Coronavirus news

[Dave Likeness]

I hit a single in February with my first vaccine shot/Moderna

I hit a double in March with my second vaccine shot/Moderna

I hit a triple yesterday with my booster shot/Moderna


The consensus at the medical clinic yesterday was that it is
possible that a once a year booster shot will be available
to combat Covid19 in the future.

[Dave Benke]

If getting the vaccine and the corresponding booster does not provide a sufficient sign of support on my part, I don't think that openly advocating for it in my position as pastor will sell it to others who are hesitant at this point.  Some here will disagree, of course, but my people know that I am a theologian.  I am the guy they go to for answers about God and the scriptures.  I am not a scientist.  I am not a doctor.  I have no credentials in the medical field.  I sometimes hear people speak about the use of mRNA and their concerns about it.  I finally looked that up on Google. I remembered RNA and DNA from probably as far back as high school. But I can't say I remember much after all these years.  Some people think that it could alter their own DNA.  One 'board certified genetic counselor' said that it won't (https://informeddna.com/mrna-vaccines-and-your-dna/).  He's probably right. And he does a great job of breaking down the complexities and helping me understand. But should I become the one to be the so-called expert to explain this? I believe it is the job locally of my local county health board, along with other medical experts, to sell this.  And to find a way to communicate so that average, everyday people can understand.  Maybe that's where it's breaking down.  They haven't found a way to effectively communicate to the average person.  I don't know.

What people here connect with is that I am their spiritual leader, and that I went to a church site to receive my vaccine as soon as I could and prayed before and after, and went for my second shot and then my booster.  Since their spiritual leader takes this walk by faith, those who are undecided are given strength and some example to take the same journey.  It's an interdependent theology and praxis on the theoretical level combining with an interdependent community which bears with one another and encourages one another. 

Maybe one of the Lutheran realities is the division of the theological/spiritual from the practical/daily.  I don't think that's the way it's meant to be in living faith communities.  The pastor is, at least by example and often by word as well, the person communicating in his/her own body the understanding of the benefit of the vaccine.  Your local medical folks apparently communicated pretty well with you - you went for all three shots to date.  You are communicating for them by the marks on your body.

Side anecdote.  Last night we had another Lutheran High School award dinner in this the fall giving season.  So there's an award called the Schott in the Arm award, named after a generous donor for outstanding community involvement.  The guy who received it last night, a Guyanese pharmacist named Latchmannarain, has been an active and visible supporter of COVID vaccine in that larger community and even with the parents of the high school children from that school.  So - the Schott in the Arm award winner won for literally giving shots in the arm!  My neighbor in Queens and I are previous recipients of this award, but we agreed that this is the first true shot in the arm Schott in the Arm winner.

Dave Benke

[Pastor Ken Kimball]

I hit a single in February with my first vaccine shot/Moderna

I hit a double in March with my second vaccine shot/Moderna

I hit a triple yesterday with my booster shot/Moderna


The consensus at the medical clinic yesterday was that it is
possible that a once a year booster shot will be available
to combat Covid19 in the future.

Pithy metaphors Dave but wondering how you're going to stretch that metaphor going forward.  So next year's booster shot will be a home run?  What about the one after that?  Maybe hits with men on base, leading up to a grand slam? 

[peter_speckhard]

https://hotair.com/allahpundit/2021/11/19/oh-my-fauci-caught-unmasking-at-indoor-d-c-event-this-week-n430322

Good ol’ Fauci. He wears a mask depending on whether he knows the people he’s with, even in places where it is against an executive order not to be masked.

[Dave Benke]

I hit a single in February with my first vaccine shot/Moderna

I hit a double in March with my second vaccine shot/Moderna

I hit a triple yesterday with my booster shot/Moderna


The consensus at the medical clinic yesterday was that it is
possible that a once a year booster shot will be available
to combat Covid19 in the future.

Pithy metaphors Dave but wondering how you're going to stretch that metaphor going forward.  So next year's booster shot will be a home run?  What about the one after that?  Maybe hits with men on base, leading up to a grand slam?

