Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #104

[Turkeytrot]

I have heard that there are many phobia conditions, and many autistic individuals experience different forms of trauma. I do believe there are valid and understandable cases.

I made a couple of trips back and forth between New England and Florida this Fall........ I just could not believe the differences in mask wearing between the two areas. Such a percentage of folks in New England just casually putting on their masks as they entered a building. Florida, none. This was before Omicron... so many more masks down here now...

Absolutely - autistic individuals or really any disability that comes with sensory difficulties, may not be able to wear a mask. That's the case with my son because of his disabilities, so we've kept him home as much as possible. He's exempt from the requirement, but I also don't think it's worth the risk of taking him in stores, etc.

Heck, I'm vaccinated and I wear a mask, but I avoid public places unless necessary too.

 

[WildOrchid]

Wow! Very powerfully stated. I agree !

Sure, let's use the Middle Ages as a baseline. Prepare to die from any number of diseases, then, probably by age 30 for those who are younger than that.

Of course we don't live in an authoritarian, centralized government such as China. They did all this when Covid began in Wuhan last year. Even plastered people inside their homes so they couldn't leave. The Chinese government is also not going to readily admit their caseload. They didn't last year and certainly won't now, with the Olympics on the horizon.

This couldn't and shouldn't work in America. What CAN work in America is a greater understanding that with our freedom comes a responsibility. In gun states, don't shoot each other. If you drink, don't get behind the wheel. Get your children vaccinated with the ordinary panel of vaccines, pre-Covid, or they can't attend school.

Oh, and if it is our turn for a pandemic, as has occurred throughout history, take the easy measures that are free and available to us. Get vaccinated, get boosted---free and easy. Wear a high-grade mask---easy and costs a few dollars.

All of us are obviously on the Internet, so I can reasonably infer we can afford to pay for masks. The only cloth masks I've ever used are three or four layers with the nose wire and a filter, but now I'll just use a KN95.

I've forfeited so many things since Covid, but no one in my family has gotten Covid as of yet. It's weighing the balances for me....should I forfeit that New Years's party I'm invited to, or should I forfeit a family member if I catch the virus there?

Etcetera.

IMO.

 

[Turkeytrot]

<modsnip - quoted post removed>

How are you feeling?

 

[CharlestonGal]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/qr-code-hamilton-covid-19-1.6299207

Ontario residents will need a QR code to prove their vaccination status as of Jan. 4.

That means starting next Tuesday, if you want to eat inside a restaurant, or sit in at a bar, movie theatre or other settings, proof of vaccination without a QR code won't be enough.

The province also said those places won't be able to accept doctor notes as of Jan. 10. (Those with an eligible medical exemption can ask their doctor or a registered nurse to submit the exemption for review in order to receive a QR code.)

Here's what you need to know about getting your QR code, including how to get a free card that features your code.

<more at link>

 

[Mauig’ma]

How are you feeling?

100% better. Thank you for asking.<modsnip -no link>

 

[nhmemorymaker]

The unmasked elderly where I live do so because they are under the mistaken impression that the 3x vaxxed is enough. I believe it is just total ignorance not anything malicous (here in my community- outside of here well...).
We are required to wear masks on our bus that takes us out in town but some here do not even do that as the mask is "too hard to breathe in".
Also, this place is like high school again...peer pressure...if no one is wearing a mask, they don't want to labeled the local weirdo by wearing one (see: myself)
I get told I am smart here but no one dares to emulate me less they be thought strange. It's like high school in so many ways- who you sit and eat with, who you socialize with, who the social butterflys are who the introverts are....

wow, just wow.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I can relate to the mask phobia, somewhat. I didn't realize I had that problem until I had to do the gas chamber with a military issue gas mask. I had a full blown panic attack within moments of putting that thing on. Since there is no such thing as a gas mask exemption I was ineligible for continued service unless I could get over it. It took a series of biofeedback sessions but I eventually was able to get over the issue, wearing that awful thing for 12 hour stretches sometimes in Iraq. But I hated every minute of it.

I wonder what the local response would be if I showed up at Harris Teeter wearing that? Lol!

ETA:

Military Gas Mask K10 - EOD Technology

your post is no giggle...that is for sure. But, so sorry, I just had to...

