We’re waiting for DOL to fold Covid safety into workplace requirements. Masks, vax status known, full metal mask and regular testing for the unvaxed. We’ll see if they have the stones. I really hope they find them soon.
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That event was probably most analogous (in a college context) to a giant fraternity party. Wouldn’t be surprised if students who hit the party scene were most likely to get COVID-19 shortly after returning to campus.
And one can only wonder if the greater viral load with Beta would increase the incidence of long covid. One interesting twist is that breakthroughs are showing a quicker decrease in viral load after infection. How could that affect incidence of long covid?
I know that the medical definition of “mild” covid isn’t the layperson’s definition.
But remember, you can get the virus from another vaxed person:
My fully vaxed H (MD) got Covid from his fully vaxed nurse (she and her fully vaxed H got it during an Orlando 4th of July visit).
Somehow neither I nor our two kids got it. But we were surprised he tested positive for it. Would never have known he had it if his nurse hasn’t gotten tested so he did as well.
With all that said, I fully appreciate and agree that all students need to be vaxed.
This looks like both of them had asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic cases that were only noticed by testing, suggesting that vaccination did its job in largely preventing infection from being dangerous to them.
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Exactly. So thankful most people we know are vaccinated. His symptoms were minimal as were hers. Which means vaccines work and they need to be encouraged.
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NYS has a vaccine tracker dashboard. It breaks the numbers down by county and age (over 18/under 18).
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What if that “unvaccinated kid” had a medical exemption and happened to catch it from a vaccinated who got it via a breakthrough from who knows where? That’s the problem with the Delta variant - it makes it much harder to be judgey.
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Vaccines are mandatory at SUNY campuses but only after at least one gets full FDA approval. Until then unvaccinated students are supposed to wear masks inside. I hope FDA approval comes soon.
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Alas, the lambda variant has arrived as well, from South America. And appears to be vaccine-resistant. We will either find a way to live with these variants or stay remote for years to come
No offense but time to move.
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Do you understand how unlikely that is? I listened to a NYT podcast today that said it’s expected that one percent of the vaccinated are expected to catch Covid. Then, a large majority actually will not have enough virus to shed. We need to get a grip. We are all acting like everyone who is vaccinated is going to be infected and a vector.
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One percent of the vaccinated population is still over a million people so we are all likely to know someone at some point with a breakthrough infection. Need to get some perspective. One percent of those might die. That is 10,000. I saw a story yesterday about the five vaccinated who died of Covid in NY this week. Three were elderly. One was younger but was obese and had heart troubles. And the last was immune compromised.
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I’m sure that’s comforting to elderly and obese teachers.
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What should I say to that? It does seem like the over 65 crowd should get a booster. And anyone overweight? Most can do something about that. And anyone in high risk categories should mask.
If more people were vaccinated then we all wouldn’t have to mask so that’s the answer. Get vaccinated. Those are the people who need to take responsibility. I’m with di Blasio. Take stuff away from those not vaccinated so those who are can get back their lives.
I know it’s complicated with the under 12 crowd and I expect plenty of staff and faculty on campuses will choose to mask to protect their kids.
I’m fine wearing a mask to the store. No biggie. I don’t want my kids in masks at school this year and that feels like a slippery slope. With 98 percent vaccinated on a rural campus? I do not get the mask thing.
On the lambda variant -
“It doesn’t really make the situation any worse,” Nathaniel Landau, a microbiologist who studies the variants at New York University, told the Washington Post. “It’s just more of the same.”
Alas, child custody laws and lack of supports for single parents made this impossible for the last couple of decades, and now it’s where I have to stay for another four years if she’s to have in-state tuition, which is the only kind we can afford. I may be able to leave after that; it depends on what very rich people do to housing markets elsewhere.
Exactly. So happy he is ok and this is what the vaccine is meant to do. You obviously understand that, but many people don’t. They seem to think that if there are breakthrough cases then it is not effective. There will be tons of breakthrough cases but the point of the vaccine is to prevent deaths and hospitalizations and for that, it is working!
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Agreed. The problem remains long covid. If covid behaved like influenza, I’d go back into the classroom, no problem. Maybe I’d risk getting sick but the odds of getting seriously ill are currently long. The problem is that “mild” covid still leads to substantial disability rates in middle-aged people, and I’m not willing to take on that kind of risk of disability for this job.
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That’s not what the last 30 years’ obesity research says, unfortunately. And yes, that includes scrutinizing what people actually do, rather than what they say they do.
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