Ben Shapiro lies about Omicron and vaccines

[Res Ipsa]

Another thing I’m seeing on Twitter this morning is patients presenting at ERs with shortness of breath and pulmonary embolism not being initially diagnosed as COVID infections by triage docs because they lack upper respiratory tract symptoms. COVID attacks and damages major organs, including heart, lungs, kidneys and brain. It may be that many of the “with COVID” admissions should have been “for COVID” admissions. Still lots to learn about the virus and the disease it causes.

[K Graham]

Here is the CDC's Total predicted number of excess deaths since 2/1/2020 across the United States: 942,431

The official COVID deaths is 861,336

This is an undercount by roughly 80,000.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covi ... deaths.htm

[cinepro]

That's one anecdote from one hospital whereas the CDC number of 95% refers to nationwide.

We're talking about two different things.

You said "Hospitalizations are hitting record highs all across the country in number of patients taken in, and the CDC has determined that 95% of those cases involve Omicron."

I'm assuming you meant "95% of covid hospitalizations involve Omicron" (not total hospitalizations). Which is probably true. But that doesn't support your overall argument. But since you didn't actually provide a source for your claim, who knows.


In order to figure out what, exactly, is going on, we need better data. Let's look at Ohio, which conveniently has a data dashboard that breaks out ICU, ventilator, and other hospital patients. They're also not one of the most highly vaccinated states (#35), so hopefully you'll agree they might serve as a good "bellwether" for lesser vaxxed areas.

https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal ... alizations

When you look at the chart showing the trends, you can see three things:

1. The overall patient count for "covid positive" rises from 5,356 on 12/29 -> 6,727 on 1/11. A 25% increase
2. The number of "Covid positive -ICU" patients rises from 1,226 -> 1,243. A 1% increase!
3. And the number of "Covid positive - Ventilator" patients rises from 757 -> 843. An 11% increase.

You can also see that more than 2/3 of their hospital patients aren't covid patients. So when making claims about hospital capacity, be sure to include that in your math.

Obviously, if you have any other data that speaks to the country as a whole, or other regions you'd like to focus on, that would be great.

Absolutely fair, because the data on nationwide Omicron cases doesn't rely on one hospital. The data suggests hospitals ICU units are being completely overrun. Are you telling me that's because we've had a massive wave of non-COVID illnesses that require ICU/ventilators?

Where are you seeing data that shows a "massive wave" of ventilator usage and increase in ICU usage? You said "the data" twice, but didn't actually provide any actual data.

That report didn't poll people to ask about political affiliation. However this one did.

The US is seeing about ~1,600 daily deaths. How many of those would you say are "Trump loving morons" each day, and where are you getting that data from?

[K Graham]

I'm assuming you meant "95% of covid hospitalizations involve Omicron" (not total hospitalizations). Which is probably true. But that doesn't support your overall argument. But since you didn't actually provide a source for your claim, who knows.

I thought it was obvious I was addressing Ben Shapiro's claim that “Omicron is not causing mass hospitalization." My point here was that Omicron represents 95% of all COVID cases. And yes, COVID patients are flooding hospitals across the country and more than 90% of them are unvaccinated.

In order to figure out what, exactly, is going on, we need better data. Let's look at Ohio, which conveniently has a data dashboard that breaks out ICU, ventilator, and other hospital patients. They're also not one of the most highly vaccinated states (#35), so hopefully you'll agree they might serve as a good "bellwether" for lesser vaxxed areas.

https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal ... alizations

When you look at the chart showing the trends, you can see three things:

1. The overall patient count for "covid positive" rises from 5,356 on 12/29 -> 6,727 on 1/11. A 25% increase
2. The number of "Covid positive -ICU" patients rises from 1,226 -> 1,243. A 1% increase!
3. And the number of "Covid positive - Ventilator" patients rises from 757 -> 843. An 11% increase.

You can also see that more than 2/3 of their hospital patients aren't covid patients. So when making claims about hospital capacity, be sure to include that in your math.

So I can't say hospitals are being overrun because you found a hospital that isn't at full capacity yet? You just provided an example of surging COVID in one hospital in Ohio, but because these patients represent only 33% of the patient total, this proves... what exactly? That if people would vaccinate the hospital would have 25% more space? From where I sit I fail to see how this negates anything I've said.

Obviously, if you have any other data that speaks to the country as a whole, or other regions you'd like to focus on, that would be great.

I'll reiterate that you cannot talk about nationwide trends by focusing on one hospital which may or may not be experiencing a surge.

Where are you seeing data that shows a "massive wave" of ventilator usage and increase in ICU usage? You said "the data" twice, but didn't actually provide any actual data.

On average intensive care units at hospitals across the country are at 78% capacity and rising.

