TallGuyJohninBKK

February 01, 2022 Hospitalization rate 23 times higher for unvaccinated vs. boosted during omicron Data from Los Angeles County during the omicron surge showed that the COVID-19 hospitalization rate was 23 times higher among people who were unvaccinated compared with people who had received a COVID-19 vaccine series and booster. Moreover, the COVID-19 incidence rate was 3.6 times higher among the unvaccinated compared with people who were boosted, Phoebe Danza, MPH, supervising epidemiologist at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, and colleagues reported in MMWR. ... As of Jan. 8, in the midst of the omicron surge, incidence (6,743.5 per 100,000) and hospitalization (187.8 per 100,000) rates remained highest in those who were unvaccinated. Again, incidence (1,889 per 100,000) and hospitalization (8.2 per 100,000) remained lowest in those who were fully vaccinated with a booster dose. (more) https://www.healio.com/news/infectious-disease/20220201/hospitalization-rate-23-times-higher-for-unvaccinated-vs-boosted-during-omicron

Some evidence and explanation here: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/MAGAZINE-january-s-omicron-wave-shows-just-how-much-has-changed-in-israel-1.10583872 https://ourworldindata.org/covid-deaths The meaningful questions to ask and get answered would be: --What is the COVID death rate among the unvaccinated in Israel --What is the COVID death rate among those with old vaccinations in Israel --What is the COVID death rate among the fully vaxed and boosted in Israel The first two charts above begin to suggest what the likely answers to those questions would be.

I hear the military's always looking for a few thousand good men.... to wash VIP cars, serve meals, sweep the porch, etc etc... ????

That's probably what got some of them dismissed! ???? Ooops! I see someone already beat me to that one!

AFAIK, the prescribed waiting periods for COVID booster shots from the Thai government have not gotten any longer with the advent of the Omicron variant. Instead, as the MoPH chart above posted by member MJCM indicates, the prescribed waiting period after a person's second dose until they can get their third can vary from 3 to 6 months, depending on what particular vaccines they got for their first and second shots. Two prior doses of AZ - booster 3 months later. Two prior doses of Pfizer or Moderna -- booster 6 months later. etc etc etc. Check the chart for your own personal experience with vaccinations, meaning, what brand of vaccine(s) you got for your first two shots and then what the corresponding waiting period should be under the government's vaccine program.

Ya, but... Henderson's got the LAS VEGAS Raiders! That oughta make up for the $1600 a month apartment! ????

I'm not a COVID era flyer.... so I may be fuzzy on this... But I thought the actual test itself had to be no more than 72 hours before the first flight -- not the timing of the reporting of the ultimate results. Which is it?

From the KABC link you posted: "The latest CDC statistics show Florida's overall death rate is the eighth worst in the country - 54% higher than California's." I don't know where they're pulling that stat from. But I do know and can see exactly what the CDC's own data shows on cases and deaths by state: Florida has the 7th highest per capita COVID case rate (cases per 100,000 population) since the start of the pandemic, with California well further down on the list. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_casesper100k The same CDC site shows cumulative COVID death rates by state, per capita (per 100,000 population): Florida ranks about 17th among 50 states. California about 38th. Florida --301 California -- 199

According to the U.S. CDC, compared to the unvaccinated, being fully vaccinated with a booster, even during Omicron, significantly lessens one's chances of COVID infection in the first place, and then also of COVID death (though not to the 100% level): . "Two new CDC reports show that people who are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines have the highest amount of protection against both the Delta and Omicron variants.1,2 One report found that, compared to up-to-date adults, unvaccinated adults had five times the risk of infection and more than 50 times the risk of COVID-19-associated death. A second report found that a third dose (either an additional primary dose or booster dose) of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) was highly effective at preventing emergency and urgent care visits and hospitalizations related to COVID-19. " https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html

Just realized, Jeff, you also were correct in your 3,000 daily COVID deaths number you posted above for the U.S. My chart from the CDC was based on a 7-day rolling average of deaths, and thus had the 2,200+ number for the past week. But you're right that COVID deaths on some individual single days have topped the 3,000 mark lately... sadly... The 7 day average figures always trail behind the single day numbers. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_dailydeaths If you look at the daily totals, much like Thailand, some states don't report or update their COVID death data over the weekends, so those delayed totals end up getting piled into the weekday totals the following week.

