[General Battuta]

I feel like ****!! I'm insanely depressed about everything!!! We had this thing on the ropes, we were almost there, and then the combination of a new variant, misinformation-poisoned covid quislings, and governments just flinging up their hands seems like it's set us right back to Complete Global Saturation.

When I get Breakthrough Covid I just hope I can still taste stuff, eating is my last joy

[General Battuta]

At least we saved the economy. At least the economy's doing well. *gurgling on my own lung fluids* Hold up the phone so I can see my stocks

[Grizzly]

Notable that in a situation where we have rather similar economies and political landscapes (ie Sweden, Norway, Denmark) the economies of the countries that locked down harder are doing better funnily enough...

(there's probably a lot more nuance to unpack here but y'know)

[Dysko]

Well when half of your population is too dumb or easily manipulated to take the vaccine, yes, the effectiveness of the vaccine is pretty effectively compromised.  It's like the antibiotic apocalypse.  The virus is getting exposed to vaccine-boosted immune systems.  So selection pressure drives the virus in the direction of mutations that can evade the vaccine.  If everyone had the vaccine, there would be precious few places for the virus to breed and mutate, so it might actually be possible to kill it off.  But with half the population in utter denial, they are perfect breeding ground while the virus plays out random permutations to break through the vaccine barrier.

As long as this situation remains unchanged, it seems pretty obvious to me how it will play out.  The virus isn't going to stop, and we don't have the collective will power to do what it takes to stop it.  In the meantime, my governor not only will not reinstate a mask mandate even as cases skyrocket, he has made it illegal for local city government (including school districts) from requiring masks to be worn.

School just started again, and my kids are nearly the only ones wearing masks there, and I just got emails informing me that 2 students in my daughter's class have been infected, and she's been exposed.  She's vaccinated, and again, she wears her mask.  But by now, how many other kids have been infected, even if she has not?  I'm right on the ragged edge of hitting my panic button and pulling them out of school.

There may actually be some hope... according to this article (which quotes several experts, including a virologist who became famous in Italy for his fight against anti vaxxers) the virus has limited room for mutations. This does NOT mean that the delta variant might be the last one (it actually seems to be unlikely for it to be the last one), but it will eventually reach the "best mutation" and stop mutating significantly, as most probably happened with the measles virus and one of the common cold coronaviruses.

The good news seems to be that, while vaccines will be less effective (as they are now with the delta variant), they are very unlikely to become completely useless due to a new variant.

[Det. Bullock]

What Fauci said:

The Delta variant has a very unusual capability of spreading much more easily than the Alpha did. And the other data we're having right now is that, when people get breakthrough infections, when they're vaccinated and they get infected, even when they have a situation where they don't have an advanced disease, they clearly can transmit it to other people.

This is not a common event. So I don't want people to be thinking that all kinds of vaccinated people are transmitting it. No, it's a very unusual, rare event, but it occurs.

So, when you have vaccinated people who might have a breakthrough infection, and we know now as the fact, as a scientific fact, that they can transmit the virus to an uninfected person, it's for that reason that the CDC made the change in recommendation, and did, just as you correctly stated, namely, that, if you are vaccinated, if you are in indoor setting, you should still wear a mask.

(source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/dr-fauci-on-cdcs-reimposed-mask-guidelines-vaccine-requirements-and-gop-criticism?fbclid=IwAR1AjhuXMDPneDnaPbQm30jnGQUrGx03H1T-BImV0nT94pohzKrKRMbmPrk )

What Italian medias are saying:
"OMG FAUCI SAID VACCINES DON'T WORK!!!"

 

I had quite a heated discussion about this on Facebook.
Apparently getting everyone vaccinated is "fascism" because vaccines don't work and can kill you.

[Grizzly]

Lol.

It's kinda weird looking at Piers Corbyn and realize how he's the opposite of his brother in so many ways.

[Assassin714]

What Fauci said:

The Delta variant has a very unusual capability of spreading much more easily than the Alpha did. And the other data we're having right now is that, when people get breakthrough infections, when they're vaccinated and they get infected, even when they have a situation where they don't have an advanced disease, they clearly can transmit it to other people.

This is not a common event. So I don't want people to be thinking that all kinds of vaccinated people are transmitting it. No, it's a very unusual, rare event, but it occurs.

So, when you have vaccinated people who might have a breakthrough infection, and we know now as the fact, as a scientific fact, that they can transmit the virus to an uninfected person, it's for that reason that the CDC made the change in recommendation, and did, just as you correctly stated, namely, that, if you are vaccinated, if you are in indoor setting, you should still wear a mask.

