Covid-19 miscellany

[Swammerdami]

The WSJ piece is complete bullshit and is anti-vax territory, a justification for ending most mandatory vaccinations. Reducing hospitalizations is and has always been critical.

It's that most effective of lies, the partial truth.
The vaccine is not a magic bullet, making the vaccinated invulnerably immune. Our best method of fighting the virus, and all the attendant problems, is herd immunity. That requires a high level of vaccination across the population.

Writing that article, without mentioning that truth, is a lie.
Tom

It was not at all long ago that The Wall Street Journal was generally regarded as a crown jewel of American journalism. Now it seems to be just another part of the Right-Whinge Bullshit Machine. The intellectual dishonesty of the QOP and its allies is disgusting. Several months ago I demonstrated that a piece from AEI — supposedly a top-notch "think" tank — was guilty of the most blatant scientific fraud I've ever seen in any article which represented itself as research.

And do we not hear an Infidel in this very thread adopt the "syllogism":
. . . If ONE person gets Covid-19 after vaccination then that vaccination provides ZERO protection for EVERYBODY.
??!?!?!?!?!?!?

Heaven help America.

 

[repoman]

There is so much motivated reasoning and selective presentation of data going on, so I will now go against my druthers and present a perspective that shows covid as very serious even though I don't want it to be.




also:


Also, the heparin brouhaha between Metaphor and Loren is par for the course for being unproductive with good data. We need to move heaven and earth to work on the clotting aspect of covid, especially since omicron even with much less lung issues is still a clotting disaster for the unlucky not few enough.

Clotting, clotting, clotting. Keep repeating it until moves the needle.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Let's review: Students spend about 8 hours in school of which about 30 minutes is eating and drinking. They take off mask when eating lunch and drinking for that time. They mask when getting up to leave room etc etc. Meanwhile, persons in restaurants mask up, then when sitting with the purpose of eating and drinking for about an hour, they remove mask, but if they get up to use a bathroom or whatever, they mask again...like they do in school. Largely consistent policy.

The real problem here is that it seems silly to wear a mask for 10 seconds, then unmask for an hour, then mask up again for 10 seconds, not that school and restaurants are largely inconsistent, because they actually are largely consistent. Further, what people ought to do is minimize going to restaurants but when they do go to restaurants that structurally reduce transmission, such as outdoor seating, spacing out tables and people well, good ventilation, protective barriers, masked and vaxxed employees, etc.

It has been known from the beginning that Covid has little affect on kids. The infection fatality rate for those aged 5 to 9 is less than 0.001 percent. Adults can get vaccinated. There is no benefit to anyone to treat children like lepers; denying them their childhood because some selfish neurotic adults can’t break from their Covid cult. As for your restaurant recommendations: you wear a mask alone in the car, right?

The persons under discussion are taking into account the transmission of infection and other side effects to both children and those they could pass it to, as well as the fatality rates of all involved, adults and children. As for your cult commentary: you wear a mask on your chin because it's a sex toy, right?

 

[ZiprHead]

Don't google chin dildo.

 

[barbos]

Australia COVID - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer

Australia Coronavirus update with statistics and graphs: total and new cases, deaths per day, mortality and recovery rates, current active cases, recoveries, trends and timeline.

www.worldometers.info

Looks like Australia is having rather quick and remarkable turnaround.
I don't think it's natural immunity, so it's possible to slow down omicron through measures without waiting for it to expire on its own.

 

[bilby]

Australia COVID - Coronavirus Statistics - Worldometer

Australia Coronavirus update with statistics and graphs: total and new cases, deaths per day, mortality and recovery rates, current active cases, recoveries, trends and timeline.

www.worldometers.info

Looks like Australia is having rather quick and remarkable turnaround.
I don't think it's natural immunity, so it's possible to slow down omicron through measures without waiting for it to expire on its own.

There are fewer people going to work in Brisbane than there were during the last official lockdown. The streets are empty, and I am driving tiny numbers of passengers even on peak hour buses.

I don't know firsthand about the other major cities, but certainly here in Brisvegas, the people have taken matters into their own hands, and are working from home and avoiding pubs, bars, restaurants and theatres.


Economic data suggests that this is a nationwide phenomenon.

https://amp.abc.net.au/article/100744990

No state or territory around the country is in lockdown, but the economic data coming through now indicates millions of Australians are behaving as if a nation-wide lockdown is in place.

Masks remain mandatory in many settings, and proof of vaccination is required for many venues and some workplaces.

Covid testing centres are very busy, and people who test positive are required to isolate, so some of this pseudo-lockdown is due to the large number of people contracting the virus and them and their families and close contacts staying home as a consequence.

 

[Elixir]

The streets are empty, and I am driving tiny numbers of passengers even on peak hour buses.

