Areas with the highest vaccination numbers have death rates far below the national average- what a surprise.
https://t.co/IddeBQ5Ui4 pic.twitter.com/5bMh7f8Qjg— Ann Telnaes (@AnnTelnaes) December 8, 2021
Even as the U.S. reaches a milestone of roughly 200 million people fully vaccinated against COVID-19, cases and hospitalizations are spiking again. New cases climbed from an average of nearly 95,000 a day on Nov. 22 to almost 119,000 a day this week. https://t.co/SywgjoFW5l
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 8, 2021
COVID Update: 2 weeks ago we said we would know a lot more about Omicron in 2 weeks.
I’ve rounded up the best scientific opinions to share a consensus. 1/
— Andy Slavitt ??? (@ASlavitt) December 9, 2021
The bottom line-up front: We should expect a significant wave of COVID this weekend: likely a Delta + Omicron wave. 2/
The consensus view of Omicron is that it is NOT innately more contagious, but that it IS spreading much faster. 3/…
The reason Omicron is able to spread with little in its way stems from the fact that Omicron comes from a different lineage than Delta. Therefore prior infection from Delta does a poor job protecting against spread & infection if there is no vaccination. 7/
How do vaccines themselves perform? Good and bad.
Limited data from Pfizer shows that with a 3rd dose, the vaccine will continue to do a very good job—particularly at preventing severe illness.
Even with that third dose/booster, it appears to have some fall off from Delta.8/
Without a booster, vaccines aren’t expected to do a great job preventing the virus from spreading, although still provide strong protection against severe illness. 9/
This is relieving news for people who have gotten or will get boosted.
For people who are vaccinated but not boosted there is real risk of breakthrough infection.
But anyone who has been vaccinated is far better off than those who haven’t. Prior infection isn’t a help. 10/
The other question we began wrestling with— and are still wrestling with— is whether the COVID that people get w Omicron is more or less severe. 11/…
The perspective I find most compelling is that Omicron is not likely to be more or less severe than Delta but that we may be seeing the effects of memory B cell and T cell accumulated immunity. 13/…
So what happens when Omicron begins to grow in the US? What would an even more rapidly growing virus (250% faster than Delta) that is less lethal look like?
It can be damaging. Even a small percentage of a big number is a big number. 17/
If Omicron were the only challenge of the winter, it would be easier to manage. But Omicron will arrive when Delta is raging. And if Delta spreads as fast or faster than Omicron innately, then scientists tell me we are likely to get stuck with both. 18/…
A third shot on top of 2 prior shots works well against Delta and appears to make a big difference with Omicron. 20/
And this is how the winter of 2021-2022 is different from last winter.
As bad a storm as comes, we have the tools to stay safe. If we use them. /end
— Andy Slavitt ??? (@ASlavitt) December 9, 2021
British expat in America:
To be clear for some reason the final version will be means-tested
— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) December 8, 2021
Our new analysis finds that national vaccination rates among kids, ages 5-11, rose initially, but came down quickly. And there is wide variation across the country. https://t.co/zEr0Kh1D21
— Jen Kates (@jenkatesdc) December 8, 2021
#TheAPInterview: CDC chief Dr. Rochelle Walensky discusses what has been learned so far from the first few dozen omicron cases in the U.S. https://t.co/SPbJuqJK5A
— The Associated Press (@AP) December 8, 2021
Objectively pro-virus https://t.co/rkRtgKqwia
— Cheryl Rofer (@CherylRofer) December 9, 2021
======
Chart: The Uneven Covid-19 Vaccine Rollout | Statistahttps://t.co/Whlf1vaoks pic.twitter.com/f8Eh5kTiWR
— Global Health Observ (@GlobalPHObserv) December 8, 2021
This is an unbelievably irresponsible cover image to use for this article, @NyTimes. pic.twitter.com/Vvwi0nnviB
— Alan MacLeod (@AlanRMacLeod) December 6, 2021
Several parents associations in South Korea held protests against a vaccine pass mandate for children aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19 among teenagers https://t.co/ghboDneFCh