One way for us seniors to keep it going is to indicate what inning the game is in.  So the shots for children will be second and third inning, adults through the seventh and those of us post 70 can be late inning rally booster cap wearers, comeback "kids."

Dave Benke

[Charles Austin]

Vaccinated/boostered Thursday afternoon.
Friday am: tired, real tired. Dozed in my favorite chair.
Friday noon: blah, and if a crazed beaver was chewing on my leg, I’d let him do it.
Friday afternoon: long nap, under sheets, with furry bear
Friday evening: coming back, not hungry, but ate a little, zoomed with NJ friends,
Friday night: A good sleep
Saturday am: I’m back! Look out, world.

[D. Engebretson]

We are again in another COVID surge.  It had been declining since earlier this fall.  But now it's up again. 30% this month. Yet scientists are not quite sure why, and no one reason explains it: winter weather, more people indoors, etc.

The seemingly obvious explanation for the recent rise in cases is the weather. As temperatures have dropped, more activities have moved indoors, where the Covid virus tends to spread. And the weather surely plays some role in the surge.

But I mentioned Canada above — along with the cold-weather parts of the U.S. where caseloads were not rising a month ago — for a reason. If the weather were really the dominant cause, the recent Covid patterns would look different. They would more closely match temperature patterns.

As unsatisfying as this is, the full explanation for the surge remains unclear. There is still much more that scientists do not know about how this virus spreads than they do know, as Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota epidemiologist, has been saying for months.

Media coverage and expert commentary too often fails to acknowledge this point. We offer tidy explanations for the virus’s ups and downs — like weather, school calendars, mask habits, even sporting events — when reality is messier.


NYTimes

[Charles Austin]

From that same New York Times morning report, maybe some advice for the fools who refuse vaccinations (my emphasis added):
Covid is the threat on many of our minds. But for most people under 65, the virus may present less risk than a car trip to visit relatives this week. “The vaccination, I think, changes everything,” Dustin Johnston, 40, a photographer in Michigan who plans to gather with family, told The Times.
   The situation is more frightening for older people, especially those in their 80s and 90s. For the oldest age groups, Covid presents a real risk even after vaccination. It appears to be more dangerous than a typical flu and much more dangerous than time spent riding in a vehicle, based on C.D.C. data.
   As a result, older Americans need protection during a surge. (The same is also true of a small percentage of younger people with specific vulnerabilities to Covid, like organ-transplant recipients.) The most effective way to protect vulnerable people is through vaccination — not only of them but also of others who might infect them.
   Children 5 and older, who are now eligible for vaccines, are an example. Covid remains overwhelmingly mild for them. But vaccinated children are less likely to infect other people than unvaccinated children, and a mild Covid case in a child can turn into a deadly case for an elderly grandparent.
End of Times copy.

I repeat, the vaccination is not only for you, it helps protect your neighbor. Of course I am biased. My knee surgery has now been canceled because unvaccinated Covid cases have filled the hospitals to overflowing and they are canceling all surgeries such as mine, and the surgeries of dhundreds  of other people facing more dire situations.
My surgery has been scheduled for February 24. That means, although it is not certain, that it is likely that by the end of January I will be in a wheelchair, or unable to move around without that wheelchair or an electric scooter. This will have some impact on my ability to care for beloved spouse who is blind and we are exploring the options for that.
So I make no apologies for my irritation with those refusing vaccinations.

[Dave Benke]

From that same New York Times morning report, maybe some advice for the fools who refuse vaccinations (my emphasis added):
Covid is the threat on many of our minds. But for most people under 65, the virus may present less risk than a car trip to visit relatives this week. “The vaccination, I think, changes everything,” Dustin Johnston, 40, a photographer in Michigan who plans to gather with family, told The Times.
   The situation is more frightening for older people, especially those in their 80s and 90s. For the oldest age groups, Covid presents a real risk even after vaccination. It appears to be more dangerous than a typical flu and much more dangerous than time spent riding in a vehicle, based on C.D.C. data.
   As a result, older Americans need protection during a surge. (The same is also true of a small percentage of younger people with specific vulnerabilities to Covid, like organ-transplant recipients.) The most effective way to protect vulnerable people is through vaccination — not only of them but also of others who might infect them.
   Children 5 and older, who are now eligible for vaccines, are an example. Covid remains overwhelmingly mild for them. But vaccinated children are less likely to infect other people than unvaccinated children, and a mild Covid case in a child can turn into a deadly case for an elderly grandparent.
End of Times copy.

