Just the Facts, the Crown virus.

[doc henderson]

there are deaths being investigated in proximity to getting the vaccine.  the most notable is a 56 y/o doc who got thrombocytopenia 2 weeks after getting it.  No evidence so far that it caused it, but even if it did,  numbers are much better with the vaccine so far, than the disease.  our overweight Hispanic diabetics are hit hard.  we are seeing the thrombotic issues in those know to have covid a month or so before, and many of these are dying.  When people code with covid complications, they are not as likely to be successfully revived.  Many at risk folks survive, but when dead, they are very dead.  Your immunity from the vaccine takes time, just like if you had the virus, and increases over days and weeks.  

[WDH]

My wife and I cannot get through to the Health Department to schedule the vaccination.  We have called the number we are supposed to call to schedule hundreds of times.  Busy.  System overloaded.  This morning I called 110 straight times, back to back, nope.  Busy, busy, busy. Process is dysfunctional here.  

[Stephen1]

Thats interesting about the mask - unmask studies, Can you send me a link to those studies. 

I live in rural small town area. We are not exposed to a lot of people so I do not have quite the fear. 
We have been placed under emergency lockdown as of midnight tonight for the whole province of Ontario. this is ludicris, Ontario is as larger or larger than Texas. It take 30 hrs to drive through this province. The cases are in the large urban city areas and so they should lock down. 

[Sedgehammer]

most allergic reactions are mild, and similar to any vaccine.  I have not heard of anyone dying from the vaccine since rolled out.  I will look.  The test rate is up, due to docs and patients knowing well now the symptoms and only test if almost sure they have the disease.  that is why the % is up, and total testing is down.  also mask use tends to be mandated in high prevalence areas and higher populated areas.  many have viral type symptoms, but this is a positive sign the vaccine is inducing the immune system.  also just because masks are mandated, does not people comply or wear the mask correctly.  I have worked 8 inches from the face of positive folks replacing their breathing tubes, and at high risk.  I still have not got covid, and happy to have the vaccine.  when enough have had it or had the vaccine, then the numbers will drop off, and not until.  We are seeing almost no influenza so far this year, and we think that is due to mitigation including masks.  usually get hit with it in November.  out 4 point test, tests for covid, both influenzas and RSV.

The vast, vast, vast majority of masks are not the 95 or 100's that you are most likely wearing. I've said those work all along. Plus you know how to wear it. A cloth mask that blows it out all around the mask doesn't do a darn thing. My wife wears a 95 and that's prolly why my wife hasn't gotten it yet either most likely, although there are families where one gets sick and the rest show no symptoms but test positive and some don't test positive, don't get it and don't have antibodies. Mask compliance is 90%+ in mask mandated counties. I think around 95%, so non compliance isn't the issue.

We live in Oklahoma county. Most populated county. Hospitals are stressed, but not so much because of no room. Mostly because of staffing and many nurses and related have left for the lock down states where the out breaks are the worse for some reason. The other reason is the covid unemployment that techs can make the same amount sitting at home, why work.

On the deaths, yes, many more due to covid than the vaccine and if I was over 65 or had any comorbidities, I'd be getting jabbed. Of those, correct, can't say for sure it was, but they had no issues, than passed within a short time. That's world wide, not in US alone.
Agreed on the influenza. Mitigating helps, unsure what ones are, but if somethings not helping for covid, it is doubtful it helps for the flu.  

[nativewolf]

Thats interesting about the mask - unmask studies, Can you send me a link to those studies.

I live in rural small town area. We are not exposed to a lot of people so I do not have quite the fear.
We have been placed under emergency lockdown as of midnight tonight for the whole province of Ontario. this is ludicris, Ontario is as larger or larger than Texas. It take 30 hrs to drive through this province. The cases are in the large urban city areas and so they should lock down.

masks studies show that if implementing masks fully and completely across a country than you can irradicate covid.  Half measures and doing so belatedly only show lesser success and much delayed.  Sweeden vs Scandinavia and New Zealand vs USA would be the studies to look for.

Sorry to hear about the lockdown, locking down Ontario without locking down other provinces is not going to help, I would guess.  Too late, half measures.  New Zealand did it right and @Ianab has posted regularly on the topic and posted using facts, not rumors.  

Hand washing face masks and distancing helps.  No if and or buts about it.  Doing so half heartedly and late doesn't help as much as it could have.  

[Texas Ranger]

Wife and I and a good dozen friends have had the first shot.  Three days ago for us, and no side effects other than the normal injection discomfort.  All of us over 70, I don't have any facts about the virus, other than our county (Polk) has about twice the state rate of infection, about the same for USA infections, and not quite double the world infections.  We are an older retirement community with a lot of folks out of the oil/chemical patch with underlying heart and lung issues.  .00126 percent of the county populations have died from covid.  .027 death rate for those known to have had covid.  .015 for the state rate.

