Home Forums Thread Like Summary - Coronavirus information: assorted web links

Considering the adage Knowledge is Power, I think it might be helpful to provide a collection of web links about the Corona virus/COVID-19 that could help our FineTunedMac community assess and better understand the current pandemic, and what it means to them and the various other communities they’re part of.

It can also help dispel rather ubiquitous mis- and disinformation on the topic. In addition to this, the current pandemic offers new opportunities for various malfeasants targeting those looking for information on the internet. One example is described HERE, but I’m sure there are many others. Be careful out there!

To get you going, here are a few links I found quite useful:

- Coronavirus articles on Medium* made available freely by Medium
- Coronavirus information page compiled by MacInTouch/Ric Ford
- Coronavirus map of the US: latest cases state by state by The Guardian
- Hour by hour: the spread of the coronavirus across the globe. Interactive map by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

*) A particularly helpful overview is Tomas Pueyo’s Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now. This has been updated at least once, and may be again.

**) I cannot guarantee that there is no bad info in the above links, but they are well curated. Please use your common sense and check multiple reputable sources for verification.

Note that
(1) most of these pages are updated regularly, so it pays to check back, and
(2) they are currently freely accessible, i.e., not behind a paywall.

A few comments:

1. You can minimize soreness at the injection location. If it’s your arm, have the jab placed in your dominant one. This helps to dissipate the injected volume, which lessens local discomfort. It also helps to work your deltoids by moving your upper arms from your side up to your shoulders (‘chicken flaps’), let’s say 10 times every half hour for several hours. You’ll still feel the jab, but it won’t be nearly as annoying if you notice it at all. Secondary effects like fever, chills, tiredness, general malaise etc. are due to your immune system, and tend to last no more than a day. They also tend to be more pronounced after the second dose.

2. While two doses is a vaccination ‘standard’ (ideally making contact with the actual pathogen the 3rd exposure), the second dose of a particular vaccine may not boost your immune system much beyond what the first achieved. That’s why the J&J vaccine (developed by Janssen Pharma in the Netherlands) only uses one dose, and the Pfizer vaccine (developed by BioNTech in Germany) uses two. Similarly, while the interval between dose 1 and 2 usually is several weeks, it may be longer, as is now practiced in the UK. There are indications that this may be even more effective than shorter intervals, although this depends on both the vaccine and the actual duration of the interval.

3. The percentage vaccine effectiveness you hear about usually refers to the chance of NOT getting MILD disease. The chance of NOT getting more severe disease, hospitalization or death is increasingly larger, and runs from about 80% for no severe disease to about 100% for no death (J&J; Pfizer & Moderna numbers are somewhat higher). Bottom line: take any vaccine that’s available to you, as soon as you’re eligible.

4. Variants only develop when the disease is actively going around, be it endemic or pandemic. As soon as that stops, so does the occurrence of variants. That’s another reason (beyond protecting people) why it’s important to stop the disease’s rampage ASAP, a.o. by maintaining masking and social distancing, and avoiding crowds, particularly indoors. Because we don’t yet know if vaccinated people can harbor and spread virus, this will be necessary for everyone, vaccinated or not, until ‘herd immunity’ levels are achieved, usually beyond 70% of the population. Even so, for the foreseeable future expect periodic (re)vaccination as with the flu.