Covid-19 Thread

[ZoSoRose]

26 minutes ago, Ace Nova said:

That's fantastic news between the two vaccines...Pfizer's is 90% effective and moderna'a is 95% effective....both showing extremely high efficacy levels by any vaccine standards.  If these roll out within the next 3-6 months (as planned) we have a chance to get back to very low (infection rate) levels by spring/sumnmer 2021.  

It is daunting when you think about 300+ million of people in the USA/7+ billion internationally that should be vaccinated, but even if 16% of the population in the USA (those over 65) got vaccinated, death rates and severe cases would plummet freeing up tons of medical resources while the rest of us wait. This is incredible news all around. 

[downzy]

51 minutes ago, Ace Nova said:

That's fantastic news between the two vaccines...Pfizer's is 90% effective and moderna'a is 95% effective....both showing extremely high efficacy levels by any vaccine standards.  If these roll out within the next 3-6 months (as planned) we have a chance to get back to very low (infection rate) levels by spring/sumnmer 2021.  

Yeah, I’ve been telling this to a few friends who are arguing over a new wave of lock downs. They don’t think they’re necessary. It’s mind blowing to me we’re three to six months from having highly effective vaccines that can protect, at first, the elderly and most vulnerable, and there are people out there that want to say fuck it, let’s open everything up, it’s not working.

 

[downzy]

13 hours ago, RussTCB said:

Probably, yeah. Like I said, I wish people would just wear their fucking masks. 

People in and around where I live are pretty good about mask wearing. What drives me nuts is this belief that because we’re all wearing masks it means we don’t need to socially distance. Going to a grocery store is fucking nuts. Nobody follows the arrows; nobody stays six feet apart.  Numbers are spiking here and it’s giving ammunition to anti-maskers. You try to explain pandemic fatigue to them but they don’t want to listen. It’s maddening.

Thank God vaccines are on their way. 

[spunko12345]

11 minutes ago, downzy said:

Yeah, I’ve been telling this to a few friends who are arguing over a new wave of lock downs. They don’t think they’re necessary. It’s mind blowing to me we’re three to six months from having highly effective vaccines that can protect, at first, the elderly and most vulnerable, and there are people out there that want to say fuck it, let’s open everything up, it’s not working.

 

I couldn't agree more. 

Along with millions of sensible people I have made adjustments and sacrifices to how I normally live my life which have often been a huge pain in the fucking arse. Wearing a mask is neither here nor there for me Its a peice of cake.

With all that said its annoying beyond belief there are people who go out of their way to expouse how pissed off they are with restrictions and use that as justification for not follow guidance. The irony of course being that the longer these thick cunts keep up with their half baked bollocks the longer we all have to live with the restrictions.

 

[ZoSoRose]

Disclaimer- I am not a scientist, I have just been reading a ton about the vaccine research over the past 8 months because it is interesting and it gives me something to hope for. If what I say about the research in this thread ever seems wrong, I apologize.

Anyways, what is going on with Moderna and Pfizer might be monumental even beyond the current pandemic. What their vaccines are doing, from my limited understanding, is utilizing mRNA to give the body instructions to create an antigen that mimics a part of whatever virus the body is dealing with. With the coronavirus, it is mimicking the spike protein that the virus has. This way, the body will be trained to create antibodies if it is actually introduced to the real virus, therefore greatly inhibiting its ability to infect the carrier. A lot of people have been concerned with diminishing antibodies after the infection had subsided for several months, but these vaccines create a larger antibody response in the body than the actual virus, and the lack of detected antibodies does not mean the body has forgotten how to produce them, as T- Cells could produce antibodies when the virus presents itself.

Apparently this form of vaccine has never before been proven, and their now evident success is a massive scientific breakthrough when it comes to fast and effective vaccine development. That means when we are facing other potential novel viruses in the future, scientists can potentially adjust the RNA based vaccines to target specific parts of the virus.

I could be way off based on my understanding with all of this, so if someone with more knowledge can correct me that would be cool. Either way, I am pretty amazed with the scientists at Pfizer and Moderna. Not only are they going to help bring the pandemic to the end, but they have potentially advanced modern medicine a great deal in a short amount of time.