I repeat, the vaccination is not only for you, it helps protect your neighbor. Of course I am biased. My knee surgery has now been canceled because unvaccinated Covid cases have filled the hospitals to overflowing and they are canceling all surgeries such as mine, and the surgeries of dhundreds  of other people facing more dire situations.
My surgery has been scheduled for February 24. That means, although it is not certain, that it is likely that by the end of January I will be in a wheelchair, or unable to move around without that wheelchair or an electric scooter. This will have some impact on my ability to care for beloved spouse who is blind and we are exploring the options for that.
So I make no apologies for my irritation with those refusing vaccinations.

Sorry to hear of that delay, Charles.  This is endemic across the country when it comes to delay of surgeries, procedures, visits, all the things so important to older Americans when it comes to physical/medical health. And- it leads in a direct line to emotional issues as well, from anxiety to irritability to a sense of futility.  One of our best local antidotes is prayer and communication with others.

Dave Benke

[Steven W Bohler]

From that same New York Times morning report, maybe some advice for the fools who refuse vaccinations (my emphasis added):
Covid is the threat on many of our minds. But for most people under 65, the virus may present less risk than a car trip to visit relatives this week. “The vaccination, I think, changes everything,” Dustin Johnston, 40, a photographer in Michigan who plans to gather with family, told The Times.
   The situation is more frightening for older people, especially those in their 80s and 90s. For the oldest age groups, Covid presents a real risk even after vaccination. It appears to be more dangerous than a typical flu and much more dangerous than time spent riding in a vehicle, based on C.D.C. data.
   As a result, older Americans need protection during a surge. (The same is also true of a small percentage of younger people with specific vulnerabilities to Covid, like organ-transplant recipients.) The most effective way to protect vulnerable people is through vaccination — not only of them but also of others who might infect them.
   Children 5 and older, who are now eligible for vaccines, are an example. Covid remains overwhelmingly mild for them. But vaccinated children are less likely to infect other people than unvaccinated children, and a mild Covid case in a child can turn into a deadly case for an elderly grandparent.
End of Times copy.

I repeat, the vaccination is not only for you, it helps protect your neighbor. Of course I am biased. My knee surgery has now been canceled because unvaccinated Covid cases have filled the hospitals to overflowing and they are canceling all surgeries such as mine, and the surgeries of dhundreds  of other people facing more dire situations.
My surgery has been scheduled for February 24. That means, although it is not certain, that it is likely that by the end of January I will be in a wheelchair, or unable to move around without that wheelchair or an electric scooter. This will have some impact on my ability to care for beloved spouse who is blind and we are exploring the options for that.
So I make no apologies for my irritation with those refusing vaccinations.

Only unvaccinated COVID cases are filling the hospitals?  So, where are the vaccinated people who contract COVID going?

[Charles Austin]

And, Dave, the combination of factors and influences pile on with additional complications.
   My grandson now 22 - is among those young people speaking of not bringing children into a world where environmental apocalypse, ongoing racism, economic injustice, political stupidities and institutional failures make the future look very dim to him and his friends. He works with an agency that helps victims of domestic violence navigate the legal system, which treats them like dirt or minimizes or ignores their lives.
   I look at the proliferation of gun violence and - despite what may be the moral and economic collapse of the NRA - the romanticization of weaponry and desire to possess firepower for "protection" continues, although guns are almost never used by personal individuals for that.
  I see the refusal in many quarters to admit systemic racism, consciences salved by clinging to a few examples of times when we were not or focussing on what steps we have taken to be "better." So those suffering oppression should just be "nice" and not disturb us.
  The science-doubters abound with everyone favoring their own theories over hard data. (The vaccines work. Masking helps. Shutdowns are sometimes necessary. If you don't believe that, you are part of the problem.)
  My former profession wobbles as what passes for journalism is at times mere entertainment, influenced by ratings, readership and a cult-like adoration of celebrities. Some print journalists hang on, but who knows how long they can last? 
  Much of what I encounter in some church circles just irritates me as we squabble over who can commune or things we see in the Bible that aren't really there. And the "Christians" in large numbers stepping out front in public life don't make me feel good about sharing their faith.
  I'm counting on Advent themes to lift me out of these doldrums. But it may mean stepping completely away from the "real world" to catch hold of hope and grace.
  Meanwhile, I hope I don't meet someone proud of their refusal to be vaccinated. I'm not sure how much restraint I could muster.

