Coronavirus

[AlanSubie4Life]

The 7 day average of known new cases is still as high as it was up until end of June 2020. It's not over yet.
(Although the number of unknown cases was surely higher.)

It may be over soon, but that still depends and people are still dying 600 per day. It was actually lower for some time in July 2020.
Just crossed 600,000 on worldometers.info.
Would be a pity if we gave the virus an extension allowing it to mutate.

There is always uncertainty, and maybe it isn’t over yet in the US. (I think it is heading that way for now, but we will see.) And the case rate is still unacceptably high, and I wish people would take appropriate steps to continue to suppress spread for another month or so, so everyone who wants to be fully vaccinated can do so.

However, the trajectory is good for cases, and I would be surprised if we don’t get below 20k cases per day very shortly. As far as deaths go, remember that the lagged CFR has now dropped to 1%, so we’ll see fewer than 300 deaths per day on average very soon. That’s still high, and in maybe another month it should drop to 200 a day. Still tragically high. But still, getting towards “tolerable” levels.

As far as mutation goes, that risk is clearly much higher in the rest of the world, so even if we had zero cases (which I think should be the goal in the US), we’d still be at risk of that.

I agree with the idea of continuing to eliminate and suppress the virus with the tools at our disposal. That will protect everyone, including the unvaccinated- and we are nearly there.

 

[eevee-fan]

Why do Japanese people wear surgical masks? It’s not always for health reasons

The number of people you’ll see in Japan wearing surgical masks is pretty surprising. Sure, Japan is a hard working society, and the spread of productivity-sapping sickness is always a concern at schools and workplaces, but that doesn’t seem like reason enough for the proliferation of facial...

japantoday.com

 

[madodel]

New mask rules trust Americans will be honest about vaccine status. Experts say they'll lie.

 

[TespaceX]

I’ll continue to wear a mask for the time being.
Just because someone at the CDC said something doesn’t make me change how I feel about the whole pandemic all of a sudden overnight.

 

[eevee-fan]

One thing I learned from the year of mask wearing... it's more comfortable in the winter! I think I'll be wearing face masks in the winter/flu season since it seems to be socially acceptable nowadays.

 

[uujjj2]

Texas will end local mask mandates from May 21, and school mask rules from June 4. Texas already ended its statewide mask mandate on March 10, but local mask rules remained in effect.

 

[wdolson]

The culture around here is still very mask positive so I wear a mask in stores to not scare the horses. I have a picture of my vaccination card on my phone is a special folder so I can show it if I have to. I expect that not mask wearing will become more of a thing over time, but right now the only people who aren't are mostly seen as jerks.

 

[cwerdna]

Texas will end local mask mandates from May 21, and school mask rules from June 4. Texas already ended its statewide mask mandate on March 10, but local mask rules remained in effect.

Yeah, they did Abbott Says Order Prohibiting Mask Mandates is to Defend the Liberty of Texans' Right to Choose there.

Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) issued a new executive order Tuesday prohibiting any governmental entities other than himself from requiring people to wear masks in public. Abbott said the order was authored to defend the liberty of those who want to choose whether or not they wear a mask.

The governor’s order, GA-36, prohibits all governmental entities in the state, including counties, cities, school districts, public health authorities, or government officials, from mandating mask-wearing in their communities.

Free-dumb!

Meanwhile, this is for where I live and work: Have you been vaccinated? You’ll be required to tell your employers in this Bay Area county.

Public Health Orders - Emergency Operations Center - County of Santa Clara points to Order of the Health Officer of the County of Santa Clara - May 18, 2021 - Emergency Operations Center - County of Santa Clara. I've only skimmed but sections 9c and 9d discuss collecting vaccination status and what to do before people who refuse to answer or aren't vaccinated.

 

[eevee-fan]

CNN : Nevada GOP candidate for governor who hadn't been vaccinated tests positive for coronavirus.

Nevada GOP candidate for governor who hadn't been vaccinated tests positive for coronavirus

Hours after launching his campaign for governor, a Nevada Republican who had not yet received the coronavirus vaccine said he had just tested positive for the virus.

rss.cnn.com

"Lee, a 65-year-old cancer survivor"

 

[Leeclanual]

I have no issues with any person, vaccinated or not, who feel the need to wear a mask indoors/outdoors. In addition, I don’t care what underlying reason that makes them feel the need to wear one... even though many feel the need to publicly explain to strangers why. Personally I’m not wearing one anymore (fully vaccinated) except when mandated by a store/business I need access too... other than these few places I’m mask free. Costco has them on sale right now for those wanting more.

 

[bkp_duke]

"Lee, a 65-year-old cancer survivor"

Dumbassery at its finest. This makes him double high-risk, his doc I'm sure told him.

