Posts Made By: James Brown

Originally Posted by Russ Carroll

I got my vaccine yesterday. Single-dose J&J varietal. Very little soreness. Felt a little cranky that evening, but nothing major at all. 100% fine this morning. Nurse said not a single person was hospitalized with COVID during trials. 9000 patients in all I believe.

CO has moved my cohort up, so I'll be eligible in a couple of days.  Did you have a choice of vaccines?

Originally Posted by Greg Shaffer

I am also uncomfortable with what I think they will ultimately come right out and do which is force it on us.  

Hi Greg:

There is a lot of Supreme Court precedent that says that the government can not force adult citizens to receive medical treatment.  Jehovah's Witnesses are permitted to refuse blood transfusions, for example.  Even if it means they will die.  So I think forced inoculation is unlikely.  The government probably could incentivize you to get the inoculation, make the stimulus check contingent on a shot for example.  

Jim

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

A recent poll shows that nearly half of Republican males are adamantly opposed to taking any covid vaccination. I think we all can speculate as to the reasons why...

I find this hard to believe.  Got a link?

Originally Posted by Brian McFarland

Hi Jim,

I heard it on NPR this morning, but I don't recall their source for the data, and I haven't had a chance to look it up yet.

Brian 

Here is the poll I think - Rod exaggerated a bit with words like "vehemently" but he can't help himself.  The data is troubling, although it does not jibe with my own experience.  All of the friends and family Rs I know have been vaccinated or are planning on it.  Of course, I don't know any of the Q-Anon Rs.  Have you seen the latest SouthPark "vaccination" special?  It's pretty good.  Skewers the left and the right both.  A lot better than the "pandemic" special was.  Jim


https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/politics-still-drives-how-americans-feel-about-covid-response-one-year-in

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-vaccine-updates-03-15-21/index.html
"About 47% of people who supported Trump in the 2020 election said they would not get a Covid-19 vaccine if it became available to them, a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found."

I still doubt it.  We'll know soon enough I suppose.  I doubt this too:

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/05/27/863401430/poll-shows-only-a-quarter-of-african-americans-plan-to-get-coronavirus-vaccine

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

And the REPUBLICANS voted against it: https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/15/economy/stimulus-economy-biden-2022/index.html
Come election time, the GOP can pay the piper, AGAIN!...

Ah yes, the D's have finally broken the cyclical nature of politics, once and for all.  Jim

Originally Posted by Darian Rachal

Rod, I see that gasoline in your area is about $1.00/gallon more than here($2.59 at Kroger). Actually, I thought it'd be more than just $1.00.

Where are you getting the comparisons Darian?  I think the last time I gassed up in Denver it was about $2.50  In the mountain communities it is 50-75 cents more, always.  J

Originally Posted by Russ Carroll

Hey JB, do you remember when I whipped out a Big Lebowski quote to try and chide Richard? It's becoming a thing

https://www.businessinsider.com/texas-judge-big-lebowski-2014-9

Awesome footnote!

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

“Governors’ party affiliation may have contributed to a range of policy decisions that, together, influenced the spread of the virus,” says study senior author Sara Benjamin-Neelon, PhD, professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Health, Behavior and Society. “These findings underscore the need for state policy actions that are guided by public health considerations rather than by partisan politics.”
https://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2021/as-cases-spread-across-us-last-year-pattern-emerged-suggesting-link-between-governors-party-affiliation-and-covid-19-case-and-death-numbers.html

Don't fall for the sexy headlines Rod.  The actual study is here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7587838/

From the study:

Results

From March to early June, Republican-led states had lower COVID-19 incidence rates compared to Democratic-led states. On June 3, the association reversed, and Republican-led states had higher incidence (RR=1.10, 95% PI=1.01, 1.18). This trend persisted through early December. For death rates, Republican-led states had lower rates early in the pandemic, but higher rates from July 4 (RR=1.18, 95% PI=1.02, 1.31) through mid-December. Republican-led states had higher test positivity rates starting on May 30 (RR=1.70, 95% PI=1.66, 1.73) and lower testing rates by September 30 (RR=0.95, 95% PI=0.90, 0.98).

Conclusion

Gubernatorial party affiliation may drive policy decisions that impact COVID-19 infections and deaths across the US. Future policy decisions should be guided by public health considerations rather than political ideology.

Note how the conclusion is not party specific.  Also the conclusion, written by public health experts ignores economic considerations.  Do you think any of the bold headlines will emphasize economic impact or how policy decisions in the D states enhanced the early East Coast death rates?  Those early D policy decisions on the East Coast did exactly that.  So, this study begs the larger question.  I'll concede that R policies enhanced the Covid death rate in the summer and fall.  But how did those states economies fare, compared to their D counterparts?  How does a metric of overall civic welfare compare between these states?  The study does not touch that of course.

I feel compelled to restate my opinion that anyone who will not take the simple measures of masks, distancing, work from home if possible, and getting vaccinated is a real problem.  But opening the economy as in Florida and Texas have seems to be advantageous.  Perhaps there are medical consequences, but the data does not show overwhelming consequences.   In my opinion, whether the CA/NY response or the FL/TX response proves to be better for society on all metrics, health, economic, overall social welfare and so on is an entirely open question.

Jim

Originally Posted by Rod Kaufman

How about your stock portfolio under Biden's administration. Isn't that awesome too?

So far, so good - no doubt about it!