Don't know what all this has to do with the price of eggs, but darn happy to have had the first shot, and 4 weeks to the next one.

[Sedgehammer]

Thats interesting about the mask - unmask studies, Can you send me a link to those studies.

I live in rural small town area. We are not exposed to a lot of people so I do not have quite the fear.
We have been placed under emergency lockdown as of midnight tonight for the whole province of Ontario. this is ludicris, Ontario is as larger or larger than Texas. It take 30 hrs to drive through this province. The cases are in the large urban city areas and so they should lock down.

sure. They even break it down within states with counties that have mask mandates right next to counties that do not have mandates and this shows that masks make it worse. you can go to their website and read how they did it and you can make your own conclusions. there's also a study from finland i think that shows cloth type masks don't help. i've posted a picture before that shows what happens with clothe masks. it just go around the mask as they don't fit tight. 95s and 100s properly fitted most likely do help and prolly help a lot

[Sedgehammer]

Thats interesting about the mask - unmask studies, Can you send me a link to those studies.

I live in rural small town area. We are not exposed to a lot of people so I do not have quite the fear.
We have been placed under emergency lockdown as of midnight tonight for the whole province of Ontario. this is ludicris, Ontario is as larger or larger than Texas. It take 30 hrs to drive through this province. The cases are in the large urban city areas and so they should lock down.

masks studies show that if implementing masks fully and completely across a country than you can irradicate covid.  Half measures and doing so belatedly only show lesser success and much delayed.  Sweeden vs Scandinavia and New Zealand vs USA would be the studies to look for.

Sorry to hear about the lockdown, locking down Ontario without locking down other provinces is not going to help, I would guess.  Too late, half measures.  New Zealand did it right and @Ianab has posted regularly on the topic and posted using facts, not rumors.  

Hand washing face masks and distancing helps.  No if and or buts about it.  Doing so half heartedly and late doesn't help as much as it could have.  

No, sorry they probably don't. quarantine of the infected and limiting or stopping people from coming in and being an isolated island can and do help though. california and new york are locked down and have the strictest mask mandates since this started and have the worst outbreaks. go figure.

[Larry]

Our governor announced yesterday at noon 1B (over 70) shots would start this coming Monday.  He said get on a list at your local pharmacy.

At 2:00 I called three.  On hold forever at the first.  The second two the phone was answered on the second ring by a real person.  Got on the list at both.  I suspect its going to be a long time before they call back and tell me to come for the shot.  Hope I'm wrong.

Since the word is out I bet its impossible to get through on the phone today.

[Ljohnsaw]

Our Governor Newsom (Nuisance, Needsome... nephew of Palosi) lives in Sacramento County that has a ICU bed availability of ~9%.  Being less than 15%, the county is on lock down meaning no inside or outside dining, no hair or nail salons, etc.  Yesterday, around noon, he announced that Sac county is out of lock down because the trend line is predicting the ICU % to increase above the lock down threshold.  Heath officials are stunned. :

[Sedgehammer]

Our Governor Newsom (Nuisance, Needsome... nephew of Palosi) lives in Sacramento County that has a ICU bed availability of ~9%.  Being less than 15%, the county is on lock down meaning no inside or outside dining, no hair or nail salons, etc.  Yesterday, around noon, he announced that Sac county is out of lock down because the trend line is predicting the ICU % to increase above the lock down threshold.  Heath officials are stunned. :

it prolly has to do with who/what is happening next week in dc. i see new yorks terrible leader said that they needed to end the lockdowns all of a sudden or they wouldn't have an economy...... gee, ya think. 

the cdc also said they will reduce the replication threshold rate on the nCov testing, which will dramatically lower the number of false positives. this will create the narrative that somebody was able to dramatically lower the positive rate. i'll not say who.

[doc henderson]

hard to know but I think the increased covid rates are causing the mandates, and not masks increasing covid.  Mostly every minute at work I wear a pleated mask with the two elastic strings.  I also wash or sanitize in and out of rooms, socially distance when i can, (while eating and no mask on).  I escalate up to an N95 or papre as "needed" when someone is really sick, and needs an airway.  with the near absent Influenza, the masks are helping.  and even though we have a mask mandate, nearly half of the Walmart shoppers are without one.  mid-west folk somehow think it is a constitutional right not to wear one.  I think even the homemade cloth masks are deflecting a cough better than the proverbial elbow, and at least the virus is not a "jet stream"!  i hope there is light around the corner, and this will just be a memory soon.

