Covid-19 miscellany

[lpetrich]

Virginians smackdown Republican Youngkin's ban on masks in schools despite parents demanding them - Raw Story - Celebrating 17 Years of Independent Journalism

New Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) began his new job by ensuring that all masks mandates would be banned in schools regardless of what the community and parents want.

Speaking to the press on Sunday, Youngkin was asked about the Arlington school district still requiring masks regardless of what the governor says. Arlington County voted 76.7 percent against Youngkin despite his campaign pledge to kill masks in schools.

Youngkin said that clearly, the schools didn't listen to what parents wanted, assuming that the parents in Arlington don't want the mask mandate.

Arlington County voted 76.7 percent against Youngkin despite his campaign pledge to kill masks in schools.

...
Virginia parents online are already annoyed with Youngkin for ignoring their hope to keep their children safe.

The next several weeks should provide essential data on the effectiveness of masks in schools as they're removed and the virus spreads. Many cities in Texas, and around the country have been forced to close in part because so many students are out with COVID but more, so many teachers are out with the virus and they don't have access to enough people willing to step in to be substitute teachers.

Two other cities have joined Arlington in the effort, Richmond and Alexandria.

Nick Freitas Paperwork on Twitter: "Youngkin reveals his day 2 plan of more government control.
Arlington Parents: we want a mask mandate
Arlington School Board: mask mandate
Governor: we will use every resource to ensure that Arlington parents can’t have a mask mandate" / Twitter

During the campaign. GY claimed to support parents. But many of the "concerned parents" featured in his campaign were Republican activists.

Jim E-H on Twitter: "@JohnO0Connor @KagroX In VA, plenty of them were not just random Fox-watchers -- lots of longtime GOP operatives live in Northern VA, and they spoke as "concerned parents" and created "grassroots organizations" with billionaire money to get their Republican neighbors to join in." / Twitter

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

So in Ontario


Can you ridicule these people without making taking that sometimes justified invective and stop before you tarnish medicines that in the long term, like fluvoxamine, will work reasonably well?

I feel that we are lucky that not too many of the conspiracy peddlers went and got crazy about fluvoxamine or else self righteous hyper vaccine supporters would find ways to use that to keep it from being used.

Also monoclonal antibodies are not susceptible to political smearing, fortunately. There is a question as to the right ones for omicron, but in principle rabid anti-antivaxxers are not ridiculing their use.

Vaccine supporters aren't going to go after fluvoxamine because it's not bunk. It's your side that attacks things purely because of who proposed them.

Honestly, how fucked up are things when there are terms like "vaccine supporters". That'd be like "aspirin supporters" for headache relief.

 

[barbos]

Read interesting thought about omicron variant elsewhere.
Omicron is apparently less deadly but if you get to hospital you won't be separated from delta patients and could get infected with it and die as a result.

 

[lpetrich]

Arlington Public Schools on Twitter: "@APSVirginia will maintain our current mask requirement for students, staff and visitors. Masks required inside our facilities and on school buses. Full post (link)" / Twitter
noting
No Change to Current APS Mask Requirements – Masks Required Inside on School Grounds and on Buses - Arlington Public Schools

"Arlington Public Schools will continue to require all staff and students to wear masks inside on school grounds and on buses, as part of our layered approach to safety. Universal mask use has proven effective in keeping COVID-19 transmission rates low in our schools and ensuring schools remain safe and open."

Nick Iannelli on Twitter: "Exclusive: Governor Youngkin on Arlington school system saying it will require masks, despite Youngkin’s order stating that schools can’t do that. He threatened to use state resources to force schools to comply - but we still don’t know what that means exactly. @WTOP (vid link)" / Twitter

 

[Harry Bosch]

Read interesting thought about omicron variant elsewhere.
Omicron is apparently less deadly but if you get to hospital you won't be separated from delta patients and could get infected with it and die as a result.

Well, the hospitals are completely full right now. Now is not a good time to go to the hospital for anything.

 

[barbos]

Read interesting thought about omicron variant elsewhere.
Omicron is apparently less deadly but if you get to hospital you won't be separated from delta patients and could get infected with it and die as a result.

