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Would you get the Covid19 one or wait it out a few years?
Was swine flu declared a pandemic? I don't remember anything about it honestly!
Why?
Just not interested in debate as I recognize I have very strong opinions about this.
I will definitely get the vaccine IF one ever becomes available. I don't think we know yet whether it's possible. It wasn't possible for SARS. I get the flu shot every year. I know I got the H1N1 vaccine. My DD2 didn't get it, and she contracted H1N1. She was so sick that year. By the time a vaccine might become available, it's going to need to be approved by each country, which will likely delay it further. I'm not going to wait. I'll get it when my gov't says it's okay.
Pardon my French... but WTF?
They can bugger right off!!
Yes, and the crazy part is they actually come to our office to do these biometric screenings. At that time a nurse that is affiliated with the wellness program takes all of your measurements, weighs you, does blood draw, determines your BMI, wants details about your health and underlying conditions, and records it all. Then the wellness company gives you points for participating and then you get an insurance incentive. As a side note the wellness program is not even run by healthcare professionals. It is run by marketing people.
However this is not your doctor. And if you read the disclaimers of the program it does not prohibit them from selling it. In fact it indicates that they have the right to sell it. In exchange for providing all that information you get an insurance incentive towards a points goal and they usually give you free movie tickets... Needless to say I do not participate. they also don't tell you where they are taking your blood or what they are doing with it, other than to test for glucose, cholesterol and the like. But what are they doing with it really? I'm sure they are testing it but they aren't testing it just to benefit you and tell you if you have a problem. They're taking it and using the data and selling it to someone.
@elizat That is ridiculous!! But it’s for your own good is what you are told I’m sure.
We do participate in our wellness program but it is at the employee clinic (For DH and I this is our PCP). It is basically a yearly checkup with an incentive to come back to review/follow up on any highlighted issues they find. For example if one tests pre-diabetic they will explain that and recommend a corrective action and a second test in 6 months. We meet with our own Dr. and the goal of the program actually is to give people an opportunity to improve wellness!! We receive the incentive even if they find nothing that needs follow up attention.
Ah this one kinda bums me out as I'd like to know some things about/for myself but I have absolutely zero confidence that it will only be for myself. But I'll never do it either.It's that sort of thing that means I won't ever voluntarily do those DNA genetic tests to 'find my ancestors'![]()
Hehe personally I'm happily drinking the Kool aid sold by our PM. He's been very reassuring that they won't use it for any other purpose other than to track us down if we passed by someone who got sick.
He's selling it really really really well. I'm such a sucker!!!!
Will be interesting to see how many suckers there are like me when they launch their app.
That sounds creepy.
It sounds like an all-seeing Supermarket Incentive Card, where people sign up for a few quid off but don't think about the fact they are revealing everything about themselves for what is a paltry pittance of a 'reward'.
What if they are DNA testing your blood and working out if you're in a high risk group for getting cancer, and then in 10 years time, you can't get health cover with Cancer included??
It's that sort of thing that means I won't ever voluntarily do those DNA genetic tests to 'find my ancestors'
We all have our own personal limits to invasions of privacy, but mine are very strict. I resented having to download Skype to videocall for an interview recently, that was then a pointless exercise because apparently I couldn't call without paying money? Thanks for that. I note the 'test' to see if the microphone was working also didn't 'play it back to me' like it said it was going to, so I'm sure they aren't using facial recognition and voice recognition to harvest my unchanging biometric data, noooo....
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What could happen with DNA tests? Do you mean someone planting your DNA somewhere? I would have it done, but my docs have it mostly covered and I don't have any questions about my ancestry.
My understanding is the cheap tests mean you allow them to use your data for whatever (potentially nefarious) purposes they wish - perhaps profiling you and your insurance risk later in life... - whereas the more expensive tests have T&Cs that say you retain control.
I think, anyway - I've not looked into it in great detail TBH.
As someone cleverer than me once said, 'if a product is free, you are the product', and I think that is also true with the word 'cheap' in place of free!
We talk about this at home a lot. The government already does things it should not and accesses data it should not. I think if the door is opened, even to help this, it will never close. The data will be abused and there will be a new emergency that necessitates we continue to share. I am not ok with the concept. I also don't believe that it would ever be a transparent process on what was being collected and why.
I am not one to give my data away. I refuse to participate in a wellness program at work to lower my premium. Why? Because it requires that an app collect my data of where I go, what I do, how many steps I take, when I go to the doctor, what I eat or drink, etc. I am not uploading my medical records for a discount or points to show I had a physical. For it to be sold. Or submitting to a biometric exam at work for a discount to be sold to a third party. This is bigger than just the pandemic. The data and privacy issue is huge.
