Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

This fight is for everything.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

We are aware of all internet traditions.

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You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

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You can’t love your country only when you win.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Of Course

Of Course

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This post is in: 

They fuck up from bean to cup:

When Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced this week that the federal government would begin releasing coronavirus vaccine doses held in reserve for second shots, no such reserve existed, according to state and federal officials briefed on distribution plans. The Trump administration had already begun shipping out what was available beginning at the end of December, taking second doses directly off the manufacturing line.

Now, health officials across the country who had anticipated their extremely limited vaccine supply as much as doubling beginning next week are confronting the reality that their allocations will not immediately increase, dashing hopes of dramatically expanding eligibility for millions of elderly people and those with high-risk medical conditions. Health officials in some cities and states were informed in recent days about the reality of the situation, while others are still in the dark.
For what it’s worth, this piece at Vox examines whether it’s safe to go to the grocery store.  It points out that Austria has been distributing the Euro equivalent of N95 masks to those 65 and older, and Bavaria in German has been mandating those masks on public transport.  I switched to wearing a KN95 a few weeks ago, but I still go grocery shopping.  That’s my only indoor exposure of note.  I did do some research on KN95s when I bought them, so if there’s interest I can write up a post on it.  I’m no expert, of course.

Reader Interactions

175Comments

  2. 2.

    PenandKey

    @mrmoshpotato: Well, yes, the principles of failed coups tend not to fare well in the aftermath. News like this post don’t improve their odds of escaping striped uniforms and communal bathrooms either.

  3. 3.

    Elizabelle

    I was wondering if a KN95 was pretty much the equivalent of an N95 mask.

    Ordered a 20-pack from Amazon, after seeing that Vox article yesterday.  Have been using the paper surgical masks with a wire at the top for a closer fit.

  4. 4.

    RepubAnon

    Always wear a mask, try to avoid crowds, and wait for the vaccines. All we can do.

    On a related note, there’s apparently lots more novel viruses waiting in the wings. We’re going to need those masks for the foreseeable future.

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    Money quotes for me from the Vox story (no paywall):

    “Shopping for five minutes in the grocery store is a lot better — six times better — than shopping for 30 minutes,” said Tom Frieden, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, since the odds of becoming infected rise the longer you’re exposed. “Picking up groceries at the curbside is even better, and having them delivered is even better still.” (If you’re able to get groceries delivered or pick up curbside, it will also help reduce the risk for those who can’t.)

    ….
    When you do have to be around other people, use a mask — but not just any mask. The other lesson of the new variants, Frieden told Vox, is that we need to get better at masking.
    “The fact that [the variants] are so infectious suggests to me having a better mask is a good idea,” Frieden said. When it comes to avoiding an infection, “a surgical mask is better than a cloth mask, a tight-fitting surgical mask is better than a loose-fitting mask, and an N95 is better than a surgical mask.”
    Most Americans, however, still rely on cloth masks. Part of the problem is that the CDC continues to recommend cloth masks — what should have been a stopgap measure while the government procured better, medical-grade masks for citizens, Zeynep Tufekci and Jeremy Howard pointed out in the Atlantic.
    This is a failure at a time when other countries around the world have managed to follow the evidence and get high-quality face coverings to people. It’s also an opportunity for the Biden administration to show leadership and learn from other countries.

  6. 6.

    patrick II

    I went bi-weekly grocery shopping after 10:00 pm at a large store near my home Wednesday night.  There were just three cars in the lot when I pulled up, and when I went in I could see no one but a cashier and a guard over to the side. No one else was around. I began shopping for vegetables, and was at a tomato stand selecting firm tomatoes when a guy comes up from behind, stands next to me, should to shoulder — do you mind? he says — and starts selecting tomatoes.  Fuck! 80,000 square feet and he has to be right there at that moment because evidently he needs tomatoes right now and nothing else will do.

    I didn’t yell.  getting in a yelling match about COVID while two feet apart would be too dumb.  So, I just walked away, waited for him to finish and move on, and then went back to get some tomatoes.

    I can’t believe people sometimes.  He was probably there for the same reason as I — to avoid crowds — but he just couldn’t wait 30 seconds while I finished.

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    @RepubAnon:   Yes.  I think COVID is our wakeup call.  More pandemics coming, and we could do a lot better.

    Asian countries do so much better because they had their wakeup call with SARS earlier a decade or so ago, and they comply with mask-wearing.  They’re used to living in crowded urban settings, too, which calls for more cooperation and consideration.

    Something alien to too many selfish American “exceptionalists.”

  8. 8.

    Ohio Mom

    mrmoshpotato:

    Eh, they still have Jared’s slumlord business to fall back on.

    And they’ll eventually be invited back into their old social circles, everyone of their old chums has similarly dirty hands, even if they’ve managed to be more discreet about the crimes behind their fortunes.

  9. 9.

    patrick II

    I got on the list with Sentera (my local hospital chain) for my immunization.  I am 72.  I asked when the vaccine might be available to me.  “Sometime this spring”.

    Great.  At least six more grocery shopping trips.

  10. 10.

    sab

    I am curious. When Alex Azar announced this release was he lying, or did he not know that there was no reserve? Neither one makes him look particularly competent.

  13. 13.

    DCA

    Over 65 in SoCal: about 10 days ago I cancelled all optional medical appointments; already doing only curbside grocery once a week at 7 AM, and daily walk, early morning, in a very quiet neighborhood. Otherwise, shelter in place, get delivery, and spend too much time reading blogs.  I’m very fortunate, I know.

  15. 15.

    SiubhanDuinne

    This is just wildly off-topic, but I’m going nuts here, and it is an open thread.

    There’s a commercial/series of commercials for CarShield, which appears to be some kind of supplemental auto insurance. There are several variants of the ad, but one of them has a guy who says — this is what I’m hearing (Mondegreen), I don’t think he’s actually saying this: “ANIMALS! WHO DOES THAT!?”  My query to the BJ hive mind: What is he saying that I’m hearing as “Animals!”?

