Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

About like the comments that follow, do yourself a favor and just stop commenting

 

And Cramer was one wanting to put unvaccinated in covid camps.

 

1. I actually like he large font… my glasses are in the other room…

2. Everyone is dumb. One side refuses to take a vaccine that can lessen the symptoms of the viruses. Moronic. The other side has people who panic, close schools, make mask mandates etc…Dumb

If you or your family are at risk … go get the shot. It protects YOU. Not me. Omnicron ( and Delta) can still be spread by those who are vaccinated. The closing of schools is ridiculous and at this point most know it and are over it. Dems and Repubs.

 

The shutting down of schools will be the biggest public health disaster of my lifetime. The fear mongering will be right behind it. This was a serious disease. And these public health people have done a ton of damage in how they have handled this thing. No one was going to be perfect. But these people think there is one way and one way only. Vaccinate. Vaccinate. Vaccinate. Vaccinate. And while that is part of the grand scheme. They are incapable of getting out of their own way.

It has been sad to watch so many miss important life events. It is unacceptable that so many died with Covid in a hospital alone. The psychological damage done by some of the policies will be with us for decades. And with Covid likely going endemic and never going away...a lot of people will have a hard time pushing through what they have gone through.

I just wish some on here would listen to people with a different opinion and approach without screaming vaccinate. You can discuss natural immunity. You can discuss low risk. You can discuss holistic approaches to medicine. You can discuss the reality that most people recover from this disease just fine like my parents did in July/August of 2020 when there were no new drugs to use. It does not matter. There is only one answer. And right now that answer is not going to slow the spread of this thing at all...

Thank you for chiming in.

 

At this point, blue states are very hesitant to do anything that would reflect badly on the biden administration. Not sure we'll see many more school closings or lockdowns, bad optics.

 

In your 48 pt font post you made no mention of how things are going hospitalization and deaths with the current wave.

 

So you moan about the ill effects of the disease, and moan about the remedies. You profess to have a magically better way but I sure as he'll haven't seen it. If you answer is everybody should have a BMI of 20 or lower in 6 weeks and be triathlon ready, that ain't happening.

 

So by your own description does that make you moronic as you won't get the shot?

 

1. Do NOT shut schools down. In school you can enforce kids masking, safe distances, etc. Cannot tell you how many kids were out and about in playgroups unmasked during that time.

2. Modify the vaccine mandate. Encourage vaccination but everyone needs to undergo testing. No vaccine exemption for testing anymore.

3. Distribute or provide coupons for APPROPRIATE masks. A strip of cloth is nothing other than virtue signaling & a way for bacteria to build up because people don't wash their masks. N95, KN95, or pm2.5 filters (which are rated to filter the same as N95/KN95). Those who don't want to mask don't have to, but these will ABSOLUTELY protect the wearer.

4. Transition to therapeutics. The vaccine is a shot, like the flu shot. It will not offer a high enough protection where you can say it's enough. It isn't. The government needs to invest more time and energy into treatment methods. This could mean everything from covid medications to over the counter remedies. For example- aspirin/blood thinners. Supposedly this maybe helps because covid needs thicker red blood cells to really ramp up. Anecdotally, my parents and sister all got covid in 2020. Parents on anticoagulants had mild covid, sister who is healthy was in the hospital a week and suffers from lung issues still.

Just my thoughts anyway.

 

So how long can the virus survive on a mask?

 

There are plenty of alternatives but none of them involve telling me where I can and can't go or what I can and can't do regardless of my vaccination status. I won't be traveling or living in any areas that disagree with that, so fortunately for you I won't be coming to your lair to infect all your stuff with outside air.

Although I did come through Gainesville twice in November so if you're still in Gainesville I've got bad news. I try to stay out of Gainesville nowadays since the only good places to go closed but sometimes it can't be avoided due to the amount of family that resides in the area. As such it is excluded from my travel restrictions.

Slick move indirectly calling me names because you disagree with my arguments.

 

FDA Expected to Authorize Pfizer and Merck Covid Pills This Week

 

Depends on your definition of slightly. If something has a 0.3% risk of negative outcome and another activity has a 3% risk, sure that is 10x higher but in the real world it's only 2.7%, vastly different than say a 3% risk vs a 30% risk although that is also 10x more.

Math and numbers can be confusing. For example, I'd describe 0.3 ounces of beer as a tiny amount, and 3 ounces as slightly more. Now, if we up that from 3 ounces to 30 ounces using the same number (10) I'd describe that as a lot more.

 

#4 is at complete odds with a century of epidemiological public health response to infectious disease. The goal is to prevent sickness to the extent possible in the first place because sickness leads to unnecessary damage to health and unnecessary deaths.

 

No clue. But when I started my heavier chemo in 2019 my Dr recommended I change to a fresh mask every 2 hours. I had to wear it at home too, though. Also not to move it around my face/touch it with my hands unless changing them. If I was using reusables they went into a ziploc bag that I then emptied into my washer & washed. This was pre Covid & I just continued the habit. Plus I hand wash still like I did in surgical nursing.

I went shopping, to baseball & football games, worked in a medical office, etc.

The point of that is it was made clear to me if I caught something I could die. Noted, precautions taken. But I didn't ask the world to stop for me.

 

Then I guess they should mask up. They've had 2 years to drop weight and start living a healthy lifestyle. Or does there lack of doing so mean us normal people are supposed to care when they obviously don't?

 

This is a point I agree with and very smart. As someone who doesn't adhere to the whole mask mandate thing or any other restrictions when doing regular stuff I will say I always make sure to wear a mask and take precautions when I am somewhere that sick and elderly people need to be, like doctors offices, hospitals and the like.

Asking everyone in the world to stop going on jogs outside or to bring a vaccine passport to order a sandwich from Panera Bread under threat of arrest is simply ridiculous and will encourage more resistance from people, whereas handling this normally - using positive messaging about avoiding the disease from the start, encouraging vaccination and masking through positive messages for example - would have worked wonders.

If I want my kid to wash his hands when he's done eating spaghetti I don't punish him for not doing it, I make it fun and praise him when he's done. If I want my neighbor to get a vaccine, I don't call him a callous dickbag when he doesn't, but rather be positive about the vaccine but also respect his decision to manage his own health. Before long he'll probably start to come around.

 

Never said get rid of a vaccine or research into it. I said there needs to be a transition to viable treatment options because by focusing SOLELY on vaccination, a situation has been created where covid is STILL flourishing & spreading without a good number of treatment options.

People should get the vaccine. I'm vaccinated. I'll be getting the booster in 2 weeks when I can take time off work. It absolutely helps. But being hyperfocused on the vaccine as THE only option is myopic and detrimental. The vaccinated can get sick, the vaccinated can spread, the vaccinated can die.

This is like saying the flu (which is absolutely deadly & dare we mention what the Spanish flu did) should've only be treated by the flu shot & Tamiflu/other modalities should've never been explored.

 

I truly don't know about deaths for the vaccinated, but I haven't of one person dying or being hospitalized who previously had covid but not vaccinated. What have you heard? I bet it's less than those vaccinated with the booster

 

18-49 year olds have a very low year-specific death rate from all causes (medical and non-medical). Enough so that Covid is now one of the leading causes of death in this age group. I suspect that most people from 18-49 take precautions against deaths that are far less common than Covid, even after accounting for those that were cautious with Covid.