COVID-19 (f/k/a "the Coronavirus")

[Jockey]

After all these months, it's heartbreaking that so many people either don't know or don't care that masks have to cover their noses to be effective. If the administration had taken this seriously, it would have mandated masks as soon as CDC recommended them, and blanketed the country with PSAs so every American knows exactly how to wear them properly.

It wasn’t that they didn’t take it seriously. They just didn’t care a bit about Americans dying. They still don’t. This coup attempt is for the right to continue to kill us.

No effort to stop the spread. No effort to vaccinate people. No effort to help hospitals which are unable to keep up with the virus.

[jesmu84]

Nm

[MU82]

350,000 dead Americans. Happy New Year!

[mu_hilltopper]

https://twitter.com/MeghanMcCain/status/1345431515916869632?s=19

You likely know .. but that video of police was not about an illegal gathering.   The man was being arrested for punching an officer earlier that day.

[jesmu84]

You likely know .. but that video of police was not about an illegal gathering.   The man was being arrested for punching an officer earlier that day.

I did not. Thank you. I'll edit.

[Jockey]

Georgia’s new QAnon-supporting Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene caused a ruckus on Sunday at the swearing-in of the new Congress when she refused to wear a mask despite requests from House floor staff, according to Politico’s Jake Sherman. “2 new Republicans — including .@mtgreenee—are being told by House floor staff that they have to put their masks on. as of now, they seem to be telling the floor staff that they will not put it on. Taylor Greene is leaving the floor with the other R, who were trying to ID,” Sherman tweeted. He noted that Trump ally Louie Gohmert (R-TX)—who has pushed to overturn the presidential election result—was also standing maskless on the House floor. After Greene’s refusal to mask up, Republican and Democratic floor staff got into “a screaming match on the floor. So this Congress is going great already,” Sherman tweeted.

[GooooMarquette]

Care rationing has begun in Los Angeles.

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/l-a-county-hospital-officials-race-to-discharge-patients-and-make-room-for-those-with-covid-19-but-cant-keep-up/

The situation in L.A. County hospitals is so critical that ambulance crews have been advised to try to cut back on their use of oxygen and not to bring to hospitals patients who have virtually no chance of survival. Officials now say they need to focus on patients with a greater chance of surviving.

The measures were taken as circumstances were expected to worsen in coming weeks, when patients sickened over the Christmas holiday will need treatment, leaving officials desperate for ways to increase capacity and triage care to focus on the sickest patients.

As far as I can tell, these are the first 'formal' changes in standards of care in the US because of a COVID surge. Unreal and terrifying....

[tower912]

Predicted.   The virus is winning.

[Spotcheck Billy]

We usually vacation in Jamaica in February but passed on that this year mainly because of the constantly changing restrictions. For months now JA has required all travelers to upload a negative PCR test dated less than 10 days before arrival, doable but could be a PITA.
 
 Now Canada (and it's rumored soon to be followed by the US) requires that you submit a negative PCR test less than 3 days before arrival back in CA meaning that you will have to get tested in the country you travel to. In JA you have to either go to Mobay or Kingston for a PCR test costing about $200 US. Canada has stated that if you aren't tested before checking in you will have to reschedule your flight until you have a negative test. If there are no tests available where you traveled to you must quarantine at a Gov't. approved location for 14 days upon return.

[jesmu84]

We usually vacation in Jamaica in February but passed on that this year mainly because of the constantly changing restrictions. For months now JA has required all travelers to upload a negative PCR test dated less than 10 days before arrival, doable but could be a PITA.
 
 Now Canada (and it's rumored soon to be followed by the US) requires that you submit a negative PCR test less than 3 days before arrival back in CA meaning that you will have to get tested in the country you travel to. In JA you have to either go to Mobay or Kingston for a PCR test costing about $200 US. Canada has stated that if you aren't tested before checking in you will have to reschedule your flight until you have a negative test. If there are no tests available where you traveled to you must quarantine at a Gov't. approved location for 14 days upon return.

