wuhan - coronavirus

[Ausmumof3]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-17/covid-in-nsw-schools-over-20-thousand-cases-first-two-weeks/100837760
 

More than 20,000 kids caught covid in the first two weeks of school in NSW.

[Ausmumof3]

Anyone been watching South African data? Even though the omicron wave peaked ages ago deaths are still increasing. It could be delayed data but the other waves kind of followed the case curve whereas this one really doesn’t seem too. It’s much smaller at first but still steadily increasing.

[Laura Corin]

85 percent of UK 5-11 year olds are said to have had Covid,  based on blood tests.  I'm trying to track down a reference for that - I heard it on a BBC radio report. 

[Arcadia]

35 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

85 percent of UK 5-11 year olds are said to have had Covid,  based on blood tests.  I'm trying to track down a reference for that - I heard it on a BBC radio report. 

This report is from age 8 and up

Coronavirus (COVID-19) latest insights: Antibodies

11 February 2022 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/coronaviruscovid19latestinsights/antibodies

[Laura Corin]

4 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

This report is from age 8 and up

Coronavirus (COVID-19) latest insights: Antibodies

11 February 2022 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/conditionsanddiseases/articles/coronaviruscovid19latestinsights/antibodies

Thanks.

I'm heartened by the antibody levels in the very elderly.  Although there is an almost-100 percent vaccination rate in that group,  elderly immune systems don't always respond fully to vaccination. 

The figures fit with my mother's very mild symptoms and quick recovery.  Her only risk factors are high blood pressure and being 97. She's double jabbed and boosted  - Pfizer.

[kbutton]

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/97198?xid=nl_covidupdate_2022-02-16&eun=g1922171d0r&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyUpdate_021622&utm_term=NL_Gen_Int_Daily_News_Update_active

Some thoughts that a presumed flu pandemic in the late 1800's might've been a coronavirus (with relevant criticisms as well).

[Ausmumof3]

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.15.480166v1
 

Not yet peer reviewed but the last two monoclonal antibody treatments don’t seem to hold up against BA2

[Matryoshka]

49 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.15.480166v1

Not yet peer reviewed but the last two monoclonal antibody treatments don’t seem to hold up against BA2

Well, crap.  Almost relieved my elderly (3x vaxxed) parents got BA1 Omicron and could get the monoclonal antibodies when they still worked - hopefully now they have better immunity against the new Omicron.  Hopefully.

[Ausmumof3]

1 hour ago, Matryoshka said:

Well, crap.  Almost relieved my elderly (3x vaxxed) parents got BA1 Omicron and could get the monoclonal antibodies when they still worked - hopefully now they have better immunity against the new Omicron.  Hopefully.

Yeah I guess that’s true. I wonder if now they’ve had success with the early variant monoclonals it will be easier for them to develop new ones specific to the new variants? 

[Corraleno]

So BA2 may be both more infectious and more severe than omicron. Yikes.

As BA.2 subvariant of Omicron rises, lab studies point to signs of severity

The BA.2 virus -- a subvariant of the Omicron coronavirus variant -- isn't just spreading faster than its distant cousin, it may also cause more severe disease and appears capable of thwarting some of the key weapons we have against Covid-19, new research suggests. 

New lab experiments from Japan show that BA.2 may have features that make it as capable of causing serious illness as older variants of Covid-19, including Delta. 

And like Omicron, it appears to largely escape the immunity created by vaccines. A booster shot restores protection, making illness after infection about 74% less likely. BA2 is also resistant to some treatments including sotrovimab, the monoclonal antibody that's currently being used against Omicron.
-----------

"It might be, from a human's perspective, a worse virus than BA.1 and might be able to transmit better and cause worse disease," says Dr. Daniel Rhoads, section head of microbiology at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Rhoads reviewed the study but was not involved in the research.

