The Winter COVID surge that wasn't. Are we finally nearing the end of this long, dark road?

[Roadvirus]

The winter COVID wave that wasn't: Why the US didn't see a surge

Despite projections the U.S. could see more than 100 million COVID-19 cases this fall and winter, the country did not experience a true winter wave for the first time.

abcnews.go.com

I am a diehard optimist. I'd like to think that this long, horrifying road we've been walking since March 2020 is finally coming to it's end. Of course, i could be wrong.

 

[Mr Person]

One hopes that the vaccinated and idiotically naturally-only 'vaccinated' people are of a sufficient critical mass that widespread severe disease is not cropping up. This will only last as long as people get their shots (cue dumbass CTs). Picture the world without yearly flu vaccines, then multiply it.

And now all the anti-vaxx crap, which used to mostly be far left imbeciles and holistic ****wits, is now seeded massively on the Trumpist Right. The Trumpist Right who will ignore the next and the next and make it bigger and bigger. The Trumpist Right who will ensure that when one rolls around with 5-10%, the bodycount is ************************ing high.


So. Good. But I see misery in the future.



Bear in mind: strains change. They mutate. We could have a flu or COVID mutation that has a far worse kill rate. And guess what the people who survived claiming the first round was just a cold are gonna do then

 

[Pluto]

Bear in mind: strains change. They mutate. We could have a flu or COVID mutation that has a far worse kill rate. And guess what the people who survived claiming the first round was just a cold are gonna do then

They'll just ignore the consequences of it, as if it never even existed. Or better yet, was instituted by God as a means to better control overpopulation, or something like that.

 

[Bucky]

One hopes that the vaccinated and idiotically naturally-only 'vaccinated' people are of a sufficient critical mass that widespread severe disease is not cropping up. This will only last as long as people get their shots (cue dumbass CTs). Picture the world without yearly flu vaccines, then multiply it.

And now all the anti-vaxx crap, which used to mostly be far left imbeciles and holistic ****wits, is now seeded massively on the Trumpist Right. The Trumpist Right who will ignore the next and the next and make it bigger and bigger. The Trumpist Right who will ensure that when one rolls around with 5-10%, the bodycount is ************************ing high.


So. Good. But I see misery in the future.



Bear in mind: strains change. They mutate. We could have a flu or COVID mutation that has a far worse kill rate. And guess what the people who survived claiming the first round was just a cold are gonna do then

Very few people globally have gotten a 2nd booster shot.

The people I know have no intention of getting a 2nd booster shot, and it has been over one year since getting the first.

No widespread hysteria or hospitals being overcrowded with covid patients.

 

[CaughtInThe]

interestingly, i read that Florida did way worse than most states.

 

[Manc Skipper]

The winter COVID wave that wasn't: Why the US didn't see a surge

Despite projections the U.S. could see more than 100 million COVID-19 cases this fall and winter, the country did not experience a true winter wave for the first time.

abcnews.go.com

I am a diehard optimist. I'd like to think that this long, horrifying road we've been walking since March 2020 is finally coming to it's end. Of course, i could be wrong.

It's "down" to 2500 cases per day in the USA, and only 1800 deaths per week. Is that good?

 

[Bucky]

interestingly, i read that Florida did way worse than most states.

Not really. Sweden had very limited covid restrictions, and they did quite fine.

 

[CaughtInThe]

Not really. Sweden had very limited covid restrictions, and they did quite fine.

i was just in the US state of Sweden. it was really cool.

 

[Manc Skipper]

If you mean the Swedish Sweden they had a lot of quite fine Covid death.

 

[fireflygmf]

One hopes that the vaccinated and idiotically naturally-only 'vaccinated' people are of a sufficient critical mass that widespread severe disease is not cropping up. This will only last as long as people get their shots (cue dumbass CTs). Picture the world without yearly flu vaccines, then multiply it.

And now all the anti-vaxx crap, which used to mostly be far left imbeciles and holistic ****wits, is now seeded massively on the Trumpist Right. The Trumpist Right who will ignore the next and the next and make it bigger and bigger. The Trumpist Right who will ensure that when one rolls around with 5-10%, the bodycount is ************************ing high.


So. Good. But I see misery in the future.



Bear in mind: strains change. They mutate. We could have a flu or COVID mutation that has a far worse kill rate. And guess what the people who survived claiming the first round was just a cold are gonna do then

The people who are unvaccinated and acquired immunity naturally enjoy more long lasting and complete immunity vs COVID than the vaccinated. And I say this as a vaccinated and boosted person.

