New thread. Old one past it’s date.

Let’s start this one off with a study into the risks of myocarditis, pericarditis and cardiac arrhythmia after the various sorts of COVID vaccinations and after the disease itself.

>>In summary, this population-based study quantifies for the first time the risk of several rare cardiac adverse events associated with three COVID-19 vaccines as well as SARS-CoV-2 infection. Vaccination for SARS-CoV-2 in adults was associated with a small increase in the risk of myocarditis within a week of receiving the first dose of both adenovirus and mRNA vaccines, and after the second dose of both mRNA vaccines. By contrast, SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with a substantial increase in the risk of hospitalization or death from myocarditis, pericarditis and cardiac arrhythmia.<<

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01630-0

Interesting that the risk for myocarditis was higher in younger (<40 years) people for the second mRNA dose than for the viral vector vax.

>>We estimated an extra two (95% confidence interval (CI) 0, 3), one (95% CI 0, 2) and six (95% CI 2, 8) myocarditis events per 1 million people vaccinated with ChAdOx1, BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273, respectively, in the 28 days following a first dose and an extra ten (95% CI 7, 11) myocarditis events per 1 million vaccinated in the 28 days after a second dose of mRNA-1273. This compares with an extra 40 (95% CI 38, 41) myocarditis events per 1 million patients in the 28 days following a SARS-CoV-2 positive test<<

The risk is still very small though. But I wonder if it carries further with boosters? We aren’t going to know that for some time yet.

We’ve had our boosters this morning. Pfizer.

Michael V said:

We’ve had our boosters this morning. Pfizer.

Excellent!
All I got after the Moderna jab was a sore arm where the needle went in and the day after I was quite tired.

our closed community of 350 got the Pfizer jab
after which each person had various side effects
particular to their personal existing medical history

I broke out in mild but annoying head to toe itching
others got excessively tired, others had headaches.
some dizziness all subsided by the following morning

Knowing that I’m allergic to CT Contrast Dye, and that
the remedy is pre-treatment w/prednisone & benadryl
I took it upon myself to pre-treat with a benadryl tablet
a few hours prior to my second shot… result: NO Itching

Did likewise prior to the booster. I had NO adverse reaction

I’m expecting our at-risk community to be getting a 2nd booster

transition said:

Dark Orange said:

https://twitter.com/chactivist/status/1479842601561989127

A panel of experts in Finland produced a summary of >4,000 international studies. The results are shocking: 1 in 2 adults and around 2% of children may experience prolonged symptoms. 20% of COVID survivors are experiencing long-term cognitive impairment.

the inconvenient realities of covid sequelae, but don’t you worry it’s just a mental state, entirely subjective, it might be the home in your head but anything that lends to it being subordinate to consensus reality helps with the program

so you know if the experience of the home in your head becomes more marginal, apparently good intentioned people will be there to help you with that

alarmists

transition said:

Dark Orange said:

https://twitter.com/chactivist/status/1479842601561989127

A panel of experts in Finland produced a summary of >4,000 international studies. The results are shocking: 1 in 2 adults and around 2% of children may experience prolonged symptoms. 20% of COVID survivors are experiencing long-term cognitive impairment.

the inconvenient realities of covid sequelae, but don’t you worry it’s just a mental state, entirely subjective, it might be the home in your head but anything that lends to it being subordinate to consensus reality helps with the program

so you know if the experience of the home in your head becomes more marginal, apparently good intentioned people will be there to help you with that

alarmists

transition said:

buffy said:

JudgeMental said:

well, no one would have expected the spanish inquisition

Goodness! Details:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-14/nsw-premier-shocked-by-hillsong-church-camp-supports-fines/100756158

usual churn of appeal to the army of covid fascists

making all the right noises, letting the population saturate with covid while repeating something about keeping people safe

it’s like 1984 doublespeak on steroids

or the troubles or something

NSW Health has conceded teething problems with its rapid COVID-19 test reporting system means some people may have been counted twice.

Epidemiologist Adrian Esterman says modelling is now hard due to the influx of RAT results

This was problematic for making public health decisions as the Omicron outbreak drags on, a leading epidemiologist said.

—

like sure we get that there might be small inaccuracies here and there but

¿seriously?

¿what are they trying to do with the epidemiology, thread needles?

what do we think the difference is going to be, if cases are above 87168 then add 3 lines to the mask recommendations, if cases are below 48115 then adjust close contact criteria by 15 seconds or something

SCIENCE said:

NSW Health has conceded teething problems with its rapid COVID-19 test reporting system means some people may have been counted twice.

Epidemiologist Adrian Esterman says modelling is now hard due to the influx of RAT results

This was problematic for making public health decisions as the Omicron outbreak drags on, a leading epidemiologist said.

—

like sure we get that there might be small inaccuracies here and there but

¿seriously?

¿what are they trying to do with the epidemiology, thread needles?

what do we think the difference is going to be, if cases are above 87168 then add 3 lines to the mask recommendations, if cases are below 48115 then adjust close contact criteria by 15 seconds or something

I mean, even I could fix that problem. Finding and deleting duplicates is not that hard.

SCIENCE said:

NSW Health has conceded teething problems with its rapid COVID-19 test reporting system means some people may have been counted twice.

Epidemiologist Adrian Esterman says modelling is now hard due to the influx of RAT results

This was problematic for making public health decisions as the Omicron outbreak drags on, a leading epidemiologist said.

—

like sure we get that there might be small inaccuracies here and there but

¿seriously?

¿what are they trying to do with the epidemiology, thread needles?

what do we think the difference is going to be, if cases are above 87168 then add 3 lines to the mask recommendations, if cases are below 48115 then adjust close contact criteria by 15 seconds or something

just quietly, it’s a secret, don’t tell anyone, but if by some accident you counted all of them twice they’d be nearer the real numbers

the underfinders are letting you think there’s some possibility of overfinding

transition said:

SCIENCE said:

NSW Health has conceded teething problems with its rapid COVID-19 test reporting system means some people may have been counted twice.

Epidemiologist Adrian Esterman says modelling is now hard due to the influx of RAT results

This was problematic for making public health decisions as the Omicron outbreak drags on, a leading epidemiologist said.

—

like sure we get that there might be small inaccuracies here and there but

¿seriously?

¿what are they trying to do with the epidemiology, thread needles?

what do we think the difference is going to be, if cases are above 87168 then add 3 lines to the mask recommendations, if cases are below 48115 then adjust close contact criteria by 15 seconds or something

just quietly, it’s a secret, don’t tell anyone, but if by some accident you counted all of them twice they’d be nearer the real numbers

the underfinders are letting you think there’s some possibility of overfinding

But what when you add in the ones that were lost or not counted?

Where is Rob’s result?

sarahs mum said:

transition said:

SCIENCE said:

NSW Health has conceded teething problems with its rapid COVID-19 test reporting system means some people may have been counted twice.

Epidemiologist Adrian Esterman says modelling is now hard due to the influx of RAT results

This was problematic for making public health decisions as the Omicron outbreak drags on, a leading epidemiologist said.

—

like sure we get that there might be small inaccuracies here and there but

¿seriously?

¿what are they trying to do with the epidemiology, thread needles?

what do we think the difference is going to be, if cases are above 87168 then add 3 lines to the mask recommendations, if cases are below 48115 then adjust close contact criteria by 15 seconds or something

just quietly, it’s a secret, don’t tell anyone, but if by some accident you counted all of them twice they’d be nearer the real numbers

the underfinders are letting you think there’s some possibility of overfinding

But what when you add in the ones that were lost or not counted?

Where is Rob’s result?

Robadob ?
He’s probably readying himself to take out the dams and power stations if it gets really bad

Hillsong Church avoids fine for youth camp ‘festival’.

NSW Police say following discussions with the organiser and consultation with NSW Health, Hillsong Church will not be fined over maskless singing and dancing at its event.

“Following discussions with organisers and after consultation with NSW Health, no infringement will be issued,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Peter Glynn said.

Earlier, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said he understood the “anger that people right across the state have felt”.

“I was completely shocked last night to see that footage and NSW Health is dealing with that.”

Mr Perrottet said it was his “expectation” a fine would be issued.

“I’ll take the advice in relation to the legal teams at NSW Health and if they are in breach, which is what the information I’ve received from the Health Minister is, then a fine should be issued.”

The maximum penalty for a corporation breaching public health orders is $55,000.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Grrrrrr. It seem Hillsong has scored a General Exemption.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-14/covid-live-blog-latest-updates-omicron-rats/100755618

Michael V said:

Hillsong Church avoids fine for youth camp ‘festival’.

NSW Police say following discussions with the organiser and consultation with NSW Health, Hillsong Church will not be fined over maskless singing and dancing at its event.

“Following discussions with organisers and after consultation with NSW Health, no infringement will be issued,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Peter Glynn said.

Earlier, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said he understood the “anger that people right across the state have felt”.

“I was completely shocked last night to see that footage and NSW Health is dealing with that.”

Mr Perrottet said it was his “expectation” a fine would be issued.

“I’ll take the advice in relation to the legal teams at NSW Health and if they are in breach, which is what the information I’ve received from the Health Minister is, then a fine should be issued.”

The maximum penalty for a corporation breaching public health orders is $55,000.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Grrrrrr. It seem Hillsong has scored a General Exemption.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-14/covid-live-blog-latest-updates-omicron-rats/100755618

But…but…

Michael V said:

Hillsong Church avoids fine for youth camp ‘festival’.

NSW Police say following discussions with the organiser and consultation with NSW Health, Hillsong Church will not be fined over maskless singing and dancing at its event.

“Following discussions with organisers and after consultation with NSW Health, no infringement will be issued,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Peter Glynn said.

Earlier, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said he understood the “anger that people right across the state have felt”.

“I was completely shocked last night to see that footage and NSW Health is dealing with that.”

Mr Perrottet said it was his “expectation” a fine would be issued.

“I’ll take the advice in relation to the legal teams at NSW Health and if they are in breach, which is what the information I’ve received from the Health Minister is, then a fine should be issued.”

The maximum penalty for a corporation breaching public health orders is $55,000.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Grrrrrr. It seem Hillsong has scored a General Exemption.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-14/covid-live-blog-latest-updates-omicron-rats/100755618

I don’t understand how that can be so.

Covid-infected staff at abattoir which supplies Woolworths are ‘FORCED’ to work while infectious and ‘wear yellow hairnets to show they have the virus’

should be thankful it isn’t a yellow star.

sarahs mum said:

Michael V said:

Hillsong Church avoids fine for youth camp ‘festival’.

NSW Police say following discussions with the organiser and consultation with NSW Health, Hillsong Church will not be fined over maskless singing and dancing at its event.

“Following discussions with organisers and after consultation with NSW Health, no infringement will be issued,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Peter Glynn said.

Earlier, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said he understood the “anger that people right across the state have felt”.

“I was completely shocked last night to see that footage and NSW Health is dealing with that.”

Mr Perrottet said it was his “expectation” a fine would be issued.

“I’ll take the advice in relation to the legal teams at NSW Health and if they are in breach, which is what the information I’ve received from the Health Minister is, then a fine should be issued.”

The maximum penalty for a corporation breaching public health orders is $55,000.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Grrrrrr. It seem Hillsong has scored a General Exemption.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-14/covid-live-blog-latest-updates-omicron-rats/100755618

But…but…

But it would have been better if they had admitted fault and paid the fine. It’s a better look for the government that supports them, and I doubt it would have sent them broke. This was a bad move.

Speedy said:

sarahs mum said:

Michael V said:

Hillsong Church avoids fine for youth camp ‘festival’.

NSW Police say following discussions with the organiser and consultation with NSW Health, Hillsong Church will not be fined over maskless singing and dancing at its event.

“Following discussions with organisers and after consultation with NSW Health, no infringement will be issued,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Peter Glynn said.

Earlier, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said he understood the “anger that people right across the state have felt”.

“I was completely shocked last night to see that footage and NSW Health is dealing with that.”

Mr Perrottet said it was his “expectation” a fine would be issued.

“I’ll take the advice in relation to the legal teams at NSW Health and if they are in breach, which is what the information I’ve received from the Health Minister is, then a fine should be issued.”

The maximum penalty for a corporation breaching public health orders is $55,000.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Grrrrrr. It seem Hillsong has scored a General Exemption.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-14/covid-live-blog-latest-updates-omicron-rats/100755618

But…but…

But it would have been better if they had admitted fault and paid the fine. It’s a better look for the government that supports them, and I doubt it would have sent them broke. This was a bad move.

And $55k is the max. they could have fined them $3.5k and they still would have made a profit.

Speedy said:

sarahs mum said:

Michael V said:

Hillsong Church avoids fine for youth camp ‘festival’.

NSW Police say following discussions with the organiser and consultation with NSW Health, Hillsong Church will not be fined over maskless singing and dancing at its event.

“Following discussions with organisers and after consultation with NSW Health, no infringement will be issued,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Peter Glynn said.

Earlier, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said he understood the “anger that people right across the state have felt”.

“I was completely shocked last night to see that footage and NSW Health is dealing with that.”

Mr Perrottet said it was his “expectation” a fine would be issued.

“I’ll take the advice in relation to the legal teams at NSW Health and if they are in breach, which is what the information I’ve received from the Health Minister is, then a fine should be issued.”

The maximum penalty for a corporation breaching public health orders is $55,000.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Grrrrrr. It seem Hillsong has scored a General Exemption.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-14/covid-live-blog-latest-updates-omicron-rats/100755618

But…but…

But it would have been better if they had admitted fault and paid the fine. It’s a better look for the government that supports them, and I doubt it would have sent them broke. This was a bad move.

Yes.

What’s the vaccination rate for people who get Covid and have a hospital admission?

Tau.Neutrino said:

What’s the vaccination rate for people who get Covid and have a hospital admission?

In this country approximately half of the hospital admissions for Covid are for people who have had at least one vaccination.

JudgeMental said:

Covid-infected staff at abattoir which supplies Woolworths are ‘FORCED’ to work while infectious and ‘wear yellow hairnets to show they have the virus’

should be thankful it isn’t a yellow star.

probably expect some refrigerated covid with your meat at some point

transition said:

JudgeMental said:

Covid-infected staff at abattoir which supplies Woolworths are ‘FORCED’ to work while infectious and ‘wear yellow hairnets to show they have the virus’

should be thankful it isn’t a yellow star.

probably expect some refrigerated covid with your meat at some point

I don’t breathe my meat raw.

Tau.Neutrino said:

What’s the vaccination rate for people who get Covid and have a hospital admission?

ideally 100% right

Michael V said:

transition said:

JudgeMental said:

Covid-infected staff at abattoir which supplies Woolworths are ‘FORCED’ to work while infectious and ‘wear yellow hairnets to show they have the virus’

should be thankful it isn’t a yellow star.

probably expect some refrigerated covid with your meat at some point

I don’t breathe my meat raw.

i’m sure you can eat covid with your meat and get covid, though cooking your meat might prevent that, sounds like a great idea cooking food

you heard it here first

Michael V said:

transition said:

JudgeMental said:

Covid-infected staff at abattoir which supplies Woolworths are ‘FORCED’ to work while infectious and ‘wear yellow hairnets to show they have the virus’

should be thankful it isn’t a yellow star.

probably expect some refrigerated covid with your meat at some point

I don’t breathe my meat raw.

we thought everyone already winnie winnied the idea that CHINA outbreaks happened from imported refrigerated foods

sibeen said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

What’s the vaccination rate for people who get Covid and have a hospital admission?

In this country approximately half of the hospital admissions for Covid are for people who have had at least one vaccination.

ok.

SCIENCE said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

What’s the vaccination rate for people who get Covid and have a hospital admission?

ideally 100% right

I wonder if they all do though.

transition said:

Michael V said:

transition said:

probably expect some refrigerated covid with your meat at some point

I don’t breathe my meat raw.

i’m sure you can eat covid with your meat and get covid, though cooking your meat might prevent that, sounds like a great idea cooking food

you heard it here first

remember back when waterborne infectious epidemics were controlled by improving the water supply and not drinking contaminated water

transition said:

Michael V said:

transition said:

probably expect some refrigerated covid with your meat at some point

I don’t breathe my meat raw.

i’m sure you can eat covid with your meat and get covid, though cooking your meat might prevent that, sounds like a great idea cooking food

you heard it here first

Good thing our long-departed ancestors worked that one out.

SCIENCE said:

Michael V said:

transition said:

probably expect some refrigerated covid with your meat at some point

I don’t breathe my meat raw.

we thought everyone already winnie winnied the idea that CHINA outbreaks happened from imported refrigerated foods

Particularly from that recalcitrant Australia…

Michael V said:

transition said:

Michael V said:

I don’t breathe my meat raw.

i’m sure you can eat covid with your meat and get covid, though cooking your meat might prevent that, sounds like a great idea cooking food

you heard it here first

Good thing our long-departed ancestors worked that one out.

it is, they would have wasted not a few feeds out the other end with tummy troubles

SCIENCE said:

transition said:

Michael V said:

I don’t breathe my meat raw.

i’m sure you can eat covid with your meat and get covid, though cooking your meat might prevent that, sounds like a great idea cooking food

you heard it here first

remember back when waterborne infectious epidemics were controlled by improving the water supply and not drinking contaminated water

chuckle

acts dumb what are you saying?

SCIENCE said:

transition said:

Michael V said:

I don’t breathe my meat raw.

i’m sure you can eat covid with your meat and get covid, though cooking your meat might prevent that, sounds like a great idea cooking food

you heard it here first

remember back when waterborne infectious epidemics were controlled by improving the water supply and not drinking contaminated water

And not throwing your shit into the street, too.

The water carriage systems were great medical advances.

transition said:

Michael V said:

transition said:

i’m sure you can eat covid with your meat and get covid, though cooking your meat might prevent that, sounds like a great idea cooking food

you heard it here first

Good thing our long-departed ancestors worked that one out.

it is, they would have wasted not a few feeds out the other end with tummy troubles

or vomiting

and worms, yes would have been plenty worms

transition said:

SCIENCE said:

transition said:

i’m sure you can eat covid with your meat and get covid, though cooking your meat might prevent that, sounds like a great idea cooking food

you heard it here first

remember back when waterborne infectious epidemics were controlled by improving the water supply and not drinking contaminated water

chuckle

acts dumb what are you saying?

nothing at all, nothing, just reminiscing of the good old days when all you needed was a cholera vaccine shot or three and then you’d be all clear to lick the bowl, drink straight from the communal well, enjoy the chocolate brownie flavour

transition said:

transition said:

Michael V said:

Good thing our long-departed ancestors worked that one out.

it is, they would have wasted not a few feeds out the other end with tummy troubles

or vomiting

and worms, yes would have been plenty worms

Fuck, We Knew It, Ivermectin Was The Answer After All

SCIENCE said:

transition said:

SCIENCE said:

remember back when waterborne infectious epidemics were controlled by improving the water supply and not drinking contaminated water

chuckle

acts dumb what are you saying?

nothing at all, nothing, just reminiscing of the good old days when all you needed was a cholera vaccine shot or three and then you’d be all clear to lick the bowl, drink straight from the communal well, enjoy the chocolate brownie flavour

aghh chuckle

Flood of COVID-19 vaccine bookings ahead of strict new rules for unvaccinated in Western Australia

> Let’s start this one off with a study into the risks of myocarditis, pericarditis and cardiac arrhythmia after the disease itself.

We used to call it “post-viral-syndrome”, back when I was young.

mollwollfumble said:

> Let’s start this one off with a study into the risks of myocarditis, pericarditis and cardiac arrhythmia after the disease itself.

We used to call it “post-viral-syndrome”, back when I was young.

and how often did you do that

fkn cmnst

SCIENCE said:

fkn cmnst

communists, all of them

SCIENCE said:

SCIENCE said:

fkn cmnst

communists, all of them

who’s pulling the strings

SCIENCE said:

SCIENCE said:

SCIENCE said:

fkn cmnst

communists, all of them

who’s pulling the strings

You still have to get people to wear them. The FREEDOM peoples are going to be your issue.

SCIENCE said:

fkn cmnst

Mask fit is a common problem, gaps can lead to failure to protect and can spread Covid around.

sibeen said:

SCIENCE said:

SCIENCE said:

communists, all of them

who’s pulling the strings

You still have to get people to wear them. The FREEDOM peoples are going to be your issue.

yes and no

still plenty of people who want infectious dementia, yes, and they’ll still go out and catch it

but

no, because then anyone who wants to not catch it, can now afford a free mask that works
no, because then anyone who wants to move in circles of people who similarly want to not catch it, can do so more confidently
no, because then progressive not catching it can happen
no, because then progressives who intend to serve only people who wear them, can do so without penalising the impecunious

so, as far as we want to not catch it, want to move in circles not catching it, want progressive not catching, and want progressives, not really our issue any more ¡

Tau.Neutrino said:

SCIENCE said:

fkn cmnst

Mask fit is a common problem, gaps can lead to failure to protect and can spread Covid around.

right but they knew full well that vaccines weren’t perfect and yet went ahead with all eggs

SCIENCE said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

SCIENCE said:

fkn cmnst

Mask fit is a common problem, gaps can lead to failure to protect and can spread Covid around.

right but they knew full well that vaccines weren’t perfect and yet went ahead with all eggs

More public consultation and a plebiscite or referendum may have been a better option.

