How COVID-19 is affecting society

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Archer]

Wasn't sure where to put this, but decided on here, because our society is breaking right now due in part to Covid. This guy sort of predicted that 2020 would be a bad year, based on scientific analysis of history, something most of us have never heard of. Very interesting article.

Can History Predict the Future?

 

[Jolene Benoir]

Minnesota Senate GOP held large, in-person dinner party just before COVID outbreak

Days before a coronavirus outbreak in the Minnesota Senate Republican caucus, the GOP held a large, in-person dinner party to celebrate their election results.

www.fox9.com

Paul Gazelka is Minnesota's very own Mitch McConnell. He sent his own daughter to conversion therapy. Bi-partisan bills get sent to him and he doesn't let them get out of committee to be voted on.

The man preaches personal responsibility, tries to block any covid measures by our Governor. He kept the news of the positive tests among the Republicans from the DFL (that is our dems, democratic-farmer-labor party) before session. Then he gets it, most likely from an election "victory" party and flies off to Florida to share it with them.

Asshole, all around.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Paul Gazelka is Minnesota's very own Mitch McConnell. He sent his own daughter to conversion therapy. Bi-partisan bills get sent to him and he doesn't let them get out of committee to be voted on.

The man preaches personal responsibility, tries to block any covid measures by our Governor. He kept the news of the positive tests among the Republicans from the DFL (that is our dems, democratic-farmer-labor party) before session. Then he gets it, most likely from an election "victory" party and flies off to Florida to share it with them.

Asshole, all around.

 

[danielravennest]

I don't know many vaccinations an hour she expects to deliver, but each hour she spends vaccinating people is an hour she's not doing blood tests, or anything else, and they're still going to need doing, which means she, along with everyone else at the practice, is going to be doing a great deal of overtime, and there are only so many hours in a day.

I disagree. People like me are already going there for blood tests, and adding a vaccination would add about 2 minutes to the 5 minutes I spend with her already. Also, my doctor is only open 4 days a week. Going to 5 for a while would not cause burnout.

There are 123,000 phelbotomists in the US. So each would need to do 2400 vaccinations. I'm leaving out the fraction of people who already had COVID by the time the vaccination was available. Assuming 10 minutes per dose, that's 400 hours time. If we add in nurses, pharmacists, and doctors, we can probably get it down to 100 hours per person. Spread over the course of a year, it isn't an undue burden.

 

[danielravennest]

For a lot of Trump supporters, that could well put them in the negative! Is that even possible?

If being in a room lowers the IQ of everyone around you, then yes.

 

[Arkady Arkright]

I disagree. People like me are already going there for blood tests, and adding a vaccination would add about 2 minutes to the 5 minutes I spend with her already.

I went in for my diabetes check-up last month. When the nurse discovered I hadn't had my flu jab she gave me one there and then, and also my wife (who was outside waiting for me). It's just not that big an issue, at least in the practice I use.

 

[Argent Stonecutter]

So, Pfizer isn't shipping the vaccine in lots less than 1000 units, and the short shelf life outside ultracold freezers and tight handling requirements like "only open the box twice a day for less than one minute" means it's only going to be practical for major hospitals.

Pfizer readies 'Herculean effort' to distribute coronavirus vaccine

“With 1,000 people dying every day in the U.S., there’s no time to lose,” Pfizer's CEO said.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

So, Pfizer isn't shipping the vaccine in lots less than 1000 units, and the short shelf life outside ultracold freezers and tight handling requirements like "only open the box twice a day for less than one minute" means it's only going to be practical for major hospitals.

Pfizer readies 'Herculean effort' to distribute coronavirus vaccine

“With 1,000 people dying every day in the U.S., there’s no time to lose,” Pfizer's CEO said.

www.nbcnews.com

I disagree. People like me are already going there for blood tests, and adding a vaccination would add about 2 minutes to the 5 minutes I spend with her already. Also, my doctor is only open 4 days a week. Going to 5 for a while would not cause burnout.

There are 123,000 phelbotomists in the US. So each would need to do 2400 vaccinations. I'm leaving out the fraction of people who already had COVID by the time the vaccination was available. Assuming 10 minutes per dose, that's 400 hours time. If we add in nurses, pharmacists, and doctors, we can probably get it down to 100 hours per person. Spread over the course of a year, it isn't an undue burden.

