COVID-19/Coronavirus Information and Support Thread (see OP for useful links)

[DK]

Booked in for the booster on the 21st. It'll be exactly four months after my second shot. Best news is that I was able to schedule it with my local GP. Don't have to drive 40 odd minutes to the hospital in the next town over this time.

I wish I had a booster trip as easy as yours. I had to get a tram and bus to the other side of Dublin to the nearest vaccination centre doing boosters for under-30s (from the imaginatively-named Citywest to just 1km north of Dublin Airport, for anyone curious)...only for the vaccinator to tell me that the vaccination centre in Citywest had walk-in slots for under-30s on Tuesday.

 

[s15specr]

Sad news guys The Lancet, the most well known and once respected medical journal, has just posted an article that doubts the efficacy of our glorious cure. This now makes them anti-vaxxer, conspiracy nut, selfish dumbasses... How dare they!!!

LINK:
The epidemiological relevance of the COVID-19-vaccinated population is increasing

 

[TexRex]

Covidiocy is mental illness.

 

[Famine]

The Lancet, memorably, published Andrew Wakefield's original paper.

Its chief editor at the time was Richard Horton, who is still in that position now. Let's just check in on how he's doing:

Media are escalating anxiety by talking of a “killer virus” + “growing fears”. In truth, from what we currently know, 2019-nCoV has moderate transmissibility and relatively low pathogenicity.

Oooooh. Oooh, no.

 

[DG_Silva]

If I'm understanding what it's saying though, we knew it already - if you have the virus, you are at risk of transmitting it; it's just that your symptomatic suffering is potentially reduced.

No-one in power though has the guts to say what needs to be said - it's the public that spreads it, and every single individual is personally responsible for spreading Coronavirus; not government mandates, not vaccines, not anything else, it's selfish individuals causing this issue.

Walking around the shops today, I cannot believe how easily most people have slipped into a state we were in 3 years ago, with a minimum of social distancing, not wearing masks because they're not in a shop (despite being in a closed environment).

 

[Danoff]

It looks like everyone is getting omicron. This thing is spreading at an insane rate. The good news is that omicron is causing antibodies at breakneck speed. The bad news is that unless you really hunker down, you've got a good shot at being one of the people making them. Vaccine and booster remain excellent ways to defend or mitigate against omicron.

I do wonder if this is how the pandemic really comes to an end. Tons of people are vaccinated, and they're in for a booster from omicron.

 

[Joey D]

Sad news guys The Lancet, the most well known and once respected medical journal, has just posted an article that doubts the efficacy of our glorious cure. This now makes them anti-vaxxer, conspiracy nut, selfish dumbasses... How dare they!!!

LINK:
The epidemiological relevance of the COVID-19-vaccinated population is increasing

First, there is no cure for COVID-19. We have treatments and a vaccine, but no cure and we will likely not have a cure, only better and better treatment options.

Second, it's been apparent for months now that the vaccine's efficacy would start to wane around 6 months after your second dose. Omicron seemed to accelerate this because its make up is different than previous variants the vaccine was designed to prevent. There are currently several teams of scientists working on a more universal coronavirus vaccine that could be something you need to get far less frequently. Unfortunately, I can't remember the doctor who talked about it since he was giving an interview on Sirius XM Doctor Radio while I was driving.

For the time being, we have mRNA vaccines that work well enough to help keep people from getting serious disease. Pfizer, Moderna, and all the other vaccine makers never claimed that the vaccines would 100% prevent COVID infections. What they did claim was that they all saw a dramatic reduction in serious and severe illness. Granted, even moderate illness can suck but it doesn't land you in the hospital or a casket, just in bed for a few days.

You also need to consider that there are some people who haven't been boosted that are coming up on a year since their second shot. You're immunity likely has waned significantly over time and it's not surprising that so many vaccinated people are becoming infected. However, just because vaccinated people are becoming infected, it doesn't mean you shouldn't get vaccinated. Having had the pleasure of working in the hospital the other day, the make up of COVID patients is about 80% unvaccinated and 20% vaccinated.

