PlagueWatch 2020-23 - Coronavirus

[ClemmonsDevil]

Indeed, I did.

Stanford still doesn't have a school of public health.

I want to start a class with Chuck D as the professor in the School of Public Enemy.

[YmoBeThere]

I want to start a class with Chuck D as the professor in the School of Public Enemy.

Why do you keep ending up with Flavor Flav? I mean everyone needs a hype man.

[ClemmonsDevil]

Why do you keep ending up with Flavor Flav? I mean everyone needs a hype man.

Yeeeeeeeaaaaaah boy!!!!!!!

[jimsumner]

I want to start a class with Chuck D as the professor in the School of Public Enemy.

Chuck Bartkowski of the TV show Chuck was expelled from Stanford on bogus cheating charges. Perhaps he could be a guest lecturer.

[ClemmonsDevil]

Chuck Bartkowski of the TV show Chuck was expelled from Stanford on bogus cheating charges. Perhaps he could be a guest lecturer.

LOVED the show Chuck! Just watched it with my daughter!

[Furniture]

We can handle Omicron waves. It's not pleasant, but it's manageable.

What is the problem is if we get another Delta.

Omicron is "the flu" as most of us know it.

I got a text today from my close friend who is a doctor here in the Triad area of NC. “Omicron is a bastard. Super infectious. We are being overrun “.

[MChambers]

Katharine Wu of the Atlantic has another good piece on immunity to covid. Well worth a read:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...munity/621324/

But there is reason to believe that this ultra-sunny forecast won’t come to pass. “This wave will not be the last,” Shane Crotty, of the La Jolla Institute of Immunology, told me. “There are not many things that I am willing to be pretty confident about. But that’s one of them.” A new antibody-dodging variant, for one, could still show up to clobber us. And nearly everyone having some form of spike in their past isn’t as protective as it might sound.

[camion]

Katharine Wu of the Atlantic has another good piece on immunity to covid. Well worth a read:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...munity/621324/

But there is reason to believe that this ultra-sunny forecast won’t come to pass. “This wave will not be the last,” Shane Crotty, of the La Jolla Institute of Immunology, told me. “There are not many things that I am willing to be pretty confident about. But that’s one of them.” A new antibody-dodging variant, for one, could still show up to clobber us. And nearly everyone having some form of spike in their past isn’t as protective as it might sound.

Narrowing the immunity thing down a bit to what already exists, may I ask if anyone has a clue how much catching Omicron might protect, or not protect, against Delta?

[MChambers]

Narrowing the immunity thing down a bit to what already exists, may I ask if anyone has a clue how much catching Omicron might protect, or not protect, against Delta?

It probably provides a lot of protection, especially for someone who has been vaccinated: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/cor...257097217.html

[Bluedog]

Narrowing the immunity thing down a bit to what already exists, may I ask if anyone has a clue how much catching Omicron might protect, or not protect, against Delta?

It probably provides a lot of protection, especially for someone who has been vaccinated: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/cor...257097217.html

To further this point (although this is from an "old" lab study in Dec - one month ago!):

"The researchers found, unsurprisingly, that the patients’ blood [that had recovered from Omicron] contained a high level of antibodies potent against Omicron. But those [Omicron-induced] antibodies proved effective against Delta, too.

This was particularly surprising because the team’s study from earlier this month showed that the converse was not true: Antibodies produced after a Delta infection offered little protection against Omicron."

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/28/h...ies-delta.html

Omicron somehow provides "broader" immunity against known variants at the moment it seems.

[Acymetric]

To further this point (although this is from an "old" lab study in Dec - one month ago!):

"The researchers found, unsurprisingly, that the patients’ blood [that had recovered from Omicron] contained a high level of antibodies potent against Omicron. But those [Omicron-induced] antibodies proved effective against Delta, too.

This was particularly surprising because the team’s study from earlier this month showed that the converse was not true: Antibodies produced after a Delta infection offered little protection against Omicron."

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/28/h...ies-delta.html

Omicron somehow provides "broader" immunity against known variants at the moment it seems.

Since that is a month ago, I wonder if anyone has been able to replicate the results?

[Skydog]

Update -

Headache is better today (it was really bad yesterday but Tylenol worked surprisingly well) but all other symptoms are worse. Coughing a lot more than I was and nose is running like a faucet. I've got a oximeter and my oxygen levels are great so I am not worried but this is not fun.

Hope you are getting better. New update?

[niveklaen]

update - day 3 of my quarantine (day 4 of symptoms) - did a CVS telemedicine appt this afternoon and the Dr prescribed molnupiravir - 4 pills twice a day for 5 days. Just took my first set of pills. My chills and stuffy nose are gone - just a very sore throat.

of course my qualifying pre-existing condition is that I am overweight.

[JasonEvans]

Hope you are getting better. New update?

Yesterday was significantly better than the previous 2 days and today is even better. Headaches are completely gone. Nose is running a lot less. Coughs are less frequent and there seems to be less phlegm in my throat. If I continue to follow the recent progression, I would say I will be pretty much all better by tomorrow.

