Alternative headline: “vaccine thought to be 98% effective turns out to be 99.993% effective.” https://t.co/vPIjX66ig7
— Patrick Fanelli (@PatFanelli) April 15, 2021
The U.S. is preparing for the possibility that a booster shot will be needed between nine to 12 months after people are initially vaccinated against COVID-19, a White House official said https://t.co/kOHpRdm672 pic.twitter.com/e0CM8TgF2j
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 16, 2021
The U.S. is opening more distance between itself and much of the rest of the world in the race against the coronavirus. The U.S. has administered almost 200 million vaccine doses as other countries struggle with stubbornly high infection rates and deaths. https://t.co/p0ANVUDO5P
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 15, 2021
It's not a difficult concept that vax'd people should still engage in mitigation behavior until the country can actually brag about having mitigated the virus. Cuz right now (and, well, the last 11 months) the biggest risk is unvax'd people who think everything's back to normal. https://t.co/N2AHQUljhX
— Zd (@Zeddary) April 15, 2021
Always a good response to Gym Jordan:
Jim Jordan's questioning of Dr. Fauci devolves into a shouting match among several committee members, eventually resulting in Maxine Waters yelling: "You need to respect the chair and shut your mouth!" pic.twitter.com/Phzr4DCGmM
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) April 15, 2021
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WTO chief lays out global action to increase vaccine access https://t.co/WJqRkFxkY1 pic.twitter.com/gzZgcCIiG4
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 15, 2021
India's Covid horror.
And it's still earlier days in the 2nd wave. pic.twitter.com/ajCp2wuZBf
— Sarang Shidore (@globalsarang) April 15, 2021
Migrant workers are swarming rail stations in India’s financial capital Mumbai to go to their home villages as virus-control measures dry up work in the hard-hit region. https://t.co/vPUMyN3HEY
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 16, 2021
India's desperate Covid-19 patients turn to black market for drugs https://t.co/O9TXU3pt1X
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 15, 2021
China’s success at controlling the coronavirus outbreak has resulted in a population that has seemed almost reluctant to get vaccinated. Now it is accelerating its inoculation campaign by offering incentives. https://t.co/Uy3wqovT6I
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 16, 2021
I wrote about how many public health experts in Hong Kong are concerned with the way Sinovac is being rolled out in HK but are too afraid to speak publicly for fear it will hurt their careers or even be deemed a violation of the new security law: https://t.co/tfI2uWXtX4
— Sue-Lin Wong 黄淑琳 (@suelinwong) April 16, 2021
China has made decisions abt vaccinations trickier saying it'll expedite visa apps for ppl who take Chinese vaccines “About 1/3 who took Sinovac were coerced, another 3rd did it for some sort of personal gain & the final 3rd just wanted to get vaccinated” said another expert
— Sue-Lin Wong 黄淑琳 (@suelinwong) April 16, 2021
Japan to widen coronavirus curbs, casting fresh doubt on Olympics https://t.co/y7SH5Gi8Z8
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 16, 2021
An outbreak at nightspots in Bangkok has sent new infections surging, suggesting Thailand may have been lulled into a false sense of security before mass vaccinations for COVID-19 begin. https://t.co/URj6w06ar3
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 15, 2021
Thailand uses hotels beds for COVID-19 patients after surge in cases https://t.co/8gzwEOLVQB
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 16, 2021
The World Health Organization says the pandemic death toll has surpassed 1 million in WHO’s Europe region, which includes Russia and stretches into Central Asia https://t.co/AKvPr9BYpK
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) April 15, 2021
Around 820,000 Muscovites, or less than 10% of the capital's population, have received both doses of a coronavirus vaccine. Another 1 million have had the first vaccine dose https://t.co/HW1cyEQlnJ
— The Moscow Times (@MoscowTimes) April 15, 2021
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he took a second vaccine dose pic.twitter.com/5wsR9BJE4T
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 15, 2021
France surpasses 100,000 COVID-19 deaths as it struggles to beat back a surge of infections driven by virus variants that are overwhelming its hospitals. https://t.co/Vr8G1IyC3p
— AP Europe (@AP_Europe) April 15, 2021
PNG reports 11 COVID-19 deaths, pressuring a fragile health system https://t.co/Dk7aqEmgpA pic.twitter.com/2iN0AkJIyj
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 15, 2021
Australia considers staggered reopening of borders https://t.co/m3ZxEkfzri pic.twitter.com/QfFu2gUfNs
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 16, 2021
Brazil's hospitals running out of drugs needed to sedate #COVID19 patients. The gov't urgently seeks to import supplies amid reports of the seriously ill being tied down & intubated without effective sedatives.