  16. 16.

    Ken

    @sab: When Alex Azar announced this release was he lying, or did he not know that there was no reserve?

    The usual response is “why not both”, but I’m having trouble figuring out a way to make that work.  Maybe he didn’t know there was a reserve, but was also lying because they weren’t actually going to release it?

  17. 17.

    Doug R

    @Elizabelle: I’ve been using the 3 layer medical style which works out to about 20 cents a mask lately.

    I tried buying a pack of the KN95 at about $2 a piece and the the earloop strap is so tight it pulls off by bending my ear.

    Testing seems to show those 3 layers are actually very effective anyway, and maybe someone else in my family with less floppy ears can use those KN95s.

  18. 18.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle: I have been using KN95s for awhile. Got from a medical supply place. Around $3.50 a piece. Had read so many on Amazon were fake/poorly made. Details on yours?

  19. 19.

    Other MJS

    I have been using KN-95’s for a while and I’m baffled at how little attention they’re getting. The filtering specs seem trivially different from N-95s; the only downside are the ear loops, but once i get it in place it conforms to my face nicely. Also, it “tents” over my mouth, which is more comfortable for me than a cloth mask. I use one for each day of the week as long as they appear in near-mint condition.

  20. 20.

    Suzanne

    @patrick II:

    I can’t believe people sometimes.  He was probably there for the same reason as I — to avoid crowds — but he just couldn’t wait 30 seconds while I finished. 

    I have been doing grocery shopping later on weeknights, and that has been good. Because you’re right…. a couple of times I’d been at Aldi or wherever and some douchecanoe decided that they needed the one thing I was looking at or standing near. Like…. I already am over here by myself, FUCK OFF.

  21. 21.

    sab

    @patrick II:  Do any of your groceries have curbside pickup. I just started doing that a couple of weeks ago and it is great.

    Of course there is a learning curve. Every store is different. My big local grocery store I ordered what I thought was a bunch of leeks, and got one small leek. My local organic grocery I ordered what I thought was a single bell pepper and got a pound. (A pound is a lot of bell peppers.) But they are consistent within their own rules. And as you scroll through the tedious menus you learn about products they have that you never actually noticed on the shelves.

  22. 22.

    rikyrah

    I told you. There was no plan. No real plan for ACTUAL distribution.
    Remember, we have already been told – they turned down possible additional doses from Pfizer AND Moderna.
    They had the scam ready to re-create the Hunger Games with the states.

    Some sort of middle man for the ‘scarce’ vaccine was being set up.

    STOP STOP STOP STOP
    believing that this was incompetence.
    It’s being done EXACTLY as it was designed to do.
    Only 46’s Election put the bricks on their plan.
    And, now, they are left scrambling to try and cover for their TRUE intentions.
    Cause, their TRUE intentions SHOULD LAND THEM IN JAIL.

  23. 23.

    debbie

    @Elizabelle:

    I recently switched from cloth to paper masks because they’re better at not fogging up my #@$! glasses. I tried everything I could think of (defogging fluid, tucking underneath bottom of glasses, using adhesive nose wires), but nothing worked. Odd bit of good luck I did switch, I guess.

  25. 25.

    Just Chuck

    Every time I see Azar’s name I think of Frank Azar, Colorado’s most well-known ambulance chaser.  Pretty sure Saul Goodman was modeled on him, except for the character they added a soul.

  29. 29.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @patrick II:

    A few weeks ago I voted in the Georgia Senate runoffs. Stood in line for about 45 minutes outside, another 15-20 in the building. When I joined the line, I stood a good 6’ from the woman in front of me. But the woman who joined behind me kept encroaching in my space. I would turn around and glare at her and she would back off. Then, a few minutes later, she’d push up close behind me again. Another glare from me, another back off from her. Rinse, repeat, probably at least half a dozen times. I expect I should have said something, but despite my reputation here, I’m not very confrontational. But it pissed me off, and I put her down in my mind as a Trumper, just because.

  33. 33.

    Kelly

    I’ll stay with the cloth mask Mrs Kelly sewed for me in the beginning of this mess. Two layers of moderately heavy cotton fabric custom fit to enclose my beard. Commercial masks would be leaky around my beard. Not gonna shave. No one has seen my chin since 1975.

  34. 34.

    Elizabelle

    @Quinerly:   Here’s what I ordered from Amazon.  They’re allegedly coming in Tuesday.  They’re $39 plus tax for 20.

    KN95 Face Mask 20Pcs, Included on FDA EUA List, 5 Layer Design Cup Dust Safety Masks, Breathable Protection Masks Against PM2.5 Dust Bulk for Adult, Men, Women, Indoor, Outdoor Use, Black
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08KWFWXKJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    Lot of positive reviews.  We shall see.

    I like the paper surgical masks, for wearing with glasses (although still problematic indoors).

    Some reviewer said these KN95s work well with glasses.  TBC.

  36. 36.

    prostratedragon

    @mrmoshpotato: At RawStory they transcribed some of the more hilarious details of that report:

    Dreaming of being naked before the examining board — oh, you say you’re all awake?!

    I talked to a lot of sources today who say they’re questioning everything now, from where they’re going to live after the White House to what their careers will be.

    Save us and help us:

    Additionally, she said that the Trump riots are making it “very difficult for them to tout any achievements they’ve made inside this administration” that they were planning to make as part of a “farewell tour.”

  37. 37.

    sab

    @SiubhanDuinne: We had one of those in front of us when we voted in November. Fortunately he was in front of us. But unfortunate because the guy being encroached on in front of him had a Coasty Veteran hat on. My husband was a Coasty (one enlistment term, not career) and was desperate to talk to the career guy, but nut job in between prevented that.

  39. 39.

    Another Scott

    @sab: J orders stuff delivered from Safeway every couple of weeks.  Their website is horrible – e.g. one cannot tell if one is ordering apples by the each or by the pound.  (She recently thought she was ordering a pound of apples and got 1.)  They also do weird substitutions at times.  She usually doesn’t know what she’ll actually get until she unloads the bags.

