(image via Depositphotos) Some good news 🙂 Crunching the data in Israel (which has vaccinated more people per capita than any other country), it looks like the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine doesn’t just prevent you from getting sick but also prevents you from passing the virus on to others. Via Bloomberg:
The vaccine, which was rolled out in a national immunization program that began Dec. 20, was 89.4% effective at preventing laboratory-confirmed infections, according to a copy of a draft publication that was posted on Twitter and confirmed by a person familiar with the work.
The companies and Israel’s Health Ministry worked together on the preliminary observational analysis, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.Nearly half of the population has had at least one dose of vaccine. Separately, Israeli authorities on Saturday said the Pfizer-BioNTech shot was 99% effective at preventing deaths from the virus.
Ryan Shea (all photos via Facebook) This took……time……to process. On Friday, my friend and Instinct Magazine colleague Ryan Shea, 34, lost his battle with COVID-19. It’s been a very emotional two weeks since Ryan told us all he’d been diagnosed. After a difficult three days at home, he was hospitalized and in two days he was intubated. Just nine days later, it was over. Thankfully, Ryan was sedated for most of the harrowing journey. While Ryan’s passing is very raw and painful to acknowledge, I do want to share a few things. Over the past year, I’ve covered a lot of the coronavirus pandemic. I’ve reported on the naysayers, the ‘it’s just another flu’ crew, and the ‘Karens’ who refuse to believe the danger of this horrible virus. I’ve had close friends contract COVID-19 and tell me how it ‘kicked their ass’ as they were laid up at home in bed for 2-3 weeks. I’ve seen several versions of the disease’s many iterations. At this writing, the U.S. has seen 497,577 deaths from the coronavirus. Ryan is now among those. And his battle with coronavirus was ugly. In addition to being on a ventilator for the majority of his time in the hospital, there was kidney failure, lung damage, brain damage, low low blood pressure and more. This is how nearly 500,000 Americans died from COVID. It wasn’t ‘like the flu.’ Fuck that nonsense. Ryan on the red carpet before the 2019 GLSEN Awards I will miss Ryan more than I can express here. For almost three years, I’ve worked with Ryan on a nearly-daily basis. He was brash, sassy, and passionate about his work. My last exchange with him was after he shared with the Instinct staff he’d tested positive. I immediately began texting him about multi-vitamins and any supplements that might help him. I’d read a study that a majority of COVID patients had a Vitamin D deficiency, so I told him to run get some. He stopped me texting back, “Can we pick this up later? I’m transcribing my interview with Bianca Del Rio (heart emoji).” Ryan loved Chipotle burritos My first week working for Instinct I quickly learned Ryan loved Chipotle burritos, loved all kinds of gay men, and worked hard to love himself in a world that doesn’t encourage us to do that very often. Ryan was also curious, tempestuous, opinionated, and often usually unfiltered. He was filled with the drive of someone who enjoyed what he did. And along the way, his work, his byline, his name was read by literally millions of people. He had an unerring eye for what popped in pop culture. He thrived as an entertainment journalist, and he LOVED interviewing folks on the red carpet. Ryan Shea interviewing Meryl Streep on the red carpetRyan Shea interviews Vanessa Williams on the red carpet There’s a lot more to Ryan, and a lot more Ryan the world won’t get to experience. He was a loving son, brother, uncle and friend. In a testament to his journey here, a GoFundMe campaign organized to help his family with end of life expenses exceeded its goal in less than 10 hours. But in his short time on the planet, his impact was felt. And seen. And heard. And read. Ryan didn’t hold back. He stepped up, stepped out, and contributed more than a name. Fly high Ryan Shea.
Freshman Congressman Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) Freshman Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) stepped in it a bit after tweeting about a news report indicating the Vatican may fire employees who don’t get vaccinated for the coronavirus. The 25-year-old wrote, “This doesn’t sound legal… One shouldn’t be forced against their will to be vaccinated. The vaccination is there for those who want it, and are in need of it due to medical vulnerabilities.”
This doesn’t sound legal…
One shouldn’t be forced against their will to be vaccinated.
The vaccination is there for those who want it, and are in need of it due to medical vulnerabilities. https://t.co/fCUXBOhef5
Folks were quick to note the irony that the conservative lawmaker defends the concept of “religious liberty” wherein churches make their own rules about how to go about business. As one commenter wrote, “This will age well when he demands religious organizations be allowed to fire people for who they have sex with.” Plus, the Vatican being a sovereign state, it fall outside of Cawthorn’s North Carolina congressional district.
Sir, you are aware the Vatican is a sovereign city state, governed by an absolute monarch? It's not governed by American law, let alone wingnut cosplay law.
So let me get this straight: Religious entities have the absolute right to prohibit employment based on sexuality, gender identity, marriage-status, and pro-choice views. But they absolutely have no right to require that staff partake in the life-saving end to a global pandemic.
The seven-day average of new coronavirus cases has (finally) dropped below 90,000 for the first time since early November. From the Washington Post:
Newly reported coronavirus infections in the United States continued their steep drop, with about 56,000 new cases reported Monday, though the figure may be artificially low due to the holiday. However, the seven-day average, considered a more reliable measure, has dipped below 90,000 a day for the first time since early November.
Scientists have been split about the reasons for the drop, citing increased vaccinations, decreased testing, improved social distancing habits and the seasonal patterns of these kinds of viruses.
Meanwhile, cases of the more contagious variant first identified in Britain are rising: Only 293 cases were reported in late January.By Feb. 4, there were 611, and the number now is 1,168.
