COVID-19 Coronavirus Thread

[Dashmellow]

But the USA has not left politics out of the equation:

Must apply to some extent even in Vermont?

Trump's legacy to the nation, even though he did get himself vaccinated!

Democrats, 86% have received at least one dose.
Republicans, 45%.

You obviously don't pay attention, probably intentionally so. I could not have been more clear that the political landscape in Vermont is far different than in many other parts of the country. While we certainly have our share of Trump supporters, most tend to be more moderate with very few of them subscribing to anti-vax sentiments, or any of the other conspiracy theories, extremist, xenophobic views seen elsewhere. You don't get to a vaccination rate of over 85% with people indulging in politically motivated anti-vax fear mongering.

Repeatedly, you view the US as one large monolithic block, especially when you post such narrow, misleading figures like that, disconnected from any meaningful context. The truth of the matter is far more nuanced and complex.

For example, the Northeasten states have very high vaccination rates, with Vermont leading the way, currently now at 85.6%. Nearby Massachusetts is at 82.6% and our next door neighbor New Hampshire (a so called "Red" state) at 73.6%. Politics aside, the Northeastern states have done an excellent job educating their populations in concert with well planned, engineered, and executed vaccination drives.

The Southeastern states are in the lowest rank with the worst being Mississippi at 35% and Alabama and Louisiana both close seconds at 37%. While these states were strong supporters of Trump, the reasons for the low vaccination rates go beyond politics to include education levels, economic stratum, racism, poor health care infrastructure, religious views towards vaccinations and mismanagement and incompetent public information programs by local government.

Things are never as simple as the generally meaningless percentages you present here, Nigel.

It is always amusing to witness your myopic and highly slanted view of the U.S.A., emanating from the tiny provincial bubble you perceive the world through from Devon, UK.

 

[Nigel]

tiny provincial bubble ... Devon, UK.

Larger population than Vermont USA.

 

[Dashmellow]

Larger population than Vermont USA.

So? I'm talk specifically talking about the provincial bubble YOU clearly live in, Nigel. Time and again you express disdain, revulsion and condescension towards any international cultural, racial, social or political experience or practices that are outside your personal frame of reference in the UK. (and the UK has a far smaller population than the USA, if you insist on putting it in such terms).

 

[Nigel]

and the UK has a far smaller population than the USA, if you insist on putting it in such terms

North America is the equivalent of Europe, and has a smaller population than Europe.
USA is the equivalent of EU, and has a smaller population than the EU.
Vermont is more like the equivalent of Wales than Devon, but has a much smaller population.
Devon is a county, but has a population greater than every Vermont county added together.
As for the UK having a smaller population than the USA, the British Commonwealth (Commonwealth of Nations) has a population of 2.4 billion, vastly more than the USA.

You clearly live in a USA centric world where everything USA is larger, but with little knowledge of the rest of the planet!

 

[Dashmellow]

North America is the equivalent of Europe, and has a smaller population than Europe.
USA is the equivalent of EU, and has a smaller population than the EU.
Vermont is more like the equivalent of Wales than Devon, but has a much smaller population.
Devon is a county, but has a population greater than every Vermont county added together.
As for the UK having a smaller population than the USA, the British Commonwealth (Commonwealth of Nations) has a population of 2.4 billion, vastly more than the USA.

You clearly live in a USA centric world with little knowledge of the rest of the planet!

Anything but focus on your own behaviors, right Nigel? Your provincial bubble is of your own creation and has nothing to do with the size of your local population. This is just a distraction from the subject at hand.

It is such a classic narcissistic behavior to accuse others of what you, yourself are guilty of. Not buying it!

I've never heard you say a kind or generous word about anyone and you are literally the only member here on DCT who regularly makes critical, demeaning, condescending or insulting comments directed at other countries, other peoples or their governments.

 

[kamkar]

In the news today a lot about some foozeball game played in London last night.

