The COVID-2019 Thread

[misskit]

Woohoo!

Fully vaccinated? You can ditch the mask, CDC says

[russellsimpson]

Woohoo indeed!

I'm too lazy to read the entire article but I see no mention of how people will be checked, or is it that people's word will be taken which I find to be quite naive.

And this,

Vaccinated people need some sort of reward," Schaffner said.

No they bloody well don't. Do these high ranking officials really feel that they should be treating people like errant children?

But hey, I'm with the crowd. Hooray! I am overjoyed.

Free! Free at last.

[havnfun]

no mention of how people will be checked

Whoa.

[misskit]

Guess it is a wait and see if another outbreak occurs among the anti-vaxxers. I do worry but can do nothing for those who refuse a jab.

[OhOh]

if another outbreak occurs among the anti-vaxxers

The vaccines stop vaccinated people from carrying/passing on/infecting other people then?

That's a breakthrough, when did the WHO/vaccine sellers announce that?

[Buckaroo Banzai]

The vaccines stop vaccinated people from carrying/passing on/infecting other people then?

That's a breakthrough, when did the WHO/vaccine sellers announce that?

From the US CDC:
"The risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection in fully vaccinated people cannot be completely eliminated as long as there is continued community transmission of the virus. Vaccinated people could potentially still get COVID-19 and spread it to others. However, the benefits of relaxing some measures such as testing and self-quarantine requirements for travelers, post-exposure quarantine requirements and reducing social isolation may outweigh the residual risk of fully vaccinated people becoming ill with COVID-19 or transmitting the virus to others. "
Science Brief: Background Rationale and Evidence for Public Health Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated People

[russellsimpson]

However, the benefits of relaxing some measures such as testing and self-quarantine requirements for travelers, post-exposure quarantine requirements and reducing social isolation may outweigh the residual risk of fully vaccinated people becoming ill with COVID-19 or transmitting the virus to others. "

Of course, there should be a constitutional requirement for these folks to communicate in plain English

[pickel]

I shudder to think of the situation in Africa as this moves forward.

Africa has had 2.9 % of the global cases, while comprising roughly 12 % of the global population. Looks like they're doing fine.

Snubbie made the same prediction when the pandemic first hit that Africa would be a horror show, and then look what happened to America.

As I've said before, if Africa was shite at fighting pandemics we'd all have ebola by now.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Of course, there should be a constitutional requirement for these folks to communicate in plain English

There are those who for political reasons would try to misrepresents and embarrassed the CDC and Biden administration , hence the careful language.
Simply said. The benefits of relaxing restrictions for vaccinated people far outweigh the small risk that vaccinated people present, of acquiring and/or transmitting the virus

[bsnub]

Advice from federal health officials that fully vaccinated people could drop their masks in most settings came as a surprise to Americans, from state officials to scientific experts. Even the White House got less than a day’s notice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the press secretary, Jen Psaki, said at a news briefing on Friday.

“The C.D.C., the doctors and medical experts there, are the ones who determined what this guidance would be based on their own data, and what the timeline would be,” Ms. Psaki said. “That was not a decision directed by or made by the White House.”

For months, federal officials have vigorously warned that wearing masks and social distancing were necessary to contain the pandemic. So what changed?

Introducing the new recommendations on Thursday, Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the C.D.C. director, cited two recent scientific findings as significant factors: Few vaccinated people become infected with the virus, and transmission seems rarer still; and the vaccines appear to be effective against all known variants of the coronavirus.

There is no doubt at this point that the vaccines are powerful. On Friday, the C.D.C. released results from another large study showing that the vaccines made by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna are 94 percent effective in preventing symptomatic illness in those who were fully vaccinated, and 82 percent effective even in those only partly vaccinated.

“The science is quite clear on this,” said Zoë McLaren, a health policy expert at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Mounting evidence indicates that people who are vaccinated are highly unlikely to catch or transmit the virus, she noted.

The risk “is definitely not zero, but it’s clear that it’s very low,” she said.

One of the lingering concerns among scientists had been that even a vaccinated person might carry the virus — perhaps briefly, without symptoms — and spread it to others. But C.D.C. research, including the new study, has consistently found few infections among those who received the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

“This study, added to the many studies that preceded it, was pivotal to C.D.C. changing its recommendations for those who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19,” Dr. Walensky said in a statement on Friday.

Other recent studies confirm that people who are infected after vaccination carry too little virus to infect others, said Florian Krammer, a virologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“It’s really hard to even sequence the virus sometimes because there’s very little virus, and it’s there for a short period of time,” he said.

Still, most of the data has been gathered on the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, Dr. Krammer cautioned. Because Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine was authorized later, there are fewer studies assessing its effectiveness.

In clinical trials, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had 72 percent efficacy — lower than the figure for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. And effectiveness was measured in terms of moderate and severe disease, rather than mild disease.

“It’s a very good vaccine, and I’m sure it will save many, many, many lives,” Dr. Krammer said. “But we need more data on how well the J.&J. vaccine prevents infection, and how well it prevents transmission.”

