Coronavirus COVID-19 Thread

[Montoya]

So far it seems the vaccine doesn't eliminate your chances of getting sick or spreading the virus around, its biggest benefit is those who are vaccinated get less sick when they do contract the virus. So while it reduces the infection phase and thus the time period when they are spreading the virus around the biggest advantage to getting the virus is the reduction in your chances of having long-term negative effects from getting sick and dying

Pretty much. This was always risk with variants coming along.

The people dying in ICU are almost all unvaccinated.

People in Arkansa as well as other places will one way or another develop an immunity to the virus.

Immunity by killing off the weak, just as nature intended.

If only there was some kind of technological and medical breakthrough that could give them a fighting chance! /s

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

True but you have to remember that this vaccine has been controversial with fear about its being rushed, about possible side effects push back from the party currently not in power etc. This is why I was trying to compare it to the nonreaction to vaccines like the flu shot which people took or didn't take but wasn't an issue worth burning down buildings or protesting against. I am saying that it's no longer about the vaccine it's all driven by fears and power struggles on both sides. That if we had simply made it a trivial non-event then it would not see so much worldwide protesting against it nor so much pushback on it. For the most part now it's just a power struggle which is why I continue to advocate that we should make it available and ignore it. If the most were indifferent to each other's vaccine uptake then it would be far more beneficial to everyone. But no we can't do that we have to be in each other's business and forcing our views on each other and it just continues to escalate the problems to the point where we are starting to see physical violence. Its only going to get worse as long as no one is willing to stand down.

Which takes us back to my original point about populations being weaopnised by forien state actors.

Unfortunately it isn't another whacky conspiracy theory, it was uncovered and countered on at least two separate documented occasions.

Sadly the guns patriots hold over their hearts while pledging their lives to defend their freedom of choice are not the only weapons they may have on their chests - they may be unwitting biological weapons having been convinced to act a certain way by people on the other side of the world who know them better than they know themselves. Their pride.Their fears. Their principles. All strings to tug and convince them them along on a path that works directly against the interests of the things they hold dearest while convincing them otherwise.

 

[Bambooza]

Which takes us back to my original point about populations being weaopnised by forien state actors.

Unfortunately it isn't another whacky conspiracy theory, it was uncovered and countered on at least two separate documented occasions.

Sadly the guns patriots hold over their hearts while pledging their lives to defend their freedom of choice are not the only weapons they may have on their chests - they may be unwitting biological weapons having been convinced to act a certain way by people on the other side of the world who know them better than they know themselves. Their pride.Their fears. Their principles. All strings to tug and convince them them along on a path that works directly against the interests of the things they hold dearest while convincing them otherwise.

Not sure I would place that much blame on foreign actors most of the time it's far more localized in the tribal affiliation and allegiance pledged towards. But what is harder to fathom is if it's just a small subset of people while the vast majority just get on with their lives unabated by the theatrics of the extremes. Of if there is far fewer people in the center and far more swelling the ranks of the edges creating an unbridgeable chasm been them.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Catharsis Corner - reports from around the world from today, Monday 16th of August:

- World: 207,557,334 confirmed cases and 4,367,023 confirmed deaths.

- US: Former CDC director states they believe COVID-19 may have escaped from a lab by accident, speculating it “was most likely uncontained in a laboratory where it was being worked on, and that it escaped unintentionally” going on to say risky Gain Of Function research around the world needs to be logged and monitored.

- US: California law enforcement agencies report vaccination amongst its staff is significantly lower than the state average and seven prisons advise less than one third of officers are vaccinated.

- UK: Final restrictions on self-isolating if Pinged now removed for the fully vaccinated and people under the age of 18. The guidance on most points is now just that - guidance. The only obligation to isolate is now if you test positive.

- UK: British Medical Association releases statement: "We remain in a very precarious situation with Covid-19. Being fully vaccinated significantly reduces the chance of being infected, but it does not totally eliminate it so we strongly urge the public to remain cautious and take sensible precautions, such as taking a PCR test if in close contact with a positive case."

- UK: Police called after staff at COVID testing centre in Leeds assaulted.

