COVID-19

[Tubetec]

Anything purporting to be a covid vaccine for sale must be bogus right?  a vile of 'water for injections' with a fake badge on it ,at least it probably wont kill ya 

I havent been able to enjoy a pint in my local pub since March , I guess PA folks will be able to wash the turkey down with a few beers from the liquor store/off License . The Big Bird can be dry as a nuns proverbials if its not cooked right .

If every alcoholic in Ireland was denied drink many more would die of the D.T.'s in two days than in the entire 9 months since the epidemic broke out .We now stand at a mercifully low 2,033 deaths attributable to covid in a population of around 5.5 million.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Anything purporting to be a covid vaccine for sale must be bogus right?  a vile of 'water for injections' with a fake badge on it ,at least it probably wont kill ya 

I havent been able to enjoy a pint in my local pub since March , I guess PA folks will be able to wash the turkey down with a few beers from the liquor store/off License . The Big Bird can be dry as a nuns proverbials if its not cooked right .

If every alcoholic in Ireland was denied drink many more would die of the D.T.'s in two days than in the entire 9 months since the epidemic broke out .We now stand at a mercifully low 2,033 deaths attributable to covid in a population of around 5.5 million.

I am not aware of any approved western vaccines for sale to consumers yet, but in the US we are only weeks away from the first releases. These will be limited quantities and applied where they can do the most good (health care workers and highest risk individuals). There have already been tens of thousands used in safety trials. Unlikely that these would be offered for sale to consumers.

Worldwide there are something like 11 different vaccines in stage 3 testing so lots of doses out in the wild.

Russia and China have been very actively pursuing their own Covid vaccines for sales to other countries. Brazil is talking with Chinese company SinoVac about using their vaccine.  One Brazil patient died in an Astra Zeneca trial in Oct. Apparently there is politics in Brazil affecting the decision, go figure. (sorry wrong thread).

Trust your local health community, do not look for covid vaccines on ebay.

JR

 

[crazydoc]

Rather than focus on and argue about death counts and etiologies, it's now time to embrace the coming phase of the response to the pandemic - it's called triage. Very shortly the American medical system is going to be overwhelmed in many places due in large part to the irresponsible actions of a significant portion of the population.

"Physiological triage tools identify patients in five categories: (1) those needing immediate lifesaving interventions; (2) those who need significant intervention that can be delayed; (3) those needing little or no treatment: (4) those who are so severely ill or injured that survival is unlikely despite major interventions; and (5) those who have already died. Care of patients triaged to group 4, those who are so severely ill or injured that survival is unlikely, must deviate most significantly from usual approaches to intensive care. Because of overall demands on the system, scarce resources must be allocated to other patients who are more likely to survive."

So those of us who are elderly or with comorbidities like
    Cancer
    Chronic kidney disease
    COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
    Heart conditions, such as heart failure, coronary artery disease, or cardiomyopathies
    Immunocompromised state (weakened immune system) from solid organ transplant
    Obesity (body mass index [BMI] of 30 kg/m2 or higher)
    Sickle cell disease
    Type 2 diabetes mellitus
who become severely ill and need intensive care or ventilator support will probably be shunted to other areas of the hospital and allowed to die, given only palliative care.

We reap what we sow.

 

[hodad]

We reap what we sow.

Very good post--not happy, but important.  I think this spring NYC gave us (well, anyone paying attention) a taste of how triage looks--higher fatality rates, limited access to care.

It's getting ugly very fast. 

 

[JohnRoberts]

I'm not sure if this should be in the politics thread but it looks like Mayor de Blasio (NYC) reversed himself on his decision to shut down in school learning in NYC.

The science actually supports "not" closing the schools, so now he is following the science. 

JR

 

[Script]

The science actually supports "not" closing the schools, so now he is following the science.

Debatable. In Japan, it's not 'science' as such that supports not closing schools -- it's pure risk assessment. There have been several clusters at schools here, despite very high hygiene standards, distancing, compulsory mask-wearing, and recording temperature at home every morning.

Non-surprisingly, it's kids being handed down an infection within their own families. Anyway, Japan has kept schools open. In the case of an infection, they close a class to conduct rigorous testing, but do not necessarily close the entire school. So it happens that there's an infection in one group of pupils and that class has to stay home until PCR test result are in, but meanwhile all other grades / classes carry on.

Caveat: this works only as long as infection rates are not going through the roof elsewhere in a population. Infections are rising in Japan at the moment and so authorities have now revised by requesting:

'If anyone in a family feels only the slightest bit unwell, please contribute to protect others by everybody in that family staying home for a couple of days and observing yourselves closely.'

