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[wagne223]

That certainly is not good. Do you know if they had Omicron or Delta? Delta, while not as prevalent as Omicron (only about 5+% of the cases nationwide as of mid-January), is still out there and is a much more serious strain.

Perhaps my county is unusual. With a population of 173,000+ and a total Covid death total of 471 since the outbreak in 2020, the percentage of deaths is 0.0027%. The case rate since the outbreak is 35692 which is a 20.6% case rate, and the case rate has been steadily dropping here for a while according to local statistics.

Still just trying to understand what is going on in other areas.

I don't know which variant they had.

One thing COVID has taught me is that "cases" can be misleading and "deaths" makes stats very black and white.

Cases data only comes from official testing sites. Individuals have to physically go and get tested. Most people that get tested officially are because they have symptoms, were exposed to someone who tested positive, or as peace of mind for school,work, travel, ect.
My concern is there are a vast number of people who do not, or outright refuse to get tested even if they have symptoms.

Secondly, not to minimize death, but there are a lot of people that become very sick and survive. Some of them have lasting respiratory issues. These issues cause overall reduction in health over the years.
Add to that the economic hardship being that sick can cause. Lost wages, reduced productivity meaning lower wage going forward, having to pay for something they used to do (processing firewood) and the medical bills.
But this data is not tracked or reported. We only know that they did not die.

I try to look at hospitalizations as a guide to the seriousness in an area but that data is often not reported.

 

[Dan Freeman]

I understand your concerns, but what about the deaths due to drug overdoses and lives/families ruined over businesses being closed, just to name 2 side effects from our covid reaction. I don't think we can minimize these effects as well. None of this, absolutely none, can be evaluated now; it will take years to tease it all out.

BTW...did you see the Johns Hopkins study that came out yesterday?

A Johns Hopkins study says 'ill-founded' lockdowns did little to limit COVID deaths. The researchers say lockdowns had no noticeable effect on COVID mortality and had a "devastating effect" on economies and social ills.​

https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/health-news-florida/2022-02-02/a-johns-hopkins-study-says-ill-founded-lockdowns-did-little-to-limit-covid-deaths.

I think so many of our opinions/"beliefs" about covid, and I will include myself, come from our affiliations (social and political), where we chose to get our news, how this virus has affected us, our families, our communities, etc. I don't think either side is "right", and I certainly don't think that any opinion is more valid despite what the "science" says since for almost every action taken during Covid there are studies that will "prove" or "disprove" the action. I think the real damage from Covid has been a widening rift and intolerance between folks to differing studies/points of view/experiences in the United States.

 

[begreen]

My browser says that page can not be found. Note that it's an economics study by the JHI business enterprise division which might be a clue at who paid for the study. One can make the data say whatever one wants it to, especially if paid for it.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Opens fine in my browser. Try this: https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/healt...ed-lockdowns-did-little-to-limit-covid-deaths

Well, since it is Johns Hopkins, they seem to be one of the "authorities" when people want to quote covid statistics and studies. Did you read the 62-page study? I did.

 

[begreen]

Read the full study. I found it and it appears the data was cherry-picked with a foregone conclusion. It's a binary measure of mortality as a success vs. no-success regarding a lockdown. It's a poor measure of the implications on public health, though as any hospital will verify. But that is what the economists were looking for.

 

[bholler]

I understand your concerns, but what about the deaths due to drug overdoses and lives/families ruined over businesses being closed, just to name 2 side effects from our covid reaction. I don't think we can minimize these effects as well. None of this, absolutely none, can be evaluated now; it will take years to tease it all out.

BTW...did you see the Johns Hopkins study that came out yesterday?

A Johns Hopkins study says 'ill-founded' lockdowns did little to limit COVID deaths. The researchers say lockdowns had no noticeable effect on COVID mortality and had a "devastating effect" on economies and social ills.​

https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/health-news-florida/2022-02-02/a-johns-hopkins-study-says-ill-founded-lockdowns-did-little-to-limit-covid-deaths.

I think so many of our opinions/"beliefs" about covid, and I will include myself, come from our affiliations (social and political), where we chose to get our news, how this virus has affected us, our families, our communities, etc. I don't think either side is "right", and I certainly don't think that any opinion is more valid despite what the "science" says since for almost every action taken during Covid there are studies that will "prove" or "disprove" the action. I think the real damage from Covid has been a widening rift and intolerance between folks to differing studies/points of view/experiences in the United States.

