Current Events > The US is out of the Covid-19 pandemic phase, Fauci says

(+) Yeah! (+)

I will never, ever get tired of the Casual Covidiots asking the question "well how long do you expect us to take Covid seriously?" As if there's some giant lever that can be pulled to stop the pandemic once the ruling class decrees that we've all behaved for the appropriate amount of time.

I'm just kidding, I was sick to fucking death of it over a year ago.

https://thehill.com/news-by-subject/healthcare/3469888-fauci-clarifies-us-out-of-acute-component-of-pandemic-phase/

Fauci has now clarified that we're just "in a different phase of the pandemic."

The numbers simply don't support the idea that the pandemic is over.

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Well, some people have taken it seriously and avoided gathering in crowds, going out to eat, etc. I pretty much avoided that stuff completely until October of last year, several months after I got vaccinated. Also, many events have been cancelled or postponed because of COVID surges, whether formal restrictions were in place at the time or not. And in any case, you seem to think those restrictions should be in place and people should be deprived of the ability to do those things.

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You keep ignoring the fact that the current variants we have are much weaker than the previous ones. You keep focusing on the mutations and their increased ability to spread because that supports your narrative, while ignoring that we probably had millions of new cases per day during the Omicron surge. We're talking about case numbers at least four to five times higher than those during the previous high in the winter of 2020. Yet deaths never quite hit the numbers we saw during that previous surge.

And I hate to break it to you, but we are always going to have new sub-variants "taking off." COVID will never go away, so there will always be new strains of it, just like there are new strains of the flu and other viruses.

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Give me numbers. This is so vague as to be meaningless.

-vaccine approval for the millions of kids under 5 that can't get the vaccine
-treatment akin to Tamiflu with the flu that will lessen the strain on hospital workers

You mean the demographic least likely to develop serious illness from COVID? Also, Paxlovid has received emergency use authorization and should be much more widely available very soon.

-a better understanding of what long term effects we are looking at,
-treatment of long COVID

We might not have these for years or even decades. You're saying that we should not return to normal for decades to combat a virus with a fatality rate currently below 1% and a hospitalization rate much lower than that. That is insanity.

Also, long COVID is far less prevalent and severe than you seem to believe.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/11/18/1055071699/coronavirus-faq-what-is-long-covid-and-what-is-my-risk-of-getting-it

"Generally speaking ... that data show that the rate of long COVID, more than 12 weeks after an infection, is just under 5% of people," Steves says.
Given the enormous number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. (and around the world), even a rate of 5% means that more than 2 million Americans (and nearly 13 million people globally) will be affected by this specific cluster of COVID-19 symptoms for at least several months (and even more will struggle with other post-viral problems).
Luckily, Steves says, the percentage of people who have these lingering COVID-19 symptoms drops off drastically a year after the infection. "There are definitely individuals who still have symptoms for more than a year, even up to 18 months now," she says. "But there's a very small percentage of those individuals. Gradually most people are getting better. I see that in my clinic."

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First off, I wasn't just referring to going to restaurants and concerts; I was talking about being able to gather with other people at all. I recognize that being able to gather with other people is a basic need for most people, even if I don't require it very much myself. But going to restaurants and concerts does help make life worth living. It breaks up the drudgery of our daily lives: The cycle of waking up, going to work, and coming home just to repeat the process the next day.

There are also experiences that people might not be able to have again. In my case, there are bands going on tour this year for possibly the last time. I'm not going to miss my only chance to see them just because some guy on the Internet thinks I shouldn't go anywhere or do anything until we fully understand long COVID 30 years from now.

AssassinFox posted...

Well, some people have taken it seriously and avoided gathering in crowds, going out to eat, etc. I pretty much avoided that stuff completely until October of last year, several months after I got vaccinated. Also, many events have been cancelled or postponed because of COVID surges, whether formal restrictions were in place at the time or not. And in any case, you seem to think those restrictions should be in place and people should be deprived of the ability to do those things.

You keep ignoring the fact that the current variants we have are much weaker than the previous ones. You keep focusing on the mutations and their increased ability to spread because that supports your narrative, while ignoring that we probably had millions of new cases per day during the Omicron surge. We're talking about case numbers at least four to five times higher than those during the previous high in the winter of 2020. Yet deaths never quite hit the numbers we saw during that previous surge.

And I hate to break it to you, but we are always going to have new sub-variants "taking off." COVID will never go away, so there will always be new strains of it, just like there are new strains of the flu and other viruses.

Give me numbers. This is so vague as to be meaningless.

