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Admittedly, pro athletes are tested more frequently than most Americans, but the high rate of recent infection demonstrates that the omicron variant is highly contagious.
Most obviously, pro athletes, especially basketball players spend many hours daily performing UNMASKED and breathing deeply.
First, masks do next to nothing to stop the spread of COVID, especially a strain as infectious as Omicron. MAYBE if we were all wearing fresh, uncontaminated N95 masks properly sealed to our faces it would have a measurable impact.
Maybe.
As it is, the cloth masks or flimsy paper masks people buy at Walgreens or from Amazon and keep in their cars or purses to wear over and over without washing/disposing of them might as well have the sentence "THIS IS AN INEFFECTUAL FACE TALISMAN" printed on them.
Second, the symptoms of Omicron has thus far shown to be so mild that virtually no one should be hospitalized on account of Omicron by itself. It could well be that lots of people going to the hospital have been infected with Omicron... but there's an overwhelming probability they're hospitalized for some other reason not related to Omicron. For all intents and purposes, Omicron appears to be the newest strain of the common cold.
Virtually every statement in your original post remains arguably false. Nobody has said that cloth masks provide no reduction of omicron spread. It remains clearly obvious in the statistics that despite the low compliance rate and that Columbus represents only 60 percent of Franklin County's population, the Columbus mask mandate has slowed measurably omicron spread in Franklin County versus Cuyahoga County. Check out the charts for infection rate, cases, hospitalizations and deaths here.
Most notably, the infection rate (click on the "infection rate" header) remains only high at 1.23 in Franklin County versus the critical level of 1.41 in Cuyahoga County. The massively higher (still over 3 times higher) case rate in Cuyahoga County suggests a much greater incidence of long COVID in the months ahead, and, NO, nobody has said yet that mild omicron infections won't result in long COVID. Hopefully, omicron infections WILL result in lower incidence of long COVID, or the impact will be devastating for our work force and society in general.
Most disingenuously in your original post, you implied that there was considerable doubt that even N-95 masks do anything to slow omicron spread. You ridiculously were arguing that medical professionals who wear N-95 masks do so for no certain benefit.
You clearly are a disingenuous Big Lie COVID propagandist.
Your post 10:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bitey
I mean sure, a cloth mask offers some protection, in the same way a chain-link fence will protect you from a mob of teenagers sling-shotting rocks at you better than nothing will. But you're still gonna get plenty pelted.
With your sick analogy, you still maintain that cloth masks provide little, if any impact in slowing COVID spread and protecting wearers. The CNN article distinguished between different types of cloth masks and did not say what you claimed.
<<These experts' recommendation to wear better masks isn't a suggestion to trash your cloth masks or go "maskless" when you don't have a medical-grade mask available.
In studies of various face masks, cloth masks with multiple layers and higher thread counts "have demonstrated superior performance compared to single layers of cloth with lower thread counts," but are still less effective than medical-grade masks, according to the CDC. Wearing a cloth mask over a medical procedure mask, as Wen suggested, can better protect you and others by improving fit and therefore filtration capacity, the CDC says.
"If all you have is a cloth mask, it's still better than nothing," Wen said. "But you are not well-protected, and you should know that you're not well-protected. And so if you're going to a crowded indoor setting and all you have is a cloth mask, don't go."
If you're unable to buy medical-grade masks for whatever reason, go to locations that are requiring masks and providing them for free -- such as some train stations, grocery stores or businesses -- and ask for a surgical mask, Wen suggested.>>
Unlike your statements in post 3, the intent of CNN article was to reiterate the value of wearing masks to combat omicron infections and spread, but importantly to encourage persons to wear better facial protection against viral spread.
While you implied in your first post that even N-95 masks were ineffective, the CNN article highly promoted N-95 masks.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bitey
Meanwhile, here's the actual upshot of the article:
"Cloth masks are little more than facial decorations. There's no place for them in light of Omicron," said CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and visiting professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, on CNN Newsroom Tuesday.
"This is what scientists and public health officials have been saying for months, many months, in fact," Wen added in a separate phone interview.
"[Y]ou should be wearing a KN95 or N95 mask," which can be as inexpensive as a few dollars each, Wen added. By having a better fit and certain materials -- such as polypropylene fibers -- acting as both mechanical and electrostatic barriers, these masks better prevent tiny particles from getting into your nose or mouth and must be fitted to your face to function properly.
[b]You know, it's the damnedest thing -- when I said more or less exactly the same thing, [b] some raging moral busybody who shall remain nameless accused me of being "a purveyor of Big Lie COVID propaganda" uttering "irresponsible trash." And that, like, totally cut me up inside.
Anybody can read your post 3 and see that you did NOT say "more or less exactly the same thing."
You are a purveyor of Big Lie COVID propaganda, and, like any committed Big Lie propagandist, you constantly will deny promoting any falsehoods even when egregiously caught in the act of making them.
