News roundup for Tue, Aug 3, 2021

12 Comments on News roundup for Tue, Aug 3, 2021
Did a town in Arkansas turned profit on their solar arrays

Child-care centers are struggling to get the staffing they need to run safely. Turnover is high in this industry at baseline and pay is often low. In the meantime, parents who work outside the home are struggling to secure day care.

Greenland is experiencing a huge melting event. Recent heatwaves are melting its ice sheets at the rate of 8 billion metric tons a day.

There’s more saber-rattling with Iran:

https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1421887895510687744?s=20

Governor Newsom issues an emergency proclamation to help add capacity to California’s electrical grid in anticipation of summer heat stresses on the system. Will it be enough, or will the state suffer through more seasonal rolling blackouts? Some think it’s too little too late and decry Newsom’s shuttering of nuclear power.

Here’s a novel way to increase teacher pay and bolster utility grids in one fell swoop:

The world has nearly 199.5 million COVID cases. The world has gained 4.2 million cases in the last week. There have been over 4.2 million deaths in total. The US has a cumulative 35.9 million cases. Nearly 630,000 Americans have died. The US has gained about 40,000 new cases since yesterday, which is about twice as much as daily case gain last week. There have been 141 deaths reported in the US in the last day. The US, Iran, India, and Russia have the highest daily case gain in the world. Delta is the dominant global variant.

It’s important to understand that the pandemic virus causes all kinds of coagulopathies—the clot risks are unbelievably high for those infected. In some cases people with COVID clot until they run out of clotting factors, and then they start bleeding. The risks associated with the vaccine are miniscule compared to the risks of the actual infection for adults:

US public messaging about mask-wearing has been all over the place. In countries with ubiquitous mask use, COVID cases are (and were) universally lower than those countries that eschewed them. So why did the US get it so wrong at the start, and why are we still getting mixed messages? Why did Fauci initially downplay their importance? Fauci also spoke of “nudging” the goalposts for the herd immunity threshold, which is strange because it’s not a static number to begin with–it changes as R changes. I think oversimplification of complex problems is the root of the problem here. In any case, these communications woes seriously undermine public faith in public health institutions.

Here we’ve got some more mixed messaging. If you read between the lines the message is this: “Breakthrough infections in the vaccinated are probably more common than anticipated…”

The Delta variant is infecting the vaccinated (usually with a mild case) but these breakthrough infections do appear to be contagious:

Why are we seeing so many breakthrough infections when Pfizer says the vaccine gives robust and long-lasting immunity? If it’s so robust, why is Pfizer calling for boosters?

Eviction moratoriums have ended and millions could be made homeless this month.

Canada is doing a spectacular job of getting its people vaccinated:

Stephanie Arnold | cosmicpixle

Stephanie Arnold is an advanced practice psychiatric nurse and a doctoral candidate in UA Tuscaloosa’s DNP program. Stephanie moonlights from time to time at UCLA teaching mental health nursing. She also likes making cold-process soap.

  • 12 Comments
    • Greg P August 3, 2021

      Even with a great vaccine response (around 90%) there is still the risk of infection.  The delta variant is 50-60% more infectious than the original strain.  The upside is that for those who have been vaccinated, the risk of serious infection seems to be WAY less.  That being said, as a respiratory therapist I am now taking N-95 precautions with any patient that shows up to my ER with “shortness of breath” until I know via testing that they are not COVID positive.  

      My wife and I have resumed wearing masks anytime we are out in public (we live in Indiana which only has a roughly 43% vaccination rate) as I assume that at least 20-40% of the folks we run into are not vaccinated and/or are infected.

      More worrisome to me is that the local hospitals are rapidly filling with COVID cases & they are hemorrhaging staff at an alarming rate.  People are either leaving to work as travelers for better money or they are just quitting/retiring early.  Folks are burned out from the last 16 months of this and don’t have the emotional energy to endure another winter where we run the risk of being overrun by the patient load.  I’m venting here – I can’t fathom that we will be caring for people who had the option of getting a shot & chose to die instead.  I fear a systemic collapse in a scenario where the patients will die because we don’t have enough human resources.

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      • Stephanie ArnoldContributor Greg P August 3, 2021

        I’m reading online posts from nurses and other clinicians and so many are quitting right now. Health care workers are so fed up they’re simply walking away. This increases the burden on those who are left and burns them out faster. It’s very scary. 

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      • Bed Greg P August 3, 2021

        At the same time, though, people who’re vaccinated seemingly think that it makes them completely immune to SARS-CoV2 infection, which results in them going out and acting like there’s no pandemic. It’s very true that vaccinated people have a much lower risk of getting hospitalized or dying, which is great, but the kind of behavior I just mention could (or in my honest opinion will) lead to a variant down the road that will be way more vaccine-resistant, leading to this endless cycle of making shots for the variant then making the variant more vaccine-resistant because of people and local/state/federal governments acting like said shots are perfect panaceas.

        Even as an unvaccinated person myself (I honestly, genuinely haven’t found a good time to schedule a vaccine appointment for me or my family! And even then we’re extremely careful in what we do: No restaurants, crowded places, only order online, etc.), I don’t really have too much sympathy for those that go out all willy-nilly to crowded places and get sick. But I also don’t have sympathy for the vaccinated people that do that exact same thing.