Hospitals also struggling to get enough O2.https://t.co/1qt8QQ3WFz
— MicrobesInfect (@MicrobesInfect) April 15, 2021
Colombia rules out prompt opening of Venezuela border on COVID concerns https://t.co/Sem0ObRiwy
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 16, 2021
Chile sees Covid surge despite vaccination success https://t.co/NFuqBHNC1a
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) April 15, 2021
… Dr Susan Bueno, a professor of immunology from the Pontifical Catholic University, says the recent surge is “a multi-factor issue”, but that she thinks the new variants are having a “huge impact”.
She says the message about how to prevent contagion, such as wearing masks and washing your hands, was also somewhat neglected during the summer months in Chile. That, she explains, “is probably one of the causes of the outbreaks we are seeing now”.
There is also confusion about how the vaccine that the vast majority in the country has received works, Prof Bueno adds. More than 93% of the doses administered in Chile so far have been CoronaVac, produced by the Beijing-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac.
Data on the efficacy of the CoronaVac vaccine is varied. Brazilian trials suggested an efficacy rate of around 50.4% but results from late-stage trials in Indonesia and Turkey suggested a much higher rate – between 65% and 83%.
A study published by the University of Chile last week (in Spanish) looked at the level of protection the vaccine offered after the first and the second doses.
It suggested CoronaVac was 56.5% effective in protecting people against infection two weeks after they had received their second dose, but the figure was only 3% in the timespan between the first and second doses.
This may give a key clue as to why cases may still be on the rise in Chile, where more than 7.6 million people have received the first jab, but the number of those who have had both the first and second doses is much lower…
St. Vincent officials are extremely worried about a COVID-19 outbreak as thousands of evacuees flee the eruption and crowd into shelters and private homes. The chief medical officer said about a dozen cases have been reported in recent days. https://t.co/brwjM6UTJK
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 15, 2021
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Spies vs. scientists on the origin of Covid: The spies have zero answers that it was conjured in a lab. Scientists worldwide have detected the genetic sequences of animal lineage. Yet disbelieving conspiracy theorists won't accept Covid's zoonotic origins https://t.co/yTdFza1r0E
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) April 16, 2021
Scientists haven’t figured out long Covid. Here are 5 of their best hypotheses: One involves disturbances to the gut microbiome; another hypothesis suggests a lingering impact on the brain https://t.co/01Rv4vTNjv pic.twitter.com/I90WYZUvcJ
— delthia ricks ?? (@DelthiaRicks) April 15, 2021
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Carlson is actively trying to get people killed:
No. It’s that despite much progress we’re not to the levels required for herd immunity yet and hospitalizations are rising again due to new, more contagious variants. Pay attention. https://t.co/gwhLNISUG3
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) April 14, 2021
Red states on U.S. electoral map lagging on vaccinations https://t.co/5PPl3fdFhA
— Josh Mankiewicz (@JoshMankiewicz) April 15, 2021
A first-time look at how Covid swept through every town in New Jersey. The infection had a broad regional impact on New Jersey's municipalities during 2 devastating waves in 2020. New research https://t.co/drLkEsjBoV via @medical_xpress
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) April 15, 2021
23-year-old NBA all-star Jayson Tatum, who tested positive for COVID in January, says he now needs an inhaler to manage his symptoms. https://t.co/UQ9GsrZH7C
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) April 14, 2021
FRAUD ALERT. We've received reports of individuals reproducing and presenting these mask exemption cards with the state of Utah seal on them to businesses and schools. These are FAKE. The state of Utah, UDOH, and local health depts do NOT provide mask exemption cards. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/GQzbgW34eD
— Utah Dept. of Health (@UtahDepOfHealth) April 13, 2021
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY stats:
329 new cases – the most new cases are in the 20-29 age group, followed by the 30-39 age group, the 40-49 age group and the 10-19 age group. What ARE these people doing? My employer has decided we’re working from home indefinitely, probably because of numbers like these.
3615 active cases currently
Still at 3.1% test positivity. Nice to see that this hasn’t gone up for a few days.
Still at 1211 deaths as of yesterday
43.4% have had at least 1 vaccination
30.5% totally vaccinated
The worst of my vaccination fatigue finally lifted late yesterday morning. Yay!
Martin
Uh, it’s not 99.993% effective.
