Is it bad there??

[QuarterMillionMan]

https://www.latimes.com/

1) LA will not reopen schools on Jan 11
2) LA is becoming the next NY.

[ua_guy]

So there is a new strain of covid in England that transmits 70% easier than the current strain.
Exactly what does that mean?
Is this new strain immune to the vaccines being rolled out?

Based on my reading about the subject, there are already thousands of mutations of the covid-19 virus. The one in Britain is notable because it appears much more transmissible than other strains.

I am not an immunologist but have pieced together reading and conversations about the subject to understand the gist in conversational format......people who know more, feel free to fact-check me.

Antibodies generated by immune system's vaccine response bind to surface proteins on the virus. Virus mutations are in reference to these surface proteins and how much they change. Viruses mutate at different speeds. Measles is a virus where surface proteins don't really mutate over time, which is the vaccine has been so successful in eliminating new cases. The flu is an example where they mutate rapidly, and vaccines have a harder time keeping up, i.e. a new vaccine cocktail every year. Covid-19 is believed to be somewhere in-between, does not mutate as fast as the flu. The theory is not enough of the surface proteins have mutated on any strain of covid-19 yet to render a vaccine ineffective. The current covid vaccines produce response to many different surface proteins, so if a few have mutated, there are still known others to which the antibodies can bind. I think it's understood that the vaccine will have to evolve over time.

The current speculation and response is yes, the current vaccine will still have high efficacy against this new strain. Best estimate I've read on any confirmation of this is still a few weeks out.

Slightly off-subject, but I've been wondering about the current estimates of pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic transmission. I think it was the CDC who last reported they estimate asymptomatic transmission to occur in around 40% of infections. Was curious if that number was more recently found to be higher or lower.

[disneysteve]

My hospital is up to 273 COVID inpatients as of yesterday, the highest ever. I'm sure it will continue to climb due to all of the people ignoring the rules over the Christmas holiday. I've heard so many patients - and coworkers - talking about who they will be spending Christmas with. I just want to smack them all, especially the employees.

PLEASE STAY HOME!

[mumof2]

My hospital is up to 273 COVID inpatients as of yesterday, the highest ever. I'm sure it will continue to climb due to all of the people ignoring the rules over the Christmas holiday. I've heard so many patients - and coworkers - talking about who they will be spending Christmas with. I just want to smack them all, especially the employees.

PLEASE STAY HOME!

That sucks...wish people would just learn to do the right thing, I know so many nurses over there that are so exhausted and sick of seeing deaths...their mental, physical and emotional stress is real...they just want to give up and walk away from all the stupid...but they won't...hope things start slowing down for you guys..probably not but fingers crossed

[disneysteve]

That sucks...wish people would just learn to do the right thing

Unfortunately, it just isn't going to happen. Far too many people simply don't care or think the rules don't apply to them or think they are being "careful" so it's okay or "we have a bubble" which is BS.

People are going to do what they want to do and damn the consequences. It's particularly frustrating when it comes from people in healthcare who are fully aware of the consequences and see people every day who didn't follow the rules.

[QuarterMillionMan]

LA highest 145 deaths yesterday.

https://abc7.com/health/la-county-reports-highest-daily-covid-19-deaths-figure/9012989/

[QuarterMillionMan]

Politician setting an example getting the vaccine or cutting in line? This article talks about it here.

https://fox4kc.com/news/politicians-and-covid-19-vaccines-setting-an-example-or-cutting-in-line/

[disneysteve]

Politician setting an example getting the vaccine or cutting in line? This article talks about it here.
https://fox4kc.com/news/politicians-...tting-in-line/

I suspect this will be a case study for ethics classes for years to come. When are you setting an example and when are you just protecting your own butt?

I've gotten into a few discussions about this over the past week and I'm still not 100% sure what I think.

