Is COVID over?

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Tuesday, December 14. 2021

The light at the end of the Covid. One way or another, the Pandemia is ending in the United States. Europe may have a longer road...

Related, at Atlantic: Where I Live, No One Cares About Covid

Neither do I.

Posted by The News Junkie in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 13:34 | Comments (37) | Trackbacks (0)

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Is COVID over?

Not according to my wife. It's going on for ever and ever.

Sigh . . .

#1 feeblemind on 2021-12-14 14:09 (Reply)

The pandemic - if it even was one - has been over for over a year down South here. Very few people wear masks, regardless of the signs at the door.

#2 snopercod on 2021-12-14 14:10 (Reply)

QUOTE:

Pfizer has told shareholders that it anticipates receiving about $33.5 billion in revenue this year from its COVID-19 vaccine, and earning a pre‐tax adjusted profit margin in the “high 20s” from those sales. Boosters, per a quoted expert, would bring in about $26 billion more (for both Pfizer and BioNTech, which split the proceeds) if they’re eventually approved for all Americans. This translates to about $9 billion in Pfizer profits this year (vaccines plus boosters), and maybe as much as $20 billion next year.

It ain't over by a long shot.

#3 Zachinoff on 2021-12-14 15:07 (Reply)

The pandemic will be over when the pharmaceutical patents run out.

#3.1 BillH on 2021-12-14 15:57 (Reply)

Even the commie Governor of Colorado says it’s over. Though, he said it with his mask on. Before the moronic variant hit, mask use was down to about 2%, now it’s back to 90%. Sigh.

#4 B. Hammer on 2021-12-14 16:05 (Reply)

Jared Polis is the bellwether - the pandemic will be over when it starts causing a political backlash to the Left. When enough people say "No more" and refuse to obey the government's threats and inducements, the government will declare victory and start pulling back. Note of course that they will only pull back a little, you will never get back the freedoms you have lost. And now that the precedent has been set and the government has seen exactly what they can get away with, the playbook has been written for the next pandemic. And there will be a next pandemic, you can bet your life on that.

#4.1 Jerryskids on 2021-12-14 20:39 (Reply)

My sister is stressing over the fact that her 3-year-old granddaughter isn't eligible yet for a vaccine, though her 5-year-old grandson has had his. I don't get it.

Where I live in South Texas, the subject simply doesn't come up any more.

#5 Texan99 on 2021-12-14 16:14 (Reply)

QUOTE:

Where I Live, No One Cares About Covid . . . In my part of rural southwest Michigan

Meanwhile,

Southwest Michigan public health says hospitals at critical point as COVID-19 cases surge.

QUOTE:

And in some senses my situation has always been more in line with the typical American’s pandemic experience than that of someone in New York or Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles.

Sure, because people who live in New York or Washington or Los Angeles are not "typical" Americans.

#6 Zachriel on 2021-12-14 16:48 (Reply)

Hospitals are now "at a critical point" because "vaccine" mandates have reduced staff in hospitals, and people are now coming to take care of delayed surgeries.

#6.1 PubliusII on 2021-12-15 21:24 (Reply)

PubliusII: Hospitals are now "at a critical point" because "vaccine" mandates have reduced staff in hospitals

That is certainly part of it. Hospitals can't safely have unvaccinated staff treating patients. Hospitals have also lost employees to burnout and retirement. Regardless, COVID hospitalizations for the unvaccinated are putting a serious strain on resources in the region. So, the author was wrong when he said, "Where I Live, No One Cares About Covid . . . In my part of rural southwest Michigan". Doctors and hospitalizations care, as do people with family members requiring hospitalization.

#6.1.1 Zachriel on 2021-12-16 06:56 (Reply)

As an ex-NYer now living free in SWFL, I can tell you covid is in my wake. And not that I’m not concerned, as I’m 70 and fat, but I’m not going to spend what time I have left on this orb in hiding and cowering in fear. And eff masks.