From the U.S. CDC -- Jan. 28, 2022 "Two new CDC reports show that people who are up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines have the highest amount of protection against both the Delta and Omicron variants.1,2 One report found that, compared to up-to-date adults, unvaccinated adults had five times the risk of infection and more than 50 times the risk of COVID-19-associated death." "A second report found that a third dose (either an additional primary dose or booster dose) of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) was highly effective at preventing emergency and urgent care visits and hospitalizations related to COVID-19." https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html

"The current 7-day moving average of new deaths (2,288) has increased 25.1% compared with the previous 7-day moving average (1,829). As of January 26, 2022, a total of 873,957 COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the United States." https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/index.html Because of the pervasiveness of the Omicron variant and the unfortunately large share of the population that remains unvaccinated, daily COVID deaths in the U.S. right now are at their second highest peak ever, eclipsed only by the late 2020-early 2021 spike that began just before vaccines first became available. So much for "it's mild" and "it's just a cold."

Their point is to continue to attempt to discredit COVID vaccinations. And since they can't do it with any legitimate, credible information, they've taken to posting links to government reports and statistics in veiled attempts to misrepresent what those statistics actually mean. From the Kaiser Family Foundation in the U.S.: "We find that since June 2021 approximately 163,000 lives would have been saved with vaccinations. Most of these preventable deaths occurred well after vaccines became available. In September 2021 alone, approximately 51,000 people’s lives likely would have been saved if they had chosen to get vaccinated. In November 2021, over 29,000 COVID-19 deaths likely would have been averted with vaccines." https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/covid19-and-other-leading-causes-of-death-in-the-us/

1. In case you hadn't noticed, two-thirds of the U.S. population have been double vaxed thus far, for the most part by their own personal choice... so where you get your "no vaccines" from I don't know. 2. Personal freedom also means being free to choose to protect your own personal health and those around you, to the greatest extent possible, by following expert medical advice and choosing to get vaccinated. The Kaiser Family Foundation recently estimated that more vaccinations in the U.S. could have prevented 163,000 deaths during the latter half of 2021. https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/covid19-and-other-leading-causes-of-death-in-the-us/ Of course, unfortunately, too many people in the U.S. also have exercised their personal freedom to potentially become COVID Darwin Award candidates.

My points included: --The Omicron so-called "mild" variant isn't necessarily so mild, as can be illustrated by COVID hospitalizations lately in the U.S. reaching record numbers, and almost all of COVID in the U.S. these days is Omicron. and --While it may be true that fully and recently vaccinated folks tend to have more minor Omicron symptoms than the UNvaccinated, it bears remembering that almost one-third of Thailand's population hasn't had the regular TWO doses, and much less the THREE doses that the experts say are needed to be effective against Omicron. So not quite time to close the COVID book just yet. Last year, Thailand went many months with not much COVID going on early in the year, while the U.S. and Europe were getting killed. And then suddenly COVID exploded in Thailand the latter half of the year, with up to 25,000 cases and +- 300 deaths per day. Now once again the past few months, the U.S. and other regions are getting literally killed with Omicron, but not much going on in Thailand (at least according to the official stats)... Until???

Police impound / auction?

Just to set the record straight a bit, here's the latest vaccination data for the U.S. and Thailand. Thailand has actually pulled ahead a bit lately in terms of full vaccination rate (shown in dark green), though these data don't reflect the rates of third shot boosters nor do they reflect the effectiveness of the vaccines used. Frankly, for the U.S. to be trailing Thailand slightly, or anywhere close to Thailand on this kind of measurement, ought to be considered as a national embarrassment for the U.S. But then again, everyone well knows by now exactly why about one-third of the U.S. has refused to get vaccinated for COVID thus far -- and it's not due to a lack of vaccines. https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

Ya,, Go Florida.... top 10 among U.S. states in per capita COVID cases since the beginning. And near the top third of states in per capita COVID deaths since the beginning. Great job! https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_casesper100k https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#cases_deathsper100k

Ya, and Omicron is "mild" just like a cold and doesn't really kill anyone.... NEW HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#new-hospital-admissions AND DEATHS: The current 7-day moving average of new deaths (2,288) has increased 25.1% compared with the previous 7-day moving average (1,829). As of January 26, 2022, a total of 873,957 COVID-19 deaths have been reported in the United States. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_dailydeaths

