Coronavirus

Yeah, the relationship had some problems, and there were solid reasons to end it even back in 2010. I accept that this relationship has reached an end, but I want to cross the finish line with love instead of bitterness. When she got diagnosed with cancer two years ago, it was especially scary because of her other ongoing medical condition. At that time, I faced the idea that she might die in a year or less, and I knew that I wasn't going to leave her to face that end alone. She was forced to face her own impending death, and surviving that apparently caused her to dig deep and ask hard questions about her life.

This new situation is different, and yet my attitude is the same. It would be better for me to break off all contact ASAP and move on as quickly as possible. Instead, I want to ease her exit and maybe spend some of the next two months on a more gradual and gentle goodbye, because I genuinely care about her in a non-transactional way. I will take that clean break in two months, without guilt or regret.

In all honesty, the breakup might be better for both of us in the long run, but I think that the move to California could be a terrible idea. She will be moving away from her immediate family and closest friends to be with two former college roommates and more distant relatives like cousins and aunts and uncles. L.A. is an expensive town and a tough place to make friends.

Then again, I moved away from a lot of friends in Indiana to start over in Minnesota. My immediate family lived in Missouri at the time, but half of the rest of my extended family lives in Minnesota. I needed to leave Indiana to finish growing up. My friends there were settling down and getting serious about their careers and I was the guy clinging to my glory days in high school and college. My first couple of years in Minnesota were rough, but I survived and eventually thrived. However, I made my big move at age 26, while my girlfriend is making her big move at age 40.

www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-phar...-spreads-2021-07-08/

We got a pretty sober reckoning of where we're at on health stuff from our new administration yesterday. State law now prevents us from mandatory testing for students, mask mandates, or requiring covid vaccination. Which is funny because we require a bunch of other vaccinations. We will be in person as normal, full stop.

I don't even know if the mRNA vaccines weren't so good. Suicide mission. Still scary even with them. Vaccination rate for fully vaxxed at 43.7% here.

In mathematics and science, delta is the symbol of change. Hopefully the Delta variant of Covid-19 will change many ignorant minds about vaccination during a pandemic.

Gary Sax wrote: Vaccination rate for fully vaxxed . . .

Pfizer just came out and said their fully vaxxed recipients have excellent protection against Delta, partially vaxxed almost useless. So spin-up time on anyone looking to change their mind is a minimum of four weeks, even with widespread availability.

Around this time last year things started loosening up and we had to come right back to draconian measures. I think it's naive to think that where we are now is where we'll be in September. We could easily all get sent home again.

Minnesota is pretty close to back to normal, though our vaccination rate isn't that great. About 53% are fully vaccinated, and another 5% are partially vaccinated. Mask wearing has definitely risen in recent weeks, though it is now an uncommon sight. Bars are open, restaurants are open, gyms are open, etc. But many people are still not back to normal, including me.

Since the beginning of June, I have attended one party, and had a total of two friends inside my house, though not at the same time. I haven't dined in a restaurant or gone to a bar since before the pandemic, but I have resume working out at the gym. My weekly Jyhad group tried to start up again in June, but they switched to a less convenient venue, so I haven't gone. Most of that group isn't showing up yet. I don't wear a mask in public anymore, but I am still doing a lot of social distancing. Part of it is caution, and part it might be I just feel less need to be around people these days. Also I've got some home projects that I want to complete by the end of August. And I caught the summer cold that has been making the rounds locally since mid-June, and that caused me to reflect on how quickly Delta might spread in areas with low vaccination rates.

Depending on how the Delta variant plays out, I am telling myself that I will try to resume normal, pre-pandemic life in September.

Delta spreads with high vaccination rates as well, we (UK) are well into our 3rd wave surge of cases and we have a reasonably high vaccination rate - Delta is just so much more contagious. And that is with pubs/bars/restaurants still having severe restrictions on customers and businesses like nightclubs and live music venues still not allowed to open (although that is all finishing next week).
Even with a high, and getting higher, vaccination rate the govt expects the daily cases to surge still further with deaths also starting to climb again. But our restrictions are mostly disappearing this week even with the 3rd wave in full swing because if they delayed it another few months then the still expected case rate increase would coincide with winter when the virus (and influenza) hits harder and we can't have another winter where the hospital system is smashed to within a few percent of being full again.
This pandemic has a long way to go before it can be said to be under control anywhere in the world.

So what is the level of effective immunity acquired from catching and surviving Delta? Is it equal to the level of protection offered by the big name vaccines? Is that a metric anyone has seen anywhere?

Having a bout of COVID-19 appears to offer a good measure of antibody resistance to the particular SARS-CoV-2 variant contracted (which makes sense); equivalent to the complete course of any of the EUA'd vaccines. The issue is that there are now at least four circulating variants and you could "catch them all" if relying only on exposure-related Ab production. The mRNA vaccines are more "generic" in their coverage, as they target "higher level" aspects of SARS-CoV-2 virions compared to the body's natural target definition resulting from illness. For example, the body will develop antibodies to the particular arrangement of proteins at the presented "tip" of the spike of Delta, where the Moderna vaccine would grant immunity from anything presenting even the "base" of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

That's why the mRNA vaccine concept is so exciting. Dengue fever, for example, has four circulating variants (at least) and people experience multiple bouts, even following immunization because vaccines to date pick just one. With an mRNA vaccine properly designed, you can immunize against them all with one sequence of shots.

This is not entirely accurate. Natural exposure stimulated T-cell immunity as well that has a total coverage component missing in primarily antibody mediated vaccine immunity. So while an alpha covid exposed person might not have a lot of delta neutralizing antibodies, they presumably have t-cell mediated immunity to every covid variant since none of these are significantly different than the base version, unlike influenza for example which can be quite different and thus requires repeat vaccines that attempt to predict the most common strains in a particular year with varying degrees of success.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33064680/
www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-mat...er-recovery-covid-19
www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/marty-makary/92434
www.news-medical.net/news/20210422/Strik...mmune-responses.aspx

Note that it is important to realize that getting vaccinated has less risk than getting covid (duh) but once you have had covid, you are most likely as protected as vaccination, at least to the variants described today. With delta being the dominant strain in the US and UK these days, previously exposed but unvaccinated folks would be showing up in large numbers if they did not have protection against delta but so far this does not seem to be the case, at least in the studies published so far.

I am sitting here sulky and sad in my 6th lockdown. We thought we were so special beating this thing in Australia, and we could continue living fun lives while we waited things out but Delta had other plans, and now our slow vaccination rollout is doing us in.

Oh well at least I have managed a few fun public outings this year, but I don't expect to be allowed into a crowd until 2022 now.

I thought this was over.
-America

At this point studies seem to conclude that vaccinated people are spreading the Delta variant perhaps on par with non-vaccinated. I've seen conflicting reports on whether the vaccines provide strong protection against the Delta variant in terms of avoiding hospitalization.

Now there is also talk of the Lambda variant which seems even more dangerous and vaccine resistant(!).

So, is where we're at now where we're at indefinitely? Continual turmoil, uncertainty, rolling lockdowns in different parts of the world, mask mandates coming and going and people refusing to wear masks.

Fuck.

news.yahoo.com/delta-infections-among-va...3g7cG1YZzpir1fq47OUP

But Dragon Con is still on! With no mention on their web site of requiring masks, vaccines, or social distancing! Everything is back to normal!

Fuck’s sake, it’s getting to be close to time to round up anyone who won’t get vaccinated or wear a mask and launch them into the sun.