Variants of the virus have been a particular worry for scientists. While Dr. Walensky cited evidence showing that the mRNA vaccines like those from Pfizer and Moderna are effective against the variants circulating in the United States, there is little data about variants and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. And new variants are emerging constantly.

“I’m not at all saying that this is now a big problem,” Dr. Krammer said. But before lifting the masking requirements, “I might have waited a little bit longer to look at the numbers.”

In a statement on Friday, a C.D.C. spokesman said, “All of the authorized vaccines provide strong protection against serious illness, hospitalization, and death, and we are accumulating data that our authorized vaccines are effective against the variants that are circulating in this country.”

Fully immunized people are unlikely to get seriously ill, even if they are infected with the coronavirus. The risk of infection is greater for the people around them — unvaccinated children and adults, or vaccinated people who remain unprotected because of a medical condition or treatment.

C.D.C. officials said they weighed those factors and were confident in their assessment of the science. And the new advice has other salutary effects, rewarding fully immunized people by giving them permission to end their social isolation — and perhaps incentivizing others to opt for vaccination.

The new advice “signals that we really are on the final stretch here, and I think that’s a very good thing for people,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the vice dean for public health practice and community engagement at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Health.

“It’s unlikely that we’re going to have another huge surge in cases,” he added. “But will the final stretch last for weeks or months is still a question.”

The difficulty with the new recommendations, he and other experts said, is not so much the science underpinning them as their implementation.+

Leaders at the state, city and county levels still have the authority to require masks even for vaccinated people, as the C.D.C. was quick to acknowledge on Thursday. After the agency’s announcement, some states instantly lifted mask mandates, while others said they would need more time to weigh the evidence.

But in states without mask mandates, the onus of checking vaccination status will fall on shopkeepers, restaurant workers, school officials and workplace managers.

“Without a means to verify vaccination, we will have to rely on an honor system,” said Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University.

The number of cases in the country is the lowest it has been since September, and many experts support lifting mask mandates in much of the country. But doing so will be riskier in places like Michigan, where there are more cases, and for people who are unprotected, including children under 12 and people with a weak immune systems, Dr. Rivers said.

“People who are unvaccinated should continue to wear masks in public indoors and avoid crowds,” she said.

In Nacogdoches, Texas, Dr. Ahammed Hashim fretted that only 36 percent of the population was immunized and the pace seemed to have stalled. And yet only one or two people in 10 in the local shops wore masks.

“I think the C.D.C. might send a wrong message saying that everything’s OK,” said Dr. Hashim, a pulmonologist. “It would feel much better if we had a 60 or 70 percent vaccination.”

The C.D.C.’s guidance is intended for fully vaccinated individuals, and should only be interpreted as such, Dr. Sharfstein cautioned. Nationwide, only 36 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.

“What we’re just seeing is a little bit of the distance between advice that is entirely appropriate for people who are vaccinated, and the reality that there are places that still are seeing viral transmission and a lot of people who aren’t vaccinated,” he said.

Individuals may make choices based on their perception of their own risks, but state and local leaders must decide what’s best for the community based on the rate of infections. “Those are two different things,” Dr. Sharfstein said. “And when they get conflated, that’s when people may make bad judgments about policy.”

The new guidelines should serve as a reminder to health officials to step up their outreach and investment to ensure that everyone has access to vaccines, Dr. McLaren said. Parents of children under 12 should continue to urge them to wear masks indoors.

The C.D.C.’s new policy shifts the onus onto the immunocompromised as well, to protect themselves from unmasked and unvaccinated people.

“When we make policy, we need to balance the needs and desires of everyone,” Dr. McLaren said. “We could keep masking forever, but there are benefits to getting back to a life that looks more normal.”

Health officials should emphasize that the situation may yet change, and official recommendations with it, she added: “We really need to practice being good at responding to changing situations.”

Why the CDC Changed Its Advice on Masks - The New York Times

[PAG]

Residents in Buriram now face prison and/or a fine for not registering to have a vaccine.

Buriram province to penalize high-risk groups refusing COVID-19 vaccine | Thai PBS World : The latest Thai news in English, News Headlines, World News and News Broadcasts in both Thai and English. We bring Thailand to the world

[cyrille]

Buriram makes Covid vaccines compulsory for high-risk groups


Already a thread on it, PAG.

[PAG]

Cheers, missed that.

[Klondyke]

Over 259 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were administered in the United States from December 14, 2020, through May 10, 2021. During this time, VAERS received 4,434 reports of death (0.0017%) among people who received a COVID-19 vaccine. CDC and FDA physicians review each case report of death as soon as notified and CDC requests medical records to further assess reports. A review of available clinical information, including death certificates, autopsy, and medical records has not established a causal link to COVID-19 vaccines. However, recent reports indicate a plausible causal relationship between the J&J/Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine and a rare and serious adverse event—blood clots with low platelets—which has caused deaths. Get the latest safety information on the J&J/Janssen vaccine. CDC and FDA will continue to investigate reports of adverse events, including deaths, reported to VAERS.

Selected Adverse Events Reported after COVID-19 Vaccination | CDC

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Woohoo!

