Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #95

[dixiegirl1035]

The Olympics must be stopped- I am really worried about this

If not, I wish that there was some type of set up to gather information on transmission during such. But they don't have such tracking/requirements set up that I'm aware of.

 

[weepingangel]

Massachusetts Drops Mask Mandate, Remaining COVID Restrictions

More at link
As of midnight Saturday, Gov. Charlie Baker’s mask mandate is no more and all remaining COVID-19 restrictions in Massachusetts have been lifted.

In place of the mask mandate, the Department of Public Health has issued a new mask advisory in line with CDC guidance.

What does that mean for folks in Massachusetts?
If you’re fully vaccinated, you do not have to wear a mask inside or outside in most instances.

If you are not vaccinated, you’re advised to keep wearing your mask.

There are some exceptions to the rescinding of the mask mandate. Masks are still mandatory for everyone on public and private transportation systems (including rideshares, livery, taxi, ferries, MBTA, Commuter Rail and transportation stations), in healthcare facilities and in other settings hosting vulnerable populations, such as congregate care settings.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Perhaps there will be an antivaxxer whose life will be saved, who, after reading of this sheriff's death, immediately gets vaccinated.

Or maybe not. Reasons for refusing to be vaccinated are not necessarily based on logic.

As we all (I assume most here are post vaccinated) move into the next phase - it will be choices that we make as to moving forward. Is it still something that even if we are vaccinated that we still wear masks in close quarters inside in public (yes for me). Do we now go out and have lunch and dinners at places that have patios (yes for me). Do we have dinner parties with cards/board games with less than 4 others that we know have been VERY careful during the pandemic and respectful of isolations etc (yes for me).

I do have one thought that will be a turning point, and is VERY near right now. It is that the folks who deny or don't want the vaccine... it is their choice to take the risk. EVERYONE that is not a stone knows the risks potentially. It's analagous that I smoke cigarettes. Yeppers, that can KILL ME, my risk of soooooooooooo many diseases is increased MANY fold. Sooooo... I'm moving to this space now in that it is their choice as we move to more than 50%-60% in my area I think...

So next time someone asks, I'll just state that comparison.

Your choice, I don't agree...

 

[GRT]

"Moderna scientists and executives laid out their plans to combat new strains of the virus that causes Covid-19 at a virtual investor event on Thursday, saying that new waves of the epidemic are on their way.

“As the virus spreads, it is rapidly mutating,” the company’s chief scientific officer, Melissa Moore, said on the call. “Some of these new viral strains appear to be even more transmissible than the original strain… We already know that some of these new strains are less susceptible to neutralization by our current vaccine.”

Moderna Warns New Waves of Covid-19 Are Coming​

 

[tabitha111]

GISAID - hCov19 Variants
India variants-UK 8,956, US 1,520, Germany 412, Australia 145 !!!!!, Japan 157, Canada 163....Other variants also seem to be increasing-mixing most likely. (The reported numbers are 10/14 days old-sequencing takes time!)

The selection process due to mutations mean immunity evading variants will increase...reopenings means more room for spread...but it is a repeat of last year's story...this pandemic is far from over. Also when you look at the undercurrent of variants-the problem is sequencing is limited-results can take 10 to 14 days...So-if the general numbers are going down-"party time" "we did beat the virus"...or did we?

The UK reporting 4,182 new cases should be alarming! Due to vaccines it has become more of a "third world" problem-out of control...COVID Live Update: 170,257,642 Cases and 3,540,436 Deaths from the Coronavirus - Worldometer (worldometers.info)

 

[tabitha111]

Comment: The US has 50% of its population vaccinated-that is far from herd immunity.

Vaccination rates for American adults continue to increase across the United States, but progress is uneven, with Southern states lagging.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Mississippi and Alabama have the lowest vaccination rates in the country, with 31.8% and 33.9% of the adult population vaccinated, respectively. Maine has the highest vaccination rate, with 60.8%.
California, New York, New Mexico, Colorado, Iowa, and Minnesota have all passed the 50% mark in recent days, the paper reported.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID Data Tracker shows 361,250,445 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been delivered in the US, and 290,724,607 have been administered, with 132,769,894 Americans fully vaccinated.

 

[Sprockett7701]

GISAID - hCov19 Variants
India variants-UK 8,956, US 1,520, Germany 412, Australia 145 !!!!!, Japan 157, Canada 163....Other variants also seem to be increasing-mixing most likely. (The reported numbers are 10/14 days old-sequencing takes time!)

The selection process due to mutations mean immunity evading variants will increase...reopenings means more room for spread...but it is a repeat of last year's story...this pandemic is far from over. Also when you look at the undercurrent of variants-the problem is sequencing is limited-results can take 10 to 14 days...So-if the general numbers are going down-"party time" "we did beat the virus"...or did we?

The UK reporting 4,182 new cases should be alarming! Due to vaccines it has become more of a "third world" problem-out of control...COVID Live Update: 170,257,642 Cases and 3,540,436 Deaths from the Coronavirus - Worldometer (worldometers.info)

I spoke to a friend last week, who lives in Perth, Australia, where we have been very fortunate to not really have experienced the pandemic-only from afar. However, he has been planning to move to Scotland to retire and has begun the process of winding up his decades old business, and as of tax time(June) the business will cease to exist. Those plans have all been put on hold indefinitely. He said to me the other day that things are going to get worse...and I’m starting to think he’s right.

 

[GRT]

"Genetic sequencing indicated that the new variant was a mix of the coronavirus strains first detected in the United Kingdom and India, said Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long, according to the VnExpress newspaper.

The minister said that the new variant was particularly contagious via air and that viral cultures have revealed that it replicates extremely quickly, the newspaper reported.

