Corona Virus: It's a Marathon, Not a Sprint

[Smoove_B]

The only thing worse than selfish people are businesses and business owners that don't give a crap about their workers.

[malchior]

I wish the policy was go get a test before returning. It's more like...we can't lose any time or money...back to work everyone. Don't worry about it.

The only thing worse than selfish people are businesses and business owners that don't give a crap about their workers.

Yup. Word to the wise for people looking to change jobs. Glassdoor and Indeed are valuable for this. After she took this job and realized the management were straight up micromanaging psychos she found out about the multiple 1 star reviews of the company describing my wife's new boss as a micromanaging psycho. We could have avoided this whole mess.

[disarm]

I currently know three fully vaccinated individuals out of work for mildly symptomatic COVID, and one asymptomatic 11yo who was tested after a possible exposure. None of them have much more than mild cold symptoms (cough, sore throat, runny nose), but one did decide to get tested after she lost her sense of taste. Otherwise, she said her symptoms are so minimal that she didn't think anything of it.

With these infections in mind, I'm now tasked with convincing my family and friends that the game has changed thanks to delta and increasing time since vaccination. So many people felt like the vaccine gave them a free pass to normal life, but it's becoming increasingly clear that the COVID is changing the rules of the game again.

Thankfully, I do live in a state (CT) where vaccination rates are relatively high. Our infection numbers are rising again, but serious hospitalizations are still under control for now...

[Smoove_B]

For the next time you're having a balanced discussion with someone and they let you know that kids don't get COVID, new study in JAMA today:

https://twitter.com/DrAliSKhan/status/1 ... 0755224577

This study suggests that younger children may be more likely to transmit SARS-CoV-2 infection compared with older children, & the highest odds of transmission was observed for children aged 0 to 3 years. Not surprising since they are oozing germ factories

[Smoove_B]

https://twitter.com/ryanstruyk/status/1 ... 2646338570

The United States is now reporting 134,390 new coronavirus cases per day, the highest seven-day average since February 3, according to data from @CNN and Johns Hopkins University.

This is the real shocker:

https://twitter.com/ryanstruyk/status/1 ... 4741850123

Average US deaths/day via @CNN

Right now: 706 deaths/day
7 days ago: 511 deaths/day
14 days ago: 386 deaths/day
21 days ago: 242 deaths/day

[Pyperkub]

Condolences. I must admit to being fascinated by that level of brainwashing. I think you can say that literally nothing will change their minds, if losing their father didn't do it.

If you don't trust your doctor to give you decent medical advice, you've got some significant issues.

They trust them for everything else - broken arm, stomach pain, back ache. But this new virus? Nope.

I'm so sorry to read about your cousin SP. I wish I could say yours was the first story I'd ever heard that was similar. Just endless tragedies and families forever changed.

They don't even ask apparently:

“I try to be very non-judgmental when I’m getting a new COVID patient that’s unvaccinated, but I really just started asking them, ‘Why haven’t you gotten the vaccine?’ And I’ll just ask it point blank, in the least judgmental way possible,” she said. “And most of them, they’re very honest, they give me answers. ‘I talked to this person, I saw this thing on Facebook, I got this email, I saw this on the news,’ you know, these are all the reasons that I didn’t get vaccinated.

“And the one question that I always ask them is, did you make an appointment with your primary care doctor and ask them for their opinion on whether or not you should receive the vaccine? And so far, nobody has answered yes to that question.”

[malchior]

One thing that I think hasn't been too well reported on is that the pandemic has made it very hard to get medical care generally if your job situation changes. Which happened to a lot of folks obviously. I took a new job in December. My insurance changed carriers and my long-time doctor isn't in my new plan - something that was hard to research until I was enrolled. She seemingly takes many other forms of BlueCross/BlueShield but not the exactly plan I'm in. Clearly my doctor should be tied to whatever job I had at the time.

