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

lavaflow99

In search of the next vacation

:shocked:

I can't....

Fauci says there are 5 stages of the COVID pandemic—and we are still in phase 1​

BY
SOPHIE MELLOR
January 18, 2022 12:26 PM EST

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top medical adviser to President Biden, said this week that we are still in the first of five stages of the pandemic, and he cautioned against thinking we are further along than we actually are.

The first phase of the pandemic—or the “the truly pandemic,” according to Fauci—is “where the whole world is really very negatively impacted as we are right now,” he said Monday at the World Economic Forum’s Davos Agenda online conference.
The following four steps are deceleration, control, elimination, and finally eradication.
Here are the characteristics of the other four stages.

Deceleration

After the first phase comes deceleration—a slowdown in the number of newly confirmed cases.




Omicron cases have risen steeply and then dropped off in many countries where the variant took hold. In South Africa, the fourth Omicron-fueled COVID wave lasted only a total of three weeks, and COVID hospitalizations in England have already begun to recede, just one month after the almost-vertical climb starting mid-December.
Scientists from the U.K.’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) have built models that show there may be a fresh wave of Omicron cases in early summer as people resume social activities and immunity wanes, but they argue cases are unlikely to rise as they did with Omicron, with the latest modeling noting another worst-case scenario of 4,000 people hospitalized a day is very unlikely to occur.
Some people are optimistic that natural immunity will cause the number of new cases to subside, but Fauci notes it is too soon to tell, and there could always be a new variant just around the corner.
“It is an open question as to whether or not Omicron is going to be the live virus vaccination that everyone is hoping for, because you have such a great deal of variability with new variants emerging,” he said.

Control

The next phase, following deceleration, is the control phase of the pandemic—or what some are referring to as endemicity. That means that COVID-19 would become integrated into the broad range of infectious diseases we commonly experience, like the flu or the common cold.

“Control means you have it present, but it is present at a level that does not disrupt society,” Fauci says.
He noted that he hopes this will be the case, but he added that it would be possible only if another variant that eludes the immune response does not emerge. Whether or not COVID will be endemic in 2022, Fauci responded: “The answer is, we do not know.”

Governments like Spain and Switzerland have already said that COVID-19 is becoming an endemic disease countries can manage like the flu.
But for COVID to become endemic, there can’t be any more surprises on the transmissibility and its virulence of the virus or any of its future variants.
“I don’t think there is anything predictable about coronavirus,” Lawrence Young, a virologist and professor of molecular oncology at Warwick Medical School, told Fortune.
“Entering an endemic phase is very different from what we’re experiencing at the moment,” Young said. “I think a lot of it is wishful thinking.”

Elimination

The elimination of a pandemic occurs when the virus still exists in the world but it has been eradicated from certain regions or countries. Fauci gives the example of polio, which has been eradicated from many countries in the Global North.

The world is still far from achieving that with COVID, scientists say.
“For a lot of people there has been this hope that there will be a day where victory will be declared. They will say, ‘Today was the end of COVID, and tomorrow we will live in a COVID-free world again.’ I think that is really unrealistic, and not feasible,” Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia University, previously told Fortune.

Eradication

The last stage, eradication, is nearly impossible to reach. Fauci notes smallpox was the only infectious human disease that has ever been eradicated, and he said outright that regarding COVID, “That’s not going to happen with this virus.”
 

Black Ambrosia

Well-Known Member
I saw this foolishness on the news. She was backtracking hard talking bout she wasn’t making threats and what not. Like it was a misunderstanding. She’s “cooperating with authorities.”

Cancel culture can be dangerous but I’m ok with her daddy’s dental office being shut down. That would be the easiest decision ever for me. Anyone who’d stand by their child after boldly taking that stance deserves whatever comes next. You have to imagine lots of patients have kids at the same school.
 

