How Is Covid-19 Impacting Life in Your City?

[chris08876]

Some maps for today (8-11-2021)

Florida is wining. Mississippi seems to be trying to catch up. Louisiana! Holy crap!

Big props to Germany! France and Ireland not doing well.

[Pedestrian]

^^I don't believe developing world figures. There's very little testing in places like Mexico and these numbers represent confirmed cases . . . confirmed by testing.

[SIGSEGV]

I don't know if I believe Romania either... Romania has excellent vaccine availability but very poor uptake due to all sorts of misinformaton floating around...

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by 10023

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.

^ Ding ding ding ding ding.

Exactly.

Get used to COVID, it's going to be here

4

Eva

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

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.

Ok, Mr. "I will never ride mass transit or take an Uber again"

I just hope that I won't be dry humping my basement couch in my elder years....

[dktshb]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Ok, Mr. "I will never ride mass transit or take an Uber again"

I just hope that I won't be dry humping my basement couch in my elder years....

Been riding transit since mid June. I also got sick in late June and worked from home for 10 days and then went back. Not sure for certain where I got sick, but suspect the gym I had just started going back to. Anyway, never got tested since this was just before we heard about vaccinated people getting covid. It felt like a bad head cold with one night of night sweats and I assumed it was just a bad cold at the time. Knowing what I know now, I am not so sure, but hope I had it and it was Delta. Anyway, in late July when I got tested because house mates on vacation tested positive I came back negative.

[AviationGuy]

My neighbors' son, who is 50 and had no known health problems, is very ill and it isn't clear yet whether he will survive. He's an anti-vaxxer, as are his children but not his wife. One of his daughters just became ill this week. If he had been vaccinated, the chances of infection would be lower but still possible. And if he had been vaccinated and did get infected, it would be unlikely that he would be as sick as he is. He was at my neighbors' home the other day doing some work (they are in their 80s), so we're all hoping they will be ok. They're vaccinated, but again breakthrough infections do occur. They're in poor health, so it could be bad for them if their son infected them. They've otherwise been extremely careful.

My nephew is an anti-vaxxer. He has 3 young children and a wife (she got both shots). He's 40 and thinks he's invincible, although many of the unvaccinated in his age group are extremely ill (or worse) with the delta variant. The family has talked to him but he won't listen. His family doesn't have good insurance, and talking to him about financial ruin goes right over his head. They have a beautiful home and a good life for once. We're just hoping he gets through his game of Russian roulette. Based on his history, he'll expect the rest of the family to bail him out if he gets very ill and loses his shirt. I don't believe the family will bail him out this time, from what I can tell.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

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).

You make all the right points, which so many people refuse to acknowledge. I've been especially interested in the concept that people who refuse the vaccinations facilitate viral replication, and as a result, viral mutations that could result in vaccine resistant variants. At some point, a variant could develop that none of us would have resistance to, and that would be it for many of us.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Ok, Mr. "I will never ride mass transit or take an Uber again"

I just hope that I won't be dry humping my basement couch in my elder years....

Fyi, I never said I wouldn’t take Uber. I take it all the time. I consider it much safer than transit. As long as I live someplace with 6% test positivity, no, I’m not getting on a packed city bus or train. Go ahead if you are comfortable doing that but I’ve gotten many colds after feeling the spray on my neck from someone coughing or sneezing in the seat behind me so, unlike you, I know germs are real.

Why would you dry hump a couch? Are you admitting some irrelevant fettish?

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by AviationGuy

You make all the right points, which so many people refuse to acknowledge. I've been especially interested in the concept that people who refuse the vaccinations facilitate viral replication, and as a result, viral mutations that could result in vaccine resistant variants. At some point, a variant could develop that none of us would have resistance to, and that would be it for many of us.

The problem, of course, is that “killer variant” is most likely to arrise in some developing world backwater with a very low vaccination rate than in even the most stubborn parts of the US. I’m already wondering why there’s not yet a “Haitian variant”.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by AviationGuy

My neighbors' son, who is 50 and had no known health problems, is very ill and it isn't clear yet whether he will survive. He's an anti-vaxxer, as are his children but not his wife. One of his daughters just became ill this week. If he had been vaccinated, the chances of infection would be lower but still possible. And if he had been vaccinated and did get infected, it would be unlikely that he would be as sick as he is. He was at my neighbors' home the other day doing some work (they are in their 80s), so we're all hoping they will be ok. They're vaccinated, but again breakthrough infections do occur. They're in poor health, so it could be bad for them if their son infected them. They've otherwise been extremely careful.

My nephew is an anti-vaxxer. He has 3 young children and a wife (she got both shots). He's 40 and thinks he's invincible, although many of the unvaccinated in his age group are extremely ill (or worse) with the delta variant. The family has talked to him but he won't listen. His family doesn't have good insurance, and talking to him about financial ruin goes right over his head. They have a beautiful home and a good life for once. We're just hoping he gets through his game of Russian roulette. Based on his history, he'll expect the rest of the family to bail him out if he gets very ill and loses his shirt. I don't believe the family will bail him out this time, from what I can tell.

Sadly, the odds aren’t good. I’m with those who think this delta strain is going to hit most unvaccinated people except the few who really are hiding in their basements. In fact, it probably already has and, like last year, some people right now have asymptomatic infections, some are incubating what will become serious disease and, of course some are already in the hospital. I’m holding to my prediction we will see the peak hospitalization rates within the next 2 weeks and the peak death rates as the month ends.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

I’m holding to my prediction we will see the peak hospitalization rates within the next 2 weeks and the peak death rates as the month ends.