A) millions of doses have been recorded before there’s been an opportunity for people to get sick afterward, so the number of breakthrough cases is only going to go up, and it will go up quite a bit. Even if you got vaccinated a month ago, you could still get Covid next month.
B) Even accounting for A, it’s the vaccine + continued mask wearing + continued distancing + additional precautions (work from home, etc.) that makes up that rate.
B is why public health folks see the world differently, and why they ask for things that seem redundant. A 90% effective vaccine on top of a 70% effective mask on top of a 95% reduction in social interaction gives you a 0.15% chance of getting infected (99.85% effective). That’s why they don’t worry too much about an 80% vaccine (0.30% chance) or a 90% vaccine provided that people are still doing all of the other preventative measures. The next milestone is when Covid is no longer widespread among the general population. That’s probably some time off yet, probably not until we get <16 vaccinated, which I don't think will start until August at the earliest. Once that happens, then you get the layering of the lower odds of even encountering someone who is infected.
sab
There is a lot I don’t like about my Gov DeWine, but thank God he is here and pro-public health and science. I’m in a city with a mask mandate backed up by the governor’s mask mandate and we are all trotting around masked. It’s not even an issue.
rikyrah
@NeenerNeener:
Yeah ?
Robert Sneddon
@Martin:
There was an explanation of the “swiss cheese” effect on the BBC website. Multiple layers of mitigations such as social distancing, lockdowns, vaccinations, masking, hygeine etc. overlap and provide increasing levels of protection from becoming infected but sometimes, rarely, the holes line up and someone gets infected even if they were vaccinated and taking precautions. The more effort they put into mitigation the less chance they will become infected though.
Epidemics are statistical at their heart.
Martin
Moderna is about to get a booster into trials, planning for a fall distribution to boost efficacy against some of the variants.
sab
@Robert Sneddon: Interesting point. Spouse and I got fully vaccinated a while back. We still fully mask and social distance just as a courtesy to those who haven’t been able to get vaccines yet.
I think I will be maskimg for the rest of my life. I really enjoyed a year without flu or the common cold.
mrmoshpotato
Again – IT’S JUST A DAMN MASK! These whiny ass titty babies…
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s Director-General of Heath Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 2,551 new Covid-19 cases today in his media statement, for a cumulative reported total of 370,528 cases. He also reports two new deaths today, for a cumulative total of 1,365 deaths — 0.37% of the cumulative reported total, 0.39% of resolved cases.
Malaysia’s nationwide R0 is currently at 1.17. Terengganu has the highest state R0 at 1.49, followed by Kelantan at 1.35 and Putrajaya at 1.26.
There are currently 18,600 active and contagious cases; 227 are in ICU, 91 of them intubated. Meanwhile, 1,524 patients recovered and were discharged, for a cumulative total of 350,563 patients recovered – 94.61% of the cumulative reported total.
Seven new clusters were reported today: Jalan Sultan Iskandar and Jalan Balakong in Selangor; Jalan Kia Peng in Kuala Lumpur; Sandakan Immigration Detention Depot in Sabah; Lenggeng Immigration Detention Depot in Negeri Sembilan; Jepak in Sarawak; and Sri Layang in Pahang.
Jalan Sultan Iskandar, Jalan Balakong, and Jalan Kia Peng are workplace clusters. Sandakan Immigration Detention Depot and Lenggeng Immigration Detention Depot are prison clusters. Jepak is a community cluster. Sri Layang is an education cluster.
2,522 new cases today are local infections. Sarawak alone accounts for 37.9% of this number, reporting 957 local cases: 431 in older clusters, nine in Jepak and Jalan Sultan Iskandar clusters, 452 close-contact screenings, and 65 other screenings. Next, Selangor reports a massive 586 local cases: 81 in older clusters, three in Jalan Balakong cluster, 404 close-contact screenings, and 98 other screenings.
Kuala Lumpur reports 224 local cases: two in older clusters, five in Jalan Kia Peng cluster, 151 close-contact screenings, and 66 other screenings.
Kelantan reports 164 cases: 38 in existing clusters, 83 close-contact screenings, and 43 other screenings. Sabah reports 143 cases: 34 in older clusters, 55 in Sandakan Immigration Detention Depot cluster, 32 close-contact screenings, and 22 other screenings. Johor reports 121 cases: 70 in existing clusters, 23 close-contact screenings, and 28 other screenings.
