Coronavirus 6: The Plague of Delta

[clueliss]

 

[WiseGirl]

1 hour ago, NotQuiteMotY said:

My distinct thankfully came out this week as requiring masks for everyone, staff and students, regardless of vaccination status. I

My district just came out with this too, thank Rufus.

[clueliss]

Lovely - the R0 (R - Nought - or rate of transmission) for Delta is twice what OG Covid was.

 

[Cartmann99]

‘There are only so many beds’: COVID-19 surge hits hospitals

Quote

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida hospitals slammed with COVID-19 patients are suspending elective surgeries and putting beds in conference rooms, an auditorium and a cafeteria. In Georgia, medical centers are turning people away for lack of space. And a Louisiana hospital had to postpone an organ transplant.

“We are seeing a surge like we’ve not seen before in terms of the patients coming,” Dr. Marc Napp, chief medical officer for Memorial Healthcare System in Hollywood, Florida, said Wednesday. “It’s the sheer number coming in at the same time. There are only so many beds, so many doctors, only so many nurses.”

Coronavirus hospitalizations are surging again as the more contagious delta variant rages across the country, forcing medical centers to return to a crisis footing just weeks after many closed their COVID-19 wards and field hospitals and dropped other emergency measures.

The number of people now in the hospital in the U.S. with the virus has more than tripled over the past month, from an average of roughly 12,000 to almost 43,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That is still nowhere close to the nearly 124,000 in hospitals at the very peak of the winter surge in January. But health experts say this wave is perhaps more worrying because it has risen more swiftly than prior ones. Also, a disturbingly large share of patients this time are young adults.

And to the frustration of public health experts and front-line medical workers, the vast majority of those now hospitalized are unvaccinated.

[47of74]

2 hours ago, clueliss said:

 

I hope the religious exemptions are handed out with a fucking eye dropper - as in they need to be legit.  

And anyone who makes up fake certifications should be out on their ass with no fucking job and reported to everyone including animal control and the water department.

[CTRLZero]

It was before Covid that I last had a checkup.  I went into the clinic today and one of the first things they do now is ask for an advance directive to scan into their records.  I’m old, and I have one, but this was a sobering welcome back.  Then, after initial screening, I met with a doctor.

He is careworn from the pandemic, and related some interesting (and unsolicited) opinions on the virus.  Nothing that I didn’t suspect myself, but he opined that, unlike the flu, this virus won’t be seasonal or go away quickly (or at all).  He was very concerned that people weren’t 100% behind getting vaccinated, because it’s mutating so rapidly.  He said something about the virus asserting dominance, but my mind had turned to thinking about zombie apocalypses by that point, so I missed part of his theory.  I felt bad for the doctor, because the virus infection rate isn’t horrible in our region, and he’s so worried and tired.  His assistant said they’ve had to hospitalize a lot of cases directly from the clinic.

In happier news, I’m in good shape for my age range.  

 

[Smee]

Welp, I’m in lockdown now. It was only a matter of time before cases from Sydney spread up here (which makes the decision to take vaccines from here and send them there even more stupid). Our two biggest shopping centres were both added to the exposure site list today, so I expect an explosion of cases in the next few days.

I don’t know how I’m going to juggle work and study and remote learning and shared care of the kids with their dad, especially if he has to continue working on-site on some of his days. Also, I want a damn vaccine!! They’re not going to have enough Pfizer to get to me for ages, so I’ve seen my doctor and got a referral letter to get AstraZeneca but I’m still waiting for the uni clinic to contact me about an appointment time, which will likely be at least 2 weeks away.

Petty whinge, but last lockdown I was still married and had 2 cats. The ex has the cats now, and I’m renting in a place that doesn’t allow pets. Lockdown without a pet is extra crummy.

[Coconut Flan]

If anyone needs incentive viewing for family or friends who are still vaccine holdouts and good news for those of us already vaccinated:

https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/covid-lung-x-rays-of-san-diego-patients-show-remarkable-impact-of-vaccines

Vaccinated lungs with COVID look SO much better than not vaccinated lungs with COVID.

