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

[MU82]

An author/critical care nurse that I know wrote a memoir while processing the emotional trauma of a year of holding her in the dike of death we're all in such a rush to forget and ignore.

https://www.amazon.com/Year-Nurse-2020-Pandemic-Memoir-ebook/dp/B095PWYG3B

Thanks for the link. Sounds sad but interesting.

[Hards Alumni]

Thanks for the link. Sounds sad but interesting.

Her other titles are... something.

[tower912]

Japan to hold Olympics without spectators.

[jficke13]

Her other titles are... something.

Yeah, she's got a niche. People are into it though. She's sold a heckuva lot more books than I have, so who am I to judge.

I've read some of the material in Year of the Nurse. It's a pretty visceral window into her experience.

[Hards Alumni]

Yeah, she's got a niche. People are into it though. She's sold a heckuva lot more books than I have, so who am I to judge.

I've read some of the material in Year of the Nurse. It's a pretty visceral window into her experience.

Yeah, not judging really... just a major departure from her typical genre!

[MU82]

From the NYT:

The Delta variant of the coronavirus can evade antibodies that target certain parts of the virus, according to a new study published on Thursday in Nature. The findings provide an explanation for diminished effectiveness of the vaccines against Delta, compared with other variants.

The variant, first identified in India, is believed to be about 60 percent more contagious than Alpha, the version of the virus that thrashed Britain and much of Europe earlier this year, and perhaps twice as contagious as the original coronavirus. The Delta variant is now driving outbreaks among unvaccinated populations in countries like Malaysia, Portugal, Indonesia and Australia.

Delta is now the dominant variant in the United States. Infections in this country had plateaued at their lowest levels since early in the pandemic, although the numbers may be rising, while hospitalizations and deaths related to the virus have continued a steep plunge. That’s partly because of relatively high vaccination rates: 48 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated, and 55 percent have received at least one dose.

But the new study found that Delta was barely sensitive to one dose of vaccine, confirming previous research that suggested that the variant can partly evade the immune system — although to a lesser degree than Beta, the variant first identified in South Africa.

Can we please hear again that COVID-19 is "over"?

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

From the NYT:

The Delta variant of the coronavirus can evade antibodies that target certain parts of the virus, according to a new study published on Thursday in Nature. The findings provide an explanation for diminished effectiveness of the vaccines against Delta, compared with other variants.

The variant, first identified in India, is believed to be about 60 percent more contagious than Alpha, the version of the virus that thrashed Britain and much of Europe earlier this year, and perhaps twice as contagious as the original coronavirus. The Delta variant is now driving outbreaks among unvaccinated populations in countries like Malaysia, Portugal, Indonesia and Australia.

Delta is now the dominant variant in the United States. Infections in this country had plateaued at their lowest levels since early in the pandemic, although the numbers may be rising, while hospitalizations and deaths related to the virus have continued a steep plunge. That’s partly because of relatively high vaccination rates: 48 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated, and 55 percent have received at least one dose.

But the new study found that Delta was barely sensitive to one dose of vaccine, confirming previous research that suggested that the variant can partly evade the immune system — although to a lesser degree than Beta, the variant first identified in South Africa.

Can we please hear again that COVID-19 is "over"?

For the fully vaccinated, it pretty much is.

[Jockey]

Hasn’t this become a Jonestown situation? Righties have drank the kool-aid that the vaccine is evil and dangerous. Hence 99% of Covid deaths are among the unvaccinated.

Isn’t this just another mass suicide situation for followers of a madman?

[MU82]

For the fully vaccinated, it pretty much is.

But it isn't.

Hasn’t this become a Jonestown situation? Righties have drank the kool-aid that the vaccine is evil and dangerous. Hence 99% of Covid deaths are among the unvaccinated.

Isn’t this just another mass suicide situation for followers of a madman?

Well, there are plenty of anti-vaxxers on the left, including a fairly large percentage of Black people.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

But it isn't.

Yeah it is.  Even vaccinated people who are getting sick, of which there are very few, they aren't being hospitalized or dying.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Japan to hold Olympics without spectators.

It's simply ridiculous that they are holding them at all given their relative lack of vaccination and restrictions in place.

[Jockey]

But it isn't.

Well, there are plenty of anti-vaxxers on the left, including a fairly large percentage of Black people.

1. I agree with FBM. I basically take no precautions now. The only time I wear a mask is when it is required (rarely).

2. The hesitancy of blacks has a lot more to do with the history of their treatment in this country than it does with an anti-vaxxer belief.


Back to your 1st point, on a macro scale, you may be right. With the large number of unvaccinated, there will probably be a variant that the vaccines won't touch. But it won't matter, cause we'll all be dead in 6 months when that happens.

Finally back to Jonestown (or the comet people), people have shown that they are more than willing to die for silly, irrational, mad beliefs. And make no mistake, millions of people are told every day in this country that the vaccine (or the delivery of the vaccine) is evil. Call that statement politics if you want (FBM), but it is also fact. People who listen to that are dying by choice every day.

[Jockey]

This is why you can't talk about vaccinations without talking politics.

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/06/25/covid-19-vaccine-rates-donald-trump-joe-biden/

Republicans now face a moral dilemma — some of their constituents could needlessly die of COVID-19 infections if they don’t reject the partisan messaging from their party that underplays the risks of the virus and oversells the risks of vaccines.

The divide among the states is striking. Quite a few states will hit President Joe Biden’s goal to have 70% of adults vaccinated by July 4, and nearly all of those are states Biden won in last year’s presidential election. The states that are coming up short of the vaccine goal are those states won by then-President Donald Trump.

