Coronavirus 4

[Black Aliss]

1 hour ago, Alisamer said:

Well that's one way to add authenticity to a Republican-themed party!

What exactly does that mean? 

I heard on the radio today that the county I work in (basically Charlotte, NC is the county more or less) has vaccines available for those 75 and up, by appointment, taking place at one of our sports arenas - but all the appointments are full through the end of January. I'm not sure what's going on in the county I live in, but if they're using the same system then my parents won't qualify for the vaccine just yet - they're not quite old enough.

I had a discussion with a man in a waiting room a few days ago while getting my car inspected at a tiny local place, and he kept saying he didn't understand why it kept spreading if masks helped because "everyone wears masks in public!" Meanwhile, the guy across the room from us (age 81, he said) had a mask on but it was down on his chin not actually covering his nose or mouth at all. 

I refrained from pointing out that "wearing a mask" and "wearing a mask correctly" are two wildly different things (dammit if you breathe through it, cover it! Mouth, nose, whatever you have!), though I did point out that the problem was likely mostly attributable to the people who are all like "Oh, it's just a few of us, and I know my friends are OK..." and then gathering maskless without realizing that yeah, their friends are probably OK, but what about their friends, and their kids' friends, and their co-workers, and how it only takes a couple degrees to include hundreds of people and just one of them has to be infected for it to spread.

I finally, maybe, got through to one of those by pointing out that it only takes one intact tomcat to knock up ever cat in heat in a 10 mile radius. I still have not gotten through to anyone about how wearing a mask protects other people; it does basically nothing to protect the wearer from unmasked people. I'm beginning to suspect that they know damn well how a mask works, they simply do not GAF.

Edited January 6, 2021 by Black Aliss

[Coconut Flan]

Actually masks do help the wearer in the latest studies.  These people can't even be bothered by their own self-interest.

[Ozlsn]

Musings of an anonymous, pissed off virologist.

"As viruses go, SARS-CoV-2, is quite easy to neutralize with antibodies and, it turns out, straightforward to generate effective vaccines based on the spike protein. Perhaps, even probably, those two properties are causally related. Moreover, it appears that it is quite hard (albeit not impossible) to generate resistant spike variants that evade the polyclonal antibody responses elicited by said vaccines. This is all excellent news.

However, if I had a nefarious nature and wanted to ensure that the new SARS-CoV-2 vaccines were rendered impotent, these are a few things I would try."

Seriously if the virus mutates and renders the vaccine ineffective due to political incompetence I will be tempted to storm the Capitol myself.

[clueliss]

 

[indianabones]

I just got tested for the second time. First time doing a self administered test, which wasn't as bad as having one done to me. Definitely cried less! My county has really ramped up testing- the new center I went to, which is on a (closed) college campus, is pretty big. Lots of drive through lanes and walk-up testing. I didn't even need an appointment. And it was free!

[Cartmann99]

5 hours ago, indianabones said:

First time doing a self administered test, which wasn't as bad as having one done to me. Definitely cried less!

I didn't cry when the doc at the urgent care center did mine, but I had a hard time being still because it hurt. ☹️

I have officially completed my Covid house arrest! My first official outing was to the DMV because my driver's license was about to expire. It felt so strange when the woman asked me to remove my mask for the new picture. ?

[clueliss]

 

[Coconut Flan]

Those are people with no pulse and virtually no chance at resuscitation.

Quote

"This order that was issued by the county emergency medical services really is very specific to patients who suffered from a cardiac arrest and are unable to be revived in the field," said Dr. Jeffrey Smith, chief operating officer of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

 

[indianabones]

Tested negative!

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Coconut Flan]

From my MIL:  People be stupid.

[clueliss]

Gorillas got the covid

[Coconut Flan]

Los Angeles:  Certain people should wear face masks at home.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/12/us/los-angeles-covid-disaster-essential-workers-masks/index.html

Quote

"Right now, because there is so much spread, we're recommending that people wear their face coverings while they're inside the home," Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said in a news conference Monday. That's for people who are either leaving their home every day for work or who are running errands regularly for their family, Ferrer said.

