correlation does not imply causation. Being a nutter is a preexisting condition of the anti-masker/anti-vaxxer.
Very interesting study. I've been a critic of those bragging about catching Covid and then saying it was just like the Flu or nothing. The criticism is that they were making those states without yet becoming a long term survivor. There's a growing % of Long-Haulers from Covid whom not only have to endure many chronic (long term) symptoms but disability insurance companies have not yet financially compensated long-haulers that have yet been able to return back to work. Simply, getting Covid is not something to brag about. Yet, there's hope in 23% from a U.K. study of Long Haulers that later became vaccinated...even after the 1st dose. Currently, there are other active studies about any positive impact of the vaccine on long-haulers that will soon release their results too from other countries. Thus, it seems like some of the symptoms experience by long-haulers is due to remnants of Covid still in the body that have not been cleared out but the vaccine seems to be acting as mop up sort'uv speak to remove those remnants via creating another immune response. ----------- Study suggests vaccines may improve symptoms for some COVID-19 long-haulers Small U.K. study says 23% of vaccinated 'long COVID' patients saw symptoms reduce post-vaccination Vik Adhopia, Lauren Pelley · CBC News · Posted: Apr 07, 2021 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: 3 hours ago Ontario woman says months-long symptoms after COVID-19 improved after vaccination Guelph, Ont., resident Elaine McCartney has been coping with symptoms following a probable case of COVID-19 roughly a year ago. Now, she explains how she's finally starting to feel better after getting vaccinated. 1:01 Elaine McCartney typically keeps a list on hand of her 30 or so health issues following a bout of COVID-19 a year ago— in part because she just can't keep track of them all. There's the severe fatigue and memory issues. Brain fog, much like after a concussion. Constant headaches, low appetite, round-the-clock dizziness. And on and on. The 65-year-old from Guelph, Ont., has been experiencing those symptoms for close to a year, after developing what felt like a severe case of influenza in April 2020 and which a physician identified as a probable case of the COVID-19 illness. Then last month she got her first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Her condition quickly seemed to improve. "I was able to go to the store on my own, which I haven't done for eight months," McCartney said. "And my energy was up, and my pain was less. I had chronic debilitating pain in my shoulder, and it was gone." McCartney's experience may offer a glimmer of hope for a growing number of people around the world living with prolonged health concerns after being infected with the virus causing the COVID-19 illness. She's not the only patient seeing unexpected improvements. Emerging research suggests vaccines may reduce symptoms for some of those suffering from what is now being called "long COVID", where patients continue to suffer from a range of health concerns long after the infectious phase of the illness has passed. 'Reassuring' findings from U.K. study More than a year into the pandemic, it's not clear how many people are experiencing long-term health issues after having COVID-19, but their numbers are growing. Researchers think around 10 per cent of people who get sick with COVID-19 continue to live with lasting symptoms — some suggest the number could be as high as 30 per cent — which could mean millions worldwide are coping with some lingering issues from the disease. A new preprint study out of the U.K., which is still awaiting the peer review process, looked at a small group of such "long COVID" patients. It found those who had received at least one dose of the vaccine had "a small overall improvement" in long COVID symptoms and a "decrease in worsening symptoms" when compared to the unvaccinated patients. Long-term study to look at why some can't shake the symptoms of COVID-19 The researchers followed 66 hospitalized patients whose symptoms persisted — issues like fatigue, breathlessness, and insomnia — including 44 who got vaccinated and 22 who didn't. Emerging research suggests vaccines may reduce symptoms for some of those suffering from "long Covid", or lingering symptoms after a bout of COVID-19. (Evan Mitsui/CBC) A little over 23 per cent of the vaccinated patients saw some resolution of their symptoms, the researchers noted, compared to around 15 per cent of those who weren't vaccinated — with no difference in response identified between the Pfizer-BioNTech or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines used among the participants. A year into pandemic, long-haul COVID-19 sufferers still struggle to get care The team also found another "reassuring result" — fewer vaccinated patients reported any worsening symptoms during the time period studied than the unvaccinated group, though they cautioned that there was a large potential for bias given patients self-reported their symptoms. Dr. Fergus Hamilton, an infectious diseases