2019-2020 coronavirus pandemic (Vaccination 2021 Edition)

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I think your reasoning is mostly spot on. The risk of a previously healthy or moderately healthy person suffering serious long term consequences of Covid-19 are very low. The quoted part is worth commenting on, since there was a few US studies that showed higher mortality rates among young adults early on and they got quite some spread in media due. Turns out that they were correct, but not applicable to most of the rest of the world because of the simple fact that the US has a really high amount of overweight people and overweight is one of the biggest risk factor for serious complications from Covid-19. Knowing that, it is not unreasonable to suggest that countries like the US and Mexico, with high rates of overweight people, will have more severe cases in adults and young adults then the rest of the world.

I regularly speak to colleagues who work on an IMW (intermediary medical ward, the place you go when you need specialized care that's more advanced then a normal ward but not serious enough for ICU) dedicated to Covid-19 cases and they all point out that the overwhelming majority of their patients are men in their 40's-60's with severe overweight. I can only imagine how bad this could be if we weren't in Sweden, were the number of overweight people is less then 10%, and instead worked in a US state were overweight rates hovers around 50%.
It is more than just Obesity that is a problem in the US due to the average american diet. Most Americans these days live off of frozen pizzas, fast food and TV dinners and wash it down with sugary drinks. Even the " sports drinks" are filled with loads of sugar and salt, and they have been shoveling them in to even our athletes. Even among much of the population who does not appear to be overweight, they have a higher percentage of people with high levels of visceral fat on their organs than the general populations of other nations. Although most associate an abundance of visceral fat with their waistline, even with a healthy waistline, you can still have unseen visceral fat on your organs. So essentially we have more " skinny people" with the worst type of fat around their organs greatly increasing their likelihood of high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and other risk factors that are most commonly associated with obesity. We currently lack good data on the percentage of the population affected by visceral fat due to costs incurred in order to accurately measure it, however diets high in processed foods and sugar, even among the " skinny" populations also lead to many of the same health risks associated with the Obese, even if they are not actually Obese. Most people with these higher risk factors are not diagnosed until later in life, so are blissfully unaware they have the higher risk factors at a younger age until something more serious happens. Since the only way to accurately measure visceral fat is through expensive scans, most are unaware until they have a CT scan or MRI in relation to another condition and find out they have another issue by chance. I primarily work with children in the US, and for a long time now we have had a steady increase of children with underlying conditions that would put them more at risk than other regions, including an increase in visceral fat on their organs as well as an increase in the prevalence in asthma and allergies. Most of the products made in the US are loaded with high fructose corn syrup and fat, and even eaten in moderation can cause many of these underlying conditions without the person consuming them even aware because they are not gaining weight in the process. The Increase in sedentary lifestyles in the US in combination with diets packed with sugar and fat is having the amplified effects that we more commonly only relate to the obese, even when they are not actually considered overweight or Obese.


I will respond further to your post when I have more time, I have to go care for my mum who had a bad fall and is currently bedridden so I am short for time to do much else. my reply to gethsemani also applies to what you stated above as well. but there is much more I would like to add when I have time.
 
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Agema

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The quick explanation is that the body responds to increased blood glucose by releasing insulin. Insulin promotes energy storage by converting glucose into glyocgen and fat. If you consume a lot of sugar in a short period, your blood glucose levels shoot up, insulin levels go correspondingly high, and lots of glucose is converted to fat. This high insulin response primarily causes fat to build in major storage areas - hips and breasts for women, waistlines for men. These high insulin spikes also tend to cause insulin resistance to develop: this is liable to end in type II diabetes.

The advantage of complex carbohydrates like starch is that they take a while to break down into glucose, so your body doesn't experience the same sharp rise in blood glucose and thus insulin.
 

stroopwafel

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How hard can it be to not eat way too much and way too fat, have some moderate daily exercise and drink a glass of water instead of a bucket of coolaid? You don't have to be Instagram fit but a healthy weight should be within reach for anyone. You can't blame everything on the government.
 

stroopwafel

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Most of the products made in the US are loaded with high fructose corn syrup and fat, and even eaten in moderation can cause many of these underlying conditions without the person consuming them even aware because they are not gaining weight in the process.
When I was in the U.S. you can get the same nutricious, healthy food as here in the supermarket. I understand people rather stuff their face with crisps, chocolate, pizza and icecream but come one. I love those foods as well but you need to control yourself. Also healthy food can also be really tasty and actually make you feel better.
 

