Coronavirus on a Personal Basis

[LM K]

does anyone know if the quick covid tests have improved their accuracy?

The below article is dated July 26, 2021.

Accuracy varies. In the below article you can find inserted links to each test's FDA report.

Abbott's BinaxNOW rapid test
How to use: The BinaxNOW antigen test is pretty easy to take – only a shallow nostril swab is necessary. There's a card you place your swab into. Like a pregnancy test, a single line means the test is negative. Two lines indicate a positive result.

Accuracy: The BinaxNOW test correctly gave a positive result 84.6% of the time compared to PCR. In the same study, the test correctly gave a negative result 98.5% of the time.

Availability: The BinaxNOW test costs $24 for two tests, which are meant to be used on the same person within three days (serial testing). The BinaxNOW test does not meet travel requirements for testing.


Cue Health's molecular-based test
How to use: For this molecular-based test, you'll insert a wand about 1 inch into the nostril, and rotate it five times. Then you place the wand into a cartridge, which goes into a cartridge reader for about 20 minutes. You need to download an app to see the results.

Accuracy: The Cue COVID-19 test correctly gave a positive result 92% of the time compared to PCR. In the same study, the test correctly gave a negative result 98% of the time.

Availability: This test is not yet available to the general public.


Ellume rapid test
How to use: This rapid antigen test uses a nasal swab that goes further back than nostril swabs but not as far back as the nasopharyngeal swab that a health care provider would use in a PCR COVID-19 test. Ellume's rapid COVID-19 test can send results to your smartphone in 15 minutes. The app then reports the results to public health experts.

Accuracy: In a U.S. clinical study, the Ellume test showed 96% accuracy for symptomatic individuals. For people without symptoms, the test correctly identified 91% of positive cases.

Availability: Each test costs about $35. You can find it in some pharmacies (like CVS) or online at Amazon.


Lucira Check It molecular test
How to use: This molecular COVID-19 test requires you to swab the inside of your nostrils, then swirl the swab into a small sample vial. The testing unit runs for 30 minutes, and then a light-up display shows if the test is positive or negative.

Accuracy: For people with symptoms, the Lucira test correctly gave a positive result 94.1% of the time. In the same study, the Lucira test correctly gave a negative result 98% of the time.

Availability: Costing about $55, you can order the Lucira test at lucirahealth.com.


Quidel QuickVue rapid test
How to use: Like Abbott's BinaxNOW test, the Quidel antigen test also works like a pregnancy test. First, you take a nasal swab, then mix the swab with a tube of liquid for one minute.
Next, you place the swab in the detector strip. Two lines mean a positive result.

Accuracy: For people with symptoms, the QuickVue test correctly gave a positive result 83.5% of the time. It also correctly gave a negative result 99.2% of the time.

Availability: This test is not yet available to the general public.

Based on the efficacy numbers for the 3 tests available for home use, if you get a positive result, do another test. False positives are much more likely than false negatives. If you get a negative result, you don't need to retest.

[MN-Skeptic]

The neurological effects of covid are horrific. Your brother knows better. He understands stats. He's also a father worried about his daughter. As a scientist, he needs to put his big boy pants on. Many of the medications he prescribed are significantly more likely to cause dangerous side effects. Those drugs are necessary and the benefits outweigh the risk.

Your brother knows that, too.

Is he vaccinated?

Do you know what college your niece is attending? More and more colleges and universities are mandating covid vaccination. Now that delta and delta+ are running around slaughtering children and young adults, more and more colleges/universities will begin vaccine mandates.

I encouraged my 18 year old nice to get vaccinated in June. She wasn't sure if she was going to start community college in Reno (home) or Eugene (my college). I explained to her that many schools would be mandating vaccinations this fall and that it was best that she just get it over with. I was right; my college announced a vaccine mandate a few weeks ago.

