Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

Out here in CA, it's hard to tell if there are any restrictions right now and we locked down pretty hard for the first few weeks, but they've lightened up considerably. No mask requirements (at least not in my county) and restaurants are all open. The only time I've even eaten out at a restaurant was this past spring and once this summer. Both outdoors. There might be restrictions I'm unaware of lol.

Don't know too much about schools here (don't have kids) although the policy is that schools should try to stay open for in-person instruction to the extent possible. Same for my university, though it's a mix of on campus and online.

 

Wearing a seat belt has a lot of known visible and long term data to prove why it works. A new drug that is part of an area that is much more gray than something like a seat belt is going to take time. Especially considering we now can see that these first generation new drugs are not going to be the answer…

 

Go for it!

 

*shrug* it's what came to mind - large number of infections & fatalities, major spread throughout the globe, took generations to control, not fully eradicated but folks can get easily treated now. With science & technology the cycle is way shorter but similar to me in that we're not getting rid of covid. Best bet is to vaccinate & develop a variety of therapeutics for covid & maybe strain specific boosters similar to the flu shot.

Again that's just me. I'm not a scientist or a scholar. I'm sure the really smart folks here could give a better example

 

Over 800,000 Americans dead already. About 1,000 still dying every day. Time is a luxury we don't have.

We do have a year's worth of results. Short term, the vaccine is safe and effective. Perfect? No. But unvaccinated 4X more likely to catch COVID and 16X more likely to die. How long do you want to wait before you declare the vaccine safe? And how much more data do you need/how many more unvaccinated need to die?

And long term, the chances of the vaccine, which breaks down and leaves the body within 8-12 hours are infinitesimal. And certainly much safer than contracting the virus itself.

If you're looking for a silver bullet against a virus, you'll never stop looking. It doesn't exist. What we have has done a lot of good, and continue to do a lot of good. Or do we need to link the articles with the numbers and ER Docs again?

By the way, the 3-point seat belt was invented in 1959. It wasn't mandated to be in cars until 1966, and the first law was NY, in 1984. Do you really want to wait that long before we mandate the vaccine? And imagine how many lives we could've saved had seat belt laws been enacted earlier?

 

Where we agree…

There is not a silver bullet for a virus like this.

Where we disagree. Is the idea out of nowhere we need to force people to take a new drug for that virus.

Take if you want. If you are not in the best of health from decisions made it might be a good thing. That said…getting in good health could have prevented the need and will absolutely benefit one beyond just Covid!

 

It would have been easier if your picture on your vax card. That would have saved time and made it easier for you.

 

There is no silver bullet for viruses. Decades of research and we have better drugs for aids, but still no cure. And no cure for the common cold, flu.....

Even if you're healthy, you can contract the virus. And while maybe your odds are better, even young and healthy people get really sick, and die from COVID. Want to lower your risk? Get the vaccine. There is nothing that works better.

The vaccine also protects others. 4X less people with the virus, and if they do get sick, they recover and rid themselves of the virus days faster. Less people with the virus, and shorter recovery time means less contagion, and less people sick.

I do agree being healthy has benefits beyond COVID. But the virus doesn't care about your BMI. Or your neighbor's.

 

1. the article you linked said several states have reported increases around 50%

2. I never said omicron was more severe. I don’t think anybody has said that

3. Omicron spreads more easily, and since kids are mostly unvaccinated, they are seeing more hospitalizations. Almost all of those hospitalizations could have been prevented by vaccination. This narrative that kids aren’t severely affected is being challenged by Omicrons sheer virulence.

 

This is a really good analogy. If you get shot with a vest you will get knocked down. You might get a bruise or maybe even a concussion from the fall. It will probably leave a mark that hurts and may require medical attention. In some cases the bullet may enter an unprotected spot. But your odds of survival are greatly increased. I saw one study under certain conditions a bullet proof vest increased survival from 53% to 83%, which would be an efficacy of about 65%. The vaccine efficacy against hospitalization/death runs 80-95%.

 

Covid is generally more dangerous than the flu. As to being allowed to have symptoms if vaccinated, that seems like a bad policy. But one bad policy doesn't mean all other good policies should be discarded.

It is hard for me to get my arms around someone who works in the health care field having an issue with vaccines or a mandate for a vaccine to work around patients and other employees.

 

Seat belts have about 50% efficacy against death


Policy Impact: Seat Belts | Motor Vehicle Safety | CDC Injury Center

Seat belts plus airbags have 67% efficacy against death.

https://cdn.mdedge.com/files/s3fs-public/Document/September-2017/040030026.pdf


The "leaky" Covid vaccine has efficacy of around 90% against death.

 

I was being sarcastic. Its so simple to show the actual card or a picture of it. Neither method saves you time over the other.

 

Ya when you go from 20 to 30, that’s a 50% increase…

Being the vaccines are proving to do almost nothing to prevent Omicron infection, I’m not sure what the vaccine status of 10 year olds has anything to do with it?

How much more data do you need that shows the vaccines are very ineffective at prevention Omicron infection?

the only people who have a chance are those with in the first 10 weeks of booster shots.

 

Florida to Party on NYE as Cases Top Records: ‘Nobody Cares’

But neither DeSantis nor Ladapo had much to say when two of the three main monoclonal antibody treatments—REGEN-COV and Bamlanivimab/etesevimab—soon after proved to be ineffective against the Omicron variant.

“We cannot use those anymore because they are not working,” Espinosa noted on Wednesday.

The third treatment, Sotrovimab, seems to be effective but is in very short supply.

“Right now, we are trying to prioritize and just give it to people who most likely would die,” Espinosa said. “And those are the immunosuppressed people, or the ones that have a lot of risk factors. Those are the only ones that we are able to use these medications [on], because we have to be very conscious how we use the resources.”

 

Real-world data suggest 2 doses of Pfizer vaccine 70% effective at preventing hospitalization with Omicron variant

It’s lower with Omicron than 90% but good news is Omicron is naturally weaker.
The article has the details for what the data showed in South Africa.

 

What can they say? Especially if Biden admin is giving more to states with smaller populations. What more can be said or done to stop the spread of a virus with the infection rate of measles.

 

I dont have a problem with the vaccine & encourage others to get vaccinated. It's benefits are quite clear.

My issue is with forcing people to do it or lose their livelihoods when in general that doesn't happen with things like the flu shot. Is covid worse than the flu? Generally yes. To someone like me both can cause long-term effects & possibly death. Hence why I get the flu shot, got vaccinated, & will start my med adjustments to prep to take my 3rd shot (full not booster).

However, I cannot support compromising patient care by firing workers during a pandemic. During a pandemic it's all hands on deck. Winters are hard normally on ratios and even 1 nurse lost is too many in some places.

I guess my point of view is biased based on personal experience having navigated all of this, seeing the re-infections, etc. It's just not effective enough to warrant firings/bannings. But that's just me.

 

Saw this this morning. Found it interesting.

COVID-19 directly damages, creates scar tissue on the kidneys

"A team of German and Dutch scientists report COVID-19 causes direct cellular damage within the kidneys, contributing to tissue scarring.

Conducted at the RWTH Uniklinik Aachen in Germany and the Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands, study authors assessed and compared kidney tissues among COVID-19 ICU patients, other patients in the hospital for a non-COVID-related lung issue, and a group of healthy people. Results show kidney tissue from the COVID-19 patients showed much more tissue scarring than others."

 

How is bubonic plague spread? And how was it controlled? That is why it is a bad analogy.