Chimpzy

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So, yesterday our government decided to ramp up restrictions again after 18 successive days of increasing infection rate. Social bubble reduced to 5 people (not including your partner and/or children) from 15. Wearing a mask is not mandatory in public in general, but you are obligated to have one with your and it is mandatory in stores. Working from home is advised if possible (but not mandatory). Some other stuff, not really clear on what since the government's communication on the whole thing has been rather unclear once again. In short, good old Belgian half-assery.

Meanwhile, our epidemiologists continue their chorus that it's not enough, that we should be stricter and transgressions should be punishable. And they are right. The countermeasures implemented in march were more severe then now, and those were rather poorly adhered to, not to mention way too many people acting like the problem was just gone the moment the restrictions got lifted. I suppose we're perhaps not worst in class in this regard, but without a strict crackdown, Belgians are just too nonchalant.

Anyway, it's fine, I rather like working from the comfort of my couch. Also, no one believed me when I said there'd be a new surge(even tho it's half-assed) by the end of august, so now I get to rub it in their faces. I intend to be supremely smug about it too.

You can't blame everything on the government.
But, but, but, nothing ever being your fault is so convenient!
 

Generals

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Meanwhile, our epidemiologists continue their chorus that it's not enough, that we should be stricter and transgressions should be punishable. And they are right. The countermeasures implemented in march were more severe then now, and those were rather poorly adhered to, not to mention way too many people acting like the problem was just gone the moment the restrictions got lifted. I suppose we're perhaps not worst in class in this regard, but without a strict crackdown, Belgians are just too nonchalant.
The few times I took the metro there was at least one idiot without a mask and another who thinks that because he's on the phone he gets to pull his mask below his mouth. I guess cellphones kill Covid?
This said I don't necessarily disagree with the measures, I'm just 100% sure they will not be adopted correctly due to them not being enforced well enough.
 

Agema

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How hard can it be to not eat way too much and way too fat, have some moderate daily exercise and drink a glass of water instead of a bucket of coolaid? You don't have to be Instagram fit but a healthy weight should be within reach for anyone. You can't blame everything on the government.
Well, some people have duff genes, although that's very much a minority.

Secondly, leave any animal around plentiful food with minimal effort, they'll eat themselves obese. In the wild, animals eat when they can, because they never know when they're going to run out, so they need reserves for tough times. Humans are still, at some level, animals with animal drives. Food is good, so we tend to eat. Sugar and fats are also particularly attractive, even to some degree perhaps mildly addictive. It's comforting in many cases, so people unhappy or anxious may tend to eat to excess. After that, lots of people don't like exercise. Lots of them are busy doing stuff, such that even a 30 min jog (if you add another 15-30 mins prep, stretching, shower afterwards) becomes a significant time burden. Lots of people are of course poorly educated about nutritional health. Cost can also matter: for a lot of poor people, unhealthy food is exceedingly cheap.

It is not really the government's "fault", but that humans are pretty imperfect. When we consider useful things the government can do, one can be to encourage people to be better. Slapping taxes on sugary products and banning trans-fats is annoying at one level particularly for the more libertarian-inclined, but it's hardly destroying vital liberties and if simple and beneficial, why not?
 
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Buyetyen

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How hard can it be to not eat way too much and way too fat, have some moderate daily exercise and drink a glass of water instead of a bucket of coolaid? You don't have to be Instagram fit but a healthy weight should be within reach for anyone. You can't blame everything on the government.
How hard can it be to just not eat lead? Why do we need the government to tell us to stop putting it in everything?
 

Trunkage

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How hard can it be to not eat way too much and way too fat, have some moderate daily exercise and drink a glass of water instead of a bucket of coolaid? You don't have to be Instagram fit but a healthy weight should be within reach for anyone. You can't blame everything on the government.
Since Covid started, my workplace has been an absolute shitshow. They fired competent staff and left the numpties behind with me to pick up all the slack

To give you an indication of the effect its had on me - I've put on 10kg since April. I've been depressed and stressed so much that people at work dont even bother seeing how I am anymore.

I dont blame this on the government. I probably don't blame this on work. I probably should quit for my own health. But I am becoming far more aware of the trap health is, particularly if work is shit
 
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SupahEwok

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Since Covid started, my workplace has been an absolute shitshow. They fired competent staff and left the numpties behind with me to pick up all the slack

To give you an indication of the effect its had on me - I've put on 10kg since April. I've been depressed and stressed so much that people at work dont even bother seeing how I am anymore.