Alarmist Lies

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abj8222

Longitudinal analysis reveals high prevalence of … virus associated with multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system of unknown etiology. We tested the hypothesis that MS is caused by … virus … in a cohort comprising more than 10 million young adults on active duty in the US military, 955 of whom were diagnosed with MS during their period of service. Risk of MS increased 32-fold after infection with … but was not increased after infection with other viruses, including the similarly transmitted cytomegalovirus. Serum levels of neurofilament light chain, a biomarker of neuroaxonal degeneration, increased only after … seroconversion. These findings cannot be explained by any known risk factor for MS and suggest … as the leading cause of MS.

we mean this is fucking groundbreaking stuff if legit’, completely aside from our joking about SARS-CoV-2 and all the recent pandemic

MS is common: Over 2.8 million people live with MS worldwide. There are over 25,600 people living with MS in Australia. On average more than 10 Australians are diagnosed with MS every week.

remember a time when we would actually do things to prevent disease, prevent morbidity, prevent more than just death of rich and privileged fucks, it would have been worthwhile to find ways to prevent the virus mentioned in article and all its horrible sequelae

(various cancers as well but we’ll leave that for some other day)

Tau.Neutrino said:

SCIENCE said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Mask fit is a common problem, gaps can lead to failure to protect and can spread Covid around.

right but they knew full well that vaccines weren’t perfect and yet went ahead with all eggs

More public consultation and a plebiscite or referendum may have been a better option.

I feel that more time was needed to get better science in place and a give people more time to understand something that keeps changing, liberals and their obsession with money to open things up rather than close things down doesn’t help.

Tau.Neutrino said:

SCIENCE said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

Mask fit is a common problem, gaps can lead to failure to protect and can spread Covid around.

right but they knew full well that vaccines weren’t perfect and yet went ahead with all eggs

More public consultation and a plebiscite or referendum may have been a better option.

we kind of disagree

—

disagree, because broader expert consultation would be the better option

—

kind of, because even so, if you asked people honestly which they would rather have,

• domestic fun and freedom but having to spend 2 extra weeks on holiday if travelling out of the country then back, or
• a disaster but at least people from outside can come in and not have to worry about doing quarantine to protect the wellbeing of millions of others

we suspect they might have made a better decision

SCIENCE said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

SCIENCE said:

right but they knew full well that vaccines weren’t perfect and yet went ahead with all eggs

More public consultation and a plebiscite or referendum may have been a better option.

we kind of disagree

—

disagree, because broader expert consultation would be the better option

—

kind of, because even so, if you asked people honestly which they would rather have,

• domestic fun and freedom but having to spend 2 extra weeks on holiday if travelling out of the country then back, or
• a disaster but at least people from outside can come in and not have to worry about doing quarantine to protect the wellbeing of millions of others

we suspect they might have made a better decision

Ok.

Yes, better entry and return precautions could have been made.

SCIENCE said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

SCIENCE said:

right but they knew full well that vaccines weren’t perfect and yet went ahead with all eggs

More public consultation and a plebiscite or referendum may have been a better option.

we kind of disagree

—

disagree, because broader expert consultation would be the better option

—

kind of, because even so, if you asked people honestly which they would rather have,

• domestic fun and freedom but having to spend 2 extra weeks on holiday if travelling out of the country then back, or
• a disaster but at least people from outside can come in and not have to worry about doing quarantine to protect the wellbeing of millions of others

we suspect they might have made a better decision

I think so and so does Laura Tingle

mollwollfumble said:

> Let’s start this one off with a study into the risks of myocarditis, pericarditis and cardiac arrhythmia after the disease itself.

We used to call it “post-viral-syndrome”, back when I was young.

Different beast.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-pm-andersson-tests-positive-covid-19-2022-01-14/

buffy said:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-pm-andersson-tests-positive-covid-19-2022-01-14/

They did want to let it rip.

roughbarked said:

buffy said:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-pm-andersson-tests-positive-covid-19-2022-01-14/

They did want to let it rip.

All the way to the top.

buffy said:

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-pm-andersson-tests-positive-covid-19-2022-01-14/

Uh oh.

roughbarked said:

SCIENCE said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

More public consultation and a plebiscite or referendum may have been a better option.

we kind of disagree

—

disagree, because broader expert consultation would be the better option

—

kind of, because even so, if you asked people honestly which they would rather have,

• domestic fun and freedom but having to spend 2 extra weeks on holiday if travelling out of the country then back, or
• a disaster but at least people from outside can come in and not have to worry about doing quarantine to protect the wellbeing of millions of others

we suspect they might have made a better decision

I think so and so does Laura Tingle

that doesn’t seem to provide a lot of evidence to support the agreement

ictoria’s Health Department says high demand and a backlog of COVID-19 PCR tests has resulted in tens of thousands of samples being dumped.

At least 91,000 text messages have been sent to Victorians by private coronavirus testing clinics informing them their PCR test is no longer valid.

Melbourne Pathology, ACL and Dorevitch can no longer process the tests due to the backlog caused by the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The Health Department says those who receive a message should take a rapid antigen test and isolate for seven days if they have symptoms.
————————————————————-

Take two flu tablets and a rat.
Neither may work though.

Peak Warming Man said:

Department says high demand and a backlog of COVID-19 PCR tests has resulted in tens of thousands of samples being dumped.

At least 91,000 text messages have been sent to Victorians by private coronavirus testing clinics informing them their PCR test is no longer valid.

Melbourne Pathology, ACL and Dorevitch can no longer process the tests due to the backlog caused by the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The Health Department says those who receive a message should take a rapid antigen test and isolate for seven days if they have symptoms.
————————————————————-

Take two flu tablets and a rat.
Neither may work though.

Some geniuses more than once said, but in case everyone missed it say it here again, they actually agree that being overwhelmed then testing is kind meaningless at the moment and a better way to do it would be a mathematically guided random sampling.

But hey what the mathematics ¿

He wanted to charge ahead and be the hero colleagues hope Dominic Perrottet has learned from backflips

How do death rates from COVID-19 differ between people who are vaccinated and those who are not?

Numpty level explanation.

JudgeMental said:

He wanted to charge ahead and be the hero colleagues hope Dominic Perrottet has learned from backflips

Haven’t read the article yet, but it’s my impression that the cheese stick in a suit has probably learnt a lot from backflips.

Like, how to do them on command from his sponsors, like a good L/NP premier does.

JudgeMental said:

How do death rates from COVID-19 differ between people who are vaccinated and those who are not?

Numpty level explanation.

too many words for that though

SCIENCE said:

JudgeMental said:

How do death rates from COVID-19 differ between people who are vaccinated and those who are not?

Numpty level explanation.

too many words for that though

But, but, the pictures, man!

JudgeMental said:

He wanted to charge ahead and be the hero colleagues hope Dominic Perrottet has learned from backflips

even we would be fair and suggest that Gutless wasn’t dealing with B.1.1.529 so that shouldn’t necessarily be the basis of comparison

being able to deal with new information on new variant though, or the inability really, might be a bigger negative

JudgeMental said:

SCIENCE said:

JudgeMental said:

How do death rates from COVID-19 differ between people who are vaccinated and those who are not?

Numpty level explanation.

too many words for that though

But, but, the pictures, man!

sadly but realistically we feel that public health messaging just has to get with the times and find artists to reduce their verbose message to short sharp memetic delivery

RATs in short supply: Rapid antigen test shortage shows little sign of ending soon

JudgeMental said:

RATs in short supply: Rapid antigen test shortage shows little sign of ending soon

Baiada has a million of them.

roughbarked said:

JudgeMental said:

RATs in short supply: Rapid antigen test shortage shows little sign of ending soon

Baiada has a million of them.

The chook growers?

Michael V said:

roughbarked said:

JudgeMental said:

RATs in short supply: Rapid antigen test shortage shows little sign of ending soon

Baiada has a million of them.

The chook growers?

Yep. I know this because I have inside contacts who are currrently isolating with covid because Baiada was relying on these to keep people at work.

Peak Warming Man said:

ictoria’s Health Department says high demand and a backlog of COVID-19 PCR tests has resulted in tens of thousands of samples being dumped.

At least 91,000 text messages have been sent to Victorians by private coronavirus testing clinics informing them their PCR test is no longer valid.

Melbourne Pathology, ACL and Dorevitch can no longer process the tests due to the backlog caused by the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The Health Department says those who receive a message should take a rapid antigen test and isolate for seven days if they have symptoms.
————————————————————-

Take two flu tablets and a rat.
Neither may work though.

Throwing out 91,000 PCR tests is the Dunny Rump method of reducing the amount of positive tests.

roughbarked said:

Michael V said:

roughbarked said:

Baiada has a million of them.

The chook growers?

Yep. I know this because I have inside contacts who are currrently isolating with covid because Baiada was relying on these to keep people at work.

I could tell you a lot more but I probably should not.

Michael V said:

Peak Warming Man said:

ictoria’s Health Department says high demand and a backlog of COVID-19 PCR tests has resulted in tens of thousands of samples being dumped.

At least 91,000 text messages have been sent to Victorians by private coronavirus testing clinics informing them their PCR test is no longer valid.

Melbourne Pathology, ACL and Dorevitch can no longer process the tests due to the backlog caused by the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The Health Department says those who receive a message should take a rapid antigen test and isolate for seven days if they have symptoms.
————————————————————-

Take two flu tablets and a rat.
Neither may work though.

Throwing out 91,000 PCR tests is the Dunny Rump method of reducing the amount of positive tests.

The Dtonal Drump?

Michael V said:

Peak Warming Man said:

ictoria’s Health Department says high demand and a backlog of COVID-19 PCR tests has resulted in tens of thousands of samples being dumped.

At least 91,000 text messages have been sent to Victorians by private coronavirus testing clinics informing them their PCR test is no longer valid.

Melbourne Pathology, ACL and Dorevitch can no longer process the tests due to the backlog caused by the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The Health Department says those who receive a message should take a rapid antigen test and isolate for seven days if they have symptoms.
————————————————————-

Take two flu tablets and a rat.
Neither may work though.

Throwing out 91,000 PCR tests is the Dunny Rump method of reducing the amount of positive tests.

What a cock-up. Surely someone would have done a audit of testing capacity? What do people do if they can’t find a RAT? Drive around and visit shop after shop hunting for one while possibly infectious?

party_pants said:

Michael V said:

Peak Warming Man said:

ictoria’s Health Department says high demand and a backlog of COVID-19 PCR tests has resulted in tens of thousands of samples being dumped.

At least 91,000 text messages have been sent to Victorians by private coronavirus testing clinics informing them their PCR test is no longer valid.

Melbourne Pathology, ACL and Dorevitch can no longer process the tests due to the backlog caused by the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

The Health Department says those who receive a message should take a rapid antigen test and isolate for seven days if they have symptoms.
————————————————————-

Take two flu tablets and a rat.
Neither may work though.

Throwing out 91,000 PCR tests is the Dunny Rump method of reducing the amount of positive tests.

What a cock-up. Surely someone would have done a audit of testing capacity? What do people do if they can’t find a RAT? Drive around and visit shop after shop hunting for one while possibly infectious?

I should not tell of this … no I won’t. I could get into trouble.

But I can say that it would horrify those who are willing to pay $150 for a test because they actually feel ill.

Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list. It wasn’t that long ago we were at number 126 for total cases :(
The vaccines are helping keep the deaths lower that what they would otherwise be though.

I had a phonecall from a friend this morning who has been recently diagnosed, so she is the first person I know well who has it. She works at Woolies, but also lives in a block of units full of mask-less tourists.

Spiny Norman said:

Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list. It wasn’t that long ago we were at number 126 for total cases :(
The vaccines are helping keep the deaths lower that what they would otherwise be though.

Qld dudded up figures:

It says 6 deaths. Really it’s 26.

Tamb said:

Spiny Norman said:

Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list. It wasn’t that long ago we were at number 126 for total cases :(
The vaccines are helping keep the deaths lower that what they would otherwise be though.

Qld dudded up figures:

It says 6 deaths. Really it’s 26.

no one died its a simple matter of some lives being lost…..

the whole this is deeply depressing tbh, i tend to try and deliberately not look for info on it atm.

Spiny Norman said:

Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list. It wasn’t that long ago we were at number 126 for total cases :(
The vaccines are helping keep the deaths lower that what they would otherwise be though.

Australia is above the global average in cases per capita. (In terms of published case figures: a lot of question marks have been raised about the official counts in Russia, Indonesia, India, China, much of subSaharan Africa etc.)

But we’re at the point now where the two major states are moving towards deliberate endemic status, so we kind of have to let go of the case counts and focus on death counts. Our death counts per cap are only about 14% of the global average, and about 4% the average count in the developed world.

Tamb said:

Spiny Norman said:

Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list. It wasn’t that long ago we were at number 126 for total cases :(
The vaccines are helping keep the deaths lower that what they would otherwise be though.

Qld dudded up figures:

It says 6 deaths. Really it’s 26.

ref

Tamb said:

Spiny Norman said:

Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list. It wasn’t that long ago we were at number 126 for total cases :(
The vaccines are helping keep the deaths lower that what they would otherwise be though.

Qld dudded up figures:

It says 6 deaths. Really it’s 26.

That’s just for today.

dv said:

Spiny Norman said:

Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list. It wasn’t that long ago we were at number 126 for total cases :(
The vaccines are helping keep the deaths lower that what they would otherwise be though.

Australia is above the global average in cases per capita. (In terms of published case figures: a lot of question marks have been raised about the official counts in Russia, Indonesia, India, China, much of subSaharan Africa etc.)

But we’re at the point now where the two major states are moving towards deliberate endemic status, so we kind of have to let go of the case counts and focus on death counts. Our death counts per cap are only about 14% of the global average, and about 4% the average count in the developed world.

Also don’t forget the long covid cases. They are more difficult to find stats for here.

dv said:

Tamb said:

Spiny Norman said:

Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list. It wasn’t that long ago we were at number 126 for total cases :(
The vaccines are helping keep the deaths lower that what they would otherwise be though.

Qld dudded up figures:

It says 6 deaths. Really it’s 26.

ref

https://covidlive.com.au/report/daily-deaths/qld

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Tamb said:

Spiny Norman said:

Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list. It wasn’t that long ago we were at number 126 for total cases :(
The vaccines are helping keep the deaths lower that what they would otherwise be though.

Qld dudded up figures:

It says 6 deaths. Really it’s 26.

no one died its a simple matter of some lives being lost…..

the whole this is deeply depressing tbh, i tend to try and deliberately not look for info on it atm.

I think they mean 6 since the restrictions were eased or some other malarky. The figure was 7 for months.

dv said:

Tamb said:

Spiny Norman said:

Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list. It wasn’t that long ago we were at number 126 for total cases :(
The vaccines are helping keep the deaths lower that what they would otherwise be though.

Qld dudded up figures:

It says 6 deaths. Really it’s 26.

ref

https://www.qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19/current-status/statistics#caseoverview

Tamb said:

dv said:

Tamb said:

Qld dudded up figures:

It says 6 deaths. Really it’s 26.

ref

https://www.qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19/current-status/statistics#caseoverview

That’s the all time total

dv said:

Tamb said:

dv said:

ref

https://www.qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19/current-status/statistics#caseoverview

That’s the all time total

Yes, that’s right. Why conceal the true figures.

Tamb said:

dv said:

Tamb said:

https://www.qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19/current-status/statistics#caseoverview

That’s the all time total

Yes, that’s right. Why conceal the true figures.

This isn’t concealment. There have been 6 deaths in the last day and this chart says so.

dv said:

Tamb said:

dv said:

That’s the all time total

Yes, that’s right. Why conceal the true figures.

This isn’t concealment. There have been 6 deaths in the last day and this chart says so.

The green coloured graphic says Lives lost not today’s lives lost.

dv said:

Tamb said:

dv said:

ref

https://www.qld.gov.au/health/conditions/health-alerts/coronavirus-covid-19/current-status/statistics#caseoverview

That’s the all time total

Six deaths in the reporting period (one day).

Tamb said:

dv said:

Tamb said:

Yes, that’s right. Why conceal the true figures.

This isn’t concealment. There have been 6 deaths in the last day and this chart says so.

The green coloured graphic says Lives lost not today’s lives lost.

i read it as a daily thing myself

Trevtaowillgetyounowhere said:

Tamb said:

dv said:

This isn’t concealment. There have been 6 deaths in the last day and this chart says so.

The green coloured graphic says Lives lost not today’s lives lost.

i read it as a daily thing myself

And so it is.

Tamb is referring to the all time total, 26

> Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list.

Higher than that.

Ignoring places with much smaller populations. we’re now at position number 1 by number of Covid cases per million population on the ourworldindata list. We’ve overtaken France.

mollwollfumble said:

> Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list.

Higher than that.

Ignoring places with much smaller populations. we’re now at position number 1 by number of Covid cases per million population on the ourworldindata list. We’ve overtaken France.

scratches at head

Err, what?

mollwollfumble said:

> Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list.

Higher than that.

Ignoring places with much smaller populations. we’re now at position number 1 by number of Covid cases per million population on the ourworldindata list. We’ve overtaken France.

I don’t know what you mean though. Australia is at 109th place on cases per million pop.

And number 166 on deaths per million

mollwollfumble said:

> Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list.

Higher than that.

Ignoring places with much smaller populations. we’re now at position number 1 by number of Covid cases per million population on the ourworldindata list. We’ve overtaken France.

By total number of Covid cases ignoring population, Australia is currently number 7 in the world.
After USA, India, France, Italy, Spain, Argentina
All of which have much larger populations.

mollwollfumble said:

mollwollfumble said:

> Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list.

Higher than that.

Ignoring places with much smaller populations. we’re now at position number 1 by number of Covid cases per million population on the ourworldindata list. We’ve overtaken France.

By total number of Covid cases ignoring population, Australia is currently number 7 in the world.
After USA, India, France, Italy, Spain, Argentina
All of which have much larger populations.

Are you sure your not looking at tests per million, or such like?

mollwollfumble said:

By total number of Covid cases ignoring population, Australia is currently number 7 in the world.

Yeah but again … no? Number 35 according to worldometer.

Just to recap, you led with:

“Ignoring places with much smaller populations. we’re now at position number 1 by number of Covid cases per million population on the ourworldindata list. We’ve overtaken France.”

That was wrong. Even if, for some reason, you ignore countries with smaller populations, Australia is 18th.

Then you went to:

“By total number of Covid cases ignoring population, Australia is currently number 7 in the world.”

That was wrong. In total number of Covid cases ignoring population, Australia is at 109th position.

Then you shared this chart which has nothing to do with either of those claims, and is unlabelled so we don’t even know what it is.

sibeen said:

mollwollfumble said:

> Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list.

Higher than that.

Ignoring places with much smaller populations. we’re now at position number 1 by number of Covid cases per million population on the ourworldindata list. We’ve overtaken France.

scratches at head

Err, what?

What he said.

For countries with more than say 10 million population, Australia is No. 1 in the World for new cases/head of population.

The Rev Dodgson said:

sibeen said:

mollwollfumble said:

> Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list.

Higher than that.

Ignoring places with much smaller populations. we’re now at position number 1 by number of Covid cases per million population on the ourworldindata list. We’ve overtaken France.

scratches at head

Err, what?

What he said.

For countries with more than say 10 million population, Australia is No. 1 in the World for new cases/head of population.

So not what he said, since you introduced the key word “new”.

dv said:

Just to recap, you led with:

“Ignoring places with much smaller populations. we’re now at position number 1 by number of Covid cases per million population on the ourworldindata list. We’ve overtaken France.”

That was wrong. Even if, for some reason, you ignore countries with smaller populations, Australia is 18th.

Then you went to:

“By total number of Covid cases ignoring population, Australia is currently number 7 in the world.”

That was wrong. In total number of Covid cases ignoring population, Australia is at 109th position.

Then you shared this chart which has nothing to do with either of those claims, and is unlabelled so we don’t even know what it is.

The statistic Moll is talking about is new cases/head of population.

In the current circumstances that seems quite a reasonable statistic to focus on.

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

sibeen said:

scratches at head

Err, what?

What he said.