Ganjababy

Well-Known Member
So the docs started prescribing SSRIs to the patients with COVID in my department and it seems to be working. Less severe symptoms and no more deaths. Several studies support the off label use of SSRIs for COVID. I have about 8 months supply of Fluoxetine that i nearly threw out. I am glad I did not. Just in case there is a shortage.



 

NaturalEnigma

Well-Known Member
So the docs started prescribing SSRIs to the patients with COVID in my department and it seems to be working. Less severe symptoms and no more deaths. Several studies support the off label use of SSRIs for COVID. I have about 8 months supply of Fluoxetine that i nearly threw out. I am glad I did not. Just in case there is a shortage.



Fascinating. I would have never thought SSRI could help with COVID. This virus is so odd.
 

Kalia1

Well-Known Member
My DH and I returned last evening from Huntsville, Alabama attending the funeral of my BF’s husband. He was loved by many and they came from all over the country to show their love of him and to support my friend and their beautiful children. (The entire service was held outdoors and it was 19 degrees (freezing) and everyone social distanced as well)

He was a graduate of Morehouse as well as a Freemason and to see his brothers there supporting him was MOVING! He will be missed by MANY!

I reside in Maryland and the stark difference of how we as a state are responding to COVID compared to Alabama is STRIKING! I literally saw majority of the people going maskless. There apparently is no state mandate so the few stores I entered (by necessity) were full of maskless shoppers.

The hotel front desk employees where we stayed were masked yet the housekeeping staff weren’t. Even the concierge weren’t masked. We literally refused to have the one maskless Valet park our car. It truly boggles the mind to see people maskless when we’ve lost so many in the US to this virus.

We as a society MUST get on one accord when it comes to COVID! The division and response to it MUST be in unison to eradicate it not only from the US but from the world.
 

Kalia1

Well-Known Member
So the docs started prescribing SSRIs to the patients with COVID in my department and it seems to be working. Less severe symptoms and no more deaths. Several studies support the off label use of SSRIs for COVID. I have about 8 months supply of Fluoxetine that i nearly threw out. I am glad I did not. Just in case there is a shortage.



Whilst this is promising unfortunately many people of color aren’t prescribed SSRI’s. Most people of color especially those who are on Medicaid are prescribed the older forms of anti-depressants. Sadly there is ethnic disparity when it comes to who is more likely to be prescribed the newer anti-depressants which SSRI’s are.
Remembering many people of color aren't properly diagnosed or even prescribed an anti-depressant at all.
So the docs started prescribing SSRIs to the patients with COVID in my department and it seems to be working. Less severe symptoms and no more deaths. Several studies support the off label use of SSRIs for COVID. I have about 8 months supply of Fluoxetine that i nearly threw out. I am glad I did not. Just in case there is a shortage.



 

Everything Zen

Well-Known Member
Whilst this is promising unfortunately many people of color aren’t prescribed SSRI’s. Most people of color especially those who are on Medicaid are prescribed the older forms of anti-depressants. Sadly there is ethnic disparity when it comes to who is more likely to be prescribed the newer anti-depressants which SSRI’s. Remembering many people of color aren't prescribed an anti-depressant at all.
They are finding a protective benefit in the older versions as well. The bigger problem is that black and brown people are less likely to seek mental health treatment at all.

 

Kalia1

Well-Known Member
They are finding a protective benefit in the older versions as well. The bigger problem is that black and brown people are less likely to seek mental health treatment at all.


This is excellent! Yes and as you stated people of color are less likely to seek treatment. In my experience as a Health Information Specialist people of color are also least likely to accept their diagnosis in totality therefore never taking the medications prescribed to them.
 

snoop

Well-Known Member
This is "old" news now, but


U.K. drops COVID-19 restrictions as Boris Johnson says Omicron has peaked​


Face masks will no longer be mandatory in public places and schools in England and COVID-19 passports will be dropped for large events as infections level off in large parts of the country, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday.

Johnson told lawmakers that the restrictions were being eased because government scientists believed it was likely that the surge of infections prompted by the highly contagious Omicron variant “has now peaked nationally.”