- UK: Following on from EU medicines regulator findings, UK regulator states they could find no link between vaccines and miscarriage or vaccines and changes to menstrual cycles.

- Japan: Economy redounds growing twice as fast as expected between April and June prior to the Olympics. Forecasts remain muted however as Tokyo reinstates emergency measures.

- Japan: Spectators banned from the Paralympic Games as cases in Tokyo spike.

- Thailand: Protesters once again clash with police.

- Sri Lanka: Health Minister demoted after they endorsed the use of Magic to treat COVID-19.

 

[CitizenDad]

"- Sri Lanka: Health Minister demoted after they endorsed the use of Magic to treat COVID-19."

hey i'll take magic over that IV Bleach Program that good ole POTUS 45 was suggesting LOL

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Tuesday 17th of August:

- World: 208,109,987confirmed cases and 4,376,019 confirmed deaths.

- New Zealand: Locks down whole country for 3 days and city of Auckland for a week after detecting first community COVID case in 6 months. Prime Minister says: "Delta has been called a gamechanger, and it is. It means we need to again go hard and early to stop the spread. We have seen what can happen elsewhere if we fail to get on top of it. We only get one chance."

- US: In a radi interview Dolly Parton said of her donation of funds to the Moderna vaccine developement: "When the pandemic came out, I just felt led to do something because I knew something bad was on the rise and I just kind of wanted to help with that, so I donated to help with that. So, mine was a small part, of course, but I probably get a lot more credit than I deserve, but I was happy to be part of that, and to be able to try stop something in its tracks that’s really just become such a monster for all of us."

- US: Some of Former President Trumps hotels are installing Mask Mandates in contrast to his position on the matter while he was president.

- UK: Woman in her 50's left brain damaged and in a 'minimally conscious' state from COVID-19. Doctors say there is nothing more they can do and end-of-life care should be implemented, however her family state they would rather have her recover to a condition they can then care for her themselves rather than let her just die. The case has gone to court, with the Judge saying: "It is the most extreme example of its kind, and it is the first time in the whole of the pandemic that I have been asked to make an end-of-life decision in relation to Covid-19. It is the first time a court has been asked to consider an end-of-life case, as a result of Covid."

- UK: Approves Moderna vaccine for children aged 12 and above.

- UK: Army drafted in to drive ambulances as services remain under pressure. A union official indicated: "For both the staff in the ambulance service and patients who are waiting, seeing a member of the military turning up to a 999 call is a real sign that things aren’t all well in the ambulance service ... The demand has been rising - yes, we’ve been through a very exceptional period during Covid - but it’s a pattern that has been building for several years."

- Thailand: Once again sees protests against Government COVID response, following one protestor being left in a coma yesterday police utilise Water Cannon to disperse crowds.

- Spain: Receives €9 billion in its first injection of funds from the EU COVID recovery programme.

- Africa: Reports indicate South African manufacturing of Johnson and Johnson single-shot vaccine was placed under a contractual requirement not to ban exports if they needed to. Other reports have recently criticised the export of doses from the plant outside of Africa which needs the medicine as much if not more than anywhere else on earth.

- Malaysia: Government resigns as cases continue to climb. The King states there will be no general election in the crisis and a new set of governance will be selected by lawmakers selecting their preferred candidate to be completed no later than tomorrow.

- India: Administers 8.8 million vaccines in 24 hours. The record high for the country was 9.2 million on 21st of June.

- Australia: A single hospital has 80 staff go into self isolation after a close-contact COVID case was discovered, effecting services.

- Singapore: Starts making preparations to try to become the first country that lives with the Coronavirus.

