Coronavirus

[JRP3]

But it’s possible the worsening outcomes resulting from reinfection have little or nothing to do with the cumulative stress of successive long illnesses. According to Peter Hotez, an expert in vaccine development at Baylor College, the escalating risk could result from a poorly-understood phenomenon called “immune enhancement.”

A virus undergoes immune enhancement when a person’s immune system, after initial exposure to the pathogen, backfires during reinfection. Someone suffering immune enhancement with regards to a particular disease is likely to get sicker and sicker each time they’re exposed.

How COVID Could Screw You Worse With Each Reinfection

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / GettyThe more times you catch COVID, the sicker you’re likely to get with each reinfection. That’s the worrying conclusion of a new study drawing on data from the U.S. Veterans Administration.Scientists stressed they need more data before they can say for...

news.yahoo.com

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

How COVID Could Screw You Worse With Each Reinfection

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / GettyThe more times you catch COVID, the sicker you’re likely to get with each reinfection. That’s the worrying conclusion of a new study drawing on data from the U.S. Veterans Administration.Scientists stressed they need more data before they can say for...

news.yahoo.com

Yeah, I have my doubts about this, as was expressed by others in the article.

No doubt that having COVID is worse than the alternative, of course.

But it is hard to untangle the confounders.

And of course having COVID multiple times increases risk (it’s not good to be sick!), but does a prior infection amplify that risk? I also wouldn’t be surprised at the result, if the cohort included people who were infected before vaccination, that it would really increase risk from a second infection - these people would be made extremely vulnerable by that first infection (on average compared to normal population). But that result would not be relevant to most people. The amplification due to damage from the first infection prior to vaccination does not apply to most individuals.

The most relevant study here would look at vaccinated folks who got fully vaccinated before getting COVID and look at outcomes in that group after reinfection. And also focus on Omicron infections only. I don’t get the sense this study did that (not sure why; they probably have the data). Would be interesting to see whether the risk is simply additive (or slightly “sub-additive” as expected due to beneficial immunity) or something else.

 

[shinytop]

I was vaccinated when the vaccines first came out. I got both boosters within a week of their availability. I tested positive in Jan and believe I just had it again after my wife got it. I am assuming the two cases were variants of Omnicron since my doses were all for the original. But reasonable or not, that is only assumption. Never had fever higher 99 and oxygen levels never dropped below 95. Bad cough and congestion but almost over now. Just to point out that unless you have a really good caring government (I live in Florida, so ...) or go to the hospital many will have no idea what variant they had, at least not for sure.

 

[ohmman]

Well, I made it until now. Just got back from a trip to the East Coast helping out a family member and even though I N95ed on the planes, I got it somewhere during my trip. Symptoms showed up about 36 hours after I landed, so that seems too small an incubation period to have gotten it on the plane. Not that it matters - I've got it now.

Fever around 102 until I take fever reducers. Dry cough, sore throat. Classic case, I guess. Hopefully on the short end because this isn't fun.

Vaccinated and boosted.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

even though I N95ed on the planes, I got it somewhere during my trip.

Sorry to hear it. Hope you quickly get better and make a full recovery as well.

Frustrating to get it even when being very careful…It is contagious!

Out of curiosity: Did you have any unmasked contact indoors (not including times when only “known” family members were present)?

On the plane, did you drop the mask for eating/drinking at all and how diligent were you about immediately replacing? Does seem a little short but also seems perhaps possible.

Obviously just trying to assess whether N95s still are plausibly “completely effective,” if used in a way that can be practically achieved (by all members of a given household of course…weakest link etc.).

 

[ohmman]

Out of curiosity: Did you have any unmasked contact indoors (not including times when only “known” family members were present)?

On the plane, did you drop the mask for eating/drinking at all and how diligent were you about immediately replacing? Does seem a little short but also seems perhaps possible.

