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Infections are above one million a day in the U.S.; 1/33 of the country currently has COVID (www.thegauntlet.news)

submitted 3 weeks ago by Wertheimer@hexbear.net to c/covid@hexbear.net

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Using wastewater data- the only data that measures the amount of circulating COVID-19 in an era of inaccessible tests and discouraged reporting- infectious disease modeler J.P. Weiland estimates that the US has yet again crossed the million-infections-per-day mark as of August 9, with about 1 in 33 Americans currently infected with COVID-19.

. . .

I’ve written before about how, in November 2021, nearly a year after the debut of the vaccines, Fauci publicly declared that US COVID cases would need to fall “well below 10,000 a day” for us to get a “degree of normality,” and allow us to return to pre-pandemic life. In the nearly three years since, the US has never had a single day with under 10,000 new COVID cases per day; in fact, we have never had a single day with under 100,000 new COVID cases per day.

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[-] LocalOaf@hexbear.net 52 points 3 weeks ago

Caught it 4 months ago despite masking and distancing and having a booster and haven't felt "well" ever since and get random bouts of feeling like absolute dogshit out of nowhere for like a couple hours before bed then waking up feeling "normal" post-infection bad

Doomer

spoiler

I will never forgive or forget how utterly every American institution gleefully threw any semblance of public health or wellbeing into a fucking woodchipper at the behest of commercial real estate and financial concerns. A reasonable society could've nipped this in the bud early with an actual lockdown and quarantine, but instead millions of people are dead or (seemingly) permanently disabled and we're just gonna go on kicking the can down the road indefinitely until the wheels finally fall off and everything falls apart. There should be a truth and reconciliation commission and public trials for everyone involved in public policy making decisions through the pandemic.

[-] Wertheimer@hexbear.net 31 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

100-com agreed with your "doomer" paragraph.

(I would like to read a book or some heavy-duty Theory about this, but I barely know who to trust anymore.)

[-] LocalOaf@hexbear.net 22 points 3 weeks ago

I mostly just follow Death Panel and get recs from there, but I rarely have the appetite for it anymore despite being a really good podcast, it all just depresses and enrages me too much. Haven't listened in awhile but they frequently gave good citations to studies and papers and book recommendations and whatnot.

[-] Wertheimer@hexbear.net 13 points 3 weeks ago

Oh, hell yeah, a podcast with transcripts. Thanks for the recommendation.

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[-] Frank@hexbear.net 13 points 3 weeks ago

Hej, afaik studies are showing that, as long as you weren't hospitalized, most folks recover within two years. Hang in there. It sucks but it's not forever. cuddle

[-] fart@hexbear.net 12 points 3 weeks ago

and how often do people get infections? probably less than two years apart on average

[-] Frank@hexbear.net 17 points 3 weeks ago

Afaik "immunity" lasts ~months give or take a few, and it's not really immunity, and you can get infected again immediately anyway, and the mutations are highly immun evasive. It's a mess. The vaccines don't prevent you from getting infected, either. They reduce the chance, but it's very limited, not reliable. The key benefit of the vaccines is reducing the risk of long covid.

Apparently there are some hard core sterilizing vaccines being worked on that show some promise and will maybe be able work despite mutations. Fingers crossed.

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[-] ButtBidet@hexbear.net 49 points 3 weeks ago

NGL, sometimes I feel weak and want to give up being the weird dick who N95s everywhere and always eats outside. But then I see shit like this.

[-] Frank@hexbear.net 37 points 3 weeks ago

The key thing, for me, is holding on to a sense of contempt. Like, yeah, pity and compassion, but also contempt at a society that did this to all of us. Who are they to judge the few who are still trying to protect themselves and others? They're not worthy to judge people wearing masks. Their social violence is harming people who want to wear masks but are unable due to vast coercive social pressure. Whenever i feel it bothering me, i remind myself that many of these people are fine with all the death and suffering, and perhaps those who do want to mask will take inspiration when they see people masking.

So, contempt, and also remembering that by wearing a mask publicly it may help people who want to mask to find the courage to tell society to fuck off.

[-] Wertheimer@hexbear.net 40 points 3 weeks ago

Yes. We can't stop getting angry.

“They're trying to kill me," Yossarian told him calmly.

