Coronavirus

[Timothy A]

And hence the reason both Middlebury and Cornell need to be called out - the vax is preventing deaths, the new variants, even if more virulent, and not as deadly, especially to college-aged adults. The mental-health harm done by closing campus and athletic events (for the athletes), the water-downed education given "on-line, along with, to be frank, ripping off the parents and students by not giving them a full college experience yet charging full college costs, is quite disgusting in my opinion. I really hope that the next institution that has the outbreak (and they all will) will simply state - 'we are all vaxed and will 'monitor' the infected but not shutdown'. Somebody in a leadership position in higher education has to do the right thing here.

And Cornell has 97% vaccination rate. What is their logic?

 

[robertearle]

And Cornell has 97% vaccination rate. What is their logic?

If I understand it (and I could be wrong) fall classes are already over, with only tests left to be taken. So do the tests online, try to kill off a pretty large outbreak, and then decide what to do about the spring semester that won't start for another month or whatever. I strikes me as there's less here than the headlines imply.

 

[Cornholio]

Tell that to the women's basketball team who had their game cancelled for Sunday. I am afraid this is the start, not the end, of the covid shutdown process. This will not be over in one month; most outbreaks are at least a few months in duration.

 

[Timothy A]

Tell that to the women's basketball team who had their game cancelled for Sunday. I am afraid this is the start, not the end, of the covid shutdown process. This will not be over in one month; most outbreaks are at least a few months in duration.

The hospitalization rate on omnicron is very low. Let's use logic and not fear.

 

[ARM]

The hospitalization rate on omnicron is very low. Let's use logic and not fear.

It's a complicated problem, though. If you start out testing positive and assuming that you have Omicron, but then it turns out that you actually have Delta, that makes it harder to manage. People wind up in the hospital quite regularly from Delta. I wish as much as you do that this was in our past and we didn't have to deal with it anymore, but that doesn't seem to be where we're at.

 

[Timothy A]

It's a complicated problem, though. If you start out testing positive and assuming that you have Omicron, but then it turns out that you actually have Delta, that makes it harder to manage. People wind up in the hospital quite regularly from Delta. I wish as much as you do that this was in our past and we didn't have to deal with it anymore, but that doesn't seem to be where we're at.

Yes I see that point but Omicron is supposed to outcompete Delta for victims due to its easier spread so Delta will be dead soon. And even getting Delta if you are shot up makes it unlikely you will end up at the hospital.

 

[robertearle]

Yes I see that point but Omicron is supposed to outcompete Delta for victims due to its easier spread so Delta will be dead soon. And even getting Delta if you are shot up makes it unlikely you will end up at the hospital.

You're making lots of assumptions - or maybe more accurately, accepting assumptions that others have made - about omicron that we don't yet know to be true. It might be less severe than delta, and it might not. It might overtake delta to be the dominant strain, and it might not. This is pretty good article that looks at what "we" know and what we don't, yet.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/12/covid-cases-omicron-highly-contagious/621038/

 

[Offsides Guy]

Saw on the ABC evening news today (and as reported on the RPI thread earlier) that a breakout of COVID19 including the Omicron variant on the Cornell campus has led the school to send the kids home, suspend athletics and conduct final exams on line. Will be interesting to see how this will effect whether students will be allowed back on campus in January and their winter sports programs going forward.

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronav...hut-down-covid

Read today that Harvard is going to remote learning the first 3 weeks of second semester. Assume this means no sports as well? Aren’t the women of Harvard having a good season? If so, major bummer for their team.

 

[thirdtime's . . .]

Harvard is going remote for the three weeks of winter break, but the athletic schedule will not be affected. Teams will be in their bubble and fans can still attend as long as existing protocols are followed. Welcome to our new/old world!

 

[Russell Jaslow]

Harvard is going remote for the three weeks of winter break, but the athletic schedule will not be affected. Teams will be in their bubble and fans can still attend as long as existing protocols are followed. Welcome to our new/old world!

Hopefully, this compromise is workable.

 

[Timothy A]

The evidence is if you had the shot, it's highly unlikely you will end up in the hospital or die. Per WI Dept. of Health Services,

As of 12/15 in WI per 100,000 vaccinated there were 722.5 cases, 17.1 hospitalizations and 2.8 deaths.
As of 12/15 in WI per 100,000 unvaccinated there were 3328.2 cases, 184 hospitalizations and 35 deaths.

