Covid 47: Waving Invisibly

[mcbigski]

 

12 hours ago, Zorral said:

Moderna says new trial results show that a revised vaccine works better against Omicron.
The findings indicate that the updated vaccine produced a significantly stronger immune response against Omicron, but it is unclear how it will fare against future versions of the virus.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/08/us/politics/moderna-vaccine-omicron-variant.html

~~~~~~~~~~~

Two new versions of Omicron are gaining ground in the U.S., according to C.D.C. estimates.
The spread of the subvariants adds more uncertainty to the trajectory of the pandemic in the United States.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/06/08/world/covid-19-mandates-vaccine-cases#omicron-ba4-ba5-variant

 

Oh.  Well if Moderna says so then let's all get 3 shots of it. Plus the children too. 

sarcasm.

On the plus side, if it's actually tailored the current variant that's going around, that's got to be a way better solution than repeating a shot tailored to a basically extinct 3 year old version of covid.

Would still like to see how significant "significantly stronger" is in actual terms. Still think that getting an earlier version is still better defense than what you get from being mRNA triple shotted against one protein of the original virus.

[Padraig]

An Omicron focused vaccine seems inevitable.  The only question is how wide will be the distribution.  And I imagine it will be offered quite widely next winter.  Europe is having another wave right now, to remind people that this virus hasn't gone away.  It started in Portugal a few weeks ago (I think), where it has now peaked but other countries are now seeing a rise in cases.

Sure, they can't guarantee what future variant will arise but right now we are going from one Omicron variant to the next Omicron variant.  Assuming the next wave is going to be related to Omicron seems reasonable.  And with Moderna, its bivalent anyhow, so it still has some of the original vaccine.

[Zorral]

Covid and Race
The death rate for white Americans has recently exceeded the rates for Black, Latino and Asian Americans.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/09/briefing/covid-race-deaths-america.html

.... But these large racial gaps in vaccination have not continued — and as a result, neither have the gaps in Covid death rates.

Instead, Covid’s racial gaps have narrowed and, more recently, even flipped. Over the past year, the Covid death rate for white Americans has been 14 percent higher than the rate for Black Americans and 72 percent higher than the Latino rate, according to the latest C.D.C. data. ....

.... The partisan factor
As I mentioned above, the narrowing of Covid’s gaps does involve some bad news: The share of white Americans who have received a Covid vaccine shot has barely budged since last summer.

The main culprit is politics. Only about 60 percent of Republican adults are vaccinated, compared with about 75 percent of independents and more than 90 percent of Democrats, according to Kaiser. And Republicans are both disproportionately white and older. Together, these facts help explain why the white death rate has recently been higher than the Asian, Black or Latino rate.

In heavily conservative, white communities, leaders have not done as good a job explaining the vaccine’s benefits — and Covid’s risks — as leaders in Black and Latino communities. Instead, many conservative media figures, politicians, clergy members and others have amplified false or misleading information about the vaccines. Millions of Americans, in turn, have chosen not to receive a lifesaving shot. Some have paid with their lives. ....

[mcbigski]

11 hours ago, Zorral said:

 

In heavily conservative, white communities, leaders have not done as good a job explaining the vaccine’s benefits — and Covid’s risks — as leaders in Black and Latino communities. Instead, many conservative media figures, politicians, clergy members and others have amplified false or misleading information about the vaccines. Millions of Americans, in turn, have chosen not to receive a lifesaving shot. Some have paid with their lives. ....

So this is a good thing overall, right?  (Assuming it's true, which OK I'm skeptical.)

[VigoTheCarpathian]

14 minutes ago, mcbigski said:

So this is a good thing overall, right?  (Assuming it's true, which OK I'm skeptical.)

It’s a national f**king tragedy. Same as it was when the disparities swung the other way - it’s American people dying needlessly.  Through ignorant pigheadedness and following idiots’ opinion over common sense and science and unity.  A colossal waste of life and the farthest from a “good thing”.  
 

Or are you just trying to conjure into being what it would look like if the grave-dancing shoe was on the other foot, so you can feel hypothetically self-righteous?

[mcbigski]

21 minutes ago, VigoTheCarpathian said:

Through ignorant pigheadedness and following idiots’ opinion over common sense and science and unity. 