Penang reports 91 cases: 13 in existing clusters, 41 close-contact screenings, and 37 other screenings. Negeri Sembilan reports 53 cases: 30 in older clusters, three in Lenggeng Immigration Detention Depot cluster, 13 close-contact screenings, and seven other screenings. Perak reports 49 cases: 30 in existing clusters, 12 close-contact screenings, and seven other screenings. Pahang reports 47 cases: 15 in older clusters, 15 in Sri Layang cluster, 12 close-contact screenings, and five other screenings. Kedah reports 35 cases: 15 in existing clusters, 11 close-contact screenings, and nine other screenings. Melaka reports 28 cases: 21 in existing clusters, three close-contact screenings, and four other screenings.
Terengganu reports 16 cases: 11 in existing clusters, one close-contact screening, and four other screenings. Putrajaya reports six cases: one in an existing cluster, and five close-contact screenings. And Perlis reports two cases, both close-contct screenings.
29 new cases today are imported: 21 in Kuala Lumpur, four in Selangor, three in Sarawak and one in Labuan.
The deaths reported today are a 79-year-old man in Selangor with hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and heart disease; and a 61-year-old man in Kuala Lumpur with hypertension, heart disease, and obesity.
Amir Khalid
@mrmoshpotato:
I don’t get it either. It would be far less trouble to wear a real mask and protect yourself, than to get a fake exemption card and risk getting exposed.
mrmoshpotato
I think Fucker Carlson has started to believe his own bullshit. I simply can’t fathom knowingly wanting to kill your captive audience of old, racist idiots.
Geminid
@sab: I see masking in my part of Virginia as similar to what you describe in your Ohio city. Last October, compliance with a state mask mandate was around 90%. Since the New Year, compliance seems to be 99%, with no organized pushback. The state mandate backs up merchants who might otherwise hesitate to alienate contrarian customers.
Also, by now almost everyone knows someone who has been seriously ill from Covid-19, or as in the case of a masonry supplier I visit, has had a colleague die from Covid.
PAM Dirac
@Martin:
It is essential for people (including the Nate Silvers of the world) to understand this. There is a tendency to assume that the numbers that come out of a clinical trial are some kind of absolute property of the vaccine, when those numbers are a product of the vaccine in the particular context of that trial. You certainly hope that your trial design and recruitment makes the trial results applicable to real world situations, but it isn’t guaranteed. I did a little googling when the discussion of number came up earlier and I didn’t find anything that indicated that the vaccine trials tried to measure behaviors in the trial population, but since most of the recruitment was in the last summer and early fall it is likely that the trials took place in a relatively shut down, mask mandated context. It is bonkers to assume you would get the same number in an opened up, unmasked context.
YY_Sima Qian
On 4/15 China reported 1 new domestic confirmed & 0 new domestic asymptomatic cases all in Yunnan Province. 2 domestic confirmed recovered & 1 domestic asymptomatic case was released from isolation. There are currently 80 domestic confirmed & 19 domestic asymptomatic cases in Yunnan Province.
Imported Cases
On 4/15 China reported 10 new imported confirmed cases, 31 imported asymptomatic cases:
Overall in China, 9 confirmed cases recovered, 12 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation & none were reclassified as confirmed cases, and 4923 individuals were released from quarantine. Currently, there are 299 active confirmed cases in the country (219 imported), 5 in critical/serious condition (4 imported), 319 asymptomatic cases (200 imported), 2 suspect cases (both imported). 10,498 traced contacts are currently under centralized quarantine.
As of 4/15, 183.536M vaccine doses have been injected in Mainland China, an increase of 4.32M doses in the past 24 hrs.
On 4/16, Hong Kong reported 17 new cases, 11 imported & 6 domestic (all have sources of infection identified).
Matt McIrvin
@PAM Dirac: Comparison with the placebo is supposed to be how they factor out the effect of the vaccine from everything else. That’s why the control group is there and why they try to make it a blind trial. Unfortunately the field trials didn’t have very good blinding–a lot of people seemed to be able to figure out from the side effects whether they’d gotten the vaccine or the placebo–which makes it less certain that behavior is something you can factor out. But they tried.
Geoduck
@Amir Khalid: It’s that they are white people, and they are being asked to suffer a mild inconvenience to help other (non-white) people. That may actually be worse than facing a genuine infringement on their personal liberties.
sab
@Geminid: My stepson’s fiance caught something in February that knocked her flat for three weeks. She works in a convenience store. Was it Covid? We don’t know because she couldn’t afford testing. She had been dragging ever since.
Moderna last week, and now she feels back to normal.
Placebo? Medical? We don’t know. We are just glad she feels better.
