COVID-19 Thread [V2.0]

[Machu Peach]

For this disease and vaccine it's extremely likely have any vaccine that reduces disease severity will also reduce the number of infections, asymptomatic or otherwise. The Pfizer and Moderna trials were designed to look at disease severity because twice weekly PCR COVID screening of tens of thousands of people for 8+ months to detect asymptomatic infections isn't feasible.

[jerichoholicninja]

Wisconsin going to start vaccinating general public 65 and older next week. Have a friend who works at a pharmacy and he said they had no heads up this was going to happen already. Phone is ringing off the hook and they have no info to give out. They don't know when they will get vaccines, how much, or how to give it out. Seems like a total failure on all involved. You'd think the government would tell the people who would be dispersing the vaccines before announcing it to the public. You'd also think the people who would be dispersing the vaccine would have done some planning beforehand as to how they would give it out once they get it.

 

Sounds just like in Florida. The state let the counties decide how they were going to give out the vaccine and then the county leaders complained that they didn't know what to do because the state didn't tell them what to do. Well, it's your job. Figure it out. There was such a rush to get this vaccine made and out there and now that it is it seems like no one knows what to do with it. We've had almost a year to plan this and everyone seems to be caught with their pants down.

[CheezWizHed]

Wisconsin going to start vaccinating general public 65 and older next week. Have a friend who works at a pharmacy and he said they had no heads up this was going to happen already. Phone is ringing off the hook and they have no info to give out. They don't know when they will get vaccines, how much, or how to give it out. Seems like a total failure on all involved. You'd think the government would tell the people who would be dispersing the vaccines before announcing it to the public. You'd also think the people who would be dispersing the vaccine would have done some planning beforehand as to how they would give it out once they get it.

 

Sounds just like in Florida. The state let the counties decide how they were going to give out the vaccine and then the county leaders complained that they didn't know what to do because the state didn't tell them what to do. Well, it's your job. Figure it out. There was such a rush to get this vaccine made and out there and now that it is it seems like no one knows what to do with it. We've had almost a year to plan this and everyone seems to be caught with their pants down.

 

Seems like if the state wants to do it this way, a more prudent approach is to tell the county they need to submit a plan back to the state so the state will release the vaccine to them. Or tell them - here is the default state plan, confirm you will use it or submit us your plan before we release the vaccine.

[CheezWizHed]

Yes, very sensational.

 

Science isn't always black and white, yes or no.

 

Agreed. This is why I hate the "you're anti-science" argument that gets thrown around so often. Some cases it is legit (flat-earthers), but "science" has often been wrong and should be wrong at times. It explores new areas and tries new things. If you don't get something wrong from time-to-time you aren't producing many new theories.

 

Thus it is legit to challenge it. If we didn't we'd all be flat-earthers... Neither extreme is a good thing.

[wallus]

My parents (65+) called their primary care professional and they didn't know anything. I am really mad that this wasn't figured out earlier and there should be major questions being asked as to who dropped the ball.

[FVBrewerFan]

My parents (65+) called their primary care professional and they didn't know anything. I am really mad that this wasn't figured out earlier and there should be major questions being asked as to who dropped the ball.

 

I understand the frustration. My parents are 89 and I have called everyone. Nobody knows when they'll get it.

[wallus]

My parents (65+) called their primary care professional and they didn't know anything. I am really mad that this wasn't figured out earlier and there should be major questions being asked as to who dropped the ball.

 

I understand the frustration. My parents are 89 and I have called everyone. Nobody knows when they'll get it.

 

I don't care what political party is at fault, just get it figured out. It is crazy that your parents at 89 do not have it yet with them trying.

[stoutdude04]

Major blunder for sure. This falls on everyone above us in my opinion - from the state up to the federal.

[wallus]

Major blunder for sure. This falls on everyone above us in my opinion - from the state up to the federal.

 

They had a lot of time to figure this out! If it were me, they should have had a signup that you could do where you put in your information (age, occupation, health concerns, etc) and then you would have the option to select different vaccine sites you would be willing/able to travel to. When there would be an opening ready, you get a notification and get your shot. I mean this is done at the place I get my haircut; obviously on a much smaller scale.

[stoutdude04]

For what it's worth, my friend just told me his wife's parents(sub 65), already got the vaccine by being on the public health list. She's a doctor and said all unused doses are getting tossed at the end of the day.

 

So, one of my friends just called the county today and he is getting his vaccine next Friday.

[homer]

Starting January 25, adults ages 65 and older will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. There are approximately 700,000 Wisconsinites who are 65 and older and Wisconsin currently receives around 70,000 first-dose vaccines per week from the federal government. It will take time to vaccinate this population in Wisconsin.

 

Wisconsin has over 1,200 COVID-19 eligible vaccinators across the state. Much like your flu vaccine, there will be options for where you get your COVID-19 vaccine. People will be vaccinated at many places including: health care providers, pharmacies, local health departments, places of employment, and mass vaccination clinics. Local health departments are coordinating many of the local options.

 

So only small percentage of pharmacies will be administering the vaccine on the 25th.

 

Also, call your local health department.

 

Also, go here for more information:

https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/covid-19/vaccine-about.htm#:~:text=Starting%20January%2025%2C%20adults%20ages,week%20from%20the%20federal%20government.

[wallus]

From my anecdotal evidence, around half of people or so say they aren't going to get it.

