Coronavirus

[cramx3]

My brother's wife is a nurse going on 30 years now.  She said herd immunity will make itself known almost immediately because there will be a sudden and precipitous decline in new cases that will rapidly accelerate to where within a month or so new cases will be down to a trickle.  I think there is some merit to the idea that we may be underestimating how many people already have antibodies because they were sick with covid.   I don't think we'll be there by July 4th though, that's just a little over 90 days away.  I think Labor Day is far more realistic.

You may be right so I'm not arguing, just looking at the numbers. I'd have to do some serious math that I no longer know to figure out the curve of these graphs to predict when the numbers will get close to 0 (I don't expect 0 to ever actually happen, but we can get to a very manageable small amount) but we went from ~130k hospitalized on January 1st to ~46k hospitalized on March 1st.  That's a huge drop in 2 months from when vaccines started being administered.  I think there's a lot more to it than just the vaccines (like no holidays after Jan 1st so less gatherings likely helped big time).  But I think it's possible we can see the significant drop continue in the next two months. (we are currently ~40k hospitalized).

Having said that, this is also why I don't think full opening up is the right move.  Slowly opening seems like a better option so we don't see an uptick in the 7 day rolling average.  I don't want us to have any setbacks here because the momentum is really strong right now.

in other news, my parents got the J and J just a couple hours ago.  I'm relieved for them especially considering they have both been very on the fence about getting the vaccine at all. 

[gmillerdrake]

Not to start a massive debate....but another big piece of this is the way Covid is being reported now. The vaccines bring a certain 'hope' with it and.....this is the debatable part.....the fact that trump isn't the president any longer and that biden is.....the stories and reporting will be more positive. I don't want or need to argue that point with anyone....if you don't believe that then we aren't going to change each others minds.

But the way this is presented through the media has a drastic effect on all our mental health and approach as well....which in turn affects our physical health.

[cramx3]

Not to start a massive debate....but another big piece of this is the way Covid is being reported now. The vaccines bring a certain 'hope' with it and.....this is the debatable part.....the fact that trump isn't the president any longer and that biden is.....the stories and reporting will be more positive. I don't want or need to argue that point with anyone....if you don't believe that then we aren't going to change each others minds.

But the way this is presented through the media has a drastic effect on all our mental health and approach as well....which in turn affects our physical health.

I'm not sure I agree with that though, as my point earlier about Biden's comments.  You have to just look at the numbers and take everything else out of the equation IMO. 

Also, we can rip on Trump all day long with legit criticism, but if there's anything he should get credit for it's operation warp speed IMO.  I believe that is why we are where we are.  There's certainly lots of things we could have done better, but to not recognize some of our achievements seems wrong to me even if there's lots of bad moves along the way.

[emtee]

I know one thing: I'm really tired of seeing stock footage of needles going into arms 5-10 times, every single local news broadcast, every single half hour, on every single network, for the last 6 months.

[gmillerdrake]

but if there's anything he should get credit for it's operation warp speed IMO.  I believe that is why we are where we are.  There's certainly lots of things we could have done better, but to not recognize some of our achievements seems wrong to me even if there's lots of bad moves along the way.

You can 100% guarantee he will not get any credit for it.....just take a look at the address last night and his press secretary's noticeable effort every day to make sure she dodges and ignores the opportunities to give credit where it's due.  He rightfully should, but he won't.

[cramx3]

but if there's anything he should get credit for it's operation warp speed IMO.  I believe that is why we are where we are.  There's certainly lots of things we could have done better, but to not recognize some of our achievements seems wrong to me even if there's lots of bad moves along the way.

You can 100% guarantee he will not get any credit for it.....just take a look at the address last night and his press secretary's noticeable effort every day to make sure she dodges and ignores the opportunities to give credit where it's due.  He rightfully should, but he won't.

The media may not give him credit, but this guy on Biden's team did.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-covid-adviser-tip-hat-204113180.html

[gmillerdrake]

but if there's anything he should get credit for it's operation warp speed IMO.  I believe that is why we are where we are.  There's certainly lots of things we could have done better, but to not recognize some of our achievements seems wrong to me even if there's lots of bad moves along the way.

You can 100% guarantee he will not get any credit for it.....just take a look at the address last night and his press secretary's noticeable effort every day to make sure she dodges and ignores the opportunities to give credit where it's due.  He rightfully should, but he won't.

