Re: We're all doomed! Doomed I say- the Corona virus thread for panicking in!

[Mrs Figg]

Their only choice now is herd immunity. Its too late for vaccination apart from jabbing the old and sick, there is no point, they are all infected. This is scary.

[halfwise]

Actually, let's be a little more cautious and look at the numbers.  Looking at the graph below, right now the death rate in India (about 5 per 100K) is far below the peak in America (10 per 100K), though it's projected to reach the same peak by mid May.   I think the panic that we are hearing now has less to do with the actual infection rate and more to do with the availability of beds and respirators per capita.  Or perhaps it's ravaging some cities far more than the country as a whole.

It's in the cities that we came close to running out of beds, folks in the country never felt that threat hence their more lackadaisacal approach to the virus.

[Mrs Figg]

I think it has more to do with the variant possibly being able to escape current vaccines, it has two spikes instead of one and they don't know what this means as far as lethality is concerned. If two spikes means that it can evade the immune system of someone vaccinated, we are screwed.

[halfwise]

yeah, the variants are the worry.  I really wish the whole world had just holed up at home for 2 weeks all at once; then all we'd have to be doing is putting out small fires.

[Lancebloke]

I think saying we are screwed is a bit much. There have been far more lethal and very transmissible diseases throughout human history and at times when populations were far smaller and we survived. 

The fact that the survival rate is in the high 90%s and 1 in 3 people do not have symptoms shows that this is something that will pass. It is just horrible at the start when it tears through the population that are vulnerable to this kind of disease.

[Lancebloke]

Vaccine booked for 12 days time. Will be getting Pfizer.

[halfwise]

I just got vaxxed to the max yesterday; even less side effects than the first one.

NYC is dropping all restrictions in a week, with nothing left but suggestions about continuing to socially distance. Looking at India this sort of worries me, but the vaccination rate is higher than India, even if on average everybody has only had one dose (I'm guessing 2/3 have one dose, 1/3 fully dosed). But still it's exciting - next weekend the city should be roaring; mainly with locals since tourists won't have had time to make hotel reservations. Might actually be a good time to hit the spots I usually avoid due to tourist crowds.

[halfwise]

Actually, none of the music venues are saying anything on the websites.  I suppose it takes more than a couple weeks to get things up and rolling.

And one of my favorite places (that tourists don't know about) is a basement piano bar with everyone singing along at the tops of their voices.  I was actually there right before it shut down for the pandemic, but I don't think it's the right time for them to reopen as yet.  Can't imagine a more perfect setup for a superspreader event.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Im not sure rushing to open everything back up is a great idea. This thing is running rampant still in other parts of the world and mutating happily away, and if we've learned anything from this its that what happens elsewhere in the world can have a very profound impact back home without a lot of due care and dilligence. }}

[halfwise]

I agree. I think the city can be above 70% fully vaccinated in another month, and that's a better target. I can't quite wrap my head around the reasoning for the current date.

[Mrs Figg]

This Indian variant is slowly spreading I think people should be very cautious and continue with sensible social distancing and mask wearing until it is under control. obviously everything can open if people are mostly heavily vaccinated, but going to closely packed crowd events is just madness. Its tempting to let rip once vaccinated but we are just going to accept its going to take months.

its going a lot better here, quicker, they have started jabbing the 65-70 year olds and probably next week start the 60-65 year olds. Every time they open the prenotation website there is a mad dash to get an appointment, people are exasperated and pissed off at all the waiting. I am hoping to get the jab once its open to all people under 60s which with any luck will be mid-end of May beginning of June. It seems like a mirage, forever in front of my face but never touched. Actually it seems like I have been waiting forever.

[halfwise]

We had problems with the electronic registration: you find an open appointment, and by the time you fill out all the info somebody else has nabbed it. it was like playing one of those computer games where you have to keep slapping at things until you finally get it. They should lock a registration slot once you click on it, then you have a few minutes to fill it out before it goes up for grabs again.

[Mrs Figg]

That would be really annoying.

[halfwise]

Yep, took 45 minutes of solid effort before I finally nabbed the appointment I wanted. Fortunately the second one comes automatically.

But in retrospect I'm kind of glad it wasn't as easy as just going to my neighborhood pharmacy - it got me into a neighborhood I had never been to before (taking an old aqueduct across the river converted into a pedestrian bridge), and on each trip I was able to nab an electric bike from the city's bike-share program. Electric bikes are fun!

