Covid-19 miscellany

[TSwizzle]

It does show you have no basis to say,

I say "Banning unvaccinated from anywhere does nothing to "stop the spread" because the spread of covid is extremely high. Most people are either vaccinated (roughly 70%?) or have already contracted covid and yet case numbers are through the roof with many vaccinated among them. So yeah, the vaccine helps keep people out of hospital but stopping the spread? A bit of a bust.

 

[crazyfingers]

Massachusetts sets a minimum number of school days for "in person" learning. If you use up your snow days, the school year gets extended, or holidays get bumped.
Today, three schools in town are closed due to not having enough teachers to safely operate. Mass won't allow remote learning to count towards fulfilling the school days minimum. So, Snovid closings are going to end up being June school days.

Yup. I still have one kid in the public schools and cases are spiking but they can't go remote even for a week. It's stupid especially when if a kid has a fever or a cough the kid is sent home to get a PCR test which can take a week to schedule and get the results. Some cold is going around too. My kid had a fever and it took a week to get the results back which were Negative. In the meantime he lost a week of school. That's happening to more and more kids. The school won't let us prove he's negative using a home test so he misses out and they won't let him be remote.

In the meantime 66 kids from the high school are out with confirmed Covid which means that at least that many kids are still in the schools asymptomatic just spreading it. And there are probably another pile of kids out who don't have covid but can't go to school until they get their negative tests back.

They need to allow for remote and they need to have rapid tests in the schools.

It's all just going to blow up.

The Massachusetts Education Commissioner is a dolt and Charlie Baker has checked out.

 

[blastula]

It does show you have no basis to say,

I say "Banning unvaccinated from anywhere does nothing to "stop the spread" because the spread of covid is extremely high. Most people are either vaccinated (roughly 70%?) or have already contracted covid and yet case numbers are through the roof with many vaccinated among them.

Again, you have no basis to say they're the same or close to the same number of cases among vaccinated and unvaccinated.

So yeah, the vaccine helps keep people out of hospital but stopping the spread? A bit of a bust.

Even if they were the same numbers for the past month, are you unaware of when vaccinations began?

Again, why do you hate science?

 

[TSwizzle]

Again, you have no basis to say they're the same or close to the same number of cases among vaccinated and unvaccinated.

I explained twice already.

Again, why do you hate science?

Are you a parrot? Why do you keep repeating yourself.

Jog on.

 

[blastula]

Again, you have no basis to say they're the same or close to the same number of cases among vaccinated and unvaccinated.

I explained twice already.

You failed twice.

Again, why do you hate science?

Are you a parrot? Why do you keep repeating yourself.

Jog on.

You you keep repeating falsehoods here and I'm asking why. It is a mystery why. I mean, i do have a good idea why, but am trying to give you an opportunity to explain yourself.

And it's noted that you didn't even bother to answer,

Even if they were the same numbers for the past month, are you unaware of when vaccinations began?

 

[TSwizzle]

You failed twice.

That's on you fella.

Now seriously, jog on.

 

[TSwizzle]

California has extended its indoor mask mandate until February 15 after a surge in Covid-19 omicron cases but the Super Bowl will go ahead. The State Health and Human Services Secretary, Dr Mark Ghaly, made the announcement yesterday just days after a new CDC report suggested using cloth masks are ineffective. And despite criminal and federal court cases being put on hold in a bid to stop the spread of Covid, the Super Bowl will not be cancelled.

Daily Mail

If the powers at be were really concerned about the spread of a virus, why would they allow the SB to be staged in Los Angeles? And why would they extend face covering when it has done nothing to "stop the spread"?

 

[Toni]

You failed twice.

That's on you fella.

Now seriously, jog on.

Nah, the failure is yours, whether you own it or not. But it's easy to see that you're not actually big on accepting responsibility.

 

[jab]

She needs to come up with a brilliant excuse

An excuse for what?

Let's see if you can come up with something brilliant.

An excuse for her non-essential travel to a state that she has been beating on for its unsafe covid protocols. Its just bad optics on her part, and its hard to imagine how she did not have the foresight to see the hypocrisy and brew haha to come. As a minimum, she could have at least put a mask on to show she is serious about not spreading the virus, instead of joining the "plague rats".

Her Twitter responses to her critics have not helped her situation. Talking about how they are all sexually frustrated that they can't date her, etc. Its like something you would hear from a narcisstic high school sophomore, not a member of the United States Congress.

I agree--my husband, who works in California, has family in Florida, and he didn't go visit them this holiday season--nor could he get up north to see me. He was very cautious, and spent the season alone. Cortez had a boyfriend to spend time with, and they should have spent the time elsewhere--like maybe sheltering in place in her home district.
It's disgusting to see partisanship and hero-worship preventing people from criticizing bad actions and bad judgment by someone they generally support.

