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*** OFFICIAL *** COVID-19 CoronaVirus Thread. Fresh epidemic fears as child pneumonia cases surge in Europe after China outbreak. NOW in USA (14 Viewers)

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In many places in Europe the rapid at home tests are like $1 or free. They give them out free in the UK, you get 2 a week I believe. This is definitely one area where the US has dropped the ball.

 
Doug B said:
That explains it well, thanks. She writes:

That's about as good as it gets for a three-paragraph explanation for laymen

That means that in this morning's YLE article, Dr. Jetelina oversimplified a bit. She wrote:

In other words, boosters develop antibodies against more parts of the virus than the primary series.

... when she could have written:

In other words, boosters develop antibodies against more parts of the spike protein than the primary series.

I mean, yeah, technically "parts of the spike protein" ARE, indeed, "parts of the virus". It's just that as written, we can't tell how granular Dr. Jetelina was intending to get in her explanation.
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I  was just going to try and explain this - you guys are good. Polyclonal antibodies against the entire virus are one of the few advantages of natural immunity, but there still is potential for a lot of three dimensional variability for Ab based solely on epitopes (binding sites) of the vaccine-produced spike. One of the big mysteries of our immune response is how the body prioritizes which antibodies to produce in response to re-exposure - for any given pathogen, there’s gotta be a huge repertoire of memory cells waiting to be stimulated.

 
jamny said:
In many places in Europe the rapid at home tests are like $1 or free. They give them out free in the UK, you get 2 a week I believe. This is definitely one area where the US has dropped the ball.
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If only someone in the US public health system could have predicted this!!

Seriously, our public health leaders have been abysmal.

 
Nathan R. Jessep said:
Our Walmart has (or at least had) a BinaxNow with 2 tests for ~$14
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!!!

I've never seen 'em that cheap in the New Orleans area. $23.99 at our area drugstores.

Come to think of it ... I'd seen those  BinaxNOW tests at our local WalMart but never looked closer. Now WM never seems to have them in stock. Maybe the cheap price is why -- they get some in and people buy them out ASAP.

 
Dinsy Ejotuz said:
FWIW, the person I've had a chance to talk to through the who pandemic that's connected to pretty much all of the scientists involved in COVID public policy e-mailed me out of the blue last night to tell me to get my oldest boosted.  That's the first time in the two years of COVID they've reached out to me on anything.

Suggested the gap in protection between boosted and not boosted is big and Omicron is about to be everywhere all at once -- essentially that most people who hasn't been infected yet are going to catch COVID.  And a ton of people who are vaxxed are going to catch it too, but with milder outcomes, on average.

They also agreed that while Omicron might be milder it's still an open question.  But even if it is milder, with the case loads we're about to see the impact at the national/societal level could be quite bad.  Potentially similar to the worst previous peak.
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Can you share some details about your "oldest"? Approximate age? Is he/she coming up on 6 months after initial vaccination? Does this person know those details? (I assume age, but maybe not when vaccination was complete)

Are you following the recommendation? Do you have a plan to secure the boost?

 
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IvanKaramazov said:
The signs in my building are still all about washing your hands and not touching things.  Not that that's bad advice, but still.
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It’s not bad advice in general.  It’s pretty bad advice if your main goal is to avoid COVID.

 
Dragons said:
Can you share some details about your "oldest"? Approximate age? Is he/she coming up on 6 months after initial vaccination? Does this person know those details? (I assume age, but maybe not when vaccination was complete)

Are you following the recommendation? Do you have a plan to secure the boost?
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Wife and I are already boosted, youngest just got 2nd shot.  Oldest (16) got two Pfizers in May/June -- so he's been eligible for a couple weeks.  Yes, person I referenced knows all of this and some additional info on Thing #1 as well.

We already had plans to get him boosted, but are trying to move the date up to this weekend now (instead of next week) so that he's got it several days in advance of our travel.

 
And thanks to the thread for the Walmart Binax 4-1-1.  Ordered several tests to have on hand before they get bought up toilet-paper style.

