The Chief Medical Officer (England) has stated "Covid hospital numbers could get scary" (e.g. admissions are doubling every 3 weeks), and that the pandemic "still had a long way to run in the UK", with cases still currently rising exponentially.

Despite this, he supports ending Covid restrictions on Monday 19th July.

How odd is that? IMO it's because he is a civil servant who reports to the PM, and is not independent. Ditto the other 'chief <whatever> officers'. I find his position unscientific and highly political, and really disappointing. If he won't behave as a scientist, change the job title to Propaganda Officer or Political Officer, or PR Czar or whatever. But medical? No way. It's a political role.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57858864

My two cents worth... Life Teaches... You don't want to get vaccinated fine... Get sick/die/live with not being able to breath/whatever. At least I have some solace in the thought that these people can no longer kill me or my family. Learned a disturbing fact this morning: people in the medical fields are leaving their profession due to Burn Out. This is a sad reality that effects us all. One thing this Pandemic has made me realize, that life and the comforts we enjoy in this country, " Take a Village" ! Food Chain, Health, Goods and Services, all of it. We are all in this together whether we like it (or each other) or not.

That's unfortunate. I'm out living my best life. Highly recommended. Decent overnight at work last week within a short walk of a great barcade. Wine slushie and pins, good times. Couples getaway from the kids in the San Juan Islands this week. Lovely.

Just curious, have you been vaccinated? If not, why? Are you fearful there will be side effects or is it a freedom of rights thing?

Not trying to be argumentative but how many ways can the news tell the same story over and over without being sensational? What facts and figures are people still looking for at this point? People doing their "own research" or "looking for more facts" is what's getting everyone in trouble in todays world. These types of stories are not for a lack of compassion but a cautionary tale.

What makes a lot of people frustrated is how vehemently and intensely anti-vaccers gloatingly defend their position for NOT getting the vaccine. Some even lambast those for getting vaccinated calling them sheep. I don't have a lot of sympathy because everyone told ya so.

So 4 Covid deniers in my family all have it now, some with worse symptoms then others. Each are now receiving an antibody shot. None took Covid seriously or wanted the vaccine but they are sure trusting the science now and getting the antibody shot!

His gofundme donors are more charitable than I. I'm more like, " Sorry dude, I hate to see this happening to you, but you were playing with fire. I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers."

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Not sure what other kind of data people are looking for, but it kind of reminds me of this scene from one of my favorite movies.

"England’s Covid unlocking is threat to world, say 1,200 scientists"

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/16/englands-covid-unlocking-a-threat-to-the-world-experts-say

I agree with this. A vaccine-immune variant would be quite a gift to the world, for example. The UK government has lost the plot IMO, basically because the PM wants to stay in power (as his MPs would rebel against continued 'restrictions' and he would lose a vote or have to rely on Labour votes, thereby killing his leadership). It's all about him, everything else be damned, even including the most obvious, clearcut, basic public health principles. Quite shameful, unethical behaviour IMO. For example, long Covid in the unvaccinated young will become a large problem with 100,000+ cases per day.

And vaccine rollout has dropped to a low level, because AZ can't be used in the under-40s, and we're awaiting an August shipment. D'oh.

Article:

"Boris Johnson’s plan to lift virtually all of England’s pandemic restrictions on Monday is a threat to the world and provides fertile ground for the emergence of vaccine-resistant variants, international experts say.

Britain’s position as a global transport hub would mean any new variant here would rapidly spread around the world, scientists and physicians warned at an emergency summit. They also expressed grave concerns about Downing Street’s plans.

Government advisers in New Zealand, Israel and Italy were among those who sounded alarm bells about the policy, while more than 1,200 scientists backed a letter to the Lancet journal warning the strategy could allow vaccine-resistant variants to develop.

An adviser to New Zealand’s government told the summit he and his colleagues were astounded at the approach being taken in England.

“In New Zealand we have always looked to the UK for leadership when it comes to scientific expertise, which is why it’s so remarkable that it is not following even basic public health principles,” said Michael Baker, a professor of public health at the University of Otago and a member of the New Zealand ministry of health’s Covid-19 technical advisory group."

