Loosening up on Covid control/protection

[DFW]

Here in Europe, we're hearing about a loosening up of restrictions all over the USA, and some places in Europe intend to follow suit in the weeks or months ahead. But for now:

Just Wednesday, I was traveling from my town in Germany down to Paris. Masks are still mandatory, or you get kicked off the train. We were checked on the local train from Düsseldorf down to Köln--had to show both proof of vaccination plus and ID that said the name on the vax card was the same as the person presenting it.

A few hours later, arrival at the Gare du Nord in Paris: before entering France, we had to line up so the police nationale could check each passenger: your vax cards and a photo ID that proved the name on the vax certificate was the same as the person presenting it.

It has been a while since there have been stories in the media here about loud, obnoxious anti-vaxxers who attend spreader events, come down with Covid, and die from it. We just shake our heads that there are still so many such people in the States, who, after all, have access to the very same information and protections offered here.

[nitpicker]

1. I'm not too surprised about Germany and France

Yesterday, Johns Hopkins University's global tracker reported over the prior 28 days, Germany detected 4964658 cases while the US reported 4793905 cases ((although the latter is likely an undercount)).

[DFW]

4. Both numbers seem odd for a 28 day count

Germany's population is about 80 million. JHU is saying that over 6% of the entire population of the country were new Covid cases in the last 28 days? That seems more than a little heavy. The USA is reporting that 1½% of its population were new cases over the same period of time? That figure is not as crazy as 6%, and is almost plausible, given the vast number of Foxsucker antivaxxers. It still seems high, though.

[progree]

2. New cases per 100k per day: U.S. 20, France 92, Germany 194 (7 day averages per NYT)

Last edited Sun Feb 27, 2022, 09:42 AM - Edit history (1)

I like the New York Times map (they also have a table)

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-cases.html
No paywall no quota

One can mouse over countries on the COLOR-CODED map and see the new cases per 100k pop up

Daily new cases per 100K (7 day moving average):
U.S. is only 20, most of Europe is far higher than that:
UK 48, France 92, Germany 194, Spain 51, Italy 72, Denmark 439, Norway 259, Sweden 25, Finland 85

We have a loud and growing contingent here on DU that says none of this matters as long as hospitals aren't full. Whatevs. At my age, I'm not interested in finding out if I get a "mild case" or one of the ones leading to the still high death counts.

At any age, I don't want to find out if long covid is a thing with Omicron or not. Or with the next variant.

Nor am I gurgling in ecstasy about living in a dangerous disease-ridden environment, where this most transmissible variant by far has so much opportunity to mutate. All other things being equal, doesn't a 10 fold higher new case rate mean a 10 fold higher chance of a new serious variant appearing?

Nor do I want to find out if my shitty vaccination will hold up -- yes, I am technically fully vaxxed + boosted. But its one dose of J&J and 1/2 dose of Moderna, FFS. Nobody gives a fat fuck about the J&J people.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. +infinity

Why people think someone should just go on and contract it to get it over with, is crazy. Everyone responds differently to it and depending on the viral load and where it lands in your body and attempts to replicate, it could manifest as something akin to a bad cold or could get into your circulatory system with clots or show up in your nervous system, leaving you with an extended period with a foggy brain, and/or could damage your kidneys.

[John Ludi]

3. When I go

down the list of the people in my little rural area who are strident anti-maskers (speaking primarily of the leftist hippies-turned-Libertarians) I can roughly categorize them as either clowns or trainwrecks, most of whom were given no credibility in the past...but in the numbers they have amassed they are a force to be reckoned with and their noise and antics have set a fair amount of the pace here, sadly. They have worn the rest of us down and I see this as microcosm of the larger cultural picture here in the states.

It's a total fucking clownshow basically, and I'm waiting for Republicans to start openly advocating cannibalism as we have reached the ugly part of the cultural exponential curve and there is no seeming bottom to it.

[nitpicker]

6. It could be that

(1) Omicron has been/is on the rise in Europe: and/or
(2) Europeans maybe do a better per-capita job of testing than in the US; I suspect the US omicron peak of cases detected in the prior 28 days per JHU (at least 18.2 M the morning of 2 Feb, and maybe more before) was partially due to an interest in getting tested before/after attending holiday gatherings.

((hoping that March Madness and spring break in the US don't send detected cases up again...))