Been asked how long we need to use face masks for. My answer -think of it like an umbrella ? which you take out to use on certain occasions (high risk settings, lots of community infection etc). It’s raining heavily just now. ??
— Andrew Lee (@andrewleedr) January 14, 2022
Despite signs the surge in Covid cases has begun slowing in the Northeast, the US Surgeon Gen'l warns #Omicron has not yet peaked. Dr Vivek Murthy says Covid cases are rising nationally & the next few weeks will be tough as hospitalizations/deaths increase https://t.co/3Pdv2aH6Zn
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 17, 2022
Why are we not all chilled given vaccines work against severe illness even with omicron? Well in the US (and pretty much anywhere) we are yet to see infections of large numbers of older people, and healthcare is already stretched. Here goes 1/n https://t.co/U838Y6qgnK
— Bill Hanage (@BillHanage) January 8, 2022
This makes the point at least as well as I couldhttps://t.co/B6TQLD0gUy 2/n
— Bill Hanage (@BillHanage) January 8, 2022
… The bad: for those who have not had the benefit of vaccination (whether due to issues of vaccine access or choice), the force of infection is increasing and you are more likely to get infected and the consequences are much more likely to be bad than if you were vaccinated 4/n
This is NOT mild for the unvaccinated. It is serious and fast, so that you are more likely to wind up in a serious condition, in a hospital that’s already full to the brim due to covid and also all the other stuff that healthcare has to handle 5/n
The good: those who have been vaccinated, and especially those boosted, will likely suffer a short mild illness. This is great. Vaccines work. There are enormous numbers of mild infections, if only we can stop them transmitting to those at risk 6/n…
for the great majority omicron is not an individual risk, but allowing it free rein will crash your hospitals regardless. The failure to communicate that clearly is putting the minority who remain vulnerable at far greater risk 9/n
I want to be clear – this is not forever, it is the next few weeks. Try to cut the transmission chains however you can. Every infection you stop, is helpful 10/end
Leaders of the US Omicron case descent
(None are declining as rapidly as they ascended) pic.twitter.com/CfCv95uFvH— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) January 16, 2022
Along with that, slowing of the rate of rise and the start of decline in hospitalizations in some states pic.twitter.com/SVXTA3SxE4
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) January 16, 2022
After a viral hot mic moment, here's how Dr Fauci's frustration has been building for the last two years https://t.co/c49jDwkzUG
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) January 16, 2022
======
Chinese cities on high COVID-19 alert as Lunar New Year travel season starts; Omicron spreads https://t.co/mYbjVIIMl5 pic.twitter.com/10hGaH1qPb
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 17, 2022
… Authorities have warned the highly contagious Omicron adds to the increased risk of COVID-19 transmission as hundreds of millions of people travel around China for the Lunar New Year on Feb. 1.
Cities such as Luoyang in central China and Jieyang in the south said on Sunday travellers need to report to communities, employers or hotels their trips three days ahead of arrival.
The southwestern city of Yulin said on Saturday those who want to enter should fill in an online form, including their health credentials and trip details, one day in advance.
Over the weekend, the capital Beijing and the southern technology hub Shenzhen each detected one domestically transmitted Omicron case.
The possibility that the Omicron case in Beijing was infected through imported goods can’t be ruled out, Pang Xinghuo, an official at the city’s disease control authority, said on Monday…
China is yet to show any solid sign of shifting its guideline of quickly containing any local infections, despite a high vaccination rate of 86.6%. The strategy has taken on extra urgency in the run-up to the Winter Olympics, to be staged in Beijing and neighbouring Hebei province starting Feb. 4.
Many local governments have already advised residents not to leave town unnecessarily trips during the holiday, while dozens of international and domestic flights have been suspended…
The Chinese city of Xi’an has gradually begun lifting restrictions after more than three weeks of lockdown as authorities sought to stamp out a local coronavirus outbreak, state media reports. China has adopted a strict “zero-Covid” policy. https://t.co/8EIc7TKW6O
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 16, 2022
… Officials told a news conference that lockdown measures had been either partially or completely lifted in some communities that have been designated as lower risk, allowing people to leave their homes for a limited time to purchase daily necessities.
The city went into strict lockdown on Dec. 22, following a coronavirus outbreak that officials attributed to the delta variant. Xi’an, with a population of 13 million and a major tourist site for the famed Terracotta Warriors, has reported over 2,000 infections since December last year.
