TallGuyJohninBKK

Most Americans have to pay taxes regardless. So given that, I don't think there's anything wrong with the poorest, under- or uninsured getting some vax assistance from the feds. Nor do I have any problem with an insured working person, who's paying for health insurance along with their employer, getting the tiny insurance optional benefit of one annual COVID vaccination. The cost of the vaccination is going to be a whole lot less than if the same people end up seriously ill in the hospital with COVID, and the feds, states or private insurers end up having to pay for that. COVID vaccines more than pay for themselves in the avoidance of what otherwise would be significant medical expenses. Report: COVID-19 vaccines saved US $1.15 trillion, 3 million lives December 14, 2022 "Commonwealth Fund study estimates that, through November 2022, COVID-19 vaccines prevented more than 18.5 million US hospitalizations and 3.2 million deaths and saved the country $1.15 trillion." ... "Without vaccination the U.S. would have experienced 1.5 times more infections, 3.8 times more hospitalizations, and 4.1 times more deaths," the authors wrote. "These losses would have been accompanied by more than $1 trillion in additional medical costs that were averted because of fewer infections, hospitalizations, and deaths." https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/report-covid-19-vaccines-saved-us-115-trillion-3-million-lives

According to Our World in Data, the U.S. and the U.K. both rank around 20th in the world in PER CAPITA COVID deaths since the start of the pandemic, but are the highest two countries on the list among major nations as of the end of 2023. Source Link

Interesting comparisons: According to the WHO's data, the U.S. has had the most officially reported COVID deaths of any country in the world since the beginning of the pandemic, now totaling about 1.2 million. Although that's partly due to the U.S.'s rank as the third most populous country in the world behind China and India. And many experts believe China likely exceeded the U.S. total if China had ever fully reported its COVID fatalities. But by contrast, the U.S. ranks around #79 out of about 200 countries in the world for the share of its population that has received at least one booster dose of a COVID vaccine, at only about 36%, just above the world average of 32%. According to the WHO data, Thailand ranks about #60 on the list with a booster vaccination rate of 46%, well above the world average. ... ... Other select countries on the list: --Singapore, 82% --Italy, 75% --Japan, 68% --South Korea, 66% --France & Germany, 63% --Vietnam, 60% --China, 57% --Australia & New Zealand, 56% --Canada, 53% --Malaysia, 51% --Mexico, 44% --Iran, 37% --Laos, 34% --Myanmar, 29% --Indonesia, 25% --Philippines, 22% --India, 17% --South Africa, 7% https://data.who.int/dashboards/covid19/vaccines?n=c For the U.S., IMHO, that's pathetic.

This would appear to be some further detail from the WHO on their announcement of nearly 10,000 global COVID deaths reported last month during December, recognizing that only about 50 of the 200 or so countries in the world are reporting such data to the WHO. China is further down on the list with a reported 8 COVID deaths for the month, if anyone wants to believe that. The U.K. shows as zero on the WHO's list, even though the UK does track and report its COVID deaths, and lately had been reporting weekly totals in the COVID 200 deaths range. https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/deaths?areaType=overview&areaName=United Kingdom Note: the reference above in the first WHO graphic to the December COVID deaths total being 1,500 less than the prior month likely is an artifact of the reporting data for the most recent week, the last week of December, being incomplete, as the WHO notes in a footnote on the following chart below. https://data.who.int/dashboards/covid19/deaths?n=c

From the U.S. CDC and FDA in a report from last year: "The most recent estimate is that those who are up to date on their vaccination status have a 9.8 fold lower risk of dying from COVID-19 than those who are unvaccinated and 2.4 fold lower risk of dying from Covid-19 than those who were vaccinated but had not received the updated, bivalent vaccine. Roughly 90% of deaths from COVID-19, as carefully classified by the CDC, in recent months have occurred among those who were not up to date on their vaccines." https://www.fda.gov/media/166159/download

COVID vaccines remain covered by most Americans' health insurance plans, and are available for free still for those without health insurance, at least through the end of 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/programs/bridge/index.html

