Coronavirus, Monkeypox, and Other Contagious Diseases

[jackd]

But now I read that Orange County is declaring a state of emergency. When you impact Disney World, even DiSantis may have take notice.

[goldenvalley]

Jul 28, 2021 19:44:27 GMT LFC said:

The fact is that there are a lot of people, especially the MAGAts, that can't live in a world of unknowns and in this case actual changing facts on the ground. That's why they "know" everything. It's so much more comfortable.

+1000  That is the problem.  Ambiguity panics people.  

[RichTBikkies]

Jul 28, 2021 19:54:21 GMT Bact PhD said:

Jul 28, 2021 17:47:51 GMT jackd said:

Especially Florida which ought to know better.

You’re kidding, right? I don’t refer to it as “Flori-DUH” for nothin’!

Florid . . . uh?

[Bact PhD]

Jul 29, 2021 7:45:28 GMT RichTBikkies said:

Jul 28, 2021 19:54:21 GMT Bact PhD said:

You’re kidding, right? I don’t refer to it as “Flori-DUH” for nothin’!

Florid . . . uh?

Bikkies, in American idiomatic English, the expression “duh!” is usually used to convey stupidity, as in “DUH! What did you think would happen when you stuck the stainless steel fork into the power outlet!?!”

[Bact PhD]

New variant has migrated from Colombia to South Florida, meaning it WILL be in my area within 2 weeks. GOODY.

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/07/28/colombia-variant-coronavirus-florida/

A coronavirus variant discovered in Colombia is showing up among patients in South Florida, increasing infections and putting health officials on alert as calls grow louder for unvaccinated individuals to get inoculated.


Carlos Migoya, CEO of Jackson Health System, told WPLG in Miami earlier this week that the B.1.621 variant has accounted for about 10 percent of coronavirus patients, trailing behind delta, the now-dominant variant in the United States that has been ravaging the nation’s unvaccinated, and the gamma variant. B.1.621 has yet to receive a Greek-letter designation as more prominent variants have.


Migoya told the news station that he speculated B.1.621 is rising in South Florida because of international travel between Colombia and Miami, which serves as a gateway to Latin America.

[jackd]

I said that Florida should know better, not that it did know better. It is only rivaled by New York for experience of the virus in any of its variations. DiSantis's attitude isn't just wrong, it's reckless.

[pnwguy]

Jul 29, 2021 18:12:17 GMT jackd said:

DiSantis's attitude isn't just wrong, it's reckless.

Making him the ideal candidate for MAGAts if Dumpster doesn't run in 2024.

"Good governance is for libtards.  Give us white grievance!!!"

[Bact PhD]

Jul 29, 2021 18:37:40 GMT pnwguy said:

Jul 29, 2021 18:12:17 GMT jackd said:

DiSantis's attitude isn't just wrong, it's reckless.

Making him the ideal candidate for MAGAts if Dumpster doesn't run in 2024.

"Good governance is for libtards.  Give us white grievance!!!"

I’m resigned to DeMinimis winning re-election next year and likely using that as a springboard for 2024.

[jackd]

No chance for Charlie Crist? I thought the red/blue split in Florida was close.

[RichTBikkies]

Jul 29, 2021 17:37:25 GMT Bact PhD said:

Jul 29, 2021 7:45:28 GMT RichTBikkies said:

Florid . . . uh?

Bikkies, in American idiomatic English, the expression “duh!” is usually used to convey stupidity, as in “DUH! What did you think would happen when you stuck the stainless steel fork into the power outlet!?!”

Oh . . . I knew that! I was not, in my invincible ignorance, correcting you; I was striking out on my own. 

I have on several occasions politely requested you all to

SMASH US CULTURAL IMPERIALISM.

I assure you, I didn't expect you to do this by smashing the whole USA, as you did in 2016. 

"You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!"

[LFC]

McCarthy goes full blown snowflake storm over the return of a mask mandate in the House.

House Republican leaders held a press conference on Thursday to deliver a powerful parting message to America before they head home for a two-month recess: We hate wearing masks at work.

“We have a country in crisis,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), gathered with GOP lawmakers in front of the Capitol.

He jumped from topic to topic to suggest a crisis ― crime, gas prices, border security ― before turning to new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about wearing masks as the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus spreads around the country. He called the nation’s top public health agency “a political arm” of the Biden administration and said it “wants to control every element of our life.”

And then, McCarthy shared how hard it has been for Republicans to put their masks on when they go into the House.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) reimposed a mask mandate on Tuesday after Dr. Brian Monahan, Congress’ attending physician, issued new recommendations saying that all House members and staff ― regardless of vaccination status ― must wear a “well-fitted, medical grade, filtration face mask” at work. The Senate’s mask policy is still largely voluntary for now, which House Republicans say isn’t fair since they have to wear masks.

“We stand out here in front of the Capitol by the chambers of the House, but as you look across on the other steps is the Senate. I’m not quite sure where the CDC got, but somewhere in the middle of that dome, the science changes,” McCarthy said to chuckles from his caucus.