    We tried InstaCart a few times early on.  Sometimes it was great.  The last few times I would get the notice that the shopping was done, drive there, get a call that the guy was delayed, wait and wait and go in the store and be told that the guy wasn’t around…  It ended up taking twice as long as if I had done the shopping myself (and cost a lot more).  How well it works is totally a function of the particular picker and bringer that you get.

    For reasons like this, I don’t see in-store shopping going away.  I still go inside TJs and Target about once a month (I try to pick off-peak times).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  41. 41.

    debbie

    @Elizabelle:

    Nice that they have color choices!

    I’ve had really good luck with United Medical Masks. They may not be as cheap as some of the garbage on Amazon, but I’d bet the quality is much higher: the nose wires on the paper masks really mold to my nose. I just ordered 10 KN95s for $35.00, less 20% for some special promotion. They also have other PPE supplies. Shipping’s great too!

  43. 43.

    Quinerly

    @Elizabelle: I like these very much. Especially the black ones. Report back. ? I have put in my cart but will chill on them a few days. Much cheaper than the medical site.

  44. 44.

    Ken

    @sab: Their plan was to get themselves vaccinated. That was all there was to their plan.

    Oh, I’m sure there was some skimming involved too, if not theft and re-sale of vaccines. All that practice with the PPE back in March through May, you know.

  45. 45.

    mali muso

    I have been using online ordering and delivery via Instacart from Aldi and Costco (making sure to tip very generously) and then supplementing any impulse buys from the Target app using their contactless curb-side pick-up.  I’m not in a high-risk category, but I have no desire to catch this thing and take my chances.

  46. 46.

    gwangung

    I’ve gone with Powecom’s KN-95s, which have been approved by the CDC for emergency medical use. Which means for use in medical environments with spurting blood and high loads of virus.

    Available from bondfidemasks.com; they come with anti-fake seals that you can check with the manufacturer

     

    I also shop often, but only ten minutes or less at a time.

  48. 48.

    Sayne

    @Elizabelle: It’s not, it’s a different standard.

    The filtration level of the medium might be similar, but real N95s use elastic head straps and make a tight seal around the face.  It should be slightly difficult to breath through a real N95 due to the resistance of the filter, and when you exhale you should not be able to feel any air leaking out of the sides of the mask whatsoever.

    There’s no way to get a seal like that with an ear-loop KN95

    I’m not saying they’re not better than a bog-standard cloth mask or maybe even better than a surgical mask.  But they are definitely not the same as N95s.

  49. 49.

    Glidwrith

    Research professional here: KN95 masks are NOT the same as N95. The N95 designation is only for US made masks which conform to specific performance. KN95 masks are foreign-made. The review I read (my apologies, on phone at work so no link) said not only was there lot to lot variation, but variations within a lot, which shows very poor quality control. Best advice: don’t go out at all. Second best: N95 with goggles. 3rd best: 2-3 layers with googles and hope you stay lucky.

    ETA: And for the love of god, quit using the bloody face shields. There is NO protection from air born aerosols.

  54. 54.

    The Moar You Know

    Don’t buy masks from Amazon.  Any supposed “N95” series masks from Amazon are fakes.  Most of them are shitty and obvious but I’ve seen some better quality fakes recently.  You need to buy from a reputable supplier.  This was true even before COVID and it’s ten times as true now.

    If you can find any woodworking shops or paint shops in your area, they might be able to point you in the right direction.  They use them because they need them.  Wood dust allergies are a real and sometime deadly thing.

    N95 production was supposed to be started a year ago under the DPA.  It will surprise nobody here that like so many announcements out of this White House, that was bullshit.  The DPA has not been invoked once in the United States during this pandemic.

    I have a very small stash left from my work as a guitar refinisher.  They were so cheap through January of last year – about 30 cents each – that I never saw the point of laying in a couple of hundred of them.  A decision I bitterly regret now.

    Don’t waste your time with KN95s.  I suspect you’d be better off with a coffee filter strapped to your face.  They don’t seal and they don’t work.

  57. 57.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @IndyCat32:

    Thanks. That sounds like too many syllables for what I’m hearing, but the next time it comes on I’ll listen with those words in mind.

  58. 58.

    Soprano2

    These people could fuck up a one car parade. Six more days until real, competent people take over. Seems like six months…..

  59. 59.

    catclub

    @patrick II: I got on the list with Sentera (my local hospital chain) for my immunization. I am 72. I asked when the vaccine might be available to me. “Sometime this spring”.

     

    I am in Mississippi and 60 – and got an appointment – in January! – based on qualifying under a LONG list of possible conditions.

    I now suspect they will not have the vaccine when the time comes, but I could be wrong.

  61. 61.

    lee

    @debbie: I might give those a try. Here is a link to KN95 masks on that website for anyone else interested.

    But honestly I rarely leave the house as I’m 100% work from home and I got most of my groceries either delivered or curbside.

  62. 62.

    Betty Cracker

    @SiubhanDuinne: It does sound like “animals,” and I assumed it was poor copywriting meant to suggest that CarShield team members are “animals” for their subscribers, i.e., go the extra mile to shield them from ruinous car repair bills. But maybe we’re both mishearing it.

  65. 65.

    patrick II

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I expect I should have said something, but despite my reputation here,

    Confrontational or not, you were in a similar spot to me. Getting in a nose to nose argument about not spreading a virus does not seem the smart way to go.

    I was reminded of the congresswoman passing out masks in the room they were all hiding in. That big asshole from Oklahoma (who was not even being asked at that moment) came up to confront her and tell her “let’s not make this political”. Ignorance has it’s apparent advantages — they will go toe to toe with you and mostly you should back away.
    I have seen store managers who did not have that choice when asking some maskless Trump idiot to leave and I felt so bad for them. They understand the risk and the fool yelling at them is so oblivious.