Anyway, my wife has been trying to find a new GP for months. No one will take new patients. She just renewed the quest today and so far has only found a handful but they are only seeing new patients in 2 months from now. World's best healthcare system, amirite? I find it sort of ironic that we have right now the promised long-waiting lists that we are told will happen if we were to adopt the systems used by the entirety of rest of our advanced economy peers.

[LawBeefaroni]

One thing that I think hasn't been too well reported on is that the pandemic has made it very hard to get medical care generally if your job situation changes. Which happened to a lot of folks obviously. I took a new job in December. My insurance changed carriers and my long-time doctor isn't in my new plan - something that was hard to research until I was enrolled. She seemingly takes many other forms of BlueCross/BlueShield but not the exactly plan I'm in. Clearly my doctor should be tied to whatever job I had at the time.

Anyway, my wife has been trying to find a new GP for months. No one will take new patients. She just renewed the quest today and so far has only found a handful but they are only seeing new patients in 2 months from now. World's best healthcare system, amirite? I find it sort of ironic that we have right now the promised long-waiting lists that we are told will happen if we were to adopt the systems used by the entirety of rest of our advanced economy peers.

Thars my world. It sucks.

BCBS and the other plans have different networks at different price points. If an employer wants to save money, they may select a narrower network plan that doesn't include higher priced docs/facilities.

Or maybe they limit it to "quality designated" providers who are graded on "efficiency". A la Aetna Aexcel, United Premium Designation, etc.

Or a provider may just not want to be on a particular product even though they're in other products from the same insurer. Too much administrative burden in some HMOs or exotic products.

Or a particular product my be exclusive to a health system or systems. The system(s) and the plan work out a mutually beneficial exclusive arrangement.



Getting a new PCP is tough but if you can enlist the help of your current doc they usually have some sway.

Re: 2 months for an appointment, it's a bad time right now with so many PCPs on summer vacation. Looking my calendar right now I have 10 out for at least this week. Usually it's 1 or 2. And when they're out, other PCPs have to cover, leaving them with less slots as well.

[malchior]

Getting a new PCP is tough but if you can enlist the help of your current doc they usually have some sway.

Re: 2 months for an appointment, it's a bad time right now with so many PCPs on summer vacation. Looking my calendar right now I have 10 out for at least this week. Usually it's 1 or 2. And when they're out, other PCPs have to cover, leaving them with less slots as well.

Yeah the problem was the first time she tried a few months ago we could find no one who was taking new patients. Well that isn't 100% accurate. We are awash in pediatricians but adults? We're screwed. In fact, our current now former GP last year put her on a backlog because she hadn't been there in some time. I switched jobs and that fell apart so neither of us have been able to go to a doctor this year. Cool. We've got urgent care or teladocs I guess. I'm happy that her existing specialists are ok and we don't need referrals or we'd be shopping for an independent plan potentially. This is insane. I'm looping in my HR because I feel like we need to get the carrier involved. Why am I paying quite a bit for little to no actual access?

[Smoove_B]

CDC is starting up new Disease Forecasting Center:

The center, with initial funding from the American Rescue Planexternal icon, will focus on three key functions:

Predict: Undertake modeling and forecasting; enhance the ability to determine the foundational data sources needed; support research and innovation in outbreak analytics and science for real-time action; and establish appropriate forecasting horizons.
Connect: Expand broad capability for data sharing and integration; maximize interoperability with data standards and utilize open-source software and application programming interface capabilities, with existing and new data streams from the public health ecosystem and beyond.
Inform: Translate and communicate forecasts; connect with key decision-makers across sectors including government, businesses, and non-profits, along with individuals with strong intergovernmental affairs and communication capacity for action.

The new leadership team charged with the development and implementation of a plan to establish the center, includes:

Dr. Marc Lipsitch, who will serve as Director for Science
Dr. Dylan George, who will serve as Director for Operations
Dr. Caitlin Rivers, who will serve as Associate Director
Dr. Rebecca Kahn, who will serve as Senior Scientist

I'm surprised Nate Silver wasn't mentioned, but maybe he's joining later.

