Tag Archives: Coronavirus

Coronavirus Diaries 36

With Memorial Day just about upon us, it’s been announced that 50% of U.S. adults have now gotten the full vaccine for COVID-19. Further to that, vaccines are being now administered to children.

Then there’s this great news, from abcnews.go.com and written by Dr. Deepak Ramanathan:

COVID-19 infections are exceedingly rare after full vaccination: CDC

The upshot of the article is that studies have found that if you are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the odds of you catching the virus is exceedingly rare. From the article:

The new CDC report shows that such breakthrough infections may occur in just 0.01% of all fully vaccinated people.

Not only are the odds very rare for catching COVID-19, those who do get it are likely to get far less scary symptoms.

The news is terrific and, as I’ve written many times ’round here: Go get vaccinated!

Yesterday I was talking with a few people I knew. One of them just got their second Pfizer shot and I noted that in a matter of two weeks he may not have to wear the mask as much as he has and that we can finally talk to each other without masks.

He stated that even with the full efficacy of the vaccine, he was still going to take things easy and wasn’t quite ready to give up the mask, even after two weeks.

I agreed with him.

Hell, I’ve had both vaccines for a while now and I continue to go to stores or any areas where there are larger groups of people with a mask on.

Another person we were talking to told me he has a Doctor who told him they were leery of the vaccine and, frankly, that set me off.

I. Just. Don’t. Get. It.

I can understand people who aren’t “professionals” in the medical field getting influenced by the bullshit you find the internet and/or questionable talk shows/”news” programs.

But to be a medical doctor and actually seeing clients -real flesh and blood human beings!- and professing skepticism about vaccines and the ways to keep one safe…

Just wow.

I noted a few days back that I had a similar experience, talking to someone in the medical field who also stated something similar and refused to vaccinate.

With stories like the above, I can’t help but shake my head.

Almost everyone has relied on medications at some point in their life. Whether it be to help with a cold or anti-biotics to deal with an infection, most of us don’t question their need in certain situations.

Reports like the one above show us the real world results of vaccination and, frankly, they’re incredibly encouraging. They point us directly toward the path to the end of this pandemic and yet…

…and yet there are still people out there who either refuse to vaccinate or seem to discount the seriousness of the virus.

Hopefully, news like this will start to turn minds.

If nothing else, its becoming crystal clear that with the rise of the vaccines we’ve seen a definite drop in COVID cases.

What more does one need to know?

Coronavirus Diaries 35… This Is Big… Or A Big Problem?

A few days ago I wrote about the fact that the Centers For Disease Control released new guidance that those who are fully vaccinated and have are 3 or so weeks post final vaccine are able to go outdoors and indoors without masks. It was still recommended that one use masks in public transportation, but essentially it was their feeling that for many activities, those who are vaccinated can now go around without masks in many public activities.

While I felt the news incredibly positive, it also felt like they were being quite specific about who can go around without masks and where.

But some critics feel like the CDC wasn’t clear enough and have created problems.

Over on CNN.com, Christina Maxouris writes:

Coronavirus Experts are warning against unintended consequences of the CDC mask guidance

Quoting CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen:

“We’ve seen governors and mayors and business owners drop mask mandates, and as a result of that we’ve now made life much less safe for people who are unvaccinated, for immuno-compromised individuals and for young children who cannot yet be vaccinated.”

While I disagree that the CDC was vague or it was troublesome what they said -again, if you read their guidelines they’re pretty clear that they are ok with vaccinated people going maskless, not everyone– I do agree that some have taken the new guidelines and run with them much further than they should.

I genuinely hate to get political but I feel like once again we have people -often the ones on the right- who are using these new guidelines to go way above and beyond the recommendations offered.

Where I live, in Florida, we have a Governor who is very much a Trump acolyte, a deeply -IMHO- mistaken individual who has near constantly put down anything/everything regarding the dangers of COVID-19. If local politicians mandated mask wearing and tried to enforce it with fines, he was quick to nix any such rules, effectively overruling most and perhaps all (again IMHO) wise mask mandates from way at the beginning of this pandemic.

