wuhan - coronavirus

[Ausmumof3]

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-omicron-outbreak-students-monitor-co2-learn-science-on-the-side/5UVDZTIBC3RZ3DFLWQH2CXPG7U/
 

This looks like a good initiative in NZ! I haven’t seen Ruth around the forum in a while - hope she is doing well and just busy with life.

[Ausmumof3]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-04-21/covid-testing-company-accused-of-faking-results-to-pay-more-than-20-million-in-settlement
 

More than 500 test results are “confirmed or suspected to be faked, falsified, or forged,” the attorneys wrote. In their complaints, they alleged Sameday would forge a negative result — at the direction of its CEO — when someone who had not gotten their result in time complained or threatened to report the company.

[lewelma]

18 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-omicron-outbreak-students-monitor-co2-learn-science-on-the-side/5UVDZTIBC3RZ3DFLWQH2CXPG7U/
 

This looks like a good initiative in NZ! I haven’t seen Ruth around the forum in a while - hope she is doing well and just busy with life.

Yes, doing well. And Yes, busy with life! Thanks for thinking of me. 🙂

[Ausmumof3]

Mask mandate staying in schools for another four weeks! Thank goodness for some common sense. Won’t help me much as it’s only high school. Also the ventilation audits are actually going to be done supposedly and another 1000 air purifiers bought. I feel slightly more optimistic for the first time in weeks although it’s probably nowhere near enough.

[Ausmumof3]

Gah.

I’m having a bit of a moment again. One of the kids at footy was telling his dad he can’t play because he can’t breathe and he feels lightheaded and dizzy. Dad is yelling at him to get back out and play and telling the kids he’s embarrassing him and being dramatic. I don’t know the kid at all to know if he’s drama prone but all my long covid / covid fears are kicking in. Most of the kids have had it I think.

[Ausmumof3]

My kids had an unmasked indoor play date today. I’ve just possibly committed to another one on Thursday though that is with people my DS works with so if they have covid we have covid. 

[YaelAldrich]

VP Harris has COVID

[prairiewindmomma]

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/more-than-half-americans-have-had-covid-infections-antibody-study-2022-04-26/
 

CDC posted a study today on prevalence of COVID antibodies. After omicron wave, roughly 75.2% of kids 11 and younger, 74.2% of those 11-17, and 58% of adults showed COVID antibodies in tested blood.

[Melissa Louise]

Ds' girlfriend tested + last night. Sigh. (She lives with us). 11 days after ds. 

No household contact rules anymore, so none of us have to isolate again, but it's disappointing just when I thought we were home free with ds. 

Half the school staff either had Covid over the holidays or are off with Covid. It really does seem impossible to dodge this much longer. 

On the plus side, there's still a core of us masking at work. 

[bookbard]

2 hours ago, Melissa Louise said:

Ds' girlfriend tested + last night. Sigh. (She lives with us). 11 days after ds. 

No household contact rules anymore, so none of us have to isolate again, but it's disappointing just when I thought we were home free with ds. 

Half the school staff either had Covid over the holidays or are off with Covid. It really does seem impossible to dodge this much longer. 

On the plus side, there's still a core of us masking at work. 

Oh that's hard. Good luck, I hope you dodge it. My neighbour had the whole family go through it one week at a time (kid 1 for a week, then kid 2, the husband, finally wife.)

The NSW teachers are striking next week around pay, I wish they'd add the ridiculous conditions they're in around covid. No masking, no ventilation (other states have it) and no ability to teach remotely even when there's no teachers left due to covid. 

[popmom]

6 hours ago, YaelAldrich said:

VP Harris has COVID

Hasn’t she had it before?

[Arcadia]

https://www.npr.org/2022/04/26/1094817774/covid-19-infections-us-most-americans
“Most people in the United States, including most children, have now been infected with the coronavirus, according to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At a briefing for reporters on Tuesday, the CDC's Dr. Kristie Clarke said so many people caught omicron over the winter that almost 60% of everyone in the U.S. now have antibodies to the virus in their blood. 

That number is even higher for children — almost 75% of children 11 and younger have antibodies to the virus. 

Clarke said the finding means many people have at least some immunity to the virus.”

[YaelAldrich]

6 minutes ago, popmom said:

Hasn’t she had it before?

