2 and a half years clean, my wife tested positive for Covid today. The chances she has given it to me is about 99%. So far she has very light symptoms. Hopefully we can both get out light.

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Hope everything is good on your side, GD.

Here, the antibody treatment was friday morning (thankfully here in MA, it's all covered, didn't have to give insurance or anything).

Feeling, well, not great (if I felt great, I wouldn't be you know, sick!), but the major problem right now is fatigue. I have two stages, one where I have to sleep no matter what else I want to do, and the other stage where I can't sleep, no matter how much I really want to. Other than that, the typical covid congestion, lack of voice 3etcetera.

I hope you start feeling better still soon, Foz.

Glad, to hear, Foz. The wife went from cold like symptoms to flu like symptoms yesterday. Still no real fever, though. Just congested and achy. I am always congested, so it is hard to tell. Home test was negative for me yesterday.

Hope everything is good on your side, GD.

Here, the antibody treatment was friday morning (thankfully here in MA, it's all covered, didn't have to give insurance or anything).

Feeling, well, not great (if I felt great, I wouldn't be you know, sick!), but the major problem right now is fatigue. I have two stages, one where I have to sleep no matter what else I want to do, and the other stage where I can't sleep, no matter how much I really want to. Other than that, the typical covid congestion, lack of voice 3etcetera.

No rush but can you share what the antibody treatment was?

We talk so much about vaccines but not so much the therapeutics nowadays.

FWIW, a local doctor who has been the media go-to since COVID began said the other day that we're seeing more negatives on first test for positive people than any other variant. He said many of those same people test again 3-4 days later and come back positive.

If that's the case, it seems like testing could do more harm than good in helping the spread because if I'm negative, I'm more likely to chalk it up to allergies or another illness.

The virus has figured out how to beat the tests to propagate faster!

It's ALIVE!

No rush but can you share what the antibody treatment was?

We talk so much about vaccines but not so much the therapeutics nowadays.


bebtelovimab.

Just to go into the procedure... the company (a florida based company, CDR Maguire) contracted with Massachusetts to provide the treatment

Monoclonal Antibody Therapy to Treat COVID-19 - CDR Health and Medical (https://cdr-healthmed.com/monoclonal-antibody-therapy-to-treat-covid-19/)

It took about 2 hours from arrival to departure. They sent three folks to do the treatment (the people are based out of Florida). One of the hardest parts was finding a vein, like most infusions, they need a really good vein that can withstand the infusion, so there was a lot of tapping, asking me to open and close my hands rapidly to make the veins stick out (my veins are not really robust, so it took two attempts and the clean up of a little blood from the 2nd attempt before the infusion started).

From the term infusion, I was expecting something like an IV stand with drip, etcetera, but no, it was one needle plunger full, and then it was monitoring time. I felt bad for them during that part, they had to sit and watch me for an hour, taking blood pressure and temperature readings every fifteen minutes or so to make sure I didn't have a negative reaction to the infusion.

They were nice about the whole thing, and allowed me to get up and move around if I needed.

As for the results, 36 hours or so later, the congestion has dropped. Fatigue is still a major issue (as I said, I have two major modes, one where I sleep all the time no matter what I want to do, and the 2nd where I can't sleep, no matter how much I want to). So, a lot of it is just dealing with the current status

One of the keys to dealing with it is to stay hydrated, and understand that fatigue is going to be with you for several days even when you feel generally "better"

Due to my immunocompromising medicine, one of the problems is that traces of COVID will last a LOT longer, so things that require a negative test, like travel, would be out for a while for me. Instead of waiting for the negative test to be allowed to break quarantine, I am to wait 36-48 hours after the last symptoms fade.

I see they have a list price for the treatment of $450 in their Tallahassee FL locations. I don't know if that's pre-insurance (listed for folks who don't have insurance), but it's really comforting to know it's covered, no questions asked, here in MA. Basically, you have to be an adult, and over 88 pounds, and mild-moderate symptoms (not already hospitalized)(

Hey, thanks for the info. Didn't know about what happens so thanks for sharing your story.

Glad you seem to be doing well.

Article from The Atlantic. Essentially predicting there will be lack of vaccines and confusion this Fall when it's time for the updated booster shots.

From The Atlantic (link is messing up the post).
Not so long ago, America’s next COVID fall looked almost tidy. Sure, cases might rise as the weather chills and dries, and people flock indoors. But Pfizer and Moderna were already cooking up America’s very first retooled COVID vaccines, better matched to Omicron and its offshoots, and a new inoculation campaign was brewing.
There really is no excuse if it's a mess again.

Article said Biden hasn't gotten his $ yet but that's really no excuse. I'm sure the can move funny money around and get whatever funding he needs (and Congress won't say crap).

Plenty of time to come up with a "risk/issues log" and the mitigation/contingency plans. Put the right people in charge to get this done.

So Biden, I'm rooting for you but if it's a mess this Fall, it's all on you.

"Wuhan Coronavirus (a non-political thread, see pg. 36 #1778)" - lol


SI

Yeah, pointed that out probably a hundred pages ago.

Yeah, pointed that out probably a hundred pages ago.

Which part?

The part where it's still called the "Wuhan" thread despite no one calling it that for years and the inherently political nature of that?

The part where the OP comically declared "non-political" despite the fact that so many aspects of the pandemic are inherently political?

The part where the OP who declared it non-political is often who likes to stir the political pot in the thread?

I wonder if we're going to get some new rules declared (and probably ignored) in this thread about how only certain people can respond or how it has to use Robert's Rules of Internet Order - the Sealioning, Goalpost Moving, and Concern Trolling Edition?

"Yes, yes, it's all a rich tapestry."

SI

Any and all of that, yes.

I've long maintained that the OP's only reason for being on this board is to stir the political pot, and I'm still not sure why he picked FOFC (I don't believe he ever played FOF). Why that isn't more broadly acknowledged, I don't know.

(I have the OP on mute; I have been tempted to tell Flasch that it's a no-win situation -- argue and you go mad, don't argue and you basically don't push back against the crap -- but I largely have opted for mental health. I know others have opted out altogether, to quote another forumite: "I was curious about the state of FOFC after roe v wade and some of the other recent shit, logged in and saw edward spamming a thread trying to rationally "both sides" florida's don't say gay bill and logged off.")

Two years to the day, pretty much: COVID-19 - Wuhan Coronavirus (a non-political thread, see pg. 36 #1778) - Page 118 - Front Office Football Central (https://forums.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?p=3291960&highlight=political#post3291960)

(But only 93 pages, so apologies on that front. And I guess Lathum and ISiddiqui beat me to it upthread, really.)

Ow, that really hurts. But whatever.

On Wuhan, I guess you guys really didn't care that much to follow-up.

It's fair to ask why not change the name and remove Wuhan. I think my rationale is it wasn't political in the beginning, it was just a way to identify the virus. It's not political now, more an outdated term. If lots of FOFC members have a beef on this, sure I'll change it np.

On the political aspect of the post, I'll consider it political and also informational about forthcoming vaccination campaign.

But tell you what, here's a happy compromise for you.

COVID-19 - (a political thread for SI and Cuervo whine) - Front Office Football Central (https://forums.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=98291)

I think we need a group hug.

I think we need a group hug.

I'm game.

Or fight it out in a game of Civ 6.

Any and all of that, yes.

I've long maintained that the OP's only reason for being on this board is to stir the political pot, and I'm still not sure why he picked FOFC (I don't believe he ever played FOF). Why that isn't more broadly acknowledged, I don't know.

(I have the OP on mute; I have been tempted to tell Flasch that it's a no-win situation -- argue and you go mad, don't argue and you basically don't push back against the crap -- but I largely have opted for mental health. I know others have opted out altogether, to quote another forumite: "I was curious about the state of FOFC after roe v wade and some of the other recent shit, logged in and saw edward spamming a thread trying to rationally "both sides" florida's don't say gay bill and logged off.")

+1

Deleted

+1

+Infinity. I’m almost at the point of leaving FOFC tbh when most of the time I come here and every single thread is last commented on by an obvious troll whose clear goal is to stir as much shit as humanly possible.

I don't know how effective nasal/oral vaccines are vs injections but think they are much less effective. If Covid or other vaccines can be delivered this way effectively, it'll be great and probably increase our vaccination rates.

We're used to doing the home tests now, why not take the vaccine at home (assuming like no refrigeration requirements).

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/18/health/mucosal-immunity-covid-19/index.html
Injected vaccines against the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 have been hugely successful, saving nearly 20 million lives globally in their first year of use and slashing the pandemic's death toll by an estimated 63%, according to a recent study. Yet good as these shots are, they have not stopped the virus from spreading from person to person.

As the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreads, it changes. That's helped it get past our firewalls, the immunity created by vaccines or left behind after we recover from an infection. Which is why, well into the third year of the pandemic, we're in the midst of another wave of Covid-19 caused by the most immune-evasive variant yet, BA.5. And more variants are coming.

Even as vaccine manufacturers race to update the first-generation shots in the hopes of patching up our protection for the fall, other scientists are taking a different approach, making vaccines delivered via nasal sprays or tablets that would deploy more immune defenders to the body's front lines: the lining of the mouth, nose and throat.

Update: Wife is starting to feel better. I feel like a truck hit me.

Update: Wife is starting to feel better. I feel like a truck hit me.

Glad to see her strength is improving.

Yup, glad she (and you) are doing better.

In the past couple months, my daughter and SIL have caught it (no close relatives had reported catching Covid past 2 years) so I can easily believe this is a more contagious strain.

Wife and I were talking about family Thanksgiving/Christmas plans to see her mom & dad in Dallas. There's also a wedding trip in Sept.

If this does blow up and there are significantly more hospitalizations, may have to rethink this. Not really for us personally but more so less chance for her parents catching it.

But it will be 3 years since grandparents have seen the kids live.

At this point, between work and home, I feel like I'm a finalist on survivor. I suppose it's possible I've already had it, but no positives and no symptoms despite my wife and two kids having it and everyone in my office getting it except one other person, I think. It's just a matter of time, I suppose.

Update: Wife is starting to feel better. I feel like a truck hit me.


Glad one of you is starting to feel better at least. Now let me get this truck out of here for you...

I don't know how effective nasal/oral vaccines are vs injections but think they are much less effective.

They stopped using nasal for flu shots years ago because it wasn’t as effective.

My wife currently has it, caught it in Ireland most likely. We had to cancel our soccer game last night because half the dudes have Covid. At the hospital, we have several folks out and lots of people pulling extra shifts. Just gives the anti-science crowd more to crow about.

So, a bit of a setback here, running a low grade fever (100.3), which officially has my doctor "concerned". It's still tylenol, fluids and rest, but if it doesn't get better with treatment or worsens, it's off to the ED for me. (not a certainty, not even a probability, but just a reminder that this thing SUCKS!)

...but if it doesn't get better with treatment or worsens, it's off to the ED for me. (not a certainty, not even a probability, but just a reminder that this thing SUCKS!)


Tell me about it

The tale of two workplaces: I am in the middle of the busiest time of the year. My work has so much going on along with several people taking time off for vacations. I have been ready to go back to work by Thursday or Friday at the latest regardless of how I felt. My boss called to check on me tonight and made it clear I was not to come back till next week. He said "we will cover it. Get better."
Meanwhile, my wife's office is at the slowest point in the year, with her "doctor" on vacation so there are no patiences. They are riding her to get back to work. The front desk worker tested positive with no symptoms, and she is still working. There is next to zero reason for them to even be open, but they are forcing them to continue to work.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

The tale of two workplaces: I am in the middle of the busiest time of the year. My work has so much going on along with several people taking time off for vacations. I have been ready to go back to work by Thursday or Friday at the latest regardless of how I felt. My boss called to check on me tonight and made it clear I was not to come back till next week. He said "we will cover it. Get better."
Meanwhile, my wife's office is at the slowest point in the year, with her "doctor" on vacation so there are no patiences. They are riding her to get back to work. The front desk worker tested positive with no symptoms, and she is still working. There is next to zero reason for them to even be open, but they are forcing them to continue to work.

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In GA, there's that sign that says (paraphrasing) I can't sue an establishment when I enter the premises and catch Covid. I agree with that sentiment (otherwise a bunch of small businesses would be sued out of existence, or spending resources fighting threats of lawsuit).

But does that cover negligence and knowingly exposing a customer (e.g. by a front desk worker) to Covid? Or does the GA law assume the customer accepts the risk that anyone inside the establishment has Covid.

I'm thinking the latter but never really thought of "knowingly exposing".

