Joshua, thank you for the explanation of the skewed numbers re FL and TX numbers. It makes sense.
I remember Gottliebs two week comment well. It seems to me that his refusal and that of others to walk back their comments is giving the wrong message to those who need to hear truth. Do you think our health folks are effectively getting the word out to vaccinated that their risk is increasing due to waning efficacy?
No, I think the federal government is worried that if it presents a nuanced picture of the vaccines it will unintentionally promote vaccine hesitancy.
We’re peaking in this Delta wave, and the numbers nationwide are staggering. We’re above 101,000 hospitalizations. They’ve doubled this month (Gottlieb had said that we would be peaking around the 1st of August!!). I don’t think we’ll rise much further, but still. We’ll start hearing next week about “turning the corner” and it will come from Democrats, too, this time. We joked about Trump and Republicans saying “turn the corner.” We should be equally critical of Democrats. This is a shameful record for both red and blue states. Even as we bend downwards the cases, hospitalizations and deaths will be enormous. Models have all been adjusted – they were all wrong this time around; and I suspected as such back in June – to account for at least another 100,000 deaths in the U.S. by December. We’re at >650k already. Could we reach 1 million deaths, which I didn’t think was possible? Yes. We have a largely unaccountable government (state and federal) that is mostly indifferent to the pandemic at this point in time. https://twitter.com/BNODesk/status/1431443250716479488
Also, please keep in mind what the UK data are unequivocally telling us: 70% (!) of people in ICU in Britain are under 60.
It’s a story that repeats itself in the U.S. over and over again since 1980, when U.S. life expectancy began to deviate – MUCH flatter curve – significantly from ALL of its peers. From HIV to infant mortality to homicides to traffic fatalities to opioids (and abuse of other drugs) to suicide to obesity to Covid-19 we mostly ignore public health threats, and when we do tackle them we do so often in inefficient ways. This has troubled me for decades, ever since I became a health economist. I’ve been utterly depressed at the U.S. lack of public health response; long before Covid-19. We pour billions of dollars into commercials on TV, radio, and online for prescription and OTC drugs, hospitals, and clinics. But almost none of that targets public health.
All of what you have said is chilling.
Lying by omission is still lying. By not being forthcoming, our health folks are responsible for some of what we are seeing. Surely, many folks who are hesitant are intelligent enough to see the lies and as such further distrust the reassurance by those who are lying. Also, many vaccinated folks are now considering themselves back to normal.
Both reasons literally create hosts that the virus needs to continue to both live and mutate.
Between that and the complacency on both sides of the aisle which you have aptly described……..How the heck do we get past this?
Spring 2022. Is even that timeframe too optimistic?
Mask on, mask off, mask on, mask off…etc.
U.S. vaccination per capita is 36th in the world. Cuba is ahead of us, along with 36 other nations. We’re dropping in ranking rapidly. Cambodia is just about to catch up with the U.S. There are no excuses for this. None. And it’s not just the disinformation campaigns. It’s also an ineffective information campaign. Do you ever see a federally government spot in prime time on TV promoting the use of vaccines? I don’t. And, preferably I’d like to see such an ad with a graphic display of what Covid-19 looks like in an ICU. I do see lots and lots and lots of ads for drugs that do little for quality of life and absolutely nothing for life expectancy, including testosterone, pain meds, antihistamines, antacids, and proton pump inhibitors. We’re blanked with drug ads. But almost none of them serve the public health’s interest.
Meant to say “along with 35 other nations.”
Amen Joshua. I was eventually going to mention the lack of tv promotions with regard to vaccinations.
To add to your list of ads, how many times per day “National Floors Direct”, “Toyota, Let’s Go Places”, “Cologuard”, etc. etc. etc.?
I have actually seen on occasion some very thoughtful tv ads for the vaccine but they come on VERY infrequently, like every other day or two.
Also, is Israel still #1 in vaccinations? Just curious.
You answered my questions in that. Thank you. I’d like to see honesty.
C-19 for 8-29 is ready.