Ah well.

Regardless, now that children from 16 up are permitted to be vaccinated, I’m hopeful we’ll see the percentages of those vaccinated climb.

Locally, I was in a supermarket yesterday and found that there were only a few people waiting to get their COVID vaccine, which is both encouraging -hopefully it means that people in/around my area are mostly vaccinated- and somewhat worrying –are most of the people in/around my area mostly vaccinated?

I’ve stated this before: I’m fully vaccinated. Have been for a couple of months now and jumped on the very first opportunity to get vaccinated.

I had no major side-effects to either vaccine, other than perhaps some tiredness the day after the first shot and some pain in my shoulder where the injection was delivered.

Even the worst side-effects to the vaccine I’ve read about are nothing compared to what could happen should one get the worst of COVID-19.

So, again: Get vaccinated, people.

You want to get back to normal? You want to be able to really and truly walk around maskless?

Get vaccinated.

We have a very clear path back to normalcy.

Please: Take it!

Coronavirus Diaries 34… This is BIG!

Today the Centers For Disease Control issued a proclamation that many have been waiting for:

If you have received your full vaccination (ie two shots and the time for them to take effect) you may be maskless both inside and outside.

This is HUGE news and a HUGE change and if you’d like to read more about it, check out this article by Elizabeth Cohen and John Bonifield and presented on CNN:

People vaccinated against Covid-19 can go without masks indoors and outdoors, CDC says

From the article:

People fully vaccinated against Covid-19 do not need to wear masks or practice social distancing indoors or outdoors, except under certain circumstances, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday.

What are the circumstances where one should continue wearing a mask?

Again from the article:

…people who are immune compromised should speak with their doctors before giving up their masks.

Further:

The requirement to wear masks during travel — on buses, trains, planes and public transportation — still stands

Regardless. we’re one step closer to normalcy.

Get your vaccinations, people!

This n’ That…

Hard to believe we’re rapidly approaching the middle of May and the middle of the year.

Time seems like its flying by of late.

I haven’t been posting as much as I’d like of late because I’ve been so damn busy. Its a combination of things, really, though much of it is related to my daughter finishing up her studies in Jacksonville and us getting her apartment -and the apartment’s furniture, which belongs to us- down here while readying the apartment for the termination of its lease.

Its involved doing multiple travels up north and we’re all but done now -thankfully!- but its been a strain.

I’ve noticed the roads are becoming a lot more congested as people seem to be settling back into their pre-pandemic patterns… perhaps earlier than they should.

Granted, there are a lot of people now vaccinated and the rates of COVID-19 transmission seem to be dropping -which one would expect would happen as the vaccinations go up- but we haven’t quite reached a level where enough people -70 to 80% of the population- have gotten vaccinated.

Will we ever get there?

I wonder.

Without naming names, I had a conversation with someone who you’d think would know better who was adamant that they weren’t going to get the vaccine, that they had COVID-19 previously (this was news to me) and they didn’t want to go through the same crap with the vaccine, as if it would replicate the bad times they had. This individual went on a further tear about wearing masks and CO2 levels and how angry he was to see someone walking their dog with full mask on and shield and how he wanted to rip it off her. Somewhere along the line they also got into how bad it was to constantly sanitize/wash your hands and how funny it was that the Flu was essentially eradicated over the past year and…

…sigh…

The kicker? This person is in the medical field.

At some point this person also mentioned that people were being “brainwashed” by the media and it occurred to me that here was another great example of what psychologists call “projection”, where people somehow attribute their flaws to others.

Without asking, I was pretty sure this individual was very much a right wing media watcher, perhaps Fox and/or any of the myriad right wing talk shows on the radio.

Is the liberal media always right?

No. They get things wrong.

But it seems like the right wing media is fixated on a) proving that COVID-19 isn’t as serious as it should be, and b) rejecting all logical means by which to control the virus.

