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Covid 47: Waving Invisibly


Zorral

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33 minutes ago, Raja said:

A random preprint, of a terrible study, does not reopen the debate at all. I do not understand why it would. Deeply flawed studies do not count, and I wish people would consider that before stating what you have stated above.

The article I linked clearly disregards the pre-print study as making any contribution to the origin discussion. The article is specifically about the problem of how the media treats pre-prints and often treats them with the same credibility as published peer reviewed studies, as if the peer review process is really just a rubber stamp.

So the point of my post was not that this pre-print re-opens discussion. What the article does say is that the origin discussion is still somewhat open amongst the scientific community in the relevant fields, which was news to me. I was perhaps not clear in saying that the pre-print is not the basis for what I said. 

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A friend and his spouse just had COVID and the proper flu like symptoms they had cleared really quickly after Paxlovid. Both have different kinds of heart problems but it is generally really easy to get a prescription here.

Just interesting to me because they are the first people I know that went for it. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Waiting to pay at the supermarket, it was clear the person ahead of me, maskless, of course, was suffering from something-or-other, whether a cold, covid or flu I don't know.

I was masked.  I stayed far back (fortunately this was the 10 items or less register, and this, the day before Thanksgiving, very few people had 10 items or less in their carts).

When I got my items to the cashier, I was wearing gloves.  I didn't want to touch the card reader with bare hands.

Thinking of the above while reading this:

The Pandemic Broke the Flu ... Again
COVID knocked flu, RSV, and other respiratory diseases out of whack. When will they be back to normal?
By Katherine J. Wu

 

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4 hours ago, Zorral said:

Waiting to pay at the supermarket, it was clear the person ahead of me, maskless, of course, was suffering from something-or-other, whether a cold, covid or flu I don't know.

I was masked.  I stayed far back (fortunately this was the 10 items or less register, and this, the day before Thanksgiving, very few people had 10 items or less in their carts).

When I got my items to the cashier, I was wearing gloves.  I didn't want to touch the card reader with bare hands.

Thinking of the above while reading this:

The Pandemic Broke the Flu ... Again
COVID knocked flu, RSV, and other respiratory diseases out of whack. When will they be back to normal?
By Katherine J. Wu

 

Back home it did feel like people really doubled down on being as sick as possible in public. Not the I ever assumed that sick people masking would ever become a thing.

Currently I'm in Ho Ci Minh City and many people mask because of air pollution especially in or near traffic.  Although a lot do seem to be masking for COVID reasons too and service/sales personal seems to mask most of the time.

When you see ancient Vietnamese people sitting with a mask in 35°C with insane humidity your really realize what a bunch of weak liars a lot of people at home are who did not even accept short masking in stores and public transport when we had mandates.

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6 hours ago, Zorral said:

Waiting to pay at the supermarket, it was clear the person ahead of me, maskless, of course, was suffering from something-or-other, whether a cold, covid or flu I don't know.

I was masked.  I stayed far back (fortunately this was the 10 items or less register, and this, the day before Thanksgiving, very few people had 10 items or less in their carts).

When I got my items to the cashier, I was wearing gloves.  I didn't want to touch the card reader with bare hands.

Thinking of the above while reading this:

The Pandemic Broke the Flu ... Again
COVID knocked flu, RSV, and other respiratory diseases out of whack. When will they be back to normal?
By Katherine J. Wu

 

In the UK, contactless card readers have been a big help

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3 hours ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

In the UK, contactless card readers have been a big help

That and paying by phone has become pretty mainstream during the pandemic here. By card you still need to enter your pin every 5 transactions or so here though and  if you spend more than 50€.

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38 minutes ago, Luzifer's right hand said:

That and paying by phone has become pretty mainstream during the pandemic here. By card you still need to enter your pin every 5 transactions or so here though and  if you spend more than 50€.

Use a pen, or the end of a key, or something similar to enter the PIN.

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So I have had two near misses with Covid in the past few months and since I did not get it in either situation its making me almost a bit "I'm never going to get Covid" minded.  But I am the paranoid sort and I don't want to jinx myself so I'll say I feel like I could get it and I've just been lucky so far.

Back in August one of my co-workers got it.  Three others in the office caught it from him.  I tested myself in the days after but nothing.  Except - my lymph node in my left underarm was very irritated swollen feeling for a week when I would have tested positive if I was going to.  I chalked it up to the vaccinees and boosters and because I was the only person still wearing a mask in the office when interacting with anyone.

However, my dad came down with Covid last month.  I ate with him every day in the days leading up to him testing positive and in one instance took a drink out of his glass and quite luckily neither my mother nor I caught it.  Again I had the irritated lymph node for a week , however.  But at that point it had been 5 months since my last booster and I was not wearing a mask around my dad so.....who knows! 

While I might never come down with Covid, I do know I can come down with colds and the flu and I have not had either since 2019 and I have quite enjoyed that so I will just keep on masking when around people in the office and on public transportation and in grocery stores and other germ carrying prone interiors. Plus Chicago in winter can be COLD and I have found masks are way better than wrapping scarves around your face for keeping your face toasty in frigid temperatures, so I'll even wear them outside sometime still.

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On 11/24/2022 at 1:37 AM, Derfel Cadarn said:

In the UK, contactless card readers have been a big help

One never knows here which system one will get as retail and food places all have different ones.

The only consistency is that CVS's cashierless system does not and never does work.

