Covid-19 Updates & Info

[JazzNU]

And now I know why "impending doom" was trending on Twitter. I refused to click on it as I just didn't need whatever bad news it was in the middle of my day. Very sad, but I saw those air travel numbers of late, so not surprising.

[Suliso]

Getting a prepaid Sim card in US on your smartphone bought elsewhere is no problem either. It takes 20 min max and nothing needs to be financed nor there need to be a credit history. So if someone only a week in the country could do it there should be no issue for locals either. Obviously assuming you've got a bit of money.

[ti-amie]

Andy Slavitt @aslavitt46

But 1,000 Americans are still dying every day.

We must wear a mask through the final stretch until millions more complete their vaccinations.

[dryrunguy]

Anxious to see how that pledge of being able to get a vaccine within 5 minutes of my home will work here--or if I'll be part of that outlying 10%.

[Suliso]

Probably the closest pharmacy or doctor's practice which might not be 5 min.

[MJ2004]

Honestly it’s been a year and people are just burned out. Combine that with expectations of the vaccine, the knowledge that grandparents are now protected, and spring weather, and people going to be taking risks they shouldn’t.

[JazzNU]

‘Real world’ study by CDC shows Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were 90% effective

By Helen Branswell


A new study suggests the messenger RNA vaccines produced by Moderna and the Pfizer-BioNTech partnership appeared to be 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 infection in a real-world setting.

The study was released Monday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, an online journal published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study followed nearly 4,000 health care workers, first responders, and other essential workers in eight U.S. locations as the first Covid vaccines were rolled out starting in December. Participants were tested weekly to look for all cases of Covid infection, even asymptomatic ones.

In the period from Dec. 14, 2020, to March 13, 2021, nearly 75% of the workers in the cohort received at least one dose of one of the mRNA vaccines. Both are given in a two-dose schedule.

Related: What to make of the AstraZeneca vaccine data — and the surrounding controversy
There were 161 Covid infections in the unvaccinated workers, compared with 16 in workers who had received only one dose by the time of their infection and only three infections in people who had received both doses and were two weeks out from their second dose. The vaccine effectiveness following two doses was 90% — roughly in line with the 95% and 94% that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines showed, respectively, in the clinical trials that supported their emergency use authorizations.

The study was not conducted in such a way as to allow the researchers to estimate effectiveness measures for each of the vaccines.

The study suggested that even the first dose of vaccine was 80% effective at preventing infection, starting from two weeks after receipt of that dose. That estimate, however, only applies to the brief period until the second dose was administered. The study was not designed to test how well the vaccine works if an individual does not receive the second dose.

The majority of infections — 58% — detected in the study were found because participants were tested weekly to look for infections; 42% of the infections were identified when study participants were tested after developing symptoms. Most of the people who tested positive in the study had some Covid-related symptoms, though 10.7% had none. Only 23% of the people who became infected needed medical care and only two were hospitalized. There were no Covid deaths in the study.

https://www.statnews.com/2021/03/29/rea ... effective/

[ponchi101]

I know it sounds very expensive but if the USA starts vaccination in that scale, I may consider going over to get the vaccine. If I have work by then, for sure.

[Deuce]

More problems for the troubled AstraZeneca vaccine...

(Link to Article)
Canada pausing use of AstraZeneca vaccine for those below 55

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[JazzNU]

Honestly it’s been a year and people are just burned out. Combine that with expectations of the vaccine, the knowledge that grandparents are now protected, and spring weather, and people going to be taking risks they shouldn’t.

Yup. I got my first, but surely not my last, party invite for the summer yesterday, this one is for a wedding. This is not a couple that needs in any way to get married any time this year even. And not the first wedding for either. Planned to marry in 2020, they are apparently done waiting. Doesn't seem to matter that the pandemic isn't over, 100+ person wedding is on order for July. I think "safe enough" is going to be good enough for a large majority going forward and that's a risky approach when we are nowhere near herd immunity.

I have a cousin that should be in a bigger rush to get married. And so he is. Next week at City Hall. Outdoor dinner celebration with immediate family. Big wedding reception on hold til 2022. The much more reasoned and mature approach imho.

[ti-amie]

Honestly it’s been a year and people are just burned out. Combine that with expectations of the vaccine, the knowledge that grandparents are now protected, and spring weather, and people going to be taking risks they shouldn’t.

Yup. I got my first, but surely not my last, party invite for the summer yesterday, this one is for a wedding. This is not a couple that needs in any way to get married any time this year even. And not the first wedding for either. Planned to marry in 2020, they are apparently done waiting. Doesn't seem to matter that the pandemic isn't over, 100+ person wedding is on order for July. I think "safe enough" is going to be good enough for a large majority going forward and that's a risky approach when we are nowhere near herd immunity.

I have a cousin that should be in a bigger rush to get married. And so he is. Next week at City Hall. Outdoor dinner celebration with immediate family. Big wedding reception on hold til 2022. The much more reasoned and mature approach imho.

My daughter got married in November of 2020. There were a total of 8 people at her mother-in-law's house, immediate family of her and her husband. A tent was erected in the back yard and food was catered. The officiant was there virtually. We had a wonderful time.

I applaud what your cousin is doing. Small weddings are not sad.

[Deuce]

My daughter got married in November of 2020. There were a total of 8 people at her mother-in-law's house, immediate family of her and her husband. A tent was erected in the back yard and food was catered. The officiant was there virtually. We had a wonderful time.

I thought nothing was to be erected before the honeymoon...

Ok... that's my childish comment for the week...

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[ti-amie]

My daughter got married in November of 2020. There were a total of 8 people at her mother-in-law's house, immediate family of her and her husband. A tent was erected in the back yard and food was catered. The officiant was there virtually. We had a wonderful time.

I thought nothing was to be erected before the honeymoon...

Ok... that's my childish comment for the week...

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[ponchi101]

...
I thought nothing was to be erected before the honeymoon...

Ok... that's my childish comment for the week...

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Timer is on. You have 6 days...

[dryrunguy]

I talk to a friend of mine in Barinas, Venezuela every Sunday night. Last week, he had told me that his sister was very ill, so when I talked to him last night, I asked for an update. It turns out her appendix actually burst, and they barely got her to the hospital in time. But she's okay.

While he was in the hospital (he should NOT have been allowed to be in the hospital), he snapped a few photographs of people on gurneys in the hallways. I won't share them because he should not have taken the pictures (patient privacy). But he said every hallway he saw in the hospital was full of sick people on gurneys. Every hallway. And he said they were all or almost all COVID cases. (I don't know how he would know that.)

But if that's true, or even partially to true, the images were beyond alarming and heartbreaking. And he said public perception is to blame Brazil. I'm not quite following that. No one from Brazil is going to Venezuela, right?