You mean the demographic least likely to develop serious illness from COVID? Also, Paxlovid has received emergency use authorization and should be much more widely available very soon.

We might not have these for years or even decades. You're saying that we should not return to normal for decades to combat a virus with a fatality rate currently below 1% and a hospitalization rate much lower than that. That is insanity.

Also, long COVID is far less prevalent and severe than you seem to believe.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/11/18/1055071699/coronavirus-faq-what-is-long-covid-and-what-is-my-risk-of-getting-it

First off, I wasn't just referring to going to restaurants and concerts; I was talking about being able to gather with other people at all. I recognize that being able to gather with other people is a basic need for most people, even if I don't require it very much myself. But going to restaurants and concerts does help make life worth living. It breaks up the drudgery of our daily lives: The cycle of waking up, going to work, and coming home just to repeat the process the next day.

There are also experiences that people might not be able to have again. In my case, there are bands going on tour this year for possibly the last time. I'm not going to miss my only chance to see them just because some guy on the Internet thinks I shouldn't go anywhere or do anything until we fully understand long COVID 30 years from now.

Its at the point where you shouldn't even bother arguing with him

He called me and said he has me labeled as a Trumper because I said I had a family gathering for my birthday a few months ago

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For what little this may be worth in your eyes, I've never thought of you as a bad guy in all this. I think you're misguided.

None of your naysayers are going to force you to change your ways. We're trying to help you understand our perspectives just as you want us to understand yours.

Full lockdowns won't happen here in the US. Even if they did, it wouldn't have changed anything. Look at Austrailia/New Zealand. They would shut everything down for two weeks for one case. And now things are just as proportionately nuts as anywhere.

And ultimately, if your goal is low community spread - once we achieve that, won't it just blow right back up again? Lockdowns and restrictions are band-aids in all this. Some want to peel them off slowly, others rip it off all at once. At the end of the day, the band-aid needs to come off, and a majority of people on both sides of the aisle are choosing to rip it off.

Child: *coughs* "Daddy, why me lungs and brain no work right?"
Father: *clears throat awkwardly, shifts child to other knee* "Well son, your daddy simply couldn't go on living if I didn't get to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers live."

masterpug53 posted...

Child: *coughs* "Daddy, why me lungs and brain no work right?"
Father: *clears throat awkwardly, shifts child to other knee* "Well son, your daddy simply couldn't go on living if I didn't get to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers live."

so fucking disingenuous dude

kids are all back in school/daycare either because most parents either agree that its best for kids to be back in school/daycare because Covid risk is low enough, or they need to be because the parents need to work

and its obviously not an easy decision for most but parenting is often about making decisions that arent easy

AssassinFox posted...

Well, some people have taken it seriously and avoided gathering in crowds, going out to eat, etc. I pretty much avoided that stuff completely until October of last year, several months after I got vaccinated. Also, many events have been cancelled or postponed because of COVID surges, whether formal restrictions were in place at the time or not. And in any case, you seem to think those restrictions should be in place and people should be deprived of the ability to do those things.

You keep ignoring the fact that the current variants we have are much weaker than the previous ones. You keep focusing on the mutations and their increased ability to spread because that supports your narrative, while ignoring that we probably had millions of new cases per day during the Omicron surge. We're talking about case numbers at least four to five times higher than those during the previous high in the winter of 2020. Yet deaths never quite hit the numbers we saw during that previous surge.

And I hate to break it to you, but we are always going to have new sub-variants "taking off." COVID will never go away, so there will always be new strains of it, just like there are new strains of the flu and other viruses.

Give me numbers. This is so vague as to be meaningless.

You mean the demographic least likely to develop serious illness from COVID? Also, Paxlovid has received emergency use authorization and should be much more widely available very soon.

We might not have these for years or even decades. You're saying that we should not return to normal for decades to combat a virus with a fatality rate currently below 1% and a hospitalization rate much lower than that. That is insanity.

Also, long COVID is far less prevalent and severe than you seem to believe.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/11/18/1055071699/coronavirus-faq-what-is-long-covid-and-what-is-my-risk-of-getting-it

First off, I wasn't just referring to going to restaurants and concerts; I was talking about being able to gather with other people at all. I recognize that being able to gather with other people is a basic need for most people, even if I don't require it very much myself. But going to restaurants and concerts does help make life worth living. It breaks up the drudgery of our daily lives: The cycle of waking up, going to work, and coming home just to repeat the process the next day.

