BASEBALL TAKES OVER AT AT 12:30 So today is a quickie with lots of covid stuff so get ready
THE MANDY CONNELL ADVENTURE IS CLOSE TO SELLING OUT! I talked to Charlie from Cruise and Tour yesterday and we have room for maybe 8 more couples so if you're thinking about it, you need to call 1-800-383-3131 TODAY. Check out the whole trip by clicking here and I hope to see you guys in Vancouver next August! Did you happen to see this nifty video I made with Chuck and Q?
SO PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ASKING ME COVID QUESTIONS AND NOW I HAVE ANSWERS Some of them better than others. Here is a roundup of questions and answers as best I can find right now.
WHAT ABOUT MYOCARDITIS IN TEEN BOYS AND YOUNG MEN FROM THE VACCINE? Many of you, like me, have been concerned about getting the vaccine for your kids. There have been cases of heart inflammation in teen boys and young men after vaccination. Correlation does NOT equal causation, but there seems that perhaps there is a connection. HOWEVER, we ALSO have cases of myocarditis in teen boys and young men who have gotten covid. As a matter of fact, MORE cases after a covid infection than after vaccine. This is from an article about a study of this issue:
Singer and his colleagues compared health records of 7,300 girls and 6,800 boys age 12-17 nationwide who were diagnosed with COVID-19 in the United States to the same number in that age group who had adverse events after receiving mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.
The risk of heart inflammation -- myocarditis or pericarditis -- among teen girls with COVID-19 was 21 times higher than their combined risk after first and second doses of an mRNA vaccine.
Among teen boys, the risk of heart inflammation was nearly six times higher from COVID-19 than from vaccination, according to findings published this week in the preprint server medRxiv. The study has not yet been peer-reviewed.
The study is in preprint and not peer reviewed but it seems to be pretty solid methodologically. Check the preprint here.
WILL THE COVID VACCINE AFFECT FERTILITY? This got started because of a concern by a former Pfizer scientist who sounded the alarm about mounting a defense based on the spike protein of the coronavirus that causes covid 19. The scientist wondered if the body would attack the spike proteins in the placenta necessary for fetal implantation at the beginning of pregnancy. This article from MU Health does the BEST job of explaining why those fears are not just overblown, but unfounded entirely. There's more, as this study purports to show an adverse impact on men's reproductive health from having covid, not from getting the vaccine. That is kind of a big deal. I will say that in all the studies that I've read everyone is careful to say that we can't know the long term impacts on fertility for men or women with the vaccine or covid, but as of yet, no adverse effects on fertility have been spotted. From the article:
“A good analogy I’ve heard is that for your immune system to get mixed up and attack the placental protein would be like you mistaking an elephant for an alley cat because they’re both gray,” Morris said. “There is one small similarity, but the overall construction of the protein is so completely different, your immune system is way too smart to be confused by that.”
DO BREAKTHROUGH INFECTIONS PROVE THIS IS JUST A SCAM? No, it does not do anything of the sort. Once again the government did a garbage job marketing the vaccine for what it is and what it is not. Shocking. Breakthrough infections happen with EVERY vaccine, but the resulting infection is FAR less severe. This article from Scientific American does a great job laying out how vaccines work and don't work. From the article:
Nationally, as of August 2, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that more than 164 million people have been fully vaccinated, just under half of the total population. Yet 97 percent of those who are being hospitalized for COVID-19 are unvaccinated.
The vaccines work but they can't stop all infections. They just keep you from being hospitalized or dying. That's enough for me.
NO, VACCINATED PEOPLE ARE NOT JUST AS INFECTIOUS NO MATTER WHAT THE STUPID CDC SAYS And we have a legitimate study out of the UK that shows that. Unlike the idiotic Provincetown "study" with it's self selected sample size and shoddy work, this study looked at THOUSANDS of people, not just people who happened to be a party in Provincetown. What did they find about transmissability Unlike the garbage Provincetown "study" with its self selected group of partygoers of just under 900 people, a study in the UK of THOUSANDS of people showed clearly that transmissibility rates among vaccinated people are nowhere near what they are for unvaccinated people. From the study:
We analysed Ct values associated with positive results among vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals as a measure of viral load and as a proxy for infectiousness. For all positives in round 13, at ages 18 to 64 years, median Ct value was higher for vaccinated participants at 27.6 (25.5, 29.7) compared with unvaccinated at 23.1 (20.3, 25.8) (positive defined as N gene Ct <37 or both N gene and E gene positive, Methods) (Table 7, Figure 3). The higher Ct values among vaccinated people indicate lower infectiousness, consistent with transmission studies conducted when the Alpha variant was dominant, in which vaccinated individuals were at substantially lower risk of passing on infection [15].
I sure hope someone at the CDC reads my blog, it would be helpful.
LONG COVID IS A THING AND IT'S VERY SERIOUS FOR THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE IT And this thread from Twitter is OUTSTANDING at providing some insight into what some suffer after a bout with Covid. This information is what blows up the notion that covid is "just like the flu". People get the flu, they get over it and go on with life. Covid affects some people for months and possible years and it can be debilitating. Read this WHOLE thread and click through to the stories and studies. This is a real thing.
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AND NOW A LITTLE LEVITY ABOUT PEOPLE BEHAVING BADLY ON AIRPLANES This is based on a real event, but this guy is NOT a flight attendant for anyone. He's just funny.
PARENTS CONCERNED ABOUT FORCING MASKS ON KIDS CALLED TERRORISTS BY A STATE REP Littleton Democrat David Ortiz really knows how to woo people over to his position. He calls them terrorists. Because that's always how you persuade people you disagree with. What an idiot this guy is.
SO HOW DO MASK WEARERS IN JAPAN DO WITH COVID? Because in Japan, there is a VERY high rate of mask compliance, like 98% compliant. Look at this.