I know it's the Mail, but it's mostly a synthesis of an article from a doctors' trade paper and statements from leading official scientific advisors

NHS England's mass vaccination plan 'impossible' to deliver, GPs warn

Local Medical Committees (LMCs), who represent GPs, have said in a letter, seen by medical magazine Pulse, that the current plans by NHS England are 'devoid of realistic expectations'.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Whether or not their concerns are justified, the piece gives an idea of the scale of the operation and the pressure local practices will experience from the increase in their workload.

 

[Essence Lumin]

I went in for my diabetes check-up last month. When the nurse discovered I hadn't had my flu jab she gave me one there and then, and also my wife (who was outside waiting for me). It's just not that big an issue, at least in the practice I use.

If I want a flu shot I have to pay $40 for it.

 

[Arkady Arkright]

If I want a flu shot I have to pay $40 for it.

Ouch (The diabetes check is free too).

 

[Jolene Benoir]

If I want a flu shot I have to pay $40 for it.

That is terrible.

Here is a list of some places that may offer them free. Most of them do require some form of insurance.

Stop the Spread: Where to Get Free Flu Shots in 2020 and What to Know About the Flu Vaccine

The last thing we need is a double-whammy pandemic. While we’re all still adjusting to the new normal of coronavirus, flu season is right around the corner. While there isn’t a COVID-19 vaccine yet, there is a flu vaccine for the 2020 strains. Check with your doctor to find out which flu vaccine...

parade.com

 

[Essence Lumin]

That is terrible.

Here is a list of some places that may offer them free. Most of them do require some form of insurance.

Stop the Spread: Where to Get Free Flu Shots in 2020 and What to Know About the Flu Vaccine

The last thing we need is a double-whammy pandemic. While we’re all still adjusting to the new normal of coronavirus, flu season is right around the corner. While there isn’t a COVID-19 vaccine yet, there is a flu vaccine for the 2020 strains. Check with your doctor to find out which flu vaccine...

parade.com

Yeah, it's free with my insurance but my insurance is only good in my home state. I've been living on the other side of the country.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Background -- one consequence of the resignation of Dominic Cummings as Boris Johnson's chief advisor is that his advice not to allow cabinet ministers to be interviewed by Piers Morgan has been rescinded.

Our Health Secretary, the hapless Matt Hancock ("Door" Matt, as the Guardian's John Crace once dubbed him), must already be wishing Dom was back.

 

[Free]

 

[Beebo Brink]

 

[Archer]

Pfizer will need to get that storage temp up into a reasonable range for any kind of wide-distribution success. Today Moderna announced it's candidate vaccine which uses a more reasonable storage temperature. Keeping vaccines cold has been a problem worldwide since they started, but it's always being improved. When there is great need, innovation comes through.

Solar Refrigerators and Vaccine Distribution in Africa

When William Clemmer, a doctor with faith-based nonprofit IMA World Health, arrived in the DRC in the 1990s, many health centers were using outdated kerosene-powered refrigerators that would often break down, damaging or destroying vaccines.
First-generation solar refrigerators were an improvement, but they required storage batteries that often stopped working after two to three years and were hard to replace.
Solar direct-drive refrigerators changed that, starting about a decade ago.
Costing between $3,500 and $9,000, they are wired directly to solar photovoltaic panels, which provide thermal energy to freeze a thick lining of water, with the ice layer keeping the vaccines inside cool for many days, no matter the weather.
In 2016, only 16% of DRC's rural health centers had working refrigerators, according to Gavi.
Today close to 80% are equipped, many with direct-drive solar units. They have enabled 24,000 monthly immunisation sessions in the nine poorest provinces in the past year, a 50% jump from 2018.
"They've essentially revolutionized vaccine delivery for children in sub-Saharan Africa," said Clemmer.

 

[Pamela]

This nurse describes how some of her patients angrily deny they have Covid even as they die. It’s shocking and tells us what we are up against. It is also shocking to me as a white person to realize that over half of white people are So racist they would be okay with dying and seeing their loved ones die Rather than see any POC treated as equals.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Of all the strangest Brit reactions to COVID-19...

Farage's anti-cyclist article shows car users fear loss of control

Bike-friendly measures introduced during lockdown have led rightwing populists to revive much-disproved myths

www.theguardian.com