New Coronavirus threat

swerve

Super Moderator

Singapore and Australia has agreed on a vaccine swap. Actually I think swap gives the wrong impression. It's more like lending. With their higher vaccination rate, Singapore doesn't need a lot of vaccines immediately but Australia does. So Singapore is lending 500,000 doses of Cominarty vaccine to Australia for their immediate use and Australia will return the vaccines in December when they should have quite a bit of Cominarty vaccines available.

I applaud the cooperation and more of these exchanges should be arranged.
The UK & Australia have made a similar arrangement. 4 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine from the UK to Australia ASAP (first batch of 292,000 in a few days, rest by the end of the month) & Australia will send us the same in a few months, which I imagine will be used for booster doses here.
 

t68

Well-Known Member
Since you like to selectively source evidence, you neglected to include the following from your source.

Some states and territories have also issued public health orders mandating vaccination for certain industries or workers. For example, Queensland has a public health order in place mandating vaccination for health service employees who are likely to encounter and treat people with COVID-19.

If a Public Health Order is made then it it is required to be followed and individual rights have to be subordinate to the rights of the community as a whole. In this case it is the right of the community to have good health. In the case of a pandemic authorities have to take actions that are required to prevent the spread of infection, the prevention of deaths, and the retention of good order within society.

Where an individual or group(s) of individuals take it upon themselves to put their own interests ahead of those of the community during a pandemic, then those individuals are nothing but selfish and self centred fools who will eventually succumb to the illness and be expecting the appropriate medical treatment. I am ruthless enough to support the supposition that they should be refused treatment, however I would not support it because I don't believe in the withholding of medical treatment.

We do have rights which we should protect, however with those rights come responsibilities to the community and no individual is greater than the community during a pandemic, or time of community, or national emergency, because without the community we will eventually cease to be. If people cannot understand that, then they need to reevaluate their views and opinions.

I didn't selectively source, link was posted a couple of days ago, in which another mod wanted the debate to stop pending the outcome of the case.

What you are saying is that we should be selective in what laws we should uphold . problem here is you cant make it voluntary then issue health order which contradict those very same rights of the person right to choose and right to privacy or discrimination by coercion

Also the case is being heard in NSW supreme court against the Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant. They are arguing that the public health orders requiring “a broad class of workers” be vaccinated is illegal and unconstitutional, as are the extra powers granted to police to enforce public health orders.

See what happens all we can do
 

Todjaeger

Potstirrer
There is a science report on Nature.com which studied long-term effects of COVID-19 infection which was publised 9 August 2021, it is available here.

There is also an accompanying chart here, which lists different long-term effects or symptoms and their prevalence by percentage, as well as a note at the bottom that meta-analysis estimates indicate that 80% of COVID-19 patients reportedly have one or more long-term symptoms.
 

OPSSG

Super Moderator
Staff member
Brazil’s health minister, helps to spread Covid-19

1. 591,000 Brazilians have died with Covid-19, the second or third highest death toll worldwide. Experts predict their country is on course to overtake the US. How did it come to this, in a middle-income country, with an established system for vaccinating against diseases? For many, responsibility rests with Brazil's far-right President, Jair Bolsonaro. From the outset of the pandemic, the Brazilian leader has been dismissive of Covid-19, calling it "a little flu." Asked last year about deaths from the virus he replied "that's a question for a grave digger". He has scorned social distancing, insisting the economy must remain open, and said staying home is "for idiots". Just last month he was fined for not wearing a mask as he led a motorbike rally of his supporters.

2. As President Bolsonaro minimized the risks, Professor Pedro Hallal has counted the dead. He is an epidemiologist, leading the largest Covid study in Brazil. As a scientist, and as a Brazilian, he says it has been a waking nightmare.

3. Brazil reported 935 Covid-19 deaths on 18 Sep 2021 (up from the usual 200 plus per day) and some 150,106 additional cases, according to data released by the nation's Health Ministry — an unusually large number due to what officials said was an adjustment in how case numbers are tabulated.

4. Brazil’s health minister, helps to spread Covid-19 at the UN and attempts to infect more in NY by being careless. This is not the first time that the Brazilian delegation exposed the White House to the virus during a global pandemic. Last year, more then 20 people in the Brazilian delegation tested positive after a trip to Mar-a-Lago, forcing Trump to get tested for Covid-19 for the first time.
 
