CR: COVID-19 --Political Talk

[TurkeyChew 383]

5 minutes ago, Bama Chick said:

lol Bari Weiss

Jennifer Sey is full of shit.

She was fired for a lot more than what she’s now claiming and Levi’s is calling bullshittery on her claim that she was offered $1 million to keep quiet. Her and her husband tweeting a lot of COVID denial conspiracy crap and she was a guest on Laura Ingraham spewing nonsense too.

And she was a guest in a Naomi Wolfe YouTube video - Wolfe is an absolute anti-vaxxer QAnon adjacent nut job.

She’s a kook and she made herself a public kook. Levi’s gave her multiple opportunities to knock it off and she didn’t. So, she has to deal with the consequences.

In the future don’t use absolute hacks like Bari Weiss - who has been proven to twist facts and outright lie to promote her agenda.

A more balanced telling of the story -

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/business/levis-jen-sey.html

Why are you screaming me, ma’am?
 

I used her own medium article, self-written and published. Maybe she’s lying or being dishonest, but it’s her firsthand account.

That said thanks for the link, I will read it. 

[TurkeyChew 383]

37 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

This.

Someone who works for Tyson foods publishing open letters on the benefits of veganism, and open letters on how meat is murder.......you bout to lose ya job.

If you are hurting your company's bottom line, you will lose your job.  Ordinary political activity will not do that - your vote is your business.  Basic political contributions to a candidate actually running for office generally won't do it (I say generally because there are a few recent cases of actual fucking nazis winning party nominations for local offices....so, yeah, if you're writing checks to nazis, which is a matter of public record, that reflects poorly on your business).  Hell, you can feel and think lots of things.  But when you take a public position or public action, that can and does reflect on you and your business.  And if it hurts the bottom line, adios.  

Employees are just an asset that translates to dollars.  And if keeping you on is worth $X, but letting you go to buy public goodwill is worth $X+1, then a good capitalist shows your ass the door, because that $+1 is where it's at.

It's funny.  The people who whine the loudest about this are almost always the biggest champions of capitalism and the free market.  The cognitive dissonance is real.

Yes we agreed on this basic axiom, some of us begrudgingly and some of us more happily. Why do you post duplicative and re-worded opinion pieces on that which has already been established, without adding anything, like all the time? Is it your nature due to the bad lawyer blood coursing through your veins?

[TurkeyChew 383]

12 minutes ago, Bama Chick said:

lol Bari Weiss

Jennifer Sey is full of shit.

She was fired for a lot more than what she’s now claiming and Levi’s is calling bullshittery on her claim that she was offered $1 million to keep quiet. Her and her husband tweeting a lot of COVID denial conspiracy crap and she was a guest on Laura Ingraham spewing nonsense too.

And she was a guest in a Naomi Wolfe YouTube video - Wolfe is an absolute anti-vaxxer QAnon adjacent nut job.

She’s a kook and she made herself a public kook. Levi’s gave her multiple opportunities to knock it off and she didn’t. So, she has to deal with the consequences.

In the future don’t use absolute hacks like Bari Weiss - who has been proven to twist facts and outright lie to promote her agenda.

A more balanced telling of the story -

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/business/levis-jen-sey.html

Crap. Paywalled. The Capitalists win again.

[Willfully Horn 7913]

10 minutes ago, TurkeyChew said:

Why are you screaming me, ma’am?
 

I used her own medium article, self-written and published. Maybe she’s lying or being dishonest, but it’s her firsthand account.

That said thanks for the link, I will read it. 

Screaming?

Fuck off, Ivan.

Negged

[Judge Roybeanbag 11802]

12 minutes ago, TurkeyChew said:

Crap. Paywalled. The Capitalists win again.

You haven’t addressed anything man, not anything.  Do better.  Be best.  

[brakeman 28219]

This guy is TEXAS.

Edited March 26, 2022 by brakeman
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,!

[elfenix 34169]

 

my friend in china a few hours west of shanghai says they're getting strict about contact tracing and using the app. 

 

 

[brakeman 28219]

Happy!

[jimmyjazz 45538]

FDA has authorized a 2nd booster for adults 50 and older (Pfizer & Moderna).  Wait 4 months after first booster.

Booster #2

 

Free article, but I'll spoiler it regardless:

Spoiler

The Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorized a second booster shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna coronavirus vaccines for people 50 and older, a decision intended to help shore up protection against severe illness.

