President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrived in London over the weekend to attend Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. They attended the gathering last night at Buckingham Palace for world leaders, a reception hosted by King Charles III. They were also given some kind of special dispensation to have Secret Service protection and use the “Beast” all around London. The Beast is the POTUS’s armored car, the one which travels with him constantly. The British media is now obsessed with the Beast and there are multiple articles about the armored car and why Biden gets to use it. It’s especially notable because at the end of the day, many international figures and foreign royals did have to take buses to Westminster Abbey.
Meanwhile, while the Bidens were in London, 60 Minutes aired a new interview with Pres. Biden where he spoke about how the pandemic is over:
President Joe Biden said he believes the Covid-19 pandemic is “over” in an appearance on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” but acknowledged the US still has a “problem” with the virus that has killed more than 1 million Americans.
“The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with Covid. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. It’s – but the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape, and so I think it’s changing, and I think [the Detroit Auto show resuming after three years] is a perfect example of it.”
The US government still designates Covid-19 a Public Health Emergency and the World Health Organization says it remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. But the President’s comments follow other hopeful comments from global health leaders.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said in a news briefing last week that the end of the Covid-19 pandemic was “in sight,” and that the world has never been in a better position to end the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Last week, the number of weekly reported deaths from Covid-19 was the lowest since March 2020,” Ghebreyesus said. “We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic. We’re not there yet, but the end is in sight.”
I… think he’s right? The pandemic as we knew it – in 2020 and 2021 – is over. The majority of Americans are vaccinated. People are still getting Covid but, because of the vaccines, they’re not dying from it as much as before and not being hospitalized at the same rate. Do I still hear of people wearing masks? Sure. But I stopped wearing masks in grocery stores several months ago, and nearly everyone else has too.
Here’s a video of the Bidens paying respect to QEII at Westminster Hall on Sunday:
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- US President Joe Biden accompanied by First Lady Jill Biden are welcomed by Master of the Household Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt at Buckingham Palace in London, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. King Charles III is holding a reception at Buckingham Palace for heads of state and other leaders on Sunday evening ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday.,Image: 724022923, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Pool, Model Release: no, Credit line: Markus Schreiber / Avalon
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- U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, September 19, 2022.,Image: 724096198, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph / Avalon
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- U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive on the day of the state funeral and burial of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, September 19, 2022.,Image: 724096227, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph / Avalon
The pandemic is NOT over, as anyone who knows someone sick from it can attest. I’m still wearing my mask everywhere, and eagerly looking forward to my 4th shot. I can’t believe people are so blasé about it, it is highly contagious and still circulating….
THANK YOU. I just don’t understand. I’m still not going anywhere in public and am only socializing within my little pod. The potential risk of Covid for myself, my family, and people I’ll never meet is nothing to play around with. The CDC’s messaging has been a disaster throughout.
Agree! People are still dying of Covid. Young people are still dying suddenly after a Covid infection. Millions are ‘never fully recovering’’ from Covid. And a good portion of those people are left disabled after Covid.
The pandemic is not over and is doing a great deal of damage. There are worse things than dying from Covid, such as permanent organ damage and lifelong disability from Covid.
It’s not over.
I agree. The pandemic is NOT over.
Let the Darwin Awards begin.
The. Pandemic. Is. Not. Over. Just because the govt stops tracking cases does not mean people aren’t still sick and dying in huge numbers. Ask a doctor, not a grocery store clerk, or a politician.
I work in a pharmacy that services numerous LTC homes, and Covid is still wiping the elderly out. Four of my homes are in outbreak currently and every day I come in to several faxed deceased forms. So ya, it’s still a problem for many.
Gutterflower, sorry you have to process all those forms, very disheartening.
Guessing you work in Canada given your use of LTC homes and the faxing of forms. For the US folks, LTC = long-term care, or nursing homes. In Ontario, Canada most of these are badly run for-profit homes. As you might imagine, they have had infection and death running rampant since the start of the pandemic.
Nothing has changed, except for Ontario policy now to force people out of hospitals and into nursing homes far from family to fill up the worst of the worst of these private facilities, because they’re owned by government cronies.
When the US president talks about the pandemic being over, people worldwide feel it. I hope this irresponsible statement is worth the votes — for the voters healthy enough to vote and election workers healthy enough to make the mid-term election a free and fair vote.
As an immune compromised person, the pandemic is not over. In fact, everything is harder now because of messaging like this, and I’m honestly very surprised to read Kaiser echoing Biden here. The turn from public health messaging regarding keeping each other safe to “individual responsibility” makes me so angry. Long COVID is affecting thousands of people of all ages in ways we do not fully understand. It is unconscionable that our government has done away with messaging that puts emphasis on collective care and layers of protection. I’m not saying we should all stay home forever, but masking, testing, and accommodations for those at higher risk should continue.
