I've noticed more and more people voluntarily wearing masks at the grocery store here. I'm not but an interesting trend.

I'm starting to wear them again. I'm vaxxed and not that worried. But it is an incredibly light burden, and if I can make anyone with children or who is immunocompromised more comfortable, then why not do it?

I have been seeing more recently as well, which is surprising.

COVID exposure and racist slurs at raucous meeting under investigation | FOX 2

St Louis county council meeting about the mask mandate imposed by the County Executive.

I've noticed also, and I am currently on Nantucket where at least 50% of people are wearing them.

The interesting thing in my neck of the woods will be what happens when kids go back to school. There is a VERY vocal group of parents who are very much against kids wearing masks in schools.

I’m confused. Have I got this right, that Graham has caught a disease that isn’t really a big deal, but it was only mild for him because of the vaccine that Trump heroically produced, but that people shouldn’t take?

Hurrah, we hit it! Better late than never I guess. More first jabbers.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/02/covi...th-behind.html

I was wondering if we would get a small surge in vaccinations with all the troubling news of the Delta variant. Had a friend who was more aloof than anti-vaxx who finally ran out and got their first shot.

Played a lot of Pirates sailing around the Caribbean so the 2 French colonies (?) caught my eye. Wonder what the deal is with such low vaccination rates (vs mainland France) ... have to believe the vaccines are readily available for them?

Guadeloupe is latest French island to lock down amid 'catastrophic' COVID situation | Euronews

Michigan still looks good in terms of case numbers despite being a little below the national average nation-wide, but it's starting to move in the wrong direction now. Curious to see if the Whitmer Wars resume in the fall.

Here's a perfect example of a flawed mindset.

Most people who aren’t vaccinated view vaccine as a greater risk than covid-19, poll finds

You can't tell me that these people are basing it on the available stats. I thought the cure couldn't be worse than the disease? That's what they said all along, and now they're like, um...this cure is worse than the disease, because I don't trust actual science. There is no available data that shows the vaccine is a greater risk than the disease itself.

Local stats showed up on my feed. A little disappointed that we are below national average but not too surprised. Definitely a GOP/Trump stronghold.

Other than schools, county isn't too "packed". I don't think I'll be wearing masks to Kroger (in and out) but I won't be sitting inside any restaurants anytime soon. Unfortunately the barber place I go to has gone maskless so may have to get haircut first thing in mornings to miss the crowd.

She basically said her hands are tied now because the 1945 Emergency Powers Act got rescinded. Winter will be a shitshow.

Another somewhat ethical dilemma. WHO is asking wealthier countries to not do booster shots (e.g. 3rd shots) until much/rest of world gets vaccinated.

I am sympathetic to the ask, but no western leader will survive if there is a massive 4th wave (or is it 5th next?). Although death tolls are unlikely to reach the heights of last year, it could still be bad enough to cause re-election issues. And it is a leaders responsibility to protect his/her citizens first.

So from a humanitarian POV, its the right thing to do. But from the best interest of a country, nope.

However, the US should continue donating anything that is excess and also continue $ contributions to the global fund.

We just basically did a tour of Florida via a travel baseball tournament in North Florida, quick stop back home and then down to South Florida to visit family. Since I visited the grocery store in all three locations, I observed the amount of mask wearing that I saw in each location. I did not do an actual count. This is not meant to be scientific.;)

WAYYY more mask usage than I expected in North Florida on a busy Saturday afternoon. My guess would be about 20-25% of the shoppers were wearing masks. If you asked me beforehand, I probably would have the percentage would have been less than 5% given what I learned living in that area in the past. Locally, we have been pretty steady around 30-35% for the past month but I saw a slight increase when we made the quick pit stop on Monday. In South Florida, it really felt like I was at the store in April 2020 instead of August 2021. There were less people in the store than the previous two times. At LEAST 60% of the store were wearing masks. The social distancing was noticeable as well. People were giving each other at least a couple of feet as they waited to grab a item from a shelf or waited in line at the checkout area. I even saw people use the sanitizing wipes to clean the credit card keypad. I can't remember the last time I saw that happen.

We're in St. Augustine for the week and we've noticed more mask-wearing as the week has gone on. Hearing about the lack of space in J-ville hospitals must be getting through to some.

