Mega-Thread: Coronavirus Pandemic

[Granyala]

This thing is going to continue to mutate. Delta Variant is already going around and is much faster, more contagious, and kills more people.

From what I understand: Delta infects easier, yes but it is not more dangerous than the other strains.

I don't think zombies are in our future.

- - - Updated - - -

This thread has just become Forogil spitting truths and everyone else harping on about politics

It never was anything else.

[Gaidax]

Combination of summer outings, delta and reduced vaccine effectiveness overtime result in some spike here. There are even some faint noises of possible lockdown during our September holidays.

The good news is that it's mostly mild positives, severe cases seem to stay stable low for now.

[szechuan]

Fire this Sheriff



https://abc7.com/health/sheriff-wont...rder/10892664/

[Kokolums]

Honestly, any chance of republicans listening to what democrats have to say about the pandemic was destroyed in the first 15 minutes, when Nancy Pelosi made a spectacle of encouraging people to visit Chinatown in a thinly veiled attempt to shame Trump for a travel ban on China on January 31, 2020. From that moment forward, the democrats lost all credibility on the issue with republicans. Perhaps the only way to fix it is to kick Pelosi out on congress.

You can say all you want about anything else, but until the Pelosi problem is fixed, this is just gonna get worse.

[szechuan]

Honestly, any chance of republicans listening to what democrats have to say about the pandemic was destroyed in the first 15 minutes, when Nancy Pelosi made a spectacle of encouraging people to visit Chinatown in a thinly veiled attempt to shame Trump for a travel ban on China on January 31, 2020. From that moment forward, the democrats lost all credibility on the issue with republicans. Perhaps the only way to fix it is to kick Pelosi out on congress.

You can say all you want about anything else, but until the Pelosi problem is fixed, this is just gonna get worse.

Wrong, and debunked.

[Zan15]

Honestly, any chance of republicans listening to what democrats have to say about the pandemic was destroyed in the first 15 minutes, when Nancy Pelosi made a spectacle of encouraging people to visit Chinatown in a thinly veiled attempt to shame Trump for a travel ban on China on January 31, 2020. From that moment forward, the democrats lost all credibility on the issue with republicans. Perhaps the only way to fix it is to kick Pelosi out on congress.

You can say all you want about anything else, but until the Pelosi problem is fixed, this is just gonna get worse.

LOL it was already too late by Jan 31st.

Most of our cases were imported from Europe and the UK.

Republicans only order is to "own the libs" so they will never listen to democrats no matter what they have to say. No matter what the vast majority of America or even their party wants.

Very evident by the very things they blame Biden for in the first 90 days then in the first 180 days.

[PhaelixWW]

LOL it was already too late by Jan 31st.

Most of our cases were imported from Europe and the UK.

Indeed, COVID was already circulating throughout the US by mid-December.

[Granyala]

Anybody got a clue what happened in Netherlands compared to say, the U.K.?
Their graph on worldometers looks almost vertical. Oo

[Forogil]

LOL it was already too late by Jan 31st.

And the US didn't introduce a travel ban on China on January 31st.

It was a ban on non-US citizens traveling from China to the US - the US-citizens who were allowed to travel weren't tested that well (and they were told to travel home as well) - and, as noted, there was already community spread in the US at about that time so it was too late.

Most of our cases were imported from Europe and the UK.

Most of the US cases were (and are) spread domestically, as for saying more cases from Europe: it's a matter of perspective: there were likely fewer imports from China than from Europe (and also more exports to Europe from the US), but the Chinese import happened earlier and thus spread more domestically so in terms of impacts they are more similar.

Canada report that their early cases didn't come from China, but from (in order): the Middle East (Iran and Egypt), the United States (primarily California - and as I understand most Californian cases originated in Asia - in particular China), and Europe (followed by China). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32425633/

The uk reported that half of their early cases were imported, primarily from Italy - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33716340/
BTW: The uk left the EU - it hasn't moved from Europe.

