BBC: China pneumonia outbreak: COVID-19 Global Pandemic

[dfitzo53]

26 minutes ago, tshile said:

Re: nurses

 

there’s a lot going on there and if you’re a regular there’s a good chance you read some of my rants at the start of the pandemic. 
 

it’s hard to have the conversation without discussing details you cannot discuss in public. 
 

there are valid gripes from some awesome nurses. There are bull**** gripes from some pathetic nurses. Some of the valid gripes are caused by the pathetic nurses. Some of it is on the administration side - either poor decisions or no balls to stand up for the right thing. 
 

I would have fired a lot of people. Or at least, as many as it took for the rest to realize this isn’t highschool and no one has the time to **** around with you. 
 

others deserve a damn medal. 
 

it’s complicated and unless you lived it through the pandemic it’s hard to imagine how you could really understand because you’re missing at least 50% of the picture. 

As a teacher, I have similar feelings about teachers.

 

(Though I'm fortunate to work in a school where I wouldn't fire anyone. People are busting their butts trying to do right by their students.)

[CousinsCowgirl84]

52 minutes ago, just654 said:

Hogan lifting the outside mandate is in line with CDC. Don’t see a problem with it at all.

 

give it 3-4 weeks before making such bold statements....

Edited April 29, 2021 by CousinsCowgirl84

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

[Cooked Crack]

 

 

 

[China]

7 hours ago, Cooked Crack said:

 

 

 

 

Why wait?

[China]

U.S. coronavirus cases drop as spring wave of infections ebbs

 

The spring wave of coronavirus infections that began in March is subsiding in most of the country, with 42 states and D.C. reporting lower caseloads for the past two weeks. Hospitals in hard-hit Michigan and other Upper Midwest states that were flooded with patients in mid-April are discharging more than they’re admitting.

 

The daily average of new infections nationwide has dropped to the lowest level since mid-October. Many cities are rapidly reopening after 14 months of restrictions. The mayor of virus-ravaged New York City, Bill de Blasio (D), said he plans to have the city fully open by July 1.

 

The positive trends are not uniform across the map, however. The Pacific Northwest is seeing a surge in cases amid the spread of coronavirus variants. Oregon is the hottest of the hot spots, and Gov. Kate Brown (D) declared that the state is moving backward.

 

The progress against the virus has received cautious applause, with public health officials aware that the virus continues to evolve and the vast populations of Brazil, India and the Philippines are enduring catastrophic, late-pandemic surges of infections and death.

 

Infectious-disease experts emphasize that the public needs to remain vigilant even as government restrictions on activities are incrementally lifted. The country is averaging about 51,000 cases a day, the lowest since the second week of October — but still many times higher than what public health officials say is necessary if the pandemic is to be declared under control.

Hospitalizations and deaths are also down nationally, although more modestly, as those numbers tend to trail, by several weeks, the rate of infections. The seven-day average for daily deaths stood Friday at 689, a dismayingly high number but barely more than a fifth of the 3,347 daily average recorded Jan. 17 during the peak of the winter surge.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Dan T.]

Don't want to wait for the second dose? Express Lane:

 

 

[China]

The world is in the midst of its worst coronavirus crisis so far

 

A year ago, when the COVID-19 pandemic was still in its relative infancy, the head of the World Health Organisation stressed that a global approach would be the only way out of the crisis.

"The way forward is solidarity: solidarity at the national level, and solidarity at the global level," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing in April 2020.

Fast-forward 12 months and the devastating scenes in India, where hospitals have been overwhelmed by a surge of COVID-19 cases and thousands are dying for lack of oxygen, suggest the warnings went unheeded.

 

India is not the only global COVID-19 hotspot. Turkey entered its first national lockdown on Thursday, an unwelcome step prompted by infection rates which are now the highest in Europe.

Iran reported its highest daily COVID-19 death toll so far on Monday, with many towns and cities forced into partial lockdown to curb the spread of the virus. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said the country is suffering a fourth wave of infections.

The picture across much of South America is also gloomy. Brazil, with more than 14.5 million confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 400,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data, continues to have the highest daily rate of COVID-19 deaths per million in the world.

Some countries have offered help as hotspots emerge, for example flying in oxygen concentrators, ventilators and other medical supplies to India in recent days. But the coordinated global response urged by Mr Tedros a year ago -- and repeatedly since, by WHO and other global heath bodies -- remains elusive.

And while some Western countries are eying a return to more normal life in the coming weeks, the worldwide picture remains dire. The number of global COVID-19 cases has risen for the ninth consecutive week and the number of deaths is up for the sixth week straight, WHO said last Monday.

