{"version": "1.0", "type": "rich", "title": "I honestly suspect Omicron is going to mark the end of the COVID \"state of exception\" in America \u2013 it's apparently so infectious...", "author_name": "kontextmaschine", "author_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "provider_name": "kontextmaschine", "provider_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com", "url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/post/671047537201905664/", "html": "<p><a class=\"tumblr_blog\" href=\"https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/poipoipoi-2016/671047152366206976\" target=\"_blank\">poipoipoi-2016</a>:</p><blockquote><p><a class=\"tumblr_blog\" href=\"/post/671006249365667840/\" target=\"_blank\">kontextmaschine</a>:</p><blockquote><p>I honestly suspect Omicron is going to mark the end of the COVID &ldquo;state of exception&rdquo; in America \u2013 it&rsquo;s apparently so infectious that <i>everyone</i> will have the experience of seeing multiple close contacts catch it.</p><p>So, in mostly vaccinated social circles, the wave will make a sufficient impression of people catching COVID and it mostly being a bother to overwrite any earlier impression of outbreak as catastrophic; it will join the other human coronaviruses as perpetually in circulation, coming in waves that might have a body count in a nursing home you&rsquo;ll probably catch and feel under the weather. You might even see people born from here out developing their immunological armor the old-fashioned way, by getting repeatedly infected as resilient children</p><p>Unvaccinated and mixed social scenes, by contrast, would presumably experience the wave as more traumatic in a way that pushes them to join the first group or generates sufficient will to apply other measures to raise vaccination rates</p><p>I absolutely believe a flood of even minor cases might saturate our healthcare system to the point of collapse in the meantime, but I don&rsquo;t think the truth of this fact would generate enough will to apply or sustain any measures sufficient to make the difference in preempting it, so feh</p></blockquote><p>This was yesterday.  </p><p>Today, the Senate got hit.  </p></blockquote>\n<p>Yes, well, as much as Joe Biden seems intent on treating the Senate as a co-equal steering force, he&rsquo;s also been quite aware that you can&rsquo;t steer too far away from the line of momentum without losing traction, I don&rsquo;t think they&rsquo;ll be able to freak out and do anything they couldn&rsquo;t before</p><p>Setting aside the fact that a wave running through the elderly 50-50 Senate could substantially change the federal balance of power</p>"}