What IS the fuss about omicron?

[GingerHouse]

In all seriousness, data shows that not a single person has died from omicron and that’s in countries that have low vaccine uptake too.

The virus is going to mutate all the time and as things are showing this variant is very contagious and the vaccine doesn’t work as well against it, but it’s mild to almost everybody.

I feel like this is mass panic and for what reason?! I understand wearing a mask where applicable to help reduce the spread but I just don’t get it! Is this going to happen every winter forevermore?

@Itisasecret The elderly haven't got zero protection. What I read was these figures are for mild and moderate cases, they don't have the information yet for vaccine effectiveness against severe case and deaths in Omicron but everything I have read says they think it will hold up. And the vaccine wasn't giving full protection by any means against mild and moderate cases of Delta. That has endlessly been pointed out by the looking at the likes of Ireland and Gibraltar.

@rrhuth Plus the BBC article yesterday states "T-cells are much better at dealing with new variants. Early analysis suggests 80% of the parts of the virus that vaccines have trained T-cells to attack are unchanged in Omicron."
So maybe let's not terrify everybody until the full facts and information are known.

So maybe let's not terrify everybody until the full facts and information are known.

This!

This pandemic will not end until the virus has run through the population.
The 1918 pandemic was over and done with quickly because it was left unchecked. However, it did kill an awful lot of people.
The virus is mutating constantly to avoid the vaccine.
Science vs the virus.
Everyone needs to be vaccinated to stop the mutations or let it run.

Otherwise, life will be like this for decades.

The 1918 pandemic was not left unchecked.

The end of the 1918 pandemic wasn’t, however, just the result of so many people catching it that immunity became widespread. Social distancing was also key. Public health advice on curbing the spread of the virus was eerily similar to that of today: citizens were encouraged to stay healthy through campaigns promoting mask-wearing, frequent hand-washing, quarantining and isolating of patients, and the closure of schools, public spaces and non-essential businesses—all steps designed to cut off routes for the virus’ spread.

time.com/5894403/how-the-1918-flu-pandemic-ended/

The other contradiction, posters on here and articles reporting Omicron isn't really mild because it's actually previous natural and/or vaccine immunity kicking in to reduce severity so it's absolutely not a milder variant = be very afraid and on the other hand now saying vaccine and natural immunity doesn't exist / barely effective so no protection at all and really dangerous - be very afraid.
Well which is it?

@jimmyhill

No omicron deaths? And yet excess deaths in South Africa have doubled since the new variant arrived there.

Pull the other one

Source?

@DontWantTheRivalry

How else would they keep everyone scared and easy to control?

Exactly.

It’s a strange coincidence isn’t it how only the booster can save people from Omicron…..

And presumably the next variant will mean that the 4th shot is the only salvation

Scientifically it was left unchecked, what your talking about is basic hygiene mitigation, which as we've seen isn't very effective. So my broad point still stands.

There was no vaccine, then it died of its own accord, much like every other respiratory infection when allowed to run its course.
Vaccine evasion is real.
However early data does suggest the vaccine and post-infection does protect from serious illness, which is what we want and need.
We need a soft covid to rush through and then this pandemic will end.

It wasn't 'over and done with quickly'...

It was thought to have been circulating among the troops in 1917, and it was still flaring up in 2020.

And it also wasn't a pandemic in an era of constant air travel...

[quote kittensinthekitchen]@Starcup

Your posts are fine. You speaking the truth and you’re not using insults to get your points across… like some people!

About a poster ( @Greyowl32 ) who had just said:

Similar to your comrade in arms innocenta or whatever she's called, you use these tired old generic phrases with no substance to them- just hot air. There are a few " nanny and john " types - sadly the asylums have been closed or we would be able to put you irrational covid cowards in them to take vaccines daily in masks and allow the rest of us to crack on with it

😂😂😂😂😂[/quote]
Oh please, you’ve picked one post out of several that I’ve seen.

You also fail to balance your argument with the fact the poster was reacting to some of the offensive posts but other posters, one in particular.

Have you heard of the phrase reactive?!

by

Exactly - no air travel. After the mass movement of wwI world populations overwhelmingly stayed put . And if, say, you wanted to travel to the UK from South Africa, you would have had to travel by steamer. If you had boarded unwell, the illness would have burnt itself out en route (or you would have copped it). You wouldn’t have sat in an aircraft for hours and in airports for hours infecting all and sundry, nor would you have arrived in another country only hours - not weeks - later. And there would have been but a handful of people like you, not planes and planes full of travellers.

Mass travel and tourism has been killing our planet and now it’s killing us….

@bumbleymummy

To be frank, you are one of posters on here who provoke extreme narkiness in me, but I shall attempt to remain calm.

The CONSENSUS of opinion by WHO is that it is a variant of concern:

On 26 November 2021, WHO designated the variant B.1.1.529 a variant of concern, named Omicron, on the advice of WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE). This decision was based on the evidence presented to the TAG-VE that Omicron has several mutations that may have an impact on how it behaves, for example, on how easily it spreads or the severity of illness it causes. Here is a summary of what is currently known.