#7 Alex G on 2021-12-14 17:31 (Reply)

Haven't seen my best friend and spouse for two years. They did not get the vax and we finally did (wish we hadn't). They won't even go on a picnic or meet us for lunch. Once we were going to meet for lunch but the husband said "You'll bring that back to me!) Have decided we will never see them again as all are old now. Enjoy your life while you still have one.

#7.1 JC on 2021-12-15 08:51 (Reply)

I don't think that covid and it's variants will ever be gone. It is a lab weaponized disease doing exactly what it was engineered to do.

What should end is the ineffective shutdowns, social distancing and masks. The government should offer advice based on the science but not mandates.

One of the problems with this disease is that it comes and goes in waves. The politicians actually believe that the mandates are responsible for temporary decreases in cases and deaths but it is nothing more than the trough of the wave. This encourages them to think when the wave hits again that more mandates will stop the spread. It is an illusion. The politicians are clueless and none of this is based on science.

#8 OneGuy on 2021-12-14 18:27 (Reply)

What is your evidence that it is weaponised and engineered to do this?

#8.1 Assistant Village Idiot on 2021-12-14 22:33 (Reply)

https://nypost.com/2021/06/06/damning-science-shows-covid-19-likely-engineered-in-lab/

Either it spontaneously evolved with an unprecedented (never before seen in all of coronavirus land) mutation that just happened to match that which “gain of function” researchers in Wuhan just happened to be coincidentally attempting to do, OR it was engineered by those researchers basically just doing their job, and accidentally escaped the lab. Pick one.

#8.1.1 Kevin in WI on 2021-12-14 23:46 (Reply)

Kevin in WI: ‘Damning’ science shows COVID-19 likely engineered in lab: experts

They point to a double CGG sequence. However, CGG sequences are not rare in coronaviruses, being one of several codons that code for arginines. There is no particular reason why a double CGG couldn't occur through natural evolution.

#8.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2021-12-15 09:51 (Reply)

Not rare. What does that even mean? You know nothing about this topic as usual, why do you insist on inserting yourself?

#8.1.1.1.1 DrTorch (Link) on 2021-12-15 13:50 (Reply)

DrTorch: Not rare. What does that even mean?

About 5% of arginines in coronaviruses are coded as CGG.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E0-f9w5VoAUTsa9.png

#8.1.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2021-12-15 14:23 (Reply)

5% is pretty rare. And location matters, which you don't address. Because as usual you don't know anything about this subject and are bluffing with links to articles.

#8.1.1.1.1.1.1 DrTorch (Link) on 2021-12-16 10:04 (Reply)

DrTorch: 5% is pretty rare.

As of April 2021, there have been about 12,000 identified mutations in SARS-CoV-2 on a genome of length of a bit less than 30,000 bases, producing about 4,000 variants. That was before Omicron, which appears to incorporate part of a cold virus. The predecessor virus underwent years of similar mutations before jumping from the hypothesized zoonotic ancestor. That is more than enough variation to account for most any short sequence. Furthermore, zoonotic origins for viruses have been repeatedly observed.

But we are more than happy to consider any evidence you might have beyond "Is not!"

#8.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2021-12-16 11:32 (Reply)

Zach only "inserts him/her self into issues near and dear to the far left. You would think that the Democrats would be just as incensed about the Wuhan flu as real Americans are but they are strangely not. That is why Zach jumps to defend it and defend the Chinese.

When I was in college I knew a man who wasn't the smartest person you will ever meet. And one time the teacher asked him a question and after a little wavering he answered. The teacher then asked me and in my young and stupid hubris I replied that since he (the other student) answered in the negative I choose the positive response. Because my friend was always wrong. THAT is Zach's "tell"! Zach is ALWAYS wrong because Zach is ALWAYS defending the indefensible. THAT is what left wing trolls do. So Zach's choice to insert him/her self into this is proof that the Wuhan flu was indeed weaponized on purpose. Otherwise why would he defend it???

#8.1.1.1.2 OneGuy on 2021-12-15 17:12 (Reply)

OneGuy: only "inserts him/her self into issues near and dear to the far left.

We tend to subjects that have clear objective facts that are being overlooked. For instance, you claimed COVID-19 was engineered, but lack the evidence to support the claim. Kevin in WI pointed to such an argument, but it was lacking in substance.

