CR: COVID-19 --Political Talk

[Anastasis 23,469]

9 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Pfizer before Moderna you’re in the clear?

 

No reason to think that mixing mRNA shots would be problematic other than unnecessary dogmatism. Canada doing a really good job of maximizing first dose optimization and second dose flexibility. We could have done the same early on but committed ourselves to a different path. 

[Anastasis 23,469]

On 5/31/2021 at 5:02 PM, Lobo said:

They're changing up some acronyms which obviously means they've been lying this whole time and scientists cannot be trusted?  The only way to defeat these variants is to build a wall and arm ourselves.  

Drink less. 
 

And yes, I appreciate the irony. 

[Guest Lobo]

Drink more.  

That wasn't an example of irony.  

It's okay, my booze tolerance and understanding of English have all gone to shit during Covid. 

[Anastasis 23,469]

Acronyms are hard. And so is irony. 

Edited June 2, 2021 by Anastasis

[Guest Lobo]

It's like how I never remember the one for LASER.  But I know it when I see it.   /winona

Edited June 2, 2021 by Lobo

[tantric superman 4,667]

[Bama Chick 28,596]

Putting “The Onion” out of business one stupid story at a time.

[Longhorn_Fan68 33,870]

29 minutes ago, Bama Chick said:

Putting “The Onion” out of business one stupid story at a time.
 

you can't hunt antifuh while on a ventilator, so I guess this checks out

[Biff Tannen 45,685]

Please remember this is still going strong in other parts of the world.  We may have a handle on it, but a lot of other countries do not.

 

[Willfully Horn 8,017]

Chef Andres, future recipient of the Nobel Peace pie, because he’d spend prize money on the hungry and might enjoy a slice o’ pie.

 

Edited June 3, 2021 by Willfully Horn
pe-CON

[Anastasis 23,469]

Hot take: long covid doesn't exist as a unique entity and complications rates of the so-called long covid are similar to post-acute sequelae of flu. In fact in certain segments, post-acute flu complications are actually greater.  Does seem to be  relationship with significantly increased mortality though. 

[Brisketexan 105,139]

Chef Andres, future recipient of the Nobel Peace pie, because he’d spend prize money on the hungry and might enjoy a slice o’ pie.
 

He really is one of my favorite human beings. He’s awesome.

[Bozo_Casanova 26,460]

12 hours ago, Anastasis said:

Hot take: long covid doesn't exist as a unique entity and complications rates of the so-called long covid are similar to post-acute sequelae of flu. In fact in certain segments, post-acute flu complications are actually greater.  Does seem to be  relationship with significantly increased mortality though. 

I agree- there’s long flu, long ebola, and many others. Even bacterial. 
I recent heard a rheumatologist on the radio opine that emerging work indicates a correlation between a post infection period and the presentation of chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. 

[Neonmoon 38,129]

12 hours ago, Anastasis said:

Hot take: long covid doesn't exist as a unique entity and complications rates of the so-called long covid are similar to post-acute sequelae of flu. In fact in certain segments, post-acute flu complications are actually greater.  Does seem to be  relationship with significantly increased mortality though. 

Aren’t we a bit premature? It’s only been a year or so. Or is this the proverbial early call?

[Anastasis 23,469]

6 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Aren’t we a bit premature? It’s only been a year or so. Or is this the proverbial early call?

Just my own early speculation. However, at this point there is, what, 6+ months of follow-up information for large numbers of cases from initial pandemic waves in this country. Note that I am not saying that post-acute sequelae associated with COVID does not exist, just that the rates do not appear to be very dissimilar from rates observed after other acute viral infections, at least in some early looks.  Some data from a recent pre-print out of columbia, covid vs. influenza:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.19.21253756v1.full.pdf

 

[Brisketexan 105,139]

40 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Just my own early speculation. However, at this point there is, what, 6+ months of follow-up information for large numbers of cases from initial pandemic waves in this country. Note that I am not saying that post-acute sequelae associated with COVID does not exist, just that the rates do not appear to be very dissimilar from rates observed after other acute viral infections, at least in some early looks.  Some data from a recent pre-print out of columbia, covid vs. influenza:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.03.19.21253756v1.full.pdf

 

It wouldn't surprise me if the rate of "I had COVID, now I have long-term issues" is similar to other acute viral illnesses.  Of course, what makes COVID somewhat different is its high infection rate.  3% of 150 million people is 3X 3% of 50 million people.  

