Jax and Coronavirus

[Steve]

Genuine question here-what exactly are we trying to prevent here (aside from those who do not have funny functioning immune systems): Assuming you're healthy and vaccinated, the hospitalization rate for Covid is like 5 per 100k people. Flu is between 40 and 60 per 100k (CDC numbers on both).

The whole, "zero Covid" thing isn't going to happen since vaccines -while dramatically improving symptoms - don't seem to be doing much to limit spread.

Personally I just think we're all delaying the inevitable with all of this.

I certainly am not a doctor and I have been wrong on many things in life so this could be one of them, but shouldn't we be targeting public health policy to those that do not have fully functioning immune systems?

I think we are still trying to prevent healthcare collapse. Since there are so many unvaccinated people, masks are still recommended for everyone. With 100% vaccination I think the public policy for masking and other mitigation would be different.

So how much of this healthcare "collapse" is because of policy, like limiting when covid positive/exposed healthcare workers are quarantining?

[Lunican]

I have no idea. But I assume reducing the quarantine time to 5 days is meant to help get healthcare workers back faster.

[Lunican]

100,000 U.S. deaths in 50 days in the Omicron wave. Deaths are still 2,500+ per day but should start dropping soon. The big question is... what happens next?

[Steve]

Likely cases ebb and flow from now for years to come, perhaps for decades.

Personally, I can tell you that unlike Delta and previous variants I just don't attribute all the deaths to Omicron. I have no doubt there are that many death certificates from people that had Covid when they died, but this time around there are a lot more "with" covid than "for" covid hospitalizations. The limited numbers that hospitals are putting out around this fact show this.

Here's the bottom line I can't get past - if your vaccinated and boosted, the chances of serious illness (nevermind death) are infinitesimal. It just doesn't happen. Additionally, the only group that can't get vaxxed (under 5) is also (thankfully) the lowest risk age group for serious illness - numbers show they are only slightly higher risk than a vaccinated adult.

Based on history it seems unlikely that there will be a variant worse than what we've seen (viruses like this throughout history tend to become more contagious as they mutate but tend to create less severe illness). If that happens then obviously we need to adjust.

Otherwise, while I will not be defiant of a private business that asks for masks (their right to do so) I'm pretty much done with any precautions other than what I do during flu season - perhaps wash my hands a little more and that's it. It seems like masks on planes and such may be done after March (number of friends inside the airline industry are thinking that's the case though obviously they don't know for sure). Most conferences and large meetings like CES and NRF have resumed in person (despite some large companies pulling out of in person). In my industry (supply chain) most clients are preferring in person meetings at this point, where a year ago most did in person only when truly necessary.

The biggest complaint I have from our federal government and CDC is the fact that their messaging doesn't seem to have an off-ramp. When you compare our messaging around precautions, masking, etc. with other countries (and the WHO, who has the charge of dealing with truly impoverished countries) it just doesn't add up. Kids masking is a big one - CDC recommends 2 and up, WHO is 6 and up, and the UK is 11 and up.

(off soapbox now)