SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

The enemy gets a vote.

Here’s government funded media’s take:


TL ; DR
Israel has one of the highest vaccination rates. (78%)
They are not high enough.
Vaccinations alone are not enough.

Since I’m about as accurate in predicting dampanic trends as I am in predicting jury outcomes I will only say that cases are not deaths, most particularly since we have a number of highly effective therapeutics with more inbound.

The data DO indicate that Delta really doesn’t give a rats about vaccination rates in the US since those with the lowest jab rates (whatever “vaccinated or fully vaccinated even means now) are not substantially better or worse off than those with the highest rates.

Otherwise?
Explain Israel.

Since I have already traveled north to my beloved home state of Indiana to visit the elders, I am probably going to continue to eschew jab # 3 for now.
My vaccinations are 8 months old, and my actual infection was well over a year ago, and I live in an apocalyptic, post-delta hell where people have to go to work - actually AT WORK and kids have to go to school…AT school, and the only masks Ive seen lately were worn by children last October….so I’m thinking that Delta has already picked off much of the low hanging fruit in these parts.

I DO however, intend to get the flu shot sooner rather than later.
If they offer me a covid shot while I’m there I might oblige them…but I haven’t seen my little white card since last April, so I am “undocumented.”

 

again, cases don't concern me, except as a possible indicator of future hospitalizations.

even with some boosters and kids vaxxed, we're seeing a jump in hospitalizations. about 15% over the last week or so, compared to a pretty good stretch through summer and fall.

it still appears to be a lot of seniors, possible thinking they are well protected when they may not be.

it will be interesting to see what post thanksgiving and Christmas look like.

icu's are already full of people who ignored serious health issues last year. we'll be setting up temp hospitals again if the surge continues.

 

Watching a congressional hearing where the CDC head was being interviewed, the question was posed (the questioner was informed by someone from within) that CDC employees vaccinations are at best 50%. Respondent never gave a straight answer but one would think they'd want to correct it - if they knew, or if the number/percentage was wrong.
.

 

Is that a recent hearing (info? link?) or the already-familiar one from last May, when those numbers weren't far off the all-adult first-jab numbers for US as a whole?

 

watch

 

Thanks. Senate health committee hearing from November 4th.

What I see in that clip is Sen. Cassidy asking at the four-minute mark about the vaccination rate among CDC employees. Dr. Walensky first replied the agency is working toward being fully vaccinated. The senator asks "but the percent?" at 4:12 and she replies she doesn't have that for him today. The whole exchange is 15 seconds and the senator then switches to how many at the agency are working remotely, which seems like a different question.

The senator did not seem to have figures on the vaccination rate. The figures he then bandied about had to do with the remote-work rate.

I wonder what topics she expected to need to prep on for this particular hearing, and whether the vaccination % of CDC employees was among them. If it was, and she came without the figure, bad on her. Otherwise, if she didn't have the figure, and said "I don't have that" when asked, that's the way more people should answer when asked for info they don't have.

disclosure: on this desktop I have no sound from youtube, so I rely on the closed captions. They seem to be ok in this clip.

 

Their vaccination rates should be higher if they're not in the high 90's, but hey.
I get it.
They should not be mandated.

I used to be fully vaccinated - until they moved the goalposts.
I BELIEVE in the vaccinations - so I might get as many Covid shots as I've received flu shots........eventually.

Thus....I really don't give a rats if the "scientists" in the CDC are jabbed or un-jabbed.

 

Considering that I'm starting from probably 30-ish flu shots (didn't used to get them every year), I'm hoping that "eventually" is at least several decades away.

 

I do not know.
My employer is making noises about (electronically) about me documenting my 'booster.'
At two doses and one booster in the last nine months it might not be decades.

 

258 pages; I'm quite late to this thread! I did buy a CPAP machine and supplies in Jan 2020, so there's that.

Is there a particular consensus re: which public health measures may or may not work? If someone discusses possible risks of the vaccine, do they get banned? And ... if someone discusses scary risks about the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is that allowed? Thank you!