Nice. And, if this were any other situation.....like say obama had followed bush or bush following clinton......any of the past presidents would have given the credit to the guy who made it happen. Problem is, if biden were to publicly say something 'good' about trump.....trump would exploit that to the thousandth degree.....far right folks would go nuts.....far left folks would call for biden to be institutionalized.....it's just crazy.
The media may not give him credit, but this guy on Biden's team did.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-covid-adviser-tip-hat-204113180.html

[XeRocks81]

just want to say I think the effect on the country’s mood wasn’t just because the way news and media in general reported on trump (though I’m not discounting it) it was also very much Trump himself and the fact he’s gone is not negligible. Again not just because there’s less reporting on him but that he himself is unable to actively mess with you(and the world)as much as he did for 4+ years. 

[gmillerdrake]

just want to say I think the effect on the country’s mood wasn’t just because the way news and media in general reported on trump (though I’m not discounting it) it was also very much Trump himself and the fact he’s gone is not negligible. Again not just because there’s less reporting on him but that he himself is unable to actively mess with you(and the world)as much as he did for 4+ years.

I 100% agree. The dude invited criticism, he was purposeful in being a defunct human.....and America needed his personality out of the limelight. His toxicity nullified anything good he accomplished by a country mile.

[lonestar]

just want to say I think the effect on the country’s mood wasn’t just because the way news and media in general reported on trump (though I’m not discounting it) it was also very much Trump himself and the fact he’s gone is not negligible. Again not just because there’s less reporting on him but that he himself is unable to actively mess with you(and the world)as much as he did for 4+ years.

I 100% agree. The dude invited criticism, he was purposeful in being a defunct human.....and America needed his personality out of the limelight. His toxicity nullified anything good he accomplished by a country mile.

He did wear that shit on his sleeve, didn't he?

[Cool Chris]

Speaking of schools (sorry, I keep coming back to this...), my wife, the educator, believes once schools start up full time, it is going to be a mess, because of the disparity in how students learned and engaged over the past 1.5 years. The difference between those who kept up with all their work and had sufficient support at home and those who didn't gain anything out of virtual learning, either due to lack of access, support, or motivation, is going to be staggering. And it's going to hurt the kids who didn't fall behind, because classes are going to have to cater to those that did. And regardless of academics, these kids haven't been in a classroom setting for so long, it will be like they have to re-learn how to study and participate around 20+ other kids.

[TAC]

Speaking of schools (sorry, I keep coming back to this...), my wife, the educator, believes once schools start up full time, it is going to be a mess, because of the disparity in how students learned and engaged over the past 1.5 years. The difference between those who kept up with all their work and had sufficient support at home and those who didn't gain anything out of virtual learning, either due to lack of access, support, or motivation, is going to be staggering. And it's going to hurt the kids who didn't fall behind, because classes are going to have to cater to those that did. And regardless of academics, these kids haven't been in a classroom setting for so long, it will be like they have to re-learn how to study and participate around 20+ other kids.

That's interesting and I hadn't thought about it like that, but she's right.

[Fiery Winds]

Hard to believe I'm coming up on 1 year since being sent home from work (fortunate to be able to go back with restrictions in June). Also hard to believe that within that year we've managed to pump out not 1, not 2, but 3 vaccines with more effectiveness than the flu vaccine.

Even though it'll take the summer months into the fall to immunize the entire US, it does appear that the smile of dawn will be arriving in early May after all.

[lonestar]

Speaking of schools (sorry, I keep coming back to this...), my wife, the educator, believes once schools start up full time, it is going to be a mess, because of the disparity in how students learned and engaged over the past 1.5 years. The difference between those who kept up with all their work and had sufficient support at home and those who didn't gain anything out of virtual learning, either due to lack of access, support, or motivation, is going to be staggering. And it's going to hurt the kids who didn't fall behind, because classes are going to have to cater to those that did. And regardless of academics, these kids haven't been in a classroom setting for so long, it will be like they have to re-learn how to study and participate around 20+ other kids.

Tremendously valid points, and ones many educators in my family have made, especially my sister in law who does head start at a very rough elementary school. The next year is going to be a hell of a challenge. Damn I wish teachers got paid more for what they do, no occupation deserves more respect man

[Cool Chris]

Married to a teacher I try to stay as neutral as possible on the political side of the profession. There are aspects of the union(s) that I support, and others that I don't. Same goes with the district/administration. I try not to criticize them much, out of respect for biting the hand that literally feeds my family. From what I've heard, and this is just based on my wife's perspective, the district is nearly going out of their way to screw with the teachers, and I do not say that lightly. I know they are feeling the pressure from higher up. It just sucks for herbeing at the bottom where all the sh*t flows down to.

[jingle.boy]

Speaking of schools (sorry, I keep coming back to this...), my wife, the educator, believes once schools start up full time, it is going to be a mess, because of the disparity in how students learned and engaged over the past 1.5 years. The difference between those who kept up with all their work and had sufficient support at home and those who didn't gain anything out of virtual learning, either due to lack of access, support, or motivation, is going to be staggering. And it's going to hurt the kids who didn't fall behind, because classes are going to have to cater to those that did. And regardless of academics, these kids haven't been in a classroom setting for so long, it will be like they have to re-learn how to study and participate around 20+ other kids.

