Pandemic 2020

Tennessee Pastor Vows to Ban Mask-Wearing Church Members
A firebrand Tennessee pastor has threatened to ban church members if they show up wearing masks.

Speaking to attendees at Global Vision Bible Church in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, on Sunday, Pastor Greg Locke said, "Don’t believe this delta variant nonsense. Stop it! Stop it!" WKRN reported.

"If they go through round two and you start showing up in all these masks and all this nonsense, I’ll ask you to leave. I will ask you to leave," Locke said in a service streamed on YouTube. "I am not playing these Democrat games up in this church. If you want to social distance, go to First Baptist Church, but don’t come to this one.

"Bunch of pastors talking about how much they want to see people heal. They’re afraid to baptize people because of a delta variant. I’m sick of it."

Speaking in a red-and-white striped circus tent about 20 miles east of downtown Nashville, Locke told his congregation: "I don't need to be a jerk for Jesus, but I'm not going to kowtow down to a wicked godless culture.

"Here's what the left has told us: 'If you comply, you compromise, if you comply, eventually you'll get in our good graces,'" he said. "But no, you'll never be able to comply enough."

Locke said Democrats shut down the country during the COVID-19 pandemic for their own personal gain.

"I ain't playing their games, shut the nation down for a second time," Locke said. "It didn't hurt the economy bad enough.


"You know what happens when they shut down private businesses? They open government businesses. The government isn't hurting one bit."

Locke has gained attention for previous statements about COVID, and for supporting former President Donald Trump’s claims that the 2020 presidential election results were due to voter fraud, the Daily Mail reported.

In March 2020, Locke announced he had no plans to stop holding service despite a warning from Gov. Bill Lee, R-Tenn., who had urged churches to move their services online.

Then in July 2020, Locke posted on Facebook that the church was remaining open and people didn't have to wear masks or social distance, claiming: "I don't care if they sent the military, they roll up in there with tanks ... ladies and gentleman, we are staying open," the Daily Mail reported.

Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey last week said the state had experienced a more than 200% increase in overall COVID-19 cases since July 1, averaging more than 700 new cases per day over a seven-day period, WKRN reported.

Just how Jesus would have wanted it, full of hate, anger and exclusion.

Which verse is where someone stole Jesus' bike and then he like totally kicked the dude's and stuff and was standing over him with a huge rock and then smashed his head in and said, "this one's on me!" or something like that. It was so badass.

Gottlieb: US will be through delta wave in 2 or 3 weeks
Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb predicted early Wednesday that the United States could get through the worst of the delta variant surge of the coronavirus in a few weeks.

"The bottom line is, the vaccine does not make you impervious to infection," Gottlieb said during an appearance on CNBC. "There are some people who are developing mild and asymptomatic infections even after vaccination."

After acknowledging the delta variant of the coronavirus as "much more transmissible" than the first strain, Gottlieb questioned whether that fact should "translate into general guidance" on mask wearing and vaccine requirements in the United States.

"I don't think that's the case," he said. "I don't think we're going to get enough bang for our buck by telling vaccinated people they have to wear masks at all times to make it worth our while. I think we're further into this delta wave than we're picking up. I think in another two or three weeks we'll be through this."

"If you are vaccinated in a high-prevalence area, in contact with virus, you think you might have the virus because you have mild symptoms of it, be prudent, get tested, maybe wear a mask especially if you are around a vulnerable person," Gottlieb said on CNBC. "That should be bottom-line guidance we give."

Breakthrough COVID infections after vaccination can lead to long-haul symptoms, Israeli study shows

Nearly 3% of medical workers in a new Israeli study contracted COVID-19 even though they were vaccinated, and 19% of them still had symptoms six weeks later.

Although the vaccines were never expected to be perfect, the findings raise questions about their protection and suggest that even vaccinated people could experience long-term symptoms such as such as fatigue, brain fog and shortness of breath.

Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, said he finds it concerning – though not conclusive – that people had lingering symptoms weeks after getting sick.

"There really may be a risk here, but we don't know how big a risk and how much of a problem it is," he said.

