For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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#1860346
eltonioni wrote:
JAFO wrote:It is perfectly reasonable for people to decide that they do not wish to be vaccinated. It is then perfectly reasonable for them to be excluded from places where there will be a high density of other people. It's their choice.

The same as I can choose not to have a vaccination against Yellow Fever but, if I do that, I have to accept that there are certain countries I cannot visit.


Do you feel the same about Mountain Rescue or the RNLI not turning out because you had a plummet in a planet-destroying light aircraft? Either we have (or at least aspire to) an equal society, or we don't. There isn't really an in-between.


There really is no way for me to respond to that which might not lead to you taking offence so I will refer you to my earlier answer as it is close enough:

JAFO wrote:You clearly don't read what you don't want to see. I'm not going to bother any longer, I'll leave you to spout nonsense that you can't substantiate and will withdraw from the debate.
TopCat liked this
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1860352
stevelup wrote:Ah yes... Extinction Rebellion!


They rank with Suffragettes and CND and history will smile while ridiculing the pompous stick in the muds who opposed them :D
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1860355
Hello readers,

I’m Jonathan Lambert, a staff writer here at Science News who covers everything biology-related. I wrote our very first story on the coronavirus pandemic in January 2020, back when it was a mysterious pneumonia-causing virus in China. Since then, I’ve covered how shutdowns can be more targeted, why vaccinating the globe is essential, and how people are bringing vaccines to underserved groups. Recently, I’ve been trying to make sense of the tension between my newfound sense of vaccinated freedom and the dismal fact that in many places, the pandemic is getting worse.

A couple weeks ago, I celebrated my sister’s wedding with family and friends in Minnesota. Nearly everyone in attendance was vaccinated, and I was struck at how normal it felt to be indoors, eating, drinking and dancing with over 100 people. In the joy of that moment, after a year and a half of canceled plans and isolation, one could be fooled into thinking that the pandemic was over.

But the pandemic is not over. Across the world and in parts of the United States, the virus rages on. Even as some individuals and countries behave like it’s gone, others remain unable to access vaccines.

In England, officials seem to be governing as though the pandemic is behind them. On Monday, the government lifted most of its coronavirus restrictions, despite the United Kingdom logging 48,161 new cases — the most of any country — the day before. In response, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now advising against travel to the United Kingdom.

And in Japan, the Olympics are set to officially begin Friday, amidst a months-long steady uptick in cases in a country where nearly 80 percent of people remain unvaccinated. In a last-minute change, athletes will compete in empty stadiums — unlike the European Championship soccer games, where maskless fans packed into stadiums and pubs, leading to a significant rise in cases, according to the World Health Organization. Still, thousands of athletes, coaches and other staff are pouring into Tokyo for the Games, and numerous athletes have already tested positive. As a track and field fan, I look forward to the one time every four years I can watch the sport in prime time. This year, I'd honestly be relieved if the Games were canceled.

These worldwide surges share a commonality. They are largely caused by the delta variant of the virus. New research may help explain why this strain of coronavirus is about 225 percent more transmissible than earlier versions. It could be because viral loads, how much virus a person carries, are higher. Upon first testing positive, viral loads were about 1,000 times higher in patients infected with the delta variant than with other variants, according to an analysis posted July 7 at virological.org. Researchers administered daily PCR tests to the close contacts of 167 people who tested positive for the delta variant in China, and also found that people newly infected with this variant test positive about two days earlier in the course of infection than those infected with older variants during a 2020 outbreak. This combo of much more virus much sooner after infection may explain delta’s devastating spread.

Fortunately, fully vaccinated people are well protected against delta. Even if they get infected, they don’t get nearly as sick as unvaccinated people, which is great news for those lucky enough to be fully vaccinated. Most of the world is not so lucky.

Indonesia, where only 6 percent of people are fully vaccinated, has become the Asian epicenter of the pandemic. More than 7,000 new deaths and 350,000 new cases were reported there in the past week. And with nearly 30 percent of tests coming back positive, the situation is likely much worse in this country of 270 million.

In Africa, only about 1 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. Cases have been mostly rising across the continent this summer, and deaths increased 43 percent last week, from 4,384 to 6,273, as hospitals in many countries are reaching a breaking point, according to the WHO. Even under best-case scenarios, only about 20 percent of people living on the continent will be fully vaccinated by year’s end.

In the United States, where about 60 percent of adults are fully vaccinated, coronavirus cases are rising in nearly every state, mostly among the unvaccinated. The delta variant now accounts for 83 percent of cases, which have tripled from around 11,000 cases per day in June to over 34,000 cases per day now. While vaccine access remains an issue for many Americans, vaccine hesitancy fueled in part by misinformation is giving the delta variant ample tinder to spread here. For example, 67 percent of unvaccinated adults had heard at least one COVID-19 vaccine myth, like that vaccines cause infertility or contain microchips, and either believed it to be true or weren’t sure it was untrue, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey.

"Health misinformation is an urgent threat to public health. It can cause confusion, sow mistrust, and undermine public health efforts, including our ongoing work to end the COVID-19 pandemic," U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said in a July 15 statement.

Until that misinformation is overcome and vaccination rates here at home and around the world increase, this pandemic will not end. And the fleeting feeling I had at my sister’s wedding that the pandemic was behind us will remain just that.
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1860385
[*]
Flyingfemme wrote:Dear Mr Lambert, how many people are Minnesota testing each day? The website doesn’t seem to mention it. The more you test, the more you will find. The UK is testing a huge number of people routinely while other countries only test the symptomatic.


The point is we have some knowledge of the case rate others may have less, nobody knows the total for sure. Testing doesn’t create cases, human interaction does and a high case rate is a bad thing even if the healthcare system can cope, because it increases the variant risk.

That’s why sensible folk are still taking some level of precautions even though we are doing much more.

I have seen more folk I know isolating and living with it in the last 3 weeks than in the last 2 years, so this is not over by a long chalk.
kanga liked this
#1860416
johnm wrote:The point is we have some knowledge of the case rate others may have less, nobody knows the total for sure. Testing doesn’t create cases, human interaction does and a high case rate is a bad thing even if the healthcare system can cope, because it increases the variant risk.

Simply pointing out that the media and self-righteous governments are pointing to the UK results and using them as a stick to beat us with. Our zeal to test everyone, at every opportunity is being used against us while other places are ignoring it and looking good.
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By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1860423
@Flyingfemme I don't think anyone is looking good, even those in the antipodes who have done well at containment have failed to follow through with vaccination. One of the biggest issues in all of this has been that the whole of homo sapiens has been found to have feet of clay when it comes to crisis management....
kanga liked this
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