Coronavirus 8: One Million Dead in 2022 and We're Only in August

[Coconut Flan]

https://futurism.com/neoscope/why-people-get-sick-in-winter

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/12/06/health/why-winter-colds-flu-wellness/index.html

A nine degree drop in temperature kills half the bacteria and virus fighting cells in the nose!  

I found that rather shocking.  For years we've been told catching a cold was due to the virus not from getting cold.  This isn't exactly the opposite of that, but rather being exposed to colder air.  (This is an in vitro study.)

Edited December 7, 2022 by Coconut Flan

[Smash!]

Another thread that tries to explain what‘s happening now. Scary stuff.  

 

[Dandruff]

10 hours ago, Smash! said:

Another thread that tries to explain what‘s happening now. Scary stuff.  

 

Nature, along with some stupidity, is continuing to thin the herd.

Can't help but wonder how uninsured/fake-insured fundies, especially those with big families, are going to be affected by this.

Most people in my area don't seem to be masking anymore...but I am.

[Coconut Flan]

The doctor this morning told me I could remove my mask in the exam room.  I smiled and said no thank you.  I'm going to be masking for a long, long time.  In fact I just ordered more.

[Smash!]

Same. I‘m the only one wearing a mask at work and I kindly ask medical professionals to wear one as well if they don’t offer it themselves (thankfully most do). 

A good friend and her little boy are sick for the 2nd time after catching a nasty virus just a few weeks ago. I don‘t envy her. Her boy is in daycare and she commutes to work daily in public transportation. Plenty of opportunities to get sick. 

[Smash!]

Another interesting thread on why „immunity dept“ is not a thing using the example of the flu 

 

Edited December 9, 2022 by Smash!

[47of74]

The stupidity just isn't in the US;

Quote

A six-month-old baby whose parents refused to allow him to undergo lifesaving heart surgery using blood from people vaccinated against Covid-19 has been operated on in a New Zealand hospital.

Earlier this week, a judge ruled that the boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, would remain under the court’s guardianship until he had recovered from the surgery.

The court also appointed two doctors as its agents to oversee issues around the operation and the administration of blood, according to court documents.

The baby has a congenital heart defect and needed urgent open heart surgery to survive – but the operation was delayed by his parents’ insistence that only blood from donors not vaccinated against Covid-19 be used.

Parents supposedly didn't want vaccinated donors because of "spike proteins" in such blood even though medical experts said it was almost impossible to have those in donated blood.  I'm pretty sure the parents did their own research from the Trump & Musk University Schools of Law and Medicine.

[Ozlsn]

8 hours ago, 47of74 said:

The baby has a congenital heart defect and needed urgent open heart surgery to survive – but the operation was delayed by his parents’ insistence that only blood from donors not vaccinated against Covid-19 be used.

I... just... can't. There is such a lack of understanding about how the blood donor system works, how serious this is, how much risk they are putting their child at while they tilt at imaginary windmills. If this child survives I strongly suspect the parents won't be up to date with vaccines by the start of school, sigh. I can't begin to work out why, of all the things you could do in this situation, anyone would choose to delay surgery to get "pure" blood.

[Coconut Flan]

Trying to explain how fast the vaccine clears the system to science ignorant people seems a completely lost cause.

[Smash!]

Another day in the saga of the Swiss Covid Fail response: Beginning January Covid tests aren‘t covered by the federal government anymore. In the middle of the Covid/Flu/RSV wave of course 🤬 They couldn’t wait three more months until Spring.

So if you wan‘t your PCR get paid for you have to go the doctor route and hope he’ll do the test. Or stack up on LFT‘s, which is what I‘ll be doing.

[Dandruff]

On 12/10/2022 at 7:27 AM, Smash! said:

Another day in the saga of the Swiss Covid Fail response: Beginning January Covid tests aren‘t covered by the federal government anymore. In the middle of the Covid/Flu/RSV wave of course 🤬 They couldn’t wait three more months until Spring.

So if you wan‘t your PCR get paid for you have to go the doctor route and hope he’ll do the test. Or stack up on LFT‘s, which is what I‘ll be doing.

Looks like the cost of Paxlovid won't be covered by the US government starting sometime in early 2023.  Hopefully, they'll wait until Spring.

http://khn.org/news/article/paxlovid-covid-sticker-shock-insurance/

[Coconut Flan]

Yes, all the emergency provisions are set to expire.  No more free testing, free tests, no co-pays for COVID treatment, etc.

[Smash!]