 

[Bambooza]

Interesting study

We used data from more than 800 US hospitals in the Premier Healthcare Database Special COVID-19 Release (PHD-SR) to describe hospitalized patients aged 18 years or older with COVID-19 from March 2020 through March 2021

• Among 4,899,447 hospitalized adults in PHD-SR, 540,667 (11.0%) were patients with COVID-19, of whom 94.9% had at least 1 underlying medical condition
  • Essential hypertension (50.4%)
  • disorders of lipid metabolism (49.4%)
  • obesity (33.0%)
• The Strongest risk factors for death
  • obesity 30% higher (adjusted risk ratio [aRR] = 1.30; 95% CI, 1.27–1.33)
  • anxiety and fear-related disorders 28% higher (aRR = 1.28; 95% CI, 1.25–1.31)
  • diabetes with complication 26% higher (aRR = 1.26; 95% CI, 1.24–1.28)

Asthma diagnosis was present among 10.5% of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in PHD-SR, which is higher than the 8.0% national prevalence of asthma in 2019 (25). At the same time, we found asthma to be associated with a lower risk of death in the full sample; a positive association with ICU admission was found only among patients younger than 40. This finding supports the mixed evidence on asthma as a risk factor for severe COVID-19 illness (1), although the association between asthma and severe COVID-19 illness could differ by the degree of asthma severity (26).

Underlying Medical Conditions and Severe Illness Among 540,667 Adults Hospitalized With COVID-19, March 2020–March 2021

Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD) is a peer-reviewed electronic journal established by the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. PCD provides an open exchange of information and knowledge among researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and others who strive to...

www.cdc.gov

 

[CitizenDad]

Costco shoppers say some stores are out of toilet paper and water, as evidence mounts that consumers may stockpile items amid the spread of the Delta variant

"Did we not learn from last year at all? I pulled up to Costco and they are out of toilet paper and water. These people never learn," one person said.

www.businessinsider.com

Food shortage hits restaurants

By Oregon Small Business Association, Popular fast-food chain, Taco Bell, is facing ingredient shortages. CBS News reports Taco Bell declined to specify what items were in short supply and how wide-ranging the problems might be, but said, “Due to national transportation delays happening...

oregonbusinessreport.com

https://www.kptv.com/news/portland-restaurants-struggle-to-get-food-product-amid-pandemic-related-shortages/article_2b0d48e2-fe51-11eb-97ec-13839dc707af.html

Yeah so here in Oregon/Washington we're starting to see serious signs of shortages, and limited quantities plus staffing shortages, breakthrough cases laying people off for weeks at time, long-term lingering side effects/symptoms, our hospitals running out of staff AND beds, and the Delta variant absolutely spreading like wildfire throughout the unvaxxed. Our economy here is not doing great. I fear the eviction crisis is going to really hurt our communities of color, and those on both side of the poverty line. The housing crisis was a very real barrier to success and the achievement of the American Dream, now tho I fear it's not just a barrier for the majority of Americans but in fact it's a giant impenetrable wall. Inflation is here as well.

Shit ain't looking good yo.

Just today we ran out of not just staff but ICU beds and TOTAL BEDS at multiple hospitals across the state of Oregon. My Father who needs heart surgery, has been on hold essentially since the pandemic started was just informed that he will have to wait at least another 6-12 months. There is a chance he won't make it. This sucks. It is what it is he says.

 

[Vavrik]

There my be a 3rd (booster) dose 8 months after the second in the US.

U.S. to Advise Boosters for Most Americans 8 Months After Vaccination (Published 2021)

Nursing home residents and health care workers will most likely be the first to get booster shots, as soon as September, followed by other older people who were vaccinated last winter.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Montoya]

There my be a 3rd (booster) dose 8 months after the second in the US.

My parents telling me they are eligible for a 3rd shot now.

My Father who needs heart surgery, has been on hold essentially since the pandemic started was just informed that he will have to wait at least another 6-12 months. There is a chance he won't make it. This sucks. It is what it is he says.

Shit, I hope he manages to get in there instead of some vax-denier moron.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Wednesday 18th of August:

- World: 208,942,452 confirmed cases and 4,387,825 confirmed deaths.

- US: Passes 37 million confirmed cases.

- Israel: Reports indicate almost 60% of people admitted to hospital with COVID-19 are fully vaccinated.

- Israel: Extends COVID restrictions on the unvaccinated to anyone over the age of 3 years.

- New Zealand: Outbreak linked to Australian Sydney Delta wave.