Here in Atlanta some of our larger hospitals and over 18 ERs reached the point where they had to turn away ambulances.

Atlanta hospitals feel the strain
"Atlanta's four major hospital systems were severely overcrowded and that Northside, Piedmont and Grady were all turning away ambulances."

Hospitalizations are again on the rise as Covid cases surge

Bloomberg: Unvaccinated Covid Patients Push Hospital Systems Past the Brink Lori Coots, director of emergency services at Saint Joseph hospital in London, Kentucky:

There are consequences to a health system locked up by Covid patients. There were still strokes, heart attacks and accidents coming in. (Two weeks after these interviews, a tornado struck the other side of the state, killing more than 70 people.) But hospital beds around the state were full, and transfers to other hospitals were nearly impossible.

Coots said that at the height of the surge, Saint Joseph had patients waiting in the emergency department for days, on services the hospital did not have.

Fifteen miles south, in Corbin, Baptist Health, a 273-bed hospital that serves much the same area as Saint Joseph, put together a team to try and find beds at other facilities.

“We called transfer centers. We called admission centers and coordinators for other health systems in Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, trying to find beds,” said Teresa Cobb, the hospital’s director of nursing, clinical and regulatory services.

There were no beds anywhere.

Melahn, at Saint Claire, said they knew there would be little help. But still, they hit the phones. One day in early September, they ran out of options.

“We had gone through a list of 23 hospitals and they were all no,” Melahn said. “We looked at each other and we said, the next person who shows up, we’re just going to have to let them pass away. We have nothing left.”

“Five people died that day and that’s what saved us,” he said.

But some hospitals aren't at capacity, so this means Shapiro is right and I'm wrong?

The US is seeing about ~1,600 daily deaths. How many of those would you say are "Trump loving morons" each day, and where are you getting that data from?

I've already provided a source for a poll saying 87% of the unvaccinated voted for Trump. Also, that 90+% of those dying in hospitals are unvaccinated. I've also provided links demonstrating the same trend as it has been happening since last Spring, which is that the 2020 electoral map correlates almost perfectly with the same map of vaccination rates.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-t ... s-n1277514

From August - NBC poll shows only 46% of Trump supporters vaxxed. Democrats @ 88%.

The only thing that surprises me is the shockingly high percentage of trumptards that are vaxxed. I would’ve put them at or below 25%.

- Doc

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Here in eutaw:

Utah’s Tuesday Covid data:
🌡 9,813 cases, 5,152 from last Tues.
2,012 school-aged cases
15 deaths, 3,922 total
579 hospitalized
22,727 people tested, 43.2% pos. 44,349 total tests, 22.1% pos
7-day avg, 8,524 cases/day, 33.6%/23% pos
30,818 vax doses
#utpol

That’s obviously just reported cases. My guess is it’s probably double ref cases.

Risk Ratios - For past 4 wks, unvaxxed Utahns are:

• 2.4x as likely to test pos.
• 7x as likely to be hospitalized
• 15.7x as likely to die from Covid. #utpol

ICU capacity at 88%, which is risky considering we might’ve not peaked, yet.

Look. It wouldn’t make a difference in this state if 50,000 or a 100,000 raving lunatics passed to their Added Upon reward. They had plenty of time to figure this thing out. It just bums me out they’ll take a few non-insane souls with them, which is the real tragedy.

- Doc

[Moksha]

I have no doubt many (too many) Trump loving morons are unvaxxed and dying, but "the vast majority"? Not so sure about that.

Maybe "Trump-loving Moron" should only be considered as a secondary underlying condition.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Speaking of morons:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... reddit.com

tl;dc and my wife - Fauci snaps, caught on hot mic calling Repub Sen a moron.

- Doc

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

One more, because why not:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medica ... ar-AASqFc8

Surgeries delayed with 500 University of Utah Hospital staff out sick amid COVID outbreak

The hospital already had seen a 400% increase in COVID-19 admissions since Christmas, said Dr. Russell Vinik, chief medical operations officer. “That has created some strain,” Vinik said.

…

Intensive care units at Utah’s large “referral” hospitals were at 91% of capacity on Monday, the most recent day for which data was available; ICUs are considered “full” at 85%, and Utah’s major hospitals have exceeded that since mid-August.

The U. has been trying to empty about 50 beds while the hospital staff is stretched thin, but “we’re having to stretch because we’re so full that we haven’t been able to take the beds offline,” Vinik said. Instead, employees have been working extra shifts.

Meanwhile, Vinik said, 12 patients were waiting in the emergency room for a bed to open up during the online news conference where hospital administrators announced the surgery delays.

- Doc

[Gadianton]

two right-wing friends from the AM ventures have Covid. Seem to be doing pretty well considering age and health, both have full vax plus booster.