March 28, 20214 yr 9 hours ago, xzmattzx said: I've seen more people not wearing a mask, or wearing a mask wrong, at the NCAA Tournament (coaches, players, and fans) than I have anywhere else since the pandemic started. My dad and grandfather had an extra ticket to the PIAA basketball championship up here last night (Reading vs. Archbishop Wood). I've been staying in, but they really wanted me to go, so I went. There were a lot of people in the stands who were straight-up maskless, but the most ridiculous thing to me was, to a man, all of the players had masks on pulled down below their mouths like chinstraps. I mean, if you're not even going to enforce the rule, why bother?
March 28, 20214 yr 9 hours ago, xzmattzx said: I've seen more people not wearing a mask, or wearing a mask wrong, at the NCAA Tournament (coaches, players, and fans) than I have anywhere else since the pandemic started. I went into a Hardee's yesterday and not a single customer was wearing a mask and all the workers had them down on their chins.
March 28, 20214 yr 2 hours ago, Bwestbrook36 said: I went into a Hardee's yesterday and not a single customer was wearing a mask and all the workers had them down on their chins. People don't want to wear masks even though all the propganda of how masks are great 2 hours ago, Bwestbrook36 said: I went into a Hardee's yesterday and not a single customer was wearing a mask and all the workers had them down on their chins. Why not use the drive through?
March 28, 20214 yr https://www.foxnews.com/politics/san-francisco-to-pay-essential-artists-1000-per-month-basic-income-in-pilot-program-amid-pandemic
March 28, 20214 yr Got my first jab yesterday. Fair play the UK overall has done a bad job during this pandemic but they've done an incredible job with the vaccine programme. I'm 31. We've been told all adults should get the first jab by end of July. I'll have had both jabs by end of June.
March 28, 20214 yr 5 hours ago, EaglesRocker97 said: My dad and grandfather had an extra ticket to the PIAA basketball championship up here last night (Reading vs. Archbishop Wood). I've been staying in, but they really wanted me to go, so I went. There were a lot of people in the stands who were straight-up maskless, but the most ridiculous thing to me was, to a man, all of the players had masks on pulled down below their mouths like chinstraps. I mean, if you're not even going to enforce the rule, why bother? 58-57, must have been a pretty good game. I used to go to watch those state playoffs with my dad. Played in a few (not the finals) as well. Tons of fun.
March 28, 20214 yr 7 minutes ago, DrPhilly said: 58-57, must have been a pretty good game. I used to go to watch those state playoffs with my dad. Played in a few (not the finals) as well. Tons of fun. It was. It kind of had a little bit of everything. Reading was down pretty good early in the game. Wood was making a bunch of 3s and had a pretty big size advantage. All 5 of their starters were seniors, but Reading battled back and actually dominated the 4th qtr. They had like a 5-pt. lead heading into the final minute, but some flukey things happened and it ended up going down to the wire. My dad's side the of them family is all from Reading. My aunt came along, too, so it was cool to share that moment with them.
March 28, 20214 yr 1 minute ago, EaglesRocker97 said: It was. It kind of had a little bit of everything. They were down pretty good early in the game. Wood was making a bunch of 3s and had a pretty big size advantage. All 5 of their starters were seniors, but Reading battled back and actually dominated the 4th qtr. They had like a 5-pt. lead heading into the final minute, but some flukey things happened and it ended up going down to the wire. My dad's side the of them family is all from Reading. My aunt came along, too, so it was cool to share that moment with them. Cool! Reading has had a lot of good teams thru the years. Glad they won! I haven't seen any of those games for like 25 years but I still always look at the brackets and follow the tourney every year. When I was a kid we'd watch the District 1 games in SE PA and up in Philly at the Palestra and then we'd go out your way and watch some of the state games in places like the Farm Show Arena and Hershey Arena. My dad loved it.
