wuhan - coronavirus

[Laura Corin]

BBC News - Covid: Lockdown's effect on stomach bugs and police 'partygate' update
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60829812

[freesia]

53 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

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

That amazing!  The cynic in me wonders if it is seeing results bc 92% of the people just happen to have Covid. I don’t see why/how a cough would be different.  But, I am a total layman. It would be really helpful  if it really worked. Dd has had a cough the past few days and I’ve run two rapid tests. An app would have been far easier.

[KSera]

1 hour ago, Ausmumof3 said:

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

 

5 minutes ago, freesia said:

That amazing!  The cynic in me wonders if it is seeing results bc 92% of the people just happen to have Covid. I don’t see why/how a cough would be different.  

I’ve been wondering what happened with this! It was reported early on, maybe late 2020, before home tests, and then I never heard about it again. 
 

The linked article doesn’t link back to the study, but it does say they included asymptomatic people. I recall when I first read about this in 2020, it worked for people with no cough who just “faked” a cough into phone. It was able to detect even asymptomatic cases that way. I wonder if that would still be the case in these more recent variants that don’t affect lower airways same way the original did. 

[Ausmumof3]

1 hour ago, freesia said:

That amazing!  The cynic in me wonders if it is seeing results bc 92% of the people just happen to have Covid. I don’t see why/how a cough would be different.  But, I am a total layman. It would be really helpful  if it really worked. Dd has had a cough the past few days and I’ve run two rapid tests. An app would have been far easier.

Lol that was my thought as well! Particularly here where respiratory bugs other than covid have been low 

The article said they can also possibly detect sleep apnea and a range or other coughs for different conditions so it could be amazing for a whole range of applications 

[KSera]

3 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Lol that was my thought as well! Particularly here where respiratory bugs other than covid have been low 

The article said they can also possibly detect sleep apnea and a range or other coughs for different conditions so it could be amazing for a whole range of applications 

Here’s a more in depth piece on one of these apps. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8320312/

[bookbard]

My daughter who was vaccinated a week ago (5-11 pfizer dose) is complaining of a sore throat, sore arm, she's not well. We've done a PCR and she's fine. Any chance it could be related to the vaccine?

[Melissa Louise]

Sore arm and general unwellness, yes. But sore throat? Seems unlikely. Other random virus? 

[bookbard]

3 minutes ago, Melissa Louise said:

Sore arm and general unwellness, yes. But sore throat? Seems unlikely. Other random virus? 

Yes, I'm now thinking I need to pull her bed etc apart and check for mould after all this rain. I have had hayfever this week too. I've pulled back couch, done bathroom, done chairs with vinegar, but I need to check under beds I guess. We did have mould on the couch and chairs, so cloth covered stuff. We don't have any carpet at least.

[Ausmumof3]

2 hours ago, bookbard said:

My daughter who was vaccinated a week ago (5-11 pfizer dose) is complaining of a sore throat, sore arm, she's not well. We've done a PCR and she's fine. Any chance it could be related to the vaccine?

Is she old enough to know the difference between sore throat and swollen lymph node. I haven’t heard of sore throats as a side effect but definitely lymph nodes.

[Ausmumof3]

Thanks to Coronacast I now know there’s a BA3. And thanks to googling BA3, I know there’s a BA4. Gah. Hopefully none of them turn into anything more serious.

[Melissa Louise]

Schools in NSW are riddled with Covid. Hoping if we can get to Easter, we can have a bit of a circuit breaker. And maybe autumn term will be ok. 

[bookbard]

1 minute ago, Melissa Louise said:

Hoping if we can get to Easter, we can have a bit of a circuit breaker.

I was hoping the 2 weeks off with the flood would do that, but I've had ping after ping this week. A lockdown is the only way to stop the spread. Oh, and did you notice VIC is putting even more air filters into classrooms, whereas NSW refuses to allow it?

