outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

Wow

Funny. In March 2020, I can recall reading at least one expert saying that the key to an effective public health response to covid was total transparency in communication with the public, giving accurate and timely information whether it was good or bad. It's not like this was some arcane secret formula.

The problems in implementing that strategy came almost exclusively from those who saw the chance to use the pandemic in service to their political and financial interests, whose voices were much louder and better focused than the public health establishment. For example, in the USA, Dr. Fauci tried to serve that role and Trump undercut him over and over again.

(2) avoid polarization;

sure, sure, we'll get right on that.

I would argue that a necessary factor besides total transparency from experts and leaders is having a populace comprised of <40% frothing maniacs. Transparency would never have helped us in our current state.

It's just a small step for him
It's a nice break from Vietnam
(Filmed in a factory)
Out on the back lot in Houston
Who says the world isn't flat

(thumbs up to KM)

https://i.imgur.com/9P789R1.gif

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/94716861_1608037062690235_7499681981706272768_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=1-5&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=_maURxRPLK8AX_85bSF&tn=nMaCpl2pu4gQQq4y&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=e97d47100a2ac9cb281e8283095f8866&oe=6162695D

I’m guessing indoor masks are going to be a “thing” (be from outright mandates or just because numbers drive safety and recommendations) for another couple of years until we really nail down effective boosters for the non-death cultists of us willing to get them. I don’t think even next spring is going to look much different than things do now, unfortunately.

I think that strongly depends on where you live.

Masks mostly disappeared here in the spring. They are back now in places like grocery stores, but absent in packed restaurants and bars.

Im not really talking about mask mandates being initiated, enforced or followed, since that’s been a patchwork shit show from the start, but rather that the case counts, transmission rates and other metrics will mean that masks in indoor public spaces are going to remain a necessity for those wishing to protect themselves and/or loved ones. Trying to predict where their mandates will be followed through on in any official capacity is a fools errand at this point.

More reacting to folks I see saying, essentially, “this fall and winter is going to suck but we will emerge next spring with the pandemic largely behind us”. I think the first part is true, though I’d argue we still aren’t mentally prepared for just how bad it’s going to get, but I don’t think the latter half of that is true at all. Yes, cases will subside again, but not enough to where we can begin to hit June 2021 levels of optimism again.

I also wasn't talking about mask mandates. I'm not nearly as pessimistic about the outlook over the next couple months, but that may also be due to location. Things seem to have peaked here and are declining, but of course it could jump back up again too.

Everyone in the US occupies the same enormous landmass, wherein those from COVID-rich regions can freely cross over into COVID-lite regions. So I'm not sure how meaningful any seeming COVID peaks are within a particular region.

I mean until a particular region either crosses a huge threshold with respect to vaccinations or is slammed so hard that they essentially achieve herd immunity.

everyone in the US is in a dreamland

me too btw. not trying to do some sheeple shit. i dream hard

xxp

There seem to be clear regional differences in how hard different places have been hit. Someone's perspective of how good or bad things are can easily be influenced by the local outlook vs how things are 1000 miles away.

https://i.imgur.com/WBlgZOo.jpg

oof, wrong thread sorry

My particular comfort level with what activities I can or can't do has way more to do with the local situation than with other parts of the country, and I'm sure that's true for lots of other people as well.

CDC gives more manna to the denialists: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article254111268.html

How are they so fucking bad at this.

Ugh, Jesus they are so bad at messaging.

tbf, for almost the entirety of the CDC's existence, literally no one would have noticed or cared about them changing a word on their website. Also they are right that the change has a reasonable justification. Now they are under a microscope (e.g. one word on a website changes and it's news) and they'll get slammed from some side regardless.

The CDC change seems fine to me, it's clear people were reading "immunity" and thinking it meant "you literally cannot get the disease," why would they not clarify?

not the change itself, which is fine, but the timing of it.

Because it's all or nothing for all the many people who can't grasp percentages and probability.

xp

I don't think they should have changed a word just because some people don't understand the readily available definition of it, and changing it only made things worse with those people, so bad move.

And generally speaking I think they have been terrible at messaging.

