Derek Lowe said:Perversely, the current Delta variant may have done us a favor (although to be sure, I would rather it not have emerged at all). An earlier variant (Beta, the “351” strain) was actually better at evading vaccine protection than any of the others – not really to breakthrough levels, but certainly more than the rest. But it is disappearing from the world thanks to Delta being much more transmissible, and Delta is handled better by the vaccine-raised immune response. There are indeed vaccinated people who have come down with Delta infections, but the vast majority of cases are among the unvaccinated, a statistic that is seen most dramatically in areas where unvaccinated people are a minority of the population but are nonetheless the ones showing up infected.
The problem with Sydney's lockdown is that the government never said what was essential and what isn't. So EVERY store is still open.Yeah I read in the news that the virus has spread in the city despite the lockdown. Well, "spread" for Australian values of that word, but still, it shows that especially the Delta variant is no joke - as you can see when looking at the incidences in the Netherlands and Great Britain (although the Brits seem to reach the wave peak, some regions have already sinking numbers again).
I'm not talking about @CraigB here...
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But for real, does anybody actually give two shits about this? People in those states, are they really going to care?
I'm not talking about @CraigB here...
View attachment 3561795
But for real, does anybody actually give two shits about this? People in those states, are they really going to care?
Stolen from the New York Times, I think this map does a little better in pinpointing where the problem areas are.
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Most of those darker colored counties in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas are quite rural. Like the big town in the county may only have a few thousand people. Heck, the county in total may only have a few thousand total population.
I've highlighted my country for funsies. Note it has a total population of about 120,000. Both of the hospitals in town are reporting growing COVID-19 cases that need hospitalization. Yet there is no talk of a mask mandate from Joplin, the county or the state. Vaccinations are dropping off too. They are readily available and require no appointment at this time.
Is it in bad taste to say that first waves were vulnerable people dying, now it's the stupid that is? It's not like you can't get the vaccine, it's not like most if not all pharmacies have it, and it's not like it directly costs you money the day of to get the vaccine. It's straight up either laziness or stupidity or both.
NOW.
I understand there may be some with intense health problems that might prevent you from having one (cancer treatment, things like that), but that number cannot be the same as what we're seeing in infections. What, you're telling me that all those people with health problems that prevent a vaccine all live in rural areas?
That number is nonzero, but reasonably small - and easily bufferable wrt herd effects if everyone else got the shots.NOW.
I understand there may be some with intense health problems that might prevent you from having one (cancer treatment, things like that), but that number cannot be the same as what we're seeing in infections. What, you're telling me that all those people with health problems that prevent a vaccine all live in rural areas?
I blame Jenny McCarthy. She was the first one that I heard blame vaccines on causing autism. It's seemingly spiraled out of control from there.
Even she's backed off a tiny tiny bit, saying she's PRO vaccine, but that her stance is more about transparency of side effect data, decision-making empowerment, etc.
But, yeah...she definitely spearheaded the movement.
If she said that to start with, perhaps we'd be in a better place than we are now.
Plus, who gets their information on vaccines from a 2-bit B-celeb?
I blame Jenny McCarthy. She was the first one that I heard blame vaccines on causing autism. It's seemingly spiraled out of control from there. I guess all these people don't remember getting all their shots as children keeping them from horrible diseases.
Majority of Covid misinformation came from 12 people
CCDH, a UK/US non-profit and non-governmental organization, found in March that these 12 online personalities they dubbed the “disinformation dozen” have a combined following of 59 million people across multiple social media platforms, with Facebook having the largest impact.