[Melissa Louise]

2 hours ago, bookbard said:

I was hoping the 2 weeks off with the flood would do that, but I've had ping after ping this week. A lockdown is the only way to stop the spread. Oh, and did you notice VIC is putting even more air filters into classrooms, whereas NSW refuses to allow it?

NSW - the head in sand approach. 

[Mom_to3]

Has anyone gotten a 4th shot even if not technically immunocompromised? My state appears to be heading back up, and uhhh, all the news about Obama, Clinton, Harris' spouse,  Psaki, ... is making me nervous.

[Ausmumof3]

Some people we spent time with Sunday just tested positive. Outdoors, unmasked. DS would have been close contact and one of the babies was carrying dds drink round for a while. Should I be worried/testing. No one seems sick yet.

 

Heaps of people I know testing positive this week. Hope there’s a bit of immunity out of it or we’re going to be in an infinite infection loop in schools.  My student who is back post covid seems ok after being more tired last week.

[Melissa Louise]

6 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Some people we spent time with Sunday just tested positive. Outdoors, unmasked. DS would have been close contact and one of the babies was carrying dds drink round for a while. Should I be worried/testing. No one seems sick yet.

 

Heaps of people I know testing positive this week. Hope there’s a bit of immunity out of it or we’re going to be in an infinite infection loop in schools.  My student who is back post covid seems ok after being more tired last week.

Honestly, if you are not around vulnerable people, and are symptomless, I'd wait to test.

RATS are not coming up with positive results at least half the time, when infection confirmed by later PCR. They really seem to be of limited utility. 

Maybe just be cautious re contacts. Mask etc. 

[HSmomof2]

23 hours ago, bookbard said:

My daughter who was vaccinated a week ago (5-11 pfizer dose) is complaining of a sore throat, sore arm, she's not well. We've done a PCR and she's fine. Any chance it could be related to the vaccine?

Dd and I both had mild sore throats after all three of our Pfizer doses. I haven’t seen it listed as a side effect, but we did have sore throats for a few days after.

[Acadie]

23 hours ago, bookbard said:

Yes, I'm now thinking I need to pull her bed etc apart and check for mould after all this rain. I have had hayfever this week too. I've pulled back couch, done bathroom, done chairs with vinegar, but I need to check under beds I guess. We did have mould on the couch and chairs, so cloth covered stuff. We don't have any carpet at least.

Just wanted to sympathize with your questions of whether it's environmental allergies or Covid or something else. We have dust and mold allergies and in the past year have had several rounds of persistent sneezing/sore throat/runny nose/negative rapid tests, followed by extensive deep cleaning.  

It's hard to make the call on differential diagnosis when the stakes are so much higher with Covid. But all the baseboards and curtains are clean 😛

Edited March 23, 2022 by Acadie

[Ausmumof3]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/italian-study-shows-ventilation-can-cut-school-covid-cases-by-82-2022-03-22/
 

This study shows that this whole school debacle we have here was probably avoidable! So frustrating that they wouldn’t even think about fixing air quality and now it’s going crazy.

We are getting a rule change today - any class with ten or more cases shut - any class with 5 cases - whole class gets PCR tested.

[Ausmumof3]

1 hour ago, Melissa Louise said:

Honestly, if you are not around vulnerable people, and are symptomless, I'd wait to test.

RATS are not coming up with positive results at least half the time, when infection confirmed by later PCR. They really seem to be of limited utility. 

Maybe just be cautious re contacts. Mask etc. 

yeah true. I could probably get PCR if I wanted. Plus every round of RAT testing adds up!

[bookbard]

1 hour ago, Acadie said:

Just wanted to sympathize with your questions of whether it's environmental allergies or Covid or something else. We have dust and mold allergies and in the past year have had several rounds of persistent sneezing/sore throat/runny nose/negative rapid tests, followed by extensive deep cleaning. 

It's hard to make the call on differential diagnosis when the stakes are so much higher with Covid. But all the baseboards and curtains are clean 😛

Thanks, I am pretty sure now she has a cold, I guess they're still being passed around at school. I will keep her home till she's better, what a write-off this term has been. Only 2 weeks till Easter hols at least. 