[Charles Austin]

Pastor Bohler writes:
Only unvaccinated COVID cases are filling the hospitals?  So, where are the vaccinated people who contract COVID going?

I comment:
What is wrong with you? Yes, some vaccinated people are in hospitals. But they are not there in large numbers, those large numbers crowding the hospitals are the unvaccinated because - now read carefully - those who are vaccinated, even if they get the virus, are not likely to have to go to the hospital.
When some cancer patient cannot get the proper tests and exploratory surgery as quickly as they should be able to get them in "normal" times, and - because of the delay - has the cancer get a better grip on his system sickens and dies, I think that death is partially attributed to some anti-vax bozo who gets Covid and takes up a hospital bed for a week.

[Donald_Kirchner]

Vaccinated/boostered Thursday afternoon.
Friday am: tired, real tired. Dozed in my favorite chair.
Friday noon: blah, and if a crazed beaver was chewing on my leg, I’d let him do it.
Friday afternoon: long nap, under sheets, with furry bear
Friday evening: coming back, not hungry, but ate a little, zoomed with NJ friends,
Friday night: A good sleep
Saturday am: I’m back! Look out, world.

Poor guy! I had a mild headache the next day.

Thankfully, however, you had the strength to knock out about a dozen snarky cheap shots on Your Turn on Friday, much of it going after Peter.   

So, sorry if I can't show more empathy, Charles.

[Steven W Bohler]

Pastor Bohler writes:
Only unvaccinated COVID cases are filling the hospitals?  So, where are the vaccinated people who contract COVID going?

I comment:
What is wrong with you? Yes, some vaccinated people are in hospitals. But they are not there in large numbers, those large numbers crowding the hospitals are the unvaccinated because - now read carefully - those who are vaccinated, even if they get the virus, are not likely to have to go to the hospital.
When some cancer patient cannot get the proper tests and exploratory surgery as quickly as they should be able to get them in "normal" times, and - because of the delay - has the cancer get a better grip on his system sickens and dies, I think that death is partially attributed to some anti-vax bozo who gets Covid and takes up a hospital bed for a week.

https://fullfact.org/health/economist-vaccination-status/

According to this article, the figures often used that show the majority of hospitalized COVID are unvaccinated is out of date, and come from the period of December 2020 to July 2021 (when vaccination rates were obviously lower than now).  However, according to this article, if one looks at the CURRENT data one finds something different:

"After discussing the error with us, the Economist also drew our attention to the notes on the meeting when this research was discussed, in which SAGE says: 'For patients admitted after 16 June 2021 (by which time vaccination rates in adults were high) the majority of patients had received two doses. This is to be expected, as SAGE has noted previously.'”

Like you have done, Rev. Austin, I am not saying this article or its statistics are correct.  I am just "putting it out there", like you have done with other statistics.

[Charles Austin]

Why, Pastor Bohler, are you trying to minimize this issue? Is it because one of us ratty "progressives" is trying to make the point?
Bottom line facts:
The unvaccinated are more in need of hospitalization than the vaccinated.
Minnesota hospitals are overcrowded.
Hospital officials report (today, by the way, not reports in an economist article) that the majority of the covid patients are from the unvaccinated. (Ditto reports from my niece, the nurse, a hospital worker.)
There is a good chance that were it not for the unvaccinated then people in need of surgeries like the one I need and people with much more critical concerns would not be crowded out of the care they seek.
Why do you find it necessary to dispute this?