlighted by default (the rightmost option) when the "menu" pops-up.
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I'm a democrat now?
Care to dump the label on the pile back there? I'll ignore it later. There should still be room between commie, fascist and boomer.
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Covid will never be over until the governments are removed and the megacorps are allowed to rule in their places.
Covid-19 is a medical problem (Score:2)
[Anyone smell a paid brain fart.]
Covid-19 and other pandemics are medical problems and need to be treated as such. Complicated solutions requiring medical expertise.
The economic focus on Covid-19 mostly arises from greed and for-profit medicine. I still think the best solution for economic risk is insurance, but because pandemic risks are hard to predict, I propose TIDI (Time-Inverted Disaster Insurance) as a way to handle all of those unanticipated crises. ADSAAuPR, atAJG.
The political BS is mostly insane.
Re: Covid-19 is a medical problem (Score:2)
Don't blame Democrats, blame reality (Score:5, Insightful)
Lock-downs have largely been governed by state and local officials, not the Presidents. Republican-ran areas already tried the "ignore Covid" approach, and end up filling up hospitals* so much so that people can't get non-Covid care either (unless they bus themselves to blue state hospitals, dammed freeloaders!)
So the lesson is: yes you can "just ignore" Covid, but only if you give up on the idea of having ANY medical care when you need it.
The stereotype is that Republicans miss the stone age, and dismissing the importance of general medical care fits that quite well. I don't know about you Republicans, but overall, I like civilization.
* It's not just hospital beds; but staff, equipment, and supplies that become stretched too thin.
Re: Don't blame Democrats, blame reality (Score:2)
Do Darwinism right (Score:2)
If GOP really wants to go Darwinism and say we should take a big short-term hit for longer-term immunity, then do it. I would appreciate such honesty. I might not agree with it, but that's no longer hiding the ugly trade-off. Promote pandemic Darwinism correctly and the national discussion would be more realistic at least.
We may have stack bodies in the parks like India. Just admit to the harshness up front rather than blame conspiracies and lack of horse pill approval.
You could argue the GOP approach (desc
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Thanks to the anti-vax, anti-mask, anti-lockdown, and anti-social-distance crowd, spurred on by Republicans specifically, and conservatives in general, sars-cov-2 isn't going away anytime soon, nor is covid.
Unfortunately for your hypothesis, since un-vaccinated people are far more at risk for contracting covid, and at much higher risk for covid being fatal, the reality is that the Republicans are doing everything they can to eliminate as many ignorant, misguided and gullible people as possible from the gene
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Yeah, because the alternative of ignoring it as well as we possibly can that we had before was working a lot better.
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Yeah, because the alternative of ignoring it as well as we possibly can that we had before was working a lot better.
There is no returning to pre-COVID times, just like there is no returning to pre-AIDs times. These diseases are here to stay, they will continue killing people.
The choices that available to us are:
1. Live in an authoritarian society where continued existence of COVID is used to justify oppression.
2. Return to personal liberty principles that worked well for the past few centuries and allow people make their own decisions.
Re: Teachable moment: 'stupid' is not 'trolling' (Score:5, Insightful)
If those are the only choices, we're fucked. For 1 to work, we need responsible, mature politicians and for 2 we need responsible, mature citizens. We have neither.
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The planet also existed without humans, yet for some strange reason we try to avoid making it uninhabitable. Beats me why, but it seems to be something a lot of people want to achieve.
Re: Teachable moment: 'stupid' is not 'trolling' (Score:2)
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I'm not progressive.
I just hate stupid people, that's all.
How to tag Subjects as stupid? (Score:2)
Oh well. At least I tried to nip that stupid Subject in the bud. But it currently extends 2/3 of the way into the already large discussion. Past your "contribution", by the way, but this is the last comment that probably isn't a sock puppet.
So in terms of solution approaches, I still think the FP should be moderated in some way, but I've just thought of a weird new idea. How about disabling Subject propagation for the FP? Not completely, but adding a slightly intrusive step so that people have to stop and t
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Must have had a lot of parasites in those countries, then.
I'm still trying to figure out how using ivermectin to treat covid is better than using the vaccine to not GET covid in the first place.
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So what is the panacea then?
There isn't one, there are only mitigations.
There is no rule that says there has to be a panacea, and life does not owe you one.
Re:Until you get rid of the Democrats... (Score:5, Insightful)
Because every little bit helps. Yes, you can get covid while fully vaccinated-- but the odds are low, as are the odds of you transmitting it. Your odds of surviving are much higher if you're vaccinated.
Restrictions improve those numbers. Masks improve those numbers by a smaller amount, but they still help. Social distancing improves the odds in society's favor.
When someone starts screaming "liberty!" in regard to a pandemic, what they're really screaming is "I'm a selfish bastard, and I don't care about YOUR liberty". What gives you the right to refuse a vaccine, not wear a mask, violate social distancing, and ENDANGER MY HEALTH?!?? Not to mention the other people you encounter on a daily basis?
