South Africa Says Omicron Wave Has Passed

[applegrove]

South Africa Says Omicron Wave Has Passed

December 30, 2021 at 8:51 pm EST By Taegan Goddard 22 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2021/12/30/south-africa-says-omicron-wave-has-passed/

"SNIP.......

“The South African government said Thursday that data from its health department suggested that the country had passed its Omicron peak without a major spike in deaths, offering cautious hope to other countries grappling with the variant,” the New York Times reports.

......SNIP"

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Well, that was quick.

Hope it's a good sign for the rest of the world.

[applegrove]

2. They were not as vaxxed but are a much younger population. I hope

it holds for the rest of the world.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. I suspect it will hold for the rest of the world.

The vaccination rates elsewhere will wind up being essentially trivial, as the ones most likely to be infected are the unvaccinated. It hardly matters if they're not vaccinated because they've refused the vaccine, or the vaccine isn't available to them.

Covid is doing what diseases invariably do, only a whole lot faster than we're used to.

Here's the best example I can think of. Smallpox. Variola major. It's been around for thousands of years. Periodic outbreaks that killed many, and left survivors scarred. Nothing changed for a very long time. And then, in the late 19th century, separately in Africa and in North America, there was a major evolutionary change, and now we had variola minor. No scarring. Almost no deaths. More importantly, people didn't get as sick as fast, and so remained mobile which meant they could spread that version of smallpox more readily. Essentially, smallpox was quickly mutating to become a relatively benign childhood disease. At that exact same time the smallpox vaccine became widely used, which more or less stopped variola minor in its tracks, and by 1977 smallpox was completely eradicated. Which is a good thing.

Okay, so Covid 19, as bad as it is, isn't a fraction as terrible as smallpox, especially the original variola major version. But all diseases have it in their best interest to infect as many hosts as possible, and killing most of them is a very poor strategy. Heck, that may well be why the bubonic plague (Black Death) of 1348-50 was so short lived. Even though the original Covid 19 had a somewhat higher death rate at the beginning, it honestly wasn't all that high, and now, with Omicron, it looks as if almost all who get it will survive. A good thing, I'm sure.

[applegrove]

8. Let us hope.

[Pobeka]

4. Look at Seattle. Cases are out of this world high. Hospitalizations trending down

https://covidactnow.org/us/washington-wa/county/king_county/?s=27521640

It's all about the vaxxed folks having enough immunity to stay out of the hospitial when they get infected.

84% of folks in King County have at least one dose.

[Tree Lady]

5. My daughter in CA tested positive yesterday

So far no symptoms, she is going to restest tomorrow. She knows she got it from Christmas her aunt and cousin tested positive yesterday then negative today. Cousin had a bit of cold symptoms aunt nothing. Everyone was vaccinated. My ex went and he tested negative.

[applegrove]

6. Glad it seems mild for yours.

Last edited Fri Dec 31, 2021, 12:48 AM - Edit history (1)

[cadoman]

9. no offense, but South Africans are anti vaccine/science

Nothing they say can be trusted. They're basically the Florida of Africa.