COVID 46 - Please disperse, nothing to see here!

[Raja]

14 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

 but fevers by themselves can be pretty hazardous for infants.

Not really. Let's pressume we are talking about infants here ( < 1 year old) but what I'm about to type applies to Fevers in children less than 5 years old. Not talking specifically about covid here, but fevers in general ( though I have seen plenty of under 5s with COVID)

Fever in children is one of the most common causes of presentation to Paediatric Emergency Departments everywhere, if not *the* most common presentation.

Anyone that has children will tell you that children get fevers all the fucking time, especially if they have just started nursery/ school, and during winters with RSV etc, infants get fevers all the time, sometimes the same infant having some sort of febrile illness 3 to 4 times within the same winter period.

Parents are rightly worried when their infant has a fever, but the fever itself isn't what is important here ( and spoiler alert, neither is how high the temperature gets), it's the *cause* of the fever. In infants, the majority of these causes are self limiting respiratory infections/ tonsillitis that just need time and supportive treatment and nothing else.

An Emergency department will discharge 7/10 of their infants that present with fever - fevers by themselves would not be of concern, unless they have lasted for a prolonged period of time or a source isn't found and there are other worrying features, the point is, by itself, it means very little and isn't hazardous. Fever alone, in isolation, wouldn't worry clinicians.

If an infant is eating & drinking normal amounts and is active, they can have high fevers and not require any sort of investigations and would be discharged home. In children of all ages, it is much more about the child in front of you as opposed to an isolated symptom.

Fevers in Neonates( i.e. those less than 28 days old), are generally more concerning. 

( Fevers can of course sometimes lead to febrile convulsions, but those are common and very benign)

[maarsen]

Granddaughter is doing much better today and drinking lots of fluids.  

[Week]

Another good thread from Zeynep underscoring the importance of continuing to push for the broad availability and uptake of vaccines.

 

 

[Zorral]

.... The number of known Covid-19 deaths around the world surpassed six million, according to data from the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University....

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/03/07/world/covid-19-mandates-cases-vaccine/covid-global-deaths-6-million

Quote

 

....  Public health experts agree that six million is a vast undercount and that the true devastation will never be precisely known. In Yemen, where a civil war has been raging for years, the government has reported only 2,100 deaths since the start of the pandemic while its population of 30 million is 99 percent unvaccinated.

“There’s a lot that we don’t know in places that don’t necessarily have the same infrastructure for fundamentally understanding the pandemic and reporting,” Dr. Blauer said.

Surges are still intensifying in Hong Kong, South Korea and New Zealand, but new death counts are dropping in many places as Omicron recedes. The world is averaging more than 7,000 new confirmed deaths a day, down from almost 11,000 a day in early February and the known pandemic peak of more than 14,000 a day in January 2021.

The death rate was “still far too high in the third year of this pandemic,” said Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, a top World Health Organization official.

Even the United States, with ample vaccine supply, has suffered the highest known total — more than 950,000 deaths — and failed to inoculate as much of its population as other wealthy nations. The White House unveiled a plan to help transition to what some are calling a “new normal,” but an average of about 1,500 Americans are still dying each day, around a year after vaccines became readily available, according to a New York Times database.  ....

 

 

[Zorral]

We have lifted all mandates here, as of today, including masks for students over age 5.

https://gothamist.com/news/an-omicron-subvariant-is-doubling-in-ny-just-as-mandates-lift

Quote

 

.... Known as BA.2, this virus is an offshoot, or sublineage, of the omicron variant that just swept through New York State. It’s like a kid sister, and some experts even call it “Omicron 2.” But it spreads about 30% faster than its sibling — BA.1 — and is just as severe, according to the World Health Organization.

Data from the New York State health department shows that BA.2 is quickly moving to dominate its viral kin. BA.2 is doubling in proportion statewide every two weeks and represents about one in 10 sequenced cases. This trend is backed up by similar data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the New York and New Jersey region. ....

 

 

[Padraig]

I have been wondering about the very high fatality rate in Denmark for a while.  I was wondering if BA.2 was causing it, even though other (highly vaccinated) countries weren't seeing such a serious jump.

