COVID Gains After Mask Rules Dropped

[+ sniper]

7 minutes ago, WilliamM said:

A bigger deal than smoking? 

 It's a big enough factor to put you in the priority list for treatment. I'm not taking about people who are 5 lbs overweight. I'm talking about people whi are heavy enough that it's effectively like having your lungs already impaired. If you are double the weight you should be, your lungs already have to work harder to oxygenate your blood( because you have more but your lungs aren't any bigger). So you're in danger from anything that impairs your lungs. Meanwhile smoking damage is cumulative...a younger smoker may not yet have totally destroyed their lungs. Older long-term smokers it's a bigger deal.

[+ nycman]

3 hours ago, WilliamM said:

A bigger deal than smoking? 

All I can tell you is that during the height of the pandemic, the ICU was full of fat, diabetic men in their 50’s. None of them were smokers. Now, that’s not a scientific study at all (maybe the thin smokers all died at home before they could get to the hospital), but it was enough that every fat doctor I know in his 50’s immediately started dieting. 

[+ KensingtonHomo]

13 hours ago, FewBricksShy said:

I don’t need your unacceptance negatively impacting my life. Your life. Your choices. My life. My choices. “We” are past the point of compelling behavior. “We” need to learn to live with COVID because “we” all know the risks. “We” don’t need people continuing to bombard us for the umpteenth time about the facts. “We” are informed now and possess the means to protect ourselves from death-dealing sickness. “We” therefore have at our disposal the tools to make individual choices that are right for us.

There are no "individual" responses to a communicable pandemic. That's the kind of thinking that prevents society-wide response. And YOU are contributing to 300+ deaths per day because you're happy to accept it. 

[FewBricksShy]

@KensingtonHomo– Oh, there’s always a response. My response is to live my life because I’ve followed the reasonable precautions when it was an acute situation. It’s not acute now. 350 deaths a day? That stat seems low me, actually, given all the handwringing, but okay. We’ll go with it. Some math…some facts, not feelings, opinions, or blame. Cold numbers. 350 daily deaths accounts for 0.000106% of the US population, or 1.06 persons per 1 million. On average, 100 people die in car accidents every day in the US. Not as high as 350, but still not a negligible amount. About 1600 people die every day from cancer in the US. About 2300 deaths a day in the US from cardiovascular disease. About 400 daily deaths in the US immediately traceable to strokes. And 130 daily suicides on average in the US. Maybe 350 deaths a day is…gasp!…just a stat at this point. 

[+ Lucky]

5 hours ago, FewBricksShy said:

@KensingtonHomo– Oh, there’s always a response. My response is to live my life because I’ve followed the reasonable precautions when it was an acute situation. It’s not acute now. 350 deaths a day? That stat seems low me, actually, given all the handwringing, but okay. We’ll go with it. Some math…some facts, not feelings, opinions, or blame. Cold numbers. 350 daily deaths accounts for 0.000106% of the US population, or 1.06 persons per 1 million. On average, 100 people die in car accidents every day in the US. Not as high as 350, but still not a negligible amount. About 1600 people die every day from cancer in the US. About 2300 deaths a day in the US from cardiovascular disease. About 400 daily deaths in the US immediately traceable to strokes. And 130 daily suicides on average in the US. Maybe 350 deaths a day is…gasp!…just a stat at this point. 

I wonder how many people die from reading insufferably selfish posts.

[Luv2play]

You can't compare 350 deaths daily from Covid to other causes of death  which are the normal statistics that change only very slowly over time. Covid is a new disease causing these deaths in addition to all the other deaths. About a million Americans have died since the pandemic started and most would still be alive except for the appearance of this new disease.

At the rate of 350 a day, that's like a jumbo jet crashing each and every day in America.

 

[FewBricksShy]

You can’t compare Covid to anything else if you insist it’s different. A jumbo jet stat is impressive, but we don’t care about the other stats, some of them much higher, because it’s not novel. We still are taking advantage of ignorance around Covid to compel people by fear. The pandemic is not the same as it was two years ago. If you want to keep living like it’s April 2020, go ahead. But we have vaccines and therapeutics. We don’t need to live like it’s the end of the world anymore. Furthermore, the ORIGINAL goal wasn’t to avoid the disease. It was to flatten the curve, or in other words, not to overwhelmed hospitals. That’s not happening now, so if we realized that goal, we’re able to go about our lives. And I don’t care if people think my response is selfish. I did what I could’ve and should’ve when there was nothing but behavioral changes that could mitigate the severity of the pandemic. The situation is different now than it was two years ago. But there are a lot of people who don’t want the pandemic to end for some warped reason. It’s almost as if they like living a shell of life. Maybe a mask gives them a sense of control of something they can’t control. People are still getting Covid even with masks. Short of becoming hermits we aren’t going to avoid Covid. Not interested.

