Man, up here in NJ we seemed to be on the downswing, but it never materialized… we are starting to go back up again. What the hell?
From what I've read, the BA.5 variant of omicron can escape immunity from previous infections, including from other variants of omicron. BA.5 is close to becoming the dominant variant right now, so it's possible that the downswing that started has been overwhelmed by the BA.5 upswing. Read all about it here, from Eric Topol: https://erictopol.substack.com/p/the-ba5-story
I am seeing a lot more health care providers getting isolated now with Covid symptoms than a couple of weeks ago, for sure. I have five out from just my company right now. The system has about 60 people out on Covid isolation.
Hopeful that the newer vaccines designed to work better against Omicron variants will become available pretty soon.
"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust
And if they're targeting BA.1 (which they are as I understand it) doesn't seem like there's much added cross immunity to BA.4 and BA.5 (i.e. the benefit is less clear now that omicron variants have evolved to evade original omicron immunity). Still helps with reducing severe outcomes certainly but I don't think the literature shows a clear benefit to severe outcomes with the bivalent version vs. Original vaccines given trials were conducted too long ago to assess the latest sub variants. We need lab tests versions like we do for influenza but even then we'd be behind on the manufacturing curve. I believe Pfizer and Moderna have already started producing fall boosters with the hope they'll be rolled out.
I took the home rapid test this morning and was NEGATIVE! And yes, I reported the negative result through the test's app, so I'll help the statistics.
Why did I take the test? I had an appointment today that I wanted to keep, but obviously wouldn't if I tested positive so I needed to know. But why did I need the test? Long story - for years, usually twice a year almost without fail, I would get this deep, hacking, retching cough, so deep that I would hurt my diaphragm muscles and sometimes almost throw up. Last time was December 2019 BC (Before Covid), but I started coughing a little on Friday and more each day since. Last night after dinner it got really bad. My family doctor at the time, (2009 or 2010), after I drove home from Florida and coughed so badly that I had bruised ribs, prescribed "big boy cough medicine", something generic that contained hydrocodone. It is the only thing that stops the cough enough that I can sleep at night and not scare the daylights out of people with my coughing during the day, and that was before Covid. When the cough finally stops after a couple of weeks I keep the left over bottle for the next time. I've been taking the cough medicine as often as the prescription allows. But I had to make sure I didn't have Covid before going to the appointment, so I took the test. And I wore a mask during the meeting and kept my social distance as best as possible.
I expect that tomorrow I'll have to call my current PCP and go see him to get my next bottle of the "good stuff"!
Ozzie, your paradigm of optimism!
Go To Hell carolina, Go To Hell!
9F 9F 9F
https://ecogreen.greentechaffiliate.com
"We are not provided with wisdom, we must discover it for ourselves, after a journey through the wilderness which no one else can take for us, an effort which no one can spare us, for our wisdom is the point of view from which we come at last to regard the world." --M. Proust
The FDA has now seen the wisdom of your approach!
"The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said vaccine manufacturers should update their Covid-19 booster shots to target the most recent omicron subvariants that are gaining ground in the U.S.
Dr. Peter Marks, head of the FDA’s vaccine division, said manufacturers should update their shots to target omicron BA.4 and BA.5 in addition to the original strain of the virus that first emerged in Wuhan, China."
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/30/fda-...bvariants.html
Haha, nice! Thanks for the update. Seems like the right approach but if they're asking for clinical trials, not sure we [manufacturers] have enough time to do that. I thought the FDA would simply say: "we have enough clinical trial results to tell us the generic mRNA COVID vaccines are safe and effective. Let's do lab tests to validate the latest version targets BA.4 and BA.5 effectively without asking for human trials." (I believe that's what they do for influenza.) We'll see how quickly they can turn it around though...but I previously read that they (Pfizer, Moderna) thought it would be too late and hard to complete things if we actually want a vaccination program to commence in the fall. This might push it to early 2023 unless FDA approves some shortened timeline for trials.
And of course, it's also possible that it will have mutated further by then and BA.4 and BA.5 won't be the dominant strains later this year. This is a game of whack a mole...
And, for the record, clearly I wasn't the one who came up with the theory that the BA.1-targeted bivalent vaccine is not very effective against the latest versions -- I obviously relied upon experts/articles telling me that.
It appears the FDA listened to you, again! Good to know they are following this thread. :-)
"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will not require companies to submit clinical trial data on COVID-19 vaccines modified to protect against the BA.4 and BA.5 versions of Omicron in order to authorize those shots, a top FDA official said on Thursday."
https://www.reuters.com/legal/govern...rs-2022-06-30/
I'm up outside of asheville. Mask wearing is still a bigger thing than in Charleston.
I'd guess 30% here.vs 10% in Charleston.
We’ve seen very little masking while traveling in the UK. Less than 5% I’d say and most who are masked are tourists and a few shop workers. Have not taken the underground yet.
Last edited by Tappan Zee Devil; 07-04-2022 at 10:34 PM. Reason: I can't spell
We went to the theater to finally catch Maverick, and my family were the only people wearing masks. The theater was surprisingly crowded, too, considering how long the film has been running, so that was probably my greatest COVID exposure risk in a good long time. Knock on wood.
Is the latest Omicron sub variant supposed to be more virulent than earlier variants? Way too small of a sample size but I had two colleagues who recently tested positive and both said it’s the sickest they have felt in like a decade. The first version seemed to resemble something more like a cold from the people I know who had it. Both are vaccinated and boostered to the extent that matters (and perhaps that mattering less for this sub-variant is the key here).