March 28, 20214 yr 1 minute ago, DrPhilly said: Cool! Reading has had a lot of good teams thru the years. Glad they won! I haven't seen any of those games for like 25 years but I still always look at the brackets and follow the tourney every year. When I was a kid we'd watch the District 1 games in SE PA and up in Philly at the Palestra and then we'd go out your way and watch some of the state games in places like the Farm Show Arena and Hershey Arena. My dad loved it. Yeah, it's cool being in an area where a lot of the high school playoffs are held. It's easy to take for granted growing up in those spots, but it's a privilege.
March 28, 20214 yr 4 hours ago, NVeagle said: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/san-francisco-to-pay-essential-artists-1000-per-month-basic-income-in-pilot-program-amid-pandemic Are essential artists kind of like jumbo shrimp?
March 29, 20214 yr 47 minutes ago, Kz! said: Let’s effing gooooo! It’s almost like they stopped counting. ALMOST!
March 29, 20214 yr 1 hour ago, xzmattzx said: Are essential artists kind of like jumbo shrimp? If that's the gender you identify with today, then yes.
March 29, 20214 yr 43 minutes ago, DBW said: It’s almost like they stopped counting. ALMOST! The numbers to look for soon will be hospitalizations not how many tested positive
March 29, 20214 yr GF was reportedly feeling like crap this morning after getting her second Pfizer shot yesterday afternoon (full disclosure: She's a baby). She reported body aches, head ache, fatigue, and slight nausea. She passed out hard for a few hours after a rough morning but appears to be coming around already. She just ate a full dinner, so it seems like she's having the typical 36-hr. ordeal. Personally, I'm feeling fine after knocking back a whole bottle of sauvignon blanc. They expect me to work two days this week
March 29, 20214 yr 3/21/21 Update from the Doc (week late with this one) https://www.nothingbutthetruthmd.com/2021/03/32121-covid-19-update.html PREMATURE I can think of premature as a prefix to many things, and none of them are good. We are currently being lead into a premature opening of our society. Those in charge and pushing for this return to normalcy have apparently learned little from recent or past histories. Inept leadership is again ignoring science, and the tragedy is the fact that patience for just four to six more weeks would have this recovery more matured and better able to fight off this virus. It is unfortunate that we cannot forgo gratification for just a little while longer. In another six weeks we will have another 20% or more of our society vaccinated and that could prove to be pivotal. We are beating the virus but we have not beaten it. We are moving to open society at a daily new case number that is almost double that in the spring of 2020 when we began closing society. Why would anyone think that is logical? Why should it work? The CDC has recently provided logical new guidelines for socialization based on science. It will take personal responsibility and accountability to adhere to these, and resist the temptation to follow the lemmings, ignoring the guidelines, over the cliff. This Pandemic has made it painfully clear how rare good leadership truly is. SCHOOLS Recently, Friday, the CDC released updated guidelines for distancing in schools, based on "science". I am not so sure that "science" as opposed to politics are behind the updated guidelines. The President was quick to follow hyping the "science". The CDC now states that 3 feet of distancing is adequate in schools. In my line of work I frequently encounter consultations from specialists who opine that "the risks of the procedure are acceptable". Acceptable to who? Has the patient been appraised of the risk to make this "acceptable" decision - NO! The informed consent should be based on providing the patient with digestible bits of information upon which he/she can then decide what is or is not acceptable. Since 2/12/21 the CDC has published five reports on K - 12 Covid transmission through their Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Portal. What follows is a summation of the findings of the reports so that parents who are reading this might make an informed decision about what is or is not acceptable to them. They can also decide whether these reports and the conclusions being made based on these reports seem to represent "science". Admittedly, the risks of school related transmission appear to be small. It is also possible that the experts at the CDC relied on other reports upon which to base their updated guidelines, but in the last three months I have not seen any reports in