Ends up, we have more problems counting deaths.  Other countries probably have similar issues.  I know people have recommended the excess mortality rate instead.  Glad it isn't as serious as it seemed, even though lots of people continue to die because of COVID every day.

This is an interesting article about it.

https://inews.co.uk/news/science/why-denmarks-covid-deaths-hospitalisations-going-up-lifts-pandemic-restrictions-1478566
 

Quote

In the early months of the pandemic, he explained, they needed a simple statistic which allowed them to track the number of people dying of Covid-19.  They chose the number of people dying within 30 days of a positive Covid test.  

...

The trouble is, late last year the Omicron wave started spreading extremely fast through a highly vaccinated population.

...

Instead of 90% of all Covid-positive deaths being caused by Covid-19, it’s now more like 30% – and the absolute number of deaths has not been going up. You can see this in SSI’s graphs on its website. “The 30-day number was a huge advantage in the early phase,” says Vestergaard. “But now we can see its limitations.”

 

[Luzifer's right hand]

People have been waving the flags of Russia at anti-measure protests last weekend.

Far right fucks being far right fucks.

[Heartofice]

1 hour ago, Luzifer's right hand said:

People have been waving the flags of Russia at anti-measure protests last weekend.

Far right fucks being far right fucks.

I'm really not understanding what the position of a right wing commentators is at the moment. There seems to be a number of odd conspiracy theories flying around that beggar belief. Some seem to be suggesting the war doesn't exist, some seem to be saying its all concocted by Biden for.. reasons.. some are saying its all a ploy to drive up energy prices. 

Covid and Ukraine has really exposed the loonies in the crowd.

[JGP]

Lithuania's canceled a planned shipment of 440,000 covid vaccines to Bangladesh after that country refused to join other nations in condemning Russia for its invasion.

Sooooo... that's horrible.
 

[Zorral]

27 minutes ago, JEORDHl said:

Lithuania's canceled a planned shipment of 440,000 covid vaccines to Bangladesh after that country refused to join other nations in condemning Russia for its invasion.

Sooooo... that's horrible.
 

Yes.  It is.

[Luzifer's right hand]

Just a few days after the MD we had as a health minister stepped down our vaccination mandate has been suspended. The start date for enforcement was the 15th. 

I'm sure the anti-measure folks are happy. 

Nobody is surprised by that move. I mean our far right police made it clear that they have zero interest in enforcing anything. 

I have lost all faith in my country a while ago and it does not change anything for me at this point.

Edit: As a happy coincidence we hit 47795 new infections today. The first real party weekend is providing the wanted increase in infections.  I wonder if we will hit 6 digits? Difficult to say as the anti-measure folks do not need to test for work or recreation anymore and outside of Vienna infections among that group will only be discovered when they seek medical attention. Vienna told the federal gov to go fuck itself and is sticking to a different approach. 

[Zorral]

Omicron is wreaking such havoc, such high death tolls, in Hong Kong.  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/09/hong-kong-covid-hospitals-morgues/

Naturally, today, we lift all safety protocols here in our state and city.

Also while the even more contagious variant on Omicron is doubling here at least every 10 days.

Then there is the situation with our covid-19 battle funding and resources are empty.  Biden wants more. Guess who doesn't want that?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/08/fund-biden-pandemic-roadmap/

Quote

 

.... The Biden administration released a comprehensive plan last week that’s been widely applauded — including by me — as a sound, evidence-based path out of the covid-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, it can’t be executed without additional coronavirus funding. Those opposed should be heard, but this process must not delay Congress’s approval of the White House’s $22.5 billion request.

“Nearly all” previously allocated funding has been used, according to the White House. The achievements accomplished by these resources are impressive: ensuring that more than 215 million Americans are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, purchasing 1.2 billion doses of vaccines for global distribution, ordering an initial 20 million courses of antiviral pills, securing 1 billion coronavirus tests to be distributed free to Americans, and other efforts in response to the delta and omicron surges.

Now, the White House is asking Congress for additional funding to purchase more vaccines and treatments, maintain existing testing capability and prepare for future variants.

This is a reasonable request. The resources approved in the past were never expected to cover pandemic costs in perpetuity. As the virus evolves, the response has to as well. We now have a road map to keep covid-19 under control; surely it makes sense to fully fund it.

