Post by Velar Fricative on Jul 19, 2021 8:22:53 GMT -5
Today is reopening day in the UK, and Johnson has to self-isolate and to exposure to the Health Secretary who tested positive a couple of days ago (fully vaccinated, mild symptoms). Not exactly the best timing...
Covid is quickly becoming a shitshow again. Ugh. I'm so tired.
It's stunning to me how quickly this has happened. I was all about the hot vax summer and socializing allllll the time in case there were outbreaks...but I wasn't expecting that to happen until fall at the earliest.
Today is reopening day in the UK, and Johnson has to self-isolate and to exposure to the Health Secretary who tested positive a couple of days ago (fully vaccinated, mild symptoms). Not exactly the best timing...
Yeah, and instead of isolating in #10 (which is where he resides as PM), he was taken to another location (basically a vacation house for the PM). Yes, he exposed people to himself (because he sure as hell didn't drive by himself) to get there. He also ONLY self-isolated (he and two others in the gov't) because there was a huge outcry - he was planning on just doing tests and going into work anyway. I HATE HIM. Right now, more than Trump. I hate our gov't and the shitshow they have brought to our country while trying to get herd immunity by infection. Which, is what they are doing. F-ers!!!!!
Post by mrsukyankee on Jul 19, 2021 8:47:55 GMT -5
"One in six council areas in England now recording highest Covid case numbers since last summer
Around one in six areas in England are now reporting their highest rate of new Covid-19 cases since comparable records began last summer, when mass testing was first introduced in the UK, PA Media reports."
Our NHS workers are livid at all of this. And our people should be because people aren't getting what they need - so many surgeries and whatnot are being put on hold. Happily, when I went to the grocery store this morning, most people were still wearing masks.
Post by turkturkleton on Jul 19, 2021 8:59:49 GMT -5
Tomorrow marks one month since the lockdown started for me, no end in sight. There's definitely two weeks left, but I can't imagine it won't be extended again with our current numbers as they are. I'd forgotten what it's like to be so bored all the time. I may have to go back to socialising over Zoom, which is a bit horrifying.
Covid is quickly becoming a shitshow again. Ugh. I'm so tired.
It's stunning to me how quickly this has happened. I was all about the hot vax summer and socializing allllll the time in case there were outbreaks...but I wasn't expecting that to happen until fall at the earliest.
It’s interesting how perspective affects us. Hospitalizations are very low, lower than last summer at this point. Last summer I also felt a breath of fresh air coming out of March-June. To me it seems like vaccines are working based on what’s happening so far.
But yes overall pandemics suck and the lack of vaccine access around the world is maddening.
Post by litebright on Jul 19, 2021 10:56:26 GMT -5
I read these stories this weekend and I just ... it's very disheartening. I can't imagine facing another surge as a healthcare worker in these places where you know it could've been mostly prevented, and having people who have severe enough covid to have been hospitalized still determined not to get the vaccine.
I've also been seeing a lot more stories/twitter stuff talking about endemic covid and what that may actually mean for life and health at a population-level and policy going forward. I know it has been acknowledged from time to time in discussions here that eradicating covid isn't going to happen, but the full implications of that are really difficult to wrap my head around and process. I feel like now that it's obvious that we are not going to get vaccine levels high enough in a lot of places to keep more people from dying/being hospitalized, and we're seeing another wave, some of the experts are talking more about what we're likely to see in both the short-term and long-term. It's a pretty awful road that goes from "novel virus emerges" to "we have roughly the same handle on it that we do on the flu," no matter how much certain segments of the political spectrum have wanted to gloss that over/treat it that way from the start, before we even had vaccines.
We still don't have much in the way of treatment. One story I read said that people who are vaccine-hesitant are much more open to, say, the antibody treatment -- but you have to get that early in the disease process order for it to be most effective, kind of like Tamiflu, and it doesn't necessarily do much for you if you've got a severe case. I think we need more options of cheaper/more accessible/more widely available treatment to really prevent deaths, because it's obvious that a significant portion of the population -- in some places, the majority of the population -- is never, ever going to get vaccinated.