It’s almost as if they want, through their hard headedness and a desire to “own the libs” prove that anything related to COVID 19 and any means that should function to control it (wearing masks, washing your hands, getting vaccinated, etc.) are bullshit and not only should be called out, but you should get really angry with others who are following these guidelines.

…sigh (redux)…

Its stuff like that which not only depresses me, but makes me wonder how much longer will this virus’ domination of our lives go on.

If people continue to actively resist things like vaccinations, when will we get to the level of herd immunity?

*****

A few days back Russian ransomware hackers cyberattacked and knocked out Colonial Pipeline, one of the East Coast’s biggest distributors of fuel.

Now, days later and without the Pipeline in operation -though they indicate they should have it up and running by the end of this week- there’s signs of gas shortages as people are scrambling to stock up on fuel.

I took one of our cars to the gas station this morning early to fill up -because it was low, not because of the panic!- and found there was a fairly long line to fuel up. It was a mild inconvenience at best but it did remind me of the fuel crunch of the 1970’s (…gah… I’m so old!).

For those who don’t remember those wonderful times…

See the source image

This was the type of crap you’d see in/around gas stations. Cars in very long lines as people tried to fill up.

Often, you’d see limitations or, worse, signs which stated that the stations were completely out of gas.

It was something else and, I strongly suspect, it was one of the main things which helped in the downfall of President Jimmy Carter.

It was the time the OPEC nations were at their very strongest. The gas shortages back then were a result -if memory serves- of them holding the line with regard to the release of fuel to other countries, including the United States.

For oil producing countries, it was truly a golden age, where their product was highly sought and would sell for a great profit.

It wouldn’t last.

Holding the line for a while is fine, but greed eventually creeps into the picture. While all the others are holding the line and releasing only so much gas, it becomes quite tempting for a nation to say: “Hey, they’re starving for our fuel and we’re only releasing so much of it to comply with OPEC… what’s the harm in releasing a little more and making even more of a profit?”

And so it went.

Poor Jimmy Carter bore the brunt of the OPEC nations’ strength while Ronald Reagan enjoyed the moments when their greed took over and, into the 1980’s, oil producing nations went rogue and undercut the high prices. What was strength became a weakness and while gas prices continued to move up -and do so even to today- OPEC has never been quite as strong as it was in the 1970’s.

Of course, what’s happening today isn’t comparable to what went on then. A cyberattack is but the latest issue on has to deal with in an increasingly computerized world and, if we’re lucky, we will be among the last generation to deal with internal combustion/gas engines.

I hope we never see those lines again.

Coronavirus Diaries 33

It feels as if -at least around where I am- there’s a sense of things just about to slip back into some kind of normal.

We’re not there, but the COVID-19 numbers are dropping quite a bit and the amount of vaccinations is high. However, the number of people vaccinated each day is starting to… drop.

In early/mid April we were getting to the point of having 3 million plus vaccinations per day, but the latest numbers have gone down to some 2 million per day (check out the stats here).

The thing that worries some is that there are those who are resistant to getting a vaccination. Be they anti-vaccers (sadly, I know at least two) or simply in some kind of political denial (looking at you, Ted Nugent).

Regardless, according to the latest statistics, 32.3% of the U.S. total population now has gotten the full vaccination(s) (ie, if you had Moderna or Pfizer, you got both shots versus the one shot for Johnson & Johnson). Obviously, the number is higher when talking about people who have had but one shot and are waiting for the second and final one.

Regardless and according to this article, the so-called “Herd Immunity” for COVID-19 is expected when some 70-80% of the U.S. population has been vaccinated. Given where we’re at, we’ve need to double the current amount of people vaccinated to be approaching this level.

Plus, there remains the problems outside the U.S., particularly in India, which present the scary possibility of the COVID-19 virus mutating and maybe becoming resistant to vaccines.

This hasn’t happened yet -current vaccines appear to work against the variants- but it could happen.

At times and while reading the various articles on the subject, It feels like we’re on some kind of razor’s edge, with the possibility things moving either way.

