Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

Taliban Ban Covid Vaccine in East Afghanistan's Paktia Province, Claims Report

Your move DeSantis..

 

Another proud moment for Trump, the Trum-publicans and their legion of ignorant moron followers:

Person stabbed as pro- and anti-vaccination demonstrators clash outside L.A. City Hall

 

We disagree when it comes to this drug at this time. Which does not mean a lot of people should not take it or consider taking it.

 

I know. There was a point for posting them. Interesting how there was an attempt to censor the research done instead of build on it and show why it was wrong. Much easier to do that and provide new studies to create the narrative you want.

The data is there to compare this thing among high compliant communities and low compliant communities. The mask is just not effective at slowing the spread. Hence the CDC still only says it “can” slow. The data reflects it might be the opposite. As the vast majority of these new studies do not account for human behavior.

 

Agreed nothing in the piece should scare the mess out of people.
What should scare the mess out of people is that the research was removed. And not because it was found to be false. But because it did not fit the narrative. That is not Science.

 

Definitely do not think fear is the issue. I think I have it pinned correctly?

As I said. Enjoy showing off your mask in public. The data is there. We have plenty of it now.

I get some will continue to find studies that do not properly address human behavior (oh I think the mask works like mdgator…so I am safe to go to that house party/funny how they then don’t think it works when they get home as well/so many examples to use).

The reality is we have data showing the the spread in higher compliant communities and lower compliant communities. The mask is just not effective. Now if you are suggesting everyone wear an N95 all the time…

 

Doesn't seem to me that oralhealth is a scientific journal, but a Canadian dental industry magazine.
The article itself, which can be found online, is not a scientific study.

 

I think we might actually be on the same page.

These cloth masks are pretty much ineffective at doing anything meaningful. They will keep in some large droplets that would not remain in the air for a meaningful amount of time anyways. They might keep in a very small amount that could remain in the air for a meaningful amount of time and that is the grey area. The problem is that they affect human behavior and people actually think they work and therefore end up putting themselves at risk when they should not.

At first I did not understand the people sitting in the car wearing a mask together. I now do. They at least believe the thing works (while I disagree it will help them…they do think it will). We went to Bass Pro on Friday up in Gainesville. A family of 5 gets out and walks to the door and then puts their mask on. They were just sitting in a little vehicle unmasked and masked up to walk into a massive wide open store. To then go sit back in their vehicle unmasked again presumably. It just makes no sense if you believe the mask actually works.

 

Do you know why that particular article was taken down? It’s not like it was “banned”. Did they stand behind it? Do they make the same conclusion for masking re: COVID-19? Or does this not matter to you?

Maybe the authors didn’t want their work being misused for the purpose of COVID misinformation? Not sure where you came across the article, but given that you’ve posted numerous misinformation videos if this was also “making the rounds” on misinformation sites/Facebook, its not surprising if the authors didn’t want to have their work used in that way.

 

If you are sitting in a confined space, of course the cloth mask doesn’t work (even a surgical mask probably isn’t good enough). This is why the CDC has had language about mixing households (when there were recommendations to not gather, it was generally about gathering with groups outside your immediate household).

If you live in the same household or travel frequently in the same car, they pretty much assume COVID is going to spread within a household. The point is trying to stop it spreading from one household to another household. So actually there was nothing crazy at all about those people in the car, esp if they are frequently in close contact. They know they can’t stop COVID if it enters their household, but the mask is to stop the spread out in public, hence they all put the mask on going into the store.

 

Even if we accept that as a general rule cloth masks are not greatly effective in stopping aerosolized sars-cov-2 (seems only effective for 15-20 minutes w/in closed spaces, iow they seem to work but not for very long), we don't have all that much insight into how this is playing out in everyday life across large numbers of people, i.e. we can't measure direct mask usage very well in public while controlling for other factors. But even if only effective for 20 minutes, it would still be a reduction in risk and possibly a reduction in infectious dose.

 

Here's a good article explaining the truth about vaccines. Vaccines aren't cures. The measles vaccine is about 97% effective, and the polio vaccine was about 85% effective. But get enough people to take the vaccine, and you reach herd immunity levels. And the disease all but disappears.