[+ WilliamM]

Really?

Sorry,the original WAS to avoid getting sick, and possibly dying.

[FewBricksShy]

Once realized it was here, we set out to flattten the curve, so as not to mimic China and Italy. It is amazing to me that we have all but forgotten that. The goal was not to overwhelm the hospitals – precisely because we knew it unavoidable. Of course we had a secondary goal of not getting sick. But had the curve flattened early, I think our discourse around all this sound very different. 

[mike carey]

Not related to Covid, but a timely reminder that complacency and denial (likely in this case given the area where it occurred) present an ever-present danger from infectious diseases:

#BREAKING For the first time in a century a case of diphtheria of the throat has been detected in NSW. A two-year-old child from Northern NSW who was unvaccinated against the infection is in ICU at a Queensland Hospital.

@nbnnews

[+ nycman]

15 hours ago, mike carey said:

Not related to Covid, but a timely reminder that complacency and denial (likely in this case given the area where it occurred) present an ever-present danger from infectious diseases:

#BREAKING For the first time in a century a case of diphtheria of the throat has been detected in NSW. A two-year-old child from Northern NSW who was unvaccinated against the infection is in ICU at a Queensland Hospital.

@nbnnews

The child was unvaccinated, and assuming it was the parent’s choice, they
should be shot for endangering the life of a child. Not to mention, recklessly
endangering the lives of those around them whose immunity may have waned
for various reasons. 

On the flip side, I glad to know America doesn’t have a monopoly on morons. 

Edited July 3, 2022 by nycman

[mike carey]

17 minutes ago, nycman said:

On the flip side, I glad to know America doesn’t have a monopoly on morons. 

It's an 'alternative lifestyle' area with below average childhood vaccination rates. The other areas with low rates tend to be leafy suburbs where people don't remember or don't get around to having their kids vaccinated. Access to many childcare settings or to some lower income child welfare payments and tax rebates require proof. These wealthier parents either don't use this child care or aren't eligible for the payments.

[Antonio1981]

On 6/6/2022 at 3:17 PM, Vegas_nw1982 said:

I shared the story to show that no one wore masks, and there were 3 reported cases out of 3000 vaccinated passengers and crew, with 0 hospitalizations and 0 deaths.  Of those who had reported cases, they were only discovered because of mandatory regular testing of crew members.  Symptoms were so mild it was less intense than the common cold.

Haha, the question I want to ask is how you got a crew member to join you for play 4 times?! It must have been a cruisy cruise! 

[+ FreshFluff]

On 6/25/2022 at 11:45 PM, FewBricksShy said:

Once realized it was here, we set out to flattten the curve, so as not to mimic China and Italy. It is amazing to me that we have all but forgotten that. The goal was not to overwhelm the hospitals – precisely because we knew it unavoidable. Of course we had a secondary goal of not getting sick. But had the curve flattened early, I think our discourse around all this sound very different. 

That was before we knew about long COVID. The people I know who have gotten infected in the past few weeks (with BA5?), all first timers, are sicker than anyone expected. They’re still experiencing fatigue 4 weeks later. I very much hope that hope they are not affected long term. 
 

I’m going masked in crowded indoor settings and dining out outdoors only. I doubt it will be enough. 

Edited July 4, 2022 by FreshFluff

[FewBricksShy]

2 hours ago, FreshFluff said:

I’m going masked in crowded indoor settings and dining out outdoors only. I doubt it will be enough. 

That’s your choice. I had COVID about six weeks ago. I’m fine now. It was my first time. Now you know a first timer who’s had COVID in the past few weeks who didn’t get terribly sick. I’ve had sinus infections much worse than my COVID infection. 

Edited July 4, 2022 by FewBricksShy

[+ FreshFluff]

6 minutes ago, FewBricksShy said:

That’s your choice. I had COVID about six weeks ago. I’m fine now. It was my first time. Now you know a first timer who’s had COVID in the past few weeks who didn’t get terribly sick. I’ve had sinus infections much worse than my COVID infection. 

