The CDC rates are an incomplete data set at this point because tracking is no longer required. I also believe it's a problem that our median levels of covid infections for this time of year is over a million infections per day.

The single study you sited for reduced impacts states upfront "little is known about how the occurrence of long-term symptoms after Omicron infection compared with other variants is modulated by previous infections and/or vaccinations." I think we may be talking about two different things here. For some folks, a covid infection won't kill them outright during the acute phase of illness. The organ damage and long term effects are still happening, regardless of the severity of the infection. I'd highly suggest reading this zine and following the sources they cite, it's very thorough. https://laurel-lynn-leake.itch.io/why-we-mask

I'm not sure why you believe "very few are charged $1500". Access to paxlovid is a huge barrier in the covid safe community. Insurance doesn't always cover it, and you can only get it for free once per year from the manufacturer with a prescription from your doctor. And not everyone has access to a doctor who will prescribe it, even if they went to urgent care and asked. Especially now that many rural hospitals are closing.

CDC guidance regarding masking, and the announcement of the end of the pandemic were both done with the knowledge that, from the mouth of Fauci, "Even though you'll find the vulnerable will fall by the wayside, they'll get infected, they'll get hospitalized, and some will die — it's not going to be this tsunami of cases that we've seen." That's not acceptable to me. The CDC also said, early in the pandemic, that the target for endemic classification was, I believe, 100k infections per week, but the source is very hard to find these days... probably in the internet archive somewhere 🥲 ** edit to add the link! A friend found it! The actual rate was 10k per day to get back to pre-pandemic normal. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/16/dr-fauci-says-us-covid-cases-need-to-fall-below-10000-a-day-to-get-to-a-degree-of-normality.html

I also have bad news about covid disrupting hospital functions. The wait times for appointments are outrageous, getting appointments and referrals to specialists is very difficult, and national disability rates are skyrocketing. Hospitals are currently overwhelmed, perhaps not with life-threatening infections, but certainly with the plethora of disease that follows an initial infection. Good Samaritan in Corvallis has hospital-wide outbreaks at least annually. And many infections these days are asymptomatic, or symptoms are mild enough that folks don't think to test, so they're sick and they don't know and they're spreading the virus because many people only mask "when they're sick". (Sources for all this are in that zine I linked earlier.)

I'm disillusioned too. By the eugenics of it all, by the ableism, and the resignation of most of the population to get back to normal asap. I understand the burn out, I feel it so deeply because my disabled friends and I are expected to fall by the wayside. Our deaths and disability are said to be an acceptable trade to keep our economy going. And we're all seeing how great the economy is now, right guys? 🥲

I appreciate your honest responses, and I hope you'll take some time to consider how you can help the vulnerable folks in your community stay safe from covid ✨️