“This is not the America we know,” he added. “This is not Pelosi’s house. This is the people’s house.”

"This is the people's house?" From the guy who is ready to turn it over to terrorists because it supports his fascist political agenda? Go f*** yourself, Kevin.

[goldenvalley]

Jul 29, 2021 20:25:44 GMT LFC said:

McCarthy goes full blown snowflake storm over the return of a mask mandate in the House.

"This is the people's house?" From the guy who is ready to turn it over to terrorists because it supports his fascist political agenda? Go f*** yourself, Kevin.

Poor Kevin...all he really wants is for enough Rs to win in 2022 so that he can become Speaker.  He wanted the terrorists gone on 1/6 but a week later decided his future lie in supporting them and pretending that 1/6 doesn't exist.  Now this mask/vaccine thing is complicating his pathway.  BTW his district is in the not very well vaccinated category.

[Bact PhD]

Jul 29, 2021 19:13:41 GMT jackd said:

No chance for Charlie Crist? I thought the red/blue split in Florida was close.

I’m not optimistic, assuming Crist even gets the (D) nomination. Ag Commissioner Nikki Fried has thrown her hat in the ring. Regardless, the storied closeness of the red/blue split has faded over the last few election cycles. With the exceptions of Obama & Senator Nelson in ‘12 and Fried in ‘18, it’s been all GOP in statewide races here in the last decade or so:
2010: Rubio, US Senate; Scott, Governor; pretty sure a GOP sweep of the Cabinet.

2012: Obama, US President; Nelson, US Senate

2014: Scott, Governor; pretty sure another GOP sweep of the Cabinet.

2016: Trump, US President; Rubio, US Senate

2018: DeSantis, Governor; Scott, US Senate; except for Ag Commission (Fried), GOP sweep of Cabinet.

2020: Trump, US President

Yes, the margins in the 2018 races were razor-thin; however, 2020 wasn’t all that close. Plus, consider the new voting laws here…

[indy]

Jul 29, 2021 23:05:54 GMT Bact PhD said:

Jul 29, 2021 19:13:41 GMT jackd said:

No chance for Charlie Crist? I thought the red/blue split in Florida was close.

I’m not optimistic, assuming Crist even gets the (D) nomination. Ag Commissioner Nikki Fried has thrown her hat in the ring. Regardless, the storied closeness of the red/blue split has faded over the last few election cycles. With the exceptions of Obama & Senator Nelson in ‘12 and Fried in ‘18, it’s been all GOP in statewide races here in the last decade or so:
2010: Rubio, US Senate; Scott, Governor; pretty sure a GOP sweep of the Cabinet.

2012: Obama, US President; Nelson, US Senate

2014: Scott, Governor; pretty sure another GOP sweep of the Cabinet.

2016: Trump, US President; Rubio, US Senate

2018: DeSantis, Governor; Scott, US Senate; except for Ag Commission (Fried), GOP sweep of Cabinet.

2020: Trump, US President

Yes, the margins in the 2018 races were razor-thin; however, 2020 wasn’t all that close. Plus, consider the new voting laws here…

My take as well. I was all but certain that FL was going to Trump in 2020 in spite of the polling that showed Biden up by about 2.5% on election day. Normally, I'm not one to override objective evidence with 'instinct' but I was pretty certain. I think when he won it in 2016 I threw in the towel on the state and moved it into the red column.

For the longest time I thought all the retirees streaming in from the northeast would cause it to teeter the other way. That was obviously wrong. I don't know, perhaps those drawn to retiring there are more generally of the red political persuasion, or they become more conservative, or some other dynamic I'm unaware of is going on. Anyway, I think it is red for now.

[Traveler]

And the fact that polling was off by a good 3% didnt help...

[Bact PhD]

Jul 30, 2021 11:22:48 GMT indy said:

Jul 29, 2021 23:05:54 GMT Bact PhD said:

I’m not optimistic, ...

Yes, the margins in the 2018 races were razor-thin; however, 2020 wasn’t all that close. Plus, consider the new voting laws here…

My take as well. I was all but certain that FL was going to Trump in 2020 in spite of the polling that showed Biden up by about 2.5% on election day. Normally, I'm not one to override objective evidence with 'instinct' but I was pretty certain. I think when he won it in 2016 I threw in the towel on the state and moved it into the red column.

For the longest time I thought all the retirees streaming in from the northeast would cause it to teeter the other way. That was obviously wrong. I don't know, perhaps those drawn to retiring there are more generally of the red political persuasion, or they become more conservative, or some other dynamic I'm unaware of is going on. Anyway, I think it is red for now.

(bold mine) That was true for decades, I'd say into the early 'aughts, even. However, the old-style New Deal-era New Yorkers, Jerseyites, and Pennsylvanians who settled in Southeast FL in the 1970s and '80s have died off. I posted in a different thread about the Latino/a Evangelical phenomenon, which IMO provides some context to what's going on in Southeast FL re shifts there (Hint: The talk is "personal responsibility", the underlying current is abortion). The BIG thing, though, is what's happened in the central part of the state (and to a lesser degree the Southwest coast): The Boomer-aged Midwesterners (especially from Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana) have retired to places like The Villages in DROVES, and these Midwesterners skew Red, heavily so.