I appreciate the voices of solidarity in this comment thread.
Yeah, people at large being CONSIDERATE about the pandemic might be over, but not the pandemic itself. Biden is, frankly, just trying to put on a happy face before the midterms, and add “ending covid” to his list of recent wins. Right now nearly 3000 Americans are dying of covid each week (and we’re at a seasonal low!). New variants are brewing each day–which means we’re probably working toward a variant that will make Paxlovid (our #1 tool for helping vulnerable people with severe covid) obsolete. And every day, more people develop Long Covid, which is rapidly becoming one of most common forms of long-term disability in the country.
So, yeah. Don’t take off your mask in the grocery store. It keeps you safer, it keeps others safer, and it’s just not worth it, particularly as we head into fall. If, by some miracle, we make it though autumn and the holidays without a major surge, THEN maybe consider de-masking. But right now we’re still definitely in the “We don’t have a great answer to the battle against covid, so let’s just declare victory and go home” stage, and that’s not a great place to be.
@HelloHello
I’m immune compromised too.
I KN95 or N95 everywhere I go.
I am one of the few that still masks here.
I don’t think people understand how serious COVID can be for someone with a compromised immune system.
Also immune compromised here. I have to wear N95s everywhere. This disease tried to kill me once and sent me into a months long flare up that almost cost me my job this summer.
I got my new booster. I’m still going to mask even if people around me won’t.
We are nearing the endemic stage now, which is as terrifying as the pandemic to those of us who can’t live with things like regular colds or flu too well, either. How we will live with this disease forever added to those burdens, I don’t know. I have had it twice and I get so sick when I have it, I don’t know what will happen to me if (or when) I should get it again. It’s scary.
SAME. We mask everywhere. Husbands works has mandatory masking. Waiting on the 4th shot
When people say “pandemic is over” they mean the extraordinary mitigation efforts are over other than vaccines and staying home when you’re sick. COVID is endemic at this point, like the flu. We will live with it forever, but we can’t continue on with extraordinary measures forever. Those have been over for a long time. Even in NYC this summer, I would read that masks were required here or there – on subways, at Broadway shows – but then no one was wearing them (I would guess about 50/50 on the subway but hardly any in theatres). Masks are fine when/if people want to wear them. We should probably wear them more often, to be honest, when we have any sort of respiratory illness like a cold or the flu. At work, we require them if you have tested positive for COVID but aren’t symptomatic (if you have symptoms, you’re supposed to stay home). Even the WHO isn’t calling it a pandemic anymore. Biden isn’t wrong.
That interpretation “extraordinary mitigation efforts are over” seems right. I’m still masking, because the only event where I didn’t do it this summer resulted in getting it. Wasn’t horrible, but why get sick if you can avoid it? Especially with disease that causes such a wide range of symptoms, potentially long term.
SarahLee, WHO is absolutely calling it a pandemic. See their messaging from just last week:
“We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists during his regular weekly press conference. The UN health agency’s Director-General explained however, that the world is “not there yet”.
We will know when it’s over, but the messaging will come from a qualified agency, not the president.
COVID might always be here like the flu but we have vaccines now and a large population has already had it so people have built up anti bodies. It’s not like it used to be when it was new and people didn’t know what to do. Restrictions have eased and people are resuming their precovid lives. I still wear my mask but I have resumed going on vacations and restaurants. If you’re immunocompromised then keep wearing masks but not everyone is so it’s up to you to keep yourself safe.
Hard agree.
And I still where a mask EVERYWHERE.
SAME. I mask everywhere, outdoor dining at restaurants only, waiting for 4th shot.
I’ve had Covid twice: before we knew it existed, early 2020, and again this summer as a kid ratted out his parents for having Covid – the kid infected my kid (outdoors! Omicron spread is no joke) and the whole family got it.
My energy is shot, my memory is shot, I feel like a zombie a lot. Getting better but 80% on a good day.
How many times has some politician or fraud doctor declared the pandemic “over” since 2020? 4x? 6x?
Then yet another variant sweeps through bc everyone just acts like belief is enough to stop it. Tell me after the holiday 2022 death spike that the pandemic is over 🙄. I’ll be waiting over here with my mask on.
I just want to join the chorus of people objecting against the notion of the pandemic being over. It absolutely is not.
I’m sitting in an airport wearing a mask just like many others.
It’s asinine and irresponsible of the leader of the US to make such a MISLEADING statement. I’m disgusted, actually. Just got shot #5 on Saturday and I still mask in stores. One of my college kids just got it because he has given up and become social again. I’m so pissed off at these irresponsible messages, coming from the top and trickling out everywhere. People hear this deza often enough and begin to embrace the wrongheaded idea that it’s over.