[Edge-]

Honestly, any chance of republicans listening to what democrats have to say about the pandemic was destroyed in the first 15 minutes, when Nancy Pelosi made a spectacle of encouraging people to visit Chinatown in a thinly veiled attempt to shame Trump for a travel ban on China on January 31, 2020. From that moment forward, the democrats lost all credibility on the issue with republicans. Perhaps the only way to fix it is to kick Pelosi out on congress.

You can say all you want about anything else, but until the Pelosi problem is fixed, this is just gonna get worse.

Jesus christ you're hopelessly behind on everything, and your attempt to blame Pelosi, who is Speaker of the House and consequently was never in charge of the California nor National responses to the pandemic.

But hey, good on you for continuing to try dunk on people who aren't responsible for the shitshow of a response in the early days that has left us with 600K+ people dead, and growing. In addition to extensive, rampant vaccine misinformation that's causing new spikes as clusters of people in some parts of the country refuse to get vaccinated and are filling up hospitals once again.

[Omega10]

Jesus christ you're hopelessly behind on everything, and your attempt to blame Pelosi, who is Speaker of the House and consequently was never in charge of the California nor National responses to the pandemic.

But hey, good on you for continuing to try dunk on people who aren't responsible for the shitshow of a response in the early days that has left us with 600K+ people dead, and growing. In addition to extensive, rampant vaccine misinformation that's causing new spikes as clusters of people in some parts of the country refuse to get vaccinated and are filling up hospitals once again.

I thought his reply was not only pathetic, but actually sad.

NANCY PELOSI MADE FUN OF US, SO WE HAVE TO GIVE OURSELVES THE VIRUS, AND NOT ONLY THAT WE'LL INFECT AS MANY OTHERS AS POSSIBLE.

He, and the rest of the Trump supporters, would wither completely if they had to face the abuse they dish out on a regular basis.

I knew that Kokolums was weak, I just did not realize how much he had deteriorated.

Meanwhile, be safe. He is not only weak, but actually quite dangerous.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...=pocket-newtab

Title: Delta Is Driving a Wedge Through Missouri

Excerpts. It's not pretty.

The summer wasn’t meant to be like this. By April, Greene County, in southwestern Missouri, seemed to be past the worst of the pandemic. Intensive-care units that once overflowed had emptied. Vaccinations were rising. Health-care workers who had been fighting the coronavirus for months felt relieved—perhaps even hopeful. Then, in late May, cases started ticking up again. By July, the surge was so pronounced that “it took the wind out of everyone,” Erik Frederick, the chief administrative officer of Mercy Hospital Springfield, told me. “How did we end up back here again?”

Note the time frame - 3 months from first upticks to a not good situation. (May - July, and July still has 2 more weeks)

The hospital is now busier than at any previous point during the pandemic. In just five weeks, it took in as many COVID-19 patients as it did over five months last year. Ten minutes away, another big hospital, Cox Medical Center South, has been inundated just as quickly. “We only get beds available when someone dies, which happens several times a day,” Terrence Coulter, the critical-care medical director at CoxHealth, told me.

The delta version seems more thorough about spreading to nearby un-vaccinated people than previous versions.

Last week, Katie Towns, the acting director of the Springfield–Greene County Health Department, was concerned that the county’s daily cases were topping 250. On Wednesday, the daily count hit 405. This dramatic surge is the work of the super-contagious Delta variant, which now accounts for 95 percent of Greene County’s new cases, according to Towns. It is spreading easily because people have ditched their masks, crowded into indoor spaces, resumed travel, and resisted vaccinations. Just 40 percent of people in Greene County are fully vaccinated. In some nearby counties, less than 20 percent of people are.

So there is a current fairly quick spike in cases once it gets rolling. The good news is that the US will be able to avoid much of this just by wearing masks and social distancing. In the short term, new vaccinations won't help as it takes at 5-6 weeks for them to achieve maximum protection. So the places that are getting hit first are like the canaries in the coal mine telling us what we have to do. And don't worry - places that ignore this advice will see lots of virus cases and deaths and will adjust soon enough.

