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

[PreciousPantsofDoom]

My SIL just tested positive for Covid after we all spent Christmas Eve together. Argh!

She's had a cold/cough for the last three weeks that she probably got from her 3 year old who had it first. My Bil got it last week, but got over it quickly. They had all tested negative for Covid all along (last time they tested was 3 days before Christmas,) so we figured the Christmas family dinner was no problem. We all assumed that all she had was a regular cold, since she had tested negative every single time. Her cold/cough is mostly gone and she was feeling nearly normal by Christmas Eve. The only reason she tested again was that they were going to visit my FIL in the care home this morning and they require that. 

The care home now wants us us all to delay our visits for at least 5 days, to see if any of us come up positive. And we've had to cancel various social things we had planned this week just in case. I know some people are now just ignoring that level of caution, but I'd rather not potentially infect other people when I have known exposure. 

Frigging virus. 

We have all been so careful, I still wear my mask all day long in the schools, as well as when out shopping or in crowded places. We've still been cautious about socialising, mostly avoiding large groups and have only eaten in at restaurants a couple of times. But it's been 3 effing years and all of us are tired of it. Even when you are trying to be careful there are risks. I really don't want to go back to an even more cautious way of living, because I don't think that is possible forever, but I don't want to just ignore the risk either, which is what I'm seeing more and more people doing. 

I hope none of us do get Covid (she also saw her parents, one of whom is on dialysis, before she knew she was positive.) We are all well vaccinated and boosted, but then so was my husbands Uncle. He got a mild case of Covid this summer and is now having all kinds of lung trouble that his doctor thinks might be long Covid. Not good! 

[Coconut Flan]

Recent opinion on trying to be safe for 65 and up by Bob Wachter:

 

[CTRLZero]

13 minutes ago, Coconut Flan said:

Recent opinion on trying to be safe for 65 and up by Bob Wachter:

Thanks for this opinion.  I find myself automatically assessing each situation I’ll be putting myself into in relation to Covid exposure.  I definitely wear my mask while traveling through the airport and on the plane.  Before Covid, I’d frequently catch colds while traveling, so masking has eliminated ruined vacations.  I also mask up while shopping.  I avoid crowds, and no longer hang out at bars or restaurants like I used to.  It’s just interesting how my life has become one continuous risk assessment. I haven’t had a cold or flu for three years.  It’s only a matter of time, I realize, but between vaccinations and treatment options, hopefully I’ll pull through when it catches up to me.  I think people have forgotten about long Covid, too.  We know several people who have problems months and years later.

[Coconut Flan]

Counter to the CDC:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-activism/the-case-for-wearing-masks-forever

Quote

What emerged was the People’s C.D.C.: a ragtag coalition of academics, doctors, activists, and artists who believe that the government has left them to fend for themselves against covid-19. As governments, schools, and businesses have scaled back their covid precautions, the members of the People’s C.D.C. have made it their mission to distribute information about the pandemic—what they see as real information, as opposed to what’s circulated by the actual C.D.C. They believe the C.D.C.’s data and guidelines have been distorted by powerful forces with vested interests in keeping people at work and keeping anxieties about the pandemic down. “The public has a right to a sound reading of the data that’s not influenced by politics and big business,” Fullilove said.

Quote

I called Tom Frieden, who led the C.D.C. during the Obama years, to see what he made of the People’s C.D.C. He had never heard of the group before I got in touch, but he took a look at their materials ahead of our call. He praised the organization’s guide to self-protection for immunocompromised people, and agreed that some of their recommendations, like universal masking in times of high covid spread, were good ideas in theory. “But is that going to happen? Absolutely not,” he said. The next best thing is to try to get people vaccinated and boosted and to increase access to high-quality masks and Paxlovid. “If you’re giving recommendations that no one’s going to follow, that’s not only nonproductive,” he said. “It’s counterproductive, because that undermines your credibility.”

Some is interesting, some works, and some is rather off the wall.

Edited December 31, 2022 by Coconut Flan

[Ozlsn]

On 1/1/2023 at 10:12 AM, Coconut Flan said:

agreed that some of their recommendations, like universal masking in times of high covid spread, were good ideas in theory. “But is that going to happen? Absolutely not,” he said.

Well it sure as hell bloody isn't if your narrative begins and ends with "pandemic's over, you do you" now is it? Amazing how messaging works - that's why no one wears seat belts, plans how they'll get home without driving after going out drinking, refrains from smoking in workplaces, uses condoms if engaging in casual sex etc. We could of course try switching focus to improving indoor air quality and filtration, but just like setting up sewer systems that's expensive and all too hard. Cholera epidemics ftw!

But hey, the pandemic's over, all that remains is to watch and see how the new variants react in different populations. Kraken looks interesting.

Spoiler

 

I'd say it will be interesting to see, but given we closed all the free PCR testing locations last week we'll just have to wait for the actual data from hospitalisations to see what's happening.