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hauritz

Well-Known Member
Some reported costs for treating COVID. High time antivaxxers starting picking up the tab for their stupidity.


@John Fedup Anti vaxxers are entitled to their opinion regardless of how we may consider it. There is no need to insult them. Keep it seemly.

Ngatimozart.
Not only the cost but also the fact that they are often filling hospital beds that now cannot be used for other patients.
The average length of stay for a Covid patient depending on your data source is around 2 weeks with over 99% either being unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated.

While I agree everyone is entitled to their opinion I also believe people should take responsibility for their choices. Australia will open up when our vaccination levels essentially reach 70% double vaccinations and when that happens I can almost guarantee that infection rates will soar, particularly among the unvaccinated. Personally I would push those people to the back of the queue when it comes to medical care. For their sakes they had better hope that the hospital system doesn't become overwhelmed.
 

tonnyc

Well-Known Member
Because Delta is so transmissible, the vaccination percentage needs to be 80-90% according to some experts.
If your goal is to achieve herd immunity and maybe eradicate the virus from your country, yes.

But if the goal is keeping the number of serious cases and deaths manageable, you can get achieve that with less. Case in point, Indonesia. There are quite a bit of breakthrough cases, but the number of deaths and serious cases are way less among the vaccinated than among the unvaccinated. We still have over a hundred million people yet unvaccinated, but to people who pays attention to the numbers, there is no doubt that the vaccines work. Of course, the antivaxxers don't pay attention to data. Damn them.
 

OPSSG

Super Moderator
Staff member
American Death by Covid-19

1. Lots of COVID vaccine decisions anticipated from FDA in this month:
  • Oct 14: Moderna booster
  • Oct 15:
- J&J booster​
- Heterologous boost after primary series​
  • Oct 26: Much awaited discussion on Pfizer in 5-11 year olds
2. I have always felt that stupidity is incurable; but death by pandemic may be a partial cure, given the numbers that are dying in America by choice — especially many of those last 200,000 deaths (where the vaccines are widely available in all states). There are about 700,000 deaths in the US from Covid-19. The Covid-19 death stats are, as follows:
  • 100,000 — 89 days
  • 200,000 — 118 days
  • 300,000 — 83 days
  • 400,000 — 36 days
  • 500,000 — 34 days
  • 600,000 — 114 days
  • 700,000 — 111 days (estimate)
3. Other than India, the US has suffered the most losses from Covid-19, than any other country. Top death rates by states are: Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas. At one stage, Florida became the epicenter for America’s recent Covid-19 wave — reporting more hospitalizations and deaths than any other state in the country. But there was and still is surprisingly little certainty, among experts, over one question about Florida’s surge: Why did it happen?
(a) The state ranks 20th for full vaccination in the US, with 56% of people fully vaccinated — not great, but a little above the national rate. At the peak of its outbreak in mid-Aug, Florida had fully vaccinated about 51% of its population — again, not great, but in line with the national rate.​
(b) Florida’s example complicates any story of recent Covid-19 surges that focuses solely on reopenings and vaccinations. Something else seems to be going on, and experts aren’t totally sure what. “There are things that, to be honest, we don’t fully understand,” Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said.​

4. The US Army will require all of its active duty soldiers to complete their full COVID-19 vaccinations by the 15 Dec 2021 — US Army Reserve and US Army National Guard units must be vaccinated by 30 June 2022. Thus far, US DoD’s vaccine mandate has resulted in a 95% vaccination compliance to orders to date.

5. As of 13 Sep 2021, 52.8% of people in counties that voted for Biden were fully vaccinated compared to 39.9% of Trump counties, a 12.9 percentage point difference. In Texas, when voters are asked about Gov. Abbott's reelection prospects, 51% say he does not deserve to be reelected; 42% say he does. That disapproval grew in the last 3 months. In Florida, polls are showing that Gov. Ron DeSantis losing support among Floridians as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge. Quinnipiac also found that more Floridians disapprove of his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and public schools, with 60% supporting mandatory masks in schools, something the governor is fighting fiercely to block. But DeSantis’ stumbles also are being greeted with a cold dose of reality among Democrats exiled from state leadership for more than two decades and dealing with a host of internal problems.
(a) Republicans have started turning on each other for causing vaccine hesitancy. As misinformation, vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccine sentiment have consumed the debate over a global pandemic response, the rift between some teens and their parents has increased.​
(b) Teens For Vaccines has 30 state ambassadors across America and has partnered with GENup, another teen organization with more than 4,000 student members. But for the adolescents who are eligible to be vaccinated and cannot do so because their parents are vaccine-hesitant or anti-vaccine, there aren’t many options.​
(c) Some unvaccinated pregnant women are suffering far worse courses of COVID-19 than those who have been inoculated, and the consequences can be severe. According to CDC, 22,000 pregnant women have been hospitalized, and 161 have died, because of COVID-19 as of 27 Sep 2021.​