[Anastasis 23,469]

43 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

It wouldn't surprise me if the rate of "I had COVID, now I have long-term issues" is similar to other acute viral illnesses.  Of course, what makes COVID somewhat different is its high infection rate.  3% of 150 million people is 3X 3% of 50 million people.  

Yeah, I think that's right. The implication in terms of population health impacts is the extremely large number of cases in a very short period of time.

[jimmyjazz 45,952]

Plus, we have to add the long-term adverse health effects of the vaccine.

<ducks>

[Longhorn_Fan68 33,870]

1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

Plus, we have to add the long-term adverse health effects of the vaccine.

<ducks>

[Brisketexan 105,139]

13 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Plus, we have to add the long-term adverse health effects of the vaccine.

<ducks>

[4th&Five 41,551]

 

[Goredho 17,406]

Well, you had an immune system...

https://www.businessinsider.com/colorado-anti-vaxxer-sheriffs-deputy-dies-of-covid-19-complications-2021-5
 

 

[Bama Chick 28,596]

[Longhorn_Fan68 33,870]

maybe we should rethink this legal weed thing

[DigglerontheHoof 21,199]

19 hours ago, Goredho said:

Well, you had an immune system...

https://www.businessinsider.com/colorado-anti-vaxxer-sheriffs-deputy-dies-of-covid-19-complications-2021-5
 

 

Good

[JimmyJames 12,271]

2 hours ago, DigglerontheHoof said:

Good

Chubby dudes who don’t get vaccinated, no matter the age, are playing with fire if they don’t get the vaccine. 

[JimmyJames 12,271]

It’s anecdotal but I know an ER doc who says that the great majority of the ones that die of Covid are middle age to older males who are obese, have high BMI, etc. Women less so but it happens. 

[jimmyjazz 45,952]

I don't know how fat that guy was, but I wouldn't have guessed "obese" from the facial photos I saw.  Dying at 33 is kind of an outlier.  Guess he fucked around and found out.

[JimmyJames 12,271]

8 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I don't know how fat that guy was, but I wouldn't have guessed "obese" from the facial photos I saw.  Dying at 33 is kind of an outlier.  Guess he fucked around and found out.

He probably wasn’t obese but from his photos he definitely wasn’t skipping meals. It’s a factor that can lead to death. So any of you fat fucks or semi fat fucks need to get the vaccine. Although this board is probably 90 percent vaccinated anyway. 

[jimmyjazz 45,952]

Just now, JimmyJames said:

He probably wasn’t obese but from his photos he definitely wasn’t skipping meals. It’s a factor that can lead to death. So any of you fat fucks or semi fat fucks need to get the vaccine. Although this board is probably 90 percent vaccinated anyway. 

Plus, 90% fat.

[gmr548 16,580]

Plus, 90% fat.

That feels conservative

[Biff Tannen 45,685]

So feels like masks are almost done yeah?

[wildcat09 29,354]

On 6/4/2021 at 2:17 PM, Goredho said:

Well, you had an immune system...

https://www.businessinsider.com/colorado-anti-vaxxer-sheriffs-deputy-dies-of-covid-19-complications-2021-5
 

 

The best thing about this is he was a nazi:

 

 

[Bevo14 8,311]

11 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

The best thing about this is he was a nazi:

 

 

[HenryJames 66,052]

 

[gmr548 16,580]

 

Heading to Seattle at the end of July. Sounds like I’m getting dose three.