 
Dinsy Ejotuz said:
Wife and I are already boosted, youngest just got 2nd shot.  Oldest (16) got two Pfizers in May/June -- so he's been eligible for a couple weeks.  Yes, person I referenced knows all of this and some additional info on Thing #1 as well.

We already had plans to get him boosted, but are trying to move the date up to this weekend now (instead of next week) so that he's got it several days in advance of our travel.
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Thanks, just trying to translate what his advice would mean for other (i.e. my) kids. Several factors that don't apply to my oldest (turned 12 and vaccinated in August - not eligible for booster at all and he's only 4 months from his second dose.

Hopefully they approve down to 12 far sooner than my oldest needs it.

 
beer 30 said:
Seems simple but...don't go  :shrug:
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Eh... I'm working on balance here. I know it's  personal decision but I want to see my family for christmas. I'm hoping use of n95 masks during travel, combined with thorough testing of all parties involved will help avoid any issues. It's a dice roll I freely admit. Cost/Benefit works for me in my head. 

The Commish said:
I'm well beyond it....it's like that story of people dying, going to heaven and asking God why he didn't save them from the flood and his reply being "well, I tried sending you a life boat three different times".
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If you want a good laugh, use that parable on religious anti-vax folks... They'll start tap dancing so fast Charlie Chaplin would be proud. :lol:   Have done it a few times and have even tried to video the reaction once but they person started screaming and ran away. 

Doug B said:
The BinaxNOW test from Abbot is the only kind I ever see on sale around here. I've administered about a half dozen tests from home for my wife and son. Pretty easy to use and more accurate than commonly though IF a person has symptoms.

The only Achilles heel of the BinaxNOW home test is that it won't usually catch a very fresh infection when symptoms haven't started yet. It's simply not sensitive enough for that like a clinical PCR test would be.

I can't vouch for any other brands of COVID test -- not sure what's available for order online.
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BinaxNow is what we use. Have had two families I know pick up infections in the household using them. Managed to isolate and mitigate spread in the household thanks to them. They're not PCR tests, but they're pretty good. 

Doug B said:
Do you mean they're running a trial on an entirely new RNA packet? Basically, a new mRNA vaccine tailored to Omicron?

I hadn't heard a peep, but I'm interested.
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It was a while back but I am 95% sure I recall them starting trials within days of Omicron being sequenced.

They ran 50mcg/100mcg, and I BELEIVE they had a vax variant that incorporated some mutations from Beta and Delta that was "close" to Omicron at the time. I could be misremembering but I don't think so. 

 
Alex P Keaton said:
IvanKaramazov said:
The signs in my building are still all about washing your hands and not touching things.  Not that that's bad advice, but still.
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It’s not bad advice in general.  It’s pretty bad advice if your main goal is to avoid COVID.
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In our residential building signage changed this week from “Please wear a mask inside the elevator” to “Please wear a mask at all times until you are inside your apartment.”

 
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Dinsy Ejotuz said:
And thanks to the thread for the Walmart Binax 4-1-1.  Ordered several tests to have on hand before they get bought up toilet-paper style.
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Yep that $14 price is excellent. I had been paying $18-20 previously. 

One of many reasons this thread has been an invaluable resource. 

 
One of our best friends is in the hospital right now. She hasn't been doing good. Went there and had to wait 30 hours in a hallway with no pillow on a gurney (they ran out of pillows) before getting a bed because the hospital is over run. She is a nurse and said that about 80% of the patients there were COVID. No vaccination because she has responded poorly to vaccinations in the past but says she is going to get one now. On oxygen and says it is a fight. 

Her daughter got it, then she got it. Daughter recovered fine and quickly. Her husband is vaccinated and did not get it. 