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I think you cannot rely on the CDC for accurate information--Dont
know what happened to this once highly respected government department
but they have been disappointing during this pandemic

I, too, am feeling very confused.... but I just can't spew anger...... IF we were a more tolerant nation, I think they would be and should be firmer on stuff... but we know they are facing lots of qualified medical people pointing fingers at them as well as the all mighty ignorant throwing daggers at them.....try to put yourself on the tip of their spear... This is such a no win, when it is all hitting us all so fast.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/12/28/iowa-dale-weeks-hospitals-covid-sepsis/

If this was my dad (and it very well could have been) I’d be seeing red, to say the least.

This article may be behind a paywall for some........ but this says it all.
At least, when I get so angry about this... I feel some guilt that I am angry at my fellow man. But my fellow man who only espouses freeeedom from govment, about the vaccinations feels no caring, no empathy and no understanding of how much harm is truly truly happening to others.

""
When Weeks was finally able to have surgery more than two weeks later, his condition from sepsis had worsened. Weeks died Nov. 28 of complications after surgery. He was 78.

Anthony Weeks, his son, said that the family believes their vaccinated and boosted father was the latest indirect victim of the pandemic — and that he would have survived his sepsis diagnosis if he was immediately admitted to a larger medical center that had an open bed.

“The frustrating thing was not that we wanted him to get care that others weren’t getting, but that he didn’t get care when he needed it. And when he did get it, it was too late,” he said. “The question comes up of: ‘Who was in those beds?’ If it’s people who are unvaccinated with covid, then that’s the part where it really hurts.”
""

 

[nhmemorymaker]

The problem is that the CDC depends on state health departments and hospitals for data. There is minimal sampling and testing for omicron by both states and hospitals, so the the data coming in is limited. At the hospital level, they are less likely to be looking at epidemiology and more focused on treatment. Some states have minimal sampling for mutant variations, and just measure positive cases. So, the CDC must use and periodically correct statistical modeling in lieu of actual testing.

IMO, based on the political realities here in the US, the CDC is doing the best they can. Our health policies are now influenced by politics, not just health…

Boy, you said it SO MUCH BETTER than I could, than I did........ thank you

 

[nhmemorymaker]

In my son's situation where there were 8 together for Christmas and where his brother-in-law tested positive a couple of days later, this is the status so far.

My son does have shortness of breath. He doesn't smoke nor has he ever had a lung condition. He has all the other symptoms, fatigue, cough, runny nose, sore throat. He's waiting for the tests to come by mail from his company, should be today. They are PCR tests, I thought they were rapid tests. My mistake. My daughter-in-law is going to the pharmacy today to get a rapid test done because she has MS.

The 81 year old grandfather is the only other person so far to test positive except for the brother-in-law who came down with it first. Two others have tested negative.

I hope they have enough tests... new word is that 35% of the rapid tests are reporting false negatives......

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I guess it depends on if we are using the 21st century or the Middle Ages as a baseline.

oh right... lets use the Middle ages when everyone died of the plague before age 30...yeah that's a great comparison!!

 

[indicolite22]

Italian anti-vaxx radio personality who boasted of being a 'plague spreader' dies from Covid | Daily Mail Online

• Maurizio Buratti was a regular caller on Zanzara radio for 10 years in Italy
• He boasted of going to a supermarket with a 38-degree fever without a mask
• The 61-year-old was in intensive care for 22 days but remained anti-vaxx

 

[indicolite22]

Also from the above link:

Dutch economist Robin Fransman, the founder of an anti-lockdown group who refused to get vaccinated because coronavirus poses a "minimal risk," has died of COVID-19. He was 53.

Fransman along with several other academics and economists co-founded an anti-lockdown organisation called Herstel-NL. The organisation created a research-backed road-map which it said would allow the Netherlands to operate during Covid without lockdowns.

...he proposed the country could largely remain open by introducing 'safe zones' open exclusively to vulnerable individuals, thereby allowing workers and younger people to operate with more freedom.

