470 wrapping my head around O


Omicron hasn't arrived in the far flung northern town where I've spent some of this past year hiding out. When it does, it's likely to go nuts. There's a lot of anti-vax sentiment around here.


But how nuts?


Look at these charts. People are getting diagnosed with the Rona more and more and more.


Yet, the new question isn't whether you've got it, but whether you're in the hospital.


What would a chart of the common cold look like in a non-locked-down world look like?

 

Call it pandemic fatigue, or call it common sense, but if it looks like a cold and acts like a cold, are we still supposed to mask and shut our businesses down?


Let's look at two maps of SF. Early in the pandemic, the poorer southern neighborhoods got hit hard. Now they're the most vaccinated in the city.


The rich northern waterfront didn't have much disease. It's got a lot of young, well-off people. They maybe didn't see what the problem was.

Maybe they still don't. Maybe they'll catch this modified bug and say, "no big deal," the way they've been skating through life so far anyway. 

Maybe all this new data is available because we've gotten better at testing.

Maybe it's time for a new metric. Maybe it's time to get sick again.

Shit, though, it's been kinda nice not getting sick. Remember when you'd go to work with a cold? Coughing, runny nose, a box of tissues and some NyQuil, but life carried on as usual?


How is all of this going to play out?


The beginning, the panic and the shutdowns, were predictable but unlike anything I've seen. What does the end look like? Will there be one?


Fuck, dude, I just hope it doesn't look like a ventilator.



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