  66. 66.

    yellowdog

    @Glidwrith: I double mask. Cloth mask has a pocket, into which I put a paper mask. Face shields WITH masking offers an additional degree of protection. I would wear a shield on public transportation.

  67. 67.

    Just Chuck

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: Speaking of outdoor advertising, have you noticed all those newspaper boxes that have placeholder ads on that say “You just proved these ads work!”

    Except for some Jesus ones here and there, I have never seen a geniune ad on those.  If they worked, wouldn’t they be showing, yunno, actual ads?

  68. 68.

    sab

    I really love how the jackals are from everywhere in the US and also from many places abroad.

    U S newsmedia is so much NYC and suburbs and DC and suburbs, and this is not all of America.

    Ohio alone is twice as big as Scotland populationwise.

  69. 69.

    debbie

    @lee:

    I do a weekly errand run early every Saturday morning. I shop ninja-style—in and out before anyone even sees me. I got the KN95s just to have in case things get really bad.

  70. 70.

    patrick II

    About the vaccine distribution — I expected nothing more from Trump. Whether from straightforward bad management, lack of really giving a shit if more people died, or an effort to find some way to profit (as they did with PPE) I figured it was going to be a long slog. Logistics is complicated, and a new variation of logistics, with extreme refrigeration requirements, no orderly handoff to local facilitators, and a reluctant population, would have always difficult to manage effectively. But with Trump and his “management team” there was no chance.

    “Of Course” is the perfect title.

  77. 77.

    narya

    I discovered a stash of 3 N95 masks in my strip-paint-from-the-bricks-project pile. I gave one away, I’m reserving one, and I have one I use. Since I use it once/week or less–usually less–I’ve been re-using it, hanging it out in the open after removing, and, lately, adding another mask layer on top, in part to keep the N95 cleaner. When I run, I use a doubled Buff neck gaiter, with a folded layer of paper towel between the layers (and I rarely am around anyone when I run for more than a few seconds). When I shop, I AM spending more than 5 minutes, but I purposely switched to a larger store; much as I like supporting the smaller local grocery rather than Whole Paycheck, staff weren’t always fully masked and the store is small. I try to go early morning, and I stock up on stuff I don’t quite need if I see it. And, frankly, even though I got dose 1 and will get dose 2 in three weeks, I do not expect to change any of the above behavior for awhile. It’s not just modeling good behavior, either. Oral contraceptives are at least as effective as the vaccine–and say hello to my younger nephew and a friend’s son, both of whom were conceived while their birth parent was taking oral contraceptives. correctly.

  78. 78.

    lee

    @debbie: While more numerically will die in blue states, the last I read the rural red states are on track to lose more as a percent of population.

  79. 79.

    Redshift

    With any other group I’m a fan of “never assume malice when incompetence will suffice,” but not the Trump Administration, no matter how incompetent they’ve shown themselves to be. I haven’t though through exactly how it could work, but my base assumption is that announcing the distribution of the stockpile after the Biden team had announced that was their plan, when there was in fact no stockpile left, was an act of sabotage to make the Biden team look bad. And if that’s was the plan, then the incompetence is that the news about the stockpile wasn’t supposed to come out before Inauguration day.

  80. 80.

    VeniceRiley

    For those still using surgical masks like me, you can get a mask bracket to “tent” them, and it also helps stop eyeglass fogging. Just search “mask bracket” on amazon and they’re $10 for a tenpack. Washable and re-usable. I passed out 29 of them to coworkers.

    If you have KN95 that are too tight, cut the earloops and knot elastics to the top and bottom for around the head, or something like that would work.

  82. 82.

    Fair Economist

    @debbie:

    I recently switched from cloth to paper masks because they’re better at not fogging up my #@$! glasses. I tried everything I could think of (defogging fluid, tucking underneath bottom of glasses, using adhesive nose wires), but nothing worked. Odd bit of good luck I did switch, I guess.

    I find cloth masks with head loops do far better at stopping fogging than ones with ear loops.

  83. 83.

    patrick II

    @Just Chuck:

    I’m sure they can, and sure the Trump management team knows about them, and how many people expect to be vaccinated there, and how many doses should be delivered there as opposed to other places, and whether they have certified shot givers, or a plan to not let the dosage get off of the ice for too long of a time which varies by medicine, etc.  Easy peasy.

  84. 84.

    zhena gogolia

    @Elizabelle:

    I just ordered those. I am so confused. I have bought so many masks that we don’t even use. We keep wearing the comfy cloth ones I got from Etsy at the beginning of the pandemic. I also have some 3-ply disposable ones that I wear to the doctor/dentist. But I’m beginning to think we need something better for medical appointments. Work is no problem for the cloth masks since there’s nobody here.

  85. 85.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Y’all, the reason masks fog your glasses is that the aerosols and droplets you breathe out are leaking around the upper edge of the mask. If a mask fits properly around your nose, it won’t fog your glasses.

  86. 86.

    VeniceRiley

    @debbie: Fold tissue about a half inch and place along top edge inside paper mask then pinch the nosebridge wire. That stops fogging.

  87. 87.

    Scout211

    If anyone else is getting stressed and anxious from all this bad news . . . here is a sort of “feel good” article with a  bit of good news about Covid-19.  Reading the article this morning made me feel a little better (as I wait for my appointment to be called for the next batch of apparently non-existent vaccine doses to arrive).  My county has a really high tech sign-up system for appointments that consists of a telephone answering machine. “We’ll call you back . . . .”

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/he-unknowingly-had-covid-19-now-his-blood-contains-rare-n1254232

    With his roommate in dire health from the coronavirus last spring, it did not take much for John Hollis to believe he would also contract the highly infectious, deadly disease. He was so concerned about what could happen that he penned a letter to his teenage son, Davis, in case “things went downhill fast,” Hollis said.
    It turned out that Hollis unknowingly already had Covid-19 and may have unwittingly infected his roommate.
    Hollis, the communications manager at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, learned in July that he fell into a rare category of people whose blood could help scientists understand Covid-19 and potentially treat those who fall ill.
    Covid-19, it seems, cannot harm him, said Dr. Lance Liotta, a George Mason University pathologist and bioengineer who is leading the school’s clinical trials on antibodies.
    Hollis, 54, a former journalist, learned that his blood is fortified with so-called super antibodies — antibodies that neutralize the virus, which, even when diluted 10,000 times, still resists Covid-19, Liotta said.

