They're back! LA folks, hope y'all didn't burn your masks just yet as it looks like you'll need to don them on again. Feel free to thank your friendly neighborhood anti-vaxxers for making everyone else pay for it.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/l-county-...212235999.html

I burnt my remaining masks with coal and gasoline accelerants to kill off the disease before I threw the ashes of my masks in the storm drain. Thank God I don't live in LA!

(Just kidding) :D

So, let's unpack this.

First, the director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services told the local ABC affiliate yesterday that unvaccinated people now account for all COVID-19 hospitalizations at county-run hospitals.

Second, according to the LA Times, "local officials suspect that unvaccinated people have stopped wearing masks in indoor public settings and businesses, even though they’re still required to" and the new mask order “really is about making this a universal practice. It’s the easiest thing to do in terms of ensuring that we’re all protected, regardless of the risks that we have.”

So, yeah, the vaxxholes are entirely to blame for this--because they won't get vaccinated, they are the ones who are contracting and spreading COVID around the region, and they have also been compounding their selfish irresponsibility by also violating the rules that require them to mask up. They are the reason we cannot go back to normal life, and going forward, they deserve whatever they get from the rest of us.

I think it is, at long last, time for a county-wide Airplane Slap Line:

• Video Link

For those who think deaths have been decoupled from cases and were using UK as an example.
Daily UK deaths have gone up nearly 6X since June 1

https://i.postimg.cc/5NwQbyZj/corona...xplorer-48.png

I never stopped wearing mine when I go indoors, so it’s not a big deal for me. Also we are still required to wear them at work, although I see lots of people not wearing a mask. It usually in the units where thankfully I don’t work in. I’m not surprised but today one of the units had to be quarantined.

I'm not surprised either. I think you mentioned before you were in the Custody services industry, and I was intrigued to hear that at least here locally, many of the Custody workers like guards declined to get vaccinated, so there's probably a lot of crossover between folks not getting vaccinated and not wearing masks, and thus resulting in viral spread.

Precisely.

What’s disturbing about the LA situation is not an unusual degree of hostility to vaccines, although I wish the vax rates were higher, but the fact that the horrendous spread of covid last winter isn’t helping them as much as I hoped it would. The virus was so prevalent in LA in January I would expect a lot of unvaccinated Angelenos would have natural immunity anyway.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone, least of all local government officials. I’ve been saying from months ago when “the Great Reopening” began to be contemplated that as soon as masks became non-required for the vaccinated and people could get into stores and restaurants and other indoor places without them, the vaccine refuseniks would simply lie about their status which is why I’ve continued to rigorously wear a mask indoors even though, as has been said 1000 times now, it’s really more important that the people around you wear one than it is that you wear one itself because what masks are supposed to do is block the expulsion of virus-containing aerosols, not filter them out of inspired air.

If only the US would follow France and mandate vaccination for basically all indoor public activity and create a counterfeit-resistant proof of vaccination. I’m hoping once the FDA gets off its fanny and fully approves the vaccines—Scott Gottlieb said tonight he expects that around the end of August—maybe California and other blue states might do something along those lines themselves.

More good news for Canada

No COVID-19-related deaths in Quebec in a week

"MONTREAL -- Quebec has not recorded a single death related to COVID-19 in over a week, according to data provided by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ).
The last registered death was on July 6 in a private seniors' home (RPA). Four deaths have so far been recorded this month. However, deaths can sometimes be added by health officials during 'data catch-ups.'"

Masks may have slowed the spread but even wearing them full time you would imagine the unvaccinated would still catch it eventually as things fully re-open. I believe you suggested in a previous thread it's best if it just rips through the unvaccinated right away to build herd immunity? Seems like it may be better instead of staggering potential variant factories over time.

Yes, I did say that and I’m crossing my fingers that this summer’s surge could see covid burn itself out, infecting such a large proportion of those who won’t get vaccinated that there are few susceptibles left. But the thing that has me most concerned is that the virus we will all be immune to could change enough to render that immunity ineffective and, while we could quickly develop new vaccines, our cumbersome process for approving them will allow a whole new pandemic before they could be widely used.

I expect the Ontario government to pretty much put us back in lockdown if someone who was vaccinated ends up in the hospital. If I was in certain jurisdictions of the U.S. I would probably be hoping for the rapid natural herd immunity option. Here I dont think they would ever sustain a reopening long enough to get the unvaccinated natural immunity, the case numbers would be too high.

The fact that we have a universal health system means that a provincial government will be the one to blame if hospitals can not handle a big outbreak. So it's in the government's interest that Ontarians are as healthy as possible. if we had a two tiered healthcare system the government would have less need in keeping Ontarians healthy. As a result, provincial governments have to act more responsibly than American states. That's why no matter which provincial party is in power they have all acted more or less responsibly when dealing with covid in my opinion.

The question of what is "responsible" behavior is still a very open one in my opinion. We still have the Swedish approach (no lockdowns, no mandates, just a lot of advice), the Australian approach (try to keep it out with isolation of all incomers to the country and vigorous contact tracing) and what I'll call the British/European approach of strict lockdowns, business closures and the rest.

And in deciding what's most responsible, it's necessary to consider the economic effects and related effects on mental health, suicide rates, poverty, long-term educational effects on children and much more. In general during this pandemic in the developed world, the rich have gotten richer, the middle class has mostly done OK and the poor have survived on massive government benefits which may themselves have long-term consequences on inflation and, as interest rates rise, a negative impact on the ability of governments to both service debt and keep up needed current spending.

I am of the opinion that lockdowns are bad, forced business closures are mostly bad (however whenever possible the outdoor conduct of service businesses should replace indoor activity) but mandatory masks and distancing are good. And now that we have the vaccines, mandatory exclusion of the unvaccinated from indoor public spaces is good. I also think that closure of borders to places where new variants have arisen is good (at least until vaccine effectiveness toward them can be determined) and so is mandatory isolation (and/or testing) of new arrivals. In the case of the US and Europe, this would require much better control of the southern border and coastlines.

Canada is in a better state than the Europeans, Americans and Australians right now so i think Canadian governments win on being responsible.

Well I think I speak for both Canadians and Americans when I say... at least we're not the French!

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No COVID vaccines in the deltoid
Fauci, leave them kids alone

Hey! Fauci! Leave them kids alone!

French police fire tear gas as anti-vaccine protest turns violent
Demonstrators, many of them unmasked, are unhappy with vaccination mandate for health workers and health pass to enter public places.

Will be funny to see how much the threat of no cafes can increase French vaccination rates.

^^^

All they need to do is not sell cigarettes to the French unless they can provide a vaccination card as proof and you will see shots in arms the minute nicotine cravings hit, so in about 30 minutes. Will be the single biggest day jump in the history of vaccines.

Apparently it worked!

Just as a FYI, Canada and the US are both sitting at 48% fully vaccinated. France is at 40%.

However, for first dose, Canada is at 70%, the US is at 56%, and France at 54%. Coupled with the rise in hospitalizations and deaths, the outlook looks bleak for the US again. The beginning of another... surge.

The real question is, how many hospitalizations and deaths (99% of which are occurring in unvaccinated people) are health officials and politicians willing to live with before lockdown measures are implemented again? Hopefully this time they'll just lock down unvaccinated folks via use of mandates for proof of vaccination.