[jerichoholicninja]

For what it's worth, my friend just told me his wife's parents(sub 65), already got the vaccine by being on the public health list. She's a doctor and said all unused doses are getting tossed at the end of the day.

 

So, one of my friends just called the county today and he is getting his vaccine next Friday.

 

The bolded part amazes me. I totally understand not allowing people to jump the line because who knows what that would lead to but so much is just being thrown away because there are way more doses than people who are "allowed" to get it. I don't have the solution but it hasn't been my job over the 9 months to figure it out either.

 

I would like to think this pandemic has opened the eyes of a lot of people to just how truly inept our government is at all levels regardless of party but I doubt it. Instead of tossing out the two animals that have been screwing up this country for a century it will be even more of "vote for more of my favorite party, they're better and they'll fix it!"

[homer]

when you have no national strategy and pass the responsibility to the states who push it to health departments that are running on shoestring budgets in a lot of cases, this is what you end up with.

[igor67]

I think more relevant is that it is helpful to look for incompetency in the private sector. Just to pick an example it was just a few years ago that we were all being sold on how Silicon valley was going to disrupt education with there giant online classes. I used to collect examples big and small for argument sake, but I would just suggest spend time looking for yourself and you are highly likely to conclude the problem is people and having to make judgements to run anything. In this case though it is rather unclear if it is a government or private sector problem, as have seen news stories with the opposite punch line with healthcare workers trying to make sure not a single dose goes to waste, and most of the hospitals are not government run.

[CheezWizHed]

when you have no national strategy and pass the responsibility to the states who push it to health departments that are running on shoestring budgets in a lot of cases, this is what you end up with.

 

It is a catch-22. When the federal government makes all the decisions, they can't tailor the needs of each individual state that vary greatly. People would complain that the decision doesn't meet their needs. If they hand down the power to states and they aren't competent or ready to take it, people complain.

 

Hopefully, we won't get enough "practice" to be good at this.

[Baldkin]

when you have no national strategy and pass the responsibility to the states who push it to health departments that are running on shoestring budgets in a lot of cases, this is what you end up with.

 

It is a catch-22. When the federal government makes all the decisions, they can't tailor the needs of each individual state that vary greatly. People would complain that the decision doesn't meet their needs. If they hand down the power to states and they aren't competent or ready to take it, people complain.

 

Hopefully, we won't get enough "practice" to be good at this.

 

It's almost like communication and building out a plan would've been useful over the past 6 months.

[jerichoholicninja]

when you have no national strategy and pass the responsibility to the states who push it to health departments that are running on shoestring budgets in a lot of cases, this is what you end up with.

 

It is a catch-22. When the federal government makes all the decisions, they can't tailor the needs of each individual state that vary greatly. People would complain that the decision doesn't meet their needs. If they hand down the power to states and they aren't competent or ready to take it, people complain.

 

Hopefully, we won't get enough "practice" to be good at this.

 

It's almost like communication and building out a plan would've been useful over the past 6 months.

 

Everyone just passed the buck to everyone else and assumed someone else would figure it out. As another poster said, this isn't just a government thing but even the private sector and anywhere you have multiple levels of management. Of course, most people are going to blame the feds and the person who was in charge at the time but the US is not a country where you can take a one size fits all approach. The way California handles it's vaccines would be in no way the same that Montana would. Heck, same would apply at the county level too. Milwaukee County and Iron County would have vastly different needs.

[Machu Peach]

Certain states are doing well, others are doing poorly. From comments here it seems like Wisconsin is towards the low end.

[wallus]

Update: My parents and girlfriend's dad both have appointments to get their vaccine in early February. I am happy now.

[stoutdude04]

My vaccine date got pushed to February 1st. I'm okay with being pushed back.

[LouisEly]

Major blunder for sure. This falls on everyone above us in my opinion - from the state up to the federal.

Wisconsin pushed it down to the health care organizations. That's why you see the inconsistencies. You have HCO's like Bellin Health in Green Bay that have their act together and have an organized plan, whereas you find assisted living facilities like the one my grandmother is in that haven't vaccinated their elderly patients yet.

 

Most of the HCOs have said that initially they will directly contact eligible patients so that there isn't going to be a free-for-all.

[FVBrewerFan]

Major blunder for sure. This falls on everyone above us in my opinion - from the state up to the federal.

Wisconsin pushed it down to the health care organizations. That's why you see the inconsistencies. You have HCO's like Bellin Health in Green Bay that have their act together and have an organized plan, whereas you find assisted living facilities like the one my grandmother is in that haven't vaccinated their elderly patients yet.

 

Most of the HCOs have said that initially they will directly contact eligible patients so that there isn't going to be a free-for-all.

 

That's because assisted living facilities are part of the pharmacy distribution channel, a whole other bureaucracy. The facility is likely signed up. Last I heard nursing homes are first, understandably, asiisted living should begin on Jan. 25th. After many calls, that's the most detail I've been given.

[jerichoholicninja]

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-safrica-variant-idUSKBN29Q0SK

 

The new COVID-19 variant identified in South Africa can evade the antibodies that attack it in treatments using blood plasma from previously recovered patients, and may reduce the efficacy of the current line of vaccines, scientists said on Wednesday.

 

The stuff I've been reading the past couple days has cast doubt on how effective the current vaccine will be against the South African variant. But what the hell do we know about anything anymore? Tomorrow the news will probably say the South African variant gives you immunity to hiccups.

[TURBO]

So basically, we could be masked up for eternity.

 

Lovely.