Doing so, she said, "will add a layer of protection while we get through this surge."

Every 8 minutes, someone in Los Angeles County dies from Covid-19

For the county, that surge has been long and brutal. Every minute, an average of 10 people test positive for the virus, county health officials said Monday. More than 932,600 people have tested positive in the county throughout the pandemic.

 

[clueliss]

Local school board voted to return to in person school (elementary - 4 days/week) and middle/high school to hybrid (2 days/week). 

And MU students return later this week for classes next week (I think).

While the university is trying to take steps to avoid the mess we had in August - I remain skeptical.

Bracing for another surge due to both issues above in late January/Early February.

[Howl]

Just made appointments for DH and I to get the jab next week! Hubs and I are in the 1b category -- people 65+.

I'm in a Phase 1 Janssen vaccine study, and can be unblinded now that I have a set vax appointment.  Weird, right?  My cohort of individuals 65+ is 80/20 -- 20% of participants received the placebo (saline) and 80% received the vax.  

If I got the real deal, I'll stay in the study, if possible.  If not, I'll drop out from the study and get the vax.  With the new super contagious COVID strain loose in the land, it's simply too dangerous to wait. 

 

[Alisamer]

My uncle was in the Pfizer study and just got a call from them this week confirming he got the actual vaccine and that they will be checking in with him over the next 2 years. They're offering those who got the placebo the actual vaccine, now.

My boss has his vaccine appointment scheduled since he's over 65. I need to check and see if my parents have made their appointments yet. I'm wanting to get the vaccine as soon as I'm eligible. I'm under 50 so it should be a while, but I might be able to squeak in a little earlier due to "co-morbidities" - finally a benefit to being fat! I don't want to take a spot from someone who is more at risk than me, but if the opportunity arises I'll take it. I'm still working one week on one week off, and while we're mostly a closed bubble here we do occasionally get clients coming in, so I want to get the vaccine ASAP.

The Covid testing site I pass on the way to work is still lined up like crazy every morning, 50+ cars in line every day.

And on top of all this, I woke up in the middle of the night after having a strange dream, all sweaty and feeling off. Checked my temperature and it's fine, so probably not anything to worry about. I'm now having "Maybe it's Covid... maybe it's menopause!" moments apparently.

[sndral]

On 1/12/2021 at 11:53 AM, Howl said:

Just made appointments for DH and I to get the jab next week! Hubs and I are in the 1b category -- people 65+.

I'm in a Phase 1 Janssen vaccine study, and can be unblinded now that I have a set vax appointment.  Weird, right?  My cohort of individuals 65+ is 80/20 -- 20% of participants received the placebo (saline) and 80% received the vax.  

If I got the real deal, I'll stay in the study, if possible.  If not, I'll drop out from the study and get the vax.  With the new super contagious COVID strain loose in the land, it's simply too dangerous to wait. 

 

I’m also 1b due to age, but no jabs for me yet. I watched my county community hall zoom about the vaccine last night & what a bunch of incompetent idiots. They seem to be hoarding vaccines, & are definitely ignoring the state’s order to open vaccinations to 65 and over even though the immediate crisis is ICUs are at 0% capacity & people 65+ are the most likely to end up in ICU (and you know - like dead.) They don’t seem to have a clue when they’ll get through all of the ‘special people’ in 1A - even though they’ve received enough vaccines to get through them all. They can’t tell us when or how we 65+ can register to get jabbed. They can’t tell us where we’ll be able to get jabbed or who will do the jabbing. The task is clearly too much for them. Bring in the National guard, get this party going. Progress report on how states are doing w/ vaccinations, my state CA seems to be failing, no surprise there since Newsom is all talk & no action. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/covid-19-vaccine-distribution-states/

[OHFL2009]

My county seems to be doing an ok job, although I've still got quite a while until I will be in an eligible group. Both our county and the next one over are about the same demographics, with a few medium sized cities but not major metropolises. They both started out with an appointment system where they would announce they had 1,000 shots that would be available on day X, and at a set time on day Y they would open the online/phone registration. But the systems kept crashing and appointments were filling in seconds.