My brother is vaccinated. As a physician, it was required where he worked as soon as a vaccine was available. My sister-in-law did get Covid, but did not pass it on to my niece. My SIL got a shot (or however it's given) of Ivermectin and swears that made her better almost immediately, so she figures she can get that for my niece if my niece gets sick.

My niece will be attending a very conservative Christian college in a Twin Cities' suburb. At this time, they do not have a vaccine mandate. She will be turning 18 in early September. I sure hope she elects, on her own, to get the vaccine. I hope the college issues a mandate, or that her friends on campus turn out to be gung ho on vaccines. She'll also be in my suburb's community symphony orchestra beginning this fall. Maybe there will be pressure from fellow cellists.

As rapid as the Delta variant can spread, I don't think colleges can ignore Covid this fall. It can spread like wildfire on a campus.

[Suranis]

Ultimately, it seems like I'm the decision maker about this trip because I'll be in 3 counties rather than 2 counties and I'm going through airports.

I'm not sure if I should just say yep, "let's reschedule" or "let's decide in 2 weeks".

I know my opinion means jack all, but if you are all vaccinated, I would go. Mask up and take common sense precautions and you will be fine. It's very easy to freak yourself out, but, honestly, there will always be a reason to postpone, always stories that will freak you out. You need to have a family moment and you are as well protected as you can get yourself.

Go.

[LM K]

Ultimately, it seems like I'm the decision maker about this trip because I'll be in 3 counties rather than 2 counties and I'm going through airports.

I'm not sure if I should just say yep, "let's reschedule" or "let's decide in 2 weeks".

I know my opinion means jack all, but if you are all vaccinated, I would go. Mask up and take common sense precautions and you will be fine. It's very easy to freak yourself out, but, honestly, there will always be a reason to postpone, always stories that will freak you out. You need to have a family moment and you are as well protected as you can get yourself.

Go.

Thank you, my friend!

I just got off the phone with my mom. My sister had called her because ....

In Reno, and NV, covid cases tripled in the past 24 hours. There are no more ICU beds in the state. Lori's ward is converting back into a covid ward; when the hospital runs out of ICU beds, her ward becomes an ICU ward. Lori is a charge nurse ... her life is going to be hell.

Lori's husband has moved into the guest room because it's not safe for them to share a bed anymore. Hopefully she won't have to move into the glamper and completely isolate again.

So, the decision has been made for us.

As I mentioned above, my niece just gave birth to her first child last weekend. She couldn't have her mom with her as she labored. Livi had an unexpectedly rough labor and delivery. And now, she can't have her mom there to help with the baby. Livi's husband is wonderful. Women just need their moms when babies are born.

Now it's back to our regularly scheduled pandemic.

[LM K]

My brother is vaccinated. As a physician, it was required where he worked as soon as a vaccine was available. My sister-in-law did get Covid, but did not pass it on to my niece. My SIL got a shot (or however it's given) of ivermectin and swears that made her better almost immediately, so she figures she can get that for my niece if my niece gets sick.

My niece will be attending a very conservative Christian college in a Twin Cities' suburb. At this time, they do not have a vaccine mandate. She will be turning 18 in early September. I sure hope she elects, on her own, to get the vaccine. I hope the college issues a mandate, or that her friends on campus turn out to be gung ho on vaccines. She'll also be in my suburb's community symphony orchestra beginning this fall. Maybe there will be pressure from fellow cellists.

As rapid as the Delta variant can spread, I don't think colleges can ignore Covid this fall. It can spread like wildfire on a campus.

Orchestras were and are hit hard with covid. Orchestras have missed one season. The likelihood of a full 21-22 season is slim.

There will be pressure in the orchestra for players to vaccinate. Players sit really closely to each other and playing classical music can be physically demanding. I play the cello; it can be a workout.