About 1,600 Americans are dying of COVID each and every week right now... adding to the COVID total deaths in the U.S. of about 1.1 million. Just how exactly is that "commonsense" for anyone? Many of those deaths could have been avoided, if only people had kept current on their vaccinations and followed sensible precautions like masking and social distancing. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklyhospitaladmissions_select_00

From the OP: "Published in the journal Nature Communications, the study involved 25 patients with long Covid who reported experiencing malaise after exercising, and 21 people who had had Covid but made a full recovery.... Each participant spent about 10-15 minutes on an exercise bicycle, and blood samples and skeletal muscle biopsies were taken a week before and the day after the task." And then the results were reported. It's called research.

You keep repeating that same false rubbish above.... But as one of those you're presumably referring to, I haven't and don't generally "dictate" to anyone what they should or shouldn't be doing. I will say what I am doing... And I do present facts and information and recommendations from public health agencies and experts via news reports. But even they are not "dictating" anything to anyone these days, since obviously people are going to do whatever they choose to do.

The research reported here was NOT advising people with long COVID to cease exercising... It is recommending that they avoid INTENSE exercise so at to not further damage their bodies, and allowing them to continue exercising at a more moderate/modest pace without debilitating pain, fatigue, etc.

For the time being, yes... Just like every year there's a different version of the flu circulating and each year there's a new version of the flu vaccine to protect against it. (Though COVID even now kills a lot more people than the flu...) Until something better comes along.

Good question, and the answer is, the latest JN.1 variant is a game-changer when it comes to transmission and evasion from older vaccinations. What to Know About JN.1, the Latest Omicron Variant "The older vaccines were based on SARS-CoV-2 variants that are very different from variants circulating now. That, combined with the fact that your immunity from vaccination or infection tends to drop off over time, means that you won’t get a lot of protection from COVID-19 if you are relying on the vaccines you received nearly a year ago. ... You really need the newest COVID-19 vaccine formulation to be protected from severe illness from JN.1 and other recent variants." https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2024/jn1-the-dominant-variant-in-the-covid-surge The newest monovalent XBB-oriented COVID vaccine version that was rolled out in the West in recent months since the fall, but which, AFAIK, has not yet been made available in Thailand.

The assessments in the above news reports of the current COVID surge in the U.S. being the second highest are based on estimates of COVID infections / cases, which are no longer formally tracked / reported by the U.S. CDC. However, the CDC has always tracked COVID deaths and hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic. Here are the long-term looks at those two other indicators comparing now with the past. The upshot: COVID cases and infections may well be very high by historical standards, but current COVID death and hospitalization rates, while rising in recent months, thus far are remaining well below those from earlier in the pandemic. According to authorities, that is likely due to a combination of different factors, including: population immunity protections from COVID vaccinations and past infections, improved treatment methods for those hospitalized with COVID, and mutations to the virus itself that have made the current variants less lethal than the worst of its predecessors. Weekly COVID deaths since the beginning of the pandemic: Weekly COVID deaths from Jan. 1, 2023 to mid-Dec. 2023: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00 Weekly new COVID hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic: Weekly new COVID hospitalizations from Jan. 2023 to Jan. 2024: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklyhospitaladmissions_select_00

Your analysis and presumptions above are flawed, because as the above news reports make clear, the WHO's latest report on COVID deaths is only based on reporting from about 50 countries out of around 200 in the world... As the WHO noted, many countries simply aren't regularly reporting their key COVID stats anymore, or rarely if ever did, such as China. So the WHO's reported data is a partial glimpse and indicator of what's going on with COVID right now... not by any means a full accounting or complete picture.

Nothing to do with fear. It's just commonsense awareness and precaution. All of the above is why: --I don't drive a car or a motorcycle while living in Thailand, especially at night, --why I use HEPA air purifiers at home, and --why since COVID I've been vaccinated and consistently worn N95 masks when outside or around others. COVID is a potential killer, especially for older folks. Thailand's roads are killers. And air pollution in Thailand is a silent killer. I take prudent measures to protect against all those risks pertinent to living in Thailand, and still manage to live a pretty normal life.

