It's new name is..

[Biodegradable]

Well, this sucks. I was hoping the pandemic would end some time next year.

[Oday]

Not a big fan of conspiracy theories but this whole COVID thing where, how, and why it started smells like, "Oceanic Atlantis Fish".

[Dark Pulse]

I already got both my shots, but shit like this is exactly what I was worried about.

 

People need to remember what we trained the vaccines (and thus, our immune systems) to recognize is the spike. Different spike? System just may allow it through. It's literally a trojan horse at that point. None of us who got the shot are vaccinated against the virus, just the spike.

 

South Africa had an absolutely atrocious rate of vaccination (less than 1 in 3 - 27%, IIRC), so while more industrialized and rich countries will generally see less of a blow from it (assuming the current vaccines do provide some protection), basically COVID is going to turn into a pandemic of the unvaccinated, and until those people get shots too, or natural immunity finally kicks in enough, that will be more people that it can infect and more chances it can try to mutate.

 

It's definitely worrying. But we'll see how bad they say it is. Apparently the vaccine corporations will have a better idea in roughly two weeks.

Edited November 28, 2021 by Dark Pulse

[Chopkinsca]

My first impression was "great, more fuel to keep the covid fear train running". I haven't looked much into this new variation. I hope it doesn't end up being to bad in the end and the news is just sensationalizing the way news likes to do.

 

At this point, I'm ready to live my whole life in this state of semi-lockdown that has been a way of life for the past almost two years.

[Murdoch]

My first thought reading Omnicron was "Unicron has a brother?"

 

More seriously i concur with @Nine Inch Heels. Covid has been so heavily politicized that i think many people have lost sight of the basic facts. It's a virus. It doesn't give a flying fuck about your rights and freedoms. It could kill you, leave you with long running after effects or it might not. But it can overwhelm weak hospital systems and have a ripple effect of devastation as a consequence. And worse still if you don't take it seriously you could get it and pass it onto someone it will maim or kill. Personally i would rather not have that on my conscience. 

 

And that's it. That's the core facts. Rights and freedoms dont enter in it. You say you have the right not to take it seriously? I would counter do you have the right to endanger someone else by your actions? If you tell me the answer is yes then well that says a lot about you as a person and none of it good.

Edited November 28, 2021 by Murdoch

[Gez]

4 hours ago, 1Destro3456 said:

Another one? ANOTHER ONE ANOTHER VARIANT?

There are hundreds of thousands of new variants every second. That's the thing with cellular reproduction, it's not a perfect copy mechanism.

 

Most of those are inconsequential. A great many result in a non-functional virus that will no longer be able to infect other cells to reproduce, for example. The majority do not change anything significant. And then there are just a few that do result in a worse form of the virus.

[RDETalus]

COVID is just endemic, nothing much else can be done about this. The virus mutates very fast, the antibodies (whether from natural or vaccinated immunity) decay to ineffectiveness in 6 to 12 months, and animals can carry and reservoir the virus. There's no way to decisively eliminate COVID with our current medical technology nor the level of social and logistical control to supply and compel all 7 billion people on the planet to take the same vaccine simultaneously.

However, one piece of good news is the new anti-viral therapeutics currently in development. If we can't count on immunity to eradicate the virus from the planet, at least these can stop people from dying or taking up hospital beds.

[BaileyTW]

Coulda just followed lockdown well enough, not that any of it was implemented well to begin with, now covid is out here doing unicron shit.

[Major Arlene]

I'll just add that it took nearly a century to rid the world of polio. I don't think it'll take that long if it does end up happening in this case, but it's not going to happen within the span of a couple years. But it's still important to vaccinate, take precautions when possible and continue to develop cures/remedies for the virus.

[Bridgeburner56]

Covid is the new flu. There will be endless, unending variants that we as a society will need to manage. Some will be bad, some will be less so. But, much like the flu, vaccines can be updated to counter each season's most virulent strains. Listen to the experts (and by that I mean virologists and those who know their shit) and we'll be fine.

[RDETalus]

17 minutes ago, Major Arlene said:

I'll just add that it took nearly a century to rid the world of polio.