Xi’an is about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) southwest of Beijing…
India's main cities record sharp fall in COVID-19 infections https://t.co/p4b9jK7917 pic.twitter.com/kF9PaknZSE
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 17, 2022
India’s capital Delhi and financial hub Mumbai have reported a big fall in COVID-19 infections in the past two days and most of those who contracted the virus have recovered at home, authorities said on Monday.
Mumbai’s daily new infections fell below 10,000 on Sunday for the first time since early this month, after touching an all-time high of 20,971 on Jan. 7. It reported 7,895 infections late on Sunday, Mumbai’s municipal corporation said.
Delhi’s cases have fallen consistently since hitting a peak of 28,867 on Jan. 13 and is expected to be fewer than 15,000 on Monday, for the first time since early January, the city government’s health minister told reporters.
Both cities have said more than 80% of their COVID-19 hospital beds have remained unoccupied since the fast-transmitting Omicron variant led to a massive surge in cases from the start of the year…
India’s COVID-19 infections rose by 258,089 in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Monday, taking the tally to 37.38 million – the most in the world after the United States.
Deaths rose by 385 – nearly 40% of them due to a delayed recording of previous fatalities in the southern state of Kerala – for a toll of 486,451. Only the United States and Brazil have reported more total COVID-19 deaths.
Nepal starts giving COVID-19 vaccine booster shots https://t.co/MeTSf4AuSQ pic.twitter.com/NGREF6c5at
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 17, 2022
Japan weighs state of quasi-emergency for Tokyo, environs -broadcaster https://t.co/txdOmjFWMh pic.twitter.com/REVFVqs3Qz
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 17, 2022
The governors of Tokyo and surrounding prefectures agreed on Monday to request further measures from the central government, including shorter opening hours for bars and restaurants, to help counter rising COVID-19 infections.
The highly infectious Omicron variant is driving a resurgence in coronavirus cases, which are hovering near record levels, after new infections exceeded 25,000 nationwide in the past two days…
Differing degrees of emergency measures adopted in various parts of Japan last year were lifted at the end of September.
A full declaration of emergency would be sought when occupancy of hospital beds in Tokyo reached half, Koike said last week.
The capital has allocated about 6,900 beds for coronavirus care, of a total of about 128,000 in the region.
Russia on Sunday reported 29,230 new Covid-19 infections and 686 deaths.https://t.co/HWXoZ9fZJk
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) January 16, 2022
A new French law blocks unvaccinated people from restaurants, cafes, sports arenas and other venues as France faces a surge of infections from the highly contagious omicron variant. https://t.co/qh0kWwvc1o
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) January 16, 2022
Austria's government has presented revised plans for its proposed COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which it says will now apply to all residents age 18 and over, rather than 14 as originally intended. https://t.co/DP57bh1t08
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) January 16, 2022
Denmark has lifted a number of coronavirus restrictions and allowed the reopening of cinemas, zoos, museums, theaters and other venues. https://t.co/pc6pDPMxZv
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) January 16, 2022
======
I am an allergist immunologist who studies adverse effects of the vaccine and my children are all vaccinated against #COVID19 https://t.co/mO6lT0IwU5
— Kimberly Blumenthal, MD, MSc (@KimberlyBlumen1) January 16, 2022
Fomites!
(I’m willing to entertain the idea of an occasional cold-chain infection — there’s been at least one outbreak in New Zealand which pointed to handling frozen beef. But, given the stats about online ordering over the last two years, if paper packaging were even a rare infection vector, I think we’d have more evidence by now.)
c) since these claims started – like the covid cold chain claims – as part of the propaganda push to try and deny that covid originated in China in the first place, this is a dangerous instance of the system getting high on its own supply.
— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) January 17, 2022
I have seen instances of officials, even doctors, warning people against buying products from foreign places where infections are rising https://t.co/Me2BZVMDcd
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) January 17, 2022
Study of >24,000 Canadian seniors finds that those who had a mild, nonhospital bout of #COVID19 "had nearly 2-fold higher odds of worsening mobility & physical function compared with adults w/out COVID-19."https://t.co/cpX0EAmNdH
— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) January 16, 2022
Biomarkers that signal brain injury are elevated in hospitalized Covid patients, according to newly published research from scientists at NYU Grossman School of Medicine in New York City. Some of the biomarkers reached levels seen in dementia patients https://t.co/td0TKUhZzu pic.twitter.com/7OSHsk7qGZ
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 16, 2022
If you're looking for a great explainer for this important #LongCovid work, @VirusesImmunity has it today?https://t.co/2VlF8oJFAJ
— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) January 16, 2022
======
About 87% of nursing home residents are fully vaccinated and 63% have received a booster, according to CDC data. Among nursing home staff, 83% are fully vaccinated, but only 29% have gotten an extra dose. https://t.co/34Rx4wG470
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 16, 2022
— Lydia Maria Fanfan (@LydiaMFanfan) January 15, 2022
#Omicron: Los Angeles County reports its highest number of daily coronavirus deaths in more than 9 months. 66 people succumbed to Covid on Saturday https://t.co/dfnh7vGDjt
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 16, 2022
I wore my seatbelt but still broke a few bones when someone slammed into my car. So I gotta ask: what's the point of seatbelts? Security theater? An excuse for jackbooted thugs to pull me over? A money grab by Big Carma? https://t.co/tBRCiYDPrC
— Seth Cotlar (@SethCotlar) January 16, 2022
(Ben Domenech, aka ‘Mr. Meghan McCain’)
Your occasional reminder that Ben Domenech was once hired by the Washington Post to write a conservative blog and then they had to fire him because he was a serial plagiarist. https://t.co/zo1QYfJHHc
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) January 16, 2022
On The Road – Albatrossity – Hawkeye
satby
My sister, who is 66 and in assisted living due to M.S., probably has covid now. She was feeling sick yesterday when I called. Based and boosted, so hoping for the best.
lowtechcyclist
Now that the Bogus Scotus has blocked the Administration from requiring large businesses to require that their employees be vaxxed or regularly tested, we’re going to be living for quite some time with a substantial minority of our citizens who’ve never been vaxxed, let alone kept up with their boosters.
IOW, we’ve got years of steady drizzle ahead.
Tony Jay
If only we’d know at the start that the key to eliminating Covid as a cause of concern was just to start reporting more or less accurately on some of the destructive lies Tory politicians tell, we could have started much earlier, had a progressive Labour Government and mopped up cancer into the bargain.
What’s that? Covid hasn’t gone away and the plan to remove all the limited protections in the UK is a desperate Hail Mary by a floundering Prime Minister who needs to keep the lunatic far-Right on side?
Nonsense. If that was the case they’d be talking about stripping the BBC of funding and waging a war on all immigration….. oh, drat.
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
NYSDOH website:
There were 1181 new cases of COVID-19 on 1/16. What they don’t say is how severe they are, but I suppose it doesn’t matter since they are all infectious.
lowtechcyclist
@satby: Hope your sister recovers quickly, whatever she’s got.
lowtechcyclist
Ben Domenech is amusing. He seems to think that most people see the world as he does, and will therefore stay away from ‘anti-freedom’ Australia.
When actually, most people will see this as Australia refusing admittance to a fucking plague rat, regardless of his wealth and fame, and think, “Australia would be a safer place than most to visit. Maybe that’ll be the first place I go when I’m feeling safe about overseas traveling at all.”
(Also, I’d never realized until this plague hit that “freedom to infect others with deadly diseases” was high up among even the most libertarian of conservatives’ lists of important freedoms.)
Steeplejack (phone)
(Note: Snark.)
Barbara
@lowtechcyclist: The mistake was letting him have a medical exemption in the first place. I don’t have sympathy for Djokovic, but the drama was unnecessary and avoidable had they applied rules correctly. Of course lying on the application was an unforced error, in terminology a tennis player might understand.
satby
@lowtechcyclist: thanks!
And “freedom” to libertarians means “what I want, when I want it, and fuck everybody else”.
Steeplejack (phone)
Funny picture: “Omicron, waiting for me to leave my house.”
YY_Sima Qian
On 1/16 China reported 163 new domestic confirmed (1 previously asymptomatic) & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases.
Shaanxi Province reported 5 new domestic confirmed case. 146 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There are currently 921 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
At Yuncheng in Shanxi Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case, a person arrived from Xi’an in Shaanxi.
Guangdong Province reported 9 new domestic confirmed cases (1 previously asymptomatic). There currently are 42 active domestic confirmed & 3 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the province.
Guangxi “Autonomous” Region reported 1 new domestic confirmed case, at Chongzuo, found via regular screening of residents of villages along the border w/ Vietnam. 1 domestic confirmed case recovered. There currently are 16 active domestic confirmed (15 at Dongxing in Fangchenggang & 1 at Ningming County in Chongzuo) & 1 active domestic asymptomatic (at Chongzuo) cases in the province.
