COVID Developments and News

[Capt Spaulding]

Originally Posted by Atmo

Recent data points show Ph.D.'s are the most vaxx hesitant group. The study, funded by Facebook and the CDC of over 5 million respondents, says there are many reasons across the board for the hesitancy, not primarily anti-vaxx.

"The largest decrease in hesitancy between January and May by education group was in those with a high school education or less. Hesitancy held constant in the most educated group (those with a Ph.D.); by May Ph.D.’s were the most hesitant group."

https://www.upmc.com/media/news/0726...cine-hesitancy

Curious what those Ph.D.'s were in.

Your opening sentence is not entirely accurate. Based on the analysis in the original paper the most vaccine hesitant are white residents of Trump supporting counties who think the virus poses no risk to them personally and who refuse to moderate their social interactions.

The education results are interesting. Ph.D holders’ attitudes seems virtually unchanged over the time period of the study. An important caveat is their sample is constantly changing. We know nothing about individual’s decisions, on the behavior of a group in the aggregate. Therefore, your last question doesn’t make a lot of sense. It’s too bad the study didn’t take a more granular, multivariate look at the data. They note that the education results need more work. That is true. I have some reservations about their design. It would be fun to play with their data. They got some big NNs there baby. That alone pretty much guarantees statistically significant results.

[IceFyre13th]

[Atmo]

Originally Posted by Capt Spaulding

Your opening sentence is not entirely accurate. Based on the analysis in the original paper the most vaccine hesitant are white residents of Trump supporting counties who think the virus poses no risk to them personally and who refuse to moderate their social interactions.

The education results are interesting. Ph.D holders’ attitudes seems virtually unchanged over the time period of the study. An important caveat is their sample is constantly changing. We know nothing about individual’s decisions, on the behavior of a group in the aggregate. Therefore, your last question doesn’t make a lot of sense. It’s too bad the study didn’t take a more granular, multivariate look at the data. They note that the education results need more work. That is true. I have some reservations about their design. It would be fun to play with their data. They got some big NNs there baby. That alone pretty much guarantees statistically significant results.

The first sentence is quoting from the study linked.

"The largest decrease in hesitancy between January and May by education group was in those with a high school education or less. Hesitancy held constant in the most educated group (those with a Ph.D.); by May Ph.D.’s were the most hesitant group. While vaccine hesitancy decreased across virtually all racial groups, Blacks and Pacific Islanders had the largest decreases, joining Hispanics and Asians at having lower vaccine hesitancy than whites in May."

The last sentence comes from curiosity about the type of Ph.D.'s that self-reported. Are they STEM? If so, we're told that the science community is on board with vaxxing so it would be interesting to see what percent of scientists surveyed are vaxx hesitant.

Odd that they didn't pay much attention to Native Americans.

[Irace86.2.0]

Zero pediatric ICU beds in Dallas. Collateral damage…

Texas Judge Says There Are No Kid ICU Beds: Have To ‘Wait For Another Child To Die’


https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_6...DCoCeu8KxlLnb0

The situation for adults does not appear to be much better.

Jenkins tweeted Friday that only 17 adult ICU beds were currently available in the county.

Statewide, there are only 323 ICU beds available, as the number of people requiring hospital treatment surges, fueled by the spread of the more contagious delta variant and the plateauing of the vaccination rate. The vast majority of people now being hospitalized with COVID-19 have not received the vaccine.

[Atmo]

Originally Posted by Irace86.2.0

Zero pediatric ICU beds in Dallas. Collateral damage…

Texas Judge Says There Are No Kid ICU Beds: Have To ‘Wait For Another Child To Die’


https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_6...DCoCeu8KxlLnb0

Dallas, Fort Worth Children's Hospitals Regain ICU Bed Availability

Bed availability is an ever-changing situation, hospital officials say

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/coronavi...ility/2717992/

That's the county the judge is referring to. How and why the beds become available is another matter.

[Irace86.2.0]

Originally Posted by Atmo

Dallas, Fort Worth Children's Hospitals Regain ICU Bed Availability

Bed availability is an ever-changing situation, hospital officials say

https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/coronavi...ility/2717992/

That's the county the judge is referring to. How and why the beds become available is another matter.

Of course. If the beds were a staffing problem then that is a related, but separate issue. If they converted the cath lab to an overflow pediatric unit then that could have opened up beds. If they use the PACU for pediatric overflow then that could get them beds. This also isn’t ideal if surgeries and procedures get delayed or postponed.

South Dakota had such a bad nursing shortage earlier in this pandemic that they hired travelers at huge bonuses and allowed COVID positive nurses to work. This is getting the job done, but it isn’t the type of care you would want for your family or for yourself. Collateral damage still ensues. I’ve done CPR for hall beds. It isn’t ideal running codes in the hall or holding ICU patients in the ER.

[Irace86.2.0]

Originally Posted by Atmo

The first sentence is quoting from the study linked.

"The largest decrease in hesitancy between January and May by education group was in those with a high school education or less. Hesitancy held constant in the most educated group (those with a Ph.D.); by May Ph.D.’s were the most hesitant group. While vaccine hesitancy decreased across virtually all racial groups, Blacks and Pacific Islanders had the largest decreases, joining Hispanics and Asians at having lower vaccine hesitancy than whites in May."