I dont blame this on the government. I probably don't blame this on work. I probably should quit for my own health. But I am becoming far more aware of the trap health is, particularly if work is shit
It can't be overstated what the impact of mental health is on physical. Being mentally and emotionally drained means you quit caring about what you eat or moving more than you have to. It's a downward spiral from there. It all begins and ends in the mind.
 

Agema

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Still banging that very, very, tired and worn out drum.

To be fair, hydroxychloroquine is still under investigation as a drug to minimise chances of infection or development of symptoms, but honestly, from the data so far it's not looking good for that either. Dr. Stella Immanuel, who inspired this latest intervention from the White House, has also stated in the past that the government is partly run by non-humans, that alien DNA is used in medicine, and that evil spirits cause endometriosis and cysts, and occasionally finds time to expound homophobic conspiracy theories. Or as Donald Trump would put it, "a fearless warrior for the truth". She was joined by several other doctors in a group calling themselves "America's Frontline Doctors", seemingly a Tea Party supported group of right-wing physicians. Their two week old website has - judging by my inability to access it - already been deleted.

In other kook news, Sinclair Broadcast Group pulled an interview before airing with Dr. Judy Mikovits, controversial researcher from "Plandemic" (in which she claimed covid-19 was invented by humans, amongst other outlandish things). Mikovits's new claim was reportedly that Dr. Anthony Fauci created covid-19, and then passed it to China for release. I think it's safe to say that SBG did the right thing here, because it's not worth giving that shit the light of day even if you put a proper expert up to refute it as well. What surprises me is why they bothered interviewing her in the first place.
 

Buyetyen

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Dr. Stella Immanuel, who inspired this latest intervention from the White House, has also stated in the past that the government is partly run by non-humans, that alien DNA is used in medicine, and that evil spirits cause endometriosis and cysts, and occasionally finds time to expound homophobic conspiracy theories.
About a decade ago I wrote a tabletop RPG supers campaign that featured a fictional dictatorship whose government was staffed exclusively by people who were this kind of bonkers. Back then I thought I was being too absurd to be recognized as anything other than gonzo parody. How naive I was.
 

Agema

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About a decade ago I wrote a tabletop RPG supers campaign that featured a fictional dictatorship whose government was staffed exclusively by people who were this kind of bonkers. Back then I thought I was being too absurd to be recognized as anything other than gonzo parody. How naive I was.
If she was a blonde, white woman, she'd probably have been be nominated for surgeon general already.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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Day 131 of quarantine. Supposedly on phase 3 of 5, possibly going on phase 4 next week. I'm sick of the speculation and tired of politicians using COVID to rally their own party while dividing others. More than 4 months in the more restrictions are tightened, the less people care, which increases the infection and mortality rate, which creates even bigger restrictions, repeat. It's a vicious cycle.
 

Phoenixmgs

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I think your reasoning is mostly spot on. The risk of a previously healthy or moderately healthy person suffering serious long term consequences of Covid-19 are very low. The quoted part is worth commenting on, since there was a few US studies that showed higher mortality rates among young adults early on and they got quite some spread in media due. Turns out that they were correct, but not applicable to most of the rest of the world because of the simple fact that the US has a really high amount of overweight people and overweight is one of the biggest risk factor for serious complications from Covid-19. Knowing that, it is not unreasonable to suggest that countries like the US and Mexico, with high rates of overweight people, will have more severe cases in adults and young adults then the rest of the world.

I regularly speak to colleagues who work on an IMW (intermediary medical ward, the place you go when you need specialized care that's more advanced then a normal ward but not serious enough for ICU) dedicated to Covid-19 cases and they all point out that the overwhelming majority of their patients are men in their 40's-60's with severe overweight. I can only imagine how bad this could be if we weren't in Sweden, were the number of overweight people is less then 10%, and instead worked in a US state were overweight rates hovers around 50%.
I wouldn't be surprised at all if there's slight uptick in the death rate with younger people in the US because I'm pretty sure we have more young people with severe conditions whether overweight or other things. I'm also guessing that if you're just overweight or even mildly obese, the virus isn't going to hit that much harder.

