The Coronavirus Is Here Forever • Hacker News Board

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#731

Post by Miraste » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:10 PM UTC

gilbetron wrote: post #437

rayiner wrote: post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It boggles my mind why there is pushback on mandating kids to wear masks in schools. It really shouldn’t if you’re an educated person who is following what scientific authorities are saying. The science here is still uncertain, but leaning towards masks for kids in schools not being worth it. See: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/08/the-science-of-maski... > At the end of May, the Centers for Disease Control an…

So the CDC are not educated nor intelligent, I guess? "Due to the circulating and highly contagious Delta variant, CDC recommends universal indoor masking by all students (age 2 and older), staff, teachers, and visitors to K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status." https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-... Also, the very study NYMag talks about still recommends: "Because universal and corr…

The CDC's public guidance during this pandemic is going to end up in communications classes alongside New Coke and the Osborne 1. They're so lucky they were bailed out (mostly) by vaccines. They opened by saying masks didn't work (a straight up lie, even if a well-intentioned one) and stuck to that line for at least a month. Then they did a 180, deleted their tweets, and spent the rest of 2020 saying masks were necessary. Then it was no masks for the vaccinated. Now it's masks for everyone again. Along the way they've somehow managed to lag and jump ahead of the actual research on masks and public trust in the CDC, their greatest asset, is now around 52% - poetically the same as the US vaccination rate.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#732

Post by dongping » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:15 PM UTC

grillvogel wrote: post #727

dongping wrote: post #716

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Either we do a full lockdown to reach zero COVID, like NZ and China did (while buying stuff online), or we would have to do prolonged mockdowns like in Europe. The Chinese have been living a mostly normal life (albeit with limited foreign travel possibilities, and sporadic lockdowns in isolated locations) for a year.

zero covid is unrealistic. how are things gonna pan out when the hypothetical zero covid nation opens up to outside travelers?

I would argue that opening up is unrealistic.

How are things going to pan out, when we apply selection pressure to the virus, while letting the virus sieve through the whole human population, creating dangerous variants due to our leaky vaccines? [1]

I would have had agreed with you if we had a sterilizing vaccine that would help us to reach herd immunity. But we don't.

Those travels which cannot afford 14 days quarantines, are non-essential travels. We fortunately have internet and the possibility to do remote meetings.

The only thing missing is tourism, though. That's sad, but better travel locally than killing people.

[1] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/leaky-vac...

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#733

Post by ummwhat » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:20 PM UTC

qwerty456127 wrote: post #95

SamBam wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since no one under 16 has been vaccinated yet, about 70% of the population is vaccinated (44M out of 67M). That might be barely enough for herd immunity for some diseases, but the case numbers in the UK are still very high and trending back upward, showing that this isn't enough for herd immunity for Covid. Hospitalization rates are also back up to significantly higher than they were this time last year. And that's w…

I'm almost sure 100% vaccination rate with the vaccines currently available won't change much. I hope I'm wrong. But there already are cases apparently confirming this. IMHO we should just return to normal, consider this a new kind of flu and deal with the fact it's more deadly. I always knew there is a chance a flu can kill me one day. I'm Ok with the fact the chance is higher now. My personal (apparently risky, I d…

Based on the error bars I've seen, you should be closer to 40% sure. Or less.

Maybe on the next mutation I'll have cause to agree with you. For now, herd immunity is still an endgame worth pursuing.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#734

Post by IncRnd » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:22 PM UTC

Tobani wrote: post #672

grillvogel wrote: post #664

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The largest decrease in hesitancy between January and May by education group was in those with a high school education or less. Hesitancy held constant in the most educated group (those with a PhD); by May PhD’s were the most hesitant group. " https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/news/news-stories/2021/july/cov...

That is pretty hard to interpret still. It could be that people with "some college" respond with oh 100% I'm getting it or 0% I"m not getting it. Where as somebody with a PHD is like yeah. I have concerns so I'm 20% worried, but I'm still planning on getting it. Also I would expect the more educated to 1) be more skeptical, 2) not change their mind when the information hasn't changed much.

