An open thread for gentle discussions of all things Covid.

Heh, getcher last dose before Xmas here.

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Worth a read. Here's a bit to get you started:

Led by Jeremy Corbyn, the British Left Opposes Vaccine Mandates as Anti-Worker and Repressive

The shorthand label “anti-vax” once had a clear and concise meaning: namely, those who reject the prevailing western scientific orthodoxy that vaccines are a safe and effective means of protecting humans against infectious diseases by training the immune system to combat a pathogen in advance. As vaccines become more prevalent against an increasingly wide range of diseases — measles, mumps, polio, chickenpox — a dissenting political and scientific movement has emerged which rejects the scientific premises of vaccines and attempts to persuade others not to vaccinate themselves or their children on the ground that they are ineffective, dangerous and/or motivated by corporate profit rather than legitimate concerns about public health.

But exactly as we have seen with so many other political labels — terrorist, racist, fascist, white nationalist, anti-Semite — this once-descriptive, precise and useful phrase has metamorphized far beyond its original meaning into something barely recognizable or cogent. That transformation has been deliberate, with a clear motive: to weaponize the term into a potent political insult designed to compel submission to decrees from institutions of authority and stigmatize dissenters, threatening them with reputation destruction. The rapid expansion of the term “anti-vax” into a coercive political weapon has been years in the making, but the COVID pandemic was the steroid it needed to blossom into one of the most reputation-crippling labels one can affix to a political target.

Just as is true of accusing people of being terrorists, white nationalists, fascists or anti-Semites not because one espouses views traditionally designated by those terms but as punishment for any sort of dissent, the destructive power of the COVID iteration of “anti-vax” resides precisely in its vagueness, its lack of precise contours, its emptiness and meaninglessness. A term that means nothing can, by definition and by design, encompass anyone and everyone depending solely on the needs of the moment.

The utter obliteration of any coherent definition is evidenced by the fact that one can now be labelled “anti-vax” even though one a) believes in the foundational science of vaccines, b) is themselves vaccinated for COVID and makes the decision that one's children will be as well, and c) states publicly that they have chosen to be vaccinated.

How is it possible to pull off such a seemingly inane and internally contradictory attack: namely, malign people who have taken the vaccine and publicized their choice to do so as “anti-vax"? This is accomplished by twisting and distorting the term “anti-vax” away from its scientific meaning (“one who rejects the efficacy of vaccines”) into a term of political disobedience. Thus, the operational definition of the term has become: one who questions any of the decrees of public health authorities on any matters or who believes that adult citizens should retain the choice to decide for themselves whether to be vaccinated. In other words, the term “anti-vax” now means nothing other than: one who questions any policies adopted by state officials in the name of fighting COVID.

Unfortunately for the liberal-left which has constructed this manipulative and coercive framework, this now requires that the term “anti-vax” be applied to one of the international left's most beloved political figures: former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn. They must also now apply this term of shame to the most admired left-wing members of the British Parliament along with leading trade unions in the UK. That is because the British Left — not just Corbyn and leftist MPs but also leading labor unions — have united to emphatically oppose vaccine mandates and vaccines passports on the ground that 1) it is immoral and profoundly anti-worker to fire health care front-line workers and other workers for refusing a vaccine they have not been convinced is safe and effective, and 2) persuasion is a far more effective and ethical means of administering public health policy than coercion, dictate and punishment.

Biden announces half a billion free home Covid tests to fight Omicron

Half a billion at-home coronavirus tests will be sent free to the American public in the fight against Omicron, Joe Biden announced on Tuesday, while pushing back against resistance to vaccine mandates by saying they are intended “not to control your life, but to save your life”.

The move is part of a renewed White House effort that includes the Pentagon calling up 1,000 troops to deploy to hard-hit hospitals and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) working to expand medical capacity.

But as Covid-19 once again rages across America via the new Omicron variant, the president, speaking from the White House, did not discourage Christmas gatherings, impose vaccine mandates for domestic air travel or seek a new round of lockdowns.

“I know some Americans are wondering if you can safely celebrate the holidays with your family and friends – the answer is yes, you can, if you and those you celebrate with are vaccinated, particularly if you’ve gotten your booster shot,” Biden said.

The public should be “concerned” but not “panicked” about Omicron, he added. “This is not March of 2020. Two hundred million people are vaccinated. We’re prepared. We know more. We just have to stay focused.”

Omicron Symptoms Appear Shockingly Mild

Outgoing NIH director warns that Omicron variant means “a million cases a day” by February

The newly retired director of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins, warned in an interview with NPR on Sunday of the potential for “a million coronavirus cases a day” in the United States as the Omicron variant continues to spread across the country.

“We cannot afford to let down our guard,” Collins told NPR. “[T]he virus is not tired of us. It’s having a great old time changing its shape every couple of months, coming up with new variants and figuring out ways to be even more contagious.” He continued, commenting on Omicron’s 57 different mutations, that the emergence of the new variant is “almost like we’re starting over with a different virus than where we began.”