6. Earlier this month, President Biden outlined further steps his administration would take in efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic and limit its spread in schools. A key component of his plan is increasing access to COVID-19 testing in schools.
(a) 69% of parents with a child attending in-person school say their school is requiring all students and staff to wear masks and just 28% say their school has no mask requirement. While mask requirements appear to be widespread in schools, COVID-19 testing is less common with half of parents saying their school district is not offering testing to students who are not eligible to get the vaccine.​
(b) While 12-to-17-year-olds continue to be the least vaccinated eligible age group in the country, the vaccination rate among adolescents is growing faster than any other age group, White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said in late Aug 2021.​
(c) 48% of parents of children ages 12-17 say their child has received at least one dose of a vaccine. With news from Pfizer that clinical trials showed their COVID-19 vaccine was safe and effective for children ages five to eleven, the Vaccine Monitor (conducted Sep 13-22, with the bulk of interviews concluding before Pfizer’s announcement) finds that 34% of parents say they will vaccinate their 5-11 year old child “right away” once a vaccine is authorized for their age group.​
 
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ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
Yep it was on the news here tonight. Some of the States have gone with a no jab, no job approach for certain jobs and some people are whinging about that. The comment was made in the item that in Europe where no jab, no job was introduced vaccination rates quickly increased because even the holdouts realised that their jobs were on the line and anti vaxxer beliefs doesn't pay the bills. Air NZ has stipulated that all pax on its international flights from 1 Feb 2022 will be required to be vaccinated. It's also considering whether or not to bring in the same rule for its domestic operation. From 1 November 2021 all non NZ citizens will be required to be vaccinated before they will be allowed entry to NZ.

 

Todjaeger

Potstirrer
(US) NBC News has a recent article on viral transmission from breakthrough infections. It does indeed appear that a vaccinated person which develops a breakthrough infection is less likely to infect a contact, depending on which virus variant and vaccine they had. Story is here.
 

hauritz

Well-Known Member
5. As of 13 Sep 2021, 52.8% of people in counties that voted for Biden were fully vaccinated compared to 39.9% of Trump counties, a 12.9 percentage point difference. In Texas, when voters are asked about Gov. Abbott's reelection prospects, 51% say he does not deserve to be reelected; 42% say he does. That disapproval grew in the last 3 months. In Florida, polls are showing that Gov. Ron DeSantis losing support among Floridians as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge. Quinnipiac also found that more Floridians disapprove of his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and public schools, with 60% supporting mandatory masks in schools, something the governor is fighting fiercely to block. But DeSantis’ stumbles also are being greeted with a cold dose of reality among Democrats exiled from state leadership for more than two decades and dealing with a host of internal problems.
(a) Republicans have started turning on each other for causing vaccine hesitancy. As misinformation, vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccine sentiment have consumed the debate over a global pandemic response, the rift between some teens and their parents has increased.​
(b) Teens For Vaccines has 30 state ambassadors across America and has partnered with GENup, another teen organization with more than 4,000 student members. But for the adolescents who are eligible to be vaccinated and cannot do so because their parents are vaccine-hesitant or anti-vaccine, there aren’t many options.​

(c) Some unvaccinated pregnant women are suffering far worse courses of COVID-19 than those who have been inoculated, and the consequences can be severe. According to CDC, 22,000 pregnant women have been hospitalized, and 161 have died, because of COVID-19 as of 27 Sep 2021.​

6. Earlier this month, President Biden outlined further steps his administration would take in efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic and limit its spread in schools. A key component of his plan is increasing access to COVID-19 testing in schools.
(a) 69% of parents with a child attending in-person school say their school is requiring all students and staff to wear masks and just 28% say their school has no mask requirement. While mask requirements appear to be widespread in schools, COVID-19 testing is less common with half of parents saying their school district is not offering testing to students who are not eligible to get the vaccine.​
(b) While 12-to-17-year-olds continue to be the least vaccinated eligible age group in the country, the vaccination rate among adolescents is growing faster than any other age group, White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said in late Aug 2021.​
(c) 48% of parents of children ages 12-17 say their child has received at least one dose of a vaccine. With news from Pfizer that clinical trials showed their COVID-19 vaccine was safe and effective for children ages five to eleven, the Vaccine Monitor (conducted Sep 13-22, with the bulk of interviews concluding before Pfizer’s announcement) finds that 34% of parents say they will vaccinate their 5-11 year old child “right away” once a vaccine is authorized for their age group.​
There is a ridiculous politicisation of Covid vaccines in the US. Most other countries look at them almost in disbelief as the most advanced nation on the planet continues to fail to get this virus under control.

