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

oneastrocurlie

Well-Known Member

Gets into the science-weeds a bit but good read

Now, a year into a pandemic, our immune systems face a new challenge. The coronavirus has picked up mutations that boost its ability to hop from human to human and thwart some of the antibodies that have reliably conquered it before. The protection offered by vaccines appears riddled with holes. Viruses evolve fast—faster than humans ever could. If the pandemic is a race, the coronavirus seems, at times, on the verge of lapping us.



But the immune system is not doomed to be discombobulated by a never-ending barrage of shape-shifting variants. For every trick the virus plays, the immune system arguably has an equally impressive one. Vaccines remain an essential ally, armoring the body before it encounters the virus. And although the variants have opened up gaps in that chain mail, the pliancy built into our bodies can at least buy time to repair them.



“Yes, we should be concerned,” Ali Ellebedy, an immunologist at Washington University in St. Louis, told me. “But I think we should also be optimistic.”
 

oneastrocurlie

Well-Known Member

“We had one very interesting case, a kid, about six years old, with a temperature and a very high pulse rate, and I wondered if I should admit her. But when I followed up two days later, she was so much better,” Dr Coetzee says.

Dr Coetzee, who was briefing other African medical associations on Saturday, made clear her patients were all healthy and she was worried the new variant could still hit older people – with co-morbidities such as diabetes or heart disease – much harder.

“What we have to worry about now is that when older, unvaccinated people are infected with the new variant, and if they are not vaccinated, we are going to see many people with a severe [form of the] disease,” she said.

South African demographics are very different from those in the UK. Only about six per cent of the population are over the age of 65. This means that older individuals who are more vulnerable to the virus may take some time to present.
 

yamilee21

Well-Known Member
I heard a presentation in which there was some very preliminary information about the Omicron variant, based on 67 (? not sure how many) symptomatic cases. So far, the main symptom is debilitating fatigue. Unlike the Delta variant, oxygen levels do not seem to drop suddenly, and unlike the Alpha variant, there is little/no loss of smell or taste. The presenter thought that might be a hopeful sign, in that mutations may be developing into a less lethal form of Covid.
 
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Melaninme

Well-Known Member
"
The FDA's Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee voted 13-10 to recommend the agency authorize the drug after discussing concerns the drug could cause the virus to mutate as well as safety concerns about the potential for birth defects. Both FDA staff scientists and Merck have suggested the drug should not be recommended during pregnancy."
 

oneastrocurlie

Well-Known Member
I heard a presentation in which there was some very preliminary information about the Omicron variant, based on 67 (? not sure how many) symptomatic cases. So far, the main symptom is debilitating fatigue. Unlike the Delta variant, oxygen levels do not seem to drop, and unlike the Alpha variant, there is little/no loss of smell or taste. The presenter thought that might be a hopeful sign, in that mutations may be developing a less lethal form of Covid.

I'm seeing similar from the docs / scientist I follow. They are adding that disclaimer that it's still early to know for sure.

 

lavaflow99

In search of the next vacation

Omicron be like....

 

oneastrocurlie

Well-Known Member

The Biden administration is tightening travel rules to and within the U.S., requiring all in-bound international passengers to test for Covid within 24 hours of departure and extending its mask requirement on all domestic flights and public transportation through March 18.
 

naturalgyrl5199

Well-Known Member
Sooo...News flash.

Omicron has probably BEEN here and likely came from Europe or Asia.

What are the odds you "just so happened" to nail the identified FIRST CASE from someone stateside who came FROM South Africa?

You track recent flights from South Africa against recent COVID infections and just test their strain against the new kits.

If you looking for something...you WILL find it.
 

naturalgyrl5199

Well-Known Member
So basically he was NO WHERE near or in Africa....much less South Africa?

And Yes Minnesota has one of the MOST robust Public Health Systems in the US. The local University there gives a Public Health Maternal Nutrition 1-2 day long course every year. I have taken that class every single year since 2008. Their Public Health Program is really good. They have some of the best professors there.
 

BrownBetty

Well-Known Member

They need to add domestic travel testing also. I saw a contact tracer on social media and he stated that he would call folks, tell them they are positive, the person would tell them about the flight they were catching and would call back. Other contact tracers chimed in having the same experience.
 

oneastrocurlie

Well-Known Member
They need to add domestic travel testing also. I saw a contact tracer on social media and he stated that he would call folks, tell them they are positive, the person would tell them about the flight they were catching and would call back. Other contact tracers chimed in having the same experience.

If I remember correctly the airlines were big mad at that even being suggested.
 

oneastrocurlie

Well-Known Member
Putting article in spoiler tag since Bloomberg site is the worst


The panicked reaction across much of the world to the omicron variant comes with a scramble for information. In South Africa, the country where omicron was first identified and where cases are jumping, scientists and doctors describe what they are seeing.