Also participating was Prof José Martin-Moreno of the University of Valencia, a senior adviser to the World Health Organization (WHO), who said: “We cannot understand why this is happening in spite of the scientific knowledge that you have.”

Others warned the British government’s approach would be imitated, for political expediency, by authorities elsewhere.

“What I fear is that that the some of the worst impulses in many of our states will follow the UK example,” said Dr William Haseltine, a former Harvard Medical School researcher and a pioneering Aids researcher who chairs Access Health International, a New York-based thinktank.

“I am extremely dismayed to see the very rapid rate of increasing infections in a population that is vaccinated pretty much like we are.”

Prof Christina Pagel, the director of University College London’s clinical operational research unit, told the meeting: “Because of our position as a global travel hub, any variant that becomes dominant in the UK will likely spread to the rest of the globe. The UK policy doesn’t just affect us. It affects everybody and everybody has a stake in what we do.”

The letter to the Lancet said: “We believe the government is embarking on a dangerous and unethical experiment, and we call on it to pause plans to abandon mitigations on July 19, 2021.”

“The world is watching the current avoidable crisis unfold in the UK,” said Dr Deepti Gurdasani, a clinical epidemiologist and senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, who is taking part in Friday’s summit.

She added on Twitter: “Let’s be under no illusions – we are in a country where our government is taking steps to maximally expose our young to a virus that causes chronic illness in many. Our govt is ending all protections for our children including isolation of contacts of cases in schools & bubbles.”

The summit, All the Citizens, was being broadcast live on YouTube at noon UK time.

The concerns expressed in other countries comes after Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, warned on Thursday that the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 could reach “quite scary” levels within weeks, as cases soared caused by the more contagious Delta variant and the lifting of lockdown restrictions.

Whitty said in a webinar late on Thursday, hosted by the Science Museum, that hospital admissions were doubling about every three weeks, and that the current low numbers of Covid admissions could rise to serious levels in the next couple of months.

New coronavirus infections in the UK are at a six-month high, according to government figures, and the number of people in hospital and dying with Covid are at their highest level since March. Thursday’s data showed 3,786 people in hospital with Covid and another 63 virus-related deaths.

Downing Street, which has defended the lifting of all remaining legal restrictions on social gatherings in England on 19 July, is hoping the rapid rollout of vaccines will keep a lid on the number of people becoming seriously ill."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/07/01/995-of-people-killed-by-covid-in-last-6-months-were-unvaccinated-data-suggests/

Being a free, questioning thinker sounds like risky business.

Australia's new ad campaign "Don't be Complacent" is trying a more shocking avenue in the light of only 10% being vaccinated. They could have used real patients instead of an actress but can understand why.

Covid by county mid June vs mid July

Missouri and Arkansas and Florida in particular in a world of hurt.

Strong correlation between low vaccinated counties and exploding case counts. Go figure.

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Well, I tell ya...these anti-vaxxers always have the best retorts:

A friend of mine, a research chemist, is one of the brightest people I know. He and his wife (both unvaccinated), reside in the college town of Columbia, MO. When I recently asked him if he was worried about the exploding cases of highly contagious Delta variant in his state (especially the Springfield area), being unvaccinated, his reply was, "Not at all because that's all happening 2 hours away."

WTF? For his sake, I hope the COVID Delta variant doesn't have enough gas left in its tank to drive the short distance up the road to him. Sometimes even smart people defy logic!

Here is a reply from someone I once worked with (in the hills of southcentral PA), when he read that:
"This calendar year, in my social circle, we've lost 1 from Covid, 1 with Covid, and 7 from the vaccine. There is no safe path."

... and Here is MY almost-as-nutty reply back to HIM:
"I can see that, in a remote area like where you live. We've lost 9 dead to COVID, 47 infected, and 0 from the vaccine. So yes, your mileage may vary. Sounds like your area got a bad batch."

`Touche.

That's basically what people said about China back in December 2019. Oh, it's in China, we don't have to worry about that virus over here.

People tend to forget that people travel all over the world, and just because you stay local, doesn't mean you can't come into contact with a traveler in some way either directly or from whomever or whatever they happen to come in contact with.

Shocking, I tell you, absolutely shocking!

