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The best website that I've found for COVID statistics is COVIDactnow.org. Cuyahoga County is in the midst of a severe COVID epidemic, likely partly caused by the failure, to my knowledge, of the county council and any local political jurisdiction to institute and enforce a mask mandate. Compare Cuyahoga County with Franklin County, where Columbus has a mask mandate, although it's not widely enforced. I've been in a couple Columbus grocery stores today, and over 90 percent of the persons were wearing masks.
Over 1.5 percent of Cuyahoga County residents are being infected weekly, and the infection rate is above 1, indicating that the infection still is spreading. Despite difficulty in receiving testing, including the purchase of rapid tests, the positivity rate in Cuyahoga County is 32.5 percent. Hospitalization rates are at record levels. The pop-up menu under hospitalizations also shows ICU COVID patients at record levels. Deaths, perhaps due to antibody infusions and otherwise better treatment options are not at record levels.
Compare with Franklin County, where the Columbus mask mandate likely impacts infection rates. The case rate is less than a third of the Cuyahoga County rate. The infection rate and positive test rate also are much lower. Hospitalizations and ICU hospitalizations are high, but not at record levels.
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.
First, masks do next to nothing to stop the spread of COVID, especially a strain as infectious as Omicron.
You are a purveyor of Big Lie COVID propaganda, in this case making a statement unsubstantiated by any link to any scientific study. Posting falsehoods that cost lives and impairs public health is repugnant. Your statement is contrary to medical advice from almost all experts, including the CDC.
CDC: "Masks offer protection against all variants."
It is actually contrary to scientific studies, common sense and observed evidence, such as the difference in COVID infection rates between relatively densely populated urban areas in Ohio, such as Cuyahoga County, which does not have a mask mandate, and Franklin County, where Columbus with over 60 percent of Franklin County's population does have a mask mandate. Perhaps other Franklin County communities do have mask mandates. I'm not aware of any Cuyahoga County communities with mask mandates, but certainly the collective populations of any communities with mask mandates are relatively small compared to Franklin County. Cleveland and Parma, the two most populated cities in Cuyahoga County do not have mask mandates. Many Cuyahoga County public school districts do have mask mandates.
E.g., over a month ago Costco stopped enforcing a customer mask mandate in its Mayfield Heights, OH, store, as Costco follows local ordinances. Visiting that Costco just a few weeks ago, very few customers were wearing masks. In Franklin County, mask mandates would be enforced at Costco stores.
<<Costco locations will follow the face mask regulations of the applicable state and local jurisdictions. >>
As evidenced in Franklin County, and mostly importantly in a seminal Bangladesh study, even marginal mask use (42 percent with surgical masks in Bangladesh) is effective in reducing transmission and preserving hospital and other medical resources.
MAYBE if we were all wearing fresh, uncontaminated N95 masks properly sealed to our faces it would have a measurable impact.
Maybe.
What irresponsible trash, as explained above. I would be ashamed writing such statements clearly designed to condone horrible public health policy (mask mandate bans) and personal decisions which jeopardize our society's health and certainly impair and result in the public deterioration of our medical systems. Your statements are extraordinarily and likely deliberately ignorant IMO.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bitey
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.
Without going into great detail, masks of any sort reduce viral load when worn properly. Reduced viral load increases the ability of the body's immune system to defeat an infection, especially when specific antibodies are present as a result of sufficiently recent acquired immunity, whether natural (prior infection) or from vaccination. Importantly, long-lasting T-cells, especially acquired from booster shots, have a better chance after a few days of infection of kicking in and halting the infection and reducing its severity if the initial viral load is reduced.
<<The results indicated that vaccinated MS patients under ocrelizumab treatment had significant T cell responses towards S protein from Omicron, Delta variants, and vaccine strain. Moreover, the cytotoxic T cell responses increased after the third booster dose.>>
<<T Cells Might Be Our Bodies’ Best Shot Against Omicron
The new variant may undermine some vaccine-derived defenses. But the immune system’s best assassins are likely to hold the line.
