Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Hannibal]

In other COVID news, I got my second Pfizer shot yesterday. No side effects and my arm is not near as sore as it was after the first shot.

They make the microchips smaller for the second shot.

[THE_WIZARD_]

heh

[Jeff Buchanan]

Remember this .......

Beach.JPG
Well, it continues in the lovely spring vacation destination of Fort Lauderdale. Meanwhile the CDC's Walenski continues to warn against any easing of COVID mitigation measures. FL, among other states that didn't panic over the pandemic seem to have weathered the storm.

After a week of revelry involving throngs of mostly low risk young people, obviously having a good time, new case numbers reported today in Broward County? 608 new cases. Population 2M and it's probably 200K higher than that from the touristas if traffic or getting into a restaurant is any indicator. The kids have to be taking my advice. The % positivity 7d moving average? 4.93%.

Broward Co. still hasn't gotten to the point that herd immunity may be possible (vaccinated + previously infected) but it's approaching 40% and, IMO, the impact of the vaccine roll-out (90% over 65s done) is anecdotally obvious. But officials, especially the federal ones, will wait for the science and their own studies before they budge off the turf they've staked out .......like the ones I posted about this morning. Worthless and unreliable.

[Jeff Buchanan]

In the interests of fairness and objectivity regarding my COVID posts, we need to talk and learn about Europe's recent COVID experience. Why? Because last year what happened in Europe presaged what happened in the US. While it is true COVID metrics are all downward trending in the US, after similar indicators in the EU as 2020 came to a close, new cases are now trending upwards there. More transmissible UK and Brazilian variants are getting the blame along with a general easing of restrictions at last year's end increased travel, mobility and social contacts. EU countries have imposed much more restrictive mitigation measures than in the US although they tend to be more reasonable and more targeted. Still, there are a lot of restrictions in place with governments considering more if upward trends continue.

Contributing is the EUC's mishandling of vaccine distribution to EU member states. What I read about it is that it is a disaster with tons of bureaucratic bungling. No EU member state has inoculated more than 10% of it's population even once compared to 31% in the UK, 30% in the US, 98% in Israel and 63% in the UAE. The evidence that inoculating upwards of 50% of a population will reduce disease burden and transmission is strong. As it relates to COVID, Boris Johnson deserves a lot of credit for BREXIT. The UK is experiencing significant declines in every COVID metric because of how vaccine distribution combined with reasonable restrictions is being handled there compared to continental Europe's bungling of it.

Lessons to be learned for the US? I'm going to give credit to the Biden administration's effort to get vaccines to the states in numbers that exceeded the Trump plan - credit to Trump for Operation Warp Speed but Biden has expanded on that, most notably with a massive expansion of vaccine buys and now bag loads of money to the state and federal agencies tasked with getting those vaccines into arms. Articles here in the US and in the EU speak of a race against time to get vaccines deployed. If that race is lost, the virus is going to spread and continue to disrupt life. In the EU, there's heavy emphasis on saving the summer tourist season. Another summer lost to COVID will be devastating to that economic sector and in several countries where that is the economy, e.g., Greece.

While I still get upset over the hedging that's coming from Fauci and Walenski, they have a point. But the emphasis from the federal level should be less on criticizing states that are lifting restrictions - most of them in reasonable ways - and more on how incredibly important it is to get vaccines into arms. Life returning to normal is much more dependent on that than it is on keeping questionable mitigation measures in place.

[Hannibal]

More Texas fallout — Texas citizens who had power are getting $10,000-plus electricity bills. IMHO more stupidity in that market design. The consumer apparently pays an instantaneous electricity price and when that price skyrockets — God help you if you turn your lights on.

[Ghengis Jon]

Texans learn the importance of having a 6500 watt generator in the garage. Most rural folks consider them to be an essential item. A few winters back, we had no power for 9 straight days. 5 gallons of gas for 8 hours of power isn't exactly cheap but it beats the hell out of cold and dark. Now you can buy propane powered gens but they aren't quite as robust.

Generators and self propelled 2 stage snow blowers are similar in that once you absolutely need one, you WILL own one for the rest of your life.

[lineygoblue]

Those generators now operate on natural gas as well. My brother put one in at his house and he bought one that runs on natural gas.

[lineygoblue]

Its a Fox News link, so some will ignore it, .. but there is apparently a medication for Covid that treats the infection, and has shown promise in early tests. The early tests have shown that it completely eliminates the virus. Testing will continue on larger groups.

Jeff is well read on this stuff. Maybe he can expand on it a bit.

https://www.foxnews.com/health/new-covid-19-pill-virus-trials-dr-siegel

[Da Geezer]

I think that was on 60 minutes last night too.

[Mike]

New COVID-19 treatment ‘showing it gets rid of virus completely’ in trials

Local health officials explain why that could be a bad thing.

[lineygoblue]

I was finally able to get my wife and I on a waiting list for the vaccine today. They'll be calling us when our doses are available.

[Ghengis Jon]

Good to hear. I'm on the eternal waiting list myself.

Be sure to ask about microchips and Jewish space lasers. I want to tag and hunt a certain anti-vaxxer.

[Mike]

My wife and I got our first Moderna shots today! Completely unexpected. Got an email from my boss at 2:30 that all staff could get a shot at a certain location downtown. Previously, it had been age dependent. It’s run by the Genesee County Health Department and staffed by UM.

Intake was 5 minutes. No questions asked, no ID check, just fill out the form and get a shot. I immediately texted my wife to get up there ASAP. She pulled up as I was leaving and had a shot within 10 minutes.

Completely out of left field. I just finally got around to pre-registering us this morning. We’re ecstatic.

[Whitley]

My wife and I got our first Moderna shots today! Completely unexpected. Got an email from my boss at 2:30 that all staff could get a shot at a certain location downtown. Previously, it had been age dependent. It’s run by the Genesee County Health Department and staffed by UM.

Intake was 5 minutes. No questions asked, no ID check, just fill out the form and get a shot. I immediately texted my wife to get up there ASAP. She pulled up as I was leaving and had a shot within 10 minutes.

Completely out of left field. I just finally got around to pre-registering us this morning. We’re ecstatic.

Excellent. I got my first shot (Pfizer) on Friday. Get my second one on the 26th.

[THE_WIZARD_]

Life can go on now! Yay!