There seems to be less and less coronavirus news each day, and what there is is often detail-heavy in medicine or economics, two areas I often feel uncomfortable summarizing. I handle human interest much better than technical writing.
What's best going forward--getting vaccinated people to get boosters or getting unvaccinated people to get a first shot of vaccine? I lean toward what I think is the harder of the two, getting unvaccinated people vaccinated. The people who have not yet gotten any shot are probably not going to get one. I think we've passed the stage of people going back and forth on getting vaccinated or not. Being vaccinated even without a booster, gives the body an edge in avoiding covid, even the Omicron variant. If we want to approach anything like herd immunity or make covid truly endemic, having as many people unvaccinated as we do will slow the process down significantly.
Over half of all patients with covid in hospitals in England are being treated primarily for something else. The covid part of their condition means that they need to be kept separate from people with similar conditions but who do not also have covid. A space crunch to go with the staff crunch. An asymptomatic patient can still infect someone without covid, quite easily if the form of the covid happens to be Omicron. It seems to be more contagious than even measles.
Back to the people who don't want to get vaccinated. If they speak German, they might want to look into Paraiso Verde, a 4,000-acre gated community being built in Paraguay. While it began pre-pandemic, in 2016, it has since attracted a large number of "covid denialists." According to its website, it is "... by far the largest urbanization and settlement project in South America" and a refuge from "socialist trends of current economic and political situations worldwide" not to mention "5G, chemtrails, flouridated water, mandatory vaccinations, and healthcare mandates." So far most of the residents are German, Austrian, or Swiss. The community's founder has spoken of "preserving Germanic peoples from the presence of Islam" and on a now-deleted website questioned the blame allocated to Germany for World War II.
A friend told me that she and her family accept that anyone can get Omicron and have adopted an "is it worth the risk" philosophy. IIWTR to go for a walk in the park? Yes. IIWTR to go to a restaurant and eat inside? Possibly not. It forces, well, encourages, you to think about what you are considering doing along with how risky it might be. I do like this and may give it a try someday when I actually have a reason to go out.
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It's a rare day when covid gets anywhere near the top of the news page. It's not news when it looks just like yesterday and last week. Some people are sick, some are in hospital, some died. Unless it's a wildly different story it's not of interest. I'm all for it remaining boring.
One of my American FB friends is worried about their surge, her husband has to leave the house for work and she's worried all the time. I looked at their figures and their surge is a rate that is so low that you could stick a zero on the end and it be believable here. It's all about what you perceive as being normal. There is a virus out there that kills people, usually the elderly or those already sick. It has brought the NHS to its knees (hospitals closed to new admissions, surgery cancelled, people on beds in corriders) and it's managed with an annual vaccination programme for the at risk groups. That would be 'flu which the NHS struggles with in a bad winter. It's a massive killer but you wouldn't know it because it's normal, it comes around every winter and we just accept it. For most people it's unpleasant but nothing that you'd change your life to avoid. If we could end up with a similar model then I could live with that (and it's not as if I'd have a choice)
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