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Off for my second Az-zen jab this week- here's hoping it goes as smoothly as the first. }}

[Mrs Figg]

Just had my first Moderna jab. next one in a month.

[halfwise]

Very good!

People around here are beginning to wake up to the fact that they don't have to wear masks everywhere if they are vaccinated. (I'd say they never had to wear a mask outside except in a crowd but that didn't seem to be the prevailing opinion among the rabble). It's good to see normality returning but with some caution.

Better yet, we've got an outdoor outfit set up just a block away that's giving vaccinations right on the street. No need for appointments, just walk up. After I came across them I got so excited I made signs and stuck them up in the elevators of our building. This is what we needed for a long time, but I guess during the rush it would have been a mess. Now that things have slowed down this should make a dent on those who haven't had the connectivity to make it happen. We're not an affluent area by any means, with many residents who can't speak english. So we may be behind the general wave.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Happy to here youve been jabbed Figg! Wednesday for my 2nd one.
Advice (and the law) here is you still have to mask up in public areas and inside shops ect. Which given it seems you can stil catch it even when jabbed, just not suffer as badly from it, and potentially can pass it on still to unvaccinated folk that seems wise.
I'd rather we went slow and got out of this mess properly than rushed headlong back to normality only to be back in the same scenario a few months down the line. Its not like having to slip a mask on to go into a shop is any hardship afterall. }}

[halfwise]

Oh, we'll be wearing masks in grocery stores and such for another month I'd think. The guidance is the mask isn't needed when outdoors, or indoors if you know everyone else has been vaccinated, which you usually don't know.

People have criticized the Center for Disease Control for not giving clear black and white guidance, but I think this was crystal clear: you're not gonna catch it if you're vaccinated, but use common sense to keep everyone comfortable since not everyone's vaccinated. I wish the director of the CDC had just said clearly: "Look you damn nitwits, is it too much to ask you to apply some common sense?" But instead she's been vague about saying different locations will require their own appropriate protocols. But it's very simple: if there's a gatekeeper, they can control the usage of masks. Otherwise, keep the mask on.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Problem there is even if you are fully vaccinated you can still catch it, your symptoms should be very low or close to non-existant, but you still have it, and if you have it you can pass it on. And if you dont feel ill or have symptoms you probably wont even know you do have it unless you get tested, so you think your fine, you dont bother with your mask or social distancing, and in reality youre spreading it all over the place.
Better to just still wear the mask in public places, its not a big deal.}}

[Mrs Figg]

I will be wearing my mask in public places until numbers are in single figures or its gone. I will be wearing masks in the Winter months like I already did for years before. I used to be the only person wearing masks, and I think I had some cohones because of all the abuse I got, from giggles, to full on aggression. Now everyone had had a go hopefully it wont be seen as 'weird' any more. I don't understand peoples visceral reaction to mask wearing, but some people really took it personally. Asian countries are far more civilised as regards mask wearing, hacking up on someone's neck is disgusting at the best of times. The reason I used to wear them in Winter is I get terrible colds/flu which last for weeks and I figured that was the solution, and funnily enough last Winter colds and flu were down by an enormous amount around the world. Its just common sense.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Agreed Figg, I just dont see what the fuss is. Id not be bothered if going ahead it was advised to wear masks on public transport or in shops- protecting yourself as much as others, and as you note its not just cut the transmission of covid, but other illnesess too. }}

[Mrs Figg]

yep wearing them doesn't bother me in the slightest, its second nature now and its probably good public health practice like hand hygiene. Tightly packed crowds are a hotbed of all manner of yucky diseases. I think it will take years for my paranoia about being in a crowd to pass before I feel safe, and I doubt I will ever go to a crowded place voluntarily feeling as unconcerned as before, like a concert for example, ever again. It will always be there, I think a lot of people will be changed forever, its something epoch changing like 9/11. Its still getting worse and its too soon to let our guard down.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ I've never liked crowds anyway and always tried to avoid them. People just make me crabbit }}

[Mrs Figg]

yep me too, I hate crowds, I never feel at ease, they make me irritable and I don't like my space being invaded.

Got a sore arm today, but nowt to moan about.