"No one's trying to kill you," Clevinger cried.

"Then why are they shooting at me?" Yossarian asked.

"They're shooting at everyone," Clevinger answered. "They're trying to kill everyone."

"And what difference does that make?”

[-] Frank@hexbear.net 19 points 3 weeks ago

It's the best Catch there is. Catch 22 should really be required reading for trying to make some kind of sens of the 21st century.

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[-] homhom9000@hexbear.net 27 points 3 weeks ago

This is what I did. Got too confident with not getting covid and wasn't as secure as I've previously been, but still masked. Then got it.

[-] Frank@hexbear.net 23 points 3 weeks ago

It's all a numbers game. You can reduce the risk, but you can't eliminate it. Don't beat yourself up, getting sick isn't a personal failure. And the effort is worth it; every time you don't get sick, every time the precautions work, you're saving yourself that much grief. You might catch it once when other people have had 2, 3, more symptomatic cases and who knows how many asymptomatic cases.

[-] homhom9000@hexbear.net 12 points 3 weeks ago

Thanks for that. I keep going back and forth over it

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[-] Frank@hexbear.net 43 points 3 weeks ago

Hahahaha fuck everything. I'm flying today and i've seen, like, maybe a dozen people with any kind of mask.

[-] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 36 points 3 weeks ago

This one I truly can’t comprehend. Even if we somehow made covid disappear tomorrow there’s no way in hell I’m rawdogging airplane air ever again.

Even ignoring COVID, I just don’t want to be sick on my vacation? I feel like that’s obvious? I don’t want a cold, I don’t want the flu, I really don’t want covid.

[-] robot_dog_with_gun@hexbear.net 19 points 3 weeks ago

iirc the airport is worse than on the plane

[-] ClimateChangeAnxiety@hexbear.net 16 points 3 weeks ago

I do believe that’s true and I was even stricter about keeping my mask on in the airport last time I was in one

[-] zed_proclaimer@hexbear.net 14 points 3 weeks ago

I got stuck in Fort Lauderdale airport in 2020 when Covid became a thing. This was pre-masking when the government was saying they didn’t work. Most germ infested place I have ever been, got Covid on the way back home

[-] Frank@hexbear.net 19 points 3 weeks ago

Lol i forgot the CDC just flat out lied and justified it with some bullshit about conserving masks for healthcare or some shit. I made a whole slew of cloth masks that never worked. I mean, they "worked", but not enough to matter.

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[-] Frank@hexbear.net 13 points 3 weeks ago

Right? I haven't had any kind of infectious disease - cold, flu, rsv, whatever, nothing, since 2019! It's awesome. Yeah, i wear a mask and that sucks, but i also don't get sick ever!

We should have been doing this all along. Like, it was right there the whole time!

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[-] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 27 points 3 weeks ago

Ugh, stay safe. Mask, nasal spray, concealed carry, mouth wash, etc. you know the drill. fidel-salute-big

[-] anarchoilluminati@hexbear.net 21 points 3 weeks ago

One of these is not like the others.

[-] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 27 points 3 weeks ago

Sorry. Not mask. Respirator.

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[-] LocalOaf@hexbear.net 19 points 3 weeks ago

It's a surprise tool that'll help us later

rat-salute xi-gun-2

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[-] anarchoilluminati@hexbear.net 27 points 3 weeks ago

I flew recently and also just saw like maybe a handful of people masked.

It's really worrisome with the plagues and the failing planes. Wish you a safe trip!

[-] Rojo27@hexbear.net 22 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Yep. When I ride on public transit I'll see maybe a handful of people wearing masks... Shit's fucked.

[-] Wertheimer@hexbear.net 20 points 3 weeks ago

My pharmacy's pick-up line is on top of the aisle with all the cold medication. I'll be one of the only masked people in there, while obviously symptomatic unmasked bozos squeeze in between folk to look for Dayquil, which is often out of stock.

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[-] TheModerateTankie@hexbear.net 40 points 3 weeks ago

It's only killing 4x as many people as the flu, you know, like all typical colds.

[-] GrumpigPoopBalls@hexbear.net 26 points 3 weeks ago

I've unfortunately had to fly a ton this summer for various reasons and I've pretty much resigned myself to being the only person on the plane wearing a mask anymore. Of course that didn't help me when I ended up getting it from a doctor who showed up maskless and very obviously sick to a social event that I foolishly assumed would be safe (outdoors and all doctors who presumably should know better)...