Don't think so. Media doesn't say do.

[Arcadia]

25 minutes ago, popmom said:

Hasn’t she had it before?

 

18 minutes ago, YaelAldrich said:

Don't think so. Media doesn't say do.

Her husband tested positive last month.

[bookbard]

So many people in our little town have had covid. Every day I'm getting a new story - someone's baby who has been hospitalised, an elderly man left in an isolation ward for a week, a teen coughing blood. And also kids with no symptoms, or elderly with just a runny nose. It's so varied but it's just everywhere. 

Both schools have been sympathetic about pulling the kids out for winter, and have been supportive about paperwork etc. I think it will turn out ok. 

I do wonder about the effect of so many deaths each week in our state, we've had 80 deaths, 6 of them under age 65. I am thinking of so many people traumatised, but I wonder about other effects too. 

Edited April 29, 2022 by bookbard

[chocolate-chip chooky]

On 4/26/2022 at 5:47 PM, Ausmumof3 said:

My kids had an unmasked indoor play date today. I’ve just possibly committed to another one on Thursday though that is with people my DS works with so if they have covid we have covid. 

I hope you're all okay 🌻

Covid fatigue is real. Not from having Covid, but from the endless decision making and wondering and worrying. It's all the risk vs benefit assessments that wear me down. I feel like my family is doing okay, but crikey I'm exhausted.

[chocolate-chip chooky]

I'm just catching up on everyone's news.

@Melissa Louise @bookbard @Melissa in Australia @Ausmumof3

I hope you're all doing okay 🌻

[Melissa in Australia]

58 minutes ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

I'm just catching up on everyone's news.

@Melissa Louise @bookbard @Melissa in Australia @Ausmumof3

I hope you're all doing okay 🌻

All well here

 thank you 

hope you are all well too

[Lillyfee]

I do believe that there are different variants (even within Omicron)  and we had a light variant. 

We had Covid in January. My husband and me are vaccinated two times, all our kids are unvaccinated.

Husband and me: no symptoms at all

13 and 7 year old: low fever for a less than 12 hours

11 year old: diarrhea for 2 days

6 year old: runny nose for 2 or 3 days

We only tested because we were about to visit family. It was really so weird as everybody had other symptoms.

I am glad we did test and could avoid getting our  family members sick.

[Ausmumof3]

6 hours ago, chocolate-chip chooky said:

I'm just catching up on everyone's news.

@Melissa Louise @bookbard @Melissa in Australia @Ausmumof3

I hope you're all doing okay 🌻

Yeah we’re ok. Footy again tonight and the kids had a ball. Downside is they spend a tonne of time in the club rooms waiting for the game to start and I’m pretty sure at some point we will get covid from there. No one masked and I didn’t manage to get mine to mask either 😞 

[whitestavern]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/u-s-seeks-urgent-data-on-covid-relapses-after-using-pfizer-s-drug/ar-AAWJIrJ?cvid=0ec3fa0643634a9a92a31393bf978692
 

[kbutton]

3 hours ago, whitestavern said:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/u-s-seeks-urgent-data-on-covid-relapses-after-using-pfizer-s-drug/ar-AAWJIrJ?cvid=0ec3fa0643634a9a92a31393bf978692
 

That was an interesting read.

Quote

Pfizer’s own final-stage study showed that “a small number” of patients experienced a rebound after being treated with either the drug or a placebo, the company said in a statement. The rate of rebound was no higher among those who received Paxlovid than placebo recipients, the company said.

“This suggests the observed increase in viral load is unlikely to be related to Paxlovid,” Jerica Pitts, a Pfizer spokeswoman, said in an email. Pfizer has seen no evidence of resistance to the medication, she said.

If viral rebound is shown to occur at a significant rate, one implication is that some people may need longer dosing of Pfizer’s drug than the standard five days, said Lane, the NIAID deputy director. 

“There’s two things that suppress the virus: the drug and the host immune response,” he said. “If you stop the drug before the host immune response has had a chance to kick in, you may see the virus come back.”

