Tangible benefits of the vaccine

[JonC]

It is not a partisan issue for politicians and the medical community outside the US. It is sad that a certain segment of politicians and media outlets in the US have made this a partisan issue.

I agree. In the US our government had to make a decision between people and politics. They chose politcs. We no longer have a government for the people, but a government interested in obtaining and maintaining political power for its own party. They look not for solutions but for opportunities of self interest. COVID just became a source of political capital and people not only suffered but they died.

 

[Aaron]

Ironically, the CDC finally admitted the GOP was correct about masks....and the GOP, rather than rejoicing over the CDC's partal de-stupification, made it political - expecting the CDC under the Biden Presidency to insist all wear masks.

When the DNC maintained we should wear one or two masks, the GOP said that is playing politics. When the CDC says no masks, the GOO says they are playing politics.

Both sides are playing politics.

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[Gold Dragon]

I agree. In the US our government had to make a decision between people and politics. They chose politcs. We no longer have a government for the people, but a government interested in obtaining and maintaining political power for its own party. They look not for solutions but for opportunities of self interest. COVID just became a source of political capital and people not only suffered but they died.

The way I see it from the outside, there is one side in the US that follows the evidence and medical research, and there is another side that follows conspiracy theories and misinformation because their constituency has been trained to distrust evidence based authorities. Primarily because the evidence does not support their platforms. While evidenced based consensus is never perfect (which the distrusting will point at over and over again) they are right 99% of the time and well positioned to pivot when new research suggests we should.

 

[JonC]

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[JonC]

The way I see it from the outside, there is one side in the US that follows the evidence and medical research, and there is another side that follows conspiracy theories and misinformation because their constituency has been trained to distrust evidence based authorities. Primarily because the evidence does not support their platforms. While evidenced based consensus is never perfect (which the distrusting will point at over and over again) they are right 99% of the time and well positioned to pivot when new research suggests we should.

I see both "sides" doing a little twisting, but with COVID the DNC takes the cake.

When itvwas appropriate to restrict travel the DNC objected only because it came from a GOP Administration.

Science prescribed shutting down for a couple of weeks to alleviate the possibility of overwhelming hospitals. The DNC created fear and turned this into shutting down to prevent COVID (keep the economy closed to crash the economy in an election year).

The CDC said wear masks if you could not social distance. The GOP questioned the validity of mandates, the DNC wanted mask mandates. The GOP responded by approaching an anti-mask policy (or almost so).

 

[Gold Dragon]

I see both "sides" doing a little twisting, but with COVID the DNC takes the cake.

When itvwas appropriate to restrict travel the DNC objected only because it came from a GOP Administration.

Science prescribed shutting down for a couple of weeks to alleviate the possibility of overwhelming hospitals. The DNC created fear and turned this into shutting down to prevent COVID (keep the economy closed to crash the economy in an election year).

The CDC said wear masks if you could not social distance. The GOP questioned the validity of mandates, the DNC wanted mask mandates. The GOP responded by approaching an anti-mask policy (or almost so).

Travel restrictions were absolutely the right thing. In australia we still have them in place with mandatory hotel quarantine because they are the first line to keeping our economy open and the people healthy.

If the DNC opposed it initially that was wrong. I’m not aware of any ongoing opposition to travel restrictions by the DNC as the evidence shows it works.

With regard to lockdowns I am grateful Australia followed the evidence at the time that suggested early strict lockdowns for longer periods to control spread were the right call. Now we have been enjoying a covid free society with a booming economy for over 6 months.

Last week we had our first case of local transmission in several months in NSW. The state imposed mask mandates in the greater Sydney area and everyone did their part. The case count is 2, the guy and his wife. The mask mandate is slowly being lifted and will probably be gone completely in another week or two if no more cases are found.

 

[atpollard]

Of course, the research is pointing towards aerosol as the vector to spread the virus, so masks and cleaning surfaces have always probably been useless (they stop droplets, not aerosols).

 

[Gold Dragon]

Of course, the research is pointing towards aerosol as the vector to spread the virus, so masks and cleaning surfaces have always probably been useless (they stop droplets, not aerosols).

That is not what the evidence is saying at all.

The primary mechanism is still droplet spread which is why the evidence shows that distancing, masks and hand washing work.

Fomite spread which is spread through surfaces that infected people touch is rare but still occurs (usually because the virus does not survive long on these surfaces). So while cleaning surfaces might be useful to prevent that last few percentages of cases transmitted, it quickly has diminishing returns.

However there are instances where there is new evidence is about aerosol spread. And what we are finding is that it does occur, not as much as droplet spread but more than fomite spread and more than previously thought with more data. Things like singing, shouting, coughing - activities that make droplets travel further promote aerosol spread.

The hesitancy with classifying Covid19 an aerosol transmitted infection is that it increases the level of protection needed and the level of contact considered to be an at risk exposure. That would make the cost of prevention prohibitive when droplet protections have been shown to work very well for covid19, as long as you are aware they are not fool proof because of the small risk of aerosolization.

 

[Aaron]

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[JonC]