Spain to treat coronavirus as the flu

https://english.elpais.com/society/2022-01-13/spain-seeking-to-lead-world-with-new-covid-19-monitoring-system.html

The thesis is based on the fact that the lethality of the virus is constantly falling, and that counting and tracking every case is an unrealistic strategy. “Governments should focus their efforts on protecting the most vulnerable rather than trying to stop, no doubt unsuccessfully, the circulation of the virus among the population,” it reads.

Everyone will get there eventually. Everyone in the country who has the opportunity and desire to be vaccinated has been, and eventually we'll move on regardless of the effect on the unvaccinated.

Spain has a pretty decent vaccination rate, How struggling Spain became one of Europe's vaccination champions | Euronews. Combined with Omicron being less deadly that's a good result.

This is good news.

I agree with this, and wish them luck.

I hope it goes well and other nations, including my own, follow suit.

It's sort of dawned on me recently that just about everyone is going to get COVID at some point. Everyone. It will be tough for the old and unwell but most will be OK. I've seen like half my coworkers get it so far.

Something happened with my original post but here it goes.

Here we add some precautionary restrictions during Christmas/New Year since last year we were caught off guard by the Delta variant and it was really really bad. But having one of the highest vaccination rates in the world allowed us to save a lot of lives in 2021 and now several local specialists are saying that things are looking great and we might be close to say it's over. 3rd round of vaccination is still going, mortality for a long time is at around 5% of peak numbers and Onicron numbers seem really encouraging.

I'm happy that the far right didn't managed to influence public opinion too much, although some tried. We add an hand full of doctors and a judge suspended basically for being nutjobs. Other than that a remarkable respect by all political forces from the more traditional right to the left during this two years.

Fun thing too is that we're having relative good economic numbers too.

Knowing that Spain is taking this step is extremely positive.

@mrbojangles25: yup this is the way out, herd immunity. Omicron is kind of a blessing being a weaker strand. Everyone will catch it at some point. Vaccinated and unvaccinated.

Omicron don't discriminate, I've watched about half my coworkers catch it as well, both vaccinated and unvaxxed. Fatigue, sniffles, and a cough for 3-4 days and then they are good.

Compromised and elderly are the ones who need to be the most careful, but they need to be more careful for any kind of virus.

From what I've seen of this new strand I wouldn't even call it as severe as the flu.

As will everywhere eventually. It is just about managing the transition. So far most countries where omi has become dominant seem to be conforming to a 4-6 week peak before starting to come down. Assuming that holds true generally, then this should morph into a manageable endemic situation and we can put this nightmare behind us...which is something everyone should be aligned on for once.

So it took them 2 years to realize what many have been saying from the start... that the goals were unrealistic and that efforts should be focused on protecting the most vulnerable, which is what the science suggested 2 years ago as well before what science says seemingly changed over night to fit the political motivations.

yup... lmao

there have been ~75K covid deaths since around thanksgiving of '21. assuming that the majority of those cases are omicron as it is by far the majority strain now, compare that to ~30K avg ANNUAL flu deaths in the US and it's tough to make the argument that, while milder, omicron is simply as severe or less severe as the flu.

We even have 2 years of comparing states and nations that took more severe lockdown procedures and mandates and can compare them to places that didn't. The result? No noticeable change in the outcome between those regions over the past 2 years.

What has transpired has been political and anti-science to the point we even have emails of the NIH director telling Fauci to slander epidemiologists at Oxford, Harvard, and Stanford for disagreeing with him on mandates, but not in a medical journal, not with any scientific evidence, but in the media. And people STILL think this guy is credible and supported by science as he slanders the real people who actually do the work.

I guess they gave up. World has gotten weak, gives up quickly.

This is laughable and demonstrably wrong. One only needs to compare the death rate per capita across countries and regions.

