News & Experiences continued

[Louis]

@balletmaus, the entire point is that society will never agree on who is more or less deserving. I have my opinions on who is more deserving, and I've stated them. Public policy should ignore my opinion and everyone's opinions We should vaccinate as quickly as possible, in rough order of risk of death, not worrying about who is a snowbird, an illegal immigrant, etc. When you start excluding one group, it opens up the door for excluding other groups. Every shot in the arm has a community benefit, no matter who receives it. If vaccine tourism becomes a genuine problem, I'll change my tune.

On a related note, some parts of Europe (notably France) have been slowed down by inefficient process flows -- e.g., 45 pages of disclosure. Hopefully it's already being done in most places, but we need to come up with "assembly line" processes - preferably digital ones - that keep people injecting all day long. Pre-register online, read and accept any disclosures online, e-signature; person doing any required consultation separate from person injecting; etc.

 

[mikey]

I am starting to think that a big part of the delay is the requirement for two injections 3-4 weeks apart. Where I work, they are waiting until everyone in a risk category has both injections before moving on to the next group in order to make sure that people who are vaccinated are completely vaccinated.

 

[Susan1]

This is just stupid. If he wants teachers to pledge that they will go back to work once the vaccine has been given time to fully go into effect (and their school districts open), then OK. But no. He wants them to pledge to go back to work before the vaccination becomes fully protective. And odds are high that many teachers who are not currently working full time are not doing so because they are at high-risk. So hello. If you are at high risk, you should wait until the vaccine is fully effective within your body prior to placing yourself in an environment with 25+ kids who are not vaccinated.

But a lot of schools are already fully in person or hybrid. They wear masks and distance and have barriers and stuff. And it's not the kids that are spreading the *****. It's what the adults do out of school that causes them to spread it to each other, or send it home to the parents, or the other way around. The ones that probably had family over for Christmas. Back in the fall we had bunches of bus drivers and cafeteria workers having to be quarantined. They are not in classrooms. I think the high risk people already are allowed not to be in person. School districts can decide if they want to be in person. If they are going to stay home and then go out and do high risk things, they shouldn't be allowed to get the vaccine. There are enough trumpers here who don't want the vaccine, don't want to wear masks, anyway, but they want their kids back in school. You can't have it both ways.

 

[missing]

Oddly enough, you can't trust the U.S. government for accurate information.


Reports of a highly contagious new variant in the United States, published on Friday by multiple news outlets, are based on speculative statements made by Dr. Deborah Birx and are inaccurate, according to several government officials.

The erroneous report originated at a recent meeting where Dr. Birx, a member of the White House ******** task force, presented graphs of the escalating cases in the country. She suggested to other members of the task force that a new, more transmissible variant originating in the U.S. might explain the surge, as another variant did in Britain.

Her hypothesis made it into a weekly report sent to state governors. “This fall/winter surge has been at nearly twice the rate of rise of cases as the spring and summer surges. This acceleration suggests there may be a USA variant that has evolved here, in addition to the UK variant that is already spreading in our communities and may be 50% more transmissible,” the report read. “Aggressive mitigation must be used to match a more aggressive *****.”

Dismayed, officials at the C.D.C. tried to have the speculative statements removed, but were unsuccessful, according to three people familiar with the events.

 

[Miezekatze]

I am starting to think that a big part of the delay is the requirement for two injections 3-4 weeks apart. Where I work, they are waiting until everyone in a risk category has both injections before moving on to the next group in order to make sure that people who are vaccinated are completely vaccinated.

I totally approve of holding back the second dose of existing deliveries for people who have had their first dose, to make sure it's available at the needed time, but once there's more new vaccination doses than needed, I don't see why the can't start first vaccinations for new groups already anyway?

Maybe it's more a thing of deliveries coming in too slow?

That is the main problem in Germany in general right now.

Everybody is ready, but there's too little vaccines. Our local vaccination centers can only open 1 week later and are disappointed, because they managed to set up everything in time.

France baffles me a bit, they barely managed anything to get started so far?