- WHO: Director of Emergencies indicates they are confident on Origin Investigation resuming: “I think what’s happened in all of this is that the politics have really contaminated the environment and changed the atmosphere. We’re working very hard behind the scenes to increase the level of confidence and to get people to recommit to the scientific process.”

- UK: The British Journal of Sports Medicine reports: “consistently meeting physical activity guidelines was strongly associated with a reduced risk for severe Covid-19 outcomes among infected adults”

- UK: Incumbent government calls mandatory in-person session of parliament for first time since the beginning of the pandemic. Reports indicate of all attending parties, hardly any representing the incumbents were wearing masks which by their own guidance are heavily suggested for enclosed, crowded places...

- France: Discovers some who wish to avoid vaccination are paying many hundreds of Euros for fake Health Passes.

- Australia: Quantas Airline requires all staff to be vaccinated.

- Vaccines: The Oxford scientists behind the AstraZeneca jab turn their attention to the Plague, using their vaccine technology to commence a trial on the bacterial disease.

 

[CitizenDad]

My parents telling me they are eligible for a 3rd shot now.



Shit, I hope he manages to get in there instead of some vax-denier moron.

Yeah, "Gramps" just got approved and we should get our booster around Christmas or early next year I think.

I was talking to my aunt who runs an OR ward and they are actively having to now triage who gets priority a life-long drunk driver who keep crashing his car into others and hurting 4-5 people at a time or anti-vaxxers who in all likelihood is spreading the sickness to dozens, or possibly hundreds within a matter of weeks. They are now starting to choose the drunk drivers over the anti-vaxxers and we are going to see more ICU deaths simply because nurses and doctors are sick and tired of them and their stupidity. This is all so sad.


Myself, I am not worried about the Delta V like many others. I am especially concerned for the variant or mutation that is REALLY bad. Even after we achieve "herd immunity" or whatever here in the US/CA the rest of the World will continue to manufacture variants and mutant strains and one of them is going to cause us to start this whole process all over again. What have we learned? Well, as whole it seems like we have not learned that much so I have no faith in us ever getting smart. SIGH.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlMbID4wnOY


This is a step in the right direction I guess tho. Now let's just get all the kids vaxxed, then all the parents! Shouldn't be too hard. I hate to think about how much of a shit show it is going to be when they require all kids to be vaxxed with no iffs and or butts. The crazies and QAnons are going to cause so much BS and drama.

Looks like 'Bama is fucked:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9ZLjObO7eg

 

[Bambooza]

This is a step in the right direction I guess tho. Now let's just get all the kids vaxxed, then all the parents! Shouldn't be too hard. I hate to think about how much of a shit show it is going to be when they require all kids to be vaxxed with no iffs and or butts. The crazies and QAnons are going to cause so much BS and drama.

Not sure it will ever be possible in the states to mandate children get vaccinated. Already we are seeing tons of lawsuits over vaccine mandates be it federal, state, or even corporations. I am not suggesting that people shouldn't be vaccinated I am simply saying the more you press the issue the more one escalates it the worse it's going to get.

 

[Aramsolari]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Wednesday 18th of August:
- Vaccines: The Oxford scientists behind the AstraZeneca jab turn their attention to the Plague, using their vaccine technology to commence a trial on the bacterial disease.

'Nervous chuckle'

 

[CitizenDad]

View: https://youtu.be/vg0aNBMCEps


Man, only 8% that's rough.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

COVID Catharsis Corner - Reports from around the world from today, Thursday 19th of August:

- World: 209,675,184 confirmed cases and 4,398,716 confirmed deaths.

- World: New book suggests while the WHO quietly praised China during early part of the pandemic in public, in private they were being pressured for cooperation.

- World: Newspaper The Economist reports Online Open-Source Intelligence group called 'Drastic' last year "identified that a virus studied at the Wuhan Institute of Virology taken from an abandoned copper mine in Yunnan province is the closest known relative to Sars-CoV-2." the report said: "A leak is not the only research-related possibility. The first person infected could have been someone employed by the WIV or another lab to collect bats and samples – the prospect to which [the World Health Organization’s] Dr Ben Embarek pointed in his television interview. And it is important to remember that some other form of spillover outside the lab, either directly from a bat or by way of some other species, may well be to blame."