 

[TSwizzle]

{snip} But it's easy to see that you're not actually big on accepting responsibility.

And you are definitely not big on accepting reality.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

As long as you don't work in the personal health care industry, nursing homes, or schools and exclude variants caused because of unvax'd spread of the disease.

The vaccinated are getting the disease and also spreading it.

You do realize what context is, right? That the spread of alpha (which didn't seem to be transmissible to the vaccinated) by the unvaccinated helped lead to variants like Delta and Omicron which can now be caught and spread by the vaccinated.

And some vaccinated do end up in hospital. The response to ban unvaccinated from social life is disproportionate to the actual circumstances.

A magnitude less end up in the hospital. Your comment is akin to saying people wearing seatbelts get hurt in car accidents too.

Vaccination no longer is a big stop in the spread of the disease. For that, we need distance and best practices. But people gave up, and any attempt to pull back on activities will be met with an incredible amount of anger and likely violence. So, you folks got your way. Fuck it! Fait accompli. Let the US get entirely infected with Covid. Sure, the hospitals are filling up again, and ERs in some places have been packed since December, we can't interfere with the alt-right's desire to do whatever they want and blame other people for the consequences.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

She needs to come up with a brilliant excuse

An excuse for what?

Let's see if you can come up with something brilliant.

An excuse for her non-essential travel to a state that she has been beating on for its unsafe covid protocols. Its just bad optics on her part, and its hard to imagine how she did not have the foresight to see the hypocrisy and brew haha to come. As a minimum, she could have at least put a mask on to show she is serious about not spreading the virus, instead of joining the "plague rats".

Her Twitter responses to her critics have not helped her situation. Talking about how they are all sexually frustrated that they can't date her, etc. Its like something you would hear from a narcisstic high school sophomore, not a member of the United States Congress.

I agree--my husband, who works in California, has family in Florida, and he didn't go visit them this holiday season--nor could he get up north to see me. He was very cautious, and spent the season alone. Cortez had a boyfriend to spend time with, and they should have spent the time elsewhere--like maybe sheltering in place in her home district.
It's disgusting to see partisanship and hero-worship preventing people from criticizing bad actions and bad judgment by someone they generally support.

Less hero worship, more anti-Government saying anything sort of dogma. From Common Core to Vaccination, if the Government has any role in it, it must be evil.

Our nation is beginning to drown in spite.

 

[jab]

Pandemic? What pandemic?

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has long been an advocate for mask-wearing during the pandemic was spotted partying in Miami on Sunday without a face covering altogether as she socialized with actor Billy Porter. The New York congresswoman who has been in Miami since before the new year, appeared to be continuing her vacation in the Sunshine State at a packed drag bar event in the city.

Daily Mail

This crap again?? What they are conveniently failing to mention is that the relevant photo is outdoors. The reich wing is knowingly deceiving by not telling the whole story.

She was outdoors, yes, but also maskless and giving handshakes and prolonged close hugs to various randos. So, much for the 6' social distancing and avoiding skin contact. Or did that part of covid control protocols go away?

good point.

 

[TSwizzle]

You do realize what context is, right? That the spread of alpha (which didn't seem to be transmissible to the vaccinated) by the unvaccinated helped lead to variants like Delta and Omicron which can now be caught and spread by the vaccinated.

The mutations were in the mail long before vaccines were rolled out.

A magnitude less end up in the hospital.

It appears significantly fewer vaccinated end up in hospital than vaccinated do. However, it is questionable as to the magnitude.

Vaccination no longer is a big stop in the spread of the disease.

Careful Jimmy, you are going against the orthodoxy on here.

For that, we need distance and best practices. But people gave up, and any attempt to pull back on activities will be met with an incredible amount of anger and likely violence.

Male bovine excrement.

So, you folks got your way.

Not until all the draconian mandates are lifted and emergency powers revoked.

 

[jab]

Indeed. The phrase, "I told you so," has to be one of the most useless things a person can say, especially to someone grieving the loss of a loved one.

Yep, and yet we get people here giving a thumbs up like on these death notices.

The death of an evil fool and politician who spread misinformation and then got sick and died from what they pooh-poohed is salutary.

 

[Angry Floof]

There is no doubt that vaccines work to save lives and reduce suffering due to covid. How the fuck is this even still a question? (Don't answer that. We already know the answer.)

Rising cases is due to omicron spreading faster. Delta and previous rose on a slant. Omicron has risen almost straight up. It spreads faster.

