Am just thankful I got into distance learning just before the COVID nightmare began(as in, I finished my training a year ago Christmas)
Interesting article on how the deaths from Covid-19 are undercounted and in which jurisdictions this tends to happen: https://www.statnews.com/2021/01/25/...nalysis-shows/
I used to just to see the ridiculousness of it all (kind of like visiting Fox 'News') but I stopped. It's toxic. Just about every thread contains or devolves into hate for all things Duke. Plus they attack their own mercilessly (and then if you criticize them at all on any other forum they will defend to the death). Stick to your guns, you'll be happy you did. Now tell me which stock to buy next!!! :-).
Internet chat forums (DBR excluded) tell us that there are a lot more people walking around with irrational and deep-seated hate in their hearts about something than what we might otherwise assume based on their public behavior. That's sad and scary. Older I get, the more social distancing seems like a reasonable permanent MO than a temporary measure to blunt the spread.
Interesting comments/thoughts from Nate Silver.
https://mobile.twitter.com/NateSilve...99833045442561
* Cases are probably declining faster than at any point in the pandemic
*We're now vaccinating more people (1st doses) than there are new infections.
* However, caseloads are still VERY high (higher than at any point pre-November).
https://covid19-projections.com/
Kyle gets BUCKETS!
https://youtu.be/NJWPASQZqLc
Long, fascinating article about COVID and myocarditis:
https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2020.11.031
What really struck me was the low incidence of 4.5% in the autopsy cases, especially since we discussed here many months ago the 78% of COVID cases that were believed to have cardiac involvement (from my memory, either in Lancet or the British Heart Journal):
(in the conclusion section) "...A thorough review of the literature describing both EMB and autopsy sample analysis suggests that myocarditis is an uncommon diagnosis occurring in 4.5% of highly selected cases undergoing autopsy or EMB. Given the referral bias of autopsy studies, it is likely the number of COVID-19 cases complicated by myocarditis is even lower, because the majority of cases do not have evidence of myocardial injury and do not result in death. However, it should also be appreciated that myocardial inflammation involving infiltration by macrophages and T cells can also be seen in noninfectious deaths (control) and COVID-19 cases, but the extent of each is different, and in neither case do such findings represent clinically relevant myocarditis...
(EMB=endomyocardial biopsy)
[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.
Yep. We are still a ways from being in a good place. But vaccination is rapidly improving and cases are declining. The hope is that as vaccinations keep going (up to 23.5 million doses as of today, with 19.9 million having gotten at least one dose), that incidence curve should continue to drop.
I do hope we get to the 150+ million vaccinated by mid-April that Biden is now suggesting. That would be a huge impact on the case toll and death toll.
Kyle gets BUCKETS!
https://youtu.be/NJWPASQZqLc
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
Twenty-four report after Moderna booster shot -- feel absolutely fine. Was a little slow yesterday after my 7:20A injection. Took Tylenol throughout the day, slept normally and woke up feeling great. Really -- a carbon copy of the first shot.
I don't mind shoveling snow -- it's my upper body workout in the winter. One advantage of the pandemic for the snow scene is that I have not been traveling and been able to keep even with the snowfall. It's no fun returning from a trip to find 18-24 inches of snow depth, the bottom layer truly compact.
Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
I'm fine with shoveling snow, but ever since I got a standing seam metal roof 20 years ago, the snow dynamic has changed...nothing worse than watching a few tons of snow pour off your roof at cocktail hour, because if you don't shovel it right away, it turns into a massive frozen blob...
So, question on guidance from the experts. If someone HAS received both doses of the vaccine (and allowed the time to take effect), is it permissible/okay for that person to then go over to a family member's house without a mask? I ask because I have been staying at home throughout the entirety of this (except for dropping my children off at daycare) and have NEVER allowed my mother to come into my house, although I have talked to her outside socially distanced with masks. I was hoping for an upcoming kid's birthday, I could invite her into my home (and just her, nobody else). I recognize we want people to still wear masks/socially distance in public for solidarity and to reduce the spread, etc. but I would also think it's okay to allow her into my home if given the time for full immunity to take effect. Should she still wear a mask? No mask? Should we all wear masks? Curious to hear thoughts and actual medical rationale rather than just habits/what we want people to do in public. Of course, I will continue to wear a mask/socially distance anytime I go outside my home. (My family will not be vaccinated, but again have basically been at home forever except for young children who go to daycare which has strict policies in place and there have been zero cases in the classroom since August. I, of course, interact with my own children without masks).
NY Times take:
"People who have received both of their vaccine shots, and have waited until they take effect, will be able to do things that unvaccinated people cannot — like having meals together and hugging their grandchildren. But until the pandemic is defeated, all Americans should wear masks in public, help unvaccinated people stay safe and contribute to a shared national project of saving every possible life."