The Politics of Covid 19, mask wearing and the vaccination process

[malchior]

The snarky answer is that expecting Harvard to show leadership when it has been pumping out terrible leaders for years is probably a hope too far. But the point is a good one. Those type of services wouldn't even be a rounding error to Harvard.

[Smoove_B]

There's no incentive anymore; doing anything to reduce risk is actually cost and/or labor prohibitive when everyone else is acting like things are fine and doing absolutely nothing.

We're going to attain new levels of finding out. It's also why people like me (and the poor folks that are at much higher risk for COVID-19 illness and complications) are playing a losing game. We can't possibly expect to avoid COVID-19 forever while the overwhelming majority of people are actively encouraging spread. All we can do is hope that when we do eventually get it (despite all of our extra precautions) it'll be (1) mild or (2) at a time when hospitals aren't overwhelmed.

Regardless, I'll be in my bunker.

[Kraken]

Experts hope for a milder winter.

Asked to dust off their crystal balls, experts pointed to several factors that give hope for a milder season. Chief among them: Nearly all COVID-19 cases are caused by variants of Omicron. Last year at this time, Omicron had just been identified and was starting to rage across the globe. People had little immunity to it.

“Last year, Omicron was a brand new variant and it took us a little bit by storm,” said Dr. Kalpana Gupta, chief of infectious diseases at the VA Boston Healthcare System. “What we’re seeing in the community in terms of variants, these are all mostly variants of Omicron.”

That means the virus variants are at least somewhat familiar to the immune system. With most people either vaccinated or previously infected, immunity is stronger than last year.

“The overall population is in a much better position than it was even last year,” said Paul Beninger, associate professor of public health and community medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. “We will definitely see a relatively muted wave of infection.”

Additionally, new antiviral drugs can lower the risk of severe complications.

“What we have now that we didn’t have a year ago, is outpatient therapies that are really quite effective in keeping people out of the hospital,” Gupta said.

A key indicator of what’s happening with COVID-19 is the amount of virus found in waste water. The latest data show infections rising at somewhat higher rates than previous winters, with a slight dip downward in recent days. But so far, at least, hospitalization rates have not been following waste water trends, another indication that most people who get infected are not getting severely ill.
...
For Dr. Paul Sax, clinical director of the Infectious Disease Clinic at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the big difference this year is how few people are taking precautions. “Restaurants are full, people are going to concerts and movies and plays, and very few people are wearing masks now,” he said. “That was actually quite different a year ago and definitely two years ago.”

But Beninger, the Tufts professor, is optimistic that people will up their game when necessary. “People have experience with that now — they’re going to pick up their masks sooner,” he said. “They’re going to practice social distancing sooner. They’re going to decrease their social calendars more quickly. So I think whatever ends up showing up, there will be a more rapid and fuller response than in the past. We will meet whatever the challenges.”

[Smoove_B]

Well, since it's that time of year, I'll share one of my favorite movie moments:

[pr0ner]

Fuck Elon Musk.

[Smoove_B]

Well, that should remove any doubt as to his official position and overall agenda.

Especially when you consider this:

The abuse toward his family is more perturbing, he said. He noted that at least two people are in jail in the United States for “credible” attempts on his life.

“These people who troll about, they harass my wife and my children. … I really think it’s so cowardly for people to harass people who are completely uninvolved in this,” he said, calling it “a manifestation of the lowlife that does that.”

The idea that Musk would megaphone out more fuel is disgusting.

[Isgrimnur]

Fauci should hire Buzz Aldrin.

[Smoove_B]

Absolutely unreal:

The Senate on Thursday gave final approval to an $858 billion military policy bill that would rescind the Pentagon’s mandate that troops receive the coronavirus vaccine, defying President Joe Biden’s objections and sending to his desk a bill that paved the way for a massive increase in spending on the military.

The vote was 83-11, an overwhelmingly bipartisan margin that reflected support in both parties for boosting the Pentagon’s budget by $45 billion over Biden’s request as lawmakers in both parties argued that the protracted war in Ukraine and an emboldened China had changed the nation’s security posture.

...

“Service members should be focused on bolstering our national defense, not political mandates,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.

Service members are required to be vaccinated against a whole host of viruses. Starting in basic training, recruits receive shots protecting them from hepatitis A and B; the flu; measles, mumps and rubella; meningococcal disease; polio; tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis; and chickenpox in addition to COVID-19, according to the Defense Health Agency, which oversees health care for the armed forces.

Across the armed services, a vast majority of service members are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, and nearly all are at least partially inoculated. But thousands of troops were discharged for refusing to take the vaccine.

[Zaxxon]

"Cave Johnson; we're done here."