Another way to think about this is to consider the consequences of not providing supplemental funding. Our supply of monoclonal antibodies will run out as early as May, an administration official told me, unless additional orders are placed soon. By July, the federal government expects to be out of Evusheld — a preventative antibody therapy to protect the immunocompromised that is already in short supply.  ....

 

 

[Zorral]

The antivaxers show their 100% assholery last night:

https://ny.eater.com/2022/3/9/22968735/dame-seafood-restaurant-anti-vaccination-mob-incident-nyc?_gl=1*m8o6xu*

What about the rights of owners of private property hmmmm?

I do wish we had a vomit emoji.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

 

[The Anti-Targ]

Some stats starting to develop now that Omicron is well entrenched here. 2.2% of unvaxed people are ending up in hospital, 0.5% of double vaxed people are ending up in hospital, 0.4% of boosted people are ending up in hospital. What is a bit hidden by those raw stats is that there are almost no unvaxed over 75s, and they are pretty much all double vaxed or boosted. The 70-74s are well over 95%. This means the unvaxed are heavily skewed to the younger ages that tend to experience milder illness. Yet there is still a 2.2% hospitalisation rate (probably still heavily dominated by the over 40s I imagine).

Govt has said that it will start announcing death stats differentiating death from COVID and death with COVID. Announcement today was 34 confirmed deaths from COVID but did not specify whether that was for the entire pandemic or only the omicron outbreak, or whether it was COVID only or included COVID as contributory. 34 seems a mite low for the entire pandemic of COVID only+contributory given the previous official death count was 52 from OG COVID and Delta.

Local school where my wife teaches piano will be closed next week because too many teachers off with COVID.

[RhaenysBee]

On 3/8/2022 at 6:04 PM, JEORDHl said:

Lithuania's canceled a planned shipment of 440,000 covid vaccines to Bangladesh after that country refused to join other nations in condemning Russia for its invasion.

Sooooo... that's horrible.
 

This is sad and shameful. 

[The Anti-Targ]

I guess on the less negative side, 440,000 vaccines for Bangladesh might as well be none. Because rounded to the nearest whole % of the population of Bangladesh 440,000 = 0%.

Still, it's bad form for pandemic fighting medical supplies to be held hostage to being on the same side on the Russia vs Ukraine question.

[Zorral]

7 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

it's bad form for pandemic fighting medical supplies to be held hostage to being on the same side on the Russia vs Ukraine question.

It is worse than bad form.  It's inhuman.  It's also out-and-out stupid, particularly on a globe being torn up by war refugee populations, because bombs and borders are meaningless when it comes to pandemic virii.  When it comes to pandemic virii, we are all in this together.

Looking at the news and numbers out of Asia and so many other regions, while we all simultaneously declare covid is over and burn the masks and refuse boostering and even a first vaccination, it seems inevitable that at least by the fall again, we're in for another massive wave that will make winter of 2020 look relatively benign.

[Zorral]

Just saw this:

"Covid cases and hospital admissions rising in England, data suggests
Increase in infections to estimated one in 25 people follows similar trend in Scotland"

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/11/covid-cases-england-omicron-levels-ons-data

This is particularly interesting due to yesterday's experience and conversations with the people at the hair stylists' we go to.  Got my first hair cut in months.  All official masking etc. mandates have, as said, been, abolished here.  However, I wore a mask, and so did all the stylists.  They won't do heads who won't mask, they said, no matter what the governor and mayor say.  The stylists have been working throughout the pandemic, starting in the summer of 2020, before we had vaccinations.  They masked religiously, as well as conducting all the constant deep cleaning of premises, once it could re-open (I went there then), one stylist, one customer at a time.  None of them in all this time have had a cold or flu, and certainly not covid.  They are in such close proximity to heads, which means mouths and noses, they are not about to give up the procedures that have kept them healthy all this time, no matter what governor and mayor say -- and they watch the covid news as religiously as I do. So they too are expecting another wave as inevitable.  One which this time will likely shut down the salon per se again.
 

[Derfel Cadarn]

New covid treatment 

https://news.sky.com/story/covid-19-new-study-could-lead-to-life-saving-treatment-for-severe-cases-12560046