Covid-19 miscellany

[Jimmy Higgins]

Gee, I wonder what could be causing all these excess deaths in Wales/England;

MPs have called for an urgent investigation into Britain's soaring death rates as thousands more people than usual are dying each week. Some 17,381 deaths were registered in England and Wales in the seven days to January 13 – 2,837 above average for the time of year.This is the highest number of excess deaths since 3,429 in the week to February 12, 2021, when the UK was experiencing its second wave of Covid-19 infections and vaccination had only just begun.

Daily Mail

It couldn’t possibly be…nah, couldn’t be, could it? Just need to wait on the investigation.

Conservatives like to pretend Covid isn't a big killer.

It is only ranked number 3 in the US for killing. No one knows who was ranked #3 in the college football standings. #1 is all that matters.

 

[ZiprHead]

Most Americans who get their bivalent booster vaccine are not protected against falling sick with Covid, official data suggests. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released today found the updated shots were just 48 percent effective at stopping symptomatic infection caused by the XBB.1.5 subvariant for up to three months.

Daily Mail

These “vaccines” are proving to be a bit of a bust really.

48 percent success rate against a bug it wasn't designed for sounds pretty good to me.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Most Americans who get their bivalent booster vaccine are not protected against falling sick with Covid, official data suggests. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released today found the updated shots were just 48 percent effective at stopping symptomatic infection caused by the XBB.1.5 subvariant for up to three months.

Daily Mail

These “vaccines” are proving to be a bit of a bust really.

You keep citing the Daily Fail. The vaccines are doing a pretty good job of reducing death and that's the most important yardstick.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Gee, I wonder what could be causing all these excess deaths in Wales/England;

MPs have called for an urgent investigation into Britain's soaring death rates as thousands more people than usual are dying each week. Some 17,381 deaths were registered in England and Wales in the seven days to January 13 – 2,837 above average for the time of year.This is the highest number of excess deaths since 3,429 in the week to February 12, 2021, when the UK was experiencing its second wave of Covid-19 infections and vaccination had only just begun.

Daily Mail

It couldn’t possibly be…nah, couldn’t be, could it? Just need to wait on the investigation.

Conservatives like to pretend Covid isn't a big killer.

It is only ranked number 3 in the US for killing. No one knows who was ranked #3 in the college football standings. #1 is all that matters.

It's really #1--because #1 and #2 are actually categories of many actual causes. The comparison would be to "infection", not "Covid".

 

[repoman]

If I am reading the news right, there is no plan to drop the increasingly old Wuhan strain from the boosters going forward?

Will this lead to problems from immune imprinting or original antigenic sin?

Will the body make lots of old ineffective response at the new variants and NOT mount much of a new response to them?

Do we get a many year old version of the flu vaccines at the same time as a new version? We do not.

Are these vaccine makers looking for robust antibody responses only?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

If I am reading the news right, there is no plan to drop the increasingly old Wuhan strain from the boosters going forward?

Will this lead to problems from immune imprinting or original antigenic sin?

Will the body make lots of old ineffective response at the new variants and NOT mount much of a new response to them?

Do we get a many year old version of the flu vaccines at the same time as a new version? We do not.

Are these vaccine makers looking for robust antibody responses only?

You realize you have the same antigenic sin issue in people who were infected with the older strains? Virtually everything claimed evil about the vaccines applies more so to infection.

 

[repoman]

If I am reading the news right, there is no plan to drop the increasingly old Wuhan strain from the boosters going forward?

Will this lead to problems from immune imprinting or original antigenic sin?

Will the body make lots of old ineffective response at the new variants and NOT mount much of a new response to them?

Do we get a many year old version of the flu vaccines at the same time as a new version? We do not.

Are these vaccine makers looking for robust antibody responses only?

You realize you have the same antigenic sin issue in people who were infected with the older strains? Virtually everything claimed evil about the vaccines applies more so to infection.

Yes, and I have zero chance of getting infected with the Wuhan strain now, much less in a couple years from now if they keep on injecting people with it.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

If I am reading the news right, there is no plan to drop the increasingly old Wuhan strain from the boosters going forward?

Will this lead to problems from immune imprinting or original antigenic sin?

Will the body make lots of old ineffective response at the new variants and NOT mount much of a new response to them?

Do we get a many year old version of the flu vaccines at the same time as a new version? We do not.

Are these vaccine makers looking for robust antibody responses only?

You realize you have the same antigenic sin issue in people who were infected with the older strains? Virtually everything claimed evil about the vaccines applies more so to infection.

Yes, and I have zero chance of getting infected with the Wuhan strain now, much less in a couple years from now if they keep on injecting people with it.