[Smoove_B]

Philadelphia, still trying:

Students in the School District of Philadelphia will be required to wear masks for the first 10 days after winter break.

The mandatory masking will run from January 3 through January 13, 2023.

The district said this move is being made to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses, and to maintain in-person learning.

Hopefully it actually manages to stay in place and isn't instantly blocked with a lawsuit on 1/3. Regardless, this is exactly how masking policies should work now. You put them in place after high risk activities (winter break) to help ease the transition back and to reduce the high risk of spread between previously uninfected households. It's time bound and follows historical patterns; it makes sense.

[Zaxxon]

Hopefully it actually manages to stay in place and isn't instantly blocked with a lawsuit on 1/3. Regardless, this is exactly how masking policies should work now. You put them in place after high risk activities (winter break) to help ease the transition back and to reduce the high risk of spread between previously uninfected households. It's time bound and follows historical patterns; it makes sense.

Bless your heart for thinking the lawsuit won't hit until 1/3. I imagine someone is rushing to sign or submit the paperwork as I type.

But I firmly agree that this seems like the sort of policy that should be implemented and receive little pushback, if we didn't live in The Bad Place.

[Smoove_B]

Speaking of the bad place, about a 1/3 of parents believe vaccine requirements for school should be removed:

The latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor survey finds that about seven in ten adults (71%) say healthy children should be required to get vaccinated for MMR in order to attend public schools, down from 82% who said the same in an October 2019 Pew Research Center poll. Almost three in ten (28%) now say that parents should be able to decide not to vaccinate their school-age children, even if this creates health risks for others, up from 16% in 2019. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, there has been a 24 percentage-point increase in the share who hold this view (from 20% to 44%).

I'm guessing this is going to be a political issue in various state elections for the next cycle because we're in Hell.

[gbasden]

Speaking of the bad place, about a 1/3 of parents believe vaccine requirements for school should be removed:

The latest KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor survey finds that about seven in ten adults (71%) say healthy children should be required to get vaccinated for MMR in order to attend public schools, down from 82% who said the same in an October 2019 Pew Research Center poll. Almost three in ten (28%) now say that parents should be able to decide not to vaccinate their school-age children, even if this creates health risks for others, up from 16% in 2019. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, there has been a 24 percentage-point increase in the share who hold this view (from 20% to 44%).

I'm guessing this is going to be a political issue in various state elections for the next cycle because we're in Hell.

God, I fucking hate this timeline. And all the stupid people in this world.

[Smoove_B]

It really is insane. We are now seeing momentum to move us backward decades on so many issues. When they finally come for your buddy Smoove_B and all his forbidden knowledge, remember me kindly.

[Alefroth]

[Zarathud]

We’ll pour a bottle of water out when the MAGAState comes for you, Smoove. Unfiltered, the way Joe Rogan insists.

[Max Peck]

This is fine...

Ontario's chief medical officer of health links viral surge to 'negative consequences' of extended mask mandates, rules out new ones — for now

Ontario’s chief medical officer of health waded into the controversial issue of “immunity debt” Thursday, saying the issue needs more study but it makes sense to him that pandemic public health measures such as masking are a factor in the record numbers of young children becoming seriously ill with respiratory viruses this year.

Partly because of that, Dr. Kieran Moore ruled out any new mask mandates in the province unless COVID-19 changes significantly and vaccines and treatments are no longer effective.

“Masking was one of our only tools when we didn’t have vaccines and we didn’t have oral outpatient treatments like Paxlovid. It was something we were dependent upon, but we are obviously seeing that there are some negative consequences to not being exposed to the normal respiratory pathogens over time,” he said during an interview with this newspaper.

“I don’t know if at a societal level we are ready to go back” to mask mandates, he added.

The theory, which has been widely criticized by some experts, is that public health measures were so effective at stopping COVID-19 and many other seasonal viruses that it has left very young children especially highly susceptible this year now that mandates have been lifted and more viruses are circulating. It counters some evidence that exposure to COVID is affecting some peoples’ immune cells and weakening their immunity. Moore said it makes sense that people with Long COVID have some kind of immune dysregulation and the province is reviewing the hypothesis.

But he said his personal belief is that “we have more susceptible children that have not been exposed previously and that is causing this rise”. He added that masking will always be an important public health tool when unknown pathogens are spreading and there are no other tools available, because it works, “but once we have therapeutics and vaccines, continued masking can decrease our overall immunity to other viruses. That is a lesson I think we are learning.”

[Smoove_B]

Masks that don't work but yet somehow also worked so good as to magically protect children from all respiratory diseases to the degree that they're all getting sicker now.

