Mega-Thread: Coronavirus Pandemic

[ldev]

My older sister refused to get the vaccine until her job mandated it. And she’s not a stupid person that you’d typically associate with being anti-vaccine. She has a Master’s Degree and works in the government with computers and cyber security. She’s an educated, rational person, but she didn’t want to get it because of how bad the whole anthrax vaccine thing was for military members back in the day.

She just didn’t trust it.

I'm pretty sure that inability to change one's mind is one definition of a stupid person. ))

"I will not take covid vaccine that hundreds of millions have taken three doses of right now, because in the 90s this totally unrelated different vaccine was no no". Yeah, 110% stupid.

[Machismo]

well I don't know, I have been self isolating for more than a year now, never attended any events, never moved more than ~1,000 meters outside my house. If everyone could do this for ONLY 2 WEEKS, this thing would have been over.

The issue is that there's not a good way to do that for literally everyone, and not stomp on their rights and liberties. Sure, it's easier in authoritarian regimes like China, but not in the United States.

There's simply not enough manpower, nor political will to pull it off.

There was always going to be a "leak" of cases, and in the case of many countries, that happened multiple times.

[PhaelixWW]

What will end it is effective treatment for it.

When there will be actual medicine that treats it effectively and is readily available, like we have for cold, then it will become non-issue.

Until then we will be taking shots every half a year.

No.

There's zero chance we'll be taking shots every half a year regardless.

[Gaidax]

No.

There's zero chance we'll be taking shots every half a year regardless.

That's exactly what will happen, at very most I'll give you every 9 months.

If you think 3rd shot is some magical long term. solution, you are in for disappointment.

We're already prepping for 4th shot campaign sometime in spring.

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I personally hope it will eventually be combined with yearly flu shot.

And yes that there will be treatment for it on top of it, I understand trials are under way already.

[PhaelixWW]

That's exactly what will happen, at very most I'll give you every 9 months.

If you think 3rd shot is some magical long term. solution, you are in for disappointment.

We're already prepping for 4th shot campaign sometime in spring.

You don't understand what it means to move from a pandemic phase to an endemic phase, do you.

We're still in the pandemic phase.

We will not stay in the pandemic phase forever.

[Gaidax]

You don't understand what it means to move from a pandemic phase to an endemic phase, do you.

We're still in the pandemic phase.

We will not stay in the pandemic phase forever.

I think I plainly stated that eventually there will be a better solution that will end the current situation.

I'm not terribly sure why you're spoiling for a fight. Save that for antivaxxers in your pepega country.

[zEmini]

That's exactly what will happen, at very most I'll give you every 9 months.

If you think 3rd shot is some magical long term. solution, you are in for disappointment.

We're already prepping for 4th shot campaign sometime in spring.

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I personally hope it will eventually be combined with yearly flu shot.

And yes that there will be treatment for it on top of it, I understand trials are under way already.

I hope not. I would rather take my covid shot separately because I need about 2 days of down time due to side effects and i need to plan that. Flu shot doesn't bother me one bit.

Also, if my 4th dose gives me terrible symptoms i might just be done with it all together

[Gaidax]

I hope not. I would rather take my covid shot separately because I need about 2 days of down time due to side effects and i need to plan that. Flu shot doesn't bother me one bit.

Also, if my 4th dose gives me terrible symptoms i might just be done with it all together

It's just a simple risk management as I see it, would you rather feel shitty 1 day or risk catching the virus that may fuck you up for life.

People are still laser focused on deaths, but what we should be speaking about is all these severe cases where people recover, but end up with long-term or even permanent damage. If you're sub 40 your chances to die are very very slim, but chances to get fucked up in all sorts of ways are comparatively quite a bit more substantial.

Besides, for me it's even further nobrainer, I don't even feel bad after Pfizer only annoying arm pain that passes in a day. I'll take it over even sub 1% chance to get a severe case and be fucked for years/life.

[Lenonis]

I wish people would go and get vaccinated so we can end this, but I also don't agree with forcing people to put things in their body. It's this kind of behavior by our leaders that is keeping some people from getting vaccinated.

Refusing to do something good for you because someone in authority is telling you to is the logic of a toddler.

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All I did is simply provide an explanation why some people may not be getting vaccinated, how is that me shifting the blame? Let's not forget Biden said he would never force anyone to get vaccinated, why should the American people trust Biden?

You do realize that Biden isn't trying to force anyone to get vaccinated right?

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She just didn’t trust it.

Which just shows that so-called "educated rational" people can make irrational and uneducated decisions.

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well I don't know, I have been self isolating for more than a year now, never attended any events, never moved more than ~1,000 meters outside my house. If everyone could do this for ONLY 2 WEEKS, this thing would have been over.

I'm hopefully you can understand how unreasonable it is to have every single person never leave their home for 2 weeks. In fact I'd argue it's impossible.

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She has ulcerative colitis (almost died from it)

Is there a particular reason you decided to leave out that she has an immune related illness in your original post and instead point to the anthrax vaccine?

Incredibly disingenuous and certainly doesn't do your sister any favors in how you portrayed her.

[MCMLXXXII]

This shit just will keep on mutating as long as rich countries keep the vaccines for themselves and do not help third world countries. First step would be removing the patent, so they can actually produce their own vaccine.

[PhaelixWW]

This shit just will keep on mutating as long as rich countries keep the vaccines for themselves and do not help third world countries. First step would be removing the patent, so they can actually produce their own vaccine.

I mean, it's going to continue to mutate, regardless.

[beanman12345]

Which just shows that so-called "educated rational" people can make irrational and uneducated decisions.

Yup, education can fix ignorance, it can't fix stupidity.

