Global Pandemic Lockdown

[Stupot]

260,000 new infections in a day is insane. Are you sure you didn’t put an extra zero?

Either way, best in mind that those number only count the people who tested positive. And these days with symptoms much milder, you can guarantee there are many many more people who didn’t bother testing even if they felt symptoms.

[Matti]

260,000 new infections in a day is insane. Are you sure you didn’t put an extra zero?

No, it's true. Last winter was nothing compared to what's happening right now. This is a graphic that shows the 7 day incidence over the last two years. The numbers go up since the beginning of the year and went through the roof.

[cat]

In Austria we currently have a 7 day incidence rate of 3500, which is about twice as much as Germany. From the numbers published so far, I'd estimate that somewhere between 25%-30% of population have been infected with Omicron already. I think the sooner everyone got it, the better. Sadly, because of the high numbers, they now decided to have more mask wearing again from mid of next week (which of course means I'll go to office and shopping before this).

Covid was not pleasant, but so was the common cold I got a week afterwards. I was mostly worried about organisational stuff, like getting a certificate of recovery for my kids (we had problems getting the tests work for them) and getting them back to kindergarten as soon as possible.

[milkanannan]

Yeah we went from essentially knowing one or two people that had had earlier covid variants to essentially EVERYONE we know (including us) getting omni. I mean, it’s kind of rare now to meet someone that hasn’t yet had it!

[Slasher]

I'm from the UK and as of yet I have not have any Covid infections or Positive results...I'm 66 and apart from the usual aches and pains I'm fine...

[Danvzare]

I'm from the UK and as of yet I have not have any Covid infections or Positive results...I'm 66 and apart from the usual aches and pains I'm fine...

Same goes for me, my dad, my brother, and my mother.
My sister's had it though, and so has her boyfriend. As a matter of fact, they've had it at least twice! 

I still have no idea how my dad never caught it though, considering his lifestyle.

[LimpingFish]

In Austria we currently have a 7 day incidence rate of 3500...they now decided to have more mask wearing again.

The numbers are only going to go up, unfortunately, with this new BA2 variant. We had 25,000 new cases in the last 24hrs, a huge jump from the 1500+ average we were registering each day since all restrictions were lifted. I'm still masking up in indoor public areas and on public transport, and I'll continue to do so, but plenty of people are choosing not to, which is currently their choice (officials have said there are no plans right now to re-introduce compulsory mask wearing). I'm just glad that BA2, though more virulent, doesn't seem to be any more dangerous than Omicron.

I'm from the UK and as of yet I have not have any Covid infections or Positive results...

Have you been regularly testing with antigen or PCR tests? Omicron hit every member of my immediate family (tested and verified), including an older person who wasn't vaccinated, and it was really no worse than a bad cold or light flu. If we hadn't been testing, we probably wouldn't have noticed it was Covid, and not something else. I'm sure there are many instances of people, who aren't testing themselves, thinking they just have a head cold or some such.

[Danvzare]

Ahem. Here's something I said in another thread, back in 2021:

So far these mutations seem to just be "more infectious"... just think if it mutates to "more deadly"? or "more infectious & more deadly"? 

Here's something to think about. If it was equally as infectious, but less deadly, it would appear to be more infectious as more people would walk around without realizing that they have it, and therefore infect more people. And keep in mind that if you come down really bad or even die for that matter, you're less likely to pass it onto someone else as you'll stay in bed. So it stands to reason that mutations that are less deadly, will also be more likely to spread. Meaning as time goes by, a very infectious virus should in theory become increasingly less deadly. Or at the very least, have a longer incubation period.
Also don't forget that your body starts to build up a tolerance to it (or at the very least, those who don't die are already likely to continue to survive).

In other words. There's a reason why the common cold was so deadly to anywhere we brought it to, yet it's now considered harmless everywhere. Not to mention how plagues in the past just kind of... disappeared.

Once again though, please take all of this with a pinch of salt. And if possible, I'd rather be corrected then continue to be wrong. 

Now compare this to what LimpingFish just said.

Have you been regularly testing with antigen or PCR tests? Omicron hit every member of my immediate family (tested and verified), including an older person who wasn't vaccinated, and it was really no worse than a bad cold or light flu. If we hadn't been testing, we probably wouldn't have noticed it was Covid, and not something else. I'm sure there are many instances of people, who aren't testing themselves, thinking they just have a head cold or some such.

I just want to proudly say that I managed to successfully predict that Covid would become more infectious and less deadly with each passing mutation. 
Sorry, I just want to bask in getting something right for once.



Also for the record, my dad tests himself with a lateral flow test every time he gets a cold. If he caught it, I'd know. If anyone I knew caught it, I would've caught and then passed it to him, and then know. The only thing I can think of is that most of my family are asymptomatic. Which makes me feel sorry for my sister. 