[Ausmumof3]

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-24/longer-sa-easter-school-holidays-in-the-mix-covid-numbers-grow/100935112
 

Education Union are asking for school holidays to be brought forward to try and reset. In one school, twelve teachers were away and they were only able to get three relief people in.

[Laura Corin]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/24/scientists-wrong-covid-virus-experts

Opinion piece on the need to change scientific opinion with new evidence.

[Ausmumof3]

We are relaxing contact rules to the same as everywhere else in Australia. Right in the middle of an escalating outbreak. Also talking about dropping mask mandates from 14th of April. Pretty disappointing start with the new government. The rules are a bit inconsistent right now but really disappointed about the masks.

[Ausmumof3]

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-022-01097-5
 

Not sure how objective this report on Sweden is but it seems pretty damning.

Children and schools

Children were also majorly affected by this pandemic, since the Swedish strategy was strongly against any school closures or measures to protect children, as clearly communicated by the Public Health Agency, the Minister of Education and others (Supplement 7) (Höög and Adman, 2020; Nilsson, 2020; Delin and Mahmoud, 2020). Testing has also been restricted and often impossible for children especially if asymptomatic, so no reliable numbers are available (Vogel, 2020). Nevertheless, many children are still suffering from serious long-COVID, more have lost one or two parents, and several children died—as also noted in the investigation report of the children’s ombudsman (Barnombudsman) (2021b, Törnwall, 2020, Bjurwald, 2021).

In-school attendance in Sweden is compulsory (Skolplikt), thus distance learning or home-schooling is not allowed in Sweden (Lindblad et al., 2021). Even during the pandemic, no exceptions were made for children with risk factors, or parents who were clearly at risk for serious COVID-19 infections. Schools and municipalities have alerted social services and parents who wanted to protect their children by keeping them at home were fined. Few or no infection control measures were taken in many schools, and face masks were often not allowed (Aschwanden, 2021; Höög and Adman, 2020). Legally this is in conflict with the Parental Code (Föräldrabalken), which states that parents should protect and provide care for their children, and with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Barnkonventionen)(2021k), which Sweden has adopted. Most schools remained open even during outbreaks, since this was the advice given by the authorities (Höög and Adman, 2020, 2021b).

The Public Health Agency denied or downgraded the fact that children could be infectious, develop severe disease, or drive the spread of the infection in the population; while their internal emails indicate their aim to use children to spread the infection in society (Lindblad et al., 2021, 2020–2021b; Höög and Adman, 2020; Vogel, 2021; Ludvigsson, 2020).

 

 

[bookbard]

So the news here in Australia is talking about a 'super cold' going around - ie people are getting bad colds and freaking out because due to lockdowns etc they haven't had a cold for years. I'd say that's what my daughter has - a streaming cold. None of the rest of us have it - yet. I'm sure it'll hit once she's all better!

Article about schools needing to return to remote learning due to covid: Rising Covid cases force some schools in NSW and Victoria to return to remote learning | Australian education | The Guardian The majority of schools are just putting kids into shared classes and even putting several year groups into a school hall, as they don't have the teachers to supervise. Great way to increase the spread! 

[Mom_to3]

Booster news in the US https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/us/politics/biden-second-booster-shot-older-americans.html 

Booster option now for all 50 and up and  "[i]n the fall, officials say, Americans of all ages, including anyone who gets a booster this spring, should get another shot." My thought: They want to use the 100+ million shots that the states are sitting on according to the article rather than squander them (?). At any rate, I am just a couple of years under that cutoff 😞

Also interesting: "More than a dozen studies are underway to find the next generation of vaccines, with the first results expected in May or June. If all goes well, that would allow enough time to produce new doses before the fall. One major hitch is that the Biden administration says it does not have the money it needs to reserve its place in line by paying vaccine manufacturers for doses in advance."