Killer T cells, as their name might imply, are not known for their mercy. When these immunological assassins happen upon a cell that’s been hijacked by a virus, their first instinct is to butcher. The killer T punches holes in the compromised cell and pumps in toxins to destroy it from the inside out. The cell shrinks and collapses; its perforated surface erupts in bubbles and boils, which slough away until little is left but fragmentary mush. The cell dies spectacularly, horrifically—but so, too, do the virus particles inside, and the killer T moves on, eager to murder again.
The cold-blooded slaughter can “make the difference between someone having a mild infection and a severe one,” Azza Gadir, an immunologist and scientific advisor at the microbial sciences company Seed Health, told me.
T cells “become even more important if antibodies are not working well,” Dong said. Cellular infections might start to roll out at a rapid clip, but T cells can swoop in to help corral the pathogen in place, typically within a couple of days. This rapid walling-off can halt the progression of disease, and maybe even curb transmission; it also buys the rest of the immune system time to gather its wits.>>
Just as in any war, if there are fewer of the enemy, more likely is victory. Thinks of masks as the walls, ditches, mines and barbed wire that we can use to shift the odds in favor of your T cells and the rest of our immune systems. That's why the knowledgeable are willing mask wearers during periods of viral spreads. Unfortunately, Asian societies with more dense populations and more of a societal history of painful viral epidemics, are more eager mask wearers than in America, where mask opponents often belittle mask wearers ridiculously as "fearful," rather than obviously intelligent, even intelligent enough to take proven vaccines and boosters, unlike those who demand the freedom to infect themselves, their families and others, all to satisfy some perverted political creed.
Admittedly, N-95 masks are better than cloth masks, especially cheap ones, but some cloth masks are much better than others, and all masks are better than no masks. The N-95 mask pictured in this article are likely the medical versions of the 3M "Aura" N-95 masks that can be purchased at Home Depot.
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
What immensely false, irresponsible trash. Do you enjoy spreading undocumented falsehoods, likely made up, that support dangerous public health policies and threaten personal health???
Omicron is such a new virus, even experts, unlike you, can't adequately assess its dangers. Even those who note the rapidity of an omicron surge, including an observed spike and rapid decline in hospitalizations, note that it is yet unknown whether an omicron infection can trigger long COVID, one of worst impacts of even an asymptomatic COVID infection.
Additionally, as omicron easily can result in infections among the vaccinated, even if the symptoms are mild or the infections are asymptomatic, as shown by the spread among frequently tested pro athletes, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA director and COVID expert, has warned that this consequence of highly contagious omicron spread may threaten children. The logic is that children less than five have no vaccine availability. If their vaccinated parents, caretakers, etc., unknowingly contract omicron and expose child to omicron infection, omicron may result in a severe infection. Ditto, for the immune compromised who haven't receive a booster, which includes the aged, and those with diabetes or more severe inflictions, such as those taking immune suppressing drugs due to MS or cancer therapy.
<<According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, fewer than 4% of all COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. have involved children so far. Initial evidence out of South Africa suggests those numbers could climb much higher as the omicron variant spreads....
According to the South African Health Ministry, hospitalizations of children under age 5 in the Tshwane area have been five times higher in recent weeks than during the country’s previous wave of infections....
“We have to surmise that the kids are sort of a preserved population,” Gottlieb said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “They haven't had delta infection at the same rate as adults, and they also haven't been vaccinated because they haven't rolled out vaccines to children below the age of 12 in any appreciable numbers.”>>
As noted in the first post, pediatric wards in Cleveland are being overwhelmed by the current surge, perhaps because of the highly contagious nature of omicron and resulting unintentional exposure by parents. Note that there are no anti-viral therapies available to treat young children, no antibody infusions, not the recently approved Pfizer pill.
The above article also cautions about the severity of omicron infections in general.
<<Federal officials say data out of South Africa suggests the omicron variant has been causing less severe symptoms than delta. It is unclear if that is because the strain is weaker or because many people who have gotten infected there had either natural or vaccine-induced immunity that blunted the illness.>>
And, of course, the risk is that the highly contagious omicron variant, even though less virulent than delta and even though many have more heightened immunity defenses, may yet overwhelm our hospitals and medical systems.
