Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

Is FLORIDA lagging or did we get hit with it first (Arkansas, I believe had an earlier peak)? I'm asking because our start of the school year spike doesn't appear to be just behind most states; it appears to be just ahead of a most states. Our trajectories seem to be very similar to Louisiana's. They peaked slightly higher (hospitalizations per capita) in January; we peaked slightly higher in August. But keep an eye on Georgia and Texas, a couple of southern states with a possible uptick in hospitalizations.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Of course words have meaning. You called him anti-vax. He's not...unless you want anti-vax to mean the opposite of what it does.

 

No. Infection is not a means of fighting the pandemic. It is a result of widespread infections. The result is 60,000 dead, too. For the 80% with no documented/test documented infections, we need vaccination. Disease prevention is essential. The poster I was responding to consistently touts the success of monoclonal antibody treatment, which works. But, comparisons between vaccines and treatments are meaningless.

 

Between prior infection and the rate of vaccinations, that is not likely. As international tourism increases, we will see what will be.

 

It's the mandate part of what you support that I disagree with. FLORIDA has done just fine without the mandates (particularly compared to other highly populated states). I support vaccinations, but I am strongly against mandates.

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,WESGATORS

 

. 20% infection rate and 60,000 dead is not “doing well.” Far from it. And comparisons to other states don’t matter. These numbers speak for themselves. The vaccines are reducing infections, symptomatic infection, serious illness and death. The numbers are irrefutable compared to the unvaccinated. This is an example where the public interest outweighs the individual privacy interest. That is Roe and Griswald. And Jacobson supports mandatory vaccination as a legal principle.
So, legally, and as a public policy issue, the mandates are a good idea. You can’t say “Florida is doing well,” and ignore the effect of the vaccines. Nor can you ignore that in other states, numbers are increasing with increased indoor activity as the weather cools. Florida’s example supports mandatory vaccination. We would have done better with a higher vaccination rate. Which gets back to applying Roe and Griswald and Jacobsen.

 

Well, you guys constantly label everyone who states the vaccines don't do a very good job at preventing transmission antivaxxers.

 

Heard this on the radio yesterday. The states that got hit early due low vaccination rates and inability to understand science may not get hit as hard this time because many of these people now have some natural immunity (or died). We will see.

 

Found this interesting…

Gibralter. Considered 100% vaccinated. Have administered enough to be 139.5% full unvaccinated. Not sure what some on here consider fully vaccinated. Right now they have 1269 cases per 100K and rising.

Gibraltar: the latest coronavirus counts, charts and maps

And some on here will tell you the unvaccinated are the problem in Gibralter.

 

Better to just admit you were wrong and move on.

 

I agree with this theory. We will see. A lot of vaccinate and unvaccinated with natural immunity now in those areas. The immunity that is robust.

Baffles me that people continue to deny the most basic science we know.

 

8th in the country in per capita deaths doesn't seem to me like doing just fine.

 

Wait until every other state finishes its winter wave.

 

Like I said, it doesn't look that way once you factor in the age demographics. Can you think of a good reason why age demographics wouldn't be used in these comparisons?

If somebody asked you right now, what is the death rate for COVID? Do you find it more useful to say 1.65% (using FL's most recent data, CFR)? Or do you find it more useful to say something like "under 16, the CFR is 0.0058% while 65 and older have a CFR of more than 9.5%"

This type of nuance matters, in my opinion.

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,WESGATORS

 

Europes highly vaccinated countries struggling with their winter waves already. I have been saying for months and showing plenty of studies how fast protection against infection is 4-6 months after the second shot. The question now is how well is it going to hold up keeping the elderly out of hospitals.

 

One of the things I find fascinating in all of this is that left-leaners and right-leaners have sort of switched places in the "right to die" discussion. When we think of the need for the vaccine, we think of how it helps us to not put ourselves in a more vulnerable position much more than we think of the reduction in spread (take Bill's comments from that tweet, for example). I don't think all these deaths are as tragic as others make them out to be because people have willfully chosen to avoid taking something that a reasonable person would determine is going to help their chances when/if they catch COVID. Like I said, I'm pro-vaccine, but those who choose to take it or choose not to take it are adults and are accountable for their own decision making. We don't need mandates because any 65+ population chooses not to protect themselves. I would go so far as to drop that number down to 18+. And as you see, the FL numbers for 16 and under are ridiculously small that it doesn't rise to the level of demanding mandates. There's just not a need to exert force in this regard...provided that we are willing to accept that people have a right to die and that they own the consequences of their decision-making.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

The most vaccinated population in the world exists on Gibraltar. Small yes, but the average number of vaccinations is 2.79 per person for all residents. They love them some vaccine. They are experiencing a massive rise in COVID-19 infections. As a result, the Gibraltar government announced today that all Christmas assemblies must be stopped. Some believe the absence of a natural immunity population to fight the virus leads to an uncontrollable spread of the virus in the vaccinated community. The higher the vaccination rates, the more serious the spread of the virus amid the population that only carries the immune system protection provided by the vaccine. This follows the reports in Israel, where the hospitals were seeing a high number of vaccinated.

Yahoo reports some very concerning words from Lord Fauci :

On Nov. 12, White House COVID adviser Anthony Fauci, MD, went on The New York Times’ podcast The Daily to discuss the current state of the coronavirus in the U.S. According to Fauci, officials are now starting to see some waning immunity against both infection and hospitalization several months after initial vaccination. The infectious disease expert pointed toward incoming data from Israel, which he noted tends to be about a month to a month and a half ahead of us in terms of the outbreak.

“They are seeing a waning of immunity not only against infection but against hospitalization and to some extent death, which is starting to now involve all age groups. It isn’t just the elderly,” Fauci said. “It’s waning to the point that you’re seeing more and more people getting breakthrough infections, and more and more of those people who are getting breakthrough infections are winding up in the hospital.”

Makes no sense that a state in India passing out Ivermectin/Vitamin kits to 225 million gets a bad rap and called bad science. Uttar Pradesh has almost no Covid today and they have a very low vaccination rate. Politifact disagrees Ivermectin could be the reason why but we know the corrupt Poynter does not deal in facts at all times.

 

Our govt will never present it that way. Not enough fear instilled when it's broken down into age groups.

 

It's helpful but not enough. Expand the lens to compare FL to, say, Japan, which has the oldest population in the world with 5x the total pop yet FL has over 2x as many cases and 3x as many deaths. What do we say to that?

 

Really interesting thread discussing data on effect of vaccines in reducing transmission of COVID in the Delta era, which offers good news for vaccines and debunks the claim that vaccination does not impact transmission.