Tag Vaccination

Be careful out there

Michael 6 Comments

Deaths due to COVID-19 in 2021 already have surpassed the total number of deaths in all of 2020. Let me type that again. Deaths due to COVID-19 in 2021 already have surpassed the total number of deaths in all of 2020. Globally. If you are in the US, Canada, UK, pick a country that last year was locked up tighter than Marley and Scrooge’s backroom safe and you are going out later today without a mask on, that means there are places this year that make what you went through last year look like you were just trying to stay ahead of getting a really bad cold. One more time. Deaths due to COVID-19 in 2021 already have surpassed the total number of deaths in all of 2020. Globally

WorldDeathsAccording to data generated by the Johns Hopkins University, about 1,880,000 deaths from COVID-19 were recorded in 2020. As of the first week of June 2021, less than halfway through this year, about 1,883,000 deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported. Globally.

Globally. That sort of is important because we are a global world. Planes are back in the air with all seats filled, crossing borders. Ships are at sea again stopping at ports not always in the same country as the previous port of call. Students, vacationers, businesspersons are moving to and fro, free as can be. Give or take.

In the United States, the total reported cases, not deaths, for the single day, June 11 (the last full weekday before this was written) was 26,006, the running seven day average cases was 14,768. The last time a seven day average of less than 15,000 was reported at week’s end was on Friday, March 27, 2020 at 12,127. Then, seven day averages were increasing; now, they are declining. Proof that mitigation and vaccination worked and is working. It’s questionable that mitigation without vaccination would have eventually gotten us to the current case load, and certainly not by the end of May. By the end of 2020 with only mitigation, seven day average case totals routinely ran greater than 200,000 and peaked in January 9, 2021 with a single day case total of 300,779 and a seven day average of 259,615 cases. Widespread vaccination and continuing mitigation have since reduced both single day and seven day averages continuously to where we are today. The lowest single day reported cases for 2021 was May 31 at 5,557  with a seven-day average of 17,171. The last time previous to that when a single day case load less than 6,000 was reported was on March 20, 2020, with 5,619 cases.

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Interestingly, since May 31, the daily totals and seven day averages of cases reported in the US have consistently increased. Also, since May 31, have the majority of states relaxed or eliminated mitigation requirements.  It would not be unreasonable to ask if vaccination without mitigation is and will be working. Certainly not wanting to cry wolf, but I will type once more, deaths due to COVID-19 in 2021 already have surpassed the total number of deaths in all of 2020. Globally.

Let’s be careful out there. There’s a lot of virus still out there.

Give me a shot and a beer!

Michael 2 Comments

I’m usually a day late and dollar short. Several dollars often. This time I’m a couple months late and running short on patience although high enough on admiration for those who are at least coming up with some ideas.

So what’s all this about? Vaccines, don’t you know? Apparently those who have waited have maybe waited their way into a windfall. Like those two Ohioans who each hit their state’s Vax-a-Million lottery. As long a we’re hanging around Ohio, how about that high school freshman (oops, first year student!), who won the first of five 4-year, all expense scholarships to any in-Ohio college.  In Maryland, they are awarding a daily $40,000 prize for 40 days culminating with a $400,000 on July 4. California, Washington, New Mexico, Colorado, Arkansas, and more that I can keep up with are offering cash incentives for getting the vaccine. A number of states are offering full scholarships for resident admissions to in state institutions. Over 30 companies are giving away almost anything you can think of including free flights for a year, free groceries for a year, free Super Bowl tickets, discounts and cash. At least 50 companies are giving cash bonuses or paid time off to employees for being vaccinated. And in a major, vaccine related announcement from earlier this week, Anheuser-Busch will buy America a beer if 70% of us get a vaccine.

You know, that vaccine that protects lives, returns normalcy to normal, and makes it possible for people to live life, lavish liberties, and pursue happiness. The one people in other countries would pay a king’s ransom to get. That vaccine.

I know I said I was a late to the party, suggesting these awards are to get unvaccinated people on the way to the nearest vaccination site. In truth, most of these scholarship and lottery prizes and many of the non-contest incentives are available to anyone vaccinated against COVID-19 regardless of when they were vaccinated, even early birds like me. The beer bash apparently will include everybody, over 21, even the unvaccinated coattail riders. According to an article in The Washington Post, “Adults 21 and older will be able to get a $5 virtual debit card that can be used to buy one Anheuser-Busch product, including beers, seltzers and nonalcoholic products,” when American hits the 70% vaccination mark before July 4. As of June 2, that means another 20 million Americans have to stick out their arms and say “Ahh.”