[HenryJames 66,052]

[Sawbonz 27,561]

[Hookah Horns 3,083]

On 6/4/2021 at 2:17 PM, Goredho said:

Well, you had an immune system...

https://www.businessinsider.com/colorado-anti-vaxxer-sheriffs-deputy-dies-of-covid-19-complications-2021-5
 

 

Thinking about just how fucking dumb, regretful, and ashamed he must have felt at the end warms all my cockles. 

[Goredho 17,406]

On 6/5/2021 at 11:31 AM, JimmyJames said:

He probably wasn’t obese but from his photos he definitely wasn’t skipping meals. It’s a factor that can lead to death. So any of you fat fucks or semi fat fucks need to get the vaccine. Although this board is probably 90 percent vaccinated anyway. 

Semi Fat Fuck is my male stripper alter ego.

[safe sex 11,727]

34 minutes ago, Hookah Horns said:

Thinking about just how fucking dumb, regretful, and ashamed he must have felt at the end warms all my cockles. 

There's a good chance he didn't believe he had COVID, even until the very end.

[jimmyjazz 45,952]

A close friend, one of my somewhat older student "mentors" in HS died of Covid this weekend.  Super smart guy, we went to engineering undergrad together, fully vaccinated, but he caught the virus before building full immunity.  Spent over a month in ICU and eventually succumbed.  Salt of the earth.  Not a science-denying racist shitbag like Deputy Fife, just someone who got a little unlucky.

. . . and this is why I get so pissed at the anti-mask, anti-vaccine crowd.  You're killing my friends.

[WhatTheBuck 28,781]

5 minutes ago, trauma babe said:

There's a good chance he didn't believe he had COVID, even until the very end.

Yep. That would be my bet. 

[PenelopeWitherspoon 19,101]

I did not know where else to put this...

 

 

 

[elfenix 34,240]

turns out states that locked down harder had better economic performance than states that didn't, generally.

Quote

Yahoo News: Is it now fair to say that so-called lockdown states performed better economically than so-called looser states during the 2020 pandemic?

Jerry Nickelsburg: That is correct. We generally view economic performance through the lens of gross domestic product. On average, GDP declined in 2020, and it declined everywhere. But those declines were smaller in states with more stringent nonpharmaceutical interventions than states with less stringent NPIs.

 

Quote

Someone like Gov. DeSantis would disagree with your conclusions, and one argument he would make is that if restrictions are so great, then why is California’s unemployment rate 8.3 percent while Florida’s is 4.3 percent? Is that a fair comparison?

It’s true that if unemployment is your metric, California has a very high rate relative to Florida. But people who dropped out of the labor force because of COVID — either because they contracted it or because of concern for themselves or their families — are not counted in the unemployment rate. Likewise, there’s evidence that states that opened up earlier may have reduced their employees’ hours because fewer people were coming through the doors; the reduction in hours per employee was 4.2 percent in Texas versus 1.1 percent in California. So unemployment is actually quite complicated, and you can’t really rely on it.

so much for that narrative.

https://news.yahoo.com/lockdown-states-like-california-did-better-economically-than-looser-states-like-florida-new-covid-data-shows-153025163.html

Edited June 8, 2021 by elfenix

[Dahobbs 17,534]

1 hour ago, elfenix said:

turns out states that locked down harder had better economic performance than states that didn't, generally.

 

so much for that narrative.

https://news.yahoo.com/lockdown-states-like-california-did-better-economically-than-looser-states-like-florida-new-covid-data-shows-153025163.html

 

Quote

It’s true that if unemployment is your metric, California has a very high rate relative to Florida. But people who dropped out of the labor force because of COVID — either because they contracted it or because of concern for themselves or their families — are not counted in the unemployment rate. 

Ok... then what caused California's increase in unemployment? And why did Florida's drop less? Is the suggestion here that Florida had more people drop out because of Covid-19, and therefore its unemployment rate is artificially low? Does that really track? 