Which is it? I honestly can't even keep up anymore.

But seriously, I have been trying to follow the news from Canada (by proxy) and some of it really is as nonsensical as it is here.

[malchior]

That whole thing is wild because it is so professionally messy. He acknowledges the issue needs study but then crafts policy saying the negative effect is obvious based on his personal beliefs. And he says it almost like people shouldn't notice he is pretty much making it up.

[Max Peck]

Masks that don't work but yet somehow also worked so good as to magically protect children from all respiratory diseases to the degree that they're all getting sicker now.

Which is it? I honestly can't even keep up anymore.

But seriously, I have been trying to follow the news from Canada (by proxy) and some of it really is as nonsensical as it is here.

The provincial government here in Ontario was surprisingly sane for the first year or so, then began correcting course back to their right-wing populist roots. This sort of thing is what I expected from the get-go.

[Smoove_B]

Here in the US it's the same as it ever was. Our COVID Czar is deferring to locals saying "they know best" with respect to whether or not masks should be mandated. He says this knowing full well states and locals are looking to CDC to offer model guidance and then follow up with communications to public about how important it is to mask right now. Instead, he shrugs his shoulders and says, "listen to your locals" while the locals are flailing around because the general public is saying, "But the CDC isn't mandating anything; we were told in the Summer of 2021 the pandemic was over."

This is life now; it's never going to end. All that will change are the demographics of the people suffering and dying - that's what we've apparently accepted now. Even in my own state, they're reporting laughable COVID-19 test numbers -- suggesting we're at a level somewhere near April of 2022. Anyone paying attention to their own social circles knows that's not the case and hasn't been for a long time. What's that you say? Hospitalizations and ICU bed use looks like it did in December of 2021? Oh, I'm sure that's just a coincidence - the test data doesn't lie!

Been looking for new work; not sure I can do this much longer. Perhaps something less stressful and more socially fulfilling. Pay day loan officer, perhaps? I dunno.

[Isgrimnur]

Repo man. More fresh air.

[LawBeefaroni]

I'm calling it over today, December 19, 2022. We beat COVID!

Which is just in time because we're seeing increases in COPD, CHF, AKI/ESRD, neurological issues, etc. Thank goodness the completely unrelated COVID pandemic is over.

[Max Peck]

At some point, the troughs between waves of infection will just go away... That's when the pandemic will truly be over and we'll just have endemic COVID, I guess. Until the next variant upgrade, anyway.

Doctors warn holidays will likely bring COVID-19 infections

Ottawa's wastewater data shows that the COVID-19 signal is 10 times higher than it was last December before Omicron hit, but the biggest difference between this year and last year is how much people care, according to an epidemiologist. 

Raywat Deonandan, an epidemiologist and associate professor at the University of Ottawa, says this year people are lacking "the existential dread" of the holidays in 2021. 

"There's almost no concern this season. [But] the hospital situation is worse, so there's less room at the inn this time around," Deonandan said. 

"I think people should be more careful about behaviours that may require them to seek emergency medical care because that care might not be there if you need it." 

Paired with other respiratory illnesses, he says the health-care system is facing a high-pressure holiday season.

This is something that should seem obvious to anyone that has been following wastewater monitoring in particular, but I haven't seen any real reporting on it:

"What we seem to be seeing though is the peaks are lower, but the troughs are higher, so there is this oscillating equilibrium," he said. 

That levelling out is not a good thing he said, as it means we'll likely be living with high levels of COVID for some time.

[Smoove_B]

Yeah, by all accounts it's 2021 again in terms of the amount of COVID-19 that's circulating. We just don't care. And not surprisingly, politics play a part:



Get whatever shots you're eligible for. It's not too late.

[malchior]

"Too busy"? It takes 15 minutes. Real answer - they don't think it's important.

[malchior]

"Too busy"? It takes 15 minutes. Real answer - they don't think it matters.

[Smoove_B]

I do hope some day we try to hold the media accountable for the role they are current playing (and did play) during the pandemic. Specifically from this morning as the NYT tries to write a piece on the "last holdouts":

I would just note that a piece NYT titled “The Last Holdouts,” as if referencing extremely fringe and exotic behavior, links to a poll that indicates 50% of people still report wearing a mask indoors at least sometimes. The shift in social norms is probably very much an outcome of the disappearance of officials requiring, encouraging or modeling masks, and media treating it as abnormal behavior. But it’s likely reversible if officials and media helped normalize it again.

...