 
[icon] said:
The Commish said:
I'm well beyond it....it's like that story of people dying, going to heaven and asking God why he didn't save them from the flood and his reply being "well, I tried sending you a life boat three different times".
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If you want a good laugh, use that parable on religious anti-vax folks... They'll start tap dancing so fast Charlie Chaplin would be proud. :lol:   Have done it a few times and have even tried to video the reaction once but they person started screaming and ran away. 
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Oh, my family is full of the "religious" folks and the majority piss and moan, but end up doing the right thing.  I've brought this up a thousand times in conversations and they just look at me with the look of defeat.  It never gets a response.  The other thing that never gets a response is why they are so eager to take experimental treatments once they catch covid, but not experimental treatments to prevent severe cases of covid....that's on my wife's side of the family in south Florida.  Again, same reaction, blank stare and look of defeat.

 
On a lighter note, we have acquired a ton of chopsticks and plastic utensils from ordering delivery so far during the pandemic. Any ideas on what to do with all of this besides trash it? I assume it would be useful if we ever return to the office. Got an entire drawer of this crap now.

 
[icon] said:
Eh... I'm working on balance here. I know it's  personal decision but I want to see my family for christmas. I'm hoping use of n95 masks during travel, combined with thorough testing of all parties involved will help avoid any issues. It's a dice roll I freely admit. Cost/Benefit works for me in my head.
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Yea, didn't mean to come off like a #####, just didn't know a better way to put it. And I get it, we just drove 10 hours each way from SC to OH for a week over Thanksgiving. Wife's been sick ever since and isn't vax'd  :rolleyes: Thought maybe that would have pushed her toward getting the shot but no.

 
beer 30 said:
Yea, didn't mean to come off like a #####, just didn't know a better way to put it. And I get it, we just drove 10 hours each way from SC to OH for a week over Thanksgiving. Wife's been sick ever since and isn't vax'd  :rolleyes: Thought maybe that would have pushed her toward getting the shot but no.
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You didn't come off as an ### at all GB. it's a VERY valid suggestion and I realize it's a risk to go.  Hence why I'll be testing myself before, during, and after the trip just to nip it in the bud if I do somehow pick this crap up. 

I hope your wife gets to feeling better. She alright? 

 
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[icon] said:
You didn't come off as an ### at all GB. it's a VERY valid suggestion and I realize it's a risk to go.  Hence why I'll be testing myself before, during, and after the trip just to nip it in the bud if I do somehow pick this crap up. 

I hope your wife gets to feeling better. She alright? 
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Yea, she will be. Has a history of respiratory issues when the weather gets cold (bronchitis which sometimes turns into pneumonia). We both got tested and were negative so just a run with bronchitis. Good thing there isn't a pandemic out there that directly effects individuals with respiratory issues...

 
Leeroy Jenkins said:
NBA a mess too.  Could see some pauses happening while telling everyone to get their "booster" shot in order to continue the rest of the season without other delays.  
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Brown's fan here so been keenly watching all week. It's pretty ridiculous right now, our team has 1, maybe 2 players unvaccinated with many having been boosted and they still got wiped out. Mostly due to the way the NFL does testing and most all are asymptomatic but 23 players are currently out, including the HC.

 
Oof 

Pfizer executives said the company believed that by 2024, the disease should be endemic around the globe, meaning it would no longer be a pandemic. The company projected that "COVID will transition to an endemic state potentially by 2024."

Prior to the Omicron variant, top U.S. disease doctor Anthony Fauci forecast the pandemic would end in 2022 in the United States.

 
Doug B said:
As far as signs on business doors go, I don't go by those signs anymore. Throughout 2021, signs have gone up, come down, and gone back up again. And the signs you do see don't always say the same thing (everything from "Mask or Leave! Fight Me!" to "Wearing a mask would be really cool ... if you want ... no pressure.").

Personal ethic is to wear a mask at any indoor retail establishment. Goes triple for places where employees are required to mask (more personal ethic: if they have to wear one, I should too).

