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Covid 19-31 The Mutants Are Coming


Mlle. Zabzie

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Just as we knew would happen, the CDC and states saying vaccinated people do not need to wear masks outdoors OR indoors -- it's a hornets' nest. Masking is being dropped here on Wednesday inside shops etc. for vaccinated people.

Just now, myself walked into an incident at our supermarket with people w/o masks yelling at the register people and the deli counter people for wearing masks (I was double-masked myself, though fully vaccinated).  This is insane -- because the deli counter people have ALWAYS worn gloves and masks, and change into new gloves with every customer.  ALWAYS this is how it was done at our supermarket -- and, presumably everywhere else too, decades before the pandemic.

I am becoming deeply disappointed with the administration's leaders in this area.  They have had enough time to come up with a coherent set of guidelines.  They shouldn't be lurching from one week telling us all to double-mask due to the variants to telling us we need mask not at all.

I've received two emails from the supermarket today about this.  The first one arrived just prior to me going out -- to the supermarket -- was saying they too were dropping the requirement to wear masks starting Wednesday, like TJ's, Starbux, etc. were.  And because the CDC said they could, and Cuomo said they could. They would like us to be responsible and mask, but we don't have to.

When I returned just now there is another email, saying they have to drop the mask requirement because people just won't wear them now and there are altercations in the stores across the chain, and it is too exhausting for employees to deal with all day.  The employees will continue to wear masks, and they hope, we, the customers, will too.

In the meantime the chain, along with TJ's, etc. have stopped having the restricted hours for auto-immunes, elderly, etc. to shop twice a week between 6 - 8 AM.

 

 

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On 5/15/2021 at 1:24 PM, Fragile Bird said:

I gather from news reports that the Irish hospital system has been taken over by hackers. In the middle of a pandemic.

Holy shit, they should track those fuckers down and test them against the animals at the top of the list in the other thread.

For sure. It’s still going on. A friend of mine was bringing his daughter to the Rotunda (very badly impacted, one of the 3 maternity hospitals in Dublin) and apparently it’s really tough. Loads of staff working OT, days off etc, but very difficult, slow and time consuming. Coming into the 5th day now. (Obvs know they are based abroad, and many are state sponsored, so utter pipedream alert). I’d love to see them tried for attempted murder on thousands of counts. Utter barstewards.

 

COVID wise, Ireland appears to be in an ok place. First day of non essential retail today since just after Xmas. Hotels back in 3 weeks. Hopefully outdoor dining at a similar time (all restaurants have been closed since Xmas). Currently vaccinating 50-59 yr olds. Good take up rated.

 

NIAC (national immunisation advisory council) owed the use of AZ and J&J to those under 50 provided an mRNA isn’t available, which should be helpful. Expecting registration for vaccination to be opened for 40-49 year olds late this week, early next week. Probably another 4 weeks before they get to 30-39 year olds though, as the 40s is a very large cohort.

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1 hour ago, Deedles said:

COVID wise, Ireland appears to be in an ok place. First day of non essential retail today since just after Xmas. Hotels back in 3 weeks. Hopefully outdoor dining at a similar time (all restaurants have been closed since Xmas). Currently vaccinating 50-59 yr olds. Good take up rated.

What also slightly concerns me is whether to trust the data being released.  Could COVID cases be going up but we don't know because we aren't getting the full picture anymore?  They say vaccination hasn't been affected but can we be sure?  They haven't updated their vaccination figures in recent days (not that updating a website is high priority but what else is awry?).

This is going to takes weeks to fully fix too (apparently).

3 hours ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

Not sure....might be a combination, but I suspect more of the former, i.e "allow export" (details are sparse). It will be handled by Zients, the Administration's coronavirus response co-ordinator, who did a pretty good job with the vaccine rollout.

Al-Jazeera says that Pfizer is already exporting vaccine from the US.  Biden is referring to US ordered vaccines (rather than US made vaccines).  Seems like a very positive move.  But it also says that the AZ doses haven't been exported yet, so hopefully they'll move quickly on that too.

3 hours ago, JoannaL said:

It will still take until July for everyone to get the first vaccination, but still its good news and the government  must be sure of the supply line to announce this. Since we get the same supply as all other EU members, it starts to look really better here.

Makes sense.  Last week we were at around 265k weekly doses (assuming things didn't tail off over the weekend).  In June, we are supposed to hit up to 450k a week.  A seismic change.  As you say, everyone in the EU should be in the same boat.  The main challenge will be having enough vaccinators (the change to Pfizer's freezing requirements may help, as it makes it easier for pharmacies to get involved) and demand.  We saw demand in the US tail off.

And the other constraint is J&J.  I'm still worried about their deliveries.  They are supposed to ramp up significantly in June.  And Reuters is reporting that they are still not hitting their targets in May.  I'm expecting to be dosed with J&J in June.  But only if we get the doses required.  (But without J&J, there will still be a big increase in supply in June.  Just drags things into July a little).