BA.2 is highly mutated compared with the original Covid-causing virus that emerged in Wuhan, China. It also has dozens of gene changes that are different from the original Omicron strain, making it as distinct from the most recent pandemic virus as the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta variants were from each other

Kei Sato, a researcher at the University of Tokyo who conducted the study, argues that these findings prove that BA2 should not be considered a type of Omicron and that it needs to be closely monitored.
--------

"It looks like we might be looking at a new Greek letter here," agreed Deborah Fuller, a virologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, who reviewed the study but was not part of the research.the research.

Preprint is here:  https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.02.14.480335v1.full.pdf

[Starr]

I was reading the above today. I don't think my family can bear to hear it.

[Kassia]

8 minutes ago, Starr said:

I was reading the above today. I don't think my family can bear to hear it.

Yeah, I found myself making summer plans the other day and catching myself thinking this can't be the end.  Reading the above brought me to tears.  😞 

[kbutton]

Christianity Today featured an article about white evangelical behavior during the pandemic, how it affected the death rates, and what correlation is has to conservatism in general. 

https://www.christianitytoday.com/better-samaritan/2022/february/will-they-know-christians-by-their-love-or-reckless-obsessi.html?utm_source=CT+Weekly+Newsletter&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=490693&utm_content=8501&utm_campaign=email

All of the political stuff is mentioned in relationship to the data. It discusses specific behaviors, but it also makes recommendations for Christians to consider reprioritizing. 

If people want to discuss the conclusions of the article in a non-political way, I can make a solo post about the article as well. For many of us, it has devastated our social and church relationships. 

 

[Melissa Louise]

So my friend's sister (mid 40's) died of Covid. She was a teacher. Dead three days after diagnosis. I honestly don't understand how it happened so fast. 

 

[Melissa Louise]

I don't really understand our national context any more. We still (I think) have thousands of infection a day, and hundreds of deaths per week, but there's a kind of amnesia* going on, where it's almost never main news anymore, and almost all restrictions have gone. 

I'm worried about winter. 

I can't imagine I will ever be in public unmasked again, so long as Covid remains as it is. I find that depressing, but with waning boosters, a good mask is about the only individual protection. 

*Education Dept removed mention of the teacher who died this week from staff  Yammer. So as well as amnesia, there's some outright censorship. 

[Faith-manor]

2 hours ago, kbutton said:

Christianity Today featured an article about white evangelical behavior during the pandemic, how it affected the death rates, and what correlation is has to conservatism in general. 

https://www.christianitytoday.com/better-samaritan/2022/february/will-they-know-christians-by-their-love-or-reckless-obsessi.html?utm_source=CT+Weekly+Newsletter&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=490693&utm_content=8501&utm_campaign=email

All of the political stuff is mentioned in relationship to the data. It discusses specific behaviors, but it also makes recommendations for Christians to consider reprioritizing. 

If people want to discuss the conclusions of the article in a non-political way, I can make a solo post about the article as well. For many of us, it has devastated our social and church relationships. 

 

I did not mean to laugh and can't undo it. The cat jumped on my kindle. I was trying to hit the cry button! I am so sorry!!!!

Oh wait, I finally got it to change. Giving my cat the evil eye.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Faith-manor

[kbutton]

Just now, Faith-manor said:

I did not mean to laugh and can't undo it. The cat jumped on my kindle. I was trying to hit the cry button! I am so sorry!!!!

It shows up as the sad button. You're good! 

[Faith-manor]

Just now, kbutton said:

It shows up as the sad button. You're good! 

Cats. They just can.not.be.trusted. 

[Melissa in Australia]

Sorry about your friends sister Melissa 

[Terabith]

My mother has fallen down the covid vaccine conspiracy wagon.  She is adamantly demanding that I watch this five hour special that Senator Ron Johnson did with "actual doctors and nurses" talking about the dangers of the vaccine and how the hospital systems are not allowing doctors to treat symptoms in a way that they know will save people's lives because of some kind of mainstream narrative and maybe money issue.  

She's vaccinated and boostered, and my sister and her husband are boostered and their 8 year old is vaccinated, but they're hesitant to vaccinate their three year old twins.  