Most of the people in the study who got sick had mild symptoms, and none were hospitalized.

But Jha said he is troubled by the fact that young, healthy people would get so-called breakthrough infections within a few months of vaccination. Scientists expected protection to wane over time, and they expected the vaccines to be less effective among older people and those with pre-existing health conditions. But that's not who got sick in this study.

Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, said she's not surprised that a number of health care workers would become infected after being vaccinated because they're constantly exposed to sick people.

"It makes sense to me that health care workers would be particularly susceptible to breakthrough infections," she said via email, "making mitigation procedures (universal masking) even more important in health care settings."

The good news is none of the 39 people who got infected passed the coronavirus on to anyone else, according to the study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Coronavirus vaccines were never designed to perfectly protect people against all infections, noted Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist who founded and directs the Scripps Research Translational Institute in California.

He said current vaccines are great at preventing serious infection deep in the lungs, but not at blocking infection in the upper airways. What's needed, he said, is a nasal-spray vaccine that would stop the coronavirus from taking hold at all.

Topol said he wishes the federal government had prioritized a nasal vaccine along with shots. "It would have been the perfect combination," he said.

Some researchers believed vaccines would reduce viral loads, and people with lower viral loads would be less likely to have lingering symptoms. Topol said the new study brings that into question.

"Those who are vaccinated did everything right, but some are going to go on to long-COVID, and that's really unfortunate," he said.

The study followed about 1,500 Israeli health care workers for four months after they received the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Anyone who tested positive more than 11 days after the second dose was considered a breakthrough case.

Thirty-nine people – 2.6% of the total – were diagnosed with the virus. One was immunosuppressed; the rest were healthy, including nurses, maintenance workers and a few doctors.

All 37 people for whom data was available were infected by an unvaccinated person, usually within their homes.

Two-thirds had mild symptoms; the rest had none at all.

Six weeks after their diagnosis, 19% reported they still had at least one symptom: loss of smell, cough, fatigue, weakness, difficulty breathing, or muscle pain. Nine employees – 23% – weren't healthy enough to return to work after 10 days of required quarantine. One hadn't gone back after six weeks.

Most had the alpha variant of the virus, which is more contagious than the original version, but less infectious than the delta variant that now accounts for most cases in the United States.

Whether delta is more dangerous in addition to being more contagious remains unclear, Jha said.

My friend has been diagnosed as a long hauler, having all kinds of problems.

Aw man, you stole PJ's thunder!

captainmorgan said:

Can vitamin D protect you from COVID-19? Here’s what the latest research says

Clinical trials are underway to definitively determine whether consuming vitamin D helps reduce the risk of COVID-19. Studies suggest it might.

www.fastcompany.com

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It's not too surprising, since Fauci said early on in the pandemic that he personally was taking extra vitamin D as covid prevention. I never understood why the govt didn't send out millions of vitamin D bottles to the citizens as covid prevention, since it's super cheap.

printer said:

Gottlieb: US will be through delta wave in 2 or 3 weeks
Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb predicted early Wednesday that the United States could get through the worst of the delta variant surge of the coronavirus in a few weeks.

"The bottom line is, the vaccine does not make you impervious to infection," Gottlieb said during an appearance on CNBC. "There are some people who are developing mild and asymptomatic infections even after vaccination."

After acknowledging the delta variant of the coronavirus as "much more transmissible" than the first strain, Gottlieb questioned whether that fact should "translate into general guidance" on mask wearing and vaccine requirements in the United States.

"I don't think that's the case," he said. "I don't think we're going to get enough bang for our buck by telling vaccinated people they have to wear masks at all times to make it worth our while. I think we're further into this delta wave than we're picking up. I think in another two or three weeks we'll be through this."

"If you are vaccinated in a high-prevalence area, in contact with virus, you think you might have the virus because you have mild symptoms of it, be prudent, get tested, maybe wear a mask especially if you are around a vulnerable person," Gottlieb said on CNBC. "That should be bottom-line guidance we give."

Gottlieb: US will be through delta wave in 2 or 3 weeks

Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb predicted early Wednesday that the United States could get through the worst of the delta variant surge of the coronavirus …

thehill.com

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Since he's a Republican, are we supposed to believe that the opposite is true?