My family and I are still acting under the guise that the pandemic is still a thing. Masks everywhere, washing hands, trying to stay away from people as much as possible (although not as much as we were in 2020 and 2021).
Right – we’ll tell that to my father who has just tested positive and with whom I am waiting for an ambulance to arrive. To say this is over is totally irresponsible.
I agree with everyone who is saying that the pandemic is not over. Even if you’re fine and have a mild case, the possible long term effects of COVID are scary and not fully known.
It’s not like one and done, you get it and you’re immune, so why get it? The more we let it circulate, the more it mutates.
Evushield, the preventative antibody treatment for vulnerable people does not work against BA.6 according to an article I read last week. Many epidemiologists not affiliated with politics and CDC say to wear N95s and do your best not to be infected!
My son is in high school and my husband has compromised immunity. My son wears an N95 mask every day and I have to go to bring him his lunch in the car because otherwise the school would make him eat in the cafeteria maskless with everyone yelling and talking. They told me there was nothing they could do. No office or closet he could eat in and that covid precautions were over. Then they said “and the administration would like to discourage you from your car lunch plan” by requiring an every day note instead of the usual note on file until changed policy. The counselor told me the wrong lunch time too. I email the office a note every day that he will go out to lunch. They can’t stop me from taking him out. So far it’s ok. I wish he didn’t want to be in-person so badly, but I get why he does and I will make it work. I got a new counselor too.
So far I’ve only seen one other student with a mask on. I worry about this winter.
This is just ridiculously horrible and I am so sorry they are pulling this shit on you. FFS.
He’s not claiming Covid has disappeared. Or that no one will become ill or die going forward.
He’s simply stating that the pandemic phase of Covid is over and the endemic phase has begun.
I have no idea why the media is choosing to twist this to suggest he’s saying Covid has simply evaporated. That isn’t what he said.
LilacMaven, I agree. I continue to mask when I’m at stores, etc. We’re never going to see the end to covid. I just hope it will slow down enough that new variants aren’t popping up all of the time. By masking I’m not getting covid and I’m not getting colds or flu. It’s a win win. I’ll be getting my 4th shot in a couple of months and hope that will still be helpful against new variants. Time will tell.
Another hard agree. Most of my family and friends are still masking when we’re around other people. It’s a courtesy and a kindness that doesn’t inconvenience us too much, and it could mean literal life or death for someone around us. My husband, who’s had all 4 shots, just recovered from Covid. He’s a strong, healthy person and it really knocked him on his a**. In contrast, I imagine what Covid could do to an immunocompromised or elderly person (like my dad, who’s in nursing care), and that’s all the motivation I need to keep masking for the greater good.
There is a video and pictures going around with African leaders in a bus while Biden got to whizz around london in the beast. Lol the memes
I wonder if there was specific intelligence of a threat to Biden?
I mean any US president is always under more threat than most other leaders. I think the Secret Service are insistant on travelling with the Beast.
I watched the Biden’s arrival to the reception last night. The Secret Service placed themselves in front of the car doors, blocking the English people on either side whose job it was, apparently, to open the doors. The Secret Service agents opened those doors, no one else. I found that interesting.
There doesn’t need to be a specific threat. He’s the President of the United States. He will always have unique security concerns that require extra measures.
Biden is the president of the most powerful nation on earth. Of course there us a higher risk/ threat on him.
One of the many reasons to dislike american politics is the firm believe, held only by americans, that america is different from the rest of the world and more important. It’s not, you’re not. It’s ridiculous that one leader gets to travel in an armoured vehicle while the rest of them are crammed into buses. I would be ashamed if I were him.
I’m not American so I could be wrong but I think that’s what the term American exceptionalism refers to.
I won’t argue that American exceptionalism exists, but we’ve also had several presidents assassinated and attempted to be assassinated. Our presidents used to be more open and available until wackos started trying to off them every chance they got.
Hard disagree. It is absolutely a bigger threat for the US President to be put in danger. So security will be tighter for them.
Maybe there was a credible threat and then he would get a pass for taking those extra measures but otherwise I don’t think this was a good look and probably had other world leaders laughing rather than questioning why they weren’t treated the same.
I mean I get what @Birdie is saying but there are other presidents/world leaders who have been assassination or had attempted assassinations. It goes with the territory.
We’re talking about a man who rode Amtrak to work everyday as a Senator. He didn’t insist on using the Beast, because he felt above riding a bus. He’s not some arrogant snob. He rode in the Beast, because the Secret Service deemed it necessary to his security,
I suspect they know a bit more than you about what is necessary to protect the President.
And I’m sorry, but to claim to President of the United States doesn’t require greater security than the leaders of – for example – Switzerland or Luxembourg, is just absurd.