PAM Dirac
@Matt McIrvin:
You are right that you have to worry about whether there are differences between the placebo and tested, but even if that is not a problem, the effect you measure, although it is definitely a vaccine effect, is still dependent on the context. A simple example. Suppose you ran a trial in an environment where all the virus variants were highly sensitive to the vaccine antibodies. You would expect pretty good effectiveness. Now you run a trial where all the virus variants are highly insensitive to the vaccine antibodies. You would expect a much worse result. Both results are properties of the vaccine but they are different because the context is different.
Auntie Anne
I am down-on-my-knees grateful I live in a a state that is taking Covid seriously and really trying to get everyone vaccinated. We have had a state masking mandate since this thing started, so no one goes maskless. And we’re working hard to get everyone vaccinated, including on-site clinics for poultry plant workers, mobile van clinics for the disabled, and even dental offices offering vaccines. I got an invitation to get my second shot yesterday at a drive-through event in Dover, on the 28th day (Moderna) – I jumped at it.
WereBear
Likewise. It is literally a life or death thing for many forced to live and work in states who act otherwise.
Matt McIrvin
@sab: Massachusetts’ management of the crisis has been mixed in quality, but one good thing they did (after the initial crisis of a year ago) was to commit to high-volume, free COVID testing for people who experience symptoms, have reason to expect exposure or need it for some other reason. (I’ve been tested three times–once to get a handle on a wave in my city and twice to be admitted for medical procedures.) I think it’s actually made the state look worse because we’re catching a higher fraction of cases than most places do. Our test positivity is relatively low.
Soprano2
So, this morning I had an experience that to me illustrates why the CDC messaging about the vaccine is so terrible. I asked a co-worker if he had been vaccinated yet; he said no, he wasn’t going to get it because he’s OK. I asked him if he had any concerns about the vaccine; he said no, but it sounds like we still have to do all the same stuff after we get vaccinated. His attitude is “why bother”. He’s in his 30’s, so he doesn’t think he’ll get seriously ill or die from COVID. THIS is why the CDC messaging is so bad – too many people think “even if I get vaccinated they’re telling me I can’t do anything different at all, so why do it.”. Their message SHOULD be “Vaccination means you can safely go get your hair cut, go to a restaurant, go t the gym, go see your grandparents and parents again, have events with others in your family who are also vaccinated”. The CDC is acting too much like right-wingers who don’t want people to use birth control because it means they can have sex without the woman getting pregnant, so they lie about the effectiveness of birth control and make up problems it causes. It’s going to be a problem, especially in more MAGA areas like mine. I think people like us, who have believed in the seriousness of COVID from the beginning, underestimate how much vaccine hesitancy there is out there, and this negative messaging about what being vaccinated means for you personally isn’t helping at all
Matt McIrvin
@Auntie Anne: Which Dover is that? I’ve heard that New Hampshire, after a slow start, is now vaccinating at such a high rate that they’re opening it up to people in other states. Probably smart when you’re a small state that gets a lot of visitors from outside. If I find the Massachusetts situation is too slammed I may partake.
Matt McIrvin
(Currently intensely frustrated by Facebook people who I thought were sane insisting that people get COVID because of dietary deficiencies, and relaying quack medical info from Some Guy On YouTube, M.D. There seems to be a real will to believe that “good” general health behavior will immunize you from viruses–it has sort of a moral dimension.)
JMG
@Soprano2:I agree. I am fully vaccinated, and it frustrates me no end when the medical community says “you still shouldn’t do anything except maybe have a vaccinated friend/family member or two over to your house.” Wearing a mask is no problem and everyone in Mass. does pretty much. Social distancing when out is reasonably easy to do. But telling people vaccination doesn’t really enable you to go out and do stuff is about as horrible a marketing message as could be imagined. If they said, “vaccination lowers your risks significantly, but risks still exist” that would be honest and more effective.
dc
@sab: I can’t beleive anyone has to pay for a Covid test. I’m glad she is feeling better.
Robert Sneddon
Scotland — 204 new COVID-19 cases reported yesterday, continuing the general downward trend. Friday’s numbers are usually the most indicative of the real situation since the various health offices and data collection centres will have caught up with delayed reports before the weekend gets in the way.
Three deaths reported since yesterday, the test positivity rate is 1.4%.
Soprano2
@JMG: Exactly this!!!!!! They need to hire some PR people to promote vaccination.