I'm sure there are a fair number of orchestras that mandate covid vaccines. It's not possible to socially distance on a the concert stage or in rehearsal rooms. Orchestras are too big for social distancing. You have 60-100 musicians sitting close enough to get in each other's way (I've been stabbed by a neighbor's bow during rehearsal more than once) for 2-3 hour rehearsals. Approx 30-40% of musicians have to drain saliva from their instruments. That's gross under the best of conditions.

SIL would rather her daughter become infected with covid and be treated with an experimental drug than be vaccinated with a vaccine that 50.5% of Americans have received? (Pfizer is expected to be fully approved by Labor Day.)

Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19

We’ve been living with it for what sometimes seems like forever. Given the number of deaths that have occurred from the disease, it’s perhaps not surprising that some consumers are looking at unconventional treatments, not approved or authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Though this is understandable, please beware. The FDA’s job is to carefully evaluate the scientific data on a drug to be sure that it is both safe and effective for a particular use, and then to decide whether or not to approve it. Using any treatment for COVID-19 that’s not approved or authorized by the FDA, unless part of a clinical trial, can cause serious harm.


When Can Taking Ivermectin Be Unsafe?
The FDA has not reviewed data to support use of ivermectin in COVID-19 patients to treat or to prevent COVID-19; however, some initial research is underway. Taking a drug for an unapproved use can be very dangerous. This is true of ivermectin, too.

There’s a lot of misinformation around, and you may have heard that it’s okay to take large doses of ivermectin. That is wrong.

Even the levels of ivermectin for approved uses can interact with other medications, like blood-thinners. You can also overdose on ivermectin, which can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hypotension (low blood pressure), allergic reactions (itching and hives), dizziness, ataxia (problems with balance), seizures, coma and even death.

Ivermectin Products for Animals Are Different from Ivermectin Products for People
For one thing, animal drugs are often highly concentrated because they are used for large animals like horses and cows, which can weigh a lot more than we do—a ton or more. Such high doses can be highly toxic in humans.

Moreover, FDA reviews drugs not just for safety and effectiveness of the active ingredients, but also for the inactive ingredients. Many inactive ingredients found in animal products aren’t evaluated for use in people. Or they are included in much greater quantity than those used in people. In some cases, we don’t know how those inactive ingredients will affect how ivermectin is absorbed in the human body.

[Slarti the White]

Edit: Edited to correct mistakes (highlighted)

Thanks for the great opportunity to talk about statistics LM K!


As LM K suggested, false positives are more likely than false negatives (because maths reasons), and her suggestion (retake positive tests and accept negative tests) is a good one, but let's take a closer look at the numbers, shall we?

First, we need to make an assumption - let's say that 10% of the people being tested are actually positive for COVID (roughly what the positivity rate is right now).

[Just found the table feature... geeking out - I'm verklempt, talk amongst yourselves...]

The information LM K provided give us the following false negative and false positive rates:

Test Name	False Negative	False Positive
Bianx Now	1.5%	15.4%
Cue Health	2%	8%
Ellume (s)*	4%	4%
Ellume (u)*	9%	9%
Lucira	2%	5.9%
Quidel	0.8%	16.5%

* The accuracy of Ellume is specified differently so I'm breaking it down by symptomatic and unsymptomatic assuming the rate given for each is both the true positive and true negative rate.


First, let's calculate the odds that you have COVID after one test (assuming there was a 10% chance you had it because you were taking a test):

Test Name	Negative	Positive
Bianx Now	0.17%	37.9%
Cue Health	0.23%	56%
Ellume (s)*	0.46%	72.7%
Ellume (u)*	1.1%	52.9%
Lucira	0.23%	63.9%
Quidel	0.09%	35.9%

As LM K said, you can be pretty confident with a negative, but with a positive you should retest. How do the odds change with two tests?