The last sentence comes from curiosity about the type of Ph.D.'s that self-reported. Are they STEM? If so, we're told that the science community is on board with vaxxing so it would be interesting to see what percent of scientists surveyed are vaxx hesitant.]

I would be interested to know too. I’m sure there is a big difference between getting a PHD in 14th century french literature or theology and virology or biology for vaccine hesitancy. While PHDs probably don’t succumb to the Dunning-Kruger affect, their specialty in an unrelated, non-scientific field of study won’t protect them from dogmatic thinking about vaccines. In fact, having some expertise could make them feel more confident and less willing to change their mind, but typically this is not the case, so it would be cool to tease this out more. We do see religious faith in biological sciences versus STEM fields versus other non-STEM fields, so that might relate to dogmatic thinking. Regardless, the survey suggests there is some educational gap or trust gap that needs to be addressed at all levels.

[Capt Spaulding]

Originally Posted by Atmo

The first sentence is quoting from the study linked.

"The largest decrease in hesitancy between January and May by education group was in those with a high school education or less. Hesitancy held constant in the most educated group (those with a Ph.D.); by May Ph.D.’s were the most hesitant group. While vaccine hesitancy decreased across virtually all racial groups, Blacks and Pacific Islanders had the largest decreases, joining Hispanics and Asians at having lower vaccine hesitancy than whites in May."

The last sentence comes from curiosity about the type of Ph.D.'s that self-reported. Are they STEM? If so, we're told that the science community is on board with vaxxing so it would be interesting to see what percent of scientists surveyed are vaxx hesitant.

Odd that they didn't pay much attention to Native Americans.

The problem with your earlier post is that you didn't include the "by education group" qualifier.

Recent data points show Ph.D.'s are the most vaxx hesitant group.

There are other groups in the study with higher hesitancy numbers. Therefore, as stated, without context, your claim is not true.

My comment was intended primarily to suggest we be more careful with blanket statements. One of the problems with the study is that it primarily focuses on a series of pair-wise, bi-variate comparisons. While those can be useful, subtleties and context make a huge difference. I don't know where it is being published, but if I had been a reviewer, I'd have suggested the paper needs more context. You're onto something asking about field the Ph.D holders are in. But we also should look at age, occupation, income and other factors in conjunction with education and field of expertise.

As Irace86 pointed out, "it's complicated." It's similar to the kerfuffle that emerged when someone posted the graph depicting variations in vaccinations by ethnic group. Those disparities, like these are and were just a jumping off point from which to figure out what's really going on.

[MuseChaser]

The difference in coverage and presentation of the same issue ... availability of pediatric ICU beds in the DFW area... by Huffpost and Irace vs by NBCDFW and Atmo illustrate just why we simply have to question pretty much every assertion. The Huffpost/Irace presentation, with the quote about having to wait until another child dies before a bed becomes available, distorts reality and completely leaves out the fact that the shortage is of STAFFED ICU beds. A shortage of staff. Yes, it's a problem, but it's a problem with MANY more solutions than requiring us to wait for a child to die. It also makes it sound as if death is the only expected outcome for a child in an ICU bed. The entire point of that article was to stir up fear by using an emotional quote by a judge who didn't have his facts straight.

By contrast, the article to which Atmo linked makes it clear immediately that the issue is for staffed beds, and that the issue was at one point in time on Thursday and not an ongoing problem. None of these details were included in the HuffPost article. None of them. . Very different presentation of what is, of course, still an undeniable problem. The last line of the article was,

"We are prepared and equipped to provide care for children in North Texas," a Children’s Health representative noted in a statement to NBC 5."

[cjd]

Originally Posted by MuseChaser

The difference in coverage and presentation of the same issue ... availability of pediatric ICU beds in the DFW area... by Huffpost and Irace vs by NBCDFW and Atmo illustrate just why we simply have to question pretty much every assertion. The Huffpost/Irace presentation, with the quote about having to wait until another child dies before a bed becomes available, distorts reality and completely leaves out the fact that the shortage is of STAFFED ICU beds. A shortage of staff. Yes, it's a problem, but it's a problem with MANY more solutions than requiring us to wait for a child to die. It also makes it sound as if death is the only expected outcome for a child in an ICU bed. The entire point of that article was to stir up fear by using an emotional quote by a judge who didn't have his facts straight.

By contrast, the article to which Atmo linked makes it clear immediately that the issue is for staffed beds, and that the issue was at one point in time on Thursday and not an ongoing problem. None of these details were included in the HuffPost article. None of them. . Very different presentation of what is, of course, still an undeniable problem. The last line of the article was,

"We are prepared and equipped to provide care for children in North Texas," a Children’s Health representative noted in a statement to NBC 5."

If you have a sick kid, its going to be the "wait for someone to die" scenario. That's the IMPACT of the problem being reported.
If you cease to pay attention to how people are impacted then sure, its just a staffing problem, gee all these bums on unemployment should get off their ass and work, plenty of jobs!

[Lantanafrs2]

In Florida the current surge is worse than the first go round according to the people I've talked to. They include a general practitioner and two nurses. Lots of break through cases. This thing is gonna run its course. Take precautions on your own because they're not going to be mandated.

[Sapphireho]

I like beef jerky.

[weederr33]

Originally Posted by Sapphireho

I like beef jerky.

You're stating that like a fact when it's actually an opinion.

[Lantanafrs2]

Just make sure whomever hands it to you has gloves on