Tremendously valid points, and ones many educators in my family have made, especially my sister in law who does head start at a very rough elementary school. The next year is going to be a hell of a challenge. Damn I wish teachers got paid more for what they do, no occupation deserves more respect man

+100.  My family (previous generation) was entirely teachers, so I can appreciate fully what they do, and they crap they have to put up with - from gov'ts, administration, and shitty parents.

[Ben_Jamin]

Speaking of schools (sorry, I keep coming back to this...), my wife, the educator, believes once schools start up full time, it is going to be a mess, because of the disparity in how students learned and engaged over the past 1.5 years. The difference between those who kept up with all their work and had sufficient support at home and those who didn't gain anything out of virtual learning, either due to lack of access, support, or motivation, is going to be staggering. And it's going to hurt the kids who didn't fall behind, because classes are going to have to cater to those that did. And regardless of academics, these kids haven't been in a classroom setting for so long, it will be like they have to re-learn how to study and participate around 20+ other kids.

Tremendously valid points, and ones many educators in my family have made, especially my sister in law who does head start at a very rough elementary school. The next year is going to be a hell of a challenge. Damn I wish teachers got paid more for what they do, no occupation deserves more respect man

+100.  My family (previous generation) was entirely teachers, so I can appreciate fully what they do, and they crap they have to put up with - from gov'ts, administration, and shitty parents.

I appreciate what the Good Teachers do to the fullest. These were ones that I as a student could talk with and they were nice, responsive, and when I would ask they would tell me how they felt about the changes We, as a school, experienced.

There are also, Teachers that aren't so great, and you could tell these teachers from the good ones. They werent really any of those things I mentioned about the Good Teachers.

My math teacher is still there at the school, and she went to that highschool, so she has seen a lot of changes and I would like to have a chat with her now, just to get her perspective of how much it has changed since I went to school. She showed us her yearbooks, and the campus back then was beautiful, the campus we had was barren and looked not as pretty, almost desolate.

I appreciate those teachers letting me know they agree with me as a student that The School changes from The District, Government, isn't beneficial for us students and it put an extra burden on us and also the teachers, because they had to change their lesson plans and even then couldn't teach as much as they really wanted to teach, or more they didn't have enough time to really teach everyone.

[gmillerdrake]

One of My sisters in law is having a pretty rough response to her second Moderna shot. Horrible back ache and has thrown up a couple times. She and my bro in law had Covid in late December. My other three sis/bro in laws who got the same shots with her are fine. The randomness of this all is baffling.

[hunnus2000]

One of My sisters in law is having a pretty rough response to her second Moderna shot. Horrible back ache and has thrown up a couple times. She and my bro in law had Covid in late December. My other three sis/bro in laws who got the same shots with her are fine. The randomness of this all is baffling.

I'm strongly thinking that those of us who had a strong reaction to the vaccine previously had the virus and were either sick and no one knew what was going on or were asymptomatic. And I am talking to more and more people that think they had it in late summer early fall of 2019 but we couldn't have known definitively because shit didn't hit the fan until December 2019.

I just wonder if there will be official follow-up and tracking.

[Stadler]

just want to say I think the effect on the country’s mood wasn’t just because the way news and media in general reported on trump (though I’m not discounting it) it was also very much Trump himself and the fact he’s gone is not negligible. Again not just because there’s less reporting on him but that he himself is unable to actively mess with you(and the world)as much as he did for 4+ years.

IMO that's a false difference; you either responded to Trump or you didn't.  Even though I agree that he courted controversy in a way that was self-defeating, it was always, ultimately, less about the man; that was just the excuse for the behavior.  "Oh, but he DESERVES it; did you hear what he said?".  The problem was that the behavior happened even when he DIDN'T say anything.  For someone like me that doesn't really believe in "deserve" all that much, it was always just a rationalization for bad behavior.   Much HASN'T changed in the last four and a half months or so, but the media's tone has.  Last night there was a story about the influx of unaccompanied minors at the border, and there was footage of those children being led into cages and housed within chain-linked subdivisions, and not a peep of outrage or disgust at the actions of our President.  Nothing about "inhumane treatment" of these kids.  SAME activity, different reaction. That's not because of the man, that's because of the reportage.

(In case anyone wants to look it up it was the 11:00 broadcast on the CT NBC affiliate.)

[XeRocks81]

edit: nothing to see here, moving along 

[jingle.boy]

I'm gonna take this response over to the Biden 2021 thread, since it's not COVID related

[JayOctavarium]

Wow.