How hard can it be to not eat way too much and way too fat, have some moderate daily exercise and drink a glass of water instead of a bucket of coolaid? You don't have to be Instagram fit but a healthy weight should be within reach for anyone. You can't blame everything on the government.
I'm by no means in great shape and definitely would like to lose probably 50lbs but I at least really only drink water now (outside of a big bottle of tea on the weekend that then becomes my water jug for the week). I saw that sugar is basically a very slow acting poison so I just stopped drinking pop and I really only get a taste for it once a month at the most. I used to drink nothing but pop as a kid but I also pretty much lived outside all the way through high school playing sports of some kind. I've also never had any allergies, I wonder if being outside all day as a kid helped with not developing any.
 

Phoenixmgs

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Still banging that very, very, tired and worn out drum.

To be fair, hydroxychloroquine is still under investigation as a drug to minimise chances of infection or development of symptoms, but honestly, from the data so far it's not looking good for that either. Dr. Stella Immanuel, who inspired this latest intervention from the White House, has also stated in the past that the government is partly run by non-humans, that alien DNA is used in medicine, and that evil spirits cause endometriosis and cysts, and occasionally finds time to expound homophobic conspiracy theories. Or as Donald Trump would put it, "a fearless warrior for the truth". She was joined by several other doctors in a group calling themselves "America's Frontline Doctors", seemingly a Tea Party supported group of right-wing physicians. Their two week old website has - judging by my inability to access it - already been deleted.

In other kook news, Sinclair Broadcast Group pulled an interview before airing with Dr. Judy Mikovits, controversial researcher from "Plandemic" (in which she claimed covid-19 was invented by humans, amongst other outlandish things). Mikovits's new claim was reportedly that Dr. Anthony Fauci created covid-19, and then passed it to China for release. I think it's safe to say that SBG did the right thing here, because it's not worth giving that shit the light of day even if you put a proper expert up to refute it as well. What surprises me is why they bothered interviewing her in the first place.
I posted a month or so back hydroxychloroquine isn't necessarily snake oil but it could (along with any zinc ionophore) with zinc help against the virus. There was a study I found from SARS where they found a zinc ionophore (not hydroxy) + zinc help slow the virus replicating. There was even a study for the current coronavirus I found concerning hydroxy alone and hydroxy + zinc and the zinc group showed improved results. It seems like you can use any zinc ionophore (less dangerous ones) in place of hydroxy and get similar results. The vitamin D data alone indicates just having a healthy immune system defeats the virus rather easily. This study about giving patients a cocktail of vitamin D + B12 and magnesium showed pretty positive results. It seems like we don't really need some miracle drug to save the day but just really standard nutrients that people should be getting from at least somewhat healthy diets.
 

Trunkage

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So, in my state, 2 nineteen year old idiots decided not declare they came from a hot spot in another state 8 days ago. They were found out yesterday and are in hospital, its that severe. Their stupidity shut down 2 whole shopping centres, 5 restaurants, 2 schools and a grocery store. It is one of the most frustrating things because we haven't had a new case in months. Everyone has been doing the right thing and we almost had it gone
 

Agema

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I posted a month or so back hydroxychloroquine isn't necessarily snake oil but it could (along with any zinc ionophore) with zinc help against the virus. There was a study I found from SARS where they found a zinc ionophore (not hydroxy) + zinc help slow the virus replicating. There was even a study for the current coronavirus I found concerning hydroxy alone and hydroxy + zinc and the zinc group showed improved results. It seems like you can use any zinc ionophore (less dangerous ones) in place of hydroxy and get similar results. The vitamin D data alone indicates just having a healthy immune system defeats the virus rather easily. This study about giving patients a cocktail of vitamin D + B12 and magnesium showed pretty positive results. It seems like we don't really need some miracle drug to save the day but just really standard nutrients that people should be getting from at least somewhat healthy diets.
Outside having deficiencies, there's still no significant basis to believe dietary supplements such as zinc or vit D are any use, nor any convincing evidence for hydroxychloroquime. That study on vitamin D, magnesium and B12 is an extremely weak study: it's very small, and even the limited information available accepts considerable disparities in things like age between the groups studied.

The stupid thing is, at least one seemingly useful candidate for treating covid-19 has been discovered: an old, well established and commonly used corticosteroid called dexamethasone, at a cost of about £50 per patient (UK; albeit plus the very considerable ICU costs). A large and well controlled study in the UK involving thousands of patients found it reduced mortality by about a third.
 
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