This is a most worthwhile op-ed blog post on vaccine liability and patent protection.
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Please do not make the mistake of blithely assuming I agree with everything that Cochrane writes, though in this particular blog post, Cochrane is spot on.
Recall that the influenza vaccines are, on average, just shy of 60% effective. Better than modern marriages but still....
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Also recall that cases of influenza and related deaths have sharply declined since early 2020. Most likely due to social distancing and the wearing of masks.
black321, it might take more than weeks, perhaps months. But from a health and broad social-economic perspective, it will be without a doubt most worthwhile to continue to wear mask in indoor public places and crowded outdoor places.
I added the qualifier on the 'economic perspective' because so many seem to believe that economics should about me, myself and I.
Honestly, i dont get the resistance to wear a mask inside a public space, FOR A FEW MORE WEEKS. I'm not an epidemiologist, so you wont get the answer you want from me, but these people are still saying, wear a mask. (probably out of an abundance of caution) The CDC reports that 54.2 percent of people in the US 18 years of age or older have been vaccinated at least once, with 37.3 percent having been fully vaccinated. The virus is still quite active in many areas. As westslope noted, there are the new variants, which we are still learning about. My understanding is, even if you are vaccinated, it is still possible you can spread the virus. The MIT study showed that wearing masks inside is highly effective in containing virus spread.
I'm all for opening most things up, but wearing a mask seems so innocuous for most, with little cost. So when i step into a grocery store, I'll put on a mask without any qualms. I suppose for folks who work in public spaces, this is a bigger issue...but for most its no more than an inconvenience that may result in a few extra pimples.
At some point, we need to get on with our lives...but we have invested quite bit over the past year, so what's a few more weeks?
I was wearing a mask back in March '20 and was accused of theatrics. For me to wear one now would be. I'm not likely to spread covid or catch it. If my wearing a mask will help encourage others to wear a mask to protect themselves and others who haven't been vaccinated for some reason... they would have been wearing one a year ago. I mean, don't talk about hypothetical situations, tell me how my wearing a mask protects anyone or helps in any way. Clearly, some people here think I'm missing something (marbles, most likely) so please tell me.
In effect, that is our second vaccine as both of us tested positive in early April.
We are scheduled to have a 3rd vaccine in August.
A public health worker warned us that we could get nasty symptoms from the vaccine because both of us had previously been 'infected'. So far so good. I am about to sign off and go shovel some rocks in the backyard.
I was wearing a mask back in March '20 and was accused of theatrics. For me to wear one now would be. I'm not likely to spread covid or catch it. If my wearing a mask will help encourage others to wear a mask to protect themselves and others who haven't been vaccinated for some reason... they would have been wearing one a year ago. I mean, don't talk about hypothetical situations, tell me how my wearing a mask protects anyone or helps in any way. Clearly, some people here think I'm missing something (marbles, most likely) so please tell me.
Pretty sure all the marbles are there.
Mutations. That is a good reason for wearing a mask until some critical threshold of the larger population is vaccinated and enough time has gone by to exhibit the effectiveness.
Recall that the influenza vaccines are, on average, just shy of 60% effective. Better than modern marriages but still....
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In passing, folks who are alone in their automobiles yet constantly wear their masks..... yeah, they look silly.
Getting back to masks...only 38% of the population has been fully vaccinated. There is a good argument to keep wearing masks inside public spaces. Risk(cost)/reward. There is very little risk (cost) to wearing a mask indoors. (I still don't know why these things are getting stirred up...this world just can't seem to get its shit together and come together on anything.)
I was wearing a mask back in March '20 and was accused of theatrics. For me to wear one now would be. I'm not likely to spread covid or catch it. If my wearing a mask will help encourage others to wear a mask to protect themselves and others who haven't been vaccinated for some reason... they would have been wearing one a year ago. I mean, don't talk about hypothetical situations, tell me how my wearing a mask protects anyone or helps in any way. Clearly, some people here think I'm missing something (marbles, most likely) so please tell me.
