Coronavirus

[madodel]

Nurses accused of making $1.5M selling fake vaccine cards in New York

My God how stupid are people to pay all that money to fraudulently avoid a free vaccine?

 

[bkp_duke]

Nurses accused of making $1.5M selling fake vaccine cards in New York

My God how stupid are people to pay all that money to fraudulently avoid a free vaccine?

The husband of one of these people is in law enforcement, and is now suspended and being investigated for what he knew. Given the amount of money, he had to know something substantial.


There is someone here in our community providing fake vaccine cards. I don't have firsthand knowledge of who it is (or even secondhand), but I hope they serve up some serious jail time.

It's one thing to be against a mandate, which I can understand the "my body, my choice" arguments regarding that. It's another completely to then go full bore fraud to benefit financially.

 

[bhzmark]

Finally some early at-home treatment for high risk testing positive.

Same-day delivered Covid care package of Paxlovid (and?/or?) molnupiravir from NYC for its residents

N.Y.C. is offering free home delivery of Covid antiviral pills, though supply is limited.

The pills, which require a prescription, are prioritized for those who test positive for the coronavirus and are at higher risk for severe illness.

www.nytimes.com

COVID-19: Outpatient Therapeutic Information for Providers - NYC Health

 

[wdolson]

That’s all fine and well but Elon can tweet whatever he wants is all I’m saying. It was not misinformation it is just his belief about what the government will do with this power one they have it.

Can you make a reasonable case for mandating vaccines for Canadian truckers? Sure you can. Does everyone in the world have to agree with that case? No they don’t. Elon disagrees with the mandate and supports the truckers that are protesting… that’s OK.

The goalposts keep moving in these responses I was commenting on a specific post about Elons tweets.

Fair point. Sorry for going overboard in my response.

 

[Mafrfer433]

Despite on I and my colleges are vaccinated we still work remote also we use employee tracking soft that monitors our computer work and wait for the admission to go in the office like in the old days.

 

[golfcart]

This is a recent change. Before Omicron, the current 2-shot vaccine was doing a decent job at helping prevent the spread of Covid infection. Now, you need to add a booster due to Omicron’s mutations.

Of course, vaccination wasn’t/isn’t 100% effective at preventing infection but it made an important contribution during a time of pandemic spread.

Obviously, and longer term, the vaccine is also about minimizing disease severity which also has societal interests in preventing the disruption of normal health care for non-Covid issues.

I never disagreed with any of what you said here in fact I’ve stated most of it myself as reasons to get vaccinated. I am extremely pro-vax.

I am just against firing essential workers from their jobs over vaccine mandates during a crisis where we have shortages of those workers. Especially given that the vax effectiveness wanes over time, does not provide complete protection, and one can get comparable protection from previous infections.

 

[golfcart]

This is completely false at a community level, which is what is relevant here. Does it always prevent it? No. Does it prevent spread and infection? Absolutely. And it is far, far better to be boosted when it comes to Omicron.

I have never disputed any of that, you are either being disingenuous or you are moving the goalposts again. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt though and assume that you’re using prevent in a different context than I am. Will vaccination prevent X amount of cases per 100,000 people? Absolutely! Does it s prevent you from catching and spreading the virus? No it does not.

You can easily catch and spread the virus whether vaccinated or unvaccinated at high enough rates to matter and you know this.

Omicron was originally found in the US in a vaccinated person.

First US case

And spread rapidly among vaccinated people.

Most reported cases

Hell, omicron was originally found in Botswana in four fully vaccinated people.

Botswana report

And you know this… man. None is this is fringe or misinformation. This is not the polio vaccine it is more like a flu shot. It is a great risk reducer to slow spread, reduce strain in hospitals, and reduce mortality for a period of time until the protection wanes or the next variant comes along.

The vaccines are tremendous tools in fighting this pandemic and thank God we have them but be honest about what they do and don’t do and quit trying to get people fired from their jobs over them.

 

[FloridaSun]

I just tested positive today.. Wife tested positive last Thursday and I initially tested negative. Wife had 2 shots of Moderna April/May and I had 2 shots of Pfizer May/June. Neither of us is boosted. She had 99 degree temperature and light common cold symptoms. I only tested because wife is positive.. I have 97.3 degrees and zero symptoms but test showed positive.

 

[Jeff N]

….and one can get comparable protection from previous infections.

That last statement is overly broad. The recent study I posted on this thread in the last several days shows that a first infection with Delta in the fall might not give you very good protection from being re-infected with Omicron now. However, we know from other studies that getting a booster (3rd shot) of an mRNA vaccine during the same timeframe would likely be quite a bit more protective against infection now.

