Coronavirus SZN Forever

[Badger]

Needs moar Yellow 5

Just like mom used to make.

[Johnny English]

Just like mom used to make.

Yellow 5 in aspic

[Badger]

https://apnews.com/article/biden-united-states-government-district-of-columbia-covid-public-health-2a80b547f6d55706a6986debc343b9fe

Seems like this will have awful consequences.

[Johnny English]

https://apnews.com/article/biden-united-states-government-district-of-columbia-covid-public-health-2a80b547f6d55706a6986debc343b9fe

Seems like this will have awful consequences.

It has now reached a similar stage of endemic illness for which we have both prophylactic and reactive medicines as influenza. Like influenza, it will kill a surprisingly large number of people every year and no one outside the medical community and those directly at risk will pay any attention. We don't have emergency measures for the flu either.

Keep getting vaccinated and move on with your life is about all you can do.

[Badger]

Keep getting vaccinated and move on with your life is about all you can do.

But I can't afford any more autism.

[CatoTheElder]

But I can't afford any more autism.

Same. I'm already over the limit to emigrate to New Zealand.

[AlioTheFool]

My issue with the "same as the flu" argument is that the flu isn't constantly mutating, as covid continues to. It's a yearly guess which strain(s) to vaccinate for, but otherwise, fighting the flu is a standardized process.

The XBB variant (Kraken) currently on the uptick has shown some ability to circumvent not just natural immunity but also the bivalent vaccine. And we're already seeing reactive treatments (monoclonal antibodies) fail.

3700 Americans died last week from Covid. Far lower than the 5000+ just one year ago, but not an insignificant number. And we're still early days of understanding the full extent of long Covid.

Honestly, I get it. Folks want "normal." All I care about is that taking away the emergency is going to make the vaccines both vastly more expensive, and less frequent (1x/year) making them far less protective.

[Johnny English]

Flu absolutely is constantly mutating. Each year the vaccine that is produced is different based on what they expect the dominant strain to be.

https://www.scripps.edu/news-and-events/press-room/2020/20200623-wilson-universalflu.html

nfluenza causes millions of cases of illness around the world every year and at least several hundred thousand fatalities. Flu viruses have long posed a challenge for vaccine designers because they can mutate rapidly and vary considerably from strain to strain.

I think that covid might mutate at a different speed to flu, but I'm sure one of our resident medical experts can provide more worthwhile knowledge than me.

[AlioTheFool]

Flu absolutely is constantly mutating. Each year the vaccine that is produced is different based on what they expect the dominant strain to be.

https://www.scripps.edu/news-and-events/press-room/2020/20200623-wilson-universalflu.html

I think that covid might mutate at a different speed to flu, but I'm sure one of our resident medical experts can provide more worthwhile knowledge than me.

My (unprofessional) understanding has been that the problem with the flu is that there are a few different strains, and the vaccine can only be produced for a small number of them each year, so it's a guessing game, based on scientific evidence, which strain/strains will be dominant that year. I'm certainly willing to hear contrary info from a professional.

Regardless, that doesn't address the point that once you've recovered from the flu, it's generally processed out of your body, whereas covid is being found in survivors 2+ years later.

Again, my problem isn't that people want to go back to "normal" (whatever that is) it's that removing the emergency sets off a domino effect that makes further prevention harder and more expensive.

[bojanglesman]

It has now reached a similar stage of endemic illness for which we have both prophylactic and reactive medicines as influenza. Like influenza, it will kill a surprisingly large number of people every year and no one outside the medical community and those directly at risk will pay any attention. We don't have emergency measures for the flu either.

Keep getting vaccinated and move on with your life is about all you can do.

You word things well.  I agree.  Unless we have a new variant that causes more severe disease rather than just being more transmissible, it has to end sometime.  Yes there may be long term symptoms we do and don't know about yet, but it isn't really an emergency anymore.  Things can change, but things have been stable for a while now.

If you want to argue about some of the other benefits that will end because of this, that's a whole separate argument on whether some of them should exist regardless of a covid emergency.

[Badger]

The problem is many of the things they're rolling back are things that should be in place 100% of the time. Particularly in regards to healthcare costs.

[AlioTheFool]

You word things well.  I agree.  Unless we have a new variant that causes more severe disease rather than just being more transmissible, it has to end sometime.  Yes there may be long term symptoms we do and don't know about yet, but it isn't really an emergency anymore.  Things can change, but things have been stable for a while now.

If you want to argue about some of the other benefits that will end because of this, that's a whole separate argument on whether some of them should exist regardless of a covid emergency.

That gets to the heart of it. I agree we can't be in pandemic-mode forever. Life has to move forward. But no one is acting under the effects of the emergency order anymore, so completely removing it only serves to allow the pharmas to make a lot more money and reduces the access to prophylactics and treatments people should have continued access to.

The problem is many of the things they're rolling back are things that should be in place 100% of the time. Particularly in regards to healthcare costs.

But if we start giving out healthcare to everyone, then aren't we just Russia?

[Johnny English]

That gets to the heart of it. I agree we can't be in pandemic-mode forever. Life has to move forward. But no one is acting under the effects of the emergency order anymore, so completely removing it only serves to allow the pharmas to make a lot more money and reduces the access to prophylactics and treatments people should have continued access to.

But if we start giving out healthcare to everyone, then aren't we just Russia?

No argument here, but this is an issue of your country's fucked up healthcare model rather than anything specific to covid.

[bojanglesman]

No argument here, but this is an issue of your country's fucked up healthcare model rather than anything specific to covid.

If we weren't so fat and out of breath, we'd punch the top hat off us.

[Johnny English]

This is cheerful.

https://nyti.ms/3HRxDAd