19 thoughts on “C-19 Chat Post – October 16 2021”

  1. According to Dr. Ashish Jha during an interview on last evening’s PBS Newshour, Covid-19 boosters will likely be needed annually for the rest of our lives just like the flu shots.

    My next dose: September 2022

  2. Vicki, the Science article included in the Tweet Dr. Madhu Pai sent basically said things we already knew, but now have scientific proof for: Delta variant is responsible for a much greater number of reinfections than previous variants. And, Delta variant causes vaccine immunity to wane much more than previous variants.

    1. Not sure which tweet you mean. Is that the tweet the comment I posted above responded to? If so, I was more focused on the comments. I often like to see what others are thinking.

              1. Haha. I just can’t find the tweet. But doesn’t matter as you said it is info we already know

                I just liked this comment in a tweet thread

                “ Am I in some stupid parallel universe where we are forced to live the same stupid mistakes, time and time again.”

  3. White House tweeted the following:

    The President’s plan to beat the pandemic is working:
    -Daily cases down 47% in the last 6 weeks
    -Hospitalizations down 38% in the last 6 weeks
    -Case rates now declining in 39 states
    -Hospitalizations now declining in 38 states

    I understand the importance of messaging. As the White House, you want to project a positive tone. But, there’s something weirdly off about this way of presenting numbers to people.

    In light of the fact that yesterday the nation recorded 116,000 new cases and 2,120 new deaths, we’re still in a precarious state. It’s laughable to say the plan is “working” when we’re doing so poorly compared to our peers. Sure, we’ve come down from the peak. But the peak was like Everest, and we’re now at Matterhorn level. We should be at Mt. Washington or preferably Monadnock altitude. This is especially relevant given what’s currently going on in better vaccinated countries in Europe, and particularly the UK. It is experiencing a moderate resurgence of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Unless the White House thinks that we’re going to somehow avoid a late autumn/winter resurgence. Perhaps it does, in which case it’s making the same mistake all the experts have made since the spring of 2020: Not looking to Europe/UK for trajectory trends. Invariably looking inward, retrospectively, and thinking the U.S. will somehow buck the trend. I don’t think there are a lot of visionaries in the WH. Not under Biden. Nor Trump. I also believe that contingency planning is no longer in the lexicon of the U.S. government.

  4. Joshua, do you agree with Dr. Jha’s thoughts on boosters re my post above? Is the Delta variant going to remain with us humans for eternity?

    Any chance that someday soon there will be a “one and done” Covid-19 vaccine like measles, mumps, polio etc?

    Frankly I would love to be rid of indoor masking next year this time. I guess 2021 is out of the question. 🙁

  5. This is a weather blog, so introducing seasonality – the weather, phenomenon, that is – into the Covid-19 report seems appropriate.

    The UK has had a normal autumn, which means a lot of dull days with clouds and light rain and fairly cool temperatures. [That will come our way, too, but our autumns tend to be much, much nicer than what is usually experienced in Northwestern Europe[. In any event, the Covid-19 moderate resurgence is in full swing. Today’s data show that cases are up 13% over last week (with FEWER tests, implying a significant increase in test positivity); hospitalizations are up 7%, and deaths, 6%. Last week, we saw similar increases compared to the previous week. I expect the pattern to continue as we move forward. My best guess is that the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and parts of the Midwest that haven’t already gone into resurgent mode, will do so soon, as the weather changes.

    The good news is that there is some decoupling in Britain, because of vaccinations. Similarly, there will be (and is) decoupling here, too. Not totally decoupled, but enough so that we won’t endure the horrors of last winter.

Comments are closed.