Coronavirus

[dhanson865]

 

[daniel]

What we should really be concerned about right now is the possible arise of a new variant that is not stopped by the present vaccines. The more people with covid, the more likely this is. The developed nations (including the U.S.) should be cranking out vaccines as fast as we possibly can and sending them to the underdeveloped nations so that they can vaccinate their people and reduce the number of infected people worldwide.

As long as vaccines are in limited supply, it is more urgent to vaccinate the people of poor countries than to get booster shots to our own people. The effectiveness of the vaccines remains high. And while booster shots "boost" that effectiveness, it is foolish to neglect the poor countries that, while unvaccinated, remain likely places for the evolution of more variants.

Sadly, the U.S. is not exporting any significant number of shots, so I got my booster. (No side effects unless maybe I had a little less energy for my cardio than normal the next day. Hard to be sure. The difference was small if any.)

 

[bkp_duke]

What we should really be concerned about right now is the possible arise of a new variant that is not stopped by the present vaccines. The more people with covid, the more likely this is. The developed nations (including the U.S.) should be cranking out vaccines as fast as we possibly can and sending them to the underdeveloped nations so that they can vaccinate their people and reduce the number of infected people worldwide.

As long as vaccines are in limited supply, it is more urgent to vaccinate the people of poor countries than to get booster shots to our own people. The effectiveness of the vaccines remains high. And while booster shots "boost" that effectiveness, it is foolish to neglect the poor countries that, while unvaccinated, remain likely places for the evolution of more variants.

Sadly, the U.S. is not exporting any significant number of shots, so I got my booster. (No side effects unless maybe I had a little less energy for my cardio than normal the next day. Hard to be sure. The difference was small if any.)

110 million to 65 countries (as of Aug 3rd) is not significant?

U.S. Has Shared 110 Million Covid-19 Vaccine Doses Overseas

President Biden said his administration has shipped doses to 65 countries as it works to share supply with the rest of the world following regulatory and logistical setbacks.

www.wsj.com

 

[JRP3]

110 million to 65 countries (as of Aug 3rd) is not significant?

As a percentage of world population needing to be vaccinated?

 

[wdolson]

The National stockpile was not restocked by the Obama administration after multiple national emergencies and I recall reading that the Trump administration was warned that this needed to be done. Trump even complained about it despite his being in office for over 2 years by that point. I also recall that some of the supplies of masks sent to providers were so old that the elastic was brittle and the masks were moldy so they were useless. And the Trump administration stopped maintenance on medical equipment like ventilators in the warehouses so when they were needed they didn't work. A perfect storm of stupidity, incompetence and corruption.

Fact check: Did the Obama administration deplete the federal stockpile of N95 masks?

A Ventilator Stockpile, With One Hitch: Thousands Do Not Work

I stand corrected

 

[bkp_duke]

As a percentage of world population needing to be vaccinated?

That's essentially 1/3 of what has been allocated to the US population over the same time. For a country that prides itself on putting itself first, that's not bad.

 

[JRP3]

That's probably about the same number of vaccines rejected by our anti vaxxers.

 

[uujjj2]

https://www.reddit.com/r/DebateVaccines/comments/pt842s

My source was taken down. I'll search for another source.
Quote from deleted source:
A study commissioned by the US Pentagon. 5.6 million US Study of Individuals 65 years old and older show vaccines now have little benefit against Delta Variant in terms of both infections and hospitalizations. Data into August show a marked decrease in vaccine effectiveness for infections and hospitalizations. Power point link below, Page 7 shows 73 percent of infections are now occurring in the vaccinated. (box on right side) versus 80 percent vaccinated. So not much difference in population breakdown vs infection rate. Page 12 (box on right) shows hospitalizations amongst vaccinated is 61 percent of total hospitalizations vs 80 percent vaccinated. (And this hospitalization data was for the last week of July)

Pretty sure this is typical internet nonsense.

The California DPH continuously tracks vaccine effectiveness here: Tracking COVID-19 in California

The official data from California is pretty clear-cut. Mrs. Uujjj (emergency doc) can confirm anecdotally. She regularly sees vaccinated people sick with COVID, but among those sick enough to get admitted to the hospital nearly all are unvaccinated.

 

[JRP3]

Question: Could someone who's been very sick for 2-3 weeks show a negative result from a nasal swab? Son of my mother's friend, unvaccinated, has been laid up in bed for 2-3 weeks and just got a negative test result. I think it was a drive up test with a self administered swab.

 

[Jeff N]

Question: Could someone who's been very sick for 2-3 weeks show a negative result from a nasal swab? Son of my mother's friend, unvaccinated, has been laid up in bed for 2-3 weeks and just got a negative test result. I think it was a drive up test with a self administered swab.

Possibly. At that point, he may well have cleared the virus and PCR might not even be able to pick up evidence of non-infectious virus fragments. An obvious next step is to get an antibody test to see if he shows evidence of prior infection. At this point his symptoms could be just due to his immune system being overly active.