I try to be optimistic but notice that less and less people seem interested/willing to mask up. Though I have already had both my vaccinations, I still mask up whenever I’m around others and do try to keep my distance even then.

I’ll be really curious to see where we are in one, then two months’ time. It’s possible we’ll see considerable drops in both infection rates and (crossing fingers) deaths but, again, it depends on how many people decide they should get vaccinated versus those who are resisting.

We’ll see.

Coronavirus Diaries 32

As bad as news has been about COVID-19 in Brazil and especially India, news in the United States regarding cases and hospitalizations/deaths are looking up.

Nicole Karlis over at Salon.com writes how…

We’re about to hit an “inflection point” in COVID-19 cases — here’s why

Though we’re not completely out of the woods and there are still dangers lurking around us -particularly regarding variants of the COVID-19 virus- it appears the numbers of people both getting infected and being hospitalized and dying are generally trending downwards.

The “inflection point” is the point where we may have finally gotten control over this virus, where enough people have been vaccinated to the point where we may be seeing the beginnings of the end of the virus and the return to “normalcy”.

There have been a hell of a lot of people vaccinated and unless you’ve been living under a rock -or are a little too enamored of the right wing punditry- the credit for this goes almost entirely to the Biden administration which, going into office, made it a priority to both manufacture and distribute vaccines.

As of today, we’re somewhere around 42.38% of the U.S. population which has been vaccinated and its been noted that we should have on the higher end 80% of people vaccinated to truly decimate/defeat the virus once and for all.

However, simply having this large figure -and vaccines are being administered at a blistering pace (On Saturday, some 4 million shots were administered!)- is damn good news.

I’ve noted before that perhaps we’re starting to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, and it all starts with the vaccination process.

I’m glad the United Stated -and especially the Biden administration- has been so on top of this. There’s word they’re going to start shipping vaccines to other countries and, frankly, this is also to be commended. We won’t get this virus under control until a good chunk of the world’s population is indeed vaccinated, and the quicker the better.

Hopefully, that light at the end of the tunnel grows brighter and brighter as the next few weeks and months pass.

Coronavirus Diaries 31

A couple of very interesting articles regarding COVID 19 and from CNN.com.

The first, written by Christina Maxouris, is a cautionary warning regarding the state of the states with regard to COVID 19 numbers, which are now looking as if they are starting to rise:

Some US states report concerning Covid-19 case increases — and one warns the surge is already here

I’m not going to get into the full rundown of the article but I will sum it up this way: Who didn’t see this coming?

I mean, seriously?

The problem, as I see it, is that there are just too many… man, I don’t want to be insulting here… short-sighted (how’s that for being somewhat nice about it?) people out there who think that the worst is over and now’s the time to get back to the old ways.

Mind you, I suspect a large number of these individuals -especially the politicians of one certain party- never felt there was a need for masks or social distancing to begin with and now that the numbers have gone down -coincidental with the rise of vaccinations- they are chomping at the bit to do away with any and all those pesky preventative measures.

I was in Jacksonville, Florida over the weekend, where we began the move of my daughter and the Mayor there declared all businesses could now operate without masks.

I was bewildered by the statement and find it damn concerning to walk around the area and notice a few -thankfully not that many- people walking around others without masks.

But we went to the Riverwalk, a downtown arts/food market on Saturday and it was very concerning to see people in a large -though, I would add, not huge– groups walking around not wearing masks.

On Sunday, when we left to return home, we stopped by this Breakfast/Biscuit place and ordered some food to go. As we sat down to wait for our order, a largish family (it seemed to be a grandfather/mother, a mother, and two kids) walk into the place and the older ones are not wearing any masks. Mind you, they’re older and also all three of them (the grandfather, grandmother, and mother) were also somewhat overweight, making them much more in the danger zone regarding COVID 19 than the two 20 year old or thereabout youngsters with them.

Those two youngsters were the only ones of the group wearing masks.