Thought you were driving a "reefer". ???

ETA: I guess that would explain the low number of passengers...

 

[barbos]

bilby, good for you. I wish people here were like you.

 

[blastula]

Welp, so it happened. ... -- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Instagram

Welp, so it happened. Got COVID, probably omicron. As of today I am thankfully recovered and wrapping up quarantine, but COVID was no joke. For a while I’ve noted the term “mild” is misleading when the bar is hospitalization and death. Even “mild” cases can result in long COVID, which includes a range of conditions like cognitive impairment, POTS, & chronic fatigue. This isn’t to be a downer or induce fear, just a reminder that we need to be careful (N95s in crowded indoor spaces like stores)

And keep masked around others and avoid maskless crowds.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Welp, so it happened. ... -- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Instagram

Welp, so it happened. Got COVID, probably omicron. As of today I am thankfully recovered and wrapping up quarantine, but COVID was no joke. For a while I’ve noted the term “mild” is misleading when the bar is hospitalization and death. Even “mild” cases can result in long COVID, which includes a range of conditions like cognitive impairment, POTS, & chronic fatigue. This isn’t to be a downer or induce fear, just a reminder that we need to be careful (N95s in crowded indoor spaces like stores)

And keep masked around others and avoid maskless crowds.

View attachment 36817

I'm reminded of a bru-hah-hah over P!nk cancelling a show for illness and then the press snapped a pic of her at the beach. Of course, at the beach she was trying to relax and get better, breath and stuff.

While I do not pray at the Alter of AOC and feel that she likely was gathered around too many unmasked people and was responsible for getting Covid-19, being unmasked, I hate individual pics being used to "prove" something.

 

[blastula]

AOC gets a lot of cheap shots, but the pic does prove she made a bad choice regarding safe practices here, and it wasn't an accidental mistake, like forgetting a mask for a moment.

As I said before, she wasn't doing something in Florida she couldn't do in NYC, but it was not the safest behavior, also like going out to restaurants where people are guaranteed to be maskless, even if it's allowed.

 

[bilby]

The streets are empty, and I am driving tiny numbers of passengers even on peak hour buses.

Thought you were driving a "reefer". ???

ETA: I guess that would explain the low number of passengers...

Nah, I quit last year and retrained as a bus driver for Brisbane City Council.

 

[Trausti]

 

[TomC]

According to the image that was from mid-May of last year.

Do you think things are still the same now?
Tom

 

[TSwizzle]

If you are fully vaccinated, you no longer need to wear a mask.

Let me repeat. If you are fully vaccinated, you no longer need to wear a mask

Let's Go Brandon!!

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Even when I agree something is a good idea, I don't approve of mandating it. Just as an example, I wear a helmet when I ride my motorcycle, yet I oppose helmet laws.

Saying something should be mandated is a whole second step above and beyond saying it is a good idea. Each of those two arguments is a separate argument.

I'm interested in how you decide when to mandate.

understand that. But I don’t understand your argument for NOT mandating COVID vaccines. Can you please share it?

Yes. How does JH come to the conclusion that vaccination for covid is good but vaccination for everybody is bad. Helmet laws are good but mandatory helmet laws are bad.

Vaccinations are good for you and me but bad for everybody. Helmet laws are good for you and me but bad for everybody.

What's the logic I'm missing?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Yeah, posts like this are so unbelievably clueless. The numbers indicated that transmission of Alpha (the dominant variant) was unlikely for those vaccinated. Delta, would become dominant two months after this tweet. Things changed.

It is as if some people are just so hard-on to demonstrate how little they know about the virus and the acts necessary to mitigate against it.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

According to the image that was from mid-May of last year.

Do you think things are still the same now?
Tom

That isn't important... only getting in meaningless partisan digs matter.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Even when I agree something is a good idea, I don't approve of mandating it. Just as an example, I wear a helmet when I ride my motorcycle, yet I oppose helmet laws.

Saying something should be mandated is a whole second step above and beyond saying it is a good idea. Each of those two arguments is a separate argument.

I'm interested in how you decide when to mandate.

understand that. But I don’t understand your argument for NOT mandating COVID vaccines. Can you please share it?

Yes. How does JH come to the conclusion that vaccination for covid is good but vaccination for everybody is bad. Helmet laws are good but mandatory helmet laws are bad.

Vaccinations are good for you and me but bad for everybody. Helmet laws are good for you and me but bad for everybody.

What's the logic I'm missing?

The logic is JH thinks that personal choice is the most important freedom that exists. That it overrides the right of other people to live.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

The logic is JH thinks that personal choice is the most important freedom that exists. That it overrides the right of other people to live.

Then he should oppose all laws which limit personal choice, which is pretty much every law we have, including the constitution.