[voisin]

A lot of your commentary is about lockdown not being too bad, but what are your thoughts on the rationale for the lockdown when Omicron is relatively less dangerous? Do the people in your social network feel the costs are worth it?

[tyng]

There are definitely lots of complains: the consequences on the economy, not able to travel, etc. On a personal level everyone is affected, but is the lockdown worth it? On a country level I think it's understandable. Shanghai is a city of 25m population and it has one of the best medical system in China, if COVID cannot be contained in Shanghai then it'll be a nightmare to spread to other cities, towns and villages, where basic medical care is still not readily available. Shanghai is also the economic and financial centre of China, locking it down definitely comes at a great cost to the country, so I don't think the government has made this decision lightly. If Omicron is really like a cold/flu then no it's not worth it, but do we know this for sure?

[Ancapistani]

> If Omicron is really like a cold/flu then no it's not worth it, but do we know this for sure?

Well... look at the rest of the world.

I caught Delta when it burned through the American South last September. Omicron overtook Delta in January 2022 in the US, and since then the US has seen ~25m confirmed cases.

If you don't know the effects of Omicron "for sure" with a sample size of 25,000,000 cases... when will you?

FWIW, while Omicron is statistically significantly milder than previous variants, I don't think it's "like a cold/flu". I also don't think it's anywhere near bad enough to justify locking down a city.

When I had Delta, I had about three days where I was miserable and basically useless followed by a week of being very tired and another week or so of feeling like I was recovering from the flu. I'm 38, overweight, a non-smoker, and the only relevant medical condition I have is obstructive sleep apnea.

If I had to characterize my experience in "like the flu" terms, I would say that Delta was about 2-3x as bad as the worst flu I've ever had. There were three mornings where I woke up feeling like I couldn't breathe. That was scary, but a few minutes in a hot shower was sufficient to break it up enough that I didn't feel like I needed medical attention.

About a week after those initial intense symptoms, I was testing negative and had no respiratory issues but was still very tired overall. I called my doctor and asked for an inhaled steroid to speed things along a bit so I could be productive. Other than that, and guaifenesin that I took when my symptoms began, there was no need for medical intervention at all.

Everything I read tells me that Omicron's symptoms are substantially less pronounced than Delta's.