Coronavirus spreads. But don't panic! (topical thread)

[adey67]

My granddaughter, 11 at the time, was vaccinated but contracted Covid.  It was mild.  A little over one month later, she developed Type I diabetes.  Her pediatric endocrinologist said they were seeing this trend a lot.  As TypeI is an immunological disease and so is Covid they are now studying this phenomenon .  

Thankfully, diabetes treatments have come so far.  She has a continuous glucose monitor that talks to her insulin pump and mostly keeps her in control.  As a now 14 year old, she has to frequently adjust her numbers since she’s growing still and her activity level goes up and down.  It’s life long.  We still have a lot to learn about Covid and side effects.

My mother developed a deep vein thrombosis following her COVID booster completely out of the blue, no previous history of blood clots and the haematologist couldn't find any explanation. What the haematologist did say and rather too quickly I feel, was to deny it could possibly be the vaccine. It goes to show how quickly they close ranks, it left me with a bad taste in the mouth and a feeling like I'd been schmoozed by a politician.

[Minimalist]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9115120/

Background

COVID‐19 vaccinations in the United States are effective in preventing illness and hospitalization yet concern over post‐vaccination venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk has led to vaccine hesitancy.

yada, yada, yada......methods,study results, etc.....

Conclusion

In this large cohort of COVID‐19 vaccinated patients, no increased risk for acute VTE post‐vaccination was identified for the authorized vaccines in the United States.

But there is such a thing as "bad luck."

[mordant]

My youngest has COVID. Everyone else in the house has tested negative (which I don't trust as my wife looks and feels rough.)
I contacted school to find out their current protocols and he's free to go back when he feels better even if he's testing positive.
I don't get how the approach to this has radically changed. It's as if we've just said "Ahh well, life goes on."

People that I talk to say that they would not be as cooperative as they were when this thing emerged, for example them not getting boosters and ignoring future restrictions.

Our government have gone quiet about the whole thing, seems like they're leaving people to it.

I think lots of it has to do with the fact that the new Omicron variants seem to be much less harmful. I have seen my gf having Alpha, Delta and Omicron. Delta was devastating to her, and she is a healthy 28y old. Omicron, which i contracted as well, felt like a normal flu.

You're still playing with fire. Long covid can cause (often permanent) disability even as a sequel to asymptomatic covid. It's just not worth the risk when mitigations are so simple (vaccination, social distancing, masking in public). The more times you are infected, the higher the risk of long covid.

But even I find myself seduced by the lack of social support. Gradually, I'm taking more risks than I used to. At first the risks are unavoidable (e.g., my wife needs surgery so the surgery itself plus lots of doctor visits for follow up, albeit masked) but then today we went to a restaurant we sometimes visit that has outdoor seating and on an impulse risked sitting inside (almost empty, windows open). What will it be next. The general "fuck it" everyone is pronouncing is contagious. It would be even worse if I were a front line worker rather than a 100% telecommute.

[Deesse23]

I think lots of it has to do with the fact that the new Omicron variants seem to be much less harmful. I have seen my gf having Alpha, Delta and Omicron. Delta was devastating to her, and she is a healthy 28y old. Omicron, which i contracted as well, felt like a normal flu.

You're still playing with fire. Long covid can cause (often permanent) disability even as a sequel to asymptomatic covid. It's just not worth the risk when mitigations are so simple (vaccination, social distancing, masking in public). The more times you are infected, the higher the risk of long covid.

But even I find myself seduced by the lack of social support. Gradually, I'm taking more risks than I used to. At first the risks are unavoidable (e.g., my wife needs surgery so the surgery itself plus lots of doctor visits for follow up, albeit masked) but then today we went to a restaurant we sometimes visit that has outdoor seating and on an impulse risked sitting inside (almost empty, windows open). What will it be next. The general "fuck it" everyone is pronouncing is contagious. It would be even worse if I were a front line worker rather than a 100% telecommute.

