How Is Covid-19 Impacting Life in Your City?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by eschaton

They just announced the start of the school year was delayed by two weeks here. However, this wasn't due to COVID, but because the district cannot find enough bus drivers and 6,000 students still lack transportation options.

that's a bummer.

one of the few things that CPS does right is that it operates its K-8 elementary schools on a neighborhood model, and students who live within 1.5 miles of school (the VAST majority of CPS elementary students) are ineligible for bus service.

and most high school students are on their own (ie. walk, bike, or CTA) for transportation to school.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

that's a bummer.

one of the few things that CPS does right is that it operates its K-8 elementary schools on a neighborhood model, and students who live within 1.5 miles of school (the VAST majority of CPS elementary students) are ineligible for bus service.

and most high school students are on their own (ie. walk, bike, or CTA) for transportation to school.

That's the way it was when I was in school. The only way I could ever catch a school bus was to walk AWAY from the school until I was outside the 1.5 mile limit and I sometimes did that since it was actually a shorter walk than to walk to school.

[sopas ej]

From NPR:

The State Of Arkansas Has Only 8 Empty ICU Beds, As COVID-19 Cases Resurge

August 10, 20212:08 PM ET

Arkansas, among the states hardest-hit by a new wave of coronavirus cases linked to the highly contagious delta variant, says it is down to eight unoccupied ICU beds statewide with which to care for COVID-19 patients.

Gov. Asa Hutchison, in a tweet on Monday, said the latest report highlighted "startling numbers."

"We saw the largest single-day increase in hospitalizations and have eclipsed our previous high of COVID hospitalizations," the governor wrote. "There are currently only eight ICU beds available in the state."

"Vaccinations reduce hospitalizations," he added.

Hospitalization of COVID-19 patients jumped by 103 to 1,376, the report cited by Hutchison shows. It's the biggest daily jump and total in the state since the start of the pandemic.

"This is unlike anything that we experienced before during the COVID-19 pandemic," says Dr. Cam Patterson, who serves as chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, which includes the UAMS Medical Center hospital in Little Rock.

Hospitals are seeing younger patients than before. A year ago, the average COVID-19 patient was over 60 years old, Patterson tells Morning Edition. Now the average age is 40.

Nearly half of the people in the hospital's ICU are there because of COVID-19. About 20% of COVID-19 patients have been pregnant people, Patterson says, some of whom have lost their babies because of the disease.

A year ago, the health system's children's hospital usually had one or two COVID-19 patients. Now there are 22. Many of these patients are eligible for vaccines but haven't been vaccinated, he says.

Medical staff are overwhelmed and exhausted.

"I heard from a nurse who said that she cries in her car before she comes into work now," Patterson says. "We've had nurses walk off in the middle of shifts because they can't take it anymore."

About 17% of nursing positions at the hospital are vacant, which increases the load on the current staff.

"They're taking care of more patients than they're used to and they're just flat worn out," he says.

Arkansas has among the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with fewer than 43% of adults fully immunized.

"It's difficult to come into work and to deal with these challenges when you know that there was an antidote to this, the vaccine that people have chosen not to take. And it's difficult not to become angry," Patterson says.

In April, Hutchison signed into law a statewide ban on further mask mandates. However, in a news conference last week, the governor said he regretted signing the measure, which has complicated his state's efforts to control the spread of the virus.

"In hindsight, I wish that it had not become law," he said. "But it is the law, and the only chance we have is either to amend it or for the courts to say that it has an unconstitutional foundation."

Last week, a court temporarily blocked the law from being enforced.

Link: https://www.npr.org/sections/coronav...covid-19-surge

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

^So NPR has joined in on the fear-mongering

Fox news is the only one that hasn't

It's not fear-mongering, it's reporting the number of ICU beds left. My county has none left, and with that statement does it mean I am fear-mongering? If so... I will put it in bold for my next post. I'm not scared of the article either, so I don't consider it fear-porn or whatever. Just a tame article.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

^So NPR has joined in on the fear-mongering

Fox news is the only one that hasn't

Meanwhile, back here on earth...an entire state has only 8 ICU beds left. That's not fear mongering, that's simply reporting a pretty sobering reality. Imagine having a heart attack, car accident or be involved in some other emergency and having to deal with this shit.

[eschaton]

New study suggests Moderna may be nearly twice as effective at stopping breakthrough infections of Delta than Pfizer.

