But in each example there is not 100% empathy for others.
Getting back to the unvaccinated, I do not wish them poorly, but they must sleep in the bed they made. And my position is based on the simple fact that a small percentage of the population are choking up the medical system, with a larger proportion suffering and dying because of that.
I stated I am biased because I have a personal investment in one who almost lost her sight just because of Covid. And at this very moment there are countless, many tens of thousands who yearn for elective surgery so that they may heal or even survive a disease or condition. This is not fantasy, countless numbers of people are silently waiting for that phone call to inform them that the medical procedure will go ahead.
In 2010 I had surgery to remove my large intestine because of incipient cancer. If Covid had arrived exactly ten years ago, the cancer would have taken hold and it would be very likely I would have died a slow and painful death. Post-op I required emergency surgery and three (or four, hard to remember when you are jacked up on drugs) days in intensive care. Once again, I would have died, ICU’s are full.
So what is the solution where a small minority are overwhelming the medical system, and many who are following the rules are suffering and dying?
OKAY>>> How many strains of the Covid Viris do we have now? The Omicron variant, variant B.1.1.529, was first reported to WHO on 24 November 2021, The Delta variant is a variant of concern classified by WHO on May 11, 2021,
The whole idea behind wearing the masks was to slow down the spread of the viria and keep the population from taxing emergency room and hospital services; however, isn’t there a side effect to prolonging the rateof infection by slowing it down. Are we not allowing the virus to mutate.
Without all the masks and protections and precautions, everyone who was going to get sick would have gotten sick, herd immunity would have been established and we would all be healthier and on our merry way? Can an argument be made that prolonging rthe infection rates actually be very unhealthy for hunans in that the virus is being given extra time to mutate?
Actually, from what “we” (i.e. Science) have learned about the SARS-CoV-2 virus so far, it is that it is here for good. It is by now impossible to get rid of it. New mutations and strains will surface, du to…well…evolution. And we want the virus to mutate in a direction in which the virus causes less severe symptoms. The strains that cause less severe symptoms will have an advantage in easier spreading (since restrictions agains less severe strains will be milder), so they will (hopefully) take over and outcompete the more severe strains. So all we can do now is to send thoughts and prayers trust evolution that this happens. Within the limits and capacity of the hospitals and health services, of course.
'Fauci said it may still be too early to tell whether the surge in cases driven by the omicron variant will push the pandemic toward a more manageable phase, “but I would hope that’s the case.”
“That would only be the case if we don’t get another variant that eludes the immune response to the prior variant,” Fauci cautioned.’
Going from memory, the world was experiencing a shortage of ventilators, equipment and masks and that was with lock-down protocols in place. Allowing everyone who was going to “get sick” WITHOUT protections and precautions would have left a huge human toll. The reduction of “deaths” at the beginning was because those “that got sick” also had access to medical care. Unchecked, how many wouldn’t have? The old, sick (cancer isn’t bad enough?), vulnerable (after surgery or giving birth) plus those that were just healthy (no pre conditions). PLUS long-term COVID.
Mutations would still occur. Allow that to move through too because the immune system has both an innate (has no memory) and adaptive.
BUT I’m sure that natural herd immunity approach by government and the medical community would have been free from conspiracy that - it’s a tool to depopulate; why aren’t they giving “us” a vaccine? those that don’t get sick got a secret vaccine … once they kill the old and sick with this wave, the next one will target name group.
If we assume everyone in the population (p) gets the infection one time (and we keep the population fixed).
If we assume the probability of a new variant spawning out of one person’s infection is a constant (k).
Not considering variants of variants, only how many initial variants might be spawned from an original.
Then the number of new variants should be k*p for both situations. But notice: k does not depend on time and neither does p. Of course to get it to come out as nice as k*p required me to make the above simplifications that might be totally misguided.
IMO (yah, I’m no expert either) but once the onslaught of variants started to appear, I figured this ain’t goin’ away anytime soon. Plus the extra mutation factor of cross species (incubate and come back to us). HOWEVER I have been somewhat relieved that each mutation (as of yet) appears to move towards transmissibility and is “losing” more the fatal edge it once had (initially). It wants to survive and may eventually get (especially with this variation from SAfrica the “cold” type of Covid) to a more acceptable cold/flu virus status. Who know though …
EDITED to ADD: also viral loads! Almost forgot. Just because you get Covid doesn’t mean you can’t get it again - even with immunizations BUT the severe outcomes drop in your favour.
Making these decisions for human society has not been easy for the ScienceMedicalGovernmental areas … and quite frankly, I’ve appreciated that it has been approached with compassion, supports (financial), precautions, information (including “We don’t know”) and yes, restrictions.
