I saw a ridiculous stupid thread here at ET with commentary by Covidiots posting misinformation about the decline in Covid infection cases via a reason due to lifting (removing) restrictions. The Covidiot thread in reference is the Neanderthal verse Science thread. Reality, the decline in Covid cases is due to the dramatic increasing in Vaccinations. ---------- COVID-19 Cases Dropping in Groups with High Vaccination Rate New data finds COVID-19 cases are dropping in some vaccinated groups. JACK GUEZ/Getty Images As more people are vaccinated against the coronavirus, researchers will be able to see how well the vaccines work in the real world. Real-world effectiveness of vaccines is often lower than the efficacy seen in clinical trials due to a number of factors. Recent data from California and Israel find that cases are dropping as more people are getting vaccinated. All data and statistics are based on publicly available data at the time of publication. Some information may be out of date. Visit our coronavirus hub and follow our live updates page for the most recent information on the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week the Los Angeles Fire Department reported a dramatic decrease in daily COVID-19 cases since firefighters started receiving the coronavirus vaccine in late December. With around three-fourths of the city’s firefighter department members vaccinated, a memo from Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas reported that the department’s daily number of positive tests dropped from nearly 20 in December to less than 5 last week. The memo was originally obtained by the Los Angeles Times. Experts say this is a sign that the coronavirus vaccines — which showed high efficacy in late-stage clinical trials — are also working in the real world. So is the United States’ rollout of the vaccine also behind the declines in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations seen last week in almost every state? Experts say it’s unlikely, given that so far only 9.6 percent of Americans have gotten at least one vaccine dose. “It is impossible to know the causes of the decline in cases and hospitalizations, given that [so few] of the population has been vaccinated,” said Dr. Sadiya S. Khan, an assistant professor of medicine and preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Other experts say these recent declines in cases are likely due to changes in people’s behavior — such as traveling and gathering less after the holidays, or wearing masks and physical distancing more in response to surging cases and news of hospital bed shortages. But at some point, when enough people have been vaccinated, the country will start to see positive effects of the vaccine on the pandemic. “If we are aggressive in rolling out the vaccine effectively, we can continue this downward trajectory,” Khan said. “This is especially critical right now as new variants that are more contagious are becoming more prevalent and could send us backwards, as we are seeing in Europe.” https://www.healthline.com/health-n...el-sees-vaccination-progress-against-COVID-19 ---------- wrbtrader
A 4th COVID-19 Surge May Be Starting. How Bad Could It Get? https://www.npr.org/sections/health...19-surge-may-be-starting-how-bad-could-it-get After more than two months of steep declines, coronavirus infections are on the rise again nationally — along with COVID-19 hospitalizations in many states. In the past seven days, the U.S. reported slightly more than 65,000 new cases per day on average, a jump of 20% from two weeks earlier. Many states have seen even more dramatic growth, as high as 125% in Michigan, according to an NPR analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University. And hospitalizations have risen for seven consecutive days in more than a dozen states, mostly in the Midwest and Northeast, according to the University of Minnesota's COVID-19 Hospitalization Tracking Project. These signs all point to the growing threat of another significant surge in COVID-19 cases, experts say. But there's cautious optimism that it's not likely to be as devastating as the previous wave, which saw 200,000 or more confirmed cases a day on average for most of December and early January, according to data tracked by Johns Hopkins University. "Thanks to the rapid rollout of vaccines, I don't think we'll have a surge that is anything like what we've seen before," says Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. "Still, any additional deaths at this point are tragedies, given that we have on hand vaccines that could have prevented them." What's driving the growth in infections? Another surge is inevitable, says epidemiologist Bill Hanage of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. But he adds that "it might not be national, not all at the same time, and the consequences will vary depending on how many people are vaccinated when it kicks off." Indeed, the rise in cases so far isn't consistent across the country. The Midwest has seen a 58% increase in new cases over the past 14 days, while the number of cases in the Northeast has climbed by 30%. Cases in the West rose by 5% and the South shows a