The President of the United States absolutely requires greater security than most of them. Why? Because he runs a far higher risk of assassination.
That’s not arrogance. It’s simple reality.
Presidents have been assassinated, but on American soil. It’s a bad look to go around the security of a host nation because of events that haven’t even happened there. If it was because of events in England it’s doubly a bad look to do that while other leaders are on a bus.
Like LilacMaven said, Biden isn’t riding in the Beast because he thinks he is above public transport. He’s a remarkably down-to-earth guy, rode the train to work for decades as a Senator, and loves to meet people from all walks of life.
It’s just a fact that as POTUS he has to take extra precautions. This isn’t about him, it’s about our government, the whole nation. Imagine what would happen if he were assassinated? I like Kamala Harris but having a new POTUS take over two months before the midterms would be hugely destabilizing. It would be destabilizing no matter when it happened, if it happened.
I work in DC and people are still getting Covid. I mask everywhere and feel bad when I take it off in public to eat or drink.
Also I read a study that Covid makes seniors get alzhimers quicker AND people who catch Covid multiple times are at greater risk for developing alzhimers.
Let the Darwin awards begin indeed. It will be decades as the effects of covid play out.
I absolutely do not know what he is talking about. It reminds me of the giant “Mission Accomplished” banner behind Bush on that aircraft carrier. An average of 500 people are still dying every day. Adults over 65 have a 70% higher chance of developing Alzheimers if they get Covid. Long Covid is still hugely affecting the lives of millions of people. Maybe vaccinated people who are fairly healthy and not senior citizens are not dying of Covid as often. But are we all saying that people who are NOT young and are NOT healthy don’t count anymore? I just don’t understand.
This will no doubt come back to haunt him when he runs for reelection in two years and Covid is still killing hundreds a day like it is now.
Unfortunately, I think you’re exactly right, Chaine. It’s very hard to imagine there won’t be an enormous surge after the holidays like there has been every year since the pandemic started.
If our country suffered through five passenger jet crashes per day for the last two years and now had one crash per day, I don’t see a president announcing that the plane crash crisis is over. It just doesn’t make sense and is so disrespectful to the people who are suffering and will suffer in the years to come.
Who is going to call him out on this during election season? The Republicans who never wanted to admit the existence of a pandemic in the first place? It’s not like they’re going to say he should be demanding more mask usage and quarantines. And it’s not like the democrats are going to nominate a different candidate.
Yep. I’m in the southern hemisphere and we had a rough winter with Covid and the flu, so I don’t think the messaging that the pandemic is over is useful given the US and Europe are heading into winter. I know we won’t eradicate it but it’s important to keep masking and boosting to avoid creation of further variants.
I’m disabled and high risk. Pretty much since summer of 2020, the elderly and medically vulnerable have been tossed aside. It has been horrifying and eye-opening, but it’s been made very clear to me over and over again that my life doesn’t matter to a whole lot of people and certainly doesn’t fit in with any political agendas.
@AuntRara yes! It’s exactly like W and the “mission accomplished” banner during Iraq war #2.
Thought same on the banner. BAD Idea.
He’s talking about Covid shifting from being a pandemic to being endemic, and he’s right. That’s exactly what’s happening.
I agree that in the collective mindset it is “over”. But it’s endemic. Just as people still die from the flu (left over from the 1919 pandemic) we will have people continue to die from COVID for the next century (centuries to come?). So while I’m going to live my life, I’m also going to get ALL THE BOOSTERS (just like I never miss a flu shot), and I am going to be cautious about crowded indoor places.
I agree. I’m a vaccine junkie.
Ditto!
I got my fourth shot (the updated booster) and my flu shot on Thursday. It wiped me out until Saturday afternoon, but I’m glad I was able to get it. It had been almost a year since my last booster.
In my late 20’s I got the flu and it was really bad. I was unconscious for two days, took weeks until I was back to normal. I will never skip a flu shot again, and will get every COVID booster available. As soon as I’m old enough I’ll be getting pneumonia, shingles, and any other vaccine they will give me.
Prepare yourself, Shingrix is a doozy.
I tested positive Wednedsay-double vaxxed, single boosted. I was lucky to avoid Coronavirus for as long as I did.
And it’s no joke. My fever spiked several times to 102.5, I’ve had sore throat, congestion, cough, nausea.
I was waiting until the end of September to get my second booster, and instead I got the virus. Get boosted and stay safe, everyone!
I tested positive Tuesday and still testing positive yesterday. I haven’t been with my family since then but at least they don’t have it too. I went out on the weekend to a show, first time since covid started and here I am.