We are in Nantucket for two weeks and mask wearing is off the charts. To the point I feel bad not wearing one. Some places close to70% I would say, and probably 50% of people just walking on the street. Some places requiring them, I wanted to go into Vineyard Vines and I couldn't because my masks were in the car (yes this is the definition of a first world problem)

I have come across a couple people online claiming to have made appointments with fake info in order to get a 3rd shot.

So credible!

Just to prove Brian's point that it's always both sides, this is an article about one of the current leaders of the local county GOP. He recently helped lead a hostile takeover because they didn't feel the elected officials were subservient enough to Trump, which was impossible.

Anyway, he's currently in the ICU about to be vented. His wife was just released. They are both unvaccinated. In his embedded Facebook post, he rails against vaccinations, masks and government healthcare. This is while is he currently in the hospital.

So I think both sides can come together and say that people like this deserve every terrible things that can happen to them and hopefully no one useful was infected by these deplorable people.

Greenville County GOP leader Pressley Stutts battling COVID-19

Are we at the point where we can say "ironically" that "I for one, don't want my government taxes going to support this man for one minute!"

One of the GOP Reps suing Pelosi over the mask mandate has tested positive for COVID.

Its just the flu unless he gets intubated or dies.

Let's us know when he or his family is quoted saying "should have gotten the stupid shot".

If he dies, he just needs the Missouri coroner to change the cause of death.

That isn't, wasn't, and will continue to not be my point at all.


Nah. They're still human beings. That's plenty to not wish extra suffering on them.

To add to the mask-wearing informal survey, it's still very low here in W. Michigan - it's a noticeable outlier when you see someone wearing one.

I am doing to a comic book convention with my kids tomorrow, and then to a Braves game Sunday. I am going to have to be in a mask all weekend. It's a bummer.

I was out and about yesterday a bit, went to Publix, and noticed the staff all wearing masks again, and a lot but certainly not all customers wearing them. I think mainly its because the Delta variant is a hotspot here-maybe the largest in the state, probably no doubt due to tourists flocking here for their missed vacations and a governor against mask mandates. I'll be curious to see how many parents go the homeschooling route given masks are not a requirement in schools here.

And like a lot of the country, the majority of covid patients are the unvaccinated.

My organization is holding a pretty large conference ahead, and just announced that we would be urging/recommending that everyone attending wear a mask regardless of vaccination status. We're going to get it from both sides, it's already starting from one.

I was working remotely at my kid's gymnastics practice yesterday morning. Normally I've been the only one there, but yesterday there were at least 40 people watching in a 75x15 room. I was one of three with a mask and just worked in my hot car for the next 3 hours after about 20 minutes.

This week was my first full week back in the office since March 2020. Yesterday I had a cough start to develop. Didn’t get any better overnight so I’m going to go get myself tested.

Incubation is approx 3 weeks, so you should be okay.

I’ve been other places too, just thought the timing was ironic.

I’m vaccinated so not too worried if I am positive.

This one is from the "I have a feeling it's about to get a lot worse here" pile. So, remember, Houston was a major outbreak zone last summer and I have suspected for a while that we actually had a worse outbreak then than during the winter. The case numbers were lower but the deaths appeared to be higher (https://usafacts.org/visualizations/.../harris-county) - however, I don't think our capacity to count either was all that great yet in the summer.

I think some of you have seen stories about how some places are using the amount of virus in the wastewater to forecast future outbreaks and it's been very reliable. Well, Houston's previous peak was in July of last year. Harris County (i.e. Houston) just recorded samples this week that are 320%(!!!) of their previous high. Not a little higher. 3x as high.

COVID-19 in Houston wastewater currently at levels 'never seen before' | khou.com

SI

19 days ago there were 250 cases reported in a day in South Carolina. 3200 were reported today. These are the cases from Wednesday and they no longer report weekend numbers, so shots going to be even more soon.

If that's where we are with half the country fully vaccinated and another 20% partway there, stick a fork in us pretty much.

I want to be positive, but it's hard to be under those conditions if they persist.

COVID-19 - Wuhan Coronavirus (a non-political thread, see pg. 36 #1778)
 

Imagine if we would’ve gotten a faster start on vaccinations… just imagine you know if say someone a huge amount of people looked up to stated that he himself got vaccinated and encouraged everyone else to ASAP because, you know, there’s not a micro chip in it, or it’s a threat to your freedom. Sounds like a song.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

for facehuggers?