And a lot of people like Kokolums that insist on not wearing a mask AND not social distancing because Pelosi was mean to them will get the virus, and of those quite a few will die.

Is the Delta version more dangerous than earlier versions? IT IS TO YOUNG PEOPLE:

Those ICUs are also filling with younger patients, in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, including many with no underlying health problems. In part, that’s because elderly people have been more likely to get vaccinated, leaving Delta with a younger pool of vulnerable hosts. While experts are still uncertain if Delta is deadlier than the original coronavirus, every physician and nurse in Missouri whom I spoke with told me that the 30- and 40-something COVID-19 patients they’re now seeing are much sicker than those they saw last year. “That age group did get COVID before, but they didn’t usually end up in the ICU like they are now,” Jonathan Brown, a respiratory therapist at Mercy, told me. Nurses are watching families navigate end-of-life decisions for young people who have no advance directives or other legal documents in place.

This was definitely NOT happening before.

Some things ARE changing. First of all, some of the patients are being rude to the hospital staff up to the point where in one case a patient spit in an nurse's eye when told he had the virus. And attitudes of the staff are different:

Many health-care workers have had enough. Some who took on extra shifts during past surges can’t bring themselves to do so again. Some have moved to less stressful positions that don’t involve treating COVID-19.

The grueling slog is harder now because it feels so needless, and because many patients don’t realize their mistake until it’s too late. On Tuesday, Hill spoke with an elderly man who had just been admitted and was very sick. “He said, ‘I’m embarrassed that I’m here,’” she told me. “He wanted to talk about the vaccine, and in the back of my mind I’m thinking, You have a very high likelihood of not leaving the hospital.”

Some health-care workers are starting to resent their patients—an emotion that feels taboo. “You’re just angry,” Coulter said, “and you feel guilty for getting angry, because they’re sick and dying.”

And, finally:

Almost every COVID-19 patient in Springfield’s hospitals is unvaccinated, and the dozen or so exceptions are all either elderly or immunocompromised people. The vaccines are working as intended, but the number of people who have refused to get their shots is crushing morale. Vaccines were meant to be the end of the pandemic. If people don’t get them, the actual end will look more like Springfield’s present: a succession of COVID-19 waves that will break unevenly across the country until everyone has either been vaccinated or infected.

Be safe everyone.

[Forogil]

NANCY PELOSI MADE FUN OF US, SO WE HAVE TO GIVE OURSELVES THE VIRUS, AND NOT ONLY THAT WE'LL INFECT AS MANY OTHERS AS POSSIBLE.

He, and the rest of the Trump supporters, would wither completely if they had to face the abuse they dish out on a regular basis.

The saddest part is that Trump actually worked hard to accelerate the vaccine development and production.

Couldn't the Trump supporters at least do as Trump and take the vaccine, even if not broadcast to the world?
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/03/01/p...use/index.html

[Fuiking]

Anybody got a clue what happened in Netherlands compared to say, the U.K.?
Their graph on worldometers looks almost vertical. Oo

A combination of factors. From the goverment part:

''Dansen met Janssen'' ad campaign is a good one. It hints that if one takes a vaccination one could go on holiday/beach/go out within 24hours (which is a fucking lie) after getting it. Second one is the fact the goverment stances change 180's every once in awhile.

From a population stand point: They don't take it seriously, or are sick and tired of it. And they don't listen to the experts or think they know better or marginalize the virus likening it to a flu

Personally Im so sick of the gun ho style of the dutch people that I'm looking to immigrate seriously to a country where people listen and take it more seriously.

[Granyala]

A combination of factors. From the goverment part:

''Dansen met Janssen'' ad campaign is a good one. It hints that if one takes a vaccination one could go on holiday/beach/go out within 24hours (which is a fucking lie) after getting it. Second one is the fact the goverment stances change 180's every once in awhile.

Well, you can't expect the people to take it seriously, if the people in charge send mixed signals / false information.

