COVID-19 Infection Rates Seem to Be Dropping in Most States

[MineralMan]

Here in Minnesota, yesterday's data show that 800-something people tested positive, and there were just 7 deaths from COVID. We have a relatively high rate of vaccination, but there is still a large pool of unvaccinated people in the state. People continue to become infected, get hospitalized, and die of the disease, even in states like Minnesota, which is doing well with its vaccination campaign.

I am not a scientist, a medical professional, or any other such thing, but I know that having a pool of unvaccinated people will allow the pandemic to continue, even at lower infection rates. That is not a good thing in any way. As long as there is a significant population that remains unvaccinated, the disease will continue to infect people.

Yesterday, I posted about India's severe outbreak. A couple of people attacked my post as unscientific and fear mongering. It was not either of those things. Instead, the post was made to keep people's attention on the fact that the disease is still a global pandemic, and that we should not drop our guard. We need to pay attention to the continuing issue that COVID-19 presents.

I said in that post that the more cases there are, the more opportunity there will be for new variants to emerge. Some of those variants may make the current vaccines less effective, and additional variants may pose an increased threat to the unvaccinated.

I'm not pretending to be a virologist. I'm not an epidemiologist, either. I'm just a follower of the news, and want to call everyone's attention to the current state of the pandemic. If that is something that is wrong to do, I cannot imagine a valid argument for saying it is wrong.

If you have such an argument, I will read it, though. If you believe we need not be concerned about the state of the pandemic in India or Brazil, please explain to me why we needn't be concerned. I will read your explanation.

Meanwhile, funeral pyres are burning all across India to dispose of those who have died of COVID-19. The numbers continue to grow. Should that not concern us?

[5X]

1. Oklahoma clinics have been instructed not to report numbers of infections anymore.

More hiding of info from our governor.

[MineralMan]

4. Yes. Some states are taking exactly the wrong approach,

and for purely political reasons. My hope is that the citizens of those states are taking note of that, and realizing that people they know and love are dying of COVID-19. If that is the case, perhaps we'll get some changes, even in blood-red states.

[Quakerfriend]

2. I concur with you completely MM

I heard one epidemiologist say that as many as 100 NEW variants were emerging in India each day- Sorry, I don’t recall the source. People need to understand that these variants can most certainly become more virulent.

[MineralMan]

5. Well, some seem to think that we're OK here in the USA.

I mean, we have vaccines. Sadly, due to political nonsense, we also have a large pool of people who refuse those vaccines. In many states, we are not even approaching a level of vaccination that will provide any herd immunity at all.

The unvaccinated may be at even a higher risk of infection from new variants, some of which have already been shown to be more virulent.

We need to keep our guard up and pay attention to what is happening in the rest of the world.

[ananda]

3. India should worry us bigly.

.... the possibility of more deadly and/or vaccine-resistant
strains is defiinitely in the offing.

[MineralMan]

6. Not to mention the rising death toll in India.

We all live on the same planet, after all. We are all human beings. If we allow ourselves to ignore things in other places, we lose some of our humanity, it seems to me.

[Dustlawyer]

7. You have the scientist/doctors firmly in your corner.

You were merely repeating what I have heard Fauci and others say.

I have spoken with a couple of people who refuse to get the vaccine. They are worried about possible long term effects. I told them your risk of serious lung or other organ damage, up to and including death, is far greater than “possible long term effects”, but to no avail.

We have to stop the propaganda being spread! Spreading actual facts is very important, please keep it up!

[MineralMan]

8. Thanks.

Some folks read only part of a post and then jump on that part to disagree with the poster.

It's unfortunate.

[Treefrog]

9. Very true.

You were unfairly attacked in my opinion. But I'm just a low post count member too, so what do I know lol?