Pretty sure they pop out of the chest quicker than 3 weeks.

I'm optimistic it won't get near as bad as last year for the vaccinated (and probably the partially vaccinated). Keep the faith.

I'm hopeful Delta will push the undecideds/partial to get vaccinated. 12-15 are now approved. Hopefully FDA approval soon.

I'm not a FDA expert and don't know about their inner workings, but article below implies FDA has been slow. It also explains some why we haven't seen more PSA/ads for vaccination (e.g. replace viagra-and-like ads with covid vaccinations).

With FDA approval, more would get COVID-19 vaccine | Commentary - Orlando Sentinel

I agree with that, I'm just talking more long-term. Whatever the ceiling is on the number of vaccinated people, I don't see it being enough to stop this kind of outbreak if we're seeing this now, nevermind in cooler weather/holidays/etc.

I did not realize the advertising part of full approval.

But why would the drug companies spend money advertising the vaccine? My sense is that, globally, they will be able to sell their shots for years without buying ads.

dola:

And I hope that I am being too cynical here and am wrong about this, but I think that a lot of the 49% waiting for full approval will just pass on to another excuse once full approval is out there. It will become "approval was rushed" or "We won't know anything about long term effects for 10 years" or something like that.

I had a friend who had no interest in football whatsoever. When the news started to come out about CTE, she jumped on her moral high horse and started talking about how she could never support entertainment that put people's brains at risk to such an extent. Of course, she had no interest in football; the CTE thing was just a convenient thing to say that sounded better than "I just don't like it."

I see a lot of the "full approval" folks the same way. They don't want the shot for whatever reason. And "waiting for full approval" sounds like a good reason to not do what they have no intention of ever doing.

I hope that I'm wrong and that there will be a rush of vaccinations when it is fully approved.

same on both counts

...you see it already. If "full approval" comes in a month or two, then lots of those people will shift to "well, you know they forced it through the approval process..."

Just got a text from a (vaccinated) friend. We ran into her on Tuesday evening outdoors in our neighborhood. She hadn’t seen my 12yo daughter in person in over a year and they hugged. Her 12yo daughter ran up and hugged Carter as well. Then on Thursday, Carter and her daughter volunteered together at an outdoor event, and worked in fairly close proximity to one another for 2.5 hours, all outside.

At least she told you and was honest. I wonder how many situations like this caused a much bigger outbreak, especially prior to vaccination, because people didn't want a scarlet letter.

I was trying to imagine the guilt you'd feel if you had to write an email like and were NOT vaccinated, but then I remembered that those people don't care about things like that.

I would imagine if you're still unvaccinated at this point you would feel just as bad spreading covid as you would spreading the common cold.

not even sure what the right response here is... grinding teeth i guess

I think you're overly cynical but also partly correct. We're already seeing a significant uptick in vaccinations due to the spread of the delta variant. I think we'll see more once approval comes, but there will also be those in the category you describe.

Only time will tell how many.

Ya know, the unvaccinated are a funny people. Their laughter is contagious.

My wife's step-dad is now blaming vaccinated people for the Delta variant spreading.

Go Darwin!

http://www.thedailybeast.com/anti-va...of-coronavirus

Heard a rumor that FDA may authorize vaccines for under 12 much sooner than expected. That would be huuuge!

Almost 50 million children in the US under age 12. Hoping this happens soon as it could stop spread and save lives- especially with school season starting!🤞🏽

— Jerome Adams (@JeromeAdamsMD) August 6, 2021

Former Surgeon General.

He says himself that this is just a rumor. But I imagine that he hears a higher class of rumors than I do.

I’ve got covid

Luckily I was smart enough to get vaccinated so it’s a light cold instead of my impending doom

Science wins!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I figured I would have heard this from a patient at this point...but I actually heard it today from a colleague who informed me that the vaccines are causing variants. :banghead:

That's exactly what he told my wife today. I'm guessing it's a Fox News talking point or something.

I thought they had decided on it being brown people from other countries?

Kettle logic - Wikipedia

My county in jersey has the highest rate of covid. We also have a ton of shire resort towns. I’m being told it’s all the New Yorkers bringing it down.