[-] Self_Sealing_Stem_Bolt@hexbear.net 14 points 3 weeks ago

all doctors who presumably should know better

Some of the worst people I've ever met were doctors. They ain't smarter than the rest of us, just privileged enough to afford medical school.

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[-] refolde@hexbear.net 26 points 3 weeks ago

Uhm... sorry sweaty, but Biden ended covid, remember?

[-] Wertheimer@hexbear.net 29 points 3 weeks ago

COVID ended Biden

[-] Assian_Candor@hexbear.net 19 points 3 weeks ago

Seems bad

[-] peeonyou@hexbear.net 18 points 3 weeks ago

this time around i know 3 people that either currently have covid or recently had it in the past few weeks.. and one of them is a professional cheerleader who ended up going to the ER and has been out of work for 2 weeks, still having a fever and can't get out of bed

one other says they can't think straight and need to sleep a lot, and the other said "it felt like a very minor cold, little head fog for a day but that's all"

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[-] Black_Mald_Futures@hexbear.net 18 points 3 weeks ago

Is there a source that isn't "thegauntlet.news," especially given that the top level of that domain seems to be unused? I don't want to go "oh good, 1 in 33 people have covid right now" and be like "uhhh source is some blog"

[-] Wertheimer@hexbear.net 24 points 3 weeks ago

Their source is "some tweet," because now that the CDC has stopped collecting data it's based on estimates from wastewater samples.

The People's CDC has more links.

[-] spectre@hexbear.net 26 points 3 weeks ago

Not directed at you but I'm real damn tired of Twitter being used as a source for fucking anything. I don't even care if it's correct, sourced, verified, primary or whatever.

[-] Wertheimer@hexbear.net 14 points 3 weeks ago

I agree. That people default to posting their research on Twitter is an indictment of not only contemporary journalism and academia but also of . . . pretty much everything else. I hate it, and I hate it even more when months later, I'm trying to figure out where I read something and it turns out to have been a Twitter screenshot or a dead link.

[-] Frank@hexbear.net 13 points 3 weeks ago

This. There's no "good" data anymore, the governments of the world have completely given up.

Even wastewater as I understand we don't know quite what to do with it. A strain that puts more virus in your stools might create the impression of more infection, while a strain that deposits less virus might mask how bad it is.

[-] Goadstool@hexbear.net 16 points 3 weeks ago

Hey, that's me! I got it right now! im-doing-my-part

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[-] Acute_Engles@hexbear.net 16 points 3 weeks ago

I guess doing abatement work is good right now eh

[-] bananon@hexbear.net 16 points 3 weeks ago

What’s the best booster for this recent variant? My girlfriend and I are going to a convention in 2 weeks and this is the last thing I want for us

[-] macabrett@lemmy.ml 16 points 3 weeks ago

They haven't released the new boosters yet, so you'll be getting one based on an old strain no matter what. The most important thing is that you get a booster like today if you want to have protection, peak protection isn't immediate.

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[-] AntiOutsideAktion@hexbear.net 15 points 3 weeks ago

Every time I think about 'getting my shit together' and getting a pmc job instead of delivering boxes outside, I see a headline like this.

[-] Chronicon@hexbear.net 19 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

at least at the pmc job maybe you can be remote? but honestly fully remote jobs seem to be still declining because of the management birdbrains who demand to have everyone in person

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[-] Facky@hexbear.net 15 points 3 weeks ago

I was lucky to have only caught it once in dec 2020, though my grandma got it from the same place and she died.

I do have trouble breathing sometimes and my taste and smell are still altered, albeit mildly.

[-] SnowySkyes@hexbear.net 13 points 3 weeks ago

I got it once back in November 2022 and I do not fucking want it again. That shit terrified me. I’m just lucky I didn’t get long COVID from that ordeal. The terrifying thing is that I’m set to go to a convention next week and I’m pretty damn sure that they will have no prevention protocols in place. Considering just eating the costs and not going at this point. A shame I won’t be able to meet my longtime internet friend and see her take her first dose of estradiol, but I would like to not die.