Coronavirus

[Siúil a Rúin]

This interview really stuck with me. I do appreciate the people pushing to maintain compassion in this situation, but also understand that issue of compassion fatigue. I get that nurses don't want to be heroes risking their lives in a pandemic. I try to find compassion in the notion that if free will is highly constrained or an illusion, then what has happened en masse to cause this nightmare? Those fallen into it are piteous. I'm thankful I'm not conditioned to be among the people with this level of irrationality. There is no way to get through. Americans are radicalized in great numbers. I don't know how to live in this environment and based on these behaviors, what we saw in 2020 is not over. We have a few years where both the political and pandemic issues could escalate.

 

[Virtual ghost]

From worldometer:


Iraq: +13500
Iran: +33817
Cuba: +9300
Lybia: +3100


Plus in combination with inner mess each one of those could collapse. Since these are record numbers of new registered infections(despite fairly bad testing).
However also globally this will probably be the worst day in months.

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

My fear is that numbers are going to go up until the Delta variant runs its course and reaches its own sort of herd immunity, and then a breakthrough mutation happens and people are advised to get vaccinated again and then a larger number of people respond with, "Why, since the first one didn't 'work'?". Then 2021 big second waves gets worse than 2020. The second big wave of the 1918 pandemic was 10X more deadly than the first, counting each wave as they did back then globally, each one about a year. I am stocked up for several months, so at any point, I can shut my door and as long as utilities like water are working, I can literally not leave (except I'll have to press adjustments for work). I think it is a good idea to get the TP and storage food now just in case things get worse this flu season.

 

[Lexicon]

US coronavirus: The science didn't change, the virus did, Fauci says as CDC updates mask guidance - CNN


People aren’t gonna listen to this, though. They got a bigger taste of “freedom.” They won’t want to give it up.
Almost no one here in NH wears a mask in the supermarket. They ask that the unvaccinated wear one, but it’s essentially an honor-system, so y’know how that’s gone.

State motto should be changed to “Live Free and Die.”

I’ve still worn fitted N95’s since being vaccinated, and limited how often I go into businesses. I will continue to do so.

I’ve also recently resumed physical therapy, where masks are required. I have moderate asthma, and yeah, it gets a bit uncomfortable exerting myself with a good mask on, but I’m not in any true medical distress. There really is no excuse for most people. I am honestly disgusted by our population’s low tolerance for personal discomfort and inconvenience. Sadly, I am not surprised.

 

[Red Herring]

I am honestly disgusted by our population’s low tolerance for personal discomfort and inconvenience. Sadly, I am not surprised.[/size]

Speaking as a foreigner, I have long thought that comfort and convenience are cornerstones of American culture. Yes, you guys are hard-working (more hours per week than other industrial countries, IIRC). But you won't find teenagers packing your shopping for you at supermarket checkouts, a garbage disposal right in the kitchen sink because the trash can is apparently too far or a garage door leading directly to the living room here in Europe (at least not as the norm) and the German language doesn't even have a word for drive-thru.

That being said, sadly mask-refusers are a problem in other countries as well as are antivaxxers. The difference is that in most places (except for some far-right populist regimes) masks and social distancing are legally required. As far as I know that's the case over most of the EU (Sweden is an exception and payed a high price and the UK is a mixed bag but no longer part of the club).

I sincerely hope that you stay save and won't have to withdraw too much where you live. If this isn't being too nosy, have you been vaccinated yet or are there medical issues with that?

 

[Lexicon]

Speaking as a foreigner, I have long thought that comfort and convenience are cornerstones of American culture. Yes, you guys are hard-working (more hours per week than other industrial countries, IIRC). But you won't find teenagers packing your shopping for you at supermarket checkouts, a garbage disposal right in the kitchen sink because the trash can is apparently too far or a garage door leading directly to the living room here in Europe (at least not as the norm)

Yeah, it seems like convenience and limiting physical discomfort is a huge priority here, much to our detriment in terms of longterm health (all these conveniences just make us lazy/inactive, & bodies are meant to move... instant gratification junkfood everywhere... list goes on). Work hard in some respects while killing ourselves in others.

and the German language doesn't even have a word for drive-thru.

