Dr. X's Free Associations

Mask-wearing As An Act of Charity

I'm wearing masks again. I'm not happy about it. It's not required by law, but I'm doing it.

The latest we're hearing is that COVID-vaccinated patients who test positive for the virus rarely get very sick, but their nasopharyngeal viral load is as high as the unvaccinated and infected. The latter, however, tend to get much sicker than the vaccinated because the vaccine better protects the lungs than it protects the upper respiratory tract. What this also means is that COVID-vaccinated persons transmit the delta variant of the virus via fluid droplets passing through the upper respiratory tract just as aggressively as the unvaccinated transmit the virus.

The upshot is that vaccinated people don't have much to worry about by not wearing the mask. Wearing a mask would be more of an act of charity toward the unvaccinated, including those who are afraid of the vaccine and those who belligerently reject the vaccine as a political statement. Many of the latter ridicule those of us who are vaccinated, so it really does take an act of charity to wear a mask not for ourselves but for those who belittle us.

That's something that many docs and nurses have experienced with this pandemic. They must care for people who have demeaned them, dismissed their warnings, and laughed at their pleas to wear masks and vaccinate. But they do it because that is the ethos of a professional. In an ideal world, everyone would have that attitude.

Trump Supporters Are Nice [/sarc]

Officer Michael Fanone was violently beaten and repeatedly tasered by elements of the 1/6 Trump mob. He suffered a TBI and a heart attack during the ordeal. Here's a voicemail Officer Fanone received while he was testifying before the 1/6 committee.

Trump called his supporters to D.C. for a "Stop the Steal Rally," which sounds like an instruction to his supporters. He called them there on the day of the certification vote at the Capitol to Stop the Steal. He and his supporting speakers riled up the crowd by claiming the election was stolen, still without any evidence that stands up in court, even before Republican-appointed judges. Then he told his supporters to march down the street to the Capitol and fight like hell. He lied and said he was going with them.

Yesterday, several prominent Republicans blamed Nancy Pelosi for what happened.

No need to mince words here. The intellectual dishonesty and the outright lying among Republicans and Trump supporters are so breathtaking that one must consider the possibility that it's delusional for some of them. At the least, it is madness in the very real sense that crowds can go stark-raving mad. Throw in a sociopathic demagogue, and a nation can go mad.

The Republican Turn Toward Active Vaccine Support

The number of prominent Republicans strongly endorsing vaccination efforts has grown this week. As Damon Linker notes, something is going on, though the impetus for the shift remains unclear.

Was there an agreement that it would be in the interests of Americans given the recent Delta variant surge in cases? I'm skeptical of that explanation because the interests of Americans haven't mattered much to many Republicans who resisted even the simplest inconveniences to protect Americans from the pandemic. Has there been a shift in perceived political self-interest with the virus surging, especially in low-vaccination-rate Red states? That seems more plausible.

Whatever the reason, I'm glad to see this happening. We have the means to end this thing, but not the unified political will. Perhaps the Republican change of heart is inadequate and comes too late because of the now deeply entrenched resistance to vaccination, but again, I welcome this public shift in attitude.

 

Alabama Physician Writes About Her Experience With Sick And Dying Unvaccinated Patients. Receives Death Threats

AL.com:

Dr. Brytney Cobia said Monday that all but one of her COVID patients in Alabama did not receive the vaccine. The vaccinated patient, she said, just needed a little oxygen and is expected to fully recover. Some of the others are dying.

“I’m admitting young healthy people to the hospital with very serious COVID infections,” wrote Cobia, a hospitalist at Grandview Medical Center in Birmingham, in an emotional Facebook post Sunday. “One of the last things they do before they’re intubated is beg me for the vaccine. I hold their hand and tell them that I’m sorry, but it’s too late.”

[...]

“You kind of go into [the patient's room] thinking, ‘Okay, I’m not going to feel bad for this person, because they make their own choice,’” Cobia said. “But then you actually see them, you see them face to face, and it really changes your whole perspective, because they’re still just a person that thinks that they made the best decision that they could with the information that they have, and all the misinformation that’s out there.

“And now all you really see is their fear and their regret. And even though I may walk into the room thinking, ‘Okay, this is your fault, you did this to yourself,’ when I leave the room, I just see a person that’s really suffering, and that is so regretful for the choice that they made.”

Dr. Cobia is refusing interviews because she is receiving death threats since urging the unvaccinated to reconsider their decision.

British Right-wing Personality Deported From Australia Over Quarantine Violations

New York Times:

Katie Hopkins, a British right-wing provocateur who has drawn criticism for hateful comments including comparing migrants to cockroaches, will be deported from Australia after bragging about flouting the country’s hotel quarantine rules.

