GaryPinC

Ok, sorry to hear about your troubles and glad you have so much expertise. My son was born 3 times at the Cleveland Clinic and took quite a bit of my time to get corrected. Not the hospital nor insurance realizing billing mistakes were made, me. In my case, we didn't have a name immediately picked out and the nurses entered it in to the system 3 times to make sure it got billed "correctly". One way was "baby boy (my last name)", son's SS number, and my son's eventual full name. It was incredibly frustrating. Potential widespread Covid fraud via the motorcycle accident example and hospitals needing to bill every possible case as Covid are much proclaimed by our resident right-wingers. While I have no doubt there will be some billing issues come to light, it seems there is no widespread fraud. With your considerable expertise and firsthand experience, have you personally seen convincing evidence that this is a big problem? Because the motorcycle problem was a resolved mistake and the financial impetus to skew doesn't seem as great as you made it out to be.

No, it makes sense therapeutics take longer as they have a more complex regulatory pathway. Pharmacokinetics and toxicology play a much larger role.

I completely agree with you, but those are separate issues from attempting to claim there's widespread Covid fraud skewing the numbers. Have you considered that federal/state governments allocated funds to help keep hospitals afloat as they did (tried to do) for businesses? https://www.nashp.org/covid-19-federal-funds-for-hospitals-providers-and-states/ https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/funding-for-health-care-providers-during-the-pandemic-an-update/ So, maybe there wasn't so much impetus to skew numbers. Do you really think government wanted hospitals going under during a lockdown pandemic? Also, "skewing" numbers is healthcare fraud. There are strict rules and penalties and anonymous national reporting phone numbers and websites. Given the amount of layoffs in front-line workers, don't you think if there was massive fraud it would have come out? The majority of health-care workers are driven to help their patients and would have low tolerance for something like this. Have you considered all this or do you simply follow blindly what your "trusted" news sources say?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/uh-oh-the-coronavirus-has-been-spreading-widely-in-us-deer/ar-AAQkvDu?li=BBnb7Kz Oh Crap. Who's going to mask and isolate all these deer as rut gets going? Watch out for those hormone-driven antlers! 😂

I certainly didn't grasp it because most of your post was spent railing on lefties, spewing statistics to try and minimize the extra death burden (while ignoring the overall health burden) this virus has created, then being hypocritically guilty of that which you were railing against, so thanks for clarifying. I have no problem railing on lefties but please stop pretending you are making a cogent argument because you're only fooling yourself. While I certainly agree that some countries and US states were and continue to be over-the-top to varying degrees, protective measures were necessary until medicine and science could catch up to this virus. Your prism is par for the course in Russia. They just had to implement their first lockdown as their mostly nonchalant attitude has created this: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/russia/#graph-deaths-daily These are the deaths, mirrored by the case numbers. There are no lags, nor return to a true baseline as of yet. We haven't cancelled every event for 20 months and masking rules have changed. It may be futile to rationally discuss, given your love of hyperbole, but the rules have changed dynamically and will continue to do so as needed.

google search leads to two single cases: Here's your motorcycle crash: https://wpde.com/news/nation-world/man-who-died-in-motorcycle-crash-counted-as-covid-19-death-in-florida-report-07-18-2020 MOST IMPORTANTLY, here's a great article explaining that it was not counted. https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/verify/covid-deaths-car-crash-comorbidities-coronavirus-death-total-counts-john-hopkins-study/65-e3842ed2-f753-4a15-8b97-c2ae75c2b2ce Read it. It's a great article and please stop blowing things out of proportion. Mistakes happen. There are also procedures in place to correct these mistakes.

So, the left looks "through a prism that starts with zero deaths ever happen" while you appear to look through a prism that people die all the time, so what? "The Left is just incapable of reviewing data, particularly cause of death data," "They are likely Old People who are ill and die of....SOMETHING." Way to show those lefties some mind-blowing hypocrisy.

Yeah, again, it's 144 patients in Erie County it could be an anomaly or explanation for the data but it bears investigation. With the holiday season almost upon us, and the corresponding winter surge to follow, it might be good to get boosters to the proper people.

Singapore is around 84% vaccination rate achieved mostly this summer and by early August 2021 with Pfizer and Moderna (ironically not the Chinese vaccines). The vaccines should be working. My point is when do they start to lose efficacy, sometime after 6 months and maybe variable for immunocompromised, aged patients? Point is the CDC/epidemiologists need to be focusing on shoring up specific guidelines for different high risk patients and getting the word out a little more forcefully. People like my parents (around 80) got their second dose in March and are getting a booster tomorrow. How long have they been at increased risk? We need to tease out ineffectiveness for Delta vs need for booster and high hospital numbers (percentages) of fully vaxxed patients across increasing severities should be carefully considered as a top priority.

