All things Covid and Political discussion .........Be Kind

[Hesi]

The message seems pretty clear to me from those stats.

If you catch Covid, and you are vaccinated, then you have a lot higher chance of not dying

Considering the scenario, is that NZ will 'open up', once it gets to a certain % of the population vaccinated, are those vaccinated death rates acceptable.

Also, as time goes by, how will these change

[mardigras]

NZ typically would get 100 deaths per million from the flu each year. More from a bad year. Those above are not a lot different to the flu. We can't continue to live in a bubble.

[Hesi]

Just pointing out

1.  The opposition have acknowledged that they would have followed pretty much the same lockdown strategy

2.  They would have used the expertise from mainly the same health professionals and academics

Regardless of who was in government, I think you would have found much the same end result in the way Covid has been managed.

Many so called experts have got it wrong

ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner has been expecting the economy to shrink by as much as 6 per cent this quarter, due to the lockdowns and restrictions since prompted by the Delta community outbreak

Unemployment is at 4%, lower than before the pandemic started

GDP June quarter grew by 2.8%  YTD Cum 5.1% growth

Both these figs, tend to contradict the raconteurial evidence

.

 

[Hesi]

A bit of light relief

US rapper and singer Nicki Minaj dabbled in epidemiology and men's healthcare this week, tweeting a warning about COVID-19 vaccines to her 22.6 million followers.

"My cousin in Trinidad won't get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen," Minaj claimed.

"His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding.

[von Smallhaussen]

and when the border finally opens

[ngakonui grass]

Just returned from a small shopping trip at a local Mall.Forgot to put on my mask and was approached by a Mall  Security person and advised to put on a mask.As i was standing by food outlets i looked around and witnessed plenty of humans hoeing into tucker with no mask.Rather than confusing the Security person with logic i placed on the mask and walked away from  Mrs Adolph without spending a cent.

Parking enforcement officers,Mall Security you can shove shopping in town up your   ^*&($#

[Maximus]

now now vS its quite within the rules to remove masks at cafes for the purpose of eating and drinking. It's also common sense ...Max knows this because a slurp of soy latte doesnt quite taste the same when filtered through said mask.

MM

[Globederby19]

1 minute ago, Maximus said:

It's also common sense

Where did common sense ever rear its head in relation to Covid.

[von Smallhaussen]

8 minutes ago, Maximus said:

now now vS its quite within the rules to remove masks at cafes for the purpose of eating and drinking. It's also common sense ...Max knows this because a slurp of soy latte doesnt quite taste the same when filtered through said mask.

MM

are you getting vS mixed up with NG ?? (asking for a friend)

[Maximus]

zacri, GD ... the world has gone uncommon-sensible since say, the late 1980s.

since whenever it became more important to be  'politically correct' than to do the good or right thing. And pandering to the wishes of the vocal minority. And using  'my mental health' and vulnerable circs as an excuse for your actions...

as for Covid in NZ, what Govt in its right mind appoints MBIE to take charge of MIQ - which is the basic reason for all these lockdowns in Auckland.

MM

[Maximus]

Just now, von Smallhaussen said:

are you getting vS mixed up with NG ?? (asking for a friend)

LOL..so sorry mate, yes of course ...make sure 'your friend' ng knows i was responding to his comments ..thanks for pointing out my mistook!

[Hesi]

So much misinformation about, about the vaccine, so many experts who have done their own research

Did a bit of checking up on the Pfizer vaccine, because it is the one being used in NZ

The main submission to the FDA, contained 340,000 pages, it was reviewed with urgency by the FDA, taking 97 days, approx 40% of the time it normally takes a submission of that length.

The emergency use submission, that had been submitted previously and approved, contained a meagre 110,000 pages, by comparison

Medsafe in NZ, would have followed an abbreviated evaluation pathway, by referencing a lot of overseas regulatory evaluation.  Pretty standard procedure, they don't have the resource to review 450,000 pages!

[von Smallhaussen]

14 hours ago, Hesi said:

So much misinformation about, about the vaccine, so many experts who have done their own research

Did a bit of checking up on the Pfizer vaccine, because it is the one being used in NZ

The main submission to the FDA, contained 340,000 pages, it was reviewed with urgency by the FDA, taking 97 days, approx 40% of the time it normally takes a submission of that length.