 

The polio vaccine protects you for life though, whereas the COVID vaccine (or naturally obtained immunity) only protects for about a year.

 

That makes eradication extremely difficult, probably impossible. Every single year you’ll have to predict and manufacture the latest vaccine and distribute them fast enough to everyone on the planet to stay ahead of mutation and antibody decay. And you’ll have to do this for years. It’s the same reason why the flu isn’t gone.

[ReaperAA]

23 minutes ago, Major Arlene said:

I'll just add that it took nearly a century to rid the world of polio.

 

If only that was true *Cries*. There are still cases of Polio in my country :'(

[cannonball]

There isn’t any point in panicking or throwing one’s toys out of the pram until we find out more about this variant. The branch of this variant is unusually long and definitely needs investigating, especially as there is a strong suspicion that it is causing a sudden exponential growth in cases in some parts of South Africa.

At this moment it is potentially more transmissible than delta, it probably chips away at community wide immunity a little bit more than anything we have seen so far, but nothing that cannot be resolved swiftly through getting more people vaccinated or third doses for the vulnerable. This is potentially bad news for countries with poor vaccine uptake.

[Bridgeburner56]

58 minutes ago, RDETalus said:

whereas the COVID vaccine (or naturally obtained immunity) only protects for about a year.

This is nothing new. Tetanus needs regular booster shots. Flu vaccines are yearly.

[RDETalus]

2 hours ago, Bridgeburner56 said:

This is nothing new. Tetanus needs regular booster shots. Flu vaccines are yearly.

I could talk about this forever, but basically, this fact is still surprising to a lot of people and it makes them angry and confused when you tell them that the COVID vaccine isn’t a one-and-done deal.

 

It’s a big failure of public communication that this wasn’t made clear early on, and way too many comparisons were drawn to the polio vaccine where people were expectant of a single round of shots. This is why people ended up believing that it’s not a “real” vaccine.

 

EDIT: to clarify a bit, this isn’t a problem with the vaccine either, natural immunity would also fade quickly. It’s just a natural consequence of the biochemistry at play with COVID.

Edited November 28, 2021 by RDETalus

[Redneckerz]

I think its nice that the WHO is paying tribute to Mr.Elusive and his legendary work.

Spoiler

Joking aside, this is already noticeable in my field of work. I have to make movings for new COVID-rooms possible with an increasing number of patients. We have gone back to the policies established in the big wave of last year - Disinfect and protect everywhere in the hospital.

 

The COVID-patients that we have, are unvaccinated.

 

Luck of the draw is that our department had the opportunity to get the booster shot really early (5 days after the first one was given to the elderly) so on our side of things, we are fully up.

[Apprentice]

11 hours ago, OniriA said:

An urgent public conference was held yesterday evening here whereby our country has basically announced another semi-lockdown per Sunday night.

The lockdown was announced during 'Black Friday' but it was an entirely different "Black friday" for many of us here.

 

Today, the news stated that 60 passengers infected with the transformed Omicron variant have arrived here from South Africa.

So the new variant is already here now too. 

 

Many people are angry about the inconsistency,incompetence and illogical nature of the rules from the political bunch (schools for children are being kept open for example even though most of the new infections are taking place there and brought home).

 

Riots are taking place in various cities throughout the night whereby great fires are lit (combined with explosive fireworks and bombs).

Alot of people are blaming the unvaccinated for the new restrictions here. The unvaccinated in turn  are protesting in the street saying they are living in a

new Nazi dictator state an they are the victims.   

 

Meanwhile at the airport a large decorated Christmas tree stands alone in the entrance plaza, surrounded by masked Marechaussee police holding machineguns..

Wilde gok: U is Nederlander ??

 

As for the rules from the Dutch political elite: they are and have been inconsistent and illogical and that has been the case for the almost two years that COVID emerged. The current administration IS in that respect completely and utterly incompetent and a lot of people are going to realize it. Say it yourself, we had an intelligent lockdown, then we had a full lockdown a fortnight before christmas followed by a curfew that lasted three months. Shop and restaurants were closed, then opened and now almost closed again and for what ??

