wuhan - coronavirus

[Melissa Louise]

22 minutes ago, KSera said:

I'm curious what the general family setup would have been for most of the kids you work with during the lockdown periods. Mine has been in that age range for the pandemic and while this is *clearly* coincidental and just inborn personality, I've been amused to see that this kid is my most socially gregarious and seems wholly unaffected by all this socially. The effect I see most is just lack of memory of certain experiences that would usually be normal--restaurants and things like that that we haven't done at all. He facetimes with other young family members occasionally and does the occasional outdoor social thing, and really hasn't skipped a beat socially. It can be several months between seeing a friend in person, and he's right back to happily playing on the playground with them and chatting with them and being normal as could be. It's been a much bigger social impact on the teens.

Children at our school mostly come from small families - onlies or one of two. In non-pandemic times, most of them would have had time in childcare or preschool settings before arriving at school. 

The % with that exposure in this year's K cohort is much lower than previous cohorts. It seems to reflect mothers being out of work or working from home, and an inability or reluctance to expose the children to care outside the home 

Is it a problem? In the context of school, yes. Teaching preschool skills to a cohort delays the teaching of academic skills. Is it a true problem? Nope. They'll catch up. 

Toileting is a big issue. So are skills like turn taking. There is a lot more aggression than usual for K on the playground. Lots of the children don't know how to play outdoors. 

Of course, it's only a correlation. Could just be this particular cohort. So I mat have over-stated the connection between lockdowns, less pre-school care, and a particular cohort. 

[Ting Tang]

It’s not just speech. It’s mental health. I don’t even think we can begin to measure the impact this has had on our children’s development, assuming you took precautions. My philosophy is I wanted my children alive and well and I wanted to be well to care for them. It certainly did take its toll on my oldest, emotionally. Of course, the virus does not care. Doesn’t matter how many times I ask for how much longer. Wish it would go poof. 

[Melissa Louise]

What do people think will happen when boosters wear off? 

Our winter coincides with many people being 4+ months out from their boosters. (Not that seasons seem a huge thing?)

Is their word on another booster/a yearly schedule/anything? 

Is it is just back to being functionally non-protected against serious disease/death? 

[Melissa Louise]

1 minute ago, Ting Tang said:

It’s not just speech. It’s mental health. I don’t even think we can begin to measure the impact this has had on our children’s development, assuming you took precautions. My philosophy is I wanted my children alive and well and I wanted to be well to care for them. It certainly did take its toll on my oldest, emotionally. Of course, the virus does not care. Doesn’t matter how many times I ask for how much longer. Wish it would go poof. 

How did adults wearing masks in public places impact on children's mental health? 

[maize]

I saw in an article today that Pfizer is talking about a potential second booster.

[KSera]

Just now, Ting Tang said:

It’s not just speech. It’s mental health. I don’t even think we can begin to measure the impact this has had on our children’s development, assuming you took precautions. My philosophy is I wanted my children alive and well and I wanted to be well to care for them. It certainly did take its toll on my oldest, emotionally. Of course, the virus does not care. Doesn’t matter how many times I ask for how much longer. Wish it would go poof. 

I think we're talking about two different things. I'm talking about kids not having to remain isolated and wearing masks being a way that we can achieve that. I'm not talking about isolation. The removal of protections like masks ensures that a not-insignificant segment of society has to go back into isolation because it raises the risks to them too much. I'm saying, I think keeping masks in place for now could have ensured the greatest benefit to the most people. Instead, it's privileging one segment at the expense of another.

My own young child I would just now be starting to feel like case numbers were low enough that I would take him to experience some things that have been off limits for awhile. But now masks are off, which now means those things are riskier than they were with masks and I don't feel we can do that yet. It's a real bummer.

[KSera]

4 minutes ago, Melissa Louise said:

What do people think will happen when boosters wear off? 

Our winter coincides with many people being 4+ months out from their boosters. (Not that seasons seem a huge thing?)

Is their word on another booster/a yearly schedule/anything? 

Is it is just back to being functionally non-protected against serious disease/death? 

I don't know how the timing would work out in Australia, but for the US, they're talking about a booster around flu shot time, which is starting in September. The thought is it would possibly be a bivalent covid shot that would be a booster of the original plus a variant.