Everybody needs to be vaccinated. If millions of people refuse to do so, it's just not going to work. Also, certain groups like Blacks and Latinos are at higher risk but simultaneously more skeptical of the vaccine. We need role models that people trust and respect to step up and show themselves getting vaccinated, whether that be a member of Congress or a professional athlete or a rap singer or a movie star. Even if those individuals aren't high risk for any reason, messaging is important.

With both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines now available, there's a pretty good supply. In fact, the amount of vaccine available doesn't seem to be the limiting factor. The bigger problem is that we simply don't have the infrastructure in place to vaccinate 300 million people in a timely manner. I heard yesterday that Walgreens is looking to hire 9,000 pharmacists and techs to administer vaccines. That's a huge number, and that's just one company. CVS is similarly looking to hire 10,000. Kaiser is looking for 1,000. Our county is having a huge hiring spree to staff the upcoming vaccination sites. I'm sure counties across the country are doing the same.

So should someone like Marco Rubio be vaccinated ahead of someone like my 90-year-old mother with diabetes? Honestly, probably so. He is a national leader (regardless of what I may think of his politics). Yes, he has consistently ignored the seriousness of the pandemic. Yes, he has refused to wear a mask and has attended many superspreader events. But at the same time, that can really be seen as more of a reason for him to get the vaccine. He's much more likely to catch and transmit the disease than my mother who has barely left her apartment since March. She's at higher risk of complications if she catches it, but he's far more likely to get it. And, he is Cuban American and represents a demographic that may need some extra encouragement.

Again, a very fuzzy ethical issue with strong arguments to be made on either side. At the end of the day, though, I think the more people who get the vaccine the better - period.

[Like2Plan]

It seems like you can't win--either way you are going to draw criticism. I think the aim should be the order in which the medical panel has determined, BUT I think it is really crazy to have millions of doses of vaccine not being administered for whatever reason. Get it out there, encourage people to take it. And, congress (whatever your opinion is about them) is considered essential for continuity of government. It might not be perfect, but good enough.

[disneysteve]

It might not be perfect, but good enough.

One of my favorite sayings is, "Never let the perfect be the enemy of the good".

Just get it done. Six months from now hopefully it won't matter who got their shot first because everybody will have been vaccinated.

It is a monumental effort, though. Especially with the stringent storage requirements for the current vaccines. It would be so much easier if the supply could be shipped out to doctors' offices across the country just like flu vaccine but it can't. Very few places have the -90 degree freezers required to store the Pfizer vaccine.

[QuarterMillionMan]

Vaccines are 90% - 95% effective. Sorry if this is a dumb question but does that mean there is a 5% - 10% chance of still contracting COVID and possibly dieing even with vaccination? I guess I got too optimistic with the light at the end of the tunnel and being almost at the end of this pandemic. But still need to be cautious even with vaccination.

[disneysteve]

Vaccines are 90% - 95% effective. Sorry if this is a dumb question but does that mean there is a 5% - 10% chance of still contracting COVID and possibly dieing even with vaccination? I guess I got too optimistic with the light at the end of the tunnel and being almost at the end of this pandemic. But still need to be cautious even with vaccination.

Yes. No vaccine is 100% effective. 90-95% is incredibly good, though. Many vaccines are a lot lower than that. But that's where herd immunity comes in. If enough of the population gets the vaccine and 90-95% of them are immune, there just aren't enough hosts for the virus to spread efficiently. It doesn't mean we'll never see a case of COVID again, but we shouldn't see big outbreaks (except in communities with a high percentage of unvaccinated individuals).

[QuarterMillionMan]

Here we go people skipping the line, upsetting.

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/after-disney-employee-says-she-got-covid-19-vaccine-redlands-hospital-confirms-some-lower-priority-workers-are-getting-shots/

[bjl584]

My girlfriend just got part one of the vaccination yesterday.
She is a nurse, so she was at the top of the list.
Part two will be in mid January.

I won't be eligible until the general public can receive it. (maybe May or June?)

[disneysteve]

Fortunately, Trump finally signed the funding package because it includes money for the vaccination efforts. His delay meant a delay for that money being distributed which may have delayed millions of people from getting vaccinated.