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In my town only 28% got vaccinated. A city councilman just died from it and his wife is really sick from it. Both refused to get vaccinated.

I did my thinking about it before the vaccine was available ,its a little late to say Im thinking about it you thought about it and did nothing .Waiting for more information From who ?the coroner.All these thinkers are going to have us back in lockdown soon.Would you still need more information to wear your seatbelt.What meds would you take if any.

Oh my. A picture is worth....

Where is that magic Zero?

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Back in office for me this Monday.

" Yankees’ Shutdown Emphasizes Staying Power of the Coronavirus"

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/15/sports/baseball/yankees-coronavirus.html

“ We’re in a very fluid situation right now,” Cashman said. “The vaccines that we encourage everybody to get guarantee not getting hospitalized and not getting death coming from Covid, which is important, but it doesn’t prevent you from contracting Covid; it prevents you from the severe, worst-case-scenario effects of Covid. We’re thankful that we’re vaccinated in most cases — not all cases — and therefore we’re ultimately protected.”
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I realized at the time I got the vaccine that I could still made ill by Covid. It is just that Covid is no longer a possible death sentence for me.

Arkansas' positivity rate is over 30%. That's crazy high.

The 14-day forecast for those states is fugly!

https://www.mayoclinic.org/coronavirus-covid-19/map/arkansas

The Yankees got the Johnson and Johnson shot which to me personally is the worst option just for the fact that it doesnt stop the spread at all just protects the individual from seriously getting sick. Honeslty i feel they should send J&J shot to 3rd world countries with poor health care systems or completely get rid of the j&j vaccine since its not stopping the spread. I understand there is some break through cases with the 2 shot vaccines but from what i can tell it does stop the spread of covid also in most cases which is what we need before a more deadly variant that can break through all vaccines forms and then were all back to square one.

Were 2 weeks past 4th of july now and look at the surge in cases. How can people not read the writing on the wall. I can relate being scared of a fully untested vaccine but is it worth the risk of human life as we know it to not get the vaccine and possibly have the death variant form? I truly feel were headed in the wrong direction once again just when i thought we were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Its peoples choice if they want the vaccine which i try my hardest to respect but to go out and not wear a mask when your unvaccinated in large groups is happening to much and things are only going to get worse for now i feel. Lets all hope for the best but i cant help but expect the worst at this point. Im sorry for being all doom and gloom but something needs to change, i want my kids to live a normal life and I fear for there futures and really everybodys future.

How have I not been aware of these maps 'till now? Great resource.

I have a friend who is not getting or letting his immediate family get the vaccine for this same reason. I also had some hesitancy to get it for the same reason. I did some research into what this term really means and while it is certainly true (I won't lie) that it does mean the vaccines were expedited to the market it doesn't mean they were not tested with the results documented. The sad truth is all the past pandemics were able to be contained geographically to areas of the world where, sadly, we probably didn't care as much about rushing things to market because it wasn't spreading down Mainstreet USA. The "Emergency" more means the disease was here (and pretty much everywhere) more than it means it was untested.

So in those other outbreaks the drug companies didn't have the same pressure so there wasn't as much of a rushed need as Covid-19 represented. mRNA vaccine technology has been in use for 20 years, not 14 months. It is well tested and proven effective, frankly it is a modern miracle of medicine that one day may cure a lot more than just virus outbreaks. But can I 100% guarantee it's 100% safe and effective for 100% of the people in the world? No. There is no drug or product that can say that, you take a chance when you pop a tylenol. But I would rather gamble with a product from the best minds in America than the alternative product that is increasing looking like it was developed by scientists from another country that appears to be designed to do me harm.

Sometimes bravery isn't being willing to push forward without the cure and take your chances, it's being willing to take the shot in the hopes it might keep you from spreading this disease to the vulnerable in your family and community.

There's a clear upward curve in daily cases in many Western countries now, as Delta takes hold. Looking at the Johns Hopkins map, definite clear upswings in the US, Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Denmark. An early hint of growth now in Germany.

Given how rapidly this has grown in the UK, despite 90% adult immunity, I shudder about what might happen in less well vaccinated countries. Today UK had 51,870 cases (vs 48,553 yesterday).

