When will you move on from pandemic?

[Lizard Queen]

I follow my local newspaper on Twitter. Any report on COVID/the pandemic leads to an inundation of tweets disputing, disregarding, and disinforming. It's fucking useless to report more. Like I said, those that care will find the information.

[Value Buy]

Dec 18, 2021 14:49:10 GMT -5 pulmonarymd said:

Dec 18, 2021 14:46:47 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

I was referencing VP Harris's response. Surely she, as well as President Biden are not, shall we say, " that misinformed"? 

You have to tell me what it is you are trying to say? They should have known that these were the variants that would occur? They are aware variants would happen. And regardless, the advice on what to do doesn’t change

Not trying to be flippant, but you must not have opened the link.  I highlighted some of it below.
From the link:

Vice President Kamala Harris said the Biden administration didn't see Delta or Omicron coming.

The CDC predicts more than 40,000 additional COVID-19 deaths by January 8.

New York reported 21,027 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the highest ever recorded in the state.

Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday the Biden administration did not foresee the emergence of new coronavirus strains like Omicron, according to the Los Angeles Times.



"We didn't see Delta coming. I think most scientists did not — upon whose advice and direction we have relied — didn't see Delta coming," Harris told the Times in an interview. "We didn't see Omicron coming. And that's the nature of what this, this awful virus has been, which as it turns out, has mutations and variants."

[Value Buy]

Dec 18, 2021 14:53:31 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

I follow my local newspaper on Twitter. Any report on COVID/the pandemic leads to an inundation of tweets disputing, disregarding, and disinforming. It's fucking useless to report more. Like I said, those that care will find the information.

That is the problem with Twitter. I will never join it. We are a much more enlightened group here on this forum Board!

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Dec 18, 2021 13:04:43 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Dec 18, 2021 12:33:34 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

I agree that it would be wonderful if we had absolutely perfect real time data from the entire country.

Perfect data? No but some coordinated communication about what is known/unknown at this point would be a start. Biden and his administration seem either clueless or just lazy about communicating what’s going on.

Washington is dealing with Garbage In Garbage Out.  It is still difficult to get tested in some states, which means that cases are undercounted.  If people can’t get tested against coronavirus, exactly how do you expect that the strain they are infected with is sequenced?  In addition,  some states are not reporting data accurately, in a timely manner.  So exactly how do you propose that this gets done?  

What is known about Omicron is squat.  Until there is regular sequencing of each case, what you are asking is impossible.

 

[haapai]

Dec 18, 2021 11:45:51 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Okay I am late to this discussion.
I really thought we were coming out of the pandemic, but frankly major media has scared me over this Omicron/Delta variance shit.
They want to mix them together when we know the people getting terribly sick right now are Delta patients that are unvaxxed.
All reports so far have Omicron as being similar to a bad cold and not affecting the lungs as with Delta as of today. Wish the media would separate the reports on both variances for the public to make an informed decision.
We are now considering skipping the big "mixed together Christmas gatherings" of siblings and the kids together as some are vaxxed, some are not.    
Last year we did the big group thing without spreading the virus by anyone having covid or giving it to someone.
The politics have shifted in a year, whereas the story is 100% doom and gloom this year, and I admit that is because you do not have Trump bickering with the opposite side. That would be ok, but now the news is soooo negative.........and it seems like Biden is not following the science. My wife and I are of the opinion we do not know what to do anymore.
Emotional gridlock.........

I feel just a tiny bit for you. 

Back in April and May of 2020, I was still trying to get my Covid-19 news without paying for it.  I spent hours scrolling through one free source after another, and I also avoided signing up for any free coverage or daily updates that were available. 

I found garbage.  What I found for free was undated, misdated, clickbait crap.  I tried to make up for it by doubling up on my free and anonymous covid news coverage and it did not help.  Sometime in late May 2020 or early June 2020, I started paying for my news instead of consuming news that paid for itself by selling my eyeballs. 

Things got better.  I slowly made up ground.  I was able to understand that the folks that I'd been reading or listening to last week seemed to be whistling a slightly different tune.  Since I had been following them, I had an idea of what had probably happened that they weren't able to say yet. 

You may have a lot of catching up to do.  It's painful.  There's a whole lot of snobbery and local and class bias to cut through or ignore.  But you can un-confuse yourself. 