researcher at the University of Bristol Medical School and part of the team behind the new study, said the findings offer a "slight hint" that vaccines might improve lingering symptoms. "Although we're a bit suspicious about that given the small numbers," he added. Science behind vaccine impact not clear The study is limited by its small sample size, but other medical experts are observing a similar trend. In the U.S., where roughly a quarter of the population is fully vaccinated, physicians now have a large pool of patients to follow. Pfizer, Moderna COVID-19 vaccines highly effective after 1st shot in real-world, U.S. study suggests Dr. Daniel Griffin, an infectious diseases physician at Columbia University in New York, said around 40 per cent of the patients he is treating for lingering health issues from COVID-19 are reporting either complete, or significant, improvement in their symptoms after being fully vaccinated. He said the numbers in the U.K. study were "pretty on-target" with what he initially observed in his own patients, but that the impact seemed to bump up a couple weeks after people got their second dose. "That's the first bit of good news in a really a long time," Griffin said. But he acknowledged the mechanics behind why vaccination might clear up lingering COVID-19 symptoms isn't yet clear. WATCH | Long-COVID sufferers struggle with limited care options: Long-COVID sufferers left with few care options Kim Clark and Sonja Mally have jumped from specialist to specialist for the past year as they've sought relief for a series of crippling symptoms associated with post-acute COVID-19 syndrome. Some health experts say more dedicated funding and resources for COVID long-haulers would help sufferers like them and shed light on a little-understood aspect of the pandemic. "I think the most persuasive theory for me is that the virus was never completely cleared, or whatever remnants might still be ... are now able to be cleared because of the robust response that's triggered by the vaccines," Griffin said. McCartney said her own post-vaccination experience felt nothing short of a miracle — even if the science behind what's happening in her body remains hazy and more research needed to evaluate how much vaccines could actually help COVID long-haulers going forward. Tam says pandemic now at 'most challenging' stage, calls on Canadians to give vaccines time to work "I was feeling so miserable, for so long," she said. "I've logged more than a thousand steps in the past four days and I haven't done that for months and months and months — so I've definitely seen improvement." https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/covid-longhaulers-vaccines-1.5976738 ---------- wrbtrader
Five states account for 43% of the country's new Covid-19 cases in the past week https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/07/health/us-coronavirus-wednesday/index.html Just five states have accounted for about 43% of new coronavirus cases over the last week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. New York, Michigan, Florida, Pennsylvania and New Jersey had for more than 196,400 of the country's 453,360 cases reported in the last week, according to data available Wednesday morning. Those states are home to just 22% of the US population, according to estimates from the US Census Bureau. Case rates have risen especially in Michigan lately, averaging more than 6,600 cases a day over a week now against 1,350 daily cases five weeks ago. And elected officials and health experts have said highly contagious variants such as B.1.1.7 have helped spur increases there and in other parts of the country. Though vaccination rates have increased nationally, not enough people have been inoculated to outpace the spread. And with more-transmissible variants spreading, surges like Michigan's may soon be seen more widely, epidemiologist Dr. Michael Osterholm said. "I wish we had another three or four months before this B.1.1.7 variant surge started to occur," Osterholm, director for the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, said Tuesday. The country's daily rate of new coronavirus cases rose over most of the last four weeks. Part of that is due to the spread of B.1.1.7 and other concerning variants, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said this week. The US has averaged more than 64,760 new coronavirus cases a day over the last week -- slightly lower than week prior, but still about 18% higher than two weeks ago, and 12% higher than four weeks ago, according to Johns Hopkins. The surge of variants in some states like Michigan should make the federal government think about shifting how it allocates vaccines, Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, told CNN on Wednesday. "In some states ... case numbers are actually declining -- California is one of them. Other states like Michigan, they're actually doing a perfectly good job on vaccinations, but they have a huge surge," Jha said. "So the federal strategy has to be to shift more vaccines to places like Michigan that are surging so they can use more vaccinations to stop that surge and save lives," he said. (More at above url)