Death rates per age per 100,000 in percentage....0-11 V 0.0 UV 0.1; 12-15 V 0.0 UV 0.6; 16-17 V 0.0 UV 0.0; 18-24 V 0.0 UV 0.4; 25-34 V 0.2 UV 2.7; 35-44 V0.2 UV 7.5; 35-44 0.2 UV 7.5; 45-54 0.4 UV 15.4; 55-64 V 2.0 UV 26.5; 65+ V 13.9 UV 160.6.

Hospitalization rates per age per 100,000 in percentage....0-11 V0.0 UV 7.4; 12-15 V1.5 UV 11.8; 16-17 V1.3 UV 9.5; 18-24 V.7 UV 18.2; 25-34 V 4.9 UV 53.3; 35-44 V7.0 UV 74.3; 45-54 V9.2 UV 131.2; 55-64 V19.9 UV 216; 65+ V 65.6 UV 674.9

If you are over 55, you have to get the shot. If you are over 65 it's criminal not to get it. Look at the numbers.

I am curious about the rates if you had it and recovered; am curious Watts kind of immunity that gives you.

 

[Lindsay]

The evidence is if you had the shot, it's highly unlikely you will end up in the hospital or die. .

Yes the vaccines are doing their job. I pray it stays that way, and people will get their boosters, or consider getting vaxxed if not already.

My heart goes out to anyone suffering from the myriad ways coronavirus affects our lives. Right now are hospitals are severely understaffed to the point where 1,050 national guard members have been deployed to work at the hospitals in Ohio. I’m not sure at what point we say “the healthcare system is collapsing”. We are back in virtual in our district after Christmas.

 

[Steamboat]

Just got an email that the Olympic tuneup game scheduled for tonight at the Xcel Center is St. Paul was cancelled due to Covid concerns.

 

[shelfit]

The evidence is if you had the shot, it's highly unlikely you will end up in the hospital or die. Per WI Dept. of Health Services,

As of 12/15 in WI per 100,000 vaccinated there were 722.5 cases, 17.1 hospitalizations and 2.8 deaths.
As of 12/15 in WI per 100,000 unvaccinated there were 3328.2 cases, 184 hospitalizations and 35 deaths.

Death rates per age per 100,000 in percentage....0-11 V 0.0 UV 0.1; 12-15 V 0.0 UV 0.6; 16-17 V 0.0 UV 0.0; 18-24 V 0.0 UV 0.4; 25-34 V 0.2 UV 2.7; 35-44 V0.2 UV 7.5; 35-44 0.2 UV 7.5; 45-54 0.4 UV 15.4; 55-64 V 2.0 UV 26.5; 65+ V 13.9 UV 160.6.

Hospitalization rates per age per 100,000 in percentage....0-11 V0.0 UV 7.4; 12-15 V1.5 UV 11.8; 16-17 V1.3 UV 9.5; 18-24 V.7 UV 18.2; 25-34 V 4.9 UV 53.3; 35-44 V7.0 UV 74.3; 45-54 V9.2 UV 131.2; 55-64 V19.9 UV 216; 65+ V 65.6 UV 674.9

If you are over 55, you have to get the shot. If you are over 65 it's criminal not to get it. Look at the numbers.

I am curious about the rates if you had it and recovered; am curious Watts kind of immunity that gives you.

That's quite an impressive list of statistical info you've put together! Where did you get it from?

I try not to follow all the latest COVID info every day because it's overwhelmingly depressing, but I don't think I've seen any scientific evidence to show that getting and recovering from COVID gives you any sort of immunity at all, just like the flu. I've had the flu before but that hasn't made me immune from getting it again even when I've had my annual flu shot.

 

[D2D]

Just got an email that the Olympic tuneup game scheduled for tonight at the Xcel Center is St. Paul was cancelled due to Covid concerns.

Thanks for posting this.

 

[Russell Jaslow]

That's quite an impressive list of statistical info you've put together! Where did you get it from?

I try not to follow all the latest COVID info every day because it's overwhelmingly depressing, but I don't think I've seen any scientific evidence to show that getting and recovering from COVID gives you any sort of immunity at all, just like the flu. I've had the flu before but that hasn't made me immune from getting it again even when I've had my annual flu shot.

