"Our vaccine effectiveness is high enough, and omicron is mild enough, that practically none of the vaccinated cases require hospital care."
While this is true, we still have a significant portion of our population who is unable to make the choice to get vaccinated. Here in Chicago, we're seeing a surge of children at the local children's hospital:
"The number of children testing positive for Covid-19 at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is 'incredibly high,' Dr. Larry Kociolek, an attending physician and infectious disease specialist there, told CNN Monday."
"Case numbers are three times as high as the hospital’s previous peak in December of 2020, Kociolek said."
"'Hospitalizations have quadrupled over our baseline over the past week,' Kociolek told CNN. 'Fortunately, a lot of these infections are either mild infections or incidental positives, since we screen all children before procedures and at the time of admission, and we've actually not seen any change in the number of children being admitted to the ICU.'"
"Half of the hospitalizations were in children under the age of five, Kociolek said. Those children are not yet eligible to be vaccinated."
"'I think we’re definitely seeing the impact of vaccines in kids older than 5. The kids that are hospitalized are essentially all unvaccinated,' Kociolek said."
"Kociolek said about 7% of the kids who test positive don’t have any symptoms at all. The sharp rise in cases shows how contagious the Omicron variant is."
"'Our community activity just shut up very, very quickly,' Kociolek said."
"Kociolek said the hospital is also concerned about a surge in multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, known as MIS-C, in the near future. MIS-C is a rare, but serious Covid-19 related condition that can affect kids. The condition typically occurs after there has been a surge of Covid-19 cases. Even children who have had mild Covid-19 cases can develop MIS-C, usually several weeks after infection."
"'We did not see an increase in MIS-C following the Delta peak, but there’s reason to believe the Delta variant might be different than the Omicron variant in terms of causing MIS-C, so we are cautiously observing these cases,' Kociolek said."
"Kociolek said it is also important for parents to keep in mind that even mild Covid-19 cases can be contagious. To keep schools open, parents have to remember to keep their sick children home from school or any other activity. He also suggested parents may want to get their children tested or use a home test before they return to school. 'That way you can ensure that they’re not carrying Covid-19 back to the classroom,' Kociolek said."
The situation isn't as dire as some folks are making out and the local folks seem to have it under control - for now - but we're not yet at the point where everyone that wants a vaccine can have one, so the vaccine effectiveness in preventing severe symptoms isn't something that everyone can take advantage of. (In addition to children, this includes immunocompromised folks.) Once we get to a point where we have something where everyone can be immunized or we have effective therapeutics to combat an infection (I mainly have the immunocompromised in mind here), then it makes more sense to revert to a "my body, my choice" attitude (ideally with higher insurance rates for those choosing to skip the shot) and let natural selection do its thing. We may be close to that point, but we're not there yet until we have protection that spans from the cradle to the grave.
While COVID zero is an extreme position/example, it should be noted in the article that a number of countries pretty successfully kept their COVID cases low in the first part of the pandemic (South Korea for example) to the point where vaccines and successful therapies are available.
It'd also be great to note that what may be a more acceptable risk as of now was not necessarily an acceptable risk a year ago - and that those that took those risks helped contribute to a large number of avoidable deaths.
We definitely did not do a good job of that: you've pointed it out plenty, but in different postings rather than tying them together to help reinforce a nuanced view. This makes this posting come off as a dunk attempt.
And this is it. My last theracketnews article. You would rather be angry at those who tried to save lives than those who endangered and prolonged this outbreak. And its easy to say now that you can look at this variant and see a mild sickness instead of Delta killing millions. I'm just at a loss for words at how evil this is. Backwards, ignorant and evil. I mean did you want them to say at the outbreak that well this is just a virus that's going to run over us and there's nothing we can do about it?
No, you once again picked the wrong side and you will stubbornly defend it until it blows up in your face. Just like with Trump. I wonder who will have to die because of this idiocy. Or more accurately how many.
"Our vaccine effectiveness is high enough, and omicron is mild enough, that practically none of the vaccinated cases require hospital care."