 

[madodel]

An Arkansas jail tested ivermectin ‘treatment’ on detainees without their consent

Horrifying revelations out of Arkansas show that detainees at the Washington County Detention Center were prescribed and given the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to treat COVID-19 without being told what it was.​

 

[FloridaSun]

I just tested positive today.. Wife tested positive last Thursday and I initially tested negative. Wife had 2 shots of Moderna April/May and I had 2 shots of Pfizer May/June. Neither of us is boosted. She had 99 degree temperature and light common cold symptoms. I only tested because wife is positive.. I have 97.3 degrees and zero symptoms but test showed positive.View attachment 762615

Adding to what I said, I can honestly say that if the wife wouldn't have tested positive, I would have never thought of testing as I'm feeling 100% ok. 0 symptoms. Wife has been wearing a mask around the house since she tested positive and sleeping in another bedroom and yet, I also got the virus. The point is that you can be vaxxed and still spread it. If I wouldn't have tested, I would be out and spreading it without knowing it.

 

[NikolaACDC]

New, not peer-reviewed, study out of Denmark
Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron VOC subvariants BA.1 and BA.2: Evidence from Danish Households

"We conclude that Omicron BA.2 is inherently substantially more transmissible than BA.1, and that it also possesses immune-evasive properties that further reduce the protective effect of vaccination against infection, but do not increase its transmissibility from vaccinated individuals with breakthrough infections."


Article about it:
Omicron subvariant BA.2 more infectious than "original", Danish study finds

"The study also showed that BA.2 was relatively better than BA.1 at infecting vaccinated and booster-vaccinated people, indicating greater "immune evasive properties" of the subvariant.
But vaccines still played an important role, the study underlined, since both booster-vaccinated and fully vaccinated individuals were less like to get infected and transmit either subvariants, compared to those not vaccinated.
Preliminary analysis by SSI has shown that there is no difference in the risk of hospitalisation for BA.2 compared to BA.1. read more
The study also confirms preliminary analysis from England, which showed BA.2 appears to have a substantial growth advantage over the BA.1 type, according to Britain's UK Health Security Agency."

 

[msm859]

Adding to what I said, I can honestly say that if the wife wouldn't have tested positive, I would have never thought of testing as I'm feeling 100% ok. 0 symptoms. Wife has been wearing a mask around the house since she tested positive and sleeping in another bedroom and yet, I also got the virus. The point is that you can be vaxxed and still spread it. If I wouldn't have tested, I would be out and spreading it without knowing it.

So everyone should still be wearing mask when around public?

 

[Double-O]

So everyone should still be wearing mask when around public?

Only if everyone was wearing a mask that actually reduced or prevented transmission but this is not the case and majority of folks think anything over their mouth and nose is the same level of protection as a mask that is proven to be effective. More than half the people out n about may as well just not have anything on their face.

 

[FloridaSun]

So everyone should still be wearing mask when around public?

My wife was wearing a mask since she tested positive.. I tested negative when she tested positive.. So, despite her wearing a mask at home, I still got it.. The chance that I got it from her is very very high and she was wearing a mask.. Let's not forget that your body can absorb the virus through the eyes also, not just your mouth/nose and the most commonly used masks have a filtration rate not high enough to stop more than 70% of the virus, leaving a 30% chance that you can spread through a mask. Vaccination seems to be the best option. It will NOT stop infection or spreading BUT the chance that you don't end up in the hospital IF you get it are statistically a lot higher if you are vaccinated.. As I said, neither me nor my wife are boosted and yet, I have no symptoms and wife only has very light symptoms, certainly not something we would go to the emergency room for.
It appears to me that anything except for inhumane lockdowns will stop the spread and even my MOSTLY asymptomatic and vaccinated wife spread the virus to me. She kept her distance and wore a mask and yet, I still got infected. The more people get it and the more people are vaccinated, the less people this virus will send to the hospitals. Wife is 47 and I'm 50, so we are NOT in a high risk demographic. We both have a good immune system. Unless my condition changes, I don't even know that I have it. No sore throat, no fever, no loss of taste etc.. None of the common symptoms..

 

[NikolaACDC]

‘Pandemic of the unboosted’: low US Covid jab uptake piles pressure on hospitals

FT article. Direct link doesn't work for me w/o subscription. The above is from a Twitter thread and that works (for me) [ on.ft.com/3g8Es1x ]

U.S. COVID hospitalizations would be halved with European vaccination rates, analysis finds

"Almost half of the US Covid-19 hospitalisations this winter could have been averted if the country had matched the vaccination coverage of leading European countries, according to a Financial Times analysis of the Omicron variant’s impact on either side of the Atlantic.
The data show large pockets of unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people in the US have placed more pressure on hospitals during the Omicron wave than in European nations with higher immunisation rates. The analysis supports the findings of scientists and accounts of frontline medics who say lower vaccination levels are perpetuating the pandemic in the US.
The number of Covid patients in US hospitals on January 19 would have peaked at 91,000 instead of 161,000 if the US had the same rates of vaccine coverage in each age-group as Denmark, 100,000 if the US had matched the UK, and 109,000 if the US uptake rates looked like Portugal’s, the analysis showed.
Across the seven months since July, spanning the Delta and Omicron waves, US daily patient numbers would have averaged 39,000 — rather than the 80,000 recorded — had its vaccination coverage tracked that of Portugal."

