via Dr Bhattachyra (sp) out of Stanford.
Hospitalizations. That’s record since the beginning... Guess we can’t spike the football yet, or risk being Plax
Wonder when the tipping point will be
I caught it from a coworker who brought it back from New Orleans.
I think the problem is that a lot of people have already prematurely spiked the football.
Maybe cases aren’t so bad given those events. I forgot about spring break because it is not a part of my life with a 2 and 6 year old and being a cpa. Sorry you caught it, that sucks. Hope you are better soon.
Alex, who has a funny accent, says he can fix it if I let him log onto my computer. I'm breathing a sigh of relief now, since I want everyone to stay away from my chip.
I’ve begun to grow a really nice set of antlers.
I could wave over contactless payment readers, train fare gates, etc. Would make it so easy to go out without a wallet.
Blocking the signal from being stolen would be an issue though.
5G cell towers do, ya dummy.
I got vaccinated this morning, and added Minecraft to our new PC this afternoon.
Bill Gates is tracking me, I just know it.
getting over there?
I explained it a bit in my "Mea culpa (sorta)" post.
Hopefully you don’t suffer any ill effects. My first Pfizer was the one that hit me hard. My second was fine for the first 24 hours and then I just became very sleepy. So happy to hear this though!
G18 had Covid in November, and got her first dose a couple of days ago in the US. The first 36 hours were like having Covid all over again (fever, aches, chills, etc.). She was totally miserable, but she's fine now.
I have a sore arm 10 hours later. I can live with that. I can also totally live with whatever my second dose brings at the end of May.
very sick. I’m a really active and healthy person and I was in bed for 3 weeks. It was awful.
My oldest got really sick with the first dose because she had COVID in November. We are hoping that it helps her get her smell and taste back.
I didn't notice.
It's probably the best one, though, even though I don't even know what it is. You should all use it.
All Hail our secret Google overlords, who have taken the long path.
says booster likely needed within 12 months. None of this is surprising.
Only quote on topic from Pfizer’s CEO is “likely”. Journalists need to rely more on quotes and less on summation. Was there any qualifier on his statement?
Later in the article, we have this example,
>>Earlier Thursday, the Biden administration’s Covid response chief science officer David Kessler said Americans should expect to receive booster shots to protect against coronavirus variants.
Kessler told U.S. lawmakers that currently authorized vaccines are highly protective but noted new variants could “challenge” the effectiveness of the shots.
“We don’t know everything at this moment,” he told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.
“We are studying the durability of the antibody response,” he said. “It seems strong but there is some waning of that and no doubt the variants challenge ... they make these vaccines work harder. So I think for planning purposes, planning purposes only, I think we should expect that we may have to boost.”<<
That last sentence is about planning for the worst, no? That’s not Kessler predicting Americans should expect it.
A key factor may be how many Americans get vaccinated. Overall vaccine effectiveness is determined not just by whether I got it, but whether the people around me have.
...WW2 gas ration stickers? Or social distancing?
I am concerned that wearing masks and cordoned-off pews has become de rigeur, and that few in authority will stick their necks out to say "Eight thousandths of a percent is compelling science. You can stop doing those things now".
It's that simple.
And if they are, it's incumbent upon people to have respect for the establishments that still do require them if they want to be allowed in.
...still need to wear masks. That’s fucking dumb and isn’t helping.
Has there ever been a virus that’s transmitted by immunized people?
Where the heck did this hypothesis come from?
I’m pretty disappointed in “science” that we can’t answer this question.
Scientists did an incredible job of developing an effective vaccince in roughly 1-year. That process usually takes 3 or 4 years.
To do so, the clinical trials were focused solely on safety and efficacy against illness. They did not study transmission. It is being studied now so that we will have an answer. Until we do, or until herd immunity is reached, reasonable precautions are sensible.
The link is from Johns Hopkins. Paragraph 7 addresses your question directly.
but their lack of common sense when it comes to human psychology is stunning.
with common sense
But they also make recommendations regardless. I don't see anything wrong with that.
My doctor wants me to cut salt out of my diet completely. Well, yeah, that draconian thing ain't happenin'. It doesn't mean I'm going to switch doctors or stop listening to her.
completely cut salt out of their diets because some people need to eat less salt.
my salt consumption had the potential to directly affect your health.
