Corona-zona

On Valentine's Day, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appeared on a Fox News (of course) interview to complain that his policies aren't getting the respect they deserve for keeping its economy humming by mostly ignoring virus mitigation. Before we begin, let's assess the credibility of the source we're talking about.  First, DeSantis is governor of Florida, a place where politics are equal parts stupid and dangerous.  Second, DeSantis is a Trump sycophant who supported the Big Lie that the last election was stolen. He said misleading things in his interview too. He repeatedly called President Biden a "lockdowner," even though Biden has never proposed locking down anything. He said Transportation Secretary Buttigieg and the CDC want to impose domestic travel restrictions. He conveniently left out that two days before his interview the White House said they were considering no such thing .  Third, he persecutes people who question his disinformation.  This summer ...

  A recent statement in the Washington Post (may be paywalled) by Governor Ron "Florida Man" DeSantis caught my eye.  He said: We’ve seen huge declines. Right now, Florida has the lowest covid-infection rate — case rate and infection rate of covidestim — in the country. I had no idea what "covidestim" was, but thankfully WaPo linked it . Turns out it is a project by Yale, Harvard, and Stanford medical schools to model pandemic numbers in the states.  They try to estimate the likely number of actual infections, etc., based on reported data. The raw data don't tell the whole story because (for example) some people get COVID-19 and don't know it or report it, meaning the reported cases underestimate the true numbers. The researchers do complicated statistical modeling to estimate the true numbers. I did not know about this project and website, so I suppose I need to thanks DeSantis for bringing it to my attention. If only he hadn't done that in the proces...

  As noted in an earlier post , states like Florida have a problem. They have low vaccination rates because conservative politicians inflame their followers by railing about the government and framing vaccination as a matter of freedom. Meanwhile con-men (and women) target the same audience with disinformation about vaccine dangers in order to make money selling supplements and quack treatments. As a result, lots of Floridians are unvaccinated; accordingly, lots of them are getting sick and dying. According to data compiled by the NY Times , in recent days Florida was the fourth-worst state for COVID-19 hospitalizations and the worst in the country for deaths. This leaves a guy like Governor Ron "Florida Man" DeSantis in a precarious position. One one hand, it's overwhelmingly his supporters who are suffering and dying. On the other hand, he can't possibly come to his senses and take effective steps to get people vaccinated after he's dug himself so deep into tha...

Florida has chosen not to preorder pediatric doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Governor Ron "Florida Man" DeSantis says doctors, clinics, and hospitals can just fend for themselves without getting the state involved. That's interesting, because every other state besides Florida has decided that they should not fend for themselves and have preordered the vaccines. Every other state.  "To do an emergency use for a 6-month-old or a 1-year-old simply to placate anxiety, that's not the standard when you're doing this," said DeSantis , the pediatric medicine expert. He's right. It's to placate anxiety resulting from the needless death of a child. Over 900 of them have done so in the pandemic to date. DeSantis's sycophant state Surgeon General Joseph Lapado agreed: "From what I've seen, there is just insufficient data to inform benefits and risks in children." It's a pretty safe bet that what he's seen comes from ant...

  Here are updates on three recent Corona-zona posts for your reading enjoyment. Florida School Walks Back Vaccination Quarantine Policy Last week I blogged about a private school in Miami  that established a policy saying kids must be quarantined for a month after a COVID-19 vaccination. They claimed the policy was a result of careful deliberation even though this apparently included no research on whether COVID-19 vaccines can cause "virus shedding" (they can't). Yesterday there came word that they changed their mind after receiving notification from the Florida Department of Education that their policy was being investigated. Wait, a Florida government agency is actually doing something to promote vaccination and public health?!? Somebody tell DeSantis—he must put a stop to this immediately! Florida Surgeon General Nominee is a Mask-hole Too Last Saturday I blogged about an appointment by Governor Ron "Florida Man" DeSantis of an anti-vaxx doctor to be the ...

Back in February I had a post about Florida Governor and all around douche-nozzle Ron DeSantis bragging about how his do-nothing approach to the virus had resulted in no worse outcomes than California.  What a difference two months makes! Yesterday, local media in Florida were reporting about record new infections and positivity rate. The state is not as bad the Upper Midwest, but it's close, and its definitely an anomaly in the Southeast.  Here is today's new cases map from the CDC : That's a new case rate in Florida of 183.8 per 100K, 7-day average.  It's not as bad as Michigan (510.5), but it's closing in on Pennsylvania (234.5) and New York minus NYC (235.6). How is the comparison with California holding up?  Here is a graph of new cases per 100K 7-day average I made with data collected from the CDC's Socrata API: Two days ago (latest available data from CDC) the difference was over 3x. I pray that a reporter will shove a microphone in Gov. Florida Man...