slight decline. Overall, 33 states and the District of Columbia have rising cases with seven states (plus Puerto Rico) growing by more than 50%. A host of factors are fueling the resurgence. States have been loosening restrictions, while pandemic fatigue has led to less vigilance about precautions such as mask-wearing, social distancing and hand-washing. Perhaps the biggest unknown is how the rapid spread of one particular coronavirus strain may play out. The highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant represents a growing share of cases in the U.S. and is likely driving the current increase, notes Hanage. The strain, which emerged in the U.K., is up to 50% more infectious, and new research suggests it's more likely to result in serious illness and death as well. Hospitalizations are another sign of how the surge is ramping up. The growth over the past week or so is the first time since the winter surge that hospitalizations appear to be rising: 10 states experienced spikes of 10% or more; four states — Michigan, South Dakota, Connecticut and Maryland — saw rises of about 15% or more, according to the University of Minnesota's COVID-19 Hospitalization Tracking Project. "A matter of choice" For now, there's still plenty of reason for hope. The vaccine rollout is happening fast, though unevenly. So far, about 17% of U.S. adults are fully vaccinated. And the vaccines appear to be effective at preventing severe illness and death from all the strains currently circulating, including the B.1.1.7 variant, Hanage told NPR's All Things Considered. So it's a race to get people vaccinated before the fast-spreading variant can take over. There are two more positive factors to consider: the warming weather and existing immunity from previous infections, says Natalie Dean, a biostatistician at the University of Florida. The fact that a lot of people have been infected naturally — during the last surge and even earlier — "will help take the edge off a bit of what potentially can happen in the future," she explains. "And the fact that we're moving out of the winter months into the spring, all of those things are working to our advantage." Still, Harvard epidemiologist Hanage notes that it's important to pay attention to high-risk groups who may not be getting vaccinated as quickly. "It doesn't take a large number of infections in the most vulnerable groups to cause serious problems," he told NPR. Researchers NPR spoke to all cautioned that public policy and Americans' behavior can still make a huge difference in how bad this next surge will be. Alessandro Vespignani, a disease modeler at Northeastern University in Boston, warns that relaxing measures like social distancing now could turn this into a bigger surge. Instead, he says, we need more time for the vaccination campaign to roll out. "We really need to keep fighting for a few weeks," he says. "We see that light at the end of the tunnel and it's just a matter of keeping things together for a few more weeks. It's a matter of choice at this point." How long will this surge last? Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, says he's concerned about the next four to six weeks, but he expects that "once we get further into May, things will stabilize and start getting better." The COVID-19 forecasting team at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia PolicyLab says they see signs that the new surge won't be as prolonged as winter's. In this week's forecasting update, they estimate cases in several Michigan cities may soon reach a spring peak, and they forecast the New York City region may also be stabilizing. Other experts say a surge could last until June and that there's a chance it could be quite severe. Nicholas Reich, an epidemiologist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, says he "would be surprised but not shocked" if the surge did in fact rise to the levels seen in winter. Right now, he says, Michigan at least "is headed in that direction with scary velocity." Though this resurgence of COVID-19 isn't generally expected to be as bad as the winter wave, experts repeatedly urge that now is not the time to relax. Earlier this week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that despite the positive momentum, she described feeling a sense of "impending doom" as the number of cases climbs. "It will be critical for individuals to commit to masking and keeping gatherings small to protect communities in the coming weeks," says Lauren Walens, strategic operations and communications director of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's PolicyLab. Melissa Nolan, a professor of epidemiology at the University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health, says the current uptick could in fact be followed by yet another flare-up in cases this summer. "Our models are suggesting June as another peak, approximately a quarter the size of last summer's," she says, as a result of adults and children who remain unvaccinated. Indeed, the trajectory and duration of the surge will depend a lot on how quickly people get vaccinated and what Americans — and their state and local governments — do in the meantime.