Fully vaccinated? You can ditch the mask, CDC says

Yes that's great news, it also helps that vaccinated people glow bright neon green so we can instantly tell who is vaccinated.

[russellsimpson]

Facing a COVID Crisis, Nepal Cries Out for Help

“People are dying every few minutes because of a lack oxygen, we don’t know when this will end… It’s chaos.” The COVID-19 crisis in Nepal is outpacing the chaos in next door India. In Kathmandu, the best private hospitals are turning patients away for lack of beds and supplies, and in rural parts of the country, where hospitals do not exist, people are dying at home. A large swath of western Nepal depends on oxygen cylinders shipped from a single city, Nepalgunj, driven for hours over potholed roads. Official statistics — widely believed to be an undercount — put the death toll at around 4,700, while the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IMHE)
predicts 40,000 deaths by the beginning of July, a projected per-capita toll worse than any other country in South or Southeast Asia.


“People are dying every few minutes because of a lack oxygen, we don’t know when this will end,” said Bhola Paswan, a journalist in Saptari District, in the eastern plains. “It’s chaos.”


COVID-19’s wreckage is likely to be worse than the catastrophic earthquakes Nepal suffered just six years ago, in April and May 2015. At that time, the international community quickly came together to pledge over $4 billion in aid to Nepal. A few days ago, Nepal’s Health Ministry put out an urgent international call for supplies — including oxygen generation plants, ventilators, and 37 million doses of vaccine, for its population of 29 million people. (So far, only 2.4 million shots have been administered, and just over 1 percent of people have received both doses.) However, with othercountries battling their own emergencies at home, the Ministry’s wish-list may be difficult to fulfill.

India, which donated or sold to Nepal the bulk of its vaccine doses to date, is now preoccupied with its own health crisis. China has also donated various medicines and supplies, but its vaccine production capacity is much smaller than India’s. The U.S., through the COVAX facility, has contributed far fewer jabs to Nepal than either India or China have. Many Nepalis are hoping that the United States will step up aid, in line with President Joe Biden’s recent call to become the world’s “arsenal for vaccines.”
Distractions Amid a Health Crisis
As in India, Nepali society let its guard down after weathering last fall’s first wave of COVID-19. As daily infections hovered in the low hundreds, many people stopped wearing masks. Major festivals and weddings garnered large crowds in March and April.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli and other leaders mired themselves in a political crisis that distracted precious attention away from COVID-19. Amid a feud with his fellow Nepal Communist Party (NCP) co-chair Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a.k.a. “Prachanda,” Oli dissolved Parliament in December 2020 in order to consolidate power for himself. In February, the Supreme Court ruled Oli’s move unconstitutional and reinstated Parliament. Subsequently, the NCP split into the Maoist Center, led by Dahal, and the United Marxist Leninist (UML) Party, led by Oli.


Facing a COVID Crisis, Nepal Cries Out for Help – The Diplomat

[russellsimpson]

A country like this inclines one to simply wish to wave the flag of surrender. Given the physical and particularly medical infrastrucure the situation is dire and the virus will no doubt ramble its way across the nation with little impairment.( I spent much time in northern Western Bengal and never made it over into Nepal, although only a few miles away.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

I'm too lazy to read the entire article but I see no mention of how people will be checked, or is it that people's word will be taken which I find to be quite naive.

It would be on the honor system because we all know covid deniers are all about honor, and would never lie.

Vaccinated people need some sort of reward," Schaffner said.

No they bloody well don't. Do these high ranking officials really feel that they should be treating people like errant children?

Only those who act like errant children.

[pickel]

Iknow. It has surprised everyone in the world. You would think that with their robusts testing and reporting system Africa would be reporting more cases.
Great scientific minds are puzzling over the discrepancy. LOL

Do you have Africa confused with Florida?

Report: Florida May Have Undercounted Its COVID-19 Deaths by Thousands | Vanity Fair

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Do you have Africa confused with Florida?

Report: Florida May Have Undercounted Its COVID-19 Deaths by Thousands | Vanity Fair

Nice deflect. What FL does has no impact on the point I was trying to make , unless you want to claim that Africa's health care system is par to the one in the west, and cases get reported there at the same level as in the western world.

[pickel]

Nice deflect. What FL does has no impact on the point I was trying to make , unless you want to claim that Africa's health care system is par to the one in the west, and cases get reported there at the same level as in the western world.

Is there something in the water in Florida that gives confidence to the ignorant?

What explains Africa’s successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic?

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Is there something in the water in Florida that gives confidence to the ignorant?

What explains Africa’s successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic?

I am confident I am not ignorant.

[pickel]

I am confident I am not ignorant.

You're definitely well hydrated.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Is there something in the water in Florida that gives confidence to the ignorant?

What explains Africa’s successful response to the COVID-19 pandemic?

The article starts with " In this opinion piece, Prof. Agnes Binagwaho, " you don't suppose professor Binawago is the only one with an opinion do you?

[pickel]

The article starts with " In this opinion piece, Prof. Agnes Binagwaho, " you don't suppose professor Binawago is the only one with an opinion do you?

An opinion based on facts. Unlike most Americans these days.