[JWags85]

1. I agree with FBM. I basically take no precautions now. The only time I wear a mask is when it is required (rarely).

2. The hesitancy of blacks has a lot more to do with the history of their treatment in this country than it does with an anti-vaxxer belief.

I think point 1 is messaging.  I feel like every day I see some ancedotal story about someone vaccinated catching COVID.  But its nothing more.  Its not ventilators or death.  Its just clickbait really.

But to point 2, I understand why they don't, and its tragic.  But its doesn't make them any less anti-vaxxer.  It doesnt matter if you avoid vaccines because of politics, or because you don't trust the government for any number of reasons including historical atrocities, or because your medical beliefs revolve around crystals and essential oils...if you don't get vaccinated, you're an anti-vaxxer.  A lot of those aforementioned black people avoid many vaccines, not just this one.  Its become kind of a buzzword but some anti-vaxxers do have some reasonable thought behind it (speaking mostly to the minority community) even if it harms them long run.

[MU82]

A country music festival in Colorado that featured many popular performers has led to a COVID-19 outbreak, officials say. Officials with the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment say four staff members and 13 attendees from the Country Jam festival in Grand Junction got COVID-19 after attending the three-day event.

Attendees at the festival were urged to wear face masks, but they were not required. The festival asked patrons to keep a minimum of 3 feet of social distancing from people not in their group. The festival also featured a COVID-19 vaccine clinic, according to The Daily Sentinel.

A couple from Arvada, Colorado, believe they got the virus from the festival. The vaccinated couple told KMGH it was the first concert they had attended since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Mesa County, where the festival was, has more cases of the delta variant than any county in Colorado, according to Kaiser Health News.

[4everwarriors]

Wisconsin now averaging zero deaths from covid. Time to move along and get on with life. Its over, aina?

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Wisconsin now averaging zero deaths from covid. Time to move along and get on with life. Its over, aina?

Nah, nads is still finding one off cases and posting them here, hey.

[rocky_warrior]

four staff members and 13 attendees from the Country Jam festival in Grand Junction got COVID-19 after attending the three-day event.

I mean, CO has a delta variant "outbreak", but:
https://tasteofcountry.com/country-jam-colorado-festival-covid-19-outbreak/

Grand Junction's Daily Sentinel reported crowds of up to 24,000 each night during Country Jam

So 17/72,000 = .023% diagnosed (0.00023).  More people probably ended up with dehydration from the event.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

A country music festival in Colorado that featured many popular performers has led to a COVID-19 outbreak, officials say. Officials with the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment say four staff members and 13 attendees from the Country Jam festival in Grand Junction got COVID-19 after attending the three-day event.

Are we sure they didn't get sick just from having to listen to country music for three days?

[Jockey]

Are we sure they didn't get sick just from having to listen to country music for three days?

 

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I mean, CO has a delta variant "outbreak", but:
https://tasteofcountry.com/country-jam-colorado-festival-covid-19-outbreak/
So 17/72,000 = .023% diagnosed (0.00023).  More people probably ended up with dehydration from the event.

MU82 doesn’t really put things in context.

[pbiflyer]

Are we sure they didn't get sick just from having to listen to country music for three days?

I’d rather get Covid.

[MU82]

Are we sure they didn't get sick just from having to listen to country music for three days?

Funny.

MU82 doesn’t really put things in context.

Thanks, passive-aggressive Scoop Posting Police!

[MU82]

From the AP:

The COVID-19 curve in the U.S. is rising again after months of decline, with the number of new cases per day doubling over the past three weeks, driven by the fast-spreading delta variant, lagging vaccination rates and Fourth of July gatherings.

Confirmed infections climbed to an average of about 23,600 a day on Monday, up from 11,300 on June 23, according to Johns Hopkins University data. And all but two states — Maine and South Dakota — reported that case numbers have gone up over the past two weeks.

At the same time, parts of the country are running up against deep vaccine resistance, while the highly contagious mutant version of the coronavirus that was first detected in India is accounting for an ever-larger share of infections.

Nationally, 55.6% of all Americans have received at least one COVID-19 shot, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The five states with the biggest two-week jump in cases per capita all had lower vaccination rates: Missouri, 45.9%; Arkansas, 43%; Nevada, 50.9%; Louisiana, 39.2%; and Utah, 49.5%.

Even with the latest surge, cases in the U.S. are nowhere near their peak of a quarter-million per day in January. And deaths are running at under 260 per day on average after topping out at more than 3,400 over the winter — a testament to how effectively the vaccine can prevent serious illness and death in those who happen to become infected.

Still, amid the rise, health authorities in places such as Los Angeles County and St. Louis are begging even immunized people to resume wearing masks in public. And Chicago officials announced Tuesday that unvaccinated travelers from Missouri and Arkansas must either quarantine for 10 days or have a negative COVID-19 test.

Meanwhile, officials at the Health Department in Mississippi, which ranks dead last in vaccination rates, are recommending that people 65 and older and those with chronic underlying conditions stay away from large indoor gatherings because of a 150% rise in hospitalizations over the past three weeks.

In Louisiana, which also has one of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates ... health officials said cases of the coronavirus are surging, largely among nonvaccinated people.

Dr. James Lawler, a leader of the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, warned that what is happening in Britain is a preview of what’s to come in the U.S.

“The descriptions from regions of the world where the delta variant has taken hold and become the predominant virus are pictures of ICUs full of 30-year-olds. That’s what the critical care doctors describe and that’s what’s coming to the U.S.,” he said.

He added: “I think people have no clue what’s about to hit us.”

[tower912]

Inevitable.   Americans won't because we have the narcissistic mindset, but we should start wearing masks again.