Hacker News Reader

hvacon AM radio law opposed by tech and auto industries is close to passing

Let’s duplicate the weather radio broadcasts on the AM bands and leave the commercial stuff on the internet/podcasts in order to maximize safety, then. I’m sure the folks lobbying for this bill like the Salem Media Group wouldn’t mind.

hvacon Texas governor bans all Covid-19 vaccine mandates, including by private business

So flu vaccine mandates are still allowed?

hvacon Lockdown, distance learning likely to increase social class achievement gap

>mortality of common comparisons like Influenza way higher

Source? I see 188 pediatric deaths from flu in the 2017-2018 season, and 464 for covid over 1.5 years.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/spotlights/2019-2020/2019-20-pediatr...

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm#Se...

hvacon Why doesn’t natural immunity count in the US?

This is precisely correct, especially wrt the cost/benefit. The antibody tests won't tell you when you were infected, with which variant, or how much viral dose, on top of their imperfect accuracy. And if you're going to bother going to a hospital to get your blood drawn, why not just... get the shot and remove all doubt?

Does the calculus change in the countries where vaccines are basically nonexistant? Yes, of course. But vaccines in the US are as nearly easy to get as Gatorade now, and have been for several months. We spent many billions making it that way - we don't need to turn around and start spending even more money on pox party incentives.

hvacon Surgical masks reduce Covid-19 spread, large-scale Stanford study shows

I think it's also important to note that there was no change in physical distancing seen in indoor environments (mosques) - maybe due to the fact that it's obviously easier to spread out when outdoors. I think we are fairly confident by now that the vast majority of spread occurs indoors [1].

[1] https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/223/4/550/6009483

hvacon When Vaccine Apathy, Not Hesitancy, Drives Vaccine Disinterest

With three out of those four states having vaccination rates that are now above average, how can you be sure that an independent safety review didn't have the opposite effect?

hvacon Germany fines YouTube for removing video of anti-lockdown protest

In some cases (e.g. Jews, Amish) the lines between race/religion/national origin become pretty blurry. I agree that it's the most ambiguous of the classes, though.

hvacon Germany fines YouTube for removing video of anti-lockdown protest

It's technically true that you could find some way to dye your skin a different colour, but I don't think most people would find that to be a realistic solution to anything.

hvacon Germany fines YouTube for removing video of anti-lockdown protest

Yes, because the difference is that they are essentially immutable personal traits. The parent was presenting this scenario as an equivalent one and I don't think they are.

hvacon Germany fines YouTube for removing video of anti-lockdown protest

Having a certain political opinion is not a protected class in the US

hvacon Experimental assessment of CO2 inhaled by children with and without face masks

I’m curious, what would the mechanism be for this to not be true?

hvacon Experimental assessment of CO2 inhaled by children with and without face masks

Alternatively, face masks are this much more effective at blocking much-larger virus particles.

hvacon What's Inside the EU Green Pass QR Code?

>Depending on age and condition the risk to an individual can vary from one in ten million to under one in a hundred

You're off by several orders of magnitude here. See "current best estimate": https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/planning-scena...

hvacon What's Inside the EU Green Pass QR Code?

I'm not sure those states are good examples when their governors were happy to impose restrictions on private businesses and remove their freedom of choice wrt proof of vaccination - to the complaint of the Cato Institute, no less.

hvacon The end of the pandemic is near

Having an already-high baseline risk before adding covid is a reason to be more cautious, not less. The point is that this particular vector is so trivially preventable.

hvacon Ohio Lottery to Give 5 People $1M Each to Encourage Vaccination

quarantine is definitely more expensive than $0, unless their time is worthless

hvacon FDA authorizes Pfizer vaccine for kids age 12 to 15

>"persistent or significant incapacity" does not include "a sick day"

It does, actually. From the UI Medcom link: "symptoms that preclude patient from attending work, school or perform their typical daily activities"

hvacon A Misleading CDC Number

>The fact that a confirmed natural infection confers immunity equal to or greater than the vaccines is well established at this point. There are something like 80 documented reinfections worldwide.

There is definitely a lot more than 80. My impression is that the mRNA vaccines are more effective than natural immunity.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6...

hvacon FDA authorizes Pfizer vaccine for kids age 12 to 15

Page 9, “A persistent or significant incapacity or substantial disruption of the ability to conduct normal life functions”

VAERS forms sometimes have more wording for that category: https://medcom.uiowa.edu/theloop/covid-19-vaccination-requir...

hvacon FDA authorizes Pfizer vaccine for kids age 12 to 15

That 0.4% category includes simply taking a sick day from work/school. I would hardly call that life-threatening. You are also using the word “reaction” when it’s not clear that the SAEs were due to the vaccine and not something else.

hvacon Flu has disappeared worldwide during the Covid pandemic

Norovirus was also decimated last year, and it doesn't infect the same organs/cells as respiratory viruses: https://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/reporting/norostat/data.html

hvacon Suicide has become rarer during the pandemic

Can you explain how you would reconcile this with what the Economist is reporting then?

hvacon Suicide has become rarer during the pandemic

It's valuing the hard statistics in the article over people asking other people how they are feeling, not cherrypicking. Trying to convince people that suicidal ideation and attempts are up without a corresponding increase in suicides is going to be a hard sell.

hvacon Suicide has become rarer during the pandemic

I would say that this is "surprising" because the AMA (and many other mental health groups) were predicting a huge increase in suicides, which never happened. Later on, the "people are killing themselves" narrative became the accepted dogma, sans evidence. I don't remember much talk about suicidal ideation, it was mainly (understandably) fixated on the suicide rate.

An increase in actual suicide attempts is different from an increase in self-reported suicide attempts, and I'm not sure how you would reconcile the former with a decrease/stagnation in the suicide rate. If more people are deciding to reach out/ask for help I would expect a similar pattern.

hvacon At 38.5% vaccinated, US may be running low on people eager for a shot

"By now"? Where is the evidence that SARS-CoV2 has decreased its severity through mutation?

hvacon Denmark to permanently cease using AstraZeneca vaccine

My understanding is that these restrictions were only imposed in December of last year (and are in force until at least 30 June), so I would tend to agree with the parent that they definitely changed directions.

hvacon US agencies call for pause in Johnson & Johnson vaccine

Or maybe people are just terrible at judging acute risks? This isn't unique to covid - ask them about flying on an airliner or living next to a nuclear power plant and you would get some equally comical numbers. At any rate risk of hospitalization/death isn't the complete picture since some of those young people are ostensibly doing it to protect the people around them.

hvacon The virus that causes the common cold can effectively boot the Covid virus out

...I don’t see the word “cold” in that paper.

hvacon The virus that causes the common cold can effectively boot the Covid virus out

No. Colds are upper respiratory tract infections and only affect the nose and throat, as opposed to viral pneumonia. Different coronaviruses have different proteins and corresponding cell receptors (ACE2, DPP4, etc), which result in different organs being infected. Saying that all coronavirus diseases are colds is about as accurate as saying that all coronavirus diseases are SARS.