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gowlerk

covid-19

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(edited)

 

1 hour ago, wolfriverjoe said:



It's getting worse and worse, with no sign of easing off.

This should answer as to why:

https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2021/01/01/tampa-bay-had-crowded-new-years-eve-parties-on-same-day-florida-broke-coronavirus-record/


Florida set a record of something like 17,000+ cases in one day and on that very same day, later in the evening, hosted massive block parties with thousands in attendance and zero masks anywhere.

People just dont give a shit. They never have. They will care when they get it and die. That's how it always goes. Look at how many people die every year from heart disease. Something like 650,000. Yet people still eat McDees all day, dont exercise and refuse to do anything to improve their health. It is just how people are. People prefer to learn most lessons the hard way.


 

Oh, and a few of the DZs in my area all held a NYE boogie despite two people I know who jumped there in the last week who got Covid within the last few days. No masks anywhere, no COVID precautions, nothing. I have learned that skydivers are no better than any of the clowns in any of the photos we talk about. We just happen to share a common interest, but being a skydiver doesent make you a caring or smart person at all.

Edited by Westerly

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So Operation Warp Speed had a cool Star Trek name.  But what did it accomplish?

Did it produce a vaccine in October, as Trump said it would?  Nope.

Did the money get a vaccine faster than pharmas could otherwise?  Nope.  The first vaccine approved took no money from Warp Speed.

Did it "deliver a few hundred million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020" as Warp Speed's director promised in May? Nope.

Did it "have 100 million doses of vaccine available before the end of the year and maybe much sooner than that" as Trump promised in July?  Nope.

Did it produce "at least 100 million vaccine doses before the end of the year, and likely much more than that" as Trump promised in October?  Nope.

Did they "have enough vaccine doses available for use in the U.S. population to immunize about 20 million individuals in the month of December" as the director promised in November?  Nope.

Did they get to 20 million vaccinations before the end of the year as Trump promised just after the election?  Nope.

In fact, it looks like we hit about 2.7 million vaccinations in all of 2020.  If that rate keeps up, we will get everyone vaccinated in . .  just over six years.

But we'll be getting as much vaccine as we can to improve that, right?  Nope.  Trump turned down an offer of 200 million doses (enough to vaccinate about 30% of America) from Pfizer this summer.

Now, nothing about this pandemic, or the timeline for vaccine development, or time for vaccine rollout, is 100% controllable.  And Warp Speed was a good idea in theory, and it did do _some_ good - it may well have improved the schedule for the second vaccine approved.  But I will still breathe a huge sigh of relief when we get someone competent in charge in three weeks. 

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Even though I voted for him (against Trump more than for Biden), I don't consider him to be terribly 'competent'.

His track record as VP leaves a lot to be desired. His comments during the Ebola scare were pretty stupid.

But he is a realist, and is at least smart enough to 'know what he doesn't know'.
He doesn't claim he knows everything about everything.
And he seems to be surrounding himself with people who DO know what they're doing.

Hopefully he'll listen to them.

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1 hour ago, kallend said:

Since we had the "China Virus" are we now getting the "England Virus"? 

 

Actually I like "Brexit Virus" - has a nice catchy sound to it.

Well, the 'funny' part about it is that England seems to have found it first.

They are doing much more genetic sequencing of the samples than other places.

The US is doing very little.

However, the more contagious variant has been found here.

And, so far, everyone who has been found with it has no history of travel anywhere.

So it's here & it's been here.
And it's in places that are seeing big spikes (CA & FL).

I'm good with Morona-virus. Name it after the Orange Idiot, who has done so much to make it worse.

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On 1/2/2021 at 11:45 PM, billvon said:

In fact, it looks like we hit about 2.7 million vaccinations in all of 2020.  If that rate keeps up, we will get everyone vaccinated in . .  just over six years.

But we'll be getting as much vaccine as we can to improve that, right?  Nope.  Trump turned down an offer of 200 million doses (enough to vaccinate about 30% of America) from Pfizer this summer.

 

In all fairness, the vaccinate has only been approved  for use for three weeks so 'all of 2020' is really more like the last two weeks of December. In additional, there is a highly limited supply so it's not like anyone can just go get it. 2.7 million vaccinations is more than every healthcare worker in the United States for reference. Also, Trump did turn down the additional purchases but they have since changed that and committed to buying an additional 100m on top of whatever the original purchase was.

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33 minutes ago, Westerly said:

In all fairness, the vaccinate has only been approved  for use for three weeks so 'all of 2020' is really more like the last two weeks of December. In additional, there is a highly limited supply so it's not like anyone can just go get it. 

Well, except the US had over 10 million vaccinations available by the end of the year.  The problem was distribution, which we can fix.