And you are not the only person of reasonable intelligence that seems to be conflating Delta and Omicron and confused about it all.  You can learn more about it if you try.  Hell, you're in for a crash course no matter what, so you might as well try to figure it out instead of yowling about how confused you are. 

[jerseygirl]

Couldn’t link but news that Biden will address nation Tuesday re Covid

[pulmonarymd]

Dec 18, 2021 14:56:02 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Dec 18, 2021 14:49:10 GMT -5 pulmonarymd said:

You have to tell me what it is you are trying to say? They should have known that these were the variants that would occur? They are aware variants would happen. And regardless, the advice on what to do doesn’t change

Not trying to be flippant, but you must not have opened the link.  I highlighted some of it below.
From the link:

Vice President Kamala Harris said the Biden administration didn't see Delta or Omicron coming.

The CDC predicts more than 40,000 additional COVID-19 deaths by January 8.

New York reported 21,027 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the highest ever recorded in the state.

Vice President Kamala Harris said Friday the Biden administration did not foresee the emergence of new coronavirus strains like Omicron, according to the Los Angeles Times.



"We didn't see Delta coming. I think most scientists did not — upon whose advice and direction we have relied — didn't see Delta coming," Harris told the Times in an interview. "We didn't see Omicron coming. And that's the nature of what this, this awful virus has been, which as it turns out, has mutations and variants."

I did, I read it. What is your point? Should they have known these variants were coming? I did not read it as them not knowing variants were coming, but the did not anticipate the consequences of these. I f they should have predicted the exact variants, I think your criticism is not correct

[TheOtherMe]

Iowa may be unique in how it is counting positive cases and people who take a covid test.  Iowa also is testing a % of samples for omicron unless specifically requested.

In Iowa, if a person tests positive for a second time, that is not counted.  Only one positive test per person.  Have to keep the numbers down.

However, on the number of tests, we count them all.  So we are not comparing apples to apples.

The governor has the state department of health keep changing the way percentages are counted so we have no idea what the real numbers are.  Plus it is very difficult to get tested.

Last night the injunction for several Midwestern states against the federal mandated testing was overturned so she is most likely spending the weekend trying to figure out how to not implement that.  The GQP has said that will be their first agenda item in January.

The number of deaths also no longer match what the CDC numbers say.  CDC number of deaths is higher.

State department of health no longer releases Covid hospitalizations by county or hospital.  Our local hospitals are giving the numbers to our local paper.

You can also tell where hospitals are getting overwhelmed when their are announcements from specific hospitals that they have stopped doing elective surgery.

The state is not releasing numbers on school infections and apparently the media has to pull teeth to get information on nursing home outbreaks.

If people don't have information, we don't have cases.  Just ask the governor.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Dec 18, 2021 17:15:40 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Iowa may be unique in how it is counting positive cases and people who take a covid test.  Iowa also is testing a % of samples for omicron unless specifically requested.

In Iowa, if a person tests positive for a second time, that is not counted.  Only one positive test per person.  Have to keep the numbers down.

However, on the number of tests, we count them all.  So we are not comparing apples to apples.

The governor has the state department of health keep changing the way percentages are counted so we have no idea what the real numbers are.  Plus it is very difficult to get tested.

Last night the injunction for several Midwestern states against the federal mandated testing was overturned so she is most likely spending the weekend trying to figure out how to not implement that.  The GQP has said that will be their first agenda item in January.

The number of deaths also no longer match what the CDC numbers say.  CDC number of deaths is higher.

State department of health no longer releases Covid hospitalizations by county or hospital.  Our local hospitals are giving the numbers to our local paper.

You can also tell where hospitals are getting overwhelmed when their are announcements from specific hospitals that they have stopped doing elective surgery.

The state is not releasing numbers on school infections and apparently the media has to pull teeth to get information on nursing home outbreaks.

If people don't have information, we don't have cases.  Just ask the governor.

In other words, GIGO.  If everyone uses different metrics, data is garbage because you have no parity.  That means any sort of compiled data is useless at best, misleading at worse.  

[buystoys]

Dec 18, 2021 14:58:12 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Dec 18, 2021 14:53:31 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

I follow my local newspaper on Twitter. Any report on COVID/the pandemic leads to an inundation of tweets disputing, disregarding, and disinforming. It's fucking useless to report more. Like I said, those that care will find the information.

That is the problem with Twitter. I will never join it. We are a much more enlightened group here on this forum Board!

