Why on Earth would anyone go to a movie theater in the middle of a pandemic?????

There is no interaction between the people other than that they are all breathing the same air.

If there is anything that could be done online just as well as in person, it's watching a damn movie!

@Pat I go to movie theaters mostly just for the popcorn to be honest. That said I havent went to one during the pandemic. I probably would though now that we moved onto the delta variant and deaths have been consistently reasonable even during infection spikes. I'm kinda over covid as a result and just pretend it doesnt even exist at this point. Back before Delta though no way would I have went to a theater.

@freemo

(we posted simultaneously)

The delta variant is more contagious. Now is not a good time to be around a bunch of other people.

The main difference is that the media are not talking about the thousands of people who are dying every day. They want people to go out and spend money and burn gas, even if it kills thousands of more people.

I thought mankind was making progress, but this is reprehensible.

@Pat recent data is suggesting delta isnt more contagious, it is just that the vaccine has no effect on preventing its spread. So it appears more contagious since people are vaccinated. The data is new like everything covid so we cant say for certain either way, but this seems to be the case.

That said even if it is mroe contagious, the death toll even when cases spike has been minimal. As such I'm not really worried about it spreading.

@freemo

Here in the US it's terrible. It's over a thousand people a day for a very long time. It was over 3000/day a few weeks back. All preventable.

This week, over 10,000 people were buried by their loved ones.

I'm unaware of that recent research on delta. The R0 for delta has been ~150% of alpha, which has been ~150% of the original. But it's entirely possible that the difference is due to behavior and public policy.

@Pat In the USA before delta the morbidity rate was well over 4x higher than it is now with delta. Yes a lot of people are still dying sadly, but it is far less lethal than the old variant even in the USA. It is still more lethal than the flu but the margin is much closer as a result, the new variant is getting pretty close to flu levels of morbidity.

Attached is an example from the USA, specifically massachusits. As you can see the mortality during Delta has gone down to nearly 0, its just not a very lethal virus anymore.

That said I am more than happy to put it behind us and not take social measures anymore given where its at.

All that said its been almost 2 years now, even if the virus was just as deadly as it was we cant remain in lock down forever. A new vaccine is not even close to being ready and we are looking at it being well over a year away if one ever comes that fights delta at all... Its time to be done with it, and accept the deaths until we can cure it. Lock down nursing homes, wear a mask around the elderly, but other its time to go back to normal IMO and has been that time for a while.

@freemo

You may be done with covid, but covid is not done with us. The virus continues to kill massive numbers of people and many times that amount are left with chronic illness. Millions of people can no longer work because they are dead or disabled from the virus. Millions more are justifiably afraid to go back to work. And millions more are so disgusted with the way that the politician have handled this that they've joined the general strike.

You may be done with it, but it's not done with you.

@Pat It may not be done with me, but living in fear for 2 years is my limit. I am willing to accept the very real death toll if that means going back to a normal life. People living the way we have for 2 years extended into the future forever is not a solution or acceptable, the deaths are preferable.

@freemo I was willing to live in fear for zero years. Was already endemic in the months before the panic was manufactured.

Novavax is effective on all the current variants except one African where a small test said it was <60% but.. Yeah. Not available :agummysip:
@Pat

@icedquinn

I have only really looked at the effectiveness of the vaccines available to me WRT delta variant, and none of them are effective to any degree on viral load. If novavax is somehow the exception then id be all for it if it was available.

@Pat

@freemo it supposedly does, but they are talking about boosters now so I'm not sure if they are having the same lack of staying power or if its just part of an ongoing project to see if they are all interchangeable
@Pat

@icedquinn

There isnt enough data to make any hard assertions. But from what I can tell from the recent data this isnt related to the diminishing effectiveness vaccines present over time. That is true too, but that applies to the alpha variants and others.

In the case of delta varriant the vaccine is completely ineffective to reducing transmission even right after the vaccine is administered. No number of boosters will cause it to be effective. It has no effectiveness at reducing viral load of delta at any point.

See the attached image showing viral load of people 14 days after second dose vaccination when they get infected. Viral load is almost identical (in fact a bit higher) than unvaccinated.

@Pat

@freemo @icedquinn

This is based on PCR cycles, so I wonder if delta DNA reacts differently to the polymerase or the reactants in the PCR soup.

@Pat @freemo it has been demonstrated that covid survivors may test positive in PCR tests despite having eradicated the virus. it's somewhat successful in getting itself reverse transcribed, but only perfunctory fragments of itself. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33330870/

@icedquinn

Except these arent COVID survivors. These are people who showed they didnt have COVID on earlier PCR tests and only contracted covid after being vaccinated.

@Pat

@freemo @Pat found and skimmed the full text. there's no mention that the samples are exclusively from post vaccinated persons. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.12.422516v1.full.pdf

@icedquinn

Huh? I will look when im at my computer but that doesnt look like the study I got the image from (nor does it contain the image). Let me find it again so we can pick it apart, give me a bit as im watching a movie right now and only on my phone.

@Pat

@freemo @icedquinn

1. The study is a preprint, it hasn't been peer-reviewed yet. But it's from reputable institutions.

2. The virus used in the study came from covid patients, not vaxed individuals.

Follow

@Pat

The study is unrelated to the image I posted, so moot point anyway. I'll find the osurce study when im back.

@icedquinn

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