Ya, my prior post wasn't meant to oppose or support the BMA's sidewalks campaign. Just to note that the OP article's claim it was all due to COVID wasn't really correct. But that aside, I'd agree with you on a personal level -Thailand's sidewalks (where they even exist) are an abomination in many areas. And, while I miss some of the street vendors I used to patronize, I also like actually being able to walk down the sidewalks such as they are, instead of being forced to walk in the roads... Worth noting as an addendum -- through the years, the BMA pretty regularly re-did the actual paving tiles they used for the sidewalks on Sukhumvit Road in the lower sois because they became dangerous. Never laid properly in the first place, the seasonal rains eroded the base foundation and left everything cracked and unstable. Then a couple years back, the BMA embarked on a long project to once again re-do the sidewalk pavements along Sukhumvit Road from Nana well eastward. And amazingly, after all the prior botched attempts, this time for some reason they managed to get it right.... The latest paving has survived the rains intact for several seasons and remains probably among the best sidewalks surfaces to be found in Thailand, IMHO.

Ya, strangely enough, just about the same share as in Thailand -- about one-third of the population in each country has NOT been fully vaccinated, meaning two doses. But at least, the U.S. has plenty of more effective mRNA vaccine doses for its population that wants them. And isn't, like Thailand, having to beg for donated mRNA doses and use them to re-vaccinate people who it gave less effective vaccine doses to in the first place.

Boosters increase protection against death from Omicron in over-50s to 95% - UKHSA "LONDON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - COVID-19 boosters increase protection against death from the Omicron variant to 95% in people aged 50 or over, the UK Health Security Agency said on Thursday. The UKHSA said that around six months after a second dose of any of the COVID-19 vaccines, protection against death with Omicron was around 60% in those aged 50 and over. However, this increased to around 95% two weeks after receiving a booster vaccine dose. UKHSA added that data continued to show high levels of protection against hospitalisation from the booster. Effectiveness against hospitalisation was around 90% for the Pfizer-BioNTech shot (PFE.N), , dropping to 75% 10-14 weeks after the booster. For Moderna (MRNA.O), effectiveness against hospitalisation was 90-95% up to 9 weeks after the booster. (more) https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/boosters-increase-protection-against-death-omicron-over-50s-95-ukhsa-2022-01-27/

From Johns Hopkins Jan. 27 COVID update: "Researchers continue work to learn more about the clinical presentation and duration of persistent symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection, known as post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) or “long COVID.” Prevalence of the condition—which is characterized by fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog, stress and anxiety, and other symptoms that last for weeks or years after acute infection—is unknown but estimated to be between 7% to 80% of recovered patients." ... "preliminary data from Israel and the UK suggest that people who were fully vaccinated when infected were much less likely to report long COVID symptoms than people who were unvaccinated when infected." ... "Some say the condition could be contributing to a worker shortage in the US, with a recent analysis from the Brookings Institution estimating that long COVID could account for 15% of the nation’s 10.6 million unfilled jobs." https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/resources/COVID-19/COVID-19-SituationReports.html

From Johns Hopkins Jan. 27 situation update on COVID: "The WHO COVID-19 Dashboard reports 357 million cumulative cases and 5.61 million deaths worldwide as of January 26. Global weekly incidence increased again last week, up 11.03% over the previous week. This is the 14th consecutive week of increasing weekly incidence, setting another new record with 22.77 million new cases." While there is optimism among some public health experts that the rapid rise and fall of the Omicron surge in some regions could usher in an end to the pandemic, the WHO determined last week that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Other experts warn that as long as the threat of new variants exists, calls for reaching COVID-19 endemicity are misguided. Meanwhile, global weekly mortality increased for the third week, up 8.49% from the previous week with 53,935 total deaths." https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org/resources/COVID-19/COVID-19-SituationReports.html

It would be funny, if it wasn't so pathetically sad. Scientists and researchers, the vast majority honest and ethical, base their conclusions on the results of their research and evidence and facts, as best as they can ascertain them. And when the research results or the virus changes, then they change to reflect that. On the other hand, the COVID deniers and vaccine skeptics often live in evidence and fact-free worlds of ginned up conspiracy theories and unproven flights of fancy dreamed up by folks huddled in their basements reading and then re-sharing Telegram and Parler posts, or grasping at the 1% fringe loonies in the science and medical fields. That's their version of doing their own research.