Here are highlights from several interviews and a briefing.


Marc Mendelson, the head of infectious diseases at the University of Cape Town, who also works at Groote Schuur Hospital, where the world’s first heart transplant took place:

  • “Anecdotally, we are seeing a lot of reinfections. What we don’t know at the moment, because we haven’t got the data yet, is how many of those people are un-vaccinated versus the vaccinated.”
  • “While people are freaking out, the other thing to stress is that if you look across the variants, the vaccines have protected against severe disease, hospitalization and death. And really, looking at the omicron mutations, though there are an awful lot of them, there’s nothing really to indicate that the ability of vaccines to fight this is going to be affected to a very great extent.”
  • “In truth, it doesn’t want to kill you, it wants you to stick around.”
  • “The only ones putting their hand on their hearts and telling the world don’t worry, this is going to be mild, haven’t learned enough humility yet in the face of this virus.”
  • “It’s always nice to hope, but don’t set everything on this because I think your hopes could be dashed.”
Richard Friedland, chief executive officer of Netcare Ltd., which operates the largest private health-care network in South Africa:

  • “If in the second and third wave we’d seen these levels of positivity to tests conducted, we would have seen very significant increases in hospital admissions and we’re not seeing that. In our primary care clinics it is mainly people under 30-years-old.”
  • “So I actually think there is a silver lining here and this may signal the end of Covid-19, with it attenuating itself to such an extent that it’s highly contagious, but doesn’t cause severe disease. That’s what happened with Spanish flu.”
  • “We are seeing breakthrough infections of people who have been vaccinated, but the infections we’re seeing are very mild to moderate. So for health care workers who have had boosters, it’s mostly mild. I think this whole thing has been so poorly communicated and so much panic generated.”
  • “It’s early days, but I’m less panicked. It feels different to me on the ground.”
Shabir Madhi, a vaccinologist from the University of the Witwatersrand, who led trials of both AstraZeneca Plc’s and Novavax Inc.’s shots in South Africa:

  • “Omicron seems to be moving at a faster speed than delta, but at the same time what seems to be happening is that our hospitalization rate is somewhat more muted.”
  • “Vaccine or past transmission create T-cell immunity, which are good at protecting against severe disease and death. The mutations of the virus very likely make it more successful against antibody activities, but it seems like there may well be preservation of the T-cell immunity.”
  • “I’m optimistic that in this resurgence, while the total number of cases will probably be greater, hospitalizations and deaths will be lower than what we experienced during the course of any of the first three waves. And that is, because right now in South Africa, all indications are that 75% to 80% of people were infected with the virus during the course of the first three waves. That is probably going to equip those individuals -- not to resist infection -- but rather prevent progression of infection to severe disease.”
Anne von Gottberg, a clinical microbiologist at South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases:

  • “All the data has shown that children have a less severe clinical course and we’ve had some anecdotal reports from hospitals in South Africa, that yes, they are seeing a few more children in some of the hospitals and are admitting them, but many of them have an uncomplicated clinical course during the few days that they are in hospital.”
  • “We monitored reinfections for the beta and the delta waves and we didn’t see an increase in reinfections over and above what we expect when the force of infection changes, when a wave starts. With omicron, we are seeing an increase in reinfections.”
  • “This virus may be similar to delta in its ability to spread or in being contagious. However, it’s the susceptibility of the population that is greater now because previous infection used to protect against delta and now, with omicron, it doesn’t seem to be the case.”
  • “However, we believe that with the reinfections the disease will be less severe and the same would hold for those that are vaccinated. So that would be good news.”
Adrian Puren, acting executive director of the NICD:

  • “While there are large numbers of cases and evidence of increased hospitalizations, large-scale sequencing would show if this variant is starting to fully displace the delta variant. Current evidence shows that omicron accounts for about 75% of the variants in circulation overall.”
  • “If it does displace the delta variant, we’d need to see if this is the result of immune evasion or because of increased transmissibility.”
  • “We had the beta variant, which was more about immune evasion and we had the delta, which was more about increased transmissibility. But reinfection data shows that transmissibility is a major contributor, so we are still trying to see if omicron fits more into immune evasion primarily or more into increased transmission or both. Reinfection data points to immune evasion.”



Leon Geffen, a general practitioner in Cape Town’s Sea Point suburb and director of the Samson Institute for Ageing Research:

  • “We are seeing a massive upsurge in the total number of cases,” he said. “People are mostly presenting with coughs and upper respiratory tract infections.”
  • “Most people I have seen or spoken to have been vaccinated.”
Anthony Smith, a general practitioner in Cape Town:

  • “It was like a tap being turned on from Thursday or Friday last week. It’s been mostly young people, but there have been some older people, probably around 20%.”
  • “Most of the kids have got it at communal events. They are from a younger demographic and presenting with milder symptoms, mainly sore throats and respiratory phenomenon. But, even in older people, it’s been relatively mild.”
  • “No-one has been even close to being seriously ill. But it’s probably too early to tell if this will be a milder variant.”
 

oneastrocurlie

Well-Known Member
If in home test will be made available for free. I don't see what the issue is. I think some people like the panasonic.