Tianjin Municipality reported 80 new domestic confirmed cases (54 mild & 26 moderate, all but 1 at Jinnan District). There currently are 294 active domestic confirmed & 14 active domestic asymptomatic cases (all presumed Omicron) in the city, concentrated at Jinnan District. 5 residential compounds are currently at High Risk. 13 residential compounds & 3 villages are currently at Medium Risk.
Beijing Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. There currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case in the city (Omicron), found via employer mandated testing due to throat discomfort.
At Dalian in Liaoning Province there currently are 2 Omicron cases in the city, both university students that returned from Tianjin.
Shanghai Municipality did not report any new domestic positive cases. 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There currently are 2 active domestic confirmed & 21 active domestic asymptomatic cases in the city. 1 shop is currently at Medium Risk.
At Jiangsu Province there currently are 1 active domestic confirmed (at Nanjing) & 2 active domestic asymptomatic cases (both at Wuxi) in the province.
Zhejiang Province did not report any new domestic positive cases. 5 domestic confirmed cases recovered. There currently are 116 active domestic confirmed & 1 active domestic asymptomatic cases (at Hangzhou) in the province. A factory & a village at Jinhua remain at Medium Risk.
At Xiamen in Fujian Province there currently is 1 active domestic confirmed case remaining, a quarantine hotel worker.
Henan Province reported 68 new domestic confirmed cases. There currently are 826 active domestic confirmed cases in the province.
At Yunnan Province there currently are 7 active domestic confirmed (2 at Dehong Prefecture & 5 at Kunming) & 3 active domestic asymptomatic (1 at Dehong Prefecture & 2 at Sipsongpanna Prefecture) cases in the province.
Imported Cases
On 1/16, China reported 60 new imported confirmed cases (10 previously asymptomatic), 28 imported asymptomatic cases, 4 imported suspect cases:
Overall in China, 190 confirmed cases recovered (38 imported), 28 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation (27 imported) & 11 were reclassified as confirmed cases (10 imported), & 1,792 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 3,494 active confirmed cases in the country (1,286 imported), 15 in serious condition (none imported), 742 active asymptomatic cases (692 imported), 8 suspect cases (all imported). 56,263 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 1/16, 2,937.632M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 4.147M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 1/17, Hong Kong reported 7 new positive cases, 3 imported & 4 domestic.
On 1/17, Taiwan reported 65 new positive cases, 48 imported (28 from the US, 2 from the Philippines & 1 each from Canada, Costa Rica, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland & the Netherlands, 11 yet to be published) & 17 domestic (8 associated w/ a restaurant cluster at Taoyuan).
YY_Sima Qian
The Beijing authorities have released preliminary epidemiological findings for the Omicron case reported there on 1/15. > 16K contacts (close or otherwise) of the case have been traced & tested negative, as have all environmental samples aside from those taken from the case’s residence & workplace. The case has not traveled outside of Beijing in the past 14 days. He 1st developed light symptoms on 1/13 & a fever on 1/14. CT count of RT-PCR test decreased from 1/14 – 1/16, indicating accelerating viral replication, suggesting the case was early in the course of infection. Genomic sequencing of viral sample taken from the case does not match those from any recent/ongoing outbreak in China or imported positive cases into Beijing, but matches the strains that were circulating in North America & Singapore in Dec. 2021. The case did handle an international package sent from Canada (routed through the US & Hong Kong) on 1/11. 12 of 22 samples taken from the package (2 from the outer packaging, 2 from inner packaging & 8 from the documents contained within) tested positive, all showing mutations associated w/ Omicron Variant. The authorities suspect that the the case was infected via fomite transmission from the package, but is not completely certain. Yesterday, anyone returning to Hubei Province from the affected 2 sub-districts in Beijing were to undergo 14 days of centralized quarantine + 14 days of home quarantine. In light of the new findings, the cutoff date has been pushed to 1/11.
ant
wow. cluster B personality types sure are having their day in the sun with covid.
https://twitter.com/soloyochapin/status/1482930972366622720?s=20
New Deal democrat
Many States in the US did not report yesterday, so we have to wait for tomorrow for useful data. Most States in the Northeast did report, and that region has now declined over 20% from peak 1 week ago. Deaths down slight from the day before, but the trend is still increasing 20% from one week before. Same trends in PR, DC, and MD.
