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Coronavirus 7: Ring in Delta Plus and then Omicron Takes Over


Coconut Flan

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I think I'm doing this on my own.  I was in a J & J Janssen two-dose study starting in August 2020, with a 2nd dose Nov. 2020.  In Dec. 2021, I found out I was ineligible for a booster through the study because I've begun taking immune suppressing meds for rheumatoid arthritis. I ended my study affiliation right away and the next week I was at my little neighborhood pharmacy getting my first Pfizer dose. My 2nd Pfizer dose is Tuesday, and I'll get the Pfizer or Moderna booster on schedule. 

I had no reactions to the original J & J doses and no side effects from the first Pfizer dose.  

I'm  a study participant in Texas Cares (Coronavirus Antibody REsponse Survey),  giving blood samples at 3 month intervals, which are checked for Covid antibody status. The first two blood draws showed I did have good antibody levels in comparison with my friends in the study, but there's no data on how antibody levels correlate to resistance to covid infection. 

I feel very good about getting the 2nd Pfizer, but daaaaaamn, I'm paranoid about Omicron.  Restaurants are still open and going strong.  Lots of vaxxed face book friends are drinking beer at brewpubs and eating out, I guess assuming they are protected. 

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10 hours ago, Howl said:

I feel very good about getting the 2nd Pfizer, but daaaaaamn, I'm paranoid about Omicron.  Restaurants are still open and going strong.  Lots of vaxxed face book friends are drinking beer at brewpubs and eating out, I guess assuming they are protected. 

Congratulations on your 2nd booster shot and good antibody levels!

I know lots of people who avoided Covid in the last two years and got infected in this current wave. All double/triple vaxxed. I read somewhere that 2 doses of the vaccine aren‘t effective anymore against preventing infection with Omicron because of immune invasion. Still good at preventing severe infection tough. Idefinitely wouldn‘t be out eating/drinking in restaurants and pubs now.

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Sadly one of those people I know from work who have an immediate family member in the hospital with Covid said family member is now an event. Also one of my random collection of Internet friends that I’ve gathered over the year as a husband in the hospital with it as well.

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USA TODAY did a story on them too:

What's the Center for COVID Control? Questionable sites spotlight nation's thirst for quick testing

Quote

CHICAGO – Out of a small generator-powered shack on the city's north side, a man periodically emerges to hand COVID-19 testing kits to people waiting in cars or shivering in the parking lot.

As he opens the door, piles of plastic bags, apparently grouped by test type, can be seen in crates on the ground. He encourages test-takers to scan a QR code with their phones, fill out an online form with identifying information and write a digitally-generated string of numbers on a paper sheet inside the plastic test kit bag.

Test-takers swab their noses and hand over the bags, free of charge. Some say they receive results many days later than promised – if they hear back at all.

As Americans nationwide continue to scramble for access to quick, reliable COVID-19 tests amid a national shortage, state and local authorities are warning residents to be on the lookout for fraudulent pop-up sites trying to scam people out of money and personal information. Some regretful test-takers spoke to USA TODAY about a particular string of testing centers: the so-called "Center for COVID Control."

The Center for COVID Control operates more than 300 locations across at least 29 states, according to the company's website. The locations pop up on Google maps searches with minimal information about the testing site beyond location and hours. The website claims the company is "partnered with a CDC approved & licensed laboratory" but does not specify which lab.

A Twitter account linking to the website has no followers and was created in March of last year. "We also offer rapid test for $100," the Twitter bio says.

An Instagram account linked from the website goes by the handle "freecovidtest" and first began posting in December, 2020. Multiple users have commented on posts to the account, calling the testing site a "scam" and "fake."

 

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3 hours ago, Cartmann99 said:

I'll be interested to find out who's behind this operation.  Also curious re. what types of personal information they collect.

If the tests are free, I wonder how the "Center"s have been getting their costs covered...

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Had booster yesterday, which made today's four hours of successive meetings highly entertaining (felt like I was operating on 40-60% capacity all day). I have so much work, and I am crashing out early tonight to sleep.

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I think NSW will record somewhere in the 100,000-150,000 cases range today, since RATs were able to be registered from yesterday. The post-logging from January 1 will be enormous. 

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92,000+ cases, with 78,000 RATs being registered since yesterday morning - however some of those will be included in tomorrow’s numbers. 

I really thought it would be much higher.

 

edit: stats from the news -

Of the massive new number, 61,387 were RAT results that dated back to January 1, with NSW Health saying 50,729 of them were from the past seven days.

NSW Health also said some people had recorded multiple positive RAT results, while there was also some crossover between people who recorded a positive RAT, and then received a PCR test.

Edited by adidas
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2 hours ago, Coconut Flan said:

Texas again shows us how not to pandemic:

I live in a metroplex of 2 million people in Central Texas.  Government entities are not doing squat.  Our fucking moron state attorney general, indicted criminal Ken Paxton, fired up a lawsuit to "protect" National Guard members from required vaccination. 