  88. 88.

    Just Chuck

    @patrick II: Wasn’t saying it’s easy, just saying the main blocker is the fact that it’s beyond the competence or will of the current maladministration, more so than the logistics themselves.

  89. 89.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Fair Economist: I’m using cloth masks with head ties that my wife sewed from a pattern. I can’t stand the ear-loop kind. The only one I have is my souvenir Biden-Harris mask.

    I still get fogging, but not always. The fogging seems to come from steamy air blowing up over the top of the mask to the back of your lenses, so usually I can adjust the top edge of the mask, use the glasses to hold it tighter against the face, and that clears up the problem.

    The pattern included a bit of wire sewn into the top edge which was probably intended to help get a tight fit, but they don’t work that well. Probably needed a heavier gauge.

  90. 90.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    OT:

    Adam Klasfeld @KlasfeldReports

    Speaker Pelosi announces retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, of the Hurricane Katrina task force fame, is leading an “immediate” review of U.S. Capitol security. “To protect our Democracy, we must now subject the security of the U.S. Capitol Complex to rigorous scrutiny,” she said.

    asses will be kicked, names will be took

    Somebody said the other night that the General seems to have enjoyed a cocktail or three in some of his later evening media appearances. To which I say: Send Christopher Wray a barrel of whatever the General is drinking….

  91. 91.

    Raven

    From an MD friend

     

    Full disclosure: The second dose hit me like a ton of bricks about 4 hours out and lasted for a good 30 hours before I caved and took Tylenol. I don’t want anyone to be deterred, I just believe in transparency always, so y’all can be prepared!!! And it is so worth it to be protected. I am wishing vaccines for everyone, and we are working on ways to support the rollout.

  92. 92.

    Mart

    @Other MJS: Key is fit testing. Do not want air exiting or entering between face and mask. I have three 3-M N-95s rated for construction from a job tens years back. They have a heavy “M” shaped nose clip. From another job I have a couple 3-M surgical masks with simple heavy duty “U” clips. The surgical mask and dozens of other “U” clip style industrial masks, including plenty of KN-95 masks – are useless to me with my big nose. KN-95’s have very weak nose straps. Even heavy duty 3-M surgical mask nose clips won’t work for me. Disgusting at the end of so many days the shit I would blow out of my nose with an ill fitting mask. Also can track where the mask was leaking by the lines of black shit leading to my nose. A KN-95 mask with small nose/face can work as well as a 3-M N-95.

    I tried supplementing my KN-95s with rube goldberg wire nose clips and various rubber band arrangements to secure against my face. It worked, but vanity kept me from going outside with it.

    Also too, if you have a beard shave it.

  93. 93.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Raven: I dunno. Somebody here on BJ reported getting ABBA earworms after their shot. That’s scary. I’ve already been getting random 70s earworms of songs I haven’t heard or thought about in decades.

  94. 94.

    randy khan

    So the goofy looking guy with the horns and no shirt who was in all the photos was formally charged today in federal court in Arizona.

    A little excerpt from the papers:

    Prosecutors say that after Chansley climbed up to the dais where Vice President Mike Pence had been presiding moments earlier, Chansley wrote a threatening note to Pence that said: “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.”

    He seems nice.

    The whole story is pretty chilling:  Horn Guy Charged

  95. 95.

    clay

    @sab:  One thing that’s been pretty consistent with the four years of the Trump Administration is, all they care about is the announcement. What happens after that is irrelevant; the announcement is the key thing.

  96. 96.

    Kent

    @lee:@debbie: While more numerically will die in blue states, the last I read the rural red states are on track to lose more as a percent of population.

    Blue areas will replace their population.  Rural red areas won’t.

  97. 97.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @randy khan:

    Chansley wrote a threatening note to Pence that said: “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.”

    I’m guessing that’s prosecute-able? I know the Secret Service has very little sense of humor about threats

  98. 98.

    RobertDSC-iPhone 8

    I have gone with double 2-layer cotton for my setup. Two masks works for me since I have to leave the house to go to work.

  99. 99.

    germy

    Mankind have always crowned their oppressors, and they have as uniformly crucified their saviors, and this has been true all along the highway of the centuries. But it will not always be so.

    — Eugene V. Debs (@DebsEbooks) January 15, 2021

  100. 100.

    cain

    I wanted to comment on an earlier thread in related to the letter Trump would pass on to Biden as the next president. I think it’s just going to be the monologue that Khan gave in Wrath of Khan. :-)

    “To the last I grapple with thee. From hell’s heart I stab at thee. For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee.”

    ETA: OMG! #100!!!!!!!

  101. 101.

    Kent

    @randy khan:

    So the goofy looking guy with the horns and no shirt who was in all the photos was formally charged today in federal court in Arizona.

    There was a story a few days ago in TPN about how the outlandish costumes are really a deliberate attempt to soft-pedal the violent nature of what they are about.  Kind of a smiley-face on violent insurrection if you will.  We see them and just assume they are not really that serious or dangerous.

    In other words, not “goofy” at all.

  102. 102.

    dmsilev

    Some of my colleagues, who have the appropriate equipment and expertise, have been doing efficacy tests on various commercial masks, looking at filtration efficiency for both sub-micron (300 nm) and micron-sized particles. The detailed data is unfortunately not publicly accessible, but I can link to the two best-in-class options (so far, anyway), both from the same vendor:

    3-ply disposable masks

    KN95 masks

    The data showed that both, when well fitted, were quite efficient. The 3-ply is 80% effective at sub-micron and above 90% for micron. The KN95 is 90% and 95% respectively. That’s for a single mask (i.e. you’re wearing a mask, but the person next to you is not); if both people are masked, efficiency goes way up.