JAMA or NEJM that address the subject, two of the leading medical journals in this country. This process should be transparent and it is not. Until we better understand the potential long term sequela of non-hospitalized Covid-19 infections we should be cautious about doing anything that might increase those numbers. COVID-19 IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL SETTINGS DURING THE FIRST SEMESTER OF SCHOOL REOPENING, FLORIDA, AUGUST - DECEMBER 2020. T. Doyle PhD WMMR 3/19/21 During August 10 to December 21 a total of 63,654 Covid-19 cases were reported in school aged children, 60% of the cases did not appear to be school related. Suggesting that 0.9% of the infections were school related. Less than 11% of the K-12 schools reported outbreaks. This study does not specify distancing parameters. LOW SARS-COV-2 TRANSMISSION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS - UTAH LAKE COUNTY, UTAH, DECEMBER 3 2020 - JANUARY 31, 2021 R. B. Hershaw, PhD WMMR 3/19/21 SARS -CoV-2 testing was offered to 1041 school contacts of 51 index patients across 20 elementary schools in Salt Lake County. In a high community transmission setting, low school associated transmission was observed with a 0.7% secondary attack rate. Mask adherence was high, but student class room seats were less than 6 feet apart with a median of 3, feet that means that half of the seats were greater than 3 feet. The authors state "schools can be opened safely with minimal in school transmission when critical preventive strategies including mask use are involved even though maintaining greater than 6 feet between seats might not be possible." This study has four self admitted limitations, one of which was the possibility of missed contacts. To them, I would add that these were elementary schools where transmission is known to be low. This extremely small numbers (half of the 1041 were distanced greater than 3 feet) are the basis of what I consider a "premature" recommendation that will effect tens of millions of students of all ages. I also note that their 0.7% transmission is not much different than 0.9% transmission noted in the much larger study from Florida where all ages were included. PILOT INVESTIGATION OF SARS-CoV-2 SECONDARY TRANSMISSION IN KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE 12 SHOOLS. IMPLEMENTING MITIGATION STRATEGIES - ST. LOUIS COUNTY AND CITY OF SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI, DECEMBER 2020 P. Dawson PhD WMMR 3/19/21 102 school based contacts tested positive 2% of the time indicating possible school based transmission. Distancing was greater than 3 feet 100% of the time and greater than 6 feet 27% of the time. There were plastic barriers between the teachers and the students 98% of the time and the schools upgraded their air handling capabilities. MINIMAL SARS-COv-2 TRANSMISSION AFTER IMPLEMENTING A COMPREHENSIVE MITIGATION STRATEGY AT SCHOOL - NEW JERSEY, AUGUST 20 - NOVEMBER 27, 2020 K. Volp, PhD WMMR 3/19/2021 Physical distancing greater than 6 feet and improved air handling in the schools were implemented. CLUSTERS OF SARS-CoV-2 INFECTION AMONG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS IN ONE SCHOOL DISTRICT - GEORGIA - DECEMBER 2020 -- JANUARY 2021 Jeremy Gold, MD WMMR 2/22/2021 The investigation included 24 in person school days from December 1, 2020 to January 22, 2021. Approximately 2600 students (approximately 80% of the districts elementary school students) and 700 staff members were included in this study. Community cases in the district increased 300% during the investigative period. Thirteen educators and 32 students were infected.(1.2%, but this study does not specify in school transmission) All nine of the transmission clusters involved less than ideal physical distancing, less than 3 feet. The "science" as reported in the WMMR since 2/22/21 on school transmission. Factors such as improved air handling and the utilization of plastic barriers, which have an effect on transmission, were not factored in to the results This is what is reported. I leave it to you to decide whether the "scientific" evidence that is reported in these 5 studies reassures you that 3 feet is adequate distancing. Doctor Walter Reed, working for the United States Army Yellow Fever Board in 1900 did not solve the puzzle of yellow fever with "science" such as this. It should be noted that the Fever Boards informed consent process was clouded at best. We owe a debt of gratitude to those scientists and military personnel, who allowed themselves to be bitten by mosquitos suspected of carrying yellow fever. At a time when care was essentially palliative, some