Some stores request that patrons wear a mask, but it's optional. Restaurants are open.  Typically cashiers and employees wear masks.  At Trader Joe's this morning, all employees were wearing masks, and about 80% of shoppers were masked. 

This is a "relatively" progressive area, and most people mask up, but there are still some that don't.  When you go into rural areas, many people are not masked. 

 

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Meanwhile Hillsong in Australia are a super special bunch to whom the rules don't apply.

Seriously, fuck them. Allegedly they got supplied with "requisitioned" RATs so they could run their "totally not a music festival church camp" safely. Meanwhile RAT supply in the rest of the eastern states is patchy at best. To be fair the Scouts ran a major event a week ago - but it followed the state rules, their covid plan worked reasonably well from what I hear, in that yes, they had cases but it doesn't seem to have been a super-spreader event that I've heard of so far. But for Hillsong to run a singing/dancing event when music festivals have had to cancel is just annoying.

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Random signs of the times:

We were waiting for the start of the Stanford vs. WSU basketball game.  It was delayed an hour awaiting the results of Covid tests.  They eventually got the all clear.

Our daughter was invited to dinner at some friends.  The friends dropped off Covid tests for our daughter and son-in-law to use before arriving, plus provided results of their own negative tests.

My husband is engaging in wishful thinking about skiing again in Canada.  Not only are there testing requirements to go through the border, but the ski resort itself is having to set up additional testing.  We are getting reports that some acquaintances have been delayed getting on the slopes by a day as they get further testing.

We don’t have any at-home testing kits, but I’m thinking it’s time to maybe pick up a few, just in case.  Does anyone here keep tests on hand and, if so, recommendations? I’m just getting into a new learning curve on personal testing, so pardon my ignorance. 

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I have to test to visit my mother and keep Binax kits for that.  Thank goodness I bought before the rush.  My daughter has used those and I think ihealth from Amazon as those were given out at the kids' school, too.  

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15 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

We don’t have any at-home testing kits, but I’m thinking it’s time to maybe pick up a few, just in case.  Does anyone here keep tests on hand and, if so, recommendations? I’m just getting into a new learning curve on personal testing, so pardon my ignorance. 

Yes I stocked up on them since it‘s getting harder and harder to get a timely PCR test. I have the Flowflex since it‘s better than the one from Roche. What I recommend is to swab your throat and then your nose. There are some reports on Twitter that Omicron replicates first in the throat and then the nose. Here‘s a video on how to swab your throat 

 

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15 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

We don’t have any at-home testing kits, but I’m thinking it’s time to maybe pick up a few, just in case.  Does anyone here keep tests on hand and, if so, recommendations? I’m just getting into a new learning curve on personal testing, so pardon my ignorance. 

We bought some before the holidays and my fiance, his mom, my mom, and I all took them on Christmas Eve, just to make sure we were OK to visit all day. That brand was QuickVue at home. My state handed out thousands of free tests before Christmas and New Year's Eve on a first come, first served basis on scheduled days (they ran out every day after a few hours). I went early on the 28th and was able to score some- Binax brand. They were giving out 2 kits, so 4 tests, per household.

I'm glad we have them on hand, as I work in-person and was not feeling well on Monday and could test before going to work (it was negative!).

This week, my state let folks request tests online to be mailed to them- again, 2 kits per household. This is a brand I've not used before, I think it's called Say YES! They're supposed to arrive within 1-2 weeks.

Both brands I have used have been very easy to follow!

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This is an interview with a California doctor I've followed through most of the pandemic and usually agreed with him.  He's talking about getting back to somewhat normal after Omicron fades and no nasty variety follows.

https://www.sfgate.com/coronavirus/article/Bob-Wachter-talks-life-post-COVID-16770323.php

I'm immunocompromised and at first felt a bit slighted, but then went eh yes in 2019 before all this I did sometimes toss on a surgical mask if I was going to be around a lot of people indoors in cold and flu season.  I was careful about shopping and my doctor had already ruled out church during cold and flu season.  So no I didn't expect the world to change for me and I was already looking out for myself. With a lower level of COVID it won't be that much different.  It's good to think about it.  

Edited by Coconut Flan
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Unfortunately Bob Wachter doesn‘t speak about Long Covid in the linked article. We don’t know yet how being vaccinated decreases the possibility of getting Long Covid. Covid is not just a matter of mild, severe sickness or death but also how many people this disease disables - even if the initial infection is mild. I wish all those people would wait with predictions of getting back to normal until we have a better understanding what Long Covid is and how we can cure it.

 

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There is that, too.  Risk tolerance and judgment of it is going to be a part of us for quite sometime.  I'm the strictest COVID avoider on our street.  I think one neighbor may have/have had long COVID.  I haven't seen her outside in months.  They're anti-vaxxers so perhaps could have been avoided.  The Spanish flu pandemic lasted around two years?  It is time probably that we at least begin thinking about how we'll deal if we get cases down again.  

