Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[jimmy olsen]

Proof that the fatality rate is over 00.5%

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1383750538966175745

Let this sink in—Peru's pandemic excess deaths is so high, it has lost ~1 in 200 residents. That's equivalent to ~1.5 mil US excess deaths - almost triple the US if same population size. And the deaths are further climbing. Excess deaths more reliable when testing low.

[jimmy olsen]

US crosses 65% fully or partially vaccinated. This is a good sign. We need at least 70% fully vaccinated to approach herd immunity and the more the better.
https://twitter.com/BNODesk/status/1383923632640913411

COVID-19 vaccinations in the U.S.:

(Partially) vaccinated:
▓▓▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░
39.75% (+0.53)

Fully vaccinated:
▓▓▓▓░░░░░░░░░░░
25.52% (+0.54)

Unfortunately India is not slowing down.
https://twitter.com/BNODesk/status/1383907010182189062

BNO Newsroom (@BNODesk)

More than 275,000 coronavirus cases were reported in India today, by far the biggest one-day increase on record

[jimmy olsen]

Actually, I think that BNO US vaccination stat is presented in a very counterintuitive way and you can't add the two stats together, so it's not nearly as good as I initially thought.

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/548609-cdc-30-percent-of-us-adults-fully-vaccinated-50-percent-have-received-at

[Tamas]

There should be a law against writing or saying "let this sink in"

[jimmy olsen]

There should be a law against writing or saying "let this sink in"

Why? It's a perfectly cromulent expression.

[Valmy]

It seems to imply one must internalize the conclusion of what was just said without first, you know, determine if it is a bullshit claim. At least that is why I don't like it much.

[Josquius]

Taking advantage of reduced restrictions on the weekend I saw some people including a doctor.
Interesting anti vax angle for him. He says he wouldn't recommend the vaccine to anyone under 40 with no health conditions as
1: the risks from corona vs. The risks from the vaccine are both tiny so it comes down to actively seeking something out vs just seeing if you get unlucky.
2: the vaccine is for strains which are already dying out and he doesn't have much confidence in how much they apply to new strains.

How's the evicence been on the vaccine reducing transmission?

I can believe Rwanda - it's a very efficient, pretty authoritarian country. It wouldn't surprise me if they've really been able to keep cases down and roll out vaccines successfully. I can also believe Laos given the numbers in Vietnam, China and Thailand.

Yes. If they can sort Kigali then the rest of the country is isolated enough that it should be alright.
I can believe they've managed to largely avoid it.

[Tamas]

As discussed before the only thing I'd be interested re. vaccines vs. new strains is: can vaccines overwhelmingly prevent hospitalisation even with new strains? If yes, then frankly we should not care if people are less protected against flu-level symptoms. The society-level impact of the pandemic, as I see it, is around pressure on the healthcare system.

[Maladict]

Not to scare Maladict, but my uncle tested negative twice while his condition steadily deteriorated showing typical symptoms. The third test his GP sent in to the hospital lab, that was positive, this was a day or two before he ended up in the hospital.

Yeah, my friend unfortunately has been increasingly unwell the fast few days, first symptoms appearing almost a week after testing positive.
I, on the other hand, have gone over 12 hours without symptoms now. Let's hope it lasts.

[Eddie Teach]

It seems to imply one must internalize the conclusion of what was just said without first, you know, determine if it is a bullshit claim. At least that is why I don't like it much.

I think you're reading that in.

[alfred russel]

Proof that the fatality rate is over 00.5%

https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1383750538966175745

Let this sink in—Peru's pandemic excess deaths is so high, it has lost ~1 in 200 residents. That's equivalent to ~1.5 mil US excess deaths - almost triple the US if same population size. And the deaths are further climbing. Excess deaths more reliable when testing low.

While the infected fatality rate likely is over 0.5%, this is clearly not proof of that.

[Tamas]

If any one of you continues to engage Dorsy in this endless "debate" I am really going to fly off the handle.

[Eddie Teach]

Well, he is technically right. Excess deaths could be caused by a variety of things.

[alfred russel]

I preface this by saying I know the USA has woeful testing numbers but am I reading that the fatality rate of reported cases is like 4.0%

Currently the US is 4.04%, however NYC has been having like two hundred excess deaths a day at home over the norm every day. So, yeah, it's probably artificially low.

[Sheilbh]

How's the evicence been on the vaccine reducing transmission?

Very, very good.

It's a bit like the 3 month delayed second dose. It wasn't looked at in the trials that much because the priority was getting vaccines that are safe and effective, but they are behaving like every other vaccine.

And I find the variant line a bit weird - the current vaccines are effective against the UK strain, the Brazilian strain (which is awful) and, from what I understand, the new strain in India. The only strain where there's a limited issue of vaccine escape is the South African.

Also any new vaccines that are being approved now will have been doing trials with lots of variants around - unlike Pfizer/AZ/Moderna which were first in and only dealt with the original strains.