Me neither honestly. I think they are thinking people would travel less via plane if they have to test first. My random thinking is that people don't want to test because they a) would need to be even more careful to not catch covid before a trip, b) risk their plans getting cancelled because they caught covid or c) fear of testing and being positive. I think the good citizens of the USA have shown even when given the option to test vs vaccinate they still get upset.
 

naturalgyrl5199

Well-Known Member
I had been kicking the can and delaying my booster bc my co-workers all had to take off at least one day of work after they got theirs. But last Thursday a co-worker with a trash redneck husband tested positive. He refused to get tested and is a delivery driver. He may have given it to her, or may have it. He refuses to test himself, wear a mask and of course is not vaccinated. She is. She is a grandma and has people in and out the house ALL the time. He has had positive co-workers as well. He went right back to work and hasn't even told his job his wife is COVID+........I hadn't been around her in 2 days so I dropped everything and got a rapid and was negative. I had a cold and a throaty cough but I had had it from the previous weekend when we had a cold-snap and had been out seeing Christmas lights with the girls.....I went and got the booster the next day (Friday evening). I ended up going to bed at 7-ish. I woke briefly at 11 PM and hubby had put the kids down. I slept in on Saturday and had been tired most of that day and Sunday when I am usually energized on weekends due to sleeping in. I felt run down. Its Monday and I'm feeling fine. Less tired than Friday and Saturday but still slightly more tired than usual.
 

Everything Zen

Well-Known Member
^^^^ I’ve been delaying mine as well and had a somewhat similar close call with a friend who is seeing a new guy. Both are fully vaccinated and she has the booster. We met up for brunch for the first time in 4 months after Thanksgiving and she wanted me to meet her new man as he lived a few blocks from the restaurant. He never reported so we went elsewhere for a while. He finally responded saying he was quarantined because his brother (unvaccinated) tested positive for COVID for the second time and apparently wasn’t doing so well. Apparently he was symptomatic at Thanksgiving. Her man was feeling tired himself. We go back to her place for tea. She reveals that she was with him on Black Friday. I’m like:

BDB98080-6653-4CAA-BFE3-C827DD6D1FA1.jpeg

I ask her to take me home and immediately give them both some spare rapid home test kits and tell her to keep me posted. Her boyfriend did end up testing positive and she’s feeling fine and continues to test negative and I’m feeling fine a little stuffy nose here and there but I’m not playing with these people and getting my cross brand Moderna booster this week.
 

BrownBetty

Well-Known Member
I got the booster, went cross brand and phew... it kicked my ass. I was totally down for a day. I was able to move around on day 3. I have the swollen lymph node in my armpit, read 7 - 10 days for it to go away. I DIDN'T experience this on the 2nd shot.
 
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naturalgyrl5199

Well-Known Member
^^^^ I’ve been delaying mine as well and had a somewhat similar close call with a friend who is seeing a new guy. Both are fully vaccinated and she has the booster. We met up for brunch for the first time in 4 months after Thanksgiving and she wanted me to meet her new man as he lived a few blocks from the restaurant. He never reported so we went elsewhere for a while. He finally responded saying he was quarantined because his brother (unvaccinated) tested positive for COVID for the second time and apparently wasn’t doing so well. Apparently he was symptomatic at Thanksgiving. Her man was feeling tired himself. We go back to her place for tea. She reveals that she was with him on Black Friday. I’m like:

View attachment 477287

I ask her to take me home and immediately give them both some spare rapid home test kits and tell her to keep me posted. Her boyfriend did end up testing positive and she’s feeling fine and continues to test negative and I’m feeling fine a little stuffy nose here and there but I’m not playing with these people and getting my cross brand Moderna booster this week.
Its rough out in these streets.

Stay ready my friend.
 

nycutiepie

Well-Known Member
I made my booster appointment for me and my mom today. We go to CVS next week. It was kind of difficult getting the Moderna but I kept trying and finally got the appointment. Pfizer seems more available in my area but we didn’t want to switch. Praying there’s no after effect.
 

discodumpling

Well-Known Member
NyC has announced a mandatory private sector vaccine mandate. This gone be good We have 1 person in the office who has refused to get vaxed. He gets tested every Monday morning before coming to work. Which if you really think about it makes no sense ...but I'm excited for this mornings ZOOM call when the mandate is announced! ...definitely gone be some drama behind this.
 
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