Theres no new information in this article but it’s interesting for a couple of reasons
First, in regard to omicron it admits the sub variants “are genetically different enough that they could have had their own Greek names. But for some reason, this did not happen, and the World Health Organization designated them as subvariants of Omicron.”
It’s essential to keep the brand name “Omicron” because that was sold to the public as being less dangerous (now known to be false) and suitable for herd immunity (it’s not - it’s exceptionally good at re-infection), so any newly named variant would destroy the illusion that Covid is ‘over’.
Second, the article points out the Wuhan strain had an R0 of 3.3, whereas the latest Omicron variant has an R0 of 18.6, ie it’s the most contagious virus ever along with measles.
Third, not only is the latest Omicron strain a ‘master at evading immunity’, “a Japanese research group found that in lab-based, cell-culture experiments, BA.4/5 was able to replicate more efficiently in the lungs than BA.2. In hamster experiments, it developed into more serious illness.”.
The article ends by noting that new Omicron specific vaccines are on the way (in trials). But given the number of anti-vaxxers and the fact that the ip will be locked up, Omnicron will surely evolve away from these and the vaccines will fail in the same way that the original ones did.
Its unusual to see an msm source be so blunt with the facts. I wonder how long society can continue amidst ever increasing death and long term damage while the fiction that ‘Covid is over’ competes with the fiction that it was always just like the flu. There must be some kind of tipping point…
…I should probably look for my cloth masks and give them a good wash.
As a heads up, cloth masks offer virtually no protection against the Omicron variants. Ideally use an N95, but KN95s and KF94s offer great protection as well.
Stay safe out there comrades
fucking are you serious? cloth ones are the only ones i weear (and i wear them indoors 11 times out of 10 i would die before going indoors eithout one) brcause you an wear them an infinite number of times, i cant afford fucking disposable fancy ones, whats an option besides the cloth and the disposable ones that also works well enough?
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Replace when they are Dirty, Damaged, or Difficult to breath through.
The only type of mask that protects the wearer are N95's. Surgical and cloth masks protect other people from the wearer.
Proper N95s are pricy ($2 per mask), but there really is a difference. My glasses don't fog up like they did with KN-95s, so my breath must be passing through the filter.
Most places that have offered them are sold out, but you can still buy them directly from the manufacturer: https://www.progearhealth.com/product-page/n95-particulate-filter-respirator-surgical-mask-regular
Reusing disposables is about the best option.
IIRC the papers and stuff I went through about most common mechanisms of infection, it's much more important to ventilate (I do it like maniac both home and on my job including simply opening windows) and/or spend as little time as possible indoors, that is when in any kind of crowd - buses,shops...Of course masks/distancing/hygiene still matters.
For orientation they described COVID particles spreading through the air comparable to the behaviour of cigar smoke[!]; that is to say even if you and anyone else around you wear 95s (yeah I know it's SF...) but you spend too much time in that crowd - you'll get COVID anyway. IIRC this was all early omicron or pre-omicron data. PS and cloth masks are basically just a fashion detail.
The most important thing is that everyone else is masked. Which of course won't be happening
(never caught covid again until fall 2021, when I went into a grocery store with unmasked people)
I live in Florida. Almost no one here wears a mask anymore.
When this variant reaches the states we are so fucked.
I'm pretty sure BA.4 and BA.5 already make up the majority of COVID cases now in the US
Edit: yes, they do: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions
I was told to scrap cloth masks all together and stick to KN95s
might be bullshit but that's what i was told