        I really think it’ll be early 2020 all over again by the fall with the way things’re heading.

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      • Greg P Bed August 4, 2021

        I agree with you that everyone should be taking precautions (masks, etc) at this time.  In addition, since this is a world-wide pandemic and most of its’ citizens, unfortunately, don’t have access yet to vaccines – I think you are correct in your assessment about new variants.  Our only hope ( and it is very slim) is that a more lethal variant will not spread quickly.

        If governments do not mandate masks in the schools ( and everywhere else) then it will be 2020 again due to a combination of COVID & influenza.  As I watch the news here in Indiana this morning there are real-time reports of several schools in the area that are already quarantining students due to COVID outbreaks/exposure.  We are only in our first week of school here!  In the same breath, the newscaster reports that schools opening next week will NOT be requiring masks.

        I would urge you to redouble your efforts to get you and your family vaccinated – it will provide you some protection in the current situation.  Otherwise, it will be a matter of when, not if,  you contract this disease.  Be well – be safe!   Good luck!

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      • Hardened Greg P August 4, 2021

        Bearing witness to all of this, including talking to a close friend today who described herself as “irrational” because she’s not getting the vaccine, is proving to be one of my more challenging spiritual practices.  I’m feeling angry, exasperated, helpless, and struggling to be OK with the needless suffering and a potentially worse future for us all.  I have to stop myself from screaming at people, “Sure, I’m just as skeptical of the government as the next guy but that doesn’t blind me from seeing a good thing when it’s right in front of me!  The mRNA vaccines are modern miracles.”

        And yet as I sit here whining I can’t begin to imagine what it must be like for you health care workers.  In New York City we beat pans for you every evening and gave you a ticker tape parade.  How else can we support you?

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      • Stephanie ArnoldContributor Hardened August 5, 2021

        Very kind of you, I super appreciate your support. The absolute best way to help clinicians is to be vocal and active in getting fence-sitters in your life to get their jab. It takes tact and kindness (which you have in abundance), and it’s not worth getting in a fight with folks over. I’ve helped about 10 fence-sitters change their minds after speaking with me in person. I’ve had folks I was close to chew on what I had to say. I didn’t push or argue or even follow up. They followed up with me–I was so relieved when they got their shots. Best thing anyone can do for us, truly.

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      • Karl Winterling Greg P August 5, 2021

        There’s immense burnout among professionals like healthcare workers and teachers, and pretty much any job in which you have to be in person with other people. If lots of unvaccinated people die and places end up with more business shutdowns, people won’t feel the same level of compassion for unvaccinated people dying as for people who died last winter. All this has the potential to exacerbate social divisions based on educational level, which could make it even harder to get people to get vaccinated or take precautions. Mixed messaging and the “shaming” approach didn’t work for AIDS. Of course, possible escape variants mean that “us vs. them” really isn’t viable.

        The situation would be better if there were an antiviral like Tamiflu because people might feel like they have an option outside of feeling like they’re either “forced” to get vaccinated or put up with other people viewing them as destructive cultists. People might be more likely to get vaccinated or take precautions if they view getting vaccinated as one option you can use to protect yourself.

        Lots of people also simply haven’t been able to get vaccinated for one reason or another, like people in more remote rural areas.

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      • Stephanie ArnoldContributor Karl Winterling August 5, 2021

        I’ve been reminding myself to extend extra kindness where I’d rather do the opposite. Fighting through the us v. them mentality is worth the effort. I’ve seen a lot of folks splinter over politics and COVID, etc., and I’ve also seen a lot of proverbial fences mended in the wake of how hard things have been for everybody. Makes me think this topic would be useful to help burned out folks compartmentalize some of their negative transference. Something for me to chew on…

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      • Yes, it’s helpful for me to remember that everyone has been going through a lot and do a lovingkindness exercise. Part of the “war” is rejecting “us vs. them” and getting to a point where people realize that cooperation and understanding each other is our best shot at getting through whatever happens.

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      • Greg P Greg P August 9, 2021

        UPDATE –  Spoke with an infectious disease doc at my hospital.  The scenario that he sees is that the next 3-4  months will be tough – we will reach herd immunity but down a couple of pathways  – #1 enough people will get vaccinated to blunt the Delta variant wildfire ( not likely – my take on that) #2 enough unvaccinated people will catch Delta & it will burn out.  Unfortunately, that scenario seems more likely.  The questions are,  #1 how many body bags will we need for those victims?  #2 will we have enough resources (human, vents, rooms, etc) to manage this outbreak?  If the answer to #2 is NOT enough, then the answer to #1 probably doubles from the 300K that I anticipate to 600K+, assuming that the system doesn’t collapse from overload.  BTW, if masks are not widely used then we will see a spike in flu deaths as well.  In more “cheery” news, we are already seeing a spike in RSV cases in kids (a virus we usually see in the winter) and that is competing to fill the PICU beds along with COVID.  That is a real-time occurrence at my local pediatric hospital.

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      • Stephanie ArnoldContributor Greg P August 9, 2021

        I hope wearing masks during flu season will be socially acceptable from now on! 

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      • Sir Henry Stephanie Arnold August 9, 2021

        If I get a cold/flu from now on, and after I have quarantined myself and recovered from it, I will do as they do in Japan and wear a mask in public as a gesture of courtesy for the week after in case I am contagious somehow.

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