Three days before, a study was published by researchers from the University of Texas COVID-19 Modeling Consortium which echoed Collins’ warning. The report found that, assuming a sharp increase in cases similar to what has been happening in South Africa and the United Kingdom, there could soon be as many as 600,000 cases a day in the US.

Both Collins’ estimate and the modeling from the University of Texas are staggering figures. They are suggesting a winter surge about three times as large, in terms of daily cases, as last year. The UT research also estimates peak hospitalizations capping out at just under 40,000 a day, and deaths exceeding 4,500 every day. Both figures are well above the rates of hospitalizations and deaths from last January, the worst month of the pandemic up to now.

Such an oncoming storm of the Omicron variant in the United States has already begun. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that, as of December 11, 3 percent of cases in the United States were caused by the Omicron variant. The data implies that, as of a week ago, at least 3,500 of the 118,000 coronavirus cases in the US were caused by the Omicron variant, up from 580 out of 116,000 the previous week. This is a six-fold increase in only a week. ...

Moreover, the emergence of the new variant has not significantly slowed the spread of the old. The vast majority of the 122,000 daily cases and all of the nearly 1,200 deaths in the US have been caused by the Delta variant, which continues to rampage across the Northeast and Midwest as winter sets in.

As Omicron Spreads, 100+ Firms in Africa, Asia & Latin America Can Make mRNA Vaccine If Tech Shared

We're number one!!!

US passes 800,000 Covid deaths – highest in the world

The US death toll from Covid-19 has passed 800,000, a once-unimaginable figure seen as doubly tragic given that more than 200,000 of those lives were lost after vaccines became available last spring.

The figure represents the highest reported toll of any country in the world, and is likely even higher.

The US accounts for approximately 4% of the world’s population but about 15% of the 5.3 million known deaths from the coronavirus since the outbreak began in China two years ago. ...

The number of Covid deaths in the US, compiled and released by Johns Hopkins University on Tuesday, is about equal to the population of Atlanta and St Louis combined, or Minneapolis and Cleveland put together. It is roughly equivalent to how many Americans die each year from heart disease or stroke.

A closely watched forecasting model from the University of Washington projects a total of over 880,000 reported deaths in the US by 1 March.

Omicron found to grow 70 times faster than Delta in bronchial tissue

The Omicron Covid variant has been found to multiply about 70 times quicker than the original and Delta versions of coronavirus in tissue samples taken from the bronchus, the main tubes from the windpipe to the lungs, in laboratory experiments that could help explain its rapid transmission.

The study, by a team from the University of Hong Kong, also found that the new variant grew 10 times slower in lung tissue, which the authors said could be an indicator of lower disease severity.

Michael Chan Chi-wai, who led the work, said the result needed to be interpreted with caution because severe disease is determined not only by how quickly the virus replicates but also by a person’s immune response and, in particular, whether the immune system goes into overdrive, causing a so-called cytokine storm.

“It is also noted that by infecting many more people, a very infectious virus may cause more severe disease and death even though the virus itself may be less pathogenic,” he said. “Therefore, taken together with our recent studies showing that the Omicron variant can partially escape immunity from vaccines and past infection, the overall threat from the Omicron variant is likely to be very significant.”

Twitter BLASTED For Anti-Science Censorship On Vaccines

Sailing away: superyacht industry booms during Covid pandemic

In an era of environmental awareness and conspicuous displays of sustainability, you might not expect a rise in the number of people with the means and appetite for a £50m floating fortress of solitude.

But, in part because of the coronavirus crisis, the superyacht industry is booming – and the number of vessels under construction or on order worldwide has hit a new record. According to figures revealed in the latest edition of Boat International’s Global Order Book, more than 1,200 superyachts are slated to be built – a rise of 25% on last year.

“The market’s never been busier,” said Will Christie, a superyacht broker. “And I’ve been in the industry 20 years. A lot of people say they appreciate the safety of being on a yacht during the pandemic. But it’s also because whereas in previous eras the people with enough money were too busy in the office to justify the purchase, these days they can work from anywhere.

“I had one client who sent his trading terminals by plane so he could use them onboard – he’d be kitesurfing in the afternoon and then go back to his desk.”

Christie said shipyard order books were typically full until 2025 – meaning clients are prepared to pay a premium to take over someone else’s slot if it can be delivered years earlier. He argued that the ability to transport a holiday home to a different location at a moment’s notice was deeply appealing.

Pfizer CEO Says FOURTH COVID SHOT May Be Needed

Also of interest:

Cornell Goes Code Red, Cancels Most Campus Activities During Covid Spike with “Very High Percentage” Omicron in Fully Vaxxed

US Gov Censorship FAIL Of YouTube Video

As US Covid Deaths Reach 800,000, Atlantic Essay Asks: Who Cares?