Test Name	2 x Negative	2 x Positive	mixed
Bianx Now	0.003%	77.0%	10%
Cue Health	0.005%	93.6%	10.8%
Ellume (s)*	0.02%	98.5%	10%
Ellume (u)*	0.1%	91.9%	10%
Lucira	0.005%	96.6%	3.5%
Quidel	0.0007%	74%	10%

You can see that two tests that agree are very reliable and two tests that disagree means your chances of having COVID are about 1 in 10 (mostly). But what if only 1 in 100 people who were tested had COVID? 1 in 1000? I'm only doing the numbers for one test (Cue Health) to give a comparison, but this a classic statistical problem (how false positives dominate with rare diseases).

infection rate	2x Neg	1x Neg	mixed	1x Pos	2x Pos
1 in 10	0.005%	0.23%	10.8%	56%	99.2%
1 in 100	0.0004%	0.021%	0.24%	0.9%	57.2%
1 in 1000	0.00004%	0.002%	0.02%	0.1%	11.7%

In other words, when you start overusing your tests (thereby decreasing the effective infection rate because you are changing your selection criteria for who gets tested) they become much less reliable when they show positive results!

[neonzx]

Thanks ...

You lost me after the "Thanks" ... all else went over my head.

But happy you found the 'table' option.

[sugar magnolia]

Just found out my cousin in ARK is in ICU on a ventilator with covid. Wife and older teens at home. None of them are vaccinated. My aunt is apoplectic because the rest of the family is still refusing to get the vax. Fuck them.

[neonzx]

Just found out my cousin in ARK is in ICU on a ventilator with covid. Wife and older teens at home. None of them are vaccinated. My aunt is apoplectic because the rest of the family is still refusing to get the vax. Fuck them.

smh. Your aunt should not feel stressed and apoplectic. Her kids made their choice.

[RTH10260]

cause ivermectin mentioned above

Flawed ivermectin preprint highlights challenges of COVID drug studies
The study’s withdrawal from a preprint platform deals a blow to the anti-parasite drug’s chances as a COVID treatment, researchers say.

Sara Reardon
02 August 2021

Throughout the pandemic, the anti-parasite drug ivermectin has attracted much attention, particularly in Latin America, as a potential way to treat COVID-19. But scientists say that recent, shocking revelations of widespread flaws in the data of a preprint study reporting that the medication greatly reduces COVID-19 deaths dampens ivermectin’s promise — and highlights the challenges of investigating drug efficacy during a pandemic.

“I was shocked, as everyone in the scientific community probably were,” says Eduardo López-Medina, a paediatrician at the Centre for the Study of Paediatric Infections in Cali, Colombia, who was not involved with the study and who has investigated whether ivermectin can improve COVID-19 symptoms. “It was one of the first papers that led everyone to get into the idea ivermectin worked” in a clinical-trial setting, he adds.

Latin America’s embrace of an unproven COVID treatment is hindering drug trials

The paper summarized the results of a clinical trial seeming to show that ivermectin can reduce COVID-19 death rates by more than 90%1 — among the largest studies of the drug’s ability to treat COVID-19 to date. But on 14 July, after internet sleuths raised concerns about plagiarism and data manipulation, the preprint server Research Square withdrew the paper because of “ethical concerns”.

Ahmed Elgazzar at Benha University in Egypt, who is one of the authors on the paper, told Nature he was not given a chance to defend his work before it was removed.

Early in the pandemic, scientists showed that ivermectin could inhibit the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in cells in laboratory studies2. But data on ivermectin’s efficacy against COVID-19 in people are still scarce, and study conclusions conflict greatly, making the withdrawal of a major trial particularly noteworthy.


https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02081-w

[bill_g]

Farm stores around here are still having to put warning signs on the Ivermectin shelves that (A) it's meant for animals, and (B) it doesn't fight covid.

[RTH10260]

Farm stores around here are still having to put warning signs on the Ivermectin shelves that (A) it's meant for animals, and (B) it doesn't fight covid.

For humans there is an application, but one buys the correct human recommended medicine, not the critter concotion ...

