Coronavirus (Covid-19) informational thread

[pshufd]

Or this:

"Delta Air Lines is raising health insurance premiums for unvaccinated employees by $200 a month to cover higher Covid costs"​

Delta Air Lines is raising health insurance premiums for unvaccinated employees by $200 a month to cover higher Covid costs

Delta is the latest company to issue new rules for employee vaccinations, but stopped short of an outright mandate.

www.cnbc.com

Delta also said starting Sept. 30, “in compliance with state and local laws, COVID pay protection will only be provided to fully vaccinated individuals who are experiencing a breakthrough infection.” Unvaccinated employees who contract Covid, without exemptions, will have to use their sick days after that.

Turning the screws. I wonder if states will start doing this with unemployment insurance.

 

[yaxomoxay]

Or this:

"Delta Air Lines is raising health insurance premiums for unvaccinated employees by $200 a month to cover higher Covid costs"​

Delta Air Lines is raising health insurance premiums for unvaccinated employees by $200 a month to cover higher Covid costs

Delta is the latest company to issue new rules for employee vaccinations, but stopped short of an outright mandate.

www.cnbc.com

That’s what I was afraid of. Soon people that had COVID will see their insurance costs increase.

 

[pshufd]

That’s what I was afraid of. Soon people that had COVID will see their insurance costs increase.

I think that the conclusion is that the people that haven't been vaccinated will see their insurance costs increase. Similar to smoking.

 

[yaxomoxay]

I think that the conclusion is that the people that haven't been vaccinated will see their insurance costs increase. Similar to smoking.

I understand, but I am saying is that it will likely be taken a step further because “we don’t know the long term effects of COVID” of something.

 

[poorcody]

I understand, but I am saying is that it will likely be taken a step further because “we don’t know the long term effects of COVID” of something.

Targeting something because it's irresponsible is different than targeting something because it's expensive.

I get what you're saying, though: responsibility can play a role in a lot of health expenses. But I don't think that should be an excuse to ignore blatantly irresponsible and easy-to-do choices, especially when vaccines affect everyone, not just the receiver.

 

[Healer Flame]

If Chernobyl was a chemical disaster in 1986, Corona virus is a biological disaster in 2019 but of course on different scale, effect and losses.

Before 2019 i remember i use to book a flight every few weeks to fly around Australia for a short breaks and catch up with family and friends.

Now days you must arm yourself with masks and gloves to walk to your local supermarket keeping distance from everyone like they are zombies or something.

Seriously, what's our world coming through right now? Even though i didn't lose my job and my health is ok but seeing others suffer is just killing my hope and spirit 🥺

 

[Gregg2]

I came across something on Reddit about healthcare workers who refuse the vaccine. ...

It was about how a lot (but not all) of the healthcare workers who are refusing...are doing so not because of mistrust in the vaccine. It's because they felt so abused and mistreated this past year and after being treated like absolute garbage, with poor PPE, no hazard pay, and short staff. Meanwhile, our administrations raked in the dollars and got huge bonus checks at year-end.

I don't get the connection between being angry about management and neglecting your personal protection by not getting a vaccine. I haven't heard one reason given by a healthy person for not getting vaccinated that makes any sense to me. (I have heard that doctors have recommended not getting it to specific patients because of some health condition. While I may not understand that specific health condition, I do understand that there might be concerns related to getting the vaccine until a certain stage in treatment is attained.)

 

[pshufd]

I don't get the connection between being angry about management and neglecting your personal protection by not getting a vaccine. I haven't heard one reason given by a healthy person for not getting vaccinated that makes any sense to me. (I have heard that doctors have recommended not getting it to specific patients because of some health condition. While I may not understand that specific health condition, I do understand that there might be concerns related to getting the vaccine until a certain stage in treatment is attained.)

I saw this a while ago and my thought, if I were in this position, would be to quit and look for better treatment elsewhere.

 

[Healer Flame]

How Coronavirus penetrates your system and hijack your cells.

