> …Omicron (the dominant variant) is like a mild cold.
Omicron appears mild in the statistics because by the time it hit western countries like the US and UK, there was almost nobody left who hasn’t either been vaccinated or exposed to a prior variant, or both.
Countries with low vaccination rates and low prior exposure rates are seeing severity of outcome with Omicron that is comparable to prior variants.
> Countries with low vaccination rates and low prior exposure rates
How is that relevant when the complaint is specifically about how "masks aren't mandatory in public in the US"? Vaccines have been freely available in the US for a year, yet the US should mandate masks because other countries have low vaccination rates?
I don’t know what point you’re trying to make, but I’m not advocating for mask mandates. In fact I disagree with them. Mask mandates were a highly imperfect but prudent policy measure prior to widespread deployment of effective vaccines. Now they are pointless and arguably counter-productive.
People who have specific concerns about COVID and want to protect themselves (or others) should be encouraged to wear an N95 mask. Cloth and surgical masks should no longer be treated as a valid medical choice.
I have had Covid twice. Omicron was more like severe flu than a cold for me and my wife. In several ways it is quite unlike either a cold or flu. The brainfog, the feeling that one is ok one part of the day followed by a wave of fatigue were both quite dissimilar to cold and flu.
Unfortunately not. From my first infection I have fatigue, sleep apneoa, shortness of breath, brain fog and palpitations still. My wife had not had Covid previously is a keen runner and has just cancelled a race 3 months after 'recovery' because she can no longer run those distances.
Yet because 'some guy we know' had it easy, there are a bunch of people hanging around internet forums willing to refute all talk of covid being serious.
> Unfortunately not. From my first infection I have fatigue, sleep apneoa, shortness of breath, brain fog and palpitations still. My wife had not had Covid previously is a keen runner and has just cancelled a race 3 months after 'recovery' because she can no longer run those distances.
Sorry to hear that. Hope you end up finding a way to recover.
> Yet because 'some guy we know' had it easy
I have no idea where you're pulling this from. I wasn't citing you an anecdote I gathered from "some guy I know". I was citing facts that have been circulating all over the news for a while now, along with the relevant hospitalization statistics. And I hadn't heard anything to the contrary. Here's [1] one link:
> In fully vaccinated and/or boosted people, omicron symptoms tend to be mild. In unvaccinated people, symptoms may be quite severe, possibly leading to hospitalization or even death.
I didn't sign up to be a lab rat, and it was a 3 day head cold when I caught Omicron on NYE. But I also paid close attention to the independent research and followed the advice of my doctors to improve my health (as measured by Vitamin D in this case).
Omicron appears mild in the statistics because by the time it hit western countries like the US and UK, there was almost nobody left who hasn’t either been vaccinated or exposed to a prior variant, or both.
Countries with low vaccination rates and low prior exposure rates are seeing severity of outcome with Omicron that is comparable to prior variants.
https://twitter.com/jburnmurdoch/status/1503420660869214213?...