[Twdft]

It is spreading easily because people have ditched their masks, crowded into indoor spaces, resumed travel, and resisted vaccinations. Just 40 percent of people in Greene County are fully vaccinated. In some nearby counties, less than 20 percent of people are.

Not really that surprising. I'd say people who adhered to mask mandates and social distancing are pretty much the same who got vaccinated as soon as possible. After one and a half years of seeing their neighbors doing jack shit to protect them vaccinated people now drop the mask and resume crowd activities. Knowing they won't die even if they get covid. Since all their friends are vaccinated too they don't give a fuck anymore...

[D Luniz]

Not really that surprising. I'd say people who adhered to mask mandates and social distancing are pretty much the same who got vaccinated as soon as possible. After one and a half years of seeing their neighbors doing jack shit to protect them vaccinated people now drop the mask and resume crowd activities. Knowing they won't die even if they get covid. Since all their friends are vaccinated too they don't give a fuck anymore...

pretty much, my mom was mad at me when I said something like what you just said.
She responded with, I quote "when did you get like this, I didn't raise you like that"
and I explained to her, these are the same people that also think things like what happened with George Floyd and countless others was fine, that Jan 6th either didn't happen, or was a false flag, that vote fraud is wide spread. or whine what everything is canceling them. And a litany of other efforts that harm others.

You just hit a point what you finally see something that for once, the consequences will come down most(I say most because I know young children and people that are immune comp cant get vaccinated) on the people that made the choice rather than those around them.

Well, fine, they claimed to be all for personal responsibility, convently when they wouldn't have to be, COVID doesn't care, and they cant pawn fixing it off on others.
Why should I care more for them when if the situation was reversed, me and other people like me would be dead or dying, and they'd be at best indifferent, but more likely, actively laughing.

Cant bring myself to care for people like that.

[Fuiking]

Well, you can't expect the people to take it seriously, if the people in charge send mixed signals / false information.

Thats quite true. However, before that mixed signals/ false information my fellow countrymen where like a bunch of cats.

And oh yeah, I learned today, that on YouTube theres people seriously thinking erasmus univeristy made Corona even more deadly. Natural mutations? They never heard of that shit? But yeah discussing there stupidity/alternate thinking mode is near impossible. Its like herding cats.

[Forogil]

And now the EU has passed the US in terms of percentage of the overall population that have begun their vaccination (55.67% vs. 55.54%). Both are also seeing increasing case-numbers (since two weeks ago). In terms of vaccination UAE, Chile, Canada, the uk, and Israel are ahead of both (as well as some EU countries, in particular Malta where 86% have begun their vaccination and 80% are fully vaccinated, and some US states) - but the uk case numbers began increasing 8 weeks ago, and the Israeli numbers began increasing about 4 weeks ago.

However, deaths still seem to be trending downward in the EU, but might have begun increasing in the US a week ago.
Currently the deaths are: Chile 5/million, US 0.76/million, uk 0.65/million, EU 0.25/million, Israel 0.17/million (and day) - but we don't know how they will develop the next years.

For comparison: flu-deaths seems to be on the order of 1/million (and day) during the season (varying between the years).

Chile finally seems to see a decline in both cases and deaths - and reminding us that vaccines help (even Chinese ones), but they are not perfect, and that some vaccines are less perfect than others.

What is really depressing is that when compared to other countries in the south the numbers in Chile are actually ok - or even good.

The average in S. America is 6/million; and there might be some underreporting. In Africa it's officially low - but I doubt that the numbers can be trusted. S. Africa is reporting 6/million, but excess deaths indicate that it might be closer to 20/million (or possibly more - the current unrest might make it harder to collect data), whereas nearby Namibia is reporting 30/million and rising (that's 3 times higher rate than what the US reported in January) - and that might also be an underestimate.

[Rasulis]

Honestly, any chance of republicans listening to what democrats have to say about the pandemic was destroyed in the first 15 minutes, when Nancy Pelosi made a spectacle of encouraging people to visit Chinatown in a thinly veiled attempt to shame Trump for a travel ban on China on January 31, 2020. From that moment forward, the democrats lost all credibility on the issue with republicans. Perhaps the only way to fix it is to kick Pelosi out on congress.

