The Grand Experiment Begins

 


Why do I feel like a lab rat? Why don't you?

After two years of Covid 19, we're about to be left to our own devices.  Those of us who are all vaxxed-up (Covid, influenza, pneumonia) should weather the virus with a good chance of survival. After all, it's only Omicron or "Covid-Lite."  Some won't but, hey, collateral damage.

Exposing us to Omicron seems understandable. Unlike other strains, such as Delta, it doesn't seem to savage the lungs. The infected are far less apt to require hospitalization or an intensive care bed. Many will be asymptomatic. Others will feel crappy for a few days. We can cope.

Omicron, however, does not present a worst case scenario. Most of the Covid 19 variants have been far more lethal, far more demanding to treat. Omicron, if anything, could be an outlier.

Two years experience has shown that Covid 19 mutates fairly rapidly. What's next? How is that new vaccine facility progressing, the one that was supposed to free us from the vagaries of the global supply glitches? If you have any information, please share it below.

As for me, I can't imagine giving up the tried and true Covid precautions - masks, hand washing, social distancing, etc. - anytime soon. What about you?



Comments

  1. TroyFebruary 11, 2022 at 4:02 PM

    I'll disagree. Omicron's going to cause a lot of havoc. We're bearing witness to Western nations immolating themselves.

    Omicron's ability to transmit being 1.5x higher than that of Delta's means it'll likely kill and maim as many people this year as the original and its variants have over two years. This accounts for vaccination rates as Omicron evades immunity by at least 25%. It can also reinfect within weeks rather than months.

    Without mitigation efforts, this variant will probably linger and fester. The floor will be raised from which the pool of new variants will have to spread from, and so, these will likely spread faster than even Omicron right from the get-go.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibFebruary 11, 2022 at 7:23 PM

      You may well be right, Troy. This Grand Experiment could be catastrophic. I understand the urge to balance the pandemic against other factors such as the economy, dislocation, even inconvenience. I have trouble seeing an upside either way. From this point on, we're just lab rats.

      Delete
  2. Northern PoVFebruary 12, 2022 at 6:43 AM

    I'm with Troy on this.
    And while observing with a jaundiced eye on inter-generational wealth transfer ...

    The great boomer-remover builds wave #5 .

    A little bit of Omicron in my life
    A little bit of Covid by my side
    A little bit of Delta is all I need
    A little bit of Pfizer is what I see
    A little bit Moderna in the sun
    Astra Zeneca all night long
    In the ICU, here I am
    A little bit of you makes me your man

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibFebruary 12, 2022 at 10:35 AM

      I'm taking a breather from blogging, NPoV. Maybe one per day, that sort of thing. Instead I'm going back to the start, 2006, and looking at my early posts. An average of three or more posts a day for 16 years. That adds up.

      Having that archive is a useful antidote to "creeping normalcy." Normal in 2006 was different than normal in 2022. "If we knew then what we know now." Was it ever thus?

      I am saddened to contrast my writing from those days with my scribbling today. There used to be real flare, genuine enthusiasm, even hope. Little good comes from perching on the razor edge between cynicism and realism for too long. Hope becomes more difficult to maintain, an illusion.

      I have toyed with re-posting some of the "oldies" but that smacks of "I told you so." That's hardly welcome at a time so many, including our fellow progressives, work so hard to look the other way.

      Delete
    2. Northern PoVFebruary 12, 2022 at 3:22 PM

      Chin up lad.
      I find gallows' humour to be the only relief these days.

      as for
      "I have toyed with re-posting some of the "oldies" but that smacks of "I told you so." "

      go for it - just responsible recycling.

      Delete
  3. lungtaFebruary 12, 2022 at 10:44 AM

    I'm liking the Japanese 3Cs as a life style
    no closed spaces
    no crowds
    no continued close conversations
    wearing a mask rather than shave
    and staying away from others by 6 feet
    (I'm part norge so 12 feet would be more comfortable)
    are both bonuses
    viral proliferation is an aspect of decreasing habitat and less biodiversity
    meaning humans did it
    which in my mind makes covid a bit better earthling than humans
    defiantly a lot less destructive

    Calgary restaurants and malls were just packed yesterday ... 0 masks
    wave 6! wave 6! wave 6!..... mmmmmm .....by easter?
    oh :) 666 i like it

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Disaffected LibFebruary 12, 2022 at 12:02 PM

      I see no reason for their optimism, Lungta, but, as we were taught in journalism school never to say, "time will tell."

      Delete
  4. TrailblazerFebruary 12, 2022 at 6:06 PM

    Is there any wonder that we do not trust politicians and those in their employ?
    Politicians are elected but become bound by party politics that are bound by a popularist leader who succumbs to special interests , Industry provocateurs etc.
    Add to that the Canadian Government or its provinces did nothing, sweet fuck all until a foreign entity, the USA' Biden joined the fight!!!
    That the demonstrators cry for "freedom" whilst the USA is currently calling the shots not the Canadian Government or it's Provincial leaders ? is beyond belief.

    We have truly entered the age of social media anarchy.

    TB

    ReplyDelete

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