Because there is a train of thought that a certain portion of your immune system is hardwired for that version of the coronavirus. It was uncertain if the new Omicron bivalent would be any better due to the body already having its programming set with the original vaccine. There is no harm in having the original vaccine in there.

But I get why you need to continue gaslighting.

 

[repoman]

Why continue to deepen the rut of the body being used to the Wuhan strain vaccine?

Leave some room for immune flexibility by not poking us with ancient history from the viral point of view.

Why not take the late 2020 flu vaccine recipe in addition to the 2023 one in fall of 2023? Who would be that crazy? And it will not be offered, sensibly of course.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Why continue to deepen the rut of the body being used to the Wuhan strain vaccine?

Leave some room for immune flexibility by not poking us with ancient history from the viral point of view.

Why not take the late 2020 flu vaccine recipe in addition to the 2023 one in fall of 2023? Who would be that crazy? And it will not be offered, sensibly of course.

Just because the variants currently sweeping the world are descended from Omicron doesn't mean there can't be strains descended from the original, also.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Absence from work at record high as Americans feel strain from Covid

More than a million people have called out sick for the past three years, and CDC says long Covid probably a contributor too

www.theguardian.com

Yeah, it's the Guardian but I think their numbers are on target here. About 300k Americans disabled from long Covid--which is more than the number it killed in those age groups. From what we've seen with SARS the damage is probably permanent.

Quit thinking death is the only bad outcome!

 

[TSwizzle]

Follow the science they said, wear a mask they said;

Masks made 'little to no difference' to Covid infection or death rates, according to one of the most comprehensive meta-analyses of face coverings. The research - carried out by the Cochrane Institute, the 'gold standard' of evidence-based reviews - looked at 78 global studies involving over a million people. Results indicated that surgical masks reduced the risk of catching 'Covid or a flu-like illness' by just five percent - a figure so low it may not be statistically significant. The researchers said harms caused by masks - including hampering children's schooling - were poorly measured in the studies, meaning any small benefit on infection rates may be outweighed.

Daily Mail

There never was any science behind the mask mandates or any of the other bullshit restrictions put upon us. Never again.

 

[zorq]

Follow the science they said, wear a mask they said;

Masks made 'little to no difference' to Covid infection or death rates, according to one of the most comprehensive meta-analyses of face coverings. The research - carried out by the Cochrane Institute, the 'gold standard' of evidence-based reviews - looked at 78 global studies involving over a million people. Results indicated that surgical masks reduced the risk of catching 'Covid or a flu-like illness' by just five percent - a figure so low it may not be statistically significant. The researchers said harms caused by masks - including hampering children's schooling - were poorly measured in the studies, meaning any small benefit on infection rates may be outweighed.

Daily Mail

There never was any science behind the mask mandates or any of the other bullshit restrictions put upon us. Never again.

LOL. He quotes an article that cites science indicating the effectiveness of masks and then insists there was no science that masks were effective. You are an irony machine, sir. There has always been evidence. And the science has always supported masks. It blows my mind every time conservatives reject science. Science is your friend. It always has been. A fool refuses help from a friend. Enjoy your ridiculous culture wars and go infect some more of your dumbass anti-science family members.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Follow the science they said, wear a mask they said;

Masks made 'little to no difference' to Covid infection or death rates, according to one of the most comprehensive meta-analyses of face coverings. The research - carried out by the Cochrane Institute, the 'gold standard' of evidence-based reviews - looked at 78 global studies involving over a million people. Results indicated that surgical masks reduced the risk of catching 'Covid or a flu-like illness' by just five percent - a figure so low it may not be statistically significant. The researchers said harms caused by masks - including hampering children's schooling - were poorly measured in the studies, meaning any small benefit on infection rates may be outweighed.

Daily Mail

There never was any science behind the mask mandates or any of the other bullshit restrictions put upon us. Never again.

Mask mandates do not mean people actually complied. We've already seen that in medical contexts most infections happen away from the patients when they let down their guard.

And since when do masks hamper children's schooling?

And note "surgical masks". They were never all that effective at protecting the wearer (and without a high compliance rate they do little to protect others), for that you need respirators.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Can anyone point me at a good rebuttal to "Lies My Government Told Me?" I know it's crap, I'm just looking for the flaws distilled out.

 

[TSwizzle]

Not that I would listen to Bill Gates but even he has admitted that the vaccines are a bit of a bust during a recent talk in Australia.

Never again.

 

[lpetrich]

What makes evangelicals so sure that the pandemic isn't God's judgment on them? - Mar 08, 2022 - Adam Lee

Evangelical Christians, more than other Christian denominations, tend to believe that God sends disasters as a judgment on nations for their sin. They said so in a 2011 survey after the earthquake and tsunami that struck Fukushima. They said so during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Africa. They said so about the AIDS epidemic, 9/11, and Hurricane Katrina. They’ve said so about countless other disasters and tragedies.

