Yes, I’m saying that the vaccines are not the cause of Omicron or any other variant. I thought my post was pretty clear.

Scientific organizations spend their time answering serious, important questions; not dealing with crackpot conspiracy theories.

Ah, yes, the competition for that dollar. Sort of like, "Your money belongs to NYC, not your own town". And we sure don't want you staying home saving gas and the environment. "

That is because I have not revealed my dark secret. I should have known better. in fact, I did know better. But the temptation(s) was/were too much.

Tron, POTC, LOR, Spiderman, Mustang, Sharky's Shootout, WPT, WCS, Riverboat Casino, Rock, Baywatch, Laser Cue, Nine Ball, CSI, TMNT, Willy Wonka, Ironman, and Godzilla.

I was invited to a pinball party. No masks. Those old school Catholic nuns would be slapping the backs of my hands with their rulers for what I did.

Hindsite being 20-20, I made the wrong choice. But the temptation was too great. One killer ball on Ironman made the risk feel worthwhile, and then the chickens came home to roost, in a manner of speaking.

The first three are categorically FALSE and were never said by a CDC or NIH official. No COVID vaccine was ever reported as greater than 95% effective so obviously you can still catch, get sick, and spread COVID.

As for the last statement, 85% of COVID hospitalizations are unvaccinated. If the unvaccinated hospitalizations were reduced to the vaccinated levels we would not be overrunning our U.S. hospital capacity. I'd have to go back to look at the full context of where this last statement was made, but I believe this was explained. Context matters.

That said, personally I can't defend the official messaging on this pandemic. I'm not happy with it, but they don't lie. I believe one of the problems is trying to convey complicated messages in three minute TV interviews and twenty second sound bites. They need to do press conferences where they have as much time as needed to explain their positions in great detail.

Who knew? Well...everyone who's been following publications just for a little bit, and you didn't need to read medical publications to have known that: it's been clearly communicated from the start by scientists, also, or maybe mainly (I'm not sure how the right-oriënted media have covered it), in mainstream left-wing media, so I don't know why you ask that question. Sure, a lot of people may not have known or refused to acknowledge that it would happen, and often things are simplified for the viewer, but I think you're the one who's drawing wrong conclusions because of that, not the scientists that you time and time again don't believe in.

For the second part of your sentence you should replace the words 'just as' by 'also, but less', but you will of course never admit to that for if there's a chance, small or big, there's no difference between those according to you. Or otherwise you don't believe the studies that vaccinated people get less infected than vaccinated ones. Just because it's now a smaller difference than it was with earlier varients, you'll probably say that it wasn't how 'they told us' and therefor it doesn't apply at all anymore, which is false, even though it's now less than we'd wished/hoped.

Work is plague central today. On top of everything the federal agency I contract with just changed their policy so I am considered unvaccinated for quarantining purposes as it has been more than 6 months since my initial shots. I now have to get a booster every 6 months, or quarantine for a whole week every time one of my cubical neighbors gets COVID. As a result of this, I'm getting a booster today not because I'm worried about COVID, but because I don't want to burn up all my leave on this.

With all that said, I give it a 50% chance I get COVID this month. Its going around hardcore around me in Maryland. I figure the best time to get a booster is shortly before getting COVID anyways. Just bought a bunch of frozen food so we don't have to leave home if/when we get the Rona. At least we have a basement arcade to keep the kids entertained.

I don’t like that you are making me defend someone I don’t want to defend but come on.

Again, it was essentially true at the time and place it was said. Context matters. The vaccines were developed to prevent severe illness and as a bonus were very effective at preventing illness altogether…for the original and alpha strains. You know, the strains they specifically were targeting.

In March 2021 the number of breakthroughs (and reinfections fyi) was vanishingly small.

Then things changed. And then changed again.

The repeat purposeful misleading nature of your statements is more akin to the big lie than what your statements purport to be the big lie.

Keep up.

Hey, sorry you've had a rough go at it. Try not to beat your self up too hard over this, we've been bombarded with all sorts of contradicting messaging from the CDC and media over the past several months that it's been difficult to know what our actual risk is.

And damn, a nice game on Iron Man sounds fun right about now!

My work instituted a policy where if you get COVID or need to quarantine and you're vaccinated, they cover the time off. However, if you're not vaccinated, you're required to use PTO to cover being out.

This is acceptable, IMHO.

To take it a step further, I'd like insurance companies to jack premiums up for those who are not vaxxed and seek medical treatment for Covid infection as well.

I've found the messaging to be crystal clear and easy to understand. I suspect that is because I watched Covid kill a couple of people that were very dear to me. That is why I refer to it as a deadly disease. In that light, none of it sounds contradictory at all. Information changes, recommendations change. But overall the message has always been "You don't want Covid, so do what you can to avoid catching or spreading it". I don't live in my basement because of it, but I do weigh that into decisions of what I do.

