Not in my state
Having recently watched a death from covid up close, I doubt a couple hours to get to a facility matters, much. This is not like a stroke where there’s little lead time and rapid acute damage. Having a low number of ICU beds per person might be important. I don’t know if rural areas have fewer total beds, or enough less flexibility juggling them to effectively have fewer beds.
I’m sure every case is different, but my mom died fairly quickly by covid standards. She chose not to be hospitalized, and was frail enough that i doubt she could have been saved even if we had taken her to the emergency department. But we had probably two or three days to make that call. Maybe more than a week, depending on what you consider signs of needing hospitalization.
Thanks for the link. Cool work there.
The data I’ve seen (from studies of people, not counties) is that “full vaccination” or “prior infection” provides almost no protection against catching omicron, but both provide substantial protection against death.
That being said, being boosted, or having recovered from covid and then being vaccinated, both appear to offer significant protection against catching omicron. Not super protection, but better than 50%.
But even if “full vaccination” provided significant protection from catching it, you wouldn’t see that in the first half of the data, because vaccination is more common in densely populated areas, where everything spreads faster/sooner. The initial wave started in the cities and then spread to the rest of the nation. Omicron seems to be taking the same course. New York, New Jersey, and most of the vaccinated northeast is currently seeing rapidly declining cases, Having peaked in early January. In contrast, the south and west appear to just be peaking now, and might not even have reached their peak. In another couple of weeks we’ll have a better idea of whether there’s a correlation between vaccination and total cases.
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It is hard to separate “vaccination” from “behavior” when drawing conclusions about the spread.
And also the death rate. I bet there’s a high correlation between “people who choose to get vaccinated” and “people who don’t visit granny when they have a cold”.
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I agree provided that the individual wants to go to the hospital. And I’m sorry for the loss of your mom, especially in this manner. (Note: I found out two days ago that my grandma contracted COVID–she’s in a nursing facility–and we’re all not sure how it’s going to end up.)
I grew up in a pretty rural area (Colorado) and visit often with family in the rural mid-west (near the Mississippi River). One commonality I’ve come across in both settings is that either hospitals were to be avoided entirely (they’d only go if they were unconscious) or that you only go for “serious” conditions that only a doctor could treat (e.g., broken bone).
The other common mindset I’ve seen is this sort of philosophy:
If you catch something and die, then you die. We're all going to die sometime. And in many cases, you don't get to choose the manner of death; you can only control how you face it.
This is the philosophy my grandma has; and many others in my extended family. And I think many have a hard time accepting that philosophy of life.
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Thanks. It’s a really horrible way to die. Other family deaths have been … much less painful for all concerned.
Best wishes on your grandma. Even among the elderly, many survive with minor or modest symptoms. Hoping that’s her experience.
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The Canucks have big protests in response to COVID vaccine mandates.
Canada trucker protest: Ottawa declares emergency - BBC News
I wonder just how many non-truckers involved in this protest crossed the borders to join in.
There was also a story of a group (2 or 3) that tried to burn down a building and claimed to be part of the convoy. The fire was extinguished before it could do any real damage. No way yet to tell if these guys were part of the convoy or not. Seems odd to declare that you were.
Many of our January 6 protesters bragged about it.
Have they learned nothing yet?
They learned it was legitimate political discourse and Trump is ready to pardon them all as soon as he is reelected.
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That Biden sucks and that Republicans will take back all three branches by 2024
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Surprise!!! Joe Biden is Joe Biden.
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Don’t get me wrong. Trump was still 1000 times worse
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Don’t worry I heard Hillary might run in 2024 
Lord help us all.
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Democrats are awful at fixing things.
Republicans -want- to make things worse and do everything they can to support that goal.
We’re all screwed.
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Some of the things Democrats are saying right now about inflation are totally clueless. If anyone really wants to douse inflation then increase taxes and start pulling money out of the economy. It’s the quickest way to stop it. Target the taxes however they like but removing money from the economy will slow inflation.
I have heard people say stop the gas tax. Stupid as people will just want more gas at a cheaper price and that will quickly wipe away most of the effect. I have heard stop sales taxes. Stupid for the same reason. Heck an additonal national 5% sales tax right now would bring in a ton of revenue and slow buying of products down. Adding a sales tax just might fix it. Dropping them certainly is not going to.
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