1 in 26 people have covid on the west coast. 1 in 29 in the South. The rest of the country soon to follow.

There is also a new variant appearing (KP.3.1.1), which has a significant mutation which allows it to escape immunity gained from previous variants. It’s expected to add to and extend the current waves.

It’s less deadly than before, thankfully, and new variants haven’t seemed to cause as much of a problem as the first few waves, but the new normal is still several times worse than the worst flu season, if only because it’s around and spreading significantly most of the year. It’s pretty neat how we are living in a time where we can watch society get significantly worse in real time on multiple fronts, including the spread of disease! And by “pretty neat” I mean: doomjak

Good thing brandon ended the pandemic by getting rid of testing, otherwise it might look bad right now!

  • LocalOaf [they/them, ze/hir]@hexbear.net
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    4 months ago

    I hope Biden dies of covid after saying “the pandemic is over”

    Realistically it wouldn’t effect policy at all but it’d make me feel a little better about there possibly being a higher power with a sense of humor

  • anarchoilluminati [comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    4 months ago

    Currently sick but tested negative for Covid at the hospital!

    Happy with myself for now but hope I can avoid these waves. Jesus.

    I spoke with my friend a little ago who told me he tested positive for Covid and was surprised that Covid “still existed”. This was right when Biden himself had Covid. How could someone be so fucking oblivious?

    • barrbaric [he/him]@hexbear.netM
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      4 months ago

      If someone just consumes mainstream media (inc social media), there is no reason to think COVID is still a thing worth thinking about. Thank u Brandon, may he choke on his lungs.

      In my (fairly limited) experience, you basically have to be either extremely online, engaged in left-wing activism, or living with someone who is immunocompromised to have any idea of the current situation, and even those aren’t a guarantee.

  • blobjim [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    4 months ago

    The graph only goes to mid 2023. So I don’t know what this is supposed to be saying other than that it’s seasonal. Also is there any way of determining how accurate that estimated ratio is?

    • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      4 months ago

      The point of the graph is showing we’re in the midst of a surge. But, it’s a high level average and is not at all a good indicator of local Wastewater levels. Covid is way beyond seasonal, surging multiple times during the year. The ratio estimate is probably tracked to testing positivity rates, so it’s probably worse. But, this current variant is showing a lot of gi issues so it’s possible that what little Wastewater numbers we have are even more unreliable, always a possibility and a consequence of suppressing all the other resources that we could be using to track this literal shit storm.

  • Hello_Kitty_enjoyer [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    4 months ago

    that graph is wrong

    says that national trendline is slightly down, while midwest and south are increasing, and northeast is plateauing. The only region declining is the west coast

    that means they ridiculously overrepresented california data

    • TheModerateTankie [any]@hexbear.netOP
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      4 months ago

      Maybe? There are less testing sites now. My town has a testing site and it’s the highest wastewater level ever recorded since they started tracking it a year ago.