You do acquire antibodies, but they don't last very long. They last much longer with a vaccine.

 

[Timothy A]

Shot and a GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pfizer's Paxlovid has been approved. 90% reduction of hospitalizations if taken within 5 days of symptoms showing themselves. 180,000 treatments available now, 60,000 treatments are allocated for the US. There is a 9 month leadtime for production as of now and it will be halved in 2022. It is effective on both current variants and is an evolution of current drugs. Still get shot up anyway, that will save your bacon now, and the odds of you getting this drug now are mega slim to say the least, but the last 2 quarters of 2022 look awesome. Of course by then we'll be on version 14 of Covid, but this drug looks to be the silver bullet.

 

[robertearle]

Shot and a GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pfizer's Paxlovid has been approved. 90% reduction of hospitalizations if taken within 5 days of symptoms showing themselves. 180,000 treatments available now, 60,000 treatments are allocated for the US. There is a 9 month leadtime for production as of now and it will be halved in 2022. It is effective on both current variants and is an evolution of current drugs. Still get shot up anyway, that will save your bacon now, and the odds of you getting this drug now are mega slim to say the least, but the last 2 quarters of 2022 look awesome. Of course by then we'll be on version 14 of Covid, but this drug looks to be the silver bullet.

It is of a class of drugs called protease inhibitors, and others here or Wikipedia can do a better job of explaining what those are and how they work. What I know about protease inhibitors is that they are what turned AIDS from being a horrible disease to being not fun but not fatal, etc. And that Rachel Maddow had one of the key scientists in the development of the protease inhibitors for AIDS -David Ho - on her show in the spring on 2020, and he said at the time he was confident inhibitors for COVID-19 would be found and relatively quickly.

The other news this AM is that the Nebraska volleyball "travelling party" has had a number of COVID cases since the tournament this past weekend, the head coach is positive, and a number of players are quarantined, and probably won't be able to travel for Christmas. So they either contracted COVID travelling to Columbus OH for the weekend, or caught it while at the tournament. Either way, disaster narrowly avoided for NCAA volleyball.

But he outlook for hockey, and the Olympics, worries me. Probably not full cancellation, but cancelled games, etc etc.

 

[Lindsay]

It is of a class of drugs called protease inhibitors, and others here or Wikipedia can do a better job of explaining what those are and how they work. What I know about protease inhibitors is that they are what turned AIDS from being a horrible disease to being not fun but not fatal, etc. And that Rachel Maddow had one of the key scientists in the development of the protease inhibitors for AIDS -David Ho - on her show in the spring on 2020, and he said at the time he was confident inhibitors for COVID-19 would be found and relatively quickly.

The other news this AM is that the Nebraska volleyball "travelling party" has had a number of COVID cases since the tournament this past weekend, the head coach is positive, and a number of players are quarantined, and probably won't be able to travel for Christmas. So they either contracted COVID travelling to Columbus OH for the weekend, or caught it while at the tournament. Either way, disaster narrowly avoided for NCAA volleyball.

But he outlook for hockey, and the Olympics, worries me. Probably not full cancellation, but cancelled games, etc etc.

This is probably a small part of the challenge Hockey Canada was facing. They needed to both get into Canada and then disperse to all corners of the country.

it will be fascinating to see if the Early January rivalry series games happen. World Juniors is happening in Alberta, same as rivalry series, so from a regulatory perspective I don’t think the women can get canceled while the boys play on without severe pr backlash. Meanwhile the boys don’t have the Olympics next month, but the women do, so at this point do USA Hockey and Canada even want to play? And yes the women is just exhibition, but to fans who rarely get to watch them, exhibition can mean a fan experience of a life time. If they cancel the women but not the boys I just hope they communicate the thought process. I think fans deserve that. I guess another thing that may happen is final 2 rivalry series games with no fans.

 

[Rightnut]

Hopefully the schools will just push through this Omicron spike and not overreact like the NHL. NFL is more reasonable. South Africa already reports cases numbers crashing. It's a short term high spike because of tremendous transmissibility but it burns out fast and is very mild. As someone in their 50s who just had Omicron last week, it was barely noticeable (slight cough no other symptoms). Had a much worse cold at Thanksgiving. It's not a reason for healthy young athletes not to compete imho. Also, because it is so transmissible, most everyone will get it so may as well do it sooner than later.