RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:OmicronThe White House went all out with the scientific facts today and was pretty blunt about where we are. I had to actually look up the transcript to see if this quote was correct, and it was. It's up to states, but many will make "normal" things tougher if you aren't vaccinated. It already is in many places now. In NYC, it surprises tourists that you can't even get in to a restaurant, show, museum, sports event with out full vaccination. More places may do that. Unfortunately it won't help what could be a dire situation in hospitals.
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We are intent on not letting Omicron disrupt work and school for the vaccinated. You’ve done the right thing, and we will get through this. For the unvaccinated, you’re looking at a winter of severe illness and death for yourselves, your families, and the hospitals you may soon overwhelm. So, our message to every American is clear: There is action you can take to protect yourself and your family. Wear a mask in public indoor settings. Get vaccinated, get your kids vaccinated, and get a booster shot when you’re eligible. We are prepared to confront this new challenge. We have plenty of vaccines and booster shots available at convenient locations and for no cost. There is clear guidance on masking to help slow the spread. And we have emergency medical teams to respond to surges as necessary. So, this is not a moment to panic because we know how to protect people and we have the tools to do it. But we need the American people to do their part to protect themselves, their children, and their communities. The more people get vaccinated, the less severe this Omicron outbreak will be. One hundred sixty thousand unvaccinated people have already needlessly lost their lives just since June, and this number will continue to go up until the unvaccinated take action." So, I’ll say it once more: Get vaccinated. SPCEO1 wrote: Increasingly, it looks like Omicron will sweep through much of the population before paxlovid arrives. Now, it also looks like Omicron may already be peaking in South Africa - let's hope it burns out faster than expected.
Wino115 wrote: I'm not that worried as Paxlovid is on it's way in 2 months. It cuts the risk of hospitalization for anyone by 90% and it is supposedly variant agnostic given how it works, which is different from the vaccines that stimulate your immune system. They are evidently ramping up production so it will be available in 2 months time given it's a very complex manufacturing process.
So by Feb, it will just be a case of you feeling bad, take a test early, and take a course of anti-viral pills for a couple of weeks. As long as you figure it out early, vaccinated or not, you turn it into a treatable virus. At worse, we're in for 2 months of this. I can say that in NYC, it hasn't really stopped anything as any large event was only for vaccinated anyway. We'll probably get more zooming and less in-person things, but I don't think it will shut stuff down like before, especially with the upcoming treatment. It's way more effective than Mercks, which will now fall by the wayside.