Coronavirus

[O Really]

Which I guess brings me back to my original point. Indoor dining, movie going, non mask wearing etc. or what we think of as normal life is still a ways off into the future.

Even after getting vaccinated I fully expect to stay in precautionary mode for some time. Maybe when the whole family is vaccinated we can share a meal together.

Yeah, that's what I was saying. I'll feel more comfortable in various circumstances just because of being vaccinated, but I'm staying away from people and wearing a mask pretty much the same as now. And it depends a lot on what a given place is doing for their part. F'rinstance, last fall when we were in Bend, we went to our travel gym, Planet Fitness. They were requiring masks all the time, had the doors open (despite being miserably cold), had the equipment spaced out and limited the number of people who could be in the gym total as well as in various areas. And they policed it closely. Then when we got to Salt Lake City, the PF there pretended to require masks when you're moving around, but not when you're "actively working out" on equipment. They did have equipment spaced out, but there was still a lot of unmasked grunting and puffing. We stayed in there about 5 minutes and boogied off. So with a vaccination, I'd feel comfortable going to Bend even if they were a little less rigid, but I still wouldn't go to SLC.

[Vrede too]

Isn't the effect of the vaccine is that it prevents the onset of symptoms and sickness of Covid?

I.e. You can still carry it and spread it like anyone else.

For some. For most, though, it prevents infection entirely. This is why Fauci has been saying that widespread vaccination will prevent mutation. Otherwise, all we would be doing is selecting for resistant strains.

We're both correct.

Some Test Positive After Being Vaccinated. Here Is Why.

... Notable Examples ...

How Can That Happen?

— Vaccines don’t work instantly....

— Nor do they work retroactively. You can already be infected and not know it when you get the vaccine — even if you recently tested negative....

— The vaccines prevent illness, but maybe not infection. COVID vaccines are being authorized based on how well they keep you from getting sick, needing hospitalization and dying. Scientists don’t know yet how effective the vaccines are at preventing the coronavirus from infecting you to begin with, or at keeping you from passing it on to others. (That is why vaccinated people should keep wearing masks and maintaining social distance.)

— Even the best vaccines aren’t perfect. The efficacy rates for Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are extremely high, but they are not 100%. With the virus still spreading out of control in the United States, some of the millions of recently vaccinated people were bound to get infected in any case.

[Vrede too]

I'm a strong believer in thorough testing and confirmation, but it turns out that Russia won the vaccine race back in August.

Russia's Sputnik V vaccine 92% effective in fighting COVID-19

Scientists gave Russia's Sputnik V vaccine the green light on Tuesday saying it was almost 92% effective in fighting COVID-19 based on peer-reviewed late-stage trial results published in The Lancet international medical journal....

'RUSSIA WAS RIGHT'

The Sputnik V vaccine is the fourth worldwide to have Phase III results published in leading peer-reviewed medical journals following the shots developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca.

Pfizer's shot had the highest efficacy rate at 95%, closely followed by Moderna's vaccine and Sputnik V while AstraZeneca's vaccine had an average efficacy of 70%.

Sputnik V has also now been approved for storage in normal fridges, as opposed to freezers, making transportation and distribution easier, Gamaleya scientists said on Tuesday.

Russia approved the vaccine in August, before the large-scale trial had begun, saying it was the first country to do so for a COVID-19 shot. It named it Sputnik V, in homage to the world's first satellite, launched by the Soviet Union.

Small numbers of frontline health workers began receiving it soon after and a large-scale roll out started in December, though access was limited to those in specific professions, such as teachers, medical workers and journalists.

In January, the vaccine was offered to all Russians.

"Russia was right all along," Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), which is responsible for marketing the vaccine abroad, told reporters on Tuesday.

He said the results supported Russia's decision to begin administering Sputnik V to frontline workers while the trial was still underway, and suggested scepticism of such moves was politically motivated.

"The Lancet did very unbiased work despite some of the political pressures that may have been out there," he said....

[O Really]

"Russia was right" sure, but also "Russia was lucky."

[Vrede too]

I'm a strong believer in thorough testing and confirmation, but it turns out that Russia won the vaccine race back in August.

"Russia was right" sure, but also "Russia was lucky."