[Ting Tang]

Just now, KSera said:

I think we're talking about two different things. I'm talking about kids not having to remain isolated and wearing masks being a way that we can achieve that. I'm not talking about isolation. The removal of protections like masks ensures that a not-insignificant segment of society has to go back into isolation because it raises the risks to them too much. I'm saying, I think keeping masks in place for now could have ensured the greatest benefit to the most people. Instead, it's privileging one segment at the expense of another.

My own young child I would just now be starting to feel like case numbers were low enough that I would take him to experience some things that have been off limits for awhile. But now masks are off, which now means those things are riskier than they were with masks and I don't feel we can do that yet. It's a real bummer.

I think we are, too.  I was not allowing my children to even have playdates with people we knew, and we still haven't.  I felt good about my daughter's dance studio taking several precautions, but the email arrived saying it would all end this week.  I will still send her wearing a mask, but I can 99% guarantee she will be the only one masked.  I know because I am the only parent who wears a mask to drop her off and pick her up at their door.  Plus this area has been advocating for mask-optional, even during the worst surges.  😞  

[Ting Tang]

12 minutes ago, Melissa Louise said:

How did adults wearing masks in public places impact on children's mental health? 

I am not sure how you measure it, but I think our interactions in general are different.  I agree mask attitudes usually come from the parents.  But there are other things--the discussions, the politics, the calculations....just everything.  A lot of kids lost a lot of loved ones, more than what they would have otherwise experienced. You can try to shield them, but they are so smart.  I know children are rather resilient.  It just feels impossible to get everyone on the same page.  My husband and I are not on the same page.  It has been okay for a while, but today he announced he is 99% sure he will not get a booster. He takes good care of his body, and he thinks there should have been more discussions about that....but...   when they preach vaccines and boosters to preventing horrible things from happening, there are people who just won't get them---even if they could. 

Edited March 15, 2022 by Ting Tang

[Corraleno]

58 minutes ago, Happy2BaMom said:

You're pretty scientifically on top of things. To the best of your knowledge, is what is occurring in HK / China due to Omicron only? Or do you think something else might be going on (like a new variant they don't want to announce)?

I'm really not trying to stir the pot or raise old issues, and I'm the furthest thing from a conspiracy theorist (my family and I are vaxxed, boosted AND believe government should be able to set mask mandates). But I am starting to wonder about China....it's not like they haven't had 2 years and vaccines to get prepared for this and the way they're racing like mad to lock everything down is, uh, disconcerting.

Not a new variant, just super-contagious BA2 in poorly protected populations (low vax rate + less effective vaccines).

Someone asked about "Deltacron" upthread — Katelyn Jetelina described it as "copying Omicron’s entire spike protein and pasting it onto the Delta skeleton," so vaccines should be about as effective as they are against Omicron. Jetelina is predicting that BA2 will reach 50% of cases in the US by late April/early May, and we will likely see an uptick like they are seeing in Europe.

 

[ktgrok]

19 minutes ago, KSera said:

 

My own young child I would just now be starting to feel like case numbers were low enough that I would take him to experience some things that have been off limits for awhile. But now masks are off, which now means those things are riskier than they were with masks and I don't feel we can do that yet. It's a real bummer.

Yup, exactly this. Cases are now low so I was all excited to do things, but with masks off, and an unvaccinated kid...nope. 

[Melissa Louise]

29 minutes ago, KSera said:

I don't know how the timing would work out in Australia, but for the US, they're talking about a booster around flu shot time, which is starting in September. The thought is it would possibly be a bivalent covid shot that would be a booster of the original plus a variant.

So maybe later in the year for us, or early '23. And that's if the @#$$#! in government get their act together. 

Leaves a good six months + with diminishing protection over winter/spring. 

Going to go hide under the duvet for a bit 🙁

[Mom_to3]

I feel like every single time I think cases are low enough to do more with the kids, the CDC relaxes mitigation measures and makes life unsafe again, accelerating and augmenting the next wave. The number of cases/hospitalizations and deaths we are willing to tolerate before removing precautions also appear to be increasing over time, at least in my area. Very depressing.

Here is Dr Walensky claiming on national news a few days ago that we don't know if it's over, but we have a lot of immunity. Hmm, the UK has more immunity than we do, and look at what's happening there now with cases and hospitalizations - so I'd say it would be a miracle if we don't go back up soon. And we have much higher death rates than Europe. One of my elderly relatives in Europe just got their 2nd booster, too. I really dislike Dr Walensky's messaging.