The shots, which can be given at least four months after a first booster dose, are not a permanent solution to the pandemic. But with a still-more-transmissible version of the omicron coronavirus variant becoming dominant in the United States, even a short-term immunity boost among those at risk of severe illness could provide a valuable layer of protection.

Tuesday’s announcement from the FDA also included an update for people who are immunocompromised. They are now eligible for an additional booster, too. Most initially received a series of three vaccinations and have already been eligible for one booster. Now, they, too, may get a second booster, meaning they can receive a total of five shots.

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The second booster for adults 50 and older and for people 12 and older who are immunocompromised is expected to become available immediately after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reaches a decision on who should get it.

The CDC is expected to say that people in the age group may get a fourth shot, instead of an explicit recommendation that they do so, a reflection of the ongoing debate about the benefits of additional doses and uncertainties about the future of the pandemic.

The BA.2 “stealth” omicron variant is expected to soon become the dominant strain. Here is what you need to know about a possible new wave of infections. (Video: Brian Monroe, John Farrell/The Washington Post, Photo: The Washington Post)
The messenger RNA boosters will be available to people regardless of which brand of coronavirus vaccine they initially received, including Johnson & Johnson recipients.

Experts, who have been inundated with questions from family members and emails from the public seeking advice, said they hoped the agency would give clear guidance to help people and health-care providers navigate the situation.

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“I’ve been getting multiple inquiries from lay friends over the past few days: ‘What does this mean, and what should I do?’ ” said John P. Moore, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York. “I find it increasingly difficult to tell friends what they should do. It’s becoming really problematic.”

The primary benefit of a fourth shot is thought to be protection against severe illness, and that risk can vary dramatically among people 50 and older. Not all experts are convinced the benefits are clear, and some have debated about whether the age cutoff should be 60 or older. A matrix of factors — including underlying health conditions, age, and time since last booster dose or infection — could play a role in what a person should consider in risk vs. benefit.

A 70-year-old with diabetes and high blood pressure, for example, who received a booster dose in October probably would be at dramatically different risk from covid-19 than a 50-year-old with no underlying health conditions. Tens of millions of people were infected with the omicron variant during the winter surge, and those people’s immune systems have been effectively boosted — so they may not need another shot now.

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Evidence in support of a fourth dose is limited and mixed, based largely on data from Israel — where people 60 and older have been able to receive a second booster shot. Israeli studies have supported the idea that an additional shot could be lifesaving for people older than 60 but have also suggested the shots will have marginal benefits for young, healthy people and offer only short-term and modest protection against getting infected.

One preprint study from Israel found a 78 percent reduction in death among people older than 60 who received a fourth shot, compared with those who received only three shots. Another preprint found a lower rate of cases of severe illness among people older than 60 but was limited, covering only a two-week period in late January.

Data included in a letter to the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine provided a more mixed picture. Among health-care workers in Israel, a fourth shot increased virus-blocking antibodies. But that boost provided little protection against infection, and people who became infected experienced few symptoms regardless of whether they had received three or four shots. Vaccinated people had relatively high amounts of virus in their nose, suggesting they could pass the infection to others.

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The Israeli data underscored that boosters’ effects are transient and that a fourth-dose strategy is a short-term approach. An Israeli preprint study published last week before peer review found that a fourth dose was 73 percent protective against severe illness compared to three doses over the course of 10 weeks of follow-up. But the protection against infection was modest and short-lived, peaking at 64 percent three weeks after the vaccination and falling to about 29 percent.

Timing the shots’ peak protection to the time of greatest risk from the virus is tricky. No one knows when future variants will emerge, and scientists are uncertain even about known threats. Infections from the BA.2 version of the omicron variant are ticking upward in the United States, but some health officials have said they don’t expect BA.2 to cause a surge. Some experts predict a surge next winter.

In terms of giving a second booster, Moore said, “Should you do it now — and in the fall? Or in the fall — and not now? This is where it gets head-spinning. What is the long-term intent, and what is the long-term policy?”

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Separate from Tuesday’s action, the FDA plans next week to convene external advisers who will debate the long-term booster dose strategy for the general population. Vaccine makers are working on shots they believe will provide more durable protection. In recent days, leaders from Pfizer, and German partner BioNTech, and Moderna have indicated they believe new versions of their vaccines, including formulations that incorporate two variants of the coronavirus, will create longer-lasting immunity.