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 9, 2021
Coronavirus spreads in Australia's pubs; Omicron cases linked to party boat https://t.co/FnUAM5mIeO pic.twitter.com/akEzTKZWmE
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 9, 2021
In Europe, kids in the 5-14 age group are showing the highest Covid rates, according to the WHO. But while Covid deaths regardless of age remain significantly below previous peaks, they've more than doubled in the last 2 months https://t.co/xWJRLgzHB7
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) December 9, 2021
Fearing economic disaster from COVID-19, the mayor of a small Ukrainian spa town spearheaded a campaign that saw 74% of residents fully vaccinated, compared with less than 30% for the whole country. It's kept the town open and no one has died in 6 months. https://t.co/uKnM7HEuMI
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) December 9, 2021
Finland's Prime Minister is 36 years old, went out clubbing till 4am, left her work phone at home and was therefore unreachable to get a text telling her she needed to quarantine. https://t.co/AUYNYtCxsU
— Neri Zilber (@NeriZilber) December 8, 2021
In *Finland!* In the winter! I think this whole thing is deterrence to the Russians. https://t.co/F8EVAOeYF4
— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) December 9, 2021
Poland and several other countries in Central and Eastern Europe are facing the emergence of the omicron variant while already dealing with surging coronavirus cases and deaths. The region has much lower COVID-19 vaccination rates than in Western Europe. https://t.co/O6ABbSi4g7
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) December 8, 2021
Austria's fourth national lockdown of the coronavirus pandemic will end on Sunday, but the country's new chancellor says restrictions will remain for unvaccinated people. https://t.co/JmGx7bYImQ
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) December 8, 2021
Users reported issues with NHS Covid Pass after new coronavirus measures announced for England https://t.co/6e4GcqQhxB
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 8, 2021
South Africa reports nearly 20,000 COVID-19 cases, an Omicron-wave record https://t.co/NrlVHHlyDr pic.twitter.com/ufmwBX6xIu
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 9, 2021
Omicron variant spreading ~2x as fast as #delta in South Africa. A new mathematical analysis strengthens concerns about the effects of the new variant on the pandemic’s course https://t.co/VFoU6Wh97h
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) December 9, 2021
Cuba detects first Omicron case – state media ACN https://t.co/3x6RvOeKUV pic.twitter.com/zBUIHRbcPL
— Reuters (@Reuters) December 9, 2021
Well, they would say that…
Airlines say nations overreacted to Omicron variant | Reuters https://t.co/pKjvBaGXYB
— Dennis Owen (@DennisOwen) December 9, 2021
======
A new COVID-19 antibody drug provides long-term protection to those most vulnerable to infection.https://t.co/L6M3BtxPjo
— AP Health & Science (@APHealthScience) December 8, 2021
… Antibody drugs have been a standard treatment for treating COVID-19 infections for over a year. But the AstraZeneca antibody drug cleared by the Food and Drug Administration is different. It’s the first intended for long-term prevention against COVID-19 infection, rather than a short-term treatment.
People who could benefit from the antibody drug include cancer patients, organ transplant recipients and people taking immune-suppressing drugs for conditions like rheumatoid arthritis. Health experts estimate about 2% to 3% of the U.S. population falls into that group…
Specifically, the FDA authorized the AstraZeneca drug called Evusheld for adults and children 12 and older whose immune systems haven’t responded adequately to COVID-19 vaccines or have a history of severe allergic reactions to the shots. Regulators said the required two antibody injections may be effective at preventing COVID-19 infections for six months…
Like similar drugs, AstraZeneca’s delivers laboratory-made versions of human antibody proteins, which help the immune system fight off viruses and other infections.