Looking at the link that was posted, people who said “probably not” or “definitely not” to taking a vaccine, if offered one today, were considered to be vaccine hesitant.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#735

Post by creamynebula » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:23 PM UTC

xdennis wrote: post #594

creamynebula wrote: post #282

Specially given that after a year and a half we still don't seem to ponder that livestock, hunting, deforestation, and all sorts of animal experimenting mean another deadly disease could slip up anytime as it just did.

I don't think it's clear that the origins of covid are natural. This has become less controversial recently.

I would put gain-of-function research on the umbrella of animal experimenting.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#736

Post by greedo » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:24 PM UTC

partiallypro wrote: post #685

xadhominemx wrote: post #511

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vaccine refusal has not become a major partisan political issue in any other country. It happened here because of the shameless cynicism of the Republican Party and aligned media apparatus.

You must be joking? As bad as (some) Republicans are let's not forget Biden, Harris, Schumer, etc saying they wouldn't take the "Trump Vaccine." Not only did that put distrust into the hearts of people on the left, it also gave ammunition for the people on the right. It should have never been a political issue. Unfortunately this is a bipartisan problem (though right now it's more prevalent on the right, I suspect if…

That's a distortion of what Harris et al said.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#737

Post by burlesona » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:24 PM UTC

habosa wrote: post #700

At this point we almost know too much about the spread of this disease. Never in history have we tested so much for one thing. Never in history have we really worried about asymptomatic cases of anything. This is probably the first time in history that the whole world has the same scary thing as their front-page news. It's going to be really, really hard for us to shake the mindset that thousands of covid cases === d…

I don’t know if that’s true. Case in point, the reason that Florida is drowning in COVID right now is that the majority of people there don’t think it’s a big deal. It’s the same thing and many other parts of the country. There are still a lot of people who are freaked out, but most ordinary people are starting to tune out the news and lose interest because the media calls to be scared and panic just make them numb eventually.

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#738

Post by kazinator » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:30 PM UTC

IncRnd wrote: post #734

Tobani wrote: post #672

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is pretty hard to interpret still. It could be that people with "some college" respond with oh 100% I'm getting it or 0% I"m not getting it. Where as somebody with a PHD is like yeah. I have concerns so I'm 20% worried, but I'm still planning on getting it. Also I would expect the more educated to 1) be more skeptical, 2) not change their mind when the information hasn't changed much.

Looking at the link that was posted, people who said “probably not” or “definitely not” to taking a vaccine, if offered one today, were considered to be vaccine hesitant.

Since I've had two shots, and it's too early for a third, I would have to answer "definitely not".

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#739

Post by chrononaut » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:30 PM UTC

sokoloff wrote: post #674

nkozyra wrote: post #620

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you get you case in childhood, as most do, then you have immunity through adulthood. Sort of. I got shingles (early 40s) this year. Completely knocked on my ass for a week and maybe 2-3 months to be mostly back to normal. I recommend the shingles vaccine to anyone who will listen.

I just got the shingles vaccine this year (two shots about 3 months apart). That vaccine knocked me down from hour 6 to about hour 54 both times. Worse than any other vaccine experience, including Pfizer C19. Still recommend it, but schedule it wisely.

> That vaccine knocked me down from hour 6 to about hour 54 both times

Not sure I understand this. Can you elaborate?

Re: The Coronavirus Is Here Forever

#740

Post by monkeydreams » Mon, Aug 23, 2021, 10:31 PM UTC

partiallypro wrote: post #685

xadhominemx wrote: post #511

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vaccine refusal has not become a major partisan political issue in any other country. It happened here because of the shameless cynicism of the Republican Party and aligned media apparatus.

You must be joking? As bad as (some) Republicans are let's not forget Biden, Harris, Schumer, etc saying they wouldn't take the "Trump Vaccine." Not only did that put distrust into the hearts of people on the left, it also gave ammunition for the people on the right. It should have never been a political issue. Unfortunately this is a bipartisan problem (though right now it's more prevalent on the right, I suspect if…

> let's not forget Biden, Harris, Schumer, etc saying they wouldn't take the "Trump Vaccine."

Could you point me in the direction of a source on this? I have done my own research and pulled up absolutely nothing. Actually that's inaccurate. I pulled up a BUNCH of 2020 articles where Biden talks about inadequate vaccination orders, etc. But I'd be interested in seeing the basis of your claims.