 

[A.Goldberg]

Or this:

"Delta Air Lines is raising health insurance premiums for unvaccinated employees by $200 a month to cover higher Covid costs"​

Delta Air Lines is raising health insurance premiums for unvaccinated employees by $200 a month to cover higher Covid costs

Delta is the latest company to issue new rules for employee vaccinations, but stopped short of an outright mandate.

www.cnbc.com

That’s a good incentive to get people on board. You’d think something like an airline would have high standards for vaccinations given the risk of spreading disease around the world.

At the same time, $200/month is a bargain if you consider the average COVID hospitalization costs $50-80k.

 

[pshufd]

That’s a good incentive to get people on board. You’d think something like an airline would have high standards for vaccinations given the risk of spreading disease around the world.

At the same time, $200/month is a bargain if you consider the average COVID hospitalization costs $50-80k.

Most people don't look at insurance that way.

United, Hawaiian and Frontier all require employees to get vaccinated. Employees can apply for medical and religious exemptions and they will be tested regularly.

I have a friend who works at Fidelity and their offices are empty. He's vaccinated but he still has to get tested weekly to come into the office.

 

[44267547]

We’re actually doing good here. Our cases are down 30% over the course of two weeks and our vaccine completion is sitting at 60%, with a 14% rise for juveniles. Although I don’t think that’s a cause to be celebratory, (which apparently a lot of people are), it’s more of a milestone marker. Especially given that we haven’t even seen the likes of schools in session starting, and our mask mandate doesn’t end until mid November, so hopefully that still would help mitigate any substantial spikes.

 

[pshufd]

We're at 2,798 from 155 in June. Definitely more masks out and about. I want to see what happens with school starting this week.

Note on Moderna vaccine contamination - it appears that some batches manufactured in Spain contain metal particles (they are attracted to magnets).

 

[bradl]

We're at 2,798 from 155 in June. Definitely more masks out and about. I want to see what happens with school starting this week.

Seeing that DeSantis and Abbott just got their bans slapped down due to Civil Rights violations, I wouldn't be surprised if more are imposed. I know at least 3 of the major school districts in Omaha have mask mandates in place.

Note on Moderna vaccine contamination - it appears that some batches manufactured in Spain contain metal particles (they are attracted to magnets).

No biggie. Those that take those contaminated vaccines can easily lay claim to saying I am Iron Man.

BL.

 

[pshufd]

The wealthy district next to mine does not have a mask mandate. The state has left it up to the districts but we are a purple state and there have been protests and I think that school boards are under pressure from both sides. We are stuck on vaccinations. We are seeing about 40 vaccinations per day which is pathetic when we're about 60% for vaccinations. I'm really disappointed that we've allowed a fourth wave.

 

[pshufd]

I have a bunch of dental work to do. My dentist warned me that three old fillings are starting to fail but one has and I'll have to get a root canal. Earliest appointment was September 20 so it appears that people are taking care of serious dental problems. This guy added a second endodontist to his practice.

I am getting the other two fixed at my dentist tomorrow so people are going to the dentist less (it used to be a lot harder to get a short-term appointment and cleaning appointments).

A report for our state said that people are getting procedures done that were put off during the pandemic. We also have rising COVID hospital patients so there is a lot of demand for healthcare workers, right when many are leaving healthcare because of pay. In the Southeast, of course, there are also people leaving out of fatigue and frustration with the volume of COVID patients.

In other news, our Governor started feeling sick yesterday. He immediate started quarantine and is getting tested. He also cancelled his state-level meetings. He visited KY on Monday to see how they are handling their surge. KY is seeing about 4,000 new cases per day. The NH Democratic Party Chair suggested that he was visiting Senator McConnell to discuss running for Senate. At any rate, I suppose that it's possible that he caught COVID on his trip as our overall numbers are still fairly low and the Governor was vaccinated with the JNJ vaccine.

So tomorrow: filling, temporary crown, then permanent crown when it gets made, three weeks later root canal, then filling and temp crown and then a permanent crown. I am debating getting a major surgery later this year but I don't want to do it if there's a big COVID bump or if there are issues with getting enough healthcare workers at the hospital. That particular hospital is always in high demand for elective surgery.