<<The most intriguing unknown—the one in which we might like to place our hopes—is whether Omicron could be milder than Delta. But a milder, more transmissible virus can easily sicken so many people that it ends up increasing hospitalizations and deaths on the whole. Here is some simple math to explain the danger: Suppose we have two viruses, one that is twice as transmissible as the other. (For the record, Omicron is currently three to five times as transmissible as Delta in the U.K.—though that number is likely to fall over time.) And suppose it takes five days between a person’s getting infected and their infecting others. After 30 days, the more transmissible virus is now causing 26, or 64, times as many new cases as the less transmissible one. Exponentials are one hell of a growth hack. If we are banking on the idea that Omicron is more mild to get us through winter, then we had better hope that it’s really, really mild....
Vaccines will lower the proportion of hospitalizations quite a bit in those extra cases, especially because Omicron is infecting lots of vaccinated people. But it’s a long climb down that exponential curve. Moreover, when so many cases pile up all at once, their effects start spilling over into the lives of those who aren’t sick. If Omicron runs through a workplace it may present a temporary inconvenience. But if that workplace is a school, then the school will have to close, disrupting the lives of every child and parent. If that workplace is a hospital, then doctors and nurses are unable to work. This has been an issue in South Africa, where Omicron is already dominant and nearly 20 percent of the health-care staff have COVID. Even if most of these cases are mild, huge numbers of people getting sick all at once will alter everyday reality.>>
Airlines already are canceling flights due to lack of staff. Hospitals in Ohio are warning vehemently about staff shortages, but that still doesn't prevent Ohio's controlling Republicans from opposing mask mandates and considering instituting vaccine mandates.
As noted in the above article, we likely have yet to feel omicron's best punch.
<<The available evidence on Omicron’s inherent severity is likely to be biased in ways that make it appear more promising. First of all, hospitalizations lag infections. “Omicron has been around for three weeks,” Bhattacharyya says. “But so many of those infections have happened in the last one week of those three because of exponential growth.” Second, the first people infected may skew young and are thus more likely to have mild cases regardless of the variant. And third, some of the mildness attributed to the virus may result instead from existing immunity....
Either way, in the short run, we will have a massive number of Omicron cases on top of a massive number of Delta cases. Together they will infect huge numbers of people, vaccinated or not, and burden an already overburdened health-care system. Boosters, social distancing, rapid testing, and masks can slow down this impact. We will know more about Omicron soon, but we already know enough.>>
Well I don't have 17 hours to read your Homeric Epic of a response. But you can go ahead and strap a worthless piece of cloth across your face and/or hide under your bed for the next few years while the sane among us do what we can to get on with our lives.
Well I don't have 17 hours to read your Homeric Epic of a response. But you can go ahead and strap a worthless piece of cloth across your face and/or hide under your bed for the next few years while the sane among us do what we can to get on with our lives.
17 hours, right. Typical exaggerated baloney. I don't write in-depth posts for purveyors of Big Lie propaganda, who never post links or other substantiation for their false statements. I write such posts for those who want to understand the science and expert thinking, both of which are anathema to Big Lie propagandists who disgustingly attack and dismiss robust public health measures. They would prefer a raging epidemic or a constant endemic, and death rates 30 times higher than in nations that use scientific methods to suppress viral spread.
Anybody who believes that N-95 masks or even good cloth masks, to a lesser extent, don't reduce omicron infections are fools. Others shouldn't let themselves fall prey to your deceit.
I don't hide under my bed. I don't find masks constraining, and I welcome the protection against particularly acquiring long COVID sequelae. The anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers, apart from shamefully spreading deceit and minimalizing the COVID death toll and ignoring the devastation wreaked upon the American health system and health workers and the American economy, NEVER talk about long COVID. Sadly, policy makers and the media also ignore long COVID despite warnings from medical experts.
Pregnancy and COVID don't mix, and there is no information that omicron is less impactful.
<<Hospitals and intensive care units (ICUs) are seeing more pregnant women who have COVID-19 as well, said Stephanie Harper, an OB/GYN nurse at the UH MacDonald Hospital for Women.
Having COVID while pregnant can affect the fetus and baby as well.
“We have moms that are leaving with memory bags instead of their newborns," Harper said.