“The new variant is very dangerous,” Long said in a statement."​

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/05/29/vietnam-hybrid-variant-covid-virus/

 

[margarita25]

Latest:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

I had no idea it was this bad in Manitoba, Canada.

Patients suffering, dying while waiting for care as Manitoba hospitals overwhelmed by COVID-19, doctors say

Yes, Dr. O was talking about this on his latest podcast. They are having to airlift patients out to other provinces and even the States due to max capacity, iirc jmo.

—

Eta 2 days ago:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mani...ng-attempt-covid-19-patient-consent-1.6042336

—

Eta2:
Additionally, wrt “breakthrough cases”, Dr. O was talking about some interesting stuff on his latest podcast, that the US CDC is only doing genomic sequencing of 5 percent of breakthrough cases, AND only on ones with severe illness or death, which Dr. O says is a huge mistake wrt evaluating potential for variants to evade vaccines.

 

[margarita25]

Wuhan lab leak: Why scientists are interested in this Covid origin theory - CNNPolitics

Yes, while it’s not impossible, and most certainly needs to be investigated, etc., most doctors/scientists I’ve heard talk about this lean more toward the likelihood of zoonotic spillover as origin, as this is how SARS and MERS emerged.

 

[margarita25]

Second Denver Sheriff's deputy dies from COVID-19 this month
Daniel “Duke” Trujillo, a former Marine, was 33

 

[SouthAussie]

GISAID - hCov19 Variants
India variants-UK 8,956, US 1,520, Germany 412, Australia 145 !!!!!, Japan 157, Canada 163....Other variants also seem to be increasing-mixing most likely. (The reported numbers are 10/14 days old-sequencing takes time!)

The selection process due to mutations mean immunity evading variants will increase...reopenings means more room for spread...but it is a repeat of last year's story...this pandemic is far from over. Also when you look at the undercurrent of variants-the problem is sequencing is limited-results can take 10 to 14 days...So-if the general numbers are going down-"party time" "we did beat the virus"...or did we?

The UK reporting 4,182 new cases should be alarming! Due to vaccines it has become more of a "third world" problem-out of control...COVID Live Update: 170,257,642 Cases and 3,540,436 Deaths from the Coronavirus - Worldometer (worldometers.info)

I saw the 145 for Australia and had to go searching for what that reference was speaking of ... because it would have been a huge surprise to me if the Melbourne outbreak had become that large overnight. But the 145 is primarily speaking of the returned travellers (in quarantine) who have had the Indian variant when they arrived here - despite pre-boarding testing.

Our Melbourne cluster is currently at 35. It is of great concern though, as there are over 120 contact places - they say potentially 14,000 people have been exposed. Hundreds of people there are now self isolating, and they are in a snap lockdown.

Covid 19 coronavirus: Five new Melbourne cases - Australian Prime Minister due to land in NZ - NZ Herald

 

[ilovewings]

If not, I wish that there was some type of set up to gather information on transmission during such. But they don't have such tracking/requirements set up that I'm aware of.

I am hoping and praying that pressure is brought to bear on whoever it is
that seems to be insisting the olympics will go on-- that is just plain stupid
and arrogant---There are a surge of cases in Japan and many many people
in Japan do not want these,games to go forward---there is great concern for a variant emerging from Japan that could spread globally

 

[SouthAussie]

I am hoping and praying that pressure is brought to bear on whoever it is
that seems to be insisting the olympics will go on-- that is just plain stupid
and arrogant---There are a surge of cases in Japan and many many people
in Japan do not want these,games to go forward---there is great concern for a variant emerging from Japan that could spread globally

Unfortunately, the athletes are really excited to be going. All having their vaccines, training hard, and looking forward to it. Which doesn't help matters.
Especially if there are countries who will be sending unvaccinated athletes and staff to the games (which is something that I haven't been able to determine the answer).

 

[ilovewings]

Vietnam says it has detected a more contagious hybrid of variants first seen in India and Britain.

Uh-oh: new hybrid variant detected in Vietnam

 

[GRT]

I am hoping and praying that pressure is brought to bear on whoever it is
that seems to be insisting the olympics will go on-- that is just plain stupid
and arrogant---There are a surge of cases in Japan and many many people
in Japan do not want these,games to go forward---there is great concern for a variant emerging from Japan that could spread globally

I have to agree. It's foolhardy. I get it that the athletes have trained for this and want to compete, but they could reassess the situation next year. Sure, they usually hold them every four years, but there's no rule that says they can't postpone one by a single year.

 

[GRT]

Unfortunately, the athletes are really excited to be going. All having their vaccines, training hard, and looking forward to it. Which doesn't help matters.
Especially if there are countries who will be sending unvaccinated athletes and staff to the games (which is something that I haven't been able to determine the answer).

I wonder about that, too. I hope being vaccinated is a requirement, if they choose to go ahead. But, when so many people in the host nation are hesitant, I think they ought to respect those feelings.

 

[ilovewings]

I have to agree. It's foolhardy. I get it that the athletes have trained for this and want to compete, but they could reassess the situation next year. Sure, they usually hold them every four years, but there's no rule that says they can't postpone one by a single year.

Absolutely--- it could be held next year- that makes so much more sense.

 

[SouthAussie]

I wonder about that, too. I hope being vaccinated is a requirement, if they choose to go ahead. But, when so many people in the host nation are hesitant, I think they ought to respect those feelings.

Yes, not disagreeing with you. Just mentioning my observations.

Also, they have already postponed last year. It was supposed to be the Summer Olympics 2020. I truly think that economic drivers are causing them to insist on hosting the Olympics this year, despite the feeling of their people.

And as we all know, economics are the cause of much spread of the virus. It happened in the US, Europe ... so many countries.

 

[LadyL]

Rare COVID-19 blood clots tied to cold viruses, German scientists say