[News] Coronavirus

A place to discuss the now-global coronavirus outbreak.

Well, we definitely don't want to let them into the Union and ruin them.

FDA strongly considers authorizing vaccine boosters for people as young as 40

Sounds good to me. Could happen sometime in November, says the article.

Bruce wrote:
Prederick wrote:

Oh Jesus, I am so sorry Australians that American right wingers have seized upon you as literally a dictatorship for handling COVID well.

On the other hand, you did give the world Rupert Murdoch, so six one.

We aren't the target audience of that message. Almost everyone here knows it is a lie and a tiny, very noisy minority are pointing at it to prove "TyRaNy!!"

We will push through 90% fully vaccinated here by the end of the year. The combination of carrots and sticks are helping get through.

EDIT: I genuinely did not know the extent to which American conservatives are going with this.

(She's quite clearly using this to make some other point about the libs or Afghanistan or whatever, but nevertheless, their continued screaming of this lie is truly impressive.)

Got my booster! Hopefully i don't have side effects, but either way - yay!

Just such utterly pointless, vacuous virtue (or in this case, vice)-signaling.

I could not make up a petulant SJW stereotype better than this.

Prederick wrote:

Just such utterly pointless, vacuous virtue (or in this case, vice)-signaling.

I could not make up a petulant SJW stereotype better than this.

He apparently trusted medical experts when they were curing him of cancer.

Heck, he even made sure to fudge his employment status so he could continue getting medical benefits while fighting against Obamacare.

San Antonio Express News wrote:

In August 2011, during the week of his 39th birthday, Roy was diagnosed with Stage 3 Hodgkin’s lymphoma. His daughter Virginia and son Charlie were four and 22 months old at the time.

During the campaign, Roy has said his battle with cancer showed him why “health-care freedom” is essential. In particular, the complexity of his experience demonstrated “how truly convoluted our system is.”

“One billing cycle it would be really astronomically expensive. Another billing cycle it would be less. And you couldn't figure out who was getting charged for what,” Roy said. “I have three degrees. I was a banker. I looked at spreadsheet models. I was a lawyer. And I couldn't easily figure it out.”

Roy’s views on health care further solidified under Cruz. He was leading Cruz’s office when the senator took to the floor for his lengthy speech against Obamacare. In September 2014, Roy left Cruz’s office to take on a role within his political operation as Cruz geared up to run for president, though the move was brief: After Paxton’s 2014 election, Roy became first assistant AG.

...

Roy departed Paxton’s office in 2016 to support Cruz’s presidential bid by heading the Trusted Leadership PAC, which was formed to bring the splintered layout of Cruz-supporting PACs under one umbrella.

But the terms of Roy’s resignation led to controversy: Media reports showed Roy had remained on Paxton’s payroll for about a month after leaving. Roy maintains that he never took any state pay beyond the vacation and compensatory time he had accrued, nor received pay from the PAC while he remained on state payroll.

But Roy’s resignation included an option to receive leave even after his vacation and holiday time expired, allowing him to continue receiving health benefits for his cancer battle. Moving to the PAC was “a leap of faith,” Roy said, because he was losing his benefits. He fully resigned the day after a Dallas Morning News story, citing a positive report from his oncologist.

OG always bringing the links and analysis up in here.

Just plumbing the depths of Republican hypocrisy and shamelessness...

Please tell me your day job's more entertaining.

You would never run out of stuff to with that job at least.

Rat Boy wrote:

Please tell me your day job's more entertaining.

His day job is professional lying, so he comes here to drop truth bombs and balance the scales.

Has anyone found a definitive, authoritative source on rules for Covid boosters? The lists of "certain medical conditions" includes pretty expansive definitions of things, like, "mental health conditions"? Isn't that, like, every person with some semblance of an introspective lens?

