Just the Facts, the Crown virus.

[SwampDonkey]

Just tail more boards kantuckid. :D :D

[kantuckid]

My tractors still dead (after nearly 2 months! so no FEL, logs laying in the woods, sawmill lonely, cabin project lonely) and 4 young grand daughters been here lately so keeping them entertained mostly. One of them likes the shop and I've helped her make over 3 dozen bread and cutting boards. She sells them to her Mom's teaching buddies at school. She sold over $200 worth of trivets we made in an earlier visit.  
 This is panning out to be the first year since the 1970's that we didn't have a big garden. I can't finish it w/o my tractor and cannot find anyone to pay to come up and harrow & till it with my equipment. So, we are stuck on ~ 40 maters plants and some peppers this year in our raised bed in front of the house. 
My wife was hoeing and dug into a large copperhead few days ago. it sort of went away then she called me. I found it coiled about 8" deep beside a mater plant. Looked like it had just molted as big and shiny. I don't bother the poisonous snakes in the woods but kill the ones beside the house & yard. 

We both eat meat but sparingly. I'll buy a marked down steak @ wally and cut into strips for fajitas and we'll get 4 meals from it. A roast same thing-only when we have company. When I smoke pork on the grill I pull it all then bag & freeze for one sandwich apiece per meal now & then. Neither of us is fat and we don't avoid exercise. Living on land as we do is sure not for lazy folks. 
 Covid has curtailed our mtn biking though! In Sept we'll head out again for the first time our RV trailer been out in a long time- probably to Medicine Bow NF area & the Front range in CO, then Indian Boundary CG in TN mtns, off Cherahola Skyway with kids in October, then AZ next winter as FL is impossible to get into a campsite.
 Busy but not in the woods for now. Health is a precious thing, covid or not and my wellness visit was unremarkable recently, knock on wood.  ;D
 
 

[Hilltop366]

Nova Scotia is just getting over the third wave now, most cases were in the capital area (Halifax 200 miles from me), my area health region (extends about 80 miles in each direction from me) is up to 15 known cases since covid19 began. Once again being at the end of no where has its advantages.  

Stats reported today.

They say there were 3,902 cases from March 15 to June 1, of those:
24 (0.6 per cent) were fully vaccinated
187 (4.8 per cent) were partially vaccinated
3,691 (94.6 per cent) were unvaccinated
242 people hospitalized, of those:
2 (0.8 per cent) were fully vaccinated
26 (10.7 per cent) were partially vaccinated
214 (88.4 per cent) were unvaccinated
19 people have died, of those:
1 (5.3 per cent) was fully vaccinated
2 (10.5 per cent) were partially vaccinated
16 (84.2 per cent) were unvaccinated

[Larry]

If you do not die of heart disease, copd, or diabetes in your 60s, you will prob. get cancer in your 80s.  enjoy!

At 72 I'm in the sweet spot.  So, I suppose no limit on ice cream and chocolate syrup snacks at night.  Bacon double cheeseburgers no problem!  I'm stocking up on the good stuff my stuffy old doctor says I can't eat!!!!

It's amazing to me that people can be bribed to get a shot by such small things as free beer.

[kantuckid]

Free beer- I'm remembering that ad- "I'd walk a mile for a Camel". People being people do some seriously stupid stuff. I just read about the spokes lady/nurse's comments fore a hospital staff that says they are unwilling to be guinea pigs for the vaccine. I thought those who were in the trials and now the millions who got the shots since then are the real test? Figures above by hilltop366 hold up that notion, don't they? 
I /we got the shots to go on living and make for a safe world too. I sure didn't feel "used" by getting the shots? 

[Texas Ranger]

Our county has some 60,000 souls and a daily drive thru population using our community as a resting area of unknown numbers.  We have a seven day average of 3 new cases of the virus, and a seven day average of 0 for deaths.  We were in the upper tier of counties for a long while due to our aging population (retirement from oil and gas industry) but now see a slow down in cases.  We are also one of the areas where there is a "hell no I'm not being vaccinated" attitude, only some 30% of population has been vaccinated.

[doc henderson]

we are seeing a slight up-tic in younger folks here as the mask mandate is lifted.

[firefighter ontheside]

we are seeing a slight up-tic in younger folks here as the mask mandate is lifted.

No doubt.  They are out "proving" their point.

[doc henderson]

@Hilltop366 I do not have any first or second hand info on NS.  fully vaccinated here is 2 weeks after the final dose.  I have seen cases after the first dose and even soon after the second dose.  i.e. were prob. exposed and incubating before the final dose.  You can get it after vaccination, but you should not be nearly as sick, many are asymptomatic and only known through testing. and far less likely to die.  some folks are near death or have tons of comorbid factors, and die in proximity to the disease.  Long term effects cannot be know as we have only had the vaccine for less than a year.  i got my first dose Dec. 16 of 2020.  No vaccine is 100% effective and without risk.  I do think a there are as of yet, unknown or unproven side effects.  It might make sense that the immune response to the vaccine could mimic those of the disease.  If you die from covid, you will have no further side effects.     

[kantuckid]

When I told my allergy doc of my 2nd shots strong reaction (I was fishing for a reaction so mentioned it) she said that was a positive as it signified that my immune system was operating well. 

[Old saw fixer]

     I guess my system isn't working very well, as I had no side effects worth griping about. 

[Chuck White]

Not much going on, on this thread, now!

Things must be improving, I see a lot of places are opening up!

[Ljohnsaw]

Yep!  Going so well, that on Tuesday, June 15th, the Governor is lifting the Mask Mandate, the Stay at Home Order (we still had that in effect?) and a few other restrictions.