[malchior]

That didn't exist. Holy shit. I just would have assumed it did.

Edit: I'm sort of blown away. This is sort of like saying the United States just announced they started putting together the CIA/DIA or probably more specificlly DARPA.

[stessier]

I'm surprised Nate Silver wasn't mentioned, but maybe he's joining later.

You had me googling to see how bad the choices were before I realized this was just snark. The T**** era really messed with my head.

[El Guapo]

That didn't exist. Holy shit. I just would have assumed it did.

Edit: I'm sort of blown away. This is sort of like saying the United States just announced they started putting together the CIA/DIA or probably more specificlly DARPA.

Have you read The Premonition? As I mentioned earlier, it is unkind to the CDC, and basically says (through the voice of various state / local health officials) that the CDC is mostly focused on reporting and analyzing disease, and less on forecasting and preventing it. Probably because the latter function is politically fraught (because it involves shutting down things people want to do at a time before lots of people are sick).

[Little Raven]

How we learn to live with Coronavirus forever.
It's not really anything that anyone following this thread would be surprised at, but I did like this bit.

In the best case, COVID-19 will follow the same pattern, with subsequent infections being mild, says Stephen Morse, an epidemiologist at Columbia University. “If the burden of disease is not high, we take [the virus] very much for granted,” he says. Still, these colds are not completely benign; one of the common-cold coronaviruses has caused deadly outbreaks in nursing homes before. In a less good scenario, COVID-19 looks like the flu, which kills 12,000 to 61,000 Americans a year, depending on the season’s severity. But deaths alone do not capture the full impact of COVID-19. “A big question mark there is long COVID,” says Yonatan Grad, an immunologist and infectious-disease researcher at Harvard. There are still no data to prove how well the vaccines prevent long COVID, but experts generally agree that a vaccinated immune system is better prepared to fight off the virus without doing collateral damage.

The transition to endemic COVID-19 is also a psychological one. When everyone has some immunity, a COVID-19 diagnosis becomes as routine as diagnosis of strep or flu—not good news, but not a reason for particular fear or worry or embarrassment either. That means unlearning a year of messaging that said COVID-19 was not just a flu. If the confusion around the CDC dropping mask recommendations for the vaccinated earlier this summer is any indication, this transition to endemicity might be psychologically rocky. Reopening felt too fast for some, too slow for others. “People are having a hard time understanding one another’s risk tolerance,” says Julie Downs, a psychologist who studies health decisions at Carnegie Mellon University.

With the flu, we as a society generally agree on the risk we were willing to tolerate. With COVID-19, we do not yet agree. Realistically, the risk will be much smaller than it is right now amid a Delta wave, but it will never be gone. “We need to prepare people that it’s not going to come down to zero. It’s going to come down to some level we find acceptable,” Downs says.

Good luck with that.

[malchior]

I mean that is what I expect personally. The bare minimum gate to measure of acceptable risk for me is that there is no infection variant that can knock over the healthcare system for months at a time. The problem I'm seeing is that the people saying COVID is with us forever seem to want to just throw controls totally out and let the system fall over. And then react from there.

[Blackhawk]

Risk tolerance I get. Risk denial, on the other hand, I don't.

And inflicting your risk tolerance on others I reject outright.

[Smoove_B]

That didn't exist. Holy shit. I just would have assumed it did.

Edit: I'm sort of blown away. This is sort of like saying the United States just announced they started putting together the CIA/DIA or probably more specificlly DARPA.

So...with a lot of the stuff at the CDC it's a matter of organization and responsibility. Similar to what President Bush started and then Obama (thanks Obama!) did with the Food Safety Modernization Act, there needed to be formal coordination between the FDA and USDA - combining elements that existed separately (budget, command structure) into a more cohesive singular unit.

