NON_POLITICAL China Coronavirus THREAD

[balloonshark]

US numbers are going back up. The mass suicide continues.

Yep. This current wave is really a tsunami with another wave directly behind the other. The holidays are also here so I assume we are going to get another peak in jan. Protection from those that got vaxxed early is also waning. Time to get my booster shot and so should everyone else.

 

[uclaLabrat]

Lots of folks are getting boosted now that CA opened it up. Got mine a week ago, wife got hers yesterday. Hoping that helps tamp things down, as our breakthrough case rate is currently above 5/100k and our unvaccinated case rate is more like 15-20/100k, which is not nearly low enough going into the holidays. Also the 5-11 rollout will hopefully mitigate school impact.

 

[ponyo]

Wife and I have Moderna booster shot scheduled for tomorrow. We figure it's better to be safe than sorry since we plan to travel.

 

[JM Aggie08]

Texas continues to go down...at least for now.

Not sure how that's possible, but I'm here for it.

 

[Muse]

Texas continues to go down...at least for now.

Not sure how that's possible, but I'm here for it.

A state that would elect scum like Greg Abbott, Ted Cruz and Dan Patrick would have a hard time on a slope greased with lard not going down.

 

[sdifox]

Wife and I have Moderna booster shot scheduled for tomorrow. We figure it's better to be safe than sorry since we plan to travel.

Did you buy Hérmes syringes?

 

[Charmonium]

OK, non-political thread, check. Well . . . this might technically be political but I CAN be non-judgmental.

I understand that this sincere belief that the vaccines are harmful stems from the comments of our former president - largely, but certainly not exclusively since I would bet that a large majority of us have run into at least one, evangelical anti-vaxxer - even before the pandemic.

What I suspect happened though was that, in taking the president at his word and therefore seriously, they sought out more information and that led them like lambs to the slaughter into the all too loving arms of the long ignored anti-vaxxers.

I'm going to pause here for a moment to congratulate those folks on a) their curiosity and b) taking the time and effort to even attempt to research the issue. Even so, I just cannot condone the clear absence of any type of intellectual integrity. By that I mean that the first life-lesson everyone should learn is that you always, ALWAYS evaluate the authority and integrity of your sources. As the old timers in IT loved to say, 'garbage in, garbage out.'

How it's possible that so many people seem to have gotten by so far without that understanding . . . I just can't comprehend. But, continuing on . . .

Well, that's pretty much it. It's political I suppose because there is such a strikingly high correlation between Trump supporters and those who hold these beliefs.

The nice thing about life-lessons though is, it's never to late to learn them.

 

[bononos]

In the USA, only 1/2 the population is vaccinated (that's probably "fully vaccinated"). Were vaccination rate over 90% it would be very very different here. 1/2 the states are experiencing a 10% jump in cases suddenly. There are areas with highly stressed critical care units and it's only going to get more critical at most of them. I think the rest of 2021 is going to be very challenging in many ............

You also have to add the 'naturally' vaxxed bunch to the conventionally vaccinated ~50%. Don't know how many those are but its got to be substantial by now, probably 10-20%.

 

[Charmonium]

You also have to add the 'naturally' vaxxed bunch to the conventionally vaccinated ~50%. Don't know how many those are but its got to be substantial by now, probably 10-20%.

Not bad for pulling that out of your ass. A little high, but still. I think the current total is 49M. US pop. according to the google machine is 330M.

 

[ponyo]

People are not antivax because of Trump. The left is still obsessed with Trump and blame him for everything just like the right was obsessed with Obama and blamed him for everything. Grow up and move on.

 

[Muse]

People are not antivax because of Trump. The left is still obsessed with Trump and blame him for everything just like the right was obsessed with Obama and blamed him for everything. Grow up and move on.

Trump made it even more fashionable to dismiss facts and science in favor of any damn thing you please. He gets some blame for all that shit. Not all, very very correct, because no one person is so capable.

 

[ultimatebob]

You also have to add the 'naturally' vaxxed bunch to the conventionally vaccinated ~50%. Don't know how many those are but its got to be substantial by now, probably 10-20%.

For the US, the percentage of people who are vaccinated is closer to 70% now. If you add the 10% of the unvaccinated population who now have a natural immunity because they had the virus, we're actually not doing that bad.

Here in Connecticut, it's closer to 80% vaccinated now.

 

[Roger Wilco]

People are not antivax because of Trump. The left is still obsessed with Trump and blame him for everything just like the right was obsessed with Obama and blamed him for everything. Grow up and move on.

No, but Trump had the power to guide his sheep to safety. Instead, he let them die via their own ignorance while he promoted useless treatments, and they applauded him.

One time, Trump said he got the vaccine and that he thinks they are safe, and his people booed him. Accordingly, Trump never mentioned it again.

He failed his people

Of course we can't blame him for everything, but the blood of hundreds of thousands of Americans is still freshly smeared on his hands.

 

[K1052]

I went to Mexico last weekend and came back through DFW's terminal D where mostly international flights operate in and out of. While not packed it was much busier than when I was there in March to fly to Hawaii. Waiting areas for transatlantic flights pretty bustling with other stuff like Latin America less so. Shippers going to be happy all this belly capacity is coming back.

AUS was absolutely mobbed on arrival and I believe the airport when they say they're peaking above 2019 levels.

 

[Geekbabe]

Please just get your shots & boosters, please!