Did you read the study?

The conclusion clearly say that mandated lockdowns had relatively little effect. But closing non essential businesses did. Mask mandates did. And they concluded basically that mandated lockdowns didn't really change anything. A portion of the population was going to be limiting contact and taking precautions regardless of mandates and another portion will just ignore the mandates.

The conclusions indicate the lockdowns were not effective because they had no effect on people's behavior.

 

[bholler]

Read the full study. I found it and it appears the data was cherry-picked with a foregone conclusion. It's a binary measure of mortality as a success vs. no-success regarding a lockdown. It's a poor measure of the implications on public health, though as any hospital will verify. But that is what the economists were looking for.

I agree the numbers were cherry picked. But I found the conclusions very interesting and they make sense to me.

 

[stoveliker]

Also, regardless of the quality of that study (I did not read it), in the beginning of any disease, decisions will be made that turn out later to have had no effect or even negative effects, or harmful side effects (e.g. economy). However, the training and experience of the scientists advising policy makers does offer generally an on average effective path forward. Yes, we can point fingers at what did not go right. I would still prefer to have an epidemiologist (or whatever appropriate specialty) telling me what the approach is for me that gives a highest chance of minimizing consequences, than someone who did not study previous disasters.

Same as a firefighter going into a new fire. You see things, but you don't see all yet. You make decisions on how to attack the issue based on what you know from what you see and your experience. Do wrong or in hindsight ineffective decisions get made? Sure. Do they even cost lives? (See nursing home issue in NYS.) Sure.
But I would still trust the firefighter, and not my (otherwise perfectly friendly and reasonable) lawyer neighbor in a case like that. Or some media head. Or internet expert. (See, I gave everyone the good excuse to disregard all I say...)

And, the hindsight is good; do point out what went wrong. People never like to be told when something was not right, but those are the things one learns from. Those are the cases leading to better decisions the next time around that disaster strikes. I highly doubt that the nursing home issue in NYS will be done the same next time. Big mistake. We learned. And that's a good thing. That's how science works. It is unfortunate that with pandemics, us humans are the experimental subjects.

 

[peakbagger]

My test kits showed up today. Just under 3 weeks. Now I hope I do not need them.

 

[begreen]

My test kits showed up today. Just under 3 weeks. Now I hope I do not need them.

Ours did too. Note the expiration date. Ours is in July.

 

[stoveliker]

Nothing here yet (though I got some, again, thru the school of the kids.

 

[DuaeGuttae]

We did not sign up immediately, but our tests came yesterday in the mailbox. When I check email afterwards I had two notifications that they were out for delivery. Just because you haven’t received shipping confirmation evidently doesn’t mean that they’re not on the way.

 

[semipro]

Just curious...
Why would you want a Covid test kit? At this stage, unless you are very old or have an immune disorder, the virus is nothing more than a "bad cold" or "light flu". If I had either one of these, I would keep away from others anyway so they wouldn't catch whatever I had, covid or not.
As I said, I am just curious as I don't understand the need for the test kits and want to understand others' thinking.
Thanks.

For me, it's mostly about the protection of others. If I know I'm infectious I can take measures to protect others.
Voluntarily restricting my personal freedom to go out shopping or go mask-free may well save someone from sickness or death.
I'm also concerned about impacts on our medical system, the ability of others to get care, and societal economic costs.

I do get your point though but feel that there are still so many unknowns with Covid when compared to colds and flu.

 

[mellow]

Interesting, signed up shortly after they launched the site and still not gotten my test kits in MD yet.

 

[stoveliker]

I ordered 4 kits too. (We also got 4 kits thru the kids school). Shipping date is end of January tho.

So, I got an email that they will be delivered by Friday February 25.
Ordered Jan 19, promised end of January...

 

[mellow]

We finally got ours last week. I thought it was going to be 4 test kits in separate boxes but it came all in 1 box.

 

[tlc1976]

So, I got an email that they will be delivered by Friday February 25.
Ordered Jan 19, promised end of January...

I got the same email recently.