Not Your Steppin' Stone

[Joe Elliott]

I want to emphasis again.

The vaccine being distributed this month to a small portion of the population should, in theory, get us out of the current crisis. The U. S. could continue to get 700, or 1,000 people sick a day, for every million people, and not stress the hospitals too much, as is happening today. Because most of the people who take up room in the hospitals come from the vulnerable groups. But, if we celebrate and let our guard down, we could end up with 4,000 people sick a day, which could overfill our hospitals.

Once the hospitals get maxed out, the death rate will go up by a factor of 5 for people who can’t get in and receive proper treatment.

People being careless will negate the use of the vaccine in its current limited quantity. In California, in the last 6 weeks, the number of people who have come down with COVID-19 has increased by a factor of 8. The infection rate doubled every two weeks. Thanksgiving was a real disaster. Even with the most vulnerable portion of the population being vaccinated, if the rate keeps doubling every two weeks over the next month, we will be as bad off as of we took protective measures but got no vaccine.

If everyone gets together for Christmas like they usually do, it will totally negate the positive effects of getting the vaccine to the most vulnerable people. Put off your Christmas till 2021, or Christmas 2020 will be the last Christmas for many. Even if you survive, as you probably would, you can end the lives of others, even some who gave up their Christmas, because of the selflessness of you and others.

[Joe Elliott]

1994: Four Weddings and a Funeral

2020: One Wedding and Four Funerals

[Joe Elliott]

Video of how many of my fellow Californians were handling the COVID-19 pandemic crisis in November:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCer2e0t8r8

Safety measures and social distancing don’t kick in until someone is caught kissing his wife.

[Joe Elliott]

One in 40,000 people who receive the Pfizer vaccine have a severe allergic reaction.

One in 50, to one in 100 people who get COVID-19, die. Not die or have a severe allergic reaction. Die. And if the hospitals are maxed out, One in 20? One in 15?

COVID-19 will find you, sooner or later. And with the current rates, the smart money is on sooner. Get the vaccine as soon as possible. But hang around the clinic at least 30 minutes after vaccination. But keep social distancing up. You won’t get any benefit from the vaccine until about 10 days later. And get the second bolster shot. Land of the free, home of the brave.

[Joe Elliott]

Interesting statistic. Per one million people, California has over 900 people getting COVID-19, each day. Per one million people, Australia has, as of today, 1,107 people who have contacted COVID-19 sometime during 2020. Per million people, California gets almost as many people coming down with COVID-19, each day, as Australia does for the entire year. And Australia’s statistics would not look so bad if Tom Hanks and his wife had not visited there.

In the United States as a whole, per one million people, 560 come down with COVID-19, each day. Every two days, per million people, the United States has as many people come down with COVID-19 as Australia has during the entire year. And people tell me that Trump is a good leader?

And no, it’s not the wide-open spaces of Australia that does it. The Dakotas were last month’s big trouble spot and they have lots of open spaces. It’s the decisions made by the people, who are heavily influenced by the leaders. Who don’t listen to Dr. Fauci, but listen to Trump instead. If Australia had been following Trump’s example, they would be having hundreds come down with COVID-19 each day, per million people.

Did California screw up again over Christmas? Will it screw up again over New Years? We will know in a couple of weeks. If so, the hospitals will be overwhelmed. And I better not need a hospital.

Essential fact: The virus can spread much faster than the vaccine will arrive, or can arrive. We can prevent that, or choose not to.

[Joe Elliott]

Senators and Congressmen jumping in line to take the vaccine early. Good thing or a bad thing?

Good thing. A selfish thing, but a good thing. If there is anything that is going to convince people to take this vaccine it is anger about someone else jumping in line ahead of them. I think that for some people, this can make the difference. Just upping the percentages of people who will take the vaccine a per cent or two will make it worthwhile for the politicians to jump the line.

By the way, I have no objection to Biden, Harris or Pence jumping the line. I want the procedures of January 6 to go as smoothly as possible. I don’t want any extra excuse for overturning the election. Keeping Biden and Harris healthy is important during the next 3 weeks and I trust Pence to do the right thing next week.

Senator Marco Rubio says Dr. Fauci is constantly telling us different things. Yes. Scientists are always doing that. First, they said species were created after their kind. Then they said that they were created by Evolution. They said the continents were fixed in place. Then they said they actually move great distances over geologic time. They claimed at various times that the Earth was not thousands of years old but hundreds of thousands of years old, perhaps over one million years old. Then hundreds of millions of years old. Then 3 billion years old. And finally settled on 4.5 billion years old.

Science is not a way to learn what is the truth instantly. It is a way of approaching the world that gives the best chance of figuring out what is true, and likely converges on the correct answer as time goes on, though this is never assured and all scientific knowledge is always subject to challenge and possible change or even radical overturning.

Dr. Fauci changed his views a lot because scientific views are most volatile during the early stages of study. The study of COVID-19 is about 14 months old. Naturally, as more information comes in, Dr. Fauci will change his advice and estimates. And everything he has told us so far is subject to challenge and at least some of it to probable changes in the coming months. I would be astonished if he is currently totally right about all his advice and estimates.

Senator Marco Rubio says we cannot trust Dr. Fauci says. But he trusted him on getting that vaccine as soon as he could, even jumping in line. I’m glad he did. It may help people distrust Senator Marco Rubio and trust Dr. Fauci instead.

[Joe Elliott]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/covid-19-vaccine-doses-ruined-intentionally-hospital-says/ar-BB1cmoQc?ocid=msedgntp

COVID-19 vaccine doses ruined ‘intentionally,’ hospital says

An employee admitted to purposely leaving 500 doses out of a refrigerator which ruined them. That employee was fired.

In America, each day, one in 2,000 people get the virus each day. If he delayed by one month 500 people getting the virus, he caused about 7.5 people to get the virus who would not have gotten it. There is about a 10% chance that his actions will cost the life of a person. Actually, not only are 500 people in the first wave delayed a month, but 500 people in the second wave are also delayed a month. And so on. There is a very good chance his actions will cost a life. This employee should not just be fired. He should be sentenced to prison.

[Joe Elliott]

Feds may cut Moderna vaccine doses in half so more people get shots, Warp Speed adviser says

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/feds-may-cut-moderna-vaccine-doses-in-half-so-more-people-get-shots-warp-speed-adviser-says/ar-BB1cr6K8?ocid=msedgntp

I don’t get this. The problem seems to be getting the shots into people’s arms. Can they really vaccine people twice as fact if half dozes are used? I don’t think it matters if we can ship out 100,000,000 dozes a day, it looks like we can only give 500,000 vaccinations a day. And I don’t think it matters whether they are giving out half dozes or full dozes.

Let’s be able to inject the 13,000,000 dozes they do have before we look into cutting the dozes in half.