âvery passing day suggests that the administration is failing to keep up with COVIDâs mutations. Though it is spending a lot of money, when it assumed power, it failed to prioritize cheap, accessible tests open to anyone who needs them, left too much basic data gathering to scholars or the media, and made at best half-hearted
pushes in favor of improved ventilation, air filters, and other obvious steps that would minimize indoor COVID problems, especially in schools.
It also did essentially nothing to put reliable face masks in the hands of the population and failed even to set standards for advertising and
sales of facemasks, leaving a vast market to charlatans. It still has no
program in place for large scale random testing that can swiftly
identify new variants and it has failed to create an effective national
set of statistics with public dashboards anyone can access. Essentially
it has staked everything on vaccines that will need regular, costly
updates in a country with no national healthcare system. It is obvious
that the administrationâs hopes for an end to the COVID nightmare are
premature.â
I don't know anything about this study or the expertise of the authors when it comes to epidemiology and policy but still: the excerpt you've provided feels awfully slanted against the Biden administration. Compared to the Trump administration, Biden et al. look quite effective.
The excerpt mentions a dearth of "large scale random testing" and a federal failure "to put face masks in the hands of the population" and other missteps. I don't recall reading such problems attributed to the Biden administration. By the time Biden took office, vaccine production was ramping up (yes, thanks in part to the Trump administration). Other Covid-preventive measures such as social distancing and masks were and ARE difficult to enforce. Such measure IIRC can't be imposed by the federal govt but instead fall under the authority of state governors.
I do not recall reading of failures to track new variants of Covid. As for presentation of national statistics on Covid, that's been provided by NGOs for quite awhile.
"Essentially it has staked everything on vaccines that will need regular, costly updates in a country with no national healthcare system."
Everything? Please. Vaccines btw are the best bet for beating Covid in the US. Look at the struggle state governments have had in getting people to mask up and socially distance. You even have governors in populous states like TX and FL turn masks and distancing into political footballs and tyrannical challenges to individual "freedom." Asking/telling people to behave responsibly works only for so long.
Compared to the incompetence and skullduggery of the Trump admin and Boris Johnson admin in the UK, Biden et al are hardly the problem.
As for the lead-off accusation
âvery passing day suggests that the administration is failing to keep up with COVIDâs mutations"
I'd like to see evidence of that.
Perhaps you could point out where this PDF backs up such a claim. That's a pretty big claim for a poli-sci paper.
Are you sure you posted the right link? The quote you provide does not show up in the paper's abstract and the paper itself doesn't seem to be freely available.
Biden and rhe Democrats have heavily promoted masks and social distancing. IIRC Biden has used government powers to promote manufacturing and distribution of masks and relevant medical equipment.
Perhaps the quote you provided was meant to summarize the failures of the Trump administration.
Are you sure you posted the right link? The quote you provide does not show up in the paper's abstract and the paper itself doesn't seem to be freely available. Biden and rhe Democrats have heavily promoted masks and social distancing. IIRC Biden has used government powers to promote manufacturing and distribution of masks and relevant medical equipment. Perhaps the quote you provided was meant to summarize the failures of the Trump administration.
It's a pdf. The title is
"The Knife Edge Election of 2020:
American Politics Between Washington, Kabul, and Weimar"
Are you sure you posted the right link? The quote you provide does not show up in the paper's abstract and the paper itself doesn't seem to be freely available.
Biden and rhe Democrats have heavily promoted masks and social distancing. IIRC Biden has used government powers to promote manufacturing and distribution of masks and relevant medical equipment.
Perhaps the quote you provided was meant to summarize the failures of the Trump administration.
"Vaccine-only" was not the only possible plan (masks, social distancing, improving ventilation systems. etc.). It has failed. The administration cannot admit that it has failed, or change the policy, because that would explain so clearly who screwed up. I think Biden was lured into this trap but it is possible that he simply wouldn't have it any other way.