“I think about my family — my loved ones, and what I would say. … I would probably tell them to just kind of hang back until there’s clear evidence of a rise in their area,” said Natalie Dean, a biostatistics expert at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta. “There’s something to the timing of it — and where numbers remain low and they’ve been boosted not that long ago, a few months ago, I wouldn’t go out and tell them they need that right now.”

The lack of scientific certainty may feed confusion about who should get boosted and why. Already, large swaths of people who are eligible for a third shot have not received an immunization.

Of the estimated 55.7 million people in the United States who are ages 65 and older, 88 percent are fully vaccinated and 59 percent boosted, according to CDC data. Nearly 63 million Americans are 50 to 64, with 82 percent fully vaccinated and 42 percent boosted.

Dan Keating and Lena H. Sun contributed to this report.

 

[Brisketexan 104537]

Yeah, I've got that third shot booster.  I'm not OPPOSED to a fourth shot booster, but I won't rush out and get it.  I was thinking that I'd get my next shot in the fall, and my hope is that by then, there will be a shot formulated to target the omicron variants in particular that's broadly available.  So, get boosted, but boosted as to a more targeted approach.  Kind of like we do with the flu (new formulation each year aimed at the dominant strain).

[Biff Tannen 45491]

Pinko commie rag New York Times, but still:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/health/covid-ivermectin-hospitalization.html

Quote

Ivermectin Does Not Reduce Risk of Covid Hospitalization, Large Study Finds

“At some point it will become a waste of resources to continue studying an unpromising approach,” one expert said.

Quote

The anti-parasitic drug ivermectin, which has surged in popularity as an alternative treatment for Covid-19 despite a lack of strong research to back it up, showed no sign of alleviating the disease, according to results of a large clinical trial published on Wednesday.

The study, which compared more than 1,300 people infected with the coronavirus in Brazil who received either ivermectin or a placebo, effectively ruled out the drug as a treatment for Covid, the study’s authors said.

“There’s really no sign of any benefit,” said Dr. David Boulware, an infectious-disease expert at the University of Minnesota.

 

[Jive Turkey 12567]

^^^^

shocked.  shocked i tell you.

here's a link to the study:

 

[DDD Dad 14243]

2 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Pinko commie rag New York Times, but still:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/health/covid-ivermectin-hospitalization.html

 

Ha.  Just posted this in the DT thread.

[jimmyjazz 45538]

Docs didn't use it as recommended, study cohorts were whack, where's the harm?, my cousin recovered after taking Ivermectin, etc. etc. etc.

[jimmyjazz 45538]

2 minutes ago, DDD Dad said:

Ha.  Just posted this in the DT thread.

The forum equivalent of an M80 in a small fish pond.

[wildcat09 29213]

The doctors who falsified the data sets in some of those early ivermectin studies that showed it as being 100% effective should be covered in fire ants and thrown into oubliettes.

[Anastasis 23390]

The key results were released last summer. The NEJM manuscript has all the data, and additional subgroup analyses. 

 

This is probably the table that Topol should have tweeted.

[NameAlreadyInUse 5105]

Love learning new words, thanks @wildcat09!!

[Anastasis 23390]

 

 

Broken brains for everyone!

[Serak The Preparer 3424]

1 hour ago, Anastasis said:

 

 

Broken brains for everyone!

I know I shouldn't express shock at the lack of actual content in your post, but what is the broken brain part? Are you saying Farid has the broken brain? The Ivermectin study? The fluvoxamine study? I <think> that Farid is expressing irritation irritation about the quality of journal that the respective studies were published in and not either of the actual studies. That said, I don't know (and I suspect that the vast majority of people reading this don't know) much about the relative impact that NEJM vs Lancet has. I know enough to know that, say, getting a paper published in Science or Nature is a big deal but once you go down a tier, you've lost me.

Do you think she has a point?

[Anastasis 23390]

7 hours ago, Serak The Preparer said:

Do you think she has a point?

Absolutely.  His frustration is exactly on point. The part of that post that is a bit of a head scratcher for me is the last part.  It could be interpreted as a swipe at the trialists that led the study, authored the manuscripts, and ultimately chose where to submit it, and where it got published.  If you are calling out the journal editors call them out, don't obfuscate behind the term "academia". I guess maybe that the other head scratcher is that apparently Dr. Jalali just learned about publication bias. 

7 hours ago, Serak The Preparer said:

I know I shouldn't express shock at the lack of actual content in your post, but what is the broken brain part?