I do not intend to play with fire. I plan to get vaccinated again asap here in Germany. But i also think we should refrain from panicking. Covid is serious, long covid exists, no question, but not every symptom after a case of covid is long covid.

What i said specifically is that people do pay less attention to Covid due to less harmful variants. That was an IS statement, not an OUGHT.

We should take Covid serious, no less, no more, and keep gathering data. Thats all i am saying.

[Dānu]

U.S. Will Resume Offering Free At-Home Covid Tests

The Biden administration, looking ahead to a possible winter surge of Covid-19, announced on Wednesday that it was reviving its program of offering Americans free coronavirus tests through the mail and would spend $600 million to buy tests from a dozen domestic manufacturers.

The website for the program, covidtests.gov, will begin accepting orders on Monday, and households will receive four tests. Dawn O’Connell, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the money would fund the purchase of 200 million tests to replenish the nation’s stockpile as tests are sent out.

But a byproduct of the program, Ms. O’Connell said, is that it will shore up domestic manufacturing capacity in the event of another serious coronavirus surge. And if there is a spike in demand, she said, the department has given the manufacturers permission to sell the tests directly to retailers ahead of the government.

Coronavirus hospitalizations have been on the rise in the United States, though they remain low compared with earlier stretches of the pandemic, and free tests are now harder to come by for many Americans. While private insurers had previously been required to cover up to eight at-home tests per month, that requirement ended when the Biden administration allowed the public health emergency for the coronavirus to expire in May.

[Dānu]

I don't have any symptoms, but I'm still positive for covid. You're supposed to be symptom-free for ten days before you resume donating. I'll also be sure I'm negative.

[mordant]

I do not intend to play with fire. I plan to get vaccinated again asap here in Germany. But i also think we should refrain from panicking. Covid is serious, long covid exists, no question, but not every symptom after a case of covid is long covid.

I am not panicking, nor do I think everything that happens after covid is caused by covid. Maskers / social distancers are sometimes accused of panicking or at least being Nervous Nellies but the vast majority aren't doomers, they do what they do quietly for considered reasons. There are doomers on social media, but they aren't really representative of all of us.

What I can't get away from is that depending on what study you belief there is a 10 to 20% chance of getting long covid from any one covid infection. Since I'm already old with enough aches and pains, that's not acceptable to me. The young who still haven't figured out they're not invincible find it easy to assume such things happen to Someone Else. There's also the fact that not all long covid is permanent disability, some of it isn't that bad and "only" lasts a few months or a couple of years and gradually resolves. Over against THAT is the fact that the odds of some (semi) permanent effects increase with each time someone gets infected. I worry about people who are blase about haivng had it a half dozen times and start thinking of it like a mild cold.

What i said specifically is that people do pay less attention to Covid due to less harmful variants. That was an IS statement, not an OUGHT.

We should take Covid serious, no less, no more, and keep gathering data. Thats all i am saying.

Fair enough :-)

[Deesse23]

What I can't get away from is that depending on what study you belief there is a 10 to 20% chance of getting long covid from any one covid infection. Since I'm already old with enough aches and pains, that's not acceptable to me. The young who still haven't figured out they're not invincible find it easy to assume such things happen to Someone Else. There's also the fact that not all long covid is permanent disability, some of it isn't that bad and "only" lasts a few months or a couple of years and gradually resolves. Over against THAT is the fact that the odds of some (semi) permanent effects increase with each time someone gets infected. I worry about people who are blase about haivng had it a half dozen times and start thinking of it like a mild cold.

I completely agree that we already know that Covid is way more deadly to "older" people. I think we all know what happened in those nursing homes at the start of the pandemic.
And frankly i AM concerned a bit over my gf having had this for FIFE times now (she is young but of petite stature). Feels to me a bit like russian roulette.

[mordant]

What I can't get away from is that depending on what study you belief there is a 10 to 20% chance of getting long covid from any one covid infection. Since I'm already old with enough aches and pains, that's not acceptable to me. The young who still haven't figured out they're not invincible find it easy to assume such things happen to Someone Else. There's also the fact that not all long covid is permanent disability, some of it isn't that bad and "only" lasts a few months or a couple of years and gradually resolves. Over against THAT is the fact that the odds of some (semi) permanent effects increase with each time someone gets infected. I worry about people who are blase about haivng had it a half dozen times and start thinking of it like a mild cold.