[Matryoshka]

4 minutes ago, Mom_to3 said:

Booster news in the US https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/us/politics/biden-second-booster-shot-older-americans.html 

Booster option now for all 50 and up and  "[i]n the fall, officials say, Americans of all ages, including anyone who gets a booster this spring, should get another shot." My thought: They want to use the 100+ million shots that the states are sitting on according to the article rather than squander them (?). At any rate, I am just a couple of years under that cutoff 😞

Also interesting: "More than a dozen studies are underway to find the next generation of vaccines, with the first results expected in May or June. If all goes well, that would allow enough time to produce new doses before the fall. One major hitch is that the Biden administration says it does not have the money it needs to reserve its place in line by paying vaccine manufacturers for doses in advance."

It's paywalled for me... do you know when this is starting? And can I just say I am SO GLAD it's 50 and up and not 65+?  The cutoff for breakthroughs and serious disease seems to hew closer to 50-55. So, they've got the doses just sitting here, and the people that haven't gotten their first booster (or their first vax at all) are not going to be using them. They'll just go to waste. Give them to the willing!

[Mom_to3]

12 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

It's paywalled for me... do you know when this is starting? And can I just say I am SO GLAD it's 50 and up and not 65+?  The cutoff for breakthroughs and serious disease seems to hew closer to 50-55. So, they've got the doses just sitting here, and the people that haven't gotten their first booster (or their first vax at all) are not going to be using them. They'll just go to waste. Give them to the willing!

They say there may be an announcement by the FDA early next week. A bit odd, considering the FDA's meeting on booster discussion on April 6.

I think I will just try to get a "first" shot soon as my own booster. Has anybody had success doing something like that?

I can't take steroids, and am not eligible for any of the fancy treatments....

Also, does anyone know why there are these delays regarding the variant specific vaccines? In December and January, Pfizer and Moderna claimed they'd have those availabe for shipment in March (!!). All I have ever heard is a study with a handful of monkeys where an Omicron specific booster did no better than another original variant booster...

[Matryoshka]

1 hour ago, Mom_to3 said:

Also, does anyone know why there are these delays regarding the variant specific vaccines? In December and January, Pfizer and Moderna claimed they'd have those availabe for shipment in March (!!). All I have ever heard is a study with a handful of monkeys where an Omicron specific booster did no better than another original variant booster...

I've been wanting to know this too. The only thing I've heard rumor is was that trial, but I thought it said it did not much better than original vax against *hospitalization/death*, but crickets on *general transmission*, which may not be as critical a measure, but I still think is kinda important in tamping down circulation considering how insanely contagious Omicron is, and how poorly the original vaxes are doing against Omicron in that area...

Edited March 26, 2022 by Matryoshka

[Jean in Newcastle]

2 hours ago, Mom_to3 said:

Booster news in the US https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/us/politics/biden-second-booster-shot-older-americans.html 

Booster option now for all 50 and up and  "[i]n the fall, officials say, Americans of all ages, including anyone who gets a booster this spring, should get another shot." My thought: They want to use the 100+ million shots that the states are sitting on according to the article rather than squander them (?). At any rate, I am just a couple of years under that cutoff 😞

Also interesting: "More than a dozen studies are underway to find the next generation of vaccines, with the first results expected in May or June. If all goes well, that would allow enough time to produce new doses before the fall. One major hitch is that the Biden administration says it does not have the money it needs to reserve its place in line by paying vaccine manufacturers for doses in advance."

I am a bit confused.  Is this a third shot (ie. a booster after the first two shots?) or is this a fourth shot (a second booster)? 

[Mom_to3]

1 minute ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

I am a bit confused.  Is this a third shot (ie. a booster after the first two shots?) or is this a fourth shot (a second booster)? 

This would be for a second booster. Everybody over 12 is already eligible for a first booster.

[Starr]

I read that if you get the second booster now you would still be eligible for another , new one, in the fall.

