outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

at this point I want to castrate everybody in the media for the alarmist way they've reported everything. the truth is scary enough as it is.

Yeah, it's irresponsible at best, flat out dangerous at worst. I've had to talk down more than a few friends and family members who read the headline and first paragraph, freak out and stop reading, without getting to the nuance that is (only sometimes) actually buried in the article somewhere. But gotta get them click first!

fortunately living with my mom when the news comes on I tell her what they get wrong in real time

Meat producer Tyson Foods has announced that it will require all workers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by November 1.

Surprised they're not requiring their entire workforce to be prophylactically pumped full of unnecessary antibiotics

HEADLINE: I want to castrate everyone in the media for the irresponsible way they have reported this!

CLICKTHROUGH: Tempers run high on ILX in 2021, though experts caution that a vanishingly small proportion of media professionals have anything to do with news reporting at all, and a tiny fraction of those are focused on the COVID-19 beat. Moreover, barely half of the news workers involved in COVID analysis, let alone dedicated headline writers or their editors, possess castratable appendages. Our writers stand by their announcements, however, insisting in cable interviews that "the people have a right to know."

xp That's fucking rich because Tyson also made meat packing workers work through COVID without access to distancing or PPE and fired them for missing any shifts/didn't give paid OR unpaid sick time. 1500 people in one plant alone got COVID. Tyson would be better served by giving workers paid time off to get vaccinated or to BE SICK SOMETIMES.

King for a day, would put disclaimer text running under these companies' smiling family tv ads (Walmart, Tyson, Amazon, etc.) as to their reprehensible corporate ethics.

More unvaccinated adults in the United States view the coronavirus vaccine as a greater risk to their health than the disease caused by the virus itself, a poll found.

The Kaiser Family Foundation released a survey Wednesday that found there was a big split between unvaccinated and vaccinated adults in what they perceived as the bigger threat during the pandemic.

Just over half of unvaccinated adults (53 percent) said they believed getting vaccinated posed a bigger risk to their health than getting infected with the coronavirus. “In contrast, an overwhelming majority (88 percent) of vaccinated adults said that getting infected with COVID-19 is a bigger risk to their health than the vaccine,” the report found.

Unvaccinated adults were also much less worried about the more transmissible delta variant and had less confidence in the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines compared with those who got the shots, according to the KFF survey.

The majority of unvaccinated adults (57 percent) also said they thought the news media had “generally exaggerated” the seriousness of the pandemic, compared with 17 percent of vaccinated adults.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/08/04/kff-poll-coronavirus-vaccine-unvaccinated-americans/

I can start a separate thread if need be, but figured I'd ask here.

For those of you who have flown in the past month or so within the continental US, what are you encountering as COVID prerequisites? Do you have to have a negative test? Do you need evidence of vaccinations? Are you simply asked not to fly if experiencing symptoms?

Since this disaster started I've flown from Maryland to Texas and back several times for family reasons. Nothing onerous has been asked of me; I just need to wear a mask at all times.

In the next 3-4 months I'm set to make four round-trips. Two are to Texas, and other than the fact that the governor of the state is a moron and double-masking will be needed I'm not worried. Of more concern are planned trips to Maine and Connecticut.

So I'm just wondering what travelers are going through.

I can start a separate thread if need be, but figured I'd ask here.

For those of you who have flown in the past month or so within the continental US, what are you encountering as COVID prerequisites? Do you have to have a negative test? Do you need evidence of vaccinations? Are you simply asked not to fly if experiencing symptoms?

lotta nose dick mask styles, no paperwork needed to be shown as us july 9th, people in airports limply trying to enforce mask mandates but most people are well behaved.

let the record show that the act of navigating an airport and airport security, which is the amateur hour of travel, is worse than ever because somehow people forgot they have to take their shoes off etc.

I flew to the East coast a couple weeks ago and it was pretty normal other than masking up for the whole time (plane plus airport). I'm heading to get a test today because I've had a nagging sinus infection-type thing for a couple months, and I've heard people say that might be a symptom of COVID in the vaccinated.

Love getting curiosity gapped by the CDC Director. What does the current data show? https://t.co/YdcV8OPnZG

— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) August 5, 2021

If I many play Ned for a moment, hmm...

Don’t threaten me with a good time

A police union official tells me some police officers have threatened to quit if terms of the vaccine mandate are *get vaccinated or be fired.* @8NEWS

— Ben Dennis 8News (@broadcastben_) August 4, 2021

rare win/win situation

As much as I hate anecdata, I have been hearing so many stories lately about vaccinated people getting infected or infected others (including a coworker whose kids all got it from a vaccinated relative, although the vaccinated dad did not), that I just have to believe we are going to see some changes in the vaccine efficacy data, and I would bet that if it's less effective at stopping delta transmission it's also less effective at stopping severe infection or death. Not necessarily like way way less effective, but I have a feeling that's what we're going to find out.

We already did, kinda. But it'll be less of a thing when transmission rates plummet. Which isn't around the corner just yet but...

Follow-up: I don’t have COVID.

Good! I actually have a sinus cold right now that feels like every other sinus cold I've ever had, except I haven't had one in years and I don't recall getting one in August. So I may get a test tomorrow. Kids were also sick for a day but fine now, rapid negative, waiting on PCR.