 

[CodeRedR51]

It looks like everyone is getting omicron. This thing is spreading at an insane rate. The good news is that omicron is causing antibodies at breakneck speed. The bad news is that unless you really hunker down, you've got a good shot at being one of them.

I'm going to be honest, I am surprised that I haven't got it yet. I go pretty much everywhere without a mask, but I do typically avoid people for more than COVID reasons. Though I have never had a reason to get tested, no fevers or sickness outside of my normal allergy fits.

 

[Touring Mars]

It looks like everyone is getting omicron. This thing is spreading at an insane rate. The good news is that omicron is causing antibodies at breakneck speed. The bad news is that unless you really hunker down, you've got a good shot at being one of the people making them. Vaccine and booster remain excellent ways to defend or mitigate against omicron.

I do wonder if this is how the pandemic really comes to an end. Tons of people are vaccinated, and they're in for a booster from omicron.

View attachment 1104820

Yes, ironically the virus itself was always going to have to play a part.

'Hybrid immunity' is arguably the only realistic way forward, and keeping severe illness rates down via vaccines/boosters is vital.

I'm going to be honest, I am surprised that I haven't got it yet.

You could easily have had it without ever knowing you had it.

 

[Blitz24]

Yes, ironically the virus itself was always going to have to play a part.

'Hybrid immunity' is arguably the only realistic way forward, and keeping severe illness rates down via vaccines/boosters is vital.

You could easily have had it without ever knowing you had it.

Have they release any study yet comparing people who came down with Covid with ANY symptoms as opposed to those who caught it and managed to have little to no symptoms?

 

[Dotini]

There was a curious incident at the grocery store (Trader Joe) the other day. It about 8:15 AM, shortly after opening. The cashier asked me how I was doing as I was checking out, and I said I was "doing great, thanks, how are you?" Another cashier, who was bagging my groceries, seemingly unaccountably became angry and began complaining about the Covid situation.

 

[Blitz24]

There was a curious incident at the grocery store (Trader Joe) the other day. It about 8:15 AM, shortly after opening. The cashier asked me how I was doing as I was checking out, and I said I was "doing great, thanks, how are you?" Another cashier, who was bagging my groceries, seemingly unaccountably became angry and began complaining about the Covid situation.

How dare you be doing anything other than miserable?!

 

[Touring Mars]

Have they release any study yet comparing people who came down with Covid with ANY symptoms as opposed to those who caught it and managed to have little to no symptoms?

Depends what you mean, but it is a difficult thing to compare for many reasons, not least that people with asymptomatic COVID are likely to remain unidentified. There's also the other problem - COVID symptoms, esp. from Omicron, are common to many other viruses, so people can report COVID-like symptoms without having COVID too. Furthermore, it's very possible to have COVID and still test negative using an LFT, only to find you are (or were) positive with a PCR, but the vast majority of PCR tests are people who test +ve on LFT or have obvious COVID symptoms, while many actual infections may never get confirmed because they do not generate enough antigens to test positive on an LFT test.

 

[Outspacer]

Have they release any study yet comparing people who came down with Covid with ANY symptoms as opposed to those who caught it and managed to have little to no symptoms?

I don't know of any, at least not that would be able to give a figure with any great accuracy.

Can get an idea in the UK by comparing the daily reported cases against the ONS weekly survey data (randomised testing) - for most of our Delta plateau the survey has found almost double the number of cases. Probably fair to assume that most of the excess in the ONS estimate had no or very mild symptoms. And at least some of the reported daily cases would also be asymptomatic cases found by routine testing. So a reasonable but very rough guess would be somewhere between half to two thirds of cases having little to no symptoms. For Delta.