My mother is not really the prime conspiracy nut demographic.  She tries to be balanced, and while she watches some stuff on Fox, she also watches a lot of CNN and CSPAN and PBS.  My take away is that honestly, the people who craft misinformation are really good at it (there was a lot of true points mixed in in her telling....raising issues of menstrual irregularities, that the US is not doing a good job of accounting for natural infection, etc) and that we all need to be vigilant against it.  

What I really DON'T understand is that at the same time she's going on about the dangers of the vaccine, she's starting to rant about masks, too.  And logically, that makes no sense to me.  If you are worried about the vaccine but you social distance (which she does) and wear really good masks (which she does not), I can kinda see it.  But both???

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

A local public health nurse died of Covid.  She was younger than me and triple vaxxed.  The saddest part is that her husband is dead(long before Covid; he died in 2015 right before their son was born) and now she’s gone, leaving a 6-year-old little boy as an orphan.

I really wonder about the collective psyche and trauma this is going to leave on many, many people in the future. 

[bookbard]

57 minutes ago, Melissa Louise said:

So my friend's sister (mid 40's) died of Covid. She was a teacher. Dead three days after diagnosis. I honestly don't understand how it happened so fast. 

 

I heard about this woman on Twitter - can't understand why it isn't in mainstream news. It is such a sad story. Apparently there is a huge wave in Bathurst (where she taught) right now. It must be devastating to the local community, and the community of teachers across NSW.

I remember a few cases, early on, where the diagnosis and death happened quickly - I always assumed it was the immune system in sudden overwhelm? I remember a couple of flu deaths of children a few years back (maybe the 2017 outbreak) where similar happened, very quickly.

 

[kbutton]

2 hours ago, Terabith said:

My mother is not really the prime conspiracy nut demographic.  She tries to be balanced, and while she watches some stuff on Fox, she also watches a lot of CNN and CSPAN and PBS.  My take away is that honestly, the people who craft misinformation are really good at it (there was a lot of true points mixed in in her telling....raising issues of menstrual irregularities, that the US is not doing a good job of accounting for natural infection, etc) and that we all need to be vigilant against it.  

What I really DON'T understand is that at the same time she's going on about the dangers of the vaccine, she's starting to rant about masks, too.  And logically, that makes no sense to me.  If you are worried about the vaccine but you social distance (which she does) and wear really good masks (which she does not), I can kinda see it.  But both???

They are good at it. I remember for a while when my kids were little that I did start questioning some things, especially about "How can the flu shot be safe when it's different each year?" but I got over it. I think I set kind of a limit in my head, and when crazy got too crazy, it made me back off and rethink. 

I think someone has made the point on here a few times that masks should've been the middle ground. Sigh. 

[bookbard]

On 2/19/2022 at 11:10 AM, Melissa Louise said:

So my friend's sister (mid 40's) died of Covid. She was a teacher. Dead three days after diagnosis. I honestly don't understand how it happened so fast. 

 

It's now been picked up by media - it was Bowral, not Bathurst. Michelle Hayes: Bowral teacher dies with Covid days 48 hours after positive test | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

[lewelma]

I think this is the week that the numbers will explode in NZ. We are currently at 95% double vaxed and 61% boosted for 12+, and the 5-12 kids are now at 70% first shot. We currently have 100 people in the hospital with covid, but none in ICU with covid anywhere in the country. So the vaccinate rate is definitely helping us, especially because the bulk of us got the second shot only in October/November. Hoping that this week, we get another 10% boosted as they have dropped the timing to 3 months. 

As for me, I've decided to continue to tutor in person, but we will be outside with N95s, rather than in my house or at the library. This might be a very cold year tutoring as we are moving into autumn soon. But we are going to wear coats! 

 

[bookbard]

1 hour ago, lewelma said:

We are currently at 95% double vaxed and 61% boosted for 12+, and the 5-12 kids are now at 70% first shot.

