211–220 of 241 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not a sign of good hygiene, rather a sign of these countries dystopian work laws/ethics, where sick leave is apparently not a thing.
> rather a sign of these countries dystopian work laws/ethics, where sick leave is apparently not a thing Oh yes, I too take sick leave when I have runny nose until its gone
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually large sections of China are being locked back down again as they contend with new outbreaks. The whole concept of the Immaculate Covid Response has aged terribly as one "did it right" country after another either has had major outbreaks (Japan) or resorted to completely draconian and even militarized responses (Australia, NZ) to keep the spread down.
Things have only gone this way recently because of the delta variant, if all countries had taken the virus as seriously as those countries the delta variant probably wouldn’t exist and these countries would now be able to effectively vaccinate their populations.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We know that the spike protein itself causes damage. For adults that’s almost never an issue, but I feel like the overarching recommendation that pregnant women get the vaccine is misguided. It doesn’t make much sense to get it if they’ve already had COVID or are still working from home. If those aren’t true then the risk is probably worth it as a raging infection would almost certainly be worse for the baby. I just…
The spike protein absolutely does not cause damage. Please cite a reputable source. The claim that the spike protein is dangerous in and of itself is a fixture of anti-vax disinformation online. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/06/08/fac...
"While it is true that the spike protein has 'superantigen' properties, which means it has the POTENTIAL to cause adverse effects, we know that it doesn’t cause these effects in many infected patients, it doesn’t cause many of these superantigen effects in most vaccinated individuals, and the levels are incredibly low in the blood, suggesting this shouldn’t be a concern," he said."
Many, most, etc. is a pretty far cry from "absolutely does not." I already said for most people it shouldn't be an issue. Could it be developmentally harming fetuses? Maybe we'll find out 10 years from now that they'll have a slightly lower IQ than they should.
Or maybe for adults we'll see an increase in autoimmune diseases a few years from now. Or, hopefully, there will be no widespread long term effects. These things take time to suss out. I'm so incredibly sick of absolutism reigning over everything now. It should be perfectly acceptable to have a nuanced opinion over who should take the vaccine instead of everyone or noone.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's an airbag in my car, but I also wear a seatbelt, obey the posted speed limits, use turn signals, stop at red traffic lights, and abstain from consuming alcohol while driving. This isn't "living in fear," it's observing reasonable caution in my daily life. I don't expect there will be "Zero accidents," but I want to avoid being injured and avoid causing injury to others. And I expect I'll keep taking these pre…
Wearing a mask is not a small ask. If it was, attendance at bars, restaurants, shows, etc. would not fall off a cliff when imposed.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wearing a mask is not a small ask. If it was, attendance at bars, restaurants, shows, etc. would not fall off a cliff when imposed.
Wearing a mask is one of the least inconvenient inconveniences I've had during this pandemic.
What I'm curious about is: what happens now? When everyone starts realizing that vaccines and masks can't fully contain a spread, what's the next logical step to take? Are people going to insist that you keep wearing your mask, take booster shots and live in fear for the next 50 years or are we going to collectively change our mindset from "Zero COVID" to accepting that COVID is just another risk factor in the world…
We had a small chance of getting rid of covid if we had gotten nearly everyone, 90%+, vaccinated. That didn't happen, the politicization of the vaccine was insane, and so now we are stuck with covid. What does this mean? It means we are all going to get covid. Repeatedly. It is a new seasonal illness that will be with us, absent some magical technology. It is (or will be) endemic. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/fe…
Do you support mandatory mask-wearing and social distancing for the rest of our lives?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We had a small chance of getting rid of covid if we had gotten nearly everyone, 90%+, vaccinated. That didn't happen, the politicization of the vaccine was insane, and so now we are stuck with covid. What does this mean? It means we are all going to get covid. Repeatedly. It is a new seasonal illness that will be with us, absent some magical technology. It is (or will be) endemic. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/fe…
So in the end what's your point? Do you support mandatory mask-wearing and social distancing for the rest of our lives?
To be clear: that means no mandates.
What I'm curious about is: what happens now? When everyone starts realizing that vaccines and masks can't fully contain a spread, what's the next logical step to take? Are people going to insist that you keep wearing your mask, take booster shots and live in fear for the next 50 years or are we going to collectively change our mindset from "Zero COVID" to accepting that COVID is just another risk factor in the world…
I'm tired of hearing "living in fear" equated with taking basic precautions to prevent the spread of disease, on HN of all places. It's just a dog whistle.
What I'm curious about is: what happens now? When everyone starts realizing that vaccines and masks can't fully contain a spread, what's the next logical step to take? Are people going to insist that you keep wearing your mask, take booster shots and live in fear for the next 50 years or are we going to collectively change our mindset from "Zero COVID" to accepting that COVID is just another risk factor in the world…
Hospitals are collapsing again, we can't ignore it. Get people vaccinated. Or else we're going to wind up "flattening the curve" again until we finally burn through enough dead people that everyone is effectively either recovered or immunized and then the endemic burden should be an order of magnitude lower. And hospitals only have so much throughput going through the ICU and into the morgue that they can sustain, wh…
Possibly set aside X number of beds for covid patients, the rest of the ICU beds are for everything else. Out of covid beds? Well you've gotta wait for someone to die and then they'll see you.
They chose to "not live in fear", they can live - and possibly die - with the consequences.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I heard that as well. My feeling is that with all the treatments we are deploying against the virus, one thing we are doing is creating a selective pressure, forcing it to evolve to promote more resistant and transmissible variants. Whether those transmissible variants also contain higher mortality might be a crapshoot game of chance, but I don't hear this sort of idea spouted a lot and I think it's worth considering…
Vaccines are very different from antibiotics. Antibiotics are single molecules that bind a very specific target. A single mutation of a single protein can render an antibiotic useless. Vaccines induce the immune system to generate a repertoire of antibodies, each of which binds in a different way and each of which is then selected and "evolved" (hypermutation) for increased efficacy. And each individual person create…
For the sake of clarity, the first viral genome of B.1.617 (eventually named Delta) was identified by India's variant tracking program on October 5, 2020, long before any vaccines were approved. India's case load was also quite low at this point, and the initial lockdown was being slowly rolled back.