I blame Trump for much of this. Rather than continue being divisive he should openly start encouraging his support base to get vaccinated. If he doesn't he is risking a significant number of his voting base dying off before the next election. Some estimates have the Covid death rate of his supporters nearly 5 times higher than his opponents with 47 out of every 100,000 dying in Red states compared to 10 out of a 100,000 in Blue states.
 
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tonnyc

Well-Known Member
I blame Trump for much of this. Rather than continue being divisive he should openly start encouraging his support base to get vaccinated. If he doesn't he is risking a significant number of his voting base dying off before the next election. Some estimates have the Covid death rate of his supporters nearly 5 times higher than his opponents with 47 out of every 100,000 dying in Red states compared to 10 out of a 100,000 in Blue states.
The blame is indeed Donald Trump's and he has tried to reverse course. In 22 August 2021 he urged the crowd at one of his rallies to get vaccinates and got boos. His mixed messages don't help either. He rejects vaccine mandates. He said he probably won't get booster shots but now says he would get the booster if he felt it's necessary.

I expect this difference in death rate to have some minor but significant effect in making the Republican Party lose more votes in 2022. In the less populated states, a difference of few thousands could flip a county politically and a few counties being flipped in turn could flip a state.
 

John Fedup

The Bunker Group

swerve

Super Moderator
That's what was done here in the UK: get one dose of vaccine into as many people as possible, then start doing second doses. So I got my first dose in early January & the second in late March, 11 weeks later. And another one last week. Much the same for my wife.

It seems to have worked here.
 

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
The latest mutation of COVID, AY.4.2 or Delta-Plus, may be even more infectious than Delta. Given that there are still significant numbers of unvaccinated people this variant may produce yet another big wave. This seems to be happening in the UK where this variant represents 6-8% of new infections. Hopefully 5-12 year olds can soon receive rMRA vaccines. I think mask wearing will be necessary for many more months and perhaps distancing as well.
 

kato

The Bunker Group
Verified Defense Pro
This seems to be happening in the UK where this variant represents 6-8% of new infections. ... I think mask wearing will be necessary for many more months and perhaps distancing as well.
England (not Scotland or Wales, only partially in Northern Ireland) abandoned their mask requirements on July 19th. That's why they're now a hotbed for infections for Europe after all ...
 

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
It seems where masking has been relaxed here (Saskatchewan and Alberta), rates have increased. This, along with easing capacity and distancing rules causes an increase in rates along with Delta. However vaccination rates in these two provinces is poor compared to the rest of Canada. Delta Plus hasn’t got a foothold here yet.

The tough decision for pollies is how much more restrictions can economies and citizens accept, especially for those who are vaccinated? Not much more IMHO. ICU capacity seems to be the threshold for more restrictions. Until the unvaccinated die off, finally figure out vaccines can save their sorry a$$es or are forced into vaccination, this BS will continue.
 

swerve

Super Moderator
England (not Scotland or Wales, only partially in Northern Ireland) abandoned their mask requirements on July 19th. That's why they're now a hotbed for infections for Europe after all ...
Yeah. Bloody Boris & his crowd of incompetent hangers-on . . . . He struggles to get anyone competent in the government: people with ability & experience don't want to work with him.
 

alexsa

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
Australia are headed toward opening up as soon as some of our states get their vaccination rates up. ACT and NSW are both above 85% fully vaccinated and are over 90% one jab. The country as a whole is at about 75% fully vaccinated with close to 90% with one jab. after a slow start it has gone reasonable well and masks outside will be ditched soon (already gone in NSW and ACT).

It is likely that we will have follow on waves but the impact will (hopefully) be moderated by the vaccination rate, the intention to roll out third booster jabs and better treatments. At least the medical systems should be able to cope (again .... hopefully).
 
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