There are also experiences that people might not be able to have again. In my case, there are bands going on tour this year for possibly the last time. I'm not going to miss my only chance to see them just because some guy on the Internet thinks I shouldn't go anywhere or do anything until we fully understand long COVID 30 years from now.

Great post! I don't think Greg is ever going to understand

TheGoldenEel posted...

Didn't read, don't care. Your mistake is thinking that I have Greg's saint-like patience to give people like you the time of day at this point.

so all the anti-vaxxers and conspiracy nuts can chill and stop calling Fauci a stupid science bitch now...

*throws mask in the garbage *

Its over

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Whether or not every quote is accurate, it is the overall philosophy I agree with. If we go by your suggestions, we will never be able to have a life again.

masterpug53 posted...

Didn't read, don't care. Your mistake is thinking that I have Greg's saint-like patience to give people like you the time of day at this point.

lol okay keep believing your made up scenario is the reality for literally anyone

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This is one of those ethical questions you get in school. Is it worth a million people being miserable, depressed, possibly having mental illness and substance abuse to save the lives of 10,000 people? What if it is the lives of 1,000 people? What if 100 people? What if one person?

Where is the breaking point, assuming there is one?

Note that I am not providing the answer, but I feel you have not even pondered the question.

bsp77 posted...

This is one of those ethical questions you get in school. Is it worth a million people being miserable, depressed, possibly having mental illness and substance abuse to save the lives of 10,000 people? What if it is the lives of 1,000 people? What if 100 people? What if one person?

Where is the breaking point, assuming there is one?

Note that I am not providing the answer, but I feel you have not even pondered the question.

Most people tend to land pretty definitively on one side of the 'would you sacrifice an innocent child to improve the lives of thousands' conundrum. Or at least they did prior to 2020. Small wonder that the pandemic shattered my faith in humanity.

masterpug53 posted...

Most people tend to land pretty definitively on one side of the 'would you sacrifice an innocent child to improve the lives of thousands' conundrum. Or at least they did prior to 2020. Small wonder that the pandemic shattered my faith in humanity.

That is different and you know it. That is actively holding the blade.

When you start talking about public policy, as well as the types of decisions companies must make with layoffs, those tradeoffs become more complex. That is why ethical conversations are needed, and with real world examples, my business classes were much more split.

Counting on someone else to swing the blade for you removes all moral responsibility, apparently.

masterpug53 posted...

Counting on someone else to swing the blade for you removes all moral responsibility, apparently.

That is still not the same, but hide behind your incendiary statements so you look morally superior

bsp77 posted...

That is still not the same, but hide behind your incendiary statements so you look morally superior

Your feelings of moral inferiority are no one's problem but your own.

Ignoring that there are so, so many public health/regulation decisions that could save lives

if we went into lockdown every flu season we could save 50-100,000 lives per year

if we banned cars we could save 40,000 deaths per year

Red meat is linked to increased risk of cancer, what is the public health burden there?

the fact is all policies are (or should be) ethically weighed risk vs reward scenarios and theres not always an easy answer

masterpug53 posted...

Your feelings of moral inferiority are no one's problem but your own.

Driving cars is a closer comparison to the pandemic than the child murder you bring up. Should everyone stop driving in cars because people die in accidents everyday? You can argue that we should drive in cars less often, or carpool or take more public transportation to mitigate death, but the vast majority would never argue to cease all driving. Same with covid. Get vaccinated and boosted, mask up indoors around strangers, stay home if feeling sick, but don't stop all social activities.

I don't know a single person in real life advocating for what many here advocate for. And I know a lot of people between friends, family and co-workers, almost all of whom are quite liberal. The difference is that CE is comprised of a lot of asocial people who don't care if they isolate, because that was their life anyway.

As someone who has been a shut-in for approaching a decade, i'm not personally invested in either side of this argument... but I will say this. People like Greg/Mastepug/etc. never actually take the time to address the suffering anyone can have outside of covid and gloss over it whenever someone actually brings it up. Depression, substance abuse, a struggling workforce (not just healthcare)/general economy and other similar struggles seems completely unimportant to them, and their inability to address those kinds of concerns beyond calling people selfish or uncaring really hurts their cases. Those other things also have very real effects on people, and downplaying them is extremely shortsighted.

bsp77 posted...