Found Pfizer only provided 42% protection in Minnesota once Delta became dominant, while Moderna provided 76% protection.

[ATXboom]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

^So NPR has joined in on the fear-mongering

Fox news is the only one that hasn't

Its called reality. We have no ICUs available in Austin. Facts.

[10023]

Originally Posted by JManc

Meanwhile, back here on earth...an entire state has only 8 ICU beds left. That's not fear mongering, that's simply reporting a pretty sobering reality. Imagine having a heart attack, car accident or be involved in some other emergency and having to deal with this shit.

Prioritize those other people and not unvaccinated Covid patients.

[the urban politician]

Some of these southern States are indeed getting slammed hard.

Meanwhile, in northeastern Illinois we are certainly seeing a bump in cases (duh...so many people are living normally again) but deaths and hospitalizations are up only a bit. That's the effect you would expect with broad vaccination.

Now sure, do we have Howard Hughes types like Pedestrian who still view that as "the world is ending! Go back to your basements!" ? Yes, but luckily they are increasingly sounding like crazy hecklers and are mostly ignored.

[Innsertnamehere]

the rate the southern states are going, they will reach natural herd immunity fairly soon anyway. The non-vaccinated population will be hitting natural immunity fairly quickly.

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Some of these southern States are indeed getting slammed hard.

Meanwhile, in northeastern Illinois we are certainly seeing a bump in cases (duh...so many people are living normally again) but deaths and hospitalizations are up only a bit. That's the effect you would expect with broad vaccination.

Now sure, do we have Howard Hughes types like Pedestrian who still view that as "the world is ending! Go back to your basements!" ? Yes, but luckily they are increasingly sounding like crazy hecklers and are mostly ignored.

The Northern states will probably see one more Winter wave starting around October among the vaccine hold-outs. Probably not as severe as the Southern states because of higher vaccination rates but still notable.

I expect that to be the end of the pandemic as far as hospitalization and deaths go.

[sopas ej]

What was that about herd immunity?

From Yahoo! News:

The developer of the AstraZeneca shot says the Delta variant has made herd immunity impossible because vaccinated people can still transmit the virus

Marianne Guenot
Wed, August 11, 2021, 4:48 AM

Andrew Pollard, British immunologist and vaccinologist:

-Achieving herd immunity is "not a possibility" with the Delta variant, Sir Andrew Pollard said.

-That is because the variant can be transmitted by vaccinated people, he said.

-"We don't have anything which will stop that transmission," he said.

The Delta variant has changed the equation for achieving herd immunity, the developer of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has said.

Speaking at a UK parliamentary meeting on Tuesday, Sir Andrew Pollard, a professor of pediatric infection and immunity at the University of Oxford, said that achieving herd immunity is "not a possibility" now that the Delta variant is circulating.

"We know very clearly with coronavirus that this current variant, the Delta variant, will still infect people who have been vaccinated, and that does mean that anyone who's still unvaccinated, at some point, will meet the virus," Pollard said.

He said it was unlikely that herd immunity will ever be reached, saying the next variant of the novel coronavirus will be "perhaps even better at transmitting in vaccinated populations."

Vaccinated people can still get the Delta variant, albeit as a milder case

Some experts had hoped that herd immunity could be reached with COVID-19, as was the case with measles, which is also highly infectious.

Many countries have achieved herd immunity with measles by vaccinating 95% of the population against it, such as the US, where endemic transmission ended in 2000. That is because once a person is vaccinated against measles, they cannot transmit the virus.

With COVID-19, vaccines still fulfill their primary role: protecting against severe disease. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, vaccinated people who catch the Delta variant are 25 times less likely to have a severe case or die. The overwhelming majority who do catch it will have mild or no symptoms.

But growing evidence suggests that, with the Delta variant, fully vaccinated people can still transmit the virus.

"We don't have anything which will stop that transmission to other people," Pollard said.

Israel is a good example of this: COVID-19 cases dropped in the country after it vaccinated about 80% of adults - prompting some to hope that it had reached herd immunity - but the Delta variant has since brought another surge of cases.

Link: https://www.yahoo.com/news/developer...114837457.html

[10023]

^ But this is just academic.

If vaccinated people, or those with prior infections, can still carry the virus but don’t get very sick, that’s as good as it’s going to get. Everyone can be a carrier but once everyone has had the vaccine or the virus, then the risk of serious illness drops to a manageable level.

