Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

Here in Florida unfortunately it's the big bat to constantly bash desantis over the head with because he won't mandate this or that, it's gotten to the point of obsurdity. Read a lot about Vit D levels and evidently they are typically low in the more severe patients. I've also seen zinc recommended a lot, medical folks can chime in but these seem to be positive factors. Loose weight, obesity is a big deal but sadly it's all about cases and vaccines.

 

If we're going to have honest discussions about this stuff, it should be highlighted whether or not the employees are/were vaccinated. How are people to know if they should feel safe or not with their vaccination if there's no mention of the impact that not being vaccinated has had (or is that even the case)? Sick of the politically charged stuff, this response is incomplete in my opinion.

That said, I got a kick out of this part of the letter to parents on not allowing an easy mask opt-out option (there still is one, technically):

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Other than top level numbers, it will take time for data to be organized and released to various entities for study.

Physicians telling their patients that covid is "not a big deal for most" are not doing them any favors. This is a situation where statistical probabilities of getting extremely sick or dying should be a secondary consideration to the fact that public health experts reactions to this novel virus come from a much deeper appreciation of the destructive nature of infectious disease. In other words, it's extremely serious because the virus is extremely destructive and still unpredictable in how it might continue to spread, mutate, and hit any one individual. These are the reasons why the world has reacted so much more intensely than recent past pandemics such as SARS and H1N1.

 

I have not seen anyone suggesting mandating vaccines for children (under 12 aren't even eligible at all yet!), but all teachers and staff should be IMO, to keep the school year going without interruption.

I'm not sure why they wouldn't be "encouraged" for 12+ though. Even if it's risk neutral for that age group (which is still isn't, considering the risk of the vaccine is even more close to zero for children than the virus). It still helps with transmission of the virus.

You say this like there’s a massive central database that instantly cross references vitamin D levels (wtf?) or other labs with covid outcomes. That it could easily just be “looked up” by someone, but is instead being held back. Hint: there isn’t. These things could be (and surely is being) looked at with further study of patient outcomes, but it’s not real-time data.

The state surely does have age data drilled down. So that is an example of something that could be available in great detail (up to the limitations of HIPAA laws) If you want more detailed hospitalization data, you might want to ask Desantis why that isn’t getting out, in fact I still think they are operating on weekly releases despite the Delta surge (FL is one of the outlier states, with Nebraska being even worse... their covid data is now a black hole).

 

There's a lot of "top level" data that should be available and either isn't or it is ridiculously hard to find.

They're not saying that to their patients as advice, it's an accurate assessment of the impact.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

I’ve seen plenty of hospital admins saying the vast majority of their patients are unvaccinated. Typically in the 90%’s, sometimes in the 80%’s. The CDC has emphasized the efficacy of the vaccines and dished out numbers also consistent with these rates.

We have a vaccine with extremely high efficacy. What, exactly, is political about any of this???

 

Hospital data are not something that are simply compiled and released publicly. Management of health data fall under HIPAA, so beyond those top level numbers, it will take time for more extensive compilation and analysis to occur.

It might be an accurate assessment in some sense, but it also misses why this pandemic has been met with such a different response than more recent previous ones. People have spent the past 18 months playing down the threat because they look at what seems like low numbers of extreme sick or dying without realizing that these are excessive relative what should be expected.

 

Sadly there are too many databases. Would love to see even states work to consolidate towards a single database, but that's a pipe dream at this point. But even a single data base with many thousands of patients' records would be useful in this regard. I have no idea what percentage of patients have had their Vitamin D level accurately measured, but I request mine when I get my blood tests (why? some doctors thing Vitamin D is kind of important). If a database can't easily and accurately allow for reporting on some of the basic top-level data points then it isn't a good database.

I'm no fan of how Desantis has made it harder to look at compiled data, but there's no reason that Shands (for example) can't work with the media or even the county directly to provide this information (they have recently started doing this with some very basic hospitalization data).

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Depends on the data. The state was doing a great job of compiling basic data earlier in the year. Why can't we get that and then also add "known COVID," "suspected COVID," "known reinfection," and apply those to vaccination statuses? How would HIPAA prevent any of that being shared in aggregate?

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Well you might want to consider who's at the top of the govt pyramid in FL right now as to why. Seems political.

I didn't mean to suggest HIPAA prevents data becoming public but due to privacy and control issues, it slows release of data.

 

It’s probably technologically feasible at this point, but as someone above said the reason we don’t have a central database for health care is HIPAA laws and that we have a privatized delivery system. Each hospital (or network of hospitals) has their own records system. Generally they only share stuff with the state where they are required to do so, or with research they’ve signed on to. But then the data is compiled and turned over, and the researchers have to painstakingly fit it into THEIR system and make sure they maintain data integrity while doing it, it isn’t all done in real time. As you can imagine, trying to merge data from different enterprise systems that don’t line up can be a nightmare.

If you want standardized, you want nationalized healthcare. This is why a lot of the more real time data comes out of U.K. or Israel, and a lot of people point to their numbers almost as a “heads up”. They have the nationalized systems.

 

Why not vaccinate kids under 12? They take other vaccines, so what's the holdup and when is the expected green light?

 

Because they haven't studied the dangers in giving an adult size dose to a small child. Maybe not rush to do something that is ok for a 175lb person that might not be ok for a 50lb child. Just a thought. Children are as close to zero risk from covid as it gets so it makes no sense to get them vaccinated until there is full FDA approval for kids.

 

COVID outbreak shuts down Evans football practice, cancels Jones game

 

So I started having this cough and congestion on Friday and thought I was getting a cold. Went through the weekend and then a coworker posted on Teams his 1st vaccine Monday before last made him extremely ill and then he thinks he was infected on Wednesday with Covid because he tested positive Friday night. So I got tested and it came back positive. The symptoms are exactly like my sinus infections - heavy congestion and the cough because of the congestion. My wife and son came back negative, so hopefully it'll stay that way. Ironic too, I got the vaccine and they didn't. Weird symptoms though. Most of my issues are in the nasal area with intense congestion and mucus excretion and sneezing, much like Sinusitis. Hopefully today is the worst of it and from here I'll continue to improve.

 

Sorry for the bad luck. Hope you get better soon. You mind telling us which vaccine did you get?

 

Speak to your doctor. Ask for the regeneron or monoclonal antibodies (whichever is the state of the art) now. Works best early. I get wicked sinus infections. Had one March 2020 when you couldn’t get a COVID test. When I would breathe in an irritant, it would be painful.

 

Thanks! Pfizer.

 

The good news is that the stats are with you! Btw: have you taken cold medicine? Does that help?

 

I'll keep that in mind, but I'll try Mucinex-D tonight so I have coverage all through the night. My issue is the worst of it tends to be when I wake up. I have a niece who works in a Covid unit and she said to drink plenty of water and stay active, don't lie down unless it's to go to bed. And when I do, try to lay on my stomach for a little while. I tried to do that earlier and it was funny seeing a stream of mucus draining from my nose. I know, TMI, but that's been pretty much the last couple of days. I'm just glad the family seems to be avoiding it. I'm wearing my mask indoors when I'm in the same room with them and I'm keeping at least a 6ft distance from them. If I have to sneeze, I bolt to my room. Al I can say to everyone, get your vaccine. This could have gone south fast. I know my sister and her husband are on the mend after 9 days straight of fever and headaches from hell. He also got the vaccine because he wears a defib. So it appears the vaccine saved his life for sure.