Internationally among early hit countries, only Denmark continues to have an increasing trend. Portugal appears to have plateaued, while Canada, Ireland, and the U.K. are all decreasing, but with deaths still increasing.
South Africa’s cases have now declined 80% from their peak 1 month ago. It took about 5 weeks for the Omicron tsunami to roll in, but it is receding more slowly. Deaths have still continued to increase, prompting this from Eric Feigl-Ding:
https://mobile.twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1482859559882567681
“SA deaths are increasing a lot, more than a month after the peak in cases.”
Yes he’s an alarmist, but if there is a negative issue, he will spot it. If deaths don’t start to decrease in South Africa over the next few days, he’s got a point.
In silver lining news, Delta was down to about 10,000 cases in the entire US a few days ago, so that more virulent strain has been outcompete. Since the US collectively no longer believes in public health, a scenario where repeated infections among the unvaccinated leads to progressively less impact from each wave looks like the next best outcome.
debbie
@lowtechcyclist:
Ben seems to have missed that most Australians are perfectly fine with the deportation.
debbie
@satby:
Hope it’s just a cold (though there is no “just” with MS). And these are the places that have tried to keep their residents safe!
Suzanne
Rod Dreher is terrified of a “social credit system”.
It’s so blatant how their real fear is that no one will (pretend to) look up to them. These are people with a cultural memory of being influential and they are not adjusting well to being a disregarded minority. That’s probably because of how they themselves treated disregarded minorities in the past.
Cameron
@satby: I’m sorry to hear that. I found out a couple days ago a close friend (we’ve known each other for 50 years) who has multiple serious health problems now has covid. And she wasn’t vaccinated – not antivax, just had mobility problems and thought she could wait out the storm. I expect the worst, pray for the best.
Cameron
@debbie: Ben is the only person I’m aware of who got caught plagiarizing the work of Jonah Goldberg.
YY_Sima Qian
Chinese authorities claiming that the original Wuhan outbreak started from imported frozen food is obvious deflection. It is not entirely impossible, but it is even less likely than a lab escape from the WIV. However, I think people insisting that fomite transmission is impossible scientifically (like James Palmer) are letting their political biases influence their judgment. How else to explain the Omicron case in Beijing? Given the imperative to maintain the “Dynamic Zero COVID” strategy, the authorities at all levels are strongly incentivized to determine sources of infection, to uncover cryptic community transmission lest they develop into larger outbreaks that require damaging containment/suppression measures.
A number of outbreaks in China over the past 2 years have not had the sources of infection identified (or even strongly suspected), & the Chinese authorities have not used fomite transmission from imported items as the catch all crutch, as a number of outbreaks remain unresolved. It is striking how the earliest cases in a number of outbreaks are logistics workers that handle frozen products or international parcels, at sea ports/airports/land ports, far out of proportion to the number of people that work in such roles. Just like earliest cases of other outbreaks are also often people working at airports, quarantine hotels, or villagers suspected from scrimmaging through garbage collected from quarantine hotels.
Researchers in China, Hong Kong & Singapore have established experimentally early on in the pandemic that COVID-19 virus can remain viable for days or weeks on surfaces (depending on the surface) at very low temperatures. That does not mean it will consistently do so in IRL. However, it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, cargo holds of airplanes are at frozen temperature during the flight, & the Omicron tsunami is much worse than any previous wave in terms of number of infections. It is extremely rare (think of how many millions of contacts people in China will have w/ products & parcels from overseas on a daily bases). It should not be something that the average people should panic over, as the risk is orders of magnitude lower than from droplet & aerosol transmission. However, I think the the strong disinclination to consider fomite transmission via international shipping is driven by economic fears – disruption to trade & commerce. So people proclaim categorically that it is not a possibility, & certainly for countries swimming in COVID-19 fomite transmission is in the noise.
NorthLeft12
We had the two oldest grandsons for the weekend as they will be returning to in person schooling today (Southern Ontario) and my daughter said (ominously and resignedly) “You may not get to see them for awhile.”
I think the next two weeks are going to be scary and stressful for everybody.
Note: My wife and I have told my daughter and her husband that we are available for baby sitting if they need us, but generally are in agreement with their cautious strategy for the next week or so.
Of the seven of us, all adults are boosted, the two children over five are double vaxxed, and the eighteen month old boy is relying on any immunity he can get from his mom (breast feeding).
Suzanne
@satby: Hugs to you and your sister.