No one masking, so many kids sick and a lot of people I talk to aren’t testing if there’s no fever or old covid type symtoms. Winter will be a mess I bet. Politics wins over science again
It’s also worth remembering too that endemic diseases can still be eliminated. Polio was in the US thanks to vaccines. Too many people equate endemic with “it’s here to stay forever”.
Agreed, Sigmund! I will forever vote for people who believe in funding scientific inquiry and am thankful everyday for those who spend their lives improving global health through vaccines. Let’s hope that they find a universal coronavirus vaccine or something like that.
Precisely so. Get all the shots. Stay home when you’re sick. Otherwise, live your life.
I’m still wearing a mask in crowded places and getting boosters whenever available — haven’t gotten the latest one yet, but hope to in the next few weeks — but I do think we have entered into an endemic phase. Or we’re sort of in the middle and going to land there? There are still too many cases where I live to make me feel comfortable taking off my mask but I would like to do so when the virus stops circulating quite so aggressively.
Respectfully, it’s not endemic yet. Endemic means that we can predict waves, that there aren’t new variants popping up all the time, and that it’s somewhat manageable, like flu season. We might be close to getting there, but it is premature to say that we are endemic (not to mention we still do not have any therapies or solutions for long COVID, which might be our biggest problem at this point).
The WHO will make it very clear when we reach that state. According the the epidemiologists I follow on social media, we’ll begin entering endemicity by the end of this year and will hopefully have reached it by next fall.
Thank you! That’s exactly what he was talking about, and it’s really shameful that the press is pretending not to understand this, and using his words to try and manufacture outrage.
I get it. I mean, covid is still infecting people, but it always will? With vaccines and treatment having been developed, it’s like the flu now. You may get sick, but you probably won’t die, and it is what it is. Life goes on, and you can’t live like it’s a pandemic forever.
Flu doesn’t leave you with lifelong issues like this…
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/09/long-covid-brain-fog-symptom-executive-function/671393/
Exactly!
That’s not accurate. Viruses in general can leave long term health issues.
People have to live their life. I get in my car everyday and there is always a possibility I might get in an accident and die or become disabled but that doesn’t mean that I’m never gonna drive again. Everything in life has risks. I’d rather go out and live my life then stay in hiding. If I ever get Covid then I get it and that’s the risk everyone has to take to resume life. I’m not immunocompromised or live with anyone that is. If you are then take precautions but don’t expect everyone to act like they are.
COVID has a higher death rate than the flu and is more transmissible. Vaccines and treatments have been developed, but the power of vaccination is waning at an accelerating rate, and vaccination – the powerful part of vaccines – is woefully low in the United States. Recurrent infections weaken the immune system every time; COVID causes brain damage even in mild cases; rates of heart disease, stroke and diabetes are climbing due to infection; the numbers are in and numbers do not lie.
Also, are you aware of who does and does not have access to “treatment?” There are big gaps, and with 16 million people about to be thrown off Medicaid, even more people won’t get treatments like Paxlovid (which are limited in value below a certain age). Are you aware that by calling the pandemic “over,” the Senate is even less likely to vote further funds to develop better vaccines and better treatments? That health and survival become even more of a rich – poor, white-Black problem for the United States?
All this “forever” talk is nonsense. None of us have to consider “forever,” but we can make better choices every day – update our shots, wear good masks to keep others healthy, consider the immunocompromised and elderly, use fans and filtration to improve indoor air quality at home and at work, and encourage others to live the same. We still have choices.
But not, this is not the flu, and there are many well-sourced expert articles explaining why.
In addition, “the flu” is not just a bad cold. The flu can be bad. The flu kills children and grandparents every year at a rate that should be intolerable, too. In the USA, life is cheap, and this is another example of why and how.
this.
well said.
I think there’s a misconception about what the “flu” is. Influenza (not the stomach flu) is a nightmare if you’re not vaccinated. I got it the year I didn’t get my vaccine and was out of work for two weeks. I felt like I was dying. And I was a healthy twenty something. I can absolutely see how influenza kills vulnerable people.
And, as others here have pointed out, Covid is actually worse.
This reckless attitude about Covid is really dangerous in a country without adequate healthcare, and I say that as an American. How many people can afford to have lifelong health issues from Covid? There’s a big gap between “not dead” and “healthy”.
SARS CoV 19 kills neurons. In your brain. It highjacks the immune system, making you vulnerable to other infections and cancer development. The most recent concern is that it negatively impacts your MITOCHONDRIA, the fuel producers for every fkn cell in your body, which is probably what causes long covid, and long covid takes workers out of our workforce, further impacting supply and demand and then our economy.
Long covid also causes suicide bc people are so dysfunction and depressed.
So many people are not aware of this and the media is not informing about it.
I’m waiting on shot #4 – I had COVID over the summer. It wasn’t bad for me, but my husband was pretty sick (he also reacted to the vaccines more than I did).