[indy]

Jul 30, 2021 13:24:32 GMT Bact PhD said:

Jul 30, 2021 11:22:48 GMT indy said:

My take as well. I was all but certain that FL was going to Trump in 2020 in spite of the polling that showed Biden up by about 2.5% on election day. Normally, I'm not one to override objective evidence with 'instinct' but I was pretty certain. I think when he won it in 2016 I threw in the towel on the state and moved it into the red column.

For the longest time I thought all the retirees streaming in from the northeast would cause it to teeter the other way. That was obviously wrong. I don't know, perhaps those drawn to retiring there are more generally of the red political persuasion, or they become more conservative, or some other dynamic I'm unaware of is going on. Anyway, I think it is red for now.

(bold mine) That was true for decades, I'd say into the early 'aughts, even. However, the old-style New Deal-era New Yorkers, Jerseyites, and Pennsylvanians who settled in Southeast FL in the 1970s and '80s have died off. I posted in a different thread about the Latino/a Evangelical phenomenon, which IMO provides some context to what's going on in Southeast FL re shifts there (Hint: The talk is "personal responsibility", the underlying current is abortion). The BIG thing, though, is what's happened in the central part of the state (and to a lesser degree the Southwest coast): The Boomer-aged Midwesterners (especially from Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana) have retired to places like The Villages in DROVES, and these Midwesterners skew Red, heavily so.

Well, that makes sense. I guess much of the migration from the Midwest is heavily tilted toward white and affluent which would certainly tend to be Republicans in the Midwest and particularly in that age group.

[pnwguy]

Jul 30, 2021 13:24:32 GMT Bact PhD said:

 I posted in a different thread about the Latino/a Evangelical phenomenon, which IMO provides some context to what's going on in Southeast FL re shifts there (Hint: The talk is "personal responsibility", the underlying current is abortion). 

(bold mine) It seems the holy trinity of American Christian worship has now become:

Trump
Fetus
Guns

"Go ye into all the world, and own the libs"

Depending on what state you are in, the order can vary.

[Bact PhD]

Back to the virus: I just finished a WaPo piece concerning infection and transmission among the fully vaccinated, citing the latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the CDC:

www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7031e2.htm?s_cid=mm7031e2_w

What is added by this report?

In July 2021, following multiple large public events in a Barnstable County, Massachusetts, town, 469 COVID-19 cases were identified among Massachusetts residents who had traveled to the town during July 3–17; 346 (74%) occurred in fully vaccinated persons. Testing identified the Delta variant in 90% of specimens from 133 patients. Cycle threshold values were similar among specimens from patients who were fully vaccinated and those who were not.

What are the implications for public health practice?

Jurisdictions might consider expanded prevention strategies, including universal masking in indoor public settings, particularly for large public gatherings that include travelers from many areas with differing levels of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

The Good News is that severe infection and mortality are far, far lower in the vaccinated. The Bad News is that the vaccinated can still transmit the virus—the Delta variant, at least.

Shit.

[Deleted]

Jul 30, 2021 17:22:53 GMT Bact PhD said:

The Good News is that severe infection and mortality are far, far lower in the vaccinated. The Bad News is that the vaccinated can still transmit the virus—the Delta variant, at least.

Shit.

The analysis would be useful if it breaks down risk, especially of morbidity and mortality, by risk categories like age, health conditions, co-morbidities etc. (I have not read the report, so perhaps, it has the information I'm seeking.)

Also, the MA sample size is pretty small. I'm sure CDC has seen similar results replicated at other locations for them to be alarmed.

[jackd]

I just noticed that Walmart is requiring all its employees to be vaccinated by August 4th. That may have more influence in the red states than almost anything else could.

[pnwguy]

Jul 30, 2021 21:30:48 GMT jackd said:

I just noticed that Walmart is requiring all its employees to be vaccinated by August 4th. That may have more influence in the red states than almost anything else could.

It would be hard for the MAGA-verse to boycott Wal-Mart.  Most of them shop there or work there.

[jackd]

Now I learn it's just corporate employees. That's better than nothing, but if it applied to all store employees that would have potentially made a real difference.

[Rue Bella]

press release:


www.alz.org/aaic/releases_2021/covid-19-cognitive-impact.asp

DENVER, JULY 29, 2021 — Much has been learned about SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the novel coronavirus, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, questions remain about the long-term impact of the virus on our bodies and brains. New research reported at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference® (AAIC®) 2021, held virtually and in Denver found associations between COVID-19 and persistent cognitive deficits, including the acceleration of Alzheimer’s disease pathology and symptoms.

[LFC]

Jul 31, 2021 1:39:09 GMT jackd said:

Now I learn it's just corporate employees. That's better than nothing, but if it applied to all store employees that would have potentially made a real difference.

That shows that Walmart values their corporate people and view the store employees as disposable.