You can say all you want about anything else, but until the Pelosi problem is fixed, this is just gonna get worse.

That was probably the safest place to be in term of Covid-19. In a City with the lowest per capita Covid cases and mortality in the nation, Chinatown has the lowest rate of all the San Francisco zip codes.

- - - Updated - - -

Cruise ships have found a way around Florida's ban on vaccine passports - and it's still bad news for unvaccinated passengers

Starting August 1 through the end of the year, all unvaccinated Royal Caribbean Florida cruise passengers 12-years-old or older will have to show proof of travel insurance. The insurance must have a minimum of $25,000 in medical expense coverage and $50,000 for "quarantine and medical evacuation related to a positive COVID-19 test result" per person. On top of insurance payments, unvaccinated cruisers will also have to pay for COVID-19 tests that vaccinated passengers won't need to take, amounting to an additional $136 or $178 payment depending on the sailing duration.

Carnival has a similar requirement for its Florida sailings: beginning July 31, every unvaccinated passenger 12-years-old or older will have to show proof of travel insurance, which has to cover a minimum of $10,000 in medical expenses and $30,000 in "emergency medical evacuation and without COVID-19 exclusions."

Unvaccinated Carnival guests who don't show proof of the vaccine will not be allowed to board and will not receive a refund. And like Royal Caribbean, Carnival passengers who don't want the jabs will also have to cough up an additional $150 for COVID-19 tests and other "health screening measures."

According to Carnival's website, unvaccinated guests can't use the sauna or the thermal suite, and unvaccinated children and teenagers won't be allowed to partake in the cruise line's youth camp program.

Unvaccinated friendly areas aboard Royal Caribbean's cruises depend on each ship. You can find the full list of accessible venues on its website, but generally, the casinos and select restaurants, bars, lounges, activities, shows the casinos will be reserved for vaccinated people only.

So the unvaccinated people are paying more money for less access? That is so non-capitalist of the cruise companies.

[Biglog]

The scary part in all of the anti-vaxxing movement is that it seems that people have become so focused on the debate and details that they completely missed where it all came from. Trump's methods were very predictable. In early 2020, he did *not* want a covid-19 outbreak to reflect on him negatively during an election year. The human lives lost were totally irrelevant. So he politicized Covid-19 and downplayed Covid-19 every way possible as we all saw. Part of Trump's standard m.o. was also always keeping a 'fall guy' to take the blame for any failures. There's a long list of those, everyone who left his administration. Fauci was the fall guy for his failures on the pandemic.

Fast forward to today, and we're still feeling the effects from how it was politicized. Since the cult leader said to downplay covid, his propaganda outlets like FOX and others pushed the anti-Covid ideas starting with anti-masking and his totally wrong stance to the end that it would 'go away soon'. When the virus spread due to anti-masking, Trump blamed Fauci against all reason that it was somehow his fault. That continued into being anti-vaxx for the same reason. Humankind learned masks help stop the spread of disease back in the 1910's during WW1 and the Spanish Flu pandemic, it's not really debatable. Yet people that didn't graduate high school would argue this and spread misinformation because their political leader told them to. Hundreds of thousands if not millions have died needlessly due to the spread of this misinformation and the people doing it have shown no remorse.

It leaves a sad commentary on the lack of empathy of a significant, selfish, greedy, poorly educated, and easily manipulated part of the human population today. It also should be a giant red warning flag that we are in a social state unfortunately very similar to early 1930's Germany, where a racist and radical nationalist minority is being a lot more successful than they should be at spreading their hateful ideas to the general population and controlling them without them realizing it. They've succeeded already in convincing millions that what they tell them supercedes well-established science and rational thought or what others tell them, which is exactly what cults like Nazism did and Scientology do. It's how autocratic countries like North Korea can run their country like a cult and tell their people that Kim Jung-Il knew 85 languages by age 4 and his people don't question it. Worrisome times.