My mother was complaining about getting another booster – “I mean how many will there be??” , but I told her this was my 20-something-st flu booster. That we’ll have to boost each year just like we do for it.
Australia’s Covid death rate for just Jan-July 2022 was over 2x the total death rate for 2020-2021 combined. Not fucking over by a long shot mate.
(https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/covid-19-mortality-australia-deaths-registered-until-31-july-2022)
That’s not correct. From your article: “There are 9,428 death registrations that have been received by the ABS where an individual is certified as having died from or with COVID-19 between the start of the pandemic and 31 July 2022. Of the 407,221 death registrations received by the ABS (both doctor and coroner certified) in Australia during the pandemic period, 2.3% are of people who have died with or from COVID-19.”
Am I reading the first table incorrectly?; 2020 Covid deaths: 905,
2021 Covid deaths: 1334,
2022 Covid deaths (Jan-Jul): 5730.
I read it as our death rate has skyrocketed following border openings and restrictions lifting, surprise. But I’m not a statistician so def could be missing something.
Ah Elizabeth I see the confusion in my first comment’s wording. I’m not saying the Covid death rate is 2x higher than national deaths. I’m saying 2022 Covid deaths are already 2x higher than the 2020-2021 Covid total deaths combined.
Sorry, Kaiser, but hell to the no: the pandemic is still very much ON. The death rate in the US remains high. And we’re not even tracking all the folks with Long Covid.
Mask indoors, everyone! It’s so easy! Protect yourselves, and protect the elderly & immunocompromised!
“Nearly 400 people a day continue to die from Covid in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
I get what he’s saying. Can we not eat our own. The midterms are coming up. The dems can’t win on COVID. Those of us who believe in vaccines and masks at this point are going to wear them. And get the boosters. But if they look like they are harping on COVID we may lose independents which we need to protect woman’s healthcare, LGBTQIA’s rights and much more.
He didn’t have to say it, that’s all. Like Walensky didn’t have to describe masks as like wearing a scarlet letter (mark of shame). Unforced errors with huge consequences.
Exactly. He could say, “According the WHO, we’re possibly nearing the end-stage of the pandemic, and that is encouraging news. Everyone should get boosted with the updated shot and continue to be careful, but we should all feel great about this news and make every effort to help end the pandemic.”
We should avoid eating our own, but we should also not be afraid to call them out when they say something stupid.
Absolutely agree, Eurydice. Unlike those MAGA slimeballs, the presidential candidate we voted for is not our god. We can disagree with him and call out mistakes and problems as we see them. Democracy is stronger and serves us better when we call our leaders out as needed.
@AuntRara – 1,000%
It really depends on what he means by “over”. I think the vast majority of people has learned to live with it because what alternative is there? In Germany we don’t have a vaccine mandate. I was very much in favor of one at the very least for everyone over 65 and certain professions but it didn’t happen. I had Covid 2 month ago after 3 shots and while it wasn’t a regular cold, it also wasn’t as horrendous as the flu I had at 25. THAT was a horrorshow.
Masks are still mandatory on public transportation, hospitals, doctors’ offices and frankly, I may continue to wear them on the tram etc. for the rest of my life. It just makes sense. But no, I don’t frequently wear them in stores unless they’re packed. I do put them on in certain places like pharmacies.
Oktoberfest is happening here right now. Is it a good idea? I don’t know. I think we’re at a point where infections aren’t going down so we can either continue to “live in a pandemic” indefinitely or go back to some form of normal. Inflation is about to f*ck up our economy, as are energy prices. The human brain is not made for this constant state of emergency and feeling of doom.
I get what you’re saying, Emmi. I just got my booster (4th jab overall) this past week. I think what Biden meant was that the pandemic is over, we have now entered the “endemic” phase. Where I live, life is going on just as it did, pre-covid now. Is this good? I am not sure. What I do know is, covid is not going anywhere. I will be long dead, my great grandkids will be in college and covid will still be around. At what stage do we collectively resume life as we once did
First, the US President has zero authority to declare anything about the status of contagious disease, anywhere or everywhere. His responsibility extends to policies governing the health and welfare of the people of the United States. Because it’s a powerful position, his voice carries worldwide. This is truly unfortunate in this situation. But he is not an epidemiologist.
Second, most of the USA has no mask mandates on public transport, and in many places not in health-care facilities -unlike Germany. Heck, I live in Ontario, Canada. We do not even have mask requirements for health-care facilities. Apparently we are trying to overturn our early good response and catch up with the United States in terms of death and long COVID.
Third, it’s fortunate the COVID was not disabling for you. It is disabling for many, and among those not with Long COVID, it still brings a higher rate of heart attack, stroke and diabetes in the months to follow. It also damages the brain.