For countries with more than say 10 million population, Australia is No. 1 in the World for new cases/head of population.

So not what he said, since you introduced the key word “new”.

That is what he said.

You introduced the key word “total” for some reason.

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

Just to recap, you led with:

“Ignoring places with much smaller populations. we’re now at position number 1 by number of Covid cases per million population on the ourworldindata list. We’ve overtaken France.”

That was wrong. Even if, for some reason, you ignore countries with smaller populations, Australia is 18th.

Then you went to:

“By total number of Covid cases ignoring population, Australia is currently number 7 in the world.”

That was wrong. In total number of Covid cases ignoring population, Australia is at 109th position.

Then you shared this chart which has nothing to do with either of those claims, and is unlabelled so we don’t even know what it is.

The statistic Moll is talking about is new cases/head of population.

In the current circumstances that seems quite a reasonable statistic to focus on.

Moll didn’t include that phrasing or anything similar in his description. You might be right that’s what he was referring to and we can hope he learned an important lesson about clarity.

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

What he said.

For countries with more than say 10 million population, Australia is No. 1 in the World for new cases/head of population.

So not what he said, since you introduced the key word “new”.

That is what he said.

You introduced the key word “total” for some reason.

False.

These are the two quotes I responded to, copied and pasted, verbatim.

“Ignoring places with much smaller populations. we’re now at position number 1 by number of Covid cases per million population on the ourworldindata list. We’ve overtaken France.”

“By total number of Covid cases ignoring population, Australia is currently number 7 in the world.”

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

So not what he said, since you introduced the key word “new”.

That is what he said.

You introduced the key word “total” for some reason.

False.

These are the two quotes I responded to, copied and pasted, verbatim.

“Ignoring places with much smaller populations. we’re now at position number 1 by number of Covid cases per million population on the ourworldindata list. We’ve overtaken France.”

“By total number of Covid cases ignoring population, Australia is currently number 7 in the world.”

OK then, moll introduced the word “total” for some reason that I cannot explain.

Spiny Norman said:

Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list. It wasn’t that long ago we were at number 126 for total cases :(
The vaccines are helping keep the deaths lower that what they would otherwise be though.

On deaths per million population, however, we are down at 166.

buffy said:

Spiny Norman said:

Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list. It wasn’t that long ago we were at number 126 for total cases :(
The vaccines are helping keep the deaths lower that what they would otherwise be though.

On deaths per million population, however, we are down at 166.

But that’s history.

We could look at new deaths/million in a month or so, as a reasonable measure of where we are now.

Or new cases/million now, as a reasonable measure of where we are now now.

The Rev Dodgson said:

buffy said:

Spiny Norman said:

Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list. It wasn’t that long ago we were at number 126 for total cases :(
The vaccines are helping keep the deaths lower that what they would otherwise be though.

On deaths per million population, however, we are down at 166.

But that’s history.

We could look at new deaths/million in a month or so, as a reasonable measure of where we are now.

Or new cases/million now, as a reasonable measure of where we are now now.

oh c’m‘on everyone loves a bit of disinformation through crude averaging

The Rev Dodgson said:

buffy said:

Spiny Norman said:

Cheesus, we’re now at position number 35 on the Worldometer Covid list. It wasn’t that long ago we were at number 126 for total cases :(
The vaccines are helping keep the deaths lower that what they would otherwise be though.

On deaths per million population, however, we are down at 166.

But that’s history.

We could look at new deaths/million in a month or so, as a reasonable measure of where we are now.

Or new cases/million now, as a reasonable measure of where we are now now.

I have not the pleasure of understanding you. All the figures we have to work with are historical. As far as I know, no-one has yet got a crystal ball to work to tell you the future.

This Pfizer booster has really knocked me around. Sore whole upper arm, where the booster was injected. Bad sleep last night. Aching all over. Very tired, but can’t sleep. Very “cotton-wool” brain. Weird tummy. Very poor balance. Cannot move fast at all.

Michael V said:

This Pfizer booster has really knocked me around. Sore whole upper arm, where the booster was injected. Bad sleep last night. Aching all over. Very tired, but can’t sleep. Very “cotton-wool” brain. Weird tummy. Very poor balance. Cannot move fast at all.

can I have your boat?

Michael V said:

This Pfizer booster has really knocked me around. Sore whole upper arm, where the booster was injected. Bad sleep last night. Aching all over. Very tired, but can’t sleep. Very “cotton-wool” brain. Weird tummy. Very poor balance. Cannot move fast at all.

Sympathies :(

Shouldn’t last long though.

Michael V said:

This Pfizer booster has really knocked me around. Sore whole upper arm, where the booster was injected. Bad sleep last night. Aching all over. Very tired, but can’t sleep. Very “cotton-wool” brain. Weird tummy. Very poor balance. Cannot move fast at all.

Damn that’s rough.

Arts said:

Michael V said:

This Pfizer booster has really knocked me around. Sore whole upper arm, where the booster was injected. Bad sleep last night. Aching all over. Very tired, but can’t sleep. Very “cotton-wool” brain. Weird tummy. Very poor balance. Cannot move fast at all.

can I have your boat?

Of course.

Bubblecar said:

Michael V said:

This Pfizer booster has really knocked me around. Sore whole upper arm, where the booster was injected. Bad sleep last night. Aching all over. Very tired, but can’t sleep. Very “cotton-wool” brain. Weird tummy. Very poor balance. Cannot move fast at all.

Sympathies :(

Shouldn’t last long though.

And likely much better than getting the COVIDs.

dv said:

Michael V said:

This Pfizer booster has really knocked me around. Sore whole upper arm, where the booster was injected. Bad sleep last night. Aching all over. Very tired, but can’t sleep. Very “cotton-wool” brain. Weird tummy. Very poor balance. Cannot move fast at all.

Damn that’s rough.

Yeah, but hopefully my immune system is priming itself strongly.

Bubblecar said:

Michael V said:

This Pfizer booster has really knocked me around. Sore whole upper arm, where the booster was injected. Bad sleep last night. Aching all over. Very tired, but can’t sleep. Very “cotton-wool” brain. Weird tummy. Very poor balance. Cannot move fast at all.

Sympathies :(

Shouldn’t last long though.

Not if it’s long vax.
And that’s another thing that authorities and their running dog accomplice in Big Vax don’t want to talk about.
It’s not right.

Michael V said:

dv said:

Michael V said:

This Pfizer booster has really knocked me around. Sore whole upper arm, where the booster was injected. Bad sleep last night. Aching all over. Very tired, but can’t sleep. Very “cotton-wool” brain. Weird tummy. Very poor balance. Cannot move fast at all.

Damn that’s rough.

Yeah, but hopefully my immune system is priming itself strongly.

A strong reaction to the vaccine generally means a robust immune system.

buffy said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

buffy said:

On deaths per million population, however, we are down at 166.

But that’s history.

We could look at new deaths/million in a month or so, as a reasonable measure of where we are now.

Or new cases/million now, as a reasonable measure of where we are now now.

I have not the pleasure of understanding you. All the figures we have to work with are historical. As far as I know, no-one has yet got a crystal ball to work to tell you the future.

OK, but you do see there is a difference between very recent history, and less recent history, surely?

Michael V said:

dv said:

Michael V said:

This Pfizer booster has really knocked me around. Sore whole upper arm, where the booster was injected. Bad sleep last night. Aching all over. Very tired, but can’t sleep. Very “cotton-wool” brain. Weird tummy. Very poor balance. Cannot move fast at all.

Damn that’s rough.

Yeah, but hopefully my immune system is priming itself strongly.

I had a rough day the day after my booster. The day after that was fine.

Bubblecar said:

Michael V said:

dv said:

Damn that’s rough.

Yeah, but hopefully my immune system is priming itself strongly.

A strong reaction to the vaccine generally means a robust immune system.

Can confirm.
First AZ jab had me floored for a few days. Second one, nothing. Moderna booster jab gave me a sore arm and I was tired the next day.
Spocky had no reaction to any of those three, it does make me worry a little.

Speedy said:

Michael V said:

dv said:

Damn that’s rough.

Yeah, but hopefully my immune system is priming itself strongly.

I had a rough day the day after my booster. The day after that was fine.

Ta.

I rang to book a booster but they said they were chockers and gave another number to ring but I didn’t write it down.
I’ll just rock up to an apothecary when I’m due and they can belt their appointments up their fundamental orifice.

Michael V said:

dv said:

Michael V said:

This Pfizer booster has really knocked me around. Sore whole upper arm, where the booster was injected. Bad sleep last night. Aching all over. Very tired, but can’t sleep. Very “cotton-wool” brain. Weird tummy. Very poor balance. Cannot move fast at all.

Damn that’s rough.

Yeah, but hopefully my immune system is priming itself strongly.

This is the fourth ‘bad reaction to Pfizer booster’ story that i’ve heard this week.

Two of those people also had Pfizer for their first and second shots, too.

The Shovel:

Last-minute reprieve allows Pastor Djokovic to attend two-week ‘Aust Open Church Youth Camp’

Saying he was just here to share God’s light, Novak Djokovic – or as he is now more commonly known Pastor Djokovic – will be allowed to take part in a special fortnight-long Hillsong youth camp which is definitely not an international tennis tournament.’

Tennis Australia were quick to clarify that the ‘summercamp’, which will involve two competitors hitting a yellow ball back and forth across a net, was not similar to an ATP grand slam in any way.

“Like we’ve always said, this is an annual youth camp,” CEO Craig Tiley said from centre court at Melbourne Park. “Sure, there are ballkids, linespeople, a central umpire and two players with racquets and tennis balls, but that’s only a small part of the program”.

I had Pfizer for my first and second and only had a lethargy the next day after my second (first was fine).

Mr Arts just had his booster of Pfizer, and had a headache and sore arm for about 12 hours.. but woke up fine… he had AZ for his first two…

I will choose whatever they have for my booster which is due in March…

I see the phrase shadow lockdowns being used, but I wonder, whatever assumptions a person might use when understanding that, what it’s meant to encourage

covid reticence, reluctance to catch covid and transmit it has been and remains largely normal, contributes in no small way to limiting covid expansion

just like people avoid the flu, I can’t see that people would become less reticent about catching the flu as prevalence increased

I think shadow lockdown might come near a misnomer, but even if it were there are people that would be happy to see it adopted, the whatever conceptualized that way

and the whatever is likely in response to prevalence

Earlier today, WorldInData had Australia overtaking France in first place for new cases per unit population (unsmooothed).
Now Australia has slipped back to second place (7 day smoothed).

Remember the old days when Israel was the most highly vaccinated country in the world? It was, but that was many months ago now.

transition said:

I see the phrase shadow lockdowns being used, but I wonder, whatever assumptions a person might use when understanding that, what it’s meant to encourage

covid reticence, reluctance to catch covid and transmit it has been and remains largely normal, contributes in no small way to limiting covid expansion

just like people avoid the flu, I can’t see that people would become less reticent about catching the flu as prevalence increased

I think shadow lockdown might come near a misnomer, but even if it were there are people that would be happy to see it adopted, the whatever conceptualized that way

and the whatever is likely in response to prevalence

contrasted with what i’d call the covid gregarious

mollwollfumble said:

Earlier today, WorldInData had Australia overtaking France in first place for new cases per unit population (unsmooothed).
Now Australia has slipped back to second place (7 day smoothed).

Remember the old days when Israel was the most highly vaccinated country in the world? It was, but that was many months ago now.

Well I’m glad your graph has “Daily” as the very first word this time.

COVID contact places Perth

human side to story

on a winner here

oh well at least Living With® HIV is now a thing

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/why-health-experts-say-you-shouldn-t-be-complacent-about-omicron/22252c43-539f-4856-9109-5e21835a9085

been reading some news, then that above

nicely crafted, but was it not mentioned that the more covid there is around the more of an imposition involved in avoiding it (avoiding possible infection and transmission), there’s both the extent of the impositions and the time the impositions persist, and really those two things merge the longer it goes on, though the reader might be encouraged to form a notion otherwise, to rather perceive it that the longer it persists the less the extent of the impositions, to normalize covid prevalence that way

the extent if the impositions stops being transient or temporary

and why, for the convenience of the jetsetters or whatever, so they might land and move around in already background covid

disaster capitalists draw lines

1. remember how virus is successful if it has transmitted before its host dies
2. remember how it was supposed to be mild
3. remember how we didn’t have vaccines or treatments in 2020
4. remember how 2 because new strain was supposed to grow faster in the nose than in the lung
5. remember how nobody said that 4 meant it would stop growing in the lung
6. remember how some places stop reporting or linking reports after 28 days

Mark* tried to get infected last weekend so he doesn’t miss his sister’s wedding later this month.

But the plan backfired.

“Everyone at my house party got it except me, even my partner — and I’m fine. I’m furious,” he says.

While the world is anxious about Omicron, experts warn that Delta is still the dominant variant. An outbreak at a high school reunion shows the power of the virus — and the potency of vaccines.
Read more

Some have gone even further: in the US last year, founder of alt-right group Twinks for Trump Lucian Wintrich hosted a “coronavirus potluck” party, claiming it’d build up immunity, saying the idea was “relatively inspired by the chickenpox parties that were all the rage in the ’90s”.

There have been reports in Europe of people dying after allegedly intentionally contracting coronavirus.

Party party

Markets have plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat available and have largely avoided the supply chain crisis that has stripped shelves bare at the big supermarket chains, according to operators and farmers.

Supermarket distribution centres have suffered staff shortages caused by the Omicron wave that has forced as many as a quarter of their workers to isolate, prompting Coles and Woolworths to reinstate purchase limits on some products after panic buying emptied shelves.

However, market stall operators don’t suffer from the same problems because they buy directly from wholesale markets, the chief executive of Melbourne’s Victoria Market, Stan Liacos, said.

“The way they purchase has far more flexibility in it than the way the far larger multinational supermarket chains do business,” he said.

He said the market’s 60 fruit and vegetable operators and 10 fishmongers bought most of their stock daily at Melbourne’s wholesale markets.

“They basically pick the stock, and if certain stock isn’t available from certain suppliers, they simply turn around and buy from others.

“So they’re not locked into a handful of huge, watertight, contract-style relationships.”

The stallholders have also avoided the bottlenecks caused by staff shortages in the logistics sector, where some companies have reported up to half their workers are unavailable.

more..

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/14/how-fresh-food-markets-are-avoiding-australias-crippling-supply-chain-crisis

The rolling shitshow rolls…

sarahs mum said:

Markets have plenty of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat available and have largely avoided the supply chain crisis that has stripped shelves bare at the big supermarket chains, according to operators and farmers.

Supermarket distribution centres have suffered staff shortages caused by the Omicron wave that has forced as many as a quarter of their workers to isolate, prompting Coles and Woolworths to reinstate purchase limits on some products after panic buying emptied shelves.

However, market stall operators don’t suffer from the same problems because they buy directly from wholesale markets, the chief executive of Melbourne’s Victoria Market, Stan Liacos, said.

“The way they purchase has far more flexibility in it than the way the far larger multinational supermarket chains do business,” he said.

He said the market’s 60 fruit and vegetable operators and 10 fishmongers bought most of their stock daily at Melbourne’s wholesale markets.

“They basically pick the stock, and if certain stock isn’t available from certain suppliers, they simply turn around and buy from others.

“So they’re not locked into a handful of huge, watertight, contract-style relationships.”

The stallholders have also avoided the bottlenecks caused by staff shortages in the logistics sector, where some companies have reported up to half their workers are unavailable.

more..

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/14/how-fresh-food-markets-are-avoiding-australias-crippling-supply-chain-crisis

All good if you’ve got a frequent marketplace nearby; our markets are held one day per month.

Still, when we went to Woolies after having our booster vax, whilst there was quite a lot of stock missing from the shelves, we still got most of what we had on the shopping list. Surprisingly, there were still specials.

Veges were a quite a bit more expensive than usual, but we still bought them anyway. Except capsicums which were $13/kg. We got a nice 3.2 kg cabbage. It was expensive, but it will last us quite a while. Eggs were still available. We were able to get fish and chicken breasts. No toilet paper and only two bottles of Woolies cola.

Ian said:

The rolling shitshow rolls…

Where was this?

Ian said:

The rolling shitshow rolls…

That brings it home.

Raina MacIntyre Why Covid-19 will never become endemic

Raina MacIntyre leads the biosecurity program at the Kirby Institute.
She is on the World Health Organization’s technical advisory group
on Covid-19 vaccine composition.

Michael V said:

All good if you’ve got a frequent marketplace nearby; our markets are held one day per month.

Still, when we went to Woolies after having our booster vax, whilst there was quite a lot of stock missing from the shelves, we still got most of what we had on the shopping list. Surprisingly, there were still specials.

Veges were a quite a bit more expensive than usual, but we still bought them anyway. Except capsicums which were $13/kg. We got a nice 3.2 kg cabbage. It was expensive, but it will last us quite a while. Eggs were still available. We were able to get fish and chicken breasts. No toilet paper and only two bottles of Woolies cola.

We went to Betros Bros., an independent fruit/veg merchant and supermarket here in Toowoomba, yesterday.

Absolutely no shortage of anything there, and prices as normal.

‘Supermarket’ type stock is a bit limited compared to Colesworths, but if you can stand to live on veges for a while (and, of course, we could), there’s no danger of starving.

captain_spalding said:

but if you can stand to live on veges for a while (and, of course, we could), there’s no danger of starving.

That’s vegan talk that is!

Michael V said:

Ian said:

The rolling shitshow rolls…

Where was this?

Guessing NSW or Vic

JudgeMental said:

captain_spalding said:

but if you can stand to live on veges for a while (and, of course, we could), there’s no danger of starving.

That’s vegan talk that is!

No, we’d still use e.g. dairy products, as we’re able to comprehend that you don’t have to kill the cows to produce them.

In fact, it’s cruel to not use dairy products.

For example I’ve been reading Antony Beevor’s ‘D-Day’.

There’s mention in there of cows in the fields of Normandy after the invasion began, who (understandably, with the bombing, shelling, and fighting) had not been milked for some days.

Their udders were distended, and the animals couldn’t even move because of the pain caused by the movement of the udders.

Allied soldiers from farming background would recognise this, and milk the cows straight on to the ground, just to relieve the pressure in the udders.

captain_spalding said:

JudgeMental said:

captain_spalding said:

but if you can stand to live on veges for a while (and, of course, we could), there’s no danger of starving.

That’s vegan talk that is!

No, we’d still use e.g. dairy products, as we’re able to comprehend that you don’t have to kill the cows to produce them.

In fact, it’s cruel to not use dairy products.

For example I’ve been reading Antony Beevor’s ‘D-Day’.

There’s mention in there of cows in the fields of Normandy after the invasion began, who (understandably, with the bombing, shelling, and fighting) had not been milked for some days.

Their udders were distended, and the animals couldn’t even move because of the pain caused by the movement of the udders.

Allied soldiers from farming background would recognise this, and milk the cows straight on to the ground, just to relieve the pressure in the udders.

I’ve been doing that 56 years. Nope. Haven’t starved yet.

captain_spalding said:

Michael V said:

All good if you’ve got a frequent marketplace nearby; our markets are held one day per month.

Still, when we went to Woolies after having our booster vax, whilst there was quite a lot of stock missing from the shelves, we still got most of what we had on the shopping list. Surprisingly, there were still specials.

Veges were a quite a bit more expensive than usual, but we still bought them anyway. Except capsicums which were $13/kg. We got a nice 3.2 kg cabbage. It was expensive, but it will last us quite a while. Eggs were still available. We were able to get fish and chicken breasts. No toilet paper and only two bottles of Woolies cola.

We went to Betros Bros., an independent fruit/veg merchant and supermarket here in Toowoomba, yesterday.

Absolutely no shortage of anything there, and prices as normal.

‘Supermarket’ type stock is a bit limited compared to Colesworths, but if you can stand to live on veges for a while (and, of course, we could), there’s no danger of starving.

Nice.

No such place here, unfortunately.

Michael V said:

captain_spalding said:

Michael V said:

All good if you’ve got a frequent marketplace nearby; our markets are held one day per month.

Still, when we went to Woolies after having our booster vax, whilst there was quite a lot of stock missing from the shelves, we still got most of what we had on the shopping list. Surprisingly, there were still specials.

Veges were a quite a bit more expensive than usual, but we still bought them anyway. Except capsicums which were $13/kg. We got a nice 3.2 kg cabbage. It was expensive, but it will last us quite a while. Eggs were still available. We were able to get fish and chicken breasts. No toilet paper and only two bottles of Woolies cola.

We went to Betros Bros., an independent fruit/veg merchant and supermarket here in Toowoomba, yesterday.

Absolutely no shortage of anything there, and prices as normal.