Edited to add - and we're not even getting the vaccine shipped to us.  From the CEO of Pfizer - "Pfizer is not having any production issues with our COVID-19 vaccine, and no shipments containing the vaccine are on hold or delayed. We have millions more doses sitting in our warehouse but, as of now, we have not received any shipment instructions for additional doses." 

Like I said, Jan 20th can't come soon enough.

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37 minutes ago, headoverheels said:

Where do you get that?  Kaiser in 2018 put it at 16.8 million, not including self-employed workers.

Some lists put healthcare at the top of the list for what sectors are the largest in the US. I can find none that put it lower than 3rd. 

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(edited)
1 hour ago, headoverheels said:

Where do you get that?  Kaiser in 2018 put it at 16.8 million, not including self-employed workers.

Well maybe if you include the janitors, the AC guy and the billing chick that sends you a $50k bill for a broken toe. There absolutely are not 16.8 million people that work in direct patient care (which are the ones who actually need the vaccination). This is apparent from the fact that it takes two months just to get an appointment with a doctor. Talking about those who actually have contact with patients, the number is probably a few million.

 

Edit: it looks like there are 2.8 million RNs and 1M MDs in the USA. That by itself makes up 80% of those who work in patient care.

Edited by Westerly

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(edited)
48 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

Some lists put healthcare at the top of the list for what sectors are the largest in the US. I can find none that put it lower than 3rd. 

Yea, 'sectors'. You can be an IT professional and work in the medical sector. Actually there are millions of IT professionals who work in healthcare. However, the vast majority of those who work in the medical sector do not work in patient care which is where the real medicine is.

Edited by Westerly

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(edited)
2 hours ago, billvon said:

 

Like I said, Jan 20th can't come soon enough.

Even so, it's not like things are going to change on a dime on Jan 20th. Covid will still be doing its thing and vaccines still wont be available to you and me. Over the long term Biden will save some lives for sure, but in the short term I doubt much of anything will change in the day to day. Covid will still be just as bad on Jan 21st as on the 20th.

Edited by Westerly

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4 minutes ago, Westerly said:

Even so, it's not like things are going to change on a dime on Jan 20th. Covid will still be doing its thing and vaccines still wont be available to you and me. Over the long term Biden will save some lives for sure, but in the short term I doubt much of anything will change in the day to day. Covid will still be just as bad on Jan 21st as on the 20th.

Hi Westerly,

I agree with you.  However, every journey begins with the first step.

Jerry Baumchen

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23 minutes ago, Westerly said:

Well maybe if you include the janitors, the AC guy and the billing chick that sends you a $50k bill for a broken toe. There absolutely are not 16.8 million people that work in direct patient care (which are the ones who actually need the vaccination). This is apparent from the fact that it takes two months just to get an appointment with a doctor. Talking about those who actually have contact with patients, the number is probably a few million.

 

Edit: it looks like there are 2.8 million RNs and 1M MDs in the USA. That by itself makes up 80% of those who work in patient care.

3.8 million RNs in the US, with ~84% of them working as nurses.

There are another 1 million licensed practical nurses, 250k physical therapists, 200k dentists, 150k dental hygenists, etc.  The people cleaning up between patients, taking meals to patient rooms, etc also have pretty direct contact.

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3 minutes ago, headoverheels said:

3.8 million RNs in the US, with ~84% of them working as nurses.

There are another 1 million licensed practical nurses, 250k physical therapists, 200k dentists, 150k dental hygenists, etc.  The people cleaning up between patients, taking meals to patient rooms, etc also have pretty direct contact.

4.67 is the average number of support staff per physician in the US.

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2 hours ago, Westerly said:

Even so, it's not like things are going to change on a dime on Jan 20th. Covid will still be doing its thing and vaccines still wont be available to you and me. Over the long term Biden will save some lives for sure, but in the short term I doubt much of anything will change in the day to day. Covid will still be just as bad on Jan 21st as on the 20th.

Agreed.  Nothing will happen overnight.  But at least we will start heading in the right direction

 

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11 hours ago, Westerly said:

Speaking of Covid, there is a really big Covid outbreak at one very large west coast DZ. They hosted a Christmas boogie and now all of a sudden tons of people are saying on Facebook that they are positive.

Thought and prayers going out to them. But mostly to the older people in their families who are far more likely to pay the ultimate price.

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12 hours ago, Westerly said:

Speaking of Covid, there is a really big Covid outbreak at one very large west coast DZ. They hosted a Christmas boogie and now all of a sudden tons of people are saying on Facebook that they are positive.

If it is in Southern California it is even more concerning, considering they have asked Ambulances to restrict the people they take to hospital and to start conserving O2.

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