The Covid-19 Pandemic Thread

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ap215
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COVID In MN: Omicron Variant Detected In Vaccinated Minnesotan Who Traveled To NYC

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The Minnesota Department of Health has confirmed that the COVID-19 Omicron variant has been detected for the first time in the state. It’s the second confirmed case of the variant in the country.

On Thursday, MDH said its Public Health Laboratory found the variant in a specimen from a Minnesota resident who recently traveled to New York City. The person is a man who lives in Hennepin County, and had been vaccinated.

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2021/12/ ... minnesota/
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Omicron COVID-19 variant found in Colorado

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, health experts have detected the first case of the omicron COVID-19 variant in Colorado.

The case involves an adult woman from Arapahoe County who had recently traveled to southern Africa. The woman is reportedly experiencing minor symptoms and is isolated by recuperating at her home. The woman was vaccinated, according to CDPHE, however she had not received a booster.

https://www.kktv.com/2021/12/02/omicron ... -colorado/
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5 cases of omicron variant detected in New York

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- At least five cases of the COVID-19 omicron variant were reported in New York on Thursday, just hours after the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) announced a case in a resident with a recent travel history to New York City.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the confirmed cases during a joint press conference with Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday evening.

https://abc7ny.com/omicron-variant-minn ... /11293277/
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carmenjonze
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Re: The Covid-19 Pandemic Thread

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Motor City wrote: Mon Nov 29, 2021 8:22 pm Im just saying to the degree that all the nations ignore the poorer countries and hoard the vaccine formulas and vaccines, is the degree to which covid will flourish and transmute into variants.

For some reason only pressure is against individuals but individuals cant fill the void created worldwide by governmental and pharmaceutical inaction to poorer and unvaccinated countries.

A moment Biden could step up but only if wealth and corporate powers importance is lesser a consideration than the well being of the poorer countries afflicted by this sickness.
Wealthy nations like ours are on our third dose. Poor nations including many on the African continent still are on dose no. 1.

Now we’re watching the inevitable, as an African country— one of the richest thanks to colonialism and Apartheid, becomes the world’s scapegoat for this variant.
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carmenjonze wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:34 pm Wealthy nations like ours are on our third dose. Poor nations including many on the African continent still are on dose no. 1.

Now we’re watching the inevitable, as an African country— one of the richest thanks to colonialism and Apartheid, becomes the world’s scapegoat for this variant.
And were it not for righty, I dont think the Biden admin would have done it in the first place. They have to stop being afraid of righty.

Although, right now righty (which includes all of them here) is saying if Biden keeps vaccinating people they wont fund the govt, so the fears are reasonable.

I will simultaneously watch my life's savings dwindle in the stock market (we do a socially responsible portfolio, no oil, no coal, no tobacco, no russia, mostly tech stocks) while the virus gets stronger BOTH because of righty...I wish we could get an island big enough for them to live comfortably and have them all go there, otherwise the human race is likely done.
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Re: The Covid-19 Pandemic Thread

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carmenjonze wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 6:34 pm Wealthy nations like ours are on our third dose. Poor nations including many on the African continent still are on dose no. 1.

Now we’re watching the inevitable, as an African country— one of the richest thanks to colonialism and Apartheid, becomes the world’s scapegoat for this variant.
yea exactly
We go to Cape Town, South Africa, to speak with a leading health justice advocate about how scientists in the country have identified a new Omicron coronavirus variant, and the World Health Organization warns it could be more transmissible than previous variants. Against the advice of the WHO, several countries have closed their borders to foreign travelers. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa criticized the travel bans and called on wealthy nations to help poorer nations gain greater access to COVID vaccines. The bans are “actually quite racist,” says Fatima Hassan, founder and director of Health Justice Initiative. “We need to urgently … vaccinate as many people in Africa as possible.”.......
China to donate 600 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa
China has pledged to donate 600 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccines to Africa as the world grapples with the unequal distribution of the shots between rich and poor countries.

Chinese President Xi Jinping made the promise Monday in a video speech to the opening ceremony of a China-Africa forum on economic cooperation.

He said China will supply 1 billion doses in all. The other 400 million are to come through other routes such as production by Chinese companies in Africa.

“We need to put people and their lives first, be guided by science, support waiving intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines, and truly ensure the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in Africa to bridge the immunization gap,” he said......
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Libertas wrote: Thu Dec 02, 2021 7:11 pm And were it not for righty, I dont think the Biden admin would have done it in the first place. They have to stop being afraid of righty.

Although, right now righty (which includes all of them here) is saying if Biden keeps vaccinating people they wont fund the govt, so the fears are reasonable.