Edited November 16, 2020 by ZoSoRose

[ZoSoRose]

Also with Moderna's ongoing Phase 3 study-

Roughly 30,000 participants

15,000 in the Control Group- Over 90 infections, with 11 severe

15,000 in the Experimental Group- 5 infections, 0 severe

Incredible

I know we have to wait for the peer reviews, more manufacturing, authorization, and distribution but this is absolutely amazing and there is no doubt in my mind that scientists have solved this. In less than a year, the end is in sight. If we did not have a vaccine (let alone a minimum of 2 now!), there would be so much more untold death and devastation with this pandemic for potentially years to come. Imagine how horrendous this year has been, it is still a fraction of the world's population that has been confirmed to have been infected. In the state of Michigan, we have had "only" 250,000 confirmed cases and 8,000 deaths against a population of roughly 10 million. Even with light lock-downs and untested cases, the spread is now out of control with millions of potential people susceptible to infection. This is not even taking potential reinfection into account (hopefully this stays at a minuscule level). This is in only one state. Worldwide we are not even remotely close to the end of this without scientific intervention. If you are wary about a rushed vaccine, I don't blame you, but all of the world's top minds are working toward a common goal like never before in human history. This is our only acceptable way out, and they are testing safety to the best of their ability. Look at how fast the FDA shut down the Astrazenica and Johnson and Johnson trials (both of which were investigated thoroughly and cleared to resume). I have confidence in these teams.

What they have achieved kicks ass

The next few months will be a train wreck no matter what. Some states like Michigan and Washington and countries in Europe are wisely beginning to shut down again. It is terrible this has to happen, especially without social security measures in place, but it is necessary. It is criminal that our current federal government has decided to completely wash its hands and give up when it comes to combating this. Now we know these shut downs will not have to be a long term solution, and the more people who do their part with PPE and distancing, the more people we can save before these vaccines are widely available.

Edited November 16, 2020 by ZoSoRose

[dontdamnmeuyi2015]

17 hours ago, marlingrl03 said:

So its not just masks...but wear it correctly. Cover both your fuckin nose and mouth. Ugh! And social distance. You gotta do both. I had to tell a lady in line to back the f up. 

I told her that more nicely but you get the gist lol! 

I see some people don't cover their nose. I mean come on. I wear glasses so I hope that helps with my eyes too. 

Maybe if we all did this when the virus just began and cancelled all rallys and protests and every other huge crowd thing, we might not be in the mess we're in. All my concerts were cancelled back in March and by early summer all of them were either re-scheduled or cancelled.

But now the college games and professional games are being played. Yeah, there are fewer fans, but after the college games the fans ran over the field with the teams. I mean come on.

Now we have to keep our Thanksgiving dinner plans small, which luckily I have a small family, but who knows what many people will do?

They've had weddings, birthday parties and funerals with large crowds and the virus spread even faster. I know this sucks, but I'd rather stay inside than get sick or get other people sick.

some cities in Texas have gone back to virtual learning and closed some schools. If this virus keeps spreading at the rate it is now, I suspect all the Texas schools will be back online after the holidays.

[downzy]

The one dose of reality with these vaccines is we don’t know how long they will provide a functional level of immunity.

If everyone took the vaccine then it likely wouldn’t matter if it lasted for three to six months since the virus wouldn’t be circulating enough to catch people once the vaccines wore off. But if only 30-60 percent of people became vaccinated and the remainder did not, we could be looking at a longer time frame before we’re completely back to normal. 

[Jakey Styley]

Philly shut down restaurants, museums, theaters, gyms, etc today until January 1st with no stimulus/extra unemployment funds in sight.

Just a complete failure of government. Shame on congress for letting it get to this point and shame on city government for thinking it's ok to do this without any help for these workers. Nothing makes sense anymore.

[ZoSoRose]

34 minutes ago, downzy said:

The one dose of reality with these vaccines is we don’t know how long they will provide a functional level of immunity.

If everyone took the vaccine then it likely wouldn’t matter if it lasted for three to six months since the virus wouldn’t be circulating enough to catch people once the vaccines wore off. But if only 30-60 percent of people became vaccinated and the remainder did not, we could be looking at a longer time frame before we’re completely back to normal. 

From my understanding, they produce a more robust immune response than the actual virus. Considering we are almost a year into this with a very small amount of reinfections, maybe that bodes well for the actual shots

[RussTCB]

6 hours ago, downzy said:

People in and around where I live are pretty good about mask wearing. What drives me nuts is this belief that because we’re all wearing masks it means we don’t need to socially distance. Going to a grocery store is fucking nuts. Nobody follows the arrows; nobody stays six feet apart.  Numbers are spiking here and it’s giving ammunition to anti-maskers. You try to explain pandemic fatigue to them but they don’t want to listen. It’s maddening.

Thank God vaccines are on their way. 

Meant to reply to this earlier but forgot.

Ive made no secret of the fact that I've been having my Music Night gatherings AND my wife and I have been going to the casino a lot. 

However....I've got enough room to spread people out at Music Night and when we got to the casino, we follow all the distancing guidelines. 