Well, the hospitals are completely full right now. Now is not a good time to go to the hospital for anything.

True, it's better be healthy and rich (russian proverb)
But they keep non-covid patients separated from covid one.
The point is, they need to separate omicron from delta too.

 

[lpetrich]

Ron DeSantis' is playing a 'game of chicken' with the Supreme Court and it won't end well for him: legal analyst - Raw Story - Celebrating 17 Years of Independent Journalism

Reacting to a report that Gov. Ron DeSantis has made clear that he will defy a Supreme Court ruling favoring the Biden administration's mandatory vaccination policy for health care workers, a legal expert on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" said the Florida Republican's decision will not end well for him.

Last week, the governor's press secretary issued a statement reading, "The state of Florida is not going to serve as the Biden Administration’s biomedical police. Firing unvaccinated healthcare workers, many of whom have infection-conferred immunity, is unethical and unscientific on its face.”

...
"With this game of chicken that DeSantis is setting up with Supreme Court, with going to continue with this, what you are doing is putting that in peril," he continued. "Like you said, I don't know whether it's about political expediency or trying to do something that will rile his base up in terms of generating funds or donors, donations and things of that nature, or something he's sort of intending to blaze a trail in this regard. But I don't think it's going to end well. There are too many provisions and cases that say the Supreme Court has the last say. It's not necessarily that they are last because they are always right, they are always right because they are always last."

 

[Harry Bosch]

Ron DeSantis' is playing a 'game of chicken' with the Supreme Court and it won't end well for him: legal analyst - Raw Story - Celebrating 17 Years of Independent Journalism

Reacting to a report that Gov. Ron DeSantis has made clear that he will defy a Supreme Court ruling favoring the Biden administration's mandatory vaccination policy for health care workers, a legal expert on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" said the Florida Republican's decision will not end well for him.

Last week, the governor's press secretary issued a statement reading, "The state of Florida is not going to serve as the Biden Administration’s biomedical police. Firing unvaccinated healthcare workers, many of whom have infection-conferred immunity, is unethical and unscientific on its face.”

...
"With this game of chicken that DeSantis is setting up with Supreme Court, with going to continue with this, what you are doing is putting that in peril," he continued. "Like you said, I don't know whether it's about political expediency or trying to do something that will rile his base up in terms of generating funds or donors, donations and things of that nature, or something he's sort of intending to blaze a trail in this regard. But I don't think it's going to end well. There are too many provisions and cases that say the Supreme Court has the last say. It's not necessarily that they are last because they are always right, they are always right because they are always last."

Yikes. It's either going to be Desantis or Trump who will win the republican nomination in 24. Scary...

 

[repoman]

This is a long twitter thread that makes me wonder what kind of treatment along the way can reduce these effects from covid for patients.



It puts this January 10, 2022 preprint paper that the twitter use was part of into context

Mild respiratory SARS-CoV-2 infection can cause multi-lineage cellular dysregulation and myelin loss in the brain

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Ron DeSantis' is playing a 'game of chicken' with the Supreme Court and it won't end well for him: legal analyst - Raw Story - Celebrating 17 Years of Independent Journalism

Reacting to a report that Gov. Ron DeSantis has made clear that he will defy a Supreme Court ruling favoring the Biden administration's mandatory vaccination policy for health care workers, a legal expert on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" said the Florida Republican's decision will not end well for him.

Last week, the governor's press secretary issued a statement reading, "The state of Florida is not going to serve as the Biden Administration’s biomedical police. Firing unvaccinated healthcare workers, many of whom have infection-conferred immunity, is unethical and unscientific on its face.”

...
"With this game of chicken that DeSantis is setting up with Supreme Court, with going to continue with this, what you are doing is putting that in peril," he continued. "Like you said, I don't know whether it's about political expediency or trying to do something that will rile his base up in terms of generating funds or donors, donations and things of that nature, or something he's sort of intending to blaze a trail in this regard. But I don't think it's going to end well. There are too many provisions and cases that say the Supreme Court has the last say. It's not necessarily that they are last because they are always right, they are always right because they are always last."

Of course, with SCOTUS ruling on it, it becomes a two-footer putt for Hospital lawyers to tell DeSantis to "Fuck off".