[bookbard]

1 hour ago, Melissa Louise said:

Our winter coincides with many people being 4+ months out from their boosters. (Not that seasons seem a huge thing?)

 

I'm wondering if we'll have a dry, mild winter (in NSW at least). If so, hopefully the 'always indoors' factor won't be as much of a thing. I mean, we've had our worst outbreak over summer 2021/2 - but it was raining a lot (and there were zero protections in place).

The situation with schools in NSW is very bad right now (perhaps the same in VIC, I haven't heard). The Dept admits that a lot of kids aren't getting much more than supervision in terms of education. We should be ashamed of ourselves. 

 

 

[Longtime Lurker]

1 hour ago, Corraleno said:

Jetelina is predicting that BA2 will reach 50% of cases in the US by late April/early May, and we will likely see an uptick like they are seeing in Europe.

Oh, no 😞 So soon.

[Laura Corin]

My mum is getting her fourth jab today. The district nurse is coming to her care home.

[Laura Corin]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-scotland-60750123

ETA: masks are being kept in Scotland until April at least.

Edited March 15, 2022 by Laura Corin

[bookbard]

Well it's taken a while due to the floods, but my kids finally got their 2nd vaccination. Oddly enough we were the only ones wearing masks in the Dr surgery (the Dr and nurse did of course, and they have air filters there too). 

Here's the conversation for the day.

Me: did you see that the numbers are up to 30,000 today!

Lady I kind of know: oh, must be because not enough people are getting booster shots.

Me: Yeah. You've got yours, right?

Lady: No, I don't think I'll get one.

Like . . . what?

 

[ieta_cassiopeia]

On 3/14/2022 at 3:24 PM, KSera said:

I would LFT again this evening and/or tomorrow, assuming you have easy access to them still. With omicron, it’s seeming pretty common for people to test positive on PCR 1 to 2 days before they test positive on rapid tests. The good thing is, if you’re trying to stay isolated from others in your household, your PCR may have picked it up before you were contagious to others and stopped the spread.

I can stop worrying - LFT finally picked up my virus today 🙂 ("just serious enough that I can tell when I don't have it any more" is preferable to me than "mild enough that I can accidentally infect other people"). I have easy access to home LFTs for now (although home LFTs will cost money from April). My workplace continues to have approximately eleventy million tests available for employees, and still expects twice-weekly testing for people in my role, so if I was truly out of tests, I could ask them to send me some. (They were going to step down to "weekly required" on "scientific advice" this week, but for some strange reason decided otherwise...). Now to hope I get three negative ones tomorrow, Friday and Monday to give the best guarantee I can of safety to my colleagues.

One other household member has the virus. From the timing and context, we think they picked it up independently from me, and that we did not give it to each other. Everyone else in our contact network is clear, and I hope it stays that way. We're being very strict about isolation because after two years of explaining to other people about the concepts of viral load, we want everyone's to be as low as possible.

My workplace has been awesome about the whole thing - not only did they exempt me from daily reporting, but they also told everyone to get a PCR test in response to my situation (another colleague found out they had COVID as a result). They've also isolated what started the whole thing and put measures in place to prevent either a recurrence among us, or other people elsewhere on site from being affected by the same problem. We're going to be doing track-and-trace together (by phone) today, since the official track-and-trace system apparently hasn't noticed current events.

We think it's BA.2, although it is unlikely that I'll ever get official confirmation. I got my booster ten weeks ago, and had been considering signing up for a study to investigate candidates for a 4th jab. (Most studies require a 14-day gap between an infection and signup, on the basis that it takes at least another 14 days to do the paperwork needed before any actual job could occur).

On 3/14/2022 at 8:41 PM, Laura Corin said:

Fwiw the brain study was Alpha and pre-vaccine-availability.

The good news is that the protocol used in the brain study is being applied by several other ongoing studies, so we'll get to see whether vaccines and other variants affect this.

On 3/14/2022 at 8:58 PM, Corraleno said:

And roughly half of the vaccines distributed in Hong Kong were from China (Sinovac), which isn't very effective in the elderly (efficacy against death for people over 80 = 45%). The per capita death rate in Hong Kong right now is literally double the per capita death rate during the worst peak in the US. It's horrific.