So far in a total of four days of school, three staff in our schools have tested positive and zero students. Can't help but bet that the staff were unvaccinated. I am generally supportive of the student mask mandate, with some reservations, but it infuriates me that it isn't accompanied by a staff vaccine mandate.

Do you think it's possible that the staff are testing themselves more frequently than the students are? Or is everyone mass tested by the school?

right. most kids don’t show symptoms so the only way to know would be to do regular testing of everyone.

that article is fucking awful and i went off on katie

cdc is dumb, but that article, FUCK

who is bad at messaging? surely the CDC, i get that. but check out this wonderful first line

Social media is calling bluff on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for modifying its definition of the words “vaccine” and “vaccination” on its website.

thanks a lot Katie Camero, shitty journalist. good thing the article is free because it's about coronavirus. this way, it can be shared more easily

social media is calling bluff?

fuck you

katie camero, i mean, lol

nean you're fine and i know you didn't mean to highlight the article but rather the CDC's messaging instead.

the whole thing is a just yet another minor abomination that will be forgotten by tomorrow

but if you're just skimming through your local Miami Herald, being a retire, golfing, waiting to die, doing whatever they do there, all you remember from this article is "skepticism...ministry of truth...cdc changing things and be scary...lies..."

excellent

“Some people have speculated” is always a great peg for a news story

“Let’s go to Twitter for the reaction!”

cut to: raging hellscape, the howls of the tormented

“Thanks for that Katie”

Do you think it's possible that the staff are testing themselves more frequently than the students are? Or is everyone mass tested by the school?

― Lily Dale, Sunday, September 12, 2021 11:01 PM (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

right. most kids don’t show symptoms so the only way to know would be to do regular testing of everyone.

― Tracer Hand, Monday, September 13, 2021 2:45 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I doubt that's the explanation, and if it were, then we should be seeing spread in school, which at least so far we aren't. But either way, is there any good reason not to mandate school staff be vaccinated?

Meanwhile

News in QAnon world today: Veronica Wolski, a Covid denier known for hanging QAnon signs on bridges, died of Covid last night. QAnon believers, led by Lin Wood, had been deluging the hospital with demands that she receive ivermectin. Cops were called last night amid bomb threats.

— Will Sommer (@willsommer) September 13, 2021

The article is indeed awful and makes things even worse but to repeat what others have said, the timing of the update on the CDC's part is super dumb. Just don't bother at this point? It's just fodder for the idiots and does far more harm that good. Even if the reasoning behind the change was solid, which I think it is, what's the point of updating it now?

Immunity is the correct word. "Protection" is much broader and more vague.

xpost Presumably because the people who have been doing their own research for the past year and a half asked for clarification. It's just such a difficult, personal decision!

3 positive tests among teachers in 4 days at one school isn’t “spread”? what is it then?

of course there should be a vaccine mandate for teachers. but what about the kids? but is there any good reason for kids to not be tested regularly?

3 positive tests among teachers in 4 days at one school isn’t “spread”? what is it then?

of course there should be a vaccine mandate for teachers. but what about the kids? but is there any good reason for kids to not be tested regularly?

― Tracer Hand, Monday, September 13, 2021 9:32 AM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

TBC, one teacher at the high school, one shared between the middle and elementary, and one at the elementary, and none had any contact with each other.

The good reason for kids not to be tested regularly imo is that asymptomatic cases in kids have a pretty low chance of spreading, it leads to tons of needless quarantining, and adults who are actually in any way vulnerable to COVID should have gotten vaccinated by now. A child under 12 is less likely to get severely ill than a vaccinated adult.

However, kids do de facto get tested pretty often, because they need tests any time they are out of school for anything remotely sick-related. For example today my daughter is home with a sore throat (no fever). She will get tested before she can return to school.

A child under 12 is less likely to get severely ill than a vaccinated adult.

Just for example, end of last school year, kid in my daughter's class goes to a yankee game and has to get tested. Tests positive on the rapid. Subsequent PCR is negative. They retest him two more times just to make sure. No symptoms, negative. Whole class has to stay home for ten days. Test all students regularly and that's going to happen every couple of weeks.