Oh, here is the explanation in the article:

Quote

 

[The UCLA report also suggests that “the answer lies in the structure of the California economy.” In California, “sectors with a high degree of human contact” — that is, “leisure and hospitality, education, retail trade, and health care and social services” — contributed only “0.3 percentage points to annual GDP growth over the decade preceding the pandemic.” But last year, “they accounted for 75 percent of the state’s job losses.”

Meanwhile, the sectors driving growth in California — “information, professional and business services, manufacturing and financial services” — weren’t hit nearly as hard. That helps to explain the discrepancy between the state’s unemployment rate and its overall economic performance. UCLA expects “many of those lost jobs to return.”] 

 

 

[Bookman 4,639]

On 6/5/2021 at 12:03 PM, JimmyJames said:

It’s anecdotal but I know an ER doc who says that the great majority of the ones that die of Covid are middle age to older males who are obese, have high BMI, etc. Women less so but it happens. 

Obese middle age men? In the United States?

[bolverk 29,672]

Latest demographics/politics of vaccine hesitancy: https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/dashboard/kff-covid-19-vaccine-monitor-dashboard/

No surprise, but Republicans are the least likely to get vaxxed, including among Blacks and the youths, which is leading to a Stark Red-Blue Divide When It Comes To States' Vaccination Rates. 

And, of course...

In the U.S., hospitalizations are rising in areas with low vaccination rates

Spoiler

 

The coronavirus might be receding in much of the United States, but it continues to spread in communities with low Covid-19 vaccination rates, where highly contagious virus variants pose a threat to those who have not had shots.

In Smith County, Tenn., where only 20 percent of people are fully vaccinated, there has been an almost 700 percent increase in hospitalizations for Covid-19 over the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database. In Trousdale, Tenn., where only 23 percent of people have had two vaccine doses, hospitalizations have also surged by 700 percent in the same period.

The increase is not a coincidence, said Dr. Ted Delbridge, executive director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems. People who become ill with Covid-19 now are, “in most age groups, twice as likely to end up hospitalized as people who got the virus earlier in the course of the pandemic,” Dr. Delbridge said.

In Maryland, of those between the ages of 50 and 59 who contracted Covid-19 over the winter, about 8 percent were hospitalized, he said. From the end of April through the beginning of June, the hospitalization rate in that group was 19 percent.

Dangerous virus variants are likely to be to blame, Dr. Delbridge said. The variant first found in Britain, now known as Alpha, is deadlier and more contagious than most others and is now dominant in the United States. Last month, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the variant, also known as B.1.1.7, made up 72 percent of U.S. cases at the time.

But vaccines have proven to be effective against the Alpha variant. A spring surge that scientists had warned of largely failed to materialize in the United States.

“I think we got lucky, to be honest,” Nathan Grubaugh, an epidemiologist at Yale University, told The New York Times last month. “We’re being rescued by the vaccine.”

Through Tuesday, about 172 million Americans had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to a Times database. But vaccine distribution across the country has slowed in recent weeks. About 1 million shots are being administered nationwide each day, down from an April peak of 3 million.

In Michigan, one of the few states that saw a surge in cases this spring, Alpha struck younger people who were returning to schools and playing contact sports.

“Because it’s more transmissible, the virus finds cracks in behavior that normally wouldn’t have been as much of a problem,” said Emily Martin, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan.

At a White House press briefing on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief Covid adviser, said the Delta variant, which was originally identified in India, was emerging as the dominant variant in Britain.

“We cannot let that happen in the United States,” Dr. Fauci said, adding that the Delta variant now accounted for 6 percent of sequenced cases in the United States.

Dr. Fauci urged young people to get vaccinated, citing a study that found that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or the AstraZeneca vaccine appeared to be effective against the Delta variant.

One way of limiting the spread is for those who are vaccinated to wear masks around those who are not, doctors say. At least one state is making that a rule in some places: When California reopens next week, fully vaccinated colleagues working in a room together will be allowed to work maskless. But if one person is unvaccinated, everyone in the room will need to wear a mask.

“If I’m in close proximity to other people, and I don’t know their vaccination status, I put a mask on,” Dr. Delbridge said. “It’s just too easy.”

