Coronavirus

[EatsShoots]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1719705299647422801

Just when I thought Elon couldn’t get any more idiotic.

As someone who has cared for countless covid ards patients, he can go **** himself.

(Btw that entire twitter account is a cesspool of idiots, I only linked to show the relevant Elon quote)

When a friend of mine got vented in 2021 I had some f***tard online tell me the doctor should be charged with attempted murder.

Same logic that says the average person in a hospital has a higher chance of dying in a given day than one not in hospital, ergo hospitals are bad for one's health.

The annoying thing about musk is he has to be smarter than this. He has to be.

 

[terranx]

When a friend of mine got vented in 2021 I had some f***tard online tell me the doctor should be charged with attempted murder.

Same logic that says the average person in a hospital has a higher chance of dying in a given day than one not in hospital, ergo hospitals are bad for one's health.

The annoying thing about musk is he has to be smarter than this. He has to be.

Yeah so many people just didn’t get that we don’t intubate just for shits and giggles and that we’re talking about a 99% chance of dying off the vent vs 80% on it if you get covid that progresses to that point. Worst part is the people who would get hung up on that are the ones who actually had a decent shot of surviving with the ventilator support.

Between that nonsense, getting borderline assaulted for not giving ivermectin, vitamin D, etc… I seriously started questioning my career choice.

At this point I can’t tell if Elon is truly a moron or just a straight up psychopath spouting nonsense to pander to an audience.

 

[Tiger]

Between that nonsense, getting borderline assaulted for not giving ivermectin, vitamin D, etc… I seriously started questioning my career choice.

Soon people can choose the AI "doctor" of their choice and debate with it until satistaction until they reach a consensus.

At this point I can’t tell if Elon is truly a moron or just a straight up psychopath spouting nonsense to pander to an audience.

Probably just a serious case of Dunning–Kruger combined with first principles thinking which makes him confident about "law of big numbers" kind of perspectives. But he lies a lot so he might also suffer Munchausen.

Well, maybe I should stop trying to be a couch-psychologist, what do I really know

 

[wdolson]

Yeah so many people just didn’t get that we don’t intubate just for shits and giggles and that we’re talking about a 99% chance of dying off the vent vs 80% on it if you get covid that progresses to that point. Worst part is the people who would get hung up on that are the ones who actually had a decent shot of surviving with the ventilator support.

Between that nonsense, getting borderline assaulted for not giving ivermectin, vitamin D, etc… I seriously started questioning my career choice.

At this point I can’t tell if Elon is truly a moron or just a straight up psychopath spouting nonsense to pander to an audience.

Elon is Dunning-Krugering himself in a major way. That doesn't make him a moron about everything, but he is a moron about some topics he thinks he understand better than he does. In areas where Physics rule, he is brilliant. He has revolutionized both rocketry and car design. But Biology is a different thing from Physics and animals out at the end of the evolutionary ladder are very complex with complex biologies. Because of this medicine is not anywhere near as cut and dried as Physics. A drug that may help you quite a bit could kill me or vice versa and we don't know for sure why.

Some people got deathly ill from COVID while others had mild cases then developed long COVID, and still others either had mild cases with no lasting effects or had such mild cases they never knew they had it. I know I had a few cases that were so mild I only felt a little off for one evening. Three times when this happened I tested for antibodies a week or two later and each time I tested high for them.

The death rate for people who went on ventilators with original COVID was high because only the people who had the most serious cases went on ventilators. These were people who were near death anyway. If you use emergency extreme measures on someone who is near death, it isn't the emergency measures that killed them in most cases, it's whatever had them near death in the first place.

Elon is not a psychopath, but he has been befriended by some "cool kids" with an agenda. Elon has said he's on the spectrum and people with mild Autistic disorders can often be blind to the subtleties of human behavior and they can get conned by people who claim to be their friend. Neurotypical people can get conned too, but there is an added level of interaction blindness that the spectrum adds.

I've known a number of people on the spectrum from very mild cases to people barely able to manage in the world. And I've seen a number of them taken in by people purporting to be their friends but having a hidden agenda. I was usually suspicious of their "friends" from the start, but they didn't listen to me.

Some of the people who have befriended Elon might have cluster B personality disorders (cluster B PDs are borderline, narcissistic, and antisocial). I haven't studied them in enough depth to be sure, but there is something not right about them. They clearly have some agendas that I don't think are good for the rest of us.

