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There have been a lot of rumors floating around lately concerning the Delta variant, the vaccine's effectiveness against it, the possibility of the vaccinated spreading it, and the need for masks for people who have already been vaccinated. Surveys show that a lot of people are still not getting vaccinated because they lack good information - so this post is an attempt to cover the sources and facts behind some of the latest rumors. "The vaccine doesn't work against the Delta variant." No vaccine is 100% against any strain of COVID. The Delta variant is significantly more infectious than previous strains, and vaccines have reduced effectiveness - but they still provide very significant protection. For example, in a UK study, the Pfizer vaccine provided 80% protection against infection with the Delta variant, 88% protection against symptomatic disease and 96% effectiveness against hospitalization compared to unvaccinated people. https://www.healthline.com/.../heres-how-well-covid-19... "The vaccine doesn't prevent you from infecting other people." It is true that if you get infected, you can still spread COVID even if you are vaccinated. However, vaccinated people are many times less likely to become infected to begin with. Data from Santa Clara showed a 4x reduction in positivity in vaccinated people compared to unvaccinated people, for example - which means you are much less likely to spread COVID if you are vaccinated. "I don't need the vaccine because I already had COVID." In a Kentucky study, people who had previous infections, but had not been vaccinated, were 2.3 times more likely to contract COVID again. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7032e1.htm "Masks don't work." Here are 49 studies that show that masks work: https://www.kxan.com/.../do-face-masks-work-here-are-49.../ "Cloth masks don't work." Cloth masks are less effective than N95 or KN95 masks, but are still much better than nothing. Again, studies have shown reductions in particulates of 70-90% (depending on size.) See link above. "Masks can't work because the virus is too small to be stopped." Not true; very small particles are stopped via a different method than "they are too big to pass through the holes." A good explanation of how they work: https://youtu.be/eAdanPfQdCA "The COVID vaccine will make you infertile." - Nope. This rumor started because some women reported heavier periods after being vaccinated. But there has been zero evidence that it affects fertility, and no plausible way it could. Dr. Albert Hsu: "There is no data that the COVID-19 vaccines may cause infertility and no credible scientific theories for how the COVID-19 vaccine may cause female infertility." https://www.muhealth.org/.../does-covid-19-vaccine-affect... "The COVID vaccine has killed thousands of people according to VAERS." This rumor refers to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting Site, where people report adverse reactions to vaccinations. An anti-vaxx activist recently scanned the site and found 2509 cases of people dying after vaccinations. However, this is expected; people still die of strokes, heart disease, cancer, car accidents etc after being vaccinated, and these can all be reported via VAERS. There were about 1030 deaths a day in the US (average) during 2020, and as of now about half of them are vaccinated. So we expect to see ~500 deaths a day from all the usual causes (stroke, heart disease, cancer, car accidents) in vaccinated people every day. VAERS reports 25 a day, and many of those are from cancer, car accidents and heart disease. So far only three deaths have been linked in any way to the vaccine, and all were higher risk patient (i.e. at least one other risk factor) who got the J+J vaccine and then experienced blood clots. https://www.reuters.com/.../fact-check-vaers-data-does...

Just make them conditional on a mask mandate.

I have a very hard time finding sympathy for people who deliberately ignore science, reality and reason. If it only affected them, it would be much more of a 'it's your choice, do what you want but don't bitch about the consequences' thing. Smoking & diet, riding a motorcycle without a helmet or driving without a seatbelt, swooping, all of that. Not the choice I would make (Disclaimer: I used to smoke and would sometimes ride bare-headed, but not anymore), but those choices don't put me at any significant extra risk. However, this is different. Covid is spiking. The more people that catch and can transmit it, the more risk I'm at, even vaccinated. CDC is now recommending masks for everyone in areas of 'significant' or 'high' levels of transmission. The 'leaders' who are basically aiding and abetting the spread of this are shitheads. I hope both DeSantis & Abbot catch it and die. For real. When Trump caught it, I was cheering for the virus. It turns out he was a lot closer to death than anyone admitted at the time. I'm not super surprised at that because the White House has some pretty serious health care capabilities. Better than some rural hospitals. Putting the Orange Idiot into Walter Reed was a sign that he was seriously sick. My sympathy for the ones who are dying after refusing the vaccine is pretty much zero. I won't say the last year and a half has destroyed my faith in humanity, mainly because it was pretty non-existent to begin with. But the last little shreds are gone.

It's a sad fact of life that conspiracy ..people are much better at providing catchy, easily digested "information" than science/governments. This is of course partially due to the fact that science is slowed down by well, the need to backup their claims with actual science, basically. As to "our leaders" (as in the government), they are politicians, not medical experts. This means that in case of COVID-information they are at best well-informed and well meaning amateurs, not experts.

You can check out but you can never leave... Robert, you'll need a new hat..

Anyone who confuses passion with expertise is a fool. I've often found that the louder they shout, the less reliable the information is.

Yes and no. In general the cops read the Miranda rights on arrest. In part because it's really rare for them not to do some sort of questioning then and there. If a suspect volunteers information before being informed of their rights, that's fine. If a cop asks for information before the 'reading of the rights', any of that information may be disqualified from use at trial. At the 'formal' interrogation, the rights are read again, and the arrestee is generally asked to sign a form that they have been read and understand their rights.