Excellent numbers, and far higher than here in NSW. The 12-15 rates have barely budged over this period, under 80% with 2 doses, and the 5-12 are under 50% for first dose. A lot of people seem to have no idea that the gap for kids vax doses is 8 weeks and they have to book it. I would say the underplaying of kids getting sick is enormous, with little awareness of the risks of long covid, diabetes, MIS-C. 

They're getting rid of masks here in NSW at the end of the week, which is mind-boggling considering we are still getting literally thousands of cases a day. 

[Mom_to3]

2 hours ago, lewelma said:

I think this is the week that the numbers will explode in NZ. We are currently at 95% double vaxed and 61% boosted for 12+, and the 5-12 kids are now at 70% first shot. We currently have 100 people in the hospital with covid, but none in ICU with covid anywhere in the country. So the vaccinate rate is definitely helping us, especially because the bulk of us got the second shot only in October/November. Hoping that this week, we get another 10% boosted as they have dropped the timing to 3 months. 

As for me, I've decided to continue to tutor in person, but we will be outside with N95s, rather than in my house or at the library. This might be a very cold year tutoring as we are moving into autumn soon. But we are going to wear coats! 

 

I am really rooting for New Zealand! Those are fantastic vaccination numbers compared to us. Hope it will pay off after years of zero covid. Incredibly envious, too...Want to move.

[Melissa Louise]

On 2/19/2022 at 12:11 PM, bookbard said:

I heard about this woman on Twitter - can't understand why it isn't in mainstream news. It is such a sad story. Apparently there is a huge wave in Bathurst (where she taught) right now. It must be devastating to the local community, and the community of teachers across NSW.

I remember a few cases, early on, where the diagnosis and death happened quickly - I always assumed it was the immune system in sudden overwhelm? I remember a couple of flu deaths of children a few years back (maybe the 2017 outbreak) where similar happened, very quickly.

 

Her husband and children have been dealing with this terrible shock while in isolation. I can't even imagine. 

[lewelma]

4 hours ago, bookbard said:

They're getting rid of masks here in NSW at the end of the week, which is mind-boggling considering we are still getting literally thousands of cases a day. 

Mask mandates in all indoor spaces here, with basically, 100% compliance. I personally have seen not a single person inside a store/library/university without a mask on. (except  Intellectually/physically impaired people).  And only about 1 in 20 that are wearing their mask below their nose.

 

[Laura Corin]

13 hours ago, lewelma said:

I think this is the week that the numbers will explode in NZ. We are currently at 95% double vaxed and 61% boosted for 12+, and the 5-12 kids are now at 70% first shot. We currently have 100 people in the hospital with covid, but none in ICU with covid anywhere in the country. So the vaccinate rate is definitely helping us, especially because the bulk of us got the second shot only in October/November. Hoping that this week, we get another 10% boosted as they have dropped the timing to 3 months. 

As for me, I've decided to continue to tutor in person, but we will be outside with N95s, rather than in my house or at the library. This might be a very cold year tutoring as we are moving into autumn soon. But we are going to wear coats! 

 

We've only just started on the 5-12, but our other vaccination figures are fairly good. Something over 80 percent of children have antibodies from catching Covid. Our other numbers are high but falling, although I think fewer tests are being registered. 

Edited February 21, 2022 by Laura Corin

[Corraleno]

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35178548/

Covid caused significant, persistent testicular damage in unvaccinated hamsters, but no damage was seen in vaccinated hamsters. Seems like this should be the basis for a national advertising campaign!

