New cases of COVID-19 have been declining steadily in the US and Europe for the past month. The main exception is Great Britain, which has seen a rising case rate for the past three weeks thanks to stalling vaccination rates and the fast spreading Delta variant of the virus.
The US is in good shape right now, but there's every reason to think we may follow in Britain's footsteps soon. The Delta variant already has a foothold here, and vaccination rates have plummeted to less than half the level of most other countries.
It's insane. Here we are, in the middle of the deadliest pandemic in a century, but this time we actually have a vaccine that can crush it completely. Huzzah! Except that so many of us refuse to take it that the virus is getting a second lease on life. I wonder what our grandparents, who could only pray for such a thing during the Spanish flu, would think of us if they could see what's happening today?
Well according to your charts on USA voluntary vaccine uptake since WW2.... about the same?
We've vaccinated over 50% of the population in 6 months (53% with at least 1 shot), and that's with the fact that children under 12 can't receive the vaccination yet. The fact that fewer people are being vaccinated is somewhat disappointing but I don't think enough is being made of the tremendous accomplishment we've already achieved.
And vaccinations per day has gone up this month in the U.S. Maybe that's mostly about 12–18 year olds, but it's still good progress.
"Here we are, in the middle of the deadliest pandemic in a century"
It would be more accurate to say that unvaccinated adults (who have also not had COVID-19) remain in the middle of the deadliest pandemic in history, in the sense that they alone remain at significant risk from the virus--albeit a sharply reduced risk, owing to the much reduced rates of community transmission made possible by vaccination.
The Delta variant will undo some of the benefit of those reductions--again, for the unvaccinated. For the fully vaccinated (and those with natural immunity), the pandemic is effectively over, regardless of the spread of the Delta variant.
All this just serves however to reinforce Kevin's point: a portion of the population remains needlessly at risk, even as the rest of us are perfectly free to resume normal life without any significant risk, and the difference between these groups is nothing more than the willingness to get vaccinated.
This is where we are--at least in countries where the vaccines are effectively available to all.
I have a toddler. Indian/Delta may be more deadly if he gets it. I am more than willing to stick him but currently that option doesn't exist.
This is obvious, but it just such a huge source of fear and worry.
I have a relative who survived a brain tumor 9 years ago but the latest scan wasn't so good, I'm worried, he'll be vulnerable if he has to do chemo again and the knuckleheads are putting him at greater risk.
Until Delta or one of the other dollops of the Greek alphabet soup that is contemporary COVID gets enough traction among the vaccine refuseniks to mutate to a version which the vaccines don’t cover all that well …
"...remain in the middle of the deadliest pandemic in history..."
The Black Death says hello. Also smallpox in the New World. Also the Spanish Flu. And that's just off the top of my head.
Those at risk (cancer patients etc) are at the mercy of the rest of us. They always have been to some extent, but perhaps more so now. They will simply be unable to engage with the rest of us for maybe years to come. It’s terrible for them and I know one such person as a close friend.
Still, I’m not really all that sympathetic to the rest who may become seriously ill or die due to their unwillingness to be vaccinated. I just cannot be bothered to care what happens to them. Not anymore. I’ve had enough. There isn’t anything I can do about it anyway.
"It's insane. Here we are, in the middle of the deadliest pandemic in a century, but this time we actually have a vaccine that can crush it completely. Huzzah! Except that so many of us refuse to take it that the virus is getting a second lease on life."
Indeed. Except that it is more a mixture of colossal ignorance, gullibility and hubris about knowing better than "the experts." Thanks Trump, even if you were to die tomorrow, you've already left an indelible mark on history.
Maybe Delta will be the one that finally knocks off a huge percentage of anti-social wingnuts.
But, probably not. They're anti-social in the first place, so there is inherently low transmissability even among themselves.
Given the existence of the likes of the Anti-Mask League(s?) back then I have to wonder just how universal that prayer for vaccines would have been.
One of the huge problems with vaccines back in that era is that there was poor quality control, it wasn't until the 1920s post pandemic that the US decided to get serious about developing and testing vaccines for safety and efficacy.
https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#global-vaccinations
It doesn't appear that vaccinations in the UK are slowing; it seems to still be climbing at a steady rate. The US, meanwhile, is definitely slowing. Peak seems to be below 70%.
Josh Marshall tweeted a link to this study:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/1-in-4-hospitalized-covid-patients-who-lack-vitamin-d-die-israeli-study/
from,
https://www.thedailybeast.com/rumors-of-us-secretly-harboring-top-china-official-dong-jingwei-swirl
Defectors lie. Or, I should say, tailor the truth to support their relocation.
Like the Romanian Securitate higherup who ended up writing for National Review & claims Yasser Arafat was a homosexual who died from complications of HIV.
The virus has done a lot to magnify the difference between the rich and the poor. Even in places with high levels of vaccinations, there are pockets of un-served poor.
Then there are great swaths of states where anti-vaxxers dominate.
If you're going to make a big deal of the UK, it's important to point out that the number of deaths per day is in the single digits, and COVID is now about the 30th biggest cause of death there. I think it is the 6th biggest cause in the US. In both countries it was the leading cause of death a few months ago.
Previous Covid infection may not offer long-term protection, study finds,
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/17/previous-covid-infection-may-not-offer-long-term-protection-study-finds
Hopefully MRNA vaccines will be considered safe for immunocompromised people and children soon.
If so, we can offer it for free for everyone, and if you come down with a serious case of COVID because you chose not to avail yourself to the free vaccine, you can just be sent home to cycle through a regimen of prayer, shots of Formula 409, and LARPing the January 6th Capitol Building Putsch.
Conundrum. This question of how to get everyone vaccinated. I console myself with the belief that most of those not yet vaccinated are probably healthy enough to survive if they get sick. If they're not, and they die, I pity their friends and families for the stupidity loss.
New Covid study hints at long-term loss of brain tissue,
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/17/new-covid-study-hints-at-long-term-loss-of-brain-tissue-dr-scott-gottlieb-warns.html
& so many reichwingers have so little of that to give.
My suspicion is that Boris Johnson's decision to spread the vaccines around by giving people only the first shot is now coming back to bite him (or rather the UK).
The US is in good shape right now, but there's every reason to think we may follow in Britain's footsteps soon.
Funny. It took me a moment to register what this sentence means. I initially thought Kevin meant the US may soon attain Britain's much, much, much lower level of deaths.
We can look at case numbers if we want, but a couple of months ago a huge gap opened up between the two countries in terms of covid deaths. For weeks and weeks now, Britons have been dying from covid at about one sixth the rate as Americans. I know the Delta variant is worrying, but the UK has really crushed their pandemic. The US isn't doing nearly as well.
Or maybe they'd have been just as skeptical, if not more - did we even have vaccines in 1918? I don't think we did...
It's insane. Here we are, in the middle of the deadliest pandemic in a century, but this time we actually have a vaccine that can crush it completely. Huzzah! Except that so many of us refuse to take it that the virus is getting a second lease on life. I wonder what our grandparents, who could only pray for such a thing during the Spanish flu, would think of us if they could see what's happening today?
Shh, Kevin. Using words like "insane" and "refuse," you're getting very close to criticizing conservatives' genuine concerns about vaccinations that you warned us earlier in the week we should empathize with. And bringing up our ancestors simply makes people feel bad for exercising their freedom to reject science... how dare you!