Time to look for new employment.

Seriously. He's on his dream vacation with Mickey and Goofy and all he wants to do is troll us.

It's kind of sad to think that while he's getting ready for a character dinner with Snow White all he's thinking about is this thread.

Mayor Adams' pleas for us all to return to the office during the peak of another horrific spike to protect fast food interests are falling on deaf ears...most people are laughing at him. He also managed to insult hundreds of thousands of people by calling them "unskilled labor." He's off to a great start.

Sure, we'll go get sick to help benefit Dunkin' Donuts. Great idea! Let them eat donuts!

What flies in Florida doesn't fly here, as folks here are so proud to tell us, ad finitim.

Just my list of bad advice from the CDC:

- Not pushing the conversation that this is airborne, instead focusing on droplets and people adopting the messaging that 6-feet distance from others is enough
- changing guidelines to "3-feet" instead of "6-feet", not because 6-feet is safe, but 3-feet is marginally less safe and is easier for businesses
- Advising vaccinated to stop wearing masks, despite vaccinated still being capable of spreading Covid
- Waffling on boosting advice as recently as September, rather than encourage everyone to get boosted, push the "assess your personal risk" line - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/transcript-cdc-director-rochelle-walensky-face-the-nation-09-26-2021/
- Pushing the line that air travel is safe because of the air filtering/fresh air intake during flight (while conveniently ignoring the 30 minutes before the flight and after landing that everyone sits on the tarmac breathing in recirculated, stale air)
- Advising people NOT to wear good PPE/n95s because "they're uncomfortable" or "people may not wear it correctly" rather than trying to educate people https://abc11.com/n95-mask-cdc-recommendation-dr-rochelle-walensky-what-type-of-is-the-best/10092451/
- The messaging that gatherings are safe for vaccinated people, especially when a good chunk of our vaccinated folks weren't boosted and demonstrably had waning immunity from their initial vaccination https://www.boston.com/news/coronavirus/2021/11/21/anthony-fauci-thanksgiving-gatherings/
-Limiting quarantine time from 10-days to 5-days at the request of Delta airlines/private businesses, without including a negative COVID test. https://www.npr.org/2021/12/29/1068731487/delta-ceo-asks-cdc-to-cut-quarantine

Look, I've arrived at the same conclusion as you - be vaccinated, limit exposure, wear good masks, but I can understand how people have dropped their guard. Very few folks have seen me in-person, indoors, unmasked these past two years. I'm that weirdo, I guess.

I hear the fast food joints are looking for help. And you might be able to get a signing bonus.

Well you know whats next.They are all going to Disneyland.YeeHaw

Nah, that's a strawman argument, everyone except anti-vaxxers knew all along the vaccines were for reducing hospitalizations, deaths and the economic impact of the virus. Sure, a few people may have said these things before they had all the data, but you didn't honestly believe them did you?

Here's a better list of some of the biggest lies during this pandemic:
-Masks are useless
-The vaccine carries a 5G signal
-The vaccine carries a government tracking device
-Radiation can treat the virus
-Livestock de-wormer can treat the virus
-There is no virus
-The virus is a "Kill Pill"
-The government is forcing us to get the vaccine
-The vaccine causes people to shed the virus to others and infect them
-The vaccine causes autism
-Natural immunity is better than vaccine-acquired immunity

Rent free.

Yeah, the CDC hasn't always got it right, they've aired on the side of trying to keep things open and running cautiously instead of really landing on the side of caution. But their recommendations, when compared to someone like Joe Rogan's, at least look sane.

The 2-week projection from Mayo. I've never seen all the states the same color, and unfortunately not one of the colors we would prefer. Quite frankly a few of the states need a new color for 400+ daily cases per 100K people.

mayo (resized).PNG

Wait ...What?!?

Looks like a shakedown from where I’m sitting.

I tend to agree, but at the same time also tell myself that we shouldn't want this. And I tend to think we should help non-vaccinated persons as last at the hospitals, but I disagree with myself. I really don't know what my stance is on this subject...well, at least it changes some. Should we have higher premiums for obese? For people who don't sport, or sport too much? Or people who eat unhealthy, or smoke, or go to concerts (hearing aids aren't free), or drink, or....? I know, I know, this is a pandemic and we're talking large numbers and we have a simple measure to make things way better that people just choose not to take, which I don't understand, but still.... something in me says we shouldn't want this and that we should treat all people the same when it comes to healthcare and some other basic primary needs (like schooling). But on the other hand, it would show people some of the cost of their choice.