[Andries]

For the last month or more, Southern Manitoba was the NorthAmerican hotspot for Covid. We're starting to turn the corner now, the R number is decreasing, but ICU's are still showing near capacity numbers.
Our political leaders are now, finally, connecting personal restriction limits to positivity rates and medical capacity. 
It feels good to be more relaxed and personable around people now.

[kantuckid]

We shopped in Meijer the other day and they have this guy posted at the door where the greeter would normally stand. He's got a name tag on and appears to be a nurse type of person in waiting for something. He has a grocery cart with what must be some medical setup that's covered by cloth in an obvious attempt to not call attention to it. My best guess is he takes a hard look at us as we walk in for signs of whatever? Sort of weird IMO?

Meanwhile, in spite of our state being open to whatever activity I see lots of mask people shopping and working in restaurants. Our local clinic still requires masking, stores have signs stating no mask if you've been vaccinated.
 
I took a brief look/see at the NYT's global list of vaccinations around the world. Many non-3rd world countries lag on the shot. World travel remains an issue. Back to my honey do list...

[sawguy21]

Our rules are starting to relax. Starting tomorrow we can have 50 people at an indoor gathering and travel restrictions  are lifted. Unecessary inter province travel is still being discouraged.
The hospitality industry which has taken a real beating is poised to reopen but there is a severe staffing issue. People seem reluctant to change their routines and there are subsidy programs that are meeting their needs, easier to spend summer at the beach. They also don't want to come back to short term minimum wage jobs. There is one restaurant left in this town of 3,000, two if you want vegan/vegetarian.

[doc henderson]

eventually everyone will need to be immune, either from the disease or immunization.  we will have to see how long the immunity will last, and it may be different from the dx. or shot.  may need both for longer immunity.  then if it mutates enough, may need ongoing immunization.  we will see, but are in a better place for now.

[Stephen1]

What are the facts that if immunized, you can be still get C19 ?, not as severe an illness but now you are  asymptymatic and a spreader?

[doc henderson]

less symptomatic, and also less contagious as the virus gets shut down early before the numbers get too high.  viral load is what makes a person more contagious, and the bigger the dose, the more likely the next person will get it.  so if everyone was immunized, it may shut down completely, like small pox.  the concern is for mutation, and if it will require a different shot each year like influenzae.  It is hard to know the numbers, as people who are asymptomatic, will not be tested, so would require a dedicated study.  so far seems like your chance of dying goes down.  lots of talk about if it leaked and medications that have been around for year that might help if given early on.  we will know so much in 10 years, and hopefully the average joe will no longer care, if it is contained.

[kantuckid]

In respect to some of the non-vaccinators concerns-when is an FDA full approval forthcoming? 

When will studies fully resolve the covid vaccination of our youth? 

Here in KY I just read an article stating that nursing home staff vaccination rates run from less than 1 in 5, up to 44% average statewide. The admins say they are understaffed as is and afraid they'll run off their help if they mandate the shot, meanwhile the Lou, KY hospital staff was denied their suit to not be forced to get the shot recently. I am aware that many nursing home staff are among the working poor and also often have low education levels.
 I gave/administered the nurses aid written test at my school for many years. It was done fairly often due to very high turnover and more than a few times I gave that test orally to non-readers.   
How can our public ever reach immunization levels that make things safer for us all? My concern is based on seasonal flu vaccination rates that are exactly the same as what's now the covid vaccination rate. There was a time when younger that I didn't bother with the seasonal flu vaccination-maybe around my late 40's did I make it a regular thing. FWIW, in 1964 the US Army forced the seasonal flu vaccinations on us @ Ft Leonard Wood, MO.

[doc henderson]

the solution is the non vax folks will get the disease.  either way we will get to a critical mass and get things back to "normal"  I hope.  remember, normal is what you are used to.  10 years of covid, and it will be the new normal.

[kantuckid]

"Normal" as seen lately and in myriad ways beyond covid, is not the "normal" in my minds eye... :D watch what you wish for huh?

[Claybraker]

Not sure what the vaccination rate among nursing home staff is here in Georgia. I prefer calling them LTC facilities, assisted living facilities. Most of the ones I've been in might have a nurse on duty, the rest of the staff has CPR qualifications, maybe. Green card that will stand up to more than a cursory inspection, no. I've had both Pfizer shots, and they've applied for full approval. In my brief but honorable service according to my DD 214 I can't remember being asked if I was willing to be vaccinated.

When I think of the new normal I remember what happened to recreational sex in the 80's when things that penicillin couldn't cure emerged.
 Still popular, just different.

[peakbagger]

With the Delta variation running around folks have a choice on lotteries, get a vaccination and win a prize, or dont and get Covid. Either way if they survive the Covid they will have immunity its just the added risk of death on Long Coivd with not getting the shot. 

No vaccine is 100% effective, I think the Pfizers are 95% so that means vaccinated folks have a 1 in 20 chance of catching it but odds are they will have mild case of it. There have been articles that some folks on immunosuppressant drugs for things like Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and Crohns may get it despite the vaccine as the drugs mess with the immune response which is what the vaccines are designed to crank up. A friend who takes those was told he may need a booster shot after some period of time off the other drugs. 

[Chuck White]

I've been thinking along the same lines as Claybraker, wondering if the military personnel have a choice!

When I was in, when it came Flu Shot time, if you refused to get the vaccine you were told "If you get the Flu and are to sick for duty, you were put on Leave status or you were on Bad Time", which you had to make up for!