That being said, sadly mask-refusers are a problem in other countries as well as are antivaxxers. The difference is that in most places (except for some far-right populist regimes) masks and social distancing are legally required. As far as I know that's the case over most of the EU (Sweden is an exception and payed a high price and the UK is a mixed bag but no longer part of the club).

I remember hearing about the anti-mask protests in Germany awhile back.. disheartening but at the same time part of me was like, “well... at least we’re not the only ones with this embarrassing nonsense, I guess...” I’m glad for everyone’s sake that it’s mandated by law there.

I sincerely hope that you stay save and won't have to withdraw too much where you live. If this isn't being too nosy, have you been vaccinated yet or are there medical issues with that?

Oh, I got the Pfizer vaccine in March/April, so I’m fully vaccinated. I just take abundant precautions because my roommate has a kid too young to be vaccinated, and as much as I don’t want Covid at all (even if the vaccine decreases mortality risk), I’d never forgive myself if I brought it home to someone who has no defense for it. For my hip issues, I occasionally have to go to a regional children’s hospital to see a specialist (weird since I’m 36, but that’s where they are, ha) and, again, I don’t want to get someone’s unvaccinated kid sick by being reckless.


Really as far as withdrawal goes, not much changed for me during the pandemic, and I suppose I’m lucky in that regard. I’ve always kept largely to myself. Now, I just limit grocery store trips to once a month and early morning (vs whenever I feel like it). I see my vaccinated best friend sporadically. I check on/visit my vaccinated grandmother once a week. Same as before. I really miss live music events, but, they can wait.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Speaking as a foreigner, I have long thought that comfort and convenience are cornerstones of American culture. Yes, you guys are hard-working (more hours per week than other industrial countries, IIRC). But you won't find teenagers packing your shopping for you at supermarket checkouts, a garbage disposal right in the kitchen sink because the trash can is apparently too far or a garage door leading directly to the living room here in Europe (at least not as the norm) and the German language doesn't even have a word for drive-thru.

That being said, sadly mask-refusers are a problem in other countries as well as are antivaxxers. The difference is that in most places (except for some far-right populist regimes) masks and social distancing are legally required. As far as I know that's the case over most of the EU (Sweden is an exception and payed a high price and the UK is a mixed bag but no longer part of the club).

I sincerely hope that you stay save and won't have to withdraw too much where you live. If this isn't being too nosy, have you been vaccinated yet or are there medical issues with that?

That seems to depend on what level you are looking at. If it is personal/private one then this evidently is the case. However if you watch wider picture this becomes questionable.

You have whole neighborhoods that are nothing but houses and you have to drive across half of city to buy food or something basic.
Pay to play healthcare.
Very little of quality public spaces.
Plenty of street crime and guns all over the place.
"Problematic" labor laws.
Etc.


Therefore everyone seem to be seeking convenience exactly because there is little of it in the big picture. So everyone builds some kind of a personal bunker.
And yes, teens should be in school or doing homework instead of packing groceries.











Anyway, I was right in forecast.
Yesterday was the worst day in the new infections globally after a while (the worst since mid May and spike in India).
Delta is spreading everywhere and South America has problem with Lambda.



Worldometer

Coronavirus lambda variant spreads across Latin America

 

[Virtual ghost]

Btw we also don't have our word for "drive through". So we just use the original term.
Especially since we don't have many of them and something like 90% of them are the ones in McDonald's (which aren't too common either).

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

this sucks

 

[ceecee]

this sucks

It certainly does.

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

They are saying that breakthrough cases are rare, which I get, but this story is strange because five vaccinated people at this party all got COVID-19, although none were severely sick. Because five at the same location got it, I think it is a likely mutation that more successfully breaks the vaccine barrier. It is important to remember that they only catalogue the mutations that successfully catch on to become dominant strains, but there are hundreds of thousands of small mutations happening all the time, and even the categorized ones include a cluster of variations, but share certain prominent traits. I think this is on schedule for the virus moving towards breaking the vaccine barrier.

Also, the NYTimes briefing this morning went on about the covid mysteries and that it isn't behaving as expected, but their list of mysteries all struck me as simply a lack of data on the number of infections. If you assume a far greater number of undocumented infections, tending towards being mild in the developed countries because hospital data is more complete, but including the entire range in the third world countries where there is a lack of even hospital data, then the behavior doesn't seem so mysterious. I suspect herd immunity is happening sooner than assumed because the number of infections is greater. IDK. I also suspect it spreads on surfaces as well as through the air because early research point to that - especially the particles falling to the floor and getting on shoes, yet no one talks about spraying bleach on the soles of shoes. I do and have every time I come in my door for over a year now.

