The New Normal

[CNY Skier]

No, a scientist. You don't need to be a virologist to read. Anyone with a brain can read the published studies.

I noticed that no one commented on the content of my post. And herein lies the problem. Today the US had 600-700 covid deaths/day...every day the US has an average of 7,000 deaths for various reasons - the US loses around 1% of it's population per year. We (as a country) are making (bad) policy on a purported sickness that causes 10% of the daily deaths. Suicide, teen depression, overall despair??? Not important. Only Covid deaths matter. Then there is the masking of children...for me this amounts to child abuse.

 

[Sbob]

Interesting take

So quarantine right after being vaccinated ?

 

[x10003q]

No, a scientist. You don't need to be a virologist to read. Anyone with a brain can read the published studies.

Yet you admit you do not understand about the vaccine and that is why you hesitate. Maybe you need to reread the studies.

I noticed that no one commented on the content of my post.

Your post was staggeringly arrogant.

And herein lies the problem. Today the US had 600-700 covid deaths/day...every day the US has an average of 7,000 deaths for various reasons - the US loses around 1% of it's population per year. We (as a country) are making (bad) policy on a purported sickness that causes 10% of the daily deaths. Suicide, teen depression, overall despair??? Not important. Only Covid deaths matter.

Try and stay on topic. We are talking about easily preventing COVID deaths. All it takes is a couple of shots.

Then there is the masking of children...for me this amounts to child abuse.

Wow. You might want to read up on what constitutes child abuse. Wearing a mask is not included.

 

[jasonwx]

No, a scientist. You don't need to be a virologist to read. Anyone with a brain can read the published studies.

I noticed that no one commented on the content of my post. And herein lies the problem. Today the US had 600-700 covid deaths/day...every day the US has an average of 7,000 deaths for various reasons - the US loses around 1% of it's population per year. We (as a country) are making (bad) policy on a purported sickness that causes 10% of the daily deaths. Suicide, teen depression, overall despair??? Not important. Only Covid deaths matter. Then there is the masking of children...for me this amounts to child abuse.

Every little one I have meet doesn’t mind the masks and most like them.
also the amount of strept throat is way down etc

 

[MarzNC]

The news seems to be all about the Delta variant but since there is no test other than genome testing which isn’t being done , So are numbers just an estimate?

Here are articles from Dallas as examples of the type of info I've been seeing about genomic testing to check the COVID-19 variant. I was curious about children, and that led to the second article from August 5.

I found last year that looking at recent news from local sources is often more useful than just reading national or international headline news. There were reports in mid-July that Delta was showing up as just over 80% of tested samples. The Delta variant has shown the same pattern of taking over as the dominant strain in other countries, including the island nations with closed borders and very good testing and contact tracing.

August 12, 2021

North Texas Pediatric COVID-19 Hospitalizations Are Up 600 Percent Since June

The number of children in the hospital with COVID-19 now exceeds the height of the pandemic.

www.dmagazine.com

" . . .
The pediatric hospitals aren’t sequencing patient genes to see how much of the rise in infections is due to the more contagious delta variant, but they are assuming that the sequencing done by UTSW is reflected in their patient population as well. D Magazine’s Matt Goodman spoke with Dr. Joseph Chang, Parkland’s chief medical officer, who said that 90 percent of its patients are sick with the highly contagious delta variant. “We assume all (patients) are delta at this point,” Chang wrote. UT Southwestern said that percentage held true for their patients as well. The good news is that the delta variant doesn’t seem to be any more deadly than the ancestral variant, but its higher viral load means more people are at greater risk of infection.
. . ."

August 5, 2021

At Hospitals Across Dallas-Fort Worth, COVID-19 Has Returned With a Fury

Since January, just seven of Parkland’s more than 1,100 hospitalized COVID-19 patients have been vaccinated.

www.dmagazine.com

" . . .
According to Dr. Joseph Chang, Parkland’s chief medical officer, the county has informed the hospital that about 90 percent of its patients are sick with the highly contagious delta variant. “We assume all (patients) are delta at this point,” he writes. UT Southwestern said the same thing about its patients. There are currently 85 patients in Parkland; five weeks ago there were seven, the lowest in the pandemic. (The high point came in the winter, when 200 were being treated.)

Since January, Parkland has treated more than 1,100 patients. Of those, only seven have been vaccinated. That’s .6 percent total. Across all of Parkland’s points of care, the positivity rate for COVID-19 is 22 percent. Its high was 33 percent.

UT Southwestern’s Clements University Hospital is currently treating 47 patients; in the height of last summer, before the vaccines were available, Southwestern’s peak was 61. We’re right back in this, but the vaccinated will more than likely avoid hospitalization even if they are infected with the virus. That’s rare in itself: according to data analyzed by NBC News, just .08 percent of the 164 million Americans who are fully vaccinated have tested positive. (Of course, in some cases, the symptoms or so mild or nonexistent that the vaccinated individual may not get tested before they pass.)
. . ."

 

[MarzNC]

Interesting take

So quarantine right after being vaccinated ?

Do you know much about Bossche? He was discussed on another ski forum a while back. He's a veterinarian in Belgium. I also discussed the topic with my immunologist friend. She understands what NK cells do, as well as T-cells/B-cells, a lot better than I do. She took the time to read his "open letter" to WHO carefully, as well as the Snopes article.

Geert Vanden Bossche Stokes Fear of COVID-19 Vaccine To Promote His Own Flawed ‘Solution’

A veterinarian suspiciously says the only way to prevent a COVID-19 vaccine-related calamity is through a product he claims to have invented.

www.snopes.com

Masking and the 3 Cs is always a good idea because of Delta, whether vaccinated or not. The idea is to avoid Closed Spaces, Crowded Spaces, and Close Contact. That's based on new data and research in the past two months since this particular variant entered the U.S. Bottom line is that Delta stays in the nose more and that makes it more transmissible for at day or two even by people who are vaccinated but have so much exposure that they get infected with SARS-CoV-2. If more people understood how to avoid adding to community spread, having 30-50% unvaccinated people in a community wouldn't be overloading so many hospitals.

