outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

Tuscaloosa tonight. pic.twitter.com/1rQhydSH6z

— Alina Stefanescu (@aliner) January 12, 2021

Where’s Wally?

Ban sports until this over, fwiw.

Hopefully the Alabama Atty Gen was there

A lot to focus on right now but this newsreporter breaking down after being on the scene from 10 hospitals in the Los Angeles area and witnessing the destruction of the pandemic firsthand is quite sobering:

The world is collectively grieving right now, and journalists are working tirelessly to keep the public informed.

This moment of vulnerability is deeply relatable and refreshing to see.

Thank you, @sarasidnerCNN. pic.twitter.com/V9NDxFjtyc

— Alexis Benveniste (@apbenven) January 12, 2021

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/us/tribal-elders-native-americans-coronavirus.html#click=https://t.co/hr8CNJzJ2P

Not exactly comforting information, but helpful

https://www.vox.com/22220301/covid-spread-new-strain-variants-safe-grocery-store-n95-masks-vaccine

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/post-covid-lungs-worse-than-the-worst-smokers-lungs-surgeon-says/

A Texas trauma surgeon says it's rare that X-rays from any of her COVID-19 patients come back without dense scarring. Dr. Brittany Bankhead-Kendall tweeted that, "Post-COVID lungs look worse than any type of terrible smoker's lung we've ever seen. And they collapse. And they clot off. And the shortness of breath lingers on... & on... & on."

We are so completely and utterly fucked.

Err, really? Seems a bit alarmist to me. I mean, I'm sure it happens plenty, but maybe not quite to that extent?

I assume she's talking about patients who are really sick, not just Joe or Jane Mild Symptoms.

Sorry, my comment was in response to Moodles' link about how transmissible the new strain is and how the masks that 90% of the people I see wearing are essentially ineffective.

Josh that's really insensitive and frankly ignorant. My cousin, Ray Mild Symptoms, was in the ICU for a month

No idea you had Greek relatives, TH.

this is probably not the place for me to express contempt toward the way vox articles are written, yet

Inappropriately-placed contempt is an Ilx tradition tho

"Essentially ineffective" is perhaps an overstatement, but it certainly makes sense to encourage people to embrace more effective models

xpost I'm sorry to hear that, Tracer, and I didn't mean to be insensitive. But (again, not trying to be insensitive, honest question!) why would mild symptoms send someone to the ICU? Isn't the ICU for serious stuff, by definition?

am seeing more and more suggestions that this E484/Brazil variant is reinfecting people who had OG Covid, based at least on the level of reinfection in Manaus (which was thought to have reached herd immunity after its first severe outbreak)

Considering the prevalence in Manaus after the first wave, this progression looks almost as if a completely different virus had hit the area. We may really be underestimating the ability of this virus to escape the pre-acquired immune response. https://t.co/54GWeupvvm

— Giorgio Gilestro (@giorgiogilestro) January 14, 2021

That Vox article also seems a bit over the top, although it's clear that you should never linger at the grocery store.

josh...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/health/coronavirus-masks-transmission.html

a little more helpful of an article which I believe the Vox one links to

It's okay k3vin. Ray has had to handle this kind of stereotype his whole life. Assuming he wanted 'Kool Milds' when actually he was a straight Kools guy. etc.

I feel like the Manaus "herd immunity" claims were a bit more nebulous, especially since we don't know how long protection against reinfection lasts.

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/study-estimates-76-percent-of-brazilian-city-exposed-to-sars-cov-2-68272

very possible that this will become endemic though, meaning possible yearly outbreaks of a lesser severity

I'm so glad I can be comforted by the fact that we have strong leadership with a robust plan for rolling out the vaccine. No, wait, we are fucked.

well let's see how we do with an administration that doesn't consider it a hoax

We had one of those and iirc fuck-all happened

i seem to remember several hundred thousand people dying

oh I got confused I thought we were talking about climate change for some reason

Interesting thread on the UK variant, the dust is beginning to settle and basically I'm getting a sense that we didn't lock down early enough for long enough, that we didn't look at schools and so the variant has been made more of than it perhaps should've.

#COVID19 hospital admissions in London seem like they're continuing to fall

I was skeptical about the new variant story early on, here's a short thread in chronological order of things I wrote about ithttps://t.co/5OTD0vO2DF

— Joshua Loftus (@joftius) January 14, 2021

The crowded tubes and the huge amounts of people mixing indoors aren’t getting the blame they should (from government).

From a WGN article about Chicago's vaccine plans:

The city says the biggest problem its facing is not receiving enough vaccines.

“When I think about 600,000 people to vaccinate in that next phase, getting 36, 32, 35,000 doses a week isn’t going to be enough to move ahead quickly,” Dr. Allison Arwardy said.

This doesn't make me feel great. The "next phase" they are referring to is the 65+ older/essential workers phase (1B). So assuming 35,000 doses per week, it's going to take more than 17 weeks to get through that phase (assuming we ignore the second dose, for the moment). Considering this phase hasn't even started yet, we are looking at June before we even start to get to Phase 1C, which is other essential workers and high-risk folks under 65. We're in for a long, long, long ride.

Wow that sucks. Texas has already given 1M shots!

League tables for this here - https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html

congrats to california and the deep south

Georgia is really going to have to step it up to avoid relegation.

Two million deaths worldwide now according to Worldometers:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

(although they seem to skew both higher and lower than various other tallies I've seen)

Re double-masking: I started doing it about 10 days ago. Don't notice any difference at all in comfort-level; I wear glasses, so still a nuisance, but I do feel safer.

(Prompted by the newer strain.)

https://www.theonion.com/fuck-everything-were-doing-five-blades-1819584036

🇫🇷🦠 #France will impose a nationwide 6pm #curfew for at least 15 days starting on Saturday to stem the spread of coronavirus, PM #Castex said.

A #Covid19 #vaccine will also be offered to those at high risk from Monday regardless of age.

France 24's @cfbennett2 reports ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/qCaYcsnfhz

— FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) January 15, 2021

onimo I thought of that immediately as well LOL

God I don't think we will ever reckon with the mental health destruction this has wrought.

I struggled off and on, a ton, throughout 2020, but I'm flabbergasted by how much worse I feel now. Complete despair and hopelessness.

Sorry to hear that, jon. Don't ask me for a citation, but my general sense is that things are bound to get better from here on out.

Saw some hope that the current USA post-holiday spike has "perhaps" reached its apex.

I'm just struggling to find any good news. At least one new strain that is considerably more transmissible, exactly when we are opening schools back up around here. A complete failure of a vaccine roll-out which, at the current rate, will take more than 5 years to hit ~80% of the 16 and up population in my state.

It's not going to stay at the current rate

FWIW, we're about to have a new presidential administration that actually takes this shit seriously.

last two posts otm