Even with that, I'm only in a mask maybe 4 hours a week -- and half of that time is two longish trips through grocery stores. Might be less than four hours ... depends on the errands I run. Don't have to wear a mask in the office (2x a week, thinly populated workspace).
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Every time I read about behavior elsewhere, it blows my mind. Here, masks are 100% indoors, except when filling one’s pie hole. I wear a mask all day at work. Probably half, or more, wear them outside (I don’t, unless a crowded public space). Kids don’t seem to be suffering wearing them (at least those over age 8 or so).

I rarely venture into Waikiki or public beaches, and never go to bars, but know those places are closer to “mainland” values. Otherwise, I can’t fathom how people in these threads repeatedly say the pandemic is over.

 
Terminalxylem said:
Every time I read about behavior elsewhere, it blows my mind. Here, masks are 100% indoors, except when filling one’s pie hole. I wear a mask all day at work. Probably half, or more, wear them outside (I don’t, unless a crowded public space). Kids don’t seem to be suffering wearing them (at least those over age 8 or so).

I rarely venture into Waikiki or public beaches, and never go to bars, but know those places are closer to “mainland” values. Otherwise, I can’t fathom how people in these threads repeatedly say the pandemic is over.
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Well our state health department said they weren't need 🤷‍♂️ and we are blue 

I'm sure that will change again

 
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Leeroy Jenkins said:
Scratch that.  They are all sold out.  Luckily I have 5 boxes on hand, but man did I make a mistake.  When I got my booster a month ago, Rite Aid had a whole wall of them.
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We just used one on the wife - came back positive.  Only reason we had her take it was just to be safe.  She had some symptoms but relatively mild but today she had pain in her stomach and vomited - thought it was food poisoning but she wanted to be safe.  We were surprised it was positive.  I banished her to the spare bedroom as I had ankle surgery this morning and off my feet for two weeks.  Merry ####### Christmas!!!

 
AAABatteries said:
We just used one on the wife - came back positive.  Only reason we had her take it was just to be safe.  She had some symptoms but relatively mild but today she had pain in her stomach and vomited - thought it was food poisoning but she wanted to be safe.  We were surprised it was positive.  I banished her to the spare bedroom as I had ankle surgery this morning and off my feet for two weeks.  Merry ####### Christmas!!!
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I haven't heard much about stomach issues on COVID but I texted my friend in the hospital to see how she was doing and she said so so. I asked if better than yesterday and she said in some ways yes and others worst. I asked if she was breathing better and she said yes but her stomach really was hurting. I was thinking maybe it was the meds but maybe it is just the 'vid. 

 
Anyone traveling (flying) over Christmas? Any reason to be concerned about flights next week on the west coast? Looks like the west coast is lagging behind the east coast when it comes to explosion of Omicron.  We're all boosted and everyone we would be seeing is also all boosted.  

 
AAABatteries said:
We just used one on the wife - came back positive.  Only reason we had her take it was just to be safe.  She had some symptoms but relatively mild but today she had pain in her stomach and vomited - thought it was food poisoning but she wanted to be safe.  We were surprised it was positive.  I banished her to the spare bedroom as I had ankle surgery this morning and off my feet for two weeks.  Merry ####### Christmas!!!
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Time to pour from the Infinity Bottle.

 
belljr said:
Oof 

Pfizer executives said the company believed that by 2024, the disease should be endemic around the globe, meaning it would no longer be a pandemic. The company projected that "COVID will transition to an endemic state potentially by 2024."

Prior to the Omicron variant, top U.S. disease doctor Anthony Fauci forecast the pandemic would end in 2022 in the United States.
Click to expand...


Well that is a great way to start the weekend.  

 
Scoresman said:
Anyone traveling (flying) over Christmas? Any reason to be concerned about flights next week on the west coast? Looks like the west coast is lagging behind the east coast when it comes to explosion of Omicron.  We're all boosted and everyone we would be seeing is also all boosted.  
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We're flying MEM > TPA Sunday afternoon. I've flown a LOT during all phases of this thing. 