[Sedgehammer]

you might be right doc, but the numbers don't show that. those location have had the hardest lock downs and hardest mask mandates, yet they have the largest outbreaks. area's that are open are fairing much better.

like i said bars are open and no masks required. we're open everywhere and some reason we're only at a .7% increase yesterday and around a 1 usually.

yes, deflection is helped, but it's the aerosols that are the issue. large particles drop almost immediately. aerosols stay suspended for hours and no mask save the 95 or 100 stops them.

yes agreed, this has not been very fun or nice for many

[Bandmill Bandit]

This observation is by no means a scientific study But it probably should be done as a study.

What I notice locally is that the mask wearers pretty much ignore social distancing rules and I don't think it is an intentional disregard for the rules, but rises out of a false sense of security BECAUSE they are wearing a mask.

I know I work hard to do both as my wife works in the medical industry as  general  administrator/manager at the larger of the 2 clinics in town and is also largely responsible for running the walk-in as well.

When I am out and about out of necessity, I do wear a mask even though I hate it. AND I notice that people wearing masks (everybody right now by public mandate) will pretty much ignore the 6' distance markers/regulation untill I stop and backup and then they will back off a bit and apologize (mostly).

I think a bit of public awareness information/training may be in order to override the false sense of security it seems wearing a mask is passively causing.      

[pineywoods]

I signed up for the after-shot follow-up. here's how it works. Use your smartphone to connect to the cdc link. It will ask only for 3 things 1-the manufacturer of the vaccine. 2 your first name 3-the phone number of your phone. Then, on a daily basis, you will get a text message from cdc asking if you have any underlying conditions or  side effects and if so a brief description. A none reply for several days will cease the inquires. This info is entered into a side effects database used to analyze possible side effects. There are several known side effects, mostly quite mild and short lived. I had a mild chill on the second day, lasted about an hour. I was interested because I have a nasty reaction to flu shots and I had recently gotten one.

[Jeff]

Sedgehammer ill tell you publicly now. You were previously suspended for the way you interact in theses type of topics. You only have one forum life left. I'd suggest living it very long and wisely by staying out of this topic. Just a suggestion.

[firefighter ontheside]

And just like that I have an appointment tomorrow at 12:45 for my first dose of vaccine.

[petefrom bearswamp]

Been on 3 sites here and no appts available right now.
A friend and his wife got them right away.
I tried Monday the 11th and none available, but kicked me over to another site that said one available on Jan 18th
I was really happy until I looked closely and it was January 18th 2022.
For crying out loud I may be dead of old age (or Covid)by then.

[Andries]

Pete, I only met you once, at Jake's place.
I'll bet you're good for another coupla decades.
Keep your stick on the ice and your eye on the puck. . . . you'll be good!  😆

[Nebraska]

Just an update, no issues from the vaccine so far except for minor soreness at the injection site.  Sorry to hear about the issues others have had so far. @firefighter ontheside Glad you are getting vaccinated.

[Don P]

My folks, in their mid 80's, reported the same, minor soreness at the injection site but no problems. Hopefully my wife can get on the 1b list in a couple of weeks.

[firefighter ontheside]

Well, one dose is on board.  So far a tiny bit of soreness in my shoulder, as with any vaccine shot.  Next dose is scheduled for Feb. 2.  Groundhog day....not sure if thats a good thing or a bad thing.

[kantuckid]

I'll let them shoot my left shoulder-might lubricate the titanium cable and screws in there? 
My wife who is apparently less known to our vaccine giver, called our local health dept today to be told "we don't know anything about covid vaccinations". 
In other counties in this same state that's who's giving the shots! :

[firefighter ontheside]

Dad called me and said he was told the VA is vaccinating vets 75 and older.  He said he tried calling the VA hospital in Stl but got nowhere.  He has never used the VA for any medical care and is not registered.  I doubt he's gonna get anywhere, especially in the next few weeks before vaccine is available at the health dept.  I have a friend who works there who's checking on things for me.  It sure would be nice to get him in there though.

[kantuckid]

The same dental college I go to, same student group, also services the VA center located right behind the building I walk into on U of KY campus. Once in awhile a student is a vet and they'll also be using the same GI money some of us used for school and they get assigned to the VA place more often.  I prefer going there at the college directly as the specialists are all there for a consult. You just change floors and no fed guvment hassles. Our income from teacher retirement affects VA services for me so I take my KY teacher retirement medicare (provided with our Medicare at no cost) supplemental where ever I choose, small co-payments, etc.. Of course with dental zero insurance as for most folks.