22 minutes ago, Coconut Flan said:

Yes, all the emergency provisions are set to expire.  No more free testing, free tests, no co-pays for COVID treatment, etc.

Holy shit. Does this mean the vaccine isn‘t provided for free anymore either?

[Coconut Flan]

Right, the vaccine will fall under the usual insurance rules.

And worse news, the government has been getting a greatly discounted bulk rate that won't apply to say CVS making a much smaller order.

Edited December 11, 2022 by Coconut Flan

[Jackie3]

On 12/11/2022 at 2:44 PM, Coconut Flan said:

Right, the vaccine will fall under the usual insurance rules.

And worse news, the government has been getting a greatly discounted bulk rate that won't apply to say CVS making a much smaller order.

Well, everyone in the US had almost 2 years to get the vaccine.

There were mobile clinics that drove to people's home to vaccinate them. Other states provided cash prizes and other incentives.

At my local hospital they were begging people to be vaccinated from the very beginning.

I couldn't walk into my drugstore without staffers urging me to stop by the pharmacy to get the vaccine.

My pharmacist came in on his day without pay, off to run vaccine clinics.

Free stuff doesn't last forever. 

Most insurance plans gladly pay for vaccines for subscribers--they'd rather pay for the vaccine than a trip to the ICU. So the chance of having a copay is miniscule.

Any healthy person chose not to vaccinate during the last two years should stop complaining about the small chance he might have a copay.  

 

Edited December 13, 2022 by Jackie3

[Coconut Flan]

Our discussion is more about the cost of booster doses than the original two dose series.  

 

 

Spoiler

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Coconut Flan

[Smash!]

@troll: fuck you and stay away with your misinformation when lives are on the line. Have you thought about the possibility that the Covid vaccine could become an annual thing like the flu shot? That people who can‘t afford health insurance won‘t be able to pay the booster out of pocket? 

[ADoyle90815]

Fortunately, I'm noticing more people starting to mask up again inside stores where I live because cases are up again and I'm doing the same thing even though I have the updated booster. I got that the same time as my flu shot, and I'm willing to do that every year if that's what it takes. Hopefully, they'll combine the Covid and flu shots into one as that would be more convenient. 

[Ozlsn]

Reports out of Qatar that up to three French players are down with a "camel virus".  There are unconfirmed reports that it could be MERS - if so that would be unusual and a new development in that person to person transmission of MERS has been very limited and involved very close contact to now. MERS is also a coronavirus, with a human fatality rate around ~35%. 

[CTRLZero]

29 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

Reports out of Qatar that up to three French players are down with a "camel virus".  There are unconfirmed reports that it could be MERS - if so that would be unusual and a new development in that person to person transmission of MERS has been very limited and involved very close contact to now. MERS is also a coronavirus, with a human fatality rate around ~35%. 

I was reading up on this and there are generally only 1,000 cases per year, so three new cases on one team is worth monitoring.  I had never heard the term a “camel virus.”  It’s not too surprising that various diseases are circulating wherever large crowds gather.  It’s almost like people think the pandemic never happened… 

[Ozlsn]

5 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

I had never heard the term a “camel virus.”  

One news outlet used the term "camel flu" and I was like... yes, but also really no. I'm following this with quite a bit of interest, and hoping that they just have a more garden variety virus (RSV? Adeno? Flu even?) rather than MERS moving to person to person transmission.

5 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

It’s not too surprising that various diseases are circulating wherever large crowds gather.  It’s almost like people think the pandemic never happened… 

Well as a species we certainly don't seem capable of learning anything from it, sigh.

[WiseGirl]

100+ students were out Friday. There was a line of cars picking up children from the nurse. You better believe I'm still masking. This is wretched.

Stay safe all.

[Coconut Flan]

My granddaughter's two grandmas, great aunt, and aunt all in KN95s or N95s in a row at her Nutcracker performance.  This is as public as the four of us get usually.  

[Ozlsn]

5 hours ago, WiseGirl said:

100+ students were out Friday. There was a line of cars picking up children from the nurse. You better believe I'm still masking. This is wretched.

Stay safe all.

Yeah we had messages from the school yesterday to say half the staff are out with covid and classes may be disrupted. Ending the year the way we started apparently, sigh.

[Smash!]

On 12/19/2022 at 8:04 AM, Ozlsn said:

Yeah we had messages from the school yesterday to say half the staff are out with covid and classes may be disrupted. Ending the year the way we started apparently, sigh.

You guys have such a big wave in summer? Fun times 😕