That's my (own) take on what's happening here. It's not that we weren't doing this (certainly not to this degree), it's just that it wasn't coordinated or in its own separate, directed silo. Where I still think it's going to be difficult is in the data liberation from the private health care industry. So much was done as part of the Affordable Care Act, but ultimately I am not sure what it looks like when you try to integrate public/private reporting data on a national level in the modern era. I know it's been done to a smaller degree i places like Chicago, but nationally? That's going to be a tough nut.

Absolutely necessary, but big ship of federal government turns very, very slow.

[malchior]

Ok that makes sense. Still not great obviously. My reaction to this is based on how this is a critical incident response/planning function. In my field, the lack of this function is the difference between a mature, proactive learning organization and a reactive organization that usually sees poor performance and keeps repeating the same mistakes.

[Smoove_B]

It's unfortunate that it was only after a prolonged pandemic and the death of 600K+ (conservatively) Americans that there was enough impetus to push for a change like this. It's definitely a decade+ overdue, but public health funding (as I've mentioned) is low priority.

As has been pointed out, the CDC has abdicated so much to the states (by design) and the states (especially ours) have passed responsibility down to the locals. It's a "system" that has kinda worked (to varying degrees in numerous locations), but during a pandemic it is clearly the single worst design decision that was ever made. When feds and states are basically acting like conduits to locals and the locals ultimately decide on rules, regulations and staffing...welcome to life in Pandemic America 2020-202? (I'm guessing 2023 at the earliest, myself).

Like right now...we're at red flashing danger light levels of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths. You'd never know it though because there's been no national call for a mask mandate and there certainly hasn't been any suggestion of targeted lockdowns in states like TX, FL, AL, MO, TN, etc... where things are out of control. Instead, you just read the news that Alabama has no ICU beds (as of last night) in the entire state, and wonder how people are dealing with that as state and local elected officials actively resist any type of prevention measures and seemingly try to get the virus to spread faster.

[Octavious]

Stupid me thought it would get better when Trump was gone, but Biden really has screwed the pooch so far. The whole removing the mask mandate right before the summer was idiotic. We all knew that the anti-mask people were just going to run around like normal and now here we are. Also good luck reinstating it.

[El Guapo]

Stupid me thought it would get better when Trump was gone, but Biden really has screwed the pooch so far. The whole removing the mask mandate right before the summer was idiotic. We all knew that the anti-mask people were just going to run around like normal and now here we are. Also good luck reinstating it.

I don't know. I think the mask decision could've been handled a lot better for sure, but the core problem that we're facing right now is red state governors and local officials doing all they can to create ideal conditions for the virus to spread (plus the delta variant). I don't know if our position would be all that much better even if the mask decision had been executed perfectly.

[malchior]

I'd just toss the mask decision on an ever growing pile of missteps. None of which on their own really indicate anything. As a whole they more call out the massive overarching issues we face across -- well everything.

[Smoove_B]

I don't know. I think the mask decision could've been handled a lot better for sure, but the core problem that we're facing right now is red state governors and local officials doing all they can to create ideal conditions for the virus to spread (plus the delta variant). I don't know if our position would be all that much better even if the mask decision had been executed perfectly.

There's so many other little elements. Probably the biggest one is that there's no national tracking of breakthrough cases; people that are vaccinated and that test positive aren't being officially tracked at a state level. This comes from the earlier belief that these types of infections were rare. However...if you're not testing for them, can you really comment on rarity?

Using the honor system to guide masking policies? Failure.
Framing the pandemic as a personal health choice? Failure.
Not testing vaccinated people to accurately track breakthrough? Failure.
Not pushing harder for childhood vaccinations? Failure.
Not advocating for kids and pushing mask mandates in schools? Failure.

