They’re over. The only people clinging to them are either playing political games, or are completely uninformed about the scientific evidence (and yes, I include the CDC and LA county’s public health authorities in those groups).
Masks were maybe slightly better than nothing when we didn’t have vaccines. They are utterly pointless now. There is zero evidence that they have any marginal benefit in a vaccinated population. This stuff has risen to the level of superstition, and like any superstition, there will be adherents who refuse to let go. That’s fine, but they’re not reflecting science or rational thinking. They are marginal.
Those who are scared of the virus should get vaccinated. Those who are not can do whatever they like, but their choices do not affect me, and they don’t affect you.
Smallpox has exactly one host (us), had an amazingly effective vaccine, the virus doesn’t mutate quickly or spread as readily, and it still took almost 200 years to eradicate it.
Polio is NOT eradicated, it spreads only through contact with fecal matter, and the remaining areas where it is endemic make a great illustration of exactly why this virus isn’t going anywhere either: Afghanistan and Pakistan.
That you would suggest that either of these make an argument for eradication of a flu-like illness with multiple non-human hosts shows how detached from reality you have become.
There is simply no basis for these claims of dramatically increased contagion. It’s a meme that was based on early speculation, and repeated mindlessly by the press.
It is endemic. What you think of that fact is irrelevant. It’s a contagious respiratory virus with multiple animal reservoirs. Even if you could somehow vaccinate every person on earth tomorrow, the virus would still be here.
This virus is not going to be eliminated, and it’s well past time to move on from that discussion.
Those are called “trade schools” in the US, and most community colleges have programs for trades. For example, a lot of community colleges have programs in auto repair and heating/cooling.
It gets more complicated in the US because of unions. In many places, you can’t become a plumber or electrician without an apprenticeship, which is controlled by the trade unions. Therefore, community colleges might offer classes on plumbing or electrical, but there’s no equivalent to a certification program, because it’s not possible to become a professional just by going to school.
So, I made a comment about how vaccines are widely available in the US, on an article about the US, and you’re nitpicking it because you have an ideological problem with what I wrote.
Herd immunity is not a fixed vaccination percentage pulled from Anthony Fauci’s latest media appearance. It’s the immunity level at which cases stabilize and begin to decline. It is defined by observation.
Cases are at all-time lows in the most vaccinated locations, and are dropping rapidly nationwide.
Vaccines have been readily available to anyone who wants them (in the US) since mid April, even in the highest demand parts of the country. If you are not vaccinated, at this point, there is no excuse.
(edit: obviously, I’m assuming the article is talking about a company in the US, since the article is about the US.)
This isn’t a paper, it’s an editorial, and it’s utter trash, printed in a bad “journal” (New Scientist is essentially a mass-market magazine, on par with Discover). The only evidence advanced for the claim is this:
This is a survey of parent-reported symptoms in 129 children, and of the “long-term” symptoms, all are vague, (e.g. headache, fatigue, muscle pain) overlapping substantially with the aches and pains of daily life.
They don’t even bother to link to it directly in the editorial; they simply mention the doi in the text. This wasn’t even proofread by an editor.
No, the point is, you probably don’t. Most anecdotal “reinfections” are from people who think they were infected, but never had it confirmed.
These stories are also typically second- or third-hand, and resemble whatever story was most recently in the news: “my ‘friend’ had a bad cold in March 2020, then got tested in July and had Covid. He was reinfected!” Stories that are heavy on hearsay, but light on details.
When we actually go and look for reinfections using rigorous standards, we find that they’re incredibly rare. It’s highly unlikely that there’s a huge wave of reinfections that we’re simply not seeing after hundreds of millions of infections and months of effort to find them.
That is a joke of a “review”, and should never have been published.
Consider that it doesn’t mention the only randomized controlled trial of masks and Covid ever performed (it showed no significant protective effect), which was conducted during the period the “review” was being compiled:
That is not “very much yes”, that is “an anecdote suggests yes”.
The statistical illiteracy here is astounding from professional scientists.
”0% of ths sick passengers wore masks, compared to 47% of the healthy passengers. Another way to look at that is that 0% of the mask wearers
got sick, but 35% of non-wearers did”
And another way to look at it is that 65% of non-wearers didn’t get sick. The group of sick people is also quite small, meaning that the error bars on the effect size are
large.
The “logistical” and “political” problems being that they’re endemic in countries with major political and economic instability, where the locals have a bad tendency to kill the people doing the vaccinations.
It isn’t a trivial problem. And oh yeah: Covid is in those countries now, too.
They’re over. The only people clinging to them are either playing political games, or are completely uninformed about the scientific evidence (and yes, I include the CDC and LA county’s public health authorities in those groups).
Masks were maybe slightly better than nothing when we didn’t have vaccines. They are utterly pointless now. There is zero evidence that they have any marginal benefit in a vaccinated population. This stuff has risen to the level of superstition, and like any superstition, there will be adherents who refuse to let go. That’s fine, but they’re not reflecting science or rational thinking. They are marginal.
Those who are scared of the virus should get vaccinated. Those who are not can do whatever they like, but their choices do not affect me, and they don’t affect you.