So, to recap --

Friday - attended high school basketball game with mask wearing and moderate attendance. This is likely where I got it, though it could have been on a masked visit to Kroger on Thursday
Saturday - no symptoms
Sunday - mild throat discomfort in the evening, more than 48 hours after the basketball game
Monday - worse throat discomfort, beginning to cough
Tuesday - positive test confirms Covid. Coughing and headaches
Wednesday - bad headaches, mild fever, lots of coughing, some sneezing and runny nose
Thursday - headaches somewhat improved, fever gone, coughing a bit better, nose running is worse
Friday - headaches gone, coughing better, nose running improved late in the day
Saturday - mild coughing, nose running much improved

Medicines used - Tylenol for headaches (worked great), Robitussin for coughs (made little difference), nothing else

Patient - 55 years old, good health though mildly overweight, triple vaxed with Moderna (March, April, October shots)

[johnb]

Yesterday was significantly better than the previous 2 days and today is even better. Headaches are completely gone. Nose is running a lot less. Coughs are less frequent and there seems to be less phlegm in my throat. If I continue to follow the recent progression, I would say I will be pretty much all better by tomorrow.

So, to recap --

Friday - attended high school basketball game with mask wearing and moderate attendance. This is likely where I got it, though it could have been on a masked visit to Kroger on Thursday
Saturday - no symptoms
Sunday - mild throat discomfort in the evening, more than 48 hours after the basketball game
Monday - worse throat discomfort, beginning to cough
Tuesday - positive test confirms Covid. Coughing and headaches
Wednesday - bad headaches, mild fever, lots of coughing, some sneezing and runny nose
Thursday - headaches somewhat improved, fever gone, coughing a bit better, nose running is worse
Friday - headaches gone, coughing better, nose running improved late in the day
Saturday - mild coughing, nose running much improved

Medicines used - Tylenol for headaches (worked great), Robitussin for coughs (made little difference), nothing else

Patient - 55 years old, good health though mildly overweight, triple vaxed with Moderna (March, April, October shots)

ugh, but glad you're feeling better. thanks for the clarity.

[wavedukefan70s]

Quite a interesting read in the Jerusalem post.
https://www.jpost.com/health-and-wel...article-694237

[JasonEvans]

So, Gonzaga basketball alumn and basketball legend John Stockton (probably one of the 5 best PGs of all time) has been banned from attending Gonzaga games because he refuses to comply with the university's mask mandate at indoor events. Stockton has gone deeeeep down the Covid misinformation rabbit hole:

Stockton has taken a strong stance against COVID-19 vaccines, shutdown measures and mask mandates, initially offering his views last June in a documentary titled, “COVID and the Vaccine: Truth, Lies and Misconceptions Revealed.”

During the interview, Stockton asserted that more than 100 professional athletes have died of vaccination. He also said tens of thousands of people – perhaps millions – have died from vaccines.

“I think it’s highly recorded now, there’s 150 I believe now, it’s over 100 professional athletes dead – professional athletes – the prime of their life, dropping dead that are vaccinated, right on the pitch, right on the field, right on the court,” Stockton said in the interview.

I'm just furious that the interviewer didn't stop him and say, "150 dead professional athletes due to the vaccine... can you name 1?"

[ClemmonsDevil]

So, Gonzaga basketball alumn and basketball legend John Stockton (probably one of the 5 best PGs of all time) has been banned from attending Gonzaga games because he refuses to comply with the university's mask mandate at indoor events. Stockton has gone deeeeep down the Covid misinformation rabbit hole:



I'm just furious that the interviewer didn't stop him and say, "150 dead professional athletes due to the vaccine... can you name 1?"

This is disheartening. But good for the university.

[Bostondevil]

Have there been any female professional athletes that are making headlines with their anti-vax opinions? I don't remember hearing about them but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Certainly there are female anti-vaxxers, but are there any professional athletes among their number that are getting attention?

[Bluedog]

Have there been any female professional athletes that are making headlines with their anti-vax opinions? I don't remember hearing about them but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Certainly there are female anti-vaxxers, but are there any professional athletes among their number that are getting attention?

Not sure, but there aren't as many highly visible female athletes as male ones. Just going by numbers/popularity. But the WNBA in comparison to the NBA has definitely been more pro-vaccine in its policies and player adherence. I will say Michele Roberts, not a player but the (female) executive director of the NBPA made some head scratching remarks about vaccines early on, suggesting it's too early to tell if they're safe (after they were fully approved), but seems to have changed her narrative a bit since then...but she wants to defend the (male) players who don't want to be vaccinated it seems while highlighting the vast majority have been vaccinated.

There is a decent amount of vaccine skepticism in Eastern Europe, and some top female tennis players expressed skepticism in August 2021:
"Top-10 women’s players Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka both expressed scepticism earlier this year: Svitolina because her friends warned her against it, Sabalenka because “they made it really quick, not enough time to make a good one”.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2021/aug/23/anti-vaxx-athletes-stance-show-myths-cut-across-boundaries-privilege-covid

They of course, have different vaccines and processes/agencies than we have in the States.