NON_POLITICAL China Coronavirus THREAD

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Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
14,436
9,825
136
Everyone dropping their mask requirements, while having no proof of vaccination is really bothering me. Feels like 12 months so when everyone was spiking the football claiming it was over.

We went to our science museum today, masks not required for "fully vaccinated" people (of which we have less than 40%), and hundreds and hundreds kids where running around maskless. If my daughter could get vaxxed, I wouldn't give shit, but that won't be true for another 6 months.
 

ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
37,715
17,990
146
Everyone dropping their mask requirements, while having no proof of vaccination is really bothering me. Feels like 12 months so when everyone was spiking the football claiming it was over.

We went to our science museum today, masks not required for "fully vaccinated" people (of which we have less than 40%), and hundreds and hundreds kids where running around maskless. If my daughter could get vaxxed, I wouldn't give shit, but that won't be true for another 6 months.

Yep, but it's state by state. My state (MA) is not so fast, but we had a rough March-May 2020.

 
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Nov 8, 2012
20,828
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I read the report about the infected Yankee players couple days ago. They took the J&J vaccine. I think I read the players weren’t showing any symptoms. So vaccines did its job. That report actually gave me confidence I don’t have much to fear anymore.

sounds similar to the Bill Maher stuff where they cancelled his episode this week and last from "having the virus". In reality he mentioned being asymptomatic from having taken the vaccines previously.

Almost pointless to declare they were "infected" if they have the advantage of the vaccine.
 

MrSquished

Lifer
Jan 14, 2013
20,928
19,361
136
Jersey is going to lift indoor mask mandates for folks who are vaccinated next week. I'll be going to Costco and Whole Foods sans mask if they don't require it on the business level.
 

manly

Lifer
Jan 25, 2000
10,857
2,005
126
Everyone dropping their mask requirements, while having no proof of vaccination is really bothering me. Feels like 12 months so when everyone was spiking the football claiming it was over.

We went to our science museum today, masks not required for "fully vaccinated" people (of which we have less than 40%), and hundreds and hundreds kids where running around maskless. If my daughter could get vaxxed, I wouldn't give shit, but that won't be true for another 6 months.
Your qualms about the "honor system" are legit, but it was always gonna be this way. The anti-maskers are often also anti-vaxxers, or anti- best public health practices during a pandemic. National case numbers have plummeted to June 2020 levels; it's almost a little too calm the trajectory we're now on, compared to rest of world.

I think the CDC updated policy follows the science, but they could have just sat on it for a couple more weeks to make sure the trend holds. Now knowing that the mRNA vaccines are highly effective at preventing transmission (80% or even better), we weren't going to keep mask mandates going for much longer even in "blue states."

On balance, I agree with you that age under-12 is a concern, and we're still far off from the 70% vaccinated goal. I think I said a few weeks back in this thread that my guess is that we're gonna have some Covid-19 blues come November/December, but on a more manageable scale.
 
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Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,136
11,998
126
www.anyf.ca
Yea, good for you guys getting the vaccine. do you feel like your area fell into a false sense of security? we're there mask / social distancing in place but ignored? just curious.

I think that's what happened, false sense of security, and a combination of people just fed up of the on and off lockdowns. So think people are just not complying as much anymore. Mask wearing is still pretty strong as it's a requirement in public places, but I think there are more parties and such. Workplaces are a big issue too, especially mines, forestry(the saw mills) and other "industrial" settings where multiple people may need to work closely. Lot of people travel and the work places themselves involve lot of people in close quarters. Ex: going down the shaft there's not much room for social distancing. Travel has not been deemed the main issue though so I think it's more workplaces.

But yeah it's good that the vaccines are taking off here. There is a bit of an anti vax movement on FB but nothing significant. They had a vaccination blitz here (might still be on) so they're really pushing to get more people vaccinated which is great. I think 12 and up can get it now.

I think these increased cases also pushed people who were in the fence to get vaccinated sooner. I was kinda one of those myself, I originally wanted to basically wait as long as possible to get the vaccine just in case they discover some serious long term effect. I told myself I'll only get it if I plan to travel or go to an event that has lot of people. But as the cases continued to climb and the long term effects of covid were being talked about more I realized the risk of the vaccine is much lower than the virus and suddenly I could not wait to get the jab. My parents were kind of the same way, they did not really want to get it but they ended up getting it recently. Actually it seems most people I know got it now so that's good.
 
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Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
14,436
9,825
136
Your qualms about the "honor system" are legit, but it was always gonna be this way. The anti-maskers are often also anti-vaxxers, or anti- best public health practices during a pandemic. National case numbers have plummeted to June 2020 levels; it's almost a little too calm the trajectory we're now on, compared to rest of world.