Here's the breakdowns of US folks that meet one of the most common (?) criteria (leaving out stuff like "immuno-compromised" which seems to be things like cancer survivor):

- 25+ BMI: 73% of US adults
- Mental health condition: 26% of US adults
- Drug abuse (incl alcohol and tobacco): 65% of US adults

So, to NOT qualify for a booster, you need to be one of the 3-in-4 that have no mental health condition, of those, you need to be 27 of 100 who has a BMI 24.9 or less, and then you need to be 35 of 100 who has never abused drugs.

By my math (please correct!), any one rando is .27*.74*.35 = 6.993% won't have ANY of the above. Or, 93 in 100 should go ahead and get a booster?

If you want a Covid booster in the US and it's been over two months for J&J recipients or six (?) for the others then you can get one pretty much no questions asked.

Whew, Idaho hit 80% positivity this week, which really says "we've got lots of transmission and not nearly enough tests", but even so, I haven't seen a number that high since the very beginning of this whole mess.

Iowa, land of perpetual covid with never enough tests, topped out at 60% so 80% is special. Grats, Idaho!

All you have to say is "I have allergic asthma" or "I'm obese". They don't question you or ask for a note, at least at Walgreens. They just nod and say "Can I see your vax card, please?".

The whole idea is to use Executive Privilege to make it super easy to get the shot without having Congress pass a law mandating it. It's literally a political maneuver that you can benefit from.

Yeah the only question we're having is do we get j&J again or one of the others?

Wife and I both got that in April

In a nutshell, CDC allows you to choose. Myself, I'd go with Moderna if I had J&J, to get the max benefit from the two different technologies. However, Moderna has more side effects than Pfizer (because it's got more protective bits to activate, as I understand it), so if that's your worry, Pfizer has your back.

Pfizer is like the workhorse, combining old and new technologies, Moderna is the cutting edge, and J&J took the tried and true old school approach.

Stele wrote:

Yeah the only question we're having is do we get j&J again or one of the others?

Wife and I both got that in April

Mixing seems a good idea since they're slightly different vaccines. While they both involve the spike proteins I believe they're different proteins involved.

I could be wrong, but regardless the mixing seems to confer better results.

Especially for J&J users.

I thought the initial J&J reports talked about a booster upping the protection into the 90s %. And it doesn't seem to have protection dropoff like the other 2. So with the J&J boost you might be done with boosters for a few years unless the thing mutates crazy. I don't know

Here in KC, i just waltzed in and got the booster - didn't have to prove eligibility or anything.

Robear wrote:

Especially for J&J users.

I am a J&J guy (not by choice, it was first available) and I’m signed up for a Moderna booster.

I want to collect them all and get a Voltron of healthy antibodies.

I mean, the CDC page lists "smoking, current or former" as a valid condition, so if you've ever had a cigarette in your life, you're good to go for the booster...

It isn't so much about eligibility, but rather is it necessary. If that list does not apply to you, getting a booster won't hurt, but it won't really help as well, at least not yet.

If you are past six months since your initial shots, then it will jack your immunity back to at least the original levels.

What booster is best paired with Moderna vaccine?

Some Fava beans and a fine Chianti, I believe.

Robear wrote:

If you are past six months since your initial shots, then it will jack your immunity back to at least the original levels.

Do we have any firm numbers yet of the difference though? What % am I jacking it up?

I got my seasonal flu shot yesterday. I'm not sure if a booster covid-19 shot would of overall been better for my and other people's safety or the seasonal shot.

Not like I have the option up here in Canada anyways but ya.

jowner wrote:

Do we have any firm numbers yet of the difference though? What % am I jacking it up?

IMAGE(https://c.tenor.com/XjhmqS6mO68AAAAC/laugh-trying.gif)

H.P. Lovesauce wrote:

What booster is best paired with Moderna vaccine?

I think it’s suggested that you get a Pfizer booster in that case. If you got two jabs of Pfizer the suggestion is for Moderna as your booster.

I take two jabs in the morning. I take two jabs at night…