 

[44267547]

Moderna files for submission for C/19 vaccine booster:

“mRNA-1273 at 50 µg dose level induced robust antibody responses of more than 40x against the Delta variant……”

Moderna Announces Submission of Initial Data to U.S. FDA for Its COVID-19 Vaccine Booster

Moderna announces submission of initial data to U.S. FDA for its COVID-19 vaccine booster.

www.businesswire.com

*********************
In other news:

Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia and Florida all are with _less_ than 10% ICU capacity. Kentucky and Idaho are surging on a downward spiral.

These 5 states have less than 10% of ICU beds left as Covid-19 overwhelms hospitals | CNN

As Covid-19 cases surge across the US, particularly among unvaccinated Americans, hospitals have been pushed to their limits treating the influx of patients -- and five states are nearly out of ICU beds.

www.cnn.com

 

[44267547]

My other concern would be Louisiana at this point. Given the hurricane just leveled multiple municipalities, a lot of people are homeless, forcing those people to shelter into the hundreds in very tight quarters. That’s only another manifest to have cases spike.

 

[pshufd]

Over in Israel: The country announced in July that it would be the first in the world to test an oral COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oramed Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ORMP). The first trial will involve 24 unvaccinated volunteers, each taking one or two pills, before moving on to larger Phase 3 trials if successful. The vaccine should be "much more resistant to COVID-19 variants," according to Oramed CEO Nadav Kidron, since it trains the immune system against three viral proteins instead of the single protein targeted by Pfizer and Moderna's (NASDAQ:MRNA) shots.

-- Wall Street Breakfast, Seeking Alpha

 

[Ethrem]

My other concern would be Louisiana at this point. Given the hurricane just leveled multiple municipalities, a lot of people are homeless, forcing those people to shelter into the hundreds in very tight quarters. That’s only another manifest to have cases spike.

Yeah and they were already having problems anyway because people there won’t get the vaccine. Only 41% of the population of Louisiana is fully vaccinated (which is actually higher than I expected). They rank 7th in the country for the most cases per 1M pops and 4th for the most deaths per 1M pops according to Worldometers.

 

[44267547]

Yeah and they were already having problems anyway because people there won’t get the vaccine. Only 41% of the population of Louisiana is fully vaccinated (which is actually higher than I expected). They rank 7th in the country for the most cases per 1M pops and 4th for the most deaths per 1M pops according to Worldometers.

From my standpoint, it comes down to education. We’re seeing southern states proving that they're refuting the vaccination for one reason or another, and they choose to ignore the factual evidence of why the vaccine is here and what its purpose is to do. I can go on and on about this, but I know a couple down in Tennessee that believes the vaccine is ‘evil’, but they would rather risk their lives with a deadly virus that could cause hospitalization, long-term irreversible health damage and/or even death. The course material in terms of the vaccine being successful has been available for months. There’s nothing anyone can do to help these people, they’ve made their decision and they need to accept the consequences.

 

[Ethrem]

From my standpoint, it comes down to education. We’re seeing southern states proving that they're refuting the vaccination for one reason or another, and they choose to ignore the factual evidence of why the vaccine is here and what its purpose is to do. I can go on and on about this, but I know a couple down in Tennessee that believes the vaccine is ‘evil’, but they would rather risk their lives with a deadly virus that could cause hospitalization, long-term irreversible health damage and/or even death. The course material in terms of the vaccine being successful has been available for months. There’s nothing anyone can do to help these people, they’ve made their decision and they need to accept the consequences.

Yeah Louisiana and Tennessee are both part of the Bible Belt. There’s no convincing them that G_d isn’t coming to save them and their families. I’m glad I don’t live in LA anymore, I hated that place for many reasons. It’s nice being back home in CO where my county has 75% at least partially vaccinated and 68% fully vaccinated.

I do miss the food in Louisiana though, gotta give them credit for that lol.

 

[pshufd]

Yeah Louisiana and Tennessee are both part of the Bible Belt. There’s no convincing them that G_d isn’t coming to save them and their families. I’m glad I don’t live in LA anymore, I hated that place for many reasons. It’s nice being back home in CO where my county has 75% at least partially vaccinated and 68% fully vaccinated.