[Dezerte]

She’s definitely not stupid. She has ulcerative colitis (almost died from it) and wanted to wait much longer before getting the vaccine (if she did at all), as she was hesitant with how it may affect her, and because of her mistrust over the anthrax vaccine.

As someone with a similar immune disease (Chron's disease) and taking immunosuppressants, my doctor told me there were no issues with me taking the vaccine. There are some vaccines I can't take (living vaccines) but that is because of the medication and not the illness.

[Dezerte]

Yeah, I think she takes the same type of medication. I know she goes into the hospital every now and then to get some infusion or something… I can’t remember. I know it can take awhile.

Yeah - same, I've had a few iron infusions.

[Lenonis]

Cause I think her main reason is her distrust of it.

I'm not sure you have this right. The reason why I say so is because if she has severe UC she's likely on strong immunosuppressant drugs either steroids, metrotrexate, or biologics or some combo of them. This creates some legitimate medical concerns about getting a vaccine (of any kind) while on those types of medications. She probably has had this conversation with her doctor and her doctor probably talked over her options which would include discontinuing therapy for a period of time in order to get vaccinated. that would create legitimate concerns in any patient in that scenario.

You might want to talk to her about it to better understand. Because you have two scenarios -- one in which she's in a very legitimate space getting legitimate guidance from her doctor that would cause her concerns about vaccinations. The other is an irrational and ill informed response to an entirely different medical experience she had a long time ago.

[Wezmon]

This shit just will keep on mutating as long as rich countries keep the vaccines for themselves and do not help third world countries. First step would be removing the patent, so they can actually produce their own vaccine.

This isn't entirely true. The rich countries have given out a tonne of vaccines, they could d o better, but there's a perceived image that they have done nothing. The problem is getting the populations to take them. South Africa had to ask pfizer to delay shipping as they had too many stocked up. They just cant convince people to take them.

Just to add whilst removing patent might help initially you might face the same problem. Vaccines being made in terrible conditions with little care for quality and you end up with bad batches that further push the population to distrust the vaccine.

[Masark]

You don't think some people are not getting vaccinated because the government is trying to force them to do it?

That's what they said, "gullible fools, who buy into lies and conspiracy theories".

[Rasulis]

Back from mushroom hunting over the last 4 days in Mendocino. Not bad. Four trash bags full of mushrooms. They are all over the place this year.

From NPR Goats and Soda - Vaccine protection vs. omicron infection may drop to 30% but does cut severe disease

The bad news:

In the population in the South African study, the Pfizer vaccine's effectiveness against infection dropped down to about 30% for the omicron variant, compared with about 80% against the variant before omicron, the scientists reported.

The good news:

The researchers found that two shots of the Pfizer vaccine still offered about 70% protection against hospital admission because of COVID-19 in the population examined in the study. That's a drop from 90% observed during the previous surge in South Africa when the delta variant dominated. But 70% indicates the vaccine is still working well to keep people out of the hospital.

The caveat:

In addition, the data suggests that the protection seems to hold up in people with some risk factors such as diabetes and heart disease, as well as in older people.

But these findings come with a huge caveat.

In South Africa, many people have been exposed to the coronavirus. Some studies estimate that up to 90% of South Africans have been infected over the course of the pandemic. The study didn't take this into account.

Scientists are starting to think that for many people, getting infected is almost like an extra dose of the vaccine. The infection really helps the immune system learn how to fight off COVID-19 — similar to the way the vaccine does.

And several studies have shown that if you've had an infection and then get two doses of an mRNA vaccine, you are much better protected compared to somebody who had only the vaccine.

So for people who've had only two shots — and not a prior infection — the vaccine's effectiveness in helping fight off an infection could be lower than 30%.

Back to San Francisco. Cases still going up almost to the post-Halloween peak. Hospitalization down. ICU single digit.

We finally have booster data - 294,189 San Francisco residents have received booster shot. Which is around 34% of San Francisco population. Among residents that have completed their primary vaccine series, about 47 percent of White residents have received a booster dose, Asians 40 percent, Blacks 29 percent, Latinxs 26 percent, Native Americans 26 percent, and about 23 percent of Pacific Islanders have received the booster.

55% of children between 5 -11 have received at least one dose, 36% are fully vaccinated now.

Over 90% of all age groups, except for 25-34, have now received at least one dose. For 25 - 34 it is 80%. Laggard.

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California is reinstituting indoor mask mandate starting December 15 through January 15.

San Francisco is getting an exception from the CA DPH. It is allowed to keep it’s existing mask mandate in place. I expect Marin will receive an exception also.

[Breccia]

800,000 dead -- a grim milestone. We were doing pretty well from March to August.

A KFF study suggests about one in five deaths could have been prevented by vaccines. And we're still seeing over 1,000 deaths a day. In fact, we've been north of 1,000 deaths per day since mid-August, with the only exception being states not reporting over Thanksgiving.

Now as @Rasulis pointed out, vaccines plus boosters will lower your risk of getting the lethal affliction in the first place, and lower still your chance of dying if you still get it.

Everyone should be taking this seriously.

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California is reinstituting indoor mask mandate starting December 15 through January 15.

According to a bunch of signs I saw recently, NYState did the same.

[PhaelixWW]

According to a bunch of signs I saw recently, NYState did the same.

New York is starting to get hit hard by omicron.

I 100% believed that omicron wouldn't spread fast enough to be driven by the winter surge, but I was dead wrong. It will probably dominate delta by the end of January, if not December. There is a slight possibility that omicron is only spreading as fast as it is because it's mutated so far out of our community resistance, so it's possible that once it's spread pretty well throughout that delta might shift back into control. If omicron proves to be more mild than delta, then we can hope that slight possibility doesn't pan out.