- Vaccines: Research indicates AstraZeneca vaccine efficiency takes longer to wear off than the Pfizer one.

- Vaccines: Research (which is as yet to be peer reviewed) suggests double vaccinated people can harbour virus levels just as high as non-vaccinated people who are infected.

- US: Hospitalisations of the under 50's is at the highest point since the pandemic began. The highest rises are in people in their 30's and the under 18's.

- US: New York state isolates 20,000 school pupils days after reopening for new semester.

- Booze: Scottish Scotch industry struggles to recover following COVID-19 impact and US import tariffs.

- France: Scientist who backed hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19 now risks being kicked out of the infections institute he founded after his backing of the now discredited treatment fuelled a wave of damaging misinformation.

- UK: 40 attendees at a football tournament on Orkney island have to isolate following infection passed on at the matches.

- UK: Pingdemic wanes following changes to the app to inform contacts within 2 days of someone they have met testing positive rather then 5 days.

- Hong Kong: Reports suggest the city allowed Nicole Kidman to skip travellers Quarantine.

- Japan: Sees record high new daily cases.

- Japan: Paralympics village sees first COVID case.

- Kenya: Sees protest and civil unrest met with enthusiastic police enforcement following man reportedly killed by police while breeching COVID restriction curfew.

 

[Bambooza]

- World: Newspaper The Economist reports Online Open-Source Intelligence group called 'Drastic' last year "identified that a virus studied at the Wuhan Institute of Virology taken from an abandoned copper mine in Yunnan province is the closest known relative to Sars-CoV-2." the report said: "A leak is not the only research-related possibility. The first person infected could have been someone employed by the WIV or another lab to collect bats and samples – the prospect to which [the World Health Organization’s] Dr Ben Embarek pointed in his television interview. And it is important to remember that some other form of spillover outside the lab, either directly from a bat or by way of some other species, may well be to blame."

I don't personally understand the need to blame anyone. It's not like Dr. No released a bioagent in the middle of Manhattan. Coronavirus has been around for a very long time and SARS-CoV was infecting people in 2002. While it could have been a mutation from the lab it could be just as easily been a natural mutation from one of the infected animal populations, and we should be thankful it was a novel strain off MERS-CoV.

Mostly as much as I think people are way overreacting to this outbreak I am very thankful it was such a mild virus on a whole. I also hope we look back over the past two years with a keen eye on what worked and what utterly failed and do better next time because next time can be like the 1918 pandemic, Bubonic plague, or the countless others that wiped out whole tribes and villages.

 

[Bambooza]

As I was checking the spelling of Bubonic Plauge this news article came up on google. Seems its in the Chipmunk population of Lake Tahoe which is near where I live.

Yes, Lake Tahoe Chipmunks Have Bubonic Plague. But Don’t Worry (Too Much).

Yes, Lake Tahoe Chipmunks Have Bubonic Plague. But Don’t Worry (Too Much). (Published 2021)

California officials closed some popular trails and nature areas for the week to handle the problem. The trails are expected to reopen for the weekend.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Vavrik]

I don't personally understand the need to blame anyone. It's not like Dr. No released a bioagent in the middle of Manhattan. Coronavirus has been around for a very long time and SARS-CoV was infecting people in 2002. While it could have been a mutation from the lab it could be just as easily been a natural mutation from one of the infected animal populations, and we should be thankful it was a novel strain off MERS-CoV.

Mostly as much as I think people are way overreacting to this outbreak I am very thankful it was such a mild virus on a whole. I also hope we look back over the past two years with a keen eye on what worked and what utterly failed and do better next time because next time can be like the 1918 pandemic, Bubonic plague, or the countless others that wiped out whole tribes and villages.

I just about totally agree with this. This is a warning shot across our collective bow, and we need to take many lessons from it. The next one might not be so easy to defeat. Not like this one has been entirely easy.

 

[Radegast74]

I just about totally agree with this. This is a warning shot across our collective bow, and we need to take many lessons from it.

Learning any lessons is against my political and religious beliefs /s