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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

#91

Post by rayiner »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #13

I am continually surprised at how many people don’t wear masks at places like the grocery store even as cases are rising. I got covid over the summer and it was horrible! I lost two weeks of work which was a lot of money to lose, missed multiple dates with my partner I would have really enjoyed and felt totally isolated. Then I felt fatigue and brain fog for months afterwards. Afterwards I got the bivalent vaccine so…

For vaccinated individuals, being sick for two weeks is unusual. When I got covid the first time, before vaccines were available, I was sick less than a week. I had a few weeks of brain fog after that but it cleared up. I got it again last week and I was sick for only a day. Not any worse than any cold I’ve had before. Indeed I’ve had fewer sick days the last couple of years than I did the year my daughter started daycare.

I’m not going to go around wearing a mask all the time to avoid a couple of days of cold symptoms every other year. Getting colds is part of the human condition.

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

#92

Post by gjsman-1000 »

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…

Also, imagine if said hard hat caused unknown long-term effects by itself. We know, for a fact, that some plastic fibers from masks end up in the lungs permanently. What happens when they go there? Nobody knows. How many of them are there in the average person? Nobody knows. What are the long term effects? Nobody knows. How does it affect lung development in both short-term and long-term, particularly in young people? Nobody knows. We just hope it's fine.

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

#93

Post by neilv »

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #13

I am continually surprised at how many people don’t wear masks at places like the grocery store even as cases are rising. I got covid over the summer and it was horrible! I lost two weeks of work which was a lot of money to lose, missed multiple dates with my partner I would have really enjoyed and felt totally isolated. Then I felt fatigue and brain fog for months afterwards. Afterwards I got the bivalent vaccine so…

I think an additional benefit of the masks is that they signal something about the person's Covid conscientiousness -- which I suspect affects how likely they are to be a carrier, and how likely they are to be careful about spreading it if they are.

(Though that signal didn't help me in Trader Joe's the other day, when one of the few employees wearing a mask (only surgical), turned out to have a phlegmy cough. In that case, I imagine the logic might've been, "You're obviously sick and probably spreading something, maybe Covid? We don't pay you to stay home. Strap on the least effective mask you can find, which suddenly we believe in, and get out there and superspread among shoppers!" :( )

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

#94

Post by ryandrake »

KerrAvon wrote: post #64
spookthesunset wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

Quoted post unavailable.

OP has entered basically every COVID thread since 2020 to make the same kinds of comments. I guarantee, you're not going to dissuade him. You're exactly right, though, COVID and its associated "symbols" like masks have turned into a weirdly politico-religious topic for some.

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

#95

Post by tshaddox »

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…

> 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?

But wait, that's a very different question. The original comment was "I'd rather be sick for 2 weeks than wear a mask every day." You're not saying that you'd rather be killed by a falling brick than wear a hardhat every day, surely.

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

#96

Post by rayiner »

morsch wrote: post #56
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

Small outlier countries like Germany, where I still see masks regularly in various settings, and where FFP2 masks are either still mandatory in public transport or just stopped being mandatory a few days ago. Also mandatory in doctor's offices, hospitals.

To be fair, Germans are famously paranoid about health. Are you keeping your kidneys covered so you don’t catch a cold?

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

#97

Post by tshaddox »

dxhdr wrote: post #47
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?

> How would you characterize the costs associated with wearing a mask most of the time when in public? I tried it for a year and it's dehumanizing. Not sure how you'd rate that vs the unknown chance of long covid but I've made my choice.

Why do you describe it as dehumanizing? Would you also describe mask-wearing among dentists, surgeons, painters, etc. as dehumanizing?

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

#98

Post by timr »

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.

> The post holiday gathering spike is rather obvious. Not just for COVID but for everything.

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.

It's not a "holiday gathering spike". It's literally the same respiratory pathogen pattern we've seen for as long as we've bothered to look: in the winter, as we go inside and the air becomes cool and dry, respiratory infections go up. The viruses evolved to work this way, because it's a great survival strategy when your host is a social animal that doesn't/can't live outside in the cold.

It happens in parts of the world where Christmas and Thanksgiving aren't a thing (see Japan and China and Korea right now). It happens on the opposite schedule in the lower half of the planet (even where Christmas and/or Thanksgiving are a thing).

This impulse to blame/scold people for a natural phenomenon is unnerving.

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

#99

Post by Eric_WVGG »

cgb223 wrote: post #3

Lots of cities missing from this, many exist but lack any data Not sure how helpful this is when huge swathes of the population aren’t represented here

here's the CDC charts, includes NYC

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#wastewater-surveil...

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

#100

Post by ampersandy »

timr wrote: post #98
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.

> The post holiday gathering spike is rather obvious. Not just for COVID but for everything. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc. It's not a "holiday gathering spike". It's literally the same respiratory pathogen pattern we've seen for as long as we've bothered to look: in the winter, as we go inside and the air becomes cool and dry, respiratory infections go up. The viruses evolved to work this way, because it's a great surv…

What about staying inside with cool/dry air causes these infections? Genuinely curious.
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