A recent Economist / YouGov poll finds 57% of respondents mask at least sometimes

In any case, whether it’s 30%, 50%, 57%, not sure it makes sense to characterize this group as “holdouts” from a society that has moved on

Again, it's this self-feeding circle. When public officials don't wear masks, the general public is discouraged. When we see staged events (like a meeting of public health officials at the White House) when no one is masked (but they've all been PCR tested), the general public is discouraged. When we watch a live TV show and no one is wearing masks (but they're also all being tested a part of production protocols), the general public is discouraged. Remember how there was a push to remove cigarettes and smoking from print ads, tv shows and movies? This is the same idea but working in the other direction.

[malchior]

SCOTUS finally found a COVID "protection" they approve of!

The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked the Biden administration’s plans to end a pandemic-era policy allowing the quick expulsion of migrants from U.S. borders without the opportunity to seek asylum, as officials warned of a crisis along the southern border.

A federal judge had ruled that the Trump-era policy, known as Title 42, should expire last week, but the court’s action extends a pause Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. imposed to give the high court more time to weigh the issue.

In Tuesday’s order, five conservative justices sided with Republican officials in 19 states, including Texas and Arizona, who sought to maintain Title 42, which has been used to expel migrants more than 2 million times since it was implemented in March 2020.

In effect, the Supreme Court’s action keeps the status quo in place by blocking the district judge’s order until the court can consider the dispute in late February. But the court said it will consider only whether the objecting states have the legal standing to intervene.

[Smoove_B]

That's hilarious. Even better - there's new considerations for travel restrictions from China over concerns they aren't being transparent with their data:

"There are mounting concerns in the international community on the ongoing COVID-19 surges in China and the lack of transparent data, including viral genomic sequence data, being reported from the PRC," officials said in a statement late Tuesday.

"Without this data, it is becoming increasingly difficult for public health officials to ensure that they will be able to identify any potential new variants and take prompt measures to reduce the spread," the officials said.

I had to re-read it three times to make sure they were talking about China.

[Max Peck]

It's a tasty bit of doublethink.

[Smoove_B]

And now it's official:

The United States will require all travelers from China to show a negative Covid-19 test result before flying to the country as Beijing’s rapid easing of Covid-19 restrictions leads to a surge in cases.

Passengers flying to the US from China will need to get a test no more than two days before flying, federal health officials said, and present proof of the negative test to their airline before boarding.

The tests can be either a PCR test or an antigen self-test administered through a telehealth service.

The requirement will apply both to passengers flying directly to the United States from China as well to passengers flying through popular third-country gateways, including Seoul, Toronto and Vancouver.

Passengers who test positive more than 10 days before their flight can provide documentation of their recovery in lieu of a negative test result.

The new rules take effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on January 5.

Now do domestic flights. I know I shouldn't be surprised at our seemingly selective requirements here, but it somehow makes it that much more frustrating. We know what to do; we refuse to do it.

[Zaxxon]

Thankfully, the US isn't undergoing any sort of significant COVID outbreak, so no need for that.

[Max Peck]

Yeah, everywhere that isn't China just has endemic COVID-19 now. Any future waves will barely be ripples, now that those pesky troughs between the peaks are mostly gone.

[Smoove_B]

It's amazing to me - truly. It started with TFG calling it the "China virus" and even now 3+ years later we're doing things that only continue to fuel the anti-Asian sentiment that he started. It's indefensible to enact this type of policy (which we already tried, as you all remember) when American's can't even be bothered to comply with a request to wear masks in a grocery store.

[Holman]

I still see masks in the grocery store. Probably 75% of African-Americans (all ages) are wearing them, and most elderly white patrons too.

I usually wear my mask when shopping, but most whites under the age of 60 don't.

[Kraken]

At first I thought the number of masks in the supermarket today was me-percent, but I did spot a few others. Maybe 2-3% were masked. Certainly below 5%.

[LawBeefaroni]

It's amazing to me - truly. It started with TFG calling it the "China virus" and even now 3+ years later we're doing things that only continue to fuel the anti-Asian sentiment that he started. It's indefensible to enact this type of policy (which we already tried, as you all remember) when American's can't even be bothered to comply with a request to wear masks in a grocery store.

Security theater. Airports make great stages.

[Smoove_B]

But the cognitive dissonance is beyond palpable here. The same people screaming the loudest that we need to test and block Chinese people from coming through our airports are also completely against testing and masking domestically. So apparently it's ok if Americans just keep giving it to each other (Freedom?), but we won't tolerate imported COVID-19?

I don't even know how to process it.

Masking. Vaccination. Improving indoor air quality. Until we get comfortable with all three of those, this is life now. Nonsense policies for airlines isn't doing a goddamn thing.

[Zaxxon]

Recall the GOP unofficial slogan (freedom for me, but not for thee) and it makes a lot more sense.