 

[anneg]

IMO, some folks here are using anecdotal reports to make assertions about Covid and vaccination status. Anecdotal evidence is not reliable and needs to be backed up with scientific data. The scientific evidence is that fully vaccinated people (with a booster) are doing far better than unvaccinated people when getting Covid, either delta or omicron. They are far more likely to avoid severe illness, hospitalization, and death. MOO

From the CDC:
Summary

• People who were unvaccinated had a greater risk of testing positive for COVID-19 and a greater risk of dying from COVID-19 than people who were fully vaccinated (see below for the most recent rates).
• Unvaccinated people in all age groups had higher case and death rates than fully vaccinated people in the same age groups.
• Case and death rates for people fully vaccinated with any of the three vaccine types (Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen) were much lower than for unvaccinated people.
• People who were fully vaccinated with an additional or booster dose had lower case rates compared with those without an additional or booster dose. Both of these groups had much lower risk of testing positive for COVID-19 and a lower risk of dying from COVID-19 compared with people who were unvaccinated.
  • People ages 65 and older had a larger overall benefit from receiving an additional or booster dose, compared with those 50-64 years.

Note: data in this publication are only through October 31, so do not reflect omicron. IMO, the benefit of vaccination, especially with a booster, should be similar for infection with the omicron variant in terms of reducing the risk of severe infection or death.

 

[LaborDayRN]

I'm morbidly curious to see if it works.

ETA: This is why I have to roll my eyes at people in the US who complain about our government's "draconian" measures and "tyranny". Er...what? jmo

Isn't that the truth!!

 

[MrX]

oh right... lets use the Middle ages when everyone died of the plague before age 30...yeah that's a great comparison!!

Sealing people inside their houses doesn't sound very "21st Century" to me.

 

[LaborDayRN]

How about this for heavy handed.


Chinese lockdown rule-breakers are publicly shamed to ensure Covid rules are obeyed | Daily Mail Online


Armed riot police in southern China have paraded four alleged violators of Covid rules through the streets, leading to criticism of the government's heavy handed approach.

Four masked suspects in hazmat suits - carrying placards displaying their photos and names - were paraded Tuesday in front of a large crowd in Guangxi region's Jingxi city.

Photos of the event showed each suspect held by two police officers - wearing face shields, masks and hazmat suits - and surrounded by a circle of police in riot gear, some holding guns.

The public shaming was part of disciplinary measures announced by the local government in August to punish those breaking health rules.

China banned such public shaming of criminal suspects in 2010 after decades of campaigning by human rights activists, but the practice has resurfaced as local governments struggle to enforce the national zero-Covid policy.

It comes as locked-down residents in one of China's biggest cities say they are at risk of starving in their homes after they were banned from going outside even to buy food under harsh new Covid measures sparked by just a few dozen cases.

Apparatchiks running the city of Xi'an on Monday told 13 million people they are only allowed out of their homes when invited to take part in a new round of mass testing, or for medical emergencies.

I can't even imagine not being able to go out of my home even to get food. Or being paraded in the street for trying to leave my home.
Reports like these make me so thankful I live in the U.S. Sure, we have our problems but overall we live a life that many people can only dream to one day live. IMO

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

More cruise ships under CDC investigation due to COVID cases - ABC News (go.com)

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating more cruise ships due to new COVID-19 cases aboard

MIAMI -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating more cruise ships due to new cases of COVID-19 as the omicron variant drives extremely high infection levels in the industry hub of Florida.

The CDC said 88 vessels are now either under investigation or observation, but it did not specify how many COVID-19 cases have been reported. Four other vessels are also being monitored by the CDC as well...

I knew this would happen, and I'm so glad that we did not book a cruise for this winter. As much as we long to escape Michigan winter, it's not in our best interest to fly, stay in a hotel, and embark a cruise ship with 3000+ passengers and 1000+ crew. We survived winter last year and will do our best to cope with another Michigan winter without a break.

 

[ilovewings]

I, too, am feeling very confused.... but I just can't spew anger...... IF we were a more tolerant nation, I think they would be and should be firmer on stuff... but we know they are facing lots of qualified medical people pointing fingers at them as well as the all mighty ignorant throwing daggers at them.....try to put yourself on the tip of their spear... This is such a no win, when it is all hitting us all so fast.

I dont mean or want to spew anger-- one of tbeir big mistakes IMO was
when they advised vaccinated people that they could stop wearing masks- this advice was shortly followed by outbreak of Delta--- why didnt they anticipate
this aggressive variant? they are supposed to be on top of it-- so what happened was Delta hit and unvaccinated folks decided they didnt have to mask up and
Delta took off and caused a massive surge.