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You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, May 20-21

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday / Friday, May 20-21

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56Comments

  1. 1.

    NeenerNeener

    Monroe County, NY stats:

    173 new cases – 66% were people under 40, including 51 children between 0 and 19. People in their 20s are still leading the pack in infections.

    1267 COVID deaths since March 2020
    2.9% test positivity

    193 people hospitalized, 32 in the ICU

    54.6% with at least 1 jab
    47.7% fully vaccinated

  2. 2.

    Cermet

    We absolutely must have the two main vaccines approved for regular use; only in this manner can they  be required so far more people will get vaccinated. This hesitancy is ridiculous! Thanks to the thugs hundreds of thousands of needless deaths and now, tens of thousands more. It is almost impossible for me to believe but then, I grew up and vaccinations were a miracle of science and a given that everyone who could, would get one.

  3. 3.

    satby

    @Cermet: Agreed. But the success of vaccinations has also led to this moment, with a generation of people who grew up without the trauma of seeing the deaths of siblings and friends from diseases we vaccinate for now. You would think the memory wouldn’t have faded so quickly from the collective conciousness, but it has. Add in vicious propaganda and here we are.

  4. 4.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    Hawaii medical researchers are exploring new ways to fight COVID-19 — and it involves man’s best friend.

    The Maui-based nonprofit Assistance Dogs of Hawaii and Queen’s Medical Center conducted research to see if it is possible to teach dogs to detect people infected with COVID.

    Researchers said the study is aimed at detecting and preventing the spread of coronavirus.

    Four dogs have been participating in the study, including Labrador retrievers Sadie, Tess and Yuki, and Samson, a golden retriever.

    The nonprofit said the dogs are trained to pick up the scent of COVID-19 through sweat.

    So far, researchers said there has been 100% accuracy when screening patients at Queen’s Medical Center. Source

  6. 6.

    YY_Sima Qian

    On 5/20 China reported 0 new domestic confirmed & 2 new domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Anhui Province report 1 domestic asymptomatic case. 1 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There are 7 domestic confirmed & 11 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Liu’an report 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, a traced close contact under centralized quarantine since 5/13. 1 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 5 domestic confirmed & 10 domestic asymptomatic cases there. A shopping center & 5 residential compound are currently at Medium Risk. 
    • Hefei currently has 2 domestic confirmed cases, both traveling sales people who conduct photography seminars. A hotel remains at Medium Risk.

     

    Liaoning Province reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case. There are 14 domestic confirmed & 6 domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.

    • Yingkou reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, a traced close contact already under centralized quarantine since 5/14. The city currently has 10 domestic confirmed & 6 domestic asymptomatic cases there. 4 villages & 7 residential compounds remain at Medium Risk.
    • Shenyang currently has 4 domestic confirmed cases there. The Liaoning Provincial CDC has established that the confirmed cases at Shenyang had intersections in travel history (a restaurant and a amusement park), while vacation in Bayuquan District, with confirmed a case at Yingkou. 4 residential compounds remain at Medium Risk.

     

    In Yunnan Province, 3 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 12 domestic confirmed & 3 domestic asymptomatic cases.

    Imported Cases

    On 5/20 China reported 24 new imported confirmed cases, 23 imported asymptomatic cases:

    • Xiamen in Fujian Province – 11 confirmed cases, all Chinese nationals returning from Japan; 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from the Ukraine (via Amsterdam Schiphol)
    • Fuzhou in Fujian Province – 4 asymptomatic cases, 3 Chinese nationals returning from Japan & 1 from Spain
    • Shanghai Municipality – 9 confirmed cases, 2 Chinese nationals each returning from Cambodia & Brazil (via Switzerland) & 1 each from the UAE, Tunisia (via Germany), Germany & the US, & an Italian national coming from Italy
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Cambodia; 2 asymptomatic cases, 1 Chinese national returning from Malaysia & Oman
    • Shenzhen in Guangdong Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from South Africa 
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 1 confirmed & 5 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Changsha in Hunan Province – 1 confirmed & 1 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Cambodia;  2 asymptomatic cases, a Chinese national returning from Algeria & a Chadian national coming from Egypt
    • Jiangsu Province (location not specified) – 4 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 3 asymptomatic cases, 1 each coming from Egypt, the Sudan & Chad

     

    Overall in China, 15 confirmed cases recovered, 10 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & none were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 705 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 303 active confirmed cases in the country (271 imported), 5 in serious condition (4 imported), 364 asymptomatic cases (344 imported), 1 suspect case (imported). 7,291 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.