And I see Sanofi/GSK finally made progress on their vaccine.  Just 6 months more to go for them! :)

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On 5/14/2021 at 5:56 PM, Raja said:

What specifically are we talking about here? Because 'lesions' is very vague and does not really mean anything. Would like to read some links if you have them for both the severe symptoms and the 'lesions'

I was talking about this article:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.05.442760v1

Quote

Results The hamsters infected with B.1.617.1 demonstrated increased body weight loss compared to B.1 variant. The highest viral load was observed in nasal turbinate and lung specimens of animals infected with B.1.167.1 on 3 DPI. Neutralizing antibody (NAb) and IgG response in hamsters of both the groups were observed from 5 and 7 DPI respectively. However, higher neutralizing antibody titers were observed against B.1.167.1. Gross pathology showed pronounced lung lesions and hemorrhage with B.1.671 compared to B.1.

There was another that talked about how it is somewhat resistant to antibodies:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.05.04.442663v1

 

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Yeah the CDC masking guidelines seem like they're going to be a real clusterfuck.  I doubt any unvaccinated people are going to bother with masks.  I'd be pissed if I was someone who had to deal with the public up close.

I wonder if the CDC just thinks they've vaccinated about as many people as they can and that anyone who wants one has one at this point (obviously excepting younger children)?

It doesn't speak highly of humans at all that there is such an ideological resistance to vaccination.  I wonder what percentage of the US would be vaccinated by now if it hadn't been for Trump's moronic and dangerous attitude toward the pandemic.

edit: and I guess the CDC deputy director just resigned.  wonder if it's related

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A coworker of my wife passed away from Covid this morning. This person had a couple of the high risk factors but was not an anti-vaxxer to our knowledge. Just had not yet gotten the vaccine for some unknown reason. Very sad for anyone to die, but man, for someone who would have been near the front of the queue if they’d just signed up it feels like a particularly unnecessary result.

I’m so glad my parents are fully vaxxed. My mom sends me texts from her insane siblings who refuse. The sliver of good that has come from this is that since my mom has been vaxxed she kind of has a vested interest in not believing the ravings from dark corners of the internet that her family sends her as their ‘research’ on the topic. She’s started to independently fact check what they are sending her and (surprise!) finding that it’s all a bunch of horse shit. She even recently confided to my sister that she would 100% not vote for Trump again if he runs again. So… one down 69,999,999 to go?

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Oh yea and somewhat separately, to address the mask issue - wife and I are both fully vaxxed and well past the 2 weeks from second shot waiting period. We are fairly torn about it. I absolutely want to ditch the mask ASAP and I would do so but for the fact that we have a baby at home who is too young for the vaccine. I’d like to see some guidance on how likely vaccinated people are to spread Covid.

Our state dropped the mask mandates a week or so ago but during my one trip to the grocery store this past week everyone still had masks. Think we might see more of a gradual tapering off of mask wearing rather than the mass partying and burning of them I might have expected for this moment a year ago.

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One of my good friends just texted me to let me know that he had to visit back home in Pakistan.  His dad has just died from COVID, despite being vaccinated (Chinese version), and his mother is in the hospital battling it too.  I’m just crushed for him right now.

They did have hospital beds available in Karachi, and oxygen, etc, but his dad just declined very steeply after it seemed like he was improving. 

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Getting really concerned about the UK. Cases rising, teonareas of Scotland already kept on tier3 as rest goes to tier2 - we’re relaxing restrictions while cases rise as the Indian variant takes hold! Brits now jetting off abroad.

Will we see a rise in hospitalisations/deaths? Will the vaccines still be effective? Why the fuck was India not added to the red list when their variant appeared?? Why are we governed by fuckwits who’ve mismanaged this crisis since day1?

 

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There are other issues too that covid in India is affecting that affect ALL OF US.  Those include nobody availably at the tech help desks for really difficult issues at very high levels of mal-function in video and film editing programs like Adobe's Premiere Pro.  This can and does affect the production of our new tv and films.

 

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17 minutes ago, TrueMetis said:

Got my first shot yesterday, arm's a little sore but I've not noticed any other side effects. Should be getting my next shot June 14th.

I got the sore arm thing from both of the 2 shots and it was worst the day after. Did not get sick from the 2nd shot like some people, although some weird feelings here and there.

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Finally, good news about Medicago's vaccine, which is being combined with an adjuvant from GlaxoSmithKline. Partial results from the Phase 2 study were just released. The Phase 2 had 900 participants, 300 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 64, 300 healthy adults over the age of 65, and 300 adults with existing health conditions that may make them more at-risk if they get Covid-19. The latter group's results will be released later. The Phase 3 started on March 15 with 30,000 participants in Canada and the US and has been expanded to South America and elsewhere. Those results will be coming out early in the summer.

The Phase 2 showed stronger results in the younger group after the first shot, but equal results in both groups after the second shots (21 days apart). Adverse effects were stronger in younger participants, but they were all in the moderate category (no level 4 or 5 adverse effects).  Best of all, however, was that after 42 days the antibodies were 10 times higher than those in people who recovered from Covid-19.

The level of antibodies is the highest of any vaccine approved by Canada so far, much higher than the AZ and J&J vaccines and equal to or better than the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. It has the advantage that it can be stored at 2 degrees C.