Which is why this example isn't a good one from the jump.
First, it's a recommendation, not an order. Second, he's just trying to keep people safe, which is his job. Some people find it inconvenient. Well, boo hoo, so is the entire pandemic.
That continuing to wear a mask was because nobody had a giant sign saying "I'm vaccinated" that people could easily discern, and following social norms until we made some sort of declaration was key both to assuage the public and prevent abuse. I could be entirely wrong of course.
I have to admit I saw an older gentleman take his dog into the vet unmasked and my first thought was "you fool!" before I realized he'd probably been vaccinated for over a month. Hopefully. This'll take a while to get a mental handle on.
It doesn't.
Not to mention, if that is the official stance then they should just say that.
That's why they're not saying that. They think that if they said, "Well, everyone should keep wearing masks in public for show, but we're pretty freaking sure vaccinated people can't really transmit it", that many vaccinated people would ditch the mask anyway and the anti-vax/anti-mask crowd would do it too and just lie.
It's the same reason people were lying about mask-wearing early on - everyone knew it was likely they were necessary, but because they didn't trust people not to buy all the supply up, they tried to dissuade people from doing it.
It's very frustrating and makes otherwise agreeable people wonder whether they're telling the whole truth at a given time.
...but that stance is the most glaring and problematic to me, for myriad reasons.
Their stance is pretty clear at this point. Until we have better information regarding transmission from vaccinated people or there's evidence we've reached herd immunity through vaccination, precautions should be taken when around those who aren't vaccinated.
I also question the idea that Fauci/CDC should be trying to spin the data to make people feel better. That isn't (and shouldn't be) their job. The problem with doing that is evident in the issue surrounding Fauci's early statements on masks. He attempted to manipulate public behavior to avoid a run on masks which were already in short supply, and that's still frequently cited as a knock on his credibility. People have to decide whether they want an honest assessment of what we know or not.
This really isn't that hard.
...and he decided to take the most conservative stance with respect to how one should act after being vaccinated. That is problematic to me. His approach is more conservative than the CDC guidelines. How is that helpful?
He's carrying an umbrella through the Sahara for fear of a thunderstorm.
by presenting vaccination as a ticket to normalcy. When he says vaccinated people still shouldn't feel safe to travel, eat indoors, go to a movie, or attend large group gatherings, he eliminates, or at least lessens, people's motivation to get vaccinated. He should be telling people that while the risk will never be 0.00%, vaccinated people should feel comfortable reverting back to a normal life. They obviously don't have to, but should feel comfortable to do so if they desire.
Government officials shouldn't be making recommendations based on things they don't know. Since we don't know yet if vaccinated people can still carry and transmit COVID-19, we need to continue reasonable precautions.
When in the history of earth have immunized people not gotten sick but transmitted the disease? I'm no biologist, but this seems to be a bizarre hypothesis.
I'm worried we are worrying about an edge case.
I don't care where we draw the line, but we need to define a level of risk we can live with. At that point, we need to judge potential contributors vs that risk line.
I didn't realize that there were vaccines that protects against the disease but not against transmission.
I wish this article gave better examples (e.g. rotovirus is still thwarted by 90%), but this is a phenomenon that we need to understand.
Rats.
In an ideal world, all vaccines would induce sterilising immunity. In reality, it is actually extremely difficult to produce vaccines that stop virus infection altogether. Most vaccines that are in routine use today do not achieve this. For example, vaccines targeting rotavirus, a common cause of diarrhoea in infants, are only capable of preventing severe disease. But this has still proven invaluable in controlling the virus. In the US, there has been almost 90% fewer cases of rotavirus-associated hospital visits since the vaccine was introduced in 2006. A similar situation occurs with the current poliovirus vaccines, yet there is hope this virus could be eradicated globally.
I mean, if the virus can't replicate enough to create symptoms, someone can't be shedding as much as someone who is coughing and sneezing out copies of the virus, right?
That is speculation on my part, though, and I don't have a problem with continuing to wear a mask until science is able to prove it out.
That is fear mongering.
A virus does not die instantly because it comes into contact with a vaccinated person. It still enters the body, but is quickly fought off by that person's immune system.
Is that person shedding virus that can be transmitted to others during that time period? We don't know yet.