In GA, there's that sign that says (paraphrasing) I can't sue an establishment when I enter the premises and catch Covid. I agree with that sentiment (otherwise a bunch of small businesses would be sued out of existence, or spending resources fighting threats of lawsuit).

But does that cover negligence and knowingly exposing a customer (e.g. by a front desk worker) to Covid? Or does the GA law assume the customer accepts the risk that anyone inside the establishment has Covid.

I'm thinking the latter but never really thought of "knowingly exposing".
How pro-business laws in Georgia are written, my guess is they would face no liability. Of course, if she totally refused to go to work, I think she is federally protected. There is really zero chance she would lose this job if she stayed out, but she loves her co-workers and doesn't want to pay the emotional price that would be tolled if she stayed out.

I asked a prior question why the 2nd booster hasn't yet been approved for < 50 regular folks. It doesn't have to do with further testing or data, just a disagreement internally, see below article.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/21/health/omicron-booster-vaccine-coronavirus-wellness/index.html
CNN: Will adults who are under 50 be able to get their second booster anytime soon?

Wen: Federal health officials are discussing expanding the eligibility of second boosters. My best guess is that in the next month or so, they will make at least a permissive recommendation, meaning that those who want to get another booster should be able to receive one.

The decision about who should get a booster and how often is not straightforward. At the end of the day, there is a fundamental disagreement among scientists and public health experts on the purpose of the Covid-19 vaccinations.

Some believe that the goal of these vaccines is to prevent severe illness, and as long as the vaccines continue to protect against hospitalization and death, additional boosters aren't needed.

Others point to vaccines also being able to reduce symptomatic illness. That effect is not as long-lasting as the protection against severe illness, so those who hold this second point of view would advocate for more frequent boosters. The answer isn't straightforward.

Such a damn waste ...

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/07/us-life-span-mortality-rates/670591/


everal studies, for example, have shown that America’s life expectancy has tailed behind other comparable countries since the 1970s. By 2010, that gap was already 1.9 years. By the end of 2021, it had grown to 5.3. And although many countries took a longevity hit because of COVID, America was once again exceptional: Among its peers, it experienced the largest life-expectancy decline in 2020 and, unlike its peers, continued declining in 2021. But Bor says that people often misinterpret life-expectancy declines, as if they simply represent a few years shaved off the end of a life. Someone might reasonably ask: What’s the big deal if I die at 76 versus 78? But in fact, life expectancy is falling behind other wealthy nations in large part because a lot of Americans are dying very young—in their 40s and 50s, rather than their 70s and 80s. The country is experiencing what Bor and his colleagues call “a crisis of early death”—a long-simmering tragedy that COVID took to a furious boil.

(...)

This isn’t to minimize COVID’s impact; it simply shows that in the Before Times, America had “very successfully normalized to an extremely high level of death on the scale of what we experienced in the pandemic,” Justin Feldman, a social epidemiologist at Harvard, told me. And when COVID drove those levels skyward, America proved that “we’ll accept even more deaths compared to our already poor historical norms,” Feldman said.

I asked a prior question why the 2nd booster hasn't yet been approved for < 50 regular folks. It doesn't have to do with further testing or data, just a disagreement internally, see below article.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/21/health/omicron-booster-vaccine-coronavirus-wellness/index.html


The data has been pretty clear that even the pre-Alpha vaccine provides a couple of months of sterilizing immunity against BA.4 and BA.5. And if you think that even 20% of people will take it, I would say that's 1 in 5 people that aren't passing it along or are passing it along at a much lower rate during a peak. It would make a good bridge until the Omicron vaccines in late Fall (I keep hearing October or November) and it might even dampen some of the increase that happens at the start of the school year.

But that costs money and time and resources. If the goal was just to keep people out of the hospital and you only look in isolation, maybe you can justify keeping your powder dry on this one and just hold your breath and wait 3 months. I think, at this point, anyone worried about vaccine confusion or pandemic fatigue is mostly just pissing in the wind - we're already there. Giving another option isn't going to significantly affect it - those paying attention will do what they think is best, no one is creating mandates off of this policy, and people who won't get a shot aren't suddenly going to swayed one way or another.

I think the silo'd mentality of "hey, we're just looking at the pandemic from an individual atomic point of view" has been foolish from the start. The average 40yo office worker or 25yo grocery store has a very low rate of hospitalization or death from COVID, if vaccinated, but they do interact with older, more vulnerable populations so if you can reduce their spread, you can indirectly save lives, even if we can't put it to a spreadsheet because we never created any sort of contact tracing apparatus in this country. And that's before taking into account the long term effects and reduction in long COVID.

SI

Started feeling sick last night. Ordered Covid tests today, but I also found out that a few people that were at the wedding I attended last weekend tested positive for Covid today so chances are good that's what I got.

Bring it back, Bring it back!

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/21/health/new-york-polio/index.html

(CNN)A person from Rockland County, New York, has been diagnosed with polio, the first case identified in the United States in nearly a decade.
The unvaccinated young adult began experiencing weakness and paralysis about a month ago, county Health Commissioner Dr. Patricia Schnabel Ruppert said Thursday.

Dola: Yes I know. No need to overreact. We are going to need to wait for at least one million cases and at least a 20 year study to make sure it really is a thing.

god has given our bodies the ability to heal itself and fight diseases on it's own. Don't fear polio. It's just a construct to keep you owned by the man and corporate America!

They haven't said it, but I wonder if the polio case is in one of the orthodox Jewish communities. There's a lot of anti-vax sentiment in those communities and a lot of international travel.

Funny how when the right is talking about how 'foreigners' can't assimilate and they don't fit in, that when you ask them about orthodox Jews and the Amish they just stare at you dumbfounded.

Why it feels like practically everyone has COVID right now | The Hill (https://thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/3566400-why-it-feels-like-practically-everyone-has-covid-right-now/)

We still have plenty of hand sanitizers and regular masks. May stock up on N95 masks (they're pretty cheap now on Amazon).

Why it feels like practically everyone has COVID right now | The Hill (https://thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/3566400-why-it-feels-like-practically-everyone-has-covid-right-now/)

One of the points in the article kindof grinds my gears. It says case rates are down because of at home testing. Case rates have always been unreliable. From the start, we didn't have adequate testing and we've never been able to get a handle on the number of cases, especially in surges. But as long as you have a large enough sample size, case positivity has been a pretty reliable metric (in the way that polling won't catch all the cases but the numbers are pretty close even with a small sample). And case positivity is about as high as it's been during the pandemic for Harris County, running about the same as last winter (we lost our best dataset here but the CDC still maintains running tallies)

SI

Started feeling sick last night. Ordered Covid tests today, but I also found out that a few people that were at the wedding I attended last weekend tested positive for Covid today so chances are good that's what I got.

Same (minus the wedding part). Haven't had Covid yet, but by late yesterday, checked off all the symptoms. Off for testing this morning.

(And like a dumbass, I'm just working from home in the meantime, because apparently even being sick doesn't stop me from checking my e-mail.)

Kentucky peaked at over 30% in mid-January and we're right now about 17%. But it feels like more people I know are getting it now than before.

A new variant causing concern, but also, random dude named it and it caught on.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It is wild to me that some random guy on Twitter decided that the BA.2.75 variant was going to be known as &quot;Centaurus&quot; and it completely worked. <a href="https://t.co/ZLfwAVxp6g">pic.twitter.com/ZLfwAVxp6g</a></p>&mdash; Ed Yong (@edyong209) <a href="https://twitter.com/edyong209/status/1546979382811676672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 12, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Started feeling sick last night. Ordered Covid tests today, but I also found out that a few people that were at the wedding I attended last weekend tested positive for Covid today so chances are good that's what I got.

At home test was negative (but the people I know who got covid from the wedding also tested negative the first time). Am going to test a few more times over the weekend to be sure, but my temp is still normal and the pulse oximeter keeps telling me 99% SpO2, so if it is Covid that vaccine and booster I took because I'm a sheep not a lion is doing its job.

Thanks for the reminder. Ordered my free 8 test kits tonight.

Haven't used the first batch yet but figured if I really need to use one, I may have to do multiple tests.

The thing about COVID is that some symptoms go away (like the congestion and runny nose for me), but others take forever to go away (the cough, fatigue and general shortness of breath, today I went to the front door, picked up a package, brought it in, and had to sit quietly for a minute till I could breathe properly again)

More info on what Biden is on.

That's a lot of pills daily. Wonder what the out-of-pocket costs are for a regular person.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/22/health/biden-paxlovid-covid-19/index.html
Paxlovid is an antiviral medication from Pfizer that uses two drugs: nirmatrelvir and ritonavir. It comes in pill form.

The US Food and Drug Administration has authorized Paxlovid for emergency use in people ages 12 and up who weigh at least 88 pounds and who have mild to moderate Covid-19 but are at high risk for severe disease.

The standard regimen is three pills twice daily for five days.
:
Clinical trials of Paxlovid showed that it reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 88% when given within five days of the start of symptoms.

However, the drug was tested in unvaccinated people during the Delta variant surge, so the results could look different for people who take the pills now, with the Omicron variant dominant.

Pfizer has said the drug works well against Omicron, and additional lab studies have shown similar results.
:
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that when he got Covid-19, he took a five-day course of Paxlovid and was feeling better but had a rebound with worse symptoms. He went back on the drug and recovered.
:
Some scientists think that some people metabolize Paxlovid more quickly than others and that they may need a longer course of treatment. Research is still underway.

More info on what Biden is on.

That's a lot of pills daily. Wonder what the out-of-pocket costs are for a regular person.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/22/health/biden-paxlovid-covid-19/index.html

I have a friend who is a scientist who works for Pfizer. He says that there is a huge difference between the vaccine and Paxlovid in terms of production. The vaccines are not difficult/expensive to produce--they can pretty much crank them out assembly line style (Note: this isn't about how difficult/expensive they were to develop, test, etc. He's just talking about the physical act of creating doses once you have the product, which is the part of the business he is in). But Paxlovid is a very complex molecule and it is difficult to make, requires more specialized equipment, etc.

So his take was that he does not think that it will be anytime soon that Paxlovid is cheap* or just something anyone will be able to get from the local CVS without special needs.

*Cheap meaning cheap to produce. I could see various changes in the law making it cheaper for the public based in insurance mandates, govt. subsidy, etc.

Thanks. Appreciate you sharing your friend's insight.

Three covid tests done, three negatives. I managed to avoid getting covid at that wedding just to pick up the flu there or right after.

Three covid tests done, three negatives. I managed to avoid getting covid at that wedding just to pick up the flu there or right after.


Oof, that sucks.

And finally, I went to the doctor and it's not Covid or the flu. Bronchitis (with a side of Conjunctivitis) is the final verdict. What a fun week for me.

Looks like the epidemic started in the market.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/26/health/wuhan-market-covid-19/index.html
In June, the World Health Organization recommended that scientists continue to research all possible origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, including a lab leak. Two newly published studies take totally different approaches but arrive at the same conclusion: The Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, was most likely the epicenter for the coronavirus.

The studies were posted online as preprints in February but have now undergone peer review and were published Tuesday in the journal Science
I know it's not politically expedient to say it occurred naturally (and not a lab leak) so let's see what Fauci/CDC says.

Andersen said the studies don't definitively disprove the lab leak theory but are extremely persuasive, so much so that he changed his mind about the virus' origins.

"I was quite convinced of the lab leak myself, until we dove into this very carefully and looked at it much closer," Andersen said. "Based on data and analysis I've done over the last decade on many other viruses, I've convinced myself that actually the data points to this particular market."

Worobey said he too thought the lab leak was possible, but the epidemiological preponderance of cases linked to the market is "not a mirage."

"It's a real thing," he said. "It's just not plausible that this virus was introduced any other way than through the wildlife trade

The same people who understand this and still want to buy the lab leak theory, are the same ones who say gravity and evolution are still only 'theories'.

It's possible it could have been a lab leak in the same way that it's possible the Detroit Lions could win the Super Bowl this upcoming season.

Or the Cubs finally winning a World Series

Wait a minute ...

September.

I'll probably get it right away but because the prior booster saw significant decline in efficacy after 2-3 months, wonder if it'll be better to get the shot in late Oct/early Nov to better prepare for Thanksgiving & Christmas get togethers.

U.S. to begin offering updated booster shots in September (https://www.axios.com/2022/07/29/biden-administration-covid-booster-shots)
The Biden administration will begin offering updated COVID booster shots in September, Axios confirmed on Thursday.

Why it matters: Though efficacy data is so far limited, the updated boosters are expected to serve stronger protection against the new Omicron subvariant BA.5 —the most transmissible subvariant yet. It has quickly overtaken previous strains to become the dominant version in the U.S. and much of the world
Both Pfizer and Moderna have told the Food and Drug Administration that they are prepared to deliver millions of doses of reformulated vaccines by mid-September

That's sooner than I thought. I'll get one as soon as I'm eligible.

If you've already gotten the 2nd booster, I guess you should have waited?

Don't think so. I've read that second booster will not preclude you from getting this 3rd one in Sept.

I might be able to get it, but I wonder if insurance will refuse to pay for it.

I might be able to get it, but I wonder if insurance will refuse to pay for it.

My guess is yes. The backlash would be significant

US and EU are getting 2 different Fall boosters based on the different BA variants. Scientists don't seem to agree here. To me, it makes more sense to go with the more recent mutation (US) vs a "largely extinct" one (EU).

Some countries may go with vaccines based on the BA.1 Omicron subvariant this fall. It's not fully understood to what extent the sublineages of Omicron influence vaccine effectiveness, but some scientists who advise the World Health Organization argued that BA.1-based shots would be "more distinct" than other subvariants.

Moderna said it's developing a booster for the European Union, the UK and Australia that uses the original strain and BA.1. The subvariant is largely extinct, but the company said its studies have shown that this booster candidate still drew "significantly higher neutralizing antibody responses" against BA.4 and BA.5 compared with the currently authorized booster
In the United States, a vaccine updated for BA.4/5 got the go-ahead for fall.

Dr. Larry Corey, a vaccine development expert and professor of medicine and infectious disease division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, said the data makes a strong case for the addition. Research on infections shows that the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants seem to induce stronger immune response than BA.1 and BA.2.

Don't think so. I've read that second booster will not preclude you from getting this 3rd one in Sept.

third booster??? OMFG I need to collect them all!

third booster??? OMFG I need to collect them all!


You should be ahead of all of us on this-just imagine they are Steam badges :)

This article made we wonder if we'll see a statistically higher drop out/failure rate in colleges in the next 2-4 years. Also made me wonder about other countries too.

Big cities in China being locked down also means their kids didn't attend school and probably didn't have access to as much remote learning?

Different & non-physical impact of Long Covid.

https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-race-and-ethnicity-milwaukee-5ab5394b2513e7136b9b854355770a1a
Across the country, there are countless others like him. Hundreds of thousands of recent graduates are heading to college this fall after spending more than half their high school careers dealing with the upheaval of a pandemic. They endured a jarring transition to online learning, the strains from teacher shortages and profound disruptions to their home lives. And many are believed to be significantly behind academically

Meet a new board member of the Idaho Public Health Department:

Dr. Ryan Cole’s journey from Boise to Nashville to France. His new focus? Monkeypox. - Idaho Capital Sun (https://idahocapitalsun.com/2022/08/10/dr-ryan-coles-journey-from-boise-to-nashville-to-france-his-new-focus-monkeypox/)

CDC's new COVID guidelines, basically the "we've given up" shrug emoji: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/11/health/cdc-covid-guidance-update/index.html

"What the CDC is, in my opinion, trying to do, they are trying to still be relevant, and maybe when they say something, people will listen to them instead of being completely 180 degrees away from what behavior is anyway," Chin-Hong said.

Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, agrees that the new guidance shows that the CDC is trying to meet people where they are.

"I think that this is a point where you actually have to sort of get real and start giving people tools they can use to do something or not. Because otherwise, people will just will not take you seriously," Hanage said.

I'm sure the folks who were disregarding the CDC's recommendations for the last 2+ years, avoiding masking and ingesting horse paste, will definitely come around and agree with them now!

SI

My favorite summary of the new guidelines "The CDC says: Spit in our mouths."

My guess is yes. The backlash would be significant

Insurance isn't picking up the tab on the boosters. The nsurance is only covering the admin fee that the pharmacy receives, and that is being reimbursed by the government.

Now some payers put restrictions in place for age and maybe for the number of doses within a given period of time. My educated guess is that most are not placing limits on obtaining a booster "too soon".

Insurance isn't picking up the tab on the boosters. The nsurance is only covering the admin fee that the pharmacy receives, and that is being reimbursed by the government.

Now some payers put restrictions in place for age and maybe for the number of doses within a given period of time. My educated guess is that most are not placing limits on obtaining a booster "too soon".

Okay, good point. Insurance isn't paying for it but the government is.

Coming to a theatre near you soon.

Unless there is a major outbreak, I think I'm going to wait till Dec to get this 3rd booster. I'm planning on overseas trip Jan/Feb so figure it'll be best to wait to 2-4 weeks before.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/18/everyone-over-12-expected-to-be-eligible-for-new-boosters-white-house-official-says.html
White House Covid coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said on Wednesday that the newly updated Covid boosters will be available to teens and adults “in a few short weeks.”

“I believe it’s going to be available and every American over the age of 12 will be eligible for it,” Jha told NBC News’ Lester Holt.

The new boosters target the omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, as well as the original strain of the virus. BA.5 accounts for nearly 90% of new Covid cases in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kenneth Branagh stars as Boris Johnson in the new trailer for ‘THIS ENGLAND’.<br><br>The series releases on September 21 on Sky. <a href="https://t.co/OWjJbdH7H4">pic.twitter.com/OWjJbdH7H4</a></p>&mdash; DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) <a href="https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1560227847133958145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 18, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

What in the World ? (No, it is not a spoof. Nice extra touch: England, huh ?).

Still possible the trailer is just weirdly done and it's more critical than "ah shucks, everybody tried hard, didn't they ? That poor Johnson fella sure had it rough", given the people involved ...

https://i.ibb.co/4f3Bfsz/85tm0pd9iwi91.jpg

A thrift store in Indiana received these lovely horse pastes after he passed away. FOr sale cheap! And oooooo those mildewed flip flops! GIMME!

Well, we made it 2 years, 5 months without a positive test in the house (or even COVID-like symptoms, though I can't rule out anyone -- especially the kids -- having it and being asymptomatic at some point).

Wife starts feeling bad late yesterday, takes a test, is positive. Younger son & I test negative (though I definitely have some sort of cold - aches, congestion, etc...). Older son (who started high school on the 17th) tests positive.

So, I'm pretty sure it came from high school via the older son. Which doesn't really bode well for reinfections.

Oh well, we did what we could for as long as we could.

Sorry to hear that Flere. :( Hope you all have a quick recovery!

My wife and daughter are positive, but I'm not. Almost certainly they got it at the Harry Styles concert in MSG.

Well, after two and a half years it finally got me too. Not my most favorite of experiences, but haven’t had the cough so far so hoping it stays that way. Just a lot of aches, pains and fatigue.

I finally got it this summer as well. I have some issues such as severe asthma, so I was a bit worried. In the end, and probably thanks to the vaccine and booster, it was almost nothing for me - sore throat for a day or so, slightly run-down for a couple.

So my wife has had it once, my oldest daughter twice and me now once. Always weird, though, is that none of us caught it from another, despite being around each other in close contact for several days. In fact, for mine, we all rode in a car together for 8 hours during what was supposed to be my most contagious time. Nobody else got it.

Also weird, my youngest has yet to get it. She's superhuman.

Positive test for me on Saturday. It's not pleasant, but I've had cases of bronchitis and strep that were worse. The sore throat is probably the worst part.

Of course, the bigger issue is that I'm meant to fly across country to take care of my folks for a couple of weeks after my Mom's knee replacement surgery (my Dad has Alzheimer's, so can't really operate as a primary caregiver). The operation is on Wednesday, and one of my sisters can stay a few days, but she's a social worker with a special needs kid, so that's about the max she can do.

I, on the other hand, can work remotely, so was planning to take over from her and stay there two weeks. Probably have to push that out if I can't get a negative test by late Friday. Ugh.

Probably have to push that out if I can't get a negative test by late Friday. Ugh.

I kept throwing positive tests long after I was over it. I think it was a good 10-12 days before I got a negative.

No more free test kits. Checked Amazon and it's $45 for 5.

Guess that's not too bad. Still have about 6 unused government ones.

I mentioned in the Kids Leaving Home Support Group thread that my daughter got it at college. She's been home since Saturday morning, went and got tested today because one professor insisted on a note, and she's still positive. But since she started symptoms on Thursday, she's good to go back to school with a mask on Wednesday. She's been isolating upstairs so I hope my "unconquered" streak continues.

That said, I saw something recently that estimated that upwards of 50%+ of people who have never had symptoms likely have had Covid, just didn't know it. So I guess I could be one of those.

Guess that's not too bad. Still have about 6 unused government ones.

I noticed all of our government ones are expired. Not sure how long they're still good after that, but, I'll try to burn through them.

It is hard to remember now, but there was a period of about three weeks or so when humanity was united against this virus. And it felt like something I’ve certainly never experienced in my lifetime. Then our media overlords told us, “Make this about red versus blue bullshit like everything else.“ And we listened and did that. But I feel there was a real missed opportunity there.

It is hard to remember now, but there was a period of about three weeks or so when humanity was united against this virus. And it felt like something I’ve certainly never experienced in my lifetime. Then our media overlords told us, “Make this about red versus blue bullshit like everything else.“ And we listened and did that. But I feel there was a real missed opportunity there.

I vividly remember how friendly everybody was, in the first week when we were given the go ahead to walk around outside after that first couple weeks where everyone took the call to quarantine deathly serious. Everywhere was Mayberry for like a week.

My recollection was more of isolated cases of "Mad Max". The *majority* of people did the right thing but the loudest and most obnoxious still bellowed about having their rights infringed and did whatever they could to push the boundaries of a civil society.

Was it the second closest to peace on earth in most of our lifetimes? The first, of course, was the first couple of weeks of Pokemon Go.

SI

It is hard to remember now, but there was a period of about three weeks or so when humanity was united against this virus. And it felt like something I’ve certainly never experienced in my lifetime. Then our media overlords told us, “Make this about red versus blue bullshit like everything else.“ And we listened and did that. But I feel there was a real missed opportunity there.

Yeah it was the media that did that.

I noticed all of our government ones are expired. Not sure how long they're still good after that, but, I'll try to burn through them.

Thanks, I didn't think about that. I looked and my first batch expired in July and my second batch will be expiring in Sept. Looks like they're good for 6 months only.

It is hard to remember now, but there was a period of about three weeks or so when humanity was united against this virus. And it felt like something I’ve certainly never experienced in my lifetime. Then our media overlords told us, “Make this about red versus blue bullshit like everything else.“ And we listened and did that. But I feel there was a real missed opportunity there.

You must not have had to search for toilet paper.

A man can have no peace if he doesn't have a supply of toilet paper.

I still have a stash in the basement as backup.

Tested positive today with a home test. I went home early from school. 20 kids went home sick as well. We are now in yellow status.

:( take care

Japan is planning to open up more. More tourists will be allowed, they'll still need to sign up with some tour group (for tracking purposes) but won't need to actually do any specific tour. Japan has been high on my list to visit.

China is still doing lockdowns with their zero Covid policies. Still require quarantines etc. I had thought they were going to give it up after the Olympics but obviously not. I've also read possibility to proclaiming a win and giving up zero Covid policy after Xi is re-elected for third term, but who knows. I would like to visit China again also.

I think we are all in the "new normal" other than a few countries.

Subscribe to read | Financial Times (https://www.ft.com/content/26e0731f-15c4-4f5a-b2dc-fd8591a02aec)

Looks like Omicron-specific boosters should be available in the next week or two.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/31/health/fda-covid-vaccine-updated-booster-authorized/index.html

SI

Another one. Right on schedule.

I assume salaried employees are still paid. The hourly workers are getting hurt.

One of China’s biggest cities, Chengdu, announced a lockdown of its 21.2 million residents as it launched four days of citywide Covid-19 testing, as some of country’s most populous and economically important urban centers battle outbreaks.

All residents in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, were ordered to stay largely at home from 6 p.m. on Thursday, with households allowed to send one person per day to shop for necessities, the city government said in a statement.

So my symptoms are vertigo and tiredness.

The vertigo really sucks, leads to nausea.

I called my doctor to call in a prescription. Nope, cant do that, have to have a phone appt. so I can pay her $25 for me to say I have covid and vertigo and then she will write a script. I hate our health care system.

My FIL has been pretty ill. Wife is going to a niece's wedding in same city, they'll do a live stream for the FIL.

Told the wife to make sure she does a Covid test before going to see her dad.

Interesting stat but think it's premature. Can't blame young adults continuing to parents right now ... sure we are pretty much over Covid (for now) but we have a (looming) recession that is worse than anything since 2008-2009.

Zoom In Icon (https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/06/many-pandemic-boomerang-kids-still-live-with-mom-and-dad.html)
At the height of the Covid pandemic, many young adults moved back in with mom and dad.

It was an unprecedented moment of uncertainty; college campuses were closed and jobs were scarce.

More than two years later, 67% of millennials and Gen Zers who moved home are still there, according to a recent report by LendingTree.

3,000 US covid deaths last week, just a fun fact for the "it's over" crowd

Any idea how many of those were vaccinated vs not?

I can tell you that one of them was a pilot from my company. It was complications from long covid that got him. Still covid, even though it wasn't a recent infection.

Getting my O-specific booster tomorrow (along with a flu shot)
Mrs. A getting hers on Thursday

I'll be interested to see flu shot numbers this year.

I suspect that the anti-vaxxers have made enough headway that less people will get flu shots than in pre-pandemic years. Hope I'm wrong.

Getting my O-specific booster tomorrow (along with a flu shot)
Mrs. A getting hers on Thursday

Are those 2 separate shots?

Let's us know if you start experiencing any zombie side effects.

Are those 2 separate shots?

Let's us know if you start experiencing any zombie side effects.

They are 2 separate shots. I'm going through Walgreens, and the online signup said "Hey, while you are here . . ." and that made a lot of sense to me, so I'm knocking them both out.

I'm getting my 2nd shingles vaccine on Friday afternoon. The first shot took me down for about 36-48 hours so I decided to get it on Friday to completely ruin my weekend so that I'm good for work on Monday. I figure I'll save the flu shot for another day.

I got shingles over the pandemic. It’s not a good time and I had a mild case. Do you still have to be 50 to get the vaccine?

I don't know if there's an age restriction but I'm over 50 so it was recommended.

I'm getting my 2nd shingles vaccine on Friday afternoon. The first shot took me down for about 36-48 hours so I decided to get it on Friday to completely ruin my weekend so that I'm good for work on Monday. I figure I'll save the flu shot for another day.

Yeah, my first shingles shot really kicked my ass.

I've heard the 2nd one is worse.

The wife and I signed up for the updated booster since they started offering them today. We got an appt with Rite Aid on Friday.

I've heard the 2nd one is worse.

Yeah, that's what the head doc at my wife's work said. Can't fuckin wait.

Yeah, my first shingles shot really kicked my ass.


Those shots sucked.

3,000 US covid deaths last week, just a fun fact for the "it's over" crowd

Any idea how many of those were vaccinated vs not?

"some idea" I guess:

United States: COVID-19 weekly death rate by vaccination status - Our World in Data (https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/united-states-rates-of-covid-19-deaths-by-vaccination-status?country=~All+ages)

something like a 6:1 differential to scale

I continue to be sad for many families in this country and elsewhere still losing loved ones irrespective of what persuasive loudmouth they chose to listen to, as well as the many people who are immuno-compromised, disabled, or otherwise not a good fit for the societal consensus to "move on" ... and again confess that I don't really have a prescription for what we should be doing right now.

Something I don't understand:

I see some people wearing masks in areas where they are not required (most areas now, of course). And they are wearing them below their nose, which we all know by now is useless.

So why? I get wearing a mask. I get not wearing a mask. And I understood people wearing them incorrectly when they had to wear them but didn't want to.

But I just can't understand the mindset that goes through the trouble of wearing a non-required mask and then does it wrong.

I see the same thing, and while it's been going on since masks were mandatory, I can't help but think dumb shit like this, which essentially mocks the proper use of masks (note the below the nose picture says "yes" as if that's the correct way to wear it), is at least partly to blame.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Starting today, masks will be optional in some places where they had previously been required, including on mass transit. <a href="https://t.co/5zTT4uRB6h">pic.twitter.com/5zTT4uRB6h</a></p>&mdash; Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovKathyHochul/status/1567537998383779857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I've seen grocery stockers at my local Krogers do that, and once in a while, older white males at Costco.

I still see a fair number of Asians at Kroger & Walmart wearing masks properly.

I don't see it anymore but at one time I saw drivers wearing masks in cars that had no one else. I thought that was really weird.

I've seen that quite a bit recently, actually. The car thing. I rarely see masks much, but I've noticed them hanging off of driver's faces, or under their chin, more than a few times in the past week. I can only assume they are medical workers, or came from a job or appointment where they needed to wear one, and instead of taking it off, they pulled it down reflexively.

I thought about Uber/Lyft drivers, and that probably makes sense in a lot of cities, but not around here. Maybe one of those I saw, but it wouldn't account for all of them.

Yeah, my first shingles shot really kicked my ass.

I've heard the 2nd one is worse.

FWIW, I have had both, and neither one affected me badly at all. So it could be one of those sometimes it's bad, sometimes it's nothing type of things.

I've seen grocery stockers at my local Krogers do that, and once in a while, older white males at Costco.

I still see a fair number of Asians at Kroger & Walmart wearing masks properly.

I don't see it anymore but at one time I saw drivers wearing masks in cars that had no one else. I thought that was really weird.
I have done that because I will forget I even have the mask on. If you wear one for a long period of time, you just get used to it.

My FIL has been pretty ill. Wife is going to a niece's wedding in same city, they'll do a live stream for the FIL.

Told the wife to make sure she does a Covid test before going to see her dad.

Wife will be getting the updated booster tomorrow for her trip. She wouldn't be getting one right now other than because of her dad is so ill.

So this is her 4th vaccination/booster, 5th shot in 1.5 years.

I'll be honest, not too worried because she is more fit & healthy than me, and she's hasn't had any negative side effects. But 5 shots in 1.5 years seems a lot to me. Is there precedence?

Interesting article about COVID "super-dodgers." I'm sure I've had it, maybe multiple times, but never had symptoms and only tested a couple times shortly after being exposed, each time negative. Who knows.

So you haven't yet caught COVID. Does that make you a superdodger? : Goats and Soda : NPR (https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/09/12/1121599445/so-you-havent-caught-covid-yet-does-that-mean-youre-a-superdodger)

Also, my 2nd shingles shot was no problem at all. Perhaps getting 3 vaccines at once back in June wasn't such a great idea... :D

Out of our family of four, only one of us has ever tested positive.

Every time I've gotten any COVID-like symptoms, I've at-home tested, and it has been negative.

I may have had it, but if so it was so mild that I either never got symptoms enough to test or never had enough virus that a test came back positive.

Interesting article about COVID "super-dodgers." I'm sure I've had it, maybe multiple times, but never had symptoms and only tested a couple times shortly after being exposed, each time negative. Who knows.

So you haven't yet caught COVID. Does that make you a superdodger? : Goats and Soda : NPR (https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/09/12/1121599445/so-you-havent-caught-covid-yet-does-that-mean-youre-a-superdodger)


Me also. Of the 4 of us, only my daughter. But I don't think I have magical genes. The first year, everyone was indoors. In the second and current, I've gotten the 3/4 shots which reduced my chance of getting infected.

But yeah, if there were these true super-dodgers, it would be great to prick-and-prod them and figure it out.

The stuff about HIV research is amazing.

None of the 5 people in my house have gotten Covid, but we've all been pretty careful. Heck, my 17-year-old still wears a mask to school every day.

We have 4 in our household. None of us has ever had it. We were pretty careful until vaccines came out but have been largely 'life as before' lately. We have no common genetics in our house. Our 2 kids are adopted so we have 4 unique sets of genes.

As I've mentioned on here I'm 99% positive I got it before testing was available but no on in our house has ever tested positive. That's despite my son playing baseball year round and me working every day at a hospital. My coworker that I share an office with tested positive twice which I had to quarantine for.

My wife had the exact same symptoms a couple weeks ago a day before I did (very sore throat and general aches/pains) but cleared up after a day and never tested positive.

She's not immunocompromised, so I'm guessing that explains the difference in our test results and experience but still - it's clear there are a huge range of experiences and outcomes with this thing, and we still don't really have a great handle on it. It's kinda amazing with the number of people walking around who either have no idea or just think it's a mild cold that it's not a bigger restriction on our day to day life to be honest.

Meanwhile, my FIL has had covid 3 times.

https://twitter.com/haziethompson/status/1570072341694013443

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FcoJeDwXkAg5LfD?format=jpg&name=900x900

(That increase in the 50s is Maos reign of terror and that comparatively tiny but noticeable one in the 60s was a flu pandemic)

Joe said it.

I agree.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/18/politics/biden-pandemic-60-minutes/index.html
President Joe Biden said he believes the Covid-19 pandemic is “over” in an appearance on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” but acknowledged the US still has a “problem” with the virus that has killed more than 1 million Americans.

“The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with Covid. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. It’s – but the pandemic is over,” Biden said.

The US government still designates Covid-19 a Public Health Emergency and the World Health Organization says it remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. But the President’s comments follow other hopeful comments from global health leaders.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said in a news briefing last week that the end of the Covid-19 pandemic was “in sight,” and that the world has never been in a better position to end the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Last week, the number of weekly reported deaths from Covid-19 was the lowest since March 2020,” Ghebreyesus said. “We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic. We’re not there yet, but the end is in sight.”

I don't quite understand this declaration.

Like the people who are never voting for him thought it was over a long time ago or never even existed. However, when we get our inevitable winter surge, they'll be bringing this back up like a "Mission Accomplished" banner.

The ones who voted for him aren't looking to the White House as to when the pandemic is over.

So is there some sort of mythical voter than can be woo'd for November that's low information but will listen to the President as for cues as to how things are going?

SI

I think it's important to keep trying to separate politics from health, even if it's not possible.

People are still dying, yet we've been on a trough for about six months now. One question is whether a new variant will emerge and inevitably produce a new spike this winter, like its distant cousin, the flu. Do the initial vaccines still provide protection? Will the yearly vaccination be changed and offer protection? Even on the lowest points of the trough, this still kills about 1 in every 2,000 people per year. The worst of the spikes amounted to about 1 in every 200. And people over 60 overwhelmingly are affected.

What that means is that this is still potentially deadly and seniors are still vulnerable. Plus, they're now going around without masks and returning to "normal" life.

I don't know what this means for me. I doubt I've had it. I am vaccinated and boosted, but the third shot was late last year. For my wife and I, it could be that a new strain this winter could be just as serious a threat as all of this ever was. I worry about her parents, who are 80 and returning to "normal" life (mine were two-pack-a-day smokers and unfortunately no longer with us a long time ago).

What's clear is that COVID didn't just kill the most vulnerable and stop. It's still killing, and many of the most vulnerable just haven't had it. It was important not to overreact at the height of this, and take reasonable precautions. We probably shouldn't underreact today.

There's hasn't been any alarm bells on a new mutation (not that I've heard of yet). So I think the bet is not a significant spike in deaths (but maybe infections) before mid-terms at least.

Biden is proclaiming this now because it'll be used for mid-terms in the next 1.5 months. If he's proven wrong, it'll probably be after elections anyway. He's covered by saying "it's over but we still have a problem and we'll continue working on it".

There's hasn't been any alarm bells on a new mutation (not that I've heard of yet)

BF7. No info yet about severity but appears to be more transmissable than BA5 and is beginning to make its way to the US.

Just in time for fall, there&#x27;s a brand new COVID variant making headway in the U.S. | Fortune (https://fortune.com/well/2022/09/20/bf-7-new-covid-subvariant-rising-in-united-states-us-omicron-centaurus/)

BF7. No info yet about severity but appears to be more transmissable than BA5 and is beginning to make its way to the US.

Just in time for fall, there&#x27;s a brand new COVID variant making headway in the U.S. | Fortune (https://fortune.com/well/2022/09/20/bf-7-new-covid-subvariant-rising-in-united-states-us-omicron-centaurus/)

Right or wrong, until BF7 (or something else) is causing significant # of hospitalizations and deaths for vaccinated folks, I'm not going to worry that much about it.

Me neither. But there's always something mutating out there.

https://twitter.com/lauramiers/status/1573754087069335556?s=46&t=r7ANa06DZjrUOwfAvhnBzA

Just alarmist stuff, I guess.

https://twitter.com/lauramiers/status/1573754087069335556?s=46&t=r7ANa06DZjrUOwfAvhnBzA

Just alarmist stuff, I guess.

I think at this point there's just too much pandemic fatigue. To the point that the majority of Americans probably feel it's either get your vaccine or take the risk without thinking about the nuance surrounding those that are immuno-compromised.

IMO if they tried to move forward with masks, ect again there'd be a lot more pushback and ignoring the safety measures than we saw in the past, even by those that have previously followed them.

I agree that this is where "we" are, for better or for worse. Cases at one point was a number that really moved a lot of people, but not any longer.

Texas figured out how to deal with this a while ago. They did a lot of "if I don't see them, there aren't any cases" type number reporting last year so this year there aren't any dashboards (maybe a handful).

SI

Never bet against American selfishness in the long term.

Seems the UK may be our US canary warning system for the next wave.

Rising Covid-19 Cases in the UK may be a warning for the US | CNN (https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/27/health/uk-fall-wave-covid-us/index.html)
There are signs that the United Kingdom could be heading into a fall Covid-19 wave, and experts say the United States may not be far behind.

A recent increase in Covid-19 cases in England doesn’t seem to be driven by a new coronavirus variant, at least for now, although several are gaining strength in the US and across the pond.

“Generally, what happens in the UK is reflected about a month later in the US. I think this is what I’ve sort of been seeing,” said Dr. Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at Kings College London.
:
After seeing a downward trend for the past few weeks, the Zoe study saw a 30% increase in reported Covid-19 cases within the past week.

https://twitter.com/jamessurowiecki/status/1576916442229837824?s=46&t=NCbE-17ZN6IiOSE6Zpmsxw

Interesting report and quick thread on “excess deaths” - unsurprising conclusions, though

Just read that and was coming here to post same thing. Deep state conspiracy of course.

Important note from that twitter thread that might get buried:

A note on methodology: looking at excess deaths, rather than total deaths, mitigates the "GOP voters are older" issue. And the fact that there's no meaningful difference in excess rates during 2018 or even the first 7 months of the pandemic suggests that vaxxes made a difference.

I continue to come across people who question the point of getting a vaccine, especially if they've had COVID themselves.

The deniers are very comfortable wrapping up in "from covid or with covid?????" stuff and the like... giving them the freedom, I suppose, to do whatever they like. I have the misfortune to spend a good deal of time with people with those beliefs, and it comes up a lot... people with these urban legends like the one about a guy killed in a car crash but because he tested covid+ he gets tallied up as a covid death by some deep state liberal hospital employee, or whatever. (I have literally heard that story, recited as evidence, twice more than 100 miles and a month apart)

It's right back to the power of psychological influences. We mostly underestimate the powerful effect of wanting to keep believing something, once we decided we believe it.

That story has been around for awhile. I swear it came out of an Orlando area report, although I have no clue whether it is credible or not.

There's a lot of overlap with election integrity where false information or conspiracy theories that are about supposed widespread issues are buttressed by isolated incidents backing up those claims.

I am genuinely fascinated by the psychology of all this, as I have gushed here from time to time.

I know that I have a professional reputation as "a serious person" so when I'm in a meeting with people who, in less formal settings, might talk super-dismissively about COVID or masking or vaccines -- with me, they prop up some semblance of thoughtful consideration. It's the "I did my own research" angle, but on a different note. That's where these stories, illustrations, anecdotes and so forth seem to come in handy... on a certain level, especially to someone who really wants to believe Side A. If the story is ludicrously paper thin, it doesn't seem to matter.

-I start by wanting to oppose all the policy things related to COVID
-I heard that a car crash guy got counted as a COVID death
-That's obviously preposterous
-Therefore the numbers on COVID deaths are fiction
-I also got it myself and I was fine after a couple of days of sniffles
-Therefore COVID isn't a big deal to anyone
-Therefore I oppose all the policy things related to COVID

That seems to be a license to just stop thinking about the topic, to many.

I think this also a close neighbor of what we were talking about in another thread, a Tweet that said:

I love this style of argument: Start with an extremely questionable premise ("The high five is a gesture of familiarity, which should be shared between equals") and then discuss it at great length without offering any evidence that the premise is correct.

Only, it's not "no evidence", it's two really flimsy pieces of evidence: an apocryphal story and a single sample size anecdote.

SI

Actually, in that specific instance, it's simply an overly-generalized supposition followed by an opinion.

How many of us have high-fived a stranger? I just did it a couple of weeks ago at a football game. It can be a gesture of familiarity, but it doesn't have to be. And "should be shared by equals" is just his opinion.

I guess Joe Elliott and I are buds because I high-fived him at a concert in Cincinnati back in 1996 or so.

Actually, in that specific instance, it's simply an overly-generalized supposition followed by an opinion.

How many of us have high-fived a stranger? I just did it a couple of weeks ago at a football game. It can be a gesture of familiarity, but it doesn't have to be. And "should be shared by equals" is just his opinion.

I did it at a bar Sunday watching the Giants game with a bunch of strangers. Is it acceptable to high 5 a child if you are drunk or do you both need to be drunk?

If you're drunk and he's not, that could put you on the same level to make a high five acceptable if you're drunk enough.

Hey, remember monkey pox? Someone at work mentioned it in passing today and I looked up the current trends. It basically peaked in August and has gone down since.

U.S. Monkeypox Case Trends Reported to CDC | Monkeypox | Poxvirus | CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/mpx-trends.html)

SI

Ultimately, I think this is the right call. We know what will happen if Moderna gives up the IP.

Moderna refuses COVID vaccine to China over intellectual property rights &ndash; The China Project (https://thechinaproject.com/2022/10/03/moderna-refuses-covid-vaccine-to-china-over-intellectual-property-rights/)
A deal between Moderna and China has fallen through, after the Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical company refused to hand over the intellectual property (IP) rights for its COVID-19 vaccine, the Financial Times reported.

Moderna, which has fiercely guarded its intellectual property around the world, denied Beijing’s request to hand over the recipe to develop its mRNA vaccine allegedly because of “commercial and safety concerns,” and also because of “possible reputation risks” if its partner in China failed to correctly manufacture the shot.

The technology behind Moderna’s mRNA vaccine, along with the similar Pfizer-BioNTech shot co-developed by German and American pharmaceutical companies, provides more effective protection against the virus than the inactivated vaccines made by Chinese firms.

The company had “given up” on previous efforts to enter the Chinese market because of Beijing’s demand to relinquish its technology, but the vaccine maker said it is still “eager” to sell the product to China.

I am genuinely fascinated by the psychology of all this, as I have gushed here from time to time.

I know that I have a professional reputation as "a serious person" so when I'm in a meeting with people who, in less formal settings, might talk super-dismissively about COVID or masking or vaccines -- with me, they prop up some semblance of thoughtful consideration. It's the "I did my own research" angle, but on a different note. That's where these stories, illustrations, anecdotes and so forth seem to come in handy... on a certain level, especially to someone who really wants to believe Side A. If the story is ludicrously paper thin, it doesn't seem to matter.

-I start by wanting to oppose all the policy things related to COVID
-I heard that a car crash guy got counted as a COVID death
-That's obviously preposterous
-Therefore the numbers on COVID deaths are fiction
-I also got it myself and I was fine after a couple of days of sniffles
-Therefore COVID isn't a big deal to anyone
-Therefore I oppose all the policy things related to COVID

That seems to be a license to just stop thinking about the topic, to many.

Recommend Off The Edge, by Kelly Weill. Lots and lots of historical echos from the flat earth history to today.

Meanwhile, derision. I get it.

The last of the Covidians - The Spectator World (https://spectatorworld.com/topic/the-last-of-the-covidians/)

It seems perfect that the free part of the article fades out right at "holy saint fauci" because that's where I would have stopped reading anyway.

Ultimately, I think this is the right call. We know what will happen if Moderna gives up the IP.

Moderna refuses COVID vaccine to China over intellectual property rights &ndash; The China Project (https://thechinaproject.com/2022/10/03/moderna-refuses-covid-vaccine-to-china-over-intellectual-property-rights/)

we do?

Meanwhile, derision. I get it.

The last of the Covidians - The Spectator World (https://spectatorworld.com/topic/the-last-of-the-covidians/)

It’s probably good that is locked behind a paywall for me, because I’m guessing that was going to make me unreasonably angry. The level of selfishness and lack of awareness to realize that there are still people out there for whom COVID could well be a death sentence for themselves or a loved one… yeah. I’ll go on with my day.

we do?

We don't?

It seems perfect that the free part of the article fades out right at "holy saint fauci" because that's where I would have stopped reading anyway.

It spends a lot of time saying the pandemic deniers "were right all along" while taking cheap shots at anyone who thought that a global pandemic that killed millions was serious like the aforementioned Holy Saint Fauci and tying in a bunch of right wing talking points about police violence and how the President is never right. Then it tries to pretend the situation now is the same as it's always been throughout the pandemic. It's lazy, sloppy grievance porn with a lot of caustic doublespeak.

The real kindness here is to tell people who aren’t at rare, unique, and specific risk to Covid that they look utterly ridiculous when they continue these absurd precautions that didn’t work in the first place. It’s like wearing a T-shirt that says, “don’t take anything I say seriously.”

If we were all in it together when it was time to shut off the lights and huddle in our houses to fight the virus, then we must all be in it together as we emerge from our lockdown nightmare. It’s time to take the mask off your face or face the fact that you look like a fool. And it is nobody else’s job to pretend that you don’t.

Those are the last two paragraphs, the doublespeak conclusion:
It's stupid to have actual concerns with the virus now and in the past
It's some kind of warped kindness to tell people they are stupidAnd that last paragraph is typical 2020s misinformation and gaslighting: Remember the early days of the pandemic when we had people trying to take over the Michigan statehouse and none of us were wearing masks, people were getting in fights in stores because they didn't want to wear masks, and we championed the governors and other politicians who ignored what was going on all at the top of our lungs? None of that happened! We all huddled weakly in darkness at home - we're going to simultaneously make your demands sound as absurdly extreme as possible while also pretending we went along with them, which we totally did not. But it makes us sound more reasonable when we try to pretend to tell you to "meet us halfway" now, our halfway being to call you a fool and encourage everyone else to do the same.

All I can think is that it's some kind of warped satire about how there were legit think pieces on the left for liberals trying to figure out how to reconcile the cognitive dissonance of "I believe people are inherently good and will work together" crashed into the selfish, self-destructive behavior they were seeing all around. But I don't think the author is nearly that gifted and the point didn't land. Or he could just be an old man, in age and/or spirit, angrily yelling at the cloud about just how persecuted he wasn't.



SI

Yeah. For two weeks in 2020, a guy had to get takeout from Fuddruckers instead of getting to sit at the bar, and he is still talking about it like he fought at Verdun. Annoying as hell.

The other lie that MAGA takes for granted is that liberals/moderates wanted lockdowns, masking, etc.

No! Of course not! Who wants those things? It is like saying that someone wants chemo when they have cancer. No! Of course not! Chemo sucks! But you make the mature choice to do it in order to prevent more serious problems.

The deployment of "the person wearing a mask alone in a car" is a special sort of device. I'm sure there's a proper in-Latin name for the fallacy...but you plant the flag with an everyone-agrees-that's-dumb example, but that person isn't your real target. It's a persuasion technique to find the first bit of agreement, however small, and to build up from there.

If you can get the reader nodding her head at the masked idiot in the car alone, it's a lot simpler to transfer that agreement to also mocking me - the guy who sporadically goes to the store, but wears a mask in doing so, and is still/again generally deliberately standoffish when out in public, which is a good deal less than it once was.

You can't effectively start your point by making fun of me, because you lose too many people. You start with the obvious strawman, and quietly peel away the difference between that absurd example and the more sympathetic one who is your real target.

This guy is, I'm sure, really proud of the writing he's doing on this subject. He also likely believes in the whole "pearly gate" setup as he approaches the afterlife... if that's true, I'd like him to gather some independent accounting that his efforts during the pandemic were ultimately responsible for 31.3 extra deaths among like-minded readers/followers, or somesuch.

Floridas Surgeon General now replicating the full Antivaxx playbook, using his office to order flimsy 'analysis' to 'show' dangers of vaccines and basing official state health department recommendations to not administer them on this. No review process and not even any indication of authorship. Just the SG using an anonymous piece of jumbled up science on the department server while ignoring even the authors (whoever they may be) stated limitations and warnings re: Interpretation, which they likely included to cover their ass should their names become public and they might want to work somewhere that is not under Ladapo.

It's not surprising (i think i posted about him and his views even pre covid before) but should still make people pause. Even Antivaxxers should consider that he or others could do the same to prevent, say, cancer screenings to cut costs. Then again, i guess they don't care considering the sheer overlap between antivaxx/'vaccine-sceptic' and other fringe positions (that example about cancer screenings actually is taken from a particular 'sceptical of theese vaccines' bubble spearheaded by the Great Barrington crowd who are all intertwined with Death Santis).

Aside from various other methodological issues it flat out excluded ... Deaths from Covid. And thus isolate the excess deaths due to heart issues they attribute to the vaccines by pretty much pretending people get the vaccine to get the vaccine. Not to prevent harm from COVID-19 (if you use the same data pool and reasonable assumptions from other studies you end up with 9 extra cardiac deaths vs 315 prevented COVID-19 deaths within the same timeframe for the same group of people under 40. Not so scary taking a vaccine anymore, is it?). Not including COVID-19 status here also confounds results since COVID-19 is known to affect the heart in some. In summary, as the reviewer below says, this stinks of p-hacking (massaging existing data until you get a result that at least kinda sorta supports your preconceived result).
Funny thing: their data also shows a reduction of all-cause death, even when excluding COVID-19 as they did. So, why isn't that Ladapos lead i wonder. Might he maybe not actually care about wether or not the vaccines are helping his constituents? Hmm...


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Florida just announced the results of an analysis that they performed, saying the results show &quot;an increased risk of cardiac-related death among men 18-39&quot; for the mRNA vaccines, and recommend this group not receive these vaccines.<br><br>Is this justified? Let's look at the data... <a href="https://t.co/hfHrg6CMNb">pic.twitter.com/hfHrg6CMNb</a></p>&mdash; Kristen Panthagani, MD, PhD (@kmpanthagani) <a href="https://twitter.com/kmpanthagani/status/1578921562761465857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 9, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

we do?

Speaking as someone who works in the industry: yes, we do.

From 3/2

Last post was 2/3, so the below stats are 1 month later. The previous months run rate was +1.5%. Looks like this month its +.9%.

> 12 is at 73.5% up from 72.6%.

At least one dose ...

> 12 is at 86.1% up from 85.2%.

Now on 10/10

The CDC COVID Data Tracker (https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations_vacc-people-additional-dose-totalpop) shows

> 12 is at 76.3% (2 shots)
> 12 is at 88.9% (at least 1 dose)

It also has stats for 1st & 2nd booster. Nothing yet for the 3rd booster.

The charts/stats show 7 day moving is down for Deaths, Cases, Hospitalizations.

But I know UK has an uptick.

Good & timely article.

Biden administration scrambling to get more people boosted before winter - POLITICO (https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/11/biden-covid-booster-winter-00061053)
By the end of last week, the administration expected between 13 and 15 million people out of 283.4 million Americans aged 12 and up will have opted to get the updated Moderna or Pfizer jab ahead of what officials warn could be another deadly Covid winter.

That’s just five percent of the eligible population — a sign of the stark challenge facing a Biden administration that has positioned October as a make-or-break month for the overall success of its booster campaign.


Sounds about right, me included. Unless there is a significant spike in hospitalizations & deaths, most won't pay attention. Another article somewhere said UK is experiencing a spike and what happens there will probably happen here. So definitely get ready to do mass vaccinations if needed, but otherwise maybe focus on the most vulnerable groups now.

But ahead of the critical stretch, doctors and advocates said people are burned out, tuned out and don’t understand why they need another booster. And even some administration officials privately acknowledge there’s little internal expectation they’ll see an explosion of interest.

Get a Change Management campaign going. Hire a good/different consultancy to lead the efforts. Whoever we have right now is worthless.

said many people involved in the effort — from doctors like him to officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who recommended the booster to Americans — didn’t grasp what it would take to get people to pay attention.

“After they make the car, they have to sell it,” Schaffner said. “The CDC has a manufacturing capacity for [vaccine] recommendations, but it has no marketing capacity. They underestimate how much work it takes to get the word out.”

We shall see. I'll gauge one prediction of success if # of get vaccinated ads come close or exceed # of ED ads/messages on TV, periodicals, websites etc.

In coming weeks, the administration plans to work with medical societies and other “trusted messengers” to get the word out to more Americans and launch media campaigns to reach long-term care facilities where vaccination rates are low as well as people skeptical of the Covid vaccines.

I like the idea of doing it at NASCAR but it's worthless unless you get the top drivers to buy in and be advocates. Article didn't mention any of that. If they are depending on "Healthy Trucking of America" to convince NASCAR fans to get vaccinated ... this is the problem.

To reach more rural Americans, HHS is working with Healthy Trucking of America, a non-profit that promotes long-haul truckers’ health, to host a pop-up vaccine clinic at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama over the weekend. And in November, the pair plan to host another vaccine clinic at the NASCAR Cup Series Championship in Phoenix.

I think this is a cop out. If WH really thought this is important enough, they will find a way to fund it even with Congressional inaction.

“It is obviously harder to run a campaign when Congress decides not to fund it,” White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Ashish Jha said during a briefing on Friday. “Our media campaign, our campaign with community-based organizations — all of that is going to be more limited because of congressional inaction.”

I think this is a cop out. If WH really thought this is important enough, they will find a way to fund it even with Congressional inaction.

But whenever the Administration tries to do anything without full Congressional buy in, people jump up and down about executive overreach and eleventy-billion interest groups file lawsuits trying to enjoin the action.

We can't have it both ways. Either we want an executive that defers to Congress on matters of spending. Or we want an executive that "will find a way." But we can't really have both.

But whenever the Administration tries to do anything without full Congressional buy in, people jump up and down about executive overreach and eleventy-billion interest groups file lawsuits trying to enjoin the action.

We can't have it both ways. Either we want an executive that defers to Congress on matters of spending. Or we want an executive that "will find a way." But we can't really have both.

Sure we can have it both ways. It's been happening under Dem/GOP Administrations for a while now. Presidential Executive Orders is a way to bypass Congress one way or another.

Executive Orders | The American Presidency Project (https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/executive-orders)

It's true that Congress controls spending but Presidents have found a way to fund their pet project through contingency/related budgets. People (of the other party) may complain, but think this is a "normal" option if Presidents want to pay the political price.

Fact check: Presidential spending through executive order is allowed (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/08/21/fact-check-presidential-spending-through-executive-order-allowed/5582667002/)
The claim that a president cannot spend taxpayer dollars by executive order is MISSING CONTEXT. It's true that the Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse, meaning the president cannot spend money without Congress appropriating it. But there are scenarios in which executive orders could be used to disperse funds, particularly from contingency funds. And Congress has given the president latitude to "shift things around."

Thoughtful piece on COVID and Long COVID from a good writer, though a confessed non-expert:

https://fallows.substack.com/p/dont-get-covid

There's been a ton of stuff on my Twitter feed about a Pfizer executive admitting in an EU Covid hearing that the vaccines were never tested to determine whether they stopped the spread and this is being used to show that we were all duped into getting a vaccine that did nothing but line Big Pharma pockets and allow the government to control us because the "get vaccinated for others" mantra was a lie (or at best, unknown).

Now, that definitely was part of the selling point, but it seems to me that what also goes hand-in-hand with this is effectiveness in preventing Covid or limiting severe Covid. And if I don't get it, then I can't spread it.

Not exactly sure what I think of this development fully, if it's in fact true, but the over-reactions are expected.

Not exactly sure what I think of this development fully, if it's in fact true, but the over-reactions are expected.

Have seen much the same chatter, and am in much the same place.

I had read the latest 3rd booster was not really "tested" in human trials, and that scientists didn't think it needed to be for whatever reason (e.g. does annual flu shot need to be tested).

If referring to the 3rd booster, it's not a surprise and don't think it was being kept a secret. I read about this 2-3 months ago.

No, I believe this goes back to the original vaccine. The commentary was that they were "working at the speed of science" and understood the importance of getting something out to the public ASAP.

Here's the video widely making rounds:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">�� BREAKING:<br><br>In COVID hearing, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Pfizer?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Pfizer</a> director admits: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/vaccine?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#vaccine</a> was never tested on preventing transmission.<br><br>&quot;Get vaccinated for others&quot; was always a lie.<br><br>The only purpose of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID</a> passport: forcing people to get vaccinated.<br><br>The world needs to know. Share this video! ⤵️ <a href="https://t.co/su1WqgB4dO">pic.twitter.com/su1WqgB4dO</a></p>&mdash; Rob Roos MEP ���� (@Rob_Roos) <a href="https://twitter.com/Rob_Roos/status/1579759795225198593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 11, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Eh, a nothing burger. He's an idiot.

Below was published Dec 30, 2020 before (if I remember correctly) it was widely available to the public. It shows Moderna (at least wasn't trying to hide it).

Peer-reviewed report on Moderna COVID-19 vaccine publishes | National Institutes of Health (NIH) (https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/peer-reviewed-report-moderna-covid-19-vaccine-publishes)
Although mRNA-1273 is highly efficacious in preventing symptomatic COVID-19, there is not yet enough available data to draw conclusions as to whether the vaccine can impact SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Preliminary trial data suggests there may be some degree of prevention of asymptomatic infection after a single dose. Additional analyses are underway of the incidence of asymptomatic infection and viral shedding post-infection to understand the vaccine’s impact on infectiousness.

Below is from July 2021.

ScienceDirect (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X21007350)
SARS-CoV-2 vaccine trials did not directly estimate vaccine efficacy against transmission.
:
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have shown high efficacy of multiple vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 disease (COVID-19) [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], and recent studies have shown the vaccines are also effective against infection [7], [8]. Evidence for the effect of each of these vaccines on ability to transmit the virus is also beginning to emerge [9], [10], [11].

The clinical trial protocols and data are all right there on clinicaltrials.gov. This is like denying that rain comes from the sky.

As for the boosters, IIRC, they just did safety trials, which is basically what they do for flu vaccines, and honestly a lot of other medicines that are incrementally updated. Safety trials are a lot shorter than efficacy ones.

China is still doing lockdowns with their zero Covid policies. Still require quarantines etc. I had thought they were going to give it up after the Olympics but obviously not. I've also read possibility to proclaiming a win and giving up zero Covid policy after Xi is re-elected for third term, but who knows. I would like to visit China again also.

I'm very surprised he's so uncompromising even after getting his 3rd term. But it hurts China economically so not going to complain (other than it doesn't look like China will reopen up widely for tourism). Wish I had visited Xian when I had the chance.

Xi Jinping&#x27;s Party Congress speech: yes to zero-Covid, no to market reforms? | CNN Business (https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/17/economy/china-party-congress-xi-jinping-speech-economy-covid-intl-hnk/index.html)
In his speech Sunday, Xi struck a confident tone, highlighting China’s growing strength and rising influence under his first decade in power. He also repeatedly underscored the risks and challenges the country faces, including the Covid pandemic, Hong Kong and Taiwan — all of which he claimed China had come away from victorious.

But experts are concerned that Xi offered no signs of moving away from the country’s rigid zero-Covid policy or its tight regulatory stance on various businesses, both of which have hampered growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

Apparently, researchers at Boston University have combined the original COVID with Omicron and created a strain that kills about 80% of their mice.

Yay! No problem at all with having this around. Perfectly safe.

I'm nervous now about the boosters. My wife just had numbness in her hands and feet for a week immediately following one - after talking to her doctor, monitored it very closely. If it got any worse, we were to check into a hospital immediately for treatment of Guillain-Barre. Which scared the hell out of us. Fortunately, it went away. It's a rare reaction to the vaccine, but it happens.

I work with a girl that cited Floridas attorney general as the opinion she&rsquo;s leaning on to not get a booster

I smiled and said the CDC feels differently&hellip;

Then it boiled down to anyone can find a source to support their cause and we left it at that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Apparently, researchers at Boston University have combined the original COVID with Omicron and created a strain that kills about 80% of their mice.

Yay! No problem at all with having this around. Perfectly safe.

I saw that article and my initial thought was WTF, why are they doing this? But then, I'm pretty sure they're doing it to learn from it and develop better vaccines (and yeah, maybe weaponize it but don't think that was primary objective). Like you say, the key is to make sure it's in Level X containment and never gets to see the light of the day.

And then I wondered, how did this news leak. You'd think it would be hush hush.

I'm getting my booster and my flu shot on Friday at 5:00 PM. If I haven't posted by Monday it's because I'm still asleep.

Thanks for the reminder. I should get my flu shot now.

(Going to wait till Dec for my 3rd booster)

This is semi related and completely anecdotal though I am curious if there is evidence one way or the other. There probably needs to be an adjustment to the ADA to allow for more handicapped parking spots businesses and other places of public accommodation are required to have. I feel like I am seeing an increase of people leaving their cars with oxygen tanks and bags specifically and disabled decals in general since COVID-19 became a thing. There were generally not enough parking spots available for those that need them before and the problem has worsened with those that are now disabled due to COVID.

I haven't gotten the latest booster because I had COVID in late August (ending my undefeated streak), and I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. Is there a sweet spot to get the booster after COVID? I figure I'll double up with the flu vaccine shortly, unless I decide I should hold off and try to stretch out the COVID vaccine protections until after my own antibodies retreat.

I got through a 5-day Disney park excursion without getting COVID. A trip to Amsterdam finally did me in though. Almost no symptoms though, I thought I was just tired. Only tested because my girlfriend needed to to go back to work.

We got ours about a month ago because of travel. We're going to get our son his in about a month so he should be at max immunity after people come back from Thanksgiving through the inevitable surge in January and February.

SI

I got my booster along with a flu shot a couple weeks ago. My armpit hurt for a couple of days. That was it.

Is there a sweet spot to get the booster after COVID?

Sixty days is the number I've heard.

Long COVID Experts: ‘So Incredibly Clear What’s at Stake’ (https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20221018/long-covid-experts-so-incredibly-clear-whats-at-stake)

Money quote:

For researchers, advocates, and observers who keep up with studies on COVID’s neurological pathways and symptoms, remaining cautious is simply a no-brainer. “If everyone were really fully informed – I mean really fully informed – and they understood the way I did, we wouldn't need mask rules,” says Furness. “We wouldn’t need them because it would be just so incredibly clear what's at stake.”

…and I say this having just traveled to my first event in three years…nearly everyone around me mask less , I’m not holding up my end of the deal for my family

Had my 2nd booster yesterday. Very, very happy that I have no side effects for the first time.

Fun fact: 35% of all and 55% of all european reports on "Post-Vacc-Syndrom" (think Long Covids much, much rarer cousin) come from Germany. Am just glad german 'vaccine-sceptics', which are historically numerous and well connected, seemed to have had a late start this time around and got drowned out early on by their even crazier brethren.

I got my flu shot & booster at 5:00 PM on Friday and was asleep by 7:00 PM. I slept until 8:00 AM. Now, aside from some injection point soreness (no worse than the flu shot normally is), I'm 100% fine. But boy howdy was I sleepy.

Caveat: I'm also a Dad with a teen and a pre-teen so I'm normally pretty tired by Friday evening anyway.

was asleep by 7:00 PM. I slept until 8:00 AM.

That sounds glorious.

I might need to do this once a week.

I got my flu shot & booster at 5:00 PM on Friday and was asleep by 7:00 PM. I slept until 8:00 AM. Now, aside from some injection point soreness (no worse than the flu shot normally is), I'm 100% fine. But boy howdy was I sleepy.

Caveat: I'm also a Dad with a teen and a pre-teen so I'm normally pretty tired by Friday evening anyway.


I got the flu+booster on Friday afternoon around 3:00pm. I played hockey at 9:00 and felt good, but by the time I got home I started feeling loopy. Woke up around 8:00am (because I had to, not by choice) and it took 3 cups of coffee, 2 glasses of water, a bowl of cereal and a shower before I felt like I had actually woken up. Crazy sleepy.


But then after that yeah, just the injection soreness and good to go.

I had a little lymph node swelling under the arm that I didn't have from the previous shots. Then again, I had the Pfizer booster vs all Moderna previously. It was slightly annoying and weird - like I could feel the underside of my arm rubbing against my arm - and it went away in a couple of days. It was just something I hadn't noticed before.

SI

Got my flu shot this afternoon. The pharmacist said they don't know how effective it is yet this year.

I clicked on a link to let them know I was in the store. Walked up to the counter and was told to sit down. She came out a couple min later and gave me the shot. And that was it.

Last year, it was go to counter, answer some questions, show my health insurance card etc. I'm glad they've streamlined the process.

FWIW, I'll assume the Duke study is more robust and all encompassing (different dosage levels, much larger population, and it's Duke). Odds are low IMO but I'm willing to wait another month for the study. Regardless, not much will come of it either way.

Can Ivermectin actually work against COVID? Duke doctors hope to settle debate (https://www.cbs17.com/community/health/coronavirus/can-ivermectin-actually-work-against-covid-19-duke-doctors-hope-to-settle-debate-over-horse-deworming-drug/)

Finally came out.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/24/ivermectin-once-touted-as-a-covid-treatment-by-conservatives-doesnt-improve-recovery-much-clinical-trial-finds.html
Ivermectin, a drug once touted by conservatives as a treatment for Covid, does not meaningfully improve the recovery time for people with mild to moderate Covid-19, according a large clinical trial published in a peer-reviewed journal.

People who took ivermectin recovered from Covid in 12 days while people who didn’t take the drug recovered in 13 days, according to the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Friday. Ivermectin has been approved to treat parasitic worms in humans, but it’s primarily used as a dewormer for horses.

“Among outpatients with mild to moderate COVID-19, treatment with ivermectin, compared with placebo, did not significantly improve time to recovery,” the team of scientists led by Duke University School of Medicine wrote. “These findings do not support the use of ivermectin in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19,” they concluded.

During the worst of Covid, most of the students I taught (12-16 years old) were pretty good with sneezing into their elbow and sanitizing their hands if they had to blow their nose. Many of these same kids were probably home if they had any symptoms.

I'm amazed at how many kids now are completely oblivious to any sort of good hygiene. I've watched them sneeze into their hands and wipe their runny noses with their fingers. I thought that some of the good habits taught during the epidemic would carry over but I'm seeing a lot of them regressing.

That sounds glorious.

I might need to do this once a week.

I am also giving it serious consideration.

The best part was around 6:15 PM my wife was like "you should just go to bed, I'll take care of the kids & dog tonight."

DON'T NEED TO TELL ME TWICE!!!

Assuming Shanghai Disney is like Orlando, it'll be fun for 1 or 2 days but then really suck. The article below (and a couple others I found) did not share the logistics on room & board for those stuck though.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63456107
Shanghai Disney has become the latest high-profile venue to shut its gates thanks to China's strict zero-Covid policy, trapping visitors inside.

People have been told they will not be allowed out of the theme park until they can show a negative test.

It comes after Shanghai reported 10 locally transmitted cases on Saturday.

China's controversial zero-Covid policy has already seen millions of people repeatedly locked down, sometimes in unusual locations.
Videos posted on Chinese social media site Weibo showed people rushing to the park's gates following the announcement but finding them already locked.

Posting on Chinese social media site WeChat, the Shanghai government said the park was barring people from entering and those inside could only leave once they had returned a negative test result.

It added that anyone who has visited the park since Thursday must provide three negative test results over three consecutive days.

We can probably guess what the logistics are. Few and none.

https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107143503-16672405732022-10-31t182122z_310801956_rc2icx9uegxy_rtrmadp_0_health-coronavirus-china.jpeg?v=1667240968&w=740&h=416&ffmt=webp

Do they aow Winnie the Pooh at Shanghai Disney

No idea what "aow" means but assuming "allow" and I'm not missing anything, yes. Why?

There's likely going to be a shortage of iPhones this holiday season. Buy now if you're planning to get one.

Hopefully Foxconn is starting to explore production capabilities at other countries (e.g. Vietnam, Malaysia).

China zero-Covid: Workers flee Zhengzhou iPhone factory | CNN Business (https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/01/tech/china-covid-workers-zhengzhou-iphone-factory-hnk-intl/index.html)
Foxconn, one of Apple’s largest suppliers, is wrestling with major disruption at its biggest iPhone assembly factory in China, as anxious workers reportedly flee the facility, according to social media videos.

The Taiwanese company is racing to control a Covid outbreak at its campus in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou.
Analysts said the chaos at Zhengzhou could jeopardize Apple and Foxconn’s output in the coming weeks. Ivan Lam, senior research analyst at Counterpoint, estimated that between 10% and 30% of iPhone 14 production could be affected in the near term if the situation did not stabilize.

Foxconn, one of Apple’s largest suppliers, is wrestling with major disruption at its biggest iPhone assembly factory in China, as anxious workers reportedly flee the facility, according to social media videos.

Just so everyone knows what is coming next: Covid didn't actually kill anyone. Doctors using Remdesivir killed them all. If they had only used the dewormer, all those people would be alive today.

Coming to a republican investigative committee near you.... Covid came from Dr Fauci's personal stash of virus parts and he spread them in China before coming home so he could take credit for saving the world, but instead killed everyone, and tried to blame it all on trump.

By: Rand Paul

No idea what "aow" means but assuming "allow" and I'm not missing anything, yes. Why?

China bans Winnie the Pooh film after comparisons to President Xi | Xi Jinping | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/07/china-bans-winnie-the-pooh-film-to-stop-comparisons-to-president-xi)

China bans Winnie the Pooh film after comparisons to President Xi | Xi Jinping | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/07/china-bans-winnie-the-pooh-film-to-stop-comparisons-to-president-xi)

From what I've googled, that's an urban legend.

The comparison may be banned but not Winnie the Pooh. See below.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh | Attractions | Shanghai Disney Resort (https://www.shanghaidisneyresort.com/en/attractions/adventures-winnie-pooh/)

Just so everyone knows what is coming next: Covid didn't actually kill anyone. Doctors using Remdesivir killed them all. If they had only used the dewormer, all those people would be alive today.

Coming to a republican investigative committee near you.... Covid came from Dr Fauci's personal stash of virus parts and he spread them in China before coming home so he could take credit for saving the world, but instead killed everyone, and tried to blame it all on trump.

By: Rand Paul

Can I get a ticket to another timeline, please?

SI

I'm looking forward to the GOP House's investigative committees, whose subpeonas will be enforced by miltias while the response by House Democrats to ignored subpeonas has been: :confused: .

I'm looking forward to the GOP House's investigative committees, whose subpeonas will be enforced by miltias while the response by House Democrats to ignored subpeonas has been: :confused: .

Militias? I think you mean secret gay lovers.

Functionally the same thing at this point.

This thread falls off the front page. It's fine. It's over.

Only 262 Americans died of COVID yesterday. We have slowed the spread to a 9/11 (remember, the worst thing that ever happened to our country?) body count every 10 days, rather than every week, though too soon to know whether it's just a blip. And cold weather approaches, which typically means a caseload and death toll spike.

But we as a society are done with the inconvenience.

This thread falls off the front page. It's fine. It's over.

Only 262 Americans died of COVID yesterday. We have slowed the spread to a 9/11 (remember, the worst thing that ever happened to our country?) body count every 10 days, rather than every week, though too soon to know whether it's just a blip. And cold weather approaches, which typically means a caseload and death toll spike.

But we as a society are done with the inconvenience.

Weirdly, I still see a decent chunk of masks in grocery stores here. Nowhere else. And definitely not a majority or anything. But a decent chunk - like 1 in 3~5.

Me looking at my boring graphs tells me that any time now we're going to start going up before going through the roof in December.

Houston wastewater indicators have started to tick back up a little as have case positivity rating (it's hard to see on the chart but we were scraping along low-mid 2% for a handful of weeks but bounced back to 2.9 last week)
Wastewater Viral Load Across City of Houston - Texas Medical Center (https://www.tmc.edu/coronavirus-updates/wastewater-viral-load-across-city-of-houston/)
Covid-19 Positivity Rate Across TMC Hospital Systems - Texas Medical Center (https://www.tmc.edu/coronavirus-updates/total-tmc-covid-19-positive-patients-in-hospital/)

Our family has been trying to do a handful of things that we haven't done in a while over the past month or so while numbers have been down and we likely have sterilizing immunity. We ate in a restaurant (as opposed to eating outside or takeout), my wife and I went to a movie (only 4 people in it, tho, since it was midday and Top Gun had been out like 3 months when we did it), we've been going to church instead of watching online - that sort of thing. And we'll probably start to pull back some before December. We're going to try and fly up and see some relatives at Christmas this year and just generally holding our breath about that. We've already flown a couple of times this year.

Also, getting my son's COVID booster was a frustrating exercise. I got a reservation at Walgreen's the day before. Went there after school and early. Checked in, waited until almost a half hour after our time for them to tell us we needed to fill out another piece of paperwork. Checked that 15 minutes later and then were told "oh, it's the pediatric one and we don't have it here". Never mind that the online form asked me that, the person who checked us in asked us that, and the form I had to fill out told me that. The next day, we went to the local grocery store (HEB for the Texans familiar with it) - we had to drive about 20 minutes to get to one with the pediatric one. Then it took them like 30 minutes to prepare it. To their credit - they did tell us that when we got there, though - it takes a bit longer to prep the pediatric one. I have no idea if it's true, but they did tell us that to help set expectations. We wanted to get it now so that he should have his best protection in December and January when it's running rampant.

SI

From a quick googling there are 99 deaths per day in the US from automobile accidents and we've never had a thread on that. I can agree we could and should be doing more to prevent Covid spread and deaths societally, but at a certain point we all need to choose our risk threshold and do what we choose individually, and I think we've all reached our own conclusion on that by now.

I'd love new information or studies on effects, but barring that what are we supposed to post?

My "we" here is society, not really "FOFC forum members." I don't have much to say, either, other than the same old stupid scolds, so I'm part of the same thing. Sorry if I suggested that this thread was a meaningful bellwether for the true importance of the issue.

I flew cross country recently, estimated 15% mask usage while on the plane, maybe 5-10% in the airport, and virtually none in my various stops across Northern Cali. Through some combination of misinformation/disinformation about the effectiveness of masks in routine contact situations, political tribalism connecting the behavior to weakness/wokeness, and whatever other complicated factors are at work... we have just decided that the act of masking up when at the grocery store doesn't pass our test as worthwhile. It's... I don't know the right term... it's heartbreaking, if you can work your way to consider all the victims at the end of the line who are suffering as a result of these decisions we are actively making.

And I'm aware there are numbers like deaths in car accidents. If there were measures each of us could take that are as easy as masking and vaxxing, that would have the same kind of effect on that death toll, we would be taking them. Like, for the glaringly obvious example, wearing safety belts, which we've instituted as law and has surely saved thousands and thousands of lives over the fairly recent spell it has enjoyed as a political consensus. No, it's not reasonable to expect every vehicle to travel at 15mph forever (that would likely reduce vehicle deaths to very near zero) - so no, I'm not a naive absolutist that every precaution is worthy any gain in better outcomes. But where we choose to draw the line on what is and is not "worth it" says something about us as a society, and I am having a hard time coming to terms with where this particular spinning wheel seems to have landed.

My frustration is somewhat political, somewhat societal, and I confess I don't know what to do about it. Griping here is useless but cathartic, taking some flak for doing so is part of the price of admission, I get it.

Part of my blind spot on this issue, I will admit, is that I just don't feel that wearing a mask in public situation amounts to a meaningful imposition on my freedom, independence, or even comfort. I wore a mask for hours and hours during travel and it became uncomfortable, but in the more routine stuff where I still do (shopping, an hour-long physical therapy appt, etc) I find it to be a negligible matter.

I guess there are some people for whom it's a bigger deal for specific reasons. But I more or less suspect that most of the outrage is manufactured for effect.

Part of my blind spot on this issue, I will admit, is that I just don't feel that wearing a mask in public situation amounts to a meaningful imposition on my freedom, independence, or even comfort. I wore a mask for hours and hours during travel and it became uncomfortable, but in the more routine stuff where I still do (shopping, an hour-long physical therapy appt, etc) I find it to be a negligible matter.

I guess there are some people for whom it's a bigger deal for specific reasons. But I more or less suspect that most of the outrage is manufactured for effect.

Counterpoint: I have the glasses-fog-up thing with my preferred pair of glasses (not my older ones, though, with a different shape). I also had a couple of 30-hour travel days to and from Europe where it got really unpleasant on my ears (I prefer the over-ear vs back-of-head masks) so I started hooking them on my glasses instead of my ears for part of the time. I've been ok the few times I've had to do 8-10 hour days with them but if I had to do them more regularly, maybe I'd switch types.

But, yeah, I think I'm in the same boat. Which I think is outside a standard deviation or two at this point.

Also, with the grocery store thing - it feels like a very demographic split on who is wearing them and who isn't. It's almost as if people who aren't white don't trust the white Texans. Hmm. Also, contractors generally will ask if we come to the door in our mask. We tend to request they do so inside the house but we also don't care if they're in the attic or outside or whatever.

You can also add schools to the list - my kid says about half his class still wears masks and when we've done Open House events, that seems accurate-ish. Though his class is the GT class and a bit of an outlier. He wears his all day except at lunch, recess, and maybe gym. He even has a set of Pokemon ones he puts over his KN95 to give him something unique.

I'm sure that's always played into my thought process here, too. I mean, it's hard to not be a little glib and be like "hey, the seven year olds can do it" and "my asthmatic mom has no problems" and "Lorenzo Cain could play in the MLB doing it". I know that's a gross oversimplification, but that's always seemed like such a way to get a ton of mileage out of not much. Man, anyone who had a school age kid the last couple of years knows how much child school illness has been down the last year or so. But here we still are, talking about masking almost 3 years into a pandemic and I'm going to be the one coming off as the crazy, irrational outlier.

SI

I do wonder why Xi is so reluctant to open up China gradually (now that he's got his 3rd term). China is about 90% vaccinated. I'd think he could create a 6-12 month roadmap. The pros outweigh the cons (well, obviously not to him).

Is it just conceding that western vaccines are better than homegrown ones? Seems like a small concessions & embarrassment to concede that point, he can point to how well China has done overall in the pandemic re: deaths etc. Make Moderna/Pfizer happy and just buy their stuff. Then tell the populace the trade off is an increase in hospitalizations and some deaths. Willing to bet the populace will be agreeable to that trade-off.

I'm happy that China has self-constrained her growth and her policies are making corporations look elsewhere. But it does seem to be a senseless policy.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-63633109
Crowds of residents in southern China's industrial metropolis Guangzhou have escaped a compulsory lockdown and clashed with police, as anger at strict coronavirus curbs boiled over.

Dramatic footage shows some overturning a police vehicle and tearing down Covid control barriers. Riot teams have now been deployed in the area.

It follows Guangzhou's worst Covid outbreak since the pandemic began.

Amid bad economic figures, China's zero Covid policy is under enormous strain.

Tensions had been building in the city's Haizhu District, which is under stay-at-home orders.

The area is home to many poorer itinerant labourers. They have complained of not being paid if they are unable to turn up for work, and of food shortages and skyrocketing prices while living under Covid control measures.

For several nights, they'd been tussling with the white-clad Covid prevention enforcement officials, and then overnight on Monday the anger suddenly exploded onto the streets of Guangzhou with a mass act of defiance.

A tech writer comes back to twitter to discuss his Long COVID and... wow

https://twitter.com/rowlsmanthorpe

A tech writer comes back to twitter to discuss his Long COVID and... wow

https://twitter.com/rowlsmanthorpe
I mean, was this ever posted? My wife had long Covid and killed herself. We must help others who are suffering | Nick Güthe | The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/12/long-covid-wife-suicide-give-others-hope)

My wife, who was an army medic and has been in medicine most of her life in medicine, got into an argument with her step-dad while visiting him this week. He insisted that the cdc has changed its definition of a vaccine because of the covid vaccine. He said the flu shot and covid shots are now classified as therapeutics.

Obviously not true. He stopped talking to her the last day she was there over it. I told her it's almost certainly from Facebook morons not understanding shit and twisting it. We therapeutics for the flu and covid that are short and I'm sure these Facebook wannabe doctors confused them with vaccines and think the cdc quietly reclassified them.

I'm planning to get the latest booster in early December. I've been getting Moderna just because that's what I was given initially. Wonder if Moderna results are similar to below. May have to ask specifically for Pfizer for the next one.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/18/covid-pfizer-says-omicron-booster-is-better-against-new-subvariants-like-bqpoint1point1.html
Pfizer said the booster triggered more antibodies against omicron BQ.1.1, BA.4.6, BA.2.75.2 and XBB.1 in adults older than 55 compared to a fourth dose of the original vaccines.

Pfizer developed its booster against omicron BA.5 , but that subvariant now only makes up 25% new infections in the U.S. BQ.1.1 and its sibling BQ.1 are on the rise.

Still seeing chinstrappers out there. To paraphrase Yoda, Mask up or no mask, chinstrap there is no.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/health/covid-boosters-surge.html?unlocked_article_code=CVhIjxN3jgzA-2I01vZNhtMPO7a5U5P5pVENuClR2s804PIPZgkjIx0dqGEsXf1YWTFGhVcBbaHc08VxUvVSbYl6K9Yo7RCWewHa3NBTn-Qj0-2BTgDR1fF13uWXOSz-uL4o5vOsYWj4oBVyDMfp04AJH_A0i0MCwQcFqMYx9T9qzsIHRIHmt1wgodxkJ5gEy9nu_ClHgHxyzn8UA51QH9CMoSo8s125U0Ki13bWK6wzmrD1WKGSo9w5HR6QHVpKNNxKVMDSMrKmL8bjnWQePjqoxak9bbtypXIC6Wn_umDcM5ILcs2RdS1y9WKzHTXG8iVaWAJvuMAFNNvkSg&smid=share-url

Unfortunately, the new boosters don't seem to offer a ton of help in preventing infection from the BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 variants, which are very good at evading immunity. But the boosters do lower the severity if you catch Covid.


The Biden administration’s plan for preventing a national surge depends heavily on persuading Americans to get updated booster shots of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines. Now some scientists are raising doubts about this strategy.

Older adults, immunocompromised people and pregnant women should get the booster shots, because they offer extra protection against severe disease and death, said John Moore, a virologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.

But the picture is less clear for healthy Americans who are middle-aged and younger. They are rarely at risk of severe illness or death from Covid, and at this point most have built immunity through multiple vaccine doses, infections or both.

The newer variants, called BQ.1 and BQ.1.1, are spreading quickly, and boosters seem to do little to prevent infections with these viruses, as they are excellent evaders of immunity.

“If you’re at medical risk, you should get boosted, or if you’re at psychological risk and worrying yourself to death, go and get boosted,” Dr. Moore said. “But don’t believe that will give you some kind of amazing protection against infection, and then go out and party like there’s no tomorrow.”

The most recent boosters are “bivalent,” targeting both the original version of the coronavirus and the Omicron variants circulating earlier this year, BA.4 and BA.5. Only about 12 percent of adults have opted for the latest shot.

CDC charts show covid infections, hospitalizations and deaths are "steady" or near steady.

CDC COVID Data Tracker (https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_weeklydeaths_select_00)

Interestingly, below chart shows other countries 7-day average of cases. The "surge" is in Japan and China. Not sure how it really knows about China though. Japan has recently opened up so maybe not as surprising.

Global COVID-19 Tracker – Updated as of November 18 | KFF (https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/global-covid-19-tracker/)

The chart for 7-day average of deaths is a mess, I can't tell much from it.

I finally contracted covid for the first time in Vegas this past week. Not sure what variant, but I can say Thursday I have never felt so ill in my life. It was brutal before I finally had a mobile IV company come to our room and hook me up with some vitamins and supplements.

I have had both shots and one booster, so not sure how much worse it would have been, but I was wishing for death a couple of times that day, shit was no joke! Right now it just feels like a really bad cold, and I have lost much of my sense of taste today.

Only if you care to share ... what were your symptoms? I assume dehydrated but also difficulty breathing, nauseated etc.?

Only if you care to share ... what were your symptoms? I assume dehydrated but also difficulty breathing, nauseated etc.?

Breathing was fine and my O2 sat was 95, for me it was the most excruciating headache I have ever had, then nausea that stayed right at that level of when you are on the verge of throwing up, but it just stayed there, for hours straight, even after puking. Very unpleasant. I obviously couldn't hold even water down, so got dehydrated, plus the usual other symptoms, cough, chills, body aches, etc, Still have those, but nausea is gone and headache is only a 2, so much better.

Thanks.

Sounds like you're over the hump. Hope your taste comes back soon.

Another lockdown for 3.7M in China.

https://apnews.com/article/taiwan-health-china-beijing-covid-91990494741e8c5e75da7d9ce22addb1?utm_campaign=TrueAnthem&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter
The southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou locked down its largest district Monday as it tries to tamp down a major COVID-19 outbreak, suspending public transit and requiring residents to present a negative test if they want to leave their homes.

The outbreak is testing China’s attempt to bring a more targeted approach to its zero-COVID policies while facing multiple outbreaks driven by fast-spreading omicron variants. China is the only major country in the world still trying to curb virus transmissions through strict lockdown measures and mass testing.

Baiyun district, home to 3.7 million people in Guangzhou, also suspended in-person classes for schools and sealed off universities. The measures are meant to last until Friday, the city announced.

Just thinking and wondering ahead. For business & tourism travel whenever China opens up again, what happens if I'm caught in a lockdown at the local Marriott? Do I have to pay the extra, unexpected X days? Will there even be enough employees to run the hotel for visitors e.g. for food, not the other fluff?

I think the answers are yes. More reason to stay at a western hotel and not a local hotel/hostel I think (e.g. smaller towns/cities in China don't have Marriotts and like). Been itching to visit Xian.

COVID booster and flu shot at may time may have been a mistake.

COVID booster and flu shot at may time may have been a mistake.

I did the same and I agree. But I always react very badly to the flu shot so I was completely screwed regardless.

Got them at the same time and started to feel off after 4 hours, had a mild fever after 8 hours, then was just achy and not feeling great for the next 16 or so hours. Once it was done I was fine.

I'm sure I'll feel fine tomorrow and be glad I did it this way.

COVID booster and flu shot at may time may have been a mistake.

I felt crummy the next day but was back to normal after that. Still think it was worth it since the odds of me forgetting to go back for one would have been high.