Delta, Dementia and the Elderly

Crushed

We are starting to get good data on the risk of the Delta variant to vaccinated Elderly people. 

(My Brother in law who is 77 just had a breakthrough infection) 

The probability of getting infected is about the same as for unvaccinated people, although the hospitalization and death rates are about a fifth so far.  DD#1 (family vaccine expert) says boosters for all over 70 will be a very good idea.  

Right now masks are vital when visiting any facility to *$%& transmission both ways .

FWIW I got a negative covid PCR test results yesterday.  I got tested after the beach trip
  

DrinaJGB

My healthy son in law just got out of quarantine due to a breakthrough infection. He had fever,sweats so badly had to constantly change sheets, cough so badly had to get on steroids. He is only 39--fully vaccinated. I shudder to think what would have happened if he hadn't been. This variant is brutal.

Jo C.

Scary - when it is said, a "mild" case, it is not always truly mild; can get really sick like a bad flu, but most often hospitalzation not needed and rare for a person to die who has been vaccinated.

Here is an excellent inteview done with a young ER physician who is also an Asst. Professor of Medicine.   This discussion is around the issue of questioning the COVID Vaccine and its efficacy, and it gets done very well.  I enjoyed watching it to the end when he discusses the patients who go to be vaccinated secretly letting no one know.  Whatever, at least they are vaccinated.

Here is the link:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/emergency-physician-warns-against-questioning-vaccine-efficacy-youre-betting-against-the-house-143859273.html

J.

Crushed

Maryland is one of the few states that is totally transparent and up to date with its numbers
From the website

   Less than 0.27% of fully vaccinated Maryland residents later tested positive for COVID-19.

About 3,337,503 Maryland residents have been fully vaccinated as of August 8, 2021.

There have been 9,079 COVID-19 cases among fully vaccinated Maryland residents.
Of those cases, there were:

733 cases hospitalized, representing 5.6% of all COVID-19 cases hospitalized

76 deaths, representing 5.0% of lab-confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Maryland

 

markus8174

This very issue has me so very down this week I don't know where to turn. A beloved granddaughter was spouting on Facebook that she doesn't like governments paying people to get the vaccine. You see that is "Classist" and is disrespectful of the poor, I guess as opposed to letting them die of Covid and likely spread it to several others while they are doing it, that's respectful. After some cordial discussion, my sister-in-law started posting Q-anon conspiracy nonsense on my granddaughters page. The whole 9 yards about the vaccines being a plot of Bill Gates and the "Deep State", and how the vaccinated are all going to be dead in less than a year because the vaccines are slow poison...  I felt perhaps I was being less vocal about the risks involved for our loved ones in nursing homes than I should be as my spouse's advocate, and posted on MY page a plea that anyone who has chosen to not get the vaccine could you please not visit your loved ones in nursing homes until this new wave dies down some. No judgement, not criticism, just a plea to stay away until the danger has passed a bit. Sister-in-law and I are no longer Facebook friends, a rather nasty personal message followed, but the good news, she did say she would leave the visiting to us vaccinated people. No loss, but I don't like making enemies, especially of family. That, plus the fact she is one of the few members of the family that had visited a couple of times in the last year. Some days there is just no good way to look at the world. I often pray for the Rapture. Other times I fantasize about arranging a head start to the afterlife just so I don't have to put up with this world any longer. We're overdue for a new one.

Crushed

I have spent my whole career doing science based safety regulation.  Engineering, Medicine, Physics, Chemistry etc.   Everything from hormones to aircraft icing.   I have all my career taken endless abuse from those who finally realize the science does not support their political or economic or religious views.   I've worked on real science, junk science, creation science. laboratory science, social science, observational science, Nazi "science"   and scientific, medical and engineering ethics.  Never in my career have I seen so many politicians pandering to obvious grotesque scientific nonsense.  At least a thousand  people a day are dying to prove that vaccines actually work.  When you present the data to the (expletive deleted vaccine deniers) They claim the number are fake  and the whole problem is aliens from Mexico or Mars.   Yes people have died from the vaccine but a thousand times more have died from not having the vaccine.  Yes people die despite having the vaccine , that is the nature of medicine in an emergency.  But the number is still small.  

Excess death analysis from last year makes it clear that the surge of Alzheimer's deaths last year was unrecognized covid.  Our loved ones are often very vulnerable to this insanity.  Older people have low grade immune systems without without a vaccine.  Breakthrough infections are more common and death is more common.   Be careful yourself and take all precautions. 

Quilting brings calm

It’s definitely not just the elderly either.  I was at the quilt store today attending a sit and sew group( only two of us).  The  owner got a call and had to leave.  She needed to go get tested because her 2 year old grandson tested positive. He got it from his aunt.  The quilt store owner had been with him several days prior.  She called back to the store later.  Her rapid test was negative.  However, it’s only 75% accurate. Since she had been exposed, she also had to take a regular test before she could come back to work.  She is fully vaccinated. 

I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve known of (friends of friends, etc) that have had it or even have died from it.   Even the people who refuse to vaccinated or wear masks because ‘their faith will protect them’ admit knowing people who have died.  I just don’t get it.   It makes you wonder if they would take a smallpox or polio booster if they were told we needed them. 

Crushed

Just for information

CDC defines breakthrough INFECTIONS differently from Breakthrough CASES

a vaccine breakthrough infection is defined as the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA or antigen in a respiratory specimen collected from a person ≥14 days after they have completed all recommended doses of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-authorized COVID-19 vaccine.

Identifying and investigating hospitalized or fatal vaccine breakthrough CASES

CDC monitors reported hospitalized or fatal vaccine breakthrough CASES for clustering by patient demographics, geographic location, time since vaccination, vaccine type, and SARS-CoV-2 lineage. Reported data include hospitalized or fatal breakthrough cases due to any cause, including causes not related to COVID-19. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/health-departments/breakthrough-cases.html

CASES are rare INFECTIONS are not.