 

[JRP3]

Maybe this would have convinced him

https://twitter.com/x/status/1392563986005217281

 

[uujjj2]

Yeah, they did Abbott Says Order Prohibiting Mask Mandates is to Defend the Liberty of Texans' Right to Choose there.

Free-dumb!

At this stage of the pandemic it makes sense to start phasing out the restrictions, including mask rules. But the "freedumb" rhetoric is nonsense. Abbott himself imposed a mask mandate for 9 months! Bashing or fining local officials for implementing the same sort of rules is sheer hypocrisy! Or maybe a bit dictatorial: all the power belongs to me alone, and y'all must obey only me and not any other officials.

 

[eevee-fan]

At this stage of the pandemic it makes sense to start phasing out the restrictions, including mask rules. But the "freedumb" rhetoric is nonsense. Abbott himself imposed a mask mandate for 9 months! Bashing or fining local officials for implementing the same sort of rules is sheer hypocrisy! Or maybe a bit dictatorial: all the power belongs to me alone, and y'all must obey only me and not any other officials.

Freedom isn't free, I guess if there were a mask lobby that contributes to his campaign, he would support masking. LOL

 

[scottf200]

Updated table on the 4 variants of concern
The main issue is not vaccine resistance (there are vaccines that work for all)
It is heightened transmissibility and the potential that B.1.617.2 has more spread capability than B.1.1.17

https://twitter.com/x/status/1395054360632066053

 

[cwerdna]

At this stage of the pandemic it makes sense to start phasing out the restrictions, including mask rules.

Yes.

Bashing or fining local officials for implementing the same sort of rules is sheer hypocrisy! Or maybe a bit dictatorial: all the power belongs to me alone, and y'all must obey only me and not any other officials.

The problem with banning/fining local govts for putting on mask mandates/rules means there won't be any. This puts businesses in a tough spot. Previously, if they wanted patrons to wear masks, instead of looking like an a-hole and not supporting freedom, they could say "look, it's the law. We're just following it."

If you make it impossible for it to be law, they can't point to it any more and likely will take more heat from hostile anti-maskers. And, it puts workers and customers at more risk.

Also, per See How Vaccinations Are Going in Your County and State, TX is still on the lower side of population having received either 1 dose or is fully vaccinated (41% and 33%, respectively).

 

[Jeff N]

The B.1.617.2 variant (India) apparently has now reached 30% prevalence in England as it pushes B.1.1.7 to the curb.

Covid variant from India could become dominant in the UK 'in a matter of days,' posing unknown dangers

The coronavirus variant that first emerged in India could become the dominant strain in the U.K. in a matter of days, scientists have warned.

www.cnbc.com

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

The B.1.617.2 variant (India) apparently has now reached 30% prevalence in England as it pushes B.1.1.7 to the curb.

Covid variant from India could become dominant in the UK 'in a matter of days,' posing unknown dangers

The coronavirus variant that first emerged in India could become the dominant strain in the U.K. in a matter of days, scientists have warned.

www.cnbc.com

It's very hard to know if it's more transmissible without truly random sampling. I guess we'll find out when it becomes more widespread and see how things balance out at that time. But then they'd also have to separate out whether it is outperforming due to partial immune evasion (either evading natural immunity or (more rarely) evading vaccine immunity). It's thought to have some weak evasion characteristics, less so than B.1.351, but more so than B.1.1.7. In a heavily vaccinated population (but one which is also still relying heavily on natural immunity), evasion of natural immunity (while not much evasion of fully vaccinated immunity) would provide a clear advantage.

Tricky stuff.

As the article says, the answer is more vaccination! Hopefully the US can step it up. Need to pull out all the stops and not take "no" for an answer.

 

[Jeff N]

Here is the latest handy interactive graph of the different variants as of May 13 according to the Helix test data.

Generally, the trend seems to show the Brazilian Amazon P.1 variant having some recent success, the “427” and “429” “West Coast” variants are withering away, the “526” and “525” New York variants are holding up, the “351” South Africa variant nearly nonexistent, the “617” Indian variant just beginning to show up in recent weeks in small numbers, and obviously the “B.1.1.7” UK variant having taken over the dominant position for now.

In the US graph snapshot below, dark blue is B.1.1.7 and teal is “other” largely meaning the original Wuhan variant. The green along the top (near the right corner) is the P.1 variant.

Tableau Public

public.tableau.com

 

[byeLT4]

Fully vaccinated now! Second shot done Tuesday, surprising how painless they are. Had a pretty good headache the following day and felt a bit feverish about 24 hours later for about 12 hours. Wish I would have checked my temp to be certain. I do know about 11pm last night (@36 hours from shot) I started sweating a little and a short while later felt normal again. Oh, I did have two 'chills' the night before (night of the shot) that seem to come out of nowhere, but it was a few minutes apart and over so I almost forgot. Arm a tiny bit sore as well, but less than the first!