In addition, a lot of Hong Kong's successful approach to the first wave was organised by people who were involved in the now-suppressed 2020 protests (the government's questionable initial handling of COVID-19 was one of flashpoints for the protests). Citizens who aren't trusted by government due to protesting often struggle to fully participate in things like pandemic public health promotion. Vaccination would have been a big help in reducing lethality, but not having people regularly reminding each other to keep each other safe, or do the little things that let people who test positive self-isolate, isn't much good either. We also know some vaccines just aren't good at stopping Omnicron (the UK experience suggests Pfizer is one of them) and are instead useful for reducing lethality.

Given how fast the virus has mutated so far, a new variant is also likely to be contributing - and if it started in the rural areas like Alpha, China may not have had opportunity to find that out yet (given its viral testing capacity is primarily in the biggest cities).

On 3/14/2022 at 11:05 PM, KSera said:

While it would be great to not need masks anymore, I don't consider wearing a mask indoors in public to be not moving on with life. To me, that's what allows the greatest numbers of people to move on and not let years pass them by. As it is, dropping masks means people at lower risk can continue doing things, while people at higher risk who want to protect themselves have to go back to staying home, because public becomes too high risk for them. I'm very bothered that so many people are just fine with that trade off.

It also means that, ultimately, there's more chance of "low-risk" people having to do more restrictive things (like another partial/full lockdown) when someone in power concludes that people cannot be trusted to keep themselves sufficiently safe for the economy to keep working. If Russia is defeated in Ukraine over the next few weeks, it seems to me that such a conversation could well happen in the UK around Easter. Lots of businesses which were perfectly capable of surviving the first two lockdowns are in the process of being killed off by the after-effects of lockdown #3.

On-again, off-again rules negatively affect children separately from the effects of the measures themselves. While I've seen no evidence of masks negatively affecting children without disabilities, (the effect on children with disabilities varies in ways that makes intuitive sense for people familiar with those disabilities), lockdowns absolutely do affect children's development due to fewer opportunities to develop social skills in a variety of environments (in the UK, there are reports of 6-7-year-olds who can't do desk work because they've forgotten how to be in one place and focus on a specific activity in a non-home context).

Lockdown effects are especially bad when children see adults being allowed to do things they consider recreational when they cannot even go to school (which in the UK has now happened twice). Worst of all, from anecdontal experience, is removing restrictions when it's obvious to the children that this is going to cause harm, even to the causes the people advocating the removals claim to support.

Dropping masks without getting the virus nearly/completely extinct in an area is prioritising immediate gratification over total benefit, Even for freedom.

  

On 3/15/2022 at 12:23 AM, Melissa Louise said:

What do people think will happen when boosters wear off? 

Our winter coincides with many people being 4+ months out from their boosters. (Not that seasons seem a huge thing?)

Is their word on another booster/a yearly schedule/anything? 

Is it is just back to being functionally non-protected against serious disease/death? 

Boosters already have worn off for some people, and they're getting reinfected.

Research is being done on multiple tailored boosters, but as the UK studies are still calling for volunteers, it's likely to be several months before it's available. There is talk of a non-differentiated booster before that, but reading between the lines, I'm starting to wonder if national cashflows and/or simply disinterest based on how little effect this booster's had (we'd expected 6-8 months of protection based on Israel's figures, but at this rate the UK is looking at 4-5 months) might impinge on this. The rule about the NHS requiring 2 jabs for clinical staff has gone already because of the latter.

So yes, I think this spring we will be functionally non-protected against serious disease, and need to act accordingly. (I'm looking at reducing my outside commitments to work, library and one particular friend, all of whom are happy to follow things like 2-metre social distancing and masking for everyone not exempt).

[Ausmumof3]

3000 cases here today. One of my students said six of his class is out. Last week his teacher was out and they have seven different relief teachers to keep the class running including three on one day. He found it very confusing. My other student who had covid was back and seems to be doing ok. Maybe a bit more tired than normal. 
 

 

[Ausmumof3]

https://m.jpost.com/health-and-wellness/coronavirus/article-701439
 

Israel has detected a new strain that appears to be a combination of BA1 and BA2.