 

Hey, Surly GOP! Get vaxxed, or fuck around and find out. Spread the word among your fellow travelers. Do it for the good of the country.

[Anastasis 23,469]

22 minutes ago, bolverk said:

Latest demographics/politics of vaccine hesitancy: https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/dashboard/kff-covid-19-vaccine-monitor-dashboard/

No surprise, but Republicans are the least likely to get vaxxed, including among Blacks and the youths, which is leading to a Stark Red-Blue Divide When It Comes To States' Vaccination Rates. 

And, of course...

In the U.S., hospitalizations are rising in areas with low vaccination rates

  Reveal hidden contents

 

The coronavirus might be receding in much of the United States, but it continues to spread in communities with low Covid-19 vaccination rates, where highly contagious virus variants pose a threat to those who have not had shots.

In Smith County, Tenn., where only 20 percent of people are fully vaccinated, there has been an almost 700 percent increase in hospitalizations for Covid-19 over the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database. In Trousdale, Tenn., where only 23 percent of people have had two vaccine doses, hospitalizations have also surged by 700 percent in the same period.

The increase is not a coincidence, said Dr. Ted Delbridge, executive director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems. People who become ill with Covid-19 now are, “in most age groups, twice as likely to end up hospitalized as people who got the virus earlier in the course of the pandemic,” Dr. Delbridge said.

In Maryland, of those between the ages of 50 and 59 who contracted Covid-19 over the winter, about 8 percent were hospitalized, he said. From the end of April through the beginning of June, the hospitalization rate in that group was 19 percent.

Dangerous virus variants are likely to be to blame, Dr. Delbridge said. The variant first found in Britain, now known as Alpha, is deadlier and more contagious than most others and is now dominant in the United States. Last month, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the variant, also known as B.1.1.7, made up 72 percent of U.S. cases at the time.

But vaccines have proven to be effective against the Alpha variant. A spring surge that scientists had warned of largely failed to materialize in the United States.

“I think we got lucky, to be honest,” Nathan Grubaugh, an epidemiologist at Yale University, told The New York Times last month. “We’re being rescued by the vaccine.”

Through Tuesday, about 172 million Americans had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to a Times database. But vaccine distribution across the country has slowed in recent weeks. About 1 million shots are being administered nationwide each day, down from an April peak of 3 million.

In Michigan, one of the few states that saw a surge in cases this spring, Alpha struck younger people who were returning to schools and playing contact sports.

“Because it’s more transmissible, the virus finds cracks in behavior that normally wouldn’t have been as much of a problem,” said Emily Martin, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan.

At a White House press briefing on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief Covid adviser, said the Delta variant, which was originally identified in India, was emerging as the dominant variant in Britain.

“We cannot let that happen in the United States,” Dr. Fauci said, adding that the Delta variant now accounted for 6 percent of sequenced cases in the United States.

Dr. Fauci urged young people to get vaccinated, citing a study that found that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine or the AstraZeneca vaccine appeared to be effective against the Delta variant.

One way of limiting the spread is for those who are vaccinated to wear masks around those who are not, doctors say. At least one state is making that a rule in some places: When California reopens next week, fully vaccinated colleagues working in a room together will be allowed to work maskless. But if one person is unvaccinated, everyone in the room will need to wear a mask.

“If I’m in close proximity to other people, and I don’t know their vaccination status, I put a mask on,” Dr. Delbridge said. “It’s just too easy.”

 

Hey, Surly GOP! Get vaxxed, or fuck around and find out. Spread the word among your fellow travelers. Do it for the good of the country.

B1.617.2 gonna get up in their ass if they want to fafo. 

[Captainant 27,667]

8 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

B1.617.2 gonna get up in their ass if they want to fafo. 

It's their FREEDUM to fafo. Shit, my parents have a few friends from old churches who have lost spouses to COVID and still refuse to get vaccinated. B1.617.2 is gonna fuck up those dumbasses, and then they'll point to it as proof of some conspiracy to kill people like them