To me it feels like everything that's unfolding now is in response to a system that was cobbled together to deal with the original COVID-19 outbreak. While not great, it was still impressive in its ability to ultimately deliver a vaccine to a significant number of people nationwide in ~12 months.

Where the wheels came off was in thinking that was it. At some point in April or May when Delta started ramping up elsewhere, there wasn't a re-evaluation of the current plan. Or if there was, they failed. We are currently existing like the original SARS-CoV-2 strain is circulating, not the Delta variant and have been for months. What makes it extra frustrating is that we had no (actual) knowledge of SARS-CoV-2. Yes, in theory we should have been preparing, but we were focused on influenza, no coronaviruses. The fact that Delta hit us and is causing such an insane level of cases, hospitalizations and deaths is inexcusable.

It's certainly explainable by way of policy in Southern and Midwestern states. But from a federal level? To me they clearly ignored what other nations were seeing with Delta.

[noxiousdog]

I'd be curious how much the masks even help with delta. The reality is it's vaccines, vaccines, vaccines.

I mean great, if they have a 30% effectiveness, that's fine and it's all multiplicative. But by the same token, if we were all vaccinated it wouldn't matter... even allowing for children and the immunocompromised.

[Smoove_B]

I'd be curious how much the masks even help with delta. The reality is it's vaccines, vaccines, vaccines.

They help. I need to dig up the current data; I don't have it handy.

We were never going to vaccinate our way out of this. After containment failed (did we even try?) and it started spreading rapidly all we can do is push every available tool. Vaccinations are part of the long-term strategy and without question they're helping with hospitalizations and deaths. However, in terms of spread? Masks, distancing, shutdowns. The virus still needs human bodies. If we stop human bodies from interacting in situations where the virus can jump around, circulating virus levels will drop and the larger benefits of having a vaccinated population will kick in.

To be clear, going the vaccination only route (which is the policy we seem to be following) will work in the long term. But there's going to be lots of suffering and some death before we get there. We can do better.

I mean great, if they have a 30% effectiveness, that's fine and it's all multiplicative. But by the same token, if we were all vaccinated it wouldn't matter... even allowing for children and the immunocompromised.

See above. Absolutely untrue and it goes against all public health practice. Americans were sold the idea that vaccines were the "end of the pandemic". Clearly that is not the case. It's not the case because American culture refuses to adopt NPIs and support shutdowns where applicable. We refuse to pay people to stay home.

[LordMortis]

Americans were sold the idea that vaccines were the "end of the pandemic".

We have been sold lines since the beginning of "Masking is not shown to be part of the solution" about 19 months ago. Collectively, we seem to reject that knowledge and a narrative can change and view it is losing an argument, losing credibility, and losing the our ear when it comes to making recommendations for resolution/mitigation. This goes to plaid when we've joined a sports team fandom that wants the other side to lose.

The people at top, right or wrong along the way, have done themselves (and the nation) a disservice at most turns with their messaging and implementations/roll outs, but it is what it is. I don't see the result of efforts ever changing from personal choice to public health. Public health has both posed itself as to be trusted as being right and as being a body within the field of science which necessarily must update its models based on evolving understanding. People aren't smart enough to both trust the judgement of experts and accept that the expertise adapts and changes to gathering more/better knowledge without having their hands held. I am no exception. I hold contempt for those who treated legionaire's prophylactics as the cure because some guy in France was brave enough to make the claim and it's clear these liberal establishment haters have evolved their views. I still can't get past where they came from to meet them where they are at now.

[Smoove_B]

This is what I'd love to know. Is it arrogance or are there still communication/leadership issues to blame?

Did advisors think that there was no way Delta was going to impact America like it did in India because we were better vaccinated and not as densely populated? Or is it like stories from NASA where flight engineers accurately identified high risk failures but their opinions were ignored by higher ups?

