Coronavirus

[Leroy]

All I know is that I am required to take vitamin D and am blood type O-negative, so I could probably make out with someone who has it and be cool.

[Leroy]

What we know about the rally.

https://www.keloland.com/news/healthbea ... gis-rally/

The City contracted for up to 1,300 tests, which represent 20% of the community’s population. The testing was reserved for: City Employees (mandatory), School District Employees (voluntary), Employees of Private Businesses throughout the community (voluntary) and Residents of Sturgis (voluntary). 650 people ended up being tested; all were asymptomatic at the time of testing.

Of the 650 people tested, 26 were positive for COVID-19.

The Sturgis Rally is now directly tied to 105 positive cases of the coronavirus for South Dakota residents.

On Monday, state epidemiologist Dr. Joshua Clayton said the 105 cases are South Dakota residents who attended the rally before becoming ill.

Friggin bikers.

[mikechamp]

The latest commentary on herd immunity:

Fauci breaks with Trump on COVID-19 herd immunity: ‘That’s certainly not my approach’

Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. shouldn’t pursue herd immunity to handle the COVID-19 pandemic, breaking with President Donald Trump, who invoked the strategy earlier this week.

Herd immunity occurs when enough of a population becomes immune to a disease through vaccine or already getting sick to make the spread unlikely between people in the community, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Herd immunity also protects newborns and people who can’t be vaccinated because it helps decrease person-to-person spread, the CDC said.

“We’re not there yet. That’s not a fundamental strategy that we’re using,” Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, told MSNBC on Wednesday. “We certainly are not wanting to wait back and just let people get infected so that you can develop herd immunity,” Fauci said. “That’s certainly not my approach.”

Health experts don’t recommend herd immunity as a strategy against the coronavirus pandemic because there’s no certainty that people become immune after getting sick, there isn’t a treatment for COVID-19 and there won’t be a way to control the virus until there’s a vaccine, The Hill reported.

Herd immunity is also most effective when it happens before a ”major outbreak” occurs — and Fauci said if social distancing and lockdown measures were lifted, a huge death toll would result, according to The Hill.

https://news.yahoo.com/fauci-breaks-tru ... 02435.html

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Sometimes Fauci says stuff, and I wonder what planet he's living on. This is one of them.

[GeddyWrox]

Sometimes Fauci says stuff, and I wonder what planet he's living on. This is one of them.

What part? Genuinely curious, not being facetious.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Where he says the US shouldn't pursue herd immunity.

The US is currently pursuing, purposefully or not, herd immunity. And, vaccines are a part of that. We've spent untold billions of dollars in that regard.

Further, I am pretty sure he meant we shouldn't pursue herd immunity by letting the virus spread, infect people, and hope that forms an immune response. Even to that, I'd argue immune responses, outside of those that are naturally killing off the virus and remaining asymptomatic, are providing more protection to the nation as a whole than any singular and possibly any combination of things the federal govt has done. I say that without any proof. But, outside of the main 3 things (wash hands, distance, wear masks), the response by the FDA, CDC, NIH, and federal govt has provided the citizenry with very little to combat the virus.

Regardless, Fauci has become the de facto face of the medical community. And, to not recognize that the population is to some degree already pursuing and likely achieving immunity just shows how out of touch he can be.

[GeddyWrox]

I take it that his reluctance to support that approach is not wanting to overrun ERs and ICUs. And I have to agree with him on that.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I take it that his reluctance to support that approach is not wanting to overrun ERs and ICUs. And I have to agree with him on that.

I'd certainly agree with that. And, I'd certainly not condone throwing a big pox party (aka sturgis, packing football stadiums, etc). But, words have meaning, and what he said seems to completely miss the point and infer he doesn't understand what is currently happening in the US.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Here's an interesting article, I think someone posted it previously but it is updated with data through July.

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detai ... -countries

It shows excess deaths in graphic form. Not much information can be gleaned in terms of herd immunity but it is interesting to see areas like Sweden and much of the northeast go back to baseline after massive increases in death early on.

[CardsofSTL]

The Rock's got it.