 

[Script]

And here's an article about a Japanese survey about antobodies. It says pretty much the same as similar studies released earlier in other countries.

https://japantoday.com/category/national/COVID-19-antibodies-remain-in-human-body-for-6-months-study-finds

'While 97 percent of the former patients with no or mild symptoms had neutralizing antibodies after six months, 100 percent of those with moderate or severe symptoms possessed them.'

They intent to conduct a similar survey early next year (around April or so) to see whether antibodies can still be found in former patients one year of infection (April 2019). And if so, possibly assess whether those antibodies offer protection.

 

[cyrano]

Kids could very well be our way out of this. Some seem to carry antibodies against COVID, while not being infected.

The current theory is that they've acquired these while being infected by other Corona virii. A lot of common colds are the result of Corona virii.

Would that mean some antibodies are universal in preventing most/all Corona virii?

 

[Winston OBoogie]

This is 81 year old William Shakespeare from Warwickshire,  the first British man to receive the vaccine.  It was administered today in a hospital not far from Stratford-Upon-Avon.

"All's well that ends well" ?
"Taming of the flu" ?
one of the "Two gentlemen of Corona" ?

 

[Gold]

I'm not sure if this should be in the politics thread but it looks like Mayor de Blasio (NYC) reversed himself on his decision to shut down in school learning in NYC.

The science actually supports "not" closing the schools, so now he is following the science. 

JR

He didn’t reverse himself. It’s all based on infection rates across the city. The reason schools shut down was because of a number in a contract with the teachers union. Same reason they opened up again.

 

[crazydoc]

This is 81 year old William Shakespeare from Warwickshire,  the first British man to receive the vaccine.  It was administered today in a hospital not far from Stratford-Upon-Avon.

"All's well that ends well" ?
"Taming of the flu" ?
one of the "Two gentlemen of Corona" ?

"To be or not to be."

 

[hodad]

"All's well that ends well" ?
"Taming of the flu" ?
one of the "Two gentlemen of Corona" ?

"I come to vaccinate Sneezer, not to praise him."

 

[Winston OBoogie]

"To be or not to be."

I'm going with  "to be".  There's now a chink in the armour of Covid, we're at  the "end of the beginning"  as Churchill might say. 
Hold the line, stay vigilant, science will prevail. 

 

[Winston OBoogie]

"I come to vaccinate Sneezer, not to praise him."

Brilliant, better than my lame-ass puns, You win! 

 

[hodad]

A couple of interesting maps about hospital & ICU occupancy: 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/09/us/covid-hospitals-icu-capacity.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/12/09/944379919/new-data-reveal-which-hospitals-are-dangerously-full-is-yours

This doesn't tell the whole story, as the Dakotas, Texas, Montana and others have been sending patients to hospitals in other states, but it gives a useful frame of reference.

 

[crazydoc]

A couple of interesting maps about hospital & ICU occupancy: 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/09/us/covid-hospitals-icu-capacity.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/12/09/944379919/new-data-reveal-which-hospitals-are-dangerously-full-is-yours

This doesn't tell the whole story, as the Dakotas, Texas, Montana and others have been sending patients to hospitals in other states, but it gives a useful frame of reference.

The county medical officer here gave an update yesterday - he sent 2 covid patients from a local nursing home outbreak to the local (only) hospital over the weekend, and the hospital refused to admit them. He sent them again, and they were refused again, so he put them on an antibiotic and oxygen, and they died within hours. They probably would have died in the hospital anyway. (No ICU here - nearest is 80 miles away in Reno - closest in CA is 100mi.)

It's starting.

Rather than focus on and argue about death counts and etiologies, it's now time to embrace the coming phase of the response to the pandemic - it's called triage. Very shortly the American medical system is going to be overwhelmed in many places due in large part to the irresponsible actions of a significant portion of the population.

So those of us who are elderly or who become severely ill and need intensive care or ventilator support will probably be shunted to other areas of the hospital and allowed to die, given only palliative care.

We reap what we sow.

 

[living sounds]

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/10/decomposing-mink-in-denmark-may-have-contaminated-groundwater

 

[crazydoc]

Good news! Lassen county CA is now first in CA case rate at 329.4, and 11th in the nation. (Though I think it's cheating because they've probably factored in the prison inmate cases.)
https://covidactnow.org/us/california-ca/county/lassen_county?s=1437401

And I get to do my fortnightly shopping this next week.

 

[rob_gould]

"I come to vaccinate Sneezer, not to praise him."

Very good

We're in the middle of a pundemic!

 

[JohnRoberts]

The FDA has approved an over the counter self test for COVID. Estimated cost $30 and availability early next year, which is pretty soon. I heard a claim of 95% accuracy which sounds better than some current tests.

JR