[NotQuiteMotY]

15 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

He is careworn from the pandemic, and related some interesting (and unsolicited) opinions on the virus.  Nothing that I didn’t suspect myself, but he opined that, unlike the flu, this virus won’t be seasonal or go away quickly (or at all).  He was very concerned that people weren’t 100% behind getting vaccinated, because it’s mutating so rapidly.  He said something about the virus asserting dominance, but my mind had turned to thinking about zombie apocalypses by that point, so I missed part of his theory.  I felt bad for the doctor, because the virus infection rate isn’t horrible in our region, and he’s so worried and tired.  His assistant said they’ve had to hospitalize a lot of cases directly from the clinic.

I keep looking at the 1918 Spanish flu as a model, but I think we're getting past that as an analogy. They had three distinct waves over two years; we're at a year and a half and on the third wave already, with much more mutation potential. And your poor doctor, being stuck in that position.

[Knight of Ni]

The ONLY person in our office who has not been vaccinated tested positive for COVID. This is after she was in the office earlier this week and last week looking obviously sick. She LAUGHED about the fact that she couldn't smell anything. The rest of the office has been vaccinated but are furious that she could be so fucking inconsiderate. We all have family members or are close to people who can't get sick. Including one with an extremely medically fragile child.

Other bullshit I've had to hear from her includes: when her grandfather died of a heart attack her grandmother had to go make sure they didn't forge his death certificate to say he died of COVID. They're doing that to inflate the numbers. Officials also switch tests to increase the positive numbers. 

She also said she was disappointed that she didn't opt out of the chicken pox vaccine for her child because getting chicken pox is a part of being a kid. 

I don't wish ill on anyone but this is what SHE deserves. My coworkers and I do not deserve this.

[Coconut Flan]

1 hour ago, Knight of Ni said:

I don't wish ill on anyone but this is what SHE deserves. My coworkers and I do not deserve this.

She sounds such a horrible person.

People like that are driving articles like this one:

https://www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/dont-want-the-covid-19-vaccine-then-pay-the-full-cost-if-you-land-in-the-hospital-11628206594

[NotQuiteMotY]

1 hour ago, Knight of Ni said:

She also said she was disappointed that she didn't opt out of the chicken pox vaccine for her child because getting chicken pox is a part of being a kid.

Yes, how awful of her to spare her child the possibility of encephalitis from getting the pox and shingles later in life!

Hoping here none of the rest of you have breakthrough infections.

[clueliss]

Multiple school districts in Metro Kansas City will be returning with masks - both sides of state lines  And I think I just saw something about the University of Kansas (Lawrence and the Overland Park Campuses) going to masking.

Missouri Governor is threatening the City of Columbia with a lawsuit BEFORE they even vote on a mask mandate (scheduled for Monday evening) "if it violates whatever state law/order is rolling around).

 

In better news - the KC Zoo will be vaxxing the animals.

 

[smittykins]

3 hours ago, Knight of Ni said:

She also said she was disappointed that she didn't opt out of the chicken pox vaccine for her child because getting chicken pox is a part of being a kid. 

I had chicken pox in fifth grade in 1976, and though my case wasn’t as severe as it could have been, it was also no fun.  

[Ozlsn]

8 hours ago, Smee said:

I don’t know how I’m going to juggle work and study and remote learning and shared care of the kids with their dad, especially if he has to continue working on-site on some of his days.

If necessary see if you can defer a subject (if they offer it in summer we might have fewer cases, touch wood). Mostly though be kind to yourself - it's a crappy situation in lockdown, and my child had days in our major lockdown where his learning was all self-driven by iPad, and involved a lot of songs about flags and the alphabet (two of his main interests). It's hard enough to keep the balls in the air without being in lockdown, in lockdown I find that balls are not so much dropping at times as shooting randomly off into the stratosphere, exploding into flames and showering debris all over my lounge room floor to look like a bomb hit it (correlation may not be exact, but honestly... there are only 3 of us home, two are working full time and one is  theoretically learning, so how else could it happen?)

Good luck with getting a vaccine appt soon - do any of your local clinics do last minute waiting lists? Honestly I could rant for days about this rollout and the level of screwup around it. 

[Ozlsn]

Delta variant hot summer surge in US. Good overview of Delta and where things are in the US. Part 3 of a series, so can look at how things have shifted since June.