The emergency use submission, that had been submitted previously and approved, contained a meagre 110,000 pages, by comparison

Medsafe in NZ, would have followed an abbreviated evaluation pathway, by referencing a lot of overseas regulatory evaluation.  Pretty standard procedure, they don't have the resource to review 450,000 pages!

Hesiman - how was your McDonalds at 12.35am this morning?? 😋

[Hesi]

Buy one get one free, but wait there's more, a free jab with each Big Mac.  But wait I said, the jab is already free

 

[Hesi]

Covid 19 Delta outbreak: Hawaii anti-vaccine leader has regrets after getting virus

22 Sep, 2021 01:30 PM2 minutes to read

Chris Wikoff told Hawaii News Now this week that he helped start the Aloha Freedom Coalition last October. Photo / WCAX3

AP

 

 

A man who helped organise a Hawaii group that opposes Covid-19 vaccines and mandates says he contracted the disease and now has regrets.

Chris Wikoff told Hawaii News Now this week that he helped start the Aloha Freedom Coalition last October. He said he believed government shutdowns and mandates were threatening liberties and harming businesses.

"They were talking about vaccine passports and vaccine mandates and it seemed like it was over-the top totalitarianism and control," Wikoff said.

But then he and his wife contracted Covid-19.

 

 

"We were told the Covid virus was not that deadly. It was nothing more than a little flu. I can tell you it's more than a little flu," he said.

Wikoff was sent to a hospital on the west side of Oahu, but was transferred to a facility in Honolulu because there was not enough space. The state's hospitals were at or near capacity during the latest surge.

"I was in a bed. I can't move, I can't breathe," he recalled. "I was afraid I was going to die."

 

Wikoff is now considering getting vaccinated because his family and doctors recommend it.

"Probably getting Covid again would be more dangerous than getting the reaction from the vaccines," he said.

 

Wikoff said he asked the Aloha Freedom Coalition to remove his name as a member on state business registration. He is now warning people to not attend large protests like the ones the group staged in front of Hawaii Lt. Gov. Josh Green's home.

 

"Before I thought Josh Green was exaggerating the situation and after my experience he sounds very rational to me," he said.

 

Green responded that "I feel terrible for this gentleman that he got sick."

 

"He was obviously getting bad advice and I feel terrible that a lot of innocent people held off on getting vaccinated because they were listening to these fear tactics," Green said.

The protest group released a statement saying the group will continue protesting and wished Wikoff well.

[Hesi]

I note today, AP(Associated Press), reporting the deaths from Covid in the US, has reached on average 1900/day, and the majority of those are with the 71 million in America who are unvaccinated(64% have received one jab)

Pro rata that to the NZ population size, and you have 28/day.  Imagine the feeding frenzy amongst our media commentators if that was happening

[Hesi]

Data from ONS(Office Of National Statistics) in the UK

Out of more than 51,000 Covid deaths in England between January and July 2021, only 256 occurred after two doses.

[Globederby19]

Hers a good one from a judge in Auckland .

A man on a 24 hr curfew was caught buying a pie late at night and without a mask. Big deal.

The arrogant prick of a judge told the man "For heavens sake ,you have been in lockdown for the last five weeks,whats another few days' But then he added his own views on lockdown.

" I love it, its the perfect way of living as far as Im concerned".

Of course it is you arrogant overpaid ignorant prat. Anyone on yr income would love it and its why lockdowns favour the already rich. Tell that to the face of some of the owners of thousands of business that have gone under, losing homes, income, sanity and god knows what else.

F---k me , there are some privileged idiots out there.     ......Sorry Allen.

[Hesi]

We are starting to see more and more stats being reported from different regions and countries that are in line with the data below.  Notice also the incidence among younger age brackets

We all like you Rees, and would hate to see you incapacitated, so just go and get your frigging jabs, I know you already have a magnetic personality, so if it makes you more magnetic then all well and good

These charts show how much more often unvaccinated Albertans are being hospitalized and dying from COVID-19

Social Sharing

 

Alberta Health data accounts for age, vaccination status and population size of each group

 

Robson Fletcher · CBC News · Posted: Sep 16, 2021 8:21 PM MT | Last Updated: September 18

 

Kathryn Kazmerik, 32, receives her COVID-19 vaccine at the Telus Convention Centre mass-vaccination in Calgary on April 19, 2021. (Leah Hennel/AHS)

 

Recent rates of hospitalization, intensive care unit (ICU) admission and death among unvaccinated Albertans have been at least eight times higher — and as much as 60 times higher — compared to the fully vaccinated population, depending on which age range you look at.

