Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

So apparently being underweight is as much of a risk factor for hospitalization and implicitly serious illness as is being obese. I checked the source to see if you made a typo and you did quote accurately.
FYI: This is the source. Body Mass Index and Risk for COVID-19–Related ...
By the way in the case of both obese and underweight patients, the study did not adjust for other underlying medical conditions.

 

No, just correcting your not good understanding of the past.

You ever take any medicine?

 

Yep. I have taken medicine that has a track record and works. I have taken vaccines with track records that work for certain things. I have not taken medicines that I find unnecessary.

You keep living in the past and boost for that alpha variant when we have a far less severe variant that could care less about your shots if that is where your risk tolerance puts you. Wear a mask if you wish. The rest of us have moved on accordingly.

 

as evidenced by this post 2 mins ago. LOL

 

I've moved on. Why? Because as the U Minn Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy article claims in its headline, 3 COVID doses appear to protect against Omicron subvariants.

And while the COVID vaccine doesn't have a long track record of success, every study shows significant efficacy against hospitalization and death. Every one. If there's a study that shows otherwise, I've yet to see it.

As for Omicron, here's more that shows it to be equally as deadly as Delta. There are states that had more Omicron deaths than Delta. And researchers believe the states with more Omicron deaths had significantly less Delta cases, and therefore, had significantly less natural immunity. Which goes along with the large, preprint study showing Omicron is just as deadly as other variants.

 

If you think that the vaccines haven't kept people out of the hospital and morgue, than what explains the 10-18x hospitalization & death rates for unvaxxed?

I'm living my life. Traveling next week. But I live my life informed and honest about science, and not beholden to the worst aspects of rightwing ignorance that has gotten a lot of people killed.

 

And We've been living our lives, never slowed down. Actually we traveled more during Covid(like the flu) since so many of you didn't, got tremendous deals and we had a blast.

 

Just stop with your great virtue. You have done nothing special. Make the decisions you need to make. Stop ignorantly accusing people who make a different decision of killing people. You are better than this!

 

Florida’s health department undercounted COVID cases and deaths, state audit says

Florida’s COVID-19 data was so inaccurate, incomplete and delayed during the first months of the pandemic that government officials and the public may not have had necessary information to determine the effectiveness of the state’s COVID-19 precautions and the best plan to fight the virus, according to a state report released Monday.

Covering the state’s pandemic response from March to October 2020, the year-long analysis by the State Auditor General found missing case and death data, unreported demographic details, and incomplete contact tracing as the virus spread across the state. In addition, the report concluded that state health officials did not perform routine checks on the data to ensure accuracy and did not follow up on discrepancies.

Yet one top state health official, Department of Health spokesperson Jeremy Redfern, said the Auditor General’s report was flawed.

Redfern said “some of the conclusions come from (the auditors’) misunderstanding of the purpose of different datasets,” adding that “the report does not address the huge advancements we’ve made in modernizing our reporting systems.”

 

I didn't write that you killed people. I wrote that you are beholden to ideas that get people killed because they're based in ignorance about a deadly virus. Truth hurts sometimes.

 

No. You are implying that your great virtue saves lives and those that choose not to engage in it perpetuate the killing of others.

You are better than this. During delta…thanks to messaging we had many Covid positive fully vaccinated people out spreading the disease thinking they did not have it. One of the many disasters of the public health response to this pandemic.

There is a massive risk gradient difference with this disease. Unfortunately you and the public health officials that have led through this prefer to focus on shots for people at little risk rather than focus on those at high risk.

 

Your narrative lacks the data to support it. First, the vaccine has always been highly effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths. This certainly includes the Delta variant. Second, two doses of the vaccine still prevented 75% of Delta cases, and later, it was shown a 3rd vaccine brought protection back up over 85%, which is why a second booster (3rd dose) was authorized when it was.

