Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

That was with a third of the population we have now. This hasn't been anything like the Spanish Flu (which started in Kansas).

 

This virus does not spread at Publix/Walmart/etc in any meaningful way. I won’t say never. But these are some of the safest places you can be. People are not hanging out in the same area sharing the virus. It is just public theater to wear a mask in these places.

 

But you digress with useless and meaningless population demographics.
Dead is dead. We are rapidly approaching and will surpass the number.
The board REJECTED my prediction, the BOARD was WRONG.

 

Agreed that home is where the majority of the spread is occurring. But, if people stayed home all the time, and never went out, there would be nobody bringing the virus into the home to infect others they live with. A small percentage of these infections are likely picked up in grocery stores. Delta's R0 is around 7. So if a mask in Publix stops just one person from getting infected, that's 49 people by the time you get to just the third generation of infections.

 

It makes perfect sense to me. The ONLY reason for that mask is to limit them from spreading disease to others. Why in the hell would they need the masks in the car? As you pointed out, if they live together and someone was asymptomatic, they would already have likely infected people in the car. But, why do you want people to then carry that into the store?

We have already had this discussion. You are anti-mask so you try to make the discussion about protecting yourself. And, as I have responded on several occassions, that is not the purpose of the mask. It is to reduce the probability of you spreading an infection to others, especially in the face of rapid anti-vaxxism limiting our effort to vaccinate us out of overflowing hospitals and universal mask wearing needs.

 

Good op-ed eviscerating the Miami Herald's hatchet job on DeSantis. How many times is the MSM going to go after DeSantis for something that is made up? Crazy.

Opinion | There’s No Mystery in Florida’s Covid Reporting

 

Georgia mom would 'give anything' to get back 13-year-old son lost to COVID -- but she still won't get vaccinated


A Georgia paramedic said she'd "give anything" to get back the teenage son she lost to COVID-19, but she's still not willing to be vaccinated.


Jennifer Helm has changed her mind on a statewide mask mandate since losing her 13-year-old son Porter to the coronavirus, which she believes he caught while attending Coosa High School, but she's still wary of the vaccine, reported WGCL-TV.

 

I don't have a WSJ subscription, so this is paywalled for me.

My own eyes show me that the way deaths are being reported leads to an "apparent" decline in FL death numbers, because there's always a downturn at the end. The last 2+ weeks are always showing partial/incomplete data. This is a definite change in how the data is being reported. In what way is it "made up" to call out this change?

Edit: To be clear, Worldometer shows a 7 day moving average of FL deaths that peaked at 221 on Aug 16th. Then the average plummets to 21 by Sept 1. Choosing to represent data in this manner paints a much rosier picture than reality. "Deaths have fallen off by 90% over the last 2 weeks. Woohoo!" That's not how this used to be reported. That's my beef.

 

Well, epidemiologists prefer the actual date of the case and date of the death so they can properly ascertain ups and downs. Having data dumps on one day when someone died 8 days artificially can impact policy. The cdc prefers the method FL adopted.

 

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/09/school-mask-mandates-downside/619952/

Interesting article. Says the marginal benefits of masking don't outweigh the costs of doing so. Mainly social costs of younger kids not benefitting from facial expression communication.

I'm not opposed this. I can see kids masking for short durations but not indefinitely just because 40% of adults refuse to get vaxxed.

 

Another horrible story of death by willful ignorance.

 

A paramedic no less.

This really makes me think that beyond doctors a lot of supporting medical staff aren't very well educated in matters of science. They know how to do their jobs, but don't understand why they do what they do.

 

I probably was one of the ones who didn't influence you. I just was so frustrated by the ignorance and selfishness of antivaxxers. I think I may have lashed out a bit. People I loved died and everywhere I was running into people who had non scientific and selfish reasons not to get vaccinated. I had to be nice to antivaxxers and antimaskers in real life. I may have taken it out on people here.

 

So your positions scare you? There is an answer to that.

 

Ok I am going to use an analogy here. Most traffic accidents happen within miles of your home. That is because most of your driving is within miles of your home. People spend over half their days at home. Doesn't it make sense that most prolonged exposure happens at home.

 

Speaking as a paramedic....yes you are correct. There are a few different types of medics. You have the ones that do the bare minimum and often rely on the strength of others to carry them. You have cookbook medics that strictly follow protocol which technically keeps them clear of wrongdoing but does not always equal best treatment for that patient. Finally you have the medic that is interested in the big picture and continues to learn and grow because even if we don't treat someone specifically for rare conditions like lymohangioleiomyomatosis or sheehan's syndrome you delve into them when you come across them because pathophysiology is important to understanding why and how you treat their symptoms. Same in nursing. Same in all fields I guess

I've said it before but politics are driving a lot of the anti vaccine sentiment in nursing, police, fire etc because political rhetoric and hyperbolic memes are lazier and easier to digest than real research and intellectual open mindedness.

 

Been arguing this for a year. Most of Europe doesn’t mask children in school under 12. US policy on this was wrong from the get go. Hopefully the CDC reverses their policy. I’m not getting my hopes though.

 

I guess my preference for those who 12+, once fully approved, require vaccination, just like any other vaccine, otherwise require masking and protocols for the unvaxxed, for a transition period until they are fully vaxed. For those under 12, make it optional. Whatever the case I think that is a decision for the school board to make. Not the governor.

My 17 year old started school this year, masks were optional. He is vaxed. I left it up to him. He didn't wear one. Last week the policy changed and now they are required. I'm a bit disappointed but I don't think it's a big deal.

 

You are missing those who already have natural immunity. That can not be overlooked.

 

A recent podcast where they show that dogs can be trained to detect covid, as well as other diseases. While not 100% the dogs accuracy is always better than the comparable medical test.

The Dog Will See You Now - Pushkin