The FDA and other health authorities have stressed that antibody drugs are not a substitute for vaccines, which are the most effective, long-lasting and economical form of virus protection. Antibody drugs are tricky to manufacture and often cost more than $1,000 per dose compared with vaccines that are typically under $30 per shot…
Very useful table from @erlichya showing the wildly different results independent & company labs are getting, testing #vaccines against #Omicron — bottom-line seems to be "who the heck knows?" (Range is from 2.5Xs lowered response to 40X reduction, which is nuts.) https://t.co/ZmMFRMtyCw
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) December 8, 2021
Scientists are conducting clinical trials to find new Covid treatments that can reduce the infection's morbidity and mortality. Here are 5 bullet points about ACTIV COVID-19 clinical trials, from @Medscapehttps://t.co/t3ztR9CjLL. pic.twitter.com/g2EP2ks6f3
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) December 9, 2021
A mystery of #LongCovid is whether ailments months after having #COVID19 are results of direct viral injury to organs, or to ongoing, undetected #SARSCoV2 infection. Spanish MDs rept 2 cases of acute colon pain caused by long-hidden COVID viruses.https://t.co/bARkwav7Sh
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) December 8, 2021
======
500 employees decided to terminate their own employment https://t.co/IRLmaFvGIi
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) December 9, 2021
Nevada to make unvaccinated state workers pay insurance surcharge. Workers & adult dependents who remain unvaccinated but are covered under public employee insurance will be hit w/ a monthly charge starting next July to alleviate Covid testing costs https://t.co/tPMF99UgtO
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) December 8, 2021
All they do is complain about the burdens of vaccines and indoor masking but the thirty-eight different Youtube therapies they sell as a cure-all sounds exponentially more exhausting, life upending and (coincidence I'm sure) expensive. https://t.co/htIvCw7RFJ
— zeddy (@Zeddary) December 9, 2021
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health reports 5,446 new Covid-19 cases today in its media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 2,678,465 cases. It also reports 28 deaths as of midnight, for an adjusted cumulative total of 30,746 deaths – 1.15% of the cumulative reported total, 1.17% of resolved cases.
Based on cases reported yesterday, Malaysia’s nationwide Rt is at 0.98.
324 confirmed cases are in ICU, 147 of them on ventilators. Meanwhile, 5,427 more patients have recovered, for a cumulative total of 2,586,822 patients recovered – 96.6% of the cumulative reported total.
17 new clusters were reported today, for a cumulative total of 6,022 clusters. 254 clusters are currently active; 5,768 clusters are now inactive.
5,426 new cases today are local infections. 20 new cases today are imported.
The National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) administered 125,838 doses of vaccine on 8th December: 4,572 first doses, 6,322 second doses, and 114,944 booster doses. As of midnight, the cumulative total is 54,470,578 doses administered: 25,904,280 first doses, 25,476,738 second doses, and 3,281,238 booster doses. 79.3% of the population have received their first dose, while 78.0% are now fully vaccinated.
soapdish
“At Least Someone Has Work-Life Balance”
https://www.thecut.com/2021/12/at-least-the-finnish-prime-minister-has-work-life-balance.html
NeenerNeener
Monroe County NY:
There were 516 new laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported on 12/8.
There were 86 positive home test results reported on 12/8.
506 individuals are hospitalized for COVID-19 in the Finger Lakes Region (down 3 since previous day). 118 of these patients are in ICU (up 1 from previous day).
Ken
The last tweet by zeddy, about vaccine “alternatives” being more disruptive and more expensive, applies to many of the actual medical treatments. I will never understand the popularity of antibody therapy among the anti-vaccine crowd, except that “TFG got it” = “must be good” must be part of it.
It’s especially odd when coupled with the claim that they don’t know what’s in the vaccine. So they prefer a therapy that is randomly-generated proteins extracted from hundreds of different people, none of which have been sequenced? (Plus they need to work on their packaging; stuff always looks like a baggie of pus to me.)
