Could Omicron help end the covid19 pandemic?

I have come to learn that I should never, ever, assume anything from Covid19. There are still so many things about Covid that we don’t fully understand. Maybe the Omicron looks weak now, but then it would mutate into something else and it would become deadly. We just can’t predict the future with Covid.

I learned that lesson the hard way. When the pandemic first started in 2020, a lot of people thought it was just a weak virus that was way too little of a threat than other diseases, and could be destroyed easily by people washing their hands and mass immunity in fact, I distinctly remember one jelly here saying just that. And look at where we are now.

My country did a nationwise quarantine, and for a while we were one of the best countries in the world to stop the spread of the virus, with no dead cases and even any cases that turned bad. We even helped cured a critically ill British pilot. We were so proud of ourselves that we thought we were invincible. So when the Delta hit, we were just like “nah, we have been doing good the last time. We can do it now”. And look at what happened to my country: a long quarantine that almost crippled the entire economy, so many dead cases that the government doesn’t dare to report publicly, so many socio-economical problems that are basically dividing the entire country, and people are now begging for the vaccines because they just can’t quarantine anymore.

So yeah, I don’t think I have any answer to this question, nor do I want to. Only time will tells.

@JLeslie That is sort of what I was getting to with my question about the reaction to Omicron. There aren’t a lot of truly negative stats (read deaths and severe hospitalizations) being reported from it. So people getting it can develop some immunities.

But no, I don’t think it will stop the “pandemic”. As soon as there is another variant, regardless of how benign, the entire thing will kick into high gear again.

Nothin’ is going to cure it. It was an invented disease, and it’s chugging alone nicely. It’s like introducing an exotic animal into a new ecosystem. Once it’s established, you won’t eliminate it. All you can do at this point is try to manage it.

@snowberry Invented?
As in man-made?

@Mimishu1995 Your point is well taken, and I do feel we should not let our guard down for a long time. I hope people have to wear masks on public transportation for a long long time, and if the mandate ever stops, I hope lots of people keep doing it anyway. I hope cleaning surfaces more regularly in public places stays in place. I hope fewer people shake hands forever, although already people are back to shaking hands in the US. So frustrating.

@snowberry I didn’t mean it will disappear. When the flu of 2017–2018 finally “ended” there were still other flus circulating, but the deaths were significantly lower like a typical flu today. I think covid is endemic in America at this point, I don’t know if the scientists have officially said that it is. Immunity will have to get up above 90%, maybe 95%, to actually get rid of it, and I don’t think that will happen very soon, especially if immunity wanes quickly. It’s a nightmare. I do think it might get down to a duller roar, much fewer deaths, and then the government agencies will ignore it until a very deadly variant happens again.

@seawulf575 Where I disagree with you is you say “regardless of how benign” and it absolutely does matter how benign. Like I said on the other Q, you heard about Alpha and Delta and now Omicron. There are a bunch of Greek letters in between you didn’t hear about, or not much about. There is not widespread panic for every variant that has come along. Could the experts set off concern and a variant turn out to be not as bad as they thought? Sure, that can happen, but they try not to do things like that, which is part of the problem. That’s why America didn’t do enough from the start.

I don’t think we know yet how deadly the Omicron variant may be. More data will come with time. Do I hope it will be mild, and help to build some immunity if one catches it? Of course. Do we know yet? Nope.

@JLeslie Here in my city people are testing out if schools can open again. They have let high school students go to school with some success, so now they are planning to get 1st grade, 8th grade and 9th grade students go next week. Yeah, right in the midst of Omicron. I have mixed feeling about that, but I’ll just see where this will go.

We won’t know for a while what “long haul” / “post-COVID syndrome” impact will be, you may not die but have “brain fog” or have strokes or permanent tremors.

@Mimishu1995 The US is in the midst of holiday time so there is a tremendous amount of movement, parties, and shopping. Prime conditions for infectious disease to spread. We just went through a lull in cases in most states, but I assume we are on the cusp of exploding with covid again. The only saving grace is we are more vaccinated every day.

@snowberry…you do know that the common cold viruses are a type of Corona virus? Are they invented too?

@Dutchess_III She means the virus was made more virulent or even if it wasn’t engineered, that it escaped the lab.

Here is an extensive article for any jellies who are interested in the investigation regarding covid19 and whether it was engineered in any way and whether it escaped from a lab or moved from animals to humans in nature. https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-mysterious-case-of-the-covid-19-lab-leak-theory

How did you gain the ability to read what @snowberry was meaning with her answer, @JLeslie?

@rebbel Because a lot of people believe that, and if you read the article you will see scientists and governments thought it worthwhile to follow up on it. I am not saying I agree it was engineered in a lab and released, I am only saying @Dutchess_III‘s comment has nothing to do with whether C19 was possibly engineered, or if it was released by the lab after being collected from the bat caves, or even if a scientist in the caves simply spread it after catching the virus themselves without awareness about it. The point is not that there are many coronaviruses as @Dutchess_III is saying, the point is C19 is more deadly than the average coronavirus.

My question exactly @rebbel. How about we wait for an answer from @snowberry.

Sounds good. let’s see what @snowberry says.

I find myself in an interesting, but not unusual situation here. If I were to offer you a site or an explanation that would explain my reasoning, you’d “cancel it” (give 101 reasons why it’s wrong, inaccurate, dubious, etc), and maybe flame me, as has happened in the past, and as happens with other conservative folks on Fluther. It’s an echo chamber, and the ones who shout the loudest “win”.

So, perhaps it’s enough for me to say that I am not buying the idea that the virus just “showed up” from monkeys or bats or whatever.

I stay on here because I genuinely care for you guys, even those of you who disagree with me or have flamed me in the past. God bless you all.

I’m not a conservative.
As I mentioned above , cold viruses are also a type of Corona virus, and they’ve been around for (probably) millions of years.
Do you have any theory where they came from originally?
Viruses mutate naturally.

I gave my answer above. I think it came from that lab in China, It’s only a matter of time before another lab leaks another deadly disease (either intentionally or accidentally).

I wasn’t asking about modern Covid 19.
I was asking about other viruses that have been around for millions of years.
What is your theory about those viruses and where they came from?

I don’t know, but I think at least this one one was invented, or perhaps altered by man and released. Bio weapons have been around for some time now, but the folks who make bio weapons are obviously secretive. We don’t get to know.

Did any of you bother to read the article I linked? You should be able to read it for free if you haven’t tried to read articles in The New Yorker previously. It’s considered by most to have a left bias. It’s not a right wing publication.

@snowberry Who released CIVID-19 and who did they direct it to as a population?

She says the Chinese did. Guess they wanted to reduce their population.

@snowberry There is an increasing belief in all sectors that it came from a lab. There have been naturally occurring coronaviruses around for a long, long time. But just because something has been around for a long, long time doesn’t mean mankind can’t try to pervert it, to make it into something its not…to weaponize it even.