The scary thing about the number of cases were accepting blithely now is the number of potential combination events. I understand there’s possibly some kind of natural limit on the possibilities but I think there’s still a lot to go 😞 

[ieta_cassiopeia]

Well... ...work's just ordered me to stay home until at least a week on Monday, regardless of my health, due to the office now being shut for deep cleaning and fumigation (how the latter works against COVID-19, I do not know and did not ask). Turns out that a lot of the team had COVID without knowing, according to the PCR tests my bosses insisted everyone else do. Those who were working from home (and demonstrably negative for COVID) have been excused all but the minimum targets, because everyone agrees that being as strict as usual would be pretty silly with much of the team absent.

The good news is that everyone's getting paid while this continues.

[Ausmumof3]

4,472 cases here today. Basically doubled over the course of the week. We are definitely on the same way back up. My kid went to a small birthday party tonight and I’m worried it was the wrong choice.

 

[Ausmumof3]

20 hours ago, ieta_cassiopeia said:

Well... ...work's just ordered me to stay home until at least a week on Monday, regardless of my health, due to the office now being shut for deep cleaning and fumigation (how the latter works against COVID-19, I do not know and did not ask). Turns out that a lot of the team had COVID without knowing, according to the PCR tests my bosses insisted everyone else do. Those who were working from home (and demonstrably negative for COVID) have been excused all but the minimum targets, because everyone agrees that being as strict as usual would be pretty silly with much of the team absent.

The good news is that everyone's getting paid while this continues.

It’s amazing that there’s employers taking it seriously still. So many don’t.

[ieta_cassiopeia]

2 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

It’s amazing that there’s employers taking it seriously still. So many don’t.

I consider myself extremely lucky that I work somewhere whose attitude was that not taking it seriously would simply be creating more work for themselves in the long run. (I work in healthcare, and if the sequelae identified from "mild" cases does anything to stop people from being healthy, my workplace will find out sooner or later).

Most other workplaces near me now expect people to keep working through COVID-19. Consequences of this are... ...predictable.

[bookbard]

NSW having an average of 20,000 new cases a day but still low reported deaths (5 today) while VIC has half the number of cases and nearly twice the numbers of deaths. I'm still suspicious that NSW is underreporting deaths. 

Noticing an increase in people wearing masks since the increased media focus on the 'new' variant (which we've known about in this thread for months!) However my daughter will not wear one at school as literally no one, including the teachers, wears a mask. I get it but it's not fair. I feel like everything is pushed down onto kids, from climate change to 'covid responsibility', and yet they're the ones who pay the price because the adults won't step up. Anyway, we've officially put down that we're homeschooling from January. Can't wait.

[Ausmumof3]

Three deaths today, 136 hospitalisations. I think Mr Marshall said hospitals can handle about 200 cases a while back. 
 

I couldn’t find the age of the deaths in the media reports but SA health said 20, 40 and 80.

We all get to freak out about Japanese Encephelitis now too. There’s been one case around our region. Will be stocking up on mozzie spray tomorrow when I shop 

Australia is currently having more covid cases per day than the US. (Not on a population basis - absolute totals). Having said that deaths are way way lower so either we are testing more or the high vaccination rate is working.

Edited March 18, 2022 by Ausmumof3

[bookbard]

3 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Will be stocking up on mozzie spray tomorrow when I shop I guess.

 

So just keep in mind that the ordinary insect repellent eg basic aerogard isn't that good. You have to look for the tropical stuff with DEET. Wonder if that'll be the next shortage - there's a lot of media coverage about it (we have had 8 cases detected in NSW vs 20,000 a day of covid and daily deaths). 

[Ausmumof3]

22 minutes ago, bookbard said:

 

So just keep in mind that the ordinary insect repellent eg basic aerogard isn't that good. You have to look for the tropical stuff with DEET. Wonder if that'll be the next shortage - there's a lot of media coverage about it (we have had 8 cases detected in NSW vs 20,000 a day of covid and daily deaths). 

I was wondering the same. I wouldn’t be overly worried except for Ds work. We’ve had 8 cases. Supposedly only 1pc of infections become symptomatic so does that mean there’s likely been 800? Typically the Riverland is where we have to worry for mosquito born stuff but it’s been a more humid than typical year.

[Ausmumof3]

Our EDs have a colour coding system for capacity. Red is going over - white is well over. 5/7 are white tonight, one is red. 