Here we all go again

Orlando Covid ICU is almost full now.
A story was shared by family working there, that they had a covid patient complaining of slow service!
Imagine that!?
It appears he was waiting longer as a "low risk".
Of course it didnt help that he was carrying on to everyone there for their wearing a "face diaper."
I know the nurses wanted to show the "egress"

I only found it last week and that 14 day forecast is new as of today for me anyway. I trust Mayo more than I trust anything Ron Desantis has any control over.

I'm stocking up on Charmin and Bounty again bitches. At least this go around I know my family is probably not going to die.

It’s how they’re telling the same story. They’re trying to create fear and hysteria by throwing out huge numbers like saying there’s been a 500% increase in cases in a certain area. But, jumping from five cases to thirty is a five hundred percent increase. Not that big of a jump but 500% sounds a lot worse and that’s all people hear. New cases just mean people have tested positive and not necessarily hospitalized or even symptomatic. My local news used to report the number of cases in the state as the number of people sick with the virus when many may not even have been symptomatic and only tested positive. On tonight’s news they referred to it as the pandemic of the unvaccinated probably trying to stir up more fear and even guilt in the unvaccinated. Also, when they are reporting on potential side effects of a vaccine, they bury it in some obscure corner of the news, do thirty seconds on it and downplay it like it’s no big deal. They are using all of these scare tactics as a means to their end.

607,000 Americans dead in 18 months. Many more disabled from Covid complications for an uncertain period of time, some for life. The ongoing Covid Complication number is not reported on widely, but should be and likely will be. 9000 people a month are currently dying from Covid and 99% of them are unvaccinated. An even more contagious variant working it's way through poorly vaccinated areas of the country and world.

Vaccinations have killed/injured a handful of people comparatively and have saved hundreds of thousands of lives just in the short time they have been available. Any serious complications have received almost instant coverage and action - stoppage of JNJ for clotting, warning for JNJ on GB, etc. Why would these stories have equal coverage? Just the sheer body count - Covid deaths vs vaccine deaths would dictate the Covid issues are the greater danger by a huge factor and are due way more coverage.

I was only giving examples of how the news sensationalizes the pandemic. I was never disputing the number of dead but your statement that vaccines have saved hundreds of thousands of lives is pure speculation on your part. You have no idea how many lives they saved or didn’t save. Do you believe that just because the CDC and mainstream media told you or do you have a crystal ball?

Thing is, exponential growth means you go from a handful to a big problem fast. It’s not where we are, but where we are going.

Visualization time: Think of a chess board. Start in the lower left corner with one grain of rice and double the amount of rice put on each subsequent square. Sure for the first few squares the amount of rice stays small and seemingly not of concern. By the time you reach the middle of the board though…

Another example: Think of it like a flood/hurricane if it helps. If you wait until the time the water is pouring in through the front door, it’s too late to clear out.

Good news this time around is that the most susceptible segments of the population are mostly vaccinated so maybe this time we don’t overwhelm the healthcare system. Maybe.

I really truly deeply don’t want to go back to that.

Wild card is flu season. Lower hospitalization rates of covid will still be sufficient to overtop healthcare if we have a bad flu year too.

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This is a good resource for tracking variants:

https://www.gisaid.org/hcov19-variants

For example, 99.0% of new UK cases are Delta vs 60.9% for US, suggesting the US wave growth is going to accelerate as Delta kicks in.

In France, 3.4% cases are Beta (South African) variant, which may be vaccine-immune, so even double-jabbed returnees from France to UK have to quarantine now. You know it's bad when even the UK makes you quarantine...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57869880

So far, it's indeed no big deal if you compare it with the conseqeunces of not having a vaccine, so I don't see a problem. In the Netherlands, I think there's been too much news about side-effects, and too little comparison with the alternative (no vaccination).

Fun with math time again.

I cannot be certain that your next coin flip will be heads. Nor can I tell you with certainty that your millionth flip will be heads. But I CAN say with near absolute certainty that if you flip a coin one million times, that at least one time it will be heads.