While more random mutation occurs in the unvaccinated, the vaccinated produce more vaccine escape mutations, driven by evolutionary selection. This happens because the vaccine is not sterilizing like most vaccines we receive in childhood are. They are known as leaky vaccines.

Are this to say, we can't vaccinate our way out of this. We need to acquire robust, naturally acquired immunity and live with COVID as an endemic virus.

I don't think spewing this type of hatred and vitriol toward another group of people is very helpful, particularly when your beliefs are predicated on such fundamentally uninformed positions.

NIH PubMed
The Lancet

 

[BirdinHand]

I cannot wait for spring.


Covid hasn’t been an issue around my area - but every other freaking germ, flu, etc. has been and this winter has sucked.

My son has had Flu A and Flu B and has brought home more yuck this winter than I can remember ever coming home pre-Covid. It seems like it’s been one germ after another since November and I’m just done with it.


Come on spring and fresh air!

 

[snakestretcher]

The winter COVID wave that wasn't: Why the US didn't see a surge

Despite projections the U.S. could see more than 100 million COVID-19 cases this fall and winter, the country did not experience a true winter wave for the first time.

abcnews.go.com

I am a diehard optimist. I'd like to think that this long, horrifying road we've been walking since March 2020 is finally coming to it's end. Of course, i could be wrong.

Covid hasn't gone away-out of the headlines, maybe, but deaths and infections are still happening. These are UK numbers up to March 2023:

Simple summary - UK | Coronavirus in the UK

Simple summary of the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease in the UK.

coronavirus.data.gov.uk

 

[snakestretcher]

Not really. Sweden had very limited covid restrictions, and they did quite fine.

I hope this is satire:

A year and a half after Sweden decided not to lock down, its COVID-19 death rate is up to 10 times higher than its neighbors

Sweden may have seen fewer people die of COVID-19 had it implemented tighter lockdown rules or mask mandates.

www.businessinsider.com

Fact check: Sweden has not achieved herd immunity, is not proof that lockdowns are useless

With hundreds of thousands of views and over 3,000 shares on Facebook, a video produced by the conservative U.S. nonprofit PragerU claims that “Sweden is the proof that lockdowns are useless” in stemming the spread of COVID-19 and that its population likely has “herd immunity...

www.reuters.com

Covid-19: herd immunity in Sweden fails to materialise | The Royal Society of Medicine

Sweden’s policy of allowing the controlled spread of Covid-19 viral infection among the population has so far failed to deliver the country’s previously stated goal of herd immunity.

www.rsm.ac.uk

Sweden did not do fine, 'quite', or otherwise.

 

[devildavid]

The people who are unvaccinated and acquired immunity naturally enjoy more long lasting and complete immunity vs COVID than the vaccinated. And I say this as a vaccinated and boosted person.

While more random mutation occurs in the unvaccinated, the vaccinated produce more vaccine escape mutations, driven by evolutionary selection. This happens because the vaccine is not sterilizing like most vaccines we receive in childhood are. They are known as leaky vaccines.

Are this to say, we can't vaccinate our way out of this. We need to acquire robust, naturally acquired immunity and live with COVID as an endemic virus.

I don't think spewing this type of hatred and vitriol toward another group of people is very helpful, particularly when your beliefs are predicated on such fundamentally uninformed positions.

NIH PubMed
The Lancet

The only way to acquire your ideal of robust natural immunity is for more people to die. So we do need to add COVID to our yearly vaccinations to mitigate the amount of deaths just as we already do for seasonal flus.

 

[Helix]

I cannot wait for spring.


Covid hasn’t been an issue around my area - but every other freaking germ, flu, etc. has been and this winter has sucked.

My son has had Flu A and Flu B and has brought home more yuck this winter than I can remember ever coming home pre-Covid. It seems like it’s been one germ after another since November and I’m just done with it.


Come on spring and fresh air!

Same. We've been sick every few weeks. I can't count the colds. At least one kiddo had flu B. Every time someone sneezes, I want to dive under the couch and stay there.

 

[devildavid]

One hopes that the vaccinated and idiotically naturally-only 'vaccinated' people are of a sufficient critical mass that widespread severe disease is not cropping up. This will only last as long as people get their shots (cue dumbass CTs). Picture the world without yearly flu vaccines, then multiply it.