 

[manly]

For the US, the percentage of people who are vaccinated is closer to 70% now. If you add the 10% of the unvaccinated population who now have a natural immunity because they had the virus, we're actually not doing that bad.

Here in Connecticut, it's closer to 80% vaccinated now.

This is false. The percentage of the U.S. population fully vaccinated is 59%. As for how many more have natural immunity, it's likely a fairly large percentage but unknowable for two different reasons. One, it's probable that over 100M Americans have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 previously. The number of lab-confirmed infections is not informative of the true count.

Secondly, it's also probable that a large chunk of those infected naturally decided to also get the vaccine course. I don't recall any solid reporting on this, so it's hard to say what number you can add to the 59%. You can't just sum up two numbers and imply we're tantalizingly close to herd immunity.

There are a handful of NE states + Hawaii that are highly vaccinated like some of the leading nations. Even California, considered a top 10 U.S. state, is currently only 62% fully vaccinated. It is believed that most people who get the first dose of an mRNA vaccine end up completing the course, but there's no guarantee. In California, there's always been a persistently high gap between 1st-dose vs. fully vaccinated, suggesting some people get jabbed once and simply are too lazy to bother to go back.

Finally, there is a strong correlation nationally between vaccination status and political affiliation. Although it never should have been this way, it is and anybody suggesting it's not a result of tribal politics is a tool.

Source:

See How Vaccinations Are Going in Your County and State (Published 2022)

See where doses have gone, and who is eligible for a shot in each state.

www.nytimes.com

 

[IronWing]

What's the current criteria for getting boosted? Age or medical condition limited?

 

[K1052]

What's the current criteria for getting boosted? Age or medical condition limited?

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/pre...al-actions-use-booster-dose-covid-19-vaccines

Given what we know about waining immunity now the decision of the FDA to still not recommend boosters for basically everybody is likely to be reversed sooner or later. Some states (CA, CO, I think NY so far) are opening boosters to everyone already.

 

[IronWing]

Thanks.

 

[Zorba]

Trump made it even more fashionable to dismiss facts and science in favor of any damn thing you please. He gets some blame for all that shit. Not all, very very correct, because no one person is so capable.

Trump also spent a year telling everyone COVID was no big deal or a hoax. I promise that has added to the antivax community.

But I agree with Ponyo, right wing media and local politicians have been much worse than Trump WRT promoting antivax views.

 

[Muse]

Trump also spent a year telling everyone COVID was no big deal or a hoax. I promise that has added to the antivax community.

But I agree with Ponyo, right right media and local politicians have been much worse than Trump WRT promoting antivax views.

Just as bad was saying global warming crisis is a hoax. Trump should be bulldozed into the trash heap of history.

 

[manly]

Trump also spent a year telling everyone COVID was no big deal or a hoax. I promise that has added to the antivax community.

But I agree with Ponyo, right right media and local politicians have been much worse than Trump WRT promoting antivax views.

Except that's not what he explicitly said. He basically said liberals blame Trump for all that ails us, which is total bullshit. Although Trump isn't the antivaxxer in chief, he's the de facto leader of the Republican party and the walking embodiment of Trumpism. If Trump wanted to actively promote vaccinations, that could carry some weight amongst his supporters. Roger Wilco mentioned that he promoted it once, got booed by Alabamans, and hasn't since.

As Roger said, no one person is solely responsible, but a particular echo chamber has been highly effective at suppressing vax rates amongst conservative voters. That echo chamber was nurtured and fed by POTUS who spent most of 2020 declaring that COVID was a nothingburger (except privately to Bob Woodward).

 

[H T C]

For the US, the percentage of people who are vaccinated is closer to 70% now. If you add the 10% of the unvaccinated population who now have a natural immunity because they had the virus, we're actually not doing that bad.

Here in Connecticut, it's closer to 80% vaccinated now.

That percentage is NOWHERE NEAR ENOUGH.

Portugal is with over 86% and we're seeing significant rises in new daily cases, with our R(t) number having climbed to 1.16 (from 1.08 last week). Back when we mostly opened, on October 1st, our R(t) number was 0.82.

Despite this, we're still with low daily fatalities, but hospitalized had quite the jump this week, which doesn't bode well @ all ...

 

[dullard]

What's the current criteria for getting boosted? Age or medical condition limited?

I just got my booster this weekend in Nebraska. All they cared about was that I said that I was an essential worker with occupational exposure.

I switched from Pfizer (1st and 2nd dose) to Moderna for the booster. The larger dose of the Moderna vs Pfizer did have a bit worse side effects. I was sleepy for the entire next day.

 

[dullard]

As for how many more have natural immunity, it's likely a fairly large percentage but unknowable for two different reasons. One, it's probable that over 100M Americans have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 previously. The number of lab-confirmed infections is not informative of the true count.

Secondly, it's also probable that a large chunk of those infected naturally decided to also get the vaccine course. I don't recall any solid reporting on this, so it's hard to say what number you can add to the 59%. You can't just sum up two numbers and imply we're tantalizingly close to herd immunity.

3rd reason that it is unknowable: we still don't know how durable your immunity is after you get Covid-19. The studies are beginning to come in, but it takes time since we have to wait for enough people to be infected and then have their immunity wane. We do know that Covid-19 immunity is at least 8 months. But how much longer than 8 months is yet to be determined. The median coronavirus (non-Covid) immunity after infection is 16 months.

Just for this discussion, if we assume that Covid-19 immunity wanes after 16 months like the median coronavirus, then the people that were sick in the big wave of the summer of 2020 are now running out of immunity.