More than half of people with COVID had no symptoms but were still highly infectious. Freely spreading COVID around town. More than half of people with strong Covid infection are asymptomatic, new figures show New analysis of infected people in the community highlights risk of asymptomatic transmission of Coronavirus https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covid-symptoms-report-coronavirus-ons-b1828361.htmlhttps://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/covid-symptoms-report-coronavirus-ons-b1828361.html More than half of people with a strong Covid infection did not report any of the major symptoms, new figures from the Office for National Statistics have revealed. This underlines the risk of people spreading the virus without knowing they are infected which is thought to be one of the main ways the coronavirus pandemic has been able to spread so easily around the world. The ONS said 53 per cent of people with a strong positive, or high viral load, between December and March did not report having any symptoms compared to 47 per cent who did. It excluded patients likely to be at the start of their infection when transmission and symptoms are thought to be less likely. Fatigue, headache and cough were the most commonly reported symptoms amongst people who had a strong positive test for Covid-19. Sarah Crofts, senior statistician for the ONS Covid-19 Infection Survey said: “Our analysis today highlights the range of symptoms people can experience with Covid-19.” She said: “The classic symptoms of fatigue, headache and cough are still the most commonly reported by those infected with the virus, while only around 1 in 5 experience loss of taste or smell only. “Around half of those we tested did not report any symptoms even whilst having high levels of the virus present in their body. This underlines that people in the community may unknowingly have the virus and potentially transmit it to others.” “It is vital we continue to measure infection levels in the population and collect information on symptoms so we can identify any changes that may otherwise go undetected.” During March, a total of 36 per cent of people reported the classic symptoms associated with Covid-19, with 28 per cent reporting a cough, 20 per cent reporting a fever and 12 per cent describing a shortness of breath. A loss of taste and smell was reported by 14 per cent of patients. Six per cent also reported diarrhoea and adbominal pain. The strength of the infection was determined by how quickly the virus was detected in laboratory tests. The quicker detection means the patient may have a higher viral load in the body resulting in a stronger positive result. Some patients with a high result were excluded from the survey as this can include people who are at the early stage of the infection, or presymptomatic. The ONS infection survey is based on a sample of private households and excludes hospitals or care homes. In its latest weekly survey, the ONS estimated 148,000 people in the community had Covid-19.
https://www.axios.com/suicide-decre...lth-26196eaf-a245-4d21-85eb-eeb864a24449.html CDC: Suicides decreased in 2020 Suicides in the U.S. decreased in 2020, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Why it matters: Critics of lockdowns and other coronavirus-prevention efforts have suggested throughout the pandemic that those measures would drive the suicide rate higher. But that hasn't happened. Yes, but: The nation's mental health crisis is far from over, and experts are still concerned about the long-term effects isolation and economic turmoil will have on Americans' mental health. "The general reaction is 'Great, but let’s not do what we did with opioids and see only a small decrease and claim victory," Benjamin Miller, chief strategy officer of Well Being Trust, tells Axios. Deaths of despair, he added, "are made up [of] not just suicide, but drug overdose deaths and alcohol deaths. Both of the latter two we know we are still on the rise." By the numbers: From 2019 to 2020, deaths by suicide declined by 5.6%, from 47,511 to 44,834, per the CDC. It was the third consecutive year of decline. Suicides went down in April and May of last year, a different trend than in years past, Farida Ahmad, health scientist at the National Center for Health Statistics, tells Axios. COVID-19 became the third leading cause of death in 2020, bumping suicide down from the tenth leading cause of death in 2019 to the eleventh. "In terms of the rankings, it’s the eleventh leading cause of death, so it’s still very important that we pay attention to that," Ahmad said. "Even if numbers are lower in 2020, it doesn’t mean the issue has gone away or it’s no longer a problem." The bottom line: Feelings of isolation, depression and anxiety are still very high, especially for young people, and advocates are pushing for stronger crisis and intervention services in the U.S. "We saw the number of calls to the national mental health crisis hotline in March 2020 was 891% higher than the year before," Miller said. "People were reaching out and using those services, which is a positive thing and likely made a difference for some."