Well, once again you prove the point that everyone in this thread is trying to make. Many people are uninformed and only believe in the information they absorb from whatever news media. Unfortunately, for the statements you categorically label FALSE were uttered almost verbatim in a national address, on every channel to the country. Then repeated multiple times in other broadcast. Please don’t make me post the video.

You also wrote:
As for the last statement, 85% of COVID hospitalizations are unvaccinated. If the unvaccinated hospitalizations were reduced to the vaccinated levels we would not be overrunning our U.S. hospital capacity. I'd have to go back to look at the full context of where this last statement was made, but I believe this was explained. Context matters.

Some hospitals are reporting 54-60% of there patients are vaccinated, so I guess it matters on what hospitals data you are looking at.
As for the last statement, it was made on Tuesday in the WH press briefing.

I truly hate using this term, but yes, they keep moving the goal post on almost every position, and as KerryImming posted, the CDC and the NIH never said these comments, but the Big Guy went on national tv and did. It was never true at anytime. So who was misinforming the country on the vaccine? The CDC & NIH, or the Big Guy?

I’m trying to keep up here, it was just some others here decided to bring up the past.

Apologies for the small plots, (Zoom will be your friend) on this consolidated graphic from John Burn-Murdoch

B82F84DB-7D55-4E3E-AC47-181D98C8F7BA.jpeg

Hospitals are now being overrun with Covid cases. My friends that are nurses and doctors are exhausted, 2 nurse friends left the profession in the past 3 months over burnout, they couldn't handle constantly arguing with people about masks and basic safety precautions.

271585946_10228630981225772_7305635846340188914_n (resized).jpg

No argument here!

Its Funny How Orlando, and Florida is Marketed. No Masks, Must be Covid Free! Right?

Up 950% in 2 weeks. Orlando Covid Ward overflowing. 2 Family Covid ICU nurses share that
more than 1/2 are ready to quit.

It isnt Just the Arguments with Patients, and families, Its Tourists, who Demand Miracle cures,
because "They are on Vacation". and NEED to get back to Disney.

I thought Seattle was "all in" on vaccines masks, and lock downs?

https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2022/01/nj-reports-106-covid-deaths-27404-cases-hospitalizations-increase-to-nearly-5600.html

Looks like omicron is hitting everywhere…..

Looking at the stats and numbers coming out, there's no stopping omnicron now. 1 of 15 in UK are infected, r value still at 3.0+. Everyone is going to come across this at some point just depends on how severe your symptoms will be. Going to be a dark rest of the winter.

Repeated by who? Nice challenge, I can't find a video that doesn't exist.

My information comes from our MN dept of health and our state director of the Center for Infectious Diseases, Dr. Michael Osterholm.

This is news to me. The data lags, so omicron may be changing the game. Boosters are needed for omicron. In the same way COVID his older people highest, breakthrough disease is more common in people over 65 so in regions with older populations this might happen.

https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/characteristics-of-vaccinated-patients-hospitalized-with-covid-19-breakthrough-infections/

Since I can't study your sources I have no way to challenge them, but that's they way you folks play this game.

Except for you I have NEVER heard anyone say or imply that being unvaccinated is the best way to reduce hospitalizations.

Curious how the Florida defenders will spin allowing 1 million test kits to expire as actually a good thing and not evidence of gross incompetence.

Wow, yeah not good. It's crazy how people will even argue against facts such as hospitalization rates. Just the other day another family member told me "Hospitals are not full and its actually the vaccinated that are filling them up"...It hurts my head to debate against those viewpoints, I just can't anymore. Some people read a post on social media and automatically accept it as fact regardless of whether or not it's true.

Nope, we only had lockdowns for a few weeks when it started. Everything has been open since last Spring. Vaccines and masks are the norm like in most cities.

My friends that quit nursing aren't in Seattle, one is in Texas, the other in Eastern Washington.

What hospitals are reporting that? Boosters are necessary to provide better protection against omicron. Either way, I've read or heard nothing to support your claim. You need to support your claims with credible sources to back them up or I'll just assume you made it up or got it from some conspiratorial, anti vaxx social media source.

The most recent data I saw was that:

previous infection 6 months out around 60% reduction in severe disease

two dose vaccination 6 months out around 40% reduction

Previous infection + booster 4 weeks out is over 90%

2 dose + booster 4 weeks out is around 80-90%.

Number shift around a bit based on age and pre existing condition of the cohort.

Evidence of fade as you go further out from booster. Will see afterwards if they are still good enough or not.

Problem is, especially in the older higher risk groups, the USA is not boosted enough (and there are around 2 million that aren’t vaccinated at all). 2 dose vaccination (or less) of this group is not good enough for what we need.