 

no one gets banned unless they attack another member personally. the rules of posting are available to view.
there are two virus threads. this one is non political, and the other one is. the cdc/congress testimony probably should have gone in the other.
you are welcome to post your thoughts on the virus, the vaccines and anything else non politically related in this thread.

 

cdc rates will be high if there is a mandate. if not, they will be like any other health related agency. plenty of docs and nurses afraid of the vaccine.

 

Thank you! I wont attack others, but I have serious concerns about the danger of catching the virus (vaccinated or otherwise), and about the danger of some of the vaccines. Also thank you for that YouTube link - very good

 

i'm nottoo scared of the vaccine, but i do realize there is risk. i am scared of the virus, because i have seen the risk, and sad outcomes.
i'm still pretty much hibernating

 

I haven't had the vaccine (partly as we have no choice except one brand), but I am hibernating, my new work-from-home setup is mostly complete. I absolutely don't want covid. It is a horrible virus, and New Zealand are being forced to 'live with the virus' now. I have N95s, and bought myself a Soviet gas mask in Jan 2020 but so far haven't needed to use it!

 

we only had fizer available, so i went with it. i'm 66, so on the endangered species list

 

Welcome to the forum.

If you have a vaccine available in OZ, please consider taking it!
ESPECIALLY if you're on a CPAP machine.

I'm a military vet, and believe me there are worse vaccines out there with much more frightening and much more prevalent side effects than those discovered (and reported....so far) by $cientists and scientists with mRNA vaccines.
As much as I loathe the current, naked authoritarianism that I thought we got rid of in the late 60's here in the US it should not prevent you from understanding that among the billions of doses that have been dispensed across the world, there have been very VERY few side effects.

...so far.

My advice might be different if you were a biological (real) female planning on bearing for-real, live, non aborted children.
My advice might be different if you were (or are) a very young and very fit person not living in a school closing enforced, multigenerational family.

Use REAL math to ascertain YOUR relative risk, along with those close to you.

However (comma!!!)
If you do not feel comfortable getting the shot for goodness sakes, don't feel like you're in the middle of plague-ridden medieval Europe during the Black Death!
Don't be bullied.
If the vaccine really works (and I think it does) then broadly speaking the people that are screaming for OTHER people to take the vaccine should consider trusting it themselves.
The key is early detection and early intervention if you're feeling sick, and there ARE highly effective treatment modalities available that make your real-world survival chances MORE THAN 99% EVEN IF you're infected.

Get advice from medical professionals.
More than one of them if possible.
REAL pros wearing REAL scrubs, and NOT internet chuckleheads, TV doctors, Sexual predator TV governors, and other people who get paid to stoke fear for TV ratings and internet clicks.


Good Luck!

 

We only had Thigh Zer here in New Zealand too! (and you can see that I'm also practiced in 'phonetic typing' to avoid the 'sensors' (censors) . It's also good to avoid 'sensor ship'!

Regarding the vaccines - and boosters - the most important thing is that at 6 months, the efficacy is 'close to zero'. It isn't zero, and some things (like death) are still reduced. But at 6 months, deaths are reduced by perhaps half - still an unacceptable risk. They are moving the booster schedule to 5 months in some places, and in Asia one country (cant recall if Singapore?) is now doing 4-month boosters. 4-month boosters is probably the best way to get the 'anti-covid' benefits of the vaccine.

Please keep safe, and isolate yourself (and be aware that vaccinated people can spread the virus just as easily as unvaccinated* - so don't assume vaccinated people can't infect you)

*vaccinated people have the same peak viral load as unvaccinated people. But they have a much higher asymptomatic rate (and this is why I didn't get jabbed in New Zealand, I didn't want to catch it and infect my patients, because I do have background 'allergies' meaning I have sneeze, dry cough, nasal congestion, mild but constant). Vaccinated people are just as infectious as unvaccinated people at the 'peak' of the infection. However, it is true that the viral load *falls* faster in vaccinated people who are infected. Also, infection risk is only about 70% in vaccinated ppl compared to unvaccinated ppl. Overall this shows that vaccines do reduce infection and transmission a bit... but the variants are so much more infectious than the original Wuu-hhaan variant, meaning that if we drop public health measures, it will spread, it will cause a lot of long-covid.