I completely agree that we already know that Covid is way more deadly to "older" people. I think we all know what happened in those nursing homes at the start of the pandemic.
And frankly i AM concerned a bit over my gf having had this for FIFE times now (she is young but of petite stature). Feels to me a bit like russian roulette.

It's true that age is a risk factor and it's also true that plenty of people in their 20's have been reduced to being bedridden by it. Youth just gives you better odds, not blanket protection. None of that means anything for a given person who might be laid low anyway.

The Russian roulette metaphor is one I have used, but with modifications. It's as if the gun had maybe 100 chambers rather than six, and is mounted on a sort of spring and is waving around and firing every now and again. Occasionally the live round fires and then a new live round is randomly loaded in a different chamber. The fired round might not hit you at all, or it might get you right between the eyes. It might only "wing" you, but the bullet is coated with a toxin that people have various levels of response to, up to and including permanent disability.

I want my relatively few remaining years to be as productive and enjoyable as possible, so they are all the more precious to me. But if I had 50 more years ahead of me, I wouldn't want to suffer for that long either, so I don't see it as a substantively different calculus, rationally speaking. It's just that the young generally think on some level they will never die or at least that it's so far in the distance it's not worthy of thought. So it's easy to prioritize absence of discomfort (masks) or inconvenience (avoiding crowded and ill-ventilated indoor spaces, or even just a day or two of feeling muzzy from a covid booster) over something that seems very abstract and unlikely.

Until, of course, it's not.

[Dānu]

There comes a point at which one should abandon a metaphor.

[Dānu]

Reading that my covid tests on hand have an extended shelf life.

https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/coro...tests#list

[Dānu]

Apparently, I'm eligible for the RSV vaccine. I won't need a covid shot for a while, but I should get flu, pneumonia, and RSV shots soon.

[Dancefortwo]

Hubby just tested positive for Covid.  So far it's like a bad cold.  We've both had all our shots so if I get it I should both be ok.

He's in a production of "Arsnic and Old Lace" at a major theatre here in Portland.  Tonight is the last performance so the director is having someone fill in for him with the script in hand while on stage.  Bummer.  Right now hubby is on the phone describing the stage blocking to the other actor so he sorta knows what to do.  It should be an interesting performance for the audience tonight. lol

[brewerb]

Hubby just tested positive for Covid.  So far it's like a bad cold.  We've both had all our shots so if I get it I should both be ok.

He's in a production of "Arsnic and Old Lace" at a major theatre here in Portland.  Tonight is the last performance so the director is having someone fill in for him with the script in hand while on stage.  Bummer.  Right now hubby is on the phone describing the stage blocking to the other actor so he sorta knows what to do.  It should be an interesting performance for the audience tonight. lol

Paxlovid?

[mordant]

The Novavax Covid vaccine was approved by the FDA Oct 2 and is slowly coming into the distribution network. At the moment the nearest location offering Novavax may be an hour away from you, but that will improve.

Sources indicate up to 9x more effectiveness against infection vs mRNA vaccines. Few to no side effects, and protection against infection and severe illness last longer. mRNA vaccines begin to fade as soon as 2 months and are not very effective (against infection) after 4 months. Preliminary data shows Novovax lasts more like 6 months with less "fade". You can get a Novovax jab as soon as 2 months after your last mRNA vaccines. There is some (inconclusive) evidence that alternating mRNA vaccines with Novovax has some advantages as well, since they approach immunity from different angles.

Novovax is also appealing to people who have concerns (justified or not) about mRNA technology. It is a more conventional vaccine similar to a killed virus vaccine.

There's the usual confusing / poorly worded info about frequency. It is generally understood that everyone should get a booster at least annually. It appears people 65 and up can get 2 Novovax shots as close as 2 months apart. I am going to wait and see how my local pharmacy interprets the guidance but I hope I can at a bare minimum get a Novovax halfway through the year.