‘Supermarket’ type stock is a bit limited compared to Colesworths, but if you can stand to live on veges for a while (and, of course, we could), there’s no danger of starving.

Nice.

No such place here, unfortunately.

Radishes only take four weeks to eat from seed.
Though like many seeds, they are easily sprouted and make lovely sprouts.
One can live on sprouts for mere cents per day.
Because I grow and collect my own sprouting seeds, I’ve got kilos of stuff like mung beans lentils ppeas beans and of course bucketfuls of radish seed.
The great thing about sprouts is that there’s no cooking, bugger all washing up and the rest is all totally recyclable.

Ian said:

Michael V said:

Ian said:

The rolling shitshow rolls…

Where was this?

Guessing NSW or Vic

Ah.

Possibly unknown, then.

Ian said:

The rolling shitshow rolls…

Where is that from? Mr buffy says the ambulances, with the exception of a couple of 4WD vehicles, have been automatics in Victoria since about the 1960s. It’s not all that unusual in country areas for someone to be coopted to drive. Many of the locals have licences for the fire trucks anyway and often there is a local cop about.

buffy said:

Ian said:

The rolling shitshow rolls…

Where is that from? Mr buffy says the ambulances, with the exception of a couple of 4WD vehicles, have been automatics in Victoria since about the 1960s. It’s not all that unusual in country areas for someone to be coopted to drive. Many of the locals have licences for the fire trucks anyway and often there is a local cop about.

Soc media, Aus

buffy said:

Ian said:

The rolling shitshow rolls…

Where is that from? Mr buffy says the ambulances, with the exception of a couple of 4WD vehicles, have been automatics in Victoria since about the 1960s. It’s not all that unusual in country areas for someone to be coopted to drive. Many of the locals have licences for the fire trucks anyway and often there is a local cop about.

I got asked to drive an ambulance about 10 years ago and it was an auto.

Michael V said:

Ian said:

Michael V said:

Where was this?

Guessing NSW or Vic

Ah.

Possibly unknown, then.

Unattributed => rubbish pile

Ian said:

buffy said:

Ian said:

The rolling shitshow rolls…

Where is that from? Mr buffy says the ambulances, with the exception of a couple of 4WD vehicles, have been automatics in Victoria since about the 1960s. It’s not all that unusual in country areas for someone to be coopted to drive. Many of the locals have licences for the fire trucks anyway and often there is a local cop about.

Soc media, Aus

I had a quick look, been deleted where I looked, heading still there but content gone maybe ten hours ago

even if half true, and frankly I don’t care, there are quite a few conceivable reasons it might get deleted, even by the person that posted it

buffy said:

Ian said:

The rolling shitshow rolls…

Where is that from? Mr buffy says the ambulances, with the exception of a couple of 4WD vehicles, have been automatics in Victoria since about the 1960s. It’s not all that unusual in country areas for someone to be coopted to drive. Many of the locals have licences for the fire trucks anyway and often there is a local cop about.

You can tell this is crap because of the amount of unnecessary information in here… it’s covering evertything just to make a point (badly)

Thanks for putting this article up. (Boris, was it?)

“Raina MacIntyre: Why Covid-19 will never become endemic”

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2022/01/15/why-covid-19-will-never-become-endemic/164216520013155#mtr

Today’s Qld figures
Running total deaths 29.

Michael V said:

Thanks for putting this article up. (Boris, was it?)

“Raina MacIntyre: Why Covid-19 will never become endemic”

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2022/01/15/why-covid-19-will-never-become-endemic/164216520013155#mtr

a really good read^, credit to the lady, cuts through the bullshit, the tsunami of doublespeak

though i’d emphasise again that getting covid numbers down, squeezing it reduces risk, everyone needs work on that, requires loyalty, group commitment

below’s an example of the lovely daily mail doing its good work, the royalty of media cough

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10401113/Covid-alarmist-group-OzSage-mocked-advocating-face-masks-home-flushing-toilet-lid-down.html

transition said:

Michael V said:

Thanks for putting this article up. (Boris, was it?)

“Raina MacIntyre: Why Covid-19 will never become endemic”

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2022/01/15/why-covid-19-will-never-become-endemic/164216520013155#mtr

a really good read^, credit to the lady, cuts through the bullshit, the tsunami of doublespeak

though i’d emphasise again that getting covid numbers down, squeezing it reduces risk, everyone needs work on that, requires loyalty, group commitment

below’s an example of the lovely daily mail doing its good work, the royalty of media cough

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10401113/Covid-alarmist-group-OzSage-mocked-advocating-face-masks-home-flushing-toilet-lid-down.html

It must be true, because it’s written in the Daily Mail:

“Paediatrician Fiona Russell, a senior principal research fellow with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, slammed the group’s alarmist rhetoric.

‘The 10-point plan recommends putting the toilet seat down before flushing,’ she tweeted.”

It is up to all of us to fight the tyranny of suggesting that toilet lids might be lowered before flushing the loo.

Next they’ll be saying we should wash our hands as well.

The Rev Dodgson said:

transition said:

Michael V said:

Thanks for putting this article up. (Boris, was it?)

“Raina MacIntyre: Why Covid-19 will never become endemic”

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2022/01/15/why-covid-19-will-never-become-endemic/164216520013155#mtr

a really good read^, credit to the lady, cuts through the bullshit, the tsunami of doublespeak

though i’d emphasise again that getting covid numbers down, squeezing it reduces risk, everyone needs work on that, requires loyalty, group commitment

below’s an example of the lovely daily mail doing its good work, the royalty of media cough

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10401113/Covid-alarmist-group-OzSage-mocked-advocating-face-masks-home-flushing-toilet-lid-down.html

It must be true, because it’s written in the Daily Mail:

“Paediatrician Fiona Russell, a senior principal research fellow with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, slammed the group’s alarmist rhetoric.

‘The 10-point plan recommends putting the toilet seat down before flushing,’ she tweeted.”

It is up to all of us to fight the tyranny of suggesting that toilet lids might be lowered before flushing the loo.

Next they’ll be saying we should wash our hands as well.

My my, the thought of it.
Absolutely appalling state of affairs.

“‘The 10-point plan recommends putting the toilet seat down before flushing,’ she tweeted.”

She has a fetish for wet toilet seats?

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

transition said:

a really good read^, credit to the lady, cuts through the bullshit, the tsunami of doublespeak

though i’d emphasise again that getting covid numbers down, squeezing it reduces risk, everyone needs work on that, requires loyalty, group commitment

below’s an example of the lovely daily mail doing its good work, the royalty of media cough

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10401113/Covid-alarmist-group-OzSage-mocked-advocating-face-masks-home-flushing-toilet-lid-down.html

It must be true, because it’s written in the Daily Mail:

“Paediatrician Fiona Russell, a senior principal research fellow with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, slammed the group’s alarmist rhetoric.

‘The 10-point plan recommends putting the toilet seat down before flushing,’ she tweeted.”

It is up to all of us to fight the tyranny of suggesting that toilet lids might be lowered before flushing the loo.

Next they’ll be saying we should wash our hands as well.

My my, the thought of it.
Absolutely appalling state of affairs.

For more such outrageousness see:
https://ozsage.org/who-we-are/

The Rev Dodgson said:

transition said:

Michael V said:

Thanks for putting this article up. (Boris, was it?)

“Raina MacIntyre: Why Covid-19 will never become endemic”

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2022/01/15/why-covid-19-will-never-become-endemic/164216520013155#mtr

a really good read^, credit to the lady, cuts through the bullshit, the tsunami of doublespeak

though i’d emphasise again that getting covid numbers down, squeezing it reduces risk, everyone needs work on that, requires loyalty, group commitment

below’s an example of the lovely daily mail doing its good work, the royalty of media cough

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10401113/Covid-alarmist-group-OzSage-mocked-advocating-face-masks-home-flushing-toilet-lid-down.html

It must be true, because it’s written in the Daily Mail:

“Paediatrician Fiona Russell, a senior principal research fellow with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, slammed the group’s alarmist rhetoric.

‘The 10-point plan recommends putting the toilet seat down before flushing,’ she tweeted.”

It is up to all of us to fight the tyranny of suggesting that toilet lids might be lowered before flushing the loo.

Next they’ll be saying we should wash our hands as well.

I only got to read the first few paragraphs before I was blocked, but some of that came across as utter bullshit.

It suggested that masks were actively discouraged. The author obviously doesn’t live in Victoria, or if he/she does then they are deliberately lying or completely oblivious to facts.

sibeen said:

It suggested that masks were actively discouraged. The author obviously doesn’t live in Victoria, or if he/she does then they are deliberately lying or completely oblivious to facts.

I read the DM article twice and didn’t see that mentioned.

JudgeMental said:

sibeen said:

It suggested that masks were actively discouraged. The author obviously doesn’t live in Victoria, or if he/she does then they are deliberately lying or completely oblivious to facts.

I read the DM article twice and didn’t see that mentioned.

It was in the second paragraph, I think.

sibeen said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

transition said:

a really good read^, credit to the lady, cuts through the bullshit, the tsunami of doublespeak

though i’d emphasise again that getting covid numbers down, squeezing it reduces risk, everyone needs work on that, requires loyalty, group commitment

below’s an example of the lovely daily mail doing its good work, the royalty of media cough

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10401113/Covid-alarmist-group-OzSage-mocked-advocating-face-masks-home-flushing-toilet-lid-down.html

It must be true, because it’s written in the Daily Mail:

“Paediatrician Fiona Russell, a senior principal research fellow with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, slammed the group’s alarmist rhetoric.

‘The 10-point plan recommends putting the toilet seat down before flushing,’ she tweeted.”

It is up to all of us to fight the tyranny of suggesting that toilet lids might be lowered before flushing the loo.

Next they’ll be saying we should wash our hands as well.

I only got to read the first few paragraphs before I was blocked, but some of that came across as utter bullshit.

It suggested that masks were actively discouraged. The author obviously doesn’t live in Victoria, or if he/she does then they are deliberately lying or completely oblivious to facts.

ahhh in my article.

sibeen said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

transition said:

a really good read^, credit to the lady, cuts through the bullshit, the tsunami of doublespeak

though i’d emphasise again that getting covid numbers down, squeezing it reduces risk, everyone needs work on that, requires loyalty, group commitment

below’s an example of the lovely daily mail doing its good work, the royalty of media cough

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10401113/Covid-alarmist-group-OzSage-mocked-advocating-face-masks-home-flushing-toilet-lid-down.html

It must be true, because it’s written in the Daily Mail:

“Paediatrician Fiona Russell, a senior principal research fellow with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, slammed the group’s alarmist rhetoric.

‘The 10-point plan recommends putting the toilet seat down before flushing,’ she tweeted.”

It is up to all of us to fight the tyranny of suggesting that toilet lids might be lowered before flushing the loo.

Next they’ll be saying we should wash our hands as well.

I only got to read the first few paragraphs before I was blocked, but some of that came across as utter bullshit.

It suggested that masks were actively discouraged. The author obviously doesn’t live in Victoria, or if he/she does then they are deliberately lying or completely oblivious to facts.

For most of the pandemic Australia has worked to contain the virus through evidence-based public health measures such as border closures, case finding, contact tracing, quarantine, social distancing, vaccines and, at times, lockdown. Sadly, the weaponisation of lockdown as a pointscoring issue and emotional trigger has led to a conflation of lockdown with all other public health measures, most of which do not impinge on freedoms. Denial is a major theme during the pandemic. Denial of airborne transmission, denial of science, denial of Omicron being serious and denial about what it really means to “live with Covid-19”.

The denial of the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 was started by experts on the World Health Organization infection control committee and allowed all countries to take the easy way out. If handwashing is all you need, onus can be shifted to “personal responsibility”; if ventilation needs to be fixed, that shifts responsibility to governments and private organisations. Australia only acknowledged airborne transmission after the Delta epidemic in mid-2021, almost a year after the WHO acknowledged it. Globally, 18 months was spent on hygiene theatre and actively discouraging mask use. As a result there is low awareness among the general public of the importance of ventilation and masks in reducing their personal risk.

We had effective campaigns on handwashing, but no campaigns of similar effect have been used to empower people to control their own risk with simple measures such as opening a window. People living in apartments are largely unaware of the structural factors that make them high risk for transmission, or of the simple measures to reduce risk. The failure to focus on airborne transmission has hampered the ability to control the spread and has endangered health workers. Correcting it is critical to the long-term sustainability of health, business and the economy. How can restaurants recover without a safe indoor air plan that may prevent a lockdown cycle that disrupts and ruins their business?

Denial of Omicron being serious suits an exhausted community who just wish life could go back to 2019. Omicron may be half as deadly as Delta, but Delta was twice as deadly as the 2020 virus. Importantly, the WHO assesses the risk of Omicron as high and reiterates that adequate data on severity in unvaccinated people is not yet available. Even if hospitalisation, admissions to intensive care and death rates are half that of Delta, daily case numbers are 20-30 times higher – and projected to get to 200 times higher. A tsunami of cases will result in large hospitalisation numbers. It is already overwhelming health systems, which common colds and seasonal flu don’t. Nor do they result in ambulance wait times of hours for life-threatening conditions. In addition, a tsunami of absenteeism in the workplace will worsen current shortages, supply chain disruptions and even critical infrastructure such as power. The ACTU has called for an urgent raft of measures to address the workforce crisis.

As for denial of the risk in children, the majority of vaccine-preventable diseases that we vaccinate children against are mild in most children. Only a small percentage suffer serious complications. Polio and measles are examples where well over 90 per cent of children who become infected do not have severe complications, but in a small percentage there are serious and potentially fatal complications. SARS-CoV-2 is similar. Other than long Covid and multisystem inflammatory syndrome, we are only now learning about other longer-term complications of infection. For instance, there is more than double the risk of developing diabetes in children following Covid-19. A study from the United States showed the virus persisting in the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys and almost every other organ after the initial infection. A rare brain inflammation has been described in adults and children. Another study found a significant drop in cognitive function and IQ in survivors. The virus directly kills heart muscle. It is too early to know if Covid-19 will result in early onset dementia or heart failure in a decade’s time, but the evidence warrants a precautionary approach. We know some infections have very long-term complications – measles, for example, can cause a rare and fatal encephalitis about 10 years after the initial infection. We should do everything possible to prevent mass infection of children and adults.

Denial of the science of epidemiology is widespread, even among “experts”. We are told repeatedly that SARS-CoV-2 will become “endemic”. But it will never be endemic because it is an epidemic disease and always will be. The key difference is spread. As an epidemic disease, SARS-CoV-2 will always find the unvaccinated, undervaccinated or people with waning immunity and spread rapidly in those groups. Typically, true epidemic infections are spread from person to person, the worst being airborne transmission, and display a waxing and waning pattern such as we have already seen with multiple waves of SARS-CoV-2. Cases rise rapidly over days or weeks, as we have seen with Alpha, Delta and Omicron. No truly endemic disease – malaria, for example – does this.

This is the reason governments prepare for pandemics. The propensity for epidemics to grow rapidly can stress the health system in a very short time. Respiratory epidemic infections follow this pattern unless eliminated by vaccination or mitigated by non-pharmaceutical measures. Natural infection has never eliminated itself in recorded history. Not smallpox, which displayed the same pattern over thousands of years, and not measles, which is still epidemic in many countries.

There is hope for better vaccines, schedules and spacing of doses, but we must be agile and pivot with the evidence and have an ambitious strategy. The current strategy is focused on vaccines only, with no attention on safe indoor air or other mitigating factors.
Eradication occurs when a disease no longer exists in the world – the only example of this in humans is smallpox. Elimination is a technical term and means prevention of sustained community transmission. Countries that met WHO measles elimination criteria, including Australia, still see outbreaks of measles imported through travel, but when elimination is achieved, these do not become uncontrollable.

Unlike for measles, however, current vaccines do not provide lasting protection. Masks and other public health measures are also needed to prevent the recurrent disruption of epidemic waves. There is hope for better vaccines, schedules and spacing of doses, but we must be agile and pivot with the evidence and have an ambitious strategy. The current strategy is focused on vaccines only, with no attention on safe indoor air or other mitigating factors. Instead, we have seen abandonment of test and trace because of failure to plan ahead for the expected explosion of cases. Testing and tracing are pillars of epidemic control, and the WHO has called on countries to strengthen both to deal with Omicron. Australia has done the opposite.

Without adequate case finding (which relies on testing at scale) and contact tracing, we are on a runaway train coming off the rails. Testing allows us to find infected people and isolate them so they do not infect others. Now, during the Omicron wave, testing is a massive failure. Both the federal and New South Wales governments made a conscious decision to “let it rip”, but failed to plan for adequate TTIQ (test, trace, isolate, quarantine) capacity. Instead, when it was clear testing capacity was exceeded, they restricted testing to a small fraction of people. Very few people are now eligible for a polymerase chain reaction test (PCR), and rapid antigen tests (RATs) are in short supply. While it has improved the optics by hiding the true scale of cases, this has allowed unfettered transmission.

Contact tracing is routinely used for many serious infections such as tuberculosis, meningococcal disease, measles or hepatitis A. It is conducted because close contacts are at highest risk of becoming infected next, and if they are not identified and quarantined they will go on to infect others and cause exponential epidemic growth. Contacts need to be traced within 24-48 hours to stop them infecting others. A range of digital contact-tracing methods such as apps, QR codes and tracking digital footprints through other means can be used when case numbers are high. Yet NSW has removed and flip-flopped on QR codes.

Denial of the reality of “living with Covid-19” has seen us rush headlong into letting it rip in a largely unboosted population, with kids aged five to 11 unvaccinated, without any planning for increased testing, tracing or even procurement of promising new drugs to face the numbers that will come. The booster program has not been expedited, with on Friday less than 17 per cent of the population aged 18 and over having had a third dose, and two doses barely protective against symptomatic infection with Omicron. So Omicron has caused business and hospitality to suffer mass cancellations. Mass absenteeism has crippled supply chains, affecting food, diesel, postal services and almost every other industry. The first serious impacts will be in regional and remote Australia. We saw it in July, when vaccine supplies slated for remote towns were diverted to Sydney, leaving Wilcannia, in the far west of NSW, a sitting duck for the epidemic to come.

Many do not understand “public health” and equate it with provision of acute health care in public hospitals or confuse it with primary care. Public health is the organised response by society to protect and promote health, and to prevent illness, injury and disability. It is a core responsibility of government.

Public health comprises three components. The first is “health protection”, such as the banning of smoking in public places, seatbelt legislation or emergency powers that allow pandemic control measures such as lockdowns. “Health promotion” refers to the process by which people are enabled to improve or control their health, through the promotion of mask use, for instance. The third component – “disease prevention and early detection” – includes testing, surveillance, screening and prevention programs. Vaccination programs are an example of disease prevention.

During the pandemic we have seen resources committed to surge capacity for clinical medicine, but there has been a lack of understanding of the need for public health surge capacity, including TTIQ. The price was paid in the Victorian second wave in 2020. Now, with the abandonment of contact tracing and restrictions on testing during the Omicron wave, we are seeing what happens when this capacity is ignored by government.

Another outcome of these failures are the unscientific theories being pushed in many countries – such as the argument for “herd immunity by natural infection”, which has become a household narrative during the pandemic despite four pandemic waves providing little protection to date. The same people who peddled herd immunity by natural infection had no ambition to achieve herd immunity by vaccination. Instead they tell us “we have to live with Covid-19” and fall back on negative, defeatist messaging.

The least ambitious goal of vaccination is to prevent us from dying, and that is the low bar set in Australia. This has reduced policy outcomes to a false binary of dead or alive. There is no concern in this for First Nations people, the disabled, people with chronic medical conditions, people in remote Australia or even children, who are being sent back to school at the peak of the pandemic while primary-schoolers are largely unvaccinated. The hundreds of aged-care outbreaks pass without comment in what essentially has become survival of the fittest and richest.

The vaccine game is dynamic and ever-changing. Some countries have used ambitious, determined, organised strategies for vaccination and adapted quickly as the evidence has changed. We know the mRNA vaccines can greatly reduce transmission, but current vaccines were developed against the original Wuhan strain and, even after two doses, efficacy wanes. Omicron-matched boosters are in the wind, a seed of hope and a reason to be ambitious, but that will require agile vaccination policy.

There is a massive vaccine and drug development effort, so it is almost certain we will have better vaccine options, including ones that are variant-proof. But what the past month has shown us is we cannot live with unmitigated Covid-19. Vaccinations will not be enough. We need a ventilation and vaccine-plus strategy to avoid the disruptive epidemic cycle, to protect health and the economy, and to regain a semblance of the life we all want.

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on Jan 15, 2022 as “A pandemic of denial”.