[Smee]

18 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

If necessary see if you can defer a subject (if they offer it in summer we might have fewer cases, touch wood). Mostly though be kind to yourself - it's a crappy situation in lockdown, and my child had days in our major lockdown where his learning was all self-driven by iPad, and involved a lot of songs about flags and the alphabet (two of his main interests). It's hard enough to keep the balls in the air without being in lockdown, in lockdown I find that balls are not so much dropping at times as shooting randomly off into the stratosphere, exploding into flames and showering debris all over my lounge room floor to look like a bomb hit it (correlation may not be exact, but honestly... there are only 3 of us home, two are working full time and one is  theoretically learning, so how else could it happen?)

Good luck with getting a vaccine appt soon - do any of your local clinics do last minute waiting lists? Honestly I could rant for days about this rollout and the level of screwup around it. 

I’m a PhD student so don’t have specific subjects to defer. My supervisors are very understanding, but I’ve already had several unproductive weeks/months while separating from the ex-husband and finding a rental and moving  I dropped to part time this semester, at least. I’ve got three kids, a grade 4 and grade 2 who will be doing remote learning, and a 4yr old who could technically keep going to daycare but I will keep home. 

Got an email from the uni this morning, there are two confirmed cases in student housing. I don’t know if that will affect my ability to get vaccinated at the uni clinic, but it’s further bad news for spread up here. I’ve been trying to find other appointments through hotdoc but every time I get to the booking stage it tells me they’re not taking bookings for under 60s. It’s frustrating.

Mediation with my ex has moved to phone only, which is crappy because body language says so much, but they have to be safe. So that might be delayed even further, and it’s already looking like it’ll be next year before any kind of financial settlement, so how I’m going to pay for new tyres on the car and rego next month I do not know.

Oh and unrelated to covid, there’s hepatitis A in dates apparently. I hadn’t eaten dates for maybe a year until last week when I got some from the food bank type place (which also might be closed during lockdown, I don’t know, because ordinarily they only do collection at a set time on Wednesday afternoons and there are around 30 people there waiting in a hall for an hour until their number is called so they can get food one at a time). I’ve woken up this morning feeling generally unwell and fuzzy headed, so I get to play “is it covid? Is it hepatitis? Is it anxiety and sleep deprivation?”

Sorry, I know this is a covid thread not a vent thread, but today it’s too much.

[PsyD2013]

Cases are surging in my county, but my employer is hosting a mandatory meeting  super spreader event. 400 people in a venue to reflect on the past year and listen to a motivational speaker.  Mask mandates are illegal- thanks Kim Reaper!!  I'm not looking forward to this poorly planned event.  I could have reflected and listened to the motivational speaker via Zoom, thank you very much.

[NotQuiteMotY]

19 hours ago, smittykins said:

I had chicken pox in fifth grade in 1976, and though my case wasn’t as severe as it could have been, it was also no fun.  

Yup. I had a mild case, and it was still a week of being hot, itchy, and bored.

[Cartmann99]

1 hour ago, NotQuiteMotY said:

Yup. I had a mild case, and it was still a week of being hot, itchy, and bored.

Near the end of our convalescence, my sibling and I ran Hot Wheels throughout the house and discovered that marbles stay on better than the cars.

[Cartmann99]

An interesting thread about disinformation:

The unrolled version is here.

[WiseGirl]

What fresh hell is this? 

"The Lambda variant was first identified in Peru in December. The World Health Organization designates Delta as a "variant of concern." Lambda is designated a degree lower as a "variant of interest."

Further in the article, bolding mine,  "There are variants arising every day -- if a variant can be defined as new mutations," he said. "The question is, do those mutations give the virus some sort of advantage, which of course is to human disadvantage? The answer in Lambda is yes."

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/07/health/lambda-coronavirus-variant-wellness-explainer/index.html

This will not go well. It's already in Texas. 

[Ozlsn]

23 hours ago, Smee said:

I’m a PhD student so don’t have specific subjects to defer. My supervisors are very understanding, but I’ve already had several unproductive weeks/months while separating from the ex-husband and finding a rental and moving  I dropped to part time this semester, at least. I’ve got three kids, a grade 4 and grade 2 who will be doing remote learning, and a 4yr old who could technically keep going to daycare but I will keep home. 