While hospitals in northern England are still under pressure because of high caseloads, Johnson said hospital admissions and patients in intensive care units elsewhere in England were stabilizing or falling.

The government will no longer advise people to work from home and beginning next Thursday mandatory COVID-19 passes will not be required to gain entry to large-scale events.

Full story here



We're working towards easing back restrictions here in Ontario. We're no longer contact tracing in schools. The plan is that most things will be lifted by mid-March (masks and vax passports to be announced.) We have an election coming up and I guess this is how our Premier thinks he'll win votes.
 

shasha8685

Well-Known Member
My DH and I returned last evening from Huntsville, Alabama attending the funeral of my BF’s husband. He was loved by many and they came from all over the country to show their love of him and to support my friend and their beautiful children. (The entire service was held outdoors and it was 19 degrees (freezing) and everyone social distanced as well)

He was a graduate of Morehouse as well as a Freemason and to see his brothers there supporting him was MOVING! He will be missed by MANY!

I reside in Maryland and the stark difference of how we as a state are responding to COVID compared to Alabama is STRIKING! I literally saw majority of the people going maskless. There apparently is no state mandate so the few stores I entered (by necessity) were full of maskless shoppers.

The hotel front desk employees where we stayed were masked yet the housekeeping staff weren’t. Even the concierge weren’t masked. We literally refused to have the one maskless Valet park our car. It truly boggles the mind to see people maskless when we’ve lost so many in the US to this virus.

We as a society MUST get on one accord when it comes to COVID! The division and response to it MUST be in unison to eradicate it not only from the US but from the world.
It is crazy. I live in Auburn but I am from Northern VA and seeing the difference in how this pandemic is being handled saddens me. AL is moving like there is no pandemic. Mask wearing is treated like an option and if you are wearing a mask, you're looked at like you're crazy. I went to urgent care the other week and it was jarring to see how many people were there for a COVID test AND how many of those people tested positive!
 

Evolving78

Well-Known Member
Whilst this is promising unfortunately many people of color aren’t prescribed SSRI’s. Most people of color especially those who are on Medicaid are prescribed the older forms of anti-depressants. Sadly there is ethnic disparity when it comes to who is more likely to be prescribed the newer anti-depressants which SSRI’s are.
Remembering many people of color aren't properly diagnosed or even prescribed an anti-depressant at all.
Fluoxetine is prescribed generously. There is not a lot of resources allocated to Medicaid recipients for mental health services. Behavior health services are limited and costly. Waitlists to see a licensed specialist is ridiculously long and even within the mental health provider community, they are reluctant to take mental illness and disorders serious when it comes to black people. This is where the mistrust and the reluctancy to seek health services comes into play within the black community.
 

Crackers Phinn

Either A Blessing Or A Lesson.
I can't see if this was posted

People stay becoming true believers in science when Rona hits them or their loved ones.

COVID patient whose wife fought a legal battle to keep his ventilator turned on has died at a hospital in Texas, a family attorney said.

The case of Scott Quiner, a 55-year-old Minnesota man who was admitted to hospital last year after testing positive for COVID on October 30, gained attention in recent days as his wife Anne sued to prevent doctors from switching his ventilator off.

Quiner had initially been admitted to a hospital in Waconia, Minnesota, with low oxygen levels. He was then transferred to the intensive care unit (ICU) of Mercy Hospital as it was able to provide the medical attention that he needed, according to a GoFundMe fundraising page to support the family.

Then, in January, doctors advised Quiner's wife Anne that they planned to take her husband off of his respiratory support.

Anne took legal action against this decision, noting in a court filing that she didn't want the ventilator turned off and strongly disagreed with the doctors' decision.

The filing read: "Absent an order from the court restraining Defendant Mercy hospital from turning off the ventilator, my husband will die."

The hospital argued that Quiner's medical care was based on the "best available medical science and authority."