JudgeMental said:

sibeen said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

It must be true, because it’s written in the Daily Mail:

“Paediatrician Fiona Russell, a senior principal research fellow with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, slammed the group’s alarmist rhetoric.

‘The 10-point plan recommends putting the toilet seat down before flushing,’ she tweeted.”

It is up to all of us to fight the tyranny of suggesting that toilet lids might be lowered before flushing the loo.

Next they’ll be saying we should wash our hands as well.

I only got to read the first few paragraphs before I was blocked, but some of that came across as utter bullshit.

It suggested that masks were actively discouraged. The author obviously doesn’t live in Victoria, or if he/she does then they are deliberately lying or completely oblivious to facts.

ahhh in my article.

Yes, sibeen seems to be suggesting that something written in the Daily Mail is fair comment.

But he was being ironic, surely?

JudgeMental said:

sibeen said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

It must be true, because it’s written in the Daily Mail:

“Paediatrician Fiona Russell, a senior principal research fellow with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, slammed the group’s alarmist rhetoric.

‘The 10-point plan recommends putting the toilet seat down before flushing,’ she tweeted.”

It is up to all of us to fight the tyranny of suggesting that toilet lids might be lowered before flushing the loo.

Next they’ll be saying we should wash our hands as well.

I only got to read the first few paragraphs before I was blocked, but some of that came across as utter bullshit.

It suggested that masks were actively discouraged. The author obviously doesn’t live in Victoria, or if he/she does then they are deliberately lying or completely oblivious to facts.

ahhh in my article.

Yes, sibeen seems to be suggesting that something written in the Daily Mail is fair comment.

But he was being ironic, surely?

“Raina MacIntyre: Why Covid-19 will never become endemic”

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2022/01/15/why-covid-19-will-never-become-endemic/164216520013155#mtr

…

I get a paywall for that. Could someone post the entire article?

The Rev Dodgson said:

JudgeMental said:

sibeen said:

I only got to read the first few paragraphs before I was blocked, but some of that came across as utter bullshit.

It suggested that masks were actively discouraged. The author obviously doesn’t live in Victoria, or if he/she does then they are deliberately lying or completely oblivious to facts.

ahhh in my article.

Yes, sibeen seems to be suggesting that something written in the Daily Mail is fair comment.

But he was being ironic, surely?

I didn’t read the DM article, I generally avoid it :)

Witty Rejoinder said:

“Raina MacIntyre: Why Covid-19 will never become endemic”

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2022/01/15/why-covid-19-will-never-become-endemic/164216520013155#mtr

…

I get a paywall for that. Could someone post the entire article?

done.

JudgeMental said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

“Raina MacIntyre: Why Covid-19 will never become endemic”

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/opinion/topic/2022/01/15/why-covid-19-will-never-become-endemic/164216520013155#mtr

…

I get a paywall for that. Could someone post the entire article?

done.

Saw that. Thanks.

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

transition said:

a really good read^, credit to the lady, cuts through the bullshit, the tsunami of doublespeak

though i’d emphasise again that getting covid numbers down, squeezing it reduces risk, everyone needs work on that, requires loyalty, group commitment

below’s an example of the lovely daily mail doing its good work, the royalty of media cough

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10401113/Covid-alarmist-group-OzSage-mocked-advocating-face-masks-home-flushing-toilet-lid-down.html

It must be true, because it’s written in the Daily Mail:

“Paediatrician Fiona Russell, a senior principal research fellow with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, slammed the group’s alarmist rhetoric.

‘The 10-point plan recommends putting the toilet seat down before flushing,’ she tweeted.”

It is up to all of us to fight the tyranny of suggesting that toilet lids might be lowered before flushing the loo.

Next they’ll be saying we should wash our hands as well.

My my, the thought of it.
Absolutely appalling state of affairs.

Enough of this feminist nonsense. Women should lift the lid instead.

JudgeMental said:

sibeen said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

It must be true, because it’s written in the Daily Mail:

“Paediatrician Fiona Russell, a senior principal research fellow with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, slammed the group’s alarmist rhetoric.

‘The 10-point plan recommends putting the toilet seat down before flushing,’ she tweeted.”

It is up to all of us to fight the tyranny of suggesting that toilet lids might be lowered before flushing the loo.

Next they’ll be saying we should wash our hands as well.

I only got to read the first few paragraphs before I was blocked, but some of that came across as utter bullshit.

It suggested that masks were actively discouraged. The author obviously doesn’t live in Victoria, or if he/she does then they are deliberately lying or completely oblivious to facts.

For most of the pandemic Australia has worked to contain the virus through evidence-based public health measures such as border closures, case finding, contact tracing, quarantine, social distancing, vaccines and, at times, lockdown. Sadly, the weaponisation of lockdown as a pointscoring issue and emotional trigger has led to a conflation of lockdown with all other public health measures, most of which do not impinge on freedoms. Denial is a major theme during the pandemic. Denial of airborne transmission, denial of science, denial of Omicron being serious and denial about what it really means to “live with Covid-19”.

The denial of the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 was started by experts on the World Health Organization infection control committee and allowed all countries to take the easy way out. If handwashing is all you need, onus can be shifted to “personal responsibility”; if ventilation needs to be fixed, that shifts responsibility to governments and private organisations. Australia only acknowledged airborne transmission after the Delta epidemic in mid-2021, almost a year after the WHO acknowledged it. Globally, 18 months was spent on hygiene theatre and actively discouraging mask use. As a result there is low awareness among the general public of the importance of ventilation and masks in reducing their personal risk.

We had effective campaigns on handwashing, but no campaigns of similar effect have been used to empower people to control their own risk with simple measures such as opening a window. People living in apartments are largely unaware of the structural factors that make them high risk for transmission, or of the simple measures to reduce risk. The failure to focus on airborne transmission has hampered the ability to control the spread and has endangered health workers. Correcting it is critical to the long-term sustainability of health, business and the economy. How can restaurants recover without a safe indoor air plan that may prevent a lockdown cycle that disrupts and ruins their business?

Denial of Omicron being serious suits an exhausted community who just wish life could go back to 2019. Omicron may be half as deadly as Delta, but Delta was twice as deadly as the 2020 virus. Importantly, the WHO assesses the risk of Omicron as high and reiterates that adequate data on severity in unvaccinated people is not yet available. Even if hospitalisation, admissions to intensive care and death rates are half that of Delta, daily case numbers are 20-30 times higher – and projected to get to 200 times higher. A tsunami of cases will result in large hospitalisation numbers. It is already overwhelming health systems, which common colds and seasonal flu don’t. Nor do they result in ambulance wait times of hours for life-threatening conditions. In addition, a tsunami of absenteeism in the workplace will worsen current shortages, supply chain disruptions and even critical infrastructure such as power. The ACTU has called for an urgent raft of measures to address the workforce crisis.

As for denial of the risk in children, the majority of vaccine-preventable diseases that we vaccinate children against are mild in most children. Only a small percentage suffer serious complications. Polio and measles are examples where well over 90 per cent of children who become infected do not have severe complications, but in a small percentage there are serious and potentially fatal complications. SARS-CoV-2 is similar. Other than long Covid and multisystem inflammatory syndrome, we are only now learning about other longer-term complications of infection. For instance, there is more than double the risk of developing diabetes in children following Covid-19. A study from the United States showed the virus persisting in the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys and almost every other organ after the initial infection. A rare brain inflammation has been described in adults and children. Another study found a significant drop in cognitive function and IQ in survivors. The virus directly kills heart muscle. It is too early to know if Covid-19 will result in early onset dementia or heart failure in a decade’s time, but the evidence warrants a precautionary approach. We know some infections have very long-term complications – measles, for example, can cause a rare and fatal encephalitis about 10 years after the initial infection. We should do everything possible to prevent mass infection of children and adults.

Denial of the science of epidemiology is widespread, even among “experts”. We are told repeatedly that SARS-CoV-2 will become “endemic”. But it will never be endemic because it is an epidemic disease and always will be. The key difference is spread. As an epidemic disease, SARS-CoV-2 will always find the unvaccinated, undervaccinated or people with waning immunity and spread rapidly in those groups. Typically, true epidemic infections are spread from person to person, the worst being airborne transmission, and display a waxing and waning pattern such as we have already seen with multiple waves of SARS-CoV-2. Cases rise rapidly over days or weeks, as we have seen with Alpha, Delta and Omicron. No truly endemic disease – malaria, for example – does this.

This is the reason governments prepare for pandemics. The propensity for epidemics to grow rapidly can stress the health system in a very short time. Respiratory epidemic infections follow this pattern unless eliminated by vaccination or mitigated by non-pharmaceutical measures. Natural infection has never eliminated itself in recorded history. Not smallpox, which displayed the same pattern over thousands of years, and not measles, which is still epidemic in many countries.

There is hope for better vaccines, schedules and spacing of doses, but we must be agile and pivot with the evidence and have an ambitious strategy. The current strategy is focused on vaccines only, with no attention on safe indoor air or other mitigating factors.
Eradication occurs when a disease no longer exists in the world – the only example of this in humans is smallpox. Elimination is a technical term and means prevention of sustained community transmission. Countries that met WHO measles elimination criteria, including Australia, still see outbreaks of measles imported through travel, but when elimination is achieved, these do not become uncontrollable.

Unlike for measles, however, current vaccines do not provide lasting protection. Masks and other public health measures are also needed to prevent the recurrent disruption of epidemic waves. There is hope for better vaccines, schedules and spacing of doses, but we must be agile and pivot with the evidence and have an ambitious strategy. The current strategy is focused on vaccines only, with no attention on safe indoor air or other mitigating factors. Instead, we have seen abandonment of test and trace because of failure to plan ahead for the expected explosion of cases. Testing and tracing are pillars of epidemic control, and the WHO has called on countries to strengthen both to deal with Omicron. Australia has done the opposite.

Without adequate case finding (which relies on testing at scale) and contact tracing, we are on a runaway train coming off the rails. Testing allows us to find infected people and isolate them so they do not infect others. Now, during the Omicron wave, testing is a massive failure. Both the federal and New South Wales governments made a conscious decision to “let it rip”, but failed to plan for adequate TTIQ (test, trace, isolate, quarantine) capacity. Instead, when it was clear testing capacity was exceeded, they restricted testing to a small fraction of people. Very few people are now eligible for a polymerase chain reaction test (PCR), and rapid antigen tests (RATs) are in short supply. While it has improved the optics by hiding the true scale of cases, this has allowed unfettered transmission.

Contact tracing is routinely used for many serious infections such as tuberculosis, meningococcal disease, measles or hepatitis A. It is conducted because close contacts are at highest risk of becoming infected next, and if they are not identified and quarantined they will go on to infect others and cause exponential epidemic growth. Contacts need to be traced within 24-48 hours to stop them infecting others. A range of digital contact-tracing methods such as apps, QR codes and tracking digital footprints through other means can be used when case numbers are high. Yet NSW has removed and flip-flopped on QR codes.

Denial of the reality of “living with Covid-19” has seen us rush headlong into letting it rip in a largely unboosted population, with kids aged five to 11 unvaccinated, without any planning for increased testing, tracing or even procurement of promising new drugs to face the numbers that will come. The booster program has not been expedited, with on Friday less than 17 per cent of the population aged 18 and over having had a third dose, and two doses barely protective against symptomatic infection with Omicron. So Omicron has caused business and hospitality to suffer mass cancellations. Mass absenteeism has crippled supply chains, affecting food, diesel, postal services and almost every other industry. The first serious impacts will be in regional and remote Australia. We saw it in July, when vaccine supplies slated for remote towns were diverted to Sydney, leaving Wilcannia, in the far west of NSW, a sitting duck for the epidemic to come.

Many do not understand “public health” and equate it with provision of acute health care in public hospitals or confuse it with primary care. Public health is the organised response by society to protect and promote health, and to prevent illness, injury and disability. It is a core responsibility of government.

Public health comprises three components. The first is “health protection”, such as the banning of smoking in public places, seatbelt legislation or emergency powers that allow pandemic control measures such as lockdowns. “Health promotion” refers to the process by which people are enabled to improve or control their health, through the promotion of mask use, for instance. The third component – “disease prevention and early detection” – includes testing, surveillance, screening and prevention programs. Vaccination programs are an example of disease prevention.

During the pandemic we have seen resources committed to surge capacity for clinical medicine, but there has been a lack of understanding of the need for public health surge capacity, including TTIQ. The price was paid in the Victorian second wave in 2020. Now, with the abandonment of contact tracing and restrictions on testing during the Omicron wave, we are seeing what happens when this capacity is ignored by government.

Another outcome of these failures are the unscientific theories being pushed in many countries – such as the argument for “herd immunity by natural infection”, which has become a household narrative during the pandemic despite four pandemic waves providing little protection to date. The same people who peddled herd immunity by natural infection had no ambition to achieve herd immunity by vaccination. Instead they tell us “we have to live with Covid-19” and fall back on negative, defeatist messaging.

The least ambitious goal of vaccination is to prevent us from dying, and that is the low bar set in Australia. This has reduced policy outcomes to a false binary of dead or alive. There is no concern in this for First Nations people, the disabled, people with chronic medical conditions, people in remote Australia or even children, who are being sent back to school at the peak of the pandemic while primary-schoolers are largely unvaccinated. The hundreds of aged-care outbreaks pass without comment in what essentially has become survival of the fittest and richest.

The vaccine game is dynamic and ever-changing. Some countries have used ambitious, determined, organised strategies for vaccination and adapted quickly as the evidence has changed. We know the mRNA vaccines can greatly reduce transmission, but current vaccines were developed against the original Wuhan strain and, even after two doses, efficacy wanes. Omicron-matched boosters are in the wind, a seed of hope and a reason to be ambitious, but that will require agile vaccination policy.

There is a massive vaccine and drug development effort, so it is almost certain we will have better vaccine options, including ones that are variant-proof. But what the past month has shown us is we cannot live with unmitigated Covid-19. Vaccinations will not be enough. We need a ventilation and vaccine-plus strategy to avoid the disruptive epidemic cycle, to protect health and the economy, and to regain a semblance of the life we all want.

This article was first published in the print edition of The Saturday Paper on Jan 15, 2022 as “A pandemic of denial”.

Ta.

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

It must be true, because it’s written in the Daily Mail:

“Paediatrician Fiona Russell, a senior principal research fellow with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, slammed the group’s alarmist rhetoric.

‘The 10-point plan recommends putting the toilet seat down before flushing,’ she tweeted.”

It is up to all of us to fight the tyranny of suggesting that toilet lids might be lowered before flushing the loo.

Next they’ll be saying we should wash our hands as well.

My my, the thought of it.
Absolutely appalling state of affairs.

Enough of this feminist nonsense. Women should lift the lid instead.

Now now. If the lid is always down. Everyone has to lift it and put it back down.

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

It must be true, because it’s written in the Daily Mail:

“Paediatrician Fiona Russell, a senior principal research fellow with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, slammed the group’s alarmist rhetoric.

‘The 10-point plan recommends putting the toilet seat down before flushing,’ she tweeted.”

It is up to all of us to fight the tyranny of suggesting that toilet lids might be lowered before flushing the loo.

Next they’ll be saying we should wash our hands as well.

My my, the thought of it.
Absolutely appalling state of affairs.

Enough of this feminist nonsense. Women should lift the lid instead.

I think it always best to lift the lid.

JudgeMental said:

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

My my, the thought of it.
Absolutely appalling state of affairs.

Enough of this feminist nonsense. Women should lift the lid instead.

I think it always best to lift the lid.

Particularly if it is in the dark.

JudgeMental said:

Tamb said:

roughbarked said:

My my, the thought of it.
Absolutely appalling state of affairs.

Enough of this feminist nonsense. Women should lift the lid instead.

I think it always best to lift the lid.

Oops, meant seat.

Covid parties

JudgeMental said:

Covid parties

COVIDiots. Just COVIDiots.

JudgeMental said:

Covid parties

I wonder if Dave has already had an asymptomatic dose so is currently in an immune period anyway.

No, Prime Minister, ‘push through or lock down’ are not the only options

JudgeMental said:

No, Prime Minister, ‘push through or lock down’ are not the only options

Labor may or my not be much better than the L/NP.

But, if this country doesn’t kick the L/NP out of government at the next election, then it will richly deserve whatever follows.

By Van Badham

Ms. Badham is an Australian journalist and the author of “QAnon and On: A Short and Shocking History of Internet Conspiracy Cults.”

MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic has had his visa to stay in Australia revoked — not once but twice. After a successful appeal of his apprehension at the border by authorities, our immigration minister has affirmed the initial refusal. The world’s No. 1 men’s singles tennis player is out of the Australian Open (at least for now).

It’s a move that the local papers have claimed will “undoubtedly prove popular with the Australian public.”

So, Novak. Mate. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, hey?

Australians may well be exhausted from two years of the pandemic and sick and weakened by a current mass infection of Covid-19, and yet many of us retain enough energy to be thrilled by this news.

The hashtag #DjokovicOut has been a trending topic here for days. A poll conducted by a local media organization reported a staggering 83 percent of 60,000 respondents were in favor of Djokovic’s booting. Two major network news anchors were caught on hot mics using at least 10 expletives to discuss the issue. This would usually provoke some social sanction, but given that the expletives in question were used to describe Djokovic, both news anchors have since become national heroes.

And yet none of the acrimony is about tennis. It is entirely about Australia’s experience of the pandemic, the growing policy failures of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s government and the current out-of-control spread of the Omicron variant here.

Within this context, an otherwise skilled sportsman has made himself a cackhanded symbol of everything presently enraging Australians. His first mistake was to align himself with the kinds of ideas Australians see in online misinformation campaigns from the anti-vax movement.

This is a man who once self-diagnosed a gluten intolerance by gripping some bread. He’s made claims that polluted water can be cleansed with the mind. He declared he was “opposed to vaccination” back in April 2020, before a vaccine was even available for the coronavirus.

Our social tolerance is also dwindling for those whose approach to public health is seen as selfish. (An extraordinary 90 percent of Australians are fully vaccinated.) Sports commentators reminded readers that when Naomi Osaka became unwell in 2021, Djokovic insisted that the press appearances she resisted were “part of the sport” — yet he’s conducted his current Australian misadventure around his own preferences, not his obligations to society.

Djokovic, a Serbian national, arrived in Melbourne on Jan. 5 to compete in the prestigious local Grand Slam event. He’s a legend of the tournament; he has won it a record nine times. A 10th victory at this year’s open would seal his sporting legacy as the winner of the most individual men’s Grand Slam titles in tennis history.

Instead, he’ll likely be deported.

His coy refusal to “be forced by someone to take a vaccine” may have made Djokovic a poster boy for a marginal local movement of anti-vaccine extremists, but it’s brought him into sharp conflict with the majority of Australians’ attitudes toward managing the virus.

When the pandemic took hold in March 2020, Australia’s federal government shut international borders to control its spread — but made no provision for the tens of thousands of stranded Aussies stuck overseas who wanted to come home. As Mr. Morrison dumped more pandemic management responsibilities onto the states, they enforced their own domestic borders. When these policies were combined with lockdowns, loved ones were separated for months at a time.

Only when states reached 80 percent vaccination rates were border protections relaxed — some as recently as only this week. The Morrison government’s failure to order enough vaccines for the population resulted in a rollout popularly referred to as a strollout. The process of social repair has been long and difficult.

So when ordinary Australians saw an unvaccinated tennis champion bragging on Instagram of a mysterious “exemption permission” that allowed him to traipse across the border, that went down like a lead balloon.

The champ who chose to thumb his nose at vaccination struck powerfully as a symbol of the contrarianism that has now frayed our once united national pandemic response. Just a few weeks before Djokovic’s arrival, the conservative government of New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, abandoned contact tracing, mask mandates and other pandemic protections — precipitating a wave of Omicron that was crashing across the entire east coast and prompting the reintroduction of restrictions just as Djokovic landed in Melbourne.

The government’s insistence that citizens could take “personal responsibility” for their health was not only contradicted by Djokovic and his hazy trail of post-positive-test encounters; it was also somewhat undercut by the government’s failure to provide nearly any means to do so.

Supplies of crucial booster vaccines were, again, not ordered in time to counter the wave. Public testing centers were shut to meet backlogs as positive cases overwhelmed them, yet the government decided the alternative of rapid antigen tests should be a matter of retail sale. While Australian-based test manufacturers fulfill supply for other countries, price gouging has run rampant in the domestic market, and the precious test kits have become impossible to find.

Denied tests, unaware infected people spread Omicron further, straining both the health system and supply chains as more and more workers fall sick. Australia, whose high social compliance with lockdowns and vaccination kept us safe from Covid for so long, now has one of the highest infection rates in the world. KFC is running out of chicken, and supermarket shelves are bare. School reopenings have been delayed. Employees are being sent to work sick. The federal government is now reportedly forcibly acquiring supplies of rapid antigen tests from the businesses and service organizations that it had told to find their own.