Ivermectin, sold under the brand name Stromectol among others, is a medication that is used to treat parasite infestations.[6][7] In humans, this includes head lice, scabies, river blindness (onchocerciasis), strongyloidiasis, trichuriasis, ascariasis, and lymphatic filariasis.[6][8][9][10]

[Slarti the White]

Thanks ...

You lost me after the "Thanks" ... all else went over my head.

But happy you found the 'table' option.

The tldr takeaway was that LM K had it right: if you get a negative accept it and if you get a positive retest. I just did the math to show why she was right.

But the tables are really cool, thanks.

[Azastan]

Farm stores around here are still having to put warning signs on the Ivermectin shelves that (A) it's meant for animals, and (B) it doesn't fight covid.

Not to mention that depending on the medication, it may be formulated slightly differently for use in animals versus humans. For example, people who have horses with ulcers (very common in horses under stress, such as racehorses or show horses) always want to know if they can use human Omeprazole, since Ulcergard and Gastrogard (which both use Omeprazole) are expensive. Ulcergard and Gastrogard are specifically formulated for use in horses due to the nature of the horse gastrointestinal tract, so human Omeprazole just doesn't work very well in horses.

Then there's interesting side effects even in dewormers for horses. Zimecterin Gold is notorious for causing mouth ulcers in horses. I had one horse who had her mouth very badly ulcerated by Zimecterin Gold and nearly lost her because she couldn't eat for several days. A great many veterinarians will not recommend the Zimecterin Gold and feel it should be taken off the market due to the side effects. Zimecterin is a brand name for ivermectin.

I'm really not sure why someone would happily slurp down ivermectin and the unknown inactive ingredients in it, but not want to get a shot.

[sugar magnolia]

I don't actually give a shit if they want to mainline NIX. Double the dose even.

[Estiveo]

I don't actually give a shit if they want to mainline NIX. Double the dose even.

[Azastan]

I don't actually give a shit if they want to mainline NIX. Double the dose even.

Makes it hard for those of us with horses, though. Otherwise, I'd give them the Zimecterin Gold and tell them to enjoy getting rid of their tapeworms, Small and Large Strongyles, Pinworms, Ascarids, Hairworms, Large-mouth Stomach Worms, Bots, Lungworms, Intestinal Threadworms, Summer Sores and Dermatitis cause by neck threadworm microfilariae.

[Lani]

A new record high of covid cases again today. 634. And it's Sunday, which means there will be some catchup on Monday. The state is trying to hire some temporary nurses and technicians as hospital rates rise. It's hard - hotel prices have jumped, rental cars are unavailable. So negotiations are underway to provide affordable housing and a shuttle service.

Friday a woman called me to complain about the distribution of Federal covid funds. Why she called me about that, I don't know. I think she just wanted to talk to somebody because she veered into telling me about a cousin on Oahu and her family. All of the family members are vaccinated, all them have the delta virus, but her cousin just died. BUT THEN she told me that she isn't vaccinated. Vaccines not approved, vaccines dangerous, etc. She's waiting until a certain non-mRNA Canadian vax is approved. She didn't care that J&J is non-mRNA cuz reasons. My empathy level crashed.

[LM K]

Edit: Edited to correct mistakes (highlighted)

Thanks for the great opportunity to talk about statistics LM K!


As LM K suggested, false positives are more likely than false negatives (because maths reasons), and her suggestion (retake positive tests and accept negative tests) is a good one, but let's take a closer look at the numbers, shall we?

First, we need to make an assumption - let's say that 10% of the people being tested are actually positive for COVID (roughly what the positivity rate is right now).

[Just found the table feature... geeking out - I'm verklempt, talk amongst yourselves...]

The information LM K provided give us the following false negative and false positive rates:

Test Name	False Negative	False Positive
Bianx Now	1.5%	15.4%
Cue Health	2%	8%
Ellume (s)*	4%	4%
Ellume (u)*	9%	9%
Lucira	2%	5.9%
Quidel	0.8%	16.5%

* The accuracy of Ellume is specified differently so I'm breaking it down by symptomatic and unsymptomatic assuming the rate given for each is both the true positive and true negative rate.


