Coronavirus

[Darreno]

Oops, mixed up years. For everyone I know who's gotten Omicron it's been pretty mild (probably all three vax doses). I actually didn't directly know anyone who got COVID pre-Omicron. This Omicron wave seems to be getting everyone who didn't get it in January and February.

Comparing me and my friend (both caught omicron together at the pub):

Me: Covid Alpha Dec 2020, 1 Pfizer dose Dec 2021, omicron 3-4 week ago. I would not have know I had omicron unless I did a test, so very mild.

My friend: 3 Pfizer doses with the third in March, omicron hit him like a train.

Everyone reacts differently of course but here in the UK, 95% of the country has had covid. 9 out of 10 people I know have had covid at some point. Those who got covid a second time has way milder cases vs those who haven’t had it yet but have had 2-3 doses. Thankfully the vaccines are lessening the blow when someone catches it for the first time.

That’s the experience we’re having.

Life in the UK is 99% back to a pre pandemic environment. I can’t remember the last time I saw someone wear a mask. It’s barely spoken about on the TV anymore since Russia decided to invade Ukraine.

 

[madodel]

Widely touted abstract on ivermectin and COVID-19 retracted

This article has been retracted at the request of the authors. The abstract was presented as a poster in the IMED last year. Our study was about the association of Ivermectin with reduction in mortality in COVID, a retrospective study with many limitations (which is innate in these types of studies). As in any retrospective study, we could not control for all the confounding variables, mainly severity of disease in patients treated with either ivermectin or remdesivir. Another important caveat is that it was conducted in July 2021, eight months ago, when we did not have all the clinical evidence we have right now about ivermectin in COVID-19. We were very clear in the abstract conclusions that our results are only showing an “association”, they are not definitive, and further randomized clinical trials must be done to prove the efficacy of Ivermectin. However, the study has been misinterpreted by a significant number of people in the scientific community and the general population, stating that based on our study, ivermectin is effective to reduce COVID-19 mortality. We are really concerned about this problem because the patients may start taking or demanding this medication from their physicians, which can potentially be harmful. We know that a retrospective study like ours cannot be used to change or guide clinical practice. Retrospective studies are only helpful to formulate hypothesis that can be utilized to design clinical trials. This misrepresentation of the study may lead to a huge public health problem, since Ivermectin is a medication that is not FDA approved for COVID treatment, and currently has proven to be ineffective in clinical trials, which are truly the gold standard to evaluate the efficacy of a medication.​

 

[bkp_duke]

COVID entry testing to USA ending on Sunday.

US drops COVID testing requirement for international flyers

The CDC is not longer requiring pre-departure COVID testing for U.S.-bound air travelers.

www.usatoday.com

 

[bro1999]

rutroh, here we go again.

That Didn't Last Long: Shanghai Locks Down Millions for Covid, Again

The city at the heart of tech manufacturing didn’t last 10 days without officials requiring mass testing after reports of community spread.

gizmodo.com

 

[bkp_duke]

rutroh, here we go again.

That Didn't Last Long: Shanghai Locks Down Millions for Covid, Again

The city at the heart of tech manufacturing didn’t last 10 days without officials requiring mass testing after reports of community spread.

gizmodo.com

China needs mass vaccinations, of the good stuff (mRNA vaccines), not that junk they home developed. They are absolutely destroying their own economy for a simple matter of pride. Bureaucratic dumbassery.

 

[Jeff N]

China needs mass vaccinations, of the good stuff (mRNA vaccines), not that junk they home developed. They are absolutely destroying their own economy for a simple matter of pride. Bureaucratic dumbassery.

The weird part is that they aren’t even aggressively vaccinating people (especially elders) with the local non-mRNA vaccines. They are doing these huge massive test collections. Why not mass innoculste at the same time?

 

[bkp_duke]

The weird part is that they aren’t even aggressively vaccinating people (especially elders) with the local non-mRNA vaccines. They are doing these huge massive test collections. Why not mass innoculste at the same time?

Can't fix stupid? No seriously, we used to say that daily in the hospital I trained in.

 

[jerry33]

Can't fix stupid? No seriously, we used to say that daily in the hospital I trained in.

Maybe Nuralink will help.

 

[bkp_duke]

Maybe Nuralink will help.

Perhaps. Most of these people think the vaccine already has microprocessors in it . . . what's one more, right?

 

[byeLT4]

Well fudge.... Add me to the list now. Dodged it for a while but received a positive test yesterday. Double vaxxed with booster. Mild symptoms. Slight fever, slight aches, bad headache but very cyclic, not steady (really weird), congestion. Currently coughing up crud.

What's weird is we road tripped from Texas to Atlanta and then back a few days later. There were three of us, two tested positive with similar symptoms and so far the other has had two tests, both came back negative. Same car nearly 14 hours. The lucky one did have his booster much later than I did, not sure when the other guy had his.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

COVID entry testing to USA ending on Sunday.

US drops COVID testing requirement for international flyers

The CDC is not longer requiring pre-departure COVID testing for U.S.-bound air travelers.

www.usatoday.com

I’m planning to be one of the first to travel back from the UK COVID positive. Haven’t got it yet, but I’m confident I can pick it up before I leave. When traveling with family (who are both likely immune due to very recent Omicron infections), I find it hard to maintain even a semblance of my normal protocols. The BA.4/5 wave is just beginning here (overall numbers relatively low but likely heavily underreported vs. prior times).

I wonder whether the airlines will still ask you to attest that you have not tested positive though, and ask you not to travel (as they appropriately do for domestic flights)?

