On Topic Discussion 2019 Coronavirus (COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2)

[spunkfunker]

A little Halloween humor from Adam Rippon

 

[Kulindahr]

I'm still waiting

You put me in Jeopardy!

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.

I can't remember -- that's why I asked!

 

[belamyi]

I can't remember -- that's why I asked!

I know

 

[Harke the Boeotarch]

This is the song that doesn´t end...

... parts of The Netherlands are code red. Again.

 

[KaraBulut]

....parts of The Netherlands are code red. Again.

The Netherlands was a little slow in getting their vaccination program going. Most of their vaccinations occurred in June and July and the population is now 68% vaccinated (84% of the population over age 12). They are using Pfizer and Moderna- the two mRNA vaccines that are very effective.

Unfortunately, they relaxed restrictions and opened public gathering spaces in June before their vaccination campaign got most of the population fully vaccinated. Most of the surge seems to be in the 18-30 age group and it seems to be connected to public gatherings like night clubs.

Weekly New Cases - Netherlands

• 07-Aug: 19,266
• 14-Aug: 20,026
• 21-Aug: 15,680
• 28-Aug: 18,913
• 04-Sep: 20,930
• 11-Sep: 15,353
• 18-Sep: 16,716
• 25-Sep: 10,641
• 02-Oct: 13,714
• 09-Oct: 16,145
• 16-Oct: 20,717
• 23-Oct: 32,492
• 24-Oct: 47,858

There are about 1,200 people in hospitals at the moment. Something unusual- 44% of the people in the hospital say they were fully vaccinated which is about 4-5 times the rates seen in the US.

Has the health ministry commented on why there's a surge? Is this hitting the unvaccinated population? Have they identified which strain is causing the surge?

 

[Kulindahr]

This is the song that doesn´t end...

.

My niece loved that song when she was little, though she had the words a little different. Then when we went hiking one day she started singing...

This is the trail that has no end,
it just goes on and on, my friend,
Some people started hiking it, not knowing what it was,
and now they'll go on hiking it forever just because
this is the trail that has no end....

 

[Kulindahr]

Our county was above 70% of eligible people vaccinated until recently when they started vaccinating younger folks; now we're struggling back towards that figure, presently at 67.7%.

The estimate is that 25% of the people here are refusing to get a vaccine; about 5% refuse to wear a mask, and stores have stopped enforcing the "mask required" rule. This is not merely stupid, it's hurting vaccinated people because some locally-owned businesses have shut down because the idiot owners refused to be vaccinated! It just floors me that so many of the anti-vaxers are members of churches, some even spouting that what the people in their church do is the business of their church only, as though they don't interact with anyone else -- which to me is cult-like behavior.

 

[KaraBulut]

... It just floors me that so many of the anti-vaxers are members of churches, some even spouting that what the people in their church do is the business of their church only, as though they don't interact with anyone else -- which to me is cult-like behavior.

Out of curiosity, when you say "churches", are these mainstream denominations or the more "charismatic" churches?

The reason that I ask is that, of the people that I know, every older person who is a member of the UMC, LCUSA, TEC and the more old-school denominations were getting in line back in March. It's the independent pentecostal churches that have seemed to be more prone to anti-vax and "freedom" propaganda. I've even seen "mark of the beast" (Rev 13:17) references with the "magnet" and RFID memes from the QAnon and charismatic evangelical crowd.

 

[belamyi]

Just over 6,000 people (in a total of 270,000) received the first "third doses" in my town during the past week. 203.154 fully vaccinated.

 

[Kulindahr]

Out of curiosity, when you say "churches", are these mainstream denominations or the more "charismatic" churches?

The reason that I ask is that, of the people that I know, every older person who is a member of the UMC, LCUSA, TEC and the more old-school denominations were getting in line back in March. It's the independent pentecostal churches that have seemed to be more prone to anti-vax and "freedom" propaganda. I've even seen "mark of the beast" (Rev 13:17) references with the "magnet" and RFID memes from the QAnon and charismatic evangelical crowd.

UMC here has probably hit 95% vaccinated of those who can currently get the shots.

But there are a string of Baptist churches, a couple of Seventh-Day Adventists, conservative Lutherans, an Episcopal church with members across the political spectrum, and yes, some of the fundamentalist types.

 

[belamyi]

Back to middle-high risk in Spain: 51.6.

 

[KaraBulut]

UMC here has probably hit 95% vaccinated of those who can currently get the shots.

That's very consistent with what I've seen in practice and in my personal circle of friends. Members of the old "mainstream" denomination were also the first to line up for boosters since most qualified either on their age or medical condition.

But there are a string of Baptist churches, a couple of Seventh-Day Adventists, conservative Lutherans, an Episcopal church with members across the political spectrum, and yes, some of the fundamentalist types.