(source: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/dr-fauci-on-cdcs-reimposed-mask-guidelines-vaccine-requirements-and-gop-criticism?fbclid=IwAR1AjhuXMDPneDnaPbQm30jnGQUrGx03H1T-BImV0nT94pohzKrKRMbmPrk )

What Italian medias are saying:
"OMG FAUCI SAID VACCINES DON'T WORK!!!"

 

I had quite a heated discussion about this on Facebook.
Apparently getting everyone vaccinated is "fascism" because vaccines don't work and can kill you.

Funny, I heard that the US is now communist because they want everyone to take the vaccine. 

[Grizzly]

What was the US when they did medical experiments on South Americans I wonder

[karajorma]

Felt this deserves a (re)post.

[Scourge of Ages]

Yeah except half the people are just standing in the rain next to a pile of drowned people going "I don't see the problem. I'm wet and doing just fine. Those bodies? Oh they must have died from something else, they were weak anyway. You got a problem with being wet? Let me come hug you with my sopping wet clothes on."

[General Battuta]

Well, if delta keeps putting up these numbers, everybody without the vaccine is about to get infected alongside everyone with the vaccine. Vaccinated people are just going to get off with lighter symptoms. So I expect we're going to see a wave of moaning about how herd immunity failed to protect the poor Unvaccinateds.

[General Battuta]

As you can see, comrades, our situation is shockingly grim. Get vaccinated. If you are not vaccinated, ask yourself why not. If you do not have a very good medical reason, consider that you are offering a reservoir for the virus to circulate in and continue mutating. Given the sharp increase in the delta variant's R0, herd immunity is not going to happen without at least another million dead in the US alone. Total vaccination is the only way this thing stops.

[Scourge of Ages]

As you can see, comrades, our situation is shockingly grim. [...] Total vaccination is the only way this thing stops.

Early on in the pandemic, I saw this meme. I don't know if it was in response to the actual situation in Italy or just a joke, (and apologies to our Italian folk here), but I've been thinking about it a lot lately:



Because while I'm sure the vast majority of humankind are actually willing to sacrifice a little to fight the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 has WAY too many allies among the human population. Which is depressing, not only because it means more casualties, but every month that goes by just gives the plague rats among us a stupid feeling of being right, even though the opposite is actually true, because they're idiots.

It hurts me more than if they were malicious about it. Instead the idiots are killing people just because they're too stupid and selfish to even conceive of a world that doesn't revolve around them.

[Grizzly]

well there you go lads now people will actually do something about it.

[Dysko]

well there you go lads now people will actually do something about it.

That's great news.
Normal people will get their shot.
Idiots will finally stop procreating.


Meanwhile, in Italy several no-vaxxers bought fake green passes on Telegram (with prices up to 300 € per green pass), sending the scammers all their documents such as ID card and social security card. Not only they did not receive anything back, but when they asked for a refund they were ransomed, being asked 350 € in cryptocurrency to avoid being exposed to authorities (which is quite an empty threat) and having their personal data sold on the Dark Web (which is a really dangerous issue). (sorry, Italian only, I couldn't find an article in English)
Authorities have already found the scammers. However, I have to say it was quite funny to see the Smart Ones™. who think they discovered all the sinister plots behind the pandemic, falling for the most classical of the scams 

[starlord]

We have the same problems regarding fake passes in France. It gets worse when you consider that some of those schemes actually work when some health practitioners are involved into it (it involves the creation of a QR code integral to the pass). I hope they find the bastards and revoke their licences. They must never be allowed to work in health again.

[MP-Ryan]

Canada finally getting even more serious at the federal level, requiring vaccination of all federal public servants as a condition of employment, and also domestic air and rail travel crossing provincial and international boundaries.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/federal-government-mandatory-vaccinations-1.6140131

[karajorma]

Meanwhile, Xi'an is still in soft lockdown (check-in at large public places with your health code app, bars and clubs closed, no gatherings of over 100 people - everything else open), has tested pretty much the entire population of the city (I literally had to line up for 15 minutes for my test since it was just outside the gate of my community) and still has 0 cases of domestic transmission not just in the city, but in the entire province.

And I'll bet they take less economic damage from that the places in the West that didn't vaccinate and opened everything up.

[Grizzly]

Yeah you can see that in Scandinavia as well: Norway took stricter lockdown measures then Sweden and took less of an economic hit too.

It's almost as if this whole "trade-off between economic damage and public health" was a complete sham and the two go hand-in-hand!

[Colonol Dekker]

I'm now double-dipped.  Pfizer jab 2 had on Saturday.   Two paracetamol negated any arm ache.  I'm still obviously masking up on the London underground when I'm at work, and keeping my sweet sweet distance every chance I get.

Let's see how it goes.