Robert Sneddon
@JMG:
There’s a pandemic going on, in case you hadn’t noticed. Being vaccinated and perhaps masking doesn’t make you invulnerable, it doesn’t stop you getting sick and passing that sickness on to others who might get sick in their turn, perhaps even die.
You may be willing to risk death in search of a more normal life now you think you’re bulletproof like Superman, it’s still a bad fucking stupid crazy idea to actually go out and do so.
And that’s why the medical advice is still “social distance, wear masks etc.” and not “It’s OK to go ahead and spread this plague around, whatever.” Sucks, doesn’t it?
Sloane Ranger
OK, I wrote out my UK report and forgot to hit post before closing the tab. So, here I go again.
Thursday in the UK we had 2672 new cases. The 7-day moving average is down 6.9%. Deaths by nation,
England – 2171 (up 117)
Northern Ireland – 159 (up 62)
Scotland – 237 (down 41)
Wales – 105 (up 43).
Deaths – There were 30 deaths within 28 days of a positive test yesterday. The 7-day moving average is down 2.3%. By nation, England – 25, Northern Ireland – 2, Scotland – 1 and Wales – 2.
Testing – On 14 April, 1,162,840 tests were conducted. This is an increase of 17.3% in the moving 7-day average.
Hospitalisations – On 13 April, 2393 people were in hospital. On 14th, 351 were on ventilators. The moving 7-day average for hospital admissions was down 11.2%.
Vaccinations given as of 14 April –
1st shot – 32,444,439
2nd Shot – 8,513,864.
Percentage of UK adult population vaccinated. 1 shot – 61.6%, Both shots – 16.2%.
Auntie Anne
@Matt McIrvin: I live in Delaware, so different Dover. We’re only vaccinating people who live in-state.
Alex
@Martin:
@Martin:
Exactly! A lot of people’s intuition seems to be to do simple long division of reported symptomatic infections/total number vaccinated, and that’s not how effectiveness is calculated. Here’s a good thread from Natalie Dean explaining it: https://twitter.com/nataliexdean/status/1310613702476017666?s=20
Jinchi
I assume this was a joke, but considering the right wing constantly engages in bad faith arguments about the pandemic, I really wish people would resist the urge to add to the nation’s mathematical illiteracy.
Soprano2
@Robert Sneddon: And this kind of message is EXACTLY why they don’t think it’s worth it to get vaccinated. No one said anything about not wearing masks when it’s prudent. No one said they’re invulnerable. Being vaccinated means you won’t die or get seriously ill from Covid, and more and more it seems that like with other diseases it also means you have a much lower chance of passing it to others if you do get infected. You seem to believe it’s all or nothing – no one gets to do anything different until some undefined time in the future when “enough” people are vaccinated. That’s a bad message if you want people to be motivated to get vaccinated. If you want this situation to continue forever, though, it’s the exact right message. Do you honestly think the U.S. can get to “zero Covid”? If that’s what you require for us to do things again, then it’s never going to happen. Whether people like it or not, we’re going to have to learn to live with a world where Covid exists.
Robert Sneddon
@Soprano2:
No it doesn’t. Being vaccinated reduces the chance you personally will not suffer illness or die from COVID-19, it reduces the chance you personally will not spread this disease around while suffering a mild infectious case, possibly asymptomatic but it is no guarantee, there is no 100% certainty. There are 330 million people in the US. Even with a 99.9% level of prevention that still means 330,000 cases eventually and that’s not counting existing and future mutations and variants of the disease.
That’s why the CDC, NIH, the medical experts, the epidemiologists who actually know this sort of shit have not changed their advice even though lots of people have been vaccinated and think they’re “safe” and they can do everything they want to and the so-called ‘experts’ are just being meanies and fuddy-duddies by telling them otherwise.
Jinchi
The current US infection rate is above 70,000 cases per day and rising. That’s above the second peak we had last July. Things only look good right now in compared to the third peak we had after lots of Americans ignored Fauci’s pleas to stay home for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
We’re nowhere near “zero Covid” and we can see the warnings of a fourth surge if we don’t stop acting like idiots.
Ruckus
@mrmoshpotato:
Conservatism is a disease.
This disease allows you to see only ignorant, dumbass ways of stealing the lives and livelihoods of your followers, IOW gain for the sake of gain, and control of bullshit. People with this disease have so much bullshit that it flows out of their mouths, which is why they don’t like masks, because the bullshit flow and a mask, really, really don’t go together. Fucker carlson is just a leading example of the effect of massive amounts of verbal diarrhea on the psyche of conservatives.