NorthLeft12
Senator Ron Johnson cements his status in Congress with a hat trick; most ignorant, most stupid, and most evil person in the building.
Note: the three Gs (Greene, Gosar, and Gohmert) are not far behind.
I have some empathy for people stuck with the above as elected representatives. My MP (Marylin Glaadu) is embarrassing herself, her party, and my county on a regular basis. Yet she gets re-elected with bigger majorities every time.
debbie
Nevada’s getting off cheap. My work is adding $200 to $250 per month to unvaccinated workers’ medical insurance cost. No idea what kids’ coverage would cost.
SiubhanDuinne
@NorthLeft12:
The ThreeGees.
Matt McIrvin
About 2028? By 2028 vaccination will probably be banned in the US.
lowtechcyclist
I can only hope that the WisDems are already calling Ron Johnson “Senator Mouthwash” or something along those lines.
lowtechcyclist
Toss in Boebert, and you’ve got the BeeGees.
Topping the charts with their great new hit, “The House of Representatives Moral Disaster 2021.”
Matt McIrvin
God, the number of people trying to read things into fragmentary Omicron data is exhausting. The latest thing is people doing an apples-to-oranges comparison of two of the studies in that table (I don’t even know which ones) and concluding “the booster only lasts a month”. You don’t know anything yet, be quiet for a moment.
OzarkHillbilly
One of these is not like the others.
Peale
Someone needs to explain what a “fold reduction” means. Reduction in what? A 30 fold reduction in the ability of the antibodies to neutralise the virus sounds like something that is less than 3% as effective as it once was. Yet the HCPs interviewed say “the vaccine is still effective”.
lowtechcyclist
Less origami, for sure.
New Deal democrat
Comparing the latest 7 day average with the 7 day average two weeks prior (just before the Thanksgiving holiday), cases in the US as a whole are up nearly 25%.
Regionally, here are the States that have significant increases compared with two weeks ago:
West Up 15% CA, NM, and WA
South Up 30% AR, DC, DE, KY, NC, OK, SC, TN, VA, and WV,
Midwest up 20% IL, IN, IA, KS, MN, NE, OH, and SD
Northeast up nearly 40%, including every State except ME.
The increase in the West is almost entirely driven by CA. In the Midwest, MI is flat compares with 2 weeks ago. ND has continued to decline slightly.
If we average the entire last 14 days and compare with the previous 7, the US is up less than 10%, the West unchanged, the South and Midwest up slightly, but the Northeast is up 20%.
Deaths are up over 25% in the past 7 days compared with two weeks prior, but averaging the entire last 14 days they are up 10%. Because deaths should lag rather than moving in tandem with cases, I suspect we still have a couple of days of Thanksgiving distortions left. In either event, increases have been centered on the East Coast megalopolis States, California, and the Ohio Valley.
Matt McIrvin
@Peale: It’s the amount of antibodies produced, NOT vaccine effectiveness. The relationship between the two is not linear. These studies don’t tell us directly about effectiveness.
Cameron
It is frustrating trying to stay on top of things. Three bangs of Pfizer? Check. Mask on when in close proximity to others (indoor or outdoor)? Check. Social distancing whenever possible? Check. Wash hands/often-used surfaces regularly? Check. Try not to track stuff indoors on my shoes? Check. What more am I supposed to do? I’m really tempted to start gargling with high-alcohol mouthwash and using my neti pot, even though neither probably would do much.
Good news about Evusheld, though – I have a sister with a very compromised immune system. Will see if she knows about it (and if her insurance will cover it).
YY_Sima Qian
On 12/8 China reported 60 new domestic confirmed (none previously asymptomatic) & 13 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Inner Mongolia “Autonomous” Region reported 42 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 491 active domestic confirmed cases in the region.
Heilongjiang Province reported 4 new domestic confirmed case. There currently are 40 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
At Xianyang in Shaanxi Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city.