Most governments don't treat flu as benign and have special protocols for reporting and tracking it as there always was the fear each seasonal wave can escalate to a pandemic. There seems to be some conflating of flu and common colds among the masses though.

And I have. And guess what? Nations that had more relaxed restrictions, or none at all, did not fare worse. Even on a smaller scale, Florida was supposed to be the worse state because of no restrictions. Both California and NY, who have had rather strict restrictions are still worse. The evidence doesn't support the measures taken as having an impact one way or another. You hysteria driven panic porn addicts have wrecked most western economies for nothing.

With a 99.998% survival rate for people under 50, shutting down entire countries, where the vast majority of the workforce to keep them running is under 50, was stupid. Or it was intentional sabotage.

If you're both referring to vaccinations, masking, and social distancing - literally no major science said this and no medical group agrees with the two of you.

Anti-vax is still lunacy. Spain has a high vaccination rate.

If you're referring to lockdowns, yes that is debatable.

I assume neither of you needed medical help the last two years…

why do you assume that?

It is the flu. Its time for people to find their balls and go back to living life like it's 2019 again.

Actually, I have. But how is that even remotely relevant?

I like the idea of treating Omicron like the flu. It's less deadly, so as long as people get regular vaccinations and isolate when infected (like we do with the flu), the people should be able to live normally.

I guess the main problems are that it is highly infectious (which means supply chains collapse as workers keep having to isolate), and it can still strongly affect unvaccinated/immunocompromised people (overloading our hospitals). So there will still be a lot of deaths and instability until the situation stabilises.

@wiiboxstation: I agree 100%

Yeah, here in Alberta that's essentially what we're doing. Not testing any longer or focusing on number of cases, only hospitalizations and ICU numbers. Schools area open, as ar bars, gyms, etc. Proof of vaccination still required at many businesses though.

My own gym is pretty funny. They put a sign that says "You are required to wear a mask when entering/exiting, in the change room, or moving to your work out station. But you can take it off once you're at your workout station". As if covid can't be spread while you're sitting there grunting like hell pressing weights. :P Literally nobody abides by it, even the staff. Saw one dude come into the change room with mask on, saw nobody else wearing one, and kinda sheepishly took it off.

Doesn't stop the opposition party from constantly spreading doom and gloom about how they think the hospitals will be suddenly overwhelmed with mortally sick people any day now.

Ehh...

Hospitals Nearing Capacity in Majority of States as Omicron Surges | Health News | US News

"In the majority of states, less than 20% of ICU beds remain unoccupied as coronavirus cases skyrocket, according to new data."

Omicron is less deadly. That doesn't mean we still don't have issues, and that our daily death rate isn't high.

It's amazing how the same people keep regurgitating the same demonstrably false narratives over and over.

Yeah, especially that one about hospitals being at capacity. Remember the story you people tried pushing claiming a man from Mississippi died of a heart failure because he couldn't find a hospital overwhelmed by Covid patients... which also turned out to be false.

Remember when you said tens of thousands of people were dying of the vaccine, which also happened to be a placebo? Face it, eoten, no one buys your lies.

Several hospitals have been overloaded over the last 2 years.

There are some issues at the moment too. As well as several deaths per day. Omicron is less dangerous but we still aren't out of the woods yet. Lets be careful, and smart.

Lies? So you're telling me your scummy propaganda rags didn't push the stories that people were overwhelming hospitals? And aren't still doing so? You're telling me they did not report the story I mentioned above as I mentioned it being reported? I forget which one of you it was but you didn't hesitate to regurgitate that drivel here and try to push it off as fact, despite neither they, nor the "news" outlet doing any actual fact checking on the matter.

You WANT bullshit like that to be true, which is why you don't even question it when someone publishes nonsense like that.

And the Covid shot has killed people. Another fact you people like to conveniently ignore because it doesn't gel with the narrative you've subscribed to.