Moral busybody? Hardly. I somebody who believes in science and am angry and disgusted by how my state and nation have failed to promote public health science widely and successfully employed elsewhere in the world, including in several democratic nations. The Big Lie propagandists in our nation, many leading politicians and media members, have inflicted unnecessarily immense harm on our society.
Please explain why you take great satisfaction in promoting viral spread and a raging epidemic and apparently a continuing endemic, at best. Clearly, you don't value honesty or have little concern about the health and economic well-being of your fellow Americans.
I am a PROUD "moral busybody" right now. We will never "return to normal" with misinformation being spread and believed by such a large amount of people.
And yes, people such as this poster, and others like them, are fundamentally selfish, juvenile, and inconsiderate of others. They are NOT "patriots" on any level.
Please explain why you take great satisfaction in promoting viral spread and a raging epidemic and apparently a continuing endemic, at best. Clearly, you don't value honesty or have little concern about the health and economic well-being of your fellow Americans.
My actual satisfaction comes in spotting the most wound-up government propaganda toy and giving it a nudge to see which nutty direction it flies off to while furiously unwinding itself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sheena12
I am a PROUD "moral busybody" right now. We will never "return to normal" with misinformation being spread and believed by such a large amount of people.
And yes, people such as this poster, and others like them, are fundamentally selfish, juvenile, and inconsiderate of others. They are NOT "patriots" on any level.
Psst... Hey busybodies: in case you haven't figured it out yet, the target audience for the latest round of COVID alarmism is not those of us who want to get on with life already -- it's YOU. With each successive move of the goalposts, their aim is to figure out who is gullible enough to believe patriotism requires you to jump through every hoop the government puts in front of you, so you can be weaponized against your neighbors. They're working out who would have snitched out Anne Frank and who would have resisted so they can mobilize the former and stigmatize the latter.
The thing about Exponential Curves (and I've learned that doctors know medicine, not necessarily math, and also a doctor's job is to be prepared, not coddling) - is that they accelerate...until the steep portion is too steep to maintain. Not just with covid, but with anything that follows that math. It means once you're on the steep part - it will suck mightily - but it will end soon - as the math just runs out of ammo. COVID isn't a theoretical problem - it needs real people next to other real people to maintain the curve. Once you get to something like "a million" real people next to another "million" real people - you realize 2 million people don't live in Cleveland. (If that's not high enough, let's go 4 million. Or 8. Point is the same.)
It looks like that's already happening in Indianapolis--we had a hot summer, people stayed inside, and got COVID. Now it looks like COVID is running out of people to infect--hospitalizations are tanking. And BTW, I can see from Ohio's dashboard that Region 2 (which includes Cleveland) has 29% hospital capacity. Now that some hospitals in Ohio have ditched the vaccine mandates, it should help with staffing.
This is completely anecdotal, but I was just in Ohio. I went to two Wendy's in Columbus: one was take-out only, and the other had no other dine-in customers besides me. An employee said that was normal. But at an Italian restaurant in Little Italy, Cleveland, the place was packed at 2 PM. I don't know if that's representative of those two cities, but if it is, I'd expect Cleveland to have a steeper but narrower curve than Columbus.
A science-based public health response vs. Cuyahoga County
Looking at counties of interest, I stumbled across Montgomery County in Maryland, a Washington, DC, suburb.
Note that almost 97 percent of the population has received one dose of vaccine and 83 percent are fully vaccinated. The comparable numbers for Cuyahoga County are 66 and 61 percent.
Of persons aged 5 and greater eligible for vaccination, over 88 percent are fully vaccinated in Montgomery County and 39 percent have a booster shot. The comparable numbers for Cuyahoga County are 65 percent and 40 percent.
Although Maryland's Montgomery County is experiencing an omicron surge, it is fairing much better than Cuyahoga County, especially in hospitalizations and deaths. Not surprisingly.
Maryland has a Republican governor, but its legislature is controlled by Democrats.
As with our nation as a whole IMO, the anti-science bias of Ohio Republicans, especially in the Republican-controlled legislature, towards public health measures has heavily influenced Democratic controlled jurisdictions such as Cuyahoga County to ignore robust public health measures to combat the COVID, or any, perhaps worse, viral outbreak.
My actual satisfaction comes in spotting the most wound-up government propaganda toy and giving it a nudge to see which nutty direction it flies off to while furiously unwinding itself.
Psst... Hey busybodies: in case you haven't figured it out yet, the target audience for the latest round of COVID alarmism is not those of us who want to get on with life already -- it's YOU. With each successive move of the goalposts, their aim is to figure out who is gullible enough to believe patriotism requires you to jump through every hoop the government puts in front of you, so you can be weaponized against your neighbors. They're working out who would have snitched out Anne Frank and who would have resisted so they can mobilize the former and stigmatize the latter.
Given your lack of empathy for the dead and suffering, and indifference to the unnecessary ravaging of the American economy and society by the COVID epidemic, I suspect it would be you and your fellow fascist-leaning, Big Lie propagandists who would have snitched out Anne Frank. Your lies and belittling of those who believe in and advocate for public health science are highly immoral IMO.