Shanghai Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently are 6 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining. 3 Medium Risk residential compounds have been re-designated as Low Risk. 2 residential compounds are currently at Medium Risk.
Jiangsu Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case. There currently are 1 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Zhejiang Province reported 12 new domestic confirmed & 12 new domestic asymptomatic cases. There currently are 21 active domestic confirmed (all mild) & 21 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Chongzuo in Guangxi “Autonomous” Region reported 1 new domestic asymptomatic case, a traced close contact of imported confirmed cases reported by Nanning in Guangxi & Guangzhou in Fujian on 12/6. The case has been under centralized quarantine since 12/6.
At Guangzhou in Guangdong Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city. 1 quarantine hotel is currently at Medium Risk.
At Dalian in Liaoning Province 5 domestic confirmed cases recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 47 active domestic confirmed & 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.
At Hebei Province 4 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 9 active confirmed cases in the province (6 at Shijiazhuang & 3 at Xinji).
At Rizhao in Shandong Province there currently are 4 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.
At Chongqing Municipality 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases remaining.
At Henan Province 4 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 54 active domestic confirmed cases remaining (42 at Zhengzhou & 12 at Zhoukou).
Dehong Prefecture in Yunnan Province reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, at Ruili (via screening of persons under centralized quarantine). There currently are 50 active domestic confirmed & 39 active domestic asymptomatic cases at the prefecture. 1 zone at Longchuan County is currently at High Risk. 1 village at Ruili is currently at Medium Risk.
Imported Cases
On 12/8, China reported 23 new imported confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic), 20 imported asymptomatic cases, 0 imported suspect cases:
Overall in China, 26 confirmed cases recovered (12 imported), 13 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (12 imported) & 1 was reclassified as confirmed case (imported), & 781 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 1,190 active confirmed cases in the country (461 imported), 24 in serious condition (2 imported), 484 active asymptomatic cases (406 imported), 2 suspect cases (both imported). 42,668 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 12/8, 2,574.931M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 7.379M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 12/9, Hong Kong reported 7 new positive cases, all imported.
JPL
@YY_Sima Qian: We must be pretty close to your first post warning us about the virus. I can’t believe it’s been almost two years.
Matt McIrvin
Of course, what frustrates me about the people saying “you need the booster” is that as a parent of a teenager who can’t get the booster, I feel like we’re back where we started there. We just started vaccinating kids under 12 and now we have a variant that seems to be hitting them harder and is doing some immune escape. It came at the worst possible time. If we get an Omicron vaccine, will it take six more months after it comes out to approve it for kids? They’ll all get Omicron by then.
This wave is not going to be as lethal per-patient as the previous ones, but I think we’re at the point in most of the US where we simply cannot do new shutdowns or restrictions. Everything is going to stay wide open, which will make it very difficult to cope in any non-medical way.
JPL
@JPL: The anniversary of your first post warning us about the virus.
Ohio Mom
@Cameron:
Yeah, I’m already doing almost everything I can do — I could cut back on the amount of time I spend grocery shopping I guess but that’s a big entertainment these days.
I wonder how our mothers did it, carrying on while knowing their kids were going to get measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough, chicken pox, and am I leaving one out? Oh, and maybe polio. Which I just read is somewhat like Covid in that there are lots of minor, nothingburger cases but if your case isn’t, oops, you’re pretty much screwed.
Starfish
I am a little dismissive of Jen Kates’ graph above. We ran into the holiday with the kids’ doses, and I expect that some folks are still experiencing access issues. We had an entire vaccine clinic canceled due to staffing issues. Also, I don’t know why we amplified the story about China with the bad picture. If we want people to take their shots, we don’t amplify “vaccines are scary” photos.
Patrianakos
Senator Johnson: If you want to flood your nasal passages with mouthwash, be my guest.