  104. 104.

    prostratedragon

    @Just Chuck:  I think some of the vaccines need something much colder for storage, like liquid nitrogen, which also requires some infrastructure. Not undoable, but getting it installed and training handlers and such would need to be planned, which brings us back to Do.

  106. 106.

    laura

    I wear this mask because my employer provided them, and now that I’m retired, I buy from amazon – cheaper when bought in bulk:

    https://airqueen.com

    Cant say enough good things about them, but here’s a few: extremely light weight and easy breathing, excellent design and fit – it doesn’t touch the mouth or nose, very close fit /good seal on all sides, water proof and can be sanitized up to 10 x by spritzing with 70% alcohol. When I grocery shop, I add a cloth mask over and glasses or clear shop google and cotton gloves. I hope this is helpful information.

  107. 107.

    germy

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Maybe it’s because they’re being used in TV commercials.

    Even when we don’t pay attention to the commercials, the old songs they use fire up our memories.

    Lately I’ve been humming “Oh oh oh it’s magic” because of the pharm commercial.

  108. 108.

    prostratedragon

    @dmsilev:  At the Big U hospital where I go for clinics, there are greeters who will ask visitors wearing cloth masks to double up or substitute three-ply surgicals, which the hospital provides freely (I usually grab a few extra).

  109. 109.

    Quinerly

    @Glidwrith: I have used my face shield WITH the masks bought from the medicalsupply house. I don’t wear glasses and was told by my doctor to include a shield with the mask.

  111. 111.

    Jeffro

    @schrodingers_cat:It has been obvious since April of last year that the COVID-19 response is not incompetence on their part but malevolence. But the media has been hesitant to go there.

    Yup.

    Part Randian: “We’re not going to spend all that money…”

    Part Racist: “…when half – hell, more than half – aren’t even our people…”

    Part Fascist: “…and besides, when they’re all sick, it’ll weed out the weak and leave everyone else clamoring for our leadership.  Like wartime, only better!”

  115. 115.

    AzulR

    Long time lurker here.  On the KN95 ear loops being so strong that they just flip my ears forward, what I’ve done is just convert the mask to the other style with the loops going all the way around the head.  Cut the ear loops and tie in a section of elastic cord.  After some less satisfactory craft store supplies, we’d recommend Mandala Crafts elastic cord.

    Earlier when KN95s were in short supply our experimental physicist son in law was making masks from a UC Irvine pattern at https://sites.uci.edu/ucimask/the-origami-shop-towel-mask/  Looking back, he said he was using 2 ply Filti sandwiching one layer of 1900 or 2500 MPR Filtrete, the latter from sacrificing furnace filters and extracting the inner filtering material.  Those masks were pretty comfortable in use, with a good fit and no fogging of glasses.

  117. 117.

    debbie

    @Fair Economist:

    I tried that last weekend. It even had a nose wire. It was a bit better, but not better enough. I figure I’ll just go back to them when the weather’s warmer.

  118. 118.

    Redshift

    @cain:

    I think it’s just going to be the monologue that Khan gave in Wrath of Khan. :-) 

    Only in crayon, with random capitalization, typos, and bizarre substitutions of similar but wrong words. :-)

  123. 123.

    Kelly

    My 84 year old mother got her first dose of the Pfitzer vaccine a week ago. We’ve asked about adverse reactions, none reported.

  126. 126.

    Matt McIrvin

    @rikyrah: That’s lower than most, but it looks to me like in the next 5 days Trump might actually break his old polling floor from the fall of 2017. For so long it seemed like absolutely nothing he did could budge his numbers outside of a narrow window, but we might finally have seen the thing that does it–I’m glad we won’t have much longer to watch it drop, though.

  127. 127.

    Poe Larity

    Why is it impossible to find out what the vaccine quantity and delivery schedules from the producers are? Zero of twenty articles I read show any kind of timeline and none of them state that information is being withheld from them. It’s just “200M by July”. Are Trump, Pfizer, Moderna, etc all refusing to provide this info? It seems like it should be a story if “Moderna refuses to release production schedules at behest of administration.”

  129. 129.

    Just Chuck

    @prostratedragon: The storage temp of the pfizer vaccine (around -70C) is pretty close to dry ice temps (-78C).   But I guess that doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room, especially when you’re trying to cool a larger container with thousands of doses.

  131. 131.

    VeniceRiley

    @laura: Thanks for the rec, I’m going to try that mask. Just ordered

    PS- If Moderna supply doesn’t arrive for booster, what are the options? Wait a week?  I will await guidance from work.

  132. 132.

    Kelly

    @germy: When I read complaints about @jack failing to control violent tweets the old song “Master Jack” by 4 Jacks and a Jill starts running thru my mind. “you’re a very strange man”

  133. 133.

    Another Scott

    @clay: Yup.

    “Billy, look, you just tell them and they believe it. That’s it: you just tell them and they believe. They just do.”

    It’s the Bigly Lie technique.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  134. 134.

    Elizabelle

    @laura:   Thank you for that recc re Airqueen.  Will order some.

    I wonder if all the excellent quality masks are going to get scarce again, with news that the more infectious variant is gaining speed.

    Interesting times.  We have them.

  135. 135.

    Ruckus

    @sab:

    He works for trump. He was hired by trump.

    That makes him far, far less likely to be competent, trustworthy, truthful, smarter than a 6 week old loaf of bread. He wasn’t hired for his skills, other than the two requirements of trump. Don’t make trump look bad, which is impossible. Don’t do the actual job, which none of them are capable of, otherwise trump would not only not hire them, he wouldn’t even know they existed.

  137. 137.

    MomSense

    The Trump administration has been trying to kill us this whole time.

    No vaccine in my near future. Still working in an office with idiots. Still worrying about my son in CT who also works indoors with idiots. At this point I just pray my kids survive this.

  139. 139.

    sab

    I don’t want to let him off the cook as incompetent because I think he is actively vile. But to be fair, let him prove mere incompetence.