I’m glad to hear that you’re well. 

[mike carey]

Interesting segment on NPR I heard today, about the small oxygen meters used on patients. It appears that they misread blood oxygen levels for PoC. Pulse oximeters estimate oxygen levels by pulsing light through the skin and measuring the amount of light that is absorbed by the blood. Oxygenation of blood increases the amount of light that is absorbed. An under-recognised problem is that melanin in the skin also absorbs light so the darker a patient's skin the higher oxygenation level the device indicates.

A case that prompted this renewed awareness was a medical professional questioning her severely ill son's imminent discharge from hospital on the basis that his oxygen levels were normal. She was aware of a possible discrepancy and pressed the hospital, which ran an invasive oxygen level test that discovered his levels were dangerously low and he was admitted and treated.

This is something that is worth being aware of if you have darker skin. It also points to a possible contributing factor in higher death rates in minority communities.

[pubic_assistance]

On 4/29/2022 at 8:31 PM, coriolis888 said:

I was hoping to read that you were joking about "no healthy person has died from it (covid).  

I was not.

Your dentist by definition was not healthy if he died of Covid.

Assuming someone "looks healthy" doesn't mean they can avoid death from various infections including Covid.

On the other side of this my 92 year old mother in law got Covid over Christmas and was in bed for two days. Got over it within ten days. How ? BECAUSE SHE IS HEALTHY

It's a very simple explanation if you allow your brain to ignore the panic your Government has caused.

Edited July 13, 2022 by pubic_assistance

[pubic_assistance]

14 hours ago, mike carey said:

This is something that is worth being aware of if you have darker skin. It also points to a possible contributing factor in higher death rates in minority communities.

Minority communities often have higher rates of obesity which is the contributing factor in higher death rates...not melanin.

[+ augustus]

On 6/25/2022 at 11:33 AM, FewBricksShy said:

@KensingtonHomo– Oh, there’s always a response. My response is to live my life because I’ve followed the reasonable precautions when it was an acute situation. It’s not acute now. 350 deaths a day? That stat seems low me, actually, given all the handwringing, but okay. We’ll go with it. Some math…some facts, not feelings, opinions, or blame. Cold numbers. 350 daily deaths accounts for 0.000106% of the US population, or 1.06 persons per 1 million. On average, 100 people die in car accidents every day in the US. Not as high as 350, but still not a negligible amount. About 1600 people die every day from cancer in the US. About 2300 deaths a day in the US from cardiovascular disease. About 400 daily deaths in the US immediately traceable to strokes. And 130 daily suicides on average in the US. Maybe 350 deaths a day is…gasp!…just a stat at this point. 

Add in over 300 deaths A DAY from drug overdoses.

[+ augustus]

Covid or the "Fear of Covid" is the gift that keeps on giving-----despite the evidence that conventional masks are useless in transmission prevention, natural immunity is quite effective, death rates (several hundred per week) and hospitalizations related to Covid are declining and are largely confined to the elderly and those with 4 or more comorbidities.    I've lived through the hula hoop, long hair, the pet rock, disco, red suspenders, the member's only jacket, platform shoes and face tattoos.  All of the forgoing bizarre, perhaps, but still more understandable than virus face mask craze that's still going strong.

[+ augustus]

It will all be over soon.  Only 99.38% of us will survive.

[Bucky]

I procrastinated and never went in for my second booster.  

Would you suggest that 2nd booster even now OR just wait until early fall when the new, marginally more effective vaccines arrive?

[FewBricksShy]

I advocate sanity, but I’m not about to say that someone who is by all accounts healthy can’t succumb to COVID. We need to be reasonable here. Extremes don’t aren’t reflective of reality. Healthy people can get COVID and die. While unhealthy people can avoid COVID altogether. It’s really not hard. And it’s definitely not an all-or-nothing situation, either for mitigation or normal life. Life has been changed by COVID, but we needs to go on living with it. But we have to admit that anyone, and likely everyone, will get it and potentially have complicating factors that precipitate their death to it. 

[pubic_assistance]

18 minutes ago, FewBricksShy said:

Healthy people can get COVID and die.

WRONG.

I had this conversation with one of my best friends in the world who is a text-book, published immunologist.

He said ..and I quote: " By DEFINITION: If you DIED from Covid 19 >>>YOU'RE NOT HEALTHY ! "