I have giving two links, one from a mainstream media source and one with technical details.

https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/medicago-covid-19-vaccine-showing-promising-phase-ii-clinical-trial-results-1.5432381

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210517006031/en/Medicago-and-GSK-Announce-Positive-Interim-Phase-2-Results-for-Adjuvanted-COVID-19-Vaccine-Candidate

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As the vaccination levels (not to mention prior infection levels) rise in some countries, it makes it harder to conduct new trials because the trial participants will have less exposure to produce measurable relative benefit.  I noticed the reformulated Sanofi and GSK vaccines will conduct trials in Latin America in order to have that exposure.

BTW, my teenage son got his first vaccine jab (Pfizer) at the weekend.  They didn’t automatically schedule his second jab, but we’ll follow up on that.

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21 hours ago, Padraig said:

What also slightly concerns me is whether to trust the data being released.  Could COVID cases be going up but we don't know because we aren't getting the full picture anymore?  They say vaccination hasn't been affected but can we be sure?  They haven't updated their vaccination figures in recent days (not that updating a website is high priority but what else is awry?).

This is going to takes weeks to fully fix too (apparently).

I understand that the COVID architecture was on different (modern) systems and is mostly autonomous from HSe legacy infrastructure (thankfully). Easter didn’t appear to bounce that high so I don’t expect the previous (extension of travel limits, introduction of outside sports eg golf, tennis, limited amateur soccer, GAA etc) relaxation to bump much, and this weeks relaxation won’t show too next week. 
 

J was shouting with delight when told he could register for vaccine next week. He didn’t expect to be so moved. 

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50 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

Finally, good news about Medicago's vaccine, which is being combined with an adjuvant from GlaxoSmithKline.

That's great news.  Nice to see a new technology emerging.  Plant based vaccines sounds cool.  And GSK are finally having a good run too.  Sanofi released Phase 2 results recently also, which also uses a GSK adjuvant.

It will be very interesting to see how it's efficiacy compares to the mRNA, especially against variants.  Novavax also scored very well but the South African variant did challenge it.  Sounds positive right now for Medicago

The lack of freezing is less of a benefit now though.  Pfizer/Biontech are getting regulators to accept that it can be stored in normal fridges for 30 days.

1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said:

As the vaccination levels (not to mention prior infection levels) rise in some countries, it makes it harder to conduct new trials because the trial participants will have less exposure to produce measurable relative benefit

I read that Valneva's Phase 3 trial is based on comparing its performance with Astrazeneca.  The comparision is based on signs of immunogenicity, not actual demonstrated efficacy.  That's another way to do it I suppose

12 minutes ago, Deedles said:

Easter didn’t appear to bounce that high so I don’t expect the previous (extension of travel limits, introduction of outside sports eg golf, tennis, limited amateur soccer, GAA etc) relaxation to bump much, and this weeks relaxation won’t show too next week. 

Hopefully, just my paranioa.  But yes, we do seem to be making good progress now! :)

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The first case of the Indian mutation has been detected in my state. It also showed that lifting quarantine after 5 days if you test negative is flawed because the person did test negative at first and only got symptoms later but that is no surprise as real experts were always against that approach. 

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The Indian variant is here in the US too, though due to vaccination and season our numbers across the national board keep falling so everywhere is opening up completely and masking inside as well as out is supposed to be unnecessary -- for the vaccinated -- so we know how well the unvaccinated do masking. So  I expect things to change again in the fall.

In the meantime I keep seeing articles and podcasts and radio and tv programming about 'recovering from the traumas "and griefs of the pandemic."  

First, it seems to me, this pretty much can only be applied here in the USA, and maybe, parts? of England? As things are surging there with the India variant in the northeast.  

Second, again this applies only to those in the USA who have the really good fortune to have gone through all these months working from home, ordering in, etc. etc. etc.  The pain and horror of loss of everything from health to home continues without respite for so very many.

I resent these sorts of articles.  It's way too soon for them.  Particularly as new horrors corelated if not directly caused by the pandemic keep ratcheting up, like shootings and other violent criminal acts -- we won't even mention cops and politicians; for the latter, look at what Texas has done with the rights to women's reproductive health just this week.  And the ever increasing filth of NYC in the streets and sidewalks -- even as even 12 table restaurants have built out onto our sidewalks and streets to 40 - 60 - 80 even 100 tables, real estate getting a free ride here at our expense.  Literally at OUR expense.

There is an aspect of the pandemic trauma that is ours, that we the people of the US, actually suffer, is that this pandemic never had to be so awful, both here and everywhere else, if it wasn't for the years of traumatic abuse we were already experiencing from tRump and the rethugs.  They did it to us, the pandemic, ON PURPOSE.  But none of these articles, etc. ever mention this.  Feh.

Nevertheless, and particularly to due tRump, there is real continuing trauma and horror going on here in the USA from the pandemic.  This Atlantic Monthly piece says a lot about that.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/05/pandemic-trauma-summer/618934/

 

 

 

 

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