Of course, while Australian Twitter may name him “Novax Djocovid,” no local holds the tennis player responsible for our crisis. His unsatisfactory paperwork fails stated visa requirements, and that is reason enough for its revocation.

But to understand the rage unleashed by Djokovic, one has to recognize the similarities between his behavior and that of our government. First, there is their shared failure to treat the threat of the virus’s transmissibility seriously. Then there are the obfuscations, contradictory statements, blame shifting and inherent belief that rules only apply to other people, which characterize months of government mismanagement of the crisis. There’s a familiar pattern of government miscommunication and ineptitude unfolding around Djokovic that sadly reminds us of our brief and squandered advantage over the virus.

It’s notable that the immigration minister who refused Djokovic’s visa did so in the news graveyard of after 5 p.m. on a Friday. This was curious timing. With an election looming, the Morrison government is desperate, perhaps, to feed Australians a scapegoat for our fury — but without the courage to expose that desperation to our scorn.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/15/opinion/novak-djokovic-australian-open-tennis-visa.html

JudgeMental said:

…./cut by me master transition/…

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/15/opinion/novak-djokovic-australian-open-tennis-visa.html

that was a nice try, but impressively sidesteps (in my opinion) native domestic opposition to the program of endemic covid, or to put it another way loyalty to keeping covid levels very low has been strategically undermined, and the influence to that end wasn’t all domestic

there aren’t a few domestic recruits

the evidence for that hasn’t faded into oblivion, though some might hope it did

captain_spalding said:

JudgeMental said:

No, Prime Minister, ‘push through or lock down’ are not the only options

Labor may or my not be much better than the L/NP.

But, if this country doesn’t kick the L/NP out of government at the next election, then it will richly deserve whatever follows.

^

The Rev Dodgson said:

mollwollfumble said:

Earlier today, WorldInData had Australia overtaking France in first place for new cases per unit population (unsmooothed).
Now Australia has slipped back to second place (7 day smoothed).

Remember the old days when Israel was the most highly vaccinated country in the world? It was, but that was many months ago now.

Well I’m glad your graph has “Daily” as the very first word this time.

Yes, sorry about that. Forgot to do that the previous time, twice.

Am wondering if I should calculate the mortality rate of omicron. I haven’t calculated mortality rates for over a year, and I don’t see anyone else doing it either.

I had noted in passing that the mortality rate for delta strain in India was much lower than in Europe and the Americas, which confused me greatly because they were supposed to be roughly the same strain.

So let’s try omicrom.

For Australia, the Omicron mortality rate is really quite small, currently running about 1 death in 3,000 cases. ie. 0.03%.
(I could refine that number better using data from other countries.)

As against first wave mortality in Australia with an initial mortality rate of 0.7%, rising to 1.1% after the Ruby Princess docked.

… and we are back to wearing masks again in WA :(

Hi de ho we are masking up again.

dv said:

Hi de ho we are masking up again.

I don’t know why, the NSW premier stated that it wasn’t really necessary, didn’t he.

sibeen said:

dv said:

Hi de ho we are masking up again.

I don’t know why, the NSW premier stated that it wasn’t really necessary, didn’t he.

We don’t take orders from Mr Petronet.

sibeen said:

dv said:

Hi de ho we are masking up again.

I don’t know why, the NSW premier stated that it wasn’t really necessary, didn’t he.

We in the West don’t follow eastern states “fads”.

party_pants said:

sibeen said:

dv said:

Hi de ho we are masking up again.

I don’t know why, the NSW premier stated that it wasn’t really necessary, didn’t he.

We don’t take orders from Mr Petronet.

solidarity, bro!

JudgeMental said:

sibeen said:

dv said:

Hi de ho we are masking up again.

I don’t know why, the NSW premier stated that it wasn’t really necessary, didn’t he.

We in the West don’t follow eastern states “fads”.

Well, you sort of do…just lagging a long way behind.

buffy said:

JudgeMental said:

sibeen said:

I don’t know why, the NSW premier stated that it wasn’t really necessary, didn’t he.

We in the West don’t follow eastern states “fads”.

Well, you sort of do…just lagging a long way behind.

e.g. digital watches are now available in WA.

buffy said:

JudgeMental said:

sibeen said:

I don’t know why, the NSW premier stated that it wasn’t really necessary, didn’t he.

We in the West don’t follow eastern states “fads”.

Well, you sort of do…just lagging a long way behind.

Although thinking about it, you are quite selective. You’ve skipped the earlier buggy versions and waited for the bugs to be ironed out and gone straight to Omicron.

captain_spalding said:

buffy said:

JudgeMental said:

We in the West don’t follow eastern states “fads”.

Well, you sort of do…just lagging a long way behind.

e.g. digital watches are now available in WA.

I have a sun dial.

so there!

JudgeMental said:

captain_spalding said:

buffy said:

Well, you sort of do…just lagging a long way behind.

e.g. digital watches are now available in WA.

I have a sun dial.

so there!

Auntie Annie and I spent some time yesterday searching in her yard for the brass sundial fitting she used to have there. We think it must have gone home with one of the people who have been in to help with tidying up the garden. I’ve got permission to nab tiles and bits of metal and stuff, but I always ask before I bring something home. Yesterday she said I could take a milk churn. But I’m going to have to empty the dirt out first, I won’t be able to move it!

buffy said:

JudgeMental said:

sibeen said:

I don’t know why, the NSW premier stated that it wasn’t really necessary, didn’t he.

We in the West don’t follow eastern states “fads”.

Well, you sort of do…just lagging a long way behind.

Not in any big hurry to catch up

JudgeMental said:

captain_spalding said:

buffy said:

Well, you sort of do…just lagging a long way behind.

e.g. digital watches are now available in WA.

I have a sun dial.

so there!

Apparently Valentine Dyall had a son he called his sun Dyall.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-01-17/lymph-nodes-swollen-sore-covid-booster-immune-system-mrna/100754318

You know, reading that it sounds like a fairly standard body reaction to medication when there is an allergic response. Or a bee sting. I don’t see itch or rash mentioned, but they don’t always happen. Primed with the first dose. Sometimes the lymph node thing happens with the second, sometimes with the third. I wonder what components other than the mRNA stuff is in the injection. It doesn’t have to be the active ingredient that causes a reaction.

One hundred doctors locked out of Western Australia weeks before state reopens

“It’s a problem of process, not exclusions,” said Duncan-Smith, who said the AMA had assisted several doctors who had difficulties obtaining G2G passes, despite having employment contracts and letters of support.

“They’re not being excluded, the problem is not in the approvals, these excluded people are having problems navigating the system. Should the system be simpler? Yes.”

‘It’s really scary’: welfare recipients forced to attend in-person appointments despite Omicron surge

buffy said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-01-17/lymph-nodes-swollen-sore-covid-booster-immune-system-mrna/100754318

You know, reading that it sounds like a fairly standard body reaction to medication when there is an allergic response. Or a bee sting. I don’t see itch or rash mentioned, but they don’t always happen. Primed with the first dose. Sometimes the lymph node thing happens with the second, sometimes with the third. I wonder what components other than the mRNA stuff is in the injection. It doesn’t have to be the active ingredient that causes a reaction.

5G nanoreceivers, but shhh, keep that secret

transition said:

buffy said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-01-17/lymph-nodes-swollen-sore-covid-booster-immune-system-mrna/100754318

You know, reading that it sounds like a fairly standard body reaction to medication when there is an allergic response. Or a bee sting. I don’t see itch or rash mentioned, but they don’t always happen. Primed with the first dose. Sometimes the lymph node thing happens with the second, sometimes with the third. I wonder what components other than the mRNA stuff is in the injection. It doesn’t have to be the active ingredient that causes a reaction.

5G nanoreceivers, but shhh, keep that secret

the message i’m getting through the system is that the less conscious of the species are to accept the coronavirus contagion, accept the imposed inconvenience, deaths, morbidities, that resistance is futile, you will have live-virus boosters, you will start to want viruses of all sorts, even mind viruses

we, us, you are not to think outside the hive ways

transition said:

we, us, you are not to think outside the hive ways

Who are you to dictate? The Queen?

15m ago 12:14
Half of Omicron cases in NSW are 20 to 29

Peter Hannam

A few days late, but the NSW government has released its latest weekly report on Covid cases.

While only for the week up to January 1, this report has a few interesting stats that help us to understand how the Omicron wave is spreading.

For instance, “approximately half of all confirmed and probable Omicron cases are in the 20-29 year age group.”

That’s up from about 20% of confirmed cases in this age group during the first and Delta waves of Covid from the start of 2020 up to 26 November 2021.

That proportion is also up from the weekly tallies of 36% in the week to Christmas Day and 29% in the week to New Year’s Day, according to the report.

At close to half or about one-third, this age group is in Omicron’s crosshairs more than other variants.

Also of interest is this last line in the report, which perhaps should have been given more prominence:

The proportion of confirmed Omicron cases (2.5%) and confirmed Delta cases (2.2%) who have been hospitalised is approximately the same. Confirmed Omicron cases (3%) are slightly more likely to have been admitted to ICU than confirmed Delta cases (2%).

sarahs mum said:

15m ago 12:14
Half of Omicron cases in NSW are 20 to 29

Peter Hannam

A few days late, but the NSW government has released its latest weekly report on Covid cases.

While only for the week up to January 1, this report has a few interesting stats that help us to understand how the Omicron wave is spreading.

For instance, “approximately half of all confirmed and probable Omicron cases are in the 20-29 year age group.”

That’s up from about 20% of confirmed cases in this age group during the first and Delta waves of Covid from the start of 2020 up to 26 November 2021.

That proportion is also up from the weekly tallies of 36% in the week to Christmas Day and 29% in the week to New Year’s Day, according to the report.

At close to half or about one-third, this age group is in Omicron’s crosshairs more than other variants.

Also of interest is this last line in the report, which perhaps should have been given more prominence:

The proportion of confirmed Omicron cases (2.5%) and confirmed Delta cases (2.2%) who have been hospitalised is approximately the same. Confirmed Omicron cases (3%) are slightly more likely to have been admitted to ICU than confirmed Delta cases (2%).

Confirmed Omicron cases (3%) are slightly more likely to have been admitted to ICU than confirmed Delta cases (2%).

That’s not good. That’s not slightly, either. That’s 50% more likely.

It’d be interesting to see the vaccination statistics on that.

As nations decide to live with the virus, some disease experts warn of surrendering too soon
The coronavirus isn’t going away, but that doesn’t mean resistance is futile, scientists say

By Joel Achenbach
Yesterday at 11:45 a.m. EST

Nations around the planet are making a subtle but consequential pivot in their war against the coronavirus: Crushing the virus is no longer the strategy. Many countries are just hoping for a draw.

It’s a strategic retreat, signaled in overt and subtle ways from Washington to Madrid to Pretoria, South Africa, to Canberra, Australia. Notably, few countries today outside of China — which is still locking down cities — cling to a “zero-covid” strategy.

The phrase often heard now in the United States and many other nations is “live with the virus.” That new stance is applauded by some officials and scientists, and welcomed by people exhausted with the hardships and disruptions of this global health emergency entering its third year.

But there are also disease experts who fear the pendulum will swing too far the other way. They worry that many world leaders are gambling on a relatively benign outcome from this omicron variant surge, and sending messages that will lead people who are normally prudent to abandon the social distancing and mask-wearing known to limit the pathogen’s spread. Epidemiologists say the live-with-it strategy underestimates the dangers posed by omicron.

“This notion of learning to live with it, to me, has always meant a surrendering, a giving up,” World Health Organization epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said.

Virologist Angela Rasmussen of the University of Saskatchewan likewise fears that people are relaxing sensible precautions prematurely: “I understand the temptation to say, ‘I give up, it’s too much.’ Two years is a lot. Everybody’s sick of it. I hate this. But it doesn’t mean actually the game is lost.”

WHO officially declared a public health emergency of international concern on Jan. 30, 2020, when there were 7,711 confirmed cases of covid-19 and 170 deaths in China, and another 83 cases scattered across 18 other countries — and no deaths.

Two years later, the virus has killed more than 5.5 million people, and the pandemic is ongoing. But the global health emergency has evolved — reshaped by the tools deployed to combat it, including vaccines. The virus itself and the disease it causes are now so familiar, they have lost some of their early spookiness.

No national leader would ever say that it’s time to quit the struggle, but the tone of the contest has changed, with little talk of beating, crushing, defeating the virus. SARS-CoV-2 is part of the world now, a “pantropic” virus that can infect people, deer, minks, rats and all sorts of mammals.

Many nations continue to impose mask requirements, vaccination mandates and travel restrictions. But few leaders in democratic societies have the political capital to take harsh measures to suppress transmission. Even the arrival of the ultra-transmissible omicron variant did not throw the world back into winter 2021, when the paramount goal remained stopping viral spread at all costs — much less back to spring 2020, when people were told to stay home, wipe down their groceries and not touch their face.

Even officials in Australia, long a fortress nation that sought to suppress the virus at all costs, have chosen to ease some mandates in recent weeks.
The country has gained global headlines for its treatment of unvaccinated tennis champion Novak Djokovic, who flew in for the Australian Open and immediately ran afoul of the government’s virus protocols, spending the better part of a week in a detention hotel. On Friday, Australia’s immigration minister canceled the player’s visa a second time.

But the other national story in Australia is a debate over the relaxed restrictions. National and state leaders had an agreement that strict measures would end when vaccination reached 80 percent of the eligible population. That threshold was reached months ago, and now more than 90 percent of the eligible population is vaccinated. Masks are still required in some indoor settings, and there are capacity limits, but opposition leaders and some experts have decried what they call the “let it rip” strategy.

“The decision to remove restrictions just as Omicron surged has cost us dearly,” declared a report from an independent group of experts called OzSAGE. “The ‘let it rip’ strategy and defeatist narrative that ‘we are all going to get it’ ignores the stark lived reality of the vulnerable of our society.”

In South Africa, where officials first sounded the alarm about omicron, the government in December eased protocols, betting that previous encounters with the virus have given the population enough immunity to prevent significant levels of severe illness. The omicron wave there subsided quickly with modest hospitalizations, and scientists think one reason is that so many people — close to 80 percent — had previously been infected by earlier variants
Omicron also appears to be less virulent — less likely to cause disease. This heavily mutated coronavirus variant stiff-arms the front-line defense of antibodies generated by vaccines and previous infection but does not seem to be adept at invading the lungs or escaping the deeper defenses of the immune system.

In the ideal scenario, omicron’s alarming wave of infections will spike quickly, leaving behind a residue of immunity that will keep a broad swath of the population less vulnerable to future infections. This would be the last major, globally disruptive wave of the pandemic. The virus would still be around but would no longer be in a special category apart from other routinely circulating and typically nonfatal viruses such as influenza.

There are other scenarios less attractive. Scientists are quick to point out that they don’t know how long omicron-induced immunity lasts. The virus keeps mutating. Slippery variants packing a more powerful punch could yet emerge, and virologists say that, contrary to what has sometimes been conjectured, viruses do not inexorably evolve toward milder strains.

But humans change, too. Outside of locked-down China, most people are no longer immunologically naive to the coronavirus. Scientists believe that’s a factor in omicron’s relatively low severity for individual patients. In the long term, humans and viruses tend to reach something like a stalemate. Only one disease-causing virus, smallpox, has ever been eradicated.

In the short term, experts believe omicron is essentially unstoppable but of limited threat to individuals even as it causes societal chaos. Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, said he believes that about half of the U.S. population will be infected with omicron during the next three months, with most cases asymptomatic.

“There’s no way to stop its spread — unless we do measures like China is doing, and you and I know very well that’s not possible in the United States,” Mokdad said.

‘New normal’
There is no unified global response to the pandemic. Despite calls to “follow the science,” scientific research cannot dictate the best policy for some of the stickiest issues — such as when to open schools to in-person learning, or who should be prioritized for vaccines, or whether people who have no symptoms should be regularly tested.

The national strategies typically reflect elements of a country’s culture, wealth, government structure, demographics and underlying health conditions. Also geography: New Zealand has managed to record only a few dozen deaths from covid-19, one of the lowest per capita death tolls on the planet, by leveraging its isolation in the South Pacific.

Japan, Singapore and South Korea, nations with a long history of mask-wearing and aggressive measures to suppress epidemics, have managed to keep the virus largely in check without draconian lockdowns or major sacrifices to their economies.

Peru, hammered by the variants dubbed lambda and gamma before the delta and omicron waves arrived, has had the deadliest pandemic per capita, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracking site. The nations of Eastern Europe, with older populations and high vaccine skepticism, are not far behind.

Countries have different and sometimes unreliable ways of documenting the pandemic, but some general trends are clear. Among the wealthiest nations, the United States — where the pandemic is thoroughly polarized, misinformation is rampant and a significant fraction of the public has resisted vaccination — has had an unusually deadly pandemic. According to the Hopkins tracker, the United States ranks 21st in reported deaths per capita. Britain is not much better, at 28th, while Canada is 82nd.

A group of doctors who advised President Biden during the presidential transition have urged a reset of the strategy to recognize the “new normal” of the virus, which has little chance of being eradicated and will probably continue to cause typically mild illness and require vaccination boosters at a frequency yet to be determined.

Biden took office nearly a year ago vowing to crush the pandemic, having won the presidency in part by emphasizing a more aggressive posture against the contagion than President Donald Trump. Biden’s administration pushed vaccination hard and saw millions of people a day roll up their sleeves during the spring. On July 4, after caseloads had dropped, he assembled a crowd on the South Lawn for a celebration of independence from the virus.

But the surge of infections and deaths from the delta variant proved that celebration to be premature, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its guidelines, saying even those people fully vaccinated should resume wearing masks indoors. The delta wave began to subside in the fall, but then omicron, crammed with mutations that make it wildly more transmissible and evasive of immunity, erupted in late November.

Biden’s omicron strategy is not significantly different from what he employed against previous variants. On Dec. 2, he detailed his plans by first announcing what he would not do: “lockdowns.” He vowed to distribute 500 million rapid tests and doubled the number in recent days. His covid task force continues to emphasize the importance of vaccines, therapeutics and testing rather than restrictions on mobility and gatherings.

Fatalism and fatigue
The strategic shift toward the live-with-it strategy in many nations, including the United States, has often gone without formal acknowledgment from national leaders. Spain is one of the exceptions: Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has said he wants the European Union to stop tracking covid as a separate disease and recognize that it is becoming an endemic pathogen.

Across the Pyrenees, French nightclubs closed as omicron swept through. Indoor masking is required, regardless of vaccination status. In bars, patrons are not allowed to consume alcohol while standing up. France, like Italy and many other European countries, has leaned heavily on vaccine passports.

French President Emmanuel Macron is blunt about his desire to make life uncomfortable for the unvaccinated by limiting their ability to go into public places. In a newspaper interview, he used graphic language that has been translated into English as “I really want to piss them off.”

Many global leaders, including those in the United States and Europe, have focused on vaccination as the key to mitigating the pandemic. The vaccines do lower the risk of severe illness. What they do not do as well is stop transmission and mild infection. The speed of omicron’s spread is the key factor in the equation that determines how much pressure it will put on hospitals — which are currently seeing record numbers of covid patients in the United States.

“If we just completely let everything go and allow the omicron epidemic to run its natural course, we’ll completely overrun our health system and be left in a situation potentially worse than what we experienced in early 2020,” said James Lawler, co-director of the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Global Center for Health Security.

He is not seeing the precautions he saw early in the pandemic, when he was among the first disease experts to sound an alarm about the extreme transmissibility of the coronavirus. Earlier this week, he went to a grocery store and was virtually alone in wearing a mask. That’s the norm, he said, in Omaha.

“There’s not a mandate,” he said. “Across the entire experience of humanity, we should have learned by now the only way to get high levels of compliance like this is to make it mandatory. That’s what happened with seat belts.”

After Lawler made those comments, a county health commissioner imposed a mask mandate covering Omaha, but the Nebraska Attorney General filed a lawsuit to block it.

There is fatalism mixing with pandemic fatigue and, in some countries, science denial or ideological rejection of the restrictions and mandates that many public health experts consider to be common sense measures in a pandemic. And anecdotally, people may rationally feel the battle is lost, the virus has won.

Public health officials warn that this is a dangerous attitude. It’s true that for an individual, risk might be low. But when a virus spreads as quickly as omicron does, the equation suddenly spits out alarming results — millions of people sick at once, many of them with underlying conditions that have already put them on the edge of a cliff and vulnerable to a shove.