I will simultaneously watch my life's savings dwindle in the stock market (we do a socially responsible portfolio, no oil, no coal, no tobacco, no russia, mostly tech stocks) while the virus gets stronger BOTH because of righty...I wish we could get an island big enough for them to live comfortably and have them all go there, otherwise the human race is likely done.
But then they would just end up exploiting and mass murdering each other to death. :(
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ap215
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Re: The Covid-19 Pandemic Thread

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Omicron will likely ‘dominate and overwhelm’ the world in 3-6 months, doctor says

SINGAPORE — The new Covid variant omicron will likely “overwhelm the whole world” in the coming months, according to a Singapore-based infectious disease doctor.

While vaccines against the strain can be developed quickly, they need to be tested over three to six months to prove that they can provide immunity against the variant, Dr. Leong Hoe Nam of Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital said Wednesday.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/02/omicron ... -says.html
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Re: The Covid-19 Pandemic Thread

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Wonder if they ever will find out it's origins....

https://www.yahoo.com/news/arizona-scie ... 00543.html
A prominent Arizona scientist's assertion that a wet market in China — and not a lab leak — is the likely ground zero of the COVID-19 pandemic has reignited a long-running international debate.

Michael Worobey's research, published on Nov. 18 in the journal Science, shows that a lab leak "is almost off the table," as the origin of the pandemic, he said this week. Rather, he believes it occurred after a natural jump from animal to human, according to his research.
+
The bigger picture goal to Worobey's sleuthing is figuring out how the deadly COVID-19 pandemic started "so that we can neutralize that threat properly," he said.

"If it really did happen through a raccoon dog at a market, but the world believes it happened through a lab that had an accidental escape and all your focus is on lab safety as the way of preventing pandemics, inevitably the actual route through wildlife is not going to be taken as seriously and responded to properly," he said.

"When a plane crashes, investigators spend months and even years trying to piece together every fragment and every bit of information to work out why that happened. And that's what I'm trying to do here — to figure out why the plane crashed so that we can avoid the same thing happening again."
The good, the bad, and the ugly. Try that from a neutral position, eh.
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Two things I would argue:

Despite a lot of blather earlier this year about there not being enough attention given to the "lab leak" theory ... well, cool, here we are, and there doesn't seem to have been much evidence found so far to make it the most likely scenario. I've seen the arguments for it, and they are still weak. For sure this is what I know: those claiming this is a "bio-engineered" (human-made) virus have pretty much nothing to stand on, but that doesn't totally rule out it was a natural-origins virus that was being studied and escaped from the Wuhan Lab.

Like our man Fauci, I still think the zoonotic theory is the most likely. This means it probably spread from horseshoe bats to humans through an intermediate species, and PROBABLY something at that wet market. A raccoon dog? A mink? We don't know. And it is POSSIBLE we may not figure it out for decades...

As humans we hate the unknown, and it could be something we just won't know the answer to, maybe for a long time.

There is absolutely no harm to make sure Biosafety Protocols are tightened both in China and in labs like this all over the world, nor should we not have a necessary discussion on what limits should be placed on "Gain-of-function" research there or elsewhere ... both those things are probably good ideas, even if they are not the reason the COVID pandemic hit the world.
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Re: The Covid-19 Pandemic Thread

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ProfX wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 9:10 am Two things I would argue:

Despite a lot of blather earlier this year about there not being enough attention given to the "lab leak" theory ... well, cool, here we are, and there doesn't seem to have been much evidence found so far to make it the most likely scenario. I've seen the arguments for it, and they are still weak. For sure this is what I know: those claiming this is a "bio-engineered" (human-made) virus have pretty much nothing to stand on, but that doesn't totally rule out it was a natural-origins virus that was being studied and escaped from the Wuhan Lab.

Like our man Fauci, I still think the zoonotic theory is the most likely. This means it probably spread from horseshoe bats to humans through an intermediate species, and PROBABLY something at that wet market. A raccoon dog? A mink? We don't know. And it is POSSIBLE we may not figure it out for decades...

As humans we hate the unknown, and it could be something we just won't know the answer to, maybe for a long time.

There is absolutely no harm to make sure Biosafety Protocols are tightened both in China and in labs like this all over the world, nor should we not have a necessary discussion on what limits should be placed on "Gain-of-function" research there or elsewhere ... both those things are probably good ideas, even if they are not the reason the COVID pandemic hit the world.
i haven't ruled out a lab leak. The one thing i have ruled out is the crazy ct theory claims that it was a nefarious act. Why would China develop, and then turn loose the corona virus on their own population? That makes about as much sense as the Liberals are using the pandemic to control the world.