[Coconut Flan]

I'm fond of the countries who have stopped testing, are close to stopping tracking hospitalizations and deaths, so we're left with way after the fact excess deaths.  /sarcasm  

[WiseGirl]

Well keep your eye on certain variants and another one comes to take the lead. XXBB.1.5 could drive the new surge.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/03/health/covid-variant-xbb-explainer/index.html

 

Edited January 3, 2023 by WiseGirl

[47of74]

FDA is proposing a once a year shot for COVID like the flu.

Quote

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday proposed a simplified approach for future vaccination efforts, allowing most adults and children to get a once-a-year shot to protect against the mutating virus.

This means Americans would no longer have to keep track of how many shots they’ve received or how many months it’s been since their last booster.

The FDA will ask its panel of outside vaccine experts to weigh in at a meeting Thursday. The agency is expected to take their advice into consideration while deciding future vaccine requirements for vaccine makers.

In documents posted online, FDA scientists say many Americans now have “sufficient preexisting immunity” against the coronavirus because of vaccination, infection or a combination of the two. That baseline of protection should be enough to move to an annual booster against the latest strains in circulation and make COVID-19 vaccinations more like the yearly flu shot, according to the agency.

Awaiting the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the branch trumpvidians.

[Coconut Flan]

It may be twice a year for over 65 and immunocompromised.

[CTRLZero]

A walk down memory lane from March 2020:  @Gobsmacked

I'm currently sat in Vancouver airport. Whistler shut down yesterday. (1/2 way through our holiday she sobs). We were lucky to get a flight out and back to Scotland this evening. We don't even mind the 5 hour wait. Just glad to have a seat on a plane. Vancouver wasn't as bustling as usual when we were driving through at 5pm. 

So…my husband returned from skiing at Whistler just before the Canada border shutdown in this same time frame (March 2020).  Last week, he finally returned to the slopes after three years, and now is at home with Covid.  Fortunately just minor head cold symptoms, but shows the virus is still circulating.

It is so interesting reading through the posts from the beginning of the pandemic to see how far we’ve come.  Very happy we’re vaccinated. 

Edited January 30, 2023 by CTRLZero
Typo.

[Smash!]

@CTRLZero I wish your husband a speedy recovery and hope you‘ll stay negative.

Edited February 2, 2023 by Smash!

[CTRLZero]

7 hours ago, Smash! said:

@CTRLZero I wish your husband a speedy recovery and hope you‘ll stay negative.

Thank you!  Here’s a funny thing that happened.  My husband is feeling fine, but still testing positive, so he was able to pick me up at the airport last night.  We slept in separate rooms, and we both just froze practically to death because it felt so cold.  We figured out that my husband, trying to do a nice thing and air out the house before I arrived home, closed the curtains but forgot to shut the windows!  😝  It got down to around 20 degrees F last night.  I’ll just call it temporary Covid brain fog.  💖.  

[Smash!]

@CTRLZero How are you doing?

There's an interesting review article in Nature Reviews Microbiology by Eric Topol and others where they give an overview about what we know about Long Covid: Long COVID: major findings, mechanisms and recommendations

For those who like a summary: Eric was a guest at Andy Slavitt's podcast and talked about the article: New Discoveries on Long COVID (with Dr. Eric Topol)

Then there was a good talk about LC within the Leopoldina International Virtual Panel Series (LIVP) on 24 January 2023 called Understanding Long Covid (unfortunately only on Youtube). Speakers were Akiko Iwasaki (Yale), Carmen Scheibenbogen (Charité Berlin), Marc Lecuit (Institute Pasteur Paris, field of research: Anosmia) and Michael Edelstein (Bar-Ilhan University, Israel). The latter is a vaccine epidemiologist and he talked about how much the vaccine prevents LC and the mechanisms behind it.

[CTRLZero]

3 hours ago, Smash! said:

CTRLZero How are you doing?

Hi, @Smash!, I’m doing fine, thanks for asking. 🌹 Now that we actually have Covid in our household, we have been reviewing all the guidelines and are a little confused on when we can emerge.  My husband still has mild symptoms and tests positive, and we figure this as day 12 or so.  We are both staying home and masking, and plan to do so for a couple more days.  So far there’s no indication that I’ve gotten the virus, but we’re old and being super-cautious.

Our neighbors are traveling to Australia, and were able to get a booster before traveling.  I know there are thoughts that Covid vaccines may be part of an annual booster series, but has this been officially implemented yet?  

[Coconut Flan]

16 minutes ago, CTRLZero said:

I know there are thoughts that Covid vaccines may be part of an annual booster series, but has this been officially implemented yet?  

The FDA recently held a forum about that, but the haven't released the guidelines yet.  They were leaning toward annual for most people and possibly every six months for 65 and up and immunocompromised. So we're in a holding pattern.  

[Kiki03910]

13 hours ago, Smash! said:

@CTRLZero How are you doing?

There's an interesting review article in Nature Reviews Microbiology by Eric Topol and others where they give an overview about what we know about Long Covid: Long COVID: major findings, mechanisms and recommendations

For those who like a summary: Eric was a guest at Andy Slavitt's podcast and talked about the article: New Discoveries on Long COVID (with Dr. Eric Topol)

Then there was a good talk about LC within the Leopoldina International Virtual Panel Series (LIVP) on 24 January 2023 called Understanding Long Covid (unfortunately only on Youtube). Speakers were Akiko Iwasaki (Yale), Carmen Scheibenbogen (Charité Berlin), Marc Lecuit (Institute Pasteur Paris, field of research: Anosmia) and Michael Edelstein (Bar-Ilhan University, Israel). The latter is a vaccine epidemiologist and he talked about how much the vaccine prevents LC and the mechanisms behind it.

