Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

Do we know that they fared better at protecting their elderly from the COVID or do we know that their elderly that got sick fared better with the disease?

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,WESGATORS

 

I haven't looked for age demo #s in Japan, but given how much better they've navigated this pandemic, I am not sure it matters. To me it's an interesting few data points, but there are many different points that need consideration.

 

Japan: coronavirus patients distribution by age group 2021 | Statista

I respectfully disagree. I think it does matter. Their "70+" CFR is over 9.8% (don't have a 65+ number to compare to FL, but presumably they're at least in the same ballpark). Case demographics likely played a big role in having fewer deaths per case. Behavior patterns likely played a role in having fewer cases overall.

@philnotfil

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,WESGATORS

 

We don't have real detailed information, but we do know that in Japan, about 1.1% of reported cases resulted in death and in Florida about 1.6% of reported cases resulted in death.

 

Age and health adjusted we are doing just fine. Florida has one of the oldest populations in the country. 6th oldest if you include Puerto Rico in the list ahead of Florida. This virus attacks the elderly and immune compromised.

DeSantis has navigated this better than any leader out there. No one was going to be perfect. But thank goodness the long term health and psychological issues will be less severe here in Florida with almost certainty. And we are doing better than most at not destroying peoples livelihood.

 

Why might the younger folks have fared better in Japan with respect to CFR?

5.6% of the 20-79 population in Japan have diabetes (2019)
10.8% of the 20-79 population in Japan have diabetes (2019)

Diabetes prevalence (% of population ages 20 to 79) - Japan | Data

But if you want the real kicker, look at obesity rates.

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,WESGATORS

 

If Japan is a model, maybe we should focus more on obesity rates than vaccines. Food for thought.

https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/14321/

This is from 2006, but I would be surprised if the numbers have moved in our favor:

3.6 percent of Japanese had a BMI over 30
32 percent of Americans had a BMI over 30

Not to mention the other health benefits.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

I posted the link for Gibraltar probably while you were typing this.

It will be ignored and the unvaccinated blamed. Not the disease.

 

We definitely should. Michelle Obama tried, it wasn't received well.

 

But we want a quick fix. Must ignore what works because it will take too long.

42% obese is absurd. However we are focused on new drugs and boostering everyone.

 

I'm all for it. How do we start?

In the meantime you still have a covid pandemic going on. You can't fix obesity in time to fix covid.

Also as pointed out conservatives are usually the ones agsinst any sort of directive or advice about people telling them what to do.

 

I've long been an advocate for PSA's. I said we need PSA's last year. If you are in a situation where you are burdening a hospital, let the hospital incorporate the right to require a PSA. Not enough action has been taken on that front, in my opinion.

In the big picture, we need to get away from terms like "fat shaming" and get back to emphasizing the importance of maintaining healthy body weight, activity, and nutrition.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Thing is everywhere we look, the age distribution shows elderly dying at much higher rates than younger people. And if we are going to make the argument that Florida did worse with CFR because they have an older population than other states, even older geographic areas such as Japan, have fared considerably better despite having an older population.

Like I said, I agree that it's helpful to look at the breakdowns. It's just not enough.

 

I think what you assume to be withholding data is a symptom of a global phenomenon. It's just not that easy to gather and disseminate the information you seek. I know I suggested it before, but doing so calls for resources from a medical community that has been inundated to extents which neither you nor I can grasp. Who's lap would it fall into? The RNs are over-worked and their patients need their services. Then you have the opposite problem, where hospitals and clinics have had to lay people off because their communities are not going in for routine medical services. Those #s have got to be staggering.
I liken it to the political insistence on measuring student achievement in American schools. All that "accountability" detracts from the important work of teaching and learning. It hampers the teachers and admins and detracts from the education children receive (sorry - separate rant). In the end, though, measures of student achievement are wildly flawed and fraught with politics and $.