So, I cannot say absolutely that a vaccine saved my life or your life on an individual basis. You have to look more broadly. We do have good data on covid. We do have good data on the vaccines. I can absolutely say that given the amount of people vaccinated, hundreds of thousands of people that I normally would expect to have severe outcomes if exposed have now been saved.

Look at the case/death curves. See that latest peak and then decline? That is the effect of vaccination. If you’re a statistician you could build a model of what the curve would look like without that peak, if the cases and deaths continued until we reached herd immunity. Hundreds of thousands is really probably correct.

That’s data. It’s not the mainstream media. It’s data. Look at it.

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So if the number of cases are staying consistent in a certain country (that has a high percentage of vaccinated population), but the number of deaths has vastly declined, what do you attribute this decline to then if the not the effects of the vaccines?

UK

Dec. 29, 2000 Cases 53,000 Deaths approx. 800 (total vaccinations 1 million)
July 16, 2021 Cases 51,949 Deaths approx. 50 (total vaccinations 82 million)

Here is a study by people who study such things. There will be lots of studies coming out to evaluate lives saved, techniques that worked/didn’t work etc all around the vaccine effort.

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2021/jul/deaths-and-hospitalizations-averted-rapid-us-vaccination-rollout#2

France is striking a nice balance between encouraging vaccination and respecting those who refuse to be vaccinated.

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Who is "They"?

If its a political Party, the planet is "IN" on

Perhaps a peak at Brazil, at 16% Vaccinated, and how the death rate has happened in that country.
Certainly you dont believe this data is all fabricated by a global media power, to affect a political party here?
(same in India, and across Africa.
In fact the only global MSM with the audience, position, and financial interest is Newscorp.
So its a Global conspiracy that this is real, or a single Global MSM as the ONLY truth?
(include Mercer Holdings)

CDC the "Conspiracy source" is US Only, so I guess they control Global data to "Trick us"?

That's if other countries recognize the mix-n-match vaccinations as legitimate. Sovereign countries are free to choose who they let in. Good luck!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mixed-vaccine-doses-international-travel-1.6103800

Not all of these deaths were people in old folks homes. A lot of productive people with their lives ahead of them met their fate with Covid. That's a lot of people who not still around to fill the jobs/businesses that can't find help.

And all I hear is that people don't want to go back to work. With 600,000 dead, I wonder if there is anybody to even fill some of these Macjobs (Sorry. Macjobs is an 80s term referring to when Reagan was touting all of the jobs he was creating that were mostly jobs at MacDonald's.).

Of the small fraction of the 600,000 that were of working age, they make an even tinier fraction of a percent in a population of 330M.

Stop the enabling in the form of highly inflated unemployment compensation, and watch people head back to work.

I never said the news was fabricated. I was saying that they twist it to make it sound as worse as they can like some astronomical percentage increase when it may only be less than 100 cases but 500 percent sounds much worse. Or, how I mentioned in my state they report the number of positive cases as people actually sick with the virus which is clearly not true. Maybe they do it for ratings or to pander to the left (if you want to make it political) which the mainstream media clearly does. The latest is the MA Dept. of public health has revealed 79 fully vaccinated people have died from Covid but the news is reporting 99 percent of Covid deaths are among the unvaccinated. Assuming they gathered this data from the point the vaccine was available to everyone, which would have been sometime in May, then 7900 people would have died in the state since then which is definitely not accurate.

24819 deaths age 60+, 1563 for all ages below in Canada as of July 9. Not sure if those are the people filling the Macjobs?

That ad is only for the state of New South Wales .
The ad has coped a bit of Flak because we have stuff all pfizer here , mainly astrazeneca .
It's been hard for us to get pfizer because other countries have needed it more , fair enough .
At first they said only people over 50 should get astrazeneca and then they made it over 60s and then so many people were desperate for a vaccine they said anyone over 18 can get it now .
Sydney is effing useless . Only today they desided non-essential retail will be closed and before that you could decide whether you were an essential worker or not .
The wife made it to Cairns in the sun and the beaches , while I'm locked down in the cold and rain .

Part of the problem of getting people back to work is, AFAIK, the day care centers are not back up and running. For a lot of parents with young kids, no day care is a deal breaker.

I love when dumb doubles down. That’s my favorite part.