Coronavirus updates August 1, 2021

[missy]

I just dont understand this @missy

its like a traffic cop refusing to wear his seat belt

Yup, it's a mystery. Or is it?

Why are some healthcare workers refusing COVID vaccines?

While a small percentage of survey respondents said they would not get the vaccine, that still could have widespread and dangerous ramifications, experts say.

www.modernhealthcare.com

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Nurses were much more likely than physicians, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and physician assistants to be vaccine hesitant. Physicians were almost uniformly in favor of the vaccine. Other staff who don’t provide clinical care, such as food service workers and security personnel, had higher rates of vaccine hesitancy.


Respondents who had previously been infected with COVID-19 were more likely to be vaccine hesitant, as were women and Black employees.

Dr. Abram Wagner, a member of the team that sent out the survey and a U of M research assistant professor of epidemiology who studies vaccine hesitancy, previously noted that systemic racism in health care can cause deeply rooted mistrust of the healthcare landscape and can deter people of color from pursuing the vaccine.

The fact that vaccine hesitancy among the healthcare workers in the survey is not rooted in overall vaccine skepticism, but rather specific concerns about the lack of long-term data on safety, efficacy and potential side effects, also means there’s a real opportunity to address concerns through information about the rigorous clinical trials process, ongoing safety data, and Food and Drug Administration approval, the researchers wrote.

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[missy]

It’s a safe bet that the delta variant is at the forefront of most people’s minds after suddenly being pushed back to virus panic mode.

We asked two of our favorite regular Sunday Covid Q&A experts — Monica Gandhi of University of California, San Francisco, and Bertha Hidalgo of the University of Alabama at Birmingham — to answer questions about the variant during a live Q&A for Bloomberg Terminal subscribers last week. Today, we’re giving our newsletter readers a peek at what our experts had to say. Here are some excerpts:

How should vaccinated people be changing their behavior based on new data about breakthrough cases and the delta variant?

Gandhi and Hidalgo had slightly different takes on that question — a good reminder that with the data (and virus) constantly in flux, even scientists are often left thinking on their feet about how to react. That means that sometimes opinions on the same data differ.

“Delta has really changed the game for us,” Hidalgo said. She urged even vaccinated people to wear masks indoors around non-household members, especially in areas with high levels of viral spread. “People should know that the vaccines do not create magical force fields off of which the virus is repelled,” she said.

Monica Gandhi and Bertha Hidalgo.

Gandhi, however, is a bit more optimistic about recent developments. She said it appears that the vaccines are still doing their primary job of keeping people from becoming extremely ill and hospitalized. “Asymptomatic people are unlikely to spread if vaccinated, so they’re probably safe in gatherings without masks,” she said. Still, masks aren’t a bad idea either, she said.

With all this conflicting data, one of our subscribers wondered how our experts are thinking about vaccine efficacy right now. Does it appear to be waning, as some data have suggested?

Here, both our experts were emphatic: “Dr. Hidalgo and I both agree: Protection from severe disease remains very high with the vaccines,” Gandhi said.

Hidalgo: “The effectiveness of the vaccine has decreased somewhat in the face of delta. However, generally, what we continue to see is that vaccinated individuals do continue to have great protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death.”

With a new wave of the virus, and many places around the world behind in rolling out vaccines, what is the long-term outlook?

“Immunity is the only way out of the pandemic, and we do not have enough immunity to combat the transmissible delta variant,” said Gandhi. She pointed to places in the U.S. such as Arkansas that were particularly under-vaccinated and hit hard by delta. “That is why masks, distancing, ventilation are still needed until immunity is higher.”

Key to getting there, she said, will be a combination of vaccine uptake, passports, mandates and the natural immunity people develop through infection. And, she stressed, it’s important for those things to happen all around the world.

“We need to get rid of any notion that we will be back to normal any time soon,” Hidalgo said. We need vast vaccine coverage, she said, but also a return to other prevention measures like masking.

“We need to shift our thinking,” she said, from seeing the vaccine as a cure-all, to “the vaccine is going to help us get out of this sooner, and the sooner we all work together, the faster we will get a handle on all of this.”

