I’m so sorry. If I’m as frustrated as I am, just watching from the outside, I just can’t imagine how it is for you and your colleagues. I’m sorry. I just hope this ends soon.

I think you could start by explaining how the VAERS database works, and that it is completely unverified and anyone can enter a report. There are reports of a two-year-old dying by suicide the day after getting the Covid vaccine in there (sick that someone entered that), as well as someone dying due to being hit by lightning after the Covid vaccine. And there are obviously a lot like the case described above, where a very elderly person dies in the weeks following the vaccine, but not at a rate any higher than would be expected without the vaccine. If someone still believes the 48,000 number after understanding where the VAERS data comes from, and trusts that over verified study data that shows an incredibly low rate of fatal events attributed to the vaccine, to the point that they didn’t even turn up until millions of people had been vaccinated, then I don’t think they actually care to know what’s true, and you’re probably not going to be able to get them to know they’ve been duped.

I've just been down an interesting rabbit trail learning about the authors. The first is a social scientist, the second a political scientist (both at universities). The second, Nicholas Tempio was pretty interesting to read. From what I've gleaned from his Twitter feed, he comes across as anti-vax, anti Bill Gates, anti Common Core (Common Core and education appear to be his focus areas, and he has written a book against Common Core standards). I agree with many of his tweets about education, particularly the value of play. I disagree with his clear negativity about vaccines and don't know what his specific beef with the Gates is (perhaps related to education?). Overall, I get a vibe that makes me think he may be a Libertarian, but haven't read enough to know that.

That was a disappointing opinion piece. It would have been less disappointing if they made their case without also dropping pieces of vaccine misinformation throughout without correcting it and using statistics in a disingenuous way to make the vaccine seem ineffective. They also make it sound like having vaccine mandates in certain situations (such as universities) is a brand new thing and will never work, when it has never been a problem in the past, and I know many universities with Covid vaccine mandates for fall that seem so far to be successful In getting their campus community highly vaccinated. Speaking of, I think what happens in universities will provide a lot of useful information for us this this Fall. We will have the opportunity to see what happens in super highly vaccinated communities (campuses that require vaccination or exemption) vs those with lower vaccination rates. If enough of them are gathering data, it could even give some idea just what the herd immunity threshold really is for this disease with current vaccines. I expect there should be some colleges starting in the next few weeks with mandates in place, so I’ll be watching how that goes. Would be especially interesting to see the difference when two schools are located in the same area, one with and one without a mandate.

Twitter is weird like that. I frequently get a blank page and have to reload for the tweet to show up. I always chalked it up to the fact I don’t have an account 🤷‍♀️

Do we know why the Israel vaccination numbers have stalled at this point? They seemed on track to have everyone vaccinated, and now they have numbers not much better than ours. Is it supply or hesitancy? It’s still there for me.

These stories are all just heartbreaking. I keep wondering about the bolded as well. I wonder if people consider how they will feel if they ever end up in that same scenario, or if they just feel sure that would never happen to them or anyone they know. But it’s happening to so very many right now. It’s so sad and awful. 😭 Thanks for sharing. That was interesting. I was struck by how much more community-minded people seem to be than in the US.

I’m so relieved to see your 7/31 update! I was starting to get worried the longer we didn’t hear from you. I’m so glad he has gotten so much better. If I’m relieved, I can’t imagine how relieved you must be!!

Yes! They are perfect for those big headed guys! 😂

I have a Happy Mask as well and personally prefer the KF94s. They have a much better face fit, especially around the nose (I find the Happy Mask face wire a little wimpy), and they feel more breathable to me when wearing. YMMV. You can get a mix and match 10 Pack of KF94 for about the same price as 1 Happy Mask if you want to decide once and for all if the grass is greener. I highly recommend the Bluna for fit and adjustable ear loops. BOTN, too, though the BOTN runs bigger, so I would get the medium for most women and smaller men, and the large only for people with big faces. BOTN and Bluna both make a kids mask that is just like the adult but smaller. I like both, but the POSH is my preferred for smaller faces. I don’t recommend masks with non adjustable ear loops unless you’re willing to tie knots or add adjusters or ear savers.

There are several sites regarded as reliable. I use www.behealthyusa.net. If you order from there, make sure you look at the top of the screen for a discount code, because they almost always have one, but it doesn't apply automatically. For data folks, I really like the data Aaron Collins has put together on tons of masks (mostly KF94s) https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1M0mdNLpTWEGcluK6hh5LjjcFixwmOG853Ff45d3O-L0/edit#gid=1976839763 This FAQ shows his test setup: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13EsjfMshfC1Cvds37pmWSwBEdc6djfJ0YtFwkHM0wIQ/edit I particularly like that he tests them as worn, not just the fabric itself I see he just addressed Happy Masks in a Reddit post: And a video comparing kids masks. This was before he tested the POSH kids masks, which are my favorite for small faces. He has since tested them, and they tested very well: eta: if shopping for KF94s, the boat style ones fit a lot more faces a lot better than the bifold style. I hadn't even tried the bifold until lately for that reason, but recently added a couple to an order to try, and they don't fit any of us around the chin.

The other thing I’m seeing the last two days are studies showing that vaccinated people who become infected with delta clear the virus more quickly than the unvaccinated (as one would expect). This means that while initial loads may be equivalent, the vaccinated people drop down to uninfectious levels more quickly, so they have less time they might transmit compared to unvaccinated.

I was all for quality cloth masks all the way, until things changed around January with alpha being more transmissible. We all went to KF94s indoors at that point. With delta, I really want to wear the best mask I possibly can. We have a mix of KF94 and N95 now. The KF94s filter just as well, and they have a good fit on us, but they have ear loops instead of head straps. I will now start using the N95 for the highest risk things (doctor’s appointments, for example). I haven’t seen kids’ n95s, so my younger kids wear kids’ kf94s, which have a nice fit on them.