I like Twitter for the cat videos.  That's pretty much all I do on it.

[Lizard Queen]

Dec 18, 2021 18:33:46 GMT -5 buystoys said:

Dec 18, 2021 14:58:12 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

That is the problem with Twitter. I will never join it. We are a much more enlightened group here on this forum Board!

I like Twitter for the cat videos.  That's pretty much all I do on it.

Facebook is the same way. Anywhere the general public may chime in on a story.

[swamp]

Dec 18, 2021 14:53:31 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

I follow my local newspaper on Twitter. Any report on COVID/the pandemic leads to an inundation of tweets disputing, disregarding, and disinforming. It's fucking useless to report more. Like I said, those that care will find the information.

Same here.  It’s just a bad cold that’s a conspiracy to control us.  Or something like that. 

[TheOtherMe]

The Walk of the Penguin Mich  Iowa Democrats and the medical profession believe the governor is misleading us intentionally.  Whenever cases go up, the state dashboard changes.  

Numbers now are supposed to come out on Wednesday.  This past week they added numbers on both Thursday and Friday.  It doesn't look as bad if the numbers are spread over 3 days.

[Lizard Queen]

Dec 18, 2021 20:28:35 GMT -5 swamp said:

Dec 18, 2021 14:53:31 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

I follow my local newspaper on Twitter. Any report on COVID/the pandemic leads to an inundation of tweets disputing, disregarding, and disinforming. It's fucking useless to report more. Like I said, those that care will find the information.

Same here.  It’s just a bad cold that’s a conspiracy to control us.  Or something like that. 

Yup. What would the point of something like that even be?

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

For schools, regarding omicron and moving on, the state in which I live the governor, state health authority, and dept of education are still requiring masks indoors for all human beings. In rural (red) areas, it is getting more difficult to control the parents attending sporting events. Staff are out of energy for constantly asking the older teenagers to put their masks back up. Hopefully, returning in January all sides will be more positive. We actually have one principal, in the district where I work, who wants parents arrested for not wearing masks. No one--especially LEO--agrees with him. Kids are struggling. They have no idea how to socially behave. 

For us personally, I need to get my booster. DH & I had planned on doing that over a month ago, but then DH ended up with pancreatitis and gastritis, so that dominated our time. We have been attended large events--two different theatre performances in November, a college basketball game yesterday, and another theatre performance next week. All require vaccinations and masks. 

[Lizard Queen]

Our district is going mask optional after the holidays. Omicron isn't even factoring into it.

[Tennesseer]

"That is the problem with Twitter. I will never join it. We are a much more enlightened group here on this forum Board!"

That doesn't speak well for the intelligence of trump supporters:

When Twitter permanently banned Trump from the platform in January 2021 during the final days of his term,[4] his handle @realdonaldtrump had over 88.9 million followers.[5]


Social media use by Donald Trump

Of course not all of those 88.9 million followers were pro-trump.  Some followed trump just to read what stupid lie he would come up with next.

[Deleted]

Dec 19, 2021 13:19:05 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

"That is the problem with Twitter. I will never join it. We are a much more enlightened group here on this forum Board!"

That doesn't speak well for the intelligence of trump supporters:

When Twitter permanently banned Trump from the platform in January 2021 during the final days of his term,[4] his handle @realdonaldtrump had over 88.9 million followers.[5]


Social media use by Donald Trump

Of course not all of those 88.9 million followers were pro-trump.  Some followed trump just to read what stupid lie he would come up with next.

I follow one local person on Twitter just to be reminded that stupidity has no bounds.  He never fails me 

[Deleted]

Dec 19, 2021 13:19:05 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Of course not all of those 88.9 million followers were pro-trump.  Some followed trump just to read what stupid lie he would come up with next.

BF, who is very liberal, will watch content from QAnon, Fox and very right-wing commentators- not because he agrees with them but because he wants to know what makes them tick and why they think they're right. I just can't, but I admire him for wanting to understand them.

He does get on interesting e-mail lists, including solicitations to re-elect Trump.

[Tennesseer]

Dec 19, 2021 16:47:39 GMT -5 @athena53 said:

Dec 19, 2021 13:19:05 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Of course not all of those 88.9 million followers were pro-trump.  Some followed trump just to read what stupid lie he would come up with next.

BF, who is very liberal, will watch content from QAnon, Fox and very right-wing commentators- not because he agrees with them but because he wants to know what makes them tick and why they think they're right. I just can't, but I admire him for wanting to understand them.