That, coupled with a lot of hand sanitizer & masks have kept us healthy. 

[downzy]

50 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

Meant to reply to this earlier but forgot.

Ive made no secret of the fact that I've been having my Music Night gatherings AND my wife and I have been going to the casino a lot. 

However....I've got enough room to spread people out at Music Night and when we got to the casino, we follow all the distancing guidelines. 

That, coupled with a lot of hand sanitizer & masks have kept us healthy. 

Yeah, you still have to live and enjoy life.  We get together with neighbours for drinks in the drive way but we're mindful to keep our distances.

What drives me nuts is people in stores who think because they have a mask on they can stand a foot away, as if wearing a mask is bullet proof.  

[DieselDaisy]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-vaccines-pfizer-ho-idUSKBN27W276?taid=5fb2f1b5aa7670000198db06&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

Has to be done. Has to be done.

 

[downzy]

 

[soon]

Everyone in McKenzie County North Dakota should stop wearing pants in public. Because liberty.

[dontdamnmeuyi2015]

4 hours ago, soon said:

Everyone in McKenzie County North Dakota should stop wearing pants in public. Because liberty.

lol It sounded stupid, but not impossible in this time.

People just bitch and moan about stuff every damn day, but with this virus, you should do whatever you need to do to stay well and keep other people safe.

Texas is a mess and Gov Abbott hasn't said a word in months. It seems all the Republicans are with Trump meanwhile people are dying.

Another police officer died this week and left a wife and two kids. This should no be happening so someone so young.

El Paso hospitals are having to ship patients to other hospitals in other cities. And yet Trump and Gov Abbott say nothing.

This shows how they just don't give a fuck about their people.

 

[RussTCB]

New lock down / roll back rules go into effect at midnight here. Honestly, not a lot is going to change for us. The corporate casinos that are 20 minutes away are closing, but the Indian casinos are not. So if we really want to, we can drive an hour instead of 20 minutes and still have some fun. 

We can still do carry out & fast food if we want. And of course, stores are still open for necessities. 

I think this whole thing is gonna be a lot longer than 3 weeks, but not all that much has changed for us so I'm good with it. 

[marlingrl03]

I wish our governor took action like yours Russ.  

[Ratam]

I wish it is true, accord NYTarticle : "Immunity to Covid-19 may last years , researchers reported, blood samplers from recovered patients suggest a powerlful long-lasting immune response"

[downzy]

Not much better here in Canada unfortunately. 

This winter is going to suck. 

[dontdamnmeuyi2015]

Well, the mayor of NYC did as he said he would, he closed down the schools again. 

Gov Abbott of Texas said if cases went up over 3% he would shut down again, but he hasn't done it and Texas cases are over 1 million. Hospitals are being overrun again and people are dying. He hasn't made an appearances for months. He's just like Trump. Another loser. I do hope when his time is up, people will vote him out. It's shameful how many people have this virus now and he's said nothing about it.

Also if Trump doesn't get together with Biden this might fuck up the new vaccine distribution. What is wrong with Trump?

His day will come for doing spiteful things while people are getting sick and dying. Terrible human being.

[Ace Nova]

Well done Canada, well done.  @soon @downzy

 

 

 

Edited November 18, 2020 by Ace Nova

[soon]

26 minutes ago, Ace Nova said:

Well done Canada, well done.  @soon @downzy

 

 

 

I certainly voted for the party that is doing this.

First poor nation up will be whatever Caribbean Island the Prime Minstrel comes from 

[Ace Nova]

I can only hope the "anti-maskers" around the world realize that the new world-wide spike is likely due to their own actions (at least in part) and not taking this epidemic seriously.  But the likelihood is that they will continue to blame the government for taking away their "freedoms" and many will continue to call it some vast conspiracy theory.  Saddening.

 

[Homefuck]

On 11/13/2020 at 7:36 AM, SoulMonster said:

A while ago @DieselDaisywas complaining about new restrictions in England and suggested Sweden was doing the right thing in their approach to the pandemic. Back then, Sweden was enjoying low cases of infections after having been hard hit in March/April, and was starting to open up society more again. Well, this is the result of this laxer attitude:

I am afraid we have to stay vigilant and keep restrictions going, if we want to avoid a surge of new cases and ensuing deaths. One can always argue about what is more important, health or economy,  but you can't escape the fundamental properties of this disease and how it spreads if unchecked.

 

I'm not in a position to talk about which strategy is better,  but looking at that chart, one variable on has to take in consideration is that the amount of tests for corona-cases in sweden has increased considerably since april/may. The amount of deaths is also (this far) significantly lower than the numbers we saw in the spring.