Pill, inhaler vaccination would be great ... assuming the $ is right.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-57553602

There's a study that said asthma inhalers were only used properly in something like a third of uses. An over the counter inhaler seems like a very risky way to deliver a vaccine.

Went to the Apple Store in the big mall in Raleigh yesterday. The store required masks. The mall did not, but I'd say that about 40% of people had masks. And post-CDC announcement and pre-Delta, we were down to almost no masks.

So the message is getting through to some. I also think, though, that this is a Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill thing. I would fully expect that most of the state is still going the Florida/Texas route.

Got Covid at a baseball tourney. Vaccinated so it's just a mild cold.

Cancelled our trip Next weekend to New Orleans because I'll be just coming off the 19 and it's frickin' dangerous to travel and go to NO at this time.

The friends we were going with are pissed we're canceling... no "hope you're feeling ok." nada

Our friendship has been changed. My kids will be wearing masks at school because our Governor is a fuckin' idiot.

hope you're feeling ok

sprry you have to deal with that shit esp when sick but glad you're taking care of yourself and your family. It's funny how these tourist traps seem even moreso now.

Feel better, Flasch.

So last year, we were killing people by not allowing them to have elective surgeries.

Now, we are preventing people from having elective surgery and that is a good thing?

The alternative is to ask conservatives to be slightly inconvenienced with masks.

Sorry to hear all the Flasch, hope you get better quick! I wouldn't want to go to someplace that's become a COVID hotbed either

That sucks. These are never fun situations to deal with :(

Saw the lady out walking her dog yesterday evening. We talked from across the street. She says they're still fine, just bored in whole-family quarantine. She still has just minor symptoms, and no one else in her family has any.

EDIT TO ADD: no symptoms or other indication so far that my daughter has been infected.

A good friend of mine is in a very popular east coast cover band, I’ve mentioned them before, called the Amish Outlaws. Their agent just sent a letter to the band saying if they aren’t all vaccinated they likely won’t be able to work as majority of venues will be requiring proof of vaccination in the very near future.

Wife's office said they went from 2-3 patients testing positive per week to 90 last week. Masks in their clinics have been required since the start and they're announcing today that they're requiring vaccinations for all staff. She expects at least a few people quitting.

I've been told in person, Skype, and on local Facebook a this common theory that Abbott "doesn't he realize that the masks mandates and the surgeries are related". Considering where we are with the decisions we're looking at making with our son, it's all I can do to keep from screaming at people: "OF COURSE HE DOES". He is completely aware and doing it anyway. He's done the cold, political calculus that he will get more votes for keeping masks option than he will for lose for costing lives. And, from what we've seen over the past year and change, he could be right.

Calling him stupid is giving him the benefit of Hanlon's razor that he doesn't deserve.

SI

Our county officials voted in a mask mandate for all indoor public spaces. That includes all retail. It goes into effect Friday at 5. Suffice it to say that the local FB/Nextdoor chatter is lighting up.

WonderKarens Activate!

Looks like Cheryl “Karen” Byerly has heeded the call, Albion!

I honestly don't understand why this is such a big deal. I mean I do (FoxNews, OANN, etc), but still. It's a fucking mask you put on max from the time you leave your car to time you return. And for others just barely from door to door.

These people act like they are being forced to go to Gitmo.

Great explanation for not getting vaccinated.

(It is a great movie though)

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-58164833

If the vaccine turns a few billion of us into zombies I think I'd rather be on the zombie side, rather than live in an aftertimes world with Cheryl.

The company I work for just announced that they want all employees to submit their vaccine cards along with the manufacturer and date(s) of administration. Employees that don't submit evidence of their vaccination will be subject to testing, required to wear a mask at all times while in the office and they will be banned from corporate travel. For new employees, vaccination will be a condition of employment. They aren't the first company to do it, and I imagine that this will be a trend.

The virus was bad enough initially and Delta has amped it up. I'm hoping it doesn't have to get worse before the resistance starts to wear down.

There's plenty of people like that out there apparently

More than a million Americans have already cheated to get unauthorized vaccine boosters | TheHill

What is the -ism when you believe that people are fundamentally un-trustworthy?

It is testament to the awe-inspiring power of propagandist communication techniques. Foreign actors have realized how easy it is to sock puppet a third of this country into chaos, and they do. Media companies have different motivations, but they get it too. And some politicians see a hallowed ground where they can be the one raising a fist and being a hero, especially when the ground has already been plowed for them.