I do miss the food in Louisiana though, gotta give them credit for that lol.

Your numbers are excellent. Ours are 54% and 59%. We had about 50 vaccinations on Thursday. That's how slow they are going.

I watched a video on the Republican base this morning with all sorts of descriptions and the presenter was trying his very best to avoid calling them stupid. But that was an apt description.

Not all religious conservatives are like this. The vaccination numbers for seniors is 84.0% and 71.9%. That's across the country and there are states with rates of 99.9% (including mine) so some are the numbers. But it's high overall and I'm sure those numbers indicate that a lot of the Bible Belt seniors have been vaccinated. It was a literal stampede in my state of seniors getting vaccinated as soon as they could. I'm in that category myself.

 

[Ethrem]

Your numbers are excellent. Ours are 54% and 59%. We had about 50 vaccinations on Thursday. That's how slow they are going.

I watched a video on the Republican base this morning with all sorts of descriptions and the presenter was trying his very best to avoid calling them stupid. But that was an apt description.

Not all religious conservatives are like this. The vaccination numbers for seniors is 84.0% and 71.9%. That's across the country and there are states with rates of 99.9% (including mine) so some are the numbers. But it's high overall and I'm sure those numbers indicate that a lot of the Bible Belt seniors have been vaccinated. It was a literal stampede in my state of seniors getting vaccinated as soon as they could. I'm in that category myself.

Well seniors have more common sense and critical thinking skills than the younger generations do. I mean I’m a millennial (a fact I hate) and if I was born later in my generation I would have faced a school system that actively discouraged critical thinking too. Religion prays on those who can’t think for themselves, Southern Baptists are in that group. It’s all good, G_d is coming to save them… Then someone dies and it’s okay because they just went home. I found my way to r/HermanCainAward and have read a number of the posts that are flaired as “Awarded” because the person(s) died and the majority of them still are posting crap on social media before they get put on the vent. All but one of them were religious and asking for prayers and everything else right up to the end. Ugh.

There is also a certain wisdom that comes with age and seniors are also more aware of their own mortality than us younger types who tend to just be worried about what we are doing that weekend.

Seniors got hit especially hard with this crap. I would be surprised if there is anywhere that has easy access to the vaccine that doesn’t have a high percentage of seniors vaccinated. Still though, it’s not convincing the younger generations in those areas.

Contrast that to here where the 12-15 group is the least vaccinated and still has at least 62% partially vaccinated.

 

[pshufd]

Well seniors have more common sense and critical thinking skills than the younger generations do. I mean I’m a millennial (a fact I hate) and if I was born later in my generation I would have faced a school system that actively discouraged critical thinking too. Religion prays on those who can’t think for themselves, Southern Baptists are in that group. It’s all good, G_d is coming to save them… Then someone dies and it’s okay because they just went home. I found my way to r/HermanCainAward and have read a number of the posts that are flaired as “Awarded” because the person(s) died and the majority of them still are posting crap on social media before they get put on the vent. All but one of them were religious and asking for prayers and everything else right up to the end. Ugh.

There is also a certain wisdom that comes with age and seniors are also more aware of their own mortality than us younger types who tend to just be worried about what we are doing that weekend.

Seniors got hit especially hard with this crap. I would be surprised if there is anywhere that has easy access to the vaccine that doesn’t have a high percentage of seniors vaccinated. Still though, it’s not convincing the younger generations in those areas.

Contrast that to here where the 12-15 group is the least vaccinated and still has at least 62% partially vaccinated.

The demographics for evangelicals, skews older. I think that the fear level of senior evangelicals overcomes what they hear on social media.

Younger people are generally better educated than older people. The amount of material that schools have to teach today, especially in the sciences, is roughly three times what I learned in school. Especially biology. It is just such a huge area today compared to what we knew back in the 1970s.

My state has easy access to vaccines. We had excellent numbers when the vaccinations came out and then we hit a wall. Massachusetts had a rough rollout but they zoomed past us for the current rate. The high initial rate, though, really stemmed the number of active cases until Delta took over.

I'm not sure why the 12-15 group is least vaccinated but that's a function of parents mostly.