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22 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

And it's a breakthrough case. Ugh. 

Unfortunately it is looking more and more like those over 80 just don't have great response to the vaccine (or likely a lot of vaccines, for that matter). And of course, at that age are more likely to already lung or cardiovascular issues - a lot of people that age grew up smoking a pack a day and have COPD, etc. 

The best way to protect those people is going to be to have everyone else vaccinated too. And boostered, as appropriate. 

Do we know if Colin Powell was boostered?

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2 hours ago, whitestavern said:

Not sure how old your brother is, but Finland's health authorities announced that men under 30 will not get the Moderna shot. Sweden banned Moderna for everyone under the age of 30; Denmark did the same for people under 18. Norway is urging people under 30 to choose Pfizer rather than Moderna. Iceland halted all distribution of Moderna. England, Norway, and Hong Kong are limiting teens to only one dose. Someone on here posted similar about their Canadian province. US has delayed its decision on Moderna in teens. There's no consensus on what is safest, but there are clearly some concerns with vaccines for teens/youngish adults.

We aren't using Moderna under 25 here, because of the the demonstrated increased myocarditis risk -  out of "an abundance of caution".  The risk with Moderna is still way lower than the risk of myocarditis with covid, but higher than with Pfizer.  And we have plenty of Pfizer, so the recommendation makes sense.  If we didn't have any Pfizer, and had only Moderna, I am certain that we'ed still be using Moderna for under 25's.  It's still a safe vaccine,  but we are fortunate to be able to be choosy and choose between degrees of safe - choosing between very small risk and slightly smaller risk.

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1 hour ago, Insertcreativenamehere said:

From NBC:

I have no idea if this condition made Covid complications more likely but it couldn't have helped. 

It's one of the types of blood cancer that's well known to cause people to not have a good immune response to the vaccines. Definitely a case where, more likely than not, he was "failed" by someone around him NOT being vaccinated.

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Latvia, of all places, now has the highest rate of new Covid cases in the world. They're shutting down schools and entertainment for a month, and having a curfew, until their vax rates increase. 

UK in a bad way with over 300,000 cases in the last week, and I guess winter cold isn't far off . . . plus I read that they're only doing 1 shot of vaccine for 12-16yr olds, so it's spreading through schools like crazy, and the uptake for that age is very very low.

And in more cheerful news, there was this funny tweet yday from the Northern Territory in Australia (it's not a state, I don't really understand why, but basically it's a state lol). 

 

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13 minutes ago, bookbard said:

And in more cheerful news, there was this funny tweet yday from the Northern Territory in Australia (it's not a state, I don't really understand why, but basically it's a state lol). 

lol. We were just studying Australia last week, and I wouldn't have known what you meant by this before last week, but now I do. Yay for the You Tube video we watched about the states and territories of Australia!

15 minutes ago, bookbard said:

I read that they're only doing 1 shot of vaccine for 12-16yr olds, so it's spreading through schools like crazy

I read an Australian tweet a few days ago in a similar vein that really struck me, but I can't seem to find it any more. It had to do with the disturbingness of pediatricians trying to soothe parents that it was fine for their unvaccinated kids to get infected because the virus only has a 2% hospitalization rate in kids. With a focus once again on the fact that people don't have a grasp on numbers and what it would mean for 2% of kids to be hospitalized.

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7 minutes ago, KSera said:

It had to do with the disturbingness of pediatricians trying to soothe parents that it was fine for their unvaccinated kids to get infected because the virus only has a 2% hospitalization rate in kids. With a focus once again on the fact that people don't have a grasp on numbers and what it would mean for 2% of kids to be hospitalized

I think I saw that too! Cannot wait until we can get the vax for kids here. But you know, there's still the constant narrative 'kids don't get it' or 'kids don't get sick'.

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Back at school today (I'm only planning on going this week). Will be interesting to see how things are being managed. 

I've heard from other teachers/staff that even open windows aren't happening a lot of the time due to rain/wind/noise. 

Got my P2 mask on. I'm expecting minimal mask use among students. I'll be surprised if it's more than one or two in each class. 

