As promised, Swedish govt announced this morning that all COVID restrictions will be lifted as of Feb 9th.  Of course there a few key recommendations still in place and namely concerning the strong recommendation to vaccinate.

The broader and more formal declaration of the end of the pandemic level itself cannot be made by the sitting govt and must be taken by the parliament.  So that formality remains.  I understand that may be taken rather quickly and possibly even today.

 

Regarding "back to work", most companies are going to move to a 51% "in office" scenario.  This is a compromise between allowing people to work from home, which has proven to work well for most people, and also gain back the camaraderie, etc that is gained from face to face working scenarios.  The 51% is a nod to the tax system in that the formal "work place" will still be the office and that places a lower burden on employers in terms of equipment, conditions, etc that would otherwise be placed on them to sort out each employees' home work environment.

@EaglesRocker97

Dropping a reply as a PM.  Happy to post it here if anyone is interested.

5 hours ago, DrPhilly said:

@EaglesRocker97

Dropping a reply as a PM.  Happy to post it here if anyone is interested.

No thanks.

No lies detected:

 

15 minutes ago, Kz! said:

No lies detected:

 

I mean, two months ago was two months ago: right before the holidays with Omicron in full-force.  The holiday season has ended and latest wave appears to be cresting, so there should be a change in perspective. I'll admit that the shift in messaging has been very dramatic, though. I definitely think there's a sense among political leadership, though, that the tone needs to change ahead of the midterms.

Let's be, clear, though: This pandemic is far from over. If you know anything about the history of pandemics. They are not quick. They often last multiple years and come in waves themselves over the course of decades or even centuries. Bubonic plague re-appeared in Europe multiple times for several years over the course of the 14th-16th centuries, often in spates of 3-5 years at a time.

The reality is that, we can try getting back to normal, but that might prove very evasive. If we are truly even halfway through this pandemic at two years in, then we're on a pretty good timeline. But there's a good chance that this could last much, much longer, and that we will eventually have no choice but to return to strict mitigation.

17 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

Let's be, clear, though: This pandemic is far from over. If you know anything about the history of pandemics. They are not quick. They often last multiple years and come in waves themselves over the course of decades or even centuries. Bubonic plague re-appeared in Europe multiple times for several years over the course of the 14th-16th centuries, often in spates of 3-5 years at a time.

The reality is that, we can try getting back to normal, but that might prove very evasive. If we are truly even halfway through this pandemic at two years in, then we're on a pretty good timeline. But there's a good chance that this could last much, much longer, and that we will eventually have no choice but to return to strict mitigation.

The big difference between your examples is how exponentially faster research and scientific advancement is now as opposed to the 14th century.  

19 minutes ago, Boogyman said:

The big difference between your examples is how exponentially faster research and scientific advancement is now as opposed to the 14th century.  

 

Absolutely, and hopefully that does shorten the duration considerably, but I still would not be surprised if conditions continue to be quite challenging for another year or two, especially if people continue to oppose vaccination and behave recklessly. Remember, too, that the developing world is a huge wildcard here. We can't truly end this pandemic if we don't vaccinate far and wide, bringing the vaccine to impoverished nations and remote areas of the world.

Return to strict mitigation? Lol yeah sure.

Any info on whether Omicron is more easily contracted through contact with contaminated surfaces? With the original strain, we eventually learned that that risk was essentially infinitesimal, but I'm wondering if things have changed in that regard.

 

3 minutes ago, Parrot Head said:

Return to strict mitigation? Lol yeah sure.

 

Keep laughing, and that's how we'll get there.

1 minute ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

Any info on whether Omicron is more easily contracted through contact with contaminated surfaces? With the original strain, we eventually learned that that risk was essentially infinitesimal, but I'm wondering if things have changed in that regard.

 

Keep laughing, and that's how we'll get there.

Oh, I'm laughing.

Good luck with your strict mitigation. Even your side knows better than to try that crap again.

Just now, Parrot Head said:

Oh, I'm laughing.

Good luck with your strict mitigation. Even your side knows better than to try that crap again.

I'm not saying what I want, I'm telling you what will happen if we don't continue to be vigilant.

Just now, EaglesRocker97 said:

I'm not saying what I want, I'm telling you what will happen if we don't continue to be vigilant.

And I'm telling you that you're delusional. 

That will NEVER happen again.

2 minutes ago, Parrot Head said:

And I'm telling you that you're delusional. 

That will NEVER happen again.

 

Guy named Parrot Head calling people delusional 

Jimmy Buffett sucks.

3 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

Guy named Parrot Head calling people delusional 

Jimmy Buffett sucks.

What a sick burn!

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it should be to never say "never."

15 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

Any info on whether Omicron is more easily contracted through contact with contaminated surfaces? With the original strain, we eventually learned that that risk was essentially infinitesimal, but I'm wondering if things have changed in that regard.

 

Some studies have been done that indicated it can survive a bit longer on some surfaces compared to the og strain, but nothing that I've seen concludes surface contamination is a driver of infections. 

48 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

Absolutely, and hopefully that does shorten the duration considerably, but I still would not be surprised if conditions continue to be quite challenging for another year or two, especially if people continue to oppose vaccination and behave recklessly. Remember, too, that the developing world is a huge wildcard here. We can't truly end this pandemic if we don't vaccinate far and wide, bringing the vaccine to impoverished nations and remote areas of the world.

This is just wrong.

If you want to end this pandemic, the fastest way to do that is to attain herd immunity through natural exposure. Natural immunity is more effective and lasts much longer than vaccines. When dealing with a virus which mutates quickly, a vaccine developed in a lab, tested for safety and distributed widely is likely to be useless for large portions of the population because a different strain of the virus is circulating by that time. We've seen that in real time.

Billions of immune systems cranking out trillions of unique antibodies at lightening speed, and which might last a lifetime, is preferable to a clunky one-off vaccine which last for only a few months. To the extent that universal vaccination hinders natural herd immunity, it may even be counter-productive.

The exception, of course, is for those most vulnerable to the sickness, who might not survive exposure. A targeted, narrow vaccine program at the onset might make sense.

The Pope favors vaccination so the math checks out.

5 minutes ago, Abracadabra said:

This is just wrong.

If you want to end this pandemic, the fastest way to do that is to attain herd immunity through natural exposure. ght not survive exposure. A targeted, narrow vaccine program at the onset might make sense.

Actually, the best way would be through a combination of natural and mRNA immunity, otherwise known as "blended" or "hybrid" immunity.

27 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

 

Guy named Parrot Head calling people delusional 

Jimmy Buffett sucks.

He must have signed up really early to get the official "Parrot Head" name.

14 minutes ago, EaglesRocker97 said:

Actually, the best way would be through a combination of natural and mRNA immunity, otherwise known as "blended" or "hybrid" immunity.

According to some virologists, mRNA spike might result in heightened sensitivity by priming the immune system and leading to the dreaded cytokine storm.

Btw, here is a link to an article discussing survivors from the 1918 pandemic who still retained active antibodies to the original strain, as well as some effectiveness to subsequent strains.

 

8 minutes ago, Paul852 said:

He must have signed up really early to get the official "Parrot Head" name.

Yeah, the ever so cool Paul852 was already taken!

Just now, Parrot Head said:

Yeah, the ever so cool Paul852 was already taken!

You too? Same thing happened to me.