Or, their scientists did quality modeling. Anyhow, it sounds like they limited distribution to front line people who were already at very high risk - an acceptable gamble? If I was still working I probably would have chosen to get a vaccine in August. The rest of Russia was only a month or two ahead of us, likely after they were getting promising data from large trials.

[neoplacebo]

They're still giving out vaccines at Bristol dragway but only for folks over 75. I can't drive 55 but I ain't over 75 so I will wait and self medicate.

[Vrede too]

55 long-term effects of COVID-19 found in new study

Graphic list on page 10 of 22

Figure 2. Long-term effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The meta-analysis of the studies included an estimate for one symptom or more reported that 80% of the patients with COVID-19 have long-term symptoms....

Crap.

[GoCubsGo]

Soooo......

[Vrede too]

Soooo......

But, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine might not work vs the South Africa variant.

462K US dead, well beyond the US WW2 dead. Next up, the US Civil War toll.

[GoCubsGo]

Soooo......

But, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine might not work vs the South Africa variant.

462K US dead, well beyond the US WW2 dead. Next up, the US Civil War toll.

Shit. Buy mask stock.

650,000 plus. Thx trump.

[O Really]

Mask up and don’t kiss: What infectious disease experts at UW and beyond say about COVID-19 and sex

Feb. 11, 2021 at 6:00 am Updated Feb. 11, 2021 at 5:27 pm
By Christine Clarridge
Seattle Times staff reporter

Trying to hook up with someone outside of your pod here at Month 12 of the coronavirus pandemic with Valentine’s Day looming?

If so, you’re not alone, and there’s no need for shame. But there are precautions you should take: Wear a mask (or two), avoid kissing and embrace the novelty and kink of positions and barriers that keep your faces far from each other, public health departments across the country are advising.

“It’s one thing to ask people to be abstinent for a short time when we thought this would be over soon, but it’s not reasonable to ask people to abstain for a year,” said Dr. Joanne Stekler, an infectious disease physician at UW Medicine who specializes in HIV prevention.

Stekler emphasized what public health departments are saying: You are your own safest physical partner, and people in your pod are the next safest. Cybersex is also safe, but she also acknowledged that, for many, those options may not work as we’re near COVID’s one-year anniversary.

“Yes, this is harm reduction, but given that we are human beings, the goal is to reduce the risk of transmission,” Stekler said in a phone interview this week.

“Our sex clubs (in Seattle) are open again and people are having sex, but they have mask requirements.”

Stekler said kissing is one of the most risky things you can do right now because coronavirus is transmitted through saliva, mucus and breath. It has been found in the feces of some infected people, but there have been no known transmissions through vaginal or anal sex.

The British Columbia Centre for Disease Control offers another alternative: “Use barriers, like walls (e.g., glory holes), that allow for sexual contact but prevent close face-to-face contact.”

Here’s some tips from KQED on how to best reduce the risk:

Wear a mask, both of you.
Choose positions that minimize face-to-face contact.
Wash up really well, both before and after sex. You cannot “absorb” the coronavirus through your skin, but you might touch your skin and then touch your face. If you’re using sex toys, wash those with soap and warm water.
Using condoms and other barriers: Wearing a condom during sex will decrease your exposure to saliva or feces. For oral sex, using a condom or dental dam similarly provides a barrier. This is especially important for any anal contact.
Keep it quick: Minimizing the length of a sexual encounter is a harm-reduction strategy in how it’s reducing the amount of time you’re potentially being exposed to the virus.
Consider things that don’t exchange fluids: Mutual masturbation could be considered a harm-reduction strategy, Cohen says. But don’t forget that if you’re simultaneously making out, “that could actually be higher risk than a quick session of oral sex,” she says.

[Vrede too]

NY nursing home virus deaths were undercounted, AG says

Very sad....

... Whether attributed to "nursing home" or "hospital", were all covid caused deaths reported somewhere?
Who would benefit by an intentional undercount?
If most everybody who died was counted somewhere, and nobody has a good reason the differences were intentional, then what difference does it make other than providing an opportunity to clarify and standardize reporting standards between the nursing homes and the state.

... The nursing homes clearly benefit from this. If the total combined deaths is low, Cuomo and New York health officials benefit.

If the death toll is actually higher than stated, that increases the mandate to improve nursing home care and may make more resources available for doing so. At least, that's how it should have worked pre-vaccine.

