4 ms·

America Is Not Ready For Omicron

9 points by jbegley 5y ago

pezzana 5y ago
> Here, then, is the problem: People who are unlikely to be hospitalized by Omicron might still feel reasonably protected, but they can spread the virus to those who are more vulnerable, quickly enough to seriously batter an already collapsing health-care system that will then struggle to care for anyone—vaccinated, boosted, or otherwise. The collective threat is substantially greater than the individual one. And the U.S. is ill-poised to meet it. Of all the factors at play, this one seems the least appreciated. I don't think the country or the world is ready for the implications of mass vaccination actually promoting the spread of virus. Nor is the world ready for restrictions of movement that would inevitably follow from realizing that movements of the vaccinated risks spread and the knock-on effect of pushing already stretched hospitals past capacity.
- thehappypm 5y ago
  The virus is so widespread that there’s no stopping it. Vaccinating improves individual outcomes and reduces the health system burden. It doesn’t eliminate the virus, and mitigations just kick the can down the road. Omicron at least will burden hospitals less, and once Paxlovid scales up the impact to the health system will be cut another order of magnitude.
  - brodouevencode 5y ago
    The goal of "zero covid" is, at this point, just dumb.
sAbakumoff 5y ago
>> Like the variants that preceded it, Omicron requires individuals to think and act for the collective good—which is to say, it poses a heightened version of the same challenge that the U.S. has failed for two straight years, in bipartisan fashion. All around the world, politicians, monarchs, etc. show that they don't give a f*ck about collective good. Boris Johnson's Xmas party is disgusting. The princess of the Netherlands recently celebrated her 18th birthday and invited 21 guests while the official regulations allow up to 4 guests per a household. Why would we expect regular citizens to think about collective good after they see all this sh*t?

9 points by jbegley 5y ago

> Here, then, is the problem: People who are unlikely to be hospitalized by Omicron might still feel reasonably protected, but they can spread the virus to those who are more vulnerable, quickly enough to seriously batter an already collapsing health-care system that will then struggle to care for anyone—vaccinated, boosted, or otherwise. The collective threat is substantially greater than the individual one. And the U.S. is ill-poised to meet it. Of all the factors at play, this one seems the least appreciated. I don't think the country or the world is ready for the implications of mass vaccination actually promoting the spread of virus. Nor is the world ready for restrictions of movement that would inevitably follow from realizing that movements of the vaccinated risks spread and the knock-on effect of pushing already stretched hospitals past capacity.

thehappypm 5y ago
The virus is so widespread that there’s no stopping it. Vaccinating improves individual outcomes and reduces the health system burden. It doesn’t eliminate the virus, and mitigations just kick the can down the road. Omicron at least will burden hospitals less, and once Paxlovid scales up the impact to the health system will be cut another order of magnitude.
- brodouevencode 5y ago
  The goal of "zero covid" is, at this point, just dumb.

sAbakumoff 5y ago

>> Like the variants that preceded it, Omicron requires individuals to think and act for the collective good—which is to say, it poses a heightened version of the same challenge that the U.S. has failed for two straight years, in bipartisan fashion. All around the world, politicians, monarchs, etc. show that they don't give a f*ck about collective good. Boris Johnson's Xmas party is disgusting. The princess of the Netherlands recently celebrated her 18th birthday and invited 21 guests while the official regulations allow up to 4 guests per a household. Why would we expect regular citizens to think about collective good after they see all this sh*t?