The Dreaded Marco

Agreed. I’d give the nod to Pilot. Or A.M. 180 (not ‘00s) or El Caminos in the West. Great band.

Thanks for the invite, NV. Very impressive draft——but far too late for me to join.

If your doctor prescribed a nebulized medication then you likely had a component of reactive airways disease/asthma. Routine nebulized medications do not treat infections. Not knowing what those other medicines you were prescribed, I can't comment further. Glad you're better now.

Chest infections don't last 6 straight months. You may want to ask your doctor about other possible causes of chronic cough such as asthma and/or allergic disease.

C'mon guys. Let's base our discussion on science and data. This thread is now veering toward the Politics forum. I don't want to, and will not, go back in there.

I’m all for this but just not quite yet. The masks will be very beneficial and effective at further suppressing the pandemic for a few more months. I hope to be able to ditch the masks by June or July.

No. 45% of Americans receive a Flu vaccine that is 40% percent effective so a multiple of 2 is too high.

Nope. That is not my point. I am not advocating that and that will not happen. I would still like to see your numbers that support your claim of an equal death rate of Sars-CoV 2 and Influenza for those under 65.

That is a good point although I’d like to see your math to claim death rates are similar. Also factor in that, sadly, over the past 10 years the efficacy rate for the flu vaccine has averaged only 40%. And over that same 10 year period an average of only 45% of Americans have received the Flu vaccine. To further illustrate the efficacy and importance of masks and social distancing, Influenza has been almost nonexistent this season. There have only been 1600 confirmed cases of Influenza reported in the entire country this season. And RSV has been even less prevalent.

I believe they ordered enough doses to cover all hospital employees, all medical providers affiliated with the hospital and any first responders in the region. They did not mandate vaccination so I suspect they underestimated the number of people who would decline the vaccine. And we're talking about a fairly small number here---a couple dozen doses, not hundreds. These doses will definitely not go unused.

Tell that to the family members and friends of the "less vulnerable" 86,761 Americans under 65 who have died of COVID in the past year. And that death count is despite many people following masking and social distancing recommendations. And then compare that to the number of deaths due to Influenza per year for all ages, including those 65+ (which comprise the majority of those deaths), over the past 10 years with essentially no one wearing masks or social distancing. COVID 19 is far more dangerous than "regular flu" regardless of age. Please don't ditch the ma

Utah. My wife and I are both 53. I’m a primary care doc so I got my 2nd dose in early January. My wife doesn’t qualify here yet but my local hospital where I’m on staff has a surplus that are going to go unused so she will be getting her first dose in 3 days. Things are relatively opened up here with the typical restrictions though—masks, decreased capacity at indoor establishments. It’s not too terrible and hopefully we should have no problem continuing it a few more months until a significant majority are vaccinated.

I have been dealing with the issue of anxiety and/or depression in my pediatric patients 10-fold over the past year. It's a real and dangerous component of this pandemic for kids. https://services.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/clinical-guidance/interim-guidance-on-supporting-the-emotional-and-behavioral-health-needs-of-children-adolescents-and-families-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/

Another good scene from a lesser known but great sports-themed movie---Win Win

Sadly, I'd never heard of him until 1 hour ago, and I've even purchased books at City Lights . Driving home from work tonight, NPR did a great piece on his life---truly a driveway moment. I'm intrigued.