became gravely ill and some died. Certainly, if 6 feet is not possible, than decisions must be made by parents who have been informed of the "science" as we currently understand it, so that they might look after the well being of their children as they see fit. Of course, we could just wait until September instead of initiating this now. Most likely every adult in the US who wanted to be vaccinated would have received their vaccination, probably many children will be vaccinated by then and the risk of transmission will be much lower. This week in a report in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Astra Zeneca vaccine was found to be no better than placebo against the South African variant B.1.351. Numerous countries have discontinued the use of this vector vaccine. FOUR MONTH CLINICAL STATUS OF A COHORT OF PATIENTS AFTER HOSPITALIZATION FOR COVID-19. The writing committee for the COMEBAC study group JAMA 3/17/21 This was a four month follow up after hospitalization for Covid-19 from a University Hospital in France. There were 244 patients interviewed by phone four months after discharge. 31% reported ongoing fatigue 21% reported cognitive dysfunction 16% reported dyspnea 63% had abnormal lung scan 19% had fibrotic lung lesions In this country we do not have good data for cumulative hospitalizations but it is safe to assume that we have had at least 5 to 6 million hospitalized for Covid-19. If our morbidity is anything like what was found in this study, we will have significant numbers of long term problems. NUMBERS Vaccinations - 2.25 million vaccinations were performed daily this week. We now have 79.4 million people who have received at least one dose and 43 million who have received two doses. The Federal Government received 21 million new doses of vaccine this week. I was hoping that we would have vaccinated more now that we have adequate supplies of the vaccine coming in. There does appear to be more vaccination centers opening, I am hoping that the daily average vaccinations will increase shortly. Deaths - 541,738 (7461 for the week, down from 10,015 the week before) New Cases - 380,030 new cases this week, up from 363,896. Leadership ignores the science or make up their own, and people just don't learn. Very frustrating. This may get somewhat worse before we have enough vaccinated to reverse this trend. Case fatality rate calculated from October 15th 2020 - 1.49 Enjoy the day Live safer Be Well
March 29, 20214 yr 3/28/21 Update from the Doc https://www.nothingbutthetruthmd.com/2021/03/32821-covid-19-update.html Rising New Infections: "In our democracy, where the government is truly an agent of the popular will, dependent on public opinion, policy will be as good or bad as the public is well informed or poorly informed regarding the factors that bear on the subject.." (Gen. George Marshall 1939) It is the duty of the government to keep the populace well informed, to develop a policy that will advance and protect the interests of the American people. That has not, and is not happening, as it relates to the containment of Covid-19. There has been an abdication of responsibility, a dereliction of duty. Political leadership and those in positions of responsibility are ignoring history and the hard lessons that have gotten us to where we are. They ignores how the past has produced the present. People will continue to get sick and people will continue to die, much of this could have been prevented with responsible leadership. I do not know how these "leaders" can look themselves in the mirror! Rutgers University Announced on Thursday that students will be required to show proof of vaccination to return to in person classes beginning the fall semester. Finally, leadership that understands the science and acts appropriately. SARS-CoV-2 INFECTION AFTER VACCINATION IN HEALTHCARE WORKERS IN CALIFORNIA NEJAM Joecelyn Keehner, MD et al. March 23, 2021 This is a unique study in that it may be the only post vaccination investigation that did large numbers of surveillance testing. For that reason, efficacy numbers are different than trial data released by the two mRNA vaccine Companies, Moderna and Pfizer, which primarily tested only symptomatic patients in the trials. Also, this was a younger, healthier group of people than was included in the vaccine trials. From 12/16/20 through 2/9/20 a total of 36,659 healthcare workers received the first dose of vaccine and 28,184 had received the second dose. Among vaccinated healthcare workers, 379 staff tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 at least one day after the first vaccination and the majority of these workers (71%) tested