 

[Mom_to3]

https://twitter.com/HelenBranswell/status/1520044680007892993/photo/1

What is wrong with the FDA to wait so long to schedule meetings to approve vaccines for young kids and Novavax (which has been available in other countries for months)?!? End of June to decide if we will need updated boosters for the fall?!? How many weeks will Moderna and Pfizer have to switch production and deliver the shots to the states? I was really hoping for an updated booster before the fall wave....Or are we going to be left with no boosters until just around Thanksgiving (at which point we will all have been infected with the variant du jour already)?

[Laura Corin]

UK cases - random testing - are going down at last but still high.

BBC News - Covid infections in record drop of nearly one million, says ONS
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-61270786

[Ausmumof3]

I don’t know much about this guys background but a very detailed thread addressing ideas surrounding the hepatitis, covid, adenovirus thing. 

[bookbard]

2 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I don’t know much about this guys background but a very detailed thread addressing ideas surrounding the hepatitis, covid, adenovirus thing. 

Thank you, that thread was fascinating - and mindboggling. If what he says is correct, they didn't even test the liver for covid. How utterly bizarre. And the Israeli cases ignored along with the 40-something cases in India from the earlier covid wave, which were actually called 'covid induced hepatitis' . . . 

[bookbard]

Covid now the no.1 cause of death in Australia. (edited to add detail)

USA will hit one million covid deaths in this coming month.

Edited May 1, 2022 by bookbard

[Ausmumof3]

https://secureservercdn.net/166.62.108.196/1mx.c5c.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/MEDRXIV-2022-274477v1-Sigal.pdf
 

Preprint only but these guys have been reliable so far

“The observed escape of BA.4 and BA.5 from BA.1 elicited immunity is more moderate than of BA.1 against previous immunity1,3. However, the low absolute neutralization levels for BA.4 and BA.5, particularly in the unvaccinated group, are unlikely to protect well against symptomatic infection4.This may indicate that, based on neutralization escape, BA.4 and BA.5 have potential to result in a new infection wave”

 

[Spryte]

On 4/30/2022 at 5:54 AM, bookbard said:

Thank you, that thread was fascinating - and mindboggling. If what he says is correct, they didn't even test the liver for covid. How utterly bizarre. And the Israeli cases ignored along with the 40-something cases in India from the earlier covid wave, which were actually called 'covid induced hepatitis' . . . 

I haven’t been following this closely, do you have any more information on the Covid induced hepatitis? Any in adults who were vaccinated?

I had acute hepatitis ten days after my first vaccine. It’s been classified as “drug induced liver injury” as I had been on antibiotics prior. But then I had a similar, but less severe, event a week after my third vaccine. I can’t help but wonder if it’s connected. My doc had advised no more boosters. (Scary.)

 

[Arcadia]

18 minutes ago, Spryte said:

I haven’t been following this closely, do you have any more information on the Covid induced hepatitis? Any in adults who were vaccinated?

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34781161/
“The liver biopsy revealed histopathological findings consistent with autoimmune hepatitis (AIH). The patient was diagnosed with AIH and initiated on steroid therapy. She rapidly responded to steroid therapy. A few cases of AIH have been reported after the COVID-19 vaccine so far. Although the exact cause of autoimmune reactions is unknown, an abnormal immune response and bystander activation induced by molecular mimicry is considered a potential mechanism, especially in susceptible individuals. As intensive vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 continues, we would like to emphasize that clinicians should be cautious and consider AIH in patients presenting with similar signs and symptoms.”

[Melissa Louise]

Bonus kid out of iso, tested neg, nobody else with symptoms right now. Hope it has passed over the house for the time being.  

[Ausmumof3]

2 hours ago, Spryte said:

I haven’t been following this closely, do you have any more information on the Covid induced hepatitis? Any in adults who were vaccinated?

I had acute hepatitis ten days after my first vaccine. It’s been classified as “drug induced liver injury” as I had been on antibiotics prior. But then I had a similar, but less severe, event a week after my third vaccine. I can’t help but wonder if it’s connected. My doc had advised no more boosters. (Scary.)

 

I have seen a recent case study with hepatitis after vaccine, probably the one Arcadia linked. It’s not the case with the kids because they are too young to be vaxed but unfortunately might be for you 😞 

Edited May 2, 2022 by Ausmumof3

[Ausmumof3]

@Spryte

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9021033/

Edited to add link because it looks like a different study to the one above. 