Of course, there are lots of other possible viruses or causes that could be causing his symptoms. He should see a doctor.

 

[daniel]

Question: Could someone who's been very sick for 2-3 weeks show a negative result from a nasal swab? Son of my mother's friend, unvaccinated, has been laid up in bed for 2-3 weeks and just got a negative test result. I think it was a drive up test with a self administered swab.

If he never got a positive covid test, he could be sick with something else altogether.

OTOH, I though the nasal swab has to go so deep it just about touches your brain so if it's self-administered, maybe it's less reliable? (Caveat: I've not been sick since the pandemic first reared its ugly head, so I've never had a covid test. I am fully vaccinated and recently got my booster.)

 

[JRP3]

I thought newer tests didn't need to go as deep.

 

[FlatSix911]

More people will have died from COVID under Biden than Trump

He was handed the vaccine on a silver platter and blew it by questioning its development and effectiveness during his campaign.

"It is amusing how, in year one of the pandemic, every story about the virus was a “blame Trump” story. Absolutely nothing Biden has done is working, yet Biden really never gets blamed for anything. Sure, Trump said a lot of wacky things, but Biden has told many falsehoods about the virus as well. He stated, for example, that "If you're vaccinated, you're not going to be hospitalized, you're not going to be in the ICU unit and you're not going to die." And then, shortly after those comments, Biden contradicted himself and added that even if vaccinated people do "catch the virus," they are "not likely to get sick."

Further, when discussing the delta variant, Biden stated that vaccines "cover" the delta variant insofar as people will not contract the virus if vaccinated. "You're not going to get COVID if you have these vaccinations,” Biden said."

 

[daniel]

I thought newer tests didn't need to go as deep.

I didn't know that. But then, once I was fully vaccinated I kind of stopped keeping up on that sort of stuff. If I was trying to swab my own nose I probably wouldn't get farther in than about an inch. I watch the numbers of cases on my island, and not much else about the situation.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

More people will have died from COVID under Biden than Trump

The CDC data says 440k had been reported dead by January 20th, 2021. And we currently have 711k deaths reported. So we're not really that close on even that primitive measure.

This does not account for reporting lags (the CDC data is by date of report, not by date of death). (Probably 490k individuals had died by January 20th, 2021, though that would require further analysis (it is knowable though!), and about 740k individuals have actually died so far in total based on recent death rates. For these numbers I basically stepped back (or forwards) three weeks which is a fairly typical reporting delay.)

COVID Data Tracker

CDC’s home for COVID-19 data. Visualizations, graphs, and data in one easy-to-use website.

covid.cdc.gov

So Biden has a ways to go. Might get there, though, if he and his administration don't fix the brokenness of the whole approach to COVID. I think it will be tough to get to ~1 million dead though, unless there is a new escape variant, or natural immunity provides little long-term protection. There's now a large amount of population immunity.

 

[JRP3]

He was handed the vaccine on a silver platter and blew it by questioning its development and effectiveness during his campaign.

How did he "blow it"? Not that he had any real foresight but as you pointed out he was actually correct in questioning the effectiveness of the vaccine since they have been less effective against Covid than was initially expected. What should he have done differently? Spent more time in the lab working on vaccines? Spent more time giving people shots? Impose strict lock downs? Physically force the anti vaxxers to be vaccinated?

 

[dhanson865]

Parent sues school district after child contracts COVID-19

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A parent has sued a southeastern Wisconsin school district after her son contracted COVID-19 from a classmate.

apnews.com

 

[bkp_duke]

Parent sues school district after child contracts COVID-19

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A parent has sued a southeastern Wisconsin school district after her son contracted COVID-19 from a classmate.

apnews.com

No report on if the student had to be hospitalized, etc. Sounds like someone just trying for a money grab to me.

 

[dhanson865]

No report on if the student had to be hospitalized, etc. Sounds like someone just trying for a money grab to me.

Sounds like you didn't read the article.

"the board in May removed a student mask requirement and other COVID-19 mitigation measures."

"The Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC is funding the lawsuit. The brewing company is owned by Kirk Bangstad, who has aired his frustrations about how former President Donald Trump’s administration responded to the pandemic."

Which to me says they already have the money, they just want the school to use proper safety protocols.

 

[bkp_duke]

Sounds like you didn't read the article.

"the board in May removed a student mask requirement and other COVID-19 mitigation measures."

"The Minocqua Brewing Company Super PAC is funding the lawsuit. The brewing company is owned by Kirk Bangstad, who has aired his frustrations about how former President Donald Trump’s administration responded to the pandemic."

Which to me says they already have the money, they just want the school to use proper safety protocols.

Read the (short) article. I still don't see if the kid had to be hospitalized or not or anything happened besides general cold symptoms (the most common symptom in kids).