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On 10/18/2021 at 1:34 PM, whitestavern said:

Not sure how old your brother is, but Finland's health authorities announced that men under 30 will not get the Moderna shot. Sweden banned Moderna for everyone under the age of 30; Denmark did the same for people under 18. Norway is urging people under 30 to choose Pfizer rather than Moderna. Iceland halted all distribution of Moderna. England, Norway, and Hong Kong are limiting teens to only one dose. Someone on here posted similar about their Canadian province. US has delayed its decision on Moderna in teens. There's no consensus on what is safest, but there are clearly some concerns with vaccines for teens/youngish adults.

In fairness, England's limiting most young teens (those under 16) to one dose of Pfizer specifically. They're not allowed any other vaccine - not Moderna, but also not OxfordAstrazeneca or J&J. The other types of vaccine haven't completed testing in this age group under UK protocols yet. Given the great enthusiasm to get as many teens as possible vaccinated (in some parts of the country, 10% of 12-year-olds already have their dose, and England's so early into this that some other areas haven't got supplies yet!), it's not clear if any other manufacturer will get round to presenting the necessary safety data in time to be part of the school vaccination programme for this age group. (OxfordAstrazeneca's trying to get their vaccine approved for 5-11-year-olds, so there's no guarantee Pfizer will get a similar monopoly on the next age group down).

16 year olds can have 1 dose of either mRNA vaccine.

People who are 17+ can have any approved vaccine (including J&J) in the usual adult course (with dose 2 timed for when the recipient turns 18), although under-30s don't get OxfordAstrazeneca unless their doctor specifically says so (typically because they've had a bad reaction to an mRNA vaccine that was isolated to an ingredient OxfordAstrazeneca doesn't use). The same applies to anyone who is 12+ and either lives with someone who is immunocompromised (whether they themselves are or not) or have a condition that increases the risk of severe illness from COVID-19 such as immunocompromise, Down's Syndrome or cerebal palsy. So for example, a 12-year-old who is immunocompromised can get a full course of any vaccine except (usually) OxfordAstrazeneca. It's all to do with risk and benefit balances.

England's getting a massive amount of spread in secondary schools, but a big factor there is that social distancing and masks have been rendered optional in law. Which due to various practical issues (notably cramped school buildings) and a certain amount of stubborn-mindedness, means neither is particularly common at this point. (On the other hand, students who want to mask have their right to do so protected and schools still require non-medically-exempt teachers and staff to use masks any time they are not teaching or drinking/eating on school premises).

 

1 hour ago, bookbard said:

Interesting article about the flu: How Bad Will Flu Season Be This Winter? We Have a Choice - The Atlantic 

In Australia as well as the US, the flu dwindled to basically nothing, the last 2 years. This article is suggesting that we should try not to accept high flu numbers again.

The UK is betting on high flu numbers, at least for planning purposes. I wouldn't have said its hospitals were in much position to handle any sort of surge because the staff are now rushing through waiting lists as fast as possible before an anticipated surge of Delta Plus (this is another part of the reason the UK's COVID case counts are so bad this month. If it's any comfort, Delta Plus doesn't appear to induce more illness once caught than Delta, despite being more apt to spread).

My local hospital is no longer requiring patients to isolate for 3 days before scheduled appointments. It is instead testing on site and triaging only if an immediate positive result occurs. The standard advice to stay away and reschedule elective stuff if one has COVID symptoms applies. This brings it into line with Accident and Emergency (which for obvious reasons couldn't tell people requiring urgent treatment to go home for 3 days before receiving medical attention!) For anyone wondering, this is a particularly bad time to go to Accident & Emergency anyway. At least 1/4 of patients are having to wait over 4 hours for triage, and then typically several hours more waiting on a trolley while waiting for a bed if the triage nurse decides other urgent people need a bed more urgently than you do. Everyone in my family is reminding each other to be very careful. (In case you're wondering, this is down to a combination of people going back to work, with associated increase in traffic accidents and occupational injuries, and people finally going to hospital with things they probably should have gone to hospital for at some point over the summer. The latter is increased especially by people who cannot use the phone or internet methods for getting a GP's/doctor's office appointment, and whose condition eventually deteriorated to the point where A&E was the only option).

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So, I thought local covid numbers were doing weird things, and now I've found out why - NSW Health keeps changing the rules about how long you're infectious for. Started off as 28 days, then a sudden change to 10 days (when 13,000 cases suddenly disappeared) and now changed to 14 days. I would've thought it was when you no longer tested positive, which would be different for different people, rather than a blanket number. A bit dodgy!