After Anne received legal assistance, a judge granted a motion for a restraining order preventing the hospital from taking Quiner off the ventilator. Quiner was transferred out of state to a hospital in Texas, where he continued receiving care.
 

Everything Zen

Well-Known Member
^^^^ was he one of those obnoxious anti-everything :censored: though? Because I can empathize with loved ones fighting against all odds to keep you alive when you try to do the right thing.

Judging by their looks and the extreme lengths to utilize resources and not accept reality give off that familiar stench of entitlement so I’m speculating - they probably were… :look:
 

Crackers Phinn

Either A Blessing Or A Lesson.
^^^^ was he one of those obnoxious anti-everything :censored: though? Because I can empathize with loved ones fighting against all odds to keep you alive when you try to do the right thing.

Judging by their looks and the extreme lengths to utilize resources and not accept reality give off that familiar stench of entitlement so I’m speculating - they probably were… :look:
His social media has been scrubbed but I think this opinion piece from the DailyKos speaks volumes about what kind of people these were.

It is not the first time an unvaccinated American has died from COVID - in all likelihood unnecessarily — and it will not be the last. But there are details in the story of Quiner’s demise that make it an interesting case study of the cost to others of a pointless COVID death. News reports do not say whether or not the unvaccinated victim was an anti-vaxxer. But as his wife described him as a ‘strong Christian,’ and because she chose to give interviews with Glenn Beck and with conservative podcaster Stew Peters on Red Voice Media, it is safe to assume he was.
When unvaxxed Scott Quiner died of COVID he was not the only victim (dailykos.com)


The family also took what I consider an utterly horrific photo in the hospital with their dead adjacent relative that can be seen in the link to the story.
 

dancinstallion

Well-Known Member
All of the sites in Florida that administers Monoclonal Antibody Treatments have been closed down. Over 2,000 appointments scheduled for today were canceled. There are two other Monoclonal Antibody Treatments that still have emergency authorization but Florida wasn't administering those. I wonder why?





“Florida disagrees with the decision that blocks access to any available treatments in the absence of clinical evidence,” the Florida Department of Health said in a news release. “To date, such clinical evidence has not been provided by the FDA.”
 
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Black Ambrosia

Well-Known Member
His social media has been scrubbed but I think this opinion piece from the DailyKos speaks volumes about what kind of people these were.

It is not the first time an unvaccinated American has died from COVID - in all likelihood unnecessarily — and it will not be the last. But there are details in the story of Quiner’s demise that make it an interesting case study of the cost to others of a pointless COVID death. News reports do not say whether or not the unvaccinated victim was an anti-vaxxer. But as his wife described him as a ‘strong Christian,’ and because she chose to give interviews with Glenn Beck and with conservative podcaster Stew Peters on Red Voice Media, it is safe to assume he was.
When unvaxxed Scott Quiner died of COVID he was not the only victim (dailykos.com)


The family also took what I consider an utterly horrific photo in the hospital with their dead adjacent relative that can be seen in the link to the story.
That picture. How are you in a hospital room with someone admitted for covid and you pull your masks down for a photo? Or maybe they were already down. That's even worse. And the picture is not how I'd want to remember a loved one. It would be painful for me to see them like that.
 

naturalgyrl5199

Well-Known Member
All of the sites in Florida that administers Monoclonal Antibody Treatments have been closed down. Over 2,000 appointments scheduled for today were canceled. There are two other Monoclonal Antibody Treatments that still have emergency authorization but Florida wasn't administering those. I wonder why?





“Florida disagrees with the decision that blocks access to any available treatments in the absence of clinical evidence,” the Florida Department of Health said in a news release. “To date, such clinical evidence has not been provided by the FDA.”
I got that email yesterday. The language has such political slant. You should see the "anti-gov" emails we get on a regular basis from the State Health Dept.

And yes, the Gov doesn't want to drop $$ on a "treatment" that doesn't really make a difference. "The absence of clinical evidence" again is politic-speak. There isn't evidence of significant treatment against the new strain.
 
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