It's stunning to me how quickly this has happened. I was all about the hot vax summer and socializing allllll the time in case there were outbreaks...but I wasn't expecting that to happen until fall at the earliest.
It’s interesting how perspective affects us. Hospitalizations are very low, lower than last summer at this point. Last summer I also felt a breath of fresh air coming out of March-June. To me it seems like vaccines are working based on what’s happening so far.
But yes overall pandemics suck and the lack of vaccine access around the world is maddening.
That is definitely the case here. But I worry about increases here too. Like, last spring NYC's situation seemed to distant to much of the rest of the country - I don't want to have the same feeling that, oh, only some midwestern states' hospitals are overwhelmed, that won't happen here. I mean, it *shouldn't* just from sheer vaccination numbers alone, but still. It's enough to make me skittish.
It’s interesting how perspective affects us. Hospitalizations are very low, lower than last summer at this point. Last summer I also felt a breath of fresh air coming out of March-June. To me it seems like vaccines are working based on what’s happening so far.
But yes overall pandemics suck and the lack of vaccine access around the world is maddening.
And I really feel for the health care workers who have to continue to help people who refuse to help themselves. (I get that there are some hospitalized people who have been vaccinated, or who genuinely can't be vaccinated for health reasons, but that is a tiny tiny minority).
Sorry I should’ve clarified- I was specifically talking about where we live locally. Not in the entire country or world. Yes I know it’s a pandemic, so we can’t just look at things in isolation, but when I was talking about numbers being lower specifically I did mean locally only.
Our hospitalizations have been at less than 5 per day for three months now? Currently the census is at 1. At the height of the pandemic we were around 100 to give perspective. And we absolutely know Delta was accounting for 50% of our cases in Iowa in early June. One would assume it is more widespread now. The vaccines are still holding their own.
Masking in my area has increased significantly this week. DH and I felt like the odd man out at the grocery store this weekend. We haven’t heard anything official from our county yet but I may need to dust mine off again. Just as I got used to not wearing one everywhere.
Yeah, DH and I started going maskless just around 7/1, when stores stopped requiring employees to wear them. That lasted about 10 days, we're back to wearing masks everywhere.
Our hospitalizations have been at less than 5 per day for three months now? Currently the census is at 1. At the height of the pandemic we were around 100 to give perspective. And we absolutely know Delta was accounting for 50% of our cases in Iowa in early June. One would assume it is more widespread now. The vaccines are still holding their own.
This may be a bit too rosy? I know you’re speaking for your area, but at some point it’s all of our areas really. Hospitalizations and cases are both climbing rapidly here:(( No, it doesn’t look like last time(s) but the effects of delta are being felt, even among the vaccinated.
I am sorry your area is feeling the effect. Of course I have no way of knowing what tomorrow will bring. Right now I am very grateful for our high vaccination rates. They seem to be helping.
Yeah, DH and I started going maskless just around 7/1, when stores stopped requiring employees to wear them. That lasted about 10 days, we're back to wearing masks everywhere.
I had also stopped and put one on to go to the store today, which triggered a panic attack. So over all of this 😩
I just can’t understand how people can look at the fact that some ridiculously high percentage of people hospitalized with Covid are unvaccinated and STILL say no. It blows my mind that vaccines are so politicized that you could ignore what’s there and in front of your face so blatantly. I wish vaccines were available for everyone because I’m almost ready to just let it be - you don’t want to get vaccinated? Get Covid. Good luck. (Yes I know that’s shitty. I’m just so frustrated)
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
I just can’t understand how people can look at the fact that some ridiculously high percentage of people hospitalized with Covid are unvaccinated and STILL say no. It blows my mind that vaccines are so politicized that you could ignore what’s there and in front of your face so blatantly. I wish vaccines were available for everyone because I’m almost ready to just let it be - you don’t want to get vaccinated? Get Covid. Good luck. (Yes I know that’s shitty. I’m just so frustrated)
I’m ready to say turn them away from hospitals if they think it’s fake. I don’t want my mom’s life jeopardized as a nurse doing covid patient care because people made a stupid conscious choice to flout all data, science, and fact.
(I am not really saying we shouldn’t treat them, but I am super ragey and pissed at the selfishness.)