Trump, GOP and many ET members try to use fear mongering about the Pandemic, lockdown, restrictions via saying Suicides will increase. It wasn't just them, the media ran those 1-800 suicide watch ads more frequently in 2020 in anticipation of the pending doom. The doom was via data (see below) from prior Pandemics that showed increase in suicides. Yet, as stated many times last year...this Pandemic is very different. We have technology as our savior in which people can stay connected with someone down the street, in another country and many things. I remember in the summer I was doing a ton of live streaming with relatives and new friends / old friends whom I have not seen in years (France, Portugal, South Korea, Québec, South Dakota, Chicago, Arizona, Kentucky, Florida and yeah...even Alaska and Sweden)...everybody talking about what was going on in their community with the Pandemic and how it was impacting them personally. I even changed my cell phone service from North America to International. Many times my kids took advantage of that via talking with their cousins for those times when Zoom or Skype had connection problems. Prior Pandemics...there was not the same type of connection due to limitations in the technology. I saw more people this winter outside shoveling snow than any other winter in my life. Many times they would schedule so that they all can be outside about the same time...talking and yelling to each other... People sitting outside in chairs (in the winter) just to talk to a neighbor across the street...to visually see them as they communicate. As Biden and other world leaders stated (they knew the historical data)...tell the people the truth and they will adapt. Hide (downplay) the truth...they will not be able to adapt when shit hits the fan. Yet, be aware that the overall decline does not equate to vulnerable people / communities that have seen increases. ---------- NEW YORK - The number of U.S. suicides fell nearly 6% last year amid the coronavirus pandemic — the largest annual decline in at least four decades, according to preliminary government data. https://www.voanews.com/covid-19-pa...opped-last-year-defying-pandemic-expectations https://www.marketwatch.com/story/w...-during-the-2020-pandemic-but-why-11617887838 Previous pandemics have been associated with increases in suicide rate. The U.S. reported an increase in suicides during the Spanish Flu of 1918-19.[2] Hong Kong observed an increase in elderly suicides during the 2003 SARS outbreak.[3] Africa experienced an increase in suicides during the Ebola epidemic.[4] Possible risk factors for suicide during pandemics include isolation, fear, marginalization, psychological disorders, economic fallout, and increased domestic abuse.[5] The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates multiple factors that may increase suicides.[6] SARS-CoV-2 infected 76 million people worldwide in 2020.[7] Economic stress is associated with higher suicide rates.[8] The pandemic has forced many businesses to close or scale back as a result of lockdown measures. Social isolation is associated with increased suicidal thoughts.[9] The main U.S. public health strategy to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 has been social distancing. Participation in religious communities is associated with lower suicide rates.[10] Churches and community centers have also been forced to close, contributing to social isolation and possible higher suicide rates. Continuous media coverage of the pandemic may intensify anxiety and fear for individuals with preexisting mental health conditions. Barriers to mental health treatment that have arisen due to the pandemic include increased restrictions at healthcare facilities. In the U.S., firearm sales have surged, with a 41% increase in March 2020 and >50% increase in August and October 2020, relative to 2019 rates.[11] The disturbing statistic above...a huge dramatic increase in firearm sales...that's the negative from fear mongering. wrbtrader
What the Fuck !!! India reports new record of daily Covid-19 cases India recorded 103,558 new cases on April 5, according to the the country's Ministry of Health -- the highest single-day figure since the beginning of the pandemic. CNN's Vedika Sud reports from New Delhi. wrbtrader
India: Lack of social distancing, lack of face mask wearing, wearing of inappropriate face masks, shortage in Covid vaccines plus misinformation / disinformation by conspiracy theorists that the vaccine contains a microchip or that people will become impotent or the vaccines contain pork. Wow, in some hospitals, Covid patients are sharing the same bed. https://www.bbc.com/news/55768656 https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19...ancing-as-cases-exceed-100-000-a-day-12266417 India is Fucked !!! wrbtrader
India had been doing relatively well until just recently considering their population. I think they had to use very strict lockdowns to get there though. I haven't looked too much as to the recent surge but appears to be travel/holiday related