It could all be moot if another variant shows up in the next six months and we have all this to go through again.  As I said on one hand I feel sometimes people are a bit cavalier about immunocompromised people and those not able to be vaccinated including kids under 5. On the other my grandkids can't stay imprisoned forever.  I'm trying to find the line to walk between keeping myself safe and being a grandmother.  I rather get the feeling no one in my family exactly agrees with me.  So I think I'm probably in about the right spot.  Some think I'm not strict enough and others think I'm too freewheeling.  

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The problem for me is:

"I’ll have to be convinced that omicron is the version of the virus that’s around us, and that could get screwed up with new variants. But for the foreseeable future, omicron is likely to be what we’re talking about."

Two months ago Delta was the dominant variant. Now it's all omicron, and people who were infected by delta or other variants are being reinfected. How foreseeable is this future exactly? For me the hopeful thing is the sheer volume of cases may lead to a lull, but Sars-Co-V2 appears to undergo recombination and mutation pretty easily and I don't think we're necessarily out of the woods variant-wise yet. 

Shifting sideways, a new paper in Science links Epstein-Barr virus infection with later development of Multiple Sclerosis.  This has interesting implications for the long-term effects of covid infection - long covid as we currently see it may be only one of mart longer term effects. Obviously, as with all viral infections, not everyone goes on to develop long term effects.

1 hour ago, Coconut Flan said:

It is time probably that we at least begin thinking about how we'll deal if we get cases down again.  

Sigh. We had cases down, then delta. Then they were heading down, now omicron. I would really like us to start looking as a society at mitigation measures around ventilation, because requiring that would go a long way towards reducing transmission and helping people feel safer. Looking at how we adjust things like work - do we all go back to a model of everyone commuting into one central location, do we stay with more flexibility. What jobs are essential and need to be in person, what don't, and how do we renummerate and assess the additional risk for workers who must be there. Shopping was moving from stores to online before the pandemic, was 2019 work/school/etc the only way we could look at doing things. 

1 hour ago, Coconut Flan said:

I'm trying to find the line to walk between keeping myself safe and being a grandmother

Not a grandmother but same - trying to balance all the risks and find the line I can walk while feeling that my family and I are as safe as possible. I want the sports, the festivals, the shops, even some in person work back (the commute I could live without). Mostly though I want to be able to go to parks and the beach without worrying I will get sick, and to see my elderly parents and in laws without being paranoid I'm carrying an asymptomatic virus that could kill them. I swear the paranoia is exhausting.

 

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5 hours ago, Smash! said:

Yes I stocked up on them since it‘s getting harder and harder to get a timely PCR test. I have the Flowflex since it‘s better than the one from Roche.

This appears to be some sort of counterfeiting issue, but some Flowflex tests in the US have been recalled:

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/coronavirus/fda-recalls-200000-unauthorized-flowflex-covid-rapid-tests/3496424/

 

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The whole No-vacc debacle has taken over our news - usually each day at 9am our numbers are plastered all over the news in big red ‘breaking’ headlines, but today there was nothing. I had to go directly to the NSW Health Twitter page. 

Five more of my friends are included in these pcr numbers. It’s not slowing down at all. Our Chief Health Officer said that she expects 50% of NSW residents will have had it by the time this wave is over. Domicron said that the number of infections isn’t what we should look at, it’s hospitalisations and deaths which are the focus. Well I’m looking at that and it’s not good at all.

I’m super impressed that 8.9% of 5-11 year olds have had the jab. It’s only been available for 5 days and there have been shortages with supply.

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49 minutes ago, adidas said:

Our Chief Health Officer said that she expects 50% of NSW residents will have had it by the time this wave is over

Notably Chant (CHO) said "the first wave of Omicron". And not one journalist at the presser questioned her on that. The media are either asleep at the wheel or ignoring anything but puff pieces right now.

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On 1/14/2022 at 1:43 PM, Coconut Flan said:

It could all be moot if another variant shows up in the next six months and we have all this to go through again. 

Researchers are working on universal covid vaccines and military researches have come up with a basic covid vaccine element that can be modified to address whatever covid variants occur. I was reading about it and kept thinking it was like the Black and Decker of vaccines, where you have a universal battery docking module and one just adds on what ever tool is needed at the moment.  That may be what saves us in the future. 

 

On 1/14/2022 at 1:15 PM, Smash! said:

Covid is not just a matter of mild, severe sickness or death but also how many people this disease disables - even if the initial infection is mild.

and this

22 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

Shifting sideways, a new paper in Science links Epstein-Barr virus infection with later development of Multiple Sclerosis.  This has interesting implications for the long-term effects of covid infection - long covid as we currently see it may be only one of longer term effects.

This is what triggers my paranoia and I've mentioned elsewhere that people disabled by Long Covid could bring down our health care system.  Also, if one does not have a test showing a formal positive covid diagnosis and have long covid...endless issues with health insurance and diagnosis and certainly would not be eligible for social security disability.  It will almost certainly have a negative impact on the work force, marriages, caregiving, loss of income leading to homelessness.  

I have a relative who contracted Chronic Fatigue Syndrome after a bad bout of flu while only 27 and is still dealing with it as a 72-year-old.  In general, viruses are not our friends. 

Edited by Howl
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