    @Ruckus: I don’t know what happened with this comment. Comment is as intended. Bells and whistles just happened. Also the order.

  140. 140.

    Kent

    And it starts….

    I award the most egregious NYT Biden fearmongering and concern-trolling article of the week to Paul Sullivan who devotes a bunch of ink today to hand-wring about some hypothetical estate tax increase under a Biden administration that Biden has not proposed. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/15/your-money/estate-tax-biden.html  And also more hand-wringing about possible elimination of the capital gains step-up loophole which Biden has also not proposed.  He even has the audacity to claim that changes to the estate tax (currently starts at estates larger than $23 million for a couple) would hurt Black families the most because they have the smallest estates.  I kid you not:

    For the Black community, the prospect of an heir’s paying capital gains tax on inherited property could contribute to maintaining the racial wealth gap, said Calvin Williams Jr., chief executive and founder of Freeman Capital. He noted that the average Black family passed on $38,000 to heirs, while the average white family passed on $140,000.
    The loss of the step-up in basis would have an even greater impact on efforts to close the Black wealth gap, Mr. Williams said.

    This is the NYT version of Lauren Boebert this morning screaming “STOP TALKING ABOUT ME” when no one actually mentioned her at all.

  141. 141.

    Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix

    Since there was interest in discussing masks, I put up a post with my experience.

  142. 142.

    JMG

    My money manager’s son is an emergency MD and he got his second dose of the vaccine early this week. He told his Dad he had like 12-18 hours of mild flu symptoms and then was fine.

  143. 143.

    The Moar You Know

    No vaccine in my near future. Still working in an office with idiots. Still worrying about my son in CT who also works indoors with idiots. At this point I just pray my kids survive this.

    @MomSense:  at the rate we are going in CA I won’t see a shot for over a decade.  Not a joke.  And the nation is out of doses.  Fuck you, Trump.

  145. 145.

    MomSense

    @The Moar You Know:

    I hit a wall a couple weeks ago where I could either explode in rage or sobbing and it never stopped.   I’ll never find acceptance so I’m just stuck feeling this and I don’t even know what it is exactly.

  146. 146.

    Another Scott

    Many people have strong opinions about various types of masks.  But all of the objective evaluation of them make the point that they have to seal properly or they lose most of their effectiveness. (I’ve used half-face cartridge respirators at work and have a couple of old (unused) 3M N-95 masks that I’ve been saving for emergencies (e.g. if J or I get infected).)

    Here’s a CDC/NIOSH test report on the AirQueen masks mentioned above (7 page .pdf)

    Understand what you’re getting and the limitations. Note that no real N95 (or effective N95 equivalents) have ear-loops.

    Personally, I have not found a way to get paper surgeon’s masks to fit my face well. What has worked best for me are 3-layer cloth masks from Etsy with some aluminum-copper wire inserted in a just-large-enough small hole and bent to match my nose. (Of course, the hole is an infiltration point…)

    YMMV!!

    tl;dr – find a mask that fits your particular face well. That’s the most important thing (after avoiding people in confined spaces).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  147. 147.

    raven

    I’m sorry but I don’t see how all this will do anything but confuse people. This mask, that mask, not this is better. . . no wonder people say fuck it.

  148. 148.

    The Moar You Know

    I hit a wall a couple weeks ago where I could either explode in rage or sobbing and it never stopped. I’ll never find acceptance so I’m just stuck feeling this and I don’t even know what it is exactly.

    @MomSense:  Same place. It’s despair.

    Were I not married I’d yank the mask off and say fuck it. I’m at the end of my fucking rope. Living like this is no life at all

    And yeah, the threat of dying from this is no longer any kind of deterrent for me.

  149. 149.

    Kent

    @raven:I’m sorry but I don’t see how all this will do anything but confuse people. This mask, that mask, not this is better. . . no wonder people say fuck it.

    That is due to the lack of leadership and seriousness at the Federal level.  The CDC could easily create simple easy-to-understand guidelines for choosing and wearing masks.  They are too in-the-pocket of Trump to even contemplate such a thing.

    5 more days….

  150. 150.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @SiubhanDuinne: “‘S all good, man!” That was shouted by the character’s drunk buddy in the BB episode where the character was introduced. I haven’t seen much of BB but I pointed this out to my brother (we were watching together) & he said, Well, sonofabitch!

  151. 151.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Elizabelle: I bought these. They arrived last week, and they’re good. They’re not quite as comfortable as my wife’s home-sewn triple layer cloth masks, but they do seal my face a bit better.

  152. 152.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Glidwrith: Bingo. Face shields protect you if someone sneezes or coughs directly into your face but airborne droplets spread right underneath them. Goggles inside, those wraparound sunglasses they give you at the optometrists outside; refrain from touching your face, and wash your face when you get home.

    Also in stores, pay attention to the height of the ceiling. Higher ceiling = more volume for airborne droplets to disperse in = lower density.

    Shop with a list of what you need; do minimal browsing. If the place looks crowded or the lines long, come back later – you want to be in & out in 10 min max.

  154. 154.

    satby

    @raven: Bottom line, mask (most any) better than no mask, along with limiting exposure which is the main thing keeping you safe. After that, I guess it depends on your risk tolerance.. And ear tolerance. I have a couple of the K95s but I mostly use cloth masks and social distancing. Since I have been out in public the last 6 months almost every day working, including with non-maskers and people later confirmed with covid, but haven’t caught it yet (knock wood) I really think distance is as important a part of the safety equation as what mask you have on. Plus the hand washing/sanitizer stuff. Three legs of a stool.

  155. 155.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Uncle Cosmo: I go out more than I should (maybe twice/week, usually just to the grocery store and sometimes the drug store). And I have a friend who runs a retro video game store that I sometimes stop in on the way home to drop something off or pick something up.

    So I’m going out way more than strictly necessary. I’m also wearing protective glasses, a good mask, and I’m never in any store more than 10 minutes. If it looks crowded I just bail.

