10 thoughts on “C-19 Chat Post – July 13 2021”

  1. Philip, France’s form of government is highly centralized, giving provinces and counties little in terms of autonomy. So, what the central government in Paris says the rest of the country goes along. Whether it’s school curriculum or mandatory vaccinations or a whole host of things.

    Our form of government is much more decentralized. There’s little Biden or any other president can do – even if he/she wanted to – to make vaccines mandatory across the board (independent of emergency use authorization status).

    I’m saying this as a neutral observer. Not saying the French or American system of democracy and government is better. Just telling you how they operate in France and how we operate here.

    The French President implored citizens to get vaccinated last night, and boy did they listen. Record numbers of people signed up – almost 1 million yesterday evening alone! Biden or Trump don’t have that kind of influence. Americans aren’t as likely to listen to what their leaders have to say.

    1. Thanks Joshua. I certainly hear what you are saying. Plus, in this country we have “The Constitution”. Highly unlikely the SCOTUS would ever go along with a Biden “executive order” of that nature. However, at some point something is going to have to be done with vaccinated vs. unvaccinated people. Here in MA, the positivity rate continues to rise. At last check, 0.55%. Just a couple weeks ago, the rate was coasting down so nicely. I believe the lowest was as low as 0.28%.

    1. No surprise those camps are located in the “red” states. Very sad that throughout this entire pandemic has come down to party lines (Dems vs. GOP). The polls I have seen are crystal clear on the division in this nation with regard to vaccinations.

        1. Even the “blue” states could do better with regard to vaccinations. We have some stubborn folks here as well.

  2. Round-up of global Covid-19:

    UK daily case growth is diminishing. Even so, today’s ~36,500 cases marked the highest number since mid January. Moreover, there were 526 hospital admissions today. Also 50 deaths reported; highest number in many months. Hospitalizations are up 53% since last week. While there has been some decoupling between cases, hospitalizations, and deaths there’s still plenty of linkage. This is a dismaying finding in light of the fact that the UK is highly vaccinated. Surely, this is what our immediate future will look like, too.

    Israel is moving ahead with booster shots (Pfizer) for elderly and vulnerable patient groups. Clearly, Israeli authorities are seeing something in the data on waning immunity they don’t like. Once again, the contrast with CDC couldn’t be any greater. If I was a betting man, I’d bet on Israel knowing what it’s doing and the CDC just not up to the task at hand.
    https://twitter.com/itosettiMD_MBA/status/1415022611675889670

    Russia and Indonesia have reported record high numbers of deaths today.

    Across Europe the Delta variant is in fairly rapid ascent. This said, thus far, it has NOT yet translated into growth in hospitalizations. I can’t imagine there’s total decoupling in Europe (less vaccinated) and only a small to moderate degree of decoupling in the UK (more vaccinated). Wouldn’t make sense. I think lags in reporting and the fact that hospitalizations lag cases account for the current data across Europe.

    Africa is in still in steady ascent. Multiple variants at play there.

    South America is finally seeing some ebbing in its numbers. Gradual to steady decreases across most of the continent.

    Asia is a mixed bag, with some countries improving quite a bit (eg, India), while others are mired in outbreaks (eg, Japan, Thailand).

  3. Then there’s the Lambda variant, which we’ve imported from South America. Not sure if this one is as successful as Alpha and Delta at out-competing other variants. But, scientists are discovering a disconcerting finding that Lambda may reduce the ability of vaccines to induce antibody production. We’re talking diminished capacity, and not an elimination of antibody production. Also, it’s still unclear if this would impact the vaccines’ ultimate efficacy. Still, we need to be watchful. This is where the variants keep us on our toes. They’re trying to outsmart us. https://seekingalpha.com/news/3714876-pfizerbiontech-moderna-vaccine-effect-impacted-by-covid-19-lambda-variant?

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