[Laura Corin]

3 hours ago, Spryte said:

I haven’t been following this closely, do you have any more information on the Covid induced hepatitis? Any in adults who were vaccinated?

I had acute hepatitis ten days after my first vaccine. It’s been classified as “drug induced liver injury” as I had been on antibiotics prior. But then I had a similar, but less severe, event a week after my third vaccine. I can’t help but wonder if it’s connected. My doc had advised no more boosters. (Scary.)

 

My brother has Covid-induced hepatitis, caused by the disease not the vaccination.  He was double-jabbed and was almost due for a booster when he got Covid - probably Delta.  He's seeing a specialist this week- there's a waiting list. 

[bookbard]

So just read it was confirmed today - a million 'official' covid deaths in the USA. A million.

Also my sister and her husband went to a wedding last weekend and got covid. First ones in our family. 

Went to the dentist today, no masks in the waiting room or ventilation. No one else waiting but there were the nurses/admin staff there. 

[Ausmumof3]

14 minutes ago, bookbard said:

So just read it was confirmed today - a million 'official' covid deaths in the USA. A million.

Also my sister and her husband went to a wedding last weekend and got covid. First ones in our family. 

Went to the dentist today, no masks in the waiting room or ventilation. No one else waiting but there were the nurses/admin staff there. 

Not heaps of people left masking here but the dentists etc still are which is nice. I’m the last one at work though some of the kids do. Even Dh is like “everyone is over it!”. He’s kind of masking sometimes but not very consistently. 

[Laura Corin]

On 5/2/2022 at 6:59 AM, Laura Corin said:

My brother has Covid-induced hepatitis, caused by the disease not the vaccination.  He was double-jabbed and was almost due for a booster when he got Covid - probably Delta.  He's seeing a specialist this week- there's a waiting list. 

Good news, in general.  The specialist thinks that his liver is slowly recovering from the 'insult' of Covid.  Apparently livers are unusually able to recover to full health if there isn't a continuing attack on them.  He's still really debilitated, and not being able to exercise regularly is getting him down. 

[whitestavern]

My workplace just reverted back to a mask mandate. I’ve been wearing one all along but out of our 40-50 employees we’ve had 5 recent cases. 

[kbutton]

14 hours ago, bookbard said:

Went to the dentist today, no masks in the waiting room or ventilation. No one else waiting but there were the nurses/admin staff there. 

Our orthodontist took his mask off to talk to us...while he was still sitting right behind my kid's unmasked face. 😡 (As in, my kid was face-up in front of him, still reclined.) This is after the tech working on his braces didn't tell him he could put his mask back on for a substantial wait to see the orthodontist--we had to step in and ask if he could put it back on. The room had 4 or 5 other patients who are maybe 6 feet apart and also unmasked to have their work done. I get that they can't fix that part, but jeez, let's at least try to act like it's normal to mask in an orthodontic office (it was before Covid!).

When we were inquiring about some time-sensitive stuff that relates to mitigating Covid risk, a nurse said to us, "Well anybody could get Covid at any time." Um, hello...there are some things we can't fix, but in our household, we can and do isolate for important things (like the thing we were asking about). Our experiences in this hospital system are overwhelmingly positive, but this particular nurse plays loose with facts and is flippant. Not a fan.

We also have had to move tutoring to Zoom because people have started bringing their sick kids to tutoring. (We have a kid who is having major surgery soon.)

I am tired of the stupid people!!! 

Edited May 5, 2022 by kbutton

[bookbard]

3 hours ago, kbutton said:

When we were inquiring about some time-sensitive stuff that relates to mitigating Covid risk, a nurse said to us, "Well anybody could get Covid at any time."

It's exhausting, isn't it.

I was actually listing all the ways people I know have caught covid. Wedding; school; school camp; long car trip with sick person; sharing office with sick person; household contacts, of course.

None of them have been the magic Covid fairy tapping them on the shoulder saying 'Anybody could get Covid at any time!'

[busymama7]

17 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

Good news, in general.  The specialist thinks that his liver is slowly recovering from the 'insult' of Covid.  Apparently livers are unusually able to recover to full health if there isn't a continuing attack on them.  He's still really debilitated, and not being able to exercise regularly is getting him down. 