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Joshua, thank you for the explanation of the skewed numbers re FL and TX numbers. It makes sense.
I remember Gottliebs two week comment well. It seems to me that his refusal and that of others to walk back their comments is giving the wrong message to those who need to hear truth. Do you think our health folks are effectively getting the word out to vaccinated that their risk is increasing due to waning efficacy?
No, I think the federal government is worried that if it presents a nuanced picture of the vaccines it will unintentionally promote vaccine hesitancy.
We’re peaking in this Delta wave, and the numbers nationwide are staggering. We’re above 101,000 hospitalizations. They’ve doubled this month (Gottlieb had said that we would be peaking around the 1st of August!!). I don’t think we’ll rise much further, but still. We’ll start hearing next week about “turning the corner” and it will come from Democrats, too, this time. We joked about Trump and Republicans saying “turn the corner.” We should be equally critical of Democrats. This is a shameful record for both red and blue states. Even as we bend downwards the cases, hospitalizations and deaths will be enormous. Models have all been adjusted – they were all wrong this time around; and I suspected as such back in June – to account for at least another 100,000 deaths in the U.S. by December. We’re at >650k already. Could we reach 1 million deaths, which I didn’t think was possible? Yes. We have a largely unaccountable government (state and federal) that is mostly indifferent to the pandemic at this point in time. https://twitter.com/BNODesk/status/1431443250716479488
Also, please keep in mind what the UK data are unequivocally telling us: 70% (!) of people in ICU in Britain are under 60.
It’s a story that repeats itself in the U.S. over and over again since 1980, when U.S. life expectancy began to deviate – MUCH flatter curve – significantly from ALL of its peers. From HIV to infant mortality to homicides to traffic fatalities to opioids (and abuse of other drugs) to suicide to obesity to Covid-19 we mostly ignore public health threats, and when we do tackle them we do so often in inefficient ways. This has troubled me for decades, ever since I became a health economist. I’ve been utterly depressed at the U.S. lack of public health response; long before Covid-19. We pour billions of dollars into commercials on TV, radio, and online for prescription and OTC drugs, hospitals, and clinics. But almost none of that targets public health.
All of what you have said is chilling.
Lying by omission is still lying. By not being forthcoming, our health folks are responsible for some of what we are seeing. Surely, many folks who are hesitant are intelligent enough to see the lies and as such further distrust the reassurance by those who are lying. Also, many vaccinated folks are now considering themselves back to normal.
Both reasons literally create hosts that the virus needs to continue to both live and mutate.
Between that and the complacency on both sides of the aisle which you have aptly described……..How the heck do we get past this?
Spring 2022. Is even that timeframe too optimistic?
Mask on, mask off, mask on, mask off…etc.
U.S. vaccination per capita is 36th in the world. Cuba is ahead of us, along with 36 other nations. We’re dropping in ranking rapidly. Cambodia is just about to catch up with the U.S. There are no excuses for this. None. And it’s not just the disinformation campaigns. It’s also an ineffective information campaign. Do you ever see a federally government spot in prime time on TV promoting the use of vaccines? I don’t. And, preferably I’d like to see such an ad with a graphic display of what Covid-19 looks like in an ICU. I do see lots and lots and lots of ads for drugs that do little for quality of life and absolutely nothing for life expectancy, including testosterone, pain meds, antihistamines, antacids, and proton pump inhibitors. We’re blanked with drug ads. But almost none of them serve the public health’s interest.
Meant to say “along with 35 other nations.”
Amen Joshua. I was eventually going to mention the lack of tv promotions with regard to vaccinations.
To add to your list of ads, how many times per day “National Floors Direct”, “Toyota, Let’s Go Places”, “Cologuard”, etc. etc. etc.?
I have actually seen on occasion some very thoughtful tv ads for the vaccine but they come on VERY infrequently, like every other day or two.
Also, is Israel still #1 in vaccinations? Just curious.
You answered my questions in that. Thank you. I’d like to see honesty.
C-19 for 8-29 is ready.