  Most posts about Florida on this blog are about the dumb things their governor regularly does. But today, there is a new example of Florida COVIDiocy, this time from a school. Center Academy, a private school in Florida, has enacted a policy saying that students who get vaccinated must quarantine for 30 days afterward. Google has several listings for Center Academy in Florida, and the news story doesn't single out one. So I assume the policy applies to all of them. The policy says kids have the be quarantined after each shot. They are urging parents not to get their kids vaccinated until next summer so they won't have to miss two months of school under this policy.  The school said the "policy was enacted as a prudent precautionary measure after much thoughtful deliberation." One wonders how thoughtful the deliberation could have been, given that the vaccines neither contain nor produce any virus that can be spread.  Had their thoughtful deliberation included look...

  This blog has featured lots of coverage  of Florida and its reckless pandemic behaviors and policies. I never thought any state could challenge their position as the Top COVIDiot State. But Idaho is making a serious run at it.   According to data from the last seven days compiled by the NY Times, Idaho ranks 9th worst among states with 68 cases per 100K, a 19% increase over the previous week.  It ranks 12th worst with 37 hospitalizations per 100K, a 29% increase over the previous week.  And it ranks fourth worst with 1.22 deaths per 100K (no change info given).  Here is a comparison table: Florida is still beating Idaho on hospitalizations and deaths. But don't let that get you down, Idaho! Florida's case and hospitalization trends are downward whereas yours are upward. You can still take the lead! I am gratified to see that Arizona is doing so well in this comparison. Our governor is fighting like hell be as pro-disease as his counterparts in ...

  Today, several updates on matters previously discussed on this blog. Florida Fires Back at Idaho Last week, I reported that Idaho was challenging Florida for the title of top COVIDiot state by appointing to a health board a medical doctor who opposes masks and vaccines and supports ivermectin.   Well, Florida was not about to take that challenge lying down! Governor Ron "Florida Man" DeSantis did them one better by making another such medical doctor the state's surgeon general . Take that, Idaho! Doctors Who Spread Misinformation Are Starting to Face Discipline I have never understood how medical professional organizations have been able to look the other way while their members dispense disinformation about pandemic-related topics like masks and vaccines. As noted earlier, many of these physicians are doing it to make money . Idaho even  appointed one of them  to a medical board. It seems the professional organizations are finally losing patience with t...

  On one hand, Governor and Florida Man in Chief Ron DeSantis badly wants cruise ships to resume service in Florida. On the other hand, he has done the one thing that would allow that to happen.  He banned cruise lines from requiring passengers to be vaccinated.  As pointed out in a Washington Post article on the subject (paywall link), the second part is all for show.  A lawyer quoted in the article called it  Political grandstanding 100 percent.  This is not driven from a motivation of safety.  If the motivation were safety, you would say, "of course everyone has to be vaccinated." It's kowtowing to a small minority that are really a vocal base for him. Specifically it's the base whose members call the disease fake and are free-riding off the rest of us who have gotten our vaccinations. God forbid there should be any consequence that would threaten their God-given right to be stupid.  DeSantis likes poking the federal government, in this case t...

  Here are some updates on previous Corona-zona posts. COVID Dick is Real In July of last year, I blogged about a reason males should be afraid of COVID-19: Erectile dysfunction. At that time the reports were anecdotal. Not anymore. This report from Gizmodo covers all the latest research, and the short story is that it's real. Not only can in infection impair one's ability to get it up even after recovery, it can also shrink your member. Yikes! Also there have been reports of sexual dysfunction in women. Disappointing Arizona Booster Uptake That update makes it even more puzzling that booster shot update in Arizona is so low.  Back in December, I reckoned that only about 11% of Arizona residents had gotten their booster shot (depending on what you used as the divisor). Now AzDHS is reporting actual numbers and they are not much better. Only 37% of eligible people have gotten their third jab. Why would you get two shots then skip the third?! Urine Drinker Lives by His Own R...

  Here are some updates on topics recently covered in this blog. No Vax Could Cost You "Unvaccinated individuals have potential to cost the employer more from a health care spend perspective," Symons told CBS MoneyWatch. "They could get COVID and incur expensive hospital costs up to $50,000 for an individual with a tough COVID case." Back in June I blogged a proposal to make people who refuse vaccinations pay their own way if they get COVID-19. It's only fair: If people exercise their freedom to forego the vaccine, they should also be responsible for the consequences of that decision.  As it is they freeride. They can refuse the vaccine for childish and/or political reasons, then depend on those of us who have made the responsible choice to save their bacon with expensive hospital care that everyone pays for through insurance premiums. Incredibly, nobody has rushed to implement my proposal, but insurance providers may be taking a step in that direction. They...

  Governor Ron "Florida Man" DeSantis is picking a new fight with the Biden administration over antibody treatments. Whereas before he was bitching about not being allowed to hog them, now he's bitching about not being allowed to waste them. Antibodies treatments for COVID-19 are a big deal in Florida. That state has a surplus of politically-motivated individuals who refuse to be vaccinated, and there is a huge overlap between this group and the group of people who vote for the governor. Last year DeSantis and other Lemon Socialist governors were hawking antibody treatments  as the perfect solution for saving their COVIDiot supporters. Florida was hoovering up all the Regeneron doses it could get, way more than its share. Then back in September the Biden administration took steps to ensure more equitable distribution of these doses among states. DeSantis promptly threw a hissy-fit . Fast-forward to the past week, when the FDA has rescinded its Emergency Use Authorization...