Give it 6 months and there will be another new variant making headlines

Well, they gotta keep people in a panic for the upcoming election so they can step up drive by voting, unsolicited mail in ballots, and eliminate address and signature matching requirements.

Yes, lies.

Posts like this should be modded.

Yeah, don't want too many people disagreeing with you, do we? Scream for censorship so you can crawl back into your bubble.

I was talking about the opposition party here in Alberta, the NDP. But do go about my "demonstrably false narrative". Who did you think I was talking about when I said "opposition party"?

https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/br/page17593.aspx#:~:text=Intensive%20Care%20Unit%20(ICU)%20Capacity&text=We%20currently%20have%20241%20general,currently%20at%2079%20per%20cent.

Look at our previous ICU usage if you actually care. We've been close to capacity every year, even before covid showed up. So it's not a covid problem, it's an inefficient health care system problem.

Yeah, that's how a virus works.

You mean merely stating facts.

The 2020 election was the most secure in history. Do you have a study on Drive by voting resulting in higher fraud rates?

Kinda difficult to get help when hospitals are full of unvaccinated patients.

@horgen: I've had to take family to the hospital for surgeries, no issues for me yet. They even let healthcare workers work while being covid positive as long as not showing symptoms. They spreading it, nothing you can do to stop the spread. Doesn't care if your vaccinated or not.

The biggest threat is if you have pre existing conditions and the elderly.

I wouldn't say that. I live with someone that had covid. I had the booster. And as of two weeks later I haven't any symptoms. Which is a good thing IMO.

@LJS9502_basic: yeah that happens for people unvaxxed or vaxxed, I know people who caught covid, tested positive and showed 0 symptoms and were asymptomatic while not being vaxxed at all.

So your saying you tested positive but were asymptomatic correct?

You have been lucky. I know people who have had surgeries postponed. Surgery that would improve their quality of life.

Personally been lucky in a case of bad luck. Hand surgery has remained largely unaffected which had me going to the ER.

Most vaccinated I know of have not gotten covid despite other household members getting it.

But they're not. How many US hospitals have you been in recently?

US Avg daily deaths for this week is up to 1,800.

We're not out yet, just get your vaccination.

It makes sense. Governments and people needed to take COVID a lot more seriously.

Optimism wont get us out of this, pragmatic solutions will.

It's not optimism. It's facts and science that says Omicron is very weak. I think some of you people have become addicted to the hysteria of it all and cling to it despite what the evidence actually says.

Following science rather than propaganda is not hysteria.

The same facts and science says vaccines work very well and strongly recommend them. Yes, for Omicron. Both things are true.

Why cherry pick what the scientific community, all medical groups, and all peer reviewed studies say? You can't agree with half of their sentence and disagree with the second half.

Omicron is weak but spreads fast. We are at 1,800 average daily deaths, so while things might get better after this huge wave, a lot of people are still CURRENTLY dying. So follow ALL of the science, and get your shot and try to convince the other crazies you know to get the shot.

I have seen no evidence of any medical group or peer reviewed study stating we no longer need vaccinations due to Omicron. I have been asking you for 2 months (as deaths per day have went up every one of those weeks) for citation on vaccines not working for Omicron. You have not given me such a link.

In fact, the last time you actually used a source (which is very rare for you to do) on anything Covid/Omicron related, that same exact source said to get vaccinated. LOL!

Your point? Unlike you, I choose not to live in an echo chamber and only listen to people who tell me everything I want to hear.

1. Then why do you go to YouTube for your political and "scientific" takes? A social media platform notorious for causing bubbles, due to its algorithms.
2. Listening to academics and experts is not living in an echo chamber. (what zaryia is doing, not you, the guy who links videos from fraudulent doctors)
3. If what you said is even remotely true, why is it that you take issues with non-americans posting on this board? Why is it that you seem incredibly ignorant of what left wingers actually believe?

Yes, what you are doing is optimism.

And experts still highly suggest you get vaccinated. Facts back up their statements.