Now my county has gone to a lottery system, so if you're in the groups that are currently eligible, you register online or by phone, and then when they know they are getting a shipment, they draw randomly from that registered pool. The biggest issue I see is that you don't have to be a resident to register in the system, and since I live in a state that has a large population of older people, there is a lot of demand. So a lot of people are registering in multiple counties; my parents' next door neighbor told my mom they are registered in 4 counties. There is a large city about an hour north of us, so I'm concerned that my county is going to end up giving as many shots to people from that area as from our own county, which will push me even further down the list.

[WiseGirl]

My state is one of 4 that is doing well with the shots. I'm in the 1b group because of my profession. We were told that we will be registering "soon." My sister-in-law signed up my parents and her family. My parents should get it soon due to tbeir ages. They all live un a different state so I'm not sure how shots there are ptogressing.

[clueliss]

Governor:  We're going to 1B.

County Health Dept:  Ummmmm not here we aren't, we don't have enough.

 

[clueliss]

 

[Marmion]

Not sure if this is the right place to put this , but I just found this article about an Orthodox rabbi , whom warned that the Covid vaccine might turn people gay .  https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/rabbi-claims-covid-19-vaccine-can-make-people-gay/199956?fbclid=IwAR3LJmS3lcP4fY6nqUl35J5TBx0-qJsW_8EyAB8daC1jGzt4q3C5twaPedo

 

[Becky]

14 hours ago, clueliss said:

 

That is terrifying!  That someone with no symptoms could have severe lung damage is surreal.

I have a serious heart condition resulting from a childhood infection so mild it was never diagnosed and I never knew I had it; the evidence first showed up as an incidental finding at an exam when I was in my 40s.  People who say children are only mildly affected by Covid simply DO NOT KNOW because the infection is so new.  We really don't know what the long-term effects will be.  

[clueliss]

@Becky I know. 

Medically, I'm not considered high risk per publizied lists. 

What I know about my own body, is that if I get a cold, sinus infection, the flu that goes to my lungs - I have a hard time fighting it because of what has been called 'ineffective coughs' (I bark like a seal and it's usually not productive so I keep coughing).  Everything I hard/saw/read on Covid told me that I needed to be careful because my lungs would struggle with this.  Those photos only confirms that theory. 

I was also born with a heart murmur.  They discovered it when I was about 5 months old.  It disappeared when I was about seven.  But I was born in the mid 60's and every time I see that some infant is undergoing surgery for a heart murmur now I think, wow, would I have been treated that way if medical treatment was vastly different 'back then.'  But also, what hidden heart issues could I have since that was something that was never fully checked since 'it went away.'

ooh and I just got an email reply from my signing up for my county's covid email list.  You put information in so they know who you are, where you live, age, etc so they can notify you of your grouping etc.  Granted, despite the governor saying we're going to 1b tier 2 - my county is still in tier 1 (and I think the county to my north doesn't have a supply at all - because hey, nevermind rural areas - or something)

[ADoyle90815]

I live in a city with its own health department, so they've started allowing those 65 and over as well as those not in healthcare, but considered essential to get vaccinated. The rest of the county hasn't started with anyone outside of healthcare because there's a shortage. Since I'm under 50 and have no preexisting conditions, nor am I essential enough with my job, I have to wait until the general public can get the vaccine. Hopefully, with Biden making the pandemic a priority, especially with vaccines, I could get the shot in February at the earliest. My brother got his second dose today, as his county job makes him essential as his office is in the old part of the county hospital.