A second and third spike from holidays combined with a more infectious strain and a kak-handed vaccination rollout is a recipe for tough winter and spring.

ffs we’re *still* battling “anti-maskers” in every state

I just found out that my school building (bushwick campus) is being converted into a vaccination center. I gather they're installing huge goddamn freezers somewhere in the building. These are strange times. 

RobertMullen said:

I just found out that my school building (bushwick campus) is being converted into a vaccination center. I gather they're installing huge goddamn freezers somewhere in the building. These are strange times. 

I wonder what the world is going to do with all the freezers when this is done?

Jules said:

RobertMullen said:

I just found out that my school building (bushwick campus) is being converted into a vaccination center. I gather they're installing huge goddamn freezers somewhere in the building. These are strange times. 

I wonder what the world is going to do with all the freezers when this is done?

cryotherapy?  

Cool rooms for safety during dangerously hot summers?

If you want depressing reading that could take days to finish, The New Yorker published a 17-page deep dive on just some of the things that went wrong.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/01/04/the-plague-year

Here's the TL/DR Version in The Verge

https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/28/22202867/coronavirus-response-us-failure-cdc-tests-new-yorker

@mugwump the New Yorker article was depressing and incredibly insightful. Fully expect it to win some awards.

This article about remote teaching is horrifyingly accurate:

I've been trying to find info on whether or not people who have been vaccinated can still spread Covid.

Seems from my reading that so far, nothing is known.  Which is because of the lack of trials to determine this.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/once-you-get-the-covid-19-vaccine-can-you-still-infect-others/

https://www.menshealth.com/health/a34877118/coronavirus-spread-after-vaccination/

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-mayo-clinic-covid-vaccine.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/pfizer-chairman-not-clear-people-spread-covid-19-after-vaccine-2020-12?op=1

mugwump said:

I've been trying to find info on whether or not people who have been vaccinated can still spread Covid.

Seems from my reading that so far, nothing is known.  Which is because of the lack of trials to determine this.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/once-you-get-the-covid-19-vaccine-can-you-still-infect-others/

https://www.menshealth.com/health/a34877118/coronavirus-spread-after-vaccination/

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-mayo-clinic-covid-vaccine.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/pfizer-chairman-not-clear-people-spread-covid-19-after-vaccine-2020-12?op=1

I consulted a slew of my doc friends on the subject and the consensus was "yes"

It sounds like transmission from vaccinated people was down about 40% from unvaccinated, but that's still a substantial number.

The definitive transmission rate for vaccinated people will come after large swaths have been vaccinated and populations studied.

@Jules

Thanks.

to a non-epidemiologist like myself, that it can be transmitted would make sense.  On the one hand, someone who has been inoculated could breathe in and carry the Covid droplets and then breathe them out somewhere else.  It wouldn't hurt them, but it could hurt those around them.

How long they could harbor them is probably what needs to be better determined.  

Much like Team UAE, I'm scheduled to get my vaccine this Wednesday! 

@mugwump apparently it lives very happily in noses

Last week, my wife and her officemate had to ask a new coworker to keep his mask on at his desk. He barely complied and left his nose uncovered. Fast forward 2 days later, her offices shut down for 10 days after someone in the company tested positive. Wife took both the rapid and pcr tests and both came back negative.

Meanwhile, a NJ congresswoman tested positive to covid after being sequestered in the undisclosed location with fellow congress members during the attack on the capitol. Some [choose your own expletives] colleagues actually declined to wear masks, even when offered ones by aides, even when reading the same official reports that covid infection rates and death tolls are at their peaks in the US. DECLINED.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mob-attack-capitol-coronavirus-congresswoman/2021/01/11/edae7c5e-5438-11eb-a08b-f1381ef3d207_story.html


Wear a mask. Respect yourself. Respect your loved ones. Respect your community. Respect humanity.