[Matryoshka]

5 minutes ago, Starr said:

I read that if you get the second booster now you would still be eligible for another , new one, in the fall.

Yes, that's what I got too. And that hopefully the fall one would be an improved version (multivalent and/or different technology)

[Shoeless]

3 hours ago, Mom_to3 said:

Booster news in the US https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/us/politics/biden-second-booster-shot-older-americans.html 

Booster option now for all 50 and up and  "[i]n the fall, officials say, Americans of all ages, including anyone who gets a booster this spring, should get another shot." My thought: They want to use the 100+ million shots that the states are sitting on according to the article rather than squander them (?). At any rate, I am just a couple of years under that cutoff 😞

Also interesting: "More than a dozen studies are underway to find the next generation of vaccines, with the first results expected in May or June. If all goes well, that would allow enough time to produce new doses before the fall. One major hitch is that the Biden administration says it does not have the money it needs to reserve its place in line by paying vaccine manufacturers for doses in advance."

Dang, I don't turn 50 until July.  😕 

[ktgrok]

What is the booster timing for 12 and up right now? 

[Melissa Louise]

No 4th dose for non-Indigenous adults here till over 65, or immunocompromised. That seems...idk...cautious, I guess. 

Did the whole 4th shot not good for you thing ever get ironed out? I remember hearing about downsides when Israel first introduced 4th jabs but not a lot since. 

[KSera]

6 minutes ago, Melissa Louise said:

No 4th dose for non-Indigenous adults here till over 65, or immunocompromised. That seems...idk...cautious, I guess. 

Did the whole 4th shot not good for you thing ever get ironed out? I remember hearing about downsides when Israel first introduced 4th jabs but not a lot since. 

I haven’t heard of any increase in side effects, but rather am hearing the main concern is that if people get a fourth dose now and then there’s not any kind of significant wave again until the fall (our fall—your spring?), then the best protection from it will have waned by then. It seems like protection from infection rather than protection from serious illness just doesn’t last as long with the boosters. For my parents, it’s serious illness that I am concerned about, so I’m hoping they can get it.

[bookbard]

Remember when we had a thread 'do you know anyone who's had covid?' It's nearly time for the thread 'do you know anyone who hasn't had covid?' I may be exaggerating slightly, but man it is just going through NSW/VIC right now. So many people I know have had it. 

Good news here about keeping rooms safe: Far-UVC (222 nm) efficiently inactivates an airborne pathogen in a room-sized chamber | Scientific Reports (nature.com) This could be a real answer for schools, hospitals, aged care, office buildings etc - it's inexpensive.

[Ausmumof3]

9 hours ago, Melissa Louise said:

No 4th dose for non-Indigenous adults here till over 65, or immunocompromised. That seems...idk...cautious, I guess. 

Did the whole 4th shot not good for you thing ever get ironed out? I remember hearing about downsides when Israel first introduced 4th jabs but not a lot since. 

I haven’t heard much about bad side effects just lack of efficacy to justify it.

[Melissa in Australia]

I do know several people who have had really bad side effects from 3rd dose. Inclining a very very close friend of my oldest. She has myocarditis  

Edited March 27, 2022 by Melissa in Australia

[ieta_cassiopeia]

In England, it's over-75s and immunocompromised people at the moment, with emphasis on "at the moment". It's not clear what the exact issue is, but the way it's being described, it sounds more like a supply/sequencing matter and the people who will benefit most getting the vaccine first. There's hope there'll be a new version of the vaccine by early autumn (i.e. not just the same thing we've been getting for the past year-and-a-bit, but one that takes into account later variants), in which case this would be a nice 6-month window between these people getting this booster and them being the first to get the improved version of the jab in late September/October.