At this point, the most powerful weapons in science’s arsenal to contain the COVID-19 pandemic are the vaccines approved to combat the virus. But will Americans take it when it becomes available to them? From CNN:
In an average of Axios/Ipsos polls taken in January and February, 74% of Democrats said they’d either been vaccinated, or were extremely or very likely to get vaccinated as soon it’s available to them. Just 51% of Republicans said the same thing. Independents were in the middle of these two groups at 61%.
When Gallup asked respondents whether they would agree to get vaccinated if the vaccine were available to them right now, the partisan gap stood at 40 points (91% for Democrats and 51% for Republicans) in their most recent poll.
CNN goes on to report that those partisan differences could be dangerous for Republicans since friendships have become filtered by political leanings more than ever. A 2020 Pew Research Center poll showed 59 percent of Trump supporters said a lot of their close friends voted for Trump, 30 percent said some of their close friends did, and only 10 percent of Trump backers said few or none did. If Democrats get vaccinated but Republicans choose not to, it could lead to breakouts in those communities that lean conservative. Read the full report here. At this writing, there have been 27,428,733 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S. and 475,786 COVID-19 related deaths. There are currently 67,023 people hospitalized due to the virus. In related news, Politico reports that doctors, nurses, and public health groups are trying to build confidence in Covid-19 vaccines on social media using coordinated campaigns to combat anti-vaccination disinformation.
Doctors and nurses trying to build confidence in Covid-19 vaccines on social media are mounting coordinated campaigns to combat anti-vaccination forces prevalent on those platforms https://t.co/0xKpXXaMlD
Step by step, inch by inch… Nevada’s Gov. Steve Sisolak has announced slightly loosened restrictions in the Silver State (my state) regarding coronavirus guidelines as confirmed cases have slowly trended downward. In November, the governor ordered a “statewide pause” as COVID-19 statistics were climbing dramatically. At their peak, the test positivity rate in the state was 21.6 percent and the state reported 3,402 new confirmed cases in a single day. On Thursday, health officials reported the test positivity rate had declined to a 14.3 percent and 529 new confirmed cases for the day. Beginning Monday, February 15: • Capacity caps on bars and restaurants increase from 25% to 35% for indoor dining and lifting all capacity limits for outdoor dining. • Churches, mosques, casino floors and gyms will be able to accept up to 35% of fire code capacity, with the exception of locker rooms, which will be allowed to accommodate 50% of fire code capacity. • Libraries, museums and art galleries may accept up to 50% capacity. • The current 10-person cap on private gatherings for outdoor gatherings specifically, may increase to 25 people or less. • The cap for public events (concerts, shows, entertainment) currently at 50 people or 25% of venue capacity may increase to 100 people or 35% of venue capacity, whichever is less. Strip clubs, karaoke bars and brothels will remain closed at least until May 1, when the state gives some control to local authorities. On March 15, the businesses under 35% capacity will be allowed to return to 50% capacity; limits on public events will be loosened to 50% of venue capacity or 250 people; and recreational sports will be allowed to resume.
President Biden told reporters on Thursday the federal government has now purchased an additional 200 million doses of vaccine to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Biden said the U.S. is on track to have enough supply of the vaccine for 300 million Americans by the end of July which works out to approximately 600 million doses. “We need more people to get vaccinated to beat this pandemic,” Biden said Thursday. “We’ve now purchased enough vaccine supply to vaccinate all Americans, and now we’re working to get those vaccines into the arms of people.”
BREAKING—new Biden announcement, “Just this afternoon we signed final contracts for 100 million more Moderna & 100 million more Pfizer vaccines.”
(image via Depositphotos) Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s highest-ranking infectious-disease expert, told viewers of NBC’s The Today Show that he believes the availability of coronavirus vaccines should reach what he referred to as ‘open season’ by April. “By the time we get to April, that will be what I would call, for better wording, ‘open season,’ namely, virtually everybody and anybody in any category could start to get vaccinated,” said Fauci. This past Sunday, Fauci told NBC’s Meet The Press that he felt “things are going to get better as we get from February into March, into April, because the number of vaccine doses that will be available will increase substantially.”
(image via Twitter/govkristinoem) Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) has long been criticized for taking little-to-no steps to slow the coronavirus pandemic in her state. South Dakota has had 109,580 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 1,815 deaths. With current testing positivity at nearly 27% the state is one of the hardest hit by the virus per capita. So few were surprised (but still horrified) when the governor (a huge Trump supporter) shared a photo from a 25-person dinner party she recently held with practically no face masks in sight. Only one brave young woman had the temerity to still wear a face mask.
Love having our legislative pages over for dinner! We could not get through session without their help. 💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/OOT3pAtaER
The governor of South Dakota is bragging about gathering people together in close proximity without masks during a pandemic. 1 in 500 people in her state has already died from Covid. https://t.co/HWYWwshOIj
(Map: Michelle McGhee and Andrew Witherspoon/Axios)Axios has created an interactive map showing where the pandemic has been deadliest in the US. Via Axios:
In New Jersey, which has the highest death rate in the nation, 1 out of every 406 residents has died from the virus. In neighboring New York, 1 out of every 437 people has died.
In Mississippi, 1 out of every 477 people has died. And in South Dakota, which was slammed in the fall, 1 of every 489 people has died.States in the middle of the pack have seen a death rate of around 1 in 800 dead.
California, which has generally suffered severe regional outbreaks that don’t span the entire state, has a death rate of 1 in 899.Vermont had the lowest death rate, at 1 of every 3,436 residents.