 

[Lexicon]

How the coronavirus infects cells — and why Delta is so dangerous

 

[JAVO]

First, CNN et al. It is by now notorious that its producers were caught on tape admitting that its infamous death ticker was a cynical ploy to boost ratings.
...
Second, the CDC, the putative “science,” has established that anxiety was linked to Covid-19 infection and death. In a study released on 1 July and titled “Underlying Medical Conditions and Severe Illness Among 540,667 Adults Hospitalized with COVID-19, March 2020-March 2021,” a score of Ph.D. and M.D. researchers show that “the strongest risk factors for death were [1] obesity … [and 2] anxiety and fear-related disorders.”

Specifically, obese people were 30 percent more likely to die if they contracted Covid, while people suffering anxiety were 28 percent more likely to pass away. In other words, being anxious was almost as deadly as being fat.

The authors point out, however, that the exact causal connections between anxiety and death by/with Covid-19 remains unclear and “may include a reduced ability to prevent infection among patients with anxiety disorders, the immunomodulatory and/or cardiovascular effects of medications used to treat these disorders, or severe COVID-19 illness exacerbating anxiety disorders.”

CNN’s Death Toll – AIER

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I’ve had to be in south Florida since yesterday. Floridians are especially moronic about COVID. I got dirty looks from some bubba looking muthafucka for walking into a Publix with my mask on

I don’t know if the human race deserves to live

 

[ceecee]

Teeing up the violence for the imaginary tyranny.

 

[Totenkindly]

I’ve had to be in south Florida since yesterday. Floridians are especially moronic about COVID. I got dirty looks from some bubba looking muthafucka for walking into a Publix with my mask on

I don’t know if the human race deserves to live

They're going for Olympic gold, baby!

Florida Reports A Record Number Of COVID-19 Cases : Coronavirus Updates : NPR

Florida reported 21,683 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, the state's highest one-day total since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Over the last week, Florida saw a 50% increase weekly in new cases, as the state reported 110,477 cases from July 23 to July 29, according to data released by the Florida Department of Health.

Florida also reported 409 deaths this week, which brings the state's total to more than 39,000 since the pandemic began in March 2020. The peak for deaths in the state happened in mid-August 2020 when 1,266 people died over the span of seven days.

The state has become a new epicenter for the virus, as CDC data shows that new case numbers in Florida make up nearly a fifth of all new cases in the U.S. as the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus continues to spread.

 

[Stigmata]

They're going for Olympic gold, baby!

Florida Reports A Record Number Of COVID-19 Cases : Coronavirus Updates : NPR

Ron Desantis, A true Florida man.

 

[Burning Paradigm]

Ron Desantis, A true Florida man.

DeSantis and Abbott are the large-market franchises of the NGA (Nutty Governors' Association) eternally locked in a worst of 7 series. Smaller market teams include Kristi Noem.

 

[JAVO]

Lasting immunity found after recovery from COVID-19 | National Institutes of Health (NIH)

The researchers found durable immune responses in the majority of people studied. Antibodies against the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, which the virus uses to get inside cells, were found in 98% of participants one month after symptom onset. As seen in previous studies, the number of antibodies ranged widely between individuals. But, promisingly, their levels remained fairly stable over time, declining only modestly at 6 to 8 months after infection.

Virus-specific B cells increased over time. People had more memory B cells six months after symptom onset than at one month afterwards. Although the number of these cells appeared to reach a plateau after a few months, levels didn’t decline over the period studied.

Levels of T cells for the virus also remained high after infection. Six months after symptom onset, 92% of participants had CD4+ T cells that recognized the virus. These cells help coordinate the immune response. About half the participants had CD8+ T cells, which kill cells that are infected by the virus.

As with antibodies, the numbers of different immune cell types varied substantially between individuals. Neither gender nor differences in disease severity could account for this variability. However, 95% of the people had at least 3 out of 5 immune-system components that could recognize SARS-CoV-2 up to 8 months after infection.

 

[ceecee]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - slow moving suicide bombers, absolutely no difference in ideology or intent.