So where is the sticking point. Hesitancy is still an issue, but so is logistics in some areas. And, there are still a large number of young adults not vaccinated. According the Kaiser Family Foundation Vaccine Tracker, through the end of May, less than 48% of Americans age 18-29 have received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine and only 32% of that age group are fully vaccinated. Many colleges have announced they will require students to prove COVID vaccination to attend in person classes starting this fall, not unlike the requirement for other vaccines like mumps and measles. Maybe that will encourage others in this age group to get vaccinated.

Or maybe they would like a beer with their shot.

Not Vaccinated Section (1)

Smoking or Non? 2021 Style

Michael Leave a comment

There is a new movement afoot in Western Pennsylvania and, because we are not known for groundbreaking thought, probably across the rest of the US, and likely Canada too. But then this is pretty self-serving so maybe not in Canada. This is the pandemic version of the smoking section. You certainly recall the days of being greeted at the hostess stand with the initial query, “Will that be smoking or non-smoking?” (They always put smoking first. I wonder why.)  I often asked for the first available because in most restaurants, particularly the smaller diner types that I was apt to visit, you could section off the smokers, but not the smoke.

Several establishments, notably the concert and sports venues, have asked city, county, and state authorities for permission to ease pandemic related seating limits by permitting non-distance seating areas for people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. I’m not sure how I feel about this. Personally, as a fully vaccinated individual I like the idea of mingling with others who take their health and the health of those sharing space on the planet seriously. Personally, as a card-carrying cynic I am certain three-quarters of the individuals claiming to be fully vaccinated are more full of lies than vaccine. Especially now that news broke on internet sites with templates and instructions for forging COVID-19 Vaccination Record Cards.

I already can hear the hue and cry. You’re making us second class citizens! You’re taking away our rights! This is no COVID! Regardless of the incorrectness of those statements, they will be the justification for opposing Vaccinate and Non-Vaccinated seating sections just as they are the uninformed persons justification for not getting the vaccine and not be asked the question at all.

For my other life I have been working on an article about vaccine hesitancy and its less famous cousin vaccine confidence.  While doing research I discovered an alarming fact. When asked if they have plans to be vaccinated, 13% of the people in the US eligible for vaccination responded they had no intention of receiving the vaccine. An additional 7% would consent to the vaccine only if required. That is alarming. It is expected that there would be some hesitancy but basically 20%, one-fifth of the people who could get a vaccine, a free vaccine, are saying no thank you. Still not the really alarming part of the survey. The really alarming part is that of healthcare personnel, 18% said they had no intention of getting the vaccine and an additional 12% answer they had not yet decided. (Kaiser Family Foundation COVID Vaccine Monitor) Think of that the next time you go to the doctor. After being greeted by a receptionist, you will be escorted to the exam room and prepped by a medical assistant, have your vitals measured and history reviewed by a nurse, and then be seen by the doctor. Of those three people caring for your health, one has chosen to not receive the vaccine that will reduce the risk of exposing their patients to the virus that has as of May 1 already killed 576,339 Americans. (New York Times compiled from state health agencies) And we call them heroes. (pfft) (Expressed as a card-carrying member of the health care personnel world with as much venom as I can muster in written form.)

In the United States, even as vaccination rates have slowed, variant cases of COVID-19 are escalating. Earlier in the pandemic the question was raised if vaccination should be mandatory. Opponents argued that the 14th Amendment prohibits mandated vaccinations as an arbitrary legislative action. Supporters cited the Supreme Court’s 1905 decision to allow mandated smallpox vaccinations in part because “liberty for all cannot exist if each individual is allowed to act without regard to the injury that his or her actions might cause others.”

Attempting to argue the legality of mandatory vaccination is out of my league as I am not a constitutional lawyer (although that stops so very few nowadays) and about as satisfying as arguing with a Trumpican about who won the election. Arguing the safety and efficacy of the vaccine is a different story and firmly in my wheelhouse. It is. Period. Go get the shot. Just do it. You don’t need any other reason but if you insist, get it because you will be protecting liberty for all.

And if you don’t, don’t be surprised if the next time you stop for dinner and drinks after work you are greeted with, “Welcome to Henny’s! Will that be Vaccinated or Non?”

Not Vaccinated Section