Democrats and Republicans can agree on one thing coming out of their respective conventions: Almost no one cares about Covid anymore.
Infections are running rampant after the Democratic confab in Chicago, with staffers on Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, reporters and other convention-goers all stricken — and in at least one case claiming the positive test was “worth it.” Cases also cropped up after the Republican National Convention in July.
“Voters do not like it being brought up at all,” said Celinda Lake, a Democratic strategist and pollster for Biden’s 2020 campaign, who marveled at the near-total absence of masks at a Democratic convention where roughly 20,000 people crammed into Chicago’s United Center for a week. “They want to get over it.”
But “if it continues to worsen,” Bartlett said, “both parties will be forced to address it.”
The rhetorical vacuum around Covid comes even as cases have surged over the summer, hospitalizing thousands and killing nearly 700 people in one week in late July.
It’s weird that this is still an issue in USA?
Here (Denmark) it hasn’t been an issue for ages, after we (almost) all got vaccinated 3 times. Actually it stopped being an issue already after the first vaccination.
There are professions like nurses that AFAIK remain monitored, but it’s not something we hear about anymore. Authorities are monitoring waste water, to detect if action should become required again. No need for worrying or any individual actions anymore.
From what I understand (person living in the US in their 30s), pretty much everyone I know has gotten the vaccine and 2 boosters. But (allegedly) because insurance companies are no longer footing the bill, pharmacies are stonewalling people asking for the next booster. I know three people who have separately been in contact or contracted the new Covid strain, all of whom couldn’t get the latest booster.
We don’t get that here either, except if you are older, I think it’s 65+, or you are vulnerable for some other reason.
I think one of my neighbors were infected about ½ a year ago, but the symptoms were very mild, so I’m not sure.
From what I hear the new strains are more infectious but less dangerous if you catch it. So maybe it’s not a biggie anymore?
I’ve seen recent pictures from USA, where some demonstrators and police were wearing masks, nobody does that here anymore.
But all your friends being vaccinated is not enough, you need a general populous around 90% to be vaccinated.
We didn’t quite achieve that, but we did achieve 97% with vulnerable groups, and 99% with health and social workers.
We do have anti-vaxxers, but they are few, and not a single party has an anti-vaxxer policy.
Protesters and police don’t wear masks for covid, they wear them so they can’t be identified. Places like Hong Kong used them heavily before covid existed.
Oh boy, the world has gone mad with sociopathy!
I would have thought that would be illegal for a policeman in USA, aren’t they supposed to be able to identify?
Interesting. Well, I’m glad you don’t have anti-vaxxers, because they are alive and well here, even in a pretty progressive city like mine.
The elderly have almost certainly gotten every booster available to them, understandably, and I’m not so sure about the young. A confounding factor is that most of my friends work at least somewhat remotely, and so only the people who have to see other people in person are masked up.
I have heard the same about the new strains (i.e. more contagious but less serious), but the two people I know who have contracted it this year have both been on their ass for at least a day or two. Add on top of that that we still don’t fully understand Long Covid…
Dominant strains may also be different depending on country, and especially if you are on another continent.
But there can also be big differences in how big the original infection was. A bigger infection gives the immune system less time to respond, before the virus has infected your entire system.
There was no percentage that would have quashed COVID, because the vaccine doesn’t stop transmission. A vaccine-only approach to COVID means an ever-circulating and ever-mutating disease, like the flu, but with a much higher chance for long term issues.
That is false, vaccines also prevent the decease from spreading. As it cannot multiply in a vaccinated body.
Lol what? That’s not remotely true. If it was vaccinated people wouldn’t even get sick. Where do you get this nonsense?
Denmark has a much higher vaccination rate than the US, where vaccination became heavily politicised and one of their two parties basically embraced antivaxxing.