    As of 5/20, 466.698M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 17.181M doses in the past 24 hrs.

    On 5/21, Hong Kong reported 1 new case, imported (from Indonesia).

  7. 7.

    WereBear

    Some of these tweets confirm my lurking realization that “masks off!” is good science… but red areas are going to trigger a second wave. Especially in the South, where summer is an INDOOR season.

  8. 8.

    terben

    A red letter day in Australia today. There were 3 new cases today bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases to 30,000. (depending whose stats you look at)

    The last 1000 cases have occurred since March 3rd, mostly amongst returned travellers in quarantine.

    Total number of deaths, 910   Days since last death, 38 (in QLD) The last death in my home state, SA, was 404 days ago.

    Tests today, 47,963

    Vaccinations today, 101,146     Total, 3,472,874 (approx. 13 or 14 per 100 of the population)

    Active cases, 103

    These numbers cannot be described as interesting, but that’s the way we like it. Except for the vaccination numbers which are improving, but seriously need to.

  10. 10.

    p.a.

    If 70% of adults get a #Covid shot by July 4, the US can avoid another surge, Dr. Fauci says. With 3 vaccines as effective as these are, having a large “proportion of the population vaccinated, the chances of there being a surge are extraordinarily low”

    tRumplandia: hold my beer.

  11. 11.

    Barbara

    I found my vaccination records in my mother’s papers after she died. She kept them that whole time. I now know, as I had suspected, that I was vaccinated against small pox.

  12. 12.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s Director-General of Heath Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 6,493 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 498,795 cases. He also reports 50 new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 2,149 deaths — 0.43% of the cumulative reported total, 0.48% of resolved cases.

    There are currently 52,106 active and contagious cases; 643 are in ICU, 363 of them intubated. Meanwhile, 4,508 patients recovered and were discharged, for a cumulative total of 444,540 patients recovered – 89.12% of the cumulative reported total.

    18 new clusters were reported today: Persiaran Perbandaran, Industri Balakong Tiga, Jalan Kota Raja, and Kampung Mujahidin in Selangor; Jalan Wan Kadir in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur; Jalan Simpang Tiga in Sarawak; Jalan Datin Halimah, Jalan Mengkibol, and Jalan Surau Stulang in Johor; Jalan Selat and Susur Larut in Perak; Industri Senawang in Negeri Sembilan; Sungai Keluang 2 in Penang; Industri Kelemak and Jalan Tanjung Minyak in Melaka; Sri Penara and Taman Setiawangsa in Kuala Lumpur; and Simpang Sahari in Labuan.

    Jalan Kota Raja, Kampung Mujahidin, Sri Penara, Taman Setiawangsa, and Jalan Surau Stulang are religious clusters. Susur Larut, Jalan Tanjung Minyak, and Simpang Sahari are community clusters. The rest are workplace clusters.

    6,491 new cases today are local infections. Selangor reports 2,163 cases: 160 in clusters, 1,446 close-contact screenings, and 557 other screenings. Kuala Lumpur reports 749 local cases: 71 in clusters, 376 close-contact screenings, and 192 other screenings. Sarawak reports 612 cases: 50 in clusters, 433 close-contact screenings, and 129 other screenings.

    Kelantan reports 467 cases: 50 in clusters, 283 close-contact screenings, and 134 other screenings. Kedah reports 434 cases: 68 in clusters, 238 close-contact screenings, and 128 other screenings. Johor reports 406 cases: 108 in clusters, 223 close-contact screenings, and 75 other screenings.

    Perak reports 382 cases: 63 in clusters, 215 close-contact screenings, and 104 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan reports 370 cases: 54 in clusters, 162 close-contact screenings, and 154 other screenings. Penang reports 302 cases: 34 in clusters, 119 close-contact screenings, and 149 other screenings.

    Melaka reports 165 cases: 34 in clusters, 83 close-contact screenings, and 48 other screenings. Pahang reports 161 cases: 48 in clusters, 65 close-contact screenings, and 48 other screenings. Sabah reports 144 cases: 55 in clusters, 55 close-contact screenings, and 34 other screenings. Terengganu reports 139 cases: 51 in clusters, 62 close-contact screenings, and 26 other screenings.

    Labuan reports 84 cases: 53 in clusters, 15 close-contact screenings, and 16 other screenings. Putrajaya reports 20 cases: 17 close-contact screenings, and three other screenings. Perlis reports three cases: one close-contact screening, and two other screenings.
    Two new cases today are imported, both in Kuala Lumpur.