    I’m not doing as much as I should, but it’s worked pretty well. The above schedule was from before December, when I dialled things back quite a bit to do with the increase in cases in my county after TG.

    We had a small wakeup call in October, when one of my kids caught the flu. We have NO IDEA how she got it. All we could think of is that one of us dragged it home from our rare visits out, or that she’d caught it from a Doctor’s appointment 2-3 weeks earlier and it had just been dormant the whole time.

  158. 158.

    ballerat

    @Kent: It also works as a distraction from the low-key pros in the background who were there for much more murderous purposes.

    Doubt that particular bit was coordinated but it sure kept a lot of eyes off them.

  159. 159.

    Ruckus

    @Fair Economist:

    I make 2 layer cloth masks with a filter paper between and have switched to a titanium wire nose stiffener. Titanium because it is very stiff. And because I had some. It’s difficult to bend to fit the face, which also means my mask won’t fit others without my nose but it does work. Remove the paper and wash the mask, add new filter paper and done. I tie the cloth straps because I detest elastic. So it’s a take off of surgical masks. The filter paper is very close to N95 and is throw away and the titanium wire forms a very sealed edge for glass fogging prevention. And it’s more comfortable than a 3M N95 mask. Which is not available anyway. Now is it as effective as a full surgical sealed suit? No, it isn’t. Is it effective for what is needed? With as much isolation as possible, as much distance as practical, yes it is. Do I want to do this for the rest of my life? Well, short of having a shorter life, yes it is, even if I’m not enthused having this much fun every day.

  161. 161.

    Kent

    @ballerat:@Peale: Dubya tried immigration reform. That’s why he was lower.

    Dubya also licked the 3rd rail and tried social security “reform” which probably drove his numbers down more than immigration reform.

  163. 163.

    KenK

    I liked the chyron “…scramble to save family brand”. Apparently, they think it’s worth something, other than a few years in the pokey?

  164. 164.

    rikyrah

    @Redshift:

     

     And if that’s was the plan, then the incompetence is that the news about the stockpile wasn’t supposed to come out before Inauguration day.

     

    They have been trying to bullshyt, but, time ran out.
    They BEEN KNEW that they didn’t have any phucking vaccine.
    They wanted time to run out, and pretend that it was the BIDEN Administration’s fault.

    SO glad that it’s plain, clear and simple, that these muthaphuckas have been lying from Day ONE about their ‘ vaccine plan’.

  165. 165.

    Ruckus

    @sab:

    Wasn’t saying anything is wrong with your comment. At all.

    Was saying that incompetence is built in with anything trump is associated with in any way. He doesn’t approve of, favor, believe in, hire, or assume than anyone is more competent than him and so that he doesn’t look worse by being near them, he won’t hire anyone who is, in any way competent. It’s his narcissism, it controls everything, every moment, every decision that he makes. On top of that he is an ignorant fuck of a human being and his level of narcissism insures that he uses that ignorance in the worst ways because he believes he is magnificent. It’s a win/win situation – for ignorance, stupidity and failure.

  167. 167.

    Ruckus

    @Ruckus:

    Also look at current day republicans. The vast majority of them seem to be saying that nothing that liberals want is acceptable to them. Not competence, not government for all, not intelligence, not even life is acceptable to them if they don’t get their way. They are children, holding their breath until they turn blue – oh wait that’s what they are afraid of, turning BLUE, and they are doing everything they can to do just that. They have confused the color blue with actual living. Silly children.

  168. 168.

    bluefoot

    @rikyrah: Yeah, the states had been saying since at least Sept that they needed money to set up proper vaccine distribution – hire and train people, set up tracking etc. – and that was before the anaphylaxis data came out saying people need to be observed for 15 min post-shot.  But the money from the federal gov’t never came as it usually would for vaccine initiatives.  Then once the vaccine became available, at least some of the blue states received a lot less than they were promised/were expecting.  It’s Mar/Apr 2020 with the ventilators writ large.  The Trump administration left it to the states after hamstringing their ability to actually vaccinate people, and preferentially giving resources to the states that voted for him.  Then sitting back and expecting states to grovel to him, except then he got voted out.

    Of course, governors like Cuomo are making things worse.  He’s ignoring the experts in favor of “taking a strong stand.” And who the hell knows what’s going on with Charlie Baker who is talking out of both sides of his mouth and not actually doing anything.

  169. 169.

    MomSense

    @rikyrah:

    Worse – 1/4 of the employees at my son’s office got COVID.

    We’ve only had two cases at mine.

    Still acting like FOOLS.

    Fortunately I am so busy that I don’t have time to think because as soon as I get home and let down I fall apart.

  170. 170.

    jonas

    This has all the hallmarks of the kind of late Soviet failures of the five-year plans where plant managers were too afraid to tell local commissars that they were way behind on production quotas, but those commissars were too afraid to tell regional party bosses that production was falling behind and of course regional party bosses didn’t want to look like they couldn’t hold their underlings in line, so, x gets promised, but x/10 actually turns up.

    This is what you get when you have a bunch of bungling toadies in charge of things in an authoritarian regime. The whole thing becomes a tissue of lies and dissembling because no-one wants to take responsibility and disappoint the Party Leadership/Führer/Trump.

  171. 171.

    Matt McIrvin

    @lee: In the spring, though, a lot of red-staters thought it was just a blue-state problem, and Trump and Kushner apparently thought so too. If it was only going to kill people in states with Democratic governments, why bother? Let them take the hit. Hey, let’s steal their PPE and redistribute it to our friends!

    Malice, incompetence and delusion working in perfect unison.

  173. 173.

    sab

    @Ruckus:Very late back to thread.  I didn’t have a problem with your comment. I just couldn’t figure out what I had done to make my comment look the way it did.

  174. 174.

    Torrey

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    “They put a transmission in it. AND a motor. Who does that?” The speaker drops the “r” in “motor” and greatly reduces that syllable. The “t” of “motor” is barely pronounced at all.

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