Things have changed. The variants are getting to be more contagious because a few idiots, which seems to be about 20% of the U.S. population, refused to get vaccinated, providing an environment for new variants to evolve.

Now we have two variants, Delta and Omicron, that are surging, and at the same time they predicted the wrong flu variant for this winter. So, if a person gets infected with a combination of any two or more of the diseases this winter, chances of death greatly increase, unless the person is fully vaccinated for Covid.

If you don't want to get vaccinated, then stay the hell away from the rest of us.

@snytiger6 sure….keep in mind that Biden has more deaths with a vaccine than Trump had without a vaccine.
Just saying.

@CourtJester I've explained this before in previoous responses to you. Biden is had to deal with variants that are more contagious and more deadly than the variant Trump had to deal with, and the pandemic was just getting started under Trump and was still on the rise, as in it hadn't yet peaked, when he left office. Once again, you have to consider the contexts, not just the raw numbers when evaluating statistics and scientific data. That is if you actually care about getting it right.

@snytiger6 but he said multiple times in his campaign speeches that we was going to eradicate Covid from the planet. His words, not mine.

@snytiger6

@CourtJester Things change. New variants arose that changed conditions. You know better. You're just beign a smart ass.

@snytiger6 The Omnicron variant has only killed one person with very high co-morbidities. One….. ONE…… please explain your reasoning.

@CourtJester You didn't fact check that. There were at least 14 (known) deaths attributed to Omicron in the UK alone. Most of the time a death from Covid-19 isn't attributed to a particular variant, but are just counted as a general Covid-19 death. The rumor that there was only one Omicron death started with a Twitter post, but had no factual basis to back it up.

On NPR, they reported that the Omicron variant was the most contagious pathogen in the history of recorded science. Scientists are now saying that Omicron deaths are 10-20% less than the Delta variant. However, Omicron is also three times as contagious, so it can still result in a higher death count. As in 0.8 X 3 = 2.84 which translates to (up to) a 284% increase in the recorded death count. Actual numbers will become more clear when there is more data and time. Omicron has only been around for about 6 weeks, and we are not set up to differentiate between which variants caused how many deaths.

Actual death rate increases will (most likely) be lower than the raw math shows, but the potential for an increased weekly death count is there.

At this point it shoudl be remembered that the Omicron variant is just 6 weeks old, and is still spreading and increasing its numbers. Just as there were few deaths in the very beginning of the pandemic, even if death rates will eventually be high, they will be pretty low this early on.

In addition, the Delta variant is still surging as well. Also, they predicted the wrogn flu variant for this year so the flu will be strong this winter. So two Covid-19 variants and an influenza are at work this winter, and if a person gets a combination of any two at the same time, their chances of death greatly increase as well.

@snytiger6 I was speaking of the US.
14 in the UK is probably lower than the flu though. I wouldn’t call 14 something to be concerned with.
You’ll be okay.

@CourtJester As I said, in the U.S., we are not really set up to categorize the Covid deaths by variant. The UK numbers are old. However there has been multiple deaths from the Omicron variant in the U.S., some of whom were vaccinated and some who already had an earlier variant.

However, they aren't differentiating between the deths caused by Delta and the deaths caused by Omicron. They are just counted as a lump total for Covid-19 deaths, adding to those that happened before Delta even emarged.

@snytiger6 so far for December, the only Covid deaths we’ve had have been vaccinated individuals. I’m a Dr. and not a scientist, but we’re starting to think that the vaccines are hurting more than they are helping.