The rubes, pawns, marks... I know it's trending to anchor your hate there, but it honestly belongs first with the people selling the snake oil, more than those buying it.

Not regarding Boosters, but early on I heard reports that a whole lot of people got full courses of both Pfizer and Moderna. Some more industrious folks went all in for J & J as well.

I gathered that in the rush to make sure people had access, very few restrictions were put in place.

I believe the vaccine has, in fact, turned several million people into zombies.

You sure they weren't already?

SI

Looks like they'll be authorizing 3rd shots for folks like me who are immunocompromised...

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/11/polit...ine/index.html

Realism?

*cackle*

Cynicism?

SI

Conservatism

Rand Paul reveals wife bought stock in company behind remdesivir in late financial disclosure | CNN

It's between $1,000 and $15,000 worth of stock, so I can't imagine that this was really about the money for the Pauls. I assume that he's worth millions.

But, politically, it is a bad look to be the Senate's face of anti-vaccine and anti-mask sentiment and to then have a financial stake in COVID treatments.

I don't see why. You can be both anti-mandate and pro-treatment of the virus, and Paul isn't anti-vaccine. A total non-issue IMO, except for the timing. It should have been put out there a *long* time ago.

I don't think that he was trying to get away with anything. The money involved is just too low for that.

It just looks horrible for him. It's the sort of easily (mis)understood thing that plays really well as an attack: "Paul is against masks because he's profiting off people getting sick"

It's unfair, but I'd certainly use it to attack him if I were on the other side.

This right here is why Antivax is a thing in the first place. Not because of those diehard 5% but because of the "i'm not antivax, but ..." ("for natural immunity"/"for freedom"/"not for children"/"not so many at once" etc, etc) contingent as well as those that buy that as not being Antivax. Which it is, just cleverly packaged to make people think they really are merely making a rational choice.

Yes, yes, he's not out there ranting against it every time he opens his mouth and when he does, he narrows the 'scope' just enough to qualify as not against it per se. He's an oportunist trying to hedge his bets. He's about as pro-vaccine as Trump is. As in: He's not really, but willing to pretend he is in such a way that still leaves him viable for those that aren't.

Paul literally refuses to get vaccinated as a public figure. You think that isn't to make a statement ? Now he says it's because he had Covid19. Fine "but" there. Yet it is still recommended for those folks and multiple studies show a clear added benefit. And it is absolutely used (and he knows that) as a rational by people who merely think they had Covid.

He was associated with an organisation actively villifying not just these specific vaccines, but also blaming Autism on vaccinations, a believe he evidently shares (the association also meddles with many other fringe shit like claiming AIDS isn't caused by HIV or Abortions being linked to breast cancer)

Rand Paul's vaccine comments expose his greatest weakness as a presidential candidate - Vox

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/05/24/p...-19/index.html

Association of American Physicians and Surgeons - Wikipedia

(The "notable people" is a verified who is who of fringe positions, including some very popular-in-certain-circles re:Covid, including crossover to other organisations like Americas Frontline Doctors)

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/05/u...-surgeons.html

Even worse, as a doctor his opinion is relied on by people who want an excuse not to get vaccinated. His repeated statements using portions of a couple of small studies that he misrepresented into having a certain meaning they didn't actually have is peak "smartest guy in the room" libertarianism BS.

I give every public figure the benefit of the doubt and base my criticism on what they say, not what they don't. If we assume Paul is lying about why he's not getting the vaccine, then we have no ground to stand on when others claim those who are getting are lying about why they are. Or that Biden is lying when he comments about Cuomo, or the infrastructure bill, or whatever. I think it's a basic element of fairness in civil discourse to address ourselves to what people *actually say*, not what we think they meant by it, or parsing it into 'code words' or 'signaling' or what-have-you. When he says it's a personal choice, and that what he's against is mandates not the vaccine itself, I have a responsibility to actually engage with that and not assume he means something else.

People can make a rational choice against/for anything. Yes, *anything*. The statements he's made about autism and vaccines should definitely be criticized etc., but this idea that nobody's allowed to have a rational position in that area, against vaccine/mask/etc. mandates does, has, and will continue to get a hard no from me. We don't get to tell people that their ideas are too crackpot to be articulated. When did it become unacceptable to just be wrong?