 

Basicly we in the Netherlands are back to square one due to the incompetence and failure to implement real long-term solutions by the current administration. No wonder people are getting angry here. As for the blaming of the unvaccinated, that is the result of the propaganda against them instigated by the Dutch Minister of Health who keeps pointing the accusing finger towards the unvaccinated. The unvaccinated aren't the problem, the Minister of Health IS and REMAINS the problem since the vaccinated are spreading the virus just as fast and even faster then the unvaccinated !! Why ?? The unvaccinated have to test themselves each and everytime they want to see a movie, go to the theater or even take a pint in the local pub. Vaccinated do not have these "restrictions", they can go roam about freely because they are vaccinated and have a static QR-code, even if they carry the virus.

 

The road to hell is paved with good intentions . . .

[holaareola]

 

23 minutes ago, Apprentice said:

The unvaccinated aren't the problem, the Minister of Health IS and REMAINS the problem since the vaccinated are spreading the virus just as fast and even faster then the unvaccinated !! Why ?? The unvaccinated have to test themselves each and everytime they want to see a movie, go to the theater or even take a pint in the local pub. Vaccinated do not have these "restrictions", they can go roam about freely because they are vaccinated and have a static QR-code, even if they carry the virus.

Yes, the vaccinated are likely to be by far the biggest spreaders. But the point is that we're going to have to live with this thing (at least in non-authoritarian societies) for some time for concrete reasons very well laid out by @RDETalus. You seem negative about lockdowns but as long as societies are open, it will spread, and as long as there are lots of unvaccinated people that spreading means deaths.

 

The only way back to 2019BC is via mass vaccination.

 

 

So, citizens of Doomworld. Mandatory vaccination, yes or no?

[RDETalus]

37 minutes ago, holaareola said:

So, citizens of Doomworld. Mandatory vaccination, yes or no?

I think you’ll have better luck with anti-viral therapeutic pills at this point. People are less hesitant about eating a pill, and pills are logistically easier to handle than frozen vials of vaccines.

 

it’s how HIV/AIDS was dealt with.

[Apprentice]

55 minutes ago, holaareola said:

Yes, the vaccinated are likely to be by far the biggest spreaders. But the point is that we're going to have to live with this thing (at least in non-authoritarian societies) for some time for concrete reasons very well laid out by @RDETalus. You seem negative about lockdowns but as long as societies are open, it will spread, and as long as there are lots of unvaccinated people that spreading means deaths.

I'm not against lockdowns and others implemented actions as long as they are being targeted against massive spreading the virus, which is in the Netherlands not the case. Everything which has been introduced and implemented by the Dutch government, are and have been politically motivated with the curfew debacle sitting firmly on the #1 spot. Nothing more and nothing less !! The Dutch government simple refuses to acknowledge that COVID is here to stay and refuses to take actions based for the long-term, such as upscaling intensive care capacity, which has been reduced by a factor of three in the past ten years. At the moment there is talk about introducing a "2G" society (either fully vaccinated or cured) as they have done in Austria and other countries and even re-introducing the curfew "as a last resort", which are bad decisions and will not help against spreading the virus.

 

As for the mandatory vaccinations, if the vaccine does not protect me and I can get sick and/or I am able to roam around freely thus spread the virus despite being fully vaccinated, why would it protect you ??

[holaareola]

44 minutes ago, RDETalus said:

I think you’ll have better luck with anti-viral therapeutic pills at this point. People are less hesitant about eating a pill, and pills are logistically easier to handle than frozen vials of vaccines.

 

it’s how HIV/AIDS was dealt with.

Much easier sell than a needle for sure. I don't know much about how these work, would we be taking them all the time? Or just around times of greater exposure risk? With HIV/AIDS you're taking pills for the rest of your life.

 

This sounded quite promising to me, and solves the storage problem if it works out: https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/covid-19-vaccine-smart-patch-uk/. I read elsewhere that immune response was also greater with this method of administration.

 

Just now, Apprentice said:

As for the mandatory vaccinations, if the vaccine does not protect me and I can get sick and/or I am able to roam around freely thus spread the virus despite being fully vaccinated, why would it protect you ??