Noting Prophets of Disaster by him also

They also said this about COVID—in the beginning. As one example, right-wing pastor and radio host Rick Wiles said in January 2020 that COVID-19 was a “death angel” sent by God to cleanse the world of sin. He insisted that true Christians had no need to worry, because “the blood of Jesus Christ will protect you.”

Wiles isn’t the only one. In October 2020, a Pew survey on the pandemic found that 35% of Americans believed the coronavirus was sent by God to teach the world a lesson. As the Baptist News points out, quoting author Alan Rudnick: “The 35% roughly matches up with other surveys about people who identify as evangelical Christian. It aligns with the very hardline community in our country.”

AL then asks "If the pandemic is God’s judgment, who is he punishing?"

If we assume evangelical beliefs for the sake of argument, it’s plausible that the pandemic is a warning from God for people to change their ways. However, if that’s the case… how do conservative Christians explain the fact that they’re disproportionately the ones dying from it?

According to data gathered by Charles Gaba, COVID cases and deaths in the U.S. show a strong correlation with Trump’s share of the vote (which, in turn, is highly correlated with the number of evangelical Christians living there). The reddest counties had a death rate almost six times higher than the bluest ones.

Then noting numerous COVID-denialist religious leaders who then died of it, candidates for the Herman Cain Award: Awarded… posthumously. - not only US evangelical ones, but also Orthodox ones in Greece.

 

[lpetrich]

Adam Lee: "Again, I don’t believe that COVID-19 is a judgment or a punishment on anybody."

However, Christians can’t say the same. Their religion has always postulated a hands-on deity who intervenes in nature. That goes double for conservative Christians who’ve said in the past that natural disasters are an expression of God’s displeasure.

That being so, shouldn’t they ask themselves why God sent the pandemic, and why it seems to be targeting them in particular? Could it be a stark warning to start heeding science and to cease their stubborn denial of evolution, climate change and, well, everything else? Could it be the way their beliefs about the importance of personal character did a 180-degree turn when Donald Trump became their candidate?

 

[lpetrich]

Did anti-vaxxer deaths from COVID swing elections?

The predicted red wave petered out into a red trickle. Democrats lost the House, barely, but gained a Senate seat and netted two governorships. They also flipped the Minnesota Senate, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and both chambers of the Michigan legislature. This was the first time since 1934—under FDR!—that the president’s party didn’t lose any Senate seats or state legislative chambers in the midterm.

What can explain this precedent-shattering result?

Noting
The 2022 midterms: Not a red wave but a blue wall - "This was the best midterm for the incumbent party in decades, and we have you-know-who to thank for it"

• Americans turned out against Trumpism.
• Reproductive choice was on the ballot.
• Gen Z showed up.

Nonreligious voters gave Democrats crucial wins. Will people notice?

Adam Lee then discussed a possible additional factor: more Republicans than Democrats dying of COVID-19.

 

[lpetrich]

Then mentioning that the US now has 1.1 million deaths from that virus, about 0.33% of the population.

Republican voters are more likely to be elderly, more likely to be men, more likely to live in rural areas with lower hospital capacity, and importantly, more likely to reject social distancing, masks and vaccines. All of these factors make them more susceptible to the virus. (COVID’s higher fatality rate among the elderly is well-known; it’s also more deadly to men, for reasons that are less clear.)

Counterbalancing this, COVID hit earliest and hardest in densely populated cities, which lean more Democratic. Also, Democrats are more likely to be Black or from other marginalized groups which, for historical reasons, are more likely to have comorbidities and more likely to lack access to health care.

So Democrats and Republicans died at roughly equal rates -- until vaccines became available.

Covid death rates higher among Republicans than Democrats, research shows - "Lower vaccination rates among Republicans could explain the partisan gap, but some researchers say mask use and social distancing were bigger factors."

Average excess death rates in Florida and Ohio were 76% higher among Republicans than Democrats from March 2020 to December 2021, according to a working paper released last month by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

… [The] paper found that the partisan gap in the deaths widened from April to December 2021, after all adults became eligible for Covid vaccines. Excess death rates in Florida and Ohio were 153% higher among Republicans than Democrats during that time, the paper showed.

Then calculating that that 76% figure means on average 1.76 Republicans dying for every Democrat dying, or 7 Republicans for each 4 Democrats.

Self-styled independents? Most of them lean strongly to one party or the other: Few Americans Who Identify As Independent Are Actually Independent. That’s Really Bad For Politics. | FiveThirtyEight