Last night, I was reading several pre-print studies that show the new monovalent COVID vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna rolled out in the West this past fall -- but apparently not yet available in Thailand -- are very effective against the new, prevailing JN.1 variant. However, one of those studies also looked at the effectiveness of last year's prior bivalent COVID vaccines against JN.1 and another recent variant, and concluded that past era vaccinations at this point are providing little protection against the latest variants like JN.1. A recent post by Johns Hopkins echoed that same point: What to Know About JN.1, the Latest Omicron Variant "The older vaccines were based on SARS-CoV-2 variants that are very different from variants circulating now. That, combined with the fact that your immunity from vaccination or infection tends to drop off over time, means that you won’t get a lot of protection from COVID-19 if you are relying on the vaccines you received nearly a year ago. ... You really need the newest COVID-19 vaccine formulation to be protected from severe illness from JN.1 and other recent variants." https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2024/jn1-the-dominant-variant-in-the-covid-surge

Seasonal COVID spike plus the impacts of the JN.1 variant? COVID-19 cases rise in Singapore, clinics face higher than usual patient loads The doctors are seeing cases stabilise, down by around 20% from December, according to a Channel News Asia report on Friday. Jan 6, 2024 "Doctors in Singapore believe the latest COVID-19 wave has peaked in the country, even as some clinics still face higher than usual patient loads, and doctors are watching out for possible surges in the coming months." https://www.cnbctv18.com/world/covid-19-cases-rise-in-singapore-clinics-face-higher-patient-loads-18733051.htm Previously from Dec. 22: "The number of new COVID-19 hospitalisations in Singapore jumped to 965 in the past week, up from 763 the previous week, with those admitted to intensive care units (ICU) going up from 23 to 32 in the same period. These were the highest numbers of new weekly hospitalisations and ICU admissions for COVID-19 patients in 2023." ... MOH's figures on Thursday also show that the average daily hospitalised cases recorded are also the highest for the year. The 560 cases are up from 350 cases the previous week and 225 the week before that. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/covid19-surge-possible-peaked-mask-mandate-one-ye-kung-moh-4007141

Complacency Has Replaced Alarm in the Newest COVID Surge "At present, the United States is getting hammered with such illnesses, with visits to the doctor for respiratory viruses on an upward trend in recent weeks. Data from the CDC's wastewater surveillance system shows that we are in the second-biggest COVID surge of the pandemic, with the JN1 variant representing about 62% of the circulating strains of the COVID-19 virus at the moment. ... In the last week of December, nearly 35,000 Americans were hospitalized with COVID. That is a 20% increase in hospital admissions in the most recent week, CDC data shows. At the same time, almost 4% of all deaths in the U.S. were related to COVID, with the death rate up 12.5% in the most recent week. This current JN1 variant surge features the highest hospitalization numbers since nearly a year ago. On Jan. 7, 2023, there were more 44,000 hospitalizations. It’s anyone’s guess when this upward trend in hospitalizations and deaths will level off or decrease, but for now, the trend is only increasing." (more) https://www.webmd.com/covid/news/20240112/complacency-has-replaced-alarm-in-the-newest-covid-surge

Although the rate of COVID infections and cases in the U.S. may be at one of its highest peaks, the New York Times in the past week offered the perspective that, despite that, U.S. COVID hospitalizations and deaths are not hitting those same peaks. "In the week that ended on Dec. 23, hospitalizations rose by nearly 17% from the previous week. There were about 29,000 new hospital admissions, compared with 39,000 the same week last year and 61,000 in 2021. ... COVID is still claiming at least 1,200 lives per week. But that number is about one-third the toll this time last year and one-eighth that in 2021. “We are in this pretty big infection surge right now, but what’s really interesting is how hugely hospitalizations have and continue to decouple from infections,” Jetelina said." New York Times via: COVID has resurged, but scientists see a diminished threat https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/01/04/nation-world-news/covid-has-resurged-but-scientists-see-a-diminished-threat/