[ktgrok]

2 hours ago, bookbard said:

 

So just keep in mind that the ordinary insect repellent eg basic aerogard isn't that good. You have to look for the tropical stuff with DEET. Wonder if that'll be the next shortage - there's a lot of media coverage about it (we have had 8 cases detected in NSW vs 20,000 a day of covid and daily deaths). 

I don't know what ingredients the mosquito repellants use near you, but when Zika was an issue here in Florida I was pregnant, so I did a bunch of research. Best repellants were the ones with Picaridin. The brand here that has it is called Sawyer. High levels of Deet also worked well, but using Deet daily long term can carry its own issues. 

Consumer reports actually made their info on insect repellants available for free during the Zika thing - you can probably still find it. Brand names would differ, but the ingredients should match up. 

Hugs. I hate vector borne diseases. As a teen we had highschool night football games and activities cancelled for a few years due to West Nile virus. Did all games and activities right after school let out so we could be home and indoors before dusk. (high school football games are a big deal in the US)

Edited March 18, 2022 by ktgrok

[kbutton]

x-posted from the Omicron thread: 

Article about long Covid in kids with links to at least one study. I haven't read the study.

https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/14/controlled-studies-ease-worries-widespread-long-covid-kids/?te=1&nl=the-morning&emc=edit_nn_20220318&fbclid=IwAR2n0u9csJi35MqqOqOD92Jq6ga9TWcjy3bkLwSiqHPcbYh1idlw8D96OpQ 

@Not_a_Number, I think you were looking for long Covid kid information consistently before your board break. 

[bookbard]

11 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Supposedly only 1pc of infections become symptomatic so does that mean there’s likely been 800?

oh, I didn't know that!

Quote

 

I don't know what ingredients the mosquito repellants use near you, but when Zika was an issue here in Florida I was pregnant, so I did a bunch of research. Best repellants were the ones with Picaridin. The brand here that has it is called Sawyer. High levels of Deet also worked well, but using Deet daily long term can carry its own issues. 

Consumer reports actually made their info on insect repellants available for free during the Zika thing - you can probably still find it. Brand names would differ, but the ingredients should match up. 

Hugs. I hate vector borne diseases. As a teen we had highschool night football games and activities cancelled for a few years due to West Nile virus. Did all games and activities right after school let out so we could be home and indoors before dusk. (high school football games are a big deal in the US)

 

We have Ross River fever here which can be pretty serious - our Dr warned us about 2 yrs ago as he'd had some bad cases. 

I remember being told years ago that DEET can be dangerous but it's the only one really recommended to be effective - I haven't been able to dig up much about how bad DEET is for you though. Picaridin is ok if you are putting it on constantly but not really as effective as DEET. 

Edited March 18, 2022 by bookbard

[kbutton]

I have heard that permethrin is effective, and it can be used to treat clothing to make them repellant. https://www.epa.gov/insect-repellents/repellent-treated-clothing 

[Matryoshka]

1 hour ago, bookbard said:

oh, I didn't know that!

We have Ross River fever here which can be pretty serious - our Dr warned us about 2 yrs ago as he'd had some bad cases. 

I remember being told years ago that DEET can be dangerous but it's the only one really recommended to be effective - I haven't been able to dig up much about how bad DEET is for you though. Picaridin is ok if you are putting it on constantly but not really as effective as DEET. 

It's not.The CDC also recommends 30% lemon eucalyptus based repellents as being effective, and also premetherin treated clothes. It also I think mentions Picaridin, but I'm not sure of relative efficacy since I've never used it.

I buy pre-treated premetherin clothes from Insect Shield (good up to 50 washings) and lemon eucalyptus spray (Off and Repel brands both have these).  I have found the LE sprays super effective.  I don't think they last quite as long as DEET, but it's like 5-7 hours instead of 10. I'm usually not outside that long anyway. 

[bookbard]

Quote

The CDC also recommends 30% lemon eucalyptus based repellents as being effective, and also premetherin treated clothes

I looked into the OLE repellent research and it wasn't as clear as I'd hoped. The treated clothes thing I definitely remember from years ago though. 

[bookbard]

This sounds a bit dumb, but are there any studies showing those 'being cautious' (ie mask wearing plus choosing not to attend big gatherings) are less likely to get covid? I just thought it might be a useful study to have up the sleeve when people ask me why am I still masking/staying home etc. 