 

[Jarhyn]

This is a long twitter thread that makes me wonder what kind of treatment along the way can reduce these effects from covid for patients.



It puts this January 10, 2022 preprint paper that the twitter use was part of into context

Mild respiratory SARS-CoV-2 infection can cause multi-lineage cellular dysregulation and myelin loss in the brain

Vaccination. Masking. Smoking weed (seriously!).

Or IOW, not getting COVID and not doing things that spread it, and doing things that reduce your likelihood of catching it, is the best way to reduce the effects of COVID: by reducing the spread.

 

[Metaphor]

"Arlington Public Schools will continue to require all staff and students to wear masks inside on school grounds and on buses, as part of our layered approach to safety. Universal mask use has proven effective in keeping COVID-19 transmission rates low in our schools and ensuring schools remain safe and open."

How have they made that determination? Was there a quasi-experimental field study?

 

[Harry Bosch]

"Arlington Public Schools will continue to require all staff and students to wear masks inside on school grounds and on buses, as part of our layered approach to safety. Universal mask use has proven effective in keeping COVID-19 transmission rates low in our schools and ensuring schools remain safe and open."

How have they made that determination? Was there a quasi-experimental field study?

There are gazillions of such studies. Covid is viral. It's transmitted by our air particles that are exhaled by our breath. A person breathing normal (not singing for example) can expel air particles about 7 feet around a typical person. A mask, based on it's effectiveness, can reduce this to around 3 or 4 feet. I personally witnessed such a test performed by an engineering company for the federal government. But you can find many such studies on the internet. (Please excuse the fact that I'm not an engineer or a scientist and am not describing this well).

 

[crazyfingers]

"Arlington Public Schools will continue to require all staff and students to wear masks inside on school grounds and on buses, as part of our layered approach to safety. Universal mask use has proven effective in keeping COVID-19 transmission rates low in our schools and ensuring schools remain safe and open."

How have they made that determination? Was there a quasi-experimental field study?

First hit on first google search. Do you ever even try?

Coronavirus Disease 2019

CDC provides credible COVID-19 health information to the U.S.

www.cdc.gov

Association Between K–12 School Mask...

This report describes Arizona school associated COVID-19 outbreaks higher in schools without mask requirements than in schools with mask requirements.

www.cdc.gov

 

[Metaphor]

"Arlington Public Schools will continue to require all staff and students to wear masks inside on school grounds and on buses, as part of our layered approach to safety. Universal mask use has proven effective in keeping COVID-19 transmission rates low in our schools and ensuring schools remain safe and open."

How have they made that determination? Was there a quasi-experimental field study?

First hit on first google search. Do you ever even try?

Coronavirus Disease 2019

CDC provides credible COVID-19 health information to the U.S.

www.cdc.gov

Association Between K–12 School Mask...

This report describes Arizona school associated COVID-19 outbreaks higher in schools without mask requirements than in schools with mask requirements.

www.cdc.gov

It is the person making a positive assertion that is required to furnish evidence, not the audience.

EDIT: I initially took a narrow reading of 'in our schools' (meaning the schools in Arlington Public Schools) which is what my request was based on. But the speaker may have intended a wider meaning of 'our' (such as the state or country).

 

[crazyfingers]

"Arlington Public Schools will continue to require all staff and students to wear masks inside on school grounds and on buses, as part of our layered approach to safety. Universal mask use has proven effective in keeping COVID-19 transmission rates low in our schools and ensuring schools remain safe and open."

How have they made that determination? Was there a quasi-experimental field study?

First hit on first google search. Do you ever even try?

Coronavirus Disease 2019

CDC provides credible COVID-19 health information to the U.S.

www.cdc.gov

Association Between K–12 School Mask...

This report describes Arizona school associated COVID-19 outbreaks higher in schools without mask requirements than in schools with mask requirements.

www.cdc.gov

It is the person making a positive assertion that is required to furnish evidence, not the audience.

I think it's more someone ridiculously questioning the obvious as a stupid make'work exercise for others.