positive within the first two weeks after vaccination with the first dose. Day 1 - 7 145 Day 8 - 14 125 Day 15 - 21 57 Day 22- until second dose 15 After receiving both doses 37 healthcare workers tested positive. Of these 22 tested positive in the first seven days after the second vaccination, eight tested positive in days eight through fourteen after the second vaccination and seven tested positive after 15 days or more. At the University of California San Diego, weekly surveillance testing began on 12/16/20 At the University of California, Los Angeles, weekly surveillance testing began 12/26/20 Two weeks after the second dose the positivity rate was 0.05%. The overall positivity rate in these two cohorts of healthcare workers was 1.19% NUMBERS Deaths - 548,765 ( Up 6927 for the week but down from 7461 the week before) Vaccinations - This week we averaged 2.68 million doses per day, 18.76 million vaccinations for the week. Over 50 million citizens have completed a vaccination schedule. The US received 23,446,613 vaccines from drug makers. Very, very encouraging. New Weekly Cases - There were 424,021 new cases this week. That is up from 380,030 the week before and 363,896 the week before that. It is truly unfortunate that political leadership is so very ineffective and that others in positions of responsibility continue to ignore the science that could have put an end to this. Collectively, they make decisions that put citizens health in jeopardy. Many of these newly infected patients will be hospitalized, about 1.5% will die, (about 6300 deaths from this weeks new cases in the next 30 to 40 days) many who are hospitalized and even those who had mild disease will develop comorbidities that last for months. The citizens themselves are not blameless. The science is not difficult to understand, it is akin to ignoring a red light and walking out onto a busy street with your eyes closed! Case Fatality Rate - 1.5% We know that with SARS and MERS, with case fatality rates of 10% and 35% respectively, society took mitigation efforts very seriously. Somewhere between 1.5% and 10% may have done the trick? Maybe another million deaths and people might have behaved differently. Enjoy the rest of the day Live safer Be Well
March 29, 20214 yr This is why not everybody deserves a megaphone on Twitter. VAERS does not track how many people die because of a vaccine. Deaths reported under VAERS are almost exclusively in the 65+ category, even into March as those under 65 are getting vaccinated. You know what's also true about those in the 65+ category? They die, a lot. Crazy, right? Pre-COVID, if you add all categories above 65 years of age, 6.7% of those over 65 die each year. That said, yes these vaccines have not been tested as broadly as we would like. And there are likely to be side effects, including fatal for a small number of people. But as with all things, the question is the trade-off. If we do not vaccinate, we might expect as many as 500k more to die before this virus ran its natural course. If we DO vaccinate, there may be a small but not insignificant number of people who die because these vaccines are pretty rough on the body. Which is the better path?
March 29, 20214 yr 1 hour ago, Kz! said: Damn, this is shocking if true: Its not........ Dudes a f'ing lunatic
March 29, 20214 yr Just got an invite to schedule my appt on Saturday at Ford Field. Here's to hoping it's not the J&J viral vector.
March 29, 20214 yr Just now, we_gotta_believe said: Just got an invite to schedule my appt on Saturday at Ford Field. Here's to hoping it's not the J&J viral vector. Why not?
March 29, 20214 yr Just now, we_gotta_believe said: Lesser efficacy, potentially. Potentially. But you have to consider that the trials were done during the end of the year when it was spiking vs the other two that were done during the summer. Also some of the trials were done in South Africa where the new strain took hold. That will skew the numbers considering the other two are also known to have a lower efficacy against it.
March 29, 20214 yr 6 minutes ago, paco said: Potentially. But you have to consider that the trials were done during the end of the year when it was spiking vs the other two that were done during the summer. Also some of the trials were done in South Africa where the new strain took hold. That will skew the numbers considering the other two are also known to have a lower efficacy against it. Yea I know, I read through the analysis and I compared just the US trial data. It's not apples to apples, but it's enough for preferential bias. Gimme dat good ish, fam.
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