[Corraleno]

15 minutes ago, bookbard said:

This sounds a bit dumb, but are there any studies showing those 'being cautious' (ie mask wearing plus choosing not to attend big gatherings) are less likely to get covid? I just thought it might be a useful study to have up the sleeve when people ask me why am I still masking/staying home etc. 

Small (~2000 people total) study in California found that people who reported wearing a mask consistently in indoor spaces in the 14 days prior to taking a covid test were significantly less likely to test positive, with N95/KN95 being the most protective (83% lower odds), followed by surgical masks (66%), and cloth masks (56%). The study had some definite limitations, in particular the fact that mask use was self-reported, and they also did not ask about other mitigation measures like distancing, sanitizing, etc. Also, this was in 2021 before Omicron really took hold. But it does line up with population level studies showing that states or communities with mask mandates generally have lower case numbers
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7106e1.htm

 

[Not_a_Number]

16 hours ago, kbutton said:

x-posted from the Omicron thread: 

Article about long Covid in kids with links to at least one study. I haven't read the study.

https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/14/controlled-studies-ease-worries-widespread-long-covid-kids/?te=1&nl=the-morning&emc=edit_nn_20220318&fbclid=IwAR2n0u9csJi35MqqOqOD92Jq6ga9TWcjy3bkLwSiqHPcbYh1idlw8D96OpQ 

@Not_a_Number, I think you were looking for long Covid kid information consistently before your board break. 

Thank you! I will take a look. 

[Arcadia]

@Laura Corin

Your mom would be eligible https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccination-spring-booster-resources/a-guide-to-the-spring-booster-for-those-aged-75-years-and-older-residents-in-care-homes
“Updated 18 March 2022
Who is being offered a spring booster
COVID-19 is more serious in older people and those with a weakened immune system. Protection from the vaccine may be lower and may decline more quickly in these people. For this reason people aged 75 years and over, those in care homes and those aged 12 years and over with a weakened immune system are being offered the spring booster.

….

Timing of the spring booster

You should be offered an appointment around 6 months (and not before 3 months) since your last dose of vaccine.”

Edited March 20, 2022 by Arcadia

[Ausmumof3]

On 3/19/2022 at 7:15 AM, kbutton said:

x-posted from the Omicron thread: 

Article about long Covid in kids with links to at least one study. I haven't read the study.

https://www.statnews.com/2022/02/14/controlled-studies-ease-worries-widespread-long-covid-kids/?te=1&nl=the-morning&emc=edit_nn_20220318&fbclid=IwAR2n0u9csJi35MqqOqOD92Jq6ga9TWcjy3bkLwSiqHPcbYh1idlw8D96OpQ 

@Not_a_Number, I think you were looking for long Covid kid information consistently before your board break. 

Did you get a chance to read the study? I didn’t feel like the stats they showed really justified the position taken in the article but maybe I’m misreading it.

[Laura Corin]

6 hours ago, Arcadia said:

@Laura Corin

Your mom would be eligible https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccination-spring-booster-resources/a-guide-to-the-spring-booster-for-those-aged-75-years-and-older-residents-in-care-homes
“Updated 18 March 2022
Who is being offered a spring booster
COVID-19 is more serious in older people and those with a weakened immune system. Protection from the vaccine may be lower and may decline more quickly in these people. For this reason people aged 75 years and over, those in care homes and those aged 12 years and over with a weakened immune system are being offered the spring booster.

….

Timing of the spring booster

You should be offered an appointment around 6 months (and not before 3 months) since your last dose of vaccine.”

Thanks.  Scotland is doing this ahead of England. The Health Visitor came to her care home last week, but it was less than 28 days since she tested positive,  so they are coming back in a couple of weeks. 

[kbutton]

7 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Did you get a chance to read the study? I didn’t feel like the stats they showed really justified the position taken in the article but maybe I’m misreading it.

I haven't. We have a lot going on (medical stuff for one kiddo). I just know people are looking for studies, and this article had a link. 

[Corraleno]

8 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I didn’t feel like the stats they showed really justified the position taken in the article but maybe I’m misreading it.

I agree — there are links to multiple studies in that article and IMO the authors have purposely misrepresented the results of those studies to support their claim that we've been "living in fear" for too long and it's time to do away with masks and mitigation methods and let kids get back to normal.