You can't reach herd immunity without enough people taking the vaccine and/or getting natural immunity. That includes everyone. Considering we are seeing more younger people in the hospital this time around, including setting a record for 30-39 year olds, if levels, then what?

 

Amazing the mental gymnastics some will go through to justify their awful selfishness.

 

Purely anecdotal, but when I had Covid I wore an N95 in my house and my wife and son wore a surgical mask. The baby obviously wouldn’t keep one on so I stayed a way from her, but I sat in the living room with my wife and son for quite a bit of the two weeks I was at home for and no one else caught it from me.

 

You didn't even look at the article I posted did you? If you had, you would realize the article that I posted compared areas with mask mandates to areas without mask mandates and showed exactly the opposite of what you are claiming the data shows. It showed that areas with mask mandates had lower spread than areas without them.

You didn't address the data, methodology, or results at all nor provide any studies backing your claims. All you have is insults to try to justify your position. Just trying to make yourself feel better by avoiding data that contradicts your claims and using insults to further avoid any form of cognitive dissonance.

 

I assume a cloth mask would prevent you from catching covid from your car. Why else do people wear masks while driving by themselves in a car?

 

Come on man, with all the mask wearing during the last surge, nobody got sick or died.

 

I will say masks don't work. Not because they can't but people aren't wearing them correctly. The standard surgical mask even when worn correctly doesn't mean you can go hug your family. I've seen so many black families in Birmingham that live with their masks on but they go right ahead and do everything as if there was no mask. The mask will only work if you maintain distance. And I've seen so many walk around with the mask below their noses I just want to walk up to them and rip the mask off. If you are doing that, you might as well not even wear the mask. Then, depending on how sick that person is or they are loud people, the mask won't work indoors. I proved it to a few people a couple of weeks ago. Thankfully, one of them was a vaper. So I asked him to take a deep breath from his vape, put the mask on and blow out. Some came through the mask but you should have seen the faces of those that saw how much came through the gaps in the mask. Around the nose, on the sides, were the biggest offenders. It's even worse for guys who have a beard. The we watched how that vapor just meandered over to the group, and I said, look Covid is not exactly like this. It's heavier, more droplets than vapor, but you get the idea. Unless you have a form-fitted K95 mask, no mask is going to 100% prevent Covid.

The other huge issue about masks is that 95% of all Americans are not disposing of them at least on a daily basis. Depending on how much you work around people and if that also requires to be indoors, you might even have to replace hourly. Those cloth masks? Worthless. And even then most people I see somehow wear that same mask every day and I know they aren't washing it. I wear a combination of surgical and cloth. I replace the surgical mask daily and the same with cloth. I have 5 cloth masks that I cycle through daily and then wash them in hot water with OxyClean detergent and then dry on high. Don't bleach your cloth masks. Even diluted, you are damaging the threading. Just wash in hot water in OxyClean and dry on hot.

 

Unfortunately, it appears the covid brownshirts have prevailed. I'm old but I weep for my kid.

 

An update on me....I feel better but I'm wondering if I have a sinus infection. The days after I tested positive for Covid, I was a mucus-making machine. I went through a box of Kleenex in one day and I know I got dehydrated. But the mucus was clear. Then it stopped on Thursday, mostly congested then but I could still breathe through my nose. I took Mucinex to help with the chest congestion. So yesterday we had lunch outside in the fresh air and in about 5 minutes my nose started to run. I wiped with a Kleenex and it was brown. Damn, sinus infection. So I irrigated my sinuses after lunch and since the mucus is yellow-green. I know, way gross, but I know sinus infections. I came even feel the pressure around my cheeks and under and behind my eyes.

I know what you are thinking. Did that positive Covid test really a sinus infection? No. The paid antigen tests are 99.6% accurate. It could be Covid caused a sinus infection to develop. My symptoms weren't exactly Covid, but breakthrough Covid does have more sinus congestion than the typical fever, cough, chills. It's possible Tuesday and Wednesday set me up for this later in the week. Hopefully, if anyone else you guys know who gets a positive test after getting the vaccine, just east their minds that the symptoms aren't exactly typical Covid and to watch for sinus infections, especially if they are susceptible to them. If I'm not better tomorrow, I'll schedule an appt with my doctor.