[Cassiebsg]

What's "a lateral flow test"?? 

[heltenjon]

What's "a lateral flow test"?? 

It's the common rapid DIY tests where you swab in nostrils and/or throat and drip it on a reader to check if you have one or two lines visible.

[Babar]

Also for the record, my dad tests himself with a lateral flow test every time he gets a cold. If he caught it, I'd know. If anyone I knew caught it, I would've caught and then passed it to him, and then know. The only thing I can think of is that most of my family are asymptomatic. Which makes me feel sorry for my sister. 

I test myself whenever I get a "scare" or I feel some symptoms, and have been negative so far. Since omicron, all my colleagues in my department have had it now, and whenever they return, they eye me suspiciously as the only person who claims to have not had it yet  . I wonder if I HAVE had it, and just randomly got negative tests, though- I have seen that happen, at least 2 people I know were testing themselves and always showed negative, but then eventually for some reason had to do a PCR test, and were positive.

[eri0o]

Hey Slasher! Glad to hear you are ok

[Slasher]

Hey Slasher! Glad to hear you are ok

Thank you my friend.... I needed the time off....With God on my side I'll be back 

Cheers

Slasher

[Cassiebsg]

Ah, those known as "anti-gen test"...  I read that those, depending on the brand, can be as liable to correctly detect Covid-19 from 2% to +80%...

So I guess, if you using one of the brands that is in the lower end, you might have had it and the test say you haven't... 

[cat]

The brand we used was actually pretty accurate. Also the thickness of the line correlated nicely with PCR results. What we figured out, however, is that where and how you do the swab is most important. When they did it in the mouth for our kids, PCR returned negative although the self-test from the nose was clearly positive. We tried a set of self-tests on the same person at the same time, one from the mouth and one from the nose. The nose-test was highly positive, the mouth-test was negative.

[LimpingFish]

I've only ever used the nasal technique, myself, which is also the only technique I've even heard anyone talk about or seen anyone else get.  I can't see how an oral swab would be as effective, unless mucus (ew!) had gathered at the back of the throat.

Either way, I can attest to the variable accuracy of antigen tests, having had both negative and positive results alternating within a very short time.

It really can be down to the amount and viscosity of the mucus (ew!) you manage to get on the swab.

[Khris]

This is a graph showing the 7 day average of new cases in Munich, Germany over the last two weeks.



Just from looking at this, you can tell exactly when they dropped the mask mandate.
We're living in the dumbest timeline, but soon it won't matter anyway because we will not start reducing carbon emissions by 2025 so we'll all have got bigger problems soon anyway.

Illustration below.

Spoiler

[close]

[eri0o]

Hey, my friend here is really bad at reading graphs. Things are going down instead of up there, down is good right?

[ukz530]

In South Korea, many regulations due to Covid19 are being lifted. The number of confirmed cases is also decreasing.

Originally, there were social distancing and restrictions on the number of people in meetings. As it enters the endemic, it is changing its policy to be with COVID-19.

And right away, people around me started to get infected with Covid19.

There were people with severe aftereffects. I'm a little afraid because I've also had a lung disease. It is hopeful that Covid-19 is heading for an endemic. Still, South Korea seems to be positive about covdi19.

[Danvzare]

Just from looking at this, you can tell exactly when they dropped the mask mandate.

It looks about right to me. I'd be willing to bet that it would look the exact same with or without the mask mandate. But I guess we'll never know. (Personally, I'm of the opinion that keeping a 2-meter distance is more effective than reusing a single-use mask that's made to prevent the spread of bacteria during surgery, and that the masks simply made people relax on the whole distance thing. But that's just my humble opinion.)
I'd love to have some sort of graph to compare, where one country never implemented mask mandates, while another enforced it throughout the pandemic. 

We're living in the dumbest timeline, but soon it won't matter anyway because we will not start reducing carbon emissions by 2025 so we'll all have got bigger problems soon anyway.

Now THAT is the real terrifying prospect! 
What's worse, is that I'm pretty sure everyone is so greedy that they're actively making things worse while saying they're making it better. Public transport where I live has been slowly getting destroyed during the pandemic! Like seriously! Shouldn't we be investing in public transport! It's certainly a better alternative to electric cars I think, which they seem intent on pushing. I can't imagine the problems those will eventually create. Even if we produced all of our energy using nuclear salt-reactors (which we don't), there's still the problem with lithium.
The future is scary indeed. And that's just the transport systems. Don't get me started on the trend of leaving all of your electronics on at all times (turning off a modern console is hidden away behind several menus now), having electric billboards everywhere, putting everything in plastic bottles, etc.
I'm very worried for the future.
...
Sorry about that... I just had to get that off my chest.