"To put it in perspective, there were almost as many cases globally last week as in the first five months of the pandemic," Mr Tedros said.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

[China]

Reaching Covid-19 'herd immunity' is unlikely in the US, experts now believe

 

Early in the pandemic, when vaccines for the coronavirus were still just a glimmer on the horizon, the term "herd immunity" came to signify the endgame: the point when enough Americans would be protected from the virus so people could be rid of the pathogen and reclaim their lives.

 

Now, more than half of adults in the United States have been inoculated with at least one dose of a vaccine. But daily vaccination rates are slipping, and there is widespread consensus among scientists and public health experts that the herd immunity threshold is not attainable - at least not in the foreseeable future, and perhaps not ever.

 

Instead, they are coming to the conclusion that rather than making a long-promised exit, the virus will most likely become a manageable threat that will continue to circulate in the United States for years to come, still causing hospitalisations and deaths but in much smaller numbers.

 

How much smaller is uncertain and depends in part on how much of the nation, and the world, becomes vaccinated and how the coronavirus evolves. It is already clear, however, that the virus is changing too quickly, new variants are spreading too easily and vaccination is proceeding too slowly for herd immunity to be within reach anytime soon.

 

Continued immunisations, especially for people at highest risk because of age, exposure or health status, will be crucial to limiting the severity of outbreaks, if not their frequency, experts believe.

 

"The virus is unlikely to go away," said Professor Rustom Antia, an evolutionary biologist at Emory University in Atlanta. "But we want to do all we can to check that it's likely to become a mild infection."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[Sticksboi05]

On 4/28/2021 at 9:50 PM, CousinsCowgirl84 said:

 

give it 3-4 weeks before making such bold statements....

 

Outdoor mask mandates (minus legit packed crowds) should have come down months ago. Let people focus and double down on where the risk truly is, indoors.

[Simmsy]

If employers can tell me that I can't smoke weed or even cigarettes, then they should be able to dictate whether or they hire a non vaccinated person. You don't want to be vaccinated, well you can't work here, sorry. Your willingness to be stupid doesn't outweigh the necessity to keep our society safe. Don't like it, work from home. I tired of walking on eggshells to appease these morons.

[bearrock]

1 hour ago, Sticksboi05 said:

 

Outdoor mask mandates (minus legit packed crowds) should have come down months ago. Let people focus and double down on where the risk truly is, indoors.

 

Big part of it is what people are doing outside as well and whether they are vaccinated.  Going on a stroll around the neighborhood and talking with your neighbor for 10 minutes are two completely different activities.  

 

Similarly, outdoor activities, even if not ticketed venues, can be a risky activity for the unvaccinated when there is a crowd, such as outdoor dining or the public pool.  

[tshile]

8 minutes ago, bearrock said:

can be a risky activity for the unvaccinated when there is a crowd everyone

 

unvaccinated people showing up to places where vaccinated people have loosened their guard a bit, still pose a threat to vaccinated people. 
 

the vaccine makes it less likely you’ll get sick. And if you do less likely you’ll need hospitalization. It also makes it less likely you’ll spread it

 

you can still get it. You can still get sick. And you can still spread it. 
 

my recurring nightmare is where my wife or I get it letting our guard down because we’re vaccinated and then give it to our unvaccinated children. 

1 hour ago, Simmsy said:

If employers can tell me that I can't smoke weed or even cigarettes, then they should be able to dictate whether or they hire a non vaccinated person. You don't want to be vaccinated, well you can't work here, sorry. Your willingness to be stupid doesn't outweigh the necessity to keep our society safe. Don't like it, work from home. I tired of walking on eggshells to appease these morons.

I’ve been told I’m not allowed to ask vaccination status. 
 

instead making “rules” like: you can come back to work once you are fully vaccinated

 

but I cannot look at someone and ask: have you been vaccinated 

 

🤷‍♂️  I have no idea what the right answer is

 

It feels like most people are forthcoming on their own about it, and don’t appear to be lying. 
 

I am concerned about the person that won’t get it and then says they did. 
 

as far as I’m aware I’m not allowed to ask for vaccine cards...

[Sticksboi05]

37 minutes ago, bearrock said:

 

Big part of it is what people are doing outside as well and whether they are vaccinated.  Going on a stroll around the neighborhood and talking with your neighbor for 10 minutes are two completely different activities.  

 

Similarly, outdoor activities, even if not ticketed venues, can be a risky activity for the unvaccinated when there is a crowd, such as outdoor dining or the public pool.  

 

Outdoor exposure has been a significantly minimal part of this pandemic. We have loads of data showing this. Some studies showing aerosols with SARS COV 2 disperse 3,000 more outside than inside - the impact of free flowing air is powerful. Can you get it outside, absolutely. But has wearing masks outside massively altered the trajectory of the pandemic, not really. People acting a fool inside though certainly has.