Whew.
Just glad that - at least according to some people - in the US this won't lead to increases in taxes or health insurance like it will for those in countries with socialized medicine.

---
Edited to add the 'The Week' link

 

[JRP3]

My wife was wearing a mask since she tested positive.. I tested negative when she tested positive.. So, despite wearing a mask at home, I still got it.. The chance that I got it from her is very very high and she was wearing a mask..

You weren't wearing a mask. And what type of mask was she wearing, did she never take it off, even to eat, brush teeth, shower, etc.? Remember masks aren't 100%, nothing is, but their main purpose is to prolong the time you can be in an infected area without getting infected. 24/7 in the same house with an infected person is different than going to a store for an hour or so.

 

[FloridaSun]

You weren't wearing a mask. And what type of mask was she wearing, did she never take it off, even to eat, brush teeth, shower, etc.? Remember masks aren't 100%, nothing is, but their main purpose is to prolong the time you can be in an infected area without getting infected. 24/7 in the same house with an infected person is different than going to a store for an hour or so.

No, I wasn't wearing a mask. She used a fashion, 2 layer cloth mask, the type that most people wear. Of course, she took off the mask for shower, sleep and when she was away from me and the kids. I personally think that the majority of commonly used masks are useless. Sure, there are better masks but at least around here you don't see many use the N95 or better masks. I'm not a believer in masks. The commonly used masks may have somewhat of a chance to lower infection risk but it's nowhere close to sufficient. I've said this before, this should be treated like the flu. Eventually the combination of natural immunity and vaccinations will create a sufficiently immune population. COVID19 is here to stay. It won't be eliminated, even if 100% are vaccinated. I personally never wear any masks, unless mandatory at a place. Here in Central Florida, the only places where you need a mask is clinics and hospitals.
As I said, those who are at risk should get as many boosters as makes them feel safe. At this point, considering that I'm having an active infection, this should boost my resistence to future infection in combination with my 2 shots of Pfizer that I had in May/June. Of course, I don't want to "endanger" those at risk but we can't run around with masks and get 5 shots every year because of this pandemic. COVID19 at this point is like another strain of the flu. It's here to stay. Death rate will keep dropping as more and more become immune via various methods.

 

[Jeff N]

My wife was wearing a mask since she tested positive.. I tested negative when she tested positive.. So, despite her wearing a mask at home, I still got it.. The chance that I got it from her is very very high and she was wearing a mask.

She was infectious for some unknown period of time before testing positive and started to wear a mask.

So, you could have easily been exposed to her infection before she started wearing a mask. You could have even been exposed to the virus at the same time she was and you simply had a longer latency period before turning positive due to getting a lower initial dose of virus or because of differences in your immune systems due to randomness or genetic variation. Most people test positive to Omicron around 3-4 days after exposure but it may easily take a week longer.

Or, maybe you’re right and you got it despite her mask use.

I have no symptoms and wife only has very light symptoms, certainly not something we would go to the emergency room for.

Good news! It will probably stay that way. However, many people who do end up needing hospitalization take a turn for the worse after having initially milder symptoms for a week.

 

[FloridaSun]

She was infectious for some unknown period of time before testing positive and started to wear a mask.

So, you could have easily been exposed to her infection before she started wearing a mask. You could have even been exposed to the virus at the same time she was and you simply had a longer latency period before turning positive due to getting a lower initial dose of virus or because of differences in your immune systems due to randomness or genetic variation. Most people test positive to Omicron around 3-4 days after exposure but it may easily take a week longer.

Or, maybe you’re right and you got it despite her mask use.


Good news! It will probably stay that way. However, many people who do end up needing hospitalization take a turn for the worse after having initially milder symptoms for a week.

It's of course possible that she gave it to me before even knowing that she had it. She tested as soon as she had commmon cold symptoms. Antigen test on Wednesday and PCR test on Thursday last week. I tested on Thursday with the antigen test and it was negative.. So I was supposed to go to the office tomorrow, Thursday and Friday, so I did another test to make sure I won't bring it to the office if infected and sure enough, it was positive, so I will be working remotely while infected. Will test again in a week and if it comes back negative, I'll be back at the office next Tuesday..