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Graph showing level of Covid, flu and RSV in US wastewater systems, by city

publichealth.verily.com

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Re: Graph showing level of Covid, flu and RSV in US wastewater systems, by city

#151

Post by droopyEyelids »

chrisco255 wrote: post #141
mjevans wrote: post #85

The post holiday gathering spike is rather obvious. Not just for COVID but for everything. We really should have test kits, and people should test BEFORE travel. A national level policy of full refunds if tested positive (for any illness / disease) could help prevent the needless spread of illness.

Diseases are inevitable. It's not all that useful to be testing for every random disease that comes up. Testing doesn't help. Lockdowns don't help. Even mRNA treatments don't help. You WILL get Covid. You WILL get the flu. And your immune system will get stronger as you get exposed. Covid used to be novel. Now it's endemic and mutates multiple times per year. It's looking more and more like Covid will be with us for…

Your 'inevitable' comment reminds me of the novice security mindset where something either Secure or it is Not Secure.

In the world of security, you grow up, leave behind the simple binary descriptions, and assess impact of event and threat you're defending against.

This applies to disease safety as well. It's not just 'inevitable' or 'preventable', but there is a difference between getting sick once a year and getting sick every month. Between working in a hospital and working from home. Between being sick by yourself and spreading it to your extended family.

There is a risk assessment to be done, and calculated measures to be taken.

Re: Graph showing level of Covid, flu and RSV in US wastewater systems, by city

#152

Post by amilios »

rconti wrote: post #148
fullmoon wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We Europeans are continually surprised that talking about masks is still a thing.* Except for 1 or 2 outlier countries masking is over. * Unless they are familiar with U.S. politics

Wait, are you saying Europeans are surprised talking about it is still a thing, because everyone wears them? Or because nobody wears them? Just got back from Germany yesterday, and while masks are required on most public transport (but not airplanes), you'll see a decent amount of compliance (50%?) but not anywhere else indoors. Minimal masking in public spaces on public transport, stores, airplanes, etc in my experi…

Unfortunately I'm quite sure it's the latter. Even in Canada, in MTL where I live, on public transit it's maybe 5-6% that is masking. For most people the pandemic is simply "over", regardless of what the data says or how overwhelmed hospitals are.

Re: Graph showing level of Covid, flu and RSV in US wastewater systems, by city

#153

Post by mistrial9 »

howinteresting wrote: post #65
fullmoon wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We Europeans are continually surprised that talking about masks is still a thing.* Except for 1 or 2 outlier countries masking is over. * Unless they are familiar with U.S. politics

Indoor masking is quite common in the SF Bay Area.

yes and, you see "social signal" surgical masks and also clinical N-95 variations.. personally I do wear the N-95 at the grocery store at this time. I throw them out after a few weeks of use and use a new one. A box of ten is about $15 at a local hardware store near me.

Re: Graph showing level of Covid, flu and RSV in US wastewater systems, by city

#154

Post by ghaff »

howinteresting wrote: post #149
TaylorAlexander wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the SF Bay Area. Yes you will always see masks but I’m surprised how many people you see who don’t wear them.

Yeah, that's definitely true. At the grocery store near me (bougie area, a lot of older people) I see maybe 50-60% of people masked. On the other hand, now that I'm quadruple vaccinated and use an N95 I'm not overly bothered by people not wearing masks around me.

And that's shockingly high for Massachusetts where it's probably less than 1% in general--outside of healthcare settings and probably a few percent higher on public transit.

Re: Graph showing level of Covid, flu and RSV in US wastewater systems, by city

#155

Post by jimjimjim »

chrisco255 wrote: post #141
mjevans wrote: post #85

The post holiday gathering spike is rather obvious. Not just for COVID but for everything. We really should have test kits, and people should test BEFORE travel. A national level policy of full refunds if tested positive (for any illness / disease) could help prevent the needless spread of illness.

Diseases are inevitable. It's not all that useful to be testing for every random disease that comes up. Testing doesn't help. Lockdowns don't help. Even mRNA treatments don't help. You WILL get Covid. You WILL get the flu. And your immune system will get stronger as you get exposed. Covid used to be novel. Now it's endemic and mutates multiple times per year. It's looking more and more like Covid will be with us for…

gah! Sure fine whatever. you'll get covid. but how many times? If you test and you discover you currently have covid maybe don't be a raging asshole and give it to your family and friends!