I think the CDC updated policy follows the science, but they could have just sat on it for a couple more weeks to make sure the trend holds. Now knowing that the mRNA vaccines are highly effective at preventing transmission (80% or even better), we weren't going to keep mask mandates going for much longer even in "blue states."

On balance, I agree with you that age under-12 is a concern, and we're still far off from the 70% vaccinated goal. I think I said a few weeks back in this thread that my guess is that we're gonna have some Covid-19 blues come November/December, but on a more manageable scale.
Yeah, I think the CDC got the science right, but they are supposed to be a health policy agency not just science. They should've known an honor system method actually meant no masking.

I think they should've linked it to vaccination rates, say when 70% of an area is vaccinated no more masks.

Hopefully I'm just extra paranoid, but to me, this really feels like a year ago and by July we had much higher rates. I do think there blue states will be fine, since they are getting really good uptake and people will likely still be better about distancing, etc.
 

Svnla

Lifer
Nov 10, 2003
17,999
1,396
126
How many fools would not want to wash their hands after using the restroom or plush the toilets or with nasty behaviors. Do you want to trust them fools with the "honor system"?

Not me. I will keep my guard up for a while.
 
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jpiniero

Lifer
Oct 1, 2010
14,487
5,155
136
Yeah, I think the CDC got the science right, but they are supposed to be a health policy agency not just science. They should've known an honor system method actually meant no masking.

The CDC is dumb but not that dumb.
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
14,436
9,825
136
How many fools would not want to wash their hands after using the restroom or plush the toilets or with nasty behaviors. Do you want to trust them fools with the "honor system"?

Not me. I will keep my guard up for a while.
Yeah, at the science museum the only place they were still making any attempt at social distancing were the restroom sinks. So instead of waiting, a ton of people just bypassed the sinks.
 

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,689
2,811
126
How many fools would not want to wash their hands after using the restroom or plush the toilets or with nasty behaviors. Do you want to trust them fools with the "honor system"?

Not me. I will keep my guard up for a while.
The reason I got vaccinated was so I wouldn't have to worry about the "honor system" and other people who's possibly sick. This virus is not going away and even a year from now, there are going to be sick people running around without masks. Are you going to live in your protective bubble forever? At some point, you have to evaluate your odds and start living your normal life. I feel like certain percentage of people in this thread have been conditioned to live in fear forever. We now know lot more about this virus than when this thread first started. And now we have couple highly effective vaccines. If you been vaccinated, your risk from this virus is extremely minimal. Stop living in fear.
 
Feb 4, 2009
34,451
15,661
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I read the report about the infected Yankee players couple days ago. They took the J&J vaccine. I think I read the players weren’t showing any symptoms. So vaccines did its job. That report actually gave me confidence I don’t have much to fear anymore.

same here, J&J is what like 80% effective that means one in five will get it. The fact that nearly all were unknown and only discovered by testing is great news to me.
Yes they got infected but it appears they didn’t have any major problems. I think the infections cleared up in a few days. Be interesting to know if any infected family members or if it went the other way like someone who wasn’t vaccinated infected them.
 
Feb 4, 2009
34,451
15,661
136
Feels good the be on the cusp of beating this thing, particularly in my State.
We should end the month around 2/3rds vaccinated and end of June be 3/4 vaccinated (possibly). I have been following this site for a while. Once we hit 50% at first shot the numbers started to drop, to me this is all the high risk or people who were highly likely to get Covid became protected.


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Big test will be the fall but I am feeling good about that.
 
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gill77

Senior member
Aug 3, 2006
813
250
136
What a difference a year makes.

Anyone see any small shifts in the lab leak narrative?
 
Dec 10, 2005
23,924
6,738
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same here, J&J is what like 80% effective that means one in five will get it. The fact that nearly all were unknown and only discovered by testing is great news to me.
Yes they got infected but it appears they didn’t have any major problems. I think the infections cleared up in a few days. Be interesting to know if any infected family members or if it went the other way like someone who wasn’t vaccinated infected them.
The better way to read efficacy numbers in the vaccine trial is to think of it as "reduced risk", instead of an absolute 1 of 5 will get severe disease. So people in the active treatment arm had an 85% lower risk of developing severe illness compared with the people that received the placebo.

And none of the vaccines were tested for COVID prevention - they were largely tested on an endpoint of development of symptomatic and test-confirmed infection.
 
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Denly

Golden Member
May 14, 2011
1,433
229
106
Watched some NBA PO games the last few days, wow the arenas are packed and people are not wearing or wearing masks half cover. Business as usual it seen.
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
37,358
8,010
136
What a difference a year makes.