By your logic, Typhoid Mary should have been allowed to keep her job, and I should be allowed to build an un-shielded nuclear reactor in my neighborhood.
I'm all for personal liberty-- but not when it endangers other people. That's sociopathy at it's finest.
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You have the personal liberty to get vaccinated or not. It may or may not increase your chances of survival, but it screws us all over as a species because it puts selective pressure on the virus to mutate.
Yes, you have that liberty-- But you also have to deal with the consequences of that choice. As far as I'm concerned, there's no requirement for you to get vaccinated-- But if you're not, I'd rather you stayed home, and didn't run the risk of spreading the disease. Liberty does not excuse you from responsibility.
Further, your understanding of selective pressure is... well, selective. Natural immunity will also place pressure on the virus, but what is really killing us is the amount that it's spreading.
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We'd be in a far better place if a certain segment of the population weren't actively and intentionally spreading the disease.
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I believe overall that states like TX and FL are doing much better than their NE counterparts in the US that were more locked down and strict on things.
They also haven't experienced quite the economic hits those more blue states have experienced due to their more extreme measures.
Re: Until you get rid of the Democrats... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes essentially liberals are in charge of most of Europe and California is run by Democrats.
I can't tell if you're joking.
The reality is that American conservatism is so extreme it makes conservatives in any other first world country look leftist. Only in third world nations do you see conservatism that looks anything like ours. There are plenty of European and Asian countries under control of conservatives, just not the American extremists brand of it. Basically, we're the abnormal country so using us as the basis for what you call "conservatism" is ridiculous and obvious not accurate.
Also, when you discuss global politics you don't want to use the word "liberal" the way we do in the US. In no other country I've ever heard of is "The Left" and "Liberalism" synonymous, the rest of the world uses what we here call the classic definition https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]. . So in other words, saying "Liberals are in charge of most of Europe" makes you sound awfully ignorant in more than one way.
Covid-19 is not a propaganda game (Score:3)
Nor is it limited to FAUX ior Murdoch. I'm actually working on a substantive piece on the topic, though Slashdot is rarely a venue for substantive discussions these years.
Still drafting it, so not ready to share the link, but I'll try to summarize: There are many economic models for journalism, but all of them are currently broken, often by the Internet. (I'm also adding a couple of imaginary new models). Then you stir in the new research results on psychological manipulation and persuasion. This has create
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The propaganda was always there, but the internet is now amplifying it. Used to be that the crazy folk just mimeographed up a newsletter and hoped someone would read it, but now they have the technology on their side. The conspiracy theories have suddenly because mainstream in just a few years. Who have thought that something like QAnon would be a big enough thing that political candidates have to pander to it?
Thinking about Twitter recently in the news because the CEO is resigning - was originally just
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On the one hand I think you are making some good points, though you are really leaning into the destruction of public education (and related critical thinking skills). That also has a long history, though it really ramped under Bennett, ostensibly working for Reagan to destroy the public schools.
On the other hand we've been sucked away from the Covid-19 topic. I think my new conspiracy theory is that Putin is the new owner of Slashdot. He's just keeping Slashdot running as a training academy for his trolls.
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Talked with a cousin in her late 80s over Thanksgiving and was mentioning that a family friend died from covid the week before, only 2 weeks after he attended a football game. Then she started musing that she really didn't need the vaccine and that people shouldn't be worked up about it and that covid is flooding in because Biden is inviting illegals to enter, yada yada yada.
Wow, someone in the high risk group who needs the vaccine is repeating all the ridiculous propaganda. Meanwhile I do see some anti-c
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Social media allowed all the dummies and foil hat wearers to find a voice. Republicans picked up on that and fed their fears. It's so out of control that the Orange leader told people to get vaccinated and was booed. https://www.nbcnews.com/politi... [nbcnews.com]
Re:but... isn't it all a hoax by the Dems? (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, to be fair, social media amplifies fringe voice on both sides of the aisle. A lot of the riots around the US all last summer were very much a product of social media, driving largely by a very vocal minority of citizens (and fueled also by foreign entities).
To the GP's main question, however, there ARE some differences here than with the past vaccines.
1. This is a mRNA vaccine, and pretty much the first of its kind and extreme newness gives people pause on wanting something like that injected into their bodies.
2. The fact that in the US the federal govt. is trying to mandate directly to the citizens they HAVE to do this, is unprecedented. There is a LOT of backlash against this, not so much for the vaccine itself, but that there is severe federal overreach here on this issue.
The SCOTUS rulings in the past where for state and local mandates, not federal mandates.
Remember, the federal govt is (supposed to be) fairly weak with respect to what it can tell states and the people directly to do and how to behave. Of course in recent decades the fed has grown and arguably taken on more power than it is supposed to have, which is enumerated by the US Constitution.