OK, we don't know about Omicron yet, but vaccines DO offer protection. Here in the UK, just 0.8% of COVID deaths are of people >21 days after their second dose, and we're a majority-vaccinated country.

 

 

 

I personally baulk at mandatory vaccination. When it comes to e.g. drugs, abortion etc I'm fairly your body, your choice.

Edited November 28, 2021 by holaareola

[RDETalus]

1 hour ago, holaareola said:

I don't know much about how these work, would we be taking them all the time? Or just around times of greater exposure risk? 

You would only take the anti-viral pills in the initial stages of a COVID infection, or possibly in high exposure settings if you’re really vulnerable.

 

Pfizer and Merck, and probably others, are currently working on these. Their development isn’t guaranteed though, might end up running into their own problems as well.

[HavoX]

Welp. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, since they are capable of mutating from one form into another... it's as if they've got a mind of their own!

 

At least I'm due for another vaccination: only problem is, my parents and I don't know when.

Edited November 28, 2021 by HavoX

[Mr. Freeze]

3 hours ago, holaareola said:

So, citizens of Doomworld. Mandatory vaccination, yes or no?

 

Hell yes. 

[CBM]

3 hours ago, holaareola said:

 

Yes, the vaccinated are likely to be by far the biggest spreaders. But the point is that we're going to have to live with this thing (at least in non-authoritarian societies) for some time for concrete reasons very well laid out by @RDETalus. You seem negative about lockdowns but as long as societies are open, it will spread, and as long as there are lots of unvaccinated people that spreading means deaths.

 

The only way back to 2019BC is via mass vaccination.

 

 

So, citizens of Doomworld. Mandatory vaccination, yes or no?

yes, got both my shots as soon as I could. However I do not fear death. I will embrace it when it comes.

[OniriA]

5 hours ago, Apprentice said:

 U is Nederlander ??

 

*Knikt stilletjes *

 

A little pick from the news articles of today (translated). 

 

 

 

[Jello]

9 hours ago, holaareola said:

 

Yes, the vaccinated are likely to be by far the biggest spreaders. But the point is that we're going to have to live with this thing (at least in non-authoritarian societies) for some time for concrete reasons very well laid out by @RDETalus. You seem negative about lockdowns but as long as societies are open, it will spread, and as long as there are lots of unvaccinated people that spreading means deaths.

 

The only way back to 2019BC is via mass vaccination.

 

 

So, citizens of Doomworld. Mandatory vaccination, yes or no?

We already require vaccinations for Measles, Mumps, and Rubella in the US. If you get bit by a wild or feral animal, you're given a rabies vaccine, if you get stuck by a rusty nail you're given a tetanus vaccine. The only reason polio vaccines aren't mandatory in the US is because we've effectively eradicated it. I've never had one, but my mother has. I've met people who wish the polio vaccine would've been around when they were kids, so they didn't have to walk around with a malformed foot or a leg brace for the rest of their life. 

 

I say yes, everyone should be required to get vaccinated unless they have a clear medical health condition that would make vaccination dangerous. And so far, I have yet to read about any medical condition that would prevent someone from getting a COVID vaccination. I'm sure they might exist, but legitimate health reasons to not be vaccinated have to be extremely rare. Hell, we probably could've prevented COVID from becoming another "Common Cold" if we would've tried to mitigate it's spread early on. But no, people were too concerned with their "freedumbs" and doing whatever the Hell they pleased, and not wanting to be told what to do, that we ended up with the current situation.

 

"I just want to get back to normal!" "Well then stop spreading the fucking virus! Stay home, if you have to go out, wear a damn face mask, and stay six feet apart." "But I don't want to! I want to get in everyone's face and tell them just how ridiculous I think this whole thing is!" "Well... this is going to last a Hell of a lot longer."

[scalliano]

"Omicron" is an anagram of "moronic".

 

That is all I'm going to say on the matter.

[Quasar]

Wow that's quite a burn on the Greek letter o.

[Stupid Bunny]

I mean omicron is just the little o

 

you know they’re saving the Ωmega Strain for the really serious shit