  13. 13.

    Spanky

    @Barbara: When I left home for my first job in Maryland, my father gave me an envelope with all my records. Still got ’em!

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    If 70% of adults get a #Covid shot by July 4, the US can avoid another surge, Dr. Fauci says. With 3 vaccines as effective as these are, having a large “proportion of the population vaccinated, the chances of there being a surge are extraordinarily low”

    I have to disagree with the esteemed doctor on this even if he knows more than I. The fact remains that there are segments of our population that refuse to get vaccinated, and that these segments are concentrated in certain locales. Like mine. In these areas another surge has to be far more likely than it is in areas where 90% of folks are happy to get vaccinated.

  15. 15.

    satby

    @Barbara: They stopped routine vaccinations in the US in 1972, though if you were going to a country where it might still be they would vaccinate you if you hadn’t been (extremely uncommon). WHO declared smallpox extinct worldwide in 1980. So you’d be pretty young for this blog if you hadn’t been vaccinated. I was in nursing school, it was a big deal.

  16. 16.

    Amir Khalid

    As of yesterday, the seven-day moving average of Malaysia’s R0/Rt was 1.13.

  17. 17.

    debbie

    @Spanky:

    Yep, I have my baby records. It’s surprising how many shots babies received back then.

    Meanwhile, my local news reported that Moderna announced booster shots would become available in September.

  18. 18.

    Lapassionara

    @OzarkHillbilly: Yes. Only 34% of St Louis County is vaccinated, per latest report. I don’t know if that is 34% of total population or 34% of eligible population, but it is not high enough. Yet the county has lifted the mask mandate. Give us ten days to two weeks to find out whether that decision was a good one.

  19. 19.

    Spanky

    @debbie: I was curious about needing a booster so soon, but I see they’re matching against the most virulent mutations

    Eta – And I suspect it’s also because of the short battery life in the microchip.

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    @debbie

    More could than would. The clinical data is still murky on that.

    Shall await more explicit guidance backed by data from scientists rather than from pharma CEOs, thank you.

  24. 24.

    Sloane Ranger

    Thursday in the UK we had 2874 new cases. This is an increase in the rolling 7-day average of 0.2%. New cases by nation,

    England – 2307 (up 156)

    Northern Ireland – 90 (down 17)

    Scotland – 432 (up 38)

    Wales – 45 (up 1).

    Deaths – There were 7 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. This is a decrease of 26.5% in the rolling 7-day average. England – 6 and Wales – 1. None in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

    Testing – 1,180,660 tests took place on Wednesday, 19 May. This is a decrease of 5.5% in the rolling 7-day average. The PCR testing capacity estimated by labs on that date was 645,838.

    Hospitalisations – There were 894 people in hospital on Tuesday, 18 May and 122 people on ventilators on Wednesday, 19th. The rolling 7-day average for hospital admissions was down 11.1% as of 16 May.

    Vaccinations – As of 19 May, a total of 37,250,363 people had received 1 shot of a vaccine and 21,239,471 had received both. In percentage terms, this means that 70.7% of all adults in the UK had received 1 shot and 40.3% were fully vaccinated.

    Personal – Happy to announce that over the last few weeks, the town where I live has gone from having well above average case rates to well below average ones. On a less positive note, local vaccination rates are lagging well below national ones. Only 62.6% of our residents have had 1 shot and 36.7%, both. I don’t know the reason but whatever it is, I hope we pull up our socks very quickly.

  25. 25.

    rikyrah

    1. Had Hungary VACCINATED?
    2. Japan is crazy to bring the Olympics until they are fully vaccinated
    3. India???
    4. How is Australia vaccine reluctant? Makes no damn sense ?
  29. 29.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland — 414 new confirmed cases from yesterday, still zero deaths reported. The national test positivity rate is 1.9%, still creeping up but there’s a lot more testing going on in the hotspots which have localised TPRs of 4% and higher. Hospitalisations and ICU bed occupancy are stable right now and well within the capability of the health services to cope which is the government’s biggest concern. About half the new reported cases are in Glasgow. The government advisors think the R number has crept up above 1 nationally but that it’s being elevated by the hotspots.

     

    Vaccinations — as of 07:30 BST this morning 3,082,251 people had received their first dose of the vaccine, an increase of 18,603 since yesterday and 26,968 received their second dose, bringing the total to 1,769,040. This is a surge from the usual 40,000 or so vaccinations per day with the extras concentrated in Glasgow and Renfrewshire. It will still take some time for this localised surge in vaccinations to have a noticeable effect on case numbers.