I agree that the unenforceable carrot of letting vaccinated people go without masks was a failure. But the lack of compliance with mask mandates isn't something they could have controlled. Improving ventilation would be a multi-decade project that business interests would fight tooth and nail. No the post trump debacle is a combination of a much more transmissive variant and lack of courage/will in the population.
“[E]very passing day suggests that the administration is failing to keep up with COVID’s mutations. Though it is spending a lot of money, when it assumed power, it failed to prioritize cheap, accessible tests open to anyone who needs them, left too much basic data gathering to scholars or the media, and made at best half-hearted pushes in favor of improved ventilation, air filters, and other obvious steps that would minimize indoor COVID problems, especially in schools. It also did essentially nothing to put reliable face masks in the hands of the population and failed even to set standards for advertising and sales of facemasks, leaving a vast market to charlatans. It still has no program in place for large scale random testing that can swiftly identify new variants and it has failed to create an effective national set of statistics with public dashboards anyone can access. Essentially it has staked everything on vaccines that will need regular, costly updates in a country with no national healthcare system. It is obvious that the administration’s hopes for an end to the COVID nightmare are premature.”
I honestly didn't know they were there until later. I guess I'd heard about them but didn't know it was a developed site ... it was only discovered about 25 years ago, after a rancher diverted some irrigation water down a dry gully and exposed them. The BLM doesn't promote their sites very well! There are lots of dinosaur-y places around but usually you're just looking at the dirt where they found a bone.
There is a spot in Denver, not too far from Red Rocks where there are dinosaur footprints right next to the road. Drive up, walk around and look at them. It was barely known/advertised when I grew up there.
dr. said after the 2nd shingle shot, you're good for life. why didn't I get to see dinosaur tracks when we visited?
I honestly didn't know they were there until later. I guess I'd heard about them but didn't know it was a developed site ... it was only discovered about 25 years ago, after a rancher diverted some irrigation water down a dry gully and exposed them. The BLM doesn't promote their sites very well! There are lots of dinosaur-y places around but usually you're just looking at the dirt where they found a bone.
That Shingrix is one helluva shot. Then you have to do it again in a few months. Justine and I had both just gotten ours when Haresfur came to town. So we were not very chipper hosts! He got to see some wild horses and dinosaur tracks tho so I don't think he hates us.
That was an amazing visit. Thank you for pretending you didn't feel like crap.
That Shingrix is one helluva shot. Then you have to do it again in a few months. Justine and I had both just gotten ours when Haresfur came to town. So we were not very chipper hosts! He got to see some wild horses and dinosaur tracks tho so I don't think he hates us.
dr. said after the 2nd shingle shot, you're good for life.
why didn't I get to see dinosaur tracks when we visited?
I originally had moderna. getting moderna booster. got my flu shot a few days ago. so no overlap there. had very mild reaction to flu shot. never had reaction before. Pneumonia shot coming up in the spring. those hurt like hell. sore arm that you can't move. then I should consider shingle vax. geez. are there any other vaxes?
That Shingrix is one helluva shot. Then you have to do it again in a few months. Justine and I had both just gotten ours when Haresfur came to town. So we were not very chipper hosts! He got to see some wild horses and dinosaur tracks tho so I don't think he hates us.
Everybody that can, go get your shots. Same rules as when you started school or joined the military. Wear a mask when you’re around folks. Cough into your sleeve. Get some sun as the days get shorter - the SAD season is coming.
You forgot wash your hands !!!!
You know it is a real shame when we have to tell people to wash their hands.
Explains way too much why we are in the sad state we are in.
Everybody that can, go get your shots. Same rules as when you started school or joined the military.
Wear a mask when youâre around folks. Cough into your sleeve. Get some sun as the days get shorter - the SAD season is coming.
. I am mystified by those who take the opposite approach. The only explanation I can come up with is they are being driven, consciously or unconsciously, by a form of confirmation bias.