Thank you for posting this. Dr. Topol also has an excellent (and free) Substack:

https://erictopol.substack.com/

Edited February 7, 2023 by Kiki03910
link

[CTRLZero]

@Marly and @Smash! mentioned in another thread that Covid restrictions have been totally lifted in their respective countries.  Since most or all restrictions have been eased in the US, I wanted to make the observation that a lot of people are now getting sick with all the diseases they didn’t go through over the pandemic years.

For example, my husband went maskless and was horribly sick with flu or RSV for three weeks.  He recovered from that, then went skiing and caught Covid.  He was sick and recovering over two weeks with that (fortunately fully vaccinated).  He’s retired, but if he wasn’t, he’d have lost a lot of work days and/or dragged himself into the office whether he was contagious or not.

One of our friends is now on his third wave of illness in quick succession:  Covid, flu, and who knows what he has now.  It’s like all the typical diseases are lurking, making up for lost time.

Anyway, I continue to mask in crowds (I.e., airports), and still waiting for something to hit.  I haven’t even had a cold in years, so figure it will hit hard when it finally catches up to me. 

[47of74]

The law school I attended said they're going to end their vaccination policy in May of this year.  It required students, staff, and teachers to be fully vaccinated.  And for visitors to fill out a form stating that they were vaccinated and did not have a positive test result in the last 14 days.

They're keeping some parts of what they did in place.  Like improved ventilation, requiring people with COVID to stay home, and ensuring people with COVID have remote access.  Along with limiting access to the building but that was in place well before COVID due to security concerns.

The church I'm going to now dropped its mask requirement for the 10:30am service while keeping it in place for their earlier service.  I wonder if they'll look to scale that back now or end it.  I imagine they'll follow what the diocese and larger church say first.

 

[Dandruff]

11 hours ago, CTRLZero said:

One of our friends is now on his third wave of illness in quick succession:  Covid, flu, and who knows what he has now.  It’s like all the typical diseases are lurking, making up for lost time.

Anyway, I continue to mask in crowds (I.e., airports), and still waiting for something to hit.  I haven’t even had a cold in years, so figure it will hit hard when it finally catches up to me.

I've been wondering about the state of the immune systems of those who have been and are being careful.  I've had maybe two slight bugs (not Covid) in the past three years.  During my pre-masking days I'd expect to get about one fairly bad cold and one slight one per year, though they didn't always happen.

Have the vaccines helped to keep our immune systems "exercised"?

Most people in my area aren't masking but I continue to do so indoors around others whose health status and precautions I don't know.  I'd say ~10-20% (depending on environment) still mask - mostly elderly.

 

[Ozlsn]

There's some discussion about whether covid can cause immune dysregulation, making you more susceptible to infections. How long it persists for varies although one paper found evidence of dysregulation 8 months post covid infection. It's an interesting new world.

[Smash!]

On 3/15/2023 at 10:12 AM, Ozlsn said:

It's an interesting new world.

Yep. What if other viruses do the same but we don‘t know yet? I love science ❤️

[Coconut Flan]

Spillover happens - a lot more often than we'd thought:

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/02/15/1152892721/how-to-stop-pandemics

[Smee]

Welp, I have covid (again), along with 5/7 members of my household. My 6yr old who randomly dodged it last time still appears to be avoiding it, or at least asymptomatic. I had the bivalent booster less than 6mths ago, 2x AZ and 1x Pfizer before that, and covid last March… but my immunity is pretty low with immense stress levels right now, I had shingles 4 weeks ago, so I’m not surprised I got it again. 
 

This year has been an absolute shit for illness. I think there’s been two weeks where all 3 kids have been at school for the full 5 days. And after 4 doctors visits, an X-ray, fasting blood test and ultrasound (all different appointments) with my youngest, I’m ready to break.

[Ozlsn]

Victorian State Government is holding an enquiry into increased road deaths after the pandemic lockdowns.

"The Committee will investigate how road safety behaviours have changed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, and consider the impact these changes have had on vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcycle riders, children 7 and under, older people and mobility device users."

What is causing this is a 21% increase in deaths from the same period last year (although the number is similar to 2019 figures - the diatribution of deaths is different though), and a widespread perception that people are driving more carelessly than they did before the pandemic started (not sure if this is borne out by hard data, but that there is an enquiry happening is interesting). There is also concern that post-covid "brain fog" is affecting driving.

Personally speaking I have seen some seriously scary driving since we stopped lockdowns - some is undoubtedly people getting used to no one being on the road and forgetting to look, but we're now well over a year of "normal" and there are still a lot of very interesting drivers.

[Coconut Flan]

I doubt it's quite as simple as percentage of population defined as obese, but it is obviously connected.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-33093-3