Covfefe-19 The 12th Part: The Only Thing Worse Than This New Board Is TrumpVirus2020

[Drew S.]

Btw, drew, where are you getting your data? I found one site in your state that current hospitalizations is just under 400, and sum of all breakthrough hospitalizations is 484.

This says 1513 and 448 https://www.mass.gov/info-details/co...onse-reporting

It sounds like this one tries to use a very strict definition of fully vaccinated. I forget exactly where I got yesterday’s figures from.

[rufus]

I know, and honestly don’t like to do it. I just don’t think the risk is anywhere close to low enough for vaccinated folks to be trying what we are trying and am pretty confident it will end in tears.

What are we trying?

[Kepler]

I think we're trying to pretend it's not still dangerous out there. That people are going out to crowded theaters and bars and hockey games is absolutely mind-blowing. People are so addicted to consumerism that they won't die for the Dow but they will die for Disney.

[WeAreNDHockey]

Stop to think for a minute how bad Covid would be if Omicrom and Delta would have been widely circulating 12 months ago, just before vaccines first got the approval to be used in the general public.

In the earliest days of the pandemic some thought it would be summer of 2021 at the earliest before we would see an effective vaccine. Some thought it might be fall of 2021. Had the vaccine only been made available in September of this year on a widespread basis rather than January, it is likely hundreds of thousands more would be dead. 60,000 people died in September of 2021 alone when virtually anyone 16 or older had easy access to a vaccine. Without a vaccine how many would have died in just September?

Even with fully two thirds of this country vaccinated (and when you subtract the kids under 5 who are almost 100% unvaccinated that number is significantly higher) we are still seeing hospitalizations in many places as bad or worse than they were at the very worst times of the pandemic in 2020. We are seeing off the charts numbers of positive tests. We are seeing 1300 deaths a day, which is as bad or worse than many of the early weeks of the pandemic before vaccines, before we knew anything about effective treatments.

How many would be dead without the vaccines? Many millions in this country alone I would guess.

[Swansong]

Stop to think for a minute how bad Covid would be if Omicrom and Delta would have been widely circulating 12 months ago, just before vaccines first got the approval to be used in the general public.

In the earliest days of the pandemic some thought it would be summer of 2021 at the earliest before we would see an effective vaccine. Some thought it might be fall of 2021. Had the vaccine only been made available in September of this year on a widespread basis rather than January, it is likely hundreds of thousands more would be dead. 60,000 people died in September of 2021 alone when virtually anyone 16 or older had easy access to a vaccine. Without a vaccine how many would have died in just September?

Even with fully two thirds of this country vaccinated (and when you subtract the kids under 5 who are almost 100% unvaccinated that number is significantly higher) we are still seeing hospitalizations in many places as bad or worse than they were at the very worst times of the pandemic in 2020. We are seeing off the charts numbers of positive tests. We are seeing 1300 deaths a day, which is as bad or worse than many of the early weeks of the pandemic before vaccines, before we knew anything about effective treatments.

How many would be dead without the vaccines? Many millions in this country alone I would guess.

This is all frightening and correct. Delta was a full reset button, effectively. Preliminary data on Omicron looks like we may be catching a break - its infectiousness far out-competes even Delta, but so far the anecdata has shown that, at least among the vaccinated/previously infected, severity is much more mild. We cannot bet on that yet, but at some point anecdata becomes regular data...

[rufus]

Still, if its 3, 4 or however many times more contagious, even if it's less severe overall, just the sheer numbers of those sickened means the number hospitalized, and dying may stay relatively the same overall.

[Drew S.]

I think we're trying to pretend it's not still dangerous out there. That people are going out to crowded theaters and bars and hockey games is absolutely mind-blowing. People are so addicted to consumerism that they won't die for the Dow but they will die for Disney.

100% this.

[ScoobyDoo]

100% this.

You can't convince the ones without vaccines to get the vaccine. You think you're going to convince them to stay home? I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that those of us who have the vaccine are also the ones that are the most careful about going out in public.

[dxmnkd316]

This is all frightening and correct. Delta was a full reset button, effectively. Preliminary data on Omicron looks like we may be catching a break - its infectiousness far out-competes even Delta, but so far the anecdata has shown that, at least among the vaccinated/previously infected, severity is much more mild. We cannot bet on that yet, but at some point anecdata becomes regular data...

Anecdata. Love it.

[Drew S.]

You can't convince the ones without vaccines to get the vaccine. You think you're going to convince them to stay home? I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that those of us who have the vaccine are also the ones that are the most careful about going out in public.

It’s not all about the covidiots. I was at Costco last night and only a quarter to a third of the folks in there had masks on. I’m sure a lot of those without masks are vaccinated and want to do the right thing but believe masks are out right now. A lot of people view this in binary terms but the reality is quite different.

[Jimjamesak]

In a good example of why every election matters my local school board (with a liberal majority) voted to override the superintendent’s decision to end a mask mandate in schools here in Anchorage, keeping it in place for at least two weeks when the kids go back January.

[SJHovey]

I think we're trying to pretend it's not still dangerous out there. That people are going out to crowded theaters and bars and hockey games is absolutely mind-blowing. People are so addicted to consumerism that they won't die for the Dow but they will die for Disney.

Most people don't fear dying of covid, and make lifestyle choices accordingly.

[rufus]

You can't convince the ones without vaccines to get the vaccine. You think you're going to convince them to stay home? I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that those of us who have the vaccine are also the ones that are the most careful about going out in public.

You can't convince them to get the vaccine. You can't convince them to quarantine if exposed. You can't convince them to stay home, you can't convince them to wear masks, you can't convince them to not gather in numbers.

So Drew, what do you do?

[rufus]

It’s not all about the covidiots. I was at Costco last night and only a quarter to a third of the folks in there had masks on. I’m sure a lot of those without masks are vaccinated and want to do the right thing but believe masks are out right now. A lot of people view this in binary terms but the reality is quite different.

Or, maybe they're all covidiots.

Why don't you ask them, and then get back to us.

[Handyman]

Decided to take a cheap midweek stay up in Duluth because we needed to have a night away.

There have been precisely two people wearing masks that we've seen up here, both were the servers at Vikre who sold us the to go cocktail kit.

**** me. It's worse than the cities up here. Literally no one in masks.

Mexico isn't screwing around. Masks everywhere and temp checks and sanitizers.