Now I believe itâs self-sustaining, with Americans convinced of something or another that makes them refuse medical advice. But I firmly believe that this is a result of a targeted social media attack by our enemies. By spreading misinformation theyâve managed to kill almost a million Americans without firing a shot. Weâre outraged by the planes and the Twin Towers, but no one gives a damn about all these innocent Americans murdered by words.
Location: Perched on the precipice of the cauldron of truth
Posted:
Nov 23, 2021 - 9:10am
Steely_D wrote:
This is all people need to know. Thereâs so much discussion in the press and online by people without a background in the sciences (not talking about you, specifically) that opine about what should/shouldnât be done based on a study or a conjecture or common sense. Itâs a massive case of âforest for the trees.â
Short version: medical experts study this crap for decades, understand nuance including pros/cons, and make recommendations that can change as they understand something more. Donât âdo your own researchâ except to understand what current public health recommendations are and follow the instructions. They may change, and thatâs part of the process. (First leeches were good, then bad, now theyâre good again. Go figure.)
The ongoing debates about vaccinations, masks, and climate change are stupefying in many ways, but especially so when I think about it in terms of thought processes, reason, and simple logic. When I am sorting through complex information on a subject that I know is beyond my understanding and intellectual reach, and the vast majority of those with expertise in the relevant fields are coming down on one side of an issue, I am going to take that side unless and until it is definitively proven that those with the decidedly minority position are correct. To me, that is just logical. I am mystified by those who take the opposite approach. The only explanation I can come up with is they are being driven, consciously or unconsciously, by a form of confirmation bias.
I am concerned about the virus. I am not concerned about the safety of the vaccine. While acknowledging that nothing is guaranteed or foolproof, I trust those epidemiologists and others in the field who have determined it to be sufficiently safe. I consider placing trust in these people and institutions to be logical. I readily acknowledge that I have no basis or requisite background knowledge upon which to study the issue myself and reach my own conclusion. So, yes, it is a matter of trust in those experts, those institutions, and, writ large, science itself.
, it still makes sense to get a booster and continue educating your immune system
This is all people need to know. Thereâs so much discussion in the press and online by people without a background in the sciences (not talking about you, specifically) that opine about what should/shouldnât be done based on a study or a conjecture or common sense. Itâs a massive case of âforest for the trees.â
Short version: medical experts study this crap for decades, understand nuance including pros/cons, and make recommendations that can change as they understand something more. Donât âdo your own researchâ except to understand what current public health recommendations are and follow the instructions. They may change, and thatâs part of the process. (First leeches were good, then bad, now theyâre good again. Go figure.)
The immunity faded and new cases rose to unacceptable levels. Even if the vaccines stopped working entirely, it appears that the booster shots work (but again probably only for two or three months). One likely reason the immunity effect is so weak is that the present vaccines are directed against an extinct variant. Where are the Delta vaccines?
The vaccines have not stopped working entirely. Your definition of working seems to be immunity from infection. There is far more to it than that; even after months vaxxed folks demonstrate resistance to serious infection as measured by hospitalization and death rates.
Our bodies need (and have) defense in depth. If we could reduce the covid death and hospitalization rates to that of vaxxed folks we would be having the equivalent of a bad flu season. We don't lock down and wreck our social and economic ecosystems over a bad flu season. We may still have high infection rates but we wouldn't have ICUs full of people gurgling their last on ventilators.
There may be no defense against the delta variant as effective as the vaccines were against the alpha variant. After decades of effort we don't have a vaccine against HIV.
The effort it took to develop the covid vaccines was immense. With that knowledge base tweaking one for the delta variant may not take as long or cost as much, but if people won't take it, if they keep whining that they aren't 100% effective, if they keep fastening on the aspects of the process they don't understand as if they were signs of malevolent intent why bother? And if after all that effort and expense if we only get a 10% improvement we would have been better off focusing on some other problem.
Like getting people to use the tools we already have, imperfect as they are. We could be done with this by now. We could be arguing about something else, and after a year and a half I am so ready to change the subject. But we can't. Because people are still getting sick, still dying, still falling for conspiracy theories, still searching desperately for any excuse to avoid that needle.