Obviously I hope to avoid it, but my risks are probably at least 10x higher than they have been at any other point, and I fear I will not even be able to report on whether masks work, since keeping the mask on indoors has been one of the protocols that has been difficult to maintain.

I do seem to have been able to make the plane flight with strict N95 mask use without infection (getting outside the window).

China needs mass vaccinations, of the good stuff (mRNA vaccines), not that junk they home developed.

While still clearly somewhat inferior to mRNA, it does seem that the data on severe disease protection in the booster case is quite good for their homegrown vaccines. I think they don’t need to switch to mRNA unless they want to get their total mortality to very low levels (don’t recall the exact delta (posted previously) but might cut their deaths in half assuming they boosted everyone and you compared the two scenarios - so not a huge difference - something like 5x better than current situation in homegrown case, vs. 10x better if using mRNA).

 

[wdolson]

China needs mass vaccinations, of the good stuff (mRNA vaccines), not that junk they home developed. They are absolutely destroying their own economy for a simple matter of pride. Bureaucratic dumbassery.

Ultimately it will probably hurt them economically. With all this squirrelliness about COVID, China's customers are getting tired of the disruptions and are seeking out someplace else to buy their stuff from. Switching to a new source takes time, but I believe quite a number of companies have already made the decision to source from somewhere new and are in the process of getting the new suppliers spun up.

 

[golfcart]

This thread hasn't had much moderation.
Florida 18 FL 9

Search results

teslamotorsclub.com

California 107 CA 28

The most shameful thing in Florida's coronavirus response was the weak support for vaccination among public officials. There were so many unnecessary deaths during the Delta wave. Other than that everyone did a bad job.

Once again not actually a rebuttal to my point. A keyword search of a state name is a reasonably proxy but does not demonstrate whether what I said is true or false. I am very aware of how to use the search function. A post can be about a place without mentioning the place itself and a post can mention a place in a forum without discussing that places COVID response. Over half the forum is from California (I would imagine though it is hard to confirm) so it isn't surprising for that keyword would show up a lot.

Florida prioritized vaccinating the high risk people and made it easy to get. I know because my parents live in an RV down there half the year and are considered residents. They just got in a drive through line and got their shots in a very simple process. Florida has 98%+ of age 65+ people fully vaccinated and 73+% of aged 18-64 people fully vaccinated. Neither numbers are outliers nationally. Florida (as I have pointed out many time) is unbelievably middle of the pack in their COVID deaths and vaccine rates when compared to other states. Anti-mandate is not anti-vaccine.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) - Symptoms and causes

www.mayoclinic.org

The only things that stand out about Florida (in terms of COVID) is that they chose not to lock down, close schools, or mandate vaccines and that they have an outspoken governor who is likely to be the next Republican candidate for president. Hence all the attention.

 

[JRP3]

The only one who seems completely obsessed with Florida is you

 

[Daniel in SD]

Florida has 98%+ of age 65+ people fully vaccinated

There is no way that number is correct. Half of Florida's COVID deaths came after the vaccine was widely available.
Early on politicians were definitely pro-vaccine, proudly posting pictures of themselves being vaccinated. Later it became politically expedient to downplay them.

 

[JRP3]

More good news

Until now, people who suffered mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 were thought to have dodged the brunt of the virus’s brutal side effects. But new evidence has revealed that anyone infected with COVID is at higher risk for heart issues—including clots, inflammation, and arrhythmias—a risk that persists even in relatively healthy people long after the illness has passed.

COVID and the Heart: It Spares No One | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

New evidence suggests anyone infected with COVID is at higher risk for heart issues—a risk that persists even in relatively healthy people long after the illness has passed.

publichealth.jhu.edu

 

[golfcart]

There is no way that number is correct. Half of Florida's COVID deaths came after the vaccine was widely available.
Early on politicians were definitely pro-vaccine, proudly posting pictures of themselves being vaccinated. Later it became politically expedient to downplay them.

Are you not a fan of the Mayo clinic dataset? I posted the link. Old people aren't stupid, they know how at risk they are from COVID. They by and large get their shots.

 

[golfcart]

The only one who seems completely obsessed with Florida is you

Based on the keyword search method I am only tied for 3rd (and 7 of my 24 have been in the last week after I admittedly tried to stir the pot with the post about "cooking the books" being BS). You aren't to shabby yourself but you'll need a couple more posts to crack the top 10.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Are you not a fan of the Mayo clinic dataset? I posted the link. Old people aren't stupid, they know how at risk they are from COVID. They by and large get their shots.

I mean, it is obviously wrong, right? It doesn’t need an explanation from me for why it’s wrong - if you look at the website it is self-evident that it is, you can guess as to why. Exercise left for the reader.

An unfortunate side effect of garbage information on vaccination rates in this country. Oh well. I don’t think there is any way to compare how states are doing, and this is probably intentional.

 

[EVNow]

China needs mass vaccinations, of the good stuff (mRNA vaccines), not that junk they home developed. They are absolutely destroying their own economy for a simple matter of pride. Bureaucratic dumbassery.

While still clearly somewhat inferior to mRNA, it does seem that the data on severe disease protection in the booster case is quite good for their homegrown vaccines.

India also mostly uses Astra-Zenica. While not as good as mRNA, they don't see to have done worse than many other countries with mRNA (and let it rip). Most of the people badly affected by Delta were those with just one dose or no doses of vaccine. When the first wave ended in India, they got lax and stopped getting vaccinated.

I don't know about China, but one issue with mRNA was difficulty in distribution and needing super cool refrigeration. That was the reason (IIRC) a lot of the developing world went with non-mRNA.