 

[PRlady]

I missed this absolutely amazing update yesterday:

MDA = Magen David Adom, Israel's Red cross/emergency medical service. Yay!!!!

Well not fast enough in general population as my Israeli stepdaughter has it, we just found out.

 

[PrincessLeppard]

@Louis said:According to various articles, people are being vaccinated without proof of citizenship, residency, or legal status in the country or the city / state. Which IMO is generally a good thing. The one and only factor should be speed

I read an article that said Midwest meat packing plants will not help/pay for their undocumented employees get vaccinated. Very short-sighted and unfair.

Pete Ricketts, Trump toady and Nebraska governor, is the dipshit who made this statement. He has now backtracked and said that all meat-packing employees will be vaccinated because the plants OF COURSE verified citizenship upon hiring the workers. Sure, Pete. But I'll take it if it get them vaccinated faster.

 

[MsZem]

Well not fast enough in general population as my Israeli stepdaughter has it, we just found out.

There are a lot of younger people who have found ways to get vaccinated, but the objective at this stage is to get those at greater risk vaccinated, and that part is going well so far.

I hope she'll recover quickly

 

[once_upon]

My youngest granddaughter and her dad came over yesterday to drop off Christmas presents. She's three and had a cute mask on (a puppy face). I asked her if she wore a mask at preschool.

Her answer was very matter of fact. Im not a grown-up at a school. But when we go to the grocery store I do.

 

[Lara]

Record high 3127 cases in Quebec yesterday. And to think reaching 500 was alarming only a few months ago.

Curfew starts tonight, non essential stores, restaurants and entertainment venues remain closed. But elementary schools still start Monday and at this point “keep open at all cost” does not seem the right call. Sigh.

 

[Louis]

After 10 days of post-travel quarantine at home (and I really did not leave the house AT ALL), I went for a walk today.

Anecdotal evidence: The streets were as crowded as I've seen them during any lockdown time. Every coffee shop had a line around the corner. The grocery stores had lines for blocks. The parks were dangerously crowded, with no distancing whatsoever. The majority of people are still not wearing masks outdoors (and it's not required). The buses going by are still at pre-"Tier 5" (or even Tier 4) levels. People on buses are still eating, talking without a mask, etc.

 

[FGRSK8]

We are about 5000 cases shy of hitting 90 million cases worldwide.....ouch.

 

[Dave of the North]

Another government idiot who traveled...

Senior bureaucrat overseeing border and travel health accepted Air Canada junket to Jamaica​

and her husband used to be an advisor to Dr. Theresa Tam...

 

[FGRSK8]

Another government idiot who traveled...

Senior bureaucrat overseeing border and travel health accepted Air Canada junket to Jamaica​

and her husband used to be an advisor to Dr. Theresa Tam...

I really some of these people deep down inside think this thing isn’t real, or my toads have higher IQs than these folks...

 

[Dobre]

8,768 people were vaccinated in Oregon today. That is the highest number we have had. The Salem Vaccination event for Marion County was held today & is being held again on the 11th so I would guess that it went well & had a big impact on the numbers for today. There were also 4,680 vaccinations completed previously that were officially recorded today. So we are now at 88,362.

In the bad news department, over 1600 new cases today, which is sadly not much lower than yesterday's high when we recorded a backlog.

 

[moebius]

We are about 5000 cases shy of hitting 90 million cases worldwide.....ouch.

And out of the 90 million cases, how many people died?

 

[once_upon]

And out of the 90 million cases, how many people died?

If it's someone you know, does it matter

 

[acraven]

1,934,813 according to the Worldometers website. Almost certainly an undercount, because excess mortality has been reported to be considerably higher in some countries then the figures show. Also, Russia has acknowledged an undercount of over 100,000 deaths which for some reason isn't reflected in the country's death count rolled up into the 1,934,813 figure. Therefore, the true number must be in excess of 2 million.

 

[Dobre]

695 people died from the ***** in California alone today.

 

[Dobre]

The entire continental U.S. & Alaska are red on the NPR map today. And Hawaii is orange.

Arizona, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Oklahoma, California, and South Carolina all with over 100 cases per 100,000. Kentucky is at 99.