     

    Because of the continuing high case numbers in Glasgow it’s going to remain at level 3 restrictions for at least another week. Moray on the other hand which had an outbreak a few weeks ago seems to be coming out of it and they’re moving to level 2 restrictions like most of the rest of Scotland. East Renfrewshire is remaining at level 2 since the evidence is the case numbers there are due to spread in specific households which have been targetted for isolation and treatment and it’s thought there’s less chance of spread in that outbreak.

     

    The Glasgow level 3 situation means the Scottish Cup Final which was supposed to be held at Hampden with a limited crowd present will now take place behind closed doors with no spectators.

  30. 30.

    Catherine D.

    Cornell reports 75% of on-campus students, staff, and faculty are fully vaccinated. Vaccinated people won’t have to do surveillance testing after June 1, although voluntary supplemental tests will be available. I think I’ll keep doing a test once a week just because I think it’s important to keep track of the vaccinated.

  31. 31.

    Matt McIrvin

    @NeenerNeener: Vaccination mandates in schools and colleges are going to be key to quashing another wave in the fall–but the pro-COVID lobby is already pushing to prevent those from happening in Red America. The geographic differences are going to be stark.

    We’re fortunate that immunity from the vaccines seems to last longer than just a few months, flu-vaccine-style. I wouldn’t be surprised to see these shots become a yearly thing, but at least we probably won’t be back at square one in the fall, with the thing spreading as if nobody had any immunity at all.

  32. 32.

    Tall Tom

    My father once told me his answer to a common grade school assignment: “Who is your hero, and why?” Many of his peers who had lived through the Depression would have said FDR. He had a different view. He said Jonas Salk, inventor of the polio vaccine, because he experienced life before and after the polio vaccine.

  33. 33.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: Like mine. In these areas another surge has to be far more likely than it is in areas where 90% of folks are happy to get vaccinated.

    And mine. I’ve been watching the Springfield dashboard daily. The number who got their first shot has been slowly creeping up – it was over 41% yesterday. I’m hoping it will be over 50% by sometime in June, but I doubt it will get over 60% unless a lot of employers, schools and colleges start requiring it. I’m resigned to the fact that these idiots are going to cause another “mini-wave” here and kill some of each other off due to their refusal to believe Covid is a serious disease. There will probably be a super-spreader event at mega-church somewhere near here. I do agree that there won’t be a country-wide wave like we had before, but it’s going to be bad in the South and parts of the Midwest and West. It makes me crazy when I hear pundits talking about everyone going outside in the summer – that shows most of them are in the north part of the country, because in the South and Southwest everyone goes inside during the summer!

  34. 34.

    lee

    I want to share a story that might be interesting regarding vaccine hesitancy.

    My oldest is hesitant about getting the vaccine and of the entire family she is probably the one that needs it the most.

    My wife is a veterinarian so the kids were brought up getting every vaccine without question and a flu shot just about every year (I would say every year but I can’t remember that far back). When the HPV vaccine first came out the pediatrician got about 3 words out about it when my wife interrupted and said ‘Yes’.

    We had an extended call with her about it and why she needed to get the first shot prior to a family vacation coming up. The interesting thing is she gets this hesitancy about it because some of her friends got it had ‘bad’ reactions. The other thing it seems she knows she’s making a poor decision and it’s not based on any sort of rational reasons.

    She’s at least agreed to get the first shot prior to the vacation. I’m still very tempted to cancel her plane ticket unless she sends proof of vaccination. I realize if I did that she’d just get a fake card.

  35. 35.

    Soprano2

    A couple of years ago there was a story about some less-effective measles vaccines that had been given to some kids in the late 60’s – early ’70’s, which is when I would have received most of my childhood vaccinations. (I still remember getting the polio one, I liked it because you just drank that little dot of water. No needles!) The story recommended that you have your immunity checked if you thought you’d been vaccinated during that time period. I had my doc do it, and sure enough I was no longer immune. I got a measles booster shot in the summer of 2019, because of all the crazy anti-vaxxers not vaccinating their kids against measles. So, anyone here who falls in that age group might want to have it checked at your next doctor’s visit, just in case.