He does get on interesting e-mail lists, including solicitations to re-elect Trump.

Years ago I used to watch Hannity & Colmes and Bill O'Reilly on Fox. Hannity & Colmes because it was st least point and counterpoint. Then Colmes left. After that, Hannity was just intentional misinformation and lies.

As for O'Reilly, I watched him for a cadio workout. Then he too got too silly and extreme.

Enough of that nonsense.

[resolution]

I have been keeping an eye on more local information, since the national numbers seem so inconsistent. My local hospital has an infographic that they update every day showing the vax vs. unvaxed breakdown for hospital beds, ICU, and ventilators. www.meritushealth.com/patients-visitors/covid-19-information/

They also have an alert system for ambulances, for example today my local hospital has a red and yellow alert, they are out of ECG monitored beds and the emergency department is overloaded, so they are requesting ambulances take patients to other hospitals instead. miemssalert.com/chats/

The local hospital infographic has been effective at convincing conservative friends of mine that the vaccines are working, in spite of what they may see on facebook or twitter.

[jerseygirl]

Dec 20, 2021 12:23:57 GMT -5 resolution said:

I have been keeping an eye on more local information, since the national numbers seem so inconsistent. My local hospital has an infographic that they update every day showing the vax vs. unvaxed breakdown for hospital beds, ICU, and ventilators. www.meritushealth.com/patients-visitors/covid-19-information/

They also have an alert system for ambulances, for example today my local hospital has a red and yellow alert, they are out of ECG monitored beds and the emergency department is overloaded, so they are requesting ambulances take patients to other hospitals instead. miemssalert.com/chats/

The local hospital infographic has been effective at convincing conservative friends of mine that the vaccines are working, in spite of what they may see on facebook or twitter.

That’s good specific information
Just wishing more of this was available for the overall country
As you said it’s been effective for convincing reluctant people
Instead we’re getting vague - look at all the people on lines trying to get tested. See how many new cases etc etc
Our governments are doing a poor ineffective job. I’m discouraged, sorry it’s not enough to just weasel out we don’t have perfect data. But there are data and if it shows the huge difference in vaccinated/ unvaccinated (as it should since vaccines are so effective) then put it out
Waiting to listen to what Biden will say tomorrow.

[pulmonarymd]

Dec 20, 2021 12:39:54 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Dec 20, 2021 12:23:57 GMT -5 resolution said:

I have been keeping an eye on more local information, since the national numbers seem so inconsistent. My local hospital has an infographic that they update every day showing the vax vs. unvaxed breakdown for hospital beds, ICU, and ventilators. www.meritushealth.com/patients-visitors/covid-19-information/

They also have an alert system for ambulances, for example today my local hospital has a red and yellow alert, they are out of ECG monitored beds and the emergency department is overloaded, so they are requesting ambulances take patients to other hospitals instead. miemssalert.com/chats/

The local hospital infographic has been effective at convincing conservative friends of mine that the vaccines are working, in spite of what they may see on facebook or twitter.

That’s good specific information
Just wishing more of this was available for the overall country
As you said it’s been effective for convincing reluctant people
Instead we’re getting vague - look at all the people on lines trying to get tested. See how many new cases etc etc
Our governments are doing a poor ineffective job. I’m discouraged, sorry it’s not enough to just weasel out we don’t have perfect data. But there are data and if it shows the huge difference in vaccinated/ unvaccinated (as it should since vaccines are so effective) then put it out
Waiting to listen to what Biden will say tomorrow.

The information that is needed has already been disseminated. The idea that people need more information is ludicrous. People are entrenched. Nothing will change their mind. Data is locally driven And finally, many states are giving garbage numbers and leads to poor data. Not sure why you keep harping on this.

[busymom]

Dec 20, 2021 13:05:26 GMT -5 pulmonarymd said:

Dec 20, 2021 12:39:54 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

That’s good specific information
Just wishing more of this was available for the overall country
As you said it’s been effective for convincing reluctant people
Instead we’re getting vague - look at all the people on lines trying to get tested. See how many new cases etc etc
Our governments are doing a poor ineffective job. I’m discouraged, sorry it’s not enough to just weasel out we don’t have perfect data. But there are data and if it shows the huge difference in vaccinated/ unvaccinated (as it should since vaccines are so effective) then put it out
Waiting to listen to what Biden will say tomorrow.