OneGuy: You would think that the Democrats would be just as incensed about the Wuhan flu as real Americans are but they are strangely not.

As people who tend to vote Democratic represent about half the American public, they are just as much "real Americans" as those that don't.

In any case, most people are very concerned about COVID.

#8.1.1.1.2.1 Zachriel on 2021-12-15 17:43 (Reply)

"you claimed COVID-19 was engineered, but lack the evidence to support the claim. Kevin in WI pointed to such an argument, but it was lacking in substance."

The simple fact is no matter what proof I might present you would cite left wing crackpots and in the end decide that my evidence lacked substance. If you were a flat earther (and you may well be) there is nothing I could say to change your mind. So I don't even try.

It is OBVIOUS that the wuhan virus was "leaked" from the Wuhan virus laboratory. It is OBVIOUS that the Chinese used gain of function to make this a more deadly more transmissible virus. It is likely that the virus "leaked" when they were in their final phase of the weaponization where they were testing the effectiveness of the virus AND testing their ability to inoculate their own people from the virus. It is also likely that once the virus got loose they realized it would spread and that it was a good opportunity to spread it to specific locations, like Italy and NY City, to give it a real life testing. AND THAT is what they did!

Feel free to reply that my comment lacks substance because it does not matter what you think or even if you think. Most people will read what I said and know it is true.

#8.1.1.1.2.1.1 OneGuy on 2021-12-15 21:11 (Reply)

OneGuy: So I don't even try. It is OBVIOUS

In other words, you got nothing.

#8.1.1.1.2.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2021-12-16 06:51 (Reply)

A lab accident or mistake fits the same profile. The evidence falls short. I well believe it came from the lab, but that is not the same thing.

#8.1.1.2 Assistant Village Idiot on 2021-12-15 10:55 (Reply)

Maybe this is how you'll know when the pandemic is over: It'll be over when the Emergency Use Authorization is ended for the vaccines, and then they have to compete on the open marketplace.

#9 Aggie on 2021-12-14 19:54 (Reply)

For over a year, there have been a lot of people feeling tired of it, and therefore feeling that it is time for it to be over, so therefore it must be over. No data, no reasoning, doesn't matter how many deaths, just wanting a different reality.

I am certainly critical of this irrationality, but it is common enough, even among intelligent people, that there must be something quite "normal," or at least typical about it. If you challenge them, they double down and say stuff even dumber than the week before. I conclude that only some people can sustain the attention of taking in lots of data. Most can't, as it is not happening within their field of vision. I have had it hammered home to me this year what people in many fields (police, military, accounting, medicine) have long known, that most folks only believe what they can see, and numbers or abstract reasoning affects them only slightly.

#10 Assistant Village Idiot on 2021-12-14 22:31 (Reply)

Yeah, everyone is irrational but you.
Even the intelligent ones.

#10.1 Zachinoff on 2021-12-15 01:31 (Reply)

No matter how smart you think you are, it doesn't mean everyone else is stupid. When people say it's over, they understand that the virus is still out there and it still makes people sick. People are even still dying from it, occassionally. What's meant is that people don't care anymore, at least not enough to alter their behavior.

Why should they?

#10.2 jack walter on 2021-12-15 08:03 (Reply)

There were some protective measures I was prepared to take early on, when it was too soon to guess what might be effective. Once the picture got a little clearer, I got more selective about which protective measures were worth the effort. Some turned out to be not worth any effort at all, in my book.

It's not as though I'll stop considering this virus as a threat, any more than I'll stop considering cancer a threat. It's just that I'm not going to adopt all 1,000 of the protective behaviors that I read about in a given month about how to prevent death from this, that, or the other disease or risk of violent accident. Some are worth it, many are not.

And there are very few areas in which I'm willing to cede my own judgment on these issues to the judgments of politically motivated authorities. I'll listen, then I'll make up my own mind.

#10.2.1 Texan99 on 2021-12-15 08:40 (Reply)

jack walter: People are even still dying from it, occassionally.

If by "occasionally", you mean about every minute in the U.S. (≈1200 per day), then you are correct.