In other local covid news, the age group with the highest covid rate is now 0-9yr olds, which is sad, but makes sense - no vaccines. Next highest is 10-19yr olds. 58 schools have had to close in NSW since term began due to covid. My friend's kid has been back two days and had to get a covid test today due to cold symptoms - his little friend at school came with a runny nose and no mask. Crazy times. 

Numbers remaining low with 283 new cases in NSW, 1841 for Vic and 24 for ACT. Sounds like boosters may happen this year for some. 

 

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https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russias-putin-approves-nationwide-one-week-workplace-shutdown-oct-30-2021-10-20/?taid=6170178a7778c400018e9c99&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter
 

Russia is going into a week long lockdown to try and being case numbers down.  I must admit it has me worried they have a new variant unless they’re only getting hit by delta now?  Or maybe it’s the vaccines wearing off?

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4 hours ago, bookbard said:

So, I thought local covid numbers were doing weird things, and now I've found out why - NSW Health keeps changing the rules about how long you're infectious for. Started off as 28 days, then a sudden change to 10 days (when 13,000 cases suddenly disappeared) and now changed to 14 days. I would've thought it was when you no longer tested positive, which would be different for different people, rather than a blanket number. A bit dodgy!

In other local covid news, the age group with the highest covid rate is now 0-9yr olds, which is sad, but makes sense - no vaccines. Next highest is 10-19yr olds. 58 schools have had to close in NSW since term began due to covid. My friend's kid has been back two days and had to get a covid test today due to cold symptoms - his little friend at school came with a runny nose and no mask. Crazy times. 

Numbers remaining low with 283 new cases in NSW, 1841 for Vic and 24 for ACT. Sounds like boosters may happen this year for some. 

 

I'm in the US and our public health told us 10 days.  They even said you may still test positive at that point but they don't consider you to be contagious and you are free to return to the community.  My one DS is essential worker and they have everyone who has been exposed test daily.  DS was still showing positive at 12 days out (with no remaining symptoms) so his employer sent him home even though Public Health said he could return. I was kind of surprised at Public Health's response but they said some people could test positive for a month or longer but it was due to shedding but they were broken? enough that it couldn't transmit (not sure I got the terms correct but that was the gist of what I thought they were trying to say).

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4 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

2,232 cases and 11 deaths for Vic.  Not great numbers for first day of reduced restrictions 😕 I really hope we’re not making a massive mistake here.


372 for NSW.

Yeah I saw the numbers are up - a fair bit, too. I feel like Vic might have held out longer if not for NSW. And the message seems to be 'doesn't matter because vaccinated' - but not only are a lot of people unvaccinated - either anti-vax, too young, or medical reasons - but you can still get long covid if you're a breakthrough vaccinated case. I mean we're definitely in a better place than last year, but still.

I can think of ten anti-vaxxers in my little local town, three of whom are parents of kids at school. They're deluded but I would still be very sad if they got sick. They wouldn't test, either, so I bet the actual numbers are higher - anything less than being majorly ill wouldn't get picked up. 

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https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-021-00926-1
 

Possible explanation for Covid neurological symptoms - a bit sciencey for me to get my head around this morning.

Discussion

In many patients with COVID-19, neurological and psychiatric symptoms occur during the acute disease and determine the post-acute syndrome4. Here, we show microvascular pathology in the brains of SARS-CoV-2-infected patients that likely explains signs and symptoms, although systemic effects, including respiratory failure and cytokine release, may contribute to CNS symptoms. Furthermore, we propose a mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 infection compromises brain endothelial function, damages the BBB and reduces CNS perfusion.

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Queensland have a bit of a situation as a guy from a Melbourne was up there for ten days while infectious - not sure how he got through yet.  He’s really unwell so they haven’t been able to get clear information from him as he can’t talk much.  He’s an Uber driver and linked to trucking possibly and hasn’t been using QR codes so they’re trying to figure out where he’s been.

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36 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Queensland have a bit of a situation as a guy from a Melbourne was up there for ten days while infectious - not sure how he got through yet.  He’s really unwell so they haven’t been able to get clear information from him as he can’t talk much.  He’s an Uber driver and linked to trucking possibly and hasn’t been using QR codes so they’re trying to figure out where he’s been.

This is a bit of a worry.  I feel like our contact tracers up here are pretty amazing. But without the info of this guy's movements over the past 10 days, there's not much they can do.