That's according to a new CBC News analysis of data published by the provincial government.

 

Data experts with Alberta Health reviewed the analysis and confirmed the methodology as an effective way to compare severe outcomes relative to both vaccination status and age — while also accounting for the population sizes of each group.

These types of comparisons can be tricky, because the risk of severe outcomes increases with age, but so too does the rate of vaccination. As such, population-wide comparisons don't tell the full story.

• More Albertans are in ICU with COVID-19 than ever — and it's expected to get worse

For example, it's often reported that unvaccinated Albertans make up just 32 per cent of the population but a whopping 74 per cent of the COVID-19 patients in hospital. But this actually under-represents the risk for unvaccinated adults, because a huge proportion of the unvaccinated population is made up of children who are both ineligible for the vaccine and unlikely to end up in hospital.

Breaking the data down by age helps to better understand how things compare among the vaccinated versus the unvaccinated.

"Age, in particular, really controls a few outcomes here in the province," said Craig Jenne, a professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Calgary.

 

Craig Jenne is an associate professor of microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Calgary. (Jennifer Lee/CBC)

Jenne also reviewed the data analysis and says it illustrates how effective vaccination against COVID-19 has been in Alberta, so far.

"We see that there's huge protection offered by vaccines, and that's something I think gets missed in the daily updates when we simply see numbers or the percentage of people in hospital," he said.

Here's how it breaks down.

Hospitalizations

It's well known by now that older people are far more likely to end up in hospital than younger people, but looking at the data by both age and vaccination status reveals some stark comparisons.

For instance, it shows that unvaccinated Albertans in their 30s have been ending up in hospital with COVID-19 at roughly the same rate as fully vaccinated Albertans over the age of 80.

From mid-May to mid-September, 400 unvaccinated people in their 30s were admitted to hospital with COVID-19.

That works out to a rate of about 146 hospitalizations per 100,000 unvaccinated 30-somethings over that four-month span.

And that's almost identical to the rate of hospitalization among fully vaccinated Albertans aged 80 and up.

 

Meanwhile, among unvaccinated Albertans 80 and over, the rate was nine times higher — 1,271 hospitalizations per 100,000.

And the differences in ICU admissions were even starker.

Intensive care units

Just seven fully vaccinated Albertans in their 50s have been admitted to an intensive care unit with COVID-19 since mid-May.

That compares to 181 unvaccinated people of the same age — despite the fact that there are far fewer of them.

Fully vaccinated 50-somethings were admitted to ICU at a rate of less than 3 per 100,000.

The rate among the unvaccinated, by comparison, was 139 per 100,000.

 

It was a similar story among unvaccinated Albertans in their 60s and 70s, who were admitted to ICU at rates about 60 times higher than their fully vaccinated counterparts.

There were major differences among younger Albertans, as well.

Not a single fully vaccinated person under the age of 40 was admitted to ICU over the past four months.

That compares to 129 people under the age of 40 who were eligible for the vaccine but didn't get a shot.

One person in their 30s who was partially immunized, with a single dose of vaccine, did wind up in ICU during that time.

Deaths

Similar with ICU admissions, there was not a single death among fully vaccinated Albertans under the age of 40 in the past four months.

That compares to seven deaths among unvaccinated people of the same age.

 

When it comes to the most vulnerable age group — those 80 and over — there were 61 deaths among the unvaccinated, who represent a tiny proportion of the total population in that age range.

That translates to a rate of about 393 per 100,000.

The rate among fully vaccinated Albertans aged 80-plus, meanwhile, was 42 per 100,000.

Bottom line: Vaccinated versus unvaccinated

For Jenne, the infectious-disease expert with the University of Calgary, the implications of the data are clear.

"Vaccines are dramatically reducing loss of life, hospitalization and intensive-care-unit admissions across the province," he said.

This can be seen, he said, by directly comparing the rates of hospitalization, ICU admission and death among the fully vaccinated and the unvaccinated in each age range.

Those numbers are set out in the table below.