I don't think valuing science while also valuing unity works from a science point of view.  Facts are stubborn, as they say.  Almost everyone saying "trust the science" has no idea how skepticism advances knowledge.  They just are largely glomming on to the side that they are told is smrt.

[Padraig]

7 hours ago, mcbigski said:

Almost everyone saying "trust the science" has no idea how skepticism advances knowledge.

I have to say.  The skepticism of your average truck driver/banker/celebrity etc. towards science has no impact on the advancement of science (except if they are willing to pay scientists to do research).

Now scientists asking questions about science?  That is what you should be thinking of.  But me asking questions about topics I know almost nothing about?  Only fills the internet with more rubbish!

[maarsen]

1 hour ago, Padraig said:

I have to say.  The skepticism of your average truck driver/banker/celebrity etc. towards science has no impact on the advancement of science (except if they are willing to pay scientists to do research).

Now scientists asking questions about science?  That is what you should be thinking of.  But me asking questions about topics I know almost nothing about?  Only fills the internet with more rubbish!

Not quite. You asking the questions is entirely reasonable. The filling the internet with rubbish starts when those who know little expound a lot.

[Zorral]

Intention of forewarning was supposed to lead to being forearmed, but covid's over, nobody dies, goes to the hospital, gets sick, and besides it never happened, and moreover all that masking, vaxxing, distancing etc. were useless against getting sick.  Besides those who get it and died are old, ugly and not white so there, who cares, or needs to care.

Covid infections on the rise in England and Northern Ireland
UK could be entering third Covid wave this year but trend represents ‘small increase’ in positive tests

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/10/covid-infections-on-the-rise-in-england-and-northern-ireland

Quote

 

The UK may be entering its third wave of coronavirus this year, researchers warn, as official figures show infections are on the rise again in England and Northern Ireland.

The Office for National Statistics said its latest analysis of swabs from households across Britain revealed a mixed picture with a “small increase” in positive tests in England and Northern Ireland, while the trend in Wales and Scotland remained unclear.

The ONS data, which give the most reliable picture of the state of the UK outbreak, suggest that the steady fall in infections over recent months may have gone into reverse as cases are driven up by the more transmissible BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron variants. ....

 

 

[Heartofice]

2 hours ago, Zorral said:

Intention of forewarning was supposed to lead to being forearmed, but covid's over, nobody dies, goes to the hospital, gets sick, and besides it never happened, and moreover all that masking, vaxxing, distancing etc. were useless against getting sick.  Besides those who get it and died are old, ugly and not white so there, who cares, or needs to care.

Covid infections on the rise in England and Northern Ireland
UK could be entering third Covid wave this year but trend represents ‘small increase’ in positive tests

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/10/covid-infections-on-the-rise-in-england-and-northern-ireland

 

Why did you miss out the most important bit of that article 

Quote

“It is important to emphasise that we are better placed immunologically to counter much of the potential for severe disease than we were in 2020 or 2021 due to widespread vaccinations,” Griffin said. “As we enter, astonishingly, our third wave of 2022, a complex pattern of immunity exists induced by vaccines, boosters and prior infection.”

Oh I know why 

[Week]

Must be pretty sweet for the immunocompromised and anyone unwilling or unable to be vaccinated. We've also seen no issue with variants stemming from cases burning through the population from wildfire. Should be no big deal.

I'd love if the ignore feature could mute reactions. Alas. I'll never know what was so confusing.

[Heartofice]

22 minutes ago, Week said:

Must be pretty sweet for the immunocompromised and anyone unwilling or unable to be vaccinated. We've also seen no issue with variants stemming from cases burning through the population from wildfire. Should be no big deal.

Broken record mate. I’m not going to keep asking you the same questions in response because you always run away every time. 

[Zorral]

Fools can only do fool, yannno?  So ignore is all that can be done.  Mostly.

[Heartofice]

I hear Shanghai is nice this time of year.  

[Fragile Bird]

I did a fuller story in the Canadian Politics thread, but Justin Bieber, who tested positive for Covid back in February, has cancelled shows because he has developed Hunt Ramsay Syndrome. It causes facial paralysis and can affect a person’s voice, although I saw a video he’s done about it and his voice sounds fine.