New Deal democrat
From Dr. Tom Mountie in South Africa: data there appears to show Omicron wave has already peaked:
https://mobile.twitter.com/tomtom_m/status/1468881672770883587
If this pattern holds in other countries, that is good news. It would mean Omicron is sort of a super-Delta, both spreading and burning through the dry tinder (I.e., those particularly susceptible) much more quickly.
marklar
@lowtechcyclist: BeeGee’s. I love it. This should be a thread all to itself. Bobert Gaetz Green Gomert’s Greatest hits.
I started a conspiracy theory
Swamp Fever
How deep is your hate
White Knights (of the KKK) on Broadway
and of course, Tragedy.
Cameron
@Ohio Mom: Yeah, I never thought shopping would be my primo form of entertainment (I don’t even have a TV). Somehow the thrill of Publix and Target is lost on me.
New Deal democrat
@Matt McIrvin:
>>”the booster only lasts a month”
I saw a debunking (sorry, I don’t remember by whom, but it was one of the experts I regularly follow) of that data. If I recall, it was a paper by one grad student, thinly and poorly sourced, that unfortunately got retweeted by someone with a big following.
Fair Economist
@New Deal democrat: No, the data is that the reproduction rate has dropped, but not to r=1, where the epidemic peaks. The epidemic is still expanding at a good clip there. If the the drop continues, then it will peak soon, but obviously that’s not guaranteed.
Ken
That can go on the giant tombstone, right under
HUMANITY
500,000 BCE — 2022 CE
New Deal democrat
@Fair Economist: Thanks for the correction.
As the source says, “past an inflection point.” Not at an actual decline yet.
Peale
@Patrianakos: he probably never tips at restaurants. “Use mouthwash rather than these vaccines that cost $5.99.” Is exactly something a cheapskate would say.
Starfish
@Cameron: Especially after we learned that a Publix heiress helped fund Jan. 6.
ant
The right doesn’t like vaccines cause they are free and available to everyone.
If vaccine distribution was done in such a way to reinforce social hierarchies, then they’d like it. Maintaining the power structure of the white patriarchy is their only concern. Public policy outcomes are irrelevant in the eyes of a republican voter.
Pro-life = men should decide about abortion, and have veto power over women.
Family values = wives should submit to their husbands, and the rod shall not be spared on children/keeping them knowing their place.
Pro-war/military spending = White men shall have control over natural resources, and others knowing their place.
Taxes/tax cuts = Republican voters don’t actually care about tax cuts for the rich, or tax policy at all really. They just want white men to decide. Those white men decide tax policy that favor themselves.
And so on.
Covid is such a shit show because republicans don’t care about policy outcomes that doesn’t underline their privilege. They want inequality. They want Pelosi/Obama/Sotomayor/Kagan/H Clinton/Warren/Buttigieg/Harris/AOC/The squad/Maddow/Etc to FUCKING KNOW THEIR PLACE. And that place is NOT making important decisions. Cleeks law works, but it isn’t very precise about the dynamic that’s at play, IMO.
The end result is that republican office holders are completely unaccountable for their actions, so long as they keep focused on that one weird trick.
mrmoshpotato
Next year is the Boot RoJo into the Sun year. See if you can work some leg exercises into your schedule, Wisconsinites.
Matt McIrvinis
Peter Hotez made a tweet where he was musing out loud hypothetically about what we might want to do going forward IF other types of vaccine turn out to be more durable long-term than mRNA, then deleted it and explained he was worried it could be weaponized by antivaxxers. In the ensuing thread, his earlier tweet was reposted as a screenshot and immediately weaponized by antivaxxers
(Aargh, for some reason my name got glitched in the name field and it’s making these posts go to moderation, sorry. I’ll pay attention next time.)
Cameron
@Starfish: Native Floridians can speak to this much better than I can, but what little I’ve read, the whole family is very conservative Christian. What’s odd is that they seem to take some of their Christianity as, well, Christianity – AFAIK, Publix is the only supermarket chain that has an ESOP. On the other hand, much favoritism for straight white males.