To me, a important piece of the puzzle is missing. Could very well be the piece won't be declassified for many, many years.

i can see the need for Gain of Function....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gain-of-function_research
Gain-of-function research (GoF research or GoFR) is medical research that genetically alters an organism in a way that may enhance the biological functions of gene products. This may include an altered pathogenesis, transmissibility, or host range, i.e. the types of hosts that a microorganism can infect. This research is intended to reveal targets to better predict emerging infectious diseases and to develop vaccines and therapeutics. For example, influenza B can only infect humans and harbor seals.[1] Introducing a mutation that would allow influenza B to infect rabbits in a controlled laboratory situation would be considered a "gain of function" experiment as the virus did not previously have that function.[2][3] That type of experiment could then help reveal which parts of the virus are responsible for its host range, enabling the creation of antiviral medicines which block this function.[3]
By concentrating on wet markets the labs are overlooked. Concentrate on the labs and the wet markets are overlooked. New protocols should be established for both.
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Daystar CEO Marcus Lamb dies after COVID diagnosis
Marcus Lamb, CEO and founder of the conservative Christian Daystar Television Network who was outspoken against COVID-19 vaccines, has died at age 64 after contracting the virus.

Daystar confirmed his death Tuesday........

............ In recent months, a number of prominent anti-vaccination Christian broadcasters have died from COVID-19. Radio hosts Dick Farrell, Phil Valentine and Marc Bernier, who were unvaccinated, all died after they contracted the virus.
Anti-vax Republican who refused to certify Detroit's election died of COVID-19
A Michigan Republican who made national headlines for refusing to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election — and was a vocal anti-vaxxer who downplayed COVID-19 — died after getting the virus.

William Hartmann, the former Vice Chairman of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, died on Tuesday, according to a Facebook post from friend Douglas Reimel. He was 63.

Hartmann had been hospitalized on a ventilator since around Nov. 6, Metro Times previously reported.
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Yep. I agree. Regulations on "wet markets" need to be tightened, AND lab biosafety protocols. It is definitely not an either/or.

I also agree on the necessity for doing gain-of-function research, AND why some virologists think we might need some additional controls and protocols over it. Like all things both necessary and dangerous.

What I definitely also think is Rand Paul and other idiots saying because Fauci's office gave a grant to some nonprofit that in turn sponsored some GoF research at labs other than Wuhan and also worked with the Wuhan Lab ... means "Fauci created the virus" ... :roll:
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If omnicron is mild in comparison to Delta, it could be a blessing if takes over as the dominant strain. Although there’s not enough data yet.
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Drak wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 10:16 am If omnicron is mild in comparison to Delta, it could be a blessing if takes over as the dominant strain. Although there’s not enough data yet.
I was thinking the same thing but as a person who like to gamble I was afraid saying it out loud would jinx us.
So far everything I've read seems to indicate it is more like a 48 hour bug.
Wouldn't it be nice if the future strains get weaker and weaker.
Fingers crossed
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Glennfs wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 10:18 am I was thinking the same thing but as a person who like to gamble I was afraid saying it out loud would jinx us.
So far everything I've read seems to indicate it is more like a 48 hour bug.
Wouldn't it be nice if the future strains get weaker and weaker.
Fingers crossed
Or the next strain could be VERY deadly. Looks like this one hits children under five:
The “highly transmissible” Omicron variant of coronavirus ripping through South Africa is putting disproportionately large numbers of children under 5 years old in hospitals, a top South African government medical adviser said Friday.

The alarming development raises the prospect of a new global battle cycle against the virus, given that the new variant has already spread to dozens of countries. The South African scientists also said the new variant was spreading much quicker than any previous wave of the coronavirus.

In a worrying virtual press conference, government adviser Waasila Jassat, speaking about the worst-affected area of Gauteng province (which includes the city of Johannesburg), said: “It’s clear in Gauteng, the week-on-week increase we’re seeing in cases and admissions is higher than we’ve seen it before. We’ve seen quite a sharp increase [in hospital admissions] across all age groups but particularly in the under 5s.”

She added: “The incidence in those under 5 is now second highest, second only to those over 60. The trend that we’re seeing now, that is different to what we’ve seen before, is a particular increase in hospital admissions in children under 5 years.

“We’ve always seen children not being very heavily affected by the COVID epidemic in the past, not having many admissions. In the third wave, we saw more admissions in young children under 5 and in teenagers, 15-19, and now, at the start of this fourth wave, we have seen quite a sharp increase across all age groups, but particularly in the under 5s.”

Jassat produced graphs that clearly showed how children under 5 years old are now being hospitalized at an alarming rate.
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i'm hoping one article i read turns out to be true. To mutate as much as the new virus has i has had to give up something in return. That being, it has become far less deadly.

But for now, the reports are all over the place. My guess is another month before they know the full effects of omicron and if the present vaccines are effective.