Neither one of these options are great, but I really think they felt they had a solid plan for the nation and refused to consider or acknowledge Delta. And in truth, if it wasn't for Delta, things might have looked a lot different this summer and right now. What would have happened during the next surge (and don't kid yourselves, there's going to be another surge) is another story but right now we're collectively in a bad way and whatever is going to happen next will be worse for it.

[LordMortis]

This is what I'd love to know. Is it arrogance or are there still communication/leadership issues to blame?

I honestly don't know anymore. I also don't think it matters. Battlelines have been drawn. Nobody's right if everybody's wrong... Paranoia runs deep. Into your lives it will creep.

[Paingod]

Maybe living in the First World makes people mentally weak since daily life is so comfortable and unchallenging. They don't have to deal with how harsh reality can be, so they become addled.

You're absolutely right, though education and enrichment is supposed to fill the void left by struggling to survive. Some people embrace that. Others don't. In the US right now, anti-intellectualism is as high as I think it's ever been. There's an aggressive push towards willful ignorance.

Imagine the world was suffering a draught of unprecedented nature. Hundreds of thousands are dying of thirst. Three different groups find and tap vast underground lakes and can provide low-cost water to save everyone's lives. There's much rejoicing and people line up with their empty gallon jugs. Except for 30% of the population who insist the water is poisoned with no evidence to back the claim. They're refusing to take any of the water and continue to die of thirst, while they scream about the unfairness of it all and how the draught is a hoax. It sounds insane. So does what's happening right now.

Until 2016, I hadn't thought it was possible for such great numbers of people to be so completely delusional. Now there's little I won't believe of them. If you told me that the 30% who are refusing the vaccine and masks were gearing up to take healthy cities and try to force them into illness... oh, wait. They are.

[Jaymon]

In reference to a post above. Biden announcing a nationwide mask mandate, in my opinion, would do absolutely no good.
Up until now, its been state led, trying to make it federal level now would spark large numbers of states to file court orders against it.
And without any sort of enforcement behind it, its also useless. And who is going to enforce it? Call the police every time an unmasked person walks into a store?

We started this as a shitshow , and as long as we continue to have a significant percentage of senators, representatives, governors, mayors, and other officials as anti-vax and ant-mask, it will remain a shitshow.


We are in a situation where dad has said yes, mom has said no, so half the kids are eating ice cream for breakfast while the others are doing homework. We cannot fix this problem until government provides a united front and consistent message. If Biden institutes a federal mask mandate the GOP will rally against it, just like they are already doing, and it will only add fuel to the fire. None of the unmasked will mask up because of it.

[Blackhawk]

People not masking is not because of laws and mandates, or because of freedom. It's because of culture. We've developed a culture that places the self above all others, including the community. And we've developed a culture that despises critical thinking to the point that people can't understand that putting self above the community is just as harmful to the self - as they're part of that community.

We've developed a culture wherein one faction suggesting a thing means that the other faction will refuse it, regardless of what that thing is. If the ground a modern Republican was standing on burst into flames, and a Democrat suggested that he move, he'd insist on staying.

[noxiousdog]

We were never going to vaccinate our way out of this. After containment failed (did we even try?) and it started spreading rapidly all we can do is push every available tool. Vaccinations are part of the long-term strategy and without question they're helping with hospitalizations and deaths. However, in terms of spread? Masks, distancing, shutdowns. The virus still needs human bodies. If we stop human bodies from interacting in situations where the virus can jump around, circulating virus levels will drop and the larger benefits of having a vaccinated population will kick in.

If we can't vaccine our way out of it there's little we can do. Vaccines are by far the easiest sell. Sure, we can dampen it ... but if vaccines aren't the way out, then ... meh.

[Smoove_B]

If we can't vaccine our way out of it there's little we can do. Vaccines are by far the easiest sell. Sure, we can dampen it ... but if vaccines aren't the way out, then ... meh.

Again, not true. There's so much we can do that we aren't. We've just decided (collectively in America) that it's not worth it. We're clearly at "acceptable death" levels right now and we all just chug along; it's gross. Let's see if the sentiment changes in the next 30 days.