Percysowner
The Good news, my health care provider has posted a QR code that covers all my vaccinations AND has a link to a written copy as well. I got the first two shots (Moderna) through my provider, but was able to get the Pfizer booster through CVS. Now I can access all off the info combined. I still have my Vaccination card, but it only has the first 2 shots, not the booster. I’m going to ask my physician to order me a hard copy of the official card, to carry with me.
The bad news is, I just found out I ‘m going to start chemo next Thursday. I have no idea how much this is going to upset my life. I talk with the chemo education person Monday, so I’ll have a better idea then. I suspect that my kids may have to find alternate daycare for my granddaughter for the next few months. Or we have to make her wear a mask in my presence all the time, since she is too young to be vaccinated.
Starfish
@ant: Southern white folks are now DYING from COVID at higher rates because of early rumors that it was affecting Black folks more. Black folks organized, masked up, and got their vaccines, and white folks are still dying because they love their racism more than their lives.
Starfish
@Cameron: I knew it was one of the higher end grocery stores in that area, but I did not know anything about who sat on the wealth from that. Thank you.
matryoshka
In MO, our attorney general sent cease and desist orders to public schools and public health agencies who have mask mandates. I am glad I don’t have a school-age child or grandchild to worry about in this upside-down and backwards state, and I feel for all the parents who do. Last week, kids were sent home for not wearing masks. Next week, while cases climb, they may be sent home for wearing them. Insanity.
sdhays
@mrmoshpotato: Has he decided yet if he’s running for reelection?
Scout211
@Percysowner:
You can get your CVS vaccination record from the CVS website. You may have to get an account with them online but they do have your vaccine records available to download. Our case was the same as yours: Both Moderna shots at our doctor’s office and the booster at CVS. We had CVS fill in the booster on our cards and they uploaded our records to the California digital vaccine portal within 24 hours.
Good luck with the chemo. Kids don’t really have a problem with wearing masks. They adjust easily to things like that. I think that part will be fine.
Matt McIrvinis
@ant: I think it’s a couple of other things.
One is path-dependent: Republican antivax evolved out of Republican antimask, and Republican antimask was Trumpster red meat with a side of toxic masculinity (wearing a mask makes you look like a wimp/only weak people have to fear COVID).
The other is pure tribalism/Cleek’s Law: liberals want you to get vaccinated so conservatives have to want to not get vaccinated, because that’s the opposite. Nothing more complex than that.
Ohio Mom
@Percysowner: I don’t/can’t keep up with every thread so I missed the news that you have cancer. Welcome to the club, I guess — there are lots of us former cancer patients here among the Juicers/Jackals.
We’re pulling for you, keep us posted.
mrmoshpotato
@sdhays: Who said anything about reelection? ?
Boot into the Sun.
(Honestly, I don’t know. I vaguely remember hearing he might not run.)
Percysowner
@Ohio Mom:
I didn’t really talk about it here. My surgeon thought it was going to be a simple lumpectomy and then radiation and letrozole. So I figured I’d just take care of it and be done. Then they did an MRI and found a mass in the other breast and that one turned out to be more of a problem. I’m not thrilled about having chemo, but you got to do what you got to do.
smith
@New Deal democrat: One reason the US deaths are up is that MO dumped a report of more than 2400 deaths for one day last week. I assume this was from a rather massive reporting backlog, and was more than enough to distort the national figures for a few days.
JMS
An observation. Contrary to the headline, the vaccination rollout is now quite consistent at least on a regional level with one glaring exception. And yet for some unknown reason (luck?) the region that is horribly lagging has not been impacted nearly as much by Covid as the other regions. I guess that doesn’t fit the narrative so that’s why we get a headline like that, but it’s rather jarring (and lazy) to see that mismatch
Enhanced Voting Techniques
So Omicron is both more contagious and less severe than previous versions of COVID-19, which is exactly what the Epidemiologist predicted and in line with what happened in 1918 because that’s how evolution works. So instead people are freaking out because they spent the last twenty years watching dumb as rocks comic book movies were evolution means “power up” and no matter how many times it’s explained to them, “power up” sticks in their head.
