• Welcome to TalkWeather!
    We see you lurking around TalkWeather! Take the extra step and join us today to view attachments, see less ads and maybe even join the discussion.
    CLICK TO JOIN TALKWEATHER

COVID-19 detected in United States

Evan

Member
Messages
2,254
Reaction score
1,377
Location
McCalla, AL
screen-shot-2021-08-01-at-6-48-42-pm-png.87540

Wow... Delta is so contagious

Your link is erroring out for me, ghost.
 

Evan

Member
Messages
2,254
Reaction score
1,377
Location
McCalla, AL
If we find out in later years, that SARS-CoV-2 infection increases the rates of or causes certain cancers, should insurers and/or the government have to foot the bill for cancer treatment for those who chose not to be vaccinated? What about treatment of long COVID symptoms/illness? Should insurers have to pay for treatment of those symptoms/illness in the unvaccinated?

Obviously, you would need to have a preponderance of evidence that the person had an opportunity to be vaccinated, and that their infection occurred well after the widespread availability of the vaccines, but it's definitely possible to label these cases in the unvaccinated?

Should being unvaccinated be treated similar to being a smoker or other behavior based activities that result in higher health/life insurance premiums? Since the acute mortality rate is such much higher for the unvaccinated, than say a smoker, should life insurance companies be able to refuse payout to unvaccinated policyholders if they contract COVID and die from it? I'm sure they could update their policy disclosures and give policyholders 30 - 60 days or something to get vaccinated.

I wouldn't want anyone to think I'm proposing these things or arguing that they should be implemented. I'm just "asking questions" -- and lord knows the unvaccinated are a fan of that so they should be happy that I'm doing so.

Would it make sense to ban the children of unvaccinated parents from attending public school until the parents are vaccinated? Is that not a way to help reduce spread in public schools and protect unvaccinated children and teachers with health problems?

Should unvaccinated individuals face civil and/or criminal liability if they cause an outbreak cluster and it can be directly linked to them with hard evidence? Hey, I'm just asking questions! Again, the unvaxxed love it when people ask questions about COVID and the vaccine, so they should love bringing these ideas into the public consciousness!

 

Mike S

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
PerryW Project Supporter
Messages
1,991
Reaction score
1,117
Location
Meridianville, Al
Special Affiliations
  1. SKYWARN® Volunteer
I had the rapid diagnostic test, also called the rapid molecular test, through Walgreen's. Results could take up to 24 hours but I had mine in about 2 hours. They really could not have made it any easier. I couldn't get a same day appointment but had plenty of options at several locations for next day.

I was likely exposed a week ago and have shown no symptoms. I think I'm good. In the meantime, I'm getting paid to stay home and wait to hear from HR.

I did end up getting a little sick. I felt like I had a pretty bad cold Saturday and by Sunday morning my left eye was swollen shut. By Sunday evening I was back to about 90% and the same this morning.

I strongly feel like the vaccinations mitigated my reaction to the virus because unvaccinated coworkers had it much worse that me. I highly encourage everyone to get vaccinated.
 
Last edited:

Evan

Member
Messages
2,254
Reaction score
1,377
Location
McCalla, AL
I did end up getting a little sick. I felt like I had a pretty bad cold Saturday and buy Sunday morning my left eye was swollen shut. By Sunday evening I was back to about 90% and the same this morning.

I strongly feel like the vaccinations mitigated my reaction to the virus because unvaccinated coworkers had it much worse that me. I highly encourage everyone to get vaccinated.

Glad you made it through without any severe impacts. I'm concerned we're about to see many who don't fare nearly as well due to their vax status (lack thereof).
 

KoD

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
PerryW Project Supporter
Messages
1,380
Reaction score
697
Location
Huntsville, AL
We're practically back to last December before the vaccine was available as far as it goes at the hospital, the numbers have exploded and they may not be statistically as high now as they were then, but we're very understaffed in every department and every job, perhaps with the exception of doctors. There's a serious shortage of nurses, techs, housekeeping (environmental services), transporters, radiology techs, secretaries, registration, etc etc etc.... We're hurting bad, and it was already bad without the current covid surge, now it's terrible. They've been offering +16.50/hr incentive for all overtime and a $500 payout for working 2 extra days within 2 weeks for probably about a year now and hardly anyone is taking it anymore. Major burnout + shortage in staff across the board, it's quite literally a borderline disaster... Now we have a surge of unvaccinated covid-19 patients to deal with as well.
It's back to working in the covid unit wearing an N95 all day. I haven't personally seen a single vaccinated patient get admitted. Seen several unvaccinated with life-threatening pneumonia, blood clots, respiratory failure and dead on arrival. I wish the 66% of Alabama residents who aren't fully vaccinated could experience this pandemic, in that setting, for 1/4th of a day. It's not even the critical patients that would influence them the most, it's that nearly or more than half of the patients aren't just non-vaccinated but they completely disregard the effectiveness of masks so we spend half the day with covid-19 patients constantly pulling down their masks or not wearing it at all and coughing on and at us while we try to care for them, give them medicine, food, toiletries, draw labs, do procedures, check monitors, assess their wellbeing.
I want a third shot so so so bad.
 