In an optimum solution, the Dems flush Biden/Harris in 2024 and both parties put up decent candidates for a change. I do favor Nikki Haley and Tulsi Gabbard, though I think Tulsi's out as a serious candidate. I would also support DeSantis after kicking the tires a bit more. Dems are harder for me because of all the socialism. Any Biden replacement will be much farther left, I fear. I voted for Trump the first time and I liked what he was doing with trade, getting us out of wars, negotiating freely and bringing companies back in, etc. It's just his ego and narcissism blew up and he's unelectable in my eyes. No way I could vote for him the second time and all his BS shenanigans post-election proved why. He was and has his own swamp and it's not better than the current one. We need somebody closer to center to stand tall and make the tough decisions like Trump without the rest of his sewer rat personality.

So, a very disturbing tweet for me from Mark Poloncarnz if true: follow up tweet: "Of the 145 COVID-19 patients in the hospital on November 1, 88 patients (61%) were not fully vaccinated, 22 (65%) of 34 ICU patients were not fully vaccinated, and 14 (61%) of 23 patients with an airway assist were not fully vaccinated. 2/2" Very, very, very small numbers but if true nearly 40% of their patients are fully vaccinated and that percent follows through increasing severity! The good news is Pfizer's booster dose restores immunity up to initial levels: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211021005491/en/ To summarize: 10,000 participants age 16 and up, median 11 months past second dose, monitored for covid 7 days post injection with 2.5 month follow up. Looking at the timings, I would estimate the booster study was done in late spring/early June with 2.5 follow-up late summer before concluding study, if so it did hold up against Delta. Bottom line is if you are older or know anyone high risk for Covid on Pfizer vaccine, go get your booster. Protection may be significantly degraded after 6 months. Some evidence Moderna's lasts longer but not sure how much longer. Just a reminder that natural immunity protection will also fade over time, but this may be a CDC fail. 40% is way too large a number, can this be unique to Erie county? If not, the CDC is really dropping the ball IMO.

Yah, and they can pay us fans $12 an hour plus a free game ticket to shovel it off! The next great Bills Mafia videos. Tables were child's play!

For like a game or two at most until the next inevitable injury occurs. No thanks, way too injury prone.

Exactly, thanks for adding this as it's crucial when making conclusions on the bigger picture. And it kills me this attention to these details get whitewashed by the CDC. They should have a higher standard

I don't put a lot of stock in the magnitude of those numbers and this is what drives me crazy about the CDC. The devil is in the details. This study compares myocarditis rates of people, with kids as a subset, who were admitted to hospitals with Covid vs uninfected. Probably in the last 6-12 months. I would think the kids Covid group is a really small number, and what percent of total Covid+ kids are admitted to the hospital? Again, a very small number. When considered against the premise of mass vaccinations of kids, I'm unsure this proves your odds of myocarditis are lower with the vaccines compared to Covid-at-large, and I don't feel it's scientifically honest to draw that conclusion from this study.

Thanks for the kind, thoughts. Yes, it should be just an inconvenience, as were his tight chest and light-headedness his first week back to football. My point is, even in these low risk kids there are risks to contracting Covid and I hope every parent/person carefully weighs the fact that right now your risk of long term effects from Covid far outweigh similar risks from the vaccine. Too often we are fixated by death stats. And I understand reticence about the new vaccine technology, but given the short half life of the vaccine and the epidemiological focus on them, potential toxic effects of any vaccines decades later are highly, highly unlikely and even more unlikely to be traced back to the vaccine. No, the time is now and in the next couple years, but with hundreds of millions of doses administered in over a year, the mRNA's have looked great. With these mRNA vaccines, the biggest risk is inducing an auto-immune disorder, which should be apparent very quickly, as in clinical trials quickly. WRT kids, I'd like to offer my perspective. I really don't see the point of vaccinating kids under 12, given they are less likely to contract it to begin with and be asymptomatic. The newer fact that the vaccinated can still carry and transmit delta means there should be no mandates on all school kids up to twenty-somethings. But I don't fear the vaccines and will talk to my son's doctor about it but hold off for now.

Well, in my research with pigs, myocarditis makes your heart more susceptible to fatal arrhythmias, so it's occurrence shouldn't be minimized. While it occurs because of the vaccines, we don't know what effect Covid would have had on those particular patients. Post- infection, my son had tight chest and light headedness his first week back to football. It may have been respiratory, but the trainer did some pulse ox readings that made me suspect cardiac, so who knows?

Well here, it's the Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/10/boys-more-at-risk-from-pfizer-jab-side-effect-than-covid-suggests-study This compares transient myocarditis to Covid hospitalization at ages 12-15 years. On the other hand, my 15 year old son is over a month out from his Covid infection and still doesn't have his sense of taste back. Why is that and what does it mean down the line? Risks can be relative. I don't know anyone who states there is no long term risk to vaccination, only that it is very minimal. As a non-teen adult, risk of long term effects from Covid are far higher.

