Omicron

[ex-khobar Andy]

And they also skipped mu - didn't want us to be cowed

That was a low blow, Meade. BTW 'Meade' as a surname derives from 'meadow' as in the Anglo-Saxon 'meed,' meaning what is mowed or cut down. So there's another bovine jest there but I'll lea ve it alone.

[Big RR]

The lowest...sort of akin to bovine excrement.

[BoSoxGal]

It would be fabulous is omicron turns out to be the virus’s evolution to a far less lethal variant that spreads very rapidly among the human population and is well tolerated like common cold coronaviruses are. Happy people, happy virus, end of pandemic beginning of endemic disease.

Let us pray.

[Big RR]

We can only hope

[Scooter]

Fox News Says Omicron Variant Was Made to Help Elect Pete Buttigieg as President

A new day, a new conspiracy theory on Fox & Friends. The latest of these focuses on the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and how, according to the network’s morning talk show, it was created in order to help boost Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg into the presidency in 2024.

Over the weekend, the hosts of Fox & Friends were discussing the Omicron variant, which was first reported in South Africa and has led to shutdowns of international travel in an effort to get ahead of its spread. Naturally, the question on co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy’s mind was whether or not Buttigieg was the real culprit behind this new strain.

“Pete Buttigieg, our transportation secretary, is potentially our new president in 2024, or so the Democrats want,” she said.

“[He] has said we can’t fix the supply chain problem until the pandemic is over, until COVID is over,” explained Campos-Duffy. “And now we see these new variants. So that’s the answer: more lockdowns, more lockdowns, more fear and therefore he doesn’t have to do his job of fixing the supply chain because ‘we’ll keep this whole thing going.’”

Campos-Duffy’s co-hosts Pete Hegseth and Will Cain agreed. “You can count on a variant about every October, every two years,” Hegseth added, insinuating that the new variant and any that follow would just be inventions by Democrats seeking an advantage in future elections.

“You’re probably right,” Cain concurred. “However, they could speed up. The variants could come more quickly.” This prompted Hegseth to mimic a person speaking into a telephone saying “we’re gonna need a new variant here.”

To be clear, what Fox & Friends’ hosts are alleging is that the new COVID variant, first reported in South Africa, and which has prompted travel restrictions around the globe with all detected cases so far being outside the United States, is all a creation by the left. Not only that, but it was introduced so that Buttigieg — who hasn’t indicated he’s running for President — to replace President Joe Biden, who also hasn’t indicated he’s not running for president. That’s quite the conspiracy.

I'm trying hard to get the logic here. Democrats want more lockdowns because they believe that continual disruptions in everyone's lives is the key to their success in future elections? And Buttigieg, in particular, by being seen as not being able to do his job by failing to solve the supply chain problems, will in so (not) doing, assure his election as president?

Even for Fox News, this is a transcendental level of stupid.

[BoSoxGal]

Even for Fox News, this is a transcendental level of stupid.

A cunt over on FOX Nation compared Dr. Fauci to Josef Mengele this week.

And another cunt with his own show on FOX compared Fauci to Mussolini.

There is no limit to the stupidity and depravity of Murdoch’s minions.

[Jarlaxle]

It would be fabulous is omicron turns out to be the virus’s evolution to a far less lethal variant that spreads very rapidly among the human population and is well tolerated like common cold coronaviruses are. Happy people, happy virus, end of pandemic beginning of endemic disease.

Let us pray.

It won't matter...The panic porn will continue.

[ex-khobar Andy]

Yes. The idiot who compared Fauci to Mengele is Lara Logan. She gained some sympathy - and I certainly felt that way - after she was manhandled and sexually assaulted while reporting on the Egyptian situation after Mubarak's resignation in 2011.

Obviously sexual assault is wrong in all circumstances; but the woman is clearly an asshole. To quote the Guardian piece:
“Well, it’s very simple, Pete,” said Logan. “You just have to look at Africa. They didn’t have the death rates from Covid that were predicted. And what is happening over time, is that the entire response to Covid and everything that we were told about it from the beginning, is being exposed and it’s falling apart, the lies are coming apart.

“And really now there’s no justification for putting people out of their jobs or forcing vaccine mandates for a disease that ultimately is very treatable … and has death rates that compare very much to seasonal flu.

“And so in that moment, what you see on Dr Fauci, this is what people say to me, that he doesn’t represent science to them. He represents Josef Mengele, Dr Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor who did experiments on Jews during the second world war and in the concentration camps, and I am talking about people all across the world are saying this.”

[Scooter]

800,000 dead in the U.S. alone is "panic porn".

[ex-khobar Andy]

Yes; and 'flu deaths are way, way down because the precautions we have been taking against COVID have been equally effective against 'flu - social distancing, hand washing, mask wearing etc. Depending on the strain, US 'flu deaths are normally in the 15,000 to 60,000 per season. During the 2020/2021 season CDC reported 700 'flu deaths. From Scientific American:

As Scientific American reported in November 2020, the drop-off in flu numbers following COVID’s arrival was swift and global. Since then, cases have stayed remarkably low. “There’s just no flu circulating,” says Greg Poland, who has studied the disease at the Mayo Clinic for decades. The U.S. saw about 700 deaths from influenza during the 2020–2021 season. In comparison, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there were approximately 22,000 U.S. deaths in the prior season and 34,000 deaths two seasons ago.

If we estimate a 95% reduction due to precautions taken, then we can calculate a probable 10 million US deaths if the precautions had not been taken. (And yes, I am aware that some 'flu deaths were probably reported as due to COVID. That's why I have been very conservative with that estimate.)

"Panic porn' indeed.

[Joe Guy]

It would be fabulous is omicron turns out to be the virus’s evolution to a far less lethal variant that spreads very rapidly among the human population and is well tolerated like common cold coronaviruses are. Happy people, happy virus, end of pandemic beginning of endemic disease.

Let us pray.

I hope you're right, but here's another scary opinion.

[Big RR]

Of curse, you don't get widely published (or even mentioned at all) for saying everything is likely to be fine.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Of curse, you don't get widely published (or even mentioned at all) for saying everything is likely to be fine.

Would you swear to that?

[Big RR]

Damn right.

[Joe Guy]

Of curse, you don't get widely published (or even mentioned at all) for saying everything is likely to be fine.

Would you swear to that?

Big RR seems to be only giving these posts a cursory glance.

[MajGenl.Meade]

As long as it's not a cursory glans

Damn auto-correct

[ex-khobar Andy]

It would be fabulous is omicron turns out to be the virus’s evolution to a far less lethal variant that spreads very rapidly among the human population and is well tolerated like common cold coronaviruses are. Happy people, happy virus, end of pandemic beginning of endemic disease.

Let us pray.

Fingers crossed and it's very early days, but this South African doctor is saying that the cases she has seen so far are mild. It could be 'first prize' as she puts it.

(Edited to correct link as Meade pointed out below. Dankie, Meade.)

[MajGenl.Meade]

Maybe wrong video exkA?

For readers

https://www.republicworld.com/world-new ... ients.html

South Africa Medical Association Chair Says Infection 'mild' In Omicron Patients
SAMA chair Dr Angelique Coetzee said the Omicron variant is still in early stages, and the majority of cases in South Africa have been 'mid to moderate'.

[BoSoxGal]

Also this https://www.smh.com.au/national/could-o ... l#comments

[Econoline]