I removed my mask once on the flight to drink water that I'd brought. It was the second flight and near the end. I find it statistically pretty unlikely that was the event. I did have some non-family member contact indoors. Without going into too much detail, we had to have a family member taken away for psychological health reasons and the crisis center employees were unmasked. The police and EMT were masked.

We also ate outdoors one day and I went inside to use the restroom and forgot to mask on my way in. Another possibility, and that's right around 4 days of incubation which seems right. Oh well.

 

[DrGriz]

I removed my mask once on the flight to drink water that I'd brought. It was the second flight and near the end. I find it statistically pretty unlikely that was the event. I did have some non-family member contact indoors. Without going into too much detail, we had to have a family member taken away for psychological health reasons and the crisis center employees were unmasked. The police and EMT were masked.

We also ate outdoors one day and I went inside to use the restroom and forgot to mask on my way in. Another possibility, and that's right around 4 days of incubation which seems right. Oh well.

Sorry that this happened and I hope you recover quickly and completely. It's just too bad that current vaccines and boosters against the historical virus are not reliable protection, at least against acute illness. And in spite of that, which is well known, we see so many people who we thought knew better going unmasked when they obviously (to me) shouldn't.

I would think it is the prolonged exposures (like with the crisis center folks) that were the highest risk situations, rather than a couple of seconds on the plane or a minute in the restroom.

 

[heltok]

Another record number of cases:

I guess the good news is that the doubling is a bit slower than covid. The bad news is that it is still doubling every second week. Seems like a very silly experiment to run. But I guess we have all collectively decided to run the experiment...

 

[scottf200]

Quote:
Here's the latest picture for the new BA.2.75 sub-lineage (nickname: "Centaurus") - a "2nd generation" evolutionary jump from BA.2.
India continues to report very rapid growth, now up to 23% of recent samples.
A few more samples have been reported in other countries.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1544665806642233347

 

[scottf200]

Via my fav aggregator: COVID State of Affairs: July 7

<snip>
United States
In four short months, four Omicron sub-lineages have come and gone in the U.S. Currently, BA.4/5 made a fast entrance and now accounts for more than 70% of tests. Interestingly, BA.4 stopped (or substantially slowed) growth, so this is really now a story about BA.5. It’s not clear whether BA.5 will result in a wave in the U.S. given our BA.2.12.1 history that other countries did not experience. If we do get a BA.5 wave, it would start about now, so all eyes are on epidemiological trends.
<snip>

<snip>

 

[TehPuddingMan]

Well, I made it until now. Just got back from a trip to the East Coast helping out a family member and even though I N95ed on the planes, I got it somewhere during my trip. Symptoms showed up about 36 hours after I landed, so that seems too small an incubation period to have gotten it on the plane. Not that it matters - I've got it now.

Fever around 102 until I take fever reducers. Dry cough, sore throat. Classic case, I guess. Hopefully on the short end because this isn't fun.

Vaccinated and boosted.

How have you been feeling?

I had 4 days of flulike symptoms and now am 100%.

 

[ohmman]

How have you been feeling?

I had 4 days of flulike symptoms and now am 100%.

I had 3 days of fever around 102 while my throat and headache got increasingly worse. I still have the worst sore throat of my life - it's incredibly painful to swallow anything. Hot herbal tea is the only thing that seems to temporarily (and marginally) relieve it. Night sweats multiple times a night, even without fever last night. I had fever delirium as well - I kept imagining that my sheets were made of sewn together garbage (like yogurt cups and cereal boxes), and I was impressed at how soft they were despite this. That still makes me laugh.

Despite isolating, my entire family has picked it up. I am the worst. My kids have mild symptoms with fatigue, my wife has a lower fever than me but still feels pretty bad. She also has the sore throat but it sounds like it's not quite as extreme.

We had to cancel a Tesla camping trip to the Shasta area, which really sucks, but so long as we all recover without any lasting effects, I'll be happy.

Thanks for asking, glad you're 100%!