Fourth, medicines that lower the amount of virus in the blood are most effective for older people. That’s fine. But be aware that many Americans do not have access to these anti-viral drugs, and many Americans are under-insured or have difficult private insurance. It is different for you in Germany.
Joe Biden did not have to say this. Maybe he felt he’d reach “independent” or Republican-leaning older men by saying this in a “60 Minutes” interview at the auto show, but his words get picked up and carried far more widely.
1) Insurance doesn’t help you with Covid. How? You might not go broke if you need to be hospitalized but other than that, the virus is the same. There’s still no effective treatment widely available here. They’re not prescribing Paxlovid regularly if at all.
2) Yes I was fortunate but there’s no need to be snide about it. I haven’t been living under a rock and I am well aware that Long Covid is a thing.
I don’t understand what people want. Do you want people to keep wearing masks everywhere? No indoor events? No movies, no restaurants, no gatherings of more than 3 people? It’s not happening. People are tired and many are just stupid. 62% of Germans have gotten 3 shots. That’s insane. As a society, we’ve failed in many respects. As I said, I was in favor of mandatory vaccinations for adults and I will continue to mask up in certain places. But as individuals, what else can we do? We’re about to experience a hard winter and a really hard recession. People can only be afraid of so much. So in effect, yes, most consider the pandemic “over” for lack of a better word.
Was Biden’s statement political? Maybe. But I also think this is truly how most people feel anyway.
@Emmi I’m confused by your statement about insurance not helping people with Covid, but maybe it’s a difference between Germany and the US. In the US, at least, there’s a pretty big variation in insurance providers and coverage. Medical bills are also astronomical, and you can be sued for unpaid medical bills here.
So yeah, having insurance DOES typically help with Covid, even if it’s just somewhat. That being said, you’re still looking at a lot of expense and difficulty from dealing with insurance companies, and again, it’s not going to be 100% everything covered.
Biden has no authority to declare the pandemic over. That’s the WHO’s responsibility
The pandemic is not over. Wealthy countries never were serious about fighting it. That would require consistency in masking , distribution of vaccines to impoverished nations, and new indoor air filtration standards. Hundreds of preventable deaths a day isn’t normal, but they want us all to get back to work.
It’s so exhausting to me that here we are, 2+ years in, and people are still willfully ignoring how covid operates. So you’re done with the pandemic? Great! Now you’re more susceptible to the pandemic, because you’ve stopped any risk mitigation, and you’re upping the risk of everyone around you. Congrats! Another inconvenient truth: just because you’ve had covid and it was “mild” doesn’t mean you won’t have long-term health issues because of it. Same goes for an asymptomatic case, and that chance increases with every infection, asymptomatic or not.
People throw this word around (wrongly, most of the time) but this really is gaslighting. The pandemic is not over, WHO says the pandemic is very much a thing, and it’s just baffling that in a country where 500 people are dying each day and most people are NOT boosted that Biden would undercut the new boosters with this messaging. Just infuriating.
Nope, the pandemic isn’t over. Some of us have better access to vaccines, media and non-pharmaceutical interventions, but it’s not over. And there are evading variants that they are concerned about. I’m still wearing an N95 anywhere indoors.
Thank you thank you thank you all of the above commentators!!!!! Just under 500 people a day are still dying of covid in the US. TG I’ve never gotten it but I mask up any time I’m outside my home. I’m terrified of long covid. I don’t want to spend my remaining years gasping for breath or worrying about blood clots. This was a careless political statement by Biden imho.
Laurie, I agree and thank you for masking. Careless yet – likely deliberate, given the setting and the 60 Minutes audience. This is now global. So unfortunate.
I’m a Baby Boomer. Our newly adult kids will be taking care of us when we develop Alzheimer’s years earlier than we might have otherwise. We have one more act we can do to make life better for our kids: protect against COVID.
“Now, excuse me, I’m off to attend an international super-spreader event.”
C’mon, Biden, have you been taking interview advice from Olivia Wilde? Don’t do this to yourself.
i wear a mask anywhere that immunocompromised people may have no choice but to be around me – the grocery store, for example. bragging about not wearing a mask to the grocery store is so gross to me. If you want to go to optional events unmasked then fine, but people need to eat. same for the pharmacy, doctor’s office, anything essential. it hurts me not at all and could save someone’s life.
i have family who tested positive just the other week. it’s not over at all.
Here’s my thing: our healthcare system in the US is the weakest it has been at any point in my lifetime. The system is so stressed that the care for *any* medical issue is likely to be worse than before (that will be multiplied if you are a woman, BIPOC, disabled, etc). And no one understands long COVID at this point. So since it costs me nothing to retrieve a mask from my purse & put it on as I enter a store, I’m not taking my chances.
