Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

I don't really know what your point is or what you are trying to accomplish here.

 

Amino Acid Exchanges. There is a more, technically, to a mutation than simple replacement of the amino acids. Sadly, I am not expert enough to have the technical definition off of the top of my head, I would have to go back through the podcasts I have listened to and figure out where I heard it.

 

Ah, the old "I don't like his data" so I'll try to disparage him move. Weak.

 

Amino acid replacement - Wikipedia

Notice that both senteces in the definition use the word mutation.

 

latest I have seen is it is somewhere between 60 and 65% at preventing infection with the number waning as time passes. it is much better at preventing hospitalization

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/09/18/covid-hospital-bills-insurance-deductible/

In 2020, as the pandemic took hold, U.S. health insurance companies declared they would cover 100 percent of the costs for covid treatment, waiving co-pays and expensive deductibles for hospital stays that frequently range into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But this year, most insurers have reinstated co-pays and deductibles for covid patients, in many cases even before vaccines became widely available. The companies imposed the costs as industry profits remained strong or grew in 2020, with insurers paying out less to cover elective procedures that hospitals suspended during the crisis.

Now the financial burden of covid is falling unevenly on patients across the country, varying widely by health-care plan and geography, according to a survey of the two largest health plans in every state by the nonprofit and nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.

If you’re fortunate enough to live in Vermont or New Mexico, for instance, state mandates require insurance companies to cover 100 percent of treatment. But most Americans with covid are now exposed to the uncertainty, confusion and expense of business-as-usual medical billing and insurance practices — joining those with cancer, diabetes and other serious, costly illnesses. (Insurers continue to waive costs associated with vaccinations and testing, a pandemic benefit the federal government requires.)

 

About the depth of response I would expect. Grievance and victim.

 

Actually evidence about vaccines continues to come in and will continue to guide decisions. To say that it hasn't changed isn't true either.

No you didn't say that it should never change, but you suggested that the changing policies are somehow evidence of a problem.

I don't think your argument has a shred of merit.

 

You shouldn't care about transmissibility if the illness being afflicted is not a serious one. The common cold is contagious, yet we don't shut down the country for it.

People getting COVID who are vaccinated, and even many who are unvaccinated (particularly healthy younger people)... generally are not getting severe symptoms. If you are unvaccinated, you are much more likely to get a serious case or die. If you are vaccinated, it is extraordinarily unlikely for you to get a serious case of COVID.

 

Not sure what your point is. I agree with a lot of that. Are you trying to compare what’s happening now with the delta spike overwhelming hospitals to the common cold? I care about transmissibility because it’s driving the current spike.

 

If vaccines are the solution, and pretty much everybody has had the opportunity to get vaccinated barring few exceptions, then why stay locked down?

I think the American people deserve a reason.

 

Obviously the hospitalized cases are not "the common cold."

But you cited transmissibility. And it's just a fact that a lot of cases are not severe. The truth is, we really shouldn't care about the asymptomatic or even mild cases as far as government action is concerned.

My point is, judging by transmissibility would be flawed and would cause us to overreact because not all COVID cases are the same.

 

Where are these lockdowns you keep talking about?

 

My point is:

1. If the vaccine is the means to the end of the pandemic.
2. The vaccine is incredibly highly effective at both preventing transmission and serious illness in the event of breakthrough cases.
3. Everyone barring rare exceptions has had the opportunity to take the vaccine.

Considering all of this... Why are we continuing with mask mandates, COVID testing, vaccine passports, etc.?

If you're vaccinated, you're probably fine, even if you're with people who aren't vaccinated.

If you aren't vaccinated, barring rare exceptions, it's your fault and you are responsible for the consequences.

 

Sorry, mask mandates, social distancing protocols, limited capacity, etc.

 

So where are these things being done?

 

College campuses for one.

Health & Safety - Our Plan Forward - University of Florida

Every university student and members of student organizations must:

• Wear a mask or cloth face covering in UF and UF Health facilities as required by the University’s Masking and Physical Distancing policy.
• Wear a face covering in UF outdoor spaces when the space does not allow for appropriate physical distancing as required by the University’s Masking and Physical Distancing policy.
• Unapproved face coverings include masks with exhalation valves or vents, which allow air to be expelled and do not prevent the person from transmitting COVID-19 to others. Examples of face coverings that help our campus community stay safer are available at UF Health.
• All visitors, faculty, staff, students, patients, volunteers and vendors are required to wear a face covering when outside on all UF and UF Health property unless a distance of 6 feet or more is maintained at all times.

"But, 715... that's a college campus, not the government."

It's a public university, which doesn't exactly make it a private entity, #1.

#2, this is also happening at the government level.

:: Welcome to the City of Columbia ::

"Mayor Steve Benjamin and Columbia City Council Reinstates Emergency Ordinance Requiring Mask Face Coverings."

 

Judging only by transmissibility would be flawed. Dismissing transmissibility outright as a non factor (like you seem to be doing) is also flawed. It's still extremely important. Benchmarks are changing because the vaccine is not as effective as once thought against transmissibility. I agree with you about the vaccines still being highly effective because they are stopping severe illness and death. But increased transmissibility is what is driving the current spike in total cases leading to hospital overloads and thus government action.

 

You could've just hit the agree button. That's highly effective.

Hospitalization, serious illness, and death is what matters here.

 

I don't see it that way. He is factually correct.
Had he claimed that science never changes and they should have gotten it right....that would be ignorant.

Just out the frustration felt by many by the method unfolding in slow motion is not by any definition "ignorant".