Why? It wasn't part of the clinical trials, because they were concerned with quickly determining efficacy and safety.
Why is it so freaking difficult to continue to wear a mask for a couple more months?
I'm not fine keeping kids out of school and extracurricular activities and shutting down large portions of the economy while we confirm what seems an almost certainty. The goal is to reduce the risks to an acceptable level, not to 0, and I feel like we've done that.
Opening up the vaccine to all is awesome, but it will take weeks or months for that to reduce spread.
Even if we could somehow vaccinate everyone tomorrow, we'd be 14 days out from partial protection and 4-5 weeks from full protection. Reality is that this will be staggered, and we have to get enough of the population on board.
I thought this discussion was about vaccinated people continuing to wear masks to prevent spread. Not about keeping kids out of school or business restrictions.
School districts and the local governments that regulate business are going to be influenced by what the CDC says.
I don't see how a recommendation to continue wearing masks becomes a recommendation to shut down schools or businesses.
They've issued guidance on those issues separately.
...we are, with the school districts planning for Hybrid Learning next year.
(or more specifically, a local school district issue) and not a CDC/Fauci issue?
Or are ther preparing for the possibility of hybrid learning because there's the possibility that herd immunity will not happen by fall?
Or that there are still parents who will not be comfortable sending their unvaccinated children to school, and those kids need to get some sort of education as well?
My kids' district here in IL went back full last week (3 days after I contracted COVID, unfortunately, so my kids are still in isolation after I passed it to them), but there are still kids that are full remote, and there are still accommodations being made for kids', like mine, that are in quarantine or isolation.
Next week can't come soon enough.
If the CDC were truly concerned with this, they wouldn't have reversed their stance on vaccinated people traveling or meeting in groups. This is an overly conservative approach that will do more harm than good.
They are recommending that fully vaccinated people can meet with other fully vaccinated people OR small groups of people from a single household that are low risk.
Those are very different situations from a large public setting from a standpoint of virus spread.
The travel recommendation is new to me. I didn't realize anyone was barred from domestic travel.
The CDC says vaccinated people can travel, do not need to self-quarantine, etc.
...then there isn't much risk, is there?
But that doesn't account for all the other interactions one has while moving beyond their bubble.
I might consider continuing to wear them on a plane, or at least have one on hand if I get seated across from someone hacking their lungs out.
And maybe outdoors in the winter. The face-warming advantages are considerable.
Besides using extremely high grade HEPA filters, they also have downward airflow that reduces inhalation and pull ambient air from the outside to reduce the amount of cabin air that is recirculated. Unless one of the people immediately by your side is sick, you have very little to worry about on a plane.
Not a bad safety record for US airlines.
I may not use it, but circumstances of those around me may dictate my action. If it keeps someone from talking to me, it might just be worth it.
Pre-Covid, in America, you would be looked at (at best...) oddly if you wore a mask anywhere not in a hospital. Today, you are often looked at (rightfully, if indoors and/or not socially distanced) as inconsiderate (at best...) if you don't wear a mask.
I hope once we get herd immunity and this is done, nobody will care what anyone else does. You want to wear a mask on the subway? Great! You don't want to wear a mask on the subway? Great! But I've seen some people advocating for a sort of "this should be the new norm for everyone" during cold/flu season. Yeah... no thanks.
My biggest hope going forward is that those who are most susceptible to something "routine" for many of us (like the flu) becoming serious and/or life-threatening will be able to shed any self-consciousness that might've prevented them from taking the very easy step of masking up to add a little shield of protection.
I remember how personally awkward is was for me last April the first time I donned a gaiter and ducked my way into the super market. I try to feel comfortable in my own skin, but that was nerve-wracking. It was shades up showing up to middle school with a dorky shirt my mom picked out. And I can remember the moment it all flipped and suddenly the majority of the people in the store were now wearing masks. And the sense of calm and comfort that being back and safe in the majority brought.
It should not be lost on anyone how our measures this past year decimated common seasonal illness. While it will be optimal for the vast majority to return to a non-distanced, non-masked existence, those who choose not to should not be subjected to any societal mockery.
(going on a rafting trip and stopped over for food)
My friend and I paused at the door like we were walking into Bob's Country Bunker. "Nobody else does...should we?"