 

[Face4Me]

I noticed that no one commented on the content of my post.

I'm guessing that's because most of us thought your post was silly and not worth responding to, but since you've asked ...

Well, it IS different than the shots we had in kindergarten. A traditional vaccine uses a weakened or dead virus to compel the human immune system into action. These new vaccines (all of them) do not. Why? This issue is what makes most of us "vaccine hesitant" uneasy. Even the more traditional J&J vax uses the Adenovirus (not Covid-19) as it's core mechanism. If Covid-19 is truly a virus than why not use it (in weakened form) as a basis for a vaccine? Honestly, if someone could provide a coherent explanation of this than most of us would be at the vax clinic tomorrow, me included. I have had all of my traditional vaccines and boosters and cannot by any means be labeled "anti-vax".

Why? Well, perhaps it would be best to answer that question like this. Do you still ski in leather boots on wooden skis with no metal edges and cables or straps to attach the boots to the skis? Do you use a horse-drawn carriage to go to work, or the store, or to visit family? Do you use candles to light your home? Do surgeons cut your knee open to repair a torn ACL or do they use a laparoscope? Do doctors perform exploratory surgery to find out what's wrong with you or do they use a CAT-scan or MRI? Are people forced to wear eye-glasses or contact lenses for their entire lives or has LASIK eye surgery freed them from that? Do you use the internet to express your thoughts and opinions, or do you write them down on a piece of paper and hang it in the public square?

You don't need to be a virologist to read. Anyone with a brain can read the published studies.

mRNA vaccines have been researched and under development since the mid-1980's. They are easier to produce, quicker to produce, can be scaled up for large-scale production quickly and, in the end, produce the same result as traditional vaccines ... they enable the body to provide an immune response to a virus.

There is nothing political about this issue for me - I'm a libertarian nutty-crunchy environmentalist with a soft spot for the down and trodden (that includes animals and insects). I'm also a health nut and vegetarian and have been well served by my own immune system for 58 years..haven't seen a doctor in over 7 years and have no intent on seeing one anytime soon. I am also highly suspicious of the pharmaceutical industry and do not take any meds except for the occasional ibuprofen pill to dull the pain of this injury or that.

Awesome ... good for you. Whether or not you get vaccinated for COVID-19 should be your decision. If you make that decision, and don't end up contracting COVID-19, good for you. If you make that decision, and do contract COVID-19 and survive, good for you. If you make that decision, and do contract COVID-19 and die, good for you. I don't really think anyone cares what you do. What they do care about, however, is that you'll be respectful of other people's liberties, and do everything possible to avoid transmitting the virus to others. Put another way ... if you want to get into your car on an empty road and drive into a tree at 120 miles per hours, go for it ... just make sure you don't take out anyone else with you.

Something about this whole thing just seems a bit off. It used to be that if you got a disease and survived then you would obtain immunity for a decent length of time. Now "the experts" are saying no, that doesn't apply anymore. So they expect us to believe that thousands of years of human evolution and immunology is no longer valid?

Believe what you want ... once again ... no one cares. As to your question, I believe what "the experts" are saying is quite simply, "We're not sure" ... we believe the vaccine works, so whether you've had COVID-19 or not, if you get vaccinated, we believe that you'll have a greater degree of immunity, but do what you want.

 

[MarzNC]

We are talking about easily preventing COVID deaths. All it takes is a couple of shots.

The most important issue for any community hasn't changed since March 2020. To avoid unnecessary deaths, everyone must do what it takes to "flatten the curve." Masking works. So does vaccination for the vast majority of the almost 200 million Americans who are fully vaccinated as of early August 2021. When hospitals in a local area are overwhelmed because local folks don't understand that people with no symptoms can be contagious for days and/or ignore minor symptoms for a week or more, that's when healthy people of all ages start dying of complications due to COVID-19.

I don't post the individual stories I find about preventable deaths or hospitalizations because it's too depressing. They are easy to find for any of the states with low vaccination rates. Also happening in high vaccination states because there are still low vaccination counties.

 

[MarzNC]

Like last fall, I'm paying close attention to colleges across the U.S.

North Carolina was quite a mixed bag for the 2020 Fall semester. Luckily my daughter is at a smaller college with no football team or large Greek houses. While classes ended up virtual, overall there wasn't a huge disruption to her education. Classes start next week in NC, unlike in NY and New England. My impression is that masking will be required indoors pretty much on all campuses, whether or not vaccination is required. I gather that students are moving in to Cornell next week. Looks like Boston colleges have students moving in the week of August 23.

Here's what I came across last night.

August 11, 2021

Montana campuses prep for another COVID fall

From face mask recommendations to mobile vaccine clinics, here’s a look at how campuses across Montana are prepping for another coronavirus-shadowed semester.

montanafreepress.org

August 11, 2021

Here Is What Colleges in Dallas-Fort Worth Are Doing About COVID This Fall

Most area colleges are urging students and faculty to wear masks, but only one (so far) is requiring it.

www.dmagazine.com

 

[Campgottagopee]

When hospitals in a local area are overwhelmed because local folks don't understand that people with no symptoms can be contagious for days and/or ignore minor symptoms for a week or more, that's when healthy people of all ages start dying of complications due to COVID-19.

Our local hospital just put up their covid bubble.....again. my wife shared with me that the feeling is very ominous, and certainly mentally taxing because they know what's coming next. They're so short staffed to begin with and some are talking of straight up quitting because they don't want to go through this again.