Women who have COVID are four times more likely to have a stillbirth, Hoyen said.>>
I'm vaccinated and boosted. But...the best protection from this virus and future variants is:
* Eat a healthy diet and get your BMI around 19 to 23
* Perform a strenuous cardiac workout at least 3 times a week for 30 - 40 minute, build lung capacity
* Follow CDC guidelines on vaccinations
I had COVID for about 6 weeks, back in Dec 2019 - Jan 2020. I had never been that sick in all of my life and I have been a regular runner for over 10 years. At that time there was no vaccination and little understanding of what was going on. I did not think I was going to be able to run again. Luckily I survived and am running now with no long lasting effects.
We may be entering an era where it is the survival of the fittest, literally. Get fit.
I'm vaccinated and boosted. But...the best protection from this virus and future variants is:
* Eat a healthy diet and get your BMI around 19 to 23
* Perform a strenuous cardiac workout at least 3 times a week for 30 - 40 minute, build lung capacity
* Follow CDC guidelines on vaccinations
I had COVID for about 6 weeks, back in Dec 2019 - Jan 2020. I had never been that sick in all of my life and I have been a regular runner for over 10 years. At that time there was no vaccination and little understanding of what was going on. I did not think I was going to be able to run again. Luckily I survived and am running now with no long lasting effects.
We may be entering an era where it is the survival of the fittest, literally. Get fit.
Fitness obviously does not protect against a COVID infection, as you discovered.
Long COVID just now is being studied, and it's not clear if all persons recover from long COVID, nor is it established to my knowledge that fitness, as opposed perhaps to genetics, facilitates recovery. There is no doubt that obesity contributes to more severe infections, and therefore perhaps greater long COVID impacts.
Please provide links to any research that you relied on to support your conclusions.
This article today about an important study explains long COVID.
<< The coronavirus that causes Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2, can spread within days from the airways to the heart, brain and almost every organ system in the body, where it may persist for months, a study found.
In what they describe as the most comprehensive analysis to date of the virus’s distribution and persistence in the body and brain, scientists at the U.S. National Institutes of Health said they found the pathogen is capable of replicating in human cells well beyond the respiratory tract.
The results, released online Saturday in a manuscript under review for publication in the journal Nature, point to delayed viral clearance as a potential contributor to the persistent symptoms wracking so-called long Covid sufferers....
“This is remarkably important work,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, director of the clinical epidemiology center at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System in Missouri, who has led separate studies into the long-term effects of Covid-19. “For a long time now, we have been scratching our heads and asking why long Covid seems to affect so many organ systems. This paper sheds some light, and may help explain why long Covid can occur even in people who had mild or asymptomatic acute disease.”>>
Common sense social distancing (avoiding crowded indoor spaces with poor ventilation) and mask wearing (especially N-95 masks) during periods of high infection rates are likely much more important than fitness level in AVOIDING a COVID infection.
<<"We need to be wearing at least a three-ply surgical mask," she said, which is also known as a disposable mask and can be found at most drugstores and some grocery and retail stores. "You can wear a cloth mask on top of that, but do not just wear a cloth mask alone...."
Yet the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's most recent guidance on selecting, properly wearing, cleaning and storing face masks recommended people avoid N95 masks and instead choose masks with two or more layers of washable, breathable fabric -- which Wen called "a major mistake."
"If we're going to go as far as to say that masks are required -- when we don't come from a mask-wearing culture and people don't like wearing masks -- at least recommend that they wear the most effective mask," Wen said.
<<Why the Omicron variant has been so successful at quickly infecting many people is "unknown at the moment," but it only underscores the role quality masks can play, Bromage said.
"If it is less virus needed, or if it is a person who's infected is putting more virus out, then the role of a mask in this is if we can cut down the amount that you're actually breathing in, you get more time," he added. "If you needed 1,000 viral particles to infect you and you're wearing something that cuts 50% of things down, it's now going to take twice as long to get to that 1,000. If you're wearing one that is a 90% efficient, it's going to take at least 10 times as long before you get infected when you're around somebody (who is infected).">>
The above article notes that good cloth masks are better than no masks.
The above article notes that good cloth masks are better than no masks.
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.
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.
You know, it's the damnedest thing -- when I said more or less exactly the same thing, 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.
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Cuyahoga County Council fails in COVID policy