For Omicron it's harder to guess at yet - the ONS survey lags by a bit more than a week, and holidays have disrupted both that and daily reports. Also there is now a lot more regular LFT testing which will increase the number of asymptomatic cases reported in the daily figures. For all the reports of milder illness I haven't seen any saying there are more asymptomatic (and I don't think we can infer from the increased numbers of incidental cases in hospital admissions that there are more; that's just down to there being far more cases overall). Given the vaccine escape, perhaps it's more likely there would be fewer completely asymptomatic cases, I dunno.

Huge caveat that UK data is of a pretty well vaccinated population, so there's no reason to think that "half to two thirds" guess would also apply to the unvaccinated.

 

[Joey D]

Have they release any study yet comparing people who came down with Covid with ANY symptoms as opposed to those who caught it and managed to have little to no symptoms?

Sort of:

Global Percentage of Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 Infections

This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the percentage of asymptomatic COVID-19 infections among individuals undergoing testing and those with confirmed infections.

jamanetwork.com

Findings In this systematic review and meta-analysis of 95 unique studies with 29 776 306 individuals undergoing testing, the pooled percentage of asymptomatic infections was 0.25% among the tested population and 40.50% among the population with confirmed COVID-19.

This was prior to Omicron though and quite a bit has changed between then and now.

 

[Blitz24]

Thank you all. I feel a bit reckless that yesterday I attended my niece's wedding with about 300 people but for the most part, I was masked except when eating (and for the most part other than ceremonies requiring me to be unmasked) and I feel nervous that I may contract it but at the same time, as I am boosted and any illness will be mild.

 

[Danoff]

Thank you all. I feel a bit reckless that yesterday I attended my niece's wedding with about 300 people but for the most part, I was masked except when eating (and for the most part other than ceremonies requiring me to be unmasked) and I feel nervous that I may contract it but at the same time, as I am boosted and any illness will be mild.

The rapid tests are relatively cheap and easy. Maybe two or three days after your exposure you can test to see if you got it.

Consider, for example, my situation. I have a trip coming up with my kids. Currently there is an airborne pandemic that is spreading like crazy in my region, with a new variant that bypasses some of the protection offered by vaccines. I'd like to balance my exposure to the pandemic with the risk that I will be killing my trip plans for my family. Pre-pandemic, I might be able to hop on a plane with a kid that had a fever 2 days ago. But I can't very well hop on a plane with a kid that tested positive for covid 2 days ago can I? I'm in the window where if anyone in my household gets covid, the trip is off. We can isolate like crazy to make sure that doesn't happen, but we're all fully vaccinated (and boosted where available), so perhaps that's more than what is needed.

I agree that it's not a life or death scenario here (specifically for my household, if we spread it, that's different). But I think it's important to continue to remember that the pandemic is very much NOT what we had before, and it can't be fairly analogized to it. Covid remains deadly to certain vulnerable groups, and it remains extremely disruptive to daily life (like school, work, and travel) if you catch it. I'm willing to avoid a few high risk activities if it means that I can keep my travel plans and minimize the spread. But I'm looking to understand what the risks really are so that I can hit that balance right. Hunkering down comes with a big price, catching covid does too.

So the trip happened!

Right in the middle of that huge spike in omicron I flew to Florida with the whole family, stayed at a hotel, did a theme park, got on a cruise, and didn't get omicron (confirmed via test). Cruising during the pandemic was a bit weird. A covid test was required to board (and vaccination), and masks were required indoors except while eating. The ship was only about half full because a fair number of people tested positive in the week leading up to boarding (or literally at the gate and were turned away). But a half full cruise ship is a decent place to be! On this particular boat, the theater shows had every other row blocked off, so my kids could actually see the show for once.

As far as I know, there were no outbreaks on board the ship. I googled the boat upon returning and it looks like there weren't enough cases on board for it to be considered worthy of investigation. Meaning, I think, only a handful of cases could have occurred. I'm not under the illusion that there was no covid on the ship, but whatever there might have been, it didn't manage to spread in that group.