3. The severity of the vaccine mandates' penalties...this is a big one. If you go back to the SCOTUS case of state mandated vaccinations, the penalties for not obeying then, were basically the equivalent to a $250 one time fine in todays dollars.
For previous mandates, if you refused, you got a fine, but you didn't risk losing your livelihood, and you weren't banned from public access places like stores or restaurants, etc. You didn't lose your basic citizens rights of travel and entrance to publicly open places.
So, there "are" some differences and some reasons (there are others) that have people not only vaccine hesitant, but overall upset at the process going on.
I myself am vaccinated and boosted, but that's my choice.
I am also firmly against the Biden admin trying to overstep federal boundaries to try to use OSHA to mandate vaccines. Even Biden himself in a press conference was doubting it would pass SCOTUS muster, but said they'd "try it anyway"....
I encourage all to get the shot that need it, but I am against the feds using the pandemic as an excuse to extend federal overreach of power.
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Have a look at Portugal and realize that a country with 99% of the over 12 y.o. population vaccinated still has rising numbers in hospital ICU's, despite still having (and increasing) other counter measures, and you should see that to avoid healthcare breakdowns, everyone who can should get vaccinated. Not because they need it, but because the pandemic must be slowed down as much as possible, and getting vaccinated is one of the least disruptive ways to do tha
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Mostly concurrence with your comment. With regards to your current sig, what does that even mean? I think we need to focus on the neo-Bolsheviks and the fake-GOP.
Started playing with a weird new realization. I was kind of blinded because I basically believe in the Golden Rule. Then I realized that it cannot work for greedy people because they want to be richer than everyone else. Then I applied it to the authoritarians. It obviously doesn't work for the authoritarian leaders, but the Golden Rule does sort o
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Re: Thanks so much, anti-vax jackasses! (Score:2)
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All you anti-vax jackasses out there, regardless of why you're anti-vax, and regardless of what country you're from, are at least partially responsible for this, and I hope you all die for it. This whole pandemic could have been by large and far over and done with by now if it hadn't been for people 'protesting' their 'freedoms' being 'infringed upon'. Instead the goddamned virus is being given every opportunity to evolve into the most infectious and deadly form possible. You all may, in fact, have doomed our civilization, and perhaps our entire species, to utter and complete ruin, thanks so fucking much for that, I hope you all die horribly.
No, they are not. You really should get a brain. Oh, I forgot who I'm talking too never mind.
To those of you that are not OP. Anti-vaxers are really and insignificant problem, with a loud mouth. The real issue is apathy in developed countries. Most people that don't have the vaccine simple don't see the need for it and don't have see the rush for it. They are not anti vaccine, just lazy.
In developing countries, like Africa, the issue is logistics. They can't just pop in the car and head down to
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Wow that's an amazing point of view. You're saying that if MORE people had been infected, we would have FEWER mutations? I'm sure the brilliant scientists of the GOP will love to hear this theory
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That's not how vaccines work.
Re:Thanks so much, anti-vax jackasses! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Thanks so much, anti-vax jackasses! (Score:5, Insightful)
We're completely eradicated other diseases, including viruses -- all with strong vaccination programs.
If Fox and Facebook were around earlier, we would still be fighting polio.
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Those diseases are not as good at spreading as covid because it has the tendency of killing people in droves, it's just not a very good strategy at all.
Now flu we didn't even got close to eradicate it and never will, and the same applies to covid.
Now if we get to a point where almost no one dies from covid, it will be absolutely irrelevant to combat it at all.
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Polo epidemic in the USA in 196 killed 6-7k people. COVID-19 is doing at least an order of magnitude better than that.
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Mostly because it is spreading three orders of magnitude more.
Polio has an almost 50% kill ratio, so it's just not very good at spreading as covid is.
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We're completely eradicated other diseases, including viruses -- all with strong vaccination programs.
Actually, we've only ever completely eradicated one disease: smallpox. Doing so took about 20 years of vaccination, including some forced vaccination.
Every other disease we've ever known still exists, somewhere in the world (though we're getting very close with a few).
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If Biden announced tomorrow that lead was found to be toxic you would see people eating it by the spoonful.
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No, but if a bunch of the most annoying and preachy people on the planet started to flood the media 24/7 to not do it, some people would do it in sheer defiance.
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Covid will never be over, but it will stop being a real problem, thanks to the vaccine and other factors.
The real question is if people in power will accept that covid is no longer an issue or will keep just reaping more and more and more power out of it, patriot act style
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No, because the blame still goes to the Chinese and we should never lose sight of that despite our partisan squables.
1) for having a lab performing gain-of-function in a dense urban area while being cited for safety issues
2) sabotaging any effort at early containment
3) deliberately misinforming the world on the nature and origin of the virus
Besides, everyone knows that the political left only has double standards.