You're dead on. Well, the armorer was a big problem on this movie. 24 years old and barely any experience: https://www.thewrap.com/rust-armorer-inexperience-hannah-gutierrez-fired-nicolas-cage-film/ Of course, it falls on the decision-makers for putting her in this position. “The best part about my job is just showing people who are normally kind of freaked out by guns how safe they can be and how they’re not really problematic unless put in the wrong hands.” That's the wrong-headed attitude to have as the gun safety person. It's not unique, I've met NRA instructors who are equally as arrogant. But it's wrong. A gun is always, always a risk and requires constant mental diligence and sterling habits when they are being handled to minimize the risk of an accident in a dynamic situation. Pretending education and experience negates the possibility of an accident invites mental carelessness and thus increased risk of accidents. "She tucked pistols under her armpits and carried rifles in each hand that were ready to be used in a scene. Firearms were aimed at people. She turned around and the pistols that were tucked under her armpits were pointing back at people." This is wrong on so many levels I just shudder and wince reading it. Arrogance and inexperience. I'm an upland bird hunter and have been handling guns for close to 40 years. Choking underbrush can conceal a blaze-orange colleague 10 yards away, let alone a dog on the ground and birds who decide to stop running and take to the wing randomly in any direction. Jessie Ventura was full of s***. Accidents can happen to anyone and it's critical never to downplay that.

I use Russia because their population is extremely distrustful of the government, has been severely under-vaccinated, the government has enacted few restrictions through this, and I've seen articles for over a year on how the population is apathetic to Covid (life sucks, throw Covid on the pile and tough it out). https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/oct/19/apathy-mistrust-in-russia-cited-for-low/ This, to my eyes and ears, most closely mirrors the comments of the anti-vaxxers on here. You look at their deaths and hospitalizations and see how they've never come back to baseline and are just stair stepping upwards. Now, of course, they are finally enacting restrictions and lockdowns. Sweden is a country that has trusted their government and is generally regarded as taking a proactive approach as citizens. Given the difference in population distribution and world location, I am not sure it's fair to compare Sweden's numbers to the US. Plus, there are high government officials who feel the Swedish approach failed pre-vaccination. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-17/sweden-s-top-covid-strategist-is-losing-the-population-s-trust “The Swedish people have suffered enormously in difficult conditions,” King Carl XVI Gustaf told state broadcaster SVT. When it comes to the strategy deployed in Sweden, he said, “I think we have failed.” Much of the blame has been directed toward the chief architect of Sweden’s strategy, Anders Tegnell, its state epidemiologist. A poll published on Thursday showed that support for him and his employer has slumped over the past two months." "Almost 8,000 Swedes have died of Covid-19. That compares with less than 1,000 in Denmark, about 480 in Finland and just over 400 in Norway." The other countries are about half the size of Sweden. WRT Florida, they got bent over pretty good by Delta a couple months ago. When you can show me data that large percentages of the hospitalizations and deaths were from vaccinated people then you might have a point, but thus far what I've seen is vaccinated percentages of these are still very small. So yes, the vaccines are not perfect and a little less effective against Delta but still the way to beat it.

The pandemic is ending when we can stabilize Covid occurrences with a minimum of deaths and hospitalizations. The world has shown that natural immunity from free/semi-free circulating and mutating Covid is a horribly wrong idea. See Russian numbers. Vaccines coupled with slowly rising natural immunity is what gets us there. For those worried about long term effects of the vaccines, go take a hard look at the long term effects of Covid and realize that is riskier. Florida and the south showed us that as of late summer we're not there yet. California, on the other hand, fared much better. The holidays are almost upon us and corresponding winter outbreak in Jan/Feb will tell us how close we are to ending the pandemic.

Well on April 30th, one day after firing Whaley, Wawrow's article includes this line: https://www.boston.com/sports/nfl/2017/04/30/buffalo-bills-fire-general-manager-whaley-1-day-after-draft/ "Without going into detail, Pegula said he is close to hiring a general manager." The Bills announced Beane had been interviewed the first time (without saying what day) on May 4th. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/05/04/bills-announce-theyve-interviewed-front-office-candidate-brandon-beane/ He was officially hired on the 9th after a second interview. But Pegula knew he was close on April 30th. I have a hard time believing there was no contact between Beane and the Bills/McDermott before the draft. Especially as McDermott was handed power over Whaley before the draft, and somewhere between January to April 2017 a decision was made to overhaul the FO. Even after Pegula seemed to still support Whaley in 2016. We'll never know what if any role Beane had in that 2017 draft, but I doubt he didn't at least advise McDermott in some capacity unofficially.

It should have been a different play. We badly blew it on a fourth down earlier, we don't do many QB sneaks and so I felt we should have done something different. Fake the sneak just like they ran it, Josh peel out of there and pass to former TE Spencer Brown who reported as eligible. We're not good at the sneak. Wrong game to try and get better at it.

Congratulations. This article is an argument for mandated vaccination of your entire population. Did you mean it that way or are you just ignorant? Polio mutates faster than HIV or Covid, yet the vaccine is far more durable. Why is that? Keep in mind Sinopharm and Sinovac mimic the polio vaccine approach yet are much less successful than the mRNA vaccines.

I think our boys remember last year all too well and take care of things this year. TN really out-physicalled us that game but we later rose to the occasion when the Niners wanted to do the same. Especially with the D-line improvement this year.