 

[madodel]

Elon is Dunning-Krugering himself in a major way. That doesn't make him a moron about everything, but he is a moron about some topics he thinks he understand better than he does. In areas where Physics rule, he is brilliant. He has revolutionized both rocketry and car design. But Biology is a different thing from Physics and animals out at the end of the evolutionary ladder are very complex with complex biologies. Because of this medicine is not anywhere near as cut and dried as Physics. A drug that may help you quite a bit could kill me or vice versa and we don't know for sure why.

Some people got deathly ill from COVID while others had mild cases then developed long COVID, and still others either had mild cases with no lasting effects or had such mild cases they never knew they had it. I know I had a few cases that were so mild I only felt a little off for one evening. Three times when this happened I tested for antibodies a week or two later and each time I tested high for them.

The death rate for people who went on ventilators with original COVID was high because only the people who had the most serious cases went on ventilators. These were people who were near death anyway. If you use emergency extreme measures on someone who is near death, it isn't the emergency measures that killed them in most cases, it's whatever had them near death in the first place.

Elon is not a psychopath, but he has been befriended by some "cool kids" with an agenda. Elon has said he's on the spectrum and people with mild Autistic disorders can often be blind to the subtleties of human behavior and they can get conned by people who claim to be their friend. Neurotypical people can get conned too, but there is an added level of interaction blindness that the spectrum adds.

I've known a number of people on the spectrum from very mild cases to people barely able to manage in the world. And I've seen a number of them taken in by people purporting to be their friends but having a hidden agenda. I was usually suspicious of their "friends" from the start, but they didn't listen to me.

Some of the people who have befriended Elon might have cluster B personality disorders (cluster B PDs are borderline, narcissistic, and antisocial). I haven't studied them in enough depth to be sure, but there is something not right about them. They clearly have some agendas that I don't think are good for the rest of us.

Decades ago I worked in a psychiatric hospital. I enjoyed it mostly, but dealing with borderlines was the most exhausting thing. The ones I dealt with were incredibly manipulative and I learned to say as little as possible to them about me personally. I think Mr Musk is a great target for manipulation. But I think you are correct that once he strays beyond his expertise he is lost and being around manipulative people leads him far astray from reality.

 

[wdolson]

Decades ago I worked in a psychiatric hospital. I enjoyed it mostly, but dealing with borderlines with the most exhausting thing. The ones I dealt with were incredibly manipulative and I learned to say as little as possible to them about me personally. I think Mr Musk is a great target for manipulation. But you I think you are correct that once he strays beyond his expertise he is lost and being around manipulative people leads him far astray from reality.

My partner had a borderline mother and in her first marriage her brother-in-law had an anti-social PD. She also has a masters in Psych. She can smell a PD coming a mile away. She lucked out and had a great father, which blunted the damage from her mother, but she still has stuff bubble up.

My mother had a cluster A PD schizoid (I know exceedingly rare in women, she was very weird). She was a pain to deal with at times, but not as bad as my partner had it.

Someone must be pretty far gone to have a cluster B PD and end up in a psychiatric hospital. Most of the time the narcissistic and borderlines tend to fly below the radar enough to avoid being incarcerated and the anti-socials end up in prison if they get caught.

I just wish Elon would shut up about things he doesn't understand. He can contribute quite a bit educating the world about Physics based technologies. About other sciences, technologies, and politics, not so much.

 

[madodel]

This is not surprising considering the trends we've seen over the past 3+ years.

There’s a racial gap on covid vaccine — because of the partisan gap

 

[scottf200]

This is not surprising considering the trends we've seen over the past 3+ years.

There’s a racial gap on covid vaccine — because of the partisan gap

A different take from YLE (About - Your Local Epidemiologist)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1726005302993342623

 

[madodel]

A different take from YLE (About - Your Local Epidemiologist)

https://twitter.com/x/status/1726005302993342623

Where’s her data? I hope most people get vaccinated since the herd immunity protects those who can’t but I’m seeing lots of posts from one side still attacking the vaccine with lies.

 

[Doggydogworld]

Where’s her data? I hope most people get vaccinated since the herd immunity protects those who can’t but I’m seeing lots of posts from one side still attacking the vaccine with lies.

In the early days uptake was very high among Asians and low among Native Americans, with white/black/hispanic bunched up in between Over time the gaps declined. .

This study (Table 1) shows 87% of Asians received at least one dose by July 2022 vs. 64% for whites, 59% for black sand 67% for hispanics.