First, let's calculate the odds that you have COVID after one test (assuming there was a 10% chance you had it because you were taking a test):

Test Name	Negative	Positive
Bianx Now	0.17%	37.9%
Cue Health	0.23%	56%
Ellume (s)*	0.46%	72.7%
Ellume (u)*	1.1%	52.9%
Lucira	0.23%	63.9%
Quidel	0.09%	35.9%

As LM K said, you can be pretty confident with a negative, but with a positive you should retest. How do the odds change with two tests?

Test Name	2 x Negative	2 x Positive	mixed
Bianx Now	0.003%	77.0%	10%
Cue Health	0.005%	93.6%	10.8%
Ellume (s)*	0.02%	98.5%	10%
Ellume (u)*	0.1%	91.9%	10%
Lucira	0.005%	96.6%	3.5%
Quidel	0.0007%	74%	10%

You can see that two tests that agree are very reliable and two tests that disagree means your chances of having COVID are about 1 in 10 (mostly). But what if only 1 in 100 people who were tested had COVID? 1 in 1000? I'm only doing the numbers for one test (Cue Health) to give a comparison, but this a classic statistical problem (how false positives dominate with rare diseases).

infection rate	2x Neg	1x Neg	mixed	1x Pos	2x Pos
1 in 10	0.005%	0.23%	10.8%	56%	99.2%
1 in 100	0.0004%	0.021%	0.24%	0.9%	57.2%
1 in 1000	0.00004%	0.002%	0.02%	0.1%	11.7%

In other words, when you start overusing your tests (thereby decreasing the effective infection rate because you are changing your selection criteria for who gets tested) they become much less reliable when they show positive results!

[LM K]

A new record high of covid cases again today. 634. And it's Sunday, which means there will be some catchup on Monday. The state is trying to hire some temporary nurses and technicians as hospital rates rise. It's hard - hotel prices have jumped, rental cars are unavailable. So negotiations are underway to provide affordable housing and a shuttle service.

Friday a woman called me to complain about the distribution of Federal covid funds. Why she called me about that, I don't know. I think she just wanted to talk to somebody because she veered into telling me about a cousin on Oahu and her family. All of the family members are vaccinated, all them have the delta virus, but her cousin just died. BUT THEN she told me that she isn't vaccinated. Vaccines not approved, vaccines dangerous, etc. She's waiting until a certain non-mRNA Canadian vax is approved. She didn't care that J&J is non-mRNA cuz reasons. My empathy level crashed.

I've run out of empathy for people like her. My empathy has been declining for months, but I reached my limit last week.


NYT had a really interesting article about the unvaccinated. I hadn't thought about population groups whom want to be vaccinated but for very practical reasons haven't been able to vaccinate.

No , the Unvaccinated Aren’t All Just Being Difficult

On a July day in downtown Lowell, Mass., the first sunny Saturday of the month, people began to line up for a block party. Food trucks offered everyone a free empanada or egg roll. A D.J. played music. There were kid-friendly activities, too, like a touch-a-truck station with a fire truck and an ambulance.

The party wasn’t just a way to have a good time. The real motivation was to get people in the community vaccinated against Covid-19. Nestled between the food trucks were ones offering Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

In the minds of the public health and community organizers who staged it, it was a roaring success. Sixty-four people got vaccinated within six hours. Hannah Tello, a community health data manager at the nonprofit Greater Lowell Health Alliance, noted that it was eight to 10 times as many vaccinations as what their mobile clinics had been doing; their most successful day before this administered 12.

The people who got shots at the party “were not people who were resistant,” Dr. Tello told me. Outreach workers went to a nearby park and invited the homeless people there to get free food and, if they wanted, a vaccination, and many took them up on the offer in such a low-stakes, nonmedical setting.

