this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2024
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A Boring Dystopia

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10th COVID wave now surging in the US, amid total silence in the corporate media (www.wsws.org)
submitted 1 week ago by return2ozma to c/aboringdystopia
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[–] jeffw 28 points 1 week ago (4 children)

The issue is that it’s less severe, partially because people have immunity and partially because the virus is weaker (this happens with new illnesses - they get less fatal and spread more).

But wastewater isn’t newsworthy. It never has been. It’s disingenuous to say the media isn’t covering this when ERs are NOT having issues and people aren’t dying.

Many doesn’t the media have mass coverage of the common cold? Why don’t they cover norovirus? Endemic shit that doesn’t kill people isn’t really newsworthy.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 1 week ago

Copying from my response where you copied this elsewhere, because it's good to quash misinformation:

because the virus is weaker (this happens with new illnesses - they get less fatal and spread more).

This isn't true. It's a debunked theory from the 1800s. Viruses evolve chaotically, sometimes strengthening sometimes weakening. There's no general rule that they get weaker and COVID's reduction in lethality is due to other factors.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Eh, shifts on the stock market and pretty random political moments make the news all the time. Not to mention the weather and sports.

A little, “hey, contagions are about at the moment, if you’re vulnerable or just not keen, act accordingly” wouldn’t be misplaced at all.

Bottom line is we have a cultural problem with general illness. Something something capitalism something something.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Yeah, there's an important difference between having covid and having covid with no herd immunity.

I caught covid during the pandemic, it was around a month after receiving the vaccine. So actually I never even got a fever. I had like a day of cold symptoms, never even showed positive on lateral flow.

But since my girlfriend did test positive, as per the rules here at the time, I did a proper lab test. That confirmed that yes I had covid at the time or close to when I had the test.

So at the very height of the immunity provided by the vaccine I still technically caught the virus. Which makes sense.

So, with the general increase in immunity there can be a lot of covid detected in wastewater, but many or most of those people putting that waste out may only be having cold level symptoms.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The problem with this answer is that you go from your anecdata to a sweeping statement about the relevance of public health information.

Plenty of people would really prefer to not get covid and for very good reasons. If you’re having basic cold symptoms, great, not everyone finds it that minimal. Just like how some have bad hay fever and some don’t get the news sometimes reports on pollen levels.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 week ago

I'm not really downplaying the virus. Just saying that's there's a very big difference between contracting the virus now when most people have acquired various levels of immunity and for most it will be much less of a serious infection than it would be at the start when we had no real immunity to speak of, which caused much longer drawn out infections that were far more likely to result in hospital stays.

[–] insaneinthemembrane 5 points 1 week ago

There are plenty of studies about the long term damage that even a mild infection can have. Vascular damage causing strokes, brain damage causing brain fog and eventually dementia, immune damage causing increases in other illnesses that aren't fought off like they used to be, etc etc. So cold level symptoms give the impression it's fine and nothing but that's just some symptoms of immune response.

[–] insaneinthemembrane 12 points 1 week ago

Less severe at first maybe but plenty of studies showing long term damage from what starts as a mild cold. If reporting was being done on the science, that's what it would say but reporting is very very limited.

[–] surph_ninja 3 points 1 week ago (2 children)

You’re spreading disinformation. This one is not less severe. I know a couple of people who were hospitalized with this strain, and everyone else I know who’s gotten it were knocked on their ass.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This sounds like an anecdote.

[–] surph_ninja -2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

And?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Here, this is a much better comment with sources cited for how viruses work:

https://sopuli.xyz/comment/13708601

[–] surph_ninja 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It’s a good comment, and points out that the theory it’s become less lethal as it goes on has been debunked.

Covid numbers going down is due to the government refusing to count, and asking healthcare providers to stop providing Covid information.

So unfortunately we’re left with anecdotal info, and data from waste treatment facilities.

[–] jeffw 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

By all means, I’d love to see your data.

Not sure why you’d bring anecdotes into this?

[–] surph_ninja 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Because the government intentionally stopped counting Covid cases, and asked hospitals to stop reporting data. Outside of waste treatment data, anecdotal data is sometimes the best we can get.

[–] jeffw 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I literally work in healthcare. I’ve seen our patient data. There’s no COVID increase. If there is, it’s super mild and people aren’t being hospitalized.

Now we have one anecdote against another… uh oh?

[–] surph_ninja 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] jeffw 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

While R**t tells us if the number of infections is likely growing or declining, it does not reflect the burden of disease

Please try to understand statistics before you cite them.

If we had 1 case yesterday and 3 today, we are certainly trending up, yes. I 100% agree that COVID cases are increasing because they ALWAYS will in the winter. Forever.

Edit: also, for the hundredth time, none of this says the cases are severe. You have shown zero evidence about severity.

[–] surph_ninja 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Moving the goalpost. Check your comment up top. You claimed no increase.

[–] jeffw 1 points 1 week ago

Sorry, I think you might be confused or perhaps replying to the wrong person. I have consistently stated that there was no increase in SEVERE CASES.

From my original:

The issue is that it’s less severe, partially because people have immunity and partially because the virus is weaker (this happens with new illnesses - they get less fatal and spread more).

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 week ago

Unfortunately, misinformation coupled with the potential expense of paying for a costly vaccine have resulted in extremely low vaccination rates for COVID-19. Per the latest CDC data, only 21.0 percent of American adults reported that they have received the latest vaccine released at the beginning of the Fall. Coverage of children is even worse at 10.6 percent, or approximately half the rate of adults.

Woke up Christmas day (today) with a sore throat. So far testing negative, we'll see in two days. I'm still one who wears a mask in every public indoor place, but it's impossible to be safe if everyone else is judging precautions by feels and not science.

Yes, it's too late to eliminate it, but 21% vaccinated is not just willfully ignorant about the long-term health effects, it also shows an astounding lack of care and concern for each other. Just depressing.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Remember when Trump would hide the effects of COVID, but the media did it for him anyways, and it's treated as a victory for public health?

Remember that the CDC was told to stop documenting COVID stats, even though it helps everyone, not just Americans?

Dystopias seem better than reality lately.