@bumbleymummy - you have tendency to manipulate, present info out of context, and look for the negative.

I was in hospital last night and a nurse told me there was loads of children on the covid wards in comas, having seizures, etc. I had also read test that omicron wasn't in my city yet but I mentioned that and she kind of said "well who knows?" Is this situation familiar to anyone who works in a hospital? She also told us not to worry about wearing a mask.

[quote Beadebaser]**@bumbleymummy

To be frank, you are one of posters on here who provoke extreme narkiness in me, but I shall attempt to remain calm.

The CONSENSUS of opinion by WHO is that it is a variant of concern:

On 26 November 2021, WHO designated the variant B.1.1.529 a variant of concern, named Omicron, on the advice of WHO’s Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE). This decision was based on the evidence presented to the TAG-VE that Omicron has several mutations that may have an impact on how it behaves, for example, on how easily it spreads or the severity of illness it causes. Here is a summary of what is currently known.

@bumbleymummy - you have tendency to manipulate, present info out of context, and look for the negative.[/quote]

Thank you for that post. If there was a like button I would use it!

I also have to bite my tongue whenever I see this poster on these threads.

Blimey, what a badly written post.
There WERE loads of children*
I had also read YESTERDAY*

@Beadebaser actually, I’m one of the few people being positive about the vaccine still providing protection against severe disease/hospitalisation.

I have never denied that it’s a VOC. Yet another false accusation.

I just don’t understand what you think the end game is for governments across the world to do this? And no one ever explains what the governments would possibly hope to achieve from this!!

That's already been addressed numerous times, but it's useful that you brought Russia into it
When their system broke down completely there were fortunes to be made from selling off state owned assets (did anyone really imagine dear Mr Abramovitch's wealth was all the result of his own hard work?) and the same opportunity can easily present itself elsewhere

Once again for the "everyone else is stupid" insult mongers I'll be very clear that this doesn't negate the problems Covid is causing; it just suggests that for venal politicians there are benefits to be had from even the worst scenarios

twitter.com/Kukicat7/status/1468701681785446407
"The eight top Pfizer and Moderna shareholders made over $10 billion last week when their stock holdings skyrocketed after the discovery of the new Omicron variant"

What was that I was just saying about the opportunities arising from this? I was aware of what's happening with the share prices, but not of how it stacks up in £££ terms

Admittedly I referred to politicians and the "top shareholders" aren't necessarily the same people ... or are they?

It's not about the deaths it's about the strain it'll put on the NHS

The main problem is that people wrongly thing their opinion is as valid as anyone else's. It isn't.

If you managed to read the data and info that came out yesterday and are still asking what the big deal is, you are not qualified to have an opinion.

@howdiditcometothis666

The other contradiction, posters on here and articles reporting Omicron isn't really mild because it's actually previous natural and/or vaccine immunity kicking in to reduce severity so it's absolutely not a milder variant = be very afraid and on the other hand now saying vaccine and natural immunity doesn't exist / barely effective so no protection at all and really dangerous - be very afraid. Well which is it?

It's not a contradiction. This is the problem with poorly educated people who can't grasp the concept of not everything being black and white.

It's possible for both those things to be true. Omicron is likely milder for most people and vaccines and previous infection should go a long way towards helping. It's also the case that it's very transmissible, and if only a tiny percentage of the people infected end up in hospital, it will push the NHS over the cliff edge it's been hanging on for decades.

I see this but what are we meant to do? Constant round of vaccines forever?

Yes. We're lucky to have them.

The maths on this is counter-intuitive. A less serious virus is actually more serious and will cause more deaths, hospitalisations, cost more and leave more services unmanned. That doesn't make much sense on the face of it but I think enough folk have explained now that you should be able to get it if you wanted to.

Your comment about just pouring more resources into the NHS is a bit muppety and let them eat cakeish. You must know there is a shortage of doctors and nurses even if it were possible for a magic money tree to magically grow more hospitals.

Oh and we don't yet have confirmation that it's less serious. Back in the winter of 2020/21, many people were convinced for a couple of months that Covid was just a cold.

[quote GingerHouse]@rrhuth
No one ever said the vaccine was a 'cure' - it is a vaccine. It is a virus, we did not know how it would mutate. It is bloody amazing how much we do know, tbh I didn’t say it was a cure but it was a cure lifting restrictions and enabling the vulnerable to live life.

It was always going to be short lived but it bought everyone enough time to be able to combat the inevitable variants this winter?! Surely!!![/quote]
Well clearly not. Did you expect a virus to hold off on mutating because of the vaccine schedule in your head?

Why, if you claim to understand this, are you expressing surprise at what is happening?

It is not surprising to anyone who has understood the basic information scientists have provided since early 2020. We may not have had a variant like this, but we were all clearly warned it could happen.