Meanwhile, places like the state of Washington keep posting weekly data that all looks the same. Unvaccinated about twice as likely to contract COVID, over 2.5X more likely to end up in the hospital with COVID, and 4X more likely to die if unvaccinated and over 65. The case counts for the vaccinated are likely even higher. But since they are vaccinated, they are more likely to have mild cases and not test.

 

Well, it is a good thing that risks between people aren't at all linked during contagious disease outbreaks and only your risks are affected by your choices.

 

I haven't been suggesting anything, I haven't held back from outright ripping you for the many bad ideas that you promoted on this thread, especially about the efficacy of vaccines against hospitalizations and deaths. It's about being informed and being honest about it. If this is me lording some virtue. So be it. I refuse to suffer the mis/disinformation-fest that dominated the rightwing reaction to covid.

 

This is funny!

You do what you need to do. Stop acting like healthy people choosing to not do what you think they should is wrong!

 

Just a reminder to those who think it's "no big deal" to vax your kids, here is yet another reason why kids don't need to be vaccinated. Nothing like having negative effectiveness. And we aren't even discussing the myocarditis issue with teen boys.

BNT162b2 Vaccination and Symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 in Children During Omicron Predominance

 

And here is why you should vaccinate your kids. The vaccine reduces the risk of severe cases requiring hospitalization.

The effectiveness of two doses of BNT162b2 against any hospitalization for Covid-19 was lower during the omicron period than during the delta period in adolescents 12 to 18 years of age, but vaccination prevented most life-threatening Covid-19 in both periods. Vaccination also reduced the risk of hospitalization for Covid-19 among children 5 to 11 years of age by two thirds during the omicron period, and most children with critical Covid-19 were unvaccinated. Continued monitoring of vaccine effectiveness against severe Covid-19 will be important to inform vaccination strategies as the time since vaccination increases or if new SARS-CoV-2 variants emerge.​

 

And yet again more evidence that you don't need to vax your child. In England, out of 12 million kids under 20, there was 81 deaths due to covid. They confirmed that at least 75% had underlying conditions. When you factor in myocarditis from the vax and the negative effectiveness after 4 months, then it's wise to not get the vaccine unless your child has underlying conditions. Don't listen to the charlatans in here. Look at the data yourself.

Wonder why the US hasn't done this yet?

COVID-19 deaths in children and young people: active prospective national surveillance, March 2020 to December 2021, England by Marta Bertran, Zahin Amin-Chowdhury, Hannah Davies, Hester Allen, Tom Clare, Chloe Davison, Mary Sinnathamby, Giulia Seghezzo, Meaghan Kall, Hannah Williams, Nick Gent, Mary E. Ramsay, Godwin Oligbu, Shamez Ladhani :: SSRN

 

Some positive developments in the fight vs. Omicron.

 

The UK has about 1/5 the population as the US. This equates to 100 pediatric COVID deaths in kids, in the US, with no underlying conditions. And just over 400 pediatric COVID deaths in total. These are deaths, not hospitalizations, which the previous linked study shows, the vaccine reduces hospitalizations by 67%. If we just half this number, and say the vaccine only protects 33% from death, that's about 133 kids saved. And it's likely the vaccine protects kids from death even higher than 33%.

Small numbers? Sure. But tell the parent who lost a kid to COVID who didn't vaccinate that the risk was small.

As for myocarditis, the risk of contracting it from a COVID infection is higher than after 2 doses of an mRNA vaccine. Not to mention, the incidence of a severe case of myocarditis after vaccination is smaller, whereas the risk of contracting MIS-C after infection, which is more severe, is higher after infection.

The only thing I agree with in your statement is look at the data. The risk is small, yes. And vaccination doesn't erase the risk completely, but does lower it. Again, I'll use the seatbelt analogy. I'm old enough to have ridden in a car as a child free reign, in my Mom's van, no seatbelt. Made it out just fine. But statistically, I would have been safer in a car seat, which is why my kids always buckle up every time we go on a trip.