Whereas, otoh, both my favorite wine emporiums are contactless, the supermarket's involves me putting in my number by hand. It's wasn't that which bothered me so much, it was whatever molecules and droplets that person ahead of me was breathing into the air, and her touching every surface, while yet, somehow, unable to tear herself away from her fone screen, and even leave the register once her transaction was completed.

~~~~~

Another subject: we see the sad little person has resumed dropping turds where others dare to step!  :rofl:

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Thanx, Charlie!

This is good to know.

COVID-19 vaccination associated with 15% reduction in stillbirths in pregnant women
A new research paper, published today in Nature Communications, shows that COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy using mRNA vaccines is associated with a 15% reduction in stillbirths.

https://www.rcog.org.uk/news/covid-19-vaccination-associated-with-15-reduction-in-stillbirths-in-pregnant-women/

Quote

 

The paper also shows that vaccination in pregnancy is 90% effective against COVID-19 infection and is safe, with no increased risk in adverse outcomes for women or their babies.

The study, led by researchers from St George’s, University of London and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, reviewed 23 studies including 117,552 COVID-19 vaccinated pregnant women, almost exclusively with mRNA vaccines, such as those produced by Pfizer and Moderna.

The research provides much-needed assurance to women of the safety and benefits of COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy. Despite the fact that vaccine uptake in pregnancy in England increased from 23% in August 2021 to 53% in December 2021, nearly half of all pregnant women in the latest data have not yet received this vaccine**. One of the reasons that women often give for this hesitancy is concern about the effect of the vaccine on their baby.

 

....

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https://twitter.com/ScienceMagazine/status/1598414246416629761?s=20&t=S5eXqCFCcPcL8IKM--aFdg

Very very interesting study. Haven't had time to properly read and digest, but is evidence that Omicron evolved in isolation in West Africa, rather than suddenly emerging from an immunocompromised / animal host. That was always one of the options, though was largely dismissed given how interconnected the world is.

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Partner tested positive this morning, after feeling not so good yesterday and waking up feeling same.  So far symptoms mild, but ?  Waiting for pharmacy to re-open and get Pax.  I tested negative, but it surely is only a matter of time for me too, considering how closely we live and sleep.

Well, there is not a single place in NYC where the risk of Covid isn't High > Extremely High.

And even so, Friday, I was feeling confident enough I gave the go ahead to buy the tickets to Spain and back for March. Now, I dunno.  Of course, we've bought the tix, and have reservations in various places already in the 6 cities we're going to for prospecting music.

The small apartment now reeks of disinfectant like in ye olde days of 2020.

 

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1 hour ago, Zorral said:

Partner tested positive this morning, after feeling not so good yesterday and waking up feeling same.  So far symptoms mild, but ?  Waiting for pharmacy to re-open and get Pax.  I tested negative, but it surely is only a matter of time for me too, considering how closely we live and sleep.

Well, there is not a single place in NYC where the risk of Covid isn't High > Extremely High.

And even so, Friday, I was feeling confident enough I gave the go ahead to buy the tickets to Spain and back for March. Now, I dunno.  Of course, we've bought the tix, and have reservations in various places already in the 6 cities we're going to for prospecting music.

The small apartment now reeks of disinfectant like in ye olde days of 2020.

 

Not necessarily. My aunt got covid, my uncle didnt (tho after she tested positive they stayed apart as much as possible).

I was + couple months ago, but wife and daughter stayed negetive. They actually had a cold and worse symptoms rhan me, but tests all- so assuming they had different virus

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Pax is amazing!  It doesn't cure, of course, but it sure does mitigate the misery of the symptoms' expression. 

Partner took the first dose last evening, and by about 3 AM the coughing stopped, so did the slight fever. Why yes, I was awake then so I noticed.  Sleeping with a mask (both of us) is not particularly conducive for rest, but when the coughing stopped, I was able to sleep to.  The one symptom Pax doesn't treat is the fatigue, so sleep hits whether one wishes it to or not.  So Partner is working right now -- having received just this AM notification that the necessary Board approved a Big Project for the Biz.

I cannot go into work, of course. Though again, negative.

 

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We still haven’t had COVID.  We’re consistent in our precautions at home but my work gradually adds more risk.  I thought my business trip to London in November or the two-day conference in NYC last week would get me, but fine so far.  I have another conference in Miami this week so that’ll surely be the one that gets me just before the holidays.

My wife got Enovid, a nasal spray prophylactic (nitric oxide), for us these past few weeks.  I don’t know whether to attribute any assistance to that since we had already managed to avoid COVID through our own precautions for almost three years. 

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1 hour ago, Iskaral Pust said:

We still haven’t had COVID.

This blows my mind, man. We'd avoided it for almost two years before a spat put our daughters back in public school. There was no avoiding it then, not in the small borderline rural schools we got here, schools that both levels of government don't care enough about. I still mask when out. 

We've had it twice.

Good for you, man. These conferences are just that time of year, are they're now unavoidable, or? 

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I'm going to remain optimistic in also saying my wife and I have also avoided COVID so far. I am still only going into the office once a week and I am not doing right by the environment or my wallet by driving in instead of taking public transport. But we are more at risk now of catching COVID than at any other time in the last 3 years except for Feb-April this year. My vaccinated colleague got COVID almost 3 weeks ago on her second day of taking annual leave and she's still got symptoms so is looking likely to be a long-COVD case.

Fortunately we have reasonably generous sick leave provisions in the public service, for those with 10+ years, so she probably has about 2 months or more of sick leave available to her, which will allow her hopefully plenty of time to get recovered and still have some sick leave left over. I just need to not suffer from some stress induced illness while I cover for her as well as do my job. I hope she's recovers enough to be able to enjoy the Christmas/New Year break at least.

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