In the first study they cite, they state that 97% of children recovered completely within a month, capitalizing on the fact that Americans seem to think that 97% of something is practically 100% so NBD. Another way to present the actual stats from that study is that 5% of children aged 12-17 — 1 in 20 — had symptoms for more than a month, and 2% — 1 in 50 — still had symptoms at 2 months. That's double the rate in the control group, and the control group included children who had covid symptoms but tested negative, some of which could have been false negatives.

The article frames the results of the next two studies this way: "the rates of long Covid symptoms were nearly the same in children who had tested positive for Covid-19 compared to those who didn’t." Again I think this misrepresents the actual results. The Danish study sent questionnaires to parents of children who tested positive for covid plus a random group of children who did not test positive, and asked about symptoms lasting more than 4 weeks. Response to the questionnaire in the control group was much lower than in the covid group (21% vs 45%), raising the possibility that the "control" parents who replied may have been more likely to have sicker kids. The non-covid kids were more likely to have symptoms like cough, nausea, diarrhea, muscle and joint pain, and fever, while PCR-positive kids were more likely to have fatigue, muscle weakness, respiratory problems, and loss of taste & smell, which are classic long covid symptoms. That's a bit of an apples-&-oranges comparison, IMO, and when the authors of the opinion piece say that kids with and without covid had nearly the same rates of "long covid symptoms," it's like saying "apples were equally present in both groups," when the truth is more like "fruit was present in both groups, but apples were more common in the covid group." 

The Swiss study they cited in the same paragraph was a stronger study, as they randomly selected entire classes of school children and followed them for 6 months, and they screened using blood tests rather than positive or negative PCRs. They found that 4% of kids with confirmed covid had symptoms lasting more than 3 months, compared to 2% of the control. But according to the opinion piece, double the rate = "nearly the same."

Finally they cite the CLoCK study on physical and mental health to imply that mitigation measures were a bigger cause of mental health problems than covid itself, without mentioning the fact that after 3 months, 30% of covid-positive kids in that study still had three or more symptoms vs 16% of covid-negative kids, and 13% of positive subjects had 5 or more symptoms vs 6% of negative subjects — so again roughly double the rate. A few examples (rate in positive kids / rate in negative kids after 3 months): shortness of breath 23%/10%, loss of smell 14%/1%, chest pain 7%-3.5%, muscle pain 5%/2% tiredness 39%/24%.

 

[Hilltopmom]

I just signed my kids up for summer activities- classes & day camps- mostly outdoor some indoors… sigh I hope they get the chance to do at least some of them. They haven’t done anything fun in a long time
 

Edited March 20, 2022 by Hilltopmom

[bookbard]

Sadly a two year old ('previously healthy' as NSW Health has said) has died of Covid. I can't imagine the grief of the parents. 

[Arcadia]

FYI about the recommended spacing for males 12 to 39

 Comparing the COVID-19 Vaccines: How Are They Different? https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/covid-19-vaccine-comparison

“[Originally published: Feb. 24, 2021; updated: March 2, 2022]

…

Pfizer-BioNTech   
…
For some people older than 12, especially boys and men between ages 12 and 39, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests an eight-week interval between the two shots to reduce the risk of myocarditis, an uncommon side effect (see FDA warnings below).”

Edited March 21, 2022 by Arcadia

[Ausmumof3]

19 hours ago, kbutton said:

I haven't. We have a lot going on (medical stuff for one kiddo). I just know people are looking for studies, and this article had a link. 

Yeah thank you. I appreciate the info and the studies linked are handy to read. I just didn’t get the feeling they really supported the author’s position and wanted to see if anyone else had Investigated. The author does seem quite reputable so I didn’t want to dismiss it straight away in case my biases are playing a role.

[Ausmumof3]

We had a slightly more informative pretty conference today.

Apparently sequencing has seen us go

from 20pc to 70pc BA2 over the last couple of weeks. Cases and hospitalisations are both increasing. One hospital had to cancel elective surgery. Not counted in the hospital stats are people who no longer have covid but still have post covid complications.

The new gov appears to be trying to push for dropping some of the safeguards we have to match the rest of Australia. CHO isn’t happy about the idea while we’re at the start of a wave.

 

[Ausmumof3]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-22/covid-19-cough-screening-smartphone-app-trial/100797900
 

A smart phone app claims to be able to detect covid by the sound of the cough in 92 pc of cases