Latest CDC data (scroll down) shows 98% of Asians with at least one dose in March 2023. Black, Hispanic and White are 87-89% with AN/AI and NHOPI lower (I'm guessing that's American Indian/American Native and Native Hawaiian Other Pacific Islander). Bivalent booster uptake was below 40% for all groups in March 2023:
White 37.5%
Asian 36.3%
Black 29.3%
AI/AN 28.5%
Hispanic 25.6%
NHOPI 18.6%

The estimates for some groups have very wide confidence intervals, so take them with a grain of salt.

 

[EatsShoots]

In the early days uptake was very high among Asians and low among Native Americans, with white/black/hispanic bunched up in between Over time the gaps declined. .

This study (Table 1) shows 87% of Asians received at least one dose by July 2022 vs. 64% for whites, 59% for black sand 67% for hispanics.

Latest CDC data (scroll down) shows 98% of Asians with at least one dose in March 2023. Black, Hispanic and White are 87-89% with AN/AI and NHOPI lower (I'm guessing that's American Indian/American Native and Native Hawaiian Other Pacific Islander). Bivalent booster uptake was below 40% for all groups in March 2023:
White 37.5%
Asian 36.3%
Black 29.3%
AI/AN 28.5%
Hispanic 25.6%
NHOPI 18.6%

The estimates for some groups have very wide confidence intervals, so take them with a grain of salt.

I assume these analyses must also be controlled for general access to healthcare. E.g. if blacks are at, for example, the same rate as whites but have worse access to healthcare they may be more likely to get it, but are somewhat hamstrung by availability.

In any case the partisan divide over covid vaccines (the racial one I'm not sure of but the partisan one is clear) has given another data point in the general stupidity of this country. It continues to surprise me--and I mean that. Each year I see something else that makes me question how we even exist as a nation with so many dumb dumbs running around. Don't forget: there are people who vote--who choose our leaders--who also believe these vaccines have tiny little robots in them.

 

[Dave EV]

Got the Novavax booster over the weekend. For me, side effects were mild - next day felt a bit achy and tired, but not bad compared to previous Pfizer and Moderna shots.

Most interesting side effect was that my arm was pretty immediately slightly painful in the shoulder muscle the shot as administered in. I don't recall having that issue with any other vaccine before. But that side effect was short lived and went away after 10 minutes or so.

Hoping the timing gets me maximum immunity and protection for the holiday season. Looking at the wastewater COVID data, levels have been up since the beginning of September, but trending down. I'd have to guess that school was the big reason for the boost in COVID this season so far.

 

[SO16]

Received the Pfizer vaccine yesterday. 5th shot since start of Covid (all Pfizer). No side effects, very slight pain in arm if I push on area.

Was tempted on skipping this time since the more severe variant seems less likely to occur. But then a coworker got Covid (not vaxxed this year) and he felt pretty awful for a few days. So I decided to get the shot.

My mother received her 5th as well a month ago but the last one was Moderna while the first 4 were Pfizer. She never had a bad reaction with Pfizer. But this time with Moderna and she had flu and RSV at the same time, that night she felt quite ill. She won’t do 3 at once again.

 

[Dave EV]

Was tempted on skipping this time since the more severe variant seems less likely to occur. But then a coworker got Covid (not vaxxed this year) and he felt pretty awful for a few days. So I decided to get the shot.

Yeah, having had COVID once, it was bad enough that I want to reduce the risk of getting it and long-COVID risk still appears to be real. Any side effects from the vaccine are negligible compared to the disease. Same reason I get the flu shot - no real risk of severe outcomes, but minimizing the risk of getting sick and out of commission for the better part of a week are well worth avoiding.

I'm not convinced that combining vaccines is a good idea at least for the COVID shot - short-term side effects seem to be common enough that it's worth avoiding the combo hit from multiple vaccines getting it by itself as your mother experienced.

BTW, forgot to mention in my previous post, was able to walk right into a CVS and get the Novavax booster - interestingly enough they require appointments for Pfizer/Moderna, but not Novavax.

 

[madodel]

Seniors made up 63 percent of covid hospitalizations earlier this year

Seniors made up 63 percent of covid hospitalizations earlier this year

Over 75 percent of older adults who had been hospitalized with covid in 2023 had not gotten the bivalent vaccine
People 65 and older constituted nearly 63 percent of U.S. hospitalizations for covid-19, with the rate increasing with age, through the first eight months of 2023, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC found that people in that age group also represented more than half of the admissions to intensive care units in that period and nearly 90 percent of deaths among those hospitalized because of covid.

 

[DrGriz]

Seniors made up 63 percent of covid hospitalizations earlier this year

Something about some things that can't be fixed.

 

[Tronguy]

Something about some things that can't be fixed.