An elderly woman who cares for two people with disabilities had tried and failed to schedule vaccinations for all three of them at the same time. This time, she succeeded. A woman who was able to vaccinate all the other eligible people in her family hadn’t been able to get it herself because she has four young children she wasn’t allowed to take to the vaccination center. That day her children played cornhole while she got the shot.

The party organizers also reached about 250 other attendees, many of whom had conversations about their concerns. Some were worried that the vaccines cost money, even though they’re free to all. They were concerned they would need some sort of documentation, which they don’t. One woman hadn’t gotten the shot yet because she has an intense fear of needles; she did it that day after 25 minutes of talking it through. “Her getting her shot is just as important as the people who lined up outside our clinics a few months ago,” Dr. Tello said. “No one is less deserving of having access.”


There are plenty of Americans who have been inundated with misinformation about the vaccines. Many are staunchly opposed to getting it for a variety of reasons, from personal health concerns to conspiracy theories. But that doesn’t describe everyone who is unvaccinated — not by a long shot. And there are plenty of things we can do to reach them if we’re serious about spending the time and the money.


Those who aren’t yet vaccinated are much more likely to be food insecure, have children at home and earn little. About three-quarters of unvaccinated adults live in a household that makes less than $75,000 a year. They are nearly three times as likely as the vaccinated to have had insufficient food recently. Many of them have pressing concerns they can’t just put aside because they need to get a vaccination.

Access is far more widespread than it was at the beginning of the year. Many cities now offer multiple venues for getting it without needing an appointment. But about 10 percent of the eligible population still lives more than a 15-minute drive from a vaccine distribution location. And even if there’s a site down the road, it usually requires taking time off work — not just to get the shot but also potentially to recover from the side effects — arranging transportation and figuring out child care.

“Missing out on a few hours of work seems very easy to us, but in fact it could be the matter of having food for the family versus not,” said Ann Lee, the chief executive of the nonprofit Community Organized Relief Effort. For these people, when they’re weighing whether to get a vaccination or potentially forgo some wages, “the wages are going to win out.”

Those who are unvaccinated are also likely to work in essential jobs like agriculture and manufacturing that don’t allow them to step away from work. They work long hours and may prioritize time with their families or communities when they finally get a break. People who have multiple jobs may find it impossible to schedule a shot in between all of their shifts.

And yet 43 percent of the unvaccinated say they definitely or probably would get it or are unsure, according to Julia Raifman, an assistant professor at the Boston University School of Public Health.


A block party doesn’t work in every community, particularly more rural ones. For those places, an event could be staged at a church or a county fair. Anything that allows people to discuss their concerns with experts and get vaccinated on the spot erases dangerous lag time. Dr. Tello’s organization found that many disappeared in the time between an educational conversation and a vaccination appointment weeks later.

Another way to take the vaccines to people for whom the logistics are complicated is to do it at workplaces. Ms. Lee’s organization held a vaccination drive at a construction site in Washington, D.C., and vaccinated 165 people. “They wanted to get vaccinated. There was just no way some of these day laborers were going to take off of work and maybe get sick,” Ms. Lee said. In January, Riverside, Calif., began a program to take vaccines into the fields to reach agricultural workers.


We have to mandate paid leave so workers can take at least two days to get a shot and recover without jeopardizing their incomes.


Short of that, community organizations can send people home from getting vaccinated with enough food for their families if they have to miss work for a day or two. When Ms. Lee’s organization did testing in the Navajo Nation, it gave people two weeks of food in case they got a positive result and had to quarantine. It’s now sending people home with food as well as diapers, formula and hygiene kits with things like shampoo and tampons.

Parents also need child care — not just for getting their shots but also if they experience side effects. The government is working with four large child care providers to offer free care, but those centers may not be available to everyone, nor will all parents feel comfortable sending their children to an unfamiliar setting. Instead, we could give them money to pay their trusted source of child care and also offer care at vaccination centers.