Results: Besides self-limiting respiratory tract infection, intranasal SARS-CoV-2 challenge caused acute decrease in sperm count, and serum testosterone and inhibin B at 4 to 7 days post-infection (dpi), and subsequently reduced testicular size and weight, and serum sex hormone level at 42 to 120 dpi. Acute histopathological damage with varying degree of testicular inflammation, haemorrhage, and necrosis, degeneration of seminiferous tubules and disruption of orderly spermatogenesis were seen with increasing virus inoculum. Degeneration and necrosis of Sertoli and Leydig cells were found. Though viral loads and SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapid (N) protein expression were markedly lower in testicular than lung tissues, direct intra-testicular injection showed N expressing interstitial cells and epididymal epithelial cells. Control intranasal or intra-testicular challenge by A(H1N1)pdm09 showed no testicular infection or damage. From 7 to 120 dpi, degeneration and apoptosis of seminiferous tubules, immune complex deposition and depletion of spermatogenic cell and spermatozoa persisted. Intranasal challenge with Omicron and Delta variants could also induce similar testicular changes. These testicular damages can be prevented by vaccination.

 

[Faith-manor]

Correleno, this might be thing that gets attention. And the ad shouldn't be "causes significant damage" but more like, "If you don't get vaccinated, you rocks will rot." Get Bruce Willis to do the ad. That will definitely cause a flurry!

[Jaybee]

@Corraleno, that article is so disturbing. I had read about one guy who said he had "shrunk" in that area. The infertility that this may cause (among people who were so afraid that the vaccine would cause it) could indeed have great import.

[Ausmumof3]

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)00072-1

Small study on factors influencing likelihood of long covid

https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/coronacast/restrictions-finally-easing-up.-are-they-gone-for-good/13765724

And some discussion on it at the end of Coronacast

The four factors mentioned are 

type 2 diabetes

higher viral load during infection

reactivating of Epstein-Barr

Specific autoantibodies (linked to Lupus but not necessarily people with Lupus if I understand right)

[busymama7]

5 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)00072-1

Small study on factors influencing likelihood of long covid

https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/coronacast/restrictions-finally-easing-up.-are-they-gone-for-good/13765724

And some discussion on it at the end of Coronacast

The four factors mentioned are 

type 2 diabetes

higher viral load during infection

reactivating of Epstein-Barr

Specific autoantibodies (linked to Lupus but not necessarily people with Lupus if I understand right)

Interesting. I have suspected reactivation of EB. I did have mono in my teens.  I also have autoantibodies present and have an unspecified connective tissue disease which lupus is in that family.  So it makes sense. I don't know if I had them before covid.  Found them while investigating what was going on with me. 

I don't have T2 but am at risk.  I don't know about viral load. The child who gave it to me went back to college so I wasn't around him. I did isolate with my positive 7 year old who had almost no symptoms during it. 

[Melissa Louise]

No masks in schools here (NSW) from next week. 

I'll still be wearing mine, but everyone else seems very excited about it. 

[Ausmumof3]

9 minutes ago, Melissa Louise said:

No masks in schools here (NSW) from next week. 

I'll still be wearing mine, but everyone else seems very excited about it. 

I’m dreading this. For now, I can wear an N95 without standing out too much. When masks are dropped, it will feel much more awkward. Govt here seems a bit more cautious so really hoping they hold off a bit longer.

It seems immoral to do this before the kids have had time to get the second vax which is three weeks away. I’m amazed at how little value has been placed on our kids through the last few months.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Ausmumof3

[KSera]

3 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

reactivating of Epstein-Barr

 

This is the one that makes me concerned personally. It would be helpful if they could figure out what it is that makes it reactivate this way in some people but not others, because don't most people get infected with EB at some point, even if asymptomatic? I'd like to know if the chance is higher in people who had symptomatic mono vs those that didn't.

[Ausmumof3]

1 minute ago, KSera said:

This is the one that makes me concerned personally. It would be helpful if they could figure out what it is that makes it reactivate this way in some people but not others, because don't most people get infected with EB at some point, even if asymptomatic? I'd like to know if the chance is higher in people who had symptomatic mono vs those that didn't.

Yes would be helpful. I think it’s very much a preliminary study and there will be follow up.

Also worrying given the recent study linking EB to MS 

[Ausmumof3]

1 hour ago, Melissa Louise said:

No masks in schools here (NSW) from next week. 