I've been monitoring it and kinda worrisome given the vax numbers. I do wonder how many are antivax covidiots or youth getting hit.
U.K. variant spreading faster then they can get people vaccinated is the key in Michigan plus the fact that more young people are becoming infected and hospitalized. The key is to get the vaccination moving faster than the spread of the Covid variants like in California. I need to pull a the comparable charts but more people in California have had their 1st and 2nd doses of vaccination in California than in Michigan per capital. wrbtrader
In Michigan's latest coronavirus surge, there's a new kind of patient By Miguel Marquez, CNN Updated 7:55 AM ET, Tue April 6, 2021 (CNN) Michigan is in another coronavirus surge and hospitals are again on the front line, but this time they have a new type of patient: younger and healthier. Fred Romankewiz was on his way to get vaccinated, but he didn't feel well so he canceled the appointment and got a Covid-19 test instead. Though he'd been inches from the coronavirus finish line, the 54-year-old construction materials salesman from Lansing now tested positive. "What really is frustrating to me is it's been a year and what -- three months now, and I played it right to the tee. I mean, I did everything correct," said Romankewiz. "And then to have this happen." How one of Detroit's churches is tackling vaccine hesitancy to help combat Michigan's Covid-19 surge Watching TV, responding to a steady stream of text messages and cracking jokes from his hospital bed in Lansing's Sparrow Hospital, Romankewiz said he feels upbeat about his prospects for a full recovery but that the virus laid him low. "I felt like I went 10 rounds with Mike Tyson," he said. "I was absolutely physically exhausted. I mean, I felt like I had been beat up, I felt like I had been in a car accident. I mean, it was crazy." Romankewiz, who lives a healthy life and has no underlying conditions, said he contracted the virus from his 19-year-old-son, Andy. His wife, Betsy, who is fully vaccinated, also got the virus but suffered minor symptoms. Jim Dover, CEO and president of Sparrow Health System, a large health care provider in central Michigan, said two things are driving the current surge: pandemic fatigue and mutations in the coronavirus that have made it more contagious and possibly more deadly. "This variant is more virulent, and so therefore more infectious, and so easier to catch," said Dover. "Second is everyone is tired of wearing masks, so you will go out and see a lack of social distancing, the lack of wearing masks. The virus is invisible and people did not know they're walking through a cloud of Covid, and next thing you know, they're infected." Dangerous variant spreading throughout the state Both the B.1.351 and highly contagious B.1.1.7 variants have been identified in Michigan, but the B.1.1.7 strain is now spreading throughout the community. The state health department has identified more than 1,200 instances of the B.1.1.7 variant. The actual number is likely much higher considering the difficulty in determining which variant is causing cases throughout the state -- the samples have to be sent to a state lab for time-consuming DNA analysis to determine the variant. Michigan adds more than 8,400 new Covid-19 cases in one day, the most since December At Beaumont Hospital's Royal Oak, a facility of the largest health care provider in the Wolverine State, the prevalence of the B.1.1.7 variant is clear. Dr. Justin Skrzynski is a Covid hospitalist -- a title that didn't exist a year ago -- which means he specializes in the care of Covid patients. He said they send out a small sample of some of their cases to the state for DNA analysis. "Right now, the regular Covid test we do -- that's still just showing Covid (or) no Covid," Skrzynski said. "But we do send a lot of those out to the state and we are seeing something like 40% of our patients now (with) B.1.1.7." Tina Catron, 44, is under Skrzynski's care at Beaumont Health's Royal Oak facility. The mother of two said she thinks her family became infected with coronavirus through her children's soccer league. "We're not 100% sure," she said of how they all got it, "but we think from the soccer field, with the parents, even though we're all masked up. From the sidelines, everyone's yelling. And I think what happened is my husband was with my son, his soccer game. And he brought it home." Fighting the virus on many fronts Health officials in Michigan have indicated both schools and youth sports are possible vectors for the virus. Catron says her 9-year-old, Levi, and 7-year-old, Jesse, had no symptoms and her husband got very sick but wasn't hospitalized. She said was shocked to be hospitalized. She's healthy, active and has no underlying