Seem like the hosts was very bad, like taunting little kids supporting the opposing team even spitting at them, yelling racist slurs as people, trying to start fights in the stands ASO, several of these red & white people ( moste of them living in England ) uttering that they will never go to a football game again, and surely not one where it is England playing.
And then come the acting on the playing field, and use of lasers by spectators on the opposing team.
All this from the people that came up with the term gentleman.
Mind you i could not care less about the foozeball game, i bet there is quite a few miffed up people here that are into that game.

 

[Nigel]

In the news today a lot about some foozeball game played in London last night.

Seem like the hosts was very bad, like taunting little kids supporting the opposing team even spitting at them, yelling racist slurs as people, trying to start fights in the stands ASO, several of these red & white people ( moste of them living in England ) uttering that they will never go to a football game again, and surely not one where it is England playing.
And then come the acting on the playing field, and use of lasers by spectators on the opposing team.
All this from the people that came up with the term gentleman.
Mind you i could not care less about the foozeball game, i bet there is quite a few miffed up people here that are into that game.

Apparently the Danish were not allowed to travel to Wembley for the game, but 8000 Danish turned up out of the 30,000 Danish who live in the UK, that is nearly 1% of the Danish population!

 

[kamkar]

yes all the red & white was Danes living in the UK, only very few was invited by UEFA, like Christian Eriksen or what ever his name is the guy that keeled over in one of the first games,
some of the first responders at that game ASO.
All the other was in essence English people or at least Danes living in the UK, otherwise no one could go to the game, so they stepped up though many had little interest in that game.

 

[Kremmen]

I see the UK 1st dose vaccination is hovering at 86% and is almost stationary as it's only climbing at less than 0.1% daily with the 2nd dose catching up.

Have we found the 14% who are happy to risk their lives if they catch it, or worse still be a burden on hospitals.

 

[Nigel]

Have we found the 14% who are happy to risk their lives if they catch it, or worse still be a burden on hospitals.

The map of vaccination % shows that they are nearly all in London! I've heard it said that most are from ethnic or religious groups, but I don't know how anyone got that data, maybe inferred from the locations, although the vaccination program does ask about peoples (genetic?) origins and maybe that data has been released.

It also seems that the younger people are, the more likely they are to refuse the vaccine, so the graph levels off at lower level:

But most of the students will soon have been immunised by the delta variant, so the job will be complete anyway!

Delta has now reached all parts of UK, nowhere left to go. The earlier parts to encounter it are dropping back down slowly but consistently, so the total new infections should level out next week, and then a couple of months to get back down.

 

[TonyM]

Saw this on the BBC this morning

Most Australians - around 90% of the population - remain unvaccinated

Is the vaccination rate really that low?

 

[Nigel]

Saw this on the BBC this morning

Is the vaccination rate really that low?

7.94% fully vaccinated, 25.66 single dose.

Worryingly a lot of the care home residents have only been vaccinated in the last few days, and a lot of the staff have not been, so delta could cause big problems.

 

[Nigel]

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control have made a statement on facemasks.

After all this time and research, the best they could come up with is:

Executive summary
The role of face masks in the control and prevention of COVID-19 remains an issue of debate. Prior to COVID-19, most studies assessing the effectiveness of face masks as a protective measure in the community came from studies on influenza, which provided little evidence to support their use.

Assessment of the evidence
The evidence regarding the effectiveness of medical face masks for the prevention of COVID-19 in the community is compatible with a small to moderate protective effect, but there are still significant uncertainties about the size of this effect.

Evidence for the effectiveness of non-medical face masks, face shields/visors and respirators in the community is scarce and of very low certainty.

Additional high-quality studies are needed to assess the relevance of the use of medical face masks in the COVID-19 pandemic.

So maybe in future we will be forced to wear medical standard face masks because the normal ones didn't work?

Considerations for the use of face masks in the community in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant of concern

This document provides an update to and complements the ECDC technical report on “Using face masks in the community: first update - Effectiveness in reducing transmission of COVID-19” published on 15 February 2021.

www.ecdc.europa.eu

 

[Kremmen]

Whether they insist on medical face masks or not I see a 50/50 mix of them not covering the nose or even being used as chin warmers.