Dr. Tello’s organization plans to repeat the block party this summer, this time as a back-to-school event, handing out free backpacks and school supplies as well as flu shots alongside the Covid vaccines. And it will be timed so that those who got their first shot of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine at July’s party can get their second dose on the spot. "Sometimes,” she said, “you have to make it too convenient so that people can’t say no.”

It never dawned on me that undocumented folks would be too worried about getting on the gov's radar if they showed up to be vaccinated. I hadn't realized that those working low income jobs without sick leave wouldn't be able to miss 1-2 days work (or more) to deal with vaccine side effects. Or that parents might not have childcare if they needed time away from their children to recover from vaccine side effects.

This article was very helpful for me. I had the mistaken belief that everyone could get vaccinated. But some populations need additional help on a very practical level. They absolutely want to be vaccinated. They have hit obstacles that I'd never imagined.

In a nutshell; not everyone who is unvaccinated is unvaccinated by choice. They aren't maga or Qanon. They don't believe the anti-vax political bullshit. They just need more help.

[scirreeve]

A new record high of covid cases again today. 634. And it's Sunday, which means there will be some catchup on Monday. The state is trying to hire some temporary nurses and technicians as hospital rates rise. It's hard - hotel prices have jumped, rental cars are unavailable. So negotiations are underway to provide affordable housing and a shuttle service.

Friday a woman called me to complain about the distribution of Federal covid funds. Why she called me about that, I don't know. I think she just wanted to talk to somebody because she veered into telling me about a cousin on Oahu and her family. All of the family members are vaccinated, all them have the delta virus, but her cousin just died. BUT THEN she told me that she isn't vaccinated. Vaccines not approved, vaccines dangerous, etc. She's waiting until a certain non-mRNA Canadian vax is approved. She didn't care that J&J is non-mRNA cuz reasons. My empathy level crashed.

When I was on Maui in June it was almost impossible to get a rental car (well not for me - I am a long time customer of a local rental car company - not one of the big companies). Dude that owns the company did me a solid and rented me a car. He hasn't raised his rates although he could have. Didn't get the 25% discount that was available when we were there in Feb. I can understand that. Lots of U Hauls rented by tourists on the roads. That has pissed the locals off that need to rent U Hauls. I have a friend there that is a nurse - brought in as a temp 1.5 years ago and just took a full time job there. I have no idea where Hawaii thinks they will get 500 temp nurses from.

[Lani]

Our challenge is our multicultural state. 24.8% of households self-describe as speaking a language other than English at home. Only 54.5 percent of that population self-describe themselves as able to speak English “very well.” "Very well" for school, employment beyond physical work, medical care, etc? We (state board) believe that "very well" means some conversational understanding based on number of problems we've encountered during crises including covid and hurricane warnings.

Now we have multilingual vaccination sites and mobile medical vans. Usually a shuttle is provided if requested. On my island I made a lot of calls to find the respected community and religious leaders for Chinese, Filipino, Samoan, Marshallese, Thai, Vietnamese and some others I think I've now forgotten. Anyway, DOH reps and interpreters met with the leaders. I don't know how well that project is going - DOH runs it. I'm hoping it's doing all the things mentioned in your article!

[sugar magnolia]

Another day, another 4 positive tests on set.

[LM K]

Another day, another 4 positive tests on set.

How many total?

You just can't get away from this! I'm so sorry!!

[LM K]

One of my Mister's daughters contracted covid. Daughter's boyfriend is hospitalized and on a CPAP to force oxygen into his lungs.

Daughter is college educated and a science nerd. Her excuse for not being vaccinated? She wanted to research each vaccine's side effects first. I guess she never got around to doing her research.

Daughter isn't an antivaxxer. She just didn't take this seriously. And ... Arkansas. She's lived in Arkansas most of her life.