Then what? If people still don't get vaccinated and kids are back in school, aren't we just setting ourselves up for another wave?

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by JManc

Then what? If people still don't get vaccinated and kids are back in school, aren't we just setting ourselves up for another wave?

I suspect any future waves will be much smaller UNLESS the virus mutates significantly.

Scott Gottlieb, whom I have great respect for, estimates that 30% of Americans have been infected with coronavirus. Taking the national average of nearly 60% having had at least one shot (and most of those will hopefully get the second) and adding 30% of the unvaccinated 40%, we reach a national average of 72% (including kids who can to yet be vaccinated) with some immunity. It's probably getting to be more by the day and the people now getting infected with delta, whether vaccinated or not, many have better immunity, at least to that strain, than those of us vaccinated to the original strain.

Adding people vaccinated between now and fall--and we are still giving over 700,000 shots per day--plus people infected between now and fall, we could reach numbers that border on genuine "herd immunity" before the end of the year, especially if we start vaccinating many of the 5-11 year olds.

Nobody's sure exactly what percentage need immunity to have "herd immunity". The standard for a highly infectious virus has been measles and the required percentage for that has been considered 95%. Again, with those vaccinated plus those infected plus newly eligible younger kids getting vaccinated, I could see numbers approaching 90%. So we'll be close.

If we get close enough, possibly no more waves or very shallow ones.

That's my hope.

Of course it would be ruined by a new variant against which the vaccines we've all taken have almost no effect. We'd essentially have to start over and in the face of a lot of "vaccines don't work" propaganda.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by dktshb

Been riding transit since mid June. I also got sick in late June and worked from home for 10 days and then went back. Not sure for certain where I got sick, but suspect the gym I had just started going back to. Anyway, never got tested since this was just before we heard about vaccinated people getting covid. It felt like a bad head cold with one night of night sweats and I assumed it was just a bad cold at the time. Knowing what I know now, I am not so sure, but hope I had it and it was Delta. Anyway, in late July when I got tested because house mates on vacation tested positive I came back negative.

I don’t understand why vaccinated people who get a “head cold” feel the need to get tested for Covid. If I get sick I would do what I’ve done my entire life: rest, take Tylenol, fluids, and move on.

The whole purpose of the vaccine is to allow us to not think about Covid. That message was obviously lost. The media doesn’t want that to happen (fear and views means $$), and of course our in house Howard Hughes is having a love affair with his basement couch, so we wouldn’t want to disrupt that either.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Fyi, I never said I wouldn’t take Uber. I take it all the time. I consider it much safer than transit. As long as I live someplace with 6% test positivity, no, I’m not getting on a packed city bus or train. Go ahead if you are comfortable doing that but I’ve gotten many colds after feeling the spray on my neck from someone coughing or sneezing in the seat behind me so, unlike you, I know germs are real.

Why would you dry hump a couch? Are you admitting some irrelevant fettish?

Okay, so you just confirmed by this post that you are an irrational germaphobe. Howard is an apt nickname for you.

Meanwhile, you call me Antoine for NO reason because Antoine was an anti-vaccine guy and everybody here knows I’m a huge vaccination advocate. Hell, I just vaccinated my 12 year old son 2 days after his birthday!

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I don’t understand why vaccinated people who get a “head cold” feel the need to get tested for Covid. If I get sick I would do what I’ve done my entire life: rest, take Tylenol, fluids, and move on.

The whole purpose of the vaccine is to allow us to not think about Covid. That message was obviously lost. The media doesn’t want that to happen (fear and views means $$), and of course our in house Howard Hughes is having a love affair with his basement couch, so we wouldn’t want to disrupt that either.

Given a vaccinated person with mild COVID can actually spread it to others, it's the responsible thing to get tested, so you can quarantine and not inadvertently kill some antivax idiot...or do your normal business with a head cold.

The issue is the government tracking all "cases" of COVID in the same manner, not the testing.

[Camelback]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

^^I don't believe developing world figures. There's very little testing in places like Mexico and these numbers represent confirmed cases . . . confirmed by testing.

Mexico does a great job at testing American tourists!

[Camelback]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Some maps for today (8-11-2021)

Florida is wining. Mississippi seems to be trying to catch up. Louisiana! Holy crap!

The good thing is that 99.1% of Floridians over the age of 65 have received at least 1 shot. The bad thing is that 15% under the age of 18.

Mississippi: 65+ 84.4% - under 18: 8.5%


Idaho: under 18 - 0.2%!!

[10023]

Originally Posted by Camelback

The good thing is that 99.1% of Floridians over the age of 65 have received at least 1 shot. The bad thing is that 15% under the age of 18.

Mississippi: 65+ 84.4% - under 18: 8.5%


Idaho: under 18 - 0.2%!!

But… who cares?

If 99% of Floridians over 65 are vaccinated (and if they’ve gotten one shot there’s no reason to believe they won’t get the second), then the overall risk is manageable. Sure there is risk to the middle-aged, but presumably vaccination rates don’t drop from 99% straight down to 15% for under-65s. The under-18s are at more risk from traffic accidents.

[eschaton]

I feel like a lot of people in this thread have a hard time distinguishing between personal, individual risk and societal risk.

On one hand, it's true that individual children have very low risk. Even with delta, the risk of hospitalization among children is no higher than 2%, and may be much, much lower.

On the other hand, if you have enough people being infected simultaneously, you can have all of the children's hospitals/pediatric beds in a state fill up.