Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Syt]

7 day incidience per 100k in Vienna, unvaccinated (yellow) vs vaccinated.

[Legbiter]

Most of the unvaccinated being diagnosed here are kids under 15 which haven't been jabbed. Middle aged and older unvaccinated adults are 5 times likelier to develop severe symptoms here compared to the vaccinated. The current wave would be a slaughter without our vaccination effort. Instead the last covid fatality here was back in May.

[Sheilbh]

Very promising signs from Israeli booster shot campaign which is being rolled out now - focusing on the elderly first.

Separately Delta seems to be really hitting some US states incredibly hard. I believe Florida's now at its pandemic peak of covid patients in hospital

Edit: Also Richard Fairbrass of Right Said Fred fame who's been a covid-sceptic and anti-vaxxer has been hospitalised with covid. He's still refusing the vaccine

Edit: And this from a Fox Orlando reporter seems very bad:

Dave Puglisi
@DavePuglisiTV
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and the Orlando Utilities Commission are addressing the media about a "unprecedented event" that they say needs immediate community assistance. More on the ask on @fox35orlando
The city of Orlando is asking residents to reduce water consumption IMMEDIATELY. Liquid oxygen used to treat water is being diverted to the hospitals to treat COVID patients. They believe if water consumption doesn't change, water treatment could hit a critical point in a week.
This would mean a possible boil water notice could be put in place. More at 5 on @fox35orlando
OUC says they normally get 10 truck deliveries a week of liquid oxygen. That has been cut to 5 to 7. They are asking people to limit use of irrigation, pressure washing and washing cars to start. They believe this could reduce consumption by 40%.

[mongers]

UK covid death 7-day average is a bit above 100 a day, isn't this a bit high as compared to similar large European countries? 

[The Brain]

Sweden's is something like 1 a day.

[mongers]

Also currently the combined American, Brazilian, Iranian and Russian daily death tolls account for about half of the official worldwide deaths. 

[Sheilbh]

UK covid death 7-day average is a bit above 100 a day, isn't this a bit high as compared to similar large European countries?

I'm not sure - there seems to be quite a big spread at the minute. UK is lower than France or Spain, but far higher than Benelux, Germany or Italy. Key difference seems to be that UK is flatlining (with a slow increase) at this rate, and has been for a while. France and Spain seem to be going through peaks at the minute (and Italy is rising too).

We're below the European average quite siginificantly but that is distorted by Russia which is having its worst fatality numbers in the entire pandemic and seems to be struggling with delta.

It's that weird thing that I think has been true of covid all the way through that on the one hand it is the same disease and we really should be learning from each other, but on the other hand national experience is so variable that it can be difficult to actually make easy read-acrosses.

[Eddie Teach]

Does the vaccine help when you've already got the disease?

[Sheilbh]

Does the vaccine help when you've already got the disease?

I seem to remember reading reports that it did in the early days - from memory, that it can help reduce the severity of the symptoms. But that was early days.

Edit: Oh and I think it definitely reduces risks around long covid.

[alfred russel]

Interesting, and thank you.

We're having discussions about how/ where/ whether to have family Christmas this year... with current developments it looks like we may take travelling off the table.

Picture taken from the gym last night for your benefit. I just feel like I'm in a different world. You guys talk about mask use in essential trips, but this gym opened back up in May 2020. Mask use stopped being required in April 2021.

That gym is in Fulton County, Georgia where Biden's margin over Trump approached 50%.

I was at a soccer game on Sunday and the crowd was packed into one end of the stadium with some sections having all seats filled...I'm going to the Braves/Yankees game next Tuesday which may be sold out (not quite there yet). Restaurant reservations are nearing pre pandemic levels and air travel is at about 80%. We're all probably going to get covid at  some point but it seems manageable if you've been vaccinated and I'm not sure why we should expect the situation to improve as time goes on.

[Jacob]

You don't have any unvaccinated children, do you?

[Jacob]

In other - probably unrelated news - it looks like Georgia is on the cusp of running out of ICU beds.

https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/with-georgias-icu-beds-full-rural-hospitals-say-they-have-nowhere-to-transfer-their-critical-patients

[Sheilbh]

Stadiums are fully re-opened here, as are pubs and restaurants and clubs etc.

There's no legal mask mandate but you have to wear one on public transport (at least in London) because that's TfL's policy and there are signs asking people to mask up in most, though not all, shops. I think the official guidance (but not rule) is now following the Japanese model of the three c's. This is about 18 months to late, but you should avoid closed settings (with poor ventilation), crowded settings (with many people around) and close-contact settings (especially with strangers) - and if you can't avoid then wear a mask. I think hospitality earnings are about 70-80% of pre-pandemic levels, at least in London - I was in a very busy restaurant earlier this week.

Basically I play it by ear. If there's signs or some rule or lots of people masking I will; if there's not, then normally I don't. Because I am a sheep

Although I do lateral flow test fairly regularly now.

[Razgovory]

In other - probably unrelated news - it looks like Georgia is on the cusp of running out of ICU beds.

https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/with-georgias-icu-beds-full-rural-hospitals-say-they-have-nowhere-to-transfer-their-critical-patients

Rural hospitals have been dying all across the country for years and Covid hasn't helped the situation.  It's so bad that mortality rates are increasing in rural areas.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/claryestes/2020/02/24/1-4-rural-hospitals-are-at-risk-of-closure-and-the-problem-is-getting-worse/?sh=6ecca0f21bc0

As of January 1, 2020, the rural hospital closure crisis has claimed 120 facilities across the nation over the past 10 years according to a recent study released by the Chartis Center for Rural Health. The rural hospital closures were tracked by the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina. The study found a sharp uptick in recent years in the number of rural hospital closures from 2017 (when rural hospital closures slowed somewhat to 10 total hospitals closing that year), to 2019, which proved to be the worst year for rural hospital closures, finding 19 hospitals closing their doors that year. With 60 million Americans living in rural communities (roughly 19.3% of the population) and access to healthcare in these regions already being a daily struggle, the study sheds light on an issue that requires rapid attention by policy makers, as well as local and state governments.

Across the US there are currently 1,844 rural hospitals, so the closure of 120 of them over 10 years (about 7%) is a substantial hit to the rural healthcare system, especially when the regions with the highest number of rural hospital closures are some of the nation's poorest and most vulnerable. According to the study, States in the Southeast and lower Great Plains (Midwest) bore the greatest brunt of the closure crisis with the highest number of rural hospital closures since 2010 being in; Texas (20), Tennessee (12), Oklahoma (7), Georgia (7), Alabama (6) and Missouri (6). Unfortunately, the trend for these regions does not seem to be abating. The study found that today, "453 rural hospitals (i.e. Critical Access Hospitals and Rural & Community Hospitals) are vulnerable to closure based on performance levels which are similar to rural hospitals at the time of their closure." And they are all similarly in the Southeast and Iower Great Plains Region.

But what are the factors contributing to these hospital closures? The study found one overwhelming factor that contributed to the increased risk of rural hospital closures, that "hospitals located in states that have not adopted Medicaid expansion have lower median operating margin and have a higher percentage of rural hospitals operating with a negative operating margin. Of the eight states with the highest levels of closures since 2010, none are Medicaid expansion states."

[DGuller]

Making people die for the sake of politics is nothing new in this country, it's just that Covid exaggerated everything.