With a daughter in Bio and my natural curiosity, I read up a bit on Just How The Does The Immune System Work, Anyway?

Any real doctor/biologist who reads the below and wants to rag on it, be my guest. I'm a tyro.

Directly beneath one's breastbone lives a little organ where T-Cells, of both the Killer and Helper types are born. An infant gets a fresh, really active one of these. New T-Cells get born all the time and filter their way down through this organ. Apparently, said organ had samples of different kinds of tissues from All Over Ye Body. If a T-Cell doesn't react properly to the tissues, like it's supposed to, the organ kills off the malfunctioning newly-born T-Cell. T-Cells that survive this cull go through more tests; those that fail, get killed, the rest keep on going.

At the end of this process, by some means that I can't remember, the T-Cell either become Helper T-Cells or Killer T-Cells and migrate into the body; my understanding is that they hang out in the Lymph system, or at least the Helper ones do.

The Helper T-Cells have both genetic memory of previous infections and other data. They hang out in the Lymph. If some immune cell kills off some infected cell, it places proteins from the now dead cell and proceeds to the lymph system, then bangs against various Helper T-Cells until one or more of the T-Cells recognizes one or more of those busted dead proteins and "thinks" it can do something about it, that something being making antibodies against the infectious agent that it's being exposed to. A flood of antibodies then ensues, killing off even more of the infectious agent, more bits and pieces get dragged back, and the human body kicks into high gear or something.

All well and good. However, remember that organ under the breastbone where all this got started? As one gets older, it wears out, becomes fatty tissue, and doesn't work so good no more. And that is one of the main reason that older people get sicker, easier, when exposed to a novel virus.

(And, to some extent, once the body and all those helper T-Cells have been exposed to an infectious agent, the helper T-Cells tend to react to "I've seen this before" agents quickly. Which helps people who've been alive for a while, so being old isn't all bad.)

 

[DrGriz]

With a daughter in Bio and my natural curiosity, I read up a bit on Just How The Does The Immune System Work, Anyway?

Any real doctor/biologist who reads the below and wants to rag on it, be my guest. I'm a tyro.

Directly beneath one's breastbone lives a little organ where T-Cells, of both the Killer and Helper types are born. An infant gets a fresh, really active one of these. New T-Cells get born all the time and filter their way down through this organ. Apparently, said organ had samples of different kinds of tissues from All Over Ye Body. If a T-Cell doesn't react properly to the tissues, like it's supposed to, the organ kills off the malfunctioning newly-born T-Cell. T-Cells that survive this cull go through more tests; those that fail, get killed, the rest keep on going.

At the end of this process, by some means that I can't remember, the T-Cell either become Helper T-Cells or Killer T-Cells and migrate into the body; my understanding is that they hang out in the Lymph system, or at least the Helper ones do.

The Helper T-Cells have both genetic memory of previous infections and other data. They hang out in the Lymph. If some immune cell kills off some infected cell, it places proteins from the now dead cell and proceeds to the lymph system, then bangs against various Helper T-Cells until one or more of the T-Cells recognizes one or more of those busted dead proteins and "thinks" it can do something about it, that something being making antibodies against the infectious agent that it's being exposed to. A flood of antibodies then ensues, killing off even more of the infectious agent, more bits and pieces get dragged back, and the human body kicks into high gear or something.

All well and good. However, remember that organ under the breastbone where all this got started? As one gets older, it wears out, becomes fatty tissue, and doesn't work so good no more. And that is one of the main reason that older people get sicker, easier, when exposed to a novel virus.

(And, to some extent, once the body and all those helper T-Cells have been exposed to an infectious agent, the helper T-Cells tend to react to "I've seen this before" agents quickly. Which helps people who've been alive for a while, so being old isn't all bad.)

I was thinking along the lines of the overrepresented class of the under vaccinated in terms of mortality, but, yeah. That, too!

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Here comes JN.1. Nothing new here of course - this one has been known about for a few months now.

We’ll see how the wave turns out and who it ends up snagging.

No one knows how well the vaccine will work on this one, I think. Can’t remember whether there has been a study.

Gonna be living it up over Thanksgiving weekend - this could be the time! Of course I’ll still mask where I can, but eating outside won’t be an option so going to live it up.

If I can make it to December, I might layer on a seventh vaccine of Novavax to double up my “recent” booster (will be > three months between them).

https://x.com/JPWeiland/status/1727182108311892340?s=20

 

[jerry33]

Something about some things that can't be fixed.

I wonder how many of them have kept up their boosters?