One year of COVID, a reflection.

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The_Impeacher wrote:

We did what we had to do to keep our country safe while cases were raging in the US. Border protections will remain for a while, but people participating in the vaccine effort are helping the cause.

Vaccines work.

Of course vaccines work. It is a scientific fact that vaccines work. Vaccines have eradicated some horrible diseases like polio.

The sad thing about healthy people refusing to get the vaccine is that immune compromised people that can't get the vaccine or that the vaccine won't work on remain very vulnerable to getting the disease and potentially dying.

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The_Impeacher wrote:

The greatest concern at the moment is the even more highly contagious and deadly Delta variant. What the anti-vaccine [Removed by Support] people don't understand is that if all people get vaccinated, the thing will die out. The longer people refuse to let go of the delusional conspiracy theories, the longer coronavirus will continue on, morphing into even more dangerous variants.

That too but I have a sister and a very good friend in the immune compromised category and so that is of particular concern to me.

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The_Impeacher wrote:

The greatest concern at the moment is the even more highly contagious and deadly Delta variant. What the anti-vaccine [Removed by Support] people don't understand is that if all people get vaccinated, the thing will die out. The longer people refuse to let go of the delusional conspiracy theories, the longer coronavirus will continue on, morphing into even more dangerous variants.

Vaccination is voluntary. I don't expect everyone to do so. People shouldn't promote unrealistic goals and I expect herd immunity could take a while. Nearly 40% of the population in US has now gotten at least one dose of a vaccine, that isn't so bad compared to many countries in the rest of the world. There is a huge problem with vaccine supply, 75% of the vaccines have gone to only 10 countries globally.

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The_Impeacher wrote:

Herd immunity is unattainable as long as variants continue to evolve. Until more people are vaccinated globally, distancing, masking and other health recommendations must be followed to stop the spread. In some places, lockdowns will still be necessary.

Some places will never reach vaccination herd immunity required with lack of vaccines, profound poverty and poor healthcare. Less restrictive future lockdowns to resume economic activities will be likely as covid-19 fatigue set in. Covid 19 pandemic will probably end in certain region probably in more advance developed countries but rages on in other part of the world in underdeveloped countries.

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Maxxx17 wrote:

As negative as I am about vaccinations. I had to get two vaccines recently. All because they did the most horrible quarantine. And I can't get anywhere. And I have to travel all the time for work. It's the only way I travel to cities and countries. You call this "unforced" vaccination? Seriously? Very funny to be honest... Well, I'm glad they let me travel around cities at all. I couldn't do it without a job. I'm giving it all up. Even create maps of the trip in advance for convenience. I'm a so-called map creator. I know a little about programming, so it was no problem. It's a pity I now have to get vaccinated regularly.

It is voluntary, but it is frowned upon to refuse to vaccinate and not help to do your part to contain the spread. It is only fair to put travel restrictions for those who refuse to vaccinate because you endanger other people and put people at risk. Voluntary implies full consciousness of the nature of one's act and its intended consequences, and also the responsibilities, blame, fault or wrong... of your actions. You are free but not free without consequences ... You are free to choose, but you are not free to decide the consequences of your decisions. Freedom does not come without a price. In any choice we make, there are consequences.

+1 on rights and responsibilities. John Locke said it better. "We give up some of our freedoms to gain legally binding rights in a greater society" or something along those lines.

Not only that, but at this point, if you're not vaccinated, I'm potentially more dangerous to you than you are to me. I've gotten my shots and if I catch it, I'm likely to recover without issues; but I could pass it to you and then you could be one of the unlucky ones who appear young and healthy but die anyway. Or you might become permanently and profoundly disabled and a burden on your family or society.

now I don't know you, but if someone told me something I failed to do yesterday killed or sickened another person because I chose to ignore it, I'd be gutted. Now imagine if it wasn't just one other person, but 5-8 other people depending on who else in your family you talked to that day. Your children, your spouse? Your parents or grandparents? How could I know who would catch it?

By stepping up and doing your part, you're taking a load off my conscience, along with all the other benefits of having 600% less chance of dying should you catch it.

The economy doesn't exist without healthy people to participate in it, in whatever ways they can. Worry about the stocks and quarterly targets later. Find a way to generate value with what you have.

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The_Impeacher wrote:

as long as variants continue to evolve.

It's a virus, and it has and will continue to mutate.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/variant-info.html#anchor_1632154493691

I don't have a link to the archived stories initially published, but when the first cases were detected in the United States, the Seattle Flu Study had been collecting influenza swabs from thousands of people for months. The swab and preservative used are the same ones we use for "nasal" Covid PCR tests, which meant the Seattle Flu Study was able to check for Covid among those tests.

What they found was evidence that there were almost certainly six variants in the Unites States at the time, and when we thought we had a half dozen cases, there were likely a few thousand. (They estimated 24 per 10,000 population - out of 2 million people in the area)

I am rather disappointed that with all the people getting vaccinations and the known variation in the disease, we aren't seeing the vaccine companies offer updated booster shots (where they try to cover "variants of concern. With the annual flu shots, for instance, they try to update them every year for the four most prominent/dangerous strains. It's a best educated guess effort, but at least they try.

IMO, we should be seeing some sort of effort towards this, and if they are working on it already, they should be discussing it to give people more confidence in what they are working on. Transparency and honesty go a very long way in helping persuade people to making good decisions about their medical care. The medical industry doesn't always have the answers, but letting people know what we know, what we don't know and what we hope to achieve helps alleviate some of the anxiety, so that people can enjoy their best life and minimize the disruptions caused by a potential illness.


(The Seattle Flu study was forced to drop their analysis of Covid patterns among the early collections, because the participants had only agreed to be tested for influenza, and not for Covid-19, which wasn't known to exist when the first samples were collected)

Story about the initial efforts of Seattle Flu Study (they started in Jan 2019)
https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/1st-of-its-kind-seattle-flu-study-aims-to-stop-flu-before-it-becomes-pandemic/912665236/
or https://archive.md/W66aJ

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crunkatog wrote:

+1 on rights and responsibilities. John Locke said it better. "We give up some of our freedoms to gain legally binding rights in a greater society" or something along those lines.

Not only that, but at this point, if you're not vaccinated, I'm potentially more dangerous to you than you are to me. I've gotten my shots and if I catch it, I'm likely to recover without issues; but I could pass it to you and then you could be one of the unlucky ones who appear young and healthy but die anyway. Or you might become permanently and profoundly disabled and a burden on your family or society.

now I don't know you, but if someone told me something I failed to do yesterday killed or sickened another person because I chose to ignore it, I'd be gutted. Now imagine if it wasn't just one other person, but 5-8 other people depending on who else in your family you talked to that day. Your children, your spouse? Your parents or grandparents? How could I know who would catch it?

By stepping up and doing your part, you're taking a load off my conscience, along with all the other benefits of having 600% less chance of dying should you catch it.

The economy doesn't exist without healthy people to participate in it, in whatever ways they can. Worry about the stocks and quarterly targets later. Find a way to generate value with what you have.

You can still get covid and transmit it with all the shots, Vacc is for high risk people so they dont die if they get it.

I suspect most who are promoting it are in the high risk catagory.