[LawBeefaroni]

If we can't vaccine our way out of it there's little we can do. Vaccines are by far the easiest sell. Sure, we can dampen it ... but if vaccines aren't the way out, then ... meh.

Again, not true. There's so much we can do that we aren't. We've just decided (collectively in America) that it's not worth it. We're clearly at "acceptable death" levels right now and we all just chug along; it's gross. Let's see if the sentiment changes in the next 30 days.

It was Mission Accomplished in June. Good luck reverting to Mission Not Accomplished. Politicians don't want it, most of the public doesn't want it. And as we now know, want is far more important than need.

[Smoove_B]

It was Mission Accomplished in June. Good luck reverting to Mission Not Accomplished. Politicians don't want it, most of the public doesn't want it. And as we now know, want is far more important than need.

It's just so frustrating because everything can be customized to whatever a state needs based on what's happening. We don't have to hit it at the federal level with the giant hammer like we tried in 2020. We can use a scalpel and fine-tune response like they're doing in Nevada.

But you're right - politicians aren't going to push it, and people aren't asking them to. One again, the vocal minority fringe-wack jobs are driving the response and for whatever reason, politicians are listening to them. I thought I saw some type of poll earlier today (is it too early for polls?) that suggested 40% (or close to it) of registered Republicans supported some type of masking mandate to try and get things under control. But apparently that's not enough to enact meaningful controls at a local level. So we get the never-ending cycle we're in (and will be in) for lord knows how long.

[hitbyambulance]

If we can't vaccine our way out of it there's little we can do. Vaccines are by far the easiest sell. Sure, we can dampen it ... but if vaccines aren't the way out, then ... meh.

Again, not true. There's so much we can do that we aren't. We've just decided (collectively in America) that it's not worth it. We're clearly at "acceptable death" levels right now and we all just chug along; it's gross. Let's see if the sentiment changes in the next 30 days.

i'm pretty sure the sentiment among anti-maskers is 'death is fine as long as as i'm not the one dying. or maybe my family. but anyone else? who cares!'

society of sociopaths.

[Kraken]

If we can't vaccine our way out of it there's little we can do. Vaccines are by far the easiest sell. Sure, we can dampen it ... but if vaccines aren't the way out, then ... meh.

Again, not true. There's so much we can do that we aren't. We've just decided (collectively in America) that it's not worth it. We're clearly at "acceptable death" levels right now and we all just chug along; it's gross. Let's see if the sentiment changes in the next 30 days.

Meanwhile, New Zealand locked down completely over one case.

New Zealand has announced a snap lockdown after a man tested positive for Covid, the first case in six months.

The case was detected in Auckland, which will be in lockdown for a week, while the rest of the country will be in lockdown for three days.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

My alma mater, everyone:

https://twitter.com/unc/status/1428089888843444228?s=21

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Heard from a friend in Atlanta tonight that his six year old tested positive after a huge outbreak at school. He said that at his wife’s work, 3/4 of the parents have a kid with Covid. And that’s in schools where masks are required.

[Skinypupy]

Insurance companies starting to make the move.

https://twitter.com/dustinpwalsh/status ... 7750265861

ICYMI: Michigan's largest insurers to stop free COVID-19 treatments for patients on Sept. 30. Those infected after that date will be subject to the usual 30% out of pocket costs. If you're hospitalized, that's upwards of $35K-$40K.
Vaccines remain free.

Hopefully this pushes some more people to get vaccinated, but really sucks for people with breakthrough cases or cases in kids who can't yet get vaccinated.

One of my vaccinated co-workers was supposed to teach a course today and called last night to let me know that she tested positive. Also found out that both my vaccinated neighbors across the street are positive as well. Just general flu-like symptoms for all, thankfully. There's at least a half-dozen of these breakthrough cases in just my immediate social circle. Kinda scary.