    I’ve got a co-worker whose son is graduating from high school today. I asked her what he’s doing, and she said he’s going to work. She also said earlier that she wouldn’t let him get vaccinated (even though she got the Pfizer shot) because “it wasn’t tested enough and I’m worried about the effect it would have on him because he’s so young”. His job is working the counter at an O’Reilly Auto Parts store. So, he’s going to be working unvaccinated with no masks as of next Friday, facing all kinds of people in an area where only 35% of people are fully vaccinated and no one who’s unvaccinated other than the medically fragile will wear masks. I swear, people are crazy. I hope he’s smart enough to get it, but without his parent’s encouragement I doubt he will.

  36. 36.

    Anne Laurie

    @OzarkHillbilly: In these areas another surge has to be far more likely than it is in areas where 90% of folks are happy to get vaccinated.

    Gotta agree.  In my nightmares, we end up with the kind of ‘ring fencing’ much less resource-rich countries do for diseases like Ebola.  Public health departments set up checkpoints around ‘hotspot’ communities, and armed police patrol the borders & check for vaccine compliance at the guard stations.

    It won’t happen overnight, but give enough vaxx-resistant know-nothings acting as petri dishes for amped-up infections…

  37. 37.

    Anne Laurie

    @rikyrah: How is Australia vaccine reluctant? Makes no damn sense

    They’re an island nation.  The leadership’s thinking — and it’s been vindicated, mostly, so far — is that locking the gates & not letting anyone in, not even Australian citizens stranded overseas, was good enough.   Now it’s clear that staying so isolated isn’t possible forever, so they’re grudgingly ponying up for a national vaccination campaign.

    Unfortunately, the fact that the current uproar over stranded citizens largely involves those fleeing India — you know, largely people who couldn’t pass a paper-bag test — has awakened certain portions of the Aussie tabloid media & its readers, from what I can tell at this distance.  You think the American version of Fox is toxic, just imagine how xenophobic his birthplace’s media can be.

  38. 38.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    If there is second surge the vaccine hesitation will correct itself.  People will notice who is and who isn’t getting sick or dying.

  39. 39.

    lee

    @Anne Laurie: Isn’t another problem they don’t have the production facilities to manufacture their own vaccine so they have to wait for other countries to ship it to them?

  40. 40.

    lowtechcyclist

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I have to disagree with the esteemed doctor on this even if he knows more than I. The fact remains that there are segments of our population that refuse to get vaccinated, and that these segments are concentrated in certain locales. Like mine. In these areas another surge has to be far more likely than it is in areas where 90% of folks are happy to get vaccinated.

    Yeah, I’m with you on this.  My wife grew up in central Florida, and since she’s got family down there, we’re heading down that way twice this summer.

    My wife and I are already more than 2 weeks past our second shot, and our son (age 13) will be Pfizer #2 + 2 weeks by the time of our first trip in late June.  But I’m still nervous about going, because Florida will be full of unvaccinated, unmasked people.

    I’ve got a stash of N95 masks, and I’m planning on us using them not just in transit, but in stores and stuff while we’re there.

  41. 41.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    If there is second surge the vaccine hesitation will correct itself.  People will notice who is and who isn’t getting sick or dying.

    We had a Sun Belt surge last summer, followed by the Sturgis surge in the upper Plains/Rockies.Midwest.  How’d the self-correction work out then?

  42. 42.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: The problem is the same cognitive illusion that’s dogged us all along: most people who get COVID get better, with no outwardly visible permanent damage–especially among the younger cohorts who are least likely to be vaccinated. It only takes a few of those people loudly crowing that they shook it off and it’s nothing to confuse the rest. Human beings think in terms of stories, not statistics. You put Fred who got better next to a scary story in the paper about somebody who got the vaccine and got sick, and it makes an impression.

  43. 43.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Amir Khalid:

    As of yesterday, the seven-day moving average of Malaysia’s R0/Rt was 1.13.

    Does Malaysia have any plans to further tighten movement restrictions? That last round of tightening does not seem to have had the intended suppressive effect. What are the strains currently prevalent?

  44. 44.

    Soprano2

    I think a significant amount of hesitancy among some people is about all the stories of people getting sick from the shot. They’re afraid they’re going to get sick and have to miss work, and a lot of them have jobs where if they miss work they don’t get paid. They’d rather risk getting a mild or asymptomatic case of Covid than be sick a day or two from the vaccine. Makes no sense, I know, because if they get a bad case of Covid they’re going to miss a lot more than a day of work, but like Matt McIrvin says they mostly think that if they get Covid it won’t be bad at all. For these people, a big surge of Covid locally might persuade them to get vaccinated. Maybe….