I'd add an observation here: the non-denominational and non-mainstream church crowd who are vaccine resistant are in a middle-range agewise- they seem to be in that ballpark of 40-50 years - the ones who joined churches after the 1970-1990 Religious Right, Campus Crusade for Christ and Charismatic movements. They're a vocal minority and regionally biased- for example, you're less likely to find them in south Florida compared to north Florida; more likely in rural Mississippi than in rural Oregon.

 

[Kulindahr]

That's very consistent with what I've seen in practice and in my personal circle of friends. Members of the old "mainstream" denomination were also the first to line up for boosters since most qualified either on their age or medical condition.


I'd add an observation here: the non-denominational and non-mainstream church crowd who are vaccine resistant are in a middle-range agewise- they seem to be in that ballpark of 40-50 years - the ones who joined churches after the 1970-1990 Religious Right, Campus Crusade for Christ and Charismatic movements. They're a vocal minority and regionally biased- for example, you're less likely to find them in south Florida compared to north Florida; more likely in rural Mississippi than in rural Oregon.

There are gobs of people here in the 18 to 40 age range who refuse to get shots. I'm not sure what churches they attend except for a few from the Conservative Baptist and Seventh Day Adventist. I'd be willing to bet that a lot of them are Church of the Nazarene, though; they're amazingly right-wing politically.

There's a Church of Christ in town that has older members who are more liberal, who have probably all gotten vaccinated, but a bunch of younger members (under 30) who are Trump fans, so that church is kind of split.

One store is even offering 20% off a grocery purchase for people who get vaccinated right there in the store, and that's had only a small impact. That's insanity to me; seriously, it's getting paid to get vaccinated and people still refuse! If I hadn't been vaccinated already I'm go in and stock up on three months worth of groceries and save over a hundred bucks!

 

[belamyi]

Vaccination rates in BCN city

-clickable-


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source: https://beteve.cat/societat/ritme-vacunacio-barcelona-barris/

Rather than wealth, you get a picture of the "distribution of well-being/life quality".

 

[KaraBulut]

NY Times has been doing some analysis looking at how COVID-19 has impacted different areas of the US.

One consistent finding is that, while 2020 COVID-19 cases hit areas with high population density, the 2021 surges have been different. The vaccines have changed the face of COVID-19 cases and COVID-19 deaths.

This chart reveals how the 2021 COVID-19 surges have impacted areas of the country that voted for Trump. The higher the percentage of the population that voted for Trump, the worse the impacts of the Delta variant surge in those same areas.

U.S. Covid Deaths Get Even Redder [NY Times]

...The true explanation is straightforward: The vaccines are remarkably effective at preventing severe Covid, and almost 40 percent of Republican adults remain unvaccinated, compared with about 10 percent of Democratic adults.

Charles Gaba, a Democratic health care analyst, has pointed out that the gap is also evident at finer gradations of political analysis: Counties where Trump received at least 70 percent of the vote have an even higher average Covid death toll than counties where Trump won at least 60 percent. (Look up your county.)

As a result, Covid deaths have been concentrated in counties outside of major metropolitan areas. Many of these are in red states, while others are in red parts of blue or purple states, like Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Virginia and even California.

 

[Rickrock]

Is anyone still sterilizing their groceries and items bought before putting them away?

 

[Kulindahr]

^
And meanwhile our county here suffers from not just the "red effect", but also every time things open up a bit more we get people flooding in from the urban areas.

Sometimes it sucks to have gobs of beautiful scenery!

 

[Kulindahr]

Is anyone still sterilizing their groceries and items bought before putting them away?

That I don't know, but I see a fair number of people at the stores sanitizing their (reusable) bags. I just mist the cart I'm using and wipe the handle.

And I watched one guy stocking shelves wipe each shelf before stocking it; he also wore gloves and sprayed them between shelves. And at the self-checkout, each station was wiped thoroughly between customers -- platform, scanner, bag area, card reader, everything.

 

[KaraBulut]

Is anyone still sterilizing their groceries and items bought before putting them away?

I know people who did this before COVID-19. There's no evidence that groceries are a vector for COVID-19 spread, but given that the groceries were handled by workers who were handling poultry and vegetables that may have bacterial contamination, it's not an outlandish idea to wipe down or wash grocery items.

 

[Araucaria]

Is anyone still sterilizing their groceries and items bought before putting them away?

I don't sanitize my groceries, but I always use hand sanitizer when I get to my car after visiting the store, and I wash my hands at home after I put the groceries away. My cousin told me in the early days of the pandemic that he'd always let a delivered package sit for three days before he'd touch it. From what I remember he said that most coronavirus would die on surfaces within a day, but three days would pretty much ensure they were all dead. I try to follow that, so I try not to handle my groceries for three days if I can help it. Come to think of it, that's probably something I should have checked up on myself. Anyway, contact with surfaces has generally not proven to be a path of contagion-- I haven't heard of anyone getting the disease that way, since Covid is principally spread by airborne transmission.