That wasn't really directed at Jalali.  COVID has made obvious the failings of our public health system and various components that tie into that system.  Add perception of peer reviewed published research to the heap. It's interesting to see folks emboldened to attack the journal industry in the context of the emergence of pre-print platforms during the pandemic.    

[VRHorn 718]

That was a refreshing, informative, and mostly non-sarcastic post - pos rep.

[jimmyjazz 45538]

I'm not sure it's shocking that two journals align in publishing one study but don't on another.

[jimmyjazz 45538]

A "challenge study" in the UK reports interesting results after intentionally trying to infect 36 healthy volunteers with covid.  18 of those people became infected.

• Tiny amounts of virus, about 10 microns – the amount in a single droplet someone sneezes or coughs – can make someone sick.
• Covid-19 has a very short incubation period. It takes about two days after infection for a person to start shedding virus.
• People shed high amounts of virus before they show symptoms (confirming something epidemiologists had figured out).
• On average, the young, healthy study volunteers shed virus for 6½ days, but some shed virus for 12 days.
• Infected people can shed high levels of virus without any symptoms.
• About 40 hours after the virus was introduced, it could be detected in the back of the throat.
• It took about 58 hours for virus to show up on swabs from the nose, where it eventually grew to much higher levels.
• Lateral flow tests, the rapid at-home kind, work really well for detecting when a person is contagious. The study found that these kinds of tests could diagnose infection before 70% to 80% of viable virus had been generated.

Covid-19 challenge study

[Anastasis 23390]

1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

A "challenge study" in the UK reports interesting results after intentionally trying to infect 36 healthy volunteers with covid.  18 of those people became infected.

• Tiny amounts of virus, about 10 microns – the amount in a single droplet someone sneezes or coughs – can make someone sick.
• Covid-19 has a very short incubation period. It takes about two days after infection for a person to start shedding virus.
• People shed high amounts of virus before they show symptoms (confirming something epidemiologists had figured out).
• On average, the young, healthy study volunteers shed virus for 6½ days, but some shed virus for 12 days.
• Infected people can shed high levels of virus without any symptoms.
• About 40 hours after the virus was introduced, it could be detected in the back of the throat.
• It took about 58 hours for virus to show up on swabs from the nose, where it eventually grew to much higher levels.
• Lateral flow tests, the rapid at-home kind, work really well for detecting when a person is contagious. The study found that these kinds of tests could diagnose infection before 70% to 80% of viable virus had been generated.

Covid-19 challenge study

This is interesting.  The ethics of challenge studies were discussed a couple years back in the context of COVID vaccine testing.  Looks like a very deliberate study design, accumulation of experience with COVID and the outcomes, and the availability of therapeutics provided a path forward.  

[Anastasis 23390]

1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

I'm not sure it's shocking that two journals align in publishing one study but don't on another.

What is interesting here is that publication bias is usually discussed in terms of failure to publish negative results while positive results get trumpeted. In this case, negative results get the top tier platform and positive results get a lower tier outlet. 

[Horn Under a Bad Sign 20342]

 

[jimmyjazz 45538]

7.7% of the country infected in the same week?

That's a little disturbing.

[Bama Chick 28596]

[StassneyHorn 6535]

COVID’s over 

[StassneyHorn 6535]

Seriously why are y’all still doing this?

[jimmyjazz 45538]

You could just avoid the thread.

[Longhorn_Fan68 33831]

anyone still claiming the vaccines are dangerous should talk to this guy

 

[Neonmoon 38127]

He can get cell service underground now

[elfenix 34169]

 

Quote

Polio has reemerged in Malawi.

And yes, you should care.

The last wild polio case in the southeastern African country was 30 years ago, and polio was declared eradicated in all of Africa in 2020.

It came back. Not on a wide scale. Not in a way that will set the world afire. Yet in a way that should make us understand the importance of prevention, vigilance and vaccination — for Covid and for everything else. Diseases that we scarcely think about and no longer fear, like polio or measles, can and do re-emerge.

https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2022/03/28/polios-back-blame-covid-00020977

Edited April 4, 2022 by elfenix

[WBT 20411]

4 hours ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

anyone still claiming the vaccines are dangerous should talk to this guy

 

in a row?

[Longhorn_Fan68 33831]

1 minute ago, WBT said:

in a row?

allegedly

[jimmyjazz 45538]

"Try not to get any vaccines on the way to the parking lot."