ghost

Member
PerryW Project Supporter
Messages
1,004
Reaction score
352
Location
NW AL
We're practically back to last December before the vaccine was available as far as it goes at the hospital, the numbers have exploded and they may not be statistically as high now as they were then, but we're very understaffed in every department and every job, perhaps with the exception of doctors. There's a serious shortage of nurses, techs, housekeeping (environmental services), transporters, radiology techs, secretaries, registration, etc etc etc.... We're hurting bad, and it was already bad without the current covid surge, now it's terrible. They've been offering +16.50/hr incentive for all overtime and a $500 payout for working 2 extra days within 2 weeks for probably about a year now and hardly anyone is taking it anymore. Major burnout + shortage in staff across the board, it's quite literally a borderline disaster... Now we have a surge of unvaccinated covid-19 patients to deal with as well.
It's back to working in the covid unit wearing an N95 all day. I haven't personally seen a single vaccinated patient get admitted. Seen several unvaccinated with life-threatening pneumonia, blood clots, respiratory failure and dead on arrival. I wish the 66% of Alabama residents who aren't fully vaccinated could experience this pandemic, in that setting, for 1/4th of a day. It's not even the critical patients that would influence them the most, it's that nearly or more than half of the patients aren't just non-vaccinated but they completely disregard the effectiveness of masks so we spend half the day with covid-19 patients constantly pulling down their masks or not wearing it at all and coughing on and at us while we try to care for them, give them medicine, food, toiletries, draw labs, do procedures, check monitors, assess their wellbeing.
I want a third shot so so so bad.
Man... I am so sorry that you are dealing with this again. You and all you work with are heroes to all you serve and all of us who admire you and appreciate all ya'll do. God Bless
 

Jacob

Member
Messages
1,287
Reaction score
824
Location
Roy, UT
I expect the peaks to be lower, everywhere is starting from a much lower baseline and the amount of immunity present should significantly help.
I'm taking a wait and see approach on "Delta" and how much of an effect it will have on the spread here in the US. We heard the exact same warnings for the UK variant (UK/Alpha/B117) back in the spring, and it became the dominant strain here while the winter wave faded away. Conditions are more favorable in the southern parts of the country during summer than the spring, hence last year's spread and this year's as well, so perhaps with Delta becoming the dominant strain during a favorable time period for spread we'll see a larger than expected bump during the summer.

It's worth noting that the Delta variant is estimated to only be around 35% of cases in the Deep South (as of 10 days ago), where the spread has been most pronounced. In the mountain West region (Utah, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Dakotas), the amount of spread has been less than the south yet the Delta variant makes up over 75% of cases.

Just wanted to point out that the first post I quoted above is clearly proving very wrong unfortunately, as this delta surge in the sunbelt is faster and more widespread than last year's. Making predictions is worthless if they aren't owned up to when they are wrong (and very wrong like this one).

As for the second post, we are seeing a much larger than expected bump and I think we can all agree it is due to Delta. At least as far as how easily transmittable it is, it (unlike Alpha/B1117) clearly and unfortunately has lived up to the hype. Some of the "estimated" cases models have an insane amount of cases out there vs. what is currently being reported.

The only bright spot is it has disappeared elsewhere just about as fast as it surged, so hopefully by this time next month (or hopefully a tad sooner) all the areas in the south will be in a free-fall with Delta receding. That doesn't do much good though for the areas that are getting clobbered at the moment.

The only areas I see so far that are on the backside of this wave are parts of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri, which were also the first to surge. ED visits for CLI suggests that Nevada has turned the corner, and while CLI is often the leading indictor when analyzing a past wave, the actual data can be delayed up to a week so the data that suggests they've turned the corner could just be reporting lag.
 

ghost

Member
PerryW Project Supporter
Messages
1,004
Reaction score
352
Location
NW AL
I'm on day 9 in the ICU at Redmond in Rome GA. Sunday/Monday a week ago DR's told my family that I might not make it. Double Covid pneumonia is not easy to clear up and I'm still having a difficult time breathing. I have been on a high flow mask receiving 7L of HF oxygen with the machine set on 100%. I have zero pre existing conditions to boot.
My adventures started the Tuesday after July 4th. My wife was diagnosed and I didn't take it serious. 3 days later I had a average high temp of 102+. And health was dwindling fast.
Long of the short, my Wife, her mother and myself have all been admitted to ICU with my stay being the longest so far.
Checking in on you Jason... let us know how you are doing. Praying that you are better
 

bjdeming

Member
Sustaining Member
Messages
1,512
Reaction score
1,231
Location
Corvallis, Oregon
Man... I am so sorry that you are dealing with this again. You and all you work with are heroes to all you serve and all of us who admire you and appreciate all ya'll do. God Bless
Second that. Hang in there, and thank you for all you do. ❤
 

bjdeming

Member
Sustaining Member
Messages
1,512
Reaction score
1,231
Location
Corvallis, Oregon
Here's a Science Magazine article on the mRNA vaccines, including this:

These studies were conducted before the spread of the Delta variant, for which real-world data on asymptomatic infection are still lacking. But lab studies are promising, suggesting mRNA vaccines may inhibit asymptomatic Delta infection, too. Last week, separate groups at New York University and Yale University posted preprints analyzing blood serum from people vaccinated with the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Antibodies generated by those vaccines lost little of their potency against the Delta variant.