[Sticksboi05]

33 minutes ago, tshile said:

 

unvaccinated people showing up to places where vaccinated people have loosened their guard a bit, still pose a threat to vaccinated people. 
 

the vaccine makes it less likely you’ll get sick. And if you do less likely you’ll need hospitalization. It also makes it less likely you’ll spread it

 

you can still get it. You can still get sick. And you can still spread it. 
 

my recurring nightmare is where my wife or I get it letting our guard down because we’re vaccinated and then give it to our unvaccinated children. 

I’ve been told I’m not allowed to ask vaccination status. 
 

 

My friend is going through a similar situation now where he was worried an unvaccinated person gave it to his kid in daycare.

 

The latest CDC data compiled from across the U.S. shows about 1 in 11,000 fully vaccinated people having a breakthrough cases and even less having to go to the hospital. The vaccines are working remarkably well thankfully.

 

[Califan007 The Constipated]

On 4/28/2021 at 6:39 PM, dfitzo53 said:

As a teacher, I have similar feelings about teachers.

 

(Though I'm fortunate to work in a school where I wouldn't fire anyone. People are busting their butts trying to do right by their students.)

 

I have several teachers in my family...their stories they tell me verify your comment.

[TradeTheBeal!]

Went to Gold’s Gym today for the first time since Feb 2020.

 

Business as usual, not a mask on in the whole place.

 

Also, I am old and fat and weak and I must punish myself.

Edited May 3, 2021 by TryTheBeal!

[bearrock]

50 minutes ago, Sticksboi05 said:

 

Outdoor exposure has been a significantly minimal part of this pandemic. We have loads of data showing this. Some studies showing aerosols with SARS COV 2 disperse 3,000 more outside than inside - the impact of free flowing air is powerful. Can you get it outside, absolutely. But has wearing masks outside massively altered the trajectory of the pandemic, not really. People acting a fool inside though certainly has.

 

There are couple of things to note here.  Completely outdoor transmission is more likely to be difficult to track than an indoor transmission.  If we had complete tracing over all indoor cases, we could approach it by process of elimination, but obviously that horse left the barn eons ago.

 

Studies show somewhere between 6% to approximately less than 10% of global transmissions occuring outdoors (with acknowledgement that we have gaps of knowledge of pathways).  That's with a mask mandate in place in most countries across the world. 

 

Yes there are certain outdoor activities that are safe, even more of such activities for the vaccinated.  Only an idiot would jump from that to say oh, let's lift the mask mandate regardless of vaccination status for all outdoor activities except ticketed venues with mass crowds.  

 

If anyone needs a little reminder on how devastating a non-mass crowd maskless outdoor event can be, this wasn't so long ago

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/fauci-calls-amy-coney-barrett-ceremony-rose-garden-superspreader-event-n1242781

[Sticksboi05]

25 minutes ago, bearrock said:

 

Yes there are certain outdoor activities that are safe, even more of such activities for the vaccinated.  Only an idiot would jump from that to say oh, let's lift the mask mandate regardless of vaccination status for all outdoor activities except ticketed venues with mass crowds.  

 

If anyone needs a little reminder on how devastating a non-mass crowd maskless outdoor event can be, this wasn't so long ago

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/fauci-calls-amy-coney-barrett-ceremony-rose-garden-superspreader-event-n1242781

 

I don't think anyone called for that though? And certainly nobody said "must be a ticketed venue"? The CDCs guidelines, which we were discussing said they should still be worn outside in big crowds, which we all agreed with. That was not meant to mean only at a baseball game with 30,000 people like in Texas.

 

The Rose Garden event, much like the idiotic Sturgis motorcycle rally was misrepresented as an all outdoor affair in which lots of people got sick. Both events were substantially indoors as well, there was lots of schmoozing inside the White House before and after the actual outdoor ceremony. And Sturgis included thousands of people flooding local bars and restaurants, which is probably where the **** show happened.

[bearrock]

47 minutes ago, Sticksboi05 said:

 

I don't think anyone called for that though? And certainly nobody said "must be a ticketed venue"? The CDCs guidelines, which we were discussing said they should still be worn outside in big crowds, which we all agreed with. That was not meant to mean only at a baseball game with 30,000 people like in Texas.

 

This is the tweet in Visionary's post that lead to Cousinscowgirl's post that you responded to

 

I don't disagree with you that indoor presents a much larger risk than outdoors and CDC revised recommendation was appropriate, but irresponsible politicians and people are taking the revised recommendation and running with it.