I listened to a bit of one of Osterholm's podcats linked above and found a couple interesting pieces related to pediatric cases of Covid. The articles include citations to studies and other literature pertaining to masking for children. The first piece addresses masks for children near the end and the second is specific to masking for children.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/08/delta-variant-covid-children/619712/
Another upside is that although the coronavirus may be changing, the tools that thwart it haven’t. Delta is a substantial enemy, but not an undefeatable one. To protect kids, the AAP has championed the same layered approach that protects adults: combining masks, good ventilation, hygiene, physical distancing, access to testing, and vaccines for everyone who’s eligible. This tag-team tactic will be especially important as kids head back to school in droves this month and next, Grace Lee, a pediatrician at Stanford University, told me.

Of course, masks are particularly contentious. Not all countries agree on the best approach when it comes to kids. The World Health Organization doesn’t recommend face coverings for children younger than 6. In the U.K., children under 11 haven’t routinely masked during the pandemic, and Munro says that, apart from strict quarantine and isolation protocols, schools in the U.K. will be looking “more or less normal” this year. In the U.S., though, where vaccine uptake has been a disastrous patchwork and the health-care system has already come under off-season strain, the CDC has recommended universal masking in schools for everyone older than 2. Every expert I spoke with stood behind the guidance: Face coverings and other safeguards, they said, would be a must for a successful academic year. Months of data have reinforced the notion that schools haven’t been a significant source of spread for the coronavirus, Beers, the AAP president, told me, which has led the organization to to strongly recommend that children return to in-person learning. But that evidence was amassed, she stressed, “with careful precautions in place,” including masking.


https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/07/cdc-coronavirus-masks-vaccines-indoors/619592/

 

Gibraltar is 100% vaccinated, and currently seeing about 1.3% breakthrough cases. That's not unexpected, and actually a smaller percentage than the 95% efficacy cited in vaccine trials. The rolling, 7-day average death total in Gibraltar is 0. Not a single death in the past week. And only 1 COVID death in the past month.

For anyone claiming Gibraltar is a case of the vaccine not working, that's simply not true at all. The vaccine is working better than expected at preventing breakthrough cases, and doing exactly as expected in helping to prevent severe cases of the disease.

As for India, they removed ivermectin from their prescribed COVID treatment protocols. From the article:

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Task Force on Covid-19 have dropped the use of Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) drugs from their revised guidelines for the treatment of the infection.

The decision was taken after experts found that these drugs have little to no effect on Covid-related mortality or clinical recovery of the patient.​

The decision was taken after experts found that these drugs have little to no effect on Covid-related mortality or clinical recovery of the patient.

“HCQ may be considered for removal from guideline, with recommendation to use with caution only in clinical trial setting (since there is some genuine uncertainty regarding the possible benefit for severe cases and in low dose),” said the document titled ‘considerations for exclusion of Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine from the clinical guidance for management of adult Covid-19 patients’.

 

I see you still don't give a crap about FL being one of the oldest states. Shocking.

 

Wonder which country is healthier? There is your answer.

 

Yes we could have. But the CDC and our govt shut down parks, beaches, playgrounds and such. We are 20+ months into this. IF the CDC said everyone needs to exercise more since this focuses on the elderly and the obese, than maybe that would've saved thousands of lives. 20+ months is plenty of time for people to get healthy. It's not a directive, but saying what everyone should be doing would've helped.

 

Funny people are now advocating for gov't getting involved in your exercise program. People too lazy and selfish to wear a mask at the height of the pandemic are certainly going hit the trails once the CDC says they need to?
Funny, at the height of the pandemic, I remember our park being shut down for a week. It was horrible, I had to run in my hood for a week. If people are fat, it isn't because a park was shutdown for a week out of the last 50 years.

If anyone was serious about health, we should probably start by not subsidizing shit food. Less access to crap, and taxes are saved. Win-Win.

 

I don’t know what a PSA is.

That’s ridiculous. So if the CDC says exercise more and eat better to prevent Covid then people will do it? I’m all for relaying the message that if you are healthy you outlook isn’t better but to assert that is a short term plan to reduce Covid is absurd.