Clay Bennett for November 30, 2021

I summon thee using the Necron-Omicron!

Omicron has been around for a month or more. It is ALREADY worldwide, albeit not the primary variant everywhere. Shutting the door (travel bans) long after the covid is out seems to be a purely political thing. I completely agree with the South Africans who say they’re being punished for doing a good job of detecting it. If everything were political — which thank goddess, it’s not — people would simply stop trying to discover if they’ve got a new variant.

How can we minimize the problem? We may need to make sure people we associate with are vaccinated and had the boosters. Oh, also masks and social distancing. Could we please follow science and health professionals advice instead of trying to be so damned defiant?

So far, it looks more contagious, but it’s not more severe.

Covid, the gift of death that keeps on giving.

Covid, the gift that keeps on giving. Get yours from any unvaccinated neighbor.

As I’ve said since day 1, even if “it’s only the flu” who in their right mind would want to be sick with that crap? Get the vaccine shots, get the booster, and just suck it up. Wear the masks, keep out of people’s faces, and wash your hands. It’s a novel experience that too many people should try for the very first time.

Jumpin’ Jesus on a Pogo Stick, it’s been almost two years since this first started. There’s from between over 780,000 to 800,000 deaths in the USA alone.

So why are morons still not wearing masks and keeping their freakin’ distance? Who raised these ignorant, selfish brats? Even during the holidays idiots don’t get it that making other people sick is not one of their rights or freedumbs. I want to start backhand slappin’ those SOB’s. I didn’t get smallpox shots, polio vaccines, and a bunch of other shots and boosters so some whiney little git could literally sneeze in somebody’s face because their momma never spanked ‘em for being a selfish lil’ brat and not doing what they were told to for the sake of others and not just their own spoiled little snot nosed selves.

It May be Death to some who refuse the vax! Sad

The perfect gift for the unvaccinated pain in the tush!

Nah.

I see the future, and it’s not good. So long as we have a good chunk of civilization unvaxxed, there will be living petri dishes for variants to grow in. And I don’t see that segment of society, the deniers, doubters, and non-science folk getting much smaller than 20%. That percentage is probably right above the percent that can be unvaxxed and we still have herd immunity. Being vaxxed is the only option for having any level of protection from any of these Covid variants. May God help us.

Maybe this is the variant that will just “disappear when the warmer weather comes – like a miracle.” Or not. /s

Right, get the vax. The one which hasn’t changed since the beginning. I’m sure it’ll work great against a variant that has about 40-50 mutations, 32 in the spike protein alone.

I’m waiting to see what the science says. We will know more in a couple of weeks.

I wonder why they passed up the Xi variant. He, more than anybody, deserves a virus in his name. The biggest mass murderer in history.

We don’t know that yet. Omicron could fizzle out.

The unvaxed can give it to each other.

Oddly chilling.

Let’s quit the panic please.

Just when I thought it was safe to go to a restaurant again.

Come on now. Everyone knows Death traded in the Scythe for a Weed Whacker.

So much Easier to use and, what with the Pandemic, Death is Exhausted from overwork.

Sorry to disappoint you Clay, but the Xi variant is following the normal sequence of virus mutation. More contagious, less harmful.

“According to Angelique Coetzee, the chairwoman of the South African Medical Association who first raised the alarm of the new COVID variant, says the new variant known as the ‘Omicron’ causes “unusual but mild symptoms.”

On Monday, the Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness testified during a parliament hearing that not one of the Omicron variant cases identified needs oxygen support and hospitalization.

According to Assistant Minister Sethomo Lelatisitswe, Botswana has still 15 ‘Omicron’ variant cases, 3 of the patients showed mild symptoms while the rest did not. Of those 15 cases, 11 were vaccinated, while those 4 unvaccinated did not show symptoms at all, Lelatisitswe said."

https://www.mmegi.bw/news/omicron-cases-show-mild-or-no-symptoms-lelatisitswe/news

Poor baby. Looks like you’re not going to get another election lockdown.

We still don’t know everything about Omnicron, but so far the news about it has been encouraging. Medical professionals in Africa and Europe have stated that those who have this variant have mild symptoms with no breathing problems and no loss of taste or smell. Also most of those who initially got it in Africa hadn’t been vaccinated (not surprisingly because Africa’s the least vaccinated continent on the planet). So, that would seem to bode well for the vaccine’s effectiveness. Biden has stated that he intends to work on Boosters and vaccines instead of lockdowns, which I think is smart. The bottom line is we are not back at square one. We have greatly improved treatments for the people who do get severe symptoms and there are more eligible Americans vaccinated than not. It’s just the ones who refuse to do the right thing and get their jabs who get the attention.