Also, just got my 2nd booster last week. Woo!
“Last week, the number of weekly reported deaths from Covid-19 was the lowest since March 2020,” Ghebreyesus said. “We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic. We’re not there yet, but the end is in sight.”
The government and the CDC have completely failed those of us who are vulnerable, but this is nothing new from them. Declaring the pandemic over for the sake of the economy does not make it so, but it DOES make life much more difficult for those of us still trying to protect ourselves and others. As someone who is high-risk, I can tell you my life was much easier in 2020 when everyone was taking precautions than in the years following.
Now, the pandemic is changing for sure, and we’re in a better position when it comes to treatments and vaccines, especially with the new booster that addresses currently circulating variants. But it is, objectively, not over until the WHO says it is. The WHO has expressed hopefulness recently and for that, I’m very grateful. But they said we’re not there yet. I trust them, not a government agenda to make everyone forget about the 500 deaths a day and effects of long COVID. We really cannot stop being vigilant until long COVID is better understood and has treatments.
Early Testing is key if you feel “off” and then getting on prescription treatment. I had slight headache on Friday Aug 19. That night I had a slight sore throat. Not much but I Tested positive the next morning (Saturday) and started paxlovid pills that afternoon. Following Tuesday I felt much better enough to walk the dog.
That said, I had heavy naps for the first 2 days and I didn’t feel 100% ‘right’ for a couple weeks. Treatment has to start early in the course of the virus to stop the replication. This doesn’t feel like a cold, or flu coming on.
The isolation is so important so not to spread. Thankfully, my husband didn’t get it. I was negative after 9 days and didn’t rebound. I can’t stress enough, don’t let it build in the body. If you feel off, test right away and if negative test again next day and then get treated.
Hey I’m going to be facetious and note that the President and First Lady are holding hands!! 🤣🤣🤣
In the US, 500 approx. people die EACH DAY from Covid. For context, last year—a very high year for car accident deaths—roughly 120 people died /day.
We’re also facing Long Covid, a mass disabling event that we’re just starting to understand.
Please wear your mask in the grocery store—and other places! If not for you, for the immunocompromised & for their families. People fighting cancer etc. deserve to be able to run errands, ffs.
I got covid twice in 6 weeks in May and June. The first time I was asymptomatic (my dad got it and was symptomatic and gave it to me), the second time I was symptomatic (got it after a wedding). It wasn’t the sickest I’ve ever been, it felt like a bad sinus infection but I did have to call in sick for 2 days at work. As it has been 3 months since my last infection, I am getting my updated Omicron booster today at CVS after work. I just got my flu shot on Friday which I get every year, I wanted to space them out a few days.
I am still wearing my mask on public transport and in stores, but I also have been going to large in person gatherings. We had a huge party in my parents’ backyard for their 40th anniversary a few weeks ago, I went to an indoor event for my company’s summer outing last week, and this past weekend I attended around a 20 person family reunion. I didn’t wear my mask to any of them and so far I haven’t gotten sick. I don’t want to get covid a third time in a year and I know it’s still very present but I also can’t put my life on hold anymore. I’m going to a wedding in 2 weeks, it’s supposed to be mostly outdoors. Hopefully my Omicron booster will help me out.
I went to an indoor reunion and I was the only person masked. A friend later found out she had cancer. No one got Covid @ the event, but it really showed me how important it is to protect one another.
Who is Biden to declare the Pandemic over? He’s wrong. It’s not over and it’s dangerous for him to say otherwise. People are still getting very sick and dying. So many won’t get vaccinated STILL. France is now having a resurgence of Covid. We are not “back to normal”.
I still mask and got my bi-valent booster this past Friday, as did my husband and daughter. I will continue to mask indoors though many others have stopped.
Well, my husband and I just came down with Covid for the first time (as far as we know). I am just now feeling better though I’m still very tired. We’re not sure how he got it. We think it was at a work event.
I went and got Paxlavil because I am allergic to over-the-counter pain and fever reducers. My fever had hit 102. I have something call Samter’s Triad, which means I have asthma, nasal polyps and Aspirin and Tylenol allergy/sensitivy. My asthma is pretty much totally under control now, luckily. I don’t have issues with it and I don’t have to medicate. But still, I guess I’m vulnerable.
At the same time, I understand what he means about the Pandemic being over. At least a certain phase of it is over. But now I’ll probably go back to masking in most indoor places. I do not want to go through that again.
The pandemic is NOT over. Almost 500 people are dying, per day, in the United States. We have millions of people dealing with the effects of long covid. “No one is wearing masks“ because your CDC dropped mask advisories – that’s the most ridiculous evidence for citing that the pandemic is over. Biden is doing a real disservice to the world.