I don't know a single person in real life advocating for what many here advocate for. And I know a lot of people between friends, family and co-workers, almost all of whom are quite liberal. The difference is that CE is comprised of a lot of asocial people who don't care if they isolate, because that was their life anyway.

dont forget childless! While also acting like they know what its like to make decisions for a child

TheGoldenEel posted...

dont forget childless! While also acting like they know what its like to make decisions for a child

Exactly, I have 4 daughters and I have seen how this has deeply affected their lives. We did keep them completely isolated until vaccinated. And they still wear masks. That is what others here don't get, I am not ignoring Covid, but I am making hard choices on a daily basis. Thinking there is an easy solution is ridiculous.

JanuarySun posted...

As someone who has been a shut-in for approaching a decade, i'm not personally invested in either side of this argument... but I will say this. People like Greg/Mastepug/etc. never actually take the time to address the suffering anyone can have outside of covid and gloss over it whenever someone actually brings it up. Depression, substance abuse, a struggling workforce (not just healthcare)/general economy and other similar struggles seems completely unimportant to them, and their inability to address those kinds of concerns beyond calling people selfish or uncaring really hurts their cases. Those other things also have very real effects on people, and downplaying them is extremely shortsighted.

Sterling insight, 10-year-old account with suspiciously-low karma.

masterpug53 posted...

Sterling insight, 10-year-old account with suspiciously-low karma.

Still no response, I see.

Excellent news!

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Uh, I presented them and I am neither right wing (not even close) or a troll. That was my whole point. You had no answer and just said that that line of thinking is "too simplistic". The problem is it is really fucking complicated, so you ignore it.

I also have had this conversation with tons of friends (all of whom are liberal) and we don't know the exact answer but we all agree that continuing to live in full blown isolation is not the answer.

JanuarySun posted...

Still no response, I see.

I'd recommend getting a very comfy chair if you think you deserve to be engaged in good faith, totally legitimate original user.

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LOL, you didn't even try to refute anything I said. Pathetic.

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Did you know that the plural of "anecdote" isn't "data"?

bsp77 posted...

Great post! I don't think Greg is ever going to understand

Thanks! I think he does understand, though. Either he's just trolling or doesn't want to let facts get in the way. He didn't even bother to try to refute my post.

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Except you didn't actually refute anything I said, LOL. And the article was from November 18 (five months and ten days ago ago, not over half a year ago; math clearly isn't your strong suit), more than a year and a half into the pandemic. If you have evidence that the less-severe Omicron variant and subsequent variants have somehow increased the risk of long COVID over the last few months, I'd love to see it.

And you still haven't explained why you think we should essentially live in lockdown for another decade or more, by the way.

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Fyi, my main (GrandConjuraton) was warned for the post this guy quoted:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/400-current-events/79998143/964550998

I like to dismiss conservatrolls myself, but come on. I'm obviously not one if I got warned for a post like that.

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Actually, most don't agree with the level you are stating at this point. It is obvious that you are one of these people with overly rigid thinking who think they are "good" but actually lack true empathy. I am done arguing with you. You will never change or see any other way of thinking. I actually do see your way of thinking and it is a part of how I make decisions for myself and my children.

Respond if so choose. I won't even be back to read it.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


You can do this. Those of us who are healthy and aren't concerned about a mild respiratory virus have no obligation to do any of these things.

JanuarySun posted...

As someone who has been a shut-in for approaching a decade, i'm not personally invested in either side of this argument... but I will say this. People like Greg/Mastepug/etc. never actually take the time to address the suffering anyone can have outside of covid and gloss over it whenever someone actually brings it up. Depression, substance abuse, a struggling workforce (not just healthcare)/general economy and other similar struggles seems completely unimportant to them, and their inability to address those kinds of concerns beyond calling people selfish or uncaring really hurts their cases. Those other things also have very real effects on people, and downplaying them is extremely shortsighted.

masterpug53 posted...

10-year-old account with suspiciously-low karma

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can't make this shit up lmfao ahahahaha

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Dude youve been calling me a bad person for going to concerts (which, btw were requiring masks and vaccinations or negative tests) in many topics

Ive seen you post shit in other peoples topics about traveling etc as well

youre not just saying hey the WHO suggests this youve been berating people who dont strictly adhere to all of those guidelines for many months (guidelines which mean things like no family gatherings, no events, no non-essential travel, no nights out, no get togethers with friends, no indoor entertainment, etc)

Thanks you lord Fauci for seeing us through trumps disaster

I got COVID in 2020 from someone at work. I was sick for 2 months. After getting back to my normal self, I still go to concerts, bars, and movie theaters.

I have covid tests at home and wear a mask if I get the sniffles.

Other than that, I go out and live my life. Life's too short to be stuck at home and be worried about everything.