I've heard nothing but good things about Novovax but it was developed by a small-ish US company that didn't contribute much to political campaigns so they haven't exactly greased the skids for them. It's been more available in Europe than here.

[mordant]

Now that my wife is somewhat recovered from her total knee replacements, she tried to get the Novovax shot but couldn't find a local source. She ended up saying screw it and got a Moderna shot at the nearest Wallgreen's. They hadn't even heard of Novovax there, nor had the Kinney Drug a mile or so away.

I'm going to do some more poking around this weekend on behalf of my stepson and, eventually myself but it seems with the horrible uptake on covid vaccines generally, most outlets aren't interested in a new brand.

That is the weird thing, if folks want to just declare the danger of covid over by fiat you'd think they'd at least get vaccinated ... but they aren't even doing that.

Meanwhile ... a new strain, JN.1, is out & about, it has gone from zero to 60 mph in a matter of less than a month and is now dominant in Europe, the UK and much of the US. It is a major mutation, but we got lucky ... somehow the latest covid vaccines are still pretty effective against it (one of the virologists I follow bluntly said, we did NOT expect it to work AT ALL, so we got DAMN lucky).

If only folks would actually get vaccinated.

[Cavebear]

I get annual vaccines for flu and covid. And will get the RSV one next week (I really didn't know about that one before). It's so easy at my local Safeway. No charge and I get a 10% off coupon for the food. I'm up-to-date on tetnus (I handle rusty metal sometimes) and have my pneumococcal and shingles shots too. I don't understand why some people are so dead-set against them.

It's not like they are being poisoned or micro-chipped. And you barely feel modern needles.

[mordant]

I get annual vaccines for flu and covid.  And will get the RSV one next week (I really didn't know about that one before).  It's so easy at my local Safeway.  No charge and I get a 10% off coupon for the food.  I'm up-to-date on tetnus (I handle rusty metal sometimes) and have my pneumococcal and shingles shots too.  I don't understand why some people are so dead-set against them.  

It's not like they are being poisoned or micro-chipped.  And you barely feel modern needles.

Covid vaccinations can make you feel gnarly for a day or three, sometimes after a weird delay. Even for people who don't distrust the vaccines due to conspiracy theories, the knowledge that they'll feel somewhat crappy for a bit can be a disincentive. Even I have favored Pfizer over Moderna because it has given me fewer side effects. Still ... Covid is still Covid, and if you catch it even once you have about a 15% chance of lengthy and possibly permanent disability. And those odds get worse with each infection. Just protect yourself accordingly, is what I tell people.

[Cavebear]

I get annual vaccines for flu and covid.  And will get the RSV one next week (I really didn't know about that one before).  It's so easy at my local Safeway.  No charge and I get a 10% off coupon for the food.  I'm up-to-date on tetnus (I handle rusty metal sometimes) and have my pneumococcal and shingles shots too.  I don't understand why some people are so dead-set against them.  

It's not like they are being poisoned or micro-chipped.  And you barely feel modern needles.

Covid vaccinations can make you feel gnarly for a day or three, sometimes after a weird delay. Even for people who don't distrust the vaccines due to conspiracy theories, the knowledge that they'll feel somewhat crappy for a bit can be a disincentive. Even I have favored Pfizer over Moderna because it has given me fewer side effects. Still ... Covid is still Covid, and if you catch it even once you have about a 15% chance of lengthy and possibly permanent disability. And those odds get worse with each infection. Just protect yourself accordingly, is what I tell people.

I don't have that problem.  In fact I just got my RSV vaccine shot today and I hardly know I got it.  If somehow I forgot what arm I got it in, I couldn't tell you the next day.

I'm up-to-date.  Shingles, tetnus, covid, flu, RSV, pneumococcal.  I'm fine with all that.  I know enough of the history of pre-vaccine life...  Medically, modern life is wonderful.

[Dānu]