Yikes.

On a more personal note, as of this morning I’ve now had both of my shots and, in another two weeks, should have the full benefit of the vaccine.

I hope everyone out there is doing all they can to get theirs. The supplies are obviously becoming greater and greater and more states are now allowing virtually everyone who wants it to get a vaccine.

Do it.

But please, stay safe.

*****

The second article I wanted to point out, also on CNN.com and written by Jim Parrott and Laurie Goodman, concerns something that will become a very big issue soon enough, mortgages and rents.

The article:

We can’t suspend evictions and foreclosures forever

Basically, because the economy essentially went into the shitter with the rise of COVID 19, Congress as well as localities instituted a slowdown/freeze on evictions in many places because people -many of whom through no fault of their own and the economic problems- simply didn’t have the money to pay for either their mortgages or rents and there was the very real fear that a massive amount of people might be homeless.

Naturally, in the middle of a freaking pandemic the last thing we need is to have a ton of families and children displaces so the freeze was enacted.

However, as we seem to be approaching the end of the worst of the Pandemic (provided the possible next surge isn’t that horrific), there will come a time when the freezes will have to be lifted. Further, there will likely be a need to create some kind of funds that people may borrow from at low interest so that they can pay any back rent and mortgages.

It’s a fascinating topic, at least to me, because I’ve dealt with both sides of the issue in my life, both with owing rent and mortgages to dealing with tenants at properties my family owns.

Its a delicate balance, as I mentioned. You don’t want people to be thrown out due to the economic hardship of a pandemic. But on the other side, the people who own the properties have to have the rents paid so they may continue to provide services and care for the building(s) they operate. While its sometimes tempting to lump all building owners as unsavory because of some, the reality is that there is a tremendous amount of work on that end as well, and they do deserve to be able to get the rents from their tenants so they can pay for the various services they provide.

I’ll be real curious to see how this all plays out in the coming months.

*****

So here we are, on the cusp of entering into April. The rate of the vaccines per day is moving at a sizzling pace, rising to nearly 3 million or so per day.

While I don’t often like to get too political, in these days its hard not to be and so: I think the Biden administration is doing a terrific job with the vaccinations. Check out this chart, taken from NPR.com’s vaccine administration tracking site:

Note that the chart essentially begins in the later part of December and, come January, the line is going up and up and up in terms of vaccinations.

I’m not going to totally badmouth the Trump administration for the low number of vaccines early on, but the fact is that he had such a “I don’t care” attitude about the vaccine process that I can’t help but wonder what this chart would have looked like had he somehow gotten re-elected.

Frankly, that thought chills me.

On the other hand, the Biden administration’s laser like focus on getting more and more vaccines out there is showing in this chart. At this point about 15 percent of the population has been injected at least once. I hope in the next few months this chart will really start to take off.

I can’t wait to get back to some semblance of normalcy, but we have to be prudent about it and not jump the gun.

Let’s see how things go…

Coronavirus Diaries 30

Last night President Biden offered a time-table for when we may begin to return to some normalcy regarding COVID-19 (the linked to article is written by Stephen Collinson and Maeve Reston and presented on CNN.com):

‘I need you’: Biden asks Americans to do their part to help country emerge from Covid crisis

Specifically, he eyed July 4th as potentially the point where enough people will have received the vaccine (whichever one they are able to get) and when we should be able to get together in at least small groups.

He also implored people to not go out and mingle as we’re still not out of the woods, so to speak, and the danger of variants of COVID remains high.

Yet down in these parts its Spring Break time and there are an awful lot of people running around in largish groups.

Brittany Chang for businessinsider.com has the following article…

Travelers are flocking to Miami for Spring Break despite COVID

We truly are a frustrating species, aren’t we?

I mean, we’re so very close now to getting every adult vaccinated and yet we can’t help ourselves.

I fully expect to see the rates of COVID infection rise quite a bit starting at the end of March (a two week incubation period) and then remain rather high through April.

I hope, though, I’m proven very wrong.