When it's bad (like now)... Proper fitting N95 goes on right before we enter the airport. It doesn't get pulled down (aside from TSA requests) until we walk out of the destination airport. Trash the mask. Throw pullover I was wearing into a plastic bag in the trunk to be washed. Sanitize hands/arms/face. Jump in car and go. 

No eating or drinking on the plane. I wear glasses/sunglasses to avoid any blasts of air into my eyes (not perfect protection by any stretch, but something).

It's worked thus far (knock on wood). 

 
Scoresman said:
Anyone traveling (flying) over Christmas? Any reason to be concerned about flights next week on the west coast? Looks like the west coast is lagging behind the east coast when it comes to explosion of Omicron.  We're all boosted and everyone we would be seeing is also all boosted.  
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The visits all seem fine, it's just the travel that's risky. I'd suggest driving, if possible. If not, wear an N95 at least in the airport, but I think also on the plane with Omicron ramping up.

 
Buddy of mine just messaged me... tested positive. Started with bad shakes/chills this AM. Now 101 fever. Oddly his at home (BinaxNOW) test was positive. Pharmacy Antigen test showed negative so they're sending off a PCR for verdict. I'm pretty sure the BinaxNOW test was right. 

Pretty sure he got it at the Memphis vs Alabama hoops game earlier this week. Took that as a sign... bailed on the Tennessee vs Memphis game in Nashville tomorrow. Don't want to risk picking it up and bringing down to my 72yo folks. I'll watch it on TV here. 

 
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Doug B said:
I'm starting to wonder "Is there any good reason not to sanction quarterly booster shots for the duration?"
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1. Even mild AEs have financial/productivity/educational  consequences.

2. Our existing primary care network is overwhelmed, and we don’t have other infrastructure in place to administer so many vaccines. 

3. Repeated immune stimulation, taken to an extreme, may have other unforeseen late consequences. Maybe lymphoma?

4. Guys like Lawfitz will mention antibody-dependent enhancement, a theoretical concern based on an overly brisk immune response.

The first two are much better arguments, based on resource availability. I don’t really think 3 & 4 are legitimate concerns, but without demonstrated benefit, the bar to provide any medical treatment becomes much higher.

Most importantly, we’re struggling to convince people to comply with existing vax recommendations. I can only imagine an additional subset of people throwing their hands up at the prospect at quarterly vaccination in perpetuity…

 
Dragons said:
The visits all seem fine, it's just the travel that's risky. I'd suggest driving, if possible. If not, wear an N95 at least in the airport, but I think also on the plane with Omicron ramping up.
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Oh we'd probably be double masked including an N95.  From doorstep to doorstep.

What's the ruling on having the air blasting on you while in your seat on the flight?  Is it keeping the COVID away from my face or just blowing it straight onto it?

 
If you're old and/or are susceptible to severe illness you just really need to fully isolate or prepare for getting this variant.(omicron).  Hoping for those around you to be vaccinated and/or not having it will not be good enough.  

I'm vaxed and personally don't care...so I'm playing hoops etc.  Barely phased me the first time I had it,  far less than the flu for me.(as it is for most in my demographic)

 
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AAABatteries said:
We just used one on the wife - came back positive.  Only reason we had her take it was just to be safe.  She had some symptoms but relatively mild but today she had pain in her stomach and vomited - thought it was food poisoning but she wanted to be safe.  We were surprised it was positive.  I banished her to the spare bedroom as I had ankle surgery this morning and off my feet for two weeks.  Merry ####### Christmas!!!
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Hope she does OK. It took me 8 days of trying to isolate from my family before I finally tested positive.  4 living here, everyone eventually got it. 

 
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Flying to NYC on Wednesday for Christmas. Back into the fire right on time! Not looking forward to it for many reasons, covid just being one. Wore a mask yesterday for the first time in 6 months when I went to the doctor. Gotta get used to it again after living in Boise where you would barely know there is a virus.

We flew once a month between NY and Boise from mid-2020 until June 2021. Thankfully we fly business class. Not sure I'd go in coach.

 
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