Getting back to masks...only 38% of the population has been fully vaccinated. There is a good argument to keep wearing masks inside public spaces. Risk(cost)/reward. There is very little risk (cost) to wearing a mask indoors. (I still don't know why these things are getting stirred up...this world just can't seem to get its shit together and come together on anything.)
I was wearing a mask back in March '20 and was accused of theatrics. For me to wear one now would be. I'm not likely to spread covid or catch it. If my wearing a mask will help encourage others to wear a mask to protect themselves and others who haven't been vaccinated for some reason... they would have been wearing one a year ago. I mean, don't talk about hypothetical situations, tell me how my wearing a mask protects anyone or helps in any way. Clearly, some people here think I'm missing something (marbles, most likely) so please tell me.
Getting back to masks...only 38% of the population has been fully vaccinated. There is a good argument to keep wearing masks inside public spaces. Risk(cost)/reward. There is very little risk (cost) to wearing a mask indoors. (I still don't know why these things are getting stirred up...this world just can't seem to get its shit together and come together on anything.)
There are some pretty famous studies on risk aversion. Daniel Kahneman's has some interesting behaviors studied. The $25 loss/$100 win idea is explained a bit (with larger numbers).
Kahneman wrote "Thinking Fast and Slow" about a decade ago. It's an interesting view on critical thinking and how we process issues. I was on a project with him and his consulting firm a while back. Interesting ideas that are nearly impossible to implement in a corporate setting.
Michael Lewis wrote a sort of biography of Kahneman and Tversky called The Undoing Project, if you want some fascinating background. Cool that you got to work with him.
No that's a related but different phenomenon. Even if I understand the mathematics (see also: the Monty Hall problem), I also understand that a bird in the hand, etc.
The risk assessment problem is just peoples' inability to reconcile, say, their fear of dying in a plane crash with the fact that air travel is the safest way to go.
There are some pretty famous studies on risk aversion. Daniel Kahneman's has some interesting behaviors studied. The $25 loss/$100 win idea is explained a bit (with larger numbers).
Kahneman wrote "Thinking Fast and Slow" about a decade ago. It's an interesting view on critical thinking and how we process issues. I was on a project with him and his consulting firm a while back. Interesting ideas that are nearly impossible to implement in a corporate setting.
Being risk averse in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Using rule of thumb behaviour that essentially manifests risk aversion can be rational and logical as the costs of information gathering and processing are minimized.
I guess what I meant to say is that even someone who considers themselves to not be risk averse is susceptible to the same failure to accurately gauge the risk, so they think they're being daring when they chose the safer option. And vice versa, people think they're being safe when they're not.
No that's a related but different phenomenon. Even if I understand the mathematics (see also: the Monty Hall problem), I also understand that a bird in the hand, etc.
The risk assessment problem is just peoples' inability to reconcile, say, their fear of dying in a plane crash with the fact that air travel is the safest way to go.
Yes.
Being risk averse in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Using rule of thumb behaviour that essentially manifests risk aversion can be rational and logical as the costs of information gathering and processing are minimized.
are you saying people are risk averse...which they are. Given the choice of receiving $25 or the opportunity to win $100 by flipping a coin, most take the $25, even though the expected value of the latter is higher ($50).
No that's a related but different phenomenon. Even if I understand the mathematics (see also: the Monty Hall problem), I also understand that a bird in the hand, etc.
The risk assessment problem is just peoples' inability to reconcile, say, their fear of dying in a plane crash with the fact that air travel is the safest way to go.
....People are terrible at assessing risk. Absolutely horrible at it. ......
So true.
As for those of us who say: "Wait a minute! I have made risk assessment errors in the past." Well, if you recognize the error, then you are in a position to learn which still leaves you in a relatively small select minority.
It has been fascinating to watch health professionals and related experts make all kinds of errors in this pandemic. To be expected and perfectly normal. What is important is that most professionals and experts have quickly recovered and changed course. Data driven processes are so logical, yet so hard to do.
This has to be very hard for ordinary folks who do not understand the process. Perhaps that explains the ongoing popularity of rigid, conservative religions, authoritarian charismatic leaders and some really bizarre secular ideologies.