  45. 45.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @Anne Laurie:

    You think the American version of Fox is toxic, just imagine how xenophobic his birthplace’s media can be.

    I recall reading that the Murdoch empire owns ~ 70% of media in Australia, and the balance is owned by a local rich family not necessarily friendly to liberalism. Imagine the US media landscape where Fox/WSJ/NY Post is dominant, and the remainder are to the right of Politico. Not conducive to functional democracy in the long term.

  46. 46.

    Peale

    @Matt McIrvin: Yeah. The problem is that there’s so many dead that they disappear into a mass of forgotten people and those that recovered after long stints in the hospital are probably not speaking about those medial bills. What we need is some kind of national day of séance where we call forth the spirits of the dead to give them a warning. Look, I know I’m not really much of a believer in that kind of thing, but the kinds of woo the reluctant ones believe leads me to believe that it might be more effective than even a lottery.

  47. 47.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: My go-to example now is my cousin in PA who got it over a month ago when people were already starting to celebrate that the pandemic was ending, ended up on oxygen in the hospital, and is still not 100% better. I think it might help to talk about how horribly ill you can really get with a non-fatal “moderate” case, to stop people from just looking at the fatality rate and thinking “1% is small”.

  48. 48.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @satby: ” You would think the memory wouldn’t have faded so quickly from the collective conciousness, but it has.”

    Hank Mencken would like a word. Several words, in fact:

    No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.

    (‘Notes On Journalism’ in the Chicago Tribune ,19 September 1926)

  49. 49.

    VOR

    @Soprano2: Chickenpox. My brother got chickenpox when he was 19. He ran a 104 fever for days but somehow was never hospitalized. There was concern he would not be able to have children, which thankfully is not the case.

    I had a very short course of chickenpox as a child, so short my mother was not sure I had even had it. Many years ago I attended a birthday party for my wife’s step-sister’s daughter. Afterwards, we find out the daughter came down with chickenpox the next day so we were all exposed. I did not want to get chickenpox as an adult. I went to my clinic and had a test to confirm I had antibodies. The step-sister, now a MAGAt, was unconcerned because “it’s just chickenpox”.

  50. 50.

    Matt McIrvin

    @VOR: When I got my shingles vax the assistant who gave it asked me if I really wanted it because I have no memory of getting chickenpox.

    They didn’t do a titer, but I’ve since read that some sources say to assume that EVERYONE who grew up before chickenpox vaccination got infected at some point, whether they remember it or not.

    And since then, I was talking to my mom and she said “I think you got it”–apparently when I was a little kid, I had a mysterious illness that gave me a fever and a few inconspicuous pock marks hidden on my scalp. Which would explain why I never caught chickenpox after that, even from the guy in my college dorm who was walking around for days covered in spots.

  51. 51.

    Ruckus

    @satby:

    One also has to add in freedumb, that political aim that wants people not to think, because if they did they likely wouldn’t support the right to follow rather than do any thinking whatsoever. Sort of the right to be sheeple.

  52. 52.

    Ruckus

    @Tall Tom:

    I would say that is true of even myself. I was born before the polio vaccines were released, I was 5 when I got mine. And I know/knew at least 4 people with polio. I used to hate needles because it felt like I was getting stuck all the damn time. I had measles and encephalitis and all the “normal” childhood diseases when only the smallpox vaccine was out.

  53. 53.

    Subsole

    @rikyrah:

    From what I can gather, Australia is touched by the cold, soulless hand of the Murdoch Media Axis.

    So their rightwing is about as batshit insane as ours.

  54. 54.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Hamilton is spinning in his grave.  Not over the musical, but over what has happened to his newspaper.

  55. 55.

    Ruckus

    @Soprano2:

    I think we should not say we got sick from the shot, because we didn’t. Our bodies adjusted to a new medication that gives us a high rate of immunity. Some have little noticeable reactions, some such as myself seemed to have a stronger to much stronger adjustment.

    Many people do not like to be inconvenienced in any way. We have foods that take a minute or two in the microwave, rather than prep and an hour in the oven. Our time is precious, we only waste it on things we want to waste it on. We drive too fast because we have to be somewhere. We are important, we have a big title or own a house big enough to house 20 – easily. Or both. When we say sick, it implies that we will be inconvenienced, and that alone will stop some from getting the shot. How many here said they had no reaction, half?

    I think we’d do better if we didn’t say we got sick because we really didn’t. We adjusted to a vaccine. That’s not a negative. That’s not being sick.

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