Anyone see any small shifts in the lab leak narrative?
I read a page online around a year ago by a guy who had insider info (this guy had had his feet on the ground in China)... it extensively argued that lab researchers came down with what appears to have been covid-19 and literally disappeared from public view, including their female head researcher. The Chinese communist party completely blocked the information from being publicized. I read the article carefully and concluded that the virus likely was being researched at the lab and leaked. The researchers very likely didn't know what they had there and "fumbled the ball," to use a not so apt comparison. Of course, a virus so contagious, once out in the public could and probably did simply spread "on its own."

What I read a few months ago was that Chinese propaganda that the virus had migrated from 1000 miles south isn't born out by data.


 
Dec 10, 2005
23,924
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I haven't looked at it much, but the lab leak narrative is not the silver bullet that critics think it is. Regardless of origin, governments and populations still took inappropriate actions. And zoonotic diseases will continue to be an ongoing threat as we encroach on and destroy natural habitats.
 

Muse

Lifer
Jul 11, 2001
37,358
8,010
136
I haven't looked at it much, but the lab leak narrative is not the silver bullet that critics think it is. Regardless of origin, governments and populations still took inappropriate actions. And zoonotic diseases will continue to be an ongoing threat as we encroach on and destroy natural habitats.
No argument here. It's kind of academic, and I sure don't have a political view on it other than to condemn the Chinese government for hiding the facts and for being in denial and blowing their one chance to contain the viral outbreak (although I think that was a long shot). I think what happened (it was maintained in the online post from around a year ago, which I am pretty sure was linked in at least one post in this very thread around a year ago by me and perhaps one other poster) is that at least two lab workers died from covid-19 before the Wuhan outbreak, but the government thrust a cloud in front of that news. And, of course, the government handcuffed the Chinese doctor who tried to alert them and the world that they had a problem (and, of course, that doctor died from covid-19).

What does it matter in terms of where we are? Nowhere. Nothing. These pathogens are beyond politics. Give the epidemiologists their due, virologists too.
 

Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
14,436
9,825
136
I haven't looked at it much, but the lab leak narrative is not the silver bullet that critics think it is. Regardless of origin, governments and populations still took inappropriate actions. And zoonotic diseases will continue to be an ongoing threat as we encroach on and destroy natural habitats.
Yeah, and if the lab had it, that means it was out in nature and could've still spread through the wet markets.
 
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K1052

Elite Member
Aug 21, 2003
45,793
32,492
136
I haven't looked at it much, but the lab leak narrative is not the silver bullet that critics think it is. Regardless of origin, governments and populations still took inappropriate actions. And zoonotic diseases will continue to be an ongoing threat as we encroach on and destroy natural habitats.

Most of the "ah ha Trump was right" crowd I hear about this from were all "It is a Chinese bioweapon they unleashed to hurt Trump" around this time last year.

Maybe it leaked from the lab and maybe it didn't. Functionally it doesn't really matter.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,136
11,998
126
www.anyf.ca
My theory is it came from wet markets and that they knew about it but tried to hide it, while also studying about it in the labs. Eventually it did spread due to their negligence and fact that the rest of the world did not know about it. China has a long history of causing world wide problems, not necessarily on purpose, but out of pure negligence. Heck, just look at that rocket recently. That could very well have killed people depending where it landed. They just don't care about the rest of the world. They will also belittle anyone who criticizes them. For example they called Greta Thunburg fat because she has been on their case about their pollution. It's actually kind of funny, it's like a little kid that can't come up with a come back after being critisized and just throws a random insult.
 
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Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
14,436
9,825
136
My theory is it came from wet markets and that they knew about it but tried to hide it, while also studying about it in the labs. Eventually it did spread due to their negligence and fact that the rest of the world did not know about it. China has a long history of causing world wide problems, not necessarily on purpose, but out of pure negligence. Heck, just look at that rocket recently. That could very well have killed people depending where it landed. They just don't care about the rest of the world. They will also belittle anyone who criticizes them. For example they called Greta Thunburg fat because she has been on their case about their pollution. It's actually kind of funny, it's like a little kid that can't come up with a come back after being critisized and just throws a random insult.
Yeah, it'd be really nice if we could develope a vaccine for ego among politicians and state leaders.
 
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Zorba

Lifer
Oct 22, 1999
14,436
9,825
136
Could have spread through any means.
True, could've spread to a hiker, farmer, or scientist as well.

Regardless I think wet markets pose a high risk for zootropic diseases and should be a reliac of the past.