All of it was totally foreign to me at this point. Dining indoors, seeing a movie or a theater performance indoors, being around lots of people, all of it was extremely odd and uncomfortable at first. But having a group that had been prescreened was helpful. It was strange to return to something so... normal... right when things are so abnormal.

I think, at least for me, the trip kicked off the end of the pandemic mindset, at least until something changes. My whole family is vaccinated, and everyone that can be is boosted. I'm totally prepared to get omicron if that's what happens. We're not dropping all safety measures, and we have rapid tests on hand for any symptoms, but I'm not going to extraordinary lengths to shelter at this point - and that feels pretty good. I'm glad we avoided delta and made it to vaccination.

 

[TB]

Right in the middle of that huge spike in omicron I flew to Florida with the whole family

Same with us. Although our trip centered around the beach and Kennedy Space Center.

We're not dropping all safety measures, and we have rapid tests on hand for any symptoms, but I'm not going to extraordinary lengths to shelter at this point

That's where we've been for a while now, too. We're as protected as we can currently get vaccine-wise but you still need to have a life.

After the trip I did have my "scare" last Thursday that and I'm still not sure what it was but it wasn't Covid and hasn't returned.

 

[Joey D]

Pfizer will start clinical trials for an updated version of its vaccine that targets Omicron. Per Albert Bourla, Pfizer's CEO, the company is targeting March for when the vaccine will be ready even though Bourla freely admits it might not be needed by then. Still, better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Also, if Omicron mutates chances are Pfizer's work will just make it easier for them to transfer to combat the new variant.

Exclusive: Pfizer plans to start human studies of its Omicron-specific COVID-19 vaccine before the end of January

The pharma giant is on track to have a new version of its vaccine ready by late March, its chief scientist, Mikael Dolsten, told Insider.

www.businessinsider.com

I've been also told to get ready for Moderna vaccines for children under the age of 5 by the end of February.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Company I work for sent out an email this morning, effective February 9th all employees must be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.

 

[Touring Mars]

Company I work for sent out an email this morning, effective February 9th all employees must be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.

Weekly testing? Seems a tad pointless - school kids in Scotland are expected to test every day and not attend school for a week if anyone they live with tests positive...

-

Meanwhile, my workplace (well, I'm currently unemployed, but hey...) is going in the polar opposite direction.

Practically all COVID safety rules that were previously comprehensive and diligently followed have effectively been dropped and not replaced with anything. That said, people are still wearing masks and social activities are still at a bare minimum, but that's about it. I suppose our workplaces don't really need to have too many of their own rules because most things are still covered by national laws and guidelines etc., though it does strike me as a bit weird that there is zero testing or requirement to test etc. at a time when cases in the country are still very high.

 

[Danoff]

Colorado is really in for it over the next couple of weeks. We just had an absolute deluge of cases yesterday. So many cases that I'm having trouble believing the numbers, and can't post something that I'd really stand behind, but whatever's going on, it's big. This first chart is a week average daily case figure.

As bad as that line looks, the non-smoothed data looks much worse.

50,000 cases yesterday probably is not right (although I'm seeing similar numbers from multiple sources). It is probably multiple days grouped together somehow and dumped at once. But there's no denying that it's a big wave. Having a few rapid tests on hand seems essential at this point.

 

[Dennisch]

Colorado is really in for it over the next couple of weeks. We just had an absolute deluge of cases yesterday. So many cases that I'm having trouble believing the numbers, and can't post something that I'd really stand behind, but whatever's going on, it's big. This first chart is a week average daily case figure.

View attachment 1105231

As bad as that line looks, the non-smoothed data looks much worse.

View attachment 1105232

50,000 cases yesterday probably is not right (although I'm seeing similar numbers from multiple sources). It is probably multiple days grouped together somehow and dumped at once. But there's no denying that it's a big wave. Having a few rapid tests on hand seems essential at this point.

Those numbers are probably right. We have an increase of 77% in a week. Luckily, hospitalisations stay behind. For now.

Edit.

We have a positive test rate of 34,2%.