Re: Graph showing level of Covid, flu and RSV in US wastewater systems, by city

#156

Post by amilios »

jgalt212 wrote: post #150

The longer a society wears masks, the sicker everyone will be when they eventually come off. In the formerly overly cautious US Northeast, kids are getting sick left and right this school year. And COVID is the least dangerous bold-faced name they need to worry about.

This is an absolute myth. There is no evidence of "immunity debt", and serious public officials parrotting this nonsense are doing real damage. It's a tempting explanation because it's simple and seems to make intuitive sense, but it's just wrong. The explanation that has much more evidence is that everyone and their dog caught COVID, and COVID has been directly linked to lasting immune system damage, making everyone more susceptible to catching these other viruses.

https://globalnews.ca/news/9272293/immunity-debt-covid-19-mi...

Re: Graph showing level of Covid, flu and RSV in US wastewater systems, by city

#157

Post by jimjimjim »

jimjimjim wrote: post #155
chrisco255 wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diseases are inevitable. It's not all that useful to be testing for every random disease that comes up. Testing doesn't help. Lockdowns don't help. Even mRNA treatments don't help. You WILL get Covid. You WILL get the flu. And your immune system will get stronger as you get exposed. Covid used to be novel. Now it's endemic and mutates multiple times per year. It's looking more and more like Covid will be with us for…

gah! Sure fine whatever. you'll get covid. but how many times? If you test and you discover you currently have covid maybe don't be a raging asshole and give it to your family and friends!

and while I'm on it, since we are all getting it why wouldn't you get the v word? It will help strengthen your immune system (as will getting covid) and the bit that people keep missing out it will lessen the affects you suffer when you get it.

Re: Graph showing level of Covid, flu and RSV in US wastewater systems, by city

#158

Post by micromacrofoot »

chrisco255 wrote: post #141
mjevans wrote: post #85

The post holiday gathering spike is rather obvious. Not just for COVID but for everything. We really should have test kits, and people should test BEFORE travel. A national level policy of full refunds if tested positive (for any illness / disease) could help prevent the needless spread of illness.

Diseases are inevitable. It's not all that useful to be testing for every random disease that comes up. Testing doesn't help. Lockdowns don't help. Even mRNA treatments don't help. You WILL get Covid. You WILL get the flu. And your immune system will get stronger as you get exposed. Covid used to be novel. Now it's endemic and mutates multiple times per year. It's looking more and more like Covid will be with us for…

There seem to be some amount of long-term risks associated with covid that aren't present in influenza though. I hope to continue avoiding covid myself.

Re: Graph showing level of Covid, flu and RSV in US wastewater systems, by city

#159

Post by micromacrofoot »

kjksf wrote: post #71
Diederich wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being sick two weeks is a very clear cost. Less clear are the long-term costs associated with long-covid. How would you characterize the costs associated with wearing a mask most of the time when in public?

Being killed by a falling brick is a very clear cost. How would you characterize the costs associated with wearing a hard hat most of the time when in public? Talking about cost without normalizing for probability of prevention is meaningless yet you want to frame the discussion to be purely about (low) cost of wearing masks. We had a year of a pretty tough lockdown, most people wearing masks, distancing in grocery s…

falling bricks didn't kill 1 million americans over the past 2 years

Re: Graph showing level of Covid, flu and RSV in US wastewater systems, by city

#160

Post by basch »

ch4s3 wrote: post #147
basch wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

droplets and airborne is a somewhat arbitrary distinction pulled out of .. thin air. https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwu... Whether the droplet/aerosol float through the air has to do with much more than particle size. "There was just one literally tiny problem: “The physics of it is all wrong,” Marr says. That much seemed obvious to her from everything she knew about how things move through…

That's not my point at all. I didn't make the droplet vs airborne distinction. I mean that the masks can and do stop some droplets and larger particles, but smaller particles pass through and around them readily. It seems like really small particles might be causing infections with newer variants. But I'm also not sure what we even know for sure about this at the moment. A lot of mask research has been don with model…

That goes back to its not binary. Less viral load is less viral load. Masks are not a complete solution.

At the end of the day the goal appears to be to reduce spread and reinfection to minimize the load on the hospital system.

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