At the beginning of this pandemic my neighbours went grocery shopping with their guns. Yah. Free-for-all rampant unaided virus cleaning of humanity would have went over real well .
Unfortunately there is no plan for the development of the virus evolution. Omicron apparently seems a very lucky break. As soon as it is proven to be not very harmful the best one can do is let it spread like wildfire.
Next strain might have a longer incubation time and be more deadly as well. The Spanish flu was not the first flu strain and definitely more deadly as it’s predecessors…
Mind you, I’m not comparing flu with COVID, the point is just the evolution thing… No plan just like there’s no afterlife apart from ashes or a rotting corpse, no heaven and no hell. Maybe some cake and a coffee at the funeral, that’s it!
Any article written by a news agency that is a vocal mouthpiece of our obviously corrupt Cdn government should be scrutinized very carefully. CBC is well known for spinning a story to fit the Federal Government’s agenda, remember the CBC is funded by the Government. There are many documented reports surfacing now that only about 1% of the people who contract Covid 19 actually die from Covid 19. Here is just one of the scenario that happens; A man with a history of heart disease goes into the hospital with chest pains. While in the hospital they test him for Covid, turns out he is positive for Covid, several days later he dies. Guess what the hospital admins write as the cause, or a contributing cause of death on the death certificate? Exactly…Covid 19. And this is what the main stream media such as CBC will report. Finally, there is now a report coming from none other than the CDC (Centre for Disease Control), and they admit that natural immunity is better than the Covid vaccine. I am well into my 60’s in age, I am unvaccinated for Covid, and I am fine. This whole Covid 19 scheme that started more than 2 years ago has become a giant failed medical experiment on us humans. I am not Anti vaccine, I am pro choice.
Big Pharma (Pharmceutical Industry), in conjunction with local governments, and other connected entities (United Nations, World Economic Forum etc). Agendas 21, and 2030 (U.N.), and the “Great Reset” agenda (WEF) spell it out clearly.
Thank you. So big Pharma, United Nations, World Economic Forum, and others have an agenda? How come I have never heard of them? Is this some conspiracy?
It’s a world pandemic. Finance and trade is also global. Various organizations focus on less developed or 3rd world for both access to health and human rights.
Here in Canada the Trucker’s Convoy has been in the news.
I’m for peaceful protest.
I am hearing much of extreme fringe groups (of course) attaching themselves to the protest. The extremists can’t help themselves. It’s one of the only ways that they can project a “silent support” (aren’t they brave for speaking up sarcasm).
The cross-border mandate is/was to be expected given that a vaccine was made available and there is no further need for “exceptions” (when there wasn’t one).
Personally, I have issue with the USA drivers coming up to Canada (placing Canadian flags on their trucks) and in the convoy for Canada/Ottawa. TWO big reasons. First, it inflates the truckers here that do not want the mandate. Second, it is not the Canadian govt alone that set the mandate. It is also the USA . IF American truckers want the mandate removed it also has to come from their country SO why not co-ordinate their convoy at the same time to Washington? A “joint” effort?
For this reason, I have just concluded that this is a big media show. Money collected and pocketed. Political blustering
The above pics I posted? Off of a supporter/anti-vax (some sites are exaggerating) so to be fair, some US truckers but how many??? Who knows
Reminds me of “Occupy Wall Street”.
BTW, with vaccines, and now treatment available (medically approved) and this latest variant having a less extreme death toll (compared to transmissions), some countries thinking seriously of starting to go “endemic” is, imo, an appropriate next step.
I have Omicron. I am currently under mandatory quarantine which is not a big deal for me or my partner. She gets government assistance for her loss of income while not able to return to work. I see the quarantine as my responsibility because I do not recognise government or business conspiracies touted being behind the epidemic. She and I began wearing masks and observing the basic precautions back in March 2020 as the infection rates here began to increase. We did not follow government advice on lifting restrictions. Double vaxxed etc.
At first I strongly beleived mandatory vaccination should be enforced given that the continuing infection rate increased the viruses mutation rate, giving the possiblilty of the rise of more dangerous strains. The rise of the Delta variant proved that concern to be true.
I learned about the Omicron variant in late November following the surge outbreak in South Africa. There are two types, each independently emerged from a common ‘ancestoral’ form (like humans and apes) and it is now agreed by most medical authorities that both forms have mutated within a mouse population who originally were infected by humans by earlier Covid forms and have returned the mutations back to humans. This explains the huge number of mutations in the Omicron strains that appeared without signs of development in human populations.