Percysowner
@Cameron: People like your friend are why I can’t totally say “just don’t treat the unvaccinated”. As someone who was able to find a shot pretty quickly, who had transportation and who didn’t have to worry about losing a day’s pay, I was in the best place to protect myself. The media turns up the volume on the far right idiots and makes it sound like they are the only ones out there, when there are people that have legitimate reasons they haven’t gotten the jab. Good luck to your friend.
@satby: I’m so sorry about your sister. I’ll hope for the best for her. Hugs to you.
Barbara
@Suzanne:
Dreher has become desperate to meet what seems to be a pathologic need to be part of a community that validates his particular religious and social views. He hates that people not only don’t agree with him, but they don’t even take him seriously.
Barbara
@Cameron: Oh I am so sorry to hear this. I don’t know anything about her situation but I’m sorry no one tried to reach her. I have clients in some areas of the country that have identified members who aren’t vaccinated and proactively reached out to vaccinate them in their homes if required.
Cameron
@Percysowner: Thanks.
Cameron
@Barbara: Thanks. Unfortunately her husband is in poor health as well, and she had a problem with the EMTs the first time they came to take her for a doctor’s visit. One was wearing a Stars and Bars bandanna (she’s black) and neither was wearing a mask. It wasn’t until a real emergency (not COVID) that she agreed to go to the hospital. Why they weren’t testing her every day while she was there and/or vaccinating her, I have no idea.
satby
@Cameron: @Suzanne: @Percysowner: Thanks all! And keeping good thoughts for your friend too, Cameron.
Scout211
Youngest grandchild (age 4, not eligible for vaccination) started getting very sick last weekend. Tested positive and now the rest of the family has all tested positive. Everyone has symptoms but only the 4 year old was very sick (for a couple of days) with fever, body aches, nausea, vomiting and exhaustion. Everyone else is vaccinated and have only sinus congestion and headaches. Thank goodness for the vaccinations. They really do work.
But can we hurry up with the vaccinations for the littles, please?
Barbara
@Cameron: A lot of people don’t understand the relationship between ill health and social conditions. They’re willing to basically pay anything for medical care but balk at social spending — unless it is accompanied by an expectation that it will reduce medical spending. It’s a form of moral bankruptcy, to see people’s welfare only in terms of cost.
Barbara
@Scout211:
This was our experience with our son, who was vaccinated but only recently boosted. He had congestion, fever and cough for a few days. The rest of us never even tested positive. The vaccines work.
Steeplejack
@satby:
Good luck to your sister. ?
Cermet
@NorthLeft12: Medical papers indicate that babies do get protection from their mothers via the milk so that is good for both – why both? Well mothers get better protection from breast cancer if they breast feed. Call that double win ignoring the likely advantages of breast milk for child development.
Raoul Paste
A picture of a coffin??
Yikes
StringOnAStick
Woke up in the middle of the night with a choking cough, feeling mild congestion and headache now but still have good oxygen saturation. Fully vaxed and boosted, my last possible exposure was Friday and only for a couple of minutes but that doesn’t mean much given the ability of Omicron to infect.
laura
Sending out warm wishes to Amir Khalid this morning. Get well soon. You are missed. Please come back to the Jackal fold.
The Moar You Know
@Barbara: I have a family member like this, who desperately needs and wants friends but doesn’t get that having friends requires that you treat them nicely and with respect; something they are utterly incapable of doing for anyone. Rod suffers from the same problem.
No name
@laura: Agreed.
Chris T.
First a disclaimer (even though presumably I don’t need one here): this is purely hypothetical. Then, a plan: try this one on some of the RWNJs. We start with this:
The question for the RWNJ etc folks is now: Do you think a vaccine mandate is a good idea?
Remember, not even killing all the people of color immediately will save you. But if you don’t get vaccinated and they don’t get vaccinated, and you’re white, you’re gonna die. If you, personally, do get vaccinated, you could still get a breakthrough infection, if you come into contact with someone else who’s unvaccinated and spreading the virus.
J R in WV
@lowtechcyclist:
Perhaps an Executive Order prohibiting payment from any government account to any private account where any staff are not vaccinated?
You don’t have to get vaccinated, but you don’t get any sweet Federal money if you aren’t? Including payroll to any judiciary staff…!! heh! Cut off their payroll, yesterday.
J R in WV
@Cameron:
That would be like copying in the Calc final from the guy next to you, who unbeknown to you is flunking Calc badly. Oops!