"Man we're getting weird looks"
"F*** them, it's what the guidance says to do."
As silly as it sounds, I honestly wasn't relishing having that discussion with some rando at the time. We ate outside anyhow, because it was a lovely day.
I remember vehemently whining that "ugh, we're not asia" last year. Now I don't care if we are or aren't - there are some good demonstrable results we can definitely borrow out of this that don't involve mandating it.
I think everyone will be wearing them in the future.
For example, I might continue to wear a mask on public transportation because in retrospect cramming into an L car during rush hour with a hundred gross Chicagoans was probably a Petri dish before all this.
I expect to see lots of masks on the L for years to come.
Not that I think we'll ever be Asia, it's not exactly the end of the world when they do it on public transport, and what a world if people actually wore masks when they themselves were sick.
However, I have friends, relatives, and co-workers who have latched on to every "CDC: people still dying with vaccine!" article out there as proof they'll never have to go out again. I get it, we're all a little scared, but dammit, risk elimination is not going to be a thing.
For my .02, ideally I'd love to see rates of infection fall along with increased vaccinations for some period before declaring the all clear, but that's a hell of a hard call.
Politicians will have begun issuing Climate Emergency Mandates by then.
...good statistics like vax rates and the 0.008% isn't enough to overcome the inertia of masks, distancing, hybrid schools, etc. We need someone (probably a blue state governor) to say "When we get to X% of our residents vaccinated, everything's back to normal. I'll encourage stores and businesses to cease masking requirements at that point."
Beshear has announced that once 2.5 million people are vaccinated, he's going to greatly reduce the restrictions.
...though I don't know about the mask requirements.
Pritzker has already released the requirements to entire a "Bridge" Phase and a fully re-opened phase.
They are 70% of adults over 65 fully vaccinated for the "Bridge" and 50% of all adults for full reopening, plus stable infection metrics re: cases and hospitalizations.
The caveat is that it can't just be based on vaccination rates. We need to see the effects of vaccination on cases, which SHOULD naturally follow, barring any issues with variants or mutations.
start doing things other than covid for her re-election. Her approval rate has been decent despite the shutdowns but she's kept us locked up WAY too long and now we're spiking instead of the gradual rises like our neighbor states. Politicians operate on the election calendar...she ran on fixing the roads and now with all the federal money coming in, she can probably get a chunk of that done. Despite all of the signs that say "Our Governors An Idiot" she's not, she's a savvy politician and she'll suddenly start working with the MI GOP and many of them ARE idiots so maybe she'll fool them.
Just asking because I don't know the answers.
Also the return of handshaking and the shitcanning of the damn elbow bumps.
There is a contingent of people who say they're never taking off their masks in public again. I guess they're opposite of the Covid deniers, they're the Covid vaccine effectiveness deniers, or something.
I'm hoping it fades away whenever there's the general consensus from the pros that there's herd immunity.
This past year has made me realize how ridiculous hand shakes are.
If I’ve met somebody new, it’s been pretty awkward without the handshake to be honest. I do this weird wave/smile (that they can’t see)/head nod thing that makes me feel pretty uncomfortable, and them probably even more so.
But not sick enough that I need to stay home in bed.
their elbow at me, I fist bump or grab it...they've already initiated one of the most awkward things so I try to top it. I'm back to shaking hands or doing the fist bump...I kind of like the fist bump because it's really quick and you can greet a group quickly.
...with the Europeans.
As do most people I encounter. It’s an adult greeting. Adults also should know not to put their hands in their mouths or on their faces.
Why would I want to touch another human being as a form of greeting? Bruno, if we ever touch each other, I want it only to be in the act of making love. Or a fight.
Michigan's seven day case number average is now higher than at any point since the beginning of the pandemic.
Permanently.
Considering that most of the 66M that have been fully vaxxed are in the most vulnerable groups, that strikes me as being incredibly effective. A shade over 1 in 1 million people.
Ah well, good news bears repeating, and it’s close to dropping off the front page.
...after living in a home with me and our 4 infected children over the last 2 weeks. I've been out of isolation since Monday, and my kids' last day is today.
CDC doesn't recommend that she get a test unless she develops symptoms, so I guess we don't know for certain, but she's not sick.