Zombie apocalypse in Marin County elementary school: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/unvaccinated-unmasked-teacher-spreads-covid-19-elementary-school-students-cdc-n1277852 . In case you were wondering how much damage one unvaccinated idiot can do, here’s your answer.
More child endangerment in Georgia: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/2-unvaccinated-child-daycare-center-employees-were-found-dead-at-home-from-covid-19-on-the-same-day/ar-AANQxvx?li=BBnb7Kz . Thankfully, my children are well past the age of sending them to daycare or elementary school. Low-income workers often feel the need to go to work even when they don’t feel well. That is extremely dangerous in a pandemic.
More on the timeline for COVID booster shots: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/569750-biden-says-officials-weighing-shorter-timeline-for-booster-shots . We previously reported that the reduction being considered was from 8 months to 6 months.
A primer on ICU capacity problems: https://apnews.com/article/business-health-coronavirus-pandemic-06f8e3e222e8b79daa51ccd014911431 . The nature of the long-term PTSD we are currently visiting on doctors and nurses will discourage people from taking a job in the ICU. That is a terrible outcome.
Alabama activates morgue trailers: https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/28/health/us-coronavirus-saturday/index.html .
Stupidity kills COVID Freedom Fighter: https://www.thewrap.com/caleb-wallace-anti-mask-freedom-rally-organizer-dies-at-30-with-covid/ . This hapless soul died at 30, orphaning his 4 children. He wouldn’t see a doctor, because he didn’t want to be part of the COVID testing statistics. He self-treated with Ivermectin, the horse de-wormer. I feel bad for the kids, but that’s about it.
The relative strength of natural immunity: https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/94258 . So, natural immunity from a prior COVID infection is better protection against Delta than vaccination. No one in his right mind would become infected with COVID for this reason. Of course, we have the anti-vaxxers, who are likely to misuse this study. Actuaries commonly use risk-reward analysis. However, politics has apparently obscured the obvious to “staunch conservatives”. Note the tragic results in the experiment performed in the article directly above.
US continues to fail on contact tracing: https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2021-08-28/contact-tracing-takes-a-back-seat-during-latest-covid-surge . Arrgh! Here, once again, is our ridiculous inability to understand public health principles. We have failed at this from the start of the pandemic. Surges certainly overwhelm the utility of contact tracing. Contact tracing must be completed consistently, in areas of limited infections, to halt spread in that area. Is there any possibility we will get this right in the next pandemic?
Charging the unvaccinated: https://slate.com/business/2021/08/delta-vaccine-insurance-hospital-covid.html . No, no, no. The charge creates a financial incentive for vaccination. The charge is perfectly appropriate, and likely underpriced, because of the expense of hospitalization due to COVID. Delta Airlines is making those employees who insist on being a risk bear some of the cost. Employers adopt this approach because of the failure of the unvaccinated to exercise personal responsibility.
WSJ: COVID infections “approach a peak”: https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-covid-19-hospitalizations-approach-a-peak-as-delta-variant-spreads-11630155627 . The statistics in this article are detailed and useful. However, there is no evidence that the peak is near. Yes, based on prior patterns, many experts expect a peak in the next couple of weeks. However, we do not know the effect of school re-openings and the mask battles.
Will DeMentis pay a political price for his COVID mistakes?: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/the-memo-will-desantiss-star-fall-as-florida-covid-numbers-rise/ar-AANQSeI?li=BBnb7Kz . This article has things ass-backwards. DeMentis has to win in 2022 to have any chance in 2024. Crist is a formidable opponent, and is leading in some polls. The reason you don’t see much of a political price yet reflects the very narrow split in Florida. Things will likely change as COVID plays out and the 2022 election heats up. Remember, Orange Julius won while losing the popular vote, and was then turned out in the next election. DeMentis looks to be heading toward the same fate.
WSJ: What does vaccine efficacy mean?: https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-vaccine-efficacy-what-do-the-numbers-really-mean-11629999129 . As noted repeatedly here, vaccine efficacy is a complex topic. The article calls out the research view of efficacy as within tightly controlled conditions. That may be true, but that is not how efficacy is used in general parlance. The general interest is in a combination of infectiousness (and transmissibility) and disease severity (hospitalizations and deaths). The article’s attempt to split efficacy from effectiveness is academic at best. The interest in research results is as a proxy and predictor of real-world results.
Antibodies and immune response: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/08/28/1031287076/antibody-tests-should-not-be-your-go-to-for-checking-covid-immunity . Sigh. People use antibody tests because they are widely available and relatively cheap. As often noted here, the immune system is more than just antibodies.
Singapore is now the most vaccinated country: https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-digest-singapore-is-now-the-most-vaccinated-country/a-59016931 .
Two die in Japan after receiving tainted Moderna COVID vaccines: https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-digest-two-dead-in-japan-after-receiving-tainted-shots/a-59010697 . This is a very serious development since earlier reports. My recollection from those reports was that all of the questionable vaccines had been produced on the company’s production line in Spain: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/08/26/national/science-health/moderna-vaccinations-suspended/ .
Disgusting GOP termination of federal supplemental unemployment benefits turns out to be … disgusting: https://news.yahoo.com/workers-sue-states-over-misguided-labor-policy-151938928.html . This policy was nonsensical from the start. The benefits effectively targeted people who had lost their jobs and could not find other employment when the economy lost 10 million jobs: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/04/15/fewer-jobs-have-been-lost-in-the-eu-than-in-the-u-s-during-the-covid-19-downturn/ . The benefits end next week. GOP governors elected to terminate these benefits early on the theory that this would force people back to work.
The GOP theory contains a lot of stupid assumptions. For example, it assumes there is a job in each community for every worker who wants one and that there are unemployed people in the community who have the skills to fill any open job. It also assumes wages are fair at the open jobs, or that fairness isn’t an issue for an unemployed person. Also, the federal benefits flowed money into communities that had suffered income loss, thereby protecting the remaining jobs. And there was no cost to the states except to administer the benefits.
So, this crap did not work, according to analysis by JP Morgan, which is not exactly a liberal think tank. As far as I’m concerned, the conclusion is that mindless mistreatment of the unemployed is not an effective governance policy. In case you’re wondering why the litigation outcomes were different in the 26 states, it’s because state laws differ and governors have different powers in each state. The courts generally do not intervene when a policy is obviously stupid but allowable. That pretty much explains the current state of the GOP.
More on US drone strike in Afghanistan: https://apnews.com/article/asia-pacific-evacuations-kabul-islamic-state-group-7f146c8ae5d9e9ab225025527e421226 . We remain the most powerful military force in the world. It’s not a good idea to poke the bear.