 

As the number of COVID-19 patients in ICU set another new high on Thursday, the Alberta government reached out to Ontario to ask for help, in case Alberta completely runs out of capacity in the near future and needs to fly patients out of province for intensive care.

"I cannot stress enough how serious the situation is in our hospitals," said Dr. Verna Yiu, president and CEO of Alberta Health Services.

"I also cannot stress enough that we need your help. Please get immunized. ... The vaccine is safe — and effective."

---

Notes about the data and methodology:

Alberta Health publishes two different sets of data that were used for this analysis.

The first is the total number of people who have been hospitalized, admitted to ICU or died over the past 120 days, broken down by their age range and vaccination status.

The second is the number of people in each age range who are fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated or unvaccinated. For the purposes of the analysis, the size of the fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated and unvaccinated population in each age range was calculated by taking an average of daily data over the past 120 days.

These population sizes were then used to calculate the rates of hospitalization, ICU admission and death per 100,000 fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated and unvaccinated people in each age range. 

This method doesn't account exactly for the individual vaccination status of every person who was hospitalized, admitted to ICU or died of COVID-19, but officials with Alberta Health said "as an overall method this approach does make sense" as a means of making better comparisons between each of these sub-groups at an aggregate level.

One other caveat Alberta Health noted is that the data on hospitalization, ICU admission and death by vaccination status over the past 120 days defines a "fully vaccinated" person as someone who had their second dose at least two weeks earlier, and a "partially vaccinated" person as someone who had their first dose at least two weeks earlier. This differs from the vaccine-uptake data, in which the dates are "based strictly on receiving a dose."

 

[Globederby19]

Oh please give me a break. Im sure if you lot lived in Germany in the 1930,s and 40,s , well the rest is history. 

One word . LEMMINGS.  You are part of the biggest social engineering regime in history. Play Russian roulette you poor buggers with your health, I really feel sorry for you all. 

One word  LEMMINGS.

[pete]

32 minutes ago, Globederby19 said:

Oh please give me a break. Im sure if you lot lived in Germany in the 1930,s and 40,s , well the rest is history. 

One word . LEMMINGS.  You are part of the biggest social engineering regime in history. Play Russian roulette you poor buggers with your health, I really feel sorry for you all. 

One word  LEMMINGS.

Bit of a stretch there mate but you are entirely entitled to your views on this.

 

[Maximus]

Rees ...go get a couple of jabs, please. If not for yourself, then for your nearest and dearest. Max had his 2nd jab two months ago and all I can report about side effects is that my form for the Super Comp was HOT for a month then faded away. You're probably gonna tell me it was the needle's fault.

Max is not at all surprised to learn this arvo that Shaun Hendy's latest 'modelling' on the potential 'catastrophe' of Covid deaths in NZ has proven to be bull-caca (his stats were based on Medium efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine, when it should have been High Efficacy). Anyone with half a brain would've been skeptical about those figures anyway, simply based on the 1-2% mortality rate of Covid in this country. 

Hendy's credibility is now NIL (or lower), and the Government  - that is no doubt paying him and his department of Varsity bureaucrats big bucks to scare the people with these stats - should hang their heads in shame.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Maximus

[craigos1]

I must admit I was surprised with Prof Hendy's modelling also.

I certainly don't think he is a moron but the figures he quoted quite frankly mean jack!!

I had Wednesday off work (had None)& heard about the Earthquake in Melbourne so flicked over to Sky News Australia .............. not my usual source for information ........ Melbourne's version of our 1pm update was occurring.

What I heard was people in

Hospital %

Unvaccinated 85%

Vaccinated 1 dose 12%

Vaccinated 2 doses 3%

So I would advise everyone to get the jabs ............. dosen't hurt and you are able to continue on as you always have , once things open up .

I've had both my jabs.

Cheers,

Craig.

 

[Hesi]

What was not reported about Hendy's modeling, was at 85% the fig drops to about one third and at 90% it is just over 100, so perhaps it is the press that are scaremongering by selective reporting of his modelling

[Hesi]

If you look at the data for the surge in deaths in countries that have high vaccination rates, it is being  put down to infections in the lower age groups that have lower vaccination rates, and of course, the relaxation of restrictions.

Morale of the story, a lot to learn still in the Covid game and how to handle it