It appears we are lucky. It is less virulent (I can attest to that) and its massively increased infectiousness seems related to its rapid onset and recovery.
The second form of Omicron is vastly more infectious than the first and it has been declared everyone on earth will eventually contract it.
With that in mind I think this quaratine is now redundant. I will not tempt fate because breaking this quarantine can attract fines of the scale I cannot possibly afford, so I just enjoy this isolation as a Chironic period of withdrawal and reflection.
We were lucky. Omicron also appears to have eradicated Delta with the antibodies it produces in the human system after its own infection.
I now support a total lifting of restrictions to ensure a total global infection. It is everyone’s right to be infected to get those antibodies.
However I stand ready to support future restrictions should our luck change. Omicron has come from a rodent population, the next such cross species infection might not be so ammenable. No-one can be absolutely certain what form or consequences might come with the next variant.
It was mid 2020 when I read that at least 50% of feral deer herds in North America were infected with some form of Covid. We should be cautious in allowing the unbridled Covid infections run riot in human populations but we are still at risk from huge unmonitored non human, albeit mammilian, populations, such as Omicron has proved.
It will pay in the long run to remain flexible and constantly vigilant in regards to the politicised arguments and dubious conspiracy theories running rampant. I try to view as many sites, offical medical sites, blog sites from doctors and immunologists etc and avoid mainstream news sites.
The media here currently seems fixated on the fact that Omicron is only far more infectious. Their articles bewail the lack of information about the variant and appear to have been written over a month ago. Their bylines never seem to mention it is overall less toxic. They are more interested in click bait profits than truth and stringing out the news worthiness of a threat as long as possible. I avoid any online blogs made by people who clearly lack any academic authority about anything and rely on their own fears, verbosity and desperate need for “likes”.
Despite what we might all like to beleive about Covid, the science, the conspiracy theories, the misinformation and outright lies its likely we might all get sucker punched from the next variant that could come from some parasitic lifeform we have never paid much attention to before. And don’t be mistaken, viruses just like Covid are so small they even infect bacteria. Then again it might all fade away and join the usual suspects in the annual infections we live with.
Believe what you want, but never stop questioning sources and declarations and good luck.
The Omicron is just starting its path in Western Australia, it is fairly inevitable that we will get it at some point but, yes, I wear a mask, have all my necessities (especially wine) delivered and am bunkred down for the duration.
David I am so glad your wife got the medical treatment to save her eyes, great news.
As you already know I had missed out twice for my cochlear implant due to restrictions forced by Covid and was damn lucky to be fast tracked to a sudden available bed in a major city hospital on the day the city area was put under severe lock down in response to Delta.
The cochlear implant was a most unpleasant experience in my case, but today I can talk with anyone, my granddaughters, make phone calls and engage socially where I simply could not six months ago, when my life was a silent fucking prison.
I know, after following the recommended precautions and researching all the information made available about Covid, masking, isolating and getting vaxxed, I would have kicked any voluntarily unvaccinated Covid sufferer out of that hospital bed to grab the chance to restore my hearing. Totally without qualms.
Thanks Old Man, hope you lay in enough wine, its likely to be a two week stint if you get it.
My partner tested postitive at work. She was required to quarantine for a week. Because I was a close livein contact I was required to quarantine with her. Despite masking, avoiding her and sleeping in the spare room I got all the symptoms. I decided not to test, the official requirement was to wait a week after infection, but my work boss insisted I test to provide evidence for my absence from work. I tested positive. My partner tested negative for her requirement to return to work but now she had to quarantine because of her close contact with me. Another week. It was all far more complicated than this; the government rules changed twice in the first week and ended up with the hospitals unable to test either of us, so we had to hunt down and pay for personal rapid antigen tests that are pretty scarce due to government mismanagement.
Hi ho, life goes on. I cant wait to go for my next walk across the beach and headland.
and that was with lock-down protocols in place. Allowing everyone who was going to “get sick” WITHOUT protections and precautions would have left a huge human toll. The reduction of “deaths” at the beginning was because those “that got sick” also had access to medical care. Unchecked, how many wouldn’t have? The old, sick (cancer isn’t bad enough?), vulnerable (after surgery or giving birth) plus those that were just healthy (no pre conditions). PLUS long-term COVID.
… once they kill the old and sick with this wave, the next one will target name group.
…
cleaning of humanity would have went over real well 
.
the Trucker’s Convoy has been in the news.
. IF American truckers want the mandate removed it also has to come from their country SO why not co-ordinate their convoy at the same time to Washington? A “joint” effort?
concluded that this is a big media show. Money collected and pocketed. Political blustering 