And now all the anti-vaxx crap, which used to mostly be far left imbeciles and holistic ****wits, is now seeded massively on the Trumpist Right. The Trumpist Right who will ignore the next and the next and make it bigger and bigger. The Trumpist Right who will ensure that when one rolls around with 5-10%, the bodycount is ************************ing high.


So. Good. But I see misery in the future.



Bear in mind: strains change. They mutate. We could have a flu or COVID mutation that has a far worse kill rate. And guess what the people who survived claiming the first round was just a cold are gonna do then

We already know what they will do. They will blame Fauci as personally responsible and say he should be prosecuted. But first they will also claim that it is just a cold. Because they have already done this in this forum and they have absolutely no problem making logically impossible claims. I think it is a right wing nutter mental illness for which there is no cure.

 

[ElChupacabra]

Covid hasn't gone away-out of the headlines, maybe, but deaths and infections are still happening. These are UK numbers up to March 2023:

Simple summary - UK | Coronavirus in the UK

Simple summary of the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease in the UK.

coronavirus.data.gov.uk

Agreed, but the difference is the newer strain hasn't been caused as much havoc as the first one did. People are still getting sick, but the symptoms are less severe and hospitals aren't overwhelmed in the same way; let's hope that trend continues. What does concern me is the amount of people I know with long COVID, since it's a number that's increased over time.

Locally, the case numbers have dropped from where they were about a month ago, but the caveat there is we don't really have as clear a sense of how prevalent the amount of infected are because of home testing. Either way, we would know if things are getting bad by the number of hospital admissions.

 

[fireflygmf]

The only way to acquire your ideal of robust natural immunity is for more people to die. So we do need to add COVID to our yearly vaccinations to mitigate the amount of deaths just as we already do for seasonal flus.

Well, there is that risk either way. The vaccines are not without their own risk, albeit a small one. Regardless, most vaccinated people have most likely been exposed many times to SARS-CoV-2 and are well on their way to building a more robust natural immunity once the vaccine protections wane. I'm not sure the world will continue to vaccinate yearly as I once thought, considering how much the disease has changed. It was quite lethal at one point, but now is considerably less deadly. Time will tell, I'm sure the world will figure it all out over the next few years.

 

[samiam5211]

Covid in the US has been over for almost a year, we just couldn't be sure until we got through a winter without a surge.

I think we can finally have a victory party, hopefully there is still enough money in the ATM's to party.

 

[BirdinHand]

Same. We've been sick every few weeks. I can't count the colds. At least one kiddo had flu B. Every time someone sneezes, I want to dive under the couch and stay there.

I'll meet you behind the couch with a bottle of something good. LOL.

 

[devildavid]

Well, there is that risk either way. The vaccines are not without their own risk, albeit a small one. Regardless, most vaccinated people have most likely been exposed many times to SARS-CoV-2 and are well on their way to building a more robust natural immunity once the vaccine protections wane. I'm not sure the world will continue to vaccinate yearly as I once thought, considering how much the disease has changed. It was quite lethal at one point, but now is considerably less deadly. Time will tell, I'm sure the world will figure it all out over the next few years.

Vaccines are for risk mitigation and should always be part of the solution and COVID should be a permanent part of this. You are wrong to claim that people get a more robust natural immunity from getting COVID.

 

[fireflygmf]

Vaccines are for risk mitigation and should always be part of the solution and COVID should be a permanent part of this. You are wrong to claim that people get a more robust natural immunity from getting COVID.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. That's not my opinion - I got that from "The Lancet", a world-leading medical journal. I linked it a few posts above.

 

[Galactic Spin]

Not really. Sweden had very limited covid restrictions, and they did quite fine.

Because they have a highly educated populace that took safety measures seriously. Unlike the collection of dubious intellect that is Florida.

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

For the next few years it will be like a series Flu season. I strongly doubt it will ever go away so deaths will occur at higher levels than the flu.

People will now have some resistance to it overall, but the sick or elderly will of course be the most at risk. Like the flu of course

 

[Manc Skipper]

Agreed, but the difference is the newer strain hasn't been caused as much havoc as the first one did. People are still getting sick, but the symptoms are less severe and hospitals aren't overwhelmed in the same way; let's hope that trend continues. What does concern me is the amount of people I know with long COVID, since it's a number that's increased over time.

Locally, the case numbers have dropped from where they were about a month ago, but the caveat there is we don't really have as clear a sense of how prevalent the amount of infected are because of home testing. Either way, we would know if things are getting bad by the number of hospital admissions.

Every time someone gets a repeat infection, the sequelae are generally worse in terms of long term illness and disability.