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18 hours ago, tuesdayschild said:

copied from NZ Herald:

129 cases.

Case numbers have now been hopping around in recent days, with 94 cases on Tuesday and 102 cases on Thursday. Experts are tipping numbers to continue to grow.

With a r value of 1.2 or 1.3, they said the numbers would double every 10 days. They are aiming for the 90% double vaccinated within 1 month. First vaccines in Auckland are at 88% I think, so they think they can make it. Once Auckland hits 90% double vax, they will reduce restrictions, but keep the strict border until the rest of the country catches up. Right now there is still no covid at all in the bottom half of the North Island and none in the South Island. 

Edited by lewelma
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57 minutes ago, bookbard said:

NSW 332 new cases, Vic 1750 cases. Lots of schools closed, mostly regional primary schools. Majority of new cases in NSW are under 12 yr olds, due to lack of vaccine. 

82% vax in NSW, above 16+ yrs, 72% vax in VIC, above 16+ yrs. 

The next town over from me has had 2 cases in the last 2 days in a primary school. Very strangely they have only the 2 classes closed and all the rest of the students have been told they have to keep going. My sister has 3 kids at that school. Student numbers for the whole school are  around 60 I think

People are finding it alarming that just a few weeks ago everthi g shut down at just one case, but now it is hard to find exactly how many cases there arein a area and everything is opening up quickly just as numbers are increasing.  It is confusing and alarming 

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5 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

People are finding it alarming that just a few weeks ago everthing shut down at just one case, but now it is hard to find exactly how many cases there are in a area and everything is opening up quickly just as numbers are increasing.  It is confusing and alarming 

That was what happened when the Singapore govt declared that covid is endemic a few months ago.  Now there is Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) so more people can travel but dining is restricted to two per group and people have to be vaccinated to enter malls.

image.thumb.png.804c8162f61621f8d8dd8f3162ed0a59.png

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7 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

The next town over from me has had 2 cases in the last 2 days in a primary school. Very strangely they have only the 2 classes closed and all the rest of the students have been told they have to keep going. My sister has 3 kids at that school. Student numbers for the whole school are  around 60 I think

People are finding it alarming that just a few weeks ago everthi g shut down at just one case, but now it is hard to find exactly how many cases there are in an area and everything is opening up quickly just as numbers are increasing.  It is confusing and alarming 

quoting myself

 now the school is closed. it had 6 new cases today across multiple grades

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The premier is becoming more and more nonsensical.  People have to get double vax by end of November, people are, in record numbers. Over 90%have had first dose in some regional areas it is over 95%. Today he announced that people are not allowed to go to the shops for anything (not sure but I don’t think this includes food , but I cannot find clarification) after this Friday if they are not double vexed anywhere in the state…….. how does that make any sense at all. People are getting it as fast as they can already. It isn’t even 3 weeks since people had to have their first dose 

 

full of confusion and despair it isn’t making any sense

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296 cases for NSW and 4 deaths, 1935 cases for VIC and 11 deaths. 

Melissa in Australia, is he talking about shops like Big W, cafes etc? In NSW essential services such as food shops, post offices, banks etc are open to all but cafes, clothes stores etc you have to be vaccinated. That  has been hard on rural NSW too as some people are still waiting on 2nd AZ. My husband is getting his second this week, but that means it's only 8 weeks apart not 12 weeks - cuts the effectiveness down a fair bit. There are probably a fair few in this situation, and I hope they allow a Pfizer booster for people with AZ sooner than later to account for that. 

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10 minutes ago, Melissa in Australia said:

 Quote ”Mr Andrews said you have to be vaccinated to go shopping, no matter what you buy”

 

It's under the heading 'non essential' though - so I'd assume it's not food etc. Hopefully they make it clearer before the end of the week. 

Looks like Tasmania dodged a bullet with that weird escapee - still 0 cases. ACT had 9 cases today which is quite low. No other states/territories had any cases. Overall vaccination rate above 12yrs is 85% first dose, 70% second dose. Big variations between states though with NT lowest and ACT highest. 

 

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1 hour ago, Melissa Louise said:

It's not chemists or supermarkets - it's discretionary shopping - online or click and collect only option for things like clothes etc. 

However, if it's anything like NSW, nobody checks vax status anyway. At least not around here. 

thanks

Edited by Melissa in Australia
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