The problem with KN95s is that there are a lot of counterfeit ones that don’t meet the standard. Some are legit and some are not, but it’s hard to know what you’re getting. So far, N95 and KF94 hasn’t has that problem.

That’s fortunate for you. Unfortunately, 99% of those dying from Covid are unvaccinated, regardless of individual anecdotes. Fortunately, the vaccine is highly protective. Unfortunately, vaccine misinformation continues to influence people and cause thousands of horrible deaths that are easily preventable. eta: I want to add that I'm not saying this to be a jerk. I'm legitimately upset over continually seeing new videos from people who are hospitalized, or from the loved ones of those who have died, who are agonizing over the fact that they bought into the vaccine misinformation and didn't get vaccinated because of it. These people are begging others not to make the same mistake. These people were trying to do what they thought was the right decision, but they believed the people spreading anti vax stuff, and the results were deadly. It's heartbreaking to read and see these stories, and it makes me unable to just shrug it off when I see people continuing to spread these ideas. At this point, it's not just a harmless opinion.

Home Depot has plenty right now. You may have to buy in bulk. I’ve been splitting mask orders with others.

Early in the pandemic, I bought some blue light blocking glasses from Amazon to wear when I had to go to the store. They look like regular eye glasses, but no vision adjustment. Figured I could use them for computer work too, if I wanted.

The data looks really good for immunity from infection plus one dose of mRNA vaccine. I don’t know how Delta changes the equation, but if she could get one shot, that would be really helpful. for air filter, I would make a Corsi cube if I were her. It cleans the air as well as a much more expensive air filter. https://encycla.com/Corsi-Rosenthal_Cube n95 masks are also currently not difficult to find. For what it’s worth, I find the flat fold, boat style ones seem to fit a wide variety of faces best.

Washington Post articles related to Covid have no paywall. Could that be it? That's interesting you view it that way. Maybe it's different for me because I don't have a "people like me" group. Definitely a lot of people are going along with their group, but I know other people who aren't as well (in both directions). I'm pretty used to being an outlier and not having an in group though 🤷‍♀️

QFT

I agree we need to do everything we can to help vaccinate the rest of the world. I have sponsored children who are dear to me in Haiti who have no vaccine access in their communities at all, so I understand where you're coming from not knowing whether or what to say about vaccination when you write. But not using the vaccines we have in this country isn't going to help them at all. We have an excess here that are going to expire before we can coordinate logistics to have them exported to other countries (I'm still frustrated that it has to be so difficult, but my understanding is that it is). So, there's no greater good reason not to use what we already have. Further, doing so reduces the number of transmissions, which reduces the chances of this mutating so much that the vaccine no longer works as well as it does. Getting vaccines out to all the developing world is going to be hard enough, the last thing we want is for this to have already mutated too much by the time they finally get them. I agree the news has communicated this really poorly. I think this also shows the results of poor education as regards comprehension skills. People just don't seem to have good comprehension of what they read, hear and watch. I don't know how to help that, because I don't know that it's really their fault. Certainly people not confusing the messaging would help. This particular message is inherently complicated. As a note in addition to this being an older story, it's also based on just one shot. I'm not sure this is known yet, but I have wondered if eyes are a risk only as pertains to droplets, and not so much for aerosols. It seems to me aerosols would be more of a risk being breathed in, but that's not based on any data at this point. Incidentally, my own case of potential covid in March 2020 (not tested, and I will assume it was something else unless it is somehow proven otherwise) I think may have come from an eye appoinment. It fits the timing, and I had bad conjunctivitis on top of my severe respiratory illness, as did most of my family members who caught it at the same time.

Maybe that’s not reasonable, but at this point it’s more than reasonable to be angry at those people in influential positions that have purposely spread so much disinformation and tried to use it for their own purposes, whether political or money making or fame or whatever else. Without that, there wouldn’t be such a large number of misled people. But not testing doesn’t explain the hospitalization and deaths. Vaccination is currently still phenomenally effective at preventing those outcomes. This is clearly not a testing issue. I was actually just contemplating this as regards DeSantis this morning. I was reading about the condition of Florida hospitals that are overflowing and having to cancel medical procedures, and right after that read about DeSantis selling “Don’t Fauci my Florida” merchandise on his website, and it actually seems criminal to me. Goes back to my first point on this post: people in influential positions spreading this crap to discourage vaccination and preventative strategies. He bears a good deal of responsibility for the number of people dying and not having medical care available in Florida right now.

I just saw Florida is having hospital overwhelm and having to cancel elective procedures 😞 AdventHealth reports highest hospitalized COVID patients since January; elevates to black status “The elevation in status means that all hospital-based outpatient procedures will be deferred and outpatient surgery sites will only perform time-sensitive and urgent procedures. Urgent pediatric procedures can be performed with the approval of the chief medical officer. “Cases continue to rise sharply with no sign that the surge is beginning to decelerate,” said Dr. Neil Finkler, chief clinical officer of AdventHealth’s Central Florida Division. “This important step will help us create more resources for our clinical teams, and ensure that we can continue to care for our community.” The hospital said they are adjusting their status to make sure they have the capacity for future patients. AdventHealth says 94% of patients hospitalized in their system with COVID-19 are unvaccinated.

Checking in again hoping for a good update. I hope you’re all doing okay 🙏.

If it’s just for this year and he doesn’t need to graduate from the high school, then credits being accepted wouldn’t matter. If they would put him in the correct level courses according to work done, that could work fine.