Keep safe; and while not a 'cure' or prevention, correcting deficiencies is important in fighting covid-19. Get vitamin D (almost everyone is deficient), zinc, selenium, magnesium, and vitamin C. Also obtain aspirin if not allergic. Most of these are safe, with provisos (and this is NOT medical advice to anyone reading this so please ask your doctor!)

-Vitamin D. We are all deficient. I prescribe it by our guidelines (which is prescribe and dont waste money testing Vit D levels because we are all deficient and a normal dose wont cause an OD. An overdose is dangerous so be careful if going about the usual background dose.

- Vitamin C. Lots of us are deficient. All animals except some fruit bats and primates close to humans can make this. For humans, deficiency caused scurvy. However... we have an amazing ability to 'hang on' to vitamin C that we do take. This actually allowed us to build ships and travel for months at sea without all dying! However... we hang on to vitamin C (up to the normal level), and the rest is passed out in urine / broken down. So..... during an infection, vitamin C falls quickly. So : take vitamin C regularly if exposed to covid, and definitely if you have it!

- Zinc. Most of us are deficient. I have zinc drops. Zinc is needed for many immune processes.

- Selenium. Most of us are deficient. Selenium drops taken at the correct dose is a good idea generally, even without the covid situation. Overdose is really, really bad - so don't go over the recommended dose!)

- Magnesium. Most of us are deficient. Worse, our body does the best it can to keep the blood levels of magnesium regulated. This can mean very, very low levels inside our cells where it is needed. Magnesium is harmless but (like vitamin C) can cause diarrhea. It can also kill you if you have kidney failure (kidneys excrete excess magnesium easily, but if you have major kidney damage or failure, taking magnesium can result in cardiac arrest!

- Aspirin. None of us are deficient per-se. However aspirin does appear to have some good anti-covid effects (in particular, it opposes a particular mechanism that covid uses to make the cells 'favourable' for replication.
- Aspirin overdose is awful. Also, while it is an over-the-counter painkiller, taking it daily can easily result in catastrophic stomach / intestinal bleeding (and death), or catastrophic brain bleeding (and death). I recommend keeping a packet or two in a high cupboard so children can't find it. For a rainy day...
- Allergy to 'NSAIDS', Ibuprofen, Voltaren, Diclofenac, and more, can mean you are allergic to asprin.
- Aspirin can cause terrible asthma attacks in some people with asthma
- And lots of other nasty stuff. And this is just a supermarket medication! (still, keep a pack or two at home just in case).

Keep safe everyone!

 

The 'so far' is why I am hesitant! I'm not on a CPAP machine - I bought it Jan 2020 because I wanted it to be ready 'just in case' (I got an oxygen concentrator Feb 2020 too). I've been able to avoid taking it due to the 'ZeroCovid' approach New Zealand had.

There are many reasons to take the vaccine; I was lucky to not have to counsel any patients about it (they weren't yet part of the roll-out, then I worked from home doing reports due to the outbreak in NZ). There are many arguments *for* taking the vaccine though.

I'm fully isolated (literally a few 100m from the next property, and can get shopping delivered), I have N95s, my friends and family are overseas so I see them 'virtually' anyway. This is the only reason I am not yet vaccinated. I am in a very rare situation where I can do this, and most people don't have such an option.

However this looks promising : https://www.clinicaltrialsarena.com/news/company-news/nasal-covid-19-vaccine-cyanvac/ : it is in Phase I human trials since late October 2021. The animal studies showed that it actually prevented infection, and also that it prevented transmission!.

Nobody should avoid the vaccine simply because new ones are on the horizon. However, it does look like there is hope that we might soon have something that can stop this pandemic dead. If we do, we then need to take a hard look at rampant consumerism, and also the absolute mess we made of our response to this pandemic!

 

China?
Meanwhile, Sweden never locked down and are seemingly no worse for wear
.