Showing posts with label Delta variant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Delta variant. Show all posts

Monday, January 3, 2022

Omicron surges in U.S. While So. Africa Passes Peak

 

So. Africa was the first to discover the Omicron variant, then it rapidly traversed the world. It was first found in this country in California, in Dec. of 2021, and from there has spread across the nation. We are luckier (over Delta) with this new mutation which has milder effects. But it spreads like wildfire, with a new U.S. daily record set recently of over 580,000 cases in one day with at least 551,000 Omicron. At the end of Dec. 2021, there were 79,161 U.S. hospitalizations, 17,282 in ICU.

Compared to Delta peaking last July/August, with 7,000 hospitalizations then, and patients aged 50 and older who died or were admitted to intensive care “ it generally trended upward in the Delta period," according to the New York Times. Deseret News reports, "The death rate dropped from 29.1% with delta to 2.7% with omicron." I'm perfectly willing to go with the good news, but do you wonder after Delta's ugly impact, is there something we still don't know about Omicron?

Fareed Abdullah of the South African Medical Research Council told the New York Times...
“The speed with which the Omicron-driven fourth wave rose, peaked and then declined has been staggering. Peak in four weeks and precipitous decline in another two. This Omicron wave is over in the city of Tshwane. It was a flash flood more than a wave."
President Biden on the Omicron Variant: Vaccination and Boosters Offer High Level of Protection...

 


Even Abdullah doesn't sound completely sure about the So. African stats, and the virus' "precipitous" decline does sound unreasonable to me, a layperson. But it happened and the studying will go on just like it has since the 1918 flu pandemic, which has produced a vaccine that protects us today. So far the experts still insist a peak to Omicron will occur by January 15, of this year, but Dr. Fauci and other well-known virologists are telling us to continue to maintain Covid protocols.

It has been suggested that statistical data during the holidays could be distorted due to reduced testing so the next two weeks will be crucial in determining the immediate future of the coronavirus. Especially Omicron. Which means there is hope just over the horizon.

Monday, August 2, 2021

Private health insurers/Medicare should deny anti-vaxxers coverage

 

And why not? The anti-vaxxers are the primary reason the Covid-19 pandemic is enjoying new vigor with the recent addition of the Delta variant. CNN's Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and former Baltimore health commissioner, says, 'We can’t trust the unvaccinated.' I can attest to that having a family member traveling between two states after just learning her whole family was infected with the virus, including two children under the age of ten.

If you think that is insane, I wholeheartedly agree. This attitude has endured in the entire family since day one of inception of the coronavirus in this country. An early comment was, "It's only a virus," as if that was something you could easily just sweep under the rug. Today a Washington Post article, "When will the summer coronavirus surge peak? It will get worse before it gets better, experts predict." Like "140,000 to 300,000 cases a day in the United States come August."

Okay, it's not just a virus anymore, yet, 30% don't have the shot with most saying they won't get it. We're back to 70,000 cases a day, but the Florida health department recently announced that state alone was forecasting some 83,000 cases a day by early August. David W. Dowdy, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said...

“It is getting worse, and at least as of right now, it is not really slowing down in the U.S.,”

It is getting worse because 1 in 4 Americans are refusing to get the vaccine. In addition to vaccine denial, "Relaxing precautions, such as no longer wearing masks or engaging in social distancing," a major contributor according to leading epidemiologists. One statement did indicate, however, right now masks are only protecting the unvaccinated. The Washington Post opinion piece said...
"Those of us who have behaved responsibly — wearing masks and, since the vaccines became available, getting our shots — cannot be held hostage by those who can’t be bothered to do the same, or who are too deluded by misinformation to understand what is so clearly in their own interest."

Here's a comment from the Washington Post's Ruth Marcus I totally agree with: "The more inconvenient we make life for the unvaccinated, the better our own lives will be." That is the gist of this post, except that losing your health insurance is not just an inconvenience, it is a major economic blow. Hit 'em where it hurts then see how fast their position changes and they rush to get their vaccination.


Just look at the figures across the country. They are on the increase almost everywhere, with Florida reporting just this past week 21,000 new Covid cases in one day. Following that state is Texas, #2 in total cases, #3 in total deaths. They each have Republican morons for governors, Ron DeSantis, Florida, Greg Abbott in Texas. State governors like these two bottom feeders are what encourage the anti-vaxxers along with the voluminous social media misinformation.

It was actually Piers Morgan that came up with this concept of denying health coverage to those who will deny the vaccination. His headline:  "Piers Morgan: If you refuse COVID-19 vaccine and catch the virus, you should be denied state-funded health care and pay for it yourself." I added the idea of including the private insurance carriers. The U.S. currently stands at 49.9% fully vaccinated, with most of the summer still ahead of us.

Just last Saturday, fans packed a Florida stadium following a record one-day of 21,000 new cases, a week of 110,000 new cases. Florida has just been named the new coronavirus epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it all can be traced back to the reckless handling of the virus spread by its Republican governor, Ron DeSantis. So, the anti-vaxxers aren't all to blame after the Republican Party spewing its misinformation. 

We're experiencing the biggest outbreak of idiots the United States has ever known. And it all really started with the election of Donald Trump.

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