Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #94

[realanastasia]

Amish community 'is the first in the United States to achieve herd immunity to Covid' | Daily Mail Online

 

[SouthAussie]

Amish community 'is the first in the United States to achieve herd immunity to Covid' | Daily Mail Online

So, they are not going to reveal how many had to die so they could attain what they call herd immunity?

"Cooper said she signed 'plenty' of death certificates during that time.
But the death toll may never be known."

I wonder what will happen when the variants visit their community.

 

[GRT]

This is a long but very interesting interview CBS did about the upcoming WHO Origins Report. It looks like it won't be conclusive...still.

My personal feeling is that all the Level 4 virology labs need to be shut down. There are 13 just in the United States.

We still don't know exactly why the Fort Detrick lab was suddenly shut down.

Personally, I don't care whether Covid jumped from a bat or accidentally leaked from a lab--it's here and it's killed over 2.5 million people. That alone is sobering and good reason to regulate labs that mess with dangerous viruses.

Some say we can't stop messing with these viruses because other nations are messing with them. I think that's a cop-out. We've taken steps (as a world) to restrict nuclear arms because we know how dangerous they are to humanity.

We've also taken steps on a global scale to ban the cloning of human beings because we know that could open a can of worms best kept closed.

These virology labs are every bit as dangerous as nuclear arms facilities. If we only learn one thing from this pandemic--it should be that humans are not immune to devastation from viruses. We need to step back from the brink. We owe it to future generations.

 

[SouthAussie]

Most US Covid deaths ‘could have been mitigated’ after first 100,000, Birx says .....

“I look at it this way. The first time we have an excuse”
“There were about 100,000 deaths that came from that original surge. All of the rest of them, in my mind, could have been mitigated or decreased substantially.”

“This happened on her watch,” Jonathan Reiner of George Washington University told CNN, adding that Birx had “a duty to stand up and speak up”.

Birx and Redfield are not serving in Joe Biden’s administration, while Fauci has been retained by the new administration’s White House team, as the leading infectious diseases adviser to the president.

Fauci will tell Gupta that his push to go “all out” on pursuing a vaccine as early as January 2020 “may have been the best decision I have ever made”.

Most US Covid deaths ‘could have been mitigated’ after first 100,000, Birx says

 

[GRT]

M

Most US Covid deaths ‘could have been mitigated’ after first 100,000, Birx says

Hindsight is always 20:20, but, in reality, the world didn't know the extent of the damage the virus would do, hence, nations didn't have a set of rules to go by. Now, after living with Covid, we all have a better idea of how to deal with a future pandemic. Hopefully.

Even today, in Michigan, a state that took comprehensive precautions, the covid death rate is higher than in states that don't seem to care. We still have so much to learn.

In the US, we'll need to change some of our state-vs-interstate regulations in order to institute a larger federal response if it happens again. Right now, legally, the federal government's hands are tied. Changing that will take time and a lot of congressional wrangling.

Meanwhile, the world could substantially reduce the threat by shuttering Level 4 virology labs. The risk is just too large to be acceptable.

 

[SouthAussie]

Hindsight is always 20:20, but, in reality, the world didn't know the extent of the damage the virus would do, hence, nations didn't have a set of rules to go by. Now, after living with Covid, we all have a better idea of how to deal with a future pandemic. Hopefully.

Well, you know I can't agree with that (hindsight is 20:20). Some of us did it better than others, by using common sense and stopping the travelling around which obviously was going to spread the virus.

But what is done is done, the silly mistakes that were made. The not-listening to the health experts. People need to stop making the silly mistakes. imo

We have just locked down another city - in Queensland - and my state has just reinstituted a hard border against Queensland. They currently have 10 community cases. UK strain.
We are still doing all of the things we have always done to keep our people safe. To quell the virus.

NT and NSW join WA, Victoria in imposing restrictions on travellers from Queensland
SA imposes hard border on Greater Brisbane after delaying to accommodate late flight

 

[GRT]

Well, you know I can't agree with that (hindsight is 20:20). Some of us did it better than others, by using common sense and stopping the travelling around which obviously was going to spread the virus.

But what is done is done, the silly mistakes that were made. The not-listening to the health experts. People need to stop making the silly mistakes. imo

We have just locked down another city - in Queensland - and my state has just reinstituted a hard border against Queensland. They currently have 10 community cases. UK strain.
We are still doing all of the things we have always done to keep our people safe. To quell the virus.

NT and NSW join WA, Victoria in imposing restrictions on travellers from Queensland
SA imposes hard border on Greater Brisbane after delaying to accommodate late flight

To be sure, some did much better than others, and it would have been nice had all nations had the success Australia had. I wish that more than anything.

But, demographics are different, governments are different, and constitutions are different. We don't all play by the same rules. In addition, some nations simply have too diverse a population to deal with. In the US, it's been a struggle to convince some minorities that they should be vaccinated. That's been a big sticking point for us. But, those minorities have a history of being abused by the medical establishment, so we can't suddenly expect them to just forget their history.