The vast majority of cases in hospitals (90+%) are unvaccinated. The unvaxxed suffer more severe symptoms or death and at a younger age than fully vaxxed, and cases of death and severe symptoms among the vaxxed tend to be older and complicated by other conditions. Hospitals experiencing problems due to being overwhelmed with covid cases are now almost exclusively unvaxxed. And breakthrough cases among the vaxxed are less contagious.

“Breakthrough” COVID-19 Hospitalizations Among Fully Vaccinated Patients Occur Most Often among Older Adults and Involve People with Chronic Health Conditions | KFF

“Breakthrough” hospitalizations involving COVID-19 among people who are fully vaccinated against the disease most often affected older adults and people with other chronic health conditions, finds a new analysis of hospital data from June through September by KFF and Epic Research. More than...

www.kff.org

Unvaccinated COVID-19 hospitalizations cost billions of dollars - Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker

COVID-19 vaccines have been free and broadly available to adults in all states and the District of Columbia since mid-April 2021, meaning adults in the U.S. have generally been able to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 since late May 2021 if receiving a two-dose vaccine. COVID-19 vaccines are...

www.healthsystemtracker.org

Vaccinated who get breakthrough infections less contagious

Breakthrough COVID-19 cases in vaccinated people may be less likely to spread infection because virus is shed for a shorter period of time as opposed to infections in unvaccinated people.

news.harvard.edu

Vaccinations work.
Vaccinations reduce the number of infections.
Vaccinations reduce the rate of contagion even in breakthrough cases.
Vaccinations reduce severity of symptoms.
Vaccinations reduce the load on healthcare systems and workers.

How is any of this even in question? Denial that vaccinations work to save lives and reduce suffering due to covid is fucking stupid, and way stupider now than in the early days of vaccine availability when president stupid was a superspreader of stupid and with less information. Even with less information at the time, that information contradicted all the stupid.

You have to really work to wall yourself off in a cell of right wing conspiracy theory anti-vax stupid to avoid the reality that vaccines work to save lives and reduce suffering due to covid. And by the way, so does wearing masks and distancing. But I'm betting that anti-vax trogs don't even wash their fucking hands. If only covid selectively killed just the stupid before they have a chance to spread it. If only.

 

[Elixir]

What about my freedom to be a plague rat?
Australia has a surge so vaccines and masks don’t work. Stupid RULES!!!

Seriously it’s too late. Evolution will take care of this eventually. Meanwhile, watch out for yourself and your family.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Health officials in Europe nervous about CDC changing protocol for isolation with Omicron, like anyone cares.

BARCELONA, Spain — Just hours after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Dec. 27 that it was slashing the isolation time for people who test positive for COVID-19, European governments scrambled to follow the U.S. health agency’s lead.

Mirroring the new edict, Greece cut the requisite days of self-confinement from 10 to five days, a move followed by the Czech Republic. Portugal and Ireland likewise fell in line, like Spain lessening isolation periods for those with COVID-19 to a week.

The stakes surrounding the CDC’s decision are high in Europe, which last week reported over 5 million cases of the disease caused by exposure to the coronavirus. With the Omicron variant continuing its breathtaking spread, this week Europe accounted for 57 percent of the world’s confirmed new COVID cases, shattering all previous case records, resulting in labor shortages, disruptions to public transport and overburdened hospitals. That help explains why many European government officials quickly jumped on the CDC bandwagon, not only shortening isolation periods but many also controversially scrapping the need for a negative test before someone can return to public life.

With cases in the US so "fucking" (the CDC's words not mine... okay, it was mine) high, we don't have enough test kits. If you have 500,000 positives, at 25% positive, that means you are testing... carry the pi.... 14 million people in a week. That would mean 14 million tests to determine if someone is positive and would require another 14 million down the road to confirm negative. To misquote the CDC, that is "a fucking lot" of tests.

So the CDC is adjusting to deal with the reality that is Omicron now, and seeing no one gives a fuck anymore about not spreading the virus, the CDC probably just said "forget it". Add to that the problems large organizations (airlines, emergency, right-wing media) are facing with 10 day isolation periods and needing negative tests, CDC is straddling science and national logistics.

The good news is we should have a lot more tests coming in soon, right after the peak has passed.

 

[blastula]

You failed twice.

That's on you fella.

Now seriously, jog on.

I'll stop pointing out your bs when you stop spraying it.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

On the lighter side, WHO says the Winter Olympics in China should be fine.

Given the prevention measures put into place by China for the upcoming Winter Olympics, the World Health Organization does not expect increased Covid-19 transmission associated with the games, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program, said Thursday.

Yeah... sure! China can't exactly close Olympic Village and have the Olympics on-going. I'm personally curious about hockey and who is even playing in it.