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| Nighttime San Diego Zoo (Taken 7.16.21) |
I always wonder if I'm overreacting by continuing to wear my mask, to dodge indoor events, to continue skipping eating out at restaurants, so then I fiddle around with numbers. My numbers aren't exact simply because the data provided by the county isn't specific in a lot of ways, but putting them together, you can glean some interesting information. For example, the county has pretty good vaccination numbers, but if you remove senior citizens and underage people, among the 20-60 year olds who make up the greatest proportion of people with whom I'd most likely bump elbows at shows, only about 46% are vaccinated, and that is counting partially vaccinated as fully vaccinated since the County doesn't break it down between the two. The number is even lower if you remove vaccinated people 50+. So no, I don't think I'm overreacting, and it might be worthwhile for the news to start reporting the vaccination numbers among the people who are out superspreading in bars and clubs and parties and restaurants and workplaces. Seniors were super important in the earlier rollout of vaccines, but besides my fully vaccinated mom and dad, there aren't a lot of places I'm going to find myself surrounded by seniors.
I finally got out of the house and we went to the San Diego Zoo and walked around. There aren't a lot of animals out after 7...most of the primates are long asleep, the aviaries are mostly locked up, but you can still have a nice walk, catch some of the cats moving around, the koalas make that funny grunting noise, and the giraffe seem as interested in the few people left as we are with them. We took some snacks and just found a quiet place to sit and eat outside while we waited out the parade at the front. I love the parade, but I don't need to see it every time we go. That would be weird.
It's funny because now it's late Friday night and everyone is asleep except for me and the kittens so I'm leaning in to my email and sharing it all with you for some weekend reading so I can have a kickback Saturday for my god-sister's birthday.
Stay safe out there.
- COVID-19:
- Biden: Facebook Is ‘Killing People’ With Vaccine Misinformation - Intelligencer (7.16.21)
- Health Misinformation Costs Lives, Surgeon General Warns — Communities, health professionals, and tech companies must step up to help, Vivek Murthy says
- COVID-19 Misinformation Is a ‘Serious Threat to Public Health,’ Surgeon General Says. Here's how to avoid spreading false claims. - Self (7.15.21)
- Opinion: Since the CDC’s mid-May guidance on wearing masks, we’re no longer all in this together - Stat (7.16.21)
So to some extent, we’re all in this together again — a lot less so than we were before we had vaccines, but a little more so than we were before Delta entered the picture. Vaccinated people have good reasons to wish unvaccinated people would mask up. But without vaccine passports and folks to check them, I can’t think of a way to get unvaccinated people to mask up while vaccinated people breathe free. The only practical way I see to make the unvaccinated wear masks is to make everyone wear masks. - Half of Severe COVID Patients Developed New Medical Issues — Older adults more likely to develop complications, but young people not immune. - MedPage Today (7.15.21)
- COVID-19 Situation Report - Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security
BREAKTHROUGH INFECTIONS In order to understand the effectiveness of vaccination efforts, health officials are monitoring for signs of “breakthrough” infections—ie, infections in fully vaccinated individuals—which provide insight regarding both the degree of protection provided by the vaccines as well as risk factors that could affect that protection. But in order to effectively utilize these data, health officials must determine (1) what qualifies as a breakthrough infection and (2) whether they should treat all breakthrough infections equally. As we covered previously, clinical trials for SARS-CoV-2 vaccines utilized different metrics to estimate efficacy, and depending on whether you look at SARS-CoV-2 infection, symptomatic COVID-19 disease, or severe disease or death, vaccine efficacy can vary widely. An article published in The Atlantic takes a similar look at breakthrough infections.
From a strict epidemiological perspective, taken by the US CDC, any SARS-CoV-2 infection in a fully vaccinated individual is technically a breakthrough infection; however, breakthrough infections are not “synonymous with vaccine failure.” Breakthrough infections encompass a broad scope of disease severity, ranging from asymptomatic infections to severe disease and, in some instances, death. But the fraction of breakthrough infections that result in severe disease is extremely small, which is exactly what the clinical trial data illustrate. While the authorized vaccines’ efficacy against symptomatic COVID-19 disease is 90% or higher, the efficacy against severe disease is nearly 100%. Symptomatic breakthrough infections are not unexpected—nor are severe cases—but the vaccines have demonstrated their ability to drive that risk to nearly zero. In fact, the CDC has reported only 3,554 hospitalized breakthrough cases and 733 deaths out of more than 157 million fully vaccinated individuals*. Ultimately, the goal of vaccination is to prevent severe disease and death, and any additional benefit in terms of mitigating infection or transmission is a bonus. Based on the available data, it is clear that the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are excelling, and they will remain a critical tool in preventing serious disease and death around the world as vaccination efforts continue.
*Through July 6; excluding asymptomatic individuals and those whose hospitalization or death was a result of other conditions. - The Next Covid-19 Battle Will Be About Vaccinating Kids. Pfizer and Moderna are midway through clinical trials, and the public health system is well versed in delivering childhood shots. The challenge? Politics. - Wired (7.15.21)
- California:
- Governor Newsom Statement on June Jobs Report
- Governor Newsom Signs State Budget Legislation 7.16.21
- Governor Newsom Signs Legislation 7.16.21
- News:
- Foo Fighters postpone show after 'confirmed COVID-19 case' within the organization - USA Today (7.15.21)
- Two men charged in plot to blow up Democratic headquarters in California. Ian Benjamin Rogers and Jarrod Copeland accused of conspiring to attack Democratic targets after the 2020 presidential election. - Reuters/The Guardian (7.16.21)
- Other Reading:
- How to Have a Great Summer if You Hate Summer. Yes, it's uncomfortably hot, and there's way too much pressure to “wear shorts” and “have fun”—but it is possible to actually enjoy yourself. - Vice (7.15.21)
- “You’re Gonna Have a Fucking War”: Mark Milley’s Fight to Stop Trump from Striking Iran. Inside the extraordinary final-days conflict between the former President and his chairman of the Joint Chiefs. - The New Yorker (7.15.21)
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