PJ Diaz said:

It's not too surprising, since Fauci said early on in the pandemic that he personally was taking extra vitamin D as covid prevention. I never understood why the govt didn't send out millions of vitamin D bottles to the citizens as covid prevention, since it's super cheap.

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Because the current administration DOES'NT CARE ABOUT YOU! We lost the best chance we had at retaining our freedom and health.

PJ Diaz said:

Since he's a Republican, are we supposed to believe that the opposite is true?

Click to expand...

what in the fuck is wrong with you

Delta variant: The epidemic will sweep across the U.S. at different times, Dr. Scott Gottlieb says

KEY POINTS

• Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Wednesday he believes U.S. could see downslope from delta Covid surges in two to three weeks.
• Gottlieb did warn, however, that northern states may start to see more delta spread, as rates decrease in the south.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC that he expects surging U.S. coronavirus cases, linked to the highly transmissible delta variant, to start decreasing in just a few weeks.

“Probably, in two or three weeks, I think that we were probably about three weeks behind the U.K.,” said the former FDA chief in the Trump administration.

“The U.K. clearly is on a downslope...I would expect some of the southern states that really were the epicenter of this epidemic to start rolling over in the next two or three weeks.”

While the epidemic is still expanding across southern states, the rate of expansion is showing signs slowing. Gottlieb told “The News with Shepard Smith” that the slowdown is a sign that those southern states may be reaching their peak.

Gottlieb did warn, however, that northern states may start to see more delta spread, as rates decrease in the south.

“Here, in this country, it’s going to be much more regionalized now, I don’t expect the density of the spread of delta in states like New York or Michigan to be what it was in the south,” Gottlieb said. “We have more vaccine coverage, up there, we’ve had more prior infection, but you will see an uptick in cases, even in states where there is a lot of vaccine coverage, probably just not as severe.”

These 6 red and blue states tell you everything you need to know about where Delta is hitting hardest — and why

Politics is hardly the only factor driving vaccine hesitancy in the U.S. But in a sign of how big a factor politics has become — and how the politicization of vaccination is shaping where the hypercontagious Delta variant is hitting hardest — an average of nearly twice as many people per capita are now hospitalized for COVID-19 in states that voted for Donald Trump in 2020 as in states that voted for Joe Biden, according to a Yahoo News analysis.

And while blue states have vaccinated (on average) more than half their residents, red states lag a dozen percentage points behind.

Comparing six specific states — Vermont, New Jersey, Minnesota, Florida, Louisiana and Nevada — only throws this troubling trend into sharper relief.


Hospitalization and vaccination numbers are, of course, not unrelated. Studies have repeatedly shown that all approved COVID vaccines reduce the risk of hospitalization (and death) by more than 95 percent. Likewise, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than 97 percent of all COVID patients in hospitals right now are unvaccinated.

As a result, the states with more unvaccinated residents also tend to be the states with more hospitalized residents — and these states tend to be disproportionately conservative.

Just how disproportionately conservative? Glance at any state-by-state list of COVID data and the pattern becomes clear. Just three of the 25 states with the lowest vaccination rates voted for Biden; just three of the 25 states with the highest vaccination rates voted for Trump. By the same token, just 1 of the 10 states with the highest hospitalization rates (Nevada) voted for Biden — and just 1 of the 10 states with the lowest hospitalization rates (South Dakota) voted for Trump.

When you put it all together, the big picture is as striking as it is unsettling. According to Yahoo’s analysis, the average full-vaccination rate across states that voted for Biden was 54.4 percent as of Monday morning. The average full-vaccination rate across states that voted for Trump was far lower: just 41.7 percent.
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In a desperate effort to keep their voters from dying before the next election... I guess they are gonna run those ads on rightwing hate radio stations that pump out antivaxx bullshit constantly. Once you light a fire, it's sometimes not easy to put out when it gets away from you.
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Sen. McConnell To Use Campaign Funds To Fund Vaccine Radio Ads

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will use his campaign funds to pay for radio ads in Kentucky encouraging people to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

PJ Diaz said:

Since he's a Republican, are we supposed to believe that the opposite is true?