Bumping this thread because it is super relevant now that most states are reopening. Would love to know how your city is dealing with contact tracing! And whether you have changed your mind on sacrificing your privacy for the greater good. The poll shows the majority advocating for a middle ground, but what does a middle ground look like? Did the successful countries use a middle ground???
Bumping this thread because it is super relevant now that most states are reopening. Would love to know how your city is dealing with contact tracing! And whether you have changed your mind on sacrificing your privacy for the greater good. The poll shows the majority advocating for a middle ground, but what does a middle ground look like? Did the successful countries use a middle ground???
FROM LANCET INFECTIOUS DISEASE
A far-reaching surveillance initiative was implemented in Shenzhen, China, to isolate and contact trace people suspected of having the COVID-19 coronavirus. This initiative led to faster confirmation of new cases and reduced the window of time during which people were infectious in the community. This potentially reduced the number of new infections that arose from each case, according to a study of patients and contacts over 4 weeks (Lancet Infect Dis. 2020 Apr 27. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099[20]30287-5).
"The experience of COVID-19 in the city of Shenzhen may demonstrate the huge scale of testing and contact tracing that's needed to reduce the virus spreading," said study coauthor Ting Ma, PhD, of Harbin Institute of Technology at Shenzhen.
Dr. Ma acknowledged that some of the measures the program used, such as isolating people outside their homes, may be difficult to impose in other countries, "but we urge governments to consider our findings in the global response to COVID-19."
The study followed 391 coronavirus cases and 1,286 close contacts identified by the Shenzhen Center for Disease Control and Prevention from Jan. 14 to Feb. 12 this year. The study showed that contact tracing led to confirming new diagnoses within 3.2 days on average vs. 5.5 for symptom-based surveillance, and reduced the time it took to isolate newly infected people by 2 days, from an average of 4.6 to 2.7 days.
Eighty-seven people were diagnosed with COVID-19 after they were contact traced and tested. Twenty percent of them had no symptoms, and 29% had no fever. Three deaths occurred in the group during the study period.
The surveillance program was comprehensive and intense. On Jan. 8, the Shenzhen CDC started monitoring travelers from Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital, for symptoms of COVID-19. Shenzhen is a city of about 12.5 million people in southeastern China, near Hong Kong, and is about 560 miles south of Wuhan. Over the next 2 weeks, the Shenzhen CDC expanded that surveillance program to all travelers from Hubei regardless of symptoms, along with local hospital patients and people detected by fever screenings at area clinics.
Suspected cases and close contacts underwent nasal-swab testing at 40 different locations in the city. The program identified close contacts through contact tracing, and included anyone who lived in the same dwelling, shared a meal, traveled, or had a social interaction with an index 2 days before symptoms appeared. Casual contacts and some close contacts, such as clinic nurses, who wore masks during the encounters were excluded.
"To achieve similar results, other countries might be able to combine near-universal testing and intensive contact tracing with social distancing and partial lockdowns," said Dr. Ma. "Although no lockdown measures were introduced in Shenzhen until the end of our study period, Wuhan's lockdown could have significantly restricted the spread of coronavirus to Shenzhen."
The researchers noted that children are as susceptible to the virus as are adults, even though their symptoms are not as severe as those of adults. The rate of infection in children 10 and younger was similar to the overall infection rate, 7.4% vs. 6.6%, so the researchers noted that surveillance measures should target them as well.
"This study to me confirms a lot of what we've already known," Aaron E. Glatt, MD, chairman of medicine and an epidemiologist at Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside, N.Y., said in an interview. "It's an elegant study, but at the same time it sends us a message that we're at a critical point of time for us to intervene and prevent cases at the very beginning."
He acknowledged that the Shenzhen effort was intense. "It's always a resource-intense requirement to do such extensive contact tracing, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be done to the best of your ability to do so," he said.
He was struck by the low relative rate of infection among contacts in the study — around 7%. "There are differences obviously in infection rates in every outbreak," he said. "Every individual has their own particular infection rate. While we can take ranges and statistical guesses for every individual patient, it could be very high or very low, and that's most critical to nip it in the bud."
Lead author Qifang Bi and study coauthors had no financial relationships to disclose.
SOURCE: Bi Q et al. Lancet Infect Dis. 2020 Apr 27. doi: 10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30287-5.
This is certainly a fact! But I feel we must also remember that the risk of that happening depends a lot on your age and any comorbidities.Just understand that you can get this thing and die from it. That's a fact.