The information that is needed has already been disseminated. The idea that people need more information is ludicrous. People are entrenched. Nothing will change their mind. Data is locally driven And finally, many states are giving garbage numbers and leads to poor data. Not sure why you keep harping on this.

    I love the breakdown, because it is simple to read for those who don't want to read wordy reports.  Unfortunately, I think those who refuse to be vaccinated are just like toddlers who refuse to take a nap:  it'll (the vaccine, or the nap) make them feel better, but they just don't wanna.  I want to find a way to reason with these people, but they refuse to read real data, because it goes against whatever it is they believe.  I believe they're going to die, but not because we didn't try to reach them.

[billisonboard]

Dec 20, 2021 13:05:26 GMT -5 pulmonarymd said:

Dec 20, 2021 12:39:54 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

That’s good specific information
Just wishing more of this was available for the overall country
As you said it’s been effective for convincing reluctant people
Instead we’re getting vague - look at all the people on lines trying to get tested. See how many new cases etc etc
Our governments are doing a poor ineffective job. I’m discouraged, sorry it’s not enough to just weasel out we don’t have perfect data. But there are data and if it shows the huge difference in vaccinated/ unvaccinated (as it should since vaccines are so effective) then put it out
Waiting to listen to what Biden will say tomorrow.

The information that is needed has already been disseminated. The idea that people need more information is ludicrous. People are entrenched. Nothing will change their mind. Data is locally driven And finally, many states are giving garbage numbers and leads to poor data. Not sure why you keep harping on this.

PhD.

[pulmonarymd]

Dec 20, 2021 13:18:36 GMT -5 busymom said:

Dec 20, 2021 13:05:26 GMT -5 pulmonarymd said:

The information that is needed has already been disseminated. The idea that people need more information is ludicrous. People are entrenched. Nothing will change their mind. Data is locally driven And finally, many states are giving garbage numbers and leads to poor data. Not sure why you keep harping on this.

    I love the breakdown, because it is simple to read for those who don't want to read wordy reports.  Unfortunately, I think those who refuse to be vaccinated are just like toddlers who refuse to take a nap:  it'll (the vaccine, or the nap) make them feel better, but they just don't wanna.  I want to find a way to reason with these people, but they refuse to read real data, because it goes against whatever it is they believe.  I believe they're going to die, but not because we didn't try to reach them.

I think transparency with the data is the right thing to do. I think it should be out there and let people see it. Our statewide data is in the paper and on the news every day. But the data does very little to change the recommendations. Our options are limited. Case counts are going up and hospitals are getting filled agai. Does it matter if cases are up 15, 20, or 25%. The advice remains the same.

[Lizard Queen]

Someone on Twitter shared the chart on this page:
www.uofmhealth.org/coronavirus/covid19-numbers

Comment: I wish they would show more specifically how many of those patients had other risk factors.
My response: it's there if you take the time to look closer at it. Jeez!

[Value Buy]

I do worry about the hospitals and their capacity to fight covid outbreaks, but I think we all know hospitals were never built for fighting a pandemic with hundreds of victims at one time.
Many hospitals in the country cannot handle a tornado outbreak let alone a pandemic.
I know the examples are not the same but beds and rooms set aside for a specific problem are minimal at best. We have had hospitals flooded beyond capacity during flu season for that matter.

[Deleted]

What baffles me are the people doing their own at-home tests. Those aren't recorded anywhere. How can that even be? What is the meaning of the numbers we see? Why do a test if you aren't going to do anything about it?

[Deleted]

Dec 20, 2021 16:08:32 GMT -5 @beckaroo said:

What baffles me are the people doing their own at-home tests. Those aren't recorded anywhere. How can that even be? What is the meaning of the numbers we see? Why do a test if you aren't going to do anything about it?

I can understand it.  I've had a couple of incidences where I was around people who later developed COVID, most recently at a weekend of classroom sessions for a course I'm taking.  Drive-through PCR testing is widely available in my state and I tested negative.  If I couldn't do that I would have bought an at-home test and then stayed home for the required time if I tested positive even if I didn't have any symptoms.  I could also see DS and DDIL using them- they and 2 of the 3 kids got COVID- mild cases, thank God.  DS and DDIL were vaccinated.  Better to test at home and see who has it and who doesn't than run round town getting tested.  I don't think any of them ever got medical attention.