Great to hear, DJI!

this is the right attitude

My son works at Lowes in MO. Their new Covid policy:

1. If you are vaccinated and get Covid, you will be paid during sick leave
2. If you aren't vaccinated and get Covid, you will be fired.

My son said that the rest of the unvaccinated are finally getting vaccinated.

— Rise of the Alien Queen (@rise_alien) August 4, 2021

^ makes you think

wondering what the typical sick leave policy is for lowes employees, outside of covid

"don't"

Slap back:

Lowe’s does not terminate employees for contracting COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status, nor do we make sick pay determinations based on vaccination status.

— Lowe's (@Lowes) August 5, 2021

i noticed the local Co-Op's signs say 'please feel free to wear a mask' which is some weak sauce.

80% weren't this morning, based on a sample size of ~10

On Thursday, the Texas Education Agency released new guidance for schools on how to handle positive COVID-19 cases.

More: https://t.co/SJose7KGHL pic.twitter.com/yo49G9VRHA

— WFAA (@wfaa) August 5, 2021

.

So at what point do we start prosecuting people for negligent homicide, is what I wanna know.

I did see some more details (below) and it's not quite as bad as it looks. I mean, it's still totally shitty and downright pathological, but (incredibly) it could be worse, given how hard Abbott is pushing back against ... anything.

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/education/schools/texas-schools-children-covid19/269-6112e063-9901-4cfd-ab69-9d4a689cd8f2

As much as I hate anecdata, I have been hearing so many stories lately about vaccinated people getting infected or infected others (including a coworker whose kids all got it from a vaccinated relative, although the vaccinated dad did not), that I just have to believe we are going to see some changes in the vaccine efficacy data, and I would bet that if it's less effective at stopping delta transmission it's also less effective at stopping severe infection or death. Not necessarily like way way less effective, but I have a feeling that's what we're going to find out.

I'm with you on this, even though I know the dangers of anecdotal data. A few weeks ago it felt like every third or fourth person I spoke with or interacted with knew someone in their family, or a close friend, with a breakthrough infection. This week I'd say it's closer to 80% and every time I open Twitter, another person I follow is reporting being positive (and even sick!) despite being fully vaccinated. There just feels like a huge disconnect between the reporting and what I'm hearing irl.

Honestly if delta is as contagious as it seems then contact tracing is going to be useless, fighting the last war.

Hopefully the early signs that it's not as deadly/virulent turn out true.

Wallensky once again being criticized for her messaging. She now says vaccines don't stop Delta transmission at all. That is def not the current consensus outside the CDC

That isn’t really correct. They *may* be less effective at preventing transmission of delta compared to other variants. We should wear masks to be cautious. Some vaccinated people who get infected may be able to transmit. We don’t know how often this happens & need more research.

— Dr. Angela Rasmussen (@angie_rasmussen) August 6, 2021

Wallensky seems kind of bad at messaging, which is sort of her one job isn't it?

But also, the word "prevent" causes a lot of problems because it means two different things in the vaccination context -- prevent entirely or reduce the odds. So you can say "vaccine doesn't prevent transmission" meaning it's still possible to transmit or "vaccines prevent transmission" meaning vaccines still reduce transmission/

Wallensky seems kind of bad at messaging, which is sort of her one job isn't it?

I mean the new CDC is fine at the CDC’s 0th job (being broadly right about the science), which is more than you can say about the CDC under trump. But the 1st job, communicating, they are still terrible at.

Isn't there anyone who can keep her from speaking publicly, for the love of christ? This is only about the fourth time she's pulled this kind of shit.

we're meeting up at The Mighty around 11 p.m. She's buying.

Really good interview.

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/07/prof-francois-balloux-the-pandemic-has-created-a-market-for-gloom-and-doom?

Wallensky seems kind of bad at messaging, which is sort of her one job isn't it?

no

That interview was indeed good, thanks.

Reassuring:

Another concern is a mutation that enables the virus to “escape” the vaccines…

Over two million viral samples have been sequenced, and we’ve probably already seen all the mutations that are technically possible. From our observations, we know that vaccine escape will not appear after one or two mutations – it will require an accumulation giving rise to the right combination. We will not go from one day everyone being protected to everyone being vulnerable the next. We will have time to update the vaccines.

Also, while a vaccine-escape variant would indeed be able to infect vaccinated people far more easily, it would not nullify the protection against severe disease and death provided by the vaccine and prior infection.

That's also what Angela Rasmussen has been screaming

the market for doom and gloom has been red hot since at least 1994, tracking right along with the rise of the internet rather closely

New Orleans JazzFest postponed to April 2022.

The vaccines not being tested for transmissibility seems like one of those inevitable outcomes of the urgency to get this done. Presumably some massively-funded rounds of research are gearing up right now to try to address that. If the vaccines reduce severity and infection rates, then they're still important until better ones get here.

Meanwhile, I found this pretty sobering:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/08/too-many-people-are-dying-of-covid-19-right-now.html

Partly because I remembered the previous much rosier (in retrospect) article just a few weeks ago:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/how-bad-could-the-delta-variant-get.html

i think the thing we've learned is forecasting this pandemic is next to impossible. pessimistic predictions at least have the benefit of leading to action to mitigate the spread and letting people know what could happen.

but far too often we've underestimated this thing (myself included)