The kids are off to school. Fingers crossed. It was quiet at the bus and on the bus. I guess most parents decided to drive their kids to school for the first day as only 4% opted for online learning. We normally bring them their the first day as well, yet since 'kiss and drop' is closed we're expecting quite a bit of chaos there (bad street layout, not much parking, 2 big schools in the same location, now both starting at the same time). They'll be fine on the mostly empty bus until it can get to the school.

Oddly quiet in here this morning lol.

And now the wait starts for the schools to close. Predictions are dire and here's one of the reasons why vaccines aren't able to stop the spread
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/delta-variant-eight-times-less-sensitive-to-neutralizing-antibodies-from-vaccines-in-a-lab-setting-study-1.5575284

The Delta variant may have taken over as quickly as it did not only because of an increased infectivity, but because it is less affected by neutralizing antibodies produced by prior infection with COVID-19 or produced by vaccines, according to a new study that looked at the variant in a lab setting.

In the study, compared to the original strain of the virus that emerged in Wuhan, China, the Delta variant was found to be six times less sensitive to neutralizing antibodies from those who had recovered from COVID-19, and eight times less sensitive to antibodies produced in response to two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech or AstraZeneca vaccines.

It has still proven to prevent severe disease (in a recent U.K. study, out of more than 950,000 people who had received two shots, only 0.2 per cent had a breakthrough infection afterwards), but I guess not effective enough to stop you from passing Delta along while vaccinated. Just like asymptomatic cases before could still pass it on.

Another aspect of the study involved replicating the human airway in a laboratory model. Researchers found that the Delta variant could reproduce faster and more efficiently in this environment than the Alpha variant could, described in the study as having a “significant replication advantage.”

Booster shots will be needed, with some tweaks to new variants, basically like the yearly flu shot

“Strategies to boost vaccines responses against variants are warranted and attention to infection control procedures is needed in the post vaccine era,” the study concluded.

I love this logic. We can't convince people to take a vaccine and cover their face but why don't we try getting them to completely change their lifestyle? Gee I wonder.

UK shows the standard seasonal pattern with "covid deaths" now rising again (a bit faster than last year). 2/3 of "covid deaths" in 2021 are double vaxxed (also +80 years old, obese, multimorbid).

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/

Source: latest UK government report: double vaxxed are 67% of Delta covid deaths (1091) compared to unvaxxed covid deaths at 33% (536). It's a pandemic of the old + fat + vaxxed. Page 22 for the numbers.

CDC in the US did recommend to stop testing the vaxxed so that they could proclaim a "pandemic of the unvaxxed" but we see the opposite in countries with universal testing.

A very dear coworker and friend of mine, who was known as "The Rock" for its strong body, with no prior illnesses whatsoever, contracted the Coronavirus and has been in hospital for the past two weeks. The doctors say the chances are slim to none, but we try to remain hopeful. Apparently his lungs no longer function whatsoever and he is intubated.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55274833

The reason that so few deaths are among the unvaccinated over 50 is because 89% of the population has been vaccinated, and those numbers rise the older you get. The fact that they make up 5-10% of the over 50 cases, and make up about 1/3 of the deaths show the effectiveness of vaccines. If one city has 9 million cities and 400 murders and another had 1 million people and 200 murders it would be idiotic to argue that the second city is better at preventing murders. What are the numbers per 100K vaccinated and unvaccinated? What if you age grade the results? How does the age of those people who died vaccinated compare to those who died unvaccinated?

Despite making up 10% of the population, unvaxxed people represent about half of the delta cases. Over 50% of the  hospitalizations. 10% of the people are causing 50% of the problems.

Pfizer working on an oral antiviral treatment for covid that can be used during early signs of covid and taken at home.

Pfizer Initiates Phase 1 Study of Novel Oral Antiviral Therapeutic Agent Against SARS-CoV-2 | Pfizer

Twitter link below where Pfizer more recently announces they've reached phase 2 trials for their oral treatment.

Pfizer Inc. on Twitter: "Alongside vaccines, success against #COVID19 will likely require #antiviral treatments for those who contract the virus. We’ve started a Phase 2/3 trial to evaluate a potential oral therapy that will enroll over 2,000 participants infected with SARS-CoV-2: https://t.co/d4e1DfCD0Q https://t.co/oYdzona0mX" / Twitter

I'm not sure why asking serious questions to numberwang here was a problem. If concern for your fellow man is trolling then I find that quite concerning, especially considering how many here seem concerned for others at this time, and rightly so. I for one take everyone's claims as genuine, unless they obviously or eventually give me enough reason to believe otherwise. That's just me though. Everyone see's the world differently.

Hey Numberwang, don't you think he's being racist? True mystery why I'd take issue with that.

Classic trolling pattern. As per the site rules, I am requesting that you not interact with me. Also do not talk sideways at me by quoting someone else's response to reply to me indirectly. Thank you kindly <3

"5. Any user has the right to request that you stop contacting them for any reason (be it in a PM, on their personal wall, or in the forums). If you continue to contact them, you will most likely find yourself moderated. Respect their wishes and move on."

-Removed-

Another day, another anti-vaxxer Darwin award, except this time, it's from a guy ODing on that horse dewormer that one guy ITT told us is supposed to be more effective for battling Covid:

Well, THAT didn't take long, did it?

I'm trying, but I'm finding it REALLY hard to feel bad for these idiots at this point, especially when I read about shit like this:

Why should a cancer patient be discharged and left to die for anti-vaxxer nutjobs? They chose not to get vaccinated and reap what they sow, a cancer patient doesn't choose to get cancer. 

The anti-vaxxers have so much blood on their hands, they're practically swimming in it at this point.

I will no longer be interacting with you going forward as you've requested, but it's only right for me to explain this misunderstanding as I now understand it, as it seems you're extremely offended and this should be cleared up.

I do not think you're racist. What I did question (to numberwang) was whether or not the POC vaxing link, along with the NY vax pass, was in itself.

The reason I replied to numberwang's original post and not your reply to them, was because I didn't care about anything they may have been implying towards yourself. I only cared about the link in which was about POC vaxing and how that would be of concern with the strict vax pass instated there.

You then inserted yourself into this new direction which wasn't directed at you (though you had every right to join the convo), and while I didn't realize it at the time, it now seems you believed I was trolling you. I figured you may have meant general trolling of the POC vaxing link and it's tie to the vax pass issue, or maybe you just didn't like me talking about that issue in here. That would be leaning towards politics and this is a covid thread, so that could make sense.

The fact is, as implied in a prior post (above), I wasn't trolling and was making a serious point towards numberwang, considering this isn't an unreasonable concern based on what's taken place there, at least from my point of view. Hence why I formed it as a question to another. As I've also already stated prior, not everyone see's the world the same and this misunderstanding illustrates that, unfortunately.

Hopefully this clears things up.

Unless you let me know otherwise, again, I'll cease all interactions with you going forward. I won't be asking the same from you though. Feel free to interact with me if you so choose.