E.g., you would rather see persons hospitalized and die, to see medical professionals burdened to the point of retirement or career change, etc., rather than have Americans wear masks. Pathetically SICK!
Looking at counties of interest, I stumbled across Montgomery County in Maryland, a Washington, DC, suburb.
Re: "science-based." This cherry-picked county has an average household income double that of Cuyahoga County, almost double the portion of college graduates, half as many disabled people, and less than half as many people in poverty. These are all major confounding variables. You can bet the rent money that Montgomery County was healthier to begin with.
Let's instead compare Cuyahoga County with Marion County, Indiana--a place with very similar demographics. According to CovidActNow.com, hospitalizations in Cuyahoga County are currently 50% higher than Marion County's (where they're currently tanking--the chart isn't up to date); cases have shot through the roof there (but not here in Marion County); deaths are going up there but down here--and yet we have a much lower vaccination rate. How? My guess is that we've had so much more COVID here in Marion County that the virus is running out of people to infect. Virus gonna virus. We've had two big waves and two little ones; Cuyahoga County has had one big wave and another little one.
Re: "science-based." This cherry-picked county has an average household income double that of Cuyahoga County, almost double the portion of college graduates, half as many disabled people, and less than half as many people in poverty. These are all major confounding variables. You can bet the rent money that Montgomery County was healthier to begin with.
Let's instead compare Cuyahoga County with Marion County, Indiana--a place with very similar demographics. According to CovidActNow.com, hospitalizations in Cuyahoga County are currently 50% higher than Marion County's (where they're currently tanking--the chart isn't up to date); cases have shot through the roof there (but not here in Marion County); deaths are going up there but down here--and yet we have a much lower vaccination rate. How? My guess is that we've had so much more COVID here in Marion County that the virus is running out of people to infect. Virus gonna virus. We've had two big waves and two little ones; Cuyahoga County has had one big wave and another little one.
I didn't "cherry pick" Montgomery County. I was looking at counties with which I'm familiar or those where I've considered living. Montgomery County, MD, is very high on my list of favorite counties -- Metro to Washington, DC, great parks, convenience for driving to other great history attractions (a favorite avocation of mine), etc. I mentioned it in this thread because of its very, very high vaccination rates, although the omicron virus certainly requires a booster shot for the best protection.
Yet it is true that different locations have different vulnerabilities, due to factors such as density and demographics such as the age of the population, to virus spread. The covidactnow.org website actually has a "vulnerabilities" ranking and analysis for each county. You are correct that Marion County, IN, and Cuyahoga County, OH, both have very similar vulnerabilities rankings.
Marion County has a "very high" vulnerability ranking, greater than 94 percent of U.S. counties. Cuyahoga County vulnerability also is ranked "very high," greater than 92 percent of U.S. counties.
I'm not certain why Marion County is faring better than Cuyahoga County currently, but it may be a timing issue. Marion County's infection rate is rising while Cuyahoga County's infection rate is falling; Cuyahoga County's infection rate was at Marion County's level one month ago.
Higher prior infection rates in Marion County may be a moderate consideration. Covidactnow.org allows a user to compare cases rates in a graph with multiple locations. Case rates were moderately higher in Marion County through September, but the acquired immunity difference between the two counties wouldn't seem likely sufficient to offset Cuyahoga County's higher vaccination rate. The case rate comparison (under "Trends" select "Cases per 100k" as metric and both counties under locations) between the two counties strongly suggests that Marion County is only lagging behind Cuyahoga County by several weeks and is about to go through COVID hell with lower per capita hospital capacity than Cuyahoga County.
I would note that Marion County may have better mask mandates than Cuyahoga County. E.g., mask mandates are enforced in all Marion County schools, but not in Cuyahoga County, where Parma and likely other school districts don't have mask mandates. It is possible that Marion County has benefited significantly from its universal school mask mandate.
The booster rate in Marion County is about 25 percent lower than in Cuyahoga County, also suggesting very bad weeks ahead for Marion County as the omicron surge takes hold there.
One other thought. The paucity of mask mandates in Cuyahoga County, even compared to Marion County, may have inflicted a delta surge on Cuyahoga County. The omicron surge is now supplanting the delta surge. While Marion County may have a significant surge in cases due to the omicron variant, hospitalizations may be less than in Cuyahoga Count if the omicron variant is indeed less virulent than the delta variant. I wonder if the universal school mask mandate in Marion County may have spared it from the COVID hospitalization crisis inflicted on Cuyahoga County. Note also that ALL counties in Greater Indianapolis have a universal school mask mandate ban. Other more Republican counties in Greater Cleveland likely have even a lower percentage of school mask mandates than in Cuyahoga County.
Last edited by WRnative; 12-29-2021 at 03:32 AM..
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A science-based public health response vs. Cuyahoga County