It's looking pretty bad for Cuomo.

New York Covid: Cuomo aides ‘hid nursing home deaths to avoid attacks from Trump’

A top aide of New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, admitted the administration withheld data about Covid-19 deaths among the nursing home patients, far higher than earlier thought, due to fear of federal prosecution.

Melissa DeRosa, the secretary to Governor Cuomo, confessed to the cover-up during a video conference call with state Democrat leaders, reported the New York Post.

The confession also comes ahead of a report by Associated Press, according to which more than 15,000 nursing home residents died of coronavirus, much higher than the previously disclosed figure of 8,500.

Ms DeRosa, reportedly told lawmakers that they “froze” after the Donald Trump administration began attacking Mr Cuomo’s fellow Democrat governors and directed the Department of Justice to investigate nursing home deaths.

“Basically, we froze,” Ms DeRosa told the lawmakers on the call. “Because then we were in a position where we weren’t sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice, or what we give to you guys, what we start saying was going to be used against us, while we weren’t sure if there was going to be an investigation.” ...

The possibility of being criticized is no excuse for covering up bad news, especially about a death toll.

[O Really]

The possibility of being criticized is no excuse for covering up bad news, especially about a death toll.

Well, yes, of course. But one could understand why Cuomo might not trust Trump's Justice Department.

[O Really]

Seattle woman, 90, walks 6 miles through snow for her COVID-19 vaccine

She made an appointment for Sunday morning at 9:10, not knowing that there was a snowstorm headed this way.

On Saturday, Goldman awoke to several inches of snow on the ground, and knew she would have to plan ahead. So she dressed in layers, got out her walking sticks, and headed out with her phone, which told her it would be 3 miles each way.

Goldman, who got a new hip last year, stepped carefully down the steep driveway outside her condo building, and got onto the Burke-Gilman Trail, which already had tracks in it.

She got about two-thirds of the way to the hospital and turned around, confident she would be able to make it the next day.

And on Sunday morning at 8, she dressed in fleece pants and a short-sleeved shirt so that the nurse could get to her arm easily. Over that, a fleece zip-up, then a down coat, then a rain jacket. She yanked on her snow boots, grabbed her two walking sticks, and headed out.

“It was not easy going, it was challenging,” she said, adding that the tracks had frozen over and been covered with more snow.


But Goldman made it to her appointment just 5 minutes late, which was fine. Had she been early, she would have had to wait in her car — which wasn’t there.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-ne ... subscriber

[billy.pilgrim]

Their scam had worked for 2 days until an employee. Personally, I might have been suspicious of an 81 year old federal marshal a tad sooner.

"Two men are accused of pretending to be federal marshals and flashing phony credentials to get out of wearing facial coverings at a South Florida resort hotel.

When the staff at the Wyndham Deerfield Beach Resort asked Walter Wayne Brown Jr., 53, and Gary Brummett, 81, to cover their faces, the men refused, and threatened to arrest employees and saddle the hotel with a fine.

A real marshal arrested Walter Wayne Brown Jr.,and Gary Brummett"


https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/me ... t-n1258220

[Vrede too]

Their scam had worked for 2 days until an employee. Personally, I might have been suspicious of an 81 year old federal marshal a tad sooner....

I MIGHT have bought it based on looks, but not behavior.



More details. COVIDiot assholes.

[Vrede too]

US avg life expectancy down by 1 year, largest drop since WW2.
Whites - down by 8 months.
Latinxs - down by 2 years.
Blacks - down by 2.7 years.

Sigh. Thanks, former PINO.

[Vrede too]

512,449 > US WW2 + US Vietnam + US Korea.

[Vrede too]

Woman shares major regret after getting 'unfortunate' tattoo: 'That didn't age well'

What she meant to say:

... “I got this tattoo — I’d wanted it for a couple of years, it basically means like, be true to yourself and real, and not pretending to be something you’re not.”

What it actually says:

... “I got this March 4, 2020,” she said, pulling up her sweatshirt sleeve. “It says, ‘Courageously and radically refuse to wear a mask.'”

... One commenter asked Holland if people think she’s an anti-masker because of the tattoo.

“I wore long sleeves all last year so no one would see it,” she answered.

Opps.

[neoplacebo]

She should have gotten a tattoo saying "shake well before using."