
The omicron variant is surging. Here’s what we’ve learned so far In the weeks since omicron emerged, the variant has been identified in more than 85 countries. In many of these places, omicron infections are rising fast. Omicron is responsible for nearly all new COVID-19 cases in South Africa, and is already the predominant version of the coronavirus in London. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control estimates that omicron will be the most common variant across the European Union by mid-January. In the United States, omicron now appears to reign. The variant was responsible for an estimated 73.2 percent of new infections across the country for the week ending December 18, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s predictions. That’s up from an estimated 12.6 percent the previous week and 0.7 percent the week ending December 4. Omicron now accounts for an estimated 92 percent of new cases in New York and New Jersey and 96.3 percent in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. With that in mind, omicron is likely to worsen the surge that is unfolding across the United States. Some places, including New York City, are already seeing large spikes in COVID-19 cases with numbers rising fast. The CDC said the Omicron variant now accounts for 73 percent of new cases in the U.S. It currently takes about two days for the number of omicron cases to double, CDC director Rochelle Walensky said. Highly infectious delta, in comparison, doubled every two weeks at. Preliminary data from the United Kingdom show that omicron is around 3.2 times as likely to spread among households as delta is. And people exposed to omicron may get sick faster — and therefore be able to spread the virus sooner — than people exposed to other variants. At a company Christmas party in Norway the median time that a person exposed at the party developed symptoms was three days. It takes slightly longer for delta infections to cause symptoms — around four days — and about five days for non-delta variants. Some preliminary studies done in lab-grown cells hint that omicron may turn out to be more transmissible than delta, though how much more is unclear. One reason may be because the new variant might make more copies of itself inside host cells than other variants do. Vaccines may be less effective against omicron, but boosters offer hope. Early studies suggest that vaccines will still protect us, especially after getting a booster shot. Lab-based studies of neutralizing antibody responses are a hint that protection from vaccines or previous infection might be diminished. Many of these same studies suggest that a third dose boosts antibodies back up to levels that should be protective against omicron. A study in South Africa, for instance, found that the effectiveness of two doses of Pfizer’s vaccine at stopping infection dropped from 80 percent pre-omicron to 33 percent during the omicron wave. Antibodies from people who had previously been infected but not vaccinated also perform poorly against omicron. There was a less dramatic drop in the shot’s effectiveness at preventing hospitalization. Before omicron, the jab was 93 percent effective; it decreased to 70 percent amid the new surge. Experts expect that vaccines will largely keep vaccinated people out of the hospital. But with many people still unvaccinated across the United States, only time will tell whether the beginning of 2022 will be as devastating as the start of 2021.The bottom line:
- Omicron is far more infectious than delta or previous variants.
- Masks and social distancing will slow, but not prevent, the spread of the disease. Eventually, everyone will get it, though some may not have symptoms.
- A previous COVID infection will not protect you from the omicron variant.
- While vaccination does not provide total protection, it increases the odds you will not be sick enough to require hospitalization or die. The jab may save your life.
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THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.
The most important problems in economics involve:- Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
- Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”
- Eliminate FICA
- Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D, plus long-term care — for everyone
- Social Security for all
- Free education (including post-grad) for everyone
- Salary for attending school
- Eliminate federal taxes on business
- Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually.
- Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.
- Federal ownership of all banks
- Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9%
MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY