The Covid-19 Thread: News, Preparation Tips, Etc

MamaBear2012

Well-Known Member
I'm kinda sick of parents in our school district. The district is currently virtual, but we got a plan to return to in-person learning for next week. But one of the data points that someone pointed out was that 18% of our eligible students are fully vaccinated. Ugh! Parents are complaining about the return to school and how these kids might get sick, and all of this other stuff, but the majority of the kids aren't even vaccinated!!!

And the district does weekly Covid testing for the students (for free) and then staff tests twice a week. But students have to opt-in and a lot of parents haven't even opted in for their kids. I'm like, "Y'all aren't serious!!" But the awesome thing is the district is about to make these parents do some work. So, now the rule is if a person tests positive then any close contacts have to quarantine for 10 days IF they haven't consented to testing. If they've consented to testing and don't have symptoms, then they can stay in-person as long as they continue to test and don't develop symptoms. No test, you go home. And at this point, if you're in the same class or on the same bus or in the same after-school program, then you're a close contact. The way this variant is spreading, everyone is a close contact.
 

ScorpioBeauty09

Well-Known Member
My sister is a substitute at a high school and says a lot of students are not coming in, or come with symptoms and then leave. :ohwell: On top of that, teachers are short-staffed because they're getting sick so my sister is having to fill in for a lot of them. She's getting paid more, but we're worried she'll catch this and bring it home. Masks are required at school thank goodness. I hope they'll move to virtual learning but I think Gov Newsom is going to hold out as long as he can before imposing more restrictions, given the hell he caught the last time from a small yet vocal minority.

FH's work ordered everyone to work from home, praise God. My new job is 100% WFH.

Side note: I didn't realize the majority of states have no mask mandate. :nono: In California, there is a statewide mask mandate whether vaxed or not and before that, Bay Area counties required masks indoors and most people wore masks outdoors. Like if you're not wearing a mask you stick out. For some reason, it slipped my mind that 80% of the country is just walking around maskless. :shocked:
 
Last edited:

Evolving78

Well-Known Member
I'm kinda sick of parents in our school district. The district is currently virtual, but we got a plan to return to in-person learning for next week. But one of the data points that someone pointed out was that 18% of our eligible students are fully vaccinated. Ugh! Parents are complaining about the return to school and how these kids might get sick, and all of this other stuff, but the majority of the kids aren't even vaccinated!!!

And the district does weekly Covid testing for the students (for free) and then staff tests twice a week. But students have to opt-in and a lot of parents haven't even opted in for their kids. I'm like, "Y'all aren't serious!!" But the awesome thing is the district is about to make these parents do some work. So, now the rule is if a person tests positive then any close contacts have to quarantine for 10 days IF they haven't consented to testing. If they've consented to testing and don't have symptoms, then they can stay in-person as long as they continue to test and don't develop symptoms. No test, you go home. And at this point, if you're in the same class or on the same bus or in the same after-school program, then you're a close contact. The way this variant is spreading, everyone is a close contact.
I agree.
 

naturalgyrl5199

Well-Known Member
Add 2 more positives and 2 more pending.

We will be at 7 before you know it.

Mind you there are 10 of us here. My entire clerical team of 5 (not incl. their supervisor) has 4 out with COVID. All that's left is the supervisor and the one person who JUST got over COVID in December.

I'm actually gonna have to report this several miles up the chain and I will be cutting services back...A LOT.

I was smart enough to order a ton of laptops back in September when Delta was looking UGLY UGLY. I was called "overreacting." But the few people who were supposed to work from home so they don't have to use up all their sick leave were too winded to carry on client calls.
And one more out as of last night. Her chief complaint was supposedly what she thought was a stomach virus. But her supervisors pushed her to get tested and sure enough its positive. Like come on!
 

yamilee21

Well-Known Member
New York state’s Governor Hochul issued a mask mandate for all school districts in the state. Nassau county’s new Republican County Executive, pandering to the trumper population, just declared that county rules override state rules, and Nassau school districts can decide on masks for themselves. :rolleyes: Nassau county has 10% of all new Covid cases in the state right now, not counting the thousands that have not been able to get tested.
 

naturalgyrl5199

Well-Known Member
New York state’s Governor Hochul issued a mask mandate for all school districts in the state. Nassau county’s new Republican County Executive, pandering to the trumper population, just declared that county rules override state rules, and Nassau school districts can decide on masks for themselves. :rolleyes: Nassau county has 10% of all new Covid cases in the state right now, not counting the thousands that have not been able to get tested.
Thats funny...because the Republican DeSatan decrees the State rules overrides the local rules...
 

MamaBear2012

Well-Known Member

I saw this article posted in a group that I follow on Facebook. The racial makeup of this county is 74.1% black or African American, 24.4% white, 0.5% Asian, 0.4% American Indian, 0.1% from other races, and 0.6% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.5% of the population.

Hancock County reaches a grim COVID milestone. ‘I feel the pain,’ says county coroner​

January 5, 2022 2:20 PM
By:
One out of every 100 people in Hancock County, Ga., has been killed by COVID-19.

Hancock County, northeast of Milledgeville, has long had more per capita deaths from COVID-19 than any other county in Georgia. But now it has reached a different, grimmer milestone.

One out of every 100 people is how many residents of Hancock County have been killed by COVID. Only two other regions in the country, rural counties in Virginia and Texas, have met that same rate of pandemic death, which is five times that of Fulton County.

Adrick Ingram is a funeral director and the elected coroner in Hancock County, population around 8,600.

“So I've seen families in shock because someone who was relatively healthy left home feeling ill but not returned,” Ingram said.

That repeated scene is one of the reasons Ingram said he will not run for reelection to his post.

“I feel the pain, I feel the anguish, the anxiety,” Ingram said.

Hancock County remains vulnerable to the coronavirus because fewer than half of its residents have been fully vaccinated thus far. And, Ingram said, he has seen what he considers careless behavior — skipping mask-wearing, for instance — on the part of those who have been vaccinated.

“So it's kind of a twofold thing where people understand that death and serious illness is a part of it, but also there's almost a level of feeling of invincibility with the vaccine,” Ingram said. “There's a level of comfort and a place where people are not as cautious and taking the precautions that they should take.”

Experts say that while vaccination does protect individuals from severe COVID, the new omicron variant is so transmissible that even the vaccinated should take precautions against unwittingly spreading it to others.

Also, the poverty rate in Hancock County is well over twice the average for Georgia. Major employers include nursing homes and a state prison. Plus, there are only two full-time doctors in the county and a third who rides a rural circuit.

Those things add up to an environment which was ripe for exploitation by the coronavirus.

“A lot of the people who have died have suffered from comorbidities that could have been treated better early on, could have been prevented in some instances,” Ingram said.

As we try to claw back from the pandemic, Ingram said, he wants people in power to find ways to make health care accessible to all in Georgia.

Even though he will no longer be one of those elected officials after his current term.
 

oneastrocurlie

Well-Known Member
Thanks for sharing. I feel like I keep hearing that Omicron is weaker than the other ones, but I wouldn't interpret it that way based on these numbers. I was wondering.

It seems like that was the hope based on how things played out in South Africa but that doesn't seem to be the exact same case over here. Even if Omicron is "milder" (using that term loosely), it's transmission is crazier.
 

Ganjababy

Well-Known Member
They have started giving 4th shots, 3rd boosters to elderly patients at my workplace. I never thought it would be so quick but they are trying to not have a repeat of the deaths that happened to so many elderly people in 2020.

First it was my coworkers being infected for the first time last week? The patients are now infected and started dying this week.

I was off since Christmas and went back yesterday. It was bloody chaos. I have never seen white women act so ghetto IRL. I had to break up a fight that nearly got physical between two nursing assistants. If we were not already severely short staffed I would have sent them home. They were so unprofessional, shouting at each other and carrying on in front of patients and visitors. And we had the ministry of health visiting the department. Luckily they did not hear the commotion. I am tearing up typing about it.

Then I had to spend 30 minutes trying to calm down one nursing assistant who was crying hysterically and wanted to quit. Then I got shouted at by one of the LPNs from another floor because her floor was short staffed. Screaming at me that they did not have enough nursing assistants and wanted to know what I had done about it. We had just both walked through the door 5 minutes prior to startI got our shifts so I don’t know what miracle she expected me to do in 5 minutes. After I calmed down and sorted the situation I called her back and told her about herself. Everyone acting up as since apologized for their disgusting behaviour but they are all under stress. Two people were still written up.

I just hope it’s a better shift later...
 

BrownBetty

Well-Known Member
Not sure how this is counted but DAMN!
Seems about right for the North East right now.

On another note, I just don't understand how people are willing to not act right because things are janky. I get that tests are hard to find and testing is a hot mess but how does that justify you being exposed and not isolating? You can't get tested you should stay home and quarantine not go into work then blame the "system". Just because the US govt is acting a clown doesn't absolve you of your responsibilities.

Everyday this pandemic shows me how irresponsible people are.
 
Last edited:

lavaflow99

In search of the next vacation
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/965954#vp_2. :nono:

Surprising Data on Neurodevelopment of Babies Born During the Pandemic​


NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Babies born during the COVID-19 pandemic, irrespective of maternal infection, had slightly lower motor and social skills at age six months compared to babies born before the pandemic, researchers from New York City have found.

Yet "to our surprise, we saw absolutely no effect of maternal infection with SARS-CoV-2 on infant neurodevelopment at six months," Dr. Dani Dumitriu of Columbia University and New York State Psychiatric Institute told Reuters Health by email.

"Given data from other viral illnesses during pregnancy, we expected to see a negative impact on the development of infants who had been exposed to maternal COVID-19 disease in pregnancy," Dr. Dumitriu said.

The findings, published in JAMA Pediatrics, are based on data for 255 infants enrolled in the COVID-19 Mother Baby Outcomes Initiative at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, which is looking at potential long-term health effects of COVID-19 on both infants and mothers. Data were also available from a historical cohort of 62 infants born before the pandemic.


In utero exposure to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection was not associated with significant differences on any subdomain of the Ages & Stages Questionnaire, 3rd Edition (ASQ-3), regardless of infection timing or severity, the study team reports.


However, compared with the historical cohort, babies born during the pandemic had significantly lower scores on gross motor (mean difference, -5.63; P<0.005), fine motor (mean difference, -6.61; P<0.005), and personal-social (mean difference, -3.71; P<0.05) subdomains in fully adjusted models.

ASQ-3 scores at age six months for the pandemic babies were "not dramatically different and in our sample of a few hundred infants this did not translate to an overall higher proportion of infants that 'failed' the screening test," Dr. Dumitriu told Reuters Health.

"These differences nevertheless warrant careful attention given the prevalence of this disease," she said.

"The scientific and medical communities have mostly speculated that infants born to mothers who contract COVID-19 during pregnancy might show neurodevelopmental decrements. This translates to potential impact on millions of children born worldwide over the last two years," Dr. Dumitriu told Reuters Health.

"Our study, however, points to potential impact on the neurodevelopment of infants born during the pandemic irrespective of maternal infection, which, if replicated, would translate to potential impact on hundreds of millions of children born since the onset of the pandemic," she said.

"While the effects we see are small, such small differences have potential for significant public-health consequences when such large population numbers are involved," she added.

The findings highlight the need for long-term monitoring of children born during the pandemic, with and without in utero exposure to the virus.


"We also need to now begin to investigate the mechanisms that contribute to the observed neurodevelopmental decrements, including maternal pre- and postnatal stress, changes in healthcare delivery and access, and worldwide socioeconomic changes," said Dr. Dumitriu.


She said it's important to note that the findings do not necessarily mean that these infants will suffer long-term consequences. First, the effects were small and scores on an assessment at six months are poor predictors of long-term outcomes.


"Most importantly, if our findings replicate and birth during the pandemic indeed negatively impacts neurodevelopment, because this is such an early time point there are lots of opportunities to intervene and get these babies onto the right developmental trajectory," Dr. Dumitriu said.


She cautioned that all infants in the pandemic and historic cohorts were born at term.


This is an important caveat, write the authors of an editorial in JAMA Pediatrics.


"Although it is tempting to find these results reassuring," the cohort of infants born during the pandemic did not include those born before 37 completed gestational weeks. Therefore, the study "only gives us an estimate of the effect of prenatal SARS-CoV-2 infection among those pregnancies that did progress to 37 weeks in spite of infection status," they point out.


Dr. Dumitriu said it's "hard to speculate on what the differences would be if we had been able to compare preterm pandemic versus historic infants. Maternal COVID-19 disease in pregnancy does increase risk of preterm delivery. Prematurity itself is a risk factor for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes, and so far, babies born premature to moms with COVID-19 in pregnancy are not more sick than other preterm infants," she explained.


With larger studies, "we might find that at the population level there is a shift toward lower developmental scores for all babies born during the pandemic, including premature babies, and that this shift is mediated in part by earlier delivery of women with infection during pregnancy . . . without being due to other effects of the viral illness. But at this stage, this is purely speculative as we do not have enough data to know the answer," Dr. Dumitriu said.


SOURCE: https://bit.ly/3ETA6oY and https://bit.ly/3qQ7XtV JAMA Pediatrics, online January 4, 2022.
 

yamilee21

Well-Known Member
Amazon could offer three weeks paid leave for Covid, and it would not make a dent in Bezos’ billions; someone needs to pull him aside and explain that he isn’t going to live forever, and he can’t take his wealth with him once he expires. It’s really unfortunate that more people aren’t willing to boycott Amazon in solidarity with their workers.
 

Black Ambrosia

Well-Known Member
My niece's school has offered PCR testing once a week since opening. This was appreciated because it's an oral swab and I've already mentioned how traumatic the nasal swab has been for my 4 year old niece. Well earlier this week we were informed that test results will be delayed from 48 hours to nearly a week due to covid hitting the testing provider. Yesterday afternoon the school informed us that the testing provider has cancelled on-site testing for next week and the school is switching to virtual as a result of this and the delayed test results.

I understand but I worry about her missing so much school. The last time she was out, virtual class consisted of a 30 minute story time session and a 30 minute one-on-one session which didn't take since it was a new teacher. I'm going to look into resources we can use at home to support her learning.
 

Black Ambrosia

Well-Known Member
TLDR - Wear a N95 or a foreign equivalent. If you can't do this, second best is double masking with a multi-layered, snug fitting cloth mask on top of a surgical mask. Cloth alone is better than nothing but not enough against omicron.

1641699278162.png

Why Cloth Masks Might Not Be Enough as Omicron Spreads

With the new Covid-19 variant surging, doctors advise doubling up or trying N95 masks.

Doctors and healthcare systems say it might be time to change your face masks.

With infections surging due to the fast-spreading Omicron variant, including among the vaccinated, physicians are now urging people to ditch cloth face masks, which they say may not provide enough protection against the virus. Instead, they recommend pairing cloth masks with surgical models or moving on to stronger respirator masks.

The Mayo Clinic began on Thursday requiring all patients and visitors to wear surgical masks or N95 or KN95 masks. Anyone wearing a single-layer, homemade cloth mask, gaiter or bandanna, or a mask with a vent, will be provided a medical-grade mask to wear over it.

Single-layer cloth masks, which many people prefer for comfort and style, can block larger droplets carrying the virus, but aren’t as effective in blocking smaller aerosols or particles carrying the virus, according to infectious-disease specialists.

Breaking Down a KN95 Mask​

Because KN95 marks have a filter layer made of polypropylene, which is a type of plastic, they are effective at trapping small particles. The extra layer provides a higher level of protection against Covid-19 when compared to cloth or surgical masks.

1641698256981.png


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent guidance recommends that people wear masks, including cloth ones that are multilayered and tightly woven, that fit snugly and have an adjustable wire nose bridge. It also suggests layering masks, using a disposable mask underneath a cloth mask and reserving N95 masks for healthcare workers.

But many professionals in the field say certain masks are more effective than others in protecting people from the Omicron variant and that cloth masks alone aren’t.

“If you really want no exposure, you have to wear the right type of mask,” says Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Gandhi recommends N95 masks, which are certified in the U.S., or the KN95, KF94 and FFP2 masks, which are certified in China, South Korea and Europe respectively. If those aren’t available, she recommends double masking—a multilayered cloth mask tightly on top of a surgical mask. Surgical masks are made of polypropylene, which has electrostatic charge characteristics that block the virus.

“If everyone is just wearing a cloth mask or just a surgical mask, it won’t make any difference” with this highly-transmissible variant, she says.

Others in the field say high-quality surgical masks, worn properly, offer protection, but they would also like more data and research on how they stand up against Omicron.

N95 masks, which are certified by the U.S. National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, have a denser network of fibers than surgical or cloth masks. That tighter mesh, together with an electrostatic charge in the material, generally makes such masks the most efficient at trapping larger droplets and aerosols that are exhaled by the wearer. They also better block such particles from being inhaled.

Properly fitted, certified N95 masks can filter up to 95% of particles in the air.

“Any mask is better than no mask. But cloth masks and then surgical masks are not as good as N95-caliber masks,” says Ranu Dhillon, a physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Megan Srinivas, a clinician and infectious disease specialist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says she and other family members wear KN95 masks, which have five layers of overlapping material and a tighter fit to reduce droplets from escaping or entering. She would recommend those same masks, which come in children’s sizes, to parents getting ready to send their children to school in the new year. If those aren’t available, she suggests disposable authorized surgical masks.

“We need to educate the public and say that different quality masks offer different protection,” she says.

Graham Snyder, medical director of infection prevention and hospital epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center , says any quality mask that offers an effective seal and is worn correctly—covering the nose and mouth—offers protection.

Dr. Snyder says he would like data from the CDC on how Omicron spreads and whether the transmission is related to the types of masks. He is concerned about the number of people in the community who don’t wear masks of any type.

“Masking works. Period,” he says.
 

MamaBear2012

Well-Known Member
Well isn't it awesome that the CDC reported this on a Friday after kids have started back to school after a break? People keep saying, "Oh, but for the most part symptoms are mild," but we have no idea about the long-term effects on both adults and children.

Covid may raise the risk of diabetes in children, C.D.C. researchers reported.​


By Roni Caryn Rabin

Jan. 7, 2022

Children who have recovered from Covid-19 appear to be at significantly increased risk of developing Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Friday.

A heightened risk of diabetes has already been seen among adults who recovered from Covid, according to some studies. Researchers in Europe have reported an increase in the number of children being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes since the pandemic started.

But the C.D.C. study is among the first to examine large insurance claim databases in the United States to estimate the prevalence of new diabetes diagnoses in children under age 18 who had Covid or were known to be infected with the coronavirus.

The study used two claim databases from U.S. health plans to look at diabetes diagnoses made in youngsters under 18 over the course of a year or more, starting in March 1, 2020, comparing those who had Covid with those who did not.

The researchers found increases in diabetes in both data sets, though the relative rates were quite different: they found a 2.6-fold increase in new diabetes cases among children in one, and a smaller 30 percent increase in another.

“Even a 30 percent increase is a big increase in risk,” said Sharon Saydah, a researcher at the C.D.C. and lead author of the study. The differences likely result from different ways of classifying children as having Covid, she added.

Dr. Saydah said it was not yet clear whether post-Covid Type 2 diabetes would be a chronic condition in these children, or a transient condition that resolves. (Type 1 diabetes is not reversible.) Most of the children were only followed about four and a half months.

The finding underscores the importance of vaccinating all eligible children against Covid, she added, and using measures like masking and distancing, especially to protect the youngest, who cannot yet be vaccinated.

“It’s really important for clinicians, pediatricians and parents to be aware of the signs and symptoms of diabetes, so they can get their kids diagnosed,” Dr. Saydah said. Increased thirst, frequent urination, unintentional weight loss and fatigue are among the telltale symptoms.

She noted that weight gain and sedentary behavior, which have increased during the pandemic, are also risk factors for Type 2 diabetes.

Many of the children in the study were only diagnosed after having an episode of diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening complication that occurs when the body doesn’t have enough insulin to allow blood sugar into cells to use for energy.

Dr. Saydah and her colleagues did not distinguish between types of diabetes, including both Type 1 and Type 2 in their analysis. The increases were seen both among those who had been ill with Covid, and those who were asymptomatic but tested positive.

Another study, also released on Friday by the C.D.C., found that two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine protected hospitalized youngsters between the ages of 12 and 18 against severe multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or MIS-C, which can develop two to six weeks after infection with the virus.

The study looked at 24 hospitals in 20 states between July and Dec. 9, 2021, during the period when the Delta variant was dominant. It concluded that vaccination had an efficacy rate of 91 percent against MIS-C, and noted that among 38 hospitalized patients aged 12 to 18 who required life support, all were unvaccinated.
 
Top