Just god damn.
Matt McIrvin
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
We don’t actually know it’s less severe yet. The data are complicated by changes and differences in the populations being infected. Some experts seem to think it’s actually about the same but prior immunity is affecting results.
Also, it’s become a canard that viruses evolve to be less severe, but it’s by no means that simple. Evolution isn’t teleological; it doesn’t have a direction. COVID is not so lethal that its lethality is adversely affecting its spread to a great degree. It sounds as if the bigger change is that more people have some degree of immunity, either from prior infection or from vaccination, and that is modifying the course of disease.
If Omicron is less severe, that could just be luck of the draw, and the next big variant could be worse again.
Matt McIrvin
All this would be so much easier to take, psychologically, if I knew we were all in this together. But we’re not. The worst thing is that not only are we not in this together, there are powerful people working to impede public-health measures so they can extract political advantage from both the resulting division AND the increased amount of disease. And it seems to be working.
Put that on top of the legitimate disagreements about just how much people who are vaccinated and take basic precautions should upend our lives, and it is just really distressing.
Ohio Mom
@Percysowner: I don’t know if you are still keeping up with this thread — the best source for reliable and up-to-date breast cancer information I’ve found is breastcancer.org , especially the discussion boards. Click on “our community” (at top of page) and scroll down until you see what you’d like to know more about.
Scout211
FDA just recommended booster shots for 16-17 year olds.
Lacuna Synecdoche
Is it wrong that this makes me wanna live in Finland?
Percysowner
@Ohio Mom: Thanks. I’ve signed up. I need all the resources I can find.
Ruckus
@Ken:
I think a lot of the anti vaccine/home remedies crowd are those with a very limited scientific exposure. They might be educated but they likely lack a lot or even any science education. The only exposure they have with any science is likely commercial TV and that is 99.9% useless. Or worse. And as we are all, or almost are, political animals we do respond to that, either in a somewhat informed way or in a follow the leader way. Their leaders are often as educated in/understanding of science as their followers are. We can show all the fantastic models of viruses/cells/infections we want, they mean zero to someone who has zero training but is unwilling to accept that there is anything they don’t understand. And it’s not just the US, in many/most parts of the world there is massive vaccine resistance. Why is this resistance world wide? Because while some of us still alive remember the before all by one vaccine – smallpox – we all got sick all the time, some, sometimes a lot, died or suffered life long disabilities. In most countries that didn’t happen until Covid reared it’s ugly self. And even in the ones that still have issues, there is resistance.
Why?
Most people just do not have enough or any education towards the understanding of the science behind this. It’s like turning on the TV in a foreign language. It sounds like gibberish and makes no sense to them. I’ve related here before that I was 5 or 6 when my entire family took the polio vaccine. The adults had seen the effects of disease first hand, they didn’t need reminders of them, education about why it would be important to take the vaccine, it was all around them and their kids. Some major disease had likely effected someone they knew and a hospital was barely more than a place to go to die. Hell, disabled people were often sent to sanitariums to live out the meager existence they had left. And this is within my lifetime and that of many people still alive. But people 2/3 my age and younger didn’t have the exposure to much of it that people my age and older did. It’s just not in most of their exposures. And so to make up for that we need education and a lot are not getting that. Add in the conservative “news” outlets that are interested in only your money and compliance and it gets worse.
Ruckus
@Percysowner:
Some chemo is not bad and some is a lot stronger. It depends on the cancer, the stage and the chemo.
Good luck on the progress towards remission. It is a massive relief to reach that stage. Believe me I know.
Matt McIrvin
@Scout211: …and my kid is now less than a year short of eligibility…