Christ

I wonder if being vaccinated would be enough to clear those hurdles

[forgetful]

We usually vacation in Jamaica in February but passed on that this year mainly because of the constantly changing restrictions. For months now JA has required all travelers to upload a negative PCR test dated less than 10 days before arrival, doable but could be a PITA.
 
 Now Canada (and it's rumored soon to be followed by the US) requires that you submit a negative PCR test less than 3 days before arrival back in CA meaning that you will have to get tested in the country you travel to. In JA you have to either go to Mobay or Kingston for a PCR test costing about $200 US. Canada has stated that if you aren't tested before checking in you will have to reschedule your flight until you have a negative test. If there are no tests available where you traveled to you must quarantine at a Gov't. approved location for 14 days upon return.

Wow!

I wonder if being vaccinated would be enough to clear those hurdles

May allow those who are able to get a vaccine to do some cheap travel.

[Warriors4ever]

I pop around TripAdvisor a lot, the effect of a vaccine has come up on some forums. No one expects anything to change in terms of a vaccine changing testing requirements in the near future, especially since we are a long way from a large percentage being vaccinated and also no one knows whether the vaccine will actually mean you can’t spread it.

[rocky_warrior]

As if today wasn't shocking enough, first day over 4k US covid-19 deaths. 

[GooooMarquette]

And if the record number of deaths isn't bad enough, this NYTimes article highlights the terribly deficient levels of DNA fingerprinting we are doing in the US.

The numbers and comments basically confirm that: (1) the prevalence of the variant is still low in the US (based on the small % of tests that show the variant); and (2) the level of testing is insufficient to proactively implement measures to cut off case surges due to increased transmissibility of the variant.

That combination horrifies me. Hospitals in Southern California are already full to the brim and beginning to instruct ambulance crews to ration care; if the variant takes hold, the case rates could surge dramatically and take the situation from bad to much, much worse. And the administration has deliberately distracted itself, its supporters and the American people from this impending catastrophe.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/health/coronavirus-variant-tracking.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

To imagine how bad it could get, look at the slope of the curve in the UK, and imagine that on top of the records we keep breaking. Ugh....

[GooooMarquette]

Fauci says he thinks that January will get worse, and that the vaccination effort needs more time.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/world/fauci-coronavirus-january.html

Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the United States, predicted on Thursday that the daily death toll from the coronavirus would continue to rise for weeks to come, and counseled patience with the vaccination program gearing up across the nation.

Health officials in the United States reported nearly 4,000 virus-related deaths on Wednesday, a record, and the total for the pandemic surpassed 360,000. In an interview with NPR, Dr. Fauci said the continued high toll would probably be a reflection of increased travel and gatherings over the holidays.


—————————

Keep wearing your masks and practicing social distancing, people.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

More work out of Yale virology lab.  They have determined that saliva test is a more accurate depiction of viral load since it may capture nasal and lung shedding.  Would be a better test when people are hospitalized to understand disease severity.

https://twitter.com/virusesimmunity/status/1348289299469500417?s=21

[Warriors4ever]

Are they looking at viral load in the routine tests? Or just looking for the presence of the virus?

[GooooMarquette]

Are they looking at viral load in the routine tests? Or just looking for the presence of the virus?

The tests simply look for the presence of the virus. However, capturing a higher viral load in the sample would reduce the incidence of false negatives.

[Warriors4ever]

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55574662

More anti-inflammatory treatment.

[Jockey]

Nm

[GooooMarquette]

Speaking of superspreader events....

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ8rQ4pL3q4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

[Galway Eagle]

Speaking of superspreader events....

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ8rQ4pL3q4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Yeah but outdoors duh

[GooooMarquette]

Somewhat lost amid the other headline news...the US again broke the previous record for deaths in a single day with 4406.

Less than two months ago (not long before Thanksgiving), 2000 deaths in a day seemed shocking. Now it looks like 'the good old days.'

[tower912]

And it was predicted.   But, you know, Fauci, personal freedom and 'Murca.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

This is all so sad...particularly with the vaccine on the horizon.  There is a chance (maybe low if the vaccine picks up) that  deaths rival the 1918 pandemic despite better care and therapeutics. 

Regardless it could have been better.