I do think that even material masks, if worn properly, do prevent the long reaching area when people sneeze or cough. Got to help ?

 

[jokiin]

7.94% fully vaccinated, 25.66 single dose.

Worryingly a lot of the care home residents have only been vaccinated in the last few days, and a lot of the staff have not been, so delta could cause big problems.

for the most part we haven't had access to the vaccines to be able to give them out, supply has been a big part of the problem, there's plenty of people signed up to get them that are still waiting their turn, I booked mine and it was two months wait, a friend booked a bit later and their allocated slot is in December

 

[Dashmellow]

The Guardian view on risking England’s health: not everyone can choose to stay safe | Editorial

Editorial: For too many, Johnson’s ‘freedom day’ will bring fear rather than release

www.theguardian.com

In a letter to the Lancet, over 100 global scientists have warned that rushing ahead with reopening on 19 July – rather than waiting until more people are vaccinated – is dangerous and premature. Those concerns will be compounded by the relaxation of travel restrictions announced on Thursday. Allowing children and double-vaccinated adults to travel to amber list countries without quarantining on return increases the risk of importing new variants which could be more infectious or more resistant to current vaccines, just as opportunities for transmission increase.

 

[Nigel]

for the most part we haven't had access to the vaccines to be able to give them out, supply has been a big part of the problem, there's plenty of people signed up to get them that are still waiting their turn, I booked mine and it was two months wait, a friend booked a bit later and their allocated slot is in December

You should have plenty of locally produced AZ by now...
Since you will only accept foreign produced Pfizer, of course there is a shortage...

I'm not sure what the actual situation is, but you do seem to have been going rather slowly on the basis that you didn't need to go fast because your quarantine was working. Now you are relying on track and trace to keep delta under control, which is very borderline at the moment, track and trace will fall over if cases increase a little more.

 

[Nigel]

I do think that even material masks, if worn properly, do prevent the long reaching area when people sneeze or cough. Got to help ?

It is obvious that it will help, but obvious and reality don't always match.

Is everybody putting on a clean mask every day? And washing them at 60+ degrees? And washing their hands every time the contaminate their hands by handling the mask? If not then they may be helping less than they are increasing spread!

The only data that is perfectly clear is that they do not stop the spread, so if they are having a positive effect then it is little more than slowing things down slightly, and I think from the data we have, they could just as easily be speeding things up slightly by making many people less careful about distancing and cleanliness.

It needs a proper scientific trial, which for some reason nobody has even started, other than the Danish one which seems to have been rejected because it failed to give a positive result!

 

[Kremmen]

In a letter to the Lancet, over 100 global scientists have warned that rushing ahead with reopening on 19 July – rather than waiting until more people are vaccinated – is dangerous and premature. Those concerns will be compounded by the relaxation of travel restrictions announced on Thursday. Allowing children and double-vaccinated adults to travel to amber list countries without quarantining on return increases the risk of importing new variants which could be more infectious or more resistant to current vaccines, just as opportunities for transmission increase.

I have to agree. I think they are opening up far too early with the Delta variant infections rising. I know covid deaths are at an all time low here but to open up fully with zero restrictions is asking for trouble ....... but I hope I'm wrong.

 

[kamkar]

I booked time for a new passport, first open time slot to get a new passport here August 12, and thats just to hand in my old passport and new picture, then no telling when i actually get the damn thing.
On the corona thing i think we are just about as golden as you can be,,,,, though around 5 this morning i did hear the girl above me cough like a SOB 😱
+40 % of ned cases here are young people, not having a horrible bout of the thing, but then those are master spreaders of the thing, so i assume things can still go haywire here.

Have your Aussie PM contact our PM to see if you can snag up our overflow.
People here are actually calling in if they have been assigned the Moderna vaccine, they want the other one as the PB one are more popular,,,,,,, so i can not say Danes are any smarter than just about anyone else.
And i think there are no scientific word on any of those two should be better than the other.