While this is true, we still have a significant portion of our population who is unable to make the choice to get vaccinated. Here in Chicago, we're seeing a surge of children at the local children's hospital:
"The number of children testing positive for Covid-19 at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is 'incredibly high,' Dr. Larry Kociolek, an attending physician and infectious disease specialist there, told CNN Monday."
"Case numbers are three times as high as the hospital’s previous peak in December of 2020, Kociolek said."
"'Hospitalizations have quadrupled over our baseline over the past week,' Kociolek told CNN. 'Fortunately, a lot of these infections are either mild infections or incidental positives, since we screen all children before procedures and at the time of admission, and we've actually not seen any change in the number of children being admitted to the ICU.'"
"Half of the hospitalizations were in children under the age of five, Kociolek said. Those children are not yet eligible to be vaccinated."
"'I think we’re definitely seeing the impact of vaccines in kids older than 5. The kids that are hospitalized are essentially all unvaccinated,' Kociolek said."
"Kociolek said about 7% of the kids who test positive don’t have any symptoms at all. The sharp rise in cases shows how contagious the Omicron variant is."
"'Our community activity just shut up very, very quickly,' Kociolek said."
"Kociolek said the hospital is also concerned about a surge in multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, known as MIS-C, in the near future. MIS-C is a rare, but serious Covid-19 related condition that can affect kids. The condition typically occurs after there has been a surge of Covid-19 cases. Even children who have had mild Covid-19 cases can develop MIS-C, usually several weeks after infection."
"'We did not see an increase in MIS-C following the Delta peak, but there’s reason to believe the Delta variant might be different than the Omicron variant in terms of causing MIS-C, so we are cautiously observing these cases,' Kociolek said."
"Kociolek said it is also important for parents to keep in mind that even mild Covid-19 cases can be contagious. To keep schools open, parents have to remember to keep their sick children home from school or any other activity. He also suggested parents may want to get their children tested or use a home test before they return to school. 'That way you can ensure that they’re not carrying Covid-19 back to the classroom,' Kociolek said."
The situation isn't as dire as some folks are making out and the local folks seem to have it under control - for now - but we're not yet at the point where everyone that wants a vaccine can have one, so the vaccine effectiveness in preventing severe symptoms isn't something that everyone can take advantage of. (In addition to children, this includes immunocompromised folks.) Once we get to a point where we have something where everyone can be immunized or we have effective therapeutics to combat an infection (I mainly have the immunocompromised in mind here), then it makes more sense to revert to a "my body, my choice" attitude (ideally with higher insurance rates for those choosing to skip the shot) and let natural selection do its thing. We may be close to that point, but we're not there yet until we have protection that spans from the cradle to the grave.
While COVID zero is an extreme position/example, it should be noted in the article that a number of countries pretty successfully kept their COVID cases low in the first part of the pandemic (South Korea for example) to the point where vaccines and successful therapies are available.
It'd also be great to note that what may be a more acceptable risk as of now was not necessarily an acceptable risk a year ago - and that those that took those risks helped contribute to a large number of avoidable deaths.
We definitely did not do a good job of that: you've pointed it out plenty, but in different postings rather than tying them together to help reinforce a nuanced view. This makes this posting come off as a dunk attempt.
Posting without comment (this is listed on Drudgereport):
COVID CASES USA
543,415 DEC 27 2021
152,089 DEC 27 2020
DEATHS
1,737 DEC 27 2021
1,230 DEC 27 2020
COVID CASES USA
380,751 DEC 28 2021
189,010 DEC 28 2020
DEATHS
2,494 DEC 28 2021
1,899 DEC 28 2020
And this is it. My last theracketnews article. You would rather be angry at those who tried to save lives than those who endangered and prolonged this outbreak. And its easy to say now that you can look at this variant and see a mild sickness instead of Delta killing millions. I'm just at a loss for words at how evil this is. Backwards, ignorant and evil. I mean did you want them to say at the outbreak that well this is just a virus that's going to run over us and there's nothing we can do about it?
No, you once again picked the wrong side and you will stubbornly defend it until it blows up in your face. Just like with Trump. I wonder who will have to die because of this idiocy. Or more accurately how many.