 

[Metaphor]

"Arlington Public Schools will continue to require all staff and students to wear masks inside on school grounds and on buses, as part of our layered approach to safety. Universal mask use has proven effective in keeping COVID-19 transmission rates low in our schools and ensuring schools remain safe and open."

How have they made that determination? Was there a quasi-experimental field study?

First hit on first google search. Do you ever even try?

Coronavirus Disease 2019

CDC provides credible COVID-19 health information to the U.S.

www.cdc.gov

Association Between K–12 School Mask...

This report describes Arizona school associated COVID-19 outbreaks higher in schools without mask requirements than in schools with mask requirements.

www.cdc.gov

It is the person making a positive assertion that is required to furnish evidence, not the audience.

I think it's more someone ridiculously questioning the obvious as a stupid make'work exercise for others.

It is not 'obvious'. The advice on masking has changed throughout the pandemic, from 'security theatre' to 'a good idea' to 'absolutely essential' back to 'security theatre' (for cloth masks).

I suppose you are the arbiter of what statements are 'obvious' and what questions around them are 'ridiculous'.

 

[crazyfingers]

"Arlington Public Schools will continue to require all staff and students to wear masks inside on school grounds and on buses, as part of our layered approach to safety. Universal mask use has proven effective in keeping COVID-19 transmission rates low in our schools and ensuring schools remain safe and open."

How have they made that determination? Was there a quasi-experimental field study?

First hit on first google search. Do you ever even try?

Coronavirus Disease 2019

CDC provides credible COVID-19 health information to the U.S.

www.cdc.gov

Association Between K–12 School Mask...

This report describes Arizona school associated COVID-19 outbreaks higher in schools without mask requirements than in schools with mask requirements.

www.cdc.gov

It is the person making a positive assertion that is required to furnish evidence, not the audience.

I think it's more someone ridiculously questioning the obvious as a stupid make'work exercise for others.

It is not 'obvious'. The advice on masking has changed throughout the pandemic, from 'security theatre' to 'a good idea' to 'absolutely essential' back to 'security theatre' (for cloth masks).

I suppose you are the arbiter of what statements are 'obvious' and what questions around them are 'ridiculous'.

That's just stupid. Masks are better than no masks. Better masks are better than crappy masks. Just because Omicron if forcing better masks is no reason to question that schools that require masking would do better than those that don't or can't require masks in similar environmental situations

 

[Metaphor]

"Arlington Public Schools will continue to require all staff and students to wear masks inside on school grounds and on buses, as part of our layered approach to safety. Universal mask use has proven effective in keeping COVID-19 transmission rates low in our schools and ensuring schools remain safe and open."

How have they made that determination? Was there a quasi-experimental field study?

First hit on first google search. Do you ever even try?

Coronavirus Disease 2019

CDC provides credible COVID-19 health information to the U.S.

www.cdc.gov

Association Between K–12 School Mask...

This report describes Arizona school associated COVID-19 outbreaks higher in schools without mask requirements than in schools with mask requirements.

www.cdc.gov

It is the person making a positive assertion that is required to furnish evidence, not the audience.

I think it's more someone ridiculously questioning the obvious as a stupid make'work exercise for others.

It is not 'obvious'. The advice on masking has changed throughout the pandemic, from 'security theatre' to 'a good idea' to 'absolutely essential' back to 'security theatre' (for cloth masks).

I suppose you are the arbiter of what statements are 'obvious' and what questions around them are 'ridiculous'.

That's just stupid. Masks are better than no masks. Better masks are better than crappy masks. Just because Omicron if forcing better masks is no reason to question that schools that require masking would do better than those that don't or can't require masks in similar environmental situations

I didn't question the study. I haven't read it properly to critique it. I asked for the source of evidence.

Really, this level of hostility to a polite question isn't useful.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

"Arlington Public Schools will continue to require all staff and students to wear masks inside on school grounds and on buses, as part of our layered approach to safety. Universal mask use has proven effective in keeping COVID-19 transmission rates low in our schools and ensuring schools remain safe and open."

How have they made that determination? Was there a quasi-experimental field study?

Your side is asking for evidence that can't be ethically obtained. Thus all you're going to see are those "quasi-experimental" studies. There are a lot of things in medicine that can't be proven to rigorous standards.