Rasmussen, the University of Saskatchewan virologist, is among the experts who think people have misunderstood the concept of endemicity — which is the point at which a virus continues to circulate at low levels but is not generating epidemic-level outbreaks. She fears some people hear the “endemic virus” talk as a sign that resistance is futile.

“People think that means we just give up,” she said. “They think ‘endemic’ means that we’re all going to get covid eventually. I’m hearing people say, ‘Why not just get it over with now, and I’ll be bulletproof?’ None of this is what endemicity means.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/01/15/living-with-the-virus/?

Michael V said:

sarahs mum said:

15m ago 12:14 Half of Omicron cases in NSW are 20 to 29

Peter Hannam

A few days late, but the NSW government has released its latest weekly report on Covid cases.

While only for the week up to January 1, this report has a few interesting stats that help us to understand how the Omicron wave is spreading.

For instance, “approximately half of all confirmed and probable Omicron cases are in the 20-29 year age group.”

That’s up from about 20% of confirmed cases in this age group during the first and Delta waves of Covid from the start of 2020 up to 26 November 2021.

That proportion is also up from the weekly tallies of 36% in the week to Christmas Day and 29% in the week to New Year’s Day, according to the report.

At close to half or about one-third, this age group is in Omicron’s crosshairs more than other variants.

Also of interest is this last line in the report, which perhaps should have been given more prominence:

The proportion of confirmed Omicron cases (2.5%) and confirmed Delta cases (2.2%) who have been hospitalised is approximately the same. Confirmed Omicron cases (3%) are slightly more likely to have been admitted to ICU than confirmed Delta cases (2%).

Confirmed Omicron cases (3%) are slightly more likely to have been admitted to ICU than confirmed Delta cases (2%).

That’s not good. That’s not slightly, either. That’s 50% more likely.

It’d be interesting to see the vaccination statistics on that.

maybe it’s just precautionary or maybe that new variant is just more likely to be admitted with than for

right

Witty Rejoinder said:

Rasmussen, the University of Saskatchewan virologist, is among the experts who think people have misunderstood the concept of endemicity — which is the point at which a virus continues to circulate at low levels but is not generating epidemic-level outbreaks. She fears some people hear the “endemic virus” talk as a sign that resistance is futile.

“People think that means we just give up,” she said. “They think ‘endemic’ means that we’re all going to get covid eventually. I’m hearing people say, ‘Why not just get it over with now, and I’ll be bulletproof?’ None of this is what endemicity means.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/01/15/living-with-the-virus/ ?

ah well good to see that some experts have a sense of remorse but then you read the reporting and wonder where endemic requires low levels

SCIENCE said:

Witty Rejoinder said:

Rasmussen, the University of Saskatchewan virologist, is among the experts who think people have misunderstood the concept of endemicity — which is the point at which a virus continues to circulate at low levels but is not generating epidemic-level outbreaks. She fears some people hear the “endemic virus” talk as a sign that resistance is futile.

“People think that means we just give up,” she said. “They think ‘endemic’ means that we’re all going to get covid eventually. I’m hearing people say, ‘Why not just get it over with now, and I’ll be bulletproof?’ None of this is what endemicity means.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/01/15/living-with-the-virus/ ?

ah well good to see that some experts have a sense of remorse but then you read the reporting and wonder where endemic requires low levels

tortured myself a little by reading some that, thought for a moment a fish probably knows more the water it swims in

When the numbers are given for hospitalized people, does that include those in the “hospital in the home” programs? In Hamilton, f’r‘instance there are presently 2 people in hospital and 26 in “hospital in the home”.

https://wdhs.net/v2/covid-19/covid-19-exposure-sites/

WA’s peak medical body is calling for the state government to immediately ramp up social restrictions in the wake of an apparent spread of Omicron cases across Perth.

“I am calling immediately for the Premier to move towards increased restrictions,” he said.

Dr Duncan-Smith said this call was based on publicly available Omicron based modelling in South Australia that showed restrictions there reduced the predicted peak in cases six-fold.

He said the following restrictions adopted in SA should be put be in place in Perth and Peel immediately:

• Private gatherings in the home restricted to 10 people
• Density restrictions at hospitality settings
• Mandated mask-wearing at all indoor venues
• A ban on dancing, except at weddings
• People to work from home wherever possible

SCIENCE said:

WA’s peak medical body is calling for the state government to immediately ramp up social restrictions in the wake of an apparent spread of Omicron cases across Perth.

“I am calling immediately for the Premier to move towards increased restrictions,” he said.

Dr Duncan-Smith said this call was based on publicly available Omicron based modelling in South Australia that showed restrictions there reduced the predicted peak in cases six-fold.

He said the following restrictions adopted in SA should be put be in place in Perth and Peel immediately:

• Private gatherings in the home restricted to 10 people
• Density restrictions at hospitality settings
• Mandated mask-wearing at all indoor venues
• A ban on dancing, except at weddings
• People to work from home wherever possible
  

some period of impositions, WA be nicely wandering into endemic covid soon enough, like someone might go to prison heterosexual

anyway the jetsetters be pleased, be back up there soon enough looking down on the local wildlife, no longer discouraged by the possibility of quarantining

Lawyers for the federal government had argued Djokovic was an “icon” to anti-vaccination groups

The Shadow Home Affairs Minister accused some government MPs of encouraging anti-vaccination sentiment

Scott Morrison rejected the comparison between Djokovic and MPs who oppose to vaccine mandates

SCIENCE said:

Lawyers for the federal government had argued Djokovic was an “icon” to anti-vaccination groups

The Shadow Home Affairs Minister accused some government MPs of encouraging anti-vaccination sentiment

Scott Morrison rejected the comparison between Djokovic and MPs who oppose to vaccine mandates

Be difficult to deport an Australian politician to Serbia…

furious said:

SCIENCE said:

Lawyers for the federal government had argued Djokovic was an “icon” to anti-vaccination groups

The Shadow Home Affairs Minister accused some government MPs of encouraging anti-vaccination sentiment

Scott Morrison rejected the comparison between Djokovic and MPs who oppose to vaccine mandates

Be difficult to deport an Australian politician to Serbia…

They’d send him back quick smart.

ahahahahahahahahaha

A new Oxfam report reveals inequality has worsened during the pandemic

The charity says the World Bank has projected that COVID-19 has pushed over 160m people into poverty

Oxfam is calling on governments to consider a one-off, 99 per cent wealth tax on COVID-19 windfall gains

Over the past two years, the wealth of Australia’s 47 billionaires has doubled to $255 billion.

That is more wealth in the hands of 47 people than about 7.7 million Australians.

Globally, the world’s 10 richest men have more than doubled their fortunes to $1.9 trillion, at a rate of $1.6 billion a day.

hahahahahahahahah

ahahahahahahahahaha

Businesses can set their own prices for products

However, some large mark-ups are considered a breach of Australia’s biosecurity act

RATs wholesale for between $3.95 and $11.45 each

hahahahahahahahah

It would be a Good Thing.

But of course it won’t be done.

This week, 34-year-old Northern Rivers woman Tonic Channon should be celebrating the fact that the celestial orb that heats this spinning hellrock is entering Aquarius.

Instead, she’s enjoying the hospitality down at her local base hospital in New South Wales because she, like many of her peers, did their own research when it came to vaccine science and is now unconscious in a hospital with a machine breathing for them.

One of Tonic’s friends, Frisbee, spoke to The Advocate today via telephone to try to explain how this situation got to the point where they arrived at hospital to find it already full of people like Tonic.

“We did not see this coming,” said Frisbee.

“When Tonic started to have difficulty breathing, we told her to try sleeping sitting up. When that didn’t work, we called over our friend Turps. Turps drives a Mini Moke and it was raining so he arrived soaking wet because it was raining. That’s when things go worse. Tonic said she couldn’t stand up anymore and was so out of breath. So Turps said he’d go home and get a Ventolin puffer he found on the beach one day – as a last resort. On the way back, Turps lost it on the driveway and rolled the Moke down and embankment,”

“The steering wheel smashed his nose all over his face. The Ventolin puffer was somewhere in the bush and poor Turps had two compound fractures in his legs It was then that we knew we were in trouble,”

“So we called an ambulance and they took one look at Tonic and took her before Turps because she was unconscious and Turps was awake and complaining about being in pain. So we turned up at the hospital and they took Turps right in because of blood loss, or something, so they had to intubate Tonic in the back of the ambulance. I’m sorry, it’s just been such a hard day.”

The Advocate reached out to Lismore Base Hospital for comment but unless we had a solution to staffing and PPE shortages, they didn’t want to hear from us.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-17/sa-health-apology-to-expectant-mother-with-covid-at-medi-hotel/100762332

so we apologise to all the gourmands and gormless out there but really

plenty of problems with health systems that are worth complaining about

certainly the food is not usually top standard, it’s certainly no Michelin trisaster, but something there smacks of privilege

“The food and meals — two meals a day, that’s a bit ridiculous. They’re cold and we have to heat them up,” she said.

“The look of them is just … there’s no presentation in them at all.”

SCIENCE said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-17/sa-health-apology-to-expectant-mother-with-covid-at-medi-hotel/100762332

so we apologise to all the gourmands and gormless out there but really

plenty of problems with health systems that are worth complaining about

certainly the food is not usually top standard, it’s certainly no Michelin trisaster, but something there smacks of privilege

“The food and meals — two meals a day, that’s a bit ridiculous. They’re cold and we have to heat them up,” she said.

“The look of them is just … there’s no presentation in them at all.”

chips look alright, do with some salt, pepper and sauce

transition said:

SCIENCE said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-17/sa-health-apology-to-expectant-mother-with-covid-at-medi-hotel/100762332

so we apologise to all the gourmands and gormless out there but really

plenty of problems with health systems that are worth complaining about

certainly the food is not usually top standard, it’s certainly no Michelin trisaster, but something there smacks of privilege

“The food and meals — two meals a day, that’s a bit ridiculous. They’re cold and we have to heat them up,” she said.

“The look of them is just … there’s no presentation in them at all.”

chips look alright, do with some salt, pepper and sauce

I think the problem with the top one was that the meal was cold already before it got served.

party_pants said:

transition said:

SCIENCE said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-17/sa-health-apology-to-expectant-mother-with-covid-at-medi-hotel/100762332

so we apologise to all the gourmands and gormless out there but really

plenty of problems with health systems that are worth complaining about

certainly the food is not usually top standard, it’s certainly no Michelin trisaster, but something there smacks of privilege

“The food and meals — two meals a day, that’s a bit ridiculous. They’re cold and we have to heat them up,” she said.

“The look of them is just … there’s no presentation in them at all.”

chips look alright, do with some salt, pepper and sauce

I think the problem with the top one was that the meal was cold already before it got served.

be a bit shit cold wouldn’t‘t

transition said:

party_pants said:

transition said:

chips look alright, do with some salt, pepper and sauce

I think the problem with the top one was that the meal was cold already before it got served.

be a bit shit cold wouldn’t‘t

Can’t really heat it up without removing the salad items first.

yeah we think better could have been done all around, there are better foods for isolating people, and there are better concerns to raise

like it could be worse, someone could be a healthcare worker doing 12 hours of shift with mask on the whole time not eating at all, could go home to some cold unpresented food they have to heat up themselves, or perhaps go home to a nice warm dinner prepared by family members they wish they didn’t have to risk infecting by being at work facing pathogen factories all day

but hey, the culture is complain right

party_pants said:

transition said:

SCIENCE said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-17/sa-health-apology-to-expectant-mother-with-covid-at-medi-hotel/100762332

so we apologise to all the gourmands and gormless out there but really

plenty of problems with health systems that are worth complaining about

certainly the food is not usually top standard, it’s certainly no Michelin trisaster, but something there smacks of privilege

“The food and meals — two meals a day, that’s a bit ridiculous. They’re cold and we have to heat them up,” she said.

“The look of them is just … there’s no presentation in them at all.”

chips look alright, do with some salt, pepper and sauce

I think the problem with the top one was that the meal was cold already before it got served.

and you can’t really put a ‘salad” into a microwave and expect good results.

SCIENCE said:

yeah we think better could have been done all around, there are better foods for isolating people, and there are better concerns to raise

like it could be worse, someone could be a healthcare worker doing 12 hours of shift with mask on the whole time not eating at all, could go home to some cold unpresented food they have to heat up themselves, or perhaps go home to a nice warm dinner prepared by family members they wish they didn’t have to risk infecting by being at work facing pathogen factories all day

but hey, the culture is complain right

The ABC certainly likes to provide a thorough coverage of Covid whinges, without much prioritising of the most deserving.

maybe but being that much of a flat wiggle you’d be mistaken for thinking this is some kind of loss of surge capacity

SCIENCE said:

disaster capitalists draw lines

1. remember how virus is successful if it has transmitted before its host dies
2. remember how it was supposed to be mild
3. remember how we didn’t have vaccines or treatments in 2020
4. remember how 2 because new strain was supposed to grow faster in the nose than in the lung
5. remember how nobody said that 4 meant it would stop growing in the lung
6. remember how some places stop reporting or linking reports after 28 days
   

https://www.bmj.com/content/376/bmj.o89

Patients with the omicron variant of covid-19 shed virus for longer after symptoms emerge, show data from Japan, potentially jeopardising hopes that the period of isolation for people testing positive could be shortened. Preliminary data from the National Institute of Infectious Diseases—which conducts disease surveillance in Japan—suggest that the amount of viral RNA is highest three to six days after diagnosis or symptom onset.

The isolation period for people testing positive for covid-19 was recently cut from 10 days to seven in England if two lateral flow tests returned negative results on days six and seven. Similar cuts to isolation have followed in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Staff absences because of isolation have caused severe workforce shortages for critical services, including the NHS, schools, and transport, leading to calls for the UK to follow the US and cut the isolation period to five days.

brilliant work

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-18/nsw-brad-hazzard-victim-of-fraudulent-positive-covid-19-test/100763308

Hmm. Hadn’t thought of that particular way of annoying someone you wanted to annoy.

Back to mask wearing in the SW today.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-18/can-you-catch-omicron-covid-twice/100750178

“More than a million Australians have now had COVID, and while many who have recently contracted the virus describe it as a weight off their shoulders, for others like Mitch, the anxiety has continued”

good on the ABC, open a new tube of slippery

Work email.

Dear Volunteers,

Community Home Care Management team have created a COVID-19 pandemic plan.

Concerns were raised about clients who are unwell being reluctant to seek medical attention at the hospital due to the concern of leaving their pets.

We are asking if any of you may be interested and willing to be part of a pet care team? The idea would be if any clients need to go to hospital as they have COVID the volunteers would go in daily to walk and feed their pets. Firstly we would be sending in specially trained staff to do a deep clean of the home to ensure it is safe for volunteers to go into. Ideally, if we have a couple of Volunteers from each branch – if the service is required.

If this is something that you may consider and willing to help please get in touch with me.

JudgeMental said:

Work email.

Dear Volunteers,

Community Home Care Management team have created a COVID-19 pandemic plan.

Concerns were raised about clients who are unwell being reluctant to seek medical attention at the hospital due to the concern of leaving their pets.

We are asking if any of you may be interested and willing to be part of a pet care team? The idea would be if any clients need to go to hospital as they have COVID the volunteers would go in daily to walk and feed their pets. Firstly we would be sending in specially trained staff to do a deep clean of the home to ensure it is safe for volunteers to go into. Ideally, if we have a couple of Volunteers from each branch – if the service is required.

If this is something that you may consider and willing to help please get in touch with me.

Good one.

A very recent paper on the efficacy of the vaccines in the New England Journal of Medicine (a very well respected journal)

Duration of Protection against Mild and Severe Disease by Covid-19 Vaccines

From the discussion section (but it’s probably worth reading the lot, or at least skimming it, if you are interested)

>>A third dose of vaccine improves both humoral and cellular immunity against SARS-CoV-2, with increased neutralizing activity against different variants, including the delta variant, which is likely to improve protection against infection.24 Waning of vaccine effectiveness against severe disease outcomes was relatively limited in most cohorts in this study but is likely to continue with time since the receipt of two vaccine doses. Decisions on timing of the third dose must balance the rate of waning immunity against the prevalence of disease, including the risk of new variants, and the prioritization of persons at highest risk for severe disease. Existing evidence suggests that vaccine effectiveness increases with longer intervals between doses and, if this also applies to third doses, the administration interval will also need to be considered.25 At the same time, it is possible that third doses will be more reactogenic than previous doses, especially if the recipient receives different vaccines for the initial and booster doses.26 Attractive alternatives include half-dose boosters or boosting with variant-targeted vaccines, which are both under investigation.27<<

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2115481

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-18/rats-shortage-may-worse-as-china-reduce-production/100756170

Interesting, we thought Australia was all about Fuck CHINA and the problems were disastrous disease outbreaks, well.

buffy said:

A very recent paper on the efficacy of the vaccines in the New England Journal of Medicine (a very well respected journal)

Duration of Protection against Mild and Severe Disease by Covid-19 Vaccines

From the discussion section (but it’s probably worth reading the lot, or at least skimming it, if you are interested)

>>A third dose of vaccine improves both humoral and cellular immunity against SARS-CoV-2, with increased neutralizing activity against different variants, including the delta variant, which is likely to improve protection against infection.24 Waning of vaccine effectiveness against severe disease outcomes was relatively limited in most cohorts in this study but is likely to continue with time since the receipt of two vaccine doses. Decisions on timing of the third dose must balance the rate of waning immunity against the prevalence of disease, including the risk of new variants, and the prioritization of persons at highest risk for severe disease. Existing evidence suggests that vaccine effectiveness increases with longer intervals between doses and, if this also applies to third doses, the administration interval will also need to be considered.25 At the same time, it is possible that third doses will be more reactogenic than previous doses, especially if the recipient receives different vaccines for the initial and booster doses.26 Attractive alternatives include half-dose boosters or boosting with variant-targeted vaccines, which are both under investigation.27<<

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2115481

Thanks.

She said restrictions, such as a ban on singing and dancing, reintroduced earlier this month were having an impact on infection rates.

However, she warned health authorities were anticipating an uptick again once schools return.

—

imagine anticipating something horrible that apparently nobody could have foreseen, and then not taking action to prevent it

transition said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-18/can-you-catch-omicron-covid-twice/100750178

“More than a million Australians have now had COVID, and while many who have recently contracted the virus describe it as a weight off their shoulders, for others like Mitch, the anxiety has continued”

good on the ABC, open a new tube of slippery

seen reports of reinfection at 3 weeks so good luck everyone

buffy said:

A very recent paper on the efficacy of the vaccines in the New England Journal of Medicine (a very well respected journal)

Duration of Protection against Mild and Severe Disease by Covid-19 Vaccines

From the discussion section (but it’s probably worth reading the lot, or at least skimming it, if you are interested)

>>A third dose of vaccine improves both humoral and cellular immunity against SARS-CoV-2, with increased neutralizing activity against different variants, including the delta variant, which is likely to improve protection against infection.24 Waning of vaccine effectiveness against severe disease outcomes was relatively limited in most cohorts in this study but is likely to continue with time since the receipt of two vaccine doses. Decisions on timing of the third dose must balance the rate of waning immunity against the prevalence of disease, including the risk of new variants, and the prioritization of persons at highest risk for severe disease. Existing evidence suggests that vaccine effectiveness increases with longer intervals between doses and, if this also applies to third doses, the administration interval will also need to be considered.25 At the same time, it is possible that third doses will be more reactogenic than previous doses, especially if the recipient receives different vaccines for the initial and booster doses.26 Attractive alternatives include half-dose boosters or boosting with variant-targeted vaccines, which are both under investigation.27<<

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2115481

OK, I had to look ‘reactogenic’ up.

So to summarise – third doses are good, but you shouldn’t rush into it and there may be greater adverse reactions with the third dose.

Sound OK?

sibeen said:

buffy said:

A very recent paper on the efficacy of the vaccines in the New England Journal of Medicine (a very well respected journal)

Duration of Protection against Mild and Severe Disease by Covid-19 Vaccines

From the discussion section (but it’s probably worth reading the lot, or at least skimming it, if you are interested)

>>A third dose of vaccine improves both humoral and cellular immunity against SARS-CoV-2, with increased neutralizing activity against different variants, including the delta variant, which is likely to improve protection against infection.24 Waning of vaccine effectiveness against severe disease outcomes was relatively limited in most cohorts in this study but is likely to continue with time since the receipt of two vaccine doses. Decisions on timing of the third dose must balance the rate of waning immunity against the prevalence of disease, including the risk of new variants, and the prioritization of persons at highest risk for severe disease. Existing evidence suggests that vaccine effectiveness increases with longer intervals between doses and, if this also applies to third doses, the administration interval will also need to be considered.25 At the same time, it is possible that third doses will be more reactogenic than previous doses, especially if the recipient receives different vaccines for the initial and booster doses.26 Attractive alternatives include half-dose boosters or boosting with variant-targeted vaccines, which are both under investigation.27<<

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2115481

OK, I had to look ‘reactogenic’ up.