 

[DrGriz]

Best wishes to you both, and your families

 

[bkp_duke]

I had 3 days of fever around 102 while my throat and headache got increasingly worse. I still have the worst sore throat of my life - it's incredibly painful to swallow anything. Hot herbal tea is the only thing that seems to temporarily (and marginally) relieve it. Night sweats multiple times a night, even without fever last night. I had fever delirium as well - I kept imagining that my sheets were made of sewn together garbage (like yogurt cups and cereal boxes), and I was impressed at how soft they were despite this. That still makes me laugh.

Despite isolating, my entire family has picked it up. I am the worst. My kids have mild symptoms with fatigue, my wife has a lower fever than me but still feels pretty bad. She also has the sore throat but it sounds like it's not quite as extreme.

We had to cancel a Tesla camping trip to the Shasta area, which really sucks, but so long as we all recover without any lasting effects, I'll be happy.

Thanks for asking, glad you're 100%!

Thoughts and prayers for speedy recovery for you and your entire family.

 

[scottf200]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1545424024880254978

https://twitter.com/x/status/1545424502565347328

<snip>

 

[Dave EV]

Decided to get the Nuvaxovid. Seems to work well against BA5. So far 24h later no sides, some general tiredness but seems milder than Pfizer.

How did you find out where to get one? Was this your 4th COVID shot?

 

[heltok]

How did you find out where to get one? Was this your 4th COVID shot?

Was easy to get here in Sweden. They had a list of clinics offering it, went to one that had dropin and got it for free. It needed to be warmed(by the hands of the nurse). My non Swedish girlfriend also got a shot for free no questions asked.My 3rd shot.

 

[heltok]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1545437181552037891

The U.S. May Be Losing the Fight Against Monkeypox, Scientists Say

Longstanding weaknesses in the public health system are giving the virus a chance to become entrenched.

www.nytimes.com

AHF • WHO, Monkeypox is a Pandemic

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world's largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, currently provides medical care and services to more than 1.75 million clients in 45 countries. With more than 7,000 employees worldwide, AHF now has treatment clinics and other operations in the US, Africa...

www.aidshealth.org

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/07/monkeypox-pandemic-who-emergency-covid/

 

[bhzmark]

Seeing more and more very covid cautious people getting it now, on social media and in the real world. And I finally got it now too: the usual scenario of a mild case, but one interesting data point I have is a long history of wearing the whoop strap v4 which is very good at measuring various biomarkers over night while sleeping (to remove the noise from awake activities).

It was fascinating to watch ALL of my Whoop strap biomarkers get worse while I was sick, but then all return to normal in a few days.

I tested negative on a rapid test on Tuesday night, and then positive on Wednesday morning (both in prep for a trip that was then canceled) and then my biomarkers over wednesday night were the worst: respiration rate at 16.5, blood ox 94%, resting heart rate 81(!avg overnight while sleeping!), heart rate variability 12, and skin temp +4.7 over baseline. But then the next night all improved somewhat and temp and HRV were normal while the others were still off, and then by saturday night, all biomarkers back to normal: respiration at 13.5, blood ox 97, RHR 64, HRV 30 and skin temp -0.8 below baseline.

It’s a neat device if you are into that sort of thing — especially good for tracking workouts, but also illnesses and their recovery. whoop.com and https://join.whoop.com/7DF0D3

 

[DrGriz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1545437181552037891

View attachment 826549

The U.S. May Be Losing the Fight Against Monkeypox, Scientists Say

Longstanding weaknesses in the public health system are giving the virus a chance to become entrenched.

www.nytimes.com

AHF • WHO, Monkeypox is a Pandemic

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world's largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, currently provides medical care and services to more than 1.75 million clients in 45 countries. With more than 7,000 employees worldwide, AHF now has treatment clinics and other operations in the US, Africa...

www.aidshealth.org

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/07/monkeypox-pandemic-who-emergency-covid/

Here is your problem:

Most people don't have a clue about statistics, graphs and trendlines.

WHO and everyone else has a credibility challenge. While the numbers don't lie, people just won't put resources toward this until it has had more of an impact and the horse is already out of the barn, I'm afraid.