And Topol notes that a large real-world study from the United Kingdom, published last week in The New England Journal of Medicine, found that the Pfizer vaccine outperformed the Astra Zeneca vaccine at preventing symptomatic infection by the Delta variant that has taken over in that country by 21 points, 88% to 67%.

That substantial margin “likely translates to better suppression of transmission, unlike the similarities for the vaccines in reducing hospitalizations and deaths,” Topol says.

Many scientists suspect the mRNA vaccines outperform others at preventing infection because of the high levels of virus-blocking antibodies, called neutralizing antibodies (nAbs), that they generate.

Makes me glad they were using the Moderna vaccine at Rieser Stadium here in Corvallis when I got jabbed a few months ago.

But after reading these recent posts, I just want to stand up on the roof and shout, "Get vaccinated! ANY vaccine that's available. NOW!"
 

ghost

Member
PerryW Project Supporter
Messages
1,004
Reaction score
352
Location
NW AL
Neighborhood Covid update... About 3 weeks ago the 18 yr old kid across the street from me got Covid and was sick in bed for a few days (fever and body aches). Fever went away after about 5 days and is ok now but says he still gets tired easily. I found out today that his parents caught it from him. The mom (vaccinated) got a runny nose for a couple of days. The dad (refused to get vaccinated) got sick and went to a local walk in clinic with a bad cough and fever wanting to get some antibiotics. They asked him to be tested for Covid and he refused saying he runs a business and can't afford to miss work. Got antibiotics and continued to go to work for another day until he couldn't catch his breath when walking across the room. Took him to the ER and spent 8 days in the hospital... 36 hrs in ICU (not on ventilator) and got to come home on portable oxygen today. Lungs have taken quite a beating. Hopefully he is on the mend.
 

Evan

Member
Messages
2,254
Reaction score
1,377
Location
McCalla, AL
Not good...

 

ghost

Member
PerryW Project Supporter
Messages
1,004
Reaction score
352
Location
NW AL
Not good...


Is the % vaccinated the % of population? Or % of people in hospital? I sure hope it's the former and not the latter

Do you know what the UK's vaccination rate% was back when they were experiencing their peak?
 

Jacob

Member
Messages
1,287
Reaction score
824
Location
Roy, UT
Is the % vaccinated the % of population? Or % of people in hospital? I sure hope it's the former and not the latter

Do you know what the UK's vaccination rate% was back when they were experiencing their peak?

It's the % of the population vaccinated.

I would think that most of the difference is due to two factors: Primarily the much higher vaccination rate in the 40-65 range in the UK, and to a lesser degree, a virus that disproportionately affects the overweight and unhealthy has found very fertile ground in much of the US.
 
Last edited:

barcncpt44

Member
Messages
277
Reaction score
148
Location
Anniston, AL
Special Affiliations
  1. SKYWARN® Volunteer
And it's going to get worse when schools open up here.
 

Mike S

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
PerryW Project Supporter
Messages
1,991
Reaction score
1,117
Location
Meridianville, Al
Special Affiliations
  1. SKYWARN® Volunteer
This sums up my thoughts much better than I could ever express them

 

ghost

Member
PerryW Project Supporter
Messages
1,004
Reaction score
352
Location
NW AL
I think I may possibly have or have had Covid during the past 10 days. If so, it's a break through case because I had 2 Pfzier shots back in late Feb/early March. 10 days ago (week ago Friday) I started coughing with some sinus congestion and a little phlegm. The next day I went and got a rapid test and was Negative. On Sunday... I was very tired and started running a low grade (99°s) fever and just laid in bed most of the day. terrible cough. Monday fever was around 100° still fatigued and little appetite bad cough. By Tuesday fever was 102° so I went to a walk-in clinic to get a rocephin shot and some antibiotics thinking I had a bad case of bronchitis. Checked me for Covid and flu.. both negative... got shot, antibiotics and steroid pack. Wednesday night my fever broke. Thursday felt much better. Friday even better but still had a nagging cough and some congestion. Yesterday morning felt good enough to go to the gym and workout with weights didn't do cardio. Still no real appetite. Last night I went to put the coffee in the coffeemaker and opened a new fresh bag. I always love to smell the roasted grounds when I open a new bag but last night... couldn't smell a thing. I stuck my nose down in the bag and it smelled like air. I tried smelling a jar of peanut butter and a fresh cut onion... smelled nothing. Now I see why food hasn't had hardly any taste to me for a week. Today I feel pretty good except my congestion and runny nose is a little worse. Still have a cough but not as persistent today. So have I had Covid? If so am I still contagious? I've had 2 negative tests but have some of the most common symptoms. I'm going to quarantine for a few more days just in case.
 
Back
Top