So to summarise – third doses are good, but you shouldn’t rush into it and there may be greater adverse reactions with the third dose.

Sound OK?

Seems to be what they are saying. Accords with Prof Peter Colignon’s recommendations Anecdotally I’m hearing this from friends around here. Some have been Quite Unwell on the day after their booster.

I am curious though as to how long people who actually catch the Omicron version are unwell. Anecdotally again, people around here seem to barely notice it. Perhaps it’s just the tough country folks. Mr buffy saw a locum GP recently who said she really liked working here because people just went “oh well, things happen”. When she worked in Melbourne apparently she saw a lot more fear.

SCIENCE said:

transition said:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-18/can-you-catch-omicron-covid-twice/100750178

“More than a million Australians have now had COVID, and while many who have recently contracted the virus describe it as a weight off their shoulders, for others like Mitch, the anxiety has continued”

good on the ABC, open a new tube of slippery

seen reports of reinfection at 3 weeks so good luck everyone

someone could have sold me a covid inhaler after I read what’s quoted

experiment with some word substitutions in the sentence, add some words of your own, consult the associative dimension of your conceptualizing assumptions while understanding it

try inserting imposed on them after COVID, then while many could mean an undisclosed number, possibly even a tiny minority ever said that, then replace recently with already, that’s an interesting possibility

it’s one of your greatest liberties, to consult your conceptualizing assumptions regard what others write and say, including exploring the possible shadow flipsides of what is stated, in the way it is stated

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-18/covid-outbreaks-in-half-of-all-aged-care-homes-by-end-of-week/100763348

As far as I know Mum’s cottage only had the 3 residents and 3 staff test positive. I don’t think anyone died. Which is a bit surprising as they are mostly pretty far gone with the dementia and other things.

dirty CHINA get it right again

ZeroCOVID, masks, attractive faces, Three Child Policy

interesting shift, subtle, those goalposts

Ms D’Ath said 45 people had now died in Queensland from COVID in the current Omicron wave, but only one of those people had received a vaccine booster shot.

when did fully vaccinated become ah wait what was that

SCIENCE said:

interesting shift, subtle, those goalposts

Ms D’Ath said 45 people had now died in Queensland from COVID in the current Omicron wave, but only one of those people had received a vaccine booster shot.

when did fully vaccinated become ah wait what was that

Victim blaming is what it is.

Variants

Now where did I see the most up to date data on …

Vaccine doses by country. China is way ahead.

mollwollfumble said:

Variants

Now where did I see the most up to date data on …

Vaccine doses by country. China is way ahead.

if you happen upon any numbers re growth rate or decline of delta in australia let us know

We know that all health workers across Australia are carrying the burden of the government’s failings in relation to the Omicron wave of Covid. The best way you can help them is to get fully vaccinated, which includes your booster shot.

However, we also need to be educated about this virus, as being vaccinated will not necessarily stop you catching it, it will just stop you dying of it. Because politicians have been trying to side step their responsibilities, they have constantly described Omicron as a “mild” virus. And while some people experience no symptoms, or few symptoms, many people who catch it will experience flu like symptoms. And as those who have contracted influenza will tell you – it’s not a “mild” experience! Hence, people are confused as being quite ill does not align with their understanding of a “mild” virus and so they are reaching out to the health system thinking they may be one of the unlucky people who experience an increasingly severe form of the virus.

With Covid, you are likely to experience a sore throat, dry cough, extreme fatigue, a fever, and possibly vomiting, nausea or diarrhea. It’s very unpleasant. However, even these very unpleasant symptoms can be dealt with at home by focusing on taking Panadol regularly (to ease the fever), focusing on maintaining hydration and getting lots of rest. While you may be in bed for 7 days, these symptoms will not kill you. That’s why they are described as “mild.”
So when should you contact emergency services? “If people are getting increasingly short of breath, they’re getting severe chest pains, they’re getting intractable fevers, they can’t eat and drink because of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or they’re feeling dizzy, those are red flags that they need to contact someone.”

Please share this information around. Let’s help educate our community so we take a little bit of pressure off our long suffering workers in the health system!

this is not the URL of the above text.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-17/people-with-mild-covid-19-symptoms-seeking-emergency-care/100756916

JudgeMental said:

We know that all health workers across Australia are carrying the burden of the government’s failings in relation to the Omicron wave of Covid. The best way you can help them is to get fully vaccinated, which includes your booster shot.

However, we also need to be educated about this virus, as being vaccinated will not necessarily stop you catching it, it will just stop you dying of it. Because politicians have been trying to side step their responsibilities, they have constantly described Omicron as a “mild” virus. And while some people experience no symptoms, or few symptoms, many people who catch it will experience flu like symptoms. And as those who have contracted influenza will tell you – it’s not a “mild” experience! Hence, people are confused as being quite ill does not align with their understanding of a “mild” virus and so they are reaching out to the health system thinking they may be one of the unlucky people who experience an increasingly severe form of the virus.

With Covid, you are likely to experience a sore throat, dry cough, extreme fatigue, a fever, and possibly vomiting, nausea or diarrhea. It’s very unpleasant. However, even these very unpleasant symptoms can be dealt with at home by focusing on taking Panadol regularly (to ease the fever), focusing on maintaining hydration and getting lots of rest. While you may be in bed for 7 days, these symptoms will not kill you. That’s why they are described as “mild.”
So when should you contact emergency services? “If people are getting increasingly short of breath, they’re getting severe chest pains, they’re getting intractable fevers, they can’t eat and drink because of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or they’re feeling dizzy, those are red flags that they need to contact someone.”

Please share this information around. Let’s help educate our community so we take a little bit of pressure off our long suffering workers in the health system!

this is not the URL of the above text.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-17/people-with-mild-covid-19-symptoms-seeking-emergency-care/100756916

Focus on maintaining hydration – takes notes.

JudgeMental said:

this is not the URL of the above text.

Sara again ¿

JudgeMental said:

We know that all health workers across Australia are carrying the burden of the government’s failings in relation to the Omicron wave of Covid. The best way you can help them is to get fully vaccinated, which includes your booster shot.

However, we also need to be educated about this virus, as being vaccinated will not necessarily stop you catching it, it will just stop you dying of it. Because politicians have been trying to side step their responsibilities, they have constantly described Omicron as a “mild” virus. And while some people experience no symptoms, or few symptoms, many people who catch it will experience flu like symptoms. And as those who have contracted influenza will tell you – it’s not a “mild” experience! Hence, people are confused as being quite ill does not align with their understanding of a “mild” virus and so they are reaching out to the health system thinking they may be one of the unlucky people who experience an increasingly severe form of the virus.

With Covid, you are likely to experience a sore throat, dry cough, extreme fatigue, a fever, and possibly vomiting, nausea or diarrhea. It’s very unpleasant. However, even these very unpleasant symptoms can be dealt with at home by focusing on taking Panadol regularly (to ease the fever), focusing on maintaining hydration and getting lots of rest. While you may be in bed for 7 days, these symptoms will not kill you. That’s why they are described as “mild.”
So when should you contact emergency services? “If people are getting increasingly short of breath, they’re getting severe chest pains, they’re getting intractable fevers, they can’t eat and drink because of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or they’re feeling dizzy, those are red flags that they need to contact someone.”

Please share this information around. Let’s help educate our community so we take a little bit of pressure off our long suffering workers in the health system!

this is not the URL of the above text.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-17/people-with-mild-covid-19-symptoms-seeking-emergency-care/100756916

In a way, this is quite understandable. People have been dying at home, and the messaging around that was along the lines of “With Covid, you can go downhill very fast” and “They should’ve called and ambulance before they got too bad”. And anyway, how sick do you need to be to die?

SCIENCE said:

JudgeMental said:

this is not the URL of the above text.

Sara again ¿

Australia is better than this, one of their admins I think.

Michael V said:

JudgeMental said:

We know that all health workers across Australia are carrying the burden of the government’s failings in relation to the Omicron wave of Covid. The best way you can help them is to get fully vaccinated, which includes your booster shot.

However, we also need to be educated about this virus, as being vaccinated will not necessarily stop you catching it, it will just stop you dying of it. Because politicians have been trying to side step their responsibilities, they have constantly described Omicron as a “mild” virus. And while some people experience no symptoms, or few symptoms, many people who catch it will experience flu like symptoms. And as those who have contracted influenza will tell you – it’s not a “mild” experience! Hence, people are confused as being quite ill does not align with their understanding of a “mild” virus and so they are reaching out to the health system thinking they may be one of the unlucky people who experience an increasingly severe form of the virus.

With Covid, you are likely to experience a sore throat, dry cough, extreme fatigue, a fever, and possibly vomiting, nausea or diarrhea. It’s very unpleasant. However, even these very unpleasant symptoms can be dealt with at home by focusing on taking Panadol regularly (to ease the fever), focusing on maintaining hydration and getting lots of rest. While you may be in bed for 7 days, these symptoms will not kill you. That’s why they are described as “mild.”
So when should you contact emergency services? “If people are getting increasingly short of breath, they’re getting severe chest pains, they’re getting intractable fevers, they can’t eat and drink because of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or they’re feeling dizzy, those are red flags that they need to contact someone.”

Please share this information around. Let’s help educate our community so we take a little bit of pressure off our long suffering workers in the health system!

this is not the URL of the above text.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-17/people-with-mild-covid-19-symptoms-seeking-emergency-care/100756916

In a way, this is quite understandable. People have been dying at home, and the messaging around that was along the lines of “With Covid, you can go downhill very fast” and “They should’ve called and ambulance before they got too bad”. And anyway, how sick do you need to be to die?

fatally sick i would think.

JudgeMental said:

Michael V said:

JudgeMental said:

We know that all health workers across Australia are carrying the burden of the government’s failings in relation to the Omicron wave of Covid. The best way you can help them is to get fully vaccinated, which includes your booster shot.

However, we also need to be educated about this virus, as being vaccinated will not necessarily stop you catching it, it will just stop you dying of it. Because politicians have been trying to side step their responsibilities, they have constantly described Omicron as a “mild” virus. And while some people experience no symptoms, or few symptoms, many people who catch it will experience flu like symptoms. And as those who have contracted influenza will tell you – it’s not a “mild” experience! Hence, people are confused as being quite ill does not align with their understanding of a “mild” virus and so they are reaching out to the health system thinking they may be one of the unlucky people who experience an increasingly severe form of the virus.

With Covid, you are likely to experience a sore throat, dry cough, extreme fatigue, a fever, and possibly vomiting, nausea or diarrhea. It’s very unpleasant. However, even these very unpleasant symptoms can be dealt with at home by focusing on taking Panadol regularly (to ease the fever), focusing on maintaining hydration and getting lots of rest. While you may be in bed for 7 days, these symptoms will not kill you. That’s why they are described as “mild.”
So when should you contact emergency services? “If people are getting increasingly short of breath, they’re getting severe chest pains, they’re getting intractable fevers, they can’t eat and drink because of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or they’re feeling dizzy, those are red flags that they need to contact someone.”

Please share this information around. Let’s help educate our community so we take a little bit of pressure off our long suffering workers in the health system!

this is not the URL of the above text.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-17/people-with-mild-covid-19-symptoms-seeking-emergency-care/100756916

In a way, this is quite understandable. People have been dying at home, and the messaging around that was along the lines of “With Covid, you can go downhill very fast” and “They should’ve called and ambulance before they got too bad”. And anyway, how sick do you need to be to die?

fatally sick i would think.

Yes. But how can one tell, before the fatality?

Finally, sigh.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-18/pm-scott-morrison-reprimands-george-christensen-covid-vaccine/100765192

Michael V said:

Finally, sigh.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-18/pm-scott-morrison-reprimands-george-christensen-covid-vaccine/100765192

JudgeMental said:

Michael V said:

Finally, sigh.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-18/pm-scott-morrison-reprimands-george-christensen-covid-vaccine/100765192

It took me a few seconds to work out what that was :)

sibeen said:

JudgeMental said:

Michael V said:

Finally, sigh.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-18/pm-scott-morrison-reprimands-george-christensen-covid-vaccine/100765192

It took me a few seconds to work out what that was :)

…and by then it was tooooo late.

;-)

JudgeMental said:

Michael V said:

Finally, sigh.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-18/pm-scott-morrison-reprimands-george-christensen-covid-vaccine/100765192

LOL

Michael V said:

JudgeMental said:

Michael V said:

In a way, this is quite understandable. People have been dying at home, and the messaging around that was along the lines of “With Covid, you can go downhill very fast” and “They should’ve called and ambulance before they got too bad”. And anyway, how sick do you need to be to die?

fatally sick i would think.

Yes. But how can one tell, before the fatality?

You can’t, not easily, which is why the advice used to be “see a doctor” or “go to the hospital now” or “we’re calling the ambulance for you as we speak” when you called a help line before 2021.

As a country we’d gotten used to the level of care that made that actually acceptable advice.

Now that the advice is “wait until you’re about to keel over before calling an ambulance” there’s surprisingly little said about how the advice has changed and what it means.

Neurodegenerative biomarkers were elevated to levels observed in AD dementia and associated with encephalopathy and worse outcomes among hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/alz.12556

good luck

have to hand it to the Corruption they know how to play the long game

what better way to Stop The Boats than clearly demonstrate to people that if they want to seek a better life

Good News, Shares In Big Pharma’ Will Rise Faster Than Cryptocurrency

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-trial-worlds-first-finds-4th-dose-not-good-enough-against-omicron/

“The vaccine, which was very effective against the previous strains, is less effective against the Omicron strain,” Prof. Gili Regev-Yochay, a lead researcher in the experiment said. “We see an increase in antibodies, higher than after the third dose,” Regev-Yochay said. “However, we see many infected with Omicron who received the fourth dose. Granted, a bit less than in the control group, but still a lot of infections,” she added. “The bottom line is that the vaccine is excellent against the Alpha and Delta , for Omicron it’s not good enough,” she said.

And They’ll Pull The Economy Must Grow Up With Them ¡

SCIENCE said:

Good News, Shares In Big Pharma’ Will Rise Faster Than Cryptocurrency

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-trial-worlds-first-finds-4th-dose-not-good-enough-against-omicron/

“The vaccine, which was very effective against the previous strains, is less effective against the Omicron strain,” Prof. Gili Regev-Yochay, a lead researcher in the experiment said. “We see an increase in antibodies, higher than after the third dose,” Regev-Yochay said. “However, we see many infected with Omicron who received the fourth dose. Granted, a bit less than in the control group, but still a lot of infections,” she added. “The bottom line is that the vaccine is excellent against the Alpha and Delta , for Omicron it’s not good enough,” she said.

And They’ll Pull The Economy Must Grow Up With Them ¡

According to some State pollies, it will all be over in a week or two and we can all get back to normal.

PermeateFree said:

SCIENCE said:

Good News, Shares In Big Pharma’ Will Rise Faster Than Cryptocurrency

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-trial-worlds-first-finds-4th-dose-not-good-enough-against-omicron/

“The vaccine, which was very effective against the previous strains, is less effective against the Omicron strain,” Prof. Gili Regev-Yochay, a lead researcher in the experiment said. “We see an increase in antibodies, higher than after the third dose,” Regev-Yochay said. “However, we see many infected with Omicron who received the fourth dose. Granted, a bit less than in the control group, but still a lot of infections,” she added. “The bottom line is that the vaccine is excellent against the Alpha and Delta , for Omicron it’s not good enough,” she said.

And They’ll Pull The Economy Must Grow Up With Them ¡

According to some State pollies, it will all be over in a week or two and we can all get back to normal.

But we agree, they’re right. In a week or two, everyone will realise that this is the new normal, it’s Endemic™ COVID-19, death and fucked healthcare is something we should embrace.

Michael V said:

JudgeMental said:

Michael V said:

Finally, sigh.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-18/pm-scott-morrison-reprimands-george-christensen-covid-vaccine/100765192

LOL

He had to be forced to do it?

https://www.health.gov.au/resources/publications/atagi-recommendations-on-the-use-of-a-booster-dose-of-covid-19-vaccine

PermeateFree said:

According to some State pollies, it will all be over in a week or two and we can all get back to normal.

Yes, i remember reading that, back in 1914, politicians told everyone that it’d all be over by Christmas, and all would then be well.

captain_spalding said:

PermeateFree said:

According to some State pollies, it will all be over in a week or two and we can all get back to normal.

Yes, i remember reading that, back in 1914, politicians told everyone that it’d all be over by Christmas, and all would then be well.

Unfortunately it might not be that simple, experts say.

Seven months after masks became mandatary in the United Kingdom, researchers at Cardiff University were curious to know whether the pandemic had altered perceptions of attractiveness.

Cardiff University school of psychology’s Michael Lewis, the study’s co-author and an expert in the psychology of faces, spoke about the findings after the pandemic began.

“Research carried out before the pandemic found medical face masks reduce attractiveness,” Dr Lewis said.

“So, we wanted to test whether this had changed since face coverings became ubiquitous and understand whether the type of mask had any effect.”

The study — published in the peer-reviewed journal Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications — asked 43 women to rate the attractiveness of 40 male faces, with and without different types of masks and coverings.

Dr Lewis said they were surprised by the results, which indicated an overall sentiment of mask positivity.

“Our study suggests faces are considered most attractive when covered by medical face masks,” he said.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-18/covid-mask-attractive-study-pandemic-dating/100763642

SCIENCE said:

Good News, Shares In Big Pharma’ Will Rise Faster Than Cryptocurrency

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-trial-worlds-first-finds-4th-dose-not-good-enough-against-omicron/

“The vaccine, which was very effective against the previous strains, is less effective against the Omicron strain,” Prof. Gili Regev-Yochay, a lead researcher in the experiment said. “We see an increase in antibodies, higher than after the third dose,” Regev-Yochay said. “However, we see many infected with Omicron who received the fourth dose. Granted, a bit less than in the control group, but still a lot of infections,” she added. “The bottom line is that the vaccine is excellent against the Alpha and Delta , for Omicron it’s not good enough,” she said.

And They’ll Pull The Economy Must Grow Up With Them ¡

Fantastic. Not.

PermeateFree said:

SCIENCE said:

Good News, Shares In Big Pharma’ Will Rise Faster Than Cryptocurrency

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-trial-worlds-first-finds-4th-dose-not-good-enough-against-omicron/

“The vaccine, which was very effective against the previous strains, is less effective against the Omicron strain,” Prof. Gili Regev-Yochay, a lead researcher in the experiment said. “We see an increase in antibodies, higher than after the third dose,” Regev-Yochay said. “However, we see many infected with Omicron who received the fourth dose. Granted, a bit less than in the control group, but still a lot of infections,” she added. “The bottom line is that the vaccine is excellent against the Alpha and Delta , for Omicron it’s not good enough,” she said.

And They’ll Pull The Economy Must Grow Up With Them ¡

According to some State pollies, it will all be over in a week or two and we can all get back to normal.

Yeah, nuh…

“China is urging people to wear masks and gloves when opening mail after authorities suggested the first case of the Omicron variant found in Beijing could have arrived via a package from Canada.”

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Hmmm. Is this is plausible/likely or not?
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-19/covid-live-blog-isolation-vaccination-case-numbers/100765240

Michael V said:

“China is urging people to wear masks and gloves when opening mail after authorities suggested the first case of the Omicron variant found in Beijing could have arrived via a package from Canada.”

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Hmmm. Is this is plausible/likely or not?
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-19/covid-live-blog-isolation-vaccination-case-numbers/100765240

All the known data from Alpha and Delta said that it is transmitted by fine particles in air.
The virus could live longer on cold hard surfaces such as stainless steel but on softer surfaces such as cardboard and paper, it probably wouldn’t last an airmail flight?
Thenagain, the package could have been in cold storage which could increase the length of time the virus could survive on a surface and I haven’t heard of any research that makes Omicron any different about living on surfaces.

Michael V said:

“China is urging people to wear masks and gloves when opening mail after authorities suggested the first case of the Omicron variant found in Beijing could have arrived via a package from Canada.”

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Hmmm. Is this is plausible/likely or not?
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-19/covid-live-blog-isolation-vaccination-case-numbers/100765240

i’d expect freight contamination, especially via delivery handling (including sorting) is probably worth being mindful of

there are also people that would be happy to sneeze into some freight package and give china a really nasty flu, I mean the sentiment’s in the news every day, steering adverse attention toward the anti-endemic, and I saw that term used the other day, if recall correctly

I guess it’s a nice diversion from the good work of the pro-endemic mafia