Otherwise what’s the alternative? We aren’t going to stamp out the virus completely (always obvious) and we aren’t going to do “social distancing” or wear masks forever.

You already have the ability to protect yourself as much as practicably possible by getting vaccinated. That’s the endgame.

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

My point was, the media (in this case NPR) could report on anything but they choose doom and gloom stories, especially about covid, the media are constantly beating the drum of fear and danger so most of you are conditioned like Pavlovian dogs, you eat it up so when someone like me comes along and proves that covid isn't dangerous I get nothing but pushback because you've all been brainwashed so well. Too bad none of you ever provide logic, facts, reason or stats to prove covid is dangerous

Oh for fucks sake. You can argue whether Covid is dangerous or not all day. If you're going to try and argue that not having a single ICU bed left in the state is somehow a non-factor, than just leave this thread finally.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

My point was, the media (in this case NPR) could report on anything

And NPR does. Here you go: 2 Coaches Charged With Murder After A High Schooler Suffered Heat Stroke And Died

But uh, since this is a thread about COVID... see my point?

I don't watch/listen to FOX; did they not report about the ICU bed shortage in Arkansas?

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

My point was, the media (in this case NPR) could report on anything but they choose doom and gloom stories, especially about covid, the media are constantly beating the drum of fear and danger so most of you are conditioned like Pavlovian dogs and eat it up so when someone like me comes along and proves that covid isn't dangerous I get nothing but pushback because you've all been brainwashed so well. Too bad none of you ever provide logic, facts, reason or stats to prove covid is dangerous

COVID is dangerous, and you must accept before it's too late. The fear porn is working in reverse...it has made you fear the vaccine even harder.

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

And NPR does. Here you go: 2 Coaches Charged With Murder After A High Schooler Suffered Heat Stroke And Died

But uh, since this is a thread about COVID... see my point?

I don't watch/listen to FOX; did they not report about the ICU bed shortage in Arkansas?

Can you believe that a news organization would choose to focus on that when they could have put an article out about how the sky was blue?

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

Can you believe that a news organization would choose to focus on that when they could have put an article out about how the sky was blue?

Didn't Hannity plead with his watchers?
That's it. I declare COVID is dangerous and Hannity is my source.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Some of these southern States are indeed getting slammed hard.

Meanwhile, in northeastern Illinois we are certainly seeing a bump in cases (duh...so many people are living normally again) but deaths and hospitalizations are up only a bit. That's the effect you would expect with broad vaccination.

Now sure, do we have Howard Hughes types like Pedestrian who still view that as "the world is ending! Go back to your basements!" ? Yes, but luckily they are increasingly sounding like crazy hecklers and are mostly ignored.

Yes, Antoine. There are germs out there (they exist!) and people who don't want to end up under your unpleasant care are trying to avoid them by every reasonable means like wearing a mask.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

And NPR does. Here you go: 2 Coaches Charged With Murder After A High Schooler Suffered Heat Stroke And Died

But uh, since this is a thread about COVID... see my point?

I don't watch/listen to FOX; did they not report about the ICU bed shortage in Arkansas?

Fox is reporting the same news and all their "personalities" I've seen are advocating vaccination including Hannity. The difference is that they are clearly opposed to MANDATORY vaccination and make that pretty clear whenever the subject comes up. But at the same time they think people would be wisest to choose vaccination.

The flaw in this reasoning, of course, is the fact that vaccination (and wearing a mask for that matter) isn't just about self-protection. If it were, we should all be for them both being voluntary. But both are about protecting others for whom you are also making the choice. If you don't wear a mask and you don't get vaccinated you are doing a lot of negative things that effect others:

- You may well be clogging an ER and taking up a hospital bed that someone with a heart attack or who's been in a car accident needs.

- You are spreading the virus to people who can't be vaccinated or for whom vaccination may not work so well like people with cancer or HIV or numerous other conditions

- You are facilitating viral replication and, as a result, viral mutation that could result in even more vaccine-resistant strains.

So I think Fox is wrong in their strong support for volunteerism (just like I think 10023 is wrong to think locking away all the vulnerable is a good policy), but they are certainly reporting the delta wave and even advocating for voluntary vaccination (and all their TV hosts are acknowledging they've been vaccinated).