#10.2.2 Zachriel on 2021-12-15 10:06 (Reply)

I don't think they do understand, such as you saying "occasionally." They apprehend that the virus is still present at some abstract level, but it is not translating for behavior. And the reasoning they give is inadequate
1. "Everyone is tired of this." People get tired of lots of things in life, including bad things they wish were gone, but that doesn't make them go away.
2. "Public officials are being hypocrites." Infuriating but irrelevant.
3. "More people are dying from the lockdowns/vaccines than from covid." Ludicrous. Not by two orders of magnitude.
4. "Fauci lied/It was two weeks to flatten the curve and a bunch of other stuff that happened over a year ago." When it was a new disease people on all sides got things wrong, sometimes honestly, sometimes not. Get over it. the issue is now.
5. "There are studies showing that our precautions don't work, or everyone is going to get it eventually, etc" Yes, and there are more studies reaching different conclusions, but either way, when people are only quoting one side then they are being deceitful.
6. They quote bad reasoning, and very especially, poor understanding of statistics.
7. They resort to ad hominem arguments about the people who disagree with them. That is always a red flag.

These are the arguments that people are actually making on the page. I'm not making them choose these reasons, that's what they are choosing on their own. If they are capable of better arguments they should make them. I used to say to my sons growing up "You're a very smart boy, but no one is smart when they don't think."

The real questions are closer to "what is the real safety, real risk, real costs of various decisions." I don't see those being asked. I see only motivated reasoning. Because many people ultimately only believe what they see in front of them, going out many times but not dying "proves" to them that things are safe enough now. If you worked in ERs or ICUs - hell, if you even just talked to those people or heard what they said secondhand, you would have a different experience. An ICU with no more beds is no joke and should not be ignored just because people would rather not think about it.

So that would be my accusation: that people might be capable of thinking about it, but they aren't, and the evidence is in their own words, not what others say about them.

#10.2.3 Assistant Village Idiot on 2021-12-15 11:19 (Reply)

Blah blah blah. If everyone doesn't think like you, then they are irrational and don't understand.

2. Not irrelevant. It's possible that officials are privy to information that they are not sharing. So their behavior may be a tip that what we are told isn't completely true.

3. Not likely, but not ludicrous b/c it depends on definitions. Many of the early deaths in NY and NJ were a result of being locked in with the sick. Moreover, we know that we don't know the true count of deaths from covid, even taking your metric of the deaths above norm.

4. You said nothing in this point.

5. Quoting only one side is deceitful (remember that the next time you're tempted to comment to me when I point out zachriel's failures. Or not. You like to play both sides with it's convenient.) Anyway, when studies are contradictory, and particularly when they are politically motivated, people revert to their own experience. And their own experience may say that the precautions don't work well. It's not a lack of understanding, that's actually reasonable and rational (although open to mistakes).

6. Or they are overwhelmed by bad statistics.

7. In a quick review I didn't see any ad hominem arguments. Your point?

Your accusation is always the same, no one thinks as clearly and carefully as you. So it's more than a little ironic that I'm not really impressed with what you write.

#10.2.3.1 DrTorch (Link) on 2021-12-15 14:01 (Reply)

Pfizer is asking the FDA for approval of their new oral Covid wonder treatment called Paxlovid.
Guess what? It acts just like that horse dewormer Ivermectin except it costs more.

Imagine that!

#10.2.3.1.1 Zachinoff on 2021-12-15 16:59 (Reply)

Here let's watch the good Doctor explain it in terms even us irrational simpletons can understand.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ufy2AweXRkc

#10.2.3.1.1.1 Zachinoff on 2021-12-15 17:26 (Reply)

Nuremberg v2 trials will bring reality to the forefront. Those that were coerced, forced, etc. will bring up the lawsuits. Patience.

#11 indyjonesouthere on 2021-12-15 13:31 (Reply)

https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2021/12/14/overdose-deaths-illegal-fentanyl-cdc/5801639502875/

#12 DrTorch (Link) on 2021-12-15 14:56 (Reply)

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Tuesday, December 14. 2021

Is COVID over?