The United States is in the middle of a wintertime COVID wave, driven by holiday gatherings, people spending more time inside, waning immunity from low uptake of the new COVID vaccine and a new highly infectious COVID variant, JN.1. ... Test positivity and wastewater data show that viral activity in the U.S. is higher than this time last year, with wastewater data especially rising rapidly the past several weeks. (COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations are still lower than last year, the CDC noted.) A viral social media post based on data from the CDC is calling this surge the second-biggest COVID wave in the history of the U.S. — after the omicron surge from late 2021 to early 2022, which infected more people than even the early days of the pandemic." (more) https://news.yahoo.com/viral-social-media-post-claims-045511438.html

Transcript of Ghebreyesus' remarks: https://www.who.int/news-room/speeches/item/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing---10-january-2024 Partial excerpt: "Although 10,000 deaths a month is far less than the peak of the pandemic, this level of preventable death is not acceptable. We continue to call on governments to maintain surveillance and sequencing, and to ensure access to affordable and reliable tests, treatments and vaccines for their populations. And we continue to call on individuals to be vaccinated, to test, to wear masks where needed and to ensure crowded indoor spaces are well ventilated."

Interestingly, the WHO's last regular monthly report Dec. 22 on COVID -- covering the period Nov. 20 to December 17 -- reported only 3000+ new deaths from just 50 countries still reporting COVID deaths, and said that was a decline of 8 percent from the prior month. So given their report above of almost 10,000 new COVID deaths for the month of December, the latter part of December must have really seen a surge in new deaths. "Globally, the number of new cases increased by 52% during the 28-day period of 20 November to 17 December 2023 as compared to the previous 28-day period, with over 850 000 new cases reported. The number of new deaths decreased by 8% as compared to the previous 28-day period, with over 3000 new fatalities reported. [emphasis added]" "During the period from 13 November to 10 December 2023, over 118 000 new COVID-19 hospitalizations and over 1600 new intensive care unit (ICU) admissions have been recorded with an overall increase of 23% and 51% respectively amongst the countries reporting consistently within the current and past reporting periods." https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/covid-19-epidemiological-update---22-december-2023 As they always do now, the WHO also footnoted their statistics above by noting that they only reflect a partial snapshot of the global COVID situation, as many countries have stopped regularly reporting their COVID deaths, hospitalizations, cases, etc, meaning the COVID impacts in all the other countries aren't being captured in the WHO's reports.

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' video news conference addressing global health issues, including the COVID update starting at about 10 minutes, 30 seconds into the video.

January 11, 2024 Almost 10,000 coronavirus deaths were reported in December, and admissions to hospitals and intensive care units surged, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said — with data indicating that holiday gatherings fueled increased transmission of the virus. “Although covid-19 is no longer a global health emergency, the virus is still circulating, changing and killing,” Tedros said at a news conference in Geneva on Wednesday. There was a 42 percent increase in hospitalizations and a 62 percent increase in ICU admissions from the previous month. Trends are based on data reported to the WHO from fewer than 50 countries, mostly in Europe and the Americas, said Tedros, who noted that this is not the full picture. (more) https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/01/11/covid-deaths-holidays-world-health-organization/

January 12, 2024 "LONDON/CHICAGO Jan 12 (Reuters) - Low vaccination rates against the latest versions of COVID-19 and influenza are putting pressure on healthcare systems this winter, leading public health officials told Reuters. In the United States, several European countries, and other parts of the world, there have been reports of rising hospitalizations linked to respiratory infections in recent weeks. Death rates have also ticked up among older adults in some regions, but far below the COVID pandemic peak. ... Governments have struggled to communicate the risks still posed by COVID and the benefits of vaccination since a global public health emergency was declared over in May 2023, infectious disease experts and health officials said. Only 19.4% of U.S. adults have received this season’s COVID vaccine based on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention’s National Immunization Survey, despite a recommendation that all adults get an updated shot to protect against serious illness. That compares roughly with 17% of adults who got the bivalent booster in the 2022-2023 season, based on actual vaccine data reported to the CDC by states." (more) https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-sees-incredibly-low-covid-flu-vaccination-rates-cases-surge-2024-01-12/