I’d like to share these two visuals. It is from July 27, 2020 & July 27, 2021, respectively.

 

It was going to be data collected from July 20, 2020 & July 20, 2021 but holy gods, it apparently has gotten worse since then! In literally the span of a week!

Please note that on July 27, 2020, when there was no vaccine and people were still getting used to the pandemic restrictions, the number of confirmed infections (remember, not everyone was getting tested and testing centers were patchy at best) were 59,181. That’s pretty darn bad. Then you look at this year’s number, when there is a vaccine, the pandemic mandates have been in place for over a year, yadda yadda yadda: 108,775 confirmed infections.

That is literally 49,594 more people who had contracted the coronavirus than last year. New cases. And remember! Not everyone gets tested due to inaccessibility reasons (closed down testing locations, usual systemic oppressions) so the number can always be bigger. It is completely staggering to see such a statistic. The vast majority are new people catching Covid, not on their second turn. The vast majority are unvaccinated. 108,775 new people in a day tested positive. There were thousands yesterday and the day before that.

In case anyone was not aware:

Not by a long shot

We are still in a pandemic. We still need to wear masks. We still need to socially distance. We still need to vaccinate.

This is what the vaccination rates in the US looks like as of July 27, 2021:

The part that is most important is the “Fully Vaccinated” number. For Covid-19, the vaccination number has to be at 70% minimum for herd immunity. That number currently stands at 49.8%, as of July 27, 2021. Also, please note that the vaccination curve is flattening. When health officials said “let’s flatten the curve”, this wasn’t the curve they were talking about. There are a lot of people who are half vaccinated, and that’s great, hopefully that will bode good things in the future – but the thing is, half vaxxed is not fully vaxxed. Half means there is roughly a 33% chance of defending against Covid, instead of the upper 80s and 90 percents. Half also means that the coronavirus has a perfect testing ground to learn how to navigate vaccinated bodies, period. That’s how we get variants/mutations.

Speaking of transmission, it was always hypothesized but is definitely becoming clearer and clearer that a vaccinated person can still be Typhoid Mary to everyone unvaccinated or half vaccinated around them. A vaccinated person can still carry Covid to others, they themselves just may not get sick themselves – and should they get sick, it isn’t a promise to be fatal or warrant a trip to the hospital. And this is for a virus that already can exist in a regular, unvaccinated person asymptomatically. So imagine what a virus already known for its asymptomatic nature in unvaccinated people look like in a vaccinated person. Basically a silent killer, almost. Even if you are vaccinated, still wear a mask. Unless you know for fact literally everyone around you is also vaccinated and everyone who interacts with them is also vaccinated, wear a mask. Especially if you are indoors. Don’t test the rigors of your vaccine with the stupid people around you, just wear a mask. The CDC finally updated its standards, now it includes treated vaccinated people almost the same when they weren’t vaccinated.

  • Updated information for fully vaccinated people given new evidence on the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant currently circulating in the United States.
  • Added a recommendation for fully vaccinated people to wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial or high transmission.
  • Added information that fully vaccinated people might choose to wear a mask regardless of the level of transmission, particularly if they are immunocompromised or at increased risk for severe disease from COVID-19, or if they have someone in their household who is immunocompromised, at increased risk of severe disease or not fully vaccinated.
  • Added a recommendation for fully vaccinated people who have a known exposure to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 to be tested 3-5 days after exposure, and to wear a mask in public indoor settings for 14 days or until they receive a negative test result.
  • CDC recommends universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status.

Masks, testing and quarantine are starting to float back in for the vaccinated. All because of the virus getting worse and all the help said virus is getting from the public. By the way, this is very US centric, there are still places in the world where vaccines still haven’t really hit the ground yet. There needs to be a proper global vaccine rollout.

Now, usually I would bring up my favorite nations of virus abatement, South Korea. but they just spirited up to over 3,000 newly infected people a day. So far, it appears the reason why is plain old Pandemic Restrictions Fatigue. Same problem that affects the US and countless other nations. Totally understandable. The restrictions have up-ended a lot of lives and worn many people out. Most want to get back to how their lives were pre-pandemic, assuming such a thing is even possible. All want their lost loved ones back. It is entirely and completely understandable to be tired and fatigued by a looming threat of a virus. Problem is: the coronavirus is not a person and it does not care if you are tired. It does not care how much of your life is gone now. It does not care about how many people it takes away from you. All it wants to do is exist and spread. It is mindless and harmful, plain and simple. Having fatigue is understandable but it is still important to work with the restrictions – and at least get vaccinated. At least as a vaccinated person you can have some of your life back, but only some. Remember, all Covid wants to do is spread and to it, a vaccinated person is simply a person it hasn’t figured out how to infect and spread to yet – but it’s working on it, especially thanks to all the unvaccinated and half vaccinated people around who like to throw caution into the wind.

Why, even Japan is still holding the Olympics – which literally reminded me of the video game Plague Inc (old name, Pandemic). Usually the devs update the Olympic parts to keep the game modern (I remember seeing mentions of London and Rio in the past) but it is a real doozy when it happens in real life also.


I decided to name the virus Covid for a touch of realism. Y’know, art imitates life and all that jazz

In the game, depending on how under or on the radar your plague is, the Olympics will either be canceled or proceed. If it is canceled, you lose a big chance to spread your plague (the point of the game is that you are a plague (bacterial, viral, etc) and you only win by infecting and killing the entire world in the shortest amount of time possible – they also just introduced a Cure version where your job is to stop a plague). If the Olympics happen, then you get boosts like mad because, congrats, you pretty much made your plague go worldwide with very little effort. By the way, the Games have indeed just started and Japan, on July 27, 2021, has had one of its largest infection days yet with almost 8,000 newly infected people in one day. I expect that number to go up after the Olympics. They have the US team there, c’mon. They’re hosting several insanely infected nations, the likelihood is far too great. How many athletes and their coaches are willing to say “oh, it’s allergies/bronchitis/result of sleeping under an air conditioner” in exchange for participating in a such an important event they have trained ever so hard for?

Again, it is a doozy to play the game and look at the news and see the actual thing carry out. Not 100% Japan’s fault. The International Olympic Committee are the ones pushing things forward because “hey, you signed a contract and the world is not dead. Hop to it, thank you very much.” Which is a pretty trash thing to do. They only really stop for wars, and mainly if those wars are big enough to affect hosting nations (such as the two world wars). Remember, even Germany hosted the Olympics in 1936 so there are very few things that the International Olympic Committee would completely cancel the games for.

The pandemic is going to be here for a very long while, everyone. It’s been on this planet since 2019 (hence the “19” in “Covid-19”) and it is currently halfway through 2021. The way things are going, it looks like Covid will be around at least until 2022, 2024 at the latest. Please try to do your part and at least get vaccinated and continue wearing masks. And socially distance. And wash your hands.