COVID-19 Update

World

New Cases:   366,176 (⬆︎ .30%)
New Deaths:      5,901 (⬆︎ .22%)

USA

New Cases:   38,896 (⬆︎ .13%)
New Deaths:       629 (⬆︎ .12%)

Vaccination Scorecard

Total Vaccinations:          69.8 million
Total Priority Population: 57.3%
Total Population:             21.0%

The weekend slump came through in good shape. We haven't seen numbers that low since early November 2020.

But we still have to contend with pent up demand for socializing as the warmer weather approaches - combined with a possible feeling of false security as the vaccination numbers grow - which is why guys like Mike Osterholm are telling us to watch out for a spring spike.

Fingers crossed.

And we still have the deliberately ignorant to deal with.

WaPo: (pay wall)

‘We want to be educated, not indoctrinated,’ say Trump voters wary of covid shots

The responses of focus group participants suggest they can be persuaded — but perhaps not by politicians, including the former president

Be honest that scientists don’t have all the answers. Tout the number of people who got the vaccines in trials. And don’t show pro-vaccine ads with politicians — not even ones with Donald Trump.

That’s what a focus group of vaccine-hesitant Trump voters insisted to politicians and pollsters this weekend, as public health leaders rush to win over the tens of millions of Republicans who say they don’t plan to get a coronavirus shot. If those voters follow through, it would imperil efforts to achieve the high levels of immunity needed to stop the virus’s spread in the United States, experts fear.

“These people represent 30 million Americans. And without these people, you’re not getting herd immunity,” said Frank Luntz, the longtime GOP pollster who convened Saturday’s focus group over Zoom. The group followed what Luntz characterized as a remarkable arc: By the end of the two-hour-plus session, all 19 participants (one dropped out early) said they were more likely to get vaccinated, and Luntz said he had begun nationwide polling to see which messages resonated with a broader population.

“I think by Wednesday next week, we’ll have tested messages that folks can use to help Republicans become more vaccine-confident,” said Brian Castrucci, CEO of the Bethesda, Md.-based de Beaumont Foundation, the public health organization that funded the ongoing effort.

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To be clear, I don't want even these foot-dragging pus bags to get sick and suffer (mostly because I don't want these foot-dragging pus bags charging round infecting everybody else, causing sickness and suffering, and blocking a legitimate shot at herd immunity), but that said, I really don't give a fuck about trying to find "the right messaging" for these idiots.

One: Grow the fuck up, foot-dragging pus bags. 

And two, I'm all but absolutely certain there's a core double-digit percentage who won't be convinced of anything by anyone at anytime no matter what. They just want the attention. They'll waste everybody's time and energy in their efforts to go on feeling important and smart.

Here's the deal on that - they're neither of those things. Fuck 'em.