 

Just spent 1 hour and 20 minutes failing to log a (negative) test result. It's bad enough when the website claims a random test in the box is not genuine when all the other ones used from it so far were classed as legitimate (it came from an NHS employer, so it had better be a box of genuine tests!) It's worse when the IVR (phone menu system) for telephone test result logging doesn't allow you to join the queue if there are already 10 people in it (this is to serve a country of over 65 million people, and as you can imagine, even at 7 am on a Sunday morning, there are that many people in the queue). The thing that really got me upset was it took 40 minutes to find someone on the one part of the phone system that was working who recognised it was possible for there to be a technical element at play, rather than trying to claim I was failing to press "1". No wonder test logging isn't as popular as it used to be...

Edited March 27, 2022 by ieta_cassiopeia

[prairiewindmomma]

On 3/26/2022 at 10:43 AM, KSera said:

I haven’t heard of any increase in side effects, but rather am hearing the main concern is that if people get a fourth dose now and then there’s not any kind of significant wave again until the fall (our fall—your spring?), then the best protection from it will have waned by then. It seems like protection from infection rather than protection from serious illness just doesn’t last as long with the boosters. For my parents, it’s serious illness that I am concerned about, so I’m hoping they can get it.

This is what I hear most—you’ll have the most protection for 60 days post booster, so time it well. I had my 4th dose during the omicron wave and I was grateful because my family is all out and about so much. If I hadn’t been eligible until now, I would also definitely try to wait until the next wave begins to strongly rise.
 

I don’t know anyone who has had any medical issues from doses 3 or 4—Pfizer or Moderna. 

[Pawz4me]

13 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I don’t know anyone who has had any medical issues from doses 3 or 4—Pfizer or Moderna. 

I had a bad RA flare after my fourth jab that took about a month to subside. I can't say for sure it was related to the jab. There were multiple things going on at the same time--I'd had some dental work and was on a prophylactic course of antibiotics, so I had to skip a dose of my biologic medication. It was also during a very cold, wet (snow/sleet) spell. So I'm saying correlation, not causation. But I was pretty well flattened for a few weeks.

[Ausmumof3]

 

[Spryte]

2 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

 

I don’t know anyone who has had any medical issues from doses 3 or 4—Pfizer or Moderna. 

I was hospitalized for several days after first and third doses. Hard to pinpoint a cause, but both within ten days of the shot so it was likely a factor.

I’ll still get a 4th, but nervously.

[prairiewindmomma]

I learned about this this weekend and I am sharing this not because of the political implications (please don't turn this into a political fight) but because I thought the internal polling statistics inside of the memo were interesting and puts some real perspective on covid fatigue.

I'm thinking about this especially because I traveled outside of my community this weekend to an area of my state known for being anti-vax and anti-mask.  I heard a lot of deep coughing in grocery stores and elsewhere (our state mask mandate ended on the 11th) and I'm totally curious to see what our covid stats look like come Monday.  In our local messaging I've seen both, "Things are safe, we don't need to mask" and "BA2 is in our area now, take precautions". It's causing some mental whiplash. 

 

[prairiewindmomma]

Shenzen came out of lockdown 6 days ago and now Shanghai is going into a staggered lockdown. 😞 

[KSera]

5 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I learned about this this weekend and I am sharing this not because of the political implications (please don't turn this into a political fight) but because I thought the internal polling statistics inside of the memo were interesting and puts some real perspective on covid fatigue.

I'm thinking about this especially because I traveled outside of my community this weekend to an area of my state known for being anti-vax and anti-mask.  I heard a lot of deep coughing in grocery stores and elsewhere (our state mask mandate ended on the 11th) and I'm totally curious to see what our covid stats look like come Monday.  In our local messaging I've seen both, "Things are safe, we don't need to mask" and "BA2 is in our area now, take precautions". It's causing some mental whiplash. 

 

Have you seen this verified anywhere? The person who posted it has a lot of other questionable things and when I click on the link where she is attributing it, it has nothing to do with that memo. I would want to see something verifying it as accurate. 

[prairiewindmomma]

https://thehill.com/homenews/the-memo/593381-the-memo-biden-caught-between-cdc-and-democratic-governors-on-covid-19?amp
 

I think this article refers to the same poll.