[Biff Tannen 45491]

5 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

"Try not to get any vaccines on the way to the parking lot."

perfectly executed

[Anastasis 23390]

4 hours ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

anyone still claiming the vaccines are dangerous should talk to this guy

 

Also a useful follow when looking for tips on managing colon perforation. 

[NameAlreadyInUse 5105]

 

2 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

He can get cell service underground now

I was going through the holland tunnel this weekend and the radio signal died.  I was thinking to myself that if only the uber driver had gotten his car vaccinated, we'd have gotten to finish hearing that shittastic song that was playing on the radio.

[Longhorn_Fan68 33831]

2 hours ago, NameAlreadyInUse said:

 

I was going through the holland tunnel this weekend and the radio signal died.  I was thinking to myself that if only the uber driver had gotten his car vaccinated, we'd have gotten to finish hearing that shittastic song that was playing on the radio.

instead you had to talk to each other. the horror!

[pyrohornIII 4805]

Not sure to put this here or the graft thread.  It's a helluva read.

 

[Incredulity 11541]

https://6abc.com/philadelphia-covid-19-indoor-masking-face-mask-covid-19-philly/11738071/

Philadelphia reinstates indoor mask mandate as COVID-19 cases rise

 

 

 

[4th&Five 41457]

I’ve been to pretty much every region of the country since July and nowhere but Kauai was more Covid strict than Philly. 

Edited April 11, 2022 by 4th&Five

[Incredulity 11541]

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/11/us-state-department-orders-all-non-emergency-government-staff-in-shanghai-to-leave-as-covid-surges.html

 

The U.S. State Department has ordered all non-emergency government staff and their family members in Shanghai to leave as Covid surges and told U.S. citizens to reconsider travel to China, according to an announcement dated April 11.

“Reconsider travel to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws and COVID-19-related restrictions,” the State Department said.

[Incredulity 11541]

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/13/us-extends-mask-mandate-for-airplanes-and-transit-by-15-days.html

 

The Biden administration is extending a mask mandate for airplanes and transit for 15 days, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.

 

[landman 559]

3 hours ago, Incredulity said:

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/13/us-extends-mask-mandate-for-airplanes-and-transit-by-15-days.html

 

The Biden administration is extending a mask mandate for airplanes and transit for 15 days, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.

 

Thank goodness.  Hopefully they will keep the 24-hour test requirement when flying back into the country as well, since I'm going to Isla in a month.  

But they sure better not change the requirement of not testing anyone that walks across the border.  That would be ridiculous.

[Neonmoon 38127]

4 hours ago, landman said:

Thank goodness.  Hopefully they will keep the 24-hour test requirement when flying back into the country as well, since I'm going to Isla in a month.  

But they sure better not change the requirement of not testing anyone that walks across the border.  That would be ridiculous.

This is false
 

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/aug/13/ken-paxton/biden-administration-not-even-testing-migrants-rel/
 

Quote

COVID-19 testing protocols have existed at the border under both the present and former administrations. Testing is done via a patchwork of federal agencies, local governments, organizations and contractors at various stages of the immigration process. 

In April, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security told PolitiFact that it works with state authorities, local authorities and non-governmental organizations to ensure that "100% of noncitizens" are tested for COVID-19 "at some point during their immigration journey." The agency also has told PolitiFact that a negative coronavirus test is required by the federal government before entry to the U.S. 

"CBP takes its responsibility to prevent the spread of communicable diseases very seriously," a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson told PolitiFact in a statement. "We value our partners in local communities whose work is critical to moving individuals safely out of CBP/USBP custody and through the appropriate immigration pathway." 

 

[Skipper 6100]

19 hours ago, Incredulity said:

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/13/us-extends-mask-mandate-for-airplanes-and-transit-by-15-days.html

 

The Biden administration is extending a mask mandate for airplanes and transit for 15 days, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.

 

So we're back to "just 2 weeks" huh.  And that decision will be made at that point based on what exactly?  Just Fauci's "gut feel" SMH.  If they can't lift this now seems like they are never going to.  I know a minority opinion on this forum but the CDC/FDA has lost all credibility with respect to Covid over the past year in my mind.  This is just another decision based on zero data or science.  I feel for the airline employees that still have to enforce this nonsense.   And the alternative scares me but these policies are absolutely going to hurt this administration at the polls.  Most of my circle voted for Biden but i don't know a single person in real life that supports continued mask regulations in April of fucking 2022.

Edited April 14, 2022 by Skipper