Here are updates on some recent Corona-zona posts. Anal Swabs After being scooped by Corona-zona on Chinese anal swab tests for SARS-CoV-2, Stephen Colbert did a bit on them during his monologue last Thursday (that part starts around minute 6:00). He makes some very funny jokes (if you enjoy scatological humor, which I do).  But in an additional tidbit, he reported that that U.S. officials in China told the State Department that they had been so tested.  The Chinese are denying it, naturally. But, come on, don't you think the U.S. officials would know if they had been anally probed by some Chinese dude?  DeSantis Has No Plan and Is Proud of It In mid-February I had a post about Governor Ron "Florida Man" DeSantis whining that he didn't get enough credit for his state's recent pandemic performance. I showed that Florida only looks good if you cherry-pick recent numbers, and that overall its performance has been terrible. Last week Salon.com ran  story  pointin...

Today I have updates on a few earlier posts for your reading enjoyment. Orgies COVID-19 continues ruining things for people looking to have a little sexy fun.  An earlier post , one of my most popular, detailed how a swinger convention resulted in a super-spreader event and how a gay orgy in Belgium exposed a supposedly anti-homosexual member of Hungary's EU parliament.   Last week, police in France raided a warehouse where a 100-person orgy was going on. Orgies are not illegal in France, but the group was violating curfew and mitigation ordinances.  People, please. Postpone your orgies until we get the pandemic under control, OK? How Not to Schedule, Florida Style In an earlier post I detailed how truly awful ADHS's bespoke vaccine reservation system is. Since then I've talked to several people who got word that shots were available but were unable to successfully schedule them due to flaws in the system. They gave up in frustration. It seems nobody is trying to d...

Scores of stories are appearing on mainstream and social media about people who are sick with COVID-19 because they didn't get vaccinated. Predictably, they now regret their choices. Among the cases: An Alabama mom watched her son die and got seriously ill herself. "It took watching my son die and me suffering the effects of covid for us to realize we need the vaccine. We did not get vaccinated when we had the opportunity and regret that so much now.” A Florida mother of eight  nearly died, spending six days in the ICU. "I was one of those people that was like, ‘I can’t believe people are just going to inject their bodies with this medication. We don’t know enough about it.’ Now I’m just like it’s just a shot. Just get the stupid shot. That vaccine could have stopped all of this. Just one little shot. I feel foolish that I didn’t get it. I wish to God I would have got it because it’s not just about what it could have prevented me from experiencing physically in my life r...

  Governor Ron "Florida Man" DeSantis, no doubt ginning-up for a presidential run, has decided he needs to do some pandering to extremists who don't think he's conservative enough. So he's turning to his superpower, spreading pandemic disinformation. DeSantis's COVIDiocy has been  well-covered  in this blog. Who can forget his  lying about case numbers in this state? Or his refusal to preorder pediatric vaccine? Or his hiring a guy as State Surgeon General who distributes pandemic misinformation? I could go on at length. Now he wants to empanel a grand jury to investigate "'wrongdoing' linked to the Covid-19 vaccines, including spreading false and misleading claims about the efficacy of the doses." His petition to the Florida Supreme Court says: "the pharmaceutical industry has a notorious history of misleading the public for financial gain,” and asks for a grand jury to probe “the development, promotion, and distribution of vaccine...

Governor Ron "Florida Man" DeSantis has had his wings clipped by a Florida judge.  The judge threw out his ban on mask mandates in schools.  The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by parents who were worried about their kids getting exposed to the virus while at school.  The judge concluded that mandated mask use is "reasonable and consistent with the best scientific and medical opinion in this country." DeSantis had planned to withhold funds from schools who defied his ban. The judge said he would issue an injunction prohibiting that.   The judge also suggested, essentially, that DeSantis should grow up and look for solutions rather than throwing bombs in the culture war.  "We will not solve any issue if we can't sit down and work together and take positions recognizing what's going on is not some recent imposition or some attack on the country," he said. Somebody buy that judge a beer.  Apparently not everyone in Florida is equal parts stupid and d...

  I started this blog one year ago today. Well OK, there were a couple posts in December 2020, but that was a false start. Regular daily posts started on January 6, 2021. That's perhaps an inauspicious birthday because it's the same day T**** directed a treasonous mob to stage an insurrection at the Capitol. Anyway, as it says in the "about the blog," I started it because I was kind of obsessing about the  pandemic and reading all I could about it. The blog functioned as an outlet for all the information I was consuming as I was hunkering down at home, and I thought it might be of some modest help to others. One year ago, I never dreamed that I would still be blogging a year later! Like a lot of other people I was kind of naïve, thinking that with the vaccines coming the Apocalypse would be over in a few of months. Just goes to show how wrong a person can be. I've enjoyed writing all of the posts (284 including this one) I've done. This is a kind of writing ac...