BHG6

Maybe you're right, I spent over a decade making my living jumping out of airplanes with 15 lbs of camera gear on my head. Perhaps my concept of risk vs. reward is a little.....bent?

MinnMan

some new data on risk of delta variant infection (but not severe illness) for those fully vaccinated

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/eng...ed-2021-08-03/

Hiro11

Yup, all of this. If 100% of people are vaccinated, then 100% of cases would occur in vaccinated people, a meaningless statistic.

I'll preface this by saying I'm no expert and likely have no idea what I'm talking about. Still:

The Mayo clinic has a really nice video on this:
- Covid transmits in fully vaccinated people not necessarily by making them sick, it transmits more often in vaccinated people because asymptomatic carriers have large viral loads in their nose and mouth.
- Regardless of infectiousness, vaccines DRASTICALLY reduce the risk serious illness and death, which after all is really what's important here.

Regarding the last point: people still seem to misunderstand what an "endemic virus" like covid-19 entails. Long story short: "zero covid" is a ridiculous, unobtainable concept. Taking this a step further: if you have not yet had covid, you will have covid at some point. To repeat: you will have covid at some point. As a result, what really matters is if covid represents a serious mortality risk to you or just a risk of an asymptomatic case or a mild illness. This is why I believe that "confirmed cases" is a much less important statistic to focus on than serious hospitalizations and death. In fact, due to the issues around data collection and data quality I personal look mostly at excess mortality.

Don't get me wrong, we definitely want to cut down on active cases as more cases = more genetic drift and more variants, luckily vaccines are also very helpful in this regard. When you look at the above statistics, keep in mind that the best flu vaccines are only about 40%-50% effective.

AlanO

How is an infectious disease political?

freeranger

When I do ride in a group, it is usually a small group, mostly consisting of seniors, and all of us have been vaccinated, so I feel comfortable riding with them without a mask. I will be carrying a mask with me now, in case I need to go inside an area where there are numbers of people who I do not know. Minor inconvenience, compared to possible consequences.

Brian_USA

Stopped doing group rides for other reasons years before coronovirus.

alias5000

Not resumed group rides yet. Before we had vaccines, I would not do it, because I wouldn't want to be part of a transmission chain that leads to someone ending up in hospital or a graveyard. Now that that threat is hugely reigned in (in Canada), I'm still hesitant because I can still be a vector to my kid that can't get vaccinated. If the kid would be unlucky, it could end up with long covid, which is something we don't want for someone developing life fundamentals as they grow. But I am actively contemplating going back to group rides. Next year for sure, as by then everyone in our household will have had the chance to get a vaccine.

BHG6

Not even remotely true. I gave you a direct quote from the Director of the CDC. I didn't alter her words or their meaning in any way, shape, or form. I mean exactly what she means - "The increased viral load associated with the Delta variant appears to make vaccinated people equal spreaders of the virus.".
Nowhere did I claim that infections in those who are vaccinated are as common as in those who are not.

I said that if you are that concerned with catching/transmitting the virus despite being fully vaccinated, doing group rides probably is't a great idea since you have no idea who's contagious, regardless of their "status".

Is that really such a controversial thing to say?

GhostRider62

Quotes from the CDC are not facts.

They have proven themselves not to be credible.

run50

I'm more concerned at the moment and wanting to now if others are cutting back on their riding because of the air quality in the West. Denver on Sunday
was rated to have the worst air quality in the world rankings. The smoke we are getting along the Front Range has been horrific this year (and last year
was really bad as well). We've had something like 50 days now of severe air quality alerts. The smoke is so bad the Front Range mountains are just
barely visible from my home (and I live like 4 mi from the mountains). So has anyone else having problems riding in this outside?

WhyFi

So rather than try to hijack this thread, start a thread in your regional forum or check the existing thread in Road (edit: Riding in the smoke....or not.)

BHG6

I couldn't' agree with you more. But we don't exactly have much else to go by these days.....

mstateglfr 

dkatz1

I'm kind of cowardly, and avoiding crowds. But: transmission is way less likely outside, and I'm guessing that when you're in motion even less likely (?, I guess I don't know).

phdung

If it’s Delta that has you concerned the vaccinated are just as likely to get it as the non-vaccinated.

I think the healthiest thing you can do is be fit because you will very likely get covid at some point.

In North America the biggest factor on whether covid kills you or not is being overweight.

so I will continue to ride to keep my weight at a reasonable level.

Skullo

I don’t do group rides at all but can still answer your original question.
I have other interests that involve groups. In May I went back to these activities. I thought I had some of my life back. Now I’m back to isolation and mask wearing when near people outside my family.I am fully vaccinated .
I will do what I deem necessary to protect my self my family and yes others .Covid is very high where I live.
if I did group rides I would be stopped.

terrymorse 

Not true. The case rate among the vaccinated is considerably less than among the non-vaccinated. It's currently about one fourth as much in our county.

The healthiest thing you can do is get vaccinated. And be white, female, young, with no hypertension, good cholesterol levels, no heart disease, and no cancer.

No, the biggest risk factors of dying from COVID-19 is lung cancer (6.74 times greater), followed by leukemia or lymphoma (2.89).

Good idea, keep riding for your overall health.

unterhausen

I feel like we really don't need this thread. Everybody has to make up their own mind. There is so much conflicting info out there now that we are never going to clarify it here. And obviously it all got mixed up in politics somehow, so it's problematic to discuss outside of the P&R forum.

I'm closing it. Please, if anyone feels compelled to discuss topics like this, you need to start threads in the P&R forum.