It's going to take a long time to analyze all the different reactions and figure out a way to implement stronger protections in a nation that doesn't permit federal restrictions. Everyone seems to forget that.

It will happen--eventually--as we learn from the missteps and the successes. We're still in virgin territory here.

All I'm saying is that we can quickly reduce the threat to the world by getting rid of Level 4 virology labs. We know how dangerous they are. Given Covid's death toll, I don't feel there's any justification for allowing them to continue.

 

[GRT]

Well, a bit of good news...I was afraid Texas was going to see a massive surge, but it appears their numbers are declining. The vaccinations have to be helping, plus, I think most people are still taking precautions.

Texas COVID numbers decrease 17 days after mask, other restrictions lifted

 

[gitana1]

Well, a bit of good news...I was afraid Texas was going to see a massive surge, but it appears their numbers are declining. The vaccinations have to be helping, plus, I think most people are still taking precautions.

Texas COVID numbers decrease 17 days after mask, other restrictions lifted

A crazy woman was arrested there twice- a week apart, entering businesses and refusing to wear a mask. These are private businesses that mandate mask wearing. I was happy to see that everyone in camera was wearing a mask in the videos of the arrests. And they loudly disagreed with her when she said she was being brutalized. (Which she wasn’t).

I think businesses know that the majority don’t feel comfortable being in an establishment where people aren’t wearing masks.

 

[MimosaMornings]

Well, a bit of good news...I was afraid Texas was going to see a massive surge, but it appears their numbers are declining. The vaccinations have to be helping, plus, I think most people are still taking precautions.

Texas COVID numbers decrease 17 days after mask, other restrictions lifted

I’m surprised because very few people are wearing masks and social distancing is a thing of the past.
JMO

 

[weepingangel]

‘Right Now, I'm Scared': CDC Chief Warns of ‘Impending Doom' as Virus Cases Rise


The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made an impassioned plea to Americans not to let their guard down in the fight against COVID-19, warning of a potential “fourth wave” of the virus as cases in the U.S. rose 10% over the last week.

Speaking during a White House briefing, Dr. Rochelle Walensky grew emotional as she reflected “on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom.”

“We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope. But right now, I’m scared,” she said.

Even as the vaccination campaign has ramped up, the number of daily cases are now growing by at least 5% in 30 states and D.C. The seven-day rolling average for daily new cases in the U.S. increased over the past two weeks from 53,670 on March 14 to 63,239 on Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

New York and New Jersey, once the global epicenter of the outbreak, are back atop the list of U.S. states with the highest rates of infection. New Jersey has crept up by 37% in a little more than a month, to about 23,600 every seven days. About 54,600 people in New York tested positive for the virus in the last week, a number that has begun to inch up recently.

The number of coronavirus hospitalizations over the last week have also increased, Walensky said. The most recent seven-day average is about 4,800 admissions per day, up from 4,600 admissions per day in the prior seven days.

Walensky appealed to elected officials, community leaders and everyday Americans to maintain social distancing measures and mask-wearing.

“I’m speaking today not necessarily as your CDC director and not only as your CDC director, but as a wife, as a mother, as a daughter, to ask you to just please hold on a little while longer,” Walensky said.

She added: “We are not powerless, we can change this trajectory of the pandemic”

 

[Rose in SC]

I’m surprised because very few people are wearing masks and social distancing is a thing of the past.
JMO

Yep. That's certainly the case here in my little corner of South Carolina. I may look out of place now with my mask on, but I don't get my second vaccine until April 7th. I've come too far to opt out now.

 

[margarita25]

rsbm

Hindsight is always 20:20, but, in reality, the world didn't know the extent of the damage the virus would do, hence, nations didn't have a set of rules to go by. Now, after living with Covid, we all have a better idea of how to deal with a future pandemic. Hopefully.

Respectfully, I disagree very strongly. The dangers of this virus were made very clear from the beginning. I transcribed all those warnings myself from day 1 (along with others). The world saw what happened in China, and in Italy. The WHO gave regular conferences advising the world about the situation as soon as they were alerted, giving it their highest declaration of danger they could at the time, PHEIC (Public Health Emergency of International Concern), as well as “Pandemic“ status when it officially qualified. Doc T talked about the “window of opportunity” over and over and over again, trying to get people to take this seriously. Doctors everywhere warned about the seriousness-everyone learned early that this is a highly contagious virus that transmits person to person, and that we could look like China or Italy if we didn’t take action. While this was a novel virus, and things were being learned in real time, it was clear from the beginning this was a potentially catastrophic situation (of course, naturally it was hard to fathom at the time). We knew the basics, no mass gatherings, hygiene, etc., etc. That’s why many of us here stocked up in February and were all set for March when the lockdowns hit, because we knew exactly the damage this virus could do. We saw it in other countries.