Post by Velar Fricative on Jul 20, 2021 7:25:55 GMT -5
India's death toll is likely to be more than 3 million deaths. That's 10x the official count. And the official worldwide death count as of now is just over 4 million.
My brother honestly thinks thousands of people are dying from the VACCINE because he thinks VAERS is accurate. WTF.
Sometimes I wonder what it must be like to truly not understand facts and logic. Unless he’s just being a contrarian and really DOES understand, but won’t admit it.
My brother honestly thinks thousands of people are dying from the VACCINE because he thinks VAERS is accurate. WTF.
Sometimes I wonder what it must be like to truly not understand facts and logic. Unless he’s just being a contrarian and really DOES understand, but won’t admit it.
He has a phD and is a professor but thinks big science/media is conspiring to suppress the truth
Post by discogranny on Jul 20, 2021 14:08:29 GMT -5
There was a large outdoor charity event planned in my city this weekend and the out of state organizers put out a statement that "Given the significant increase in positivity rate and transmission surge in Tarrant County, the Big #KindnessDuck Party has chosen to reschedule the event to October."
It's so disheartening to see cancellations happening again when it was so preventable.
How are you all handling getting tested if you've had a chance of being exposed, but have to be at work?
I was on vacation last week and I was around a ton of maskless people, many of whom I assume were not vaccinated (and many who obviously weren't yet eligible for vaccination). I wanted to get a rapid COVID test before being around all my coworkers, but getting an appointment anywhere in my home or work town the same day was impossible. I tried to get a test at work today, but without a known exposure, they refuse to test someone who is asymptomatic and who hasn't been randomly selected. Which is dumb, btw - I've had 2 random tests in recent months when I was certain I hadn't been exposed, but now that I want to test as a precaution, I'm ineligible.
I could do a PCR test but IDK how quickly I get results back, and I have multiple in-office things I have to do tomorrow. I am also not allowed to WFH anymore. What are employers expecting people to do?
I feel like this kind of BS around testing is going to result in a lot of unnecessary spread. I know this was an issue at the start of the pandemic, but I'm surprised it is this difficult to get a quick result when everyone is going back to offices.
wildrice Truthfully, I wouldn’t get a test in your circumstances. I’d only test if I had any symptoms. Might be risky, but I figure just about everyone else is out there living normal life maskless right now, so the risk is already there.
wildrice , it wasn't for me specifically, but for 2 family members with symptoms I got the over the counter Bionax Now test from Walgreens. It is a rapid test with 99% accuracy for negative and 91% accuracy for positives. Since they were symptomatic, I figured we were in the time frame to get a positive if they did have Covid. Both family members tested negative. There are 2 tests in the package so you can test now and again 36 hours later. You take it in your house, self administered and get the results 15 minutes later.
I am assuming you are vaccinated, so you aren't technically exposed unless you knew someone in that crowd actually had Covid and you were a close contact. If that were the case, I would do a PCR. But if it is just hey I was in a crowd, then I think a rapid is fine.
wildrice , it wasn't for me specifically, but for 2 family members with symptoms I got the over the counter Bionax Now test from Walgreens. It is a rapid test with 99% accuracy for negative and 91% accuracy for positives. Since they were symptomatic, I figured we were in the time frame to get a positive if they did have Covid. Both family members tested negative. There are 2 tests in the package so you can test now and again 36 hours later. You take it in your house, self administered and get the results 15 minutes later.
I am assuming you are vaccinated, so you aren't technically exposed unless you knew someone in that crowd actually had Covid and you were a close contact. If that were the case, I would do a PCR. But if it is just hey I was in a crowd, then I think a rapid is fine.
Thanks! Do you know how much that cost? I'm trying to be conscientious, but I am not sure I'm selfless enough to pay a ton for it
I am vaccinated. I'm probably being overly cautious, but I was around a LOT of people last week so I can't imagine none of them had COVID. I may not have had direct exposure to all of them, but I was indoors with a lot of people several times so who knows. This delta variant is concerning me. I am not worried at all about my own health, I just don't want to give it to a coworker who will then bring it home to unvaccinated family.