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Never said that, did I? He is not a politician, not looking to get a job with Biden from what I gather. So maybe he is unbiased? Or he is just trying to get another five minutes of fame, I don't know. It depends on whether people take actions to reduce the transmission of the virus. We thought we were doing good until we found out the Delta variant is a real bitch. In my mind what is going on is just a warmup for September when kids go back to school. If they are allowed that is.

Plutonium said:

Because the current administration DOES'NT CARE ABOUT YOU! We lost the best chance we had at retaining our freedom and health.

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Doesn't care about people contacting the virus? And they would even go to the extent of knocking on your door? What is really wrong with you?

Experts turn to antibody treatment following swarm of breakthrough COVID-19 infections
With high-risk breakthrough COVID infections, monoclonal antibodies may help.

While authorized vaccines have proven safe and effective in holding the line against COVID-19, they are not 100% effective. Reports of uncommon breakthrough cases among fully vaccinated Americans, coupled with the delta variant tearing through the country, threaten to undermine the fiercely fought wins against the pandemic.

For the fully vaccinated who do test positive, if you are at high risk for severe infection, health experts are now turning to Food and Drug Administration authorized, virus-fighting monoclonal antibodies in some cases. They are saying it's safe and beneficial for those who have been vaccinated, but get infected with COVID-19 nonetheless.

"Receiving antibody treatments in a timely manner could be the difference of ending up in the hospital or getting over COVID (quickly)," Dr. Shmuel Shoham, infectious disease physician at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told ABC News.

Monoclonal antibodies are synthetic versions of the body's natural line of defense against severe infection, now deployed for after the virus has broken past the vaccine's barrier of protection. The therapy is meant for COVID patients early on in their infection and who are at high risk of getting even sicker to help keep them out of the hospital. This risk group includes people 65 and older, who have diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiac disease, obesity, asthma or who are immunocompromised.

It can be administered through an intravenous infusion, or a subcutaneous injection, which is less time-consuming and labor-intensive, and more practical in an outbreak situation.

The therapies still in use across the U.S., like Regeneron's antibody cocktail, has shown to hold up against the variants of concern, including delta.

MORE: Google joins growing list of employers mandating COVID-19 vaccines
It's a new use for a therapy whose authorization predates that of the vaccines.

"The trick is to proverbially cut the virus off at the pass," Dr. William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told ABC News. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Though a fraction of breakthrough cases have symptoms, the few that do may need backup to fight off the infection, experts say.

"There are exceptions. Everyone has seen a handful of patients who are vaccinated, you get very, very sick. Those are by and large, people with many risk factors, and perhaps people were vaccinated longer ago, with people in whom we don't expect the vaccine to work as well," Dr. Andrew Pavia, Infectious Diseases Society of America fellow, NIH COVID treatment guidelines panel member and chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Utah School of Medicine said.

(MORE: New antibody therapies may cut deaths, reduce exposure to COVID-19, data shows)

Clinical trials for monoclonal antibody therapies were conducted prior to vaccines' authorization, before shots started going into arms and far before breakthrough infections were a part of daily discussion. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention specifies that for vaccinated people who have subsequently contracted COVID, a vaccine should not preclude seeking further treatment.

"Prior receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine should not affect treatment decisions (including use of monoclonal antibodies… or timing of such treatments," the CDC said.
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mooray said:

Just how Jesus would have wanted it, full of hate, anger and exclusion.

Which verse is where someone stole Jesus' bike and then he like totally kicked the dude's and stuff and was standing over him with a huge rock and then smashed his head in and said, "this one's on me!" or something like that. It was so badass.

Click to expand...

Ooh, I sense a rock opera idea here. Get Peter Townsend on the phone. "Jesus' Revenge"

Plutonium said:

Because the current administration DOES'NT CARE ABOUT YOU! We lost the best chance we had at retaining our freedom and health.

Click to expand...

Except that Fauci said that back during the previous administration, so why didn't Trump send out the vitamin D back then?