*********-19 growing in Georgia at highest pace in the nation​

COVID-19 growing in Georgia at highest pace in the nation

Georgia crossed heartbreaking thresholds Wednesday of more than 10,000 deaths and 600,000 cases since the *********-19 ********* begin. Thursday, the ***** showed no signs of slowing down in the Peach

tinyurl.com

The state had a new high of 10,393 cases yesterday.

 

[aka_gerbil]

My county now has no hospital beds available. All ICU and non-ICU are filled.

 

[ballettmaus]

Every shot in the arm has a community benefit, no matter who receives it.

That kind of was my point last spring and is my opinion now; I think everyone is equally deserving of the vaccine. I understand why we need to have different groups but I'm glad I didn't have to make the choice.

 

[allezfred]

And out of the 90 million cases, how many people died?

1.93 million and rising. That’s the population of a small country that has been lost in less than a year.

 

[Susan1]

1.93 million and rising. That’s the population of a small country that has been lost in less than a year.

The Israel Health Minister or something today said they have 9M people and they are working on vaccinating everyone over 16. Just Ohio has 11.7M people. (They never say, but I'm guessing that includes every age, not just adults?)

 

[Buzz]

Ontario had 3945 new cases with 1160 of those in Toronto with 61 new deaths. We are in week six of the lockdown that seems to have new restrictions added nearly every week. However, the rise of new cases has not stopped and holiday gatherings are at least partly to blame.

Ontario sets new single-day record for COVID-19 cases with nearly 4,000; 61 dead

Ontario set a new standalone, single-day record for ******** cases with 3,945 on Sunday, along with 61 new deaths, as the province’s cumulative death toll approaches 5,000.

tinyurl.com

 

[missing]

Lawmakers may have been exposed to CV19 while sheltering in place.

Lawmakers who hunkered down together for safety while a pro-Trump mob attacked the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday may have been exposed to someone in the same room who was infected with the ********, according to the Office of the Attending Physician...

Two House aides confirmed to The Washington Post that Monahan was referring to a room where scores of House members were taken amid the riot. Video first published by Punchbowl News on Friday showed maskless Republicans — including Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Michael Cloud (Tex.), Markwayne Mullin (Okla.) and Scott Perry (Pa.) — refusing masks offered by Democratic Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.) while in the room.

I would be a tad more shocked by this story except it had already been announced that Jake LaTurner, a Republican representative from Kansas, had tested positive. In fact, I posted it (probably on Thursday) here at FSU, and if figure skating fans could know by then, I don't understand why the press (and presumably members of Congress) should be surprised to learn it on Sunday.

Actually, now that I think about it, anybody who sheltered in place with Jake LaTurner should quarantine, since that would have been extended exposure to someone with CV19.

 

[Susan1]

This is the only place I can find the new Ohio ad, I hope it works -

https://twitter.com/i/status/1347597399762624513

 

[Dobre]

We are at 97,000 vaccinations now. Yesterday again we had over 8,000 vaccinations so that's about 4,000 short of where the governor wants us to be per day but about 4,000 more than daily numbers were reaching last week.

I have a facebook friend that posted she was getting vaccinated this weekend. She works at OHSU (Oregon Health & Sciences University). She says they are vaccinating everybody there. She was feeling guilty because she isn't a frontline worker, but her boss told her to get vaccinated and she plans to help with large vaccination clinics that will be rolling out soon. She said they are building an army of vaccinated workers to help others in the community, whether employees are health care professionals or not. OHSU is our med school & hospital system. She should not feel guilty at all, of course. Employees there will have been figured in as priority workers. It is very good news that OHSU is getting vaccinations because it is a major health care provider in the state & one where, previously, I had read that there was not enough vaccine for people who needed it.

Anyway, I like her description of a "Vaccination Army."

That's what we need.

 

[ballettmaus]

My mom is registered to get vaccinated and is now waiting to hear back. My granddad is also waiting to get notified. He's 83, so he should hear soon.

 

[Buzz]

I would love to get vaccinated but so far only crickets. Non of my clients have heard anything either.