I had a (rare for me) covid dream last night; we’d somehow gotten a houseguest into my childhood home who didn’t have a mask on... the whole family was huddled in the kitchen trying to figure out how to tactfully offer her a mask.

Even Canadian dreams are too polite, it seems!

Felt decent enough to give the bike a shot today. My fitness was terrible, but breathing felt good and normal. I'm keeping it super mega easy for at least the next week or two, but super happy to be able to spin my legs again

Nobody seems to know why but our COVID infection rates are plunging, with no xmass "bump" in sight. Wisconsin is only a 10 minute drive away but I guess they're not visiting as much as they used to. Since useful data visualization is nonexistent I've been culling the weekly data from the MN department of health myself.

Right now the kids are in school 4 days a week, with Wednesday being a "remote" day.

Here is the chart for St. Louis county:

Here is hoping the data are accurate and we start seeing similar trends elsewhere 

PatrickGrehan said:

Here is hoping the data are accurate and we start seeing similar trends elsewhere 

I'll drink to that!

Not that it could be related to the decline, but I'm curious what the vaccination roll out looks like in your neck of the woods. Any idea? 

It sounds like NYC hasn't been doing a great job. From what I understand, they were rolling it out too slow and vaccines were expiring on the shelves. That is why they're increasing the group sizes very quickly.

Lisa (ER doc) just got her second shot yesterday; her entire department has been vaccinated.

It sounds like the medial staff are getting vaccinated quickly; rest of the population is meh.

AFAIKT I won't see a vaccine this year, which is pretty demoralizing. I was starting to feel like I was close to the end of this, but truth is we're probably about halfway.

The monoclonal antibody clinics are undersubscribed, which is pretty crazy.

Day 1 post vaccine and really have no side effects, nothing flu-like at least. My whoop says my numbers are pretty normal (albeit, 55% recovery after only riding a suuuper easy 90 minutes yesterday while being in the green). The only side effect has been some real soreness in my arm around the injection site this morning. It feels like I have a huge bruise, but I don't. I'm apparently a Moderna guy, so your mileage may vary. 

I went to the Bushwick Campus for it and while it took about an hour and 20 minutes in line, the process was super quick. It took about 5 minutes by the the time I was in the chair waiting for the shot. Things are definitely starting to pick up (as they goddamn should) but I was able to schedule my appointment for the second dose. This is the first time I've felt like things are actually going in the right direction. 

Gothamist has an article on when people in NYC and NYS can get vaccinated

https://gothamist.com/news/new-york-city-vaccine-explainer

If you're thinking about relaxing your habits, this Vox article could make you reconsider.

https://www.vox.com/22220301/covid-spread-new-strain-variants-safe-grocery-store-n95-masks-vaccine

RobertMullen said: 

My whoop says my numbers are pretty normal (albeit, 55% recovery after only riding a suuuper easy 90 minutes yesterday while being in the green). 

Update, I feel fine but today my Whoop recovery score was 15%. For reference, yesterday I didn't ride and I got a good night sleep. Nothing to suggest I should be banged up.

But it seems like this is a trend amongst other folks and I feel alright so I'm not too worried! 

@RobertMullen I’ve noticed the same thing too. I’m feeling a bit better everyday and my strain has still be real low but my recovery score has been whipsawing up and down like no ones business 

Keep taking good care guys!

Matt Budofsky said:

@RobertMullen I’ve noticed the same thing too. I’m feeling a bit better everyday and my strain has still be real low but my recovery score has been whipsawing up and down like no ones business 

Damn! Hopefully that levels out soon. I will say Whoop feels like a really nice tool to sort of quantify symptoms and recovery. But its good to know you're feeling better every day. 

I was referring mostly to my body's reaction to the vaccine because I thankfully haven't had any lasting symptoms from my November positive test. 

https://2020game.io/

Good for a laugh

Reports of both the Brazilian and South African variants are concerning. Triple whammy:

1. Much more contagious
2. Make people much sicker
3. Much less (some reports as low as 50%) protection from existing vaccines

Merde