 

47 minutes ago, Sticksboi05 said:

The Rose Garden event, much like the idiotic Sturgis motorcycle rally was misrepresented as an all outdoor affair in which lots of people got sick. Both events were substantially indoors as well, there was lots of schmoozing inside the White House before and after the actual outdoor ceremony. And Sturgis included thousands of people flooding local bars and restaurants, which is probably where the **** show happened.

 

And I think there lies the difficulty with real life situations.  We don't have a lot of good data to track strictly outdoors vs strictly indoors vs mixed (and in what ratio?).  Do we have sufficiently controlled data to compare large outdoor gatherings with mask, without mask, and distancing vs no or little distancing and the various permutations in the middle much less what those outdoor activities were?  

 

CDC made very specific revisions based on scenarios that they feel pretty confident are safe.  There's no way to jump from that to Hogan's "no mask anywhere outdoors regardless of what you're doing and regardless of whether you've been vaccinated unless going to a large ticketed venue".

Edited May 3, 2021 by bearrock

[Sticksboi05]

9 minutes ago, bearrock said:

 

This is the tweet in Visionary's post that lead to Cousinscowgirl's post that you responded to

 

I don't disagree with you that indoor presents a much larger risk than outdoors and CDC revised recommendation was appropriate, but irresponsible politicians and people are taking the revised recommendation and running with it.

 

 

And I think there lies the difficulty with real life situations.  We don't have a lot of good data to track strictly outdoors vs strictly indoors vs mixed (and in what ratio?).  Do we have sufficiently controlled data to compare large outdoor gatherings with mask, without mask, and distancing vs no or little distancing and the various permutations in the middle much less what those outdoor activities were?  

 

CDC made very specific revisions based on scenarios that they feel pretty confident are safe.  There's no way to jump from that to Hogan's "no mask anywhere outdoors regardless of what you're doing and regardless of whether you've been vaccinated unless going to a large ticketed venue".

 

Ohhhhhh, I forgot about that tweet lol. Yeah that's probably not smart. He should've just said we're going with the CDCs new guidance.

 

[China]

Younger, angrier and unvaccinated. That's the patient demographic Fairbanks Memorial Hospital is seeing as Covid cases skyrocket in Interior Alaska.

 

With local virus transmissions rising exponentially, Fairbanks Memorial Hospital is reporting record-high admissions of Covid patients who tend to be younger and sometimes angrier than at the beginning of the pandemic, health officials said Friday.

 

Foundation Health Partners leaders provided a Covid-19 update, pointing out the record-high admission rate at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and describing changes in patient demographics.

 

Averaging at 10 and 11 new Covid patients per day this past week, the hospital had 12 Covid-19 patients on Friday and two more who were suspected to have the virus, said FHP Chief Medical Officer Dr. Angelique Ramirez.

 

“We are really struggling right now; we have a record-high number of patients in the hospital,” Shelley Ebenal, FHP CEO and quality medical director, said.

 

Overall, 18% of all Interior hospital patients are Covid patients, compared to 5% statewide, according to the state Covid-19 Hospital Data Dashboard. Out of 56 beds available in the Interior, 51 are occupied. Out of 13 ICU beds available, eight are filled.

 

Besides admitting more patients, the hospital is also seeing that the patients are younger than in the beginning of the pandemic, Ramirez said.

 

For example, on one day this past week, from 12 Covid patients, eight were below age 65, including one 25-year-old occupying an ICU bed. The rest were on the general floor, with one person in their 40s, three in their 50s and three in their early 60s, according to Ramirez.

 

The younger hospitalization age range also leads to a virus transmission uptick among younger kids, including infants under the age of one and infants who are in the first month of life, pediatrician Laura Brunner said.

 

Because the patients are younger, they tend to recover from the virus — after staying in the hospital for two-three weeks, said Dr. Barb Creighton.

 

“We’re seeing them staying longer because they are not dying,” Creighton said. She said she is happy to see patients turning around, but is “concerned about the hospital building up more and more patients.”

 

“These are young people,” Creighton said. “These are middle aged white guys — sorry to say that — but it really is the demographics of people who haven't gotten around to get vaccinated or don't really feel that they need vaccination because they are younger, in their 40s, and they want to see what the vaccine is going to do before they take it.”

 

When the hospital received older patients, they were showing appreciation to hospital staff, which changed with the shift in demographics, Ebenal said.

 

“These are generalizations,” she noted, “but some of these folks are anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers and they don’t believe that they have Covid or that they are sick because of it, and our staff is getting some very angry folks.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[The Evil Genius]

**** these people...and Bravo to the kids.

 

 

 

[CousinsCowgirl84]

Why do they want to know where Krusty Crab is? They seriously aren’t complaining that the panty road episode of Sponge Bob Square Pants was taken off rotation on Nickelodeon?  

[The Evil Genius]

Ummm...no.