Coronavirus Diaries 29

Is it -possibly!- time to start getting… excited?

In an article written by Jordan Williams and appearing on theHill.com, we find…

US picks up vaccination pace, averaging 2M doses per day

President Joe Biden promised that he would have 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days, a number that some scoffed at but, if this pace continues -or increases- and according to the above article, we could have that number of vaccinations a full month earlier!

My wife, who is a first responder, already has had her two Pfizer shots. My eldest daughter also received her first shot and my younger daughter is eligible to get a shot as well, given she too works for a first responder. I will be getting my first shot come Sunday. I’m guessing it will be the Moderna vaccine as the Pfizer vaccine tends to be administered in hospitals and my appointment is at a pharmacy.

Good news for us personally, but my good fortune is also everyone else’s. It means more and more vaccines are becoming available and the chances of getting one is increasing with each passing day.

Better yet, the infection numbers are lower, though it doesn’t mean one should let down their guard. Provided a COVID mutation doesn’t screw up the vaccine effectiveness, there is evidence of the so-called “herd immunity” starting to occur.

Ridiculously, two states, Texas and Mississippi, have decided that the worst is over and ended mask mandates and eased other COVID restrictions.

To this, President Joe Biden said…

While there’s plenty of reason to be hopeful given the good news of late, it’s also not the time, I would think, to let one’s guard down and it certainly isn’t the time to think its over.

It’s not.

We are close, but we aren’t there yet.

Even after I get the second shot of my vaccine, I intend to continue wearing masks at least until the infection rates truly become minimal and a good portion, perhaps up to 2/3rd, of the U.S. population has the vaccine.

Hopefully this will be the case by later in summer, give or take.

When that does happen, I can’t imagine what it’ll be like.

Euphoria, I’m sure…

It should be something!

Coronavirus Diaries 28

Where we live, most people follow masking protocols.

The stores I usually frequent -and there aren’t that many- have big signs which tell people to mask up if they’re going to be in the stores.

At least through today, I’ve not seen anyone flout this.

Today was different.

We went to Target to pick up a couple of things and the store was pretty busy given it is Super Bowl Sunday. I imagine people are stocking up on drinks and chips and whatever other necessities they need and everyone was keeping their distances and everyone was masked.

Except for this couple and their very young (no more than 6 years old or so) child.

The three of them were walking down the aisle of the store completely maskless.

I stared directly at the husband, a huge frown on my face.

I guy saw me and I’m sure he had to see the anger in my face but he just looked away and they continued on down the aisle opposite me.

I gave them plenty of space to pass.

Sadly, I’ve seen some videos from the Tampa area where the Super Bowl is being held and it looks like a pretty large number of people have congregated there. While many of them are wearing masks, I saw all too many partiers going around maskless.

I wonder how many people are having Super Bowl parties at their homes with large groups of people?

I wonder if we’ll see another spike in infections in the next couple of weeks?

Regarding that later question, I suspect there will be another bump.

Too bad.

But not all news is bad.

Over on CNN.com, Harry Enten offers the following:

The Covid-19 news is bad, but there’s room for optimism

At the risk of spoiling the article, Mr. Enten offers the following:

The number of people getting the coronavirus is falling, and the number of people getting vaccinated is rising and will only continue to rise as more and more vaccines are made available.

This is a numbers game and these numbers are indeed positive. The number of people getting infected is dropping, though perhaps not enough, and the fact is that each day that passes more and more people will get vaccinated.

Already there is talk about when regular folks will be able to get a vaccine and, the article notes, there has been an uptick of people who say they are willing to get the vaccine.

Perhaps the fog of misinformation is lifting, if only a bit, and in time more and more of these vaccines -whether from Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, or any other companies- will hit the markets and be available for people to use.

I feel like we’re at the edge of a breakthrough and I hope -dearly!- that we’ll see the end results in the next two to three months.

Dare I dream we may return to a form of normalcy -or at least less of a risk- by the end of this very year?

We’ll see.