Maybe see if you can do a defer-in-progress (or whatever it's called where you are) where you essentially pause for a couple of months. You're not supposed to work in that time on your project, but sometimes it helps just with the mental break and knowing you don't have to do anything on it.  If you're on a scholarship that can be deferred too, although obviously they don't pay you in that period and that may or may not be feasible for you.  Good luck with it - and wanted to add that you are not the only person needing to defer due to covid, not by a really long way. Part of my work involves this type of thing, and yeah, it's quite busy right now.

23 hours ago, Smee said:

I’ve woken up this morning feeling generally unwell and fuzzy headed, so I get to play “is it covid? Is it hepatitis? Is it anxiety and sleep deprivation?”

Ah that sucks. My usual plan is to give it a day to see if it develops further and then get tested or not if no more symptoms develop. Usually it's anxiety/sleep/dehydration, but at least there's a plan if not. Also might be good to investigate getting the hep A/B vaccine so you can eat dates in peace! 

I really hope they sort out the rollout and you're able to get the vaccine soon. 

Edited August 7, 2021 by Ozlsn

[Cartmann99]

Us Averaging 100,000 New Covid-19 Infections A Day

Quote

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The COVID-19 outbreak in the United States crossed 100,000 new confirmed daily infections Saturday, a milestone last exceeded during the winter surge and driven by the highly transmissible delta variant and low vaccination rates in the South.

Health officials fear that cases, hospitalizations and deaths will continue to soar if more Americans don’t embrace the vaccine. Nationwide, 50% of residents are fully vaccinated and more than 70% of adults have received at least one dose.

“Our models show that if we don’t (vaccinate people), we could be up to several hundred thousand cases a day, similar to our surge in early January,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky said on CNN this week.

It took the U.S. about nine months to cross 100,000 average daily cases in November before peaking at about 250,000 in early January. Cases bottomed out in June, averaging about 11,000 per day, but six weeks later the number is 107,143.

Hospitalizations and deaths are also increasing, though all are still below peaks seen early this year before vaccines became widely available. More than 44,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, according to the CDC, up 30% in a week and nearly four times the number in June. More than 120,000 were hospitalized in January.

The seven-day average for deaths rose from about 270 deaths per day two weeks ago to nearly 500 a day as of Friday, according to Johns Hopkins University. Deaths peaked at 3,500 per day in January. Deaths usually lag behind hospitalizations as the disease normally takes a few weeks to kill.

The situation is particularly dire in the South, which has some of the lowest vaccination rates in the U.S. and has seen smaller hospitals overrun with patients.

In the Southeast, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients jumped 50% to a daily average of 17,600 over the last week from 11,600 the previous week, the CDC says. Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky represent 41% of the nation’s new hospitalizations, the CDC says, twice their overall share of the population.

Alabama and Mississippi have the lowest vaccination rates in the country: less than 35% of residents are fully inoculated, according to the Mayo Clinic. Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas are all in the lowest 15 states.

Alabama saw more than 65,000 doses wasted because health providers couldn’t find people to take them before they expired, according to State Health Officer Scott Harris. That represents less than 1.5% of the more than 5 million coronavirus vaccines doses that Alabama has received.

“Sixty-five thousand doses have been wasted. That’s extremely unfortunate when we have such a low vaccination rate and of course, there are so many people in the world that still don’t have access to vaccine,” Harris said.

[HaiLai]

Per the Governor's EO, schools in Texas are not allowed to require masks. However, large school districts, such as Dallas, Richardson, and Garland, are strongly encourging the use of masks.

My family and I live in a very red suburb close to Dallas. Unfortunately, our school district fully supports the governor's  EO.  The superintendent  has not recommended once the use of masks. He said it was a family decision to make.  Covid safety protocols? Nah, it's business as usual, which doesn't surprise me since most people in my area act like covid doesn't exist.

So, I'm really concerned about sending my teenager back to school next week. He's fully vaccinated, and the plan is for him to wear a mask, but he's a teenager and may succumb to peer pressure.

My anxiety level is through the roof!!