It’s a syndrome that’s very rare in young people, usually affecting older people and those with compromised immune systems. It’s caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox and shingles. I am expecting that someone will confirm that his bout with Covid compromised his immune system and made him vulnerable. Recovery chances are excellent.

Folks, maybe we all need to get the shingles vaccine. I’ve had the original one, which is only 50% effective, and I’ve been meaning to get the more recent one, which is about 95% effective.

[Zorral]

A Negative COVID Test Has Never Been So Meaningless
A string of negatives can still presage a clear-as-day positive

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/06/is-my-negative-covid-test-accurate/661242/I

Quote

 

n early May, 27-year-old Hayley Furmaniuk felt tired and a bit congested, but after rapid-testing negative for the coronavirus two days in a row, she dined indoors with friends. The next morning, her symptoms worsened. Knowing her parents were driving in for Mother’s Day, she tested again—and saw a very bright positive. Which meant three not-so-great things: She needed to cancel with her parents; she had likely exposed her friends; a test had apparently taken three days to register what her vaccinated body had already figured out.

Tests are not and never have been perfect, but since around the rise of Omicron, the problem of delayed positivity has gained some prominence. In recent months, many people have logged strings of negatives—three, four, even five or more days in a row—early in their COVID-symptom course. “I think it’s become more common,” says Amesh Adalja, an infectious-disease physician at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

No one can yet say how common these early negatives are, or who’s most at risk. But if SARS-CoV-2 is rewriting the early-infection playbook, “that makes it really scary,” says Susan Butler-Wu, a clinical microbiologist at USC’s Keck School of Medicine. “You can’t test and get a negative and actually know you’re negative.” Misleading negatives could hasten the spread of the virus; they could delay treatments premised on a positive test result. They also buck the current COVID dogma: Test as soon as you feel sick. The few days around the start of symptoms are supposed to be when the virus inside you is most detectable and transmissible; we built an entire edifice of testing and isolation on that foundation.

Experts aren’t sure why delayed positives are happening; it’s likely that population immunity, viral mutations, and human behavior all have some role. Regardless, the virus is “acting differently from a symptom perspective for sure,” says Emily Martin, an infectious-disease epidemiologist at the University of Michigan. That’s worth paying attention to. The start of symptoms has always been a bit of a two-step: Is it COVID, or not? If SARS-CoV-2 is re-choreographing its moves, we must too—or risk losing our footing. ....

 

 

[Kalbear]

After 2 1/2 years of success our family got a positive test - our eldest son got it. That's been the worst case scenario for a while given his previous struggle with cancer and we were extra worried. While he felt like crap for a couple of days he has basically recovered completely now, so that's reassuring.

Both me and my wife tested negative, though both of us have felt like garbage too. 

[Luzifer's right hand]

20 minutes ago, KalVsWade said:

After 2 1/2 years of success our family got a positive test - our eldest son got it. That's been the worst case scenario for a while given his previous struggle with cancer and we were extra worried. While he felt like crap for a couple of days he has basically recovered completely now, so that's reassuring.

Both me and my wife tested negative, though both of us have felt like garbage too. 

I'm glad to hear that your son recovered completely.

[Zorral]

1 hour ago, KalVsWade said:

While he felt like crap for a couple of days he has basically recovered completely now, so that's reassuring.

Both me and my wife tested negative, though both of us have felt like garbage too. 

Yes -- very glad to hear your son has completely recovered.  Whew!  Sorry though that you and your wife have felt so awful.

A middle-aged couple we know moved to Utah last summer to be with children -- big family reunion last month.  They both got covid, though didn't test positive until several days deep into sick.  She's feeling a lot better, though still exhausted.  He's still doing very poorly -- very bad cough, intermittent spiking fevers, aches, and can't get out of bed.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

2 hours ago, KalVsWade said:

After 2 1/2 years of success our family got a positive test - our eldest son got it. That's been the worst case scenario for a while given his previous struggle with cancer and we were extra worried. While he felt like crap for a couple of days he has basically recovered completely now, so that's reassuring.

Both me and my wife tested negative, though both of us have felt like garbage too. 

Also glad to hear the kiddo is doing better.

My experience has been the same. Both people I live with tested positive and did so not long after they felt ill. I've had the exact same extreme fatigue and a mild cough/sore throat they first experienced and have tested negative four times now, three rapid tests and one PCR. Hard to explain.