Ms. Hopkins arrived in the country to take part in a reality show, “Big Brother VIP,” and was required to isolate for two weeks in a hotel under coronavirus safety rules. On Saturday, she posted a video to Instagram and YouTube mocking these rules and detailing how she tried to frighten hotel staff by flinging open the door of her room “naked with no facemask.”

She seems nice.

Not The Onion

No, this is not satire. It's the Columbus Dispatch:

In a packed hearing room at the Ohio Statehouse, Republican lawmakers gave the microphone to a known conspiracy theorist who has spread misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, a physician licensed in Ohio and author of "Saying No to Vaccines," shared her views, promoted her credentials and fielded questions for more than 45 minutes during a House Health Committee hearing on House Bill 248.

"I'm sure you've seen the pictures all over the internet of people who have had these shots and now they're magnetized," Tenpenny, of Middleburg Heights in Cuyahoga County, said. "You can put a key on their forehead, it sticks. You can put spoons and forks all over and they can stick because now we think there is a metal piece to that."

And this led an agitated woman to show lawmakers that she's been magnetized.

We should show this clip to aliens who invade our planet. Prove to them we're the dumbest species in the solar system.pic.twitter.com/OpnpLSyN0v

— Isaac (@WorldofIsaac) June 9, 2021

I have never seen this before

Javier Báez.
El Mago.
The Magician. pic.twitter.com/yZX7HgUFCU

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 27, 2021

Russia Behind Attempts To Smear Vaccines In Europe?

Twitter News Highlights:

A mysterious company offered several social media personalities with large followings in France and Germany payments in exchange for spreading false information about COVID-19 vaccines, according to multiple reports. The social media users told journalists that they received emails in May offering substantial payments in exchange for producing videos with false and negative information about the Pfizer vaccine. Fazze, the company that sent the emails, claims to be a London-based PR agency, but several reports have shown there is no business registration for Fazze in England, and some have indicated the company is tied to Russia, according to The Guardian. Fazze has not responded to requests for comment, reports the AP.

It would not surprise me in the least if agents of the Russian government were behind this effort. Will wait, however, for Western intelligence to present evidence and conclusions.

Story:

Reading This Tweet Isn't Enough. Listen To What Rep gallagher Said On 1/6

Rep. Mike Gallagher voted against the January 6th commission, yet here he is locked in his office on January 6th calling it "banana republic crap" and begging Trump to call it off. Classic GOP hypocrisy. pic.twitter.com/aMzVaCNQhP

— Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) May 22, 2021

The General, The Professor at the UN Naval War College and The General

This is completely nuts, but at least the people burning piles of bodies in India will be relieved to know it was all a hoax https://t.co/J1Nr1WDX55

— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) May 21, 2021

I’m afraid I know Mike Flynn. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. https://t.co/0E5yXSK19Z

— Gen Michael Hayden (@GenMhayden) May 21, 2021

Girl falls under train after assault in Irish rail station

Back in April, a group of teenage boys, ages 13-16, attacked a group of teenage girls on a train platform in Howth, near Dublin Ireland. At the 35" mark, you can see that one of the girls falls under the train while trying to evade the attackers.

#howth words fail me. pic.twitter.com/cxzEST9mCx

— Michelle Traynor (@minnyshell) May 7, 2021

Fortunately, others warned the engineer, and the girl was pulled from beneath the train before it moved. The boys have been identified. The mother of one boy is threatening to sue the railroad because the video was leaked to the press.

Police believe they've identified the main culprits. No arrests have been made, but it's expected that the boys will be criminally charged as adults.

Story.

This isn't the most important story in the world. I'm just posting it because I found it shocking but personally familiar. It reminds me of where I lived until age thirteen.

Reader Photos

Photo by A Bear

In the foreground, a swimmer is observing the herring school in shallow near-shore water. The boat behind him is a boat assigned to do test samples of the herring to evaluate when to harvest them at the prime time. The red flag with a white diagonal stripe is to alert boats there is a diver/swimmer nearby.

The Ultimate Starbucks Froufrou Drink

I'm sure the person ordered this just so they could post a photo, but I wonder how it tasted and how much it cost.

When They Call Mitt Romney A Communist

Sen. Mitt Romney was booed by over 2,100 Republican delegates for the party’s state convention: "I’m a man who says what he means, and you know I was not a fan of our last president’s character issues,” Romney said as crowd shouted “traitor” or “communist”https://t.co/jJKMPZBFHJ

— Amanda Golden (@amandawgolden) May 1, 2021

 

Bull Yogurt