conditions but required hospitalization after developing pneumonia. "You feel like you're suffocating a little bit," she said, clearing her throat and still struggling to breathe. At one point, Catron's oxygen levels dropped dangerously low to 82% -- far below the normal range of 95% to 100%. Michigan sees worrying spike in Covid-19 cases as state prepares to open mass vaccination site Michigan -- whose Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, experienced severe backlash from Republicans, business owners and others over her ongoing coronavirus restrictions -- is fighting the virus on several fronts. Vaccinations are rolling out, with about 600,000 Michiganders getting a shot every week; the economy is reopening, with some restrictions being lifted; and many are returning to pre-pandemic life with no masks or social distancing. The daily hospital admission rate based on a seven-day rolling average for younger age groups in Michigan is up over the same averages during the massive autumn surge. For instance, the Michigan Health & Hospital Association reports that among those aged 30-39, there were 26 daily admissions based on a seven-day average during the fall and winter surge, while today there are 43 admissions in the same age bracket. The 40-49 age bracket is seeing a similar rise, with 58 being admitted daily compared to 33 during the autumn surge. For those 60 and older, hospitalizations have declined sharply as vaccinations have risen. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says 35.2% of Michigan adults have received at least one vaccine dose and 21.5% have been fully vaccinated. Health workers were 'thrown a curveball' Doctor drives three hours to get Covid-19 vaccine to rural Michigan hospital Dr. Lynda Misra, medical director of the Covid unit at Beaumont Health's Royal Oak facility, said the rise in cases has been sharp and they are unsure where they are in this current surge. Whatever it brings, she said, she and her staff will meet the challenge -- but the virus has proved resilient and tricky to fight. "Each surge has brought different challenges," she said. "We felt very strong that we had this disease under attack, but then we get thrown a curveball." The weight and strain of the ongoing pandemic is evident when speaking to health care workers. Lindsay Muenchen, a registered nurse in the Covid unit at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, said she had thought the worst was behind them. "The day I came in and saw that our unit was full of Covid patients again, it was really difficult," she said. "I had tears in my eyes." Dora Hoppes, also at Sparrow Hospital, has worked as a registered nurse for 22 years. She said the past year has been the hardest. Her voice cracked and emotions rose at the first question of our brief interview. When asked why it's so hard to speak about the past year, she motioned down the hallway. "I just saw it yesterday," she said, fighting back tears. "I had a patient that passed away, so it's very fresh, every day." The stress of being constantly surrounded by so much sickness and death is the most difficult part of a job she loves, she said. "I would like to come into work now and just take care of a person who is here because they need their gallbladder out." CNN's Linh Tran and Frank Bivona contributed to this report. https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/05/us/michigan-covid-surge-patients-variants/index.html ---------- wrbtrader
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/health-canada-disposable-1.5974867 Health Canada issues advisory for disposable masks with graphene Masks with potentially toxic particles have been used in some schools, daycares https://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2021/75309a-eng.php Products affected Face masks labelled as containing graphene or biomass graphene.
They're a little late. I persuaded my teenagers private school to ban those types of face masks last fall a few weeks before schools re-open along with a few other popular types of face mask wear. There's a daycare in my neighborhood...I had a school official contact them too because the school official has a child at the daycare. That daycare didn't have any kids with that type of face mask but they give paperwork to the parents about the dangers of wearing that type of face mask. wrbtrader
That's a disturbing Covid statistic but its in line with the behavior of a few ET members that have openly bragged here at ET about having had Covid and that it was nothing. Within a few months, they started talking about the impact of mental illness on people, making strange prediction threads and many strange social media behavior outside of Elitetrader.com that they didn't post as such prior to the Pandemic. wrbtrader