 

[margarita25]

10 percent rise of new cases in one week, hospitalizations up:

eta:

‘Right Now, I'm Scared': CDC Chief Warns of ‘Impending Doom' as Virus Cases Rise


The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made an impassioned plea to Americans not to let their guard down in the fight against COVID-19, warning of a potential “fourth wave” of the virus as cases in the U.S. rose 10% over the last week.

Speaking during a White House briefing, Dr. Rochelle Walensky grew emotional as she reflected “on the recurring feeling I have of impending doom.”

“We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are and so much reason for hope. But right now, I’m scared,” she said.

Even as the vaccination campaign has ramped up, the number of daily cases are now growing by at least 5% in 30 states and D.C. The seven-day rolling average for daily new cases in the U.S. increased over the past two weeks from 53,670 on March 14 to 63,239 on Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

New York and New Jersey, once the global epicenter of the outbreak, are back atop the list of U.S. states with the highest rates of infection. New Jersey has crept up by 37% in a little more than a month, to about 23,600 every seven days. About 54,600 people in New York tested positive for the virus in the last week, a number that has begun to inch up recently.

The number of coronavirus hospitalizations over the last week have also increased, Walensky said. The most recent seven-day average is about 4,800 admissions per day, up from 4,600 admissions per day in the prior seven days.

Walensky appealed to elected officials, community leaders and everyday Americans to maintain social distancing measures and mask-wearing.

“I’m speaking today not necessarily as your CDC director and not only as your CDC director, but as a wife, as a mother, as a daughter, to ask you to just please hold on a little while longer,” Walensky said.

She added: “We are not powerless, we can change this trajectory of the pandemic”

 

[10ofRods]

Amish community 'is the first in the United States to achieve herd immunity to Covid' | Daily Mail Online

And of course, an actual immunologist (quoted in the article) disagrees:

"'Herd immunity is only true at a given point in time,' said Eric Lofgren, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Washington State University. 'It's not a switch that once it gets thrown, you're good. It'll wear off."

Looks like they had the standard ~3% death rate (among adults...).

While they say they used no special mitigation measures, their entire lifestyle of isolation and basically self-quarantine among a fairly large "bubble" is in fact a strong mitigation measure - one that other people would find difficult to implement (although I feel a bit like an Amish person for this last year).

Fortunately, there's no need to accept illness and death at this point and isolation can now be optional.

 

[SoCalDavidS]

America!!

DeSantis vows to take executive action against 'vaccine passports'

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) vowed to take executive action this week banning "vaccine passports" that businesses and local governments could potentially require to show digital or physical proof of vaccination against COVID-19.

The Florida governor said during a Monday press conference that he would take action by "an executive function, emergency function" against vaccine passports and requested the Republican state legislature draft a bill forbidding such passports.

"We always said we wanted to provide it for all but mandate it for none," DeSantis said in Tallahassee. "And that was something that, while it was advised to take particularly if you're vulnerable, we were not going to force you to do it."

"It's completely unacceptable for either the government or the private sector to impose upon you the requirement that you show proof of vaccine to just simply participate in normal society," he added.

DeSantis vows to take executive action against 'vaccine passports'

 

[10ofRods]

I’m surprised because very few people are wearing masks and social distancing is a thing of the past.
JMO

Not in California - where we have managed to get our case rates way down and some areas are seeing zero deaths, which is our goal. We went out to eat for the first time yesterday (socially distanced, mask wearing, etc) and everyone was wearing masks.

We are still below average (for the US) in deaths and case rates, while certain other states continue to lead the pack.

California has analyzed its own excess death rates - and there are some that are being looked at as possible COVID cases, and LA County recorded COVID as CoD in some cases that other states might not have. But, for a state with a higher rate of persons of color than some other states, we're doing pretty well (although the Hispanic community is still suffering where I am - all of the deaths in the past 10 days have been Hispanic persons).

I do hope that the vaccination rate combined with the overall 10% rate of Americans having already had COVID will be enough to thwart a fourth wave.

In California, we have about 30% vaccinated fully, 15% partially vaccinated - for a total of 55%. Healthcare workers are about 70% vaccinated (including care home workers) which is significant (30% are declining to be vaccinated, though, so COVID is still percolating in communities and healthcare settings, which is concerning).

 

[LadyL]

this is my hood ya'll

New data shows COVID-19 pandemic now 'completely out of control' in Ontario, key scientific adviser says

 

[SouthAussie]

this is my hood ya'll

New data shows COVID-19 pandemic now 'completely out of control' in Ontario, key scientific adviser says

Wow ... I am really sorry to hear that, LadyL.

From your link (something we have been told from the start):

"There is no such thing as winning this race with just vaccinations," Juni stressed. "That's impossible."
"We should not hope for miracles," Juni said. "They're not coming... vaccines will work much better when we start to control the growth we have now, otherwise the force of infection will be too high."

 

[MimosaMornings]

this is my hood ya'll

New data shows COVID-19 pandemic now 'completely out of control' in Ontario, key scientific adviser says

What’s changed there? Are people traveling or unvaccinated getting together?