So CA is opening availability for more conditions tomorrow. I was shooting to fight the rush tomorrow morning when the county opens up appointments. It's a battle to get a slot.

Then I found out there's a state ran site in the county that had almost 50 1st dose appointments open tomorrow.  So tomorrow afternoon I'll get #1. I wish I was getting the single dose shot... But I'd rather get it over with than fight the county site.  Bonus points... They scheduled my second dose as well. Super simple.

[cramx3]

I guess I wasn't the only one..."confused as poop?"  (wtf?) by the 4th of July comment last week

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/skillets-john-cooper-is-confused-by-joe-bidens-july-4th-covid-goal/?fbclid=IwAR0ex2l4AYhe_No5sG0E58ZC0xTJZ2eRd5qwEz6cFrU5BxYJKchfGYy1jac

Also, the numbers are continuing to look amazing this week here in the US.

1.3M shots yesterday so total up to 107.0M with the 7 day rolling average at 2.39M. 78.8% of shots administered is the national average, 21.0% of population with 1+ dose (note this is percent of population that has been given 1 or 2 doses, so total percent that have been pricked by a needle), 11.3% with double dose.
So far, 69.8 million Americans have received at least one dose of a vaccine. At least 37.5 million people have completed a vaccination regimen.

Doses delivered is 135.86M compared to yesterday 135.86M. So 0.0M doses delivered yesterday, 20.0M so far this week. Previous week totals for doses delivered is 19.7M,21.2M, 5.1M, 9.96M and , 9.4M.

36,896 positives reported yesterday compared to 44,879 week over week. 7-day rolling average is continuing to drop and is at 54,373.

Fatality was 629 compared to 1037 yesterday and 748 week over week, 7-day rolling fatality at 1290.

Note due to the reporting issue yesterday (didn't see why they reported a different time as either it was a mistake or they are now reporting it this way), today vaccinations were 1.3M. So between yesterday 4.6M + 1.3M = 5.9M which equates 2.95M per day which is a good weekend.

Also note that the 36,896 daily positive is the lowest single day total since October 4th.

[JayOctavarium]

1st shot done!

[Grappler]

My wife scheduled her first shot this week.  I'm jealous that I'm generally healthy and don't have some sort of condition that would let me sign up right now. 

[Stadler]

So ethics question....

A friend is not eligible as we sit here on Monday, March 15.  But her eligibility legit begins on Friday, the 19th.  There are appointments available on Friday, but she can't get to them without, technically, checking a box that doesn't, technically, apply.  The "I agree" language does say that you will truthful and you are eligible for the shot, but it doesn't say WHEN.   

Book it?  Or wait?

I say book it, as long as you can sit in that chair in good conscience and say "I am eligible" when the needle goes into your arm.

[TAC]

I say book it, as long as you can sit in that chair in good conscience and say "I am eligible" when the needle goes into your arm.

Definitely. She's eligible...and getting the shot. Perfect.

So she wasn't technically eligible when she booked it. But she was eligible when she got it.

[Adami]

I say go for it.

[gmillerdrake]

1st shot done!

Nice Work!



My wife got her first shot today as well! She's a teacher and her district arranged shots for all the teachers as they are bringing kids back full time beginning next week.

[JayOctavarium]

It's mind-blowing how different states are handling things. I was able to get it because I'm fat, as well as 2 other friends here in California... Yet our friend in Florida, who technically a caretaker, can't.

[Podaar]

Getting my first shot at 10:30 am today. I'll report back on which brand.

[cramx3]

My wife got her first shot today as well! She's a teacher and her district arranged shots for all the teachers as they are bringing kids back full time beginning next week.

J&J? Shouldn't they wait at least 2 weeks after the shot to return?

[gmillerdrake]

My wife got her first shot today as well! She's a teacher and her district arranged shots for all the teachers as they are bringing kids back full time beginning next week.

J&J? Shouldn't they wait at least 2 weeks after the shot to return?

Moderna. And, they’ve already been coming back on a modified schedule 3 days a week. It’s just going full time next week.

[cramx3]

My wife got her first shot today as well! She's a teacher and her district arranged shots for all the teachers as they are bringing kids back full time beginning next week.

J&J? Shouldn't they wait at least 2 weeks after the shot to return?

Moderna. And, they’ve already been coming back on a modified schedule 3 days a week. It’s just going full time next week.

Fair enough.  My teacher friend got his first shot this morning as NJ has expanded to the next phase. I'm registered with both my state and county, so just patiently waiting for my turn.  It'll come soon enough.  My family pushed Easter in Florida back until we can all get vaccinated.  My sister and her husband got their first shot, me and my two younger siblings are waiting.  Parents got the J&J last week, so family is slowly getting there and then I think we'll all be in Florida after.