 

[Fat Tyre]

It makes sense given all the super spreader events you would naturally have on New Year's parties. With that incubation period lasting about a week and then those infected infecting others.

We've had a huge increase here in Australia as well with one day having 100.000 cases combined between Victoria and New South Wales. And they could have likely have have been more. They have stopped processing some tests because they were over a week old so there was not much use in doing so. My friend and I never got ours, we had the tests last Wednesday.

 

[Eunos_Cosmo]

Colorado is really in for it over the next couple of weeks. We just had an absolute deluge of cases yesterday. So many cases that I'm having trouble believing the numbers, and can't post something that I'd really stand behind, but whatever's going on, it's big. This first chart is a week average daily case figure.

View attachment 1105231

As bad as that line looks, the non-smoothed data looks much worse.

View attachment 1105232

50,000 cases yesterday probably is not right (although I'm seeing similar numbers from multiple sources). It is probably multiple days grouped together somehow and dumped at once. But there's no denying that it's a big wave. Having a few rapid tests on hand seems essential at this point.

At least you are still on the chart.

We reported nearly a quarter million yesterday...though it does seem that at least in the Bay Area, the rate of increase has tapered a bit. In the preceding 2 weeks, it was on an absolute tear, with cases doubling in 7 days. This last report showed it up only around 50% from last week. So maybe it's peaking?

 

[ProjectWHaT]

A few days ago my school sent out plans for the start of the spring semester. We're still starting on time but the first two weeks will be virtual. In addition, they are requiring a pre-departure test (PCR or antigen) in addition to the usual arrival test. This allows people to delay their arrival in case they test positive and work from home since the first few weeks will be virtual. Masks are continued to be required when indoors, however, they are recommending N95 masks now and cloth masks are no longer viable.

A lot of people have been complaining about it on the school's subreddit. Today, they sent out another email about their reasoning.

COVID-19 Information & Resources | Cornell Health

If you are a Cornell faculty or staff member, please refer to the HR website for guidance. INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS:Section breakHow to get a COVID vaccination / boosterGetting vaccinated at Cornell Health:

covid.cornell.edu

Other than allowing athletic events, I agree with most of the points laid out. I think most people are just overreacting or have ulterior motives.

Also, I am getting incredibly annoyed by the claim that omicron is "milder". Just because it's milder doesn't mean it's okay to be infected. It still means people need to be vigilante to stop the spread of the virus. We still don't know the long term effects of the virus. I still think zero covid is a necessary strategy to consider. We can't just keep letting things get worse.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

At least you are still on the chart.

We reported nearly a quarter million yesterday...though it does seem that at least in the Bay Area, the rate of increase has tapered a bit. In the preceding 2 weeks, it was on an absolute tear, with cases doubling in 7 days. This last report showed it up only around 50% from last week. So maybe it's peaking?

After a while, it runs out of people to infect.

 

[UKMikey]

I got a lift from a reluctant vaxxer today who proceeded to tell his captive audience that the booster shot is useless because it's only effective for two months. I thought it was up to 80% effective for at least six months but didn't want to argue with his YouTube supported expertise. Does anyone know which of us is nearer the truth?

 

[TB]

Test has been scheduled for my wife in Kauai for the morning after we arrive. Figured I'd rather have it locked in a month and change out than run into timing issues.

 

[Fat Tyre]

I saw on Facebook a friend in Salta, Argentina tested positive for Covid-19. She's got a disc hernia and she said got so much inflammation it left her in bed from the pain and now she's limping. She had two doses, not sure which kind. Anyways she said situation is horrible and everyone seems to be getting it.

So since I hadn't heard from my dad (he'll be 62 in Feb) in about a week I texted him and asked him to be careful. He just video called me, told me to not worry but he had tested positive along with several other healthcare workers. He said he is fine but he had some nasty coughs, he's on day 8 apparently. It's now screwing with my head, I read that it can take a downturn on the second week but he is boosted so I dunno.