It doesn't matter if you're naturally smart, or healthy, or athletic, or useful, etc. Everyone needs to be forced to go to preschool, elementary school, high school, college, and university.

More schooling = better for everyone.

Just ask Elon Musk. Or don't...

It does look like we're past the peak, hospitalizations are leveling off.



I still have little trust in the safety of the schools. My youngest's class was split and spread out over other classes to put up the kids now the teacher is home sick with Covid-19. Brilliant, how is that chohort strategy working out...

Absenteism at the school is 19%, I thought it would be higher. Dunno if that's good or bad....

Next week I think they can go back, but keeping an eye on what's happening.

Oh just heard from my wife, kids that do asynchronous learning at home, because of Covid or precaution, are not count towards absenteism.... So that 19% is just those too sick to do anything? WTF, trust level -100.

Some pre-schools are far beyond the 30% absenteism btw and still open. Even the we close at 30% was a lie.

Maybe they think anger boosts your immunity? Cause Doug Ford and his bullshit are definitely achieving that. FUCKING TABARNAKLES.

Meanwhile day 2 of teacher absence, our youngest still hasn't got any work or attention from asynchronous learning. 10:30 AM already, nothing. One kid left behind... I guess better than shoved into another class just to sit out the day catching Omicron.

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The argument here is that we can't give everyone anti body tests, not even PCR tests anymore (only for essential workers) Nor does it tell you how well you are protected. A vaccine is a standard dose, time stamped, easily tracked, can't lie about having it or not. Sure you could have tested positive for Covid in the past, but that still doesn't tell how well your immune system has been trained by the prior infection or what strain you had.

One thing we can track is the percentage of people ending up hospitalized without vaccines vs those who were prior vaccinated. The majority of people in the hospital were not vaccinated. Hence pushing vaccines is what will help drive hospitalizations down.

What is better, trying your luck by catching Omicron or get vaccinated? A sore arm for 2 days or maybe 3 weeks in bed to gain immunity.

The problem is people. They'll lie, bend the truth, assume the wrong thing, take their chances etc.
You don't protect society on good faith, sad but reality.

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Where did I say you suggested that. The problem is, there are plenty people that think that way. And a bunch of them end up in the hospital.

Doctors are not policy makers. Policy has to be black and white because people will exploit any grey area as they see fit. It's a continuous struggle with every rule society lives by. Atm it's not a smart idea to fuel the anti vax agenda, as this will be used to get around the huge burden of getting the vaccine.

Anyway, what strain of covid protects against which other strains. Is that data known? There have been plenty people that got re-infected and not survived it a second time. There have been people infected with multiple strains. Just as a vaccine is no guarantee, a prior infection isn't either. Both combined is still better than just immunity from infection.

A more nuanced approach is certainly possible in the future, like the voluntary flu-shot. We're not there yet. It's premature to add excuses for not getting vaccinated. For now, it's the best we have to keep hospitals running and hopefully open them up to elective surgeries again. As well as opening up society again.

So... BA.2. Not a 'new Omicron subvariant' as some have called it but more like a shier sister that also came from South Africa and was first detected in November.

There are suggestions if might be more contagious than BA.1, maybe 50% more according to Danish data. This comes as a surprise since it's antigenically very similar to BA.1 if not *less* able to evade antibodies. This would suggest something else is going on. Perhaps it was always in the background, and our singular focus on SGTF to detect Omicron might have allowed it to remain under the radar. Or perhaps the ORF1a mutations that are unique to BA.2 make it fitter instead.

On the other hand, it doesn't seem to be more or less virulent than the other Omicron strain according to Danish data. A look at India and the Philippines also suggests there isn't anything unusual going on. And I would expect BA.1-infected people to have near-total immunity to it, especially the ones who were also vaccinated, same with protection against severe disease from vaccines only.

Can it cause another wave in places that are past 'standard' Omicron? I doubt it. BA.1 is so contagious already that there wouldn't be more than a few percent of people vulnerable left by the time it becomes dominant unless third-dose protection wanes significantly between now and then.

Not sure how you're not for mandatory vax by now.

We all know that going to school, most importantly, college and university, always works out. Everybody get's a well paid cushy job in whatever career they've been trained for. Nobody ends up unemployable and in debt.

We all know that practicing, especially for sports, always works out. As long as you practice and push yourself, you'll always be successful upon your next attempt. Nobody who practices for something, ever ends up failing.

We all know the more you have, especially unearned, the better off you'll be. As long as you have more than you know what to do with, you'll be nothing but happy and healthy. Nobody who's ever had too much, has ended up unhappy and miserable.

It's the 21st century. We've got it all figured out. Wheeling over walking. What benefit could walking have provided that sitting in motion doesn't?