As of now, they're asking for everyone to get their booster shots for safety sake.
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Missouri governor withheld a state study showing mask mandates worked.
A study conducted at the request of Parson's office in early November found that mask requirements helped reduce COVID infections during a spike following the spread of the delta variant, according to the report. The study compared infection and death rates in St. Louis and St. Louis County and Kansas City and Jackson County with the rest of the state. The state's health director, Donald Kauerauf, wrote to Parson's office that the analysis showed that mask mandates were effective, according to emails obtained by the Independent and the Documenting Covid-19 project.

"I think we can say with great confidence reviewing the public health literature and then looking at the results in your study that communities where masks were required had a lower positivity rate per 100,000 and experienced lower death rates," Kauerauf wrote.

But the analysis was never made public and was not even shared during cabinet meetings with top state officials, according to the emails.

The state's own data shows that between April and October, jurisdictions that imposed mask mandates reported 15.8 cases per day per 100 residents compared to 21.7 per day in communities without mask requirements.
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Masks interrupt the aerosol and droplet circulation that spreads most of these viruses. Absent even a clue on how covid is evolving, and being stuck with a built-in 3 month lag in devising whatever new vaccines and drugs work best with mutations that have by then spread worldwide and are approaching dominance, masking is really all we can do to make a difference. Still, some people won't wear them. I can't offer a solution here, but I'll keep wearing mine.
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From a post at DU


Local hospital released info today. 38 Covid patients, all but 2 unvaxxed, 6 in Intensive Care,

all unvaxxed.

Rural hospital serves 6 counties, has 109 total rooms and 9 Intensive Care rooms.

County-wide vax rate is 40%. Surrounding counties somewhat less. Most people do not wear masks in public. Voted 75% for Trump.

Central Illinois is seeing a surge.
MAGA represents most unvaxxed and they are going to kill millions of us before they are through, and during that time they will destroy the economy. and why? Every single one of them was pro vax until something puked out of the mouth of the proven dumbest human alive, and they ate that puke right up. :twisted:
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Libertas wrote: Fri Dec 03, 2021 8:52 pm From a post at DU

MAGA represents most unvaxxed and they are going to kill millions of us before they are through, and during that time they will destroy the economy. and why? Every single one of them was pro vax until something puked out of the mouth of the proven dumbest human alive, and they ate that puke right up. :twisted:
Well, I won't with a guarantee say they won't kill you if you are vaccinated. I won't say that because one of them in one of those huge Donald J Trump 4x4 pickup trucks might squish you in your car on a highway someday.

:(

That's what they do that pisses me off the most. Roaring down the highway, looming up large in my rear view mirror, then showering my windshield with flicked up rocks as they roar past. Both my cars have broken windshields right now due to a Donald J Trump roaring past showering me with rocks.
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People who live in a heavily republican counties are six times more likely to die of COVID-19 compared to those who live in heavily Democratic counties.
People who live in counties that voted heavily for then-President Donald Trump are more likely to die of Covid-19 than people who live in counties that voted heavily for President Joe Biden, according to a new report.

A review of Covid-19 data by NPR found that people "living in counties that went 60% or higher for Trump in November 2020 had 2.7 times the death rates of those that went for Biden." Data examined by NPR included information collected since May in around 3,000 counties. Previous reports have found similar results.

Health care analyst Charles Gaba told NPR that in October death rates were six times higher in the most heavily Republican counties when compared to the most heavily Democratic counties.

"An unvaccinated person is three times as likely to lean Republican as they are to lean Democrat," Kaiser Family Foundation's Liz Hamel said. "If I wanted to guess if somebody was vaccinated or not and I could only know one thing about them, I would probably ask what their party affiliation is."
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Number6 wrote: Sun Dec 05, 2021 2:42 pm People who live in a heavily republican counties are six times more likely to die of COVID-19 compared to those who live in heavily Democratic counties.
Not a surprise since the GOP and its media arm made vaccines and masks political, and they constantly push COVID disinformation. Like telling people not to trust vaccines but to use horse dewormer instead. Or that mask wearing suppresses their freedumb. Or that covid is a hoax.
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COVID outbreak on cruise ship approaching New Orleans

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Ten people aboard a Norwegian Cruise Line ship approaching New Orleans have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said Saturday night.

The Norwegian Breakaway had departed New Orleans on Nov. 28 and is due to return this weekend, the Louisiana Department of Health said in a news release. Over the past week, the ship made stops in Belize, Honduras and Mexico.

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus- ... 61d800056f
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Fauci says early reports encouraging about omicron variant

U.S. health officials said Sunday that while the omicron variant of the coronavirus is rapidly spreading throughout the country, early indications suggest it may be less dangerous than delta, which continues to drive a surge of hospitalizations.

President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told CNN’s “State of the Union” that scientists need more information before drawing conclusions about omicron’s severity.

https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus- ... d7ebd9556b
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