I'll still be wearing mine, but everyone else seems very excited about it. 

Hope you’re okay. Saw the flooding on the news and it looks a bit worrying.

[Melissa Louise]

2 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I’m dreading this. For now, I can wear an N95 without standing out too much. When masks are dropped, it will feel much more awkward. Govt here seems a bit more cautious so really hoping they hold off a bit longer.

It seems immoral to do this before the kids have had time to get the second vax which is three weeks away. I’m amazed at how little value has been placed on our kids through the last few months.

I think my school will be ok with me continuing to mask, but yes, it's a lot easier when everyone is. 

Yes, very little thought or care for the children. 

[Melissa Louise]

58 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Hope you’re okay. Saw the flooding on the news and it looks a bit worrying.

All good. We're on the high side/high end of the street. 

[catz]

Well this is interesting, another protein based vaccine on the scene 

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/02/23/world/covid-19-tests-cases-vaccine#a-new-covid-vaccine-shows-100-percent-efficacy-against-severe-disease-and-hospitalizations-its-makers-say

[ieta_cassiopeia]

The UK has an 18% drop in positive tests in the last 7 days... ...and a 15.6% drop in tests. There's definitely a reduction in the number of cases (and there were 10.1% fewer people getting hospitalised this week), so the reduction is real, but it's not clear how that will hold when masks go away in most places tomorrow (along with most other rules - though care settings will still have the same rules for now, and private places like shops are still free to set their own rules. Most have been considerably more cautious than the government in my area).

 

85% of people are fully vaccinated and almost 2/3 have had the booster as well. (Bear in mind 10% of the population got dose 1 in November or December, thus can't have a booster until next summer).

[Ausmumof3]

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/iceland-lift-all-covid-19-restrictions-friday-media-reports-2022-02-23/

"Widespread societal resistance to COVID-19 is the main route out of the epidemic," the ministry said in a statement, citing infectious disease authorities.

"To achieve this, as many people as possible need to be infected with the virus as the vaccines are not enough, even though they provide good protection against serious illness," it added.

 

 

looks like Iceland is going with a full-scale mass infection/herd immunity approach. 

[Ausmumof3]

Numbers are up here. They are trying to blame fringe but I’m pretty confident schools are playing a role. No kids masking that I’ve seen 

[Harriet Vane]

24 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/iceland-lift-all-covid-19-restrictions-friday-media-reports-2022-02-23/

"Widespread societal resistance to COVID-19 is the main route out of the epidemic," the ministry said in a statement, citing infectious disease authorities.

"To achieve this, as many people as possible need to be infected with the virus as the vaccines are not enough, even though they provide good protection against serious illness," it added.

 

 

looks like Iceland is going with a full-scale mass infection/herd immunity approach. 

Given what we know about re-infection and long covid, this seems foolhardy at best.

[Ting Tang]

13 hours ago, catz said:

Well this is interesting, another protein based vaccine on the scene 

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/02/23/world/covid-19-tests-cases-vaccine#a-new-covid-vaccine-shows-100-percent-efficacy-against-severe-disease-and-hospitalizations-its-makers-say

I can’t read it due to a paywall. I’ve been hoping for novavax for my kids— maybe myself as my next booster. But everything feels so slow now. 

[TravelingChris]

On 2/2/2022 at 4:09 PM, KSera said:

This is super helpful information gained this way, but people participating in challenge trials with a new virus have to be so brave! Besides long covid risk, I still have worries about the unknowns of whether this is a virus that may lie dormant and can have repercussions down the road--like varicella or epstein barr does.

I know that varicella causes Shingles, but what does Epstein Barr do later?

[TravelingChris]

On 2/22/2022 at 8:37 PM, KSera said:

This is the one that makes me concerned personally. It would be helpful if they could figure out what it is that makes it reactivate this way in some people but not others, because don't most people get infected with EB at some point, even if asymptomatic? I'd like to know if the chance is higher in people who had symptomatic mono vs those that didn't.

My youngest has had it 3 times.