 

[missy]

Best and Worst Places: Europe Leads the Way​

In August, European nations were the most resilient with a middle-ground strategy of widespread immunization and reopening based on vaccination status. Nine of the top 10 were from the continent, with Norway holding onto the top spot for the second month running. Read more here.

 

[GK2]

DH remains in hospital - they are trying to get his oxygen levels stabilised but he keeps dropping when they reduce the oxygen flow. It’s not quite at ventilator levels at the lowest levels but the are struggling to get it over 90%.

no visiting allowed at all so all comms being done by text or calls when he is up to it. Chemo suspended until they are happier with his repsonse

On a positive note DS is doing OK with his COVID infection and says he just feels like he has a heavy cold. Me? I continue to test negative every time

oh, and just as a further point, it doesn’t matter if you’re not afraid of the virus as I saw in another thread - the virus couldn’t give a damn about your feelings towards it. Don’t risk others or yourself.

 

[wildcat03]

Veteran dies of treatable illness after waiting hours for ICU bed

Daniel Wilkinson, 46, who served two deployments in Afghanistan, died Sunday of gallstone pancreatitis, a treatable illness, after waiting hours for an ICU bed, KPRC reported. Wilkinson’…

www.google.com

This broke my heart. As mentioned in another thread, I watched it unfold real time on one of my Facebook groups (another EM doc was pleading for someone with an appropriate ICU bed to take the patient). I didn't realize the patient died until I saw a news article about it. I feel heartbroken for the patient, his family, and the team that took care of him.

 

[Austina]

Continue good thoughts coming your way @GK2, everything crossed for your DH.

 

[rcjtraveler]

DH remains in hospital - they are trying to get his oxygen levels stabilised but he keeps dropping when they reduce the oxygen flow. It’s not quite at ventilator levels at the lowest levels but the are struggling to get it over 90%.

no visiting allowed at all so all comms being done by text or calls when he is up to it. Chemo suspended until they are happier with his repsonse

On a positive note DS is doing OK with his COVID infection and says he just feels like he has a heavy cold. Me? I continue to test negative every time

oh, and just as a further point, it doesn’t matter if you’re not afraid of the virus as I saw in another thread - the virus couldn’t give a damn about your feelings towards it. Don’t risk others or yourself.

Sending positive thoughts and best wishes for a swift recovery for your DH and DS and for you to remain COVID free. So hard to be separated from loved ones when they are in the hospital. So agree that people need to get vaccinated and do their part to help stop this insanity!

 

[FL_runner]

My youngest has been in quarantine due to daycare exposure, and started having a runny nose and feeling ill over the weekend. Planning to test her later today when I get out of work. My husband and I are fully vaccinated but he has a new sore throat today and is feeling under the weather as well. I've been working every day for the past few weeks (finally had a day off yesterday after 13 on) and he has been the primary kid-carer; there have been a lot of breakthrough positives in fully vaccinated folks here- still much less than for unvaccinated folks, but I'm definitely concerned.

Prayers and healing energy being sent out to all posters dealing with COVID infections for themselves and their loved ones.

 

[missy]

@GK2 continued healing wishes being sent to your family and praying your DH makes a full recovery.

@FL_runner keeping your family in my thoughts and prayers and hoping they are negative for Covid.

oh, and just as a further point, it doesn’t matter if you’re not afraid of the virus as I saw in another thread - the virus couldn’t give a damn about your feelings towards it. Don’t risk others or yourself.

+1 to the millionth power.

 

[FL_runner]

@GK2 continued healing wishes being sent to your family and praying your DH makes a full recovery.

@FL_runner keeping your family in my thoughts and prayers and hoping they are negative for Covid.




+1 to the millionth power.

Thank you for the good thoughts! My husband tested positive and is feeling crummy, but managing OK. My littlest is actually doing better today, but her test came back with an error so I will try to re-test her this afternoon. I'm still negative and am required to come in to work (not a lot of flexiblity unfortunately). I wish I could be home to take care of them!!!

 

[Arcadian]

Thank you for the good thoughts! My husband tested positive and is feeling crummy, but managing OK. My littlest is actually doing better today, but her test came back with an error so I will try to re-test her this afternoon. I'm still negative and am required to come in to work (not a lot of flexiblity unfortunately). I wish I could be home to take care of them!!!

Awww man... thats bad! Hoping they feel better soon!!