It isn't the same thing but I was in stage four kidney failure for about 8 months post covid.   My kidney function is now absolutely perfect not even borderline.  I had labs from pre covid that showed it was fine then too.  My Dr said essentially the same thing, that is was covid but it would recover and it did.   

[Ausmumof3]

1 hour ago, bookbard said:

It's exhausting, isn't it.

I was actually listing all the ways people I know have caught covid. Wedding; school; school camp; long car trip with sick person; sharing office with sick person; household contacts, of course.

None of them have been the magic Covid fairy tapping them on the shoulder saying 'Anybody could get Covid at any time!'

Here it is almost all school followed by household contacts. A few through church and church camps. Not many at ours because they have been somewhat careful.

[Ting Tang]

5 hours ago, kbutton said:

Our orthodontist took his mask off to talk to us...while he was still sitting right behind my kid's unmasked face. 😡 (As in, my kid was face-up in front of him, still reclined.) This is after the tech working on his braces didn't tell him he could put his mask back on for a substantial wait to see the orthodontist--we had to step in and ask if he could put it back on. The room had 4 or 5 other patients who are maybe 6 feet apart and also unmasked to have their work done. I get that they can't fix that part, but jeez, let's at least try to act like it's normal to mask in an orthodontic office (it was before Covid!).

When we were inquiring about some time-sensitive stuff that relates to mitigating Covid risk, a nurse said to us, "Well anybody could get Covid at any time." Um, hello...there are some things we can't fix, but in our household, we can and do isolate for important things (like the thing we were asking about). Our experiences in this hospital system are overwhelmingly positive, but this particular nurse plays loose with facts and is flippant. Not a fan.

We also have had to move tutoring to Zoom because people have started bringing their sick kids to tutoring. (We have a kid who is having major surgery soon.)

I am tired of the stupid people!!! 

I have not taken my child back to the ortho to get his work started. During the mandate, a staff member took her mask off to talk to me.  It was also like a zoo. I’m afraid to go back to the kid dentist. My own is great about precautions. 

[kbutton]

5 minutes ago, Ting Tang said:

I have not taken my child back to the ortho to get his work started. During the mandate, a staff member took her mask off to talk to me.  It was also like a zoo. I’m afraid to go back to the kid dentist. My own is great about precautions. 

We couldn't really wait. He's already really late to start due to some earlier complications, and they are not optional. 

[Laura Corin]

BBC News - Does US really have world's highest Covid death toll?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/61333847

[Mom_to3]

2 hours ago, kbutton said:

We couldn't really wait. He's already really late to start due to some earlier complications, and they are not optional. 

Oh dear, another reminder of something I don't feel all that comfortable with for my boys right now. Starting a long-term ortho treatment; even if one is willing to take the risk of the current variant, the next variant may be even more damaging, and I have little hope that our country will do anything about it. I mean - so many counties in the US should have reinstituted masking by now even based on the new CDC guidelines, but no one is addressing this as far as I can tell. 

[Ting Tang]

9 hours ago, kbutton said:

We couldn't really wait. He's already really late to start due to some earlier complications, and they are not optional. 

I totally understand.  I wonder how long we can wait, too.  Orthodontist offices were always quiet when I grew up, and now they have benches for kids to line up and wait on....  

 

[kbutton]

3 hours ago, Ting Tang said:

I totally understand.  I wonder how long we can wait, too.  Orthodontist offices were always quiet when I grew up, and now they have benches for kids to line up and wait on....  

Our has three offices, and they buzz all the time. 

[bookbard]

This thread was a great rundown of recent scientific papers around covid.  Including the fact that masking may reduce severity of covid, even if it doesn't 100% prevent it; and that schools and children are a driver of covid spread.

 

[KSera]

14 minutes ago, bookbard said:

This thread was a great rundown of recent scientific papers around covid.  Including the fact that masking may reduce severity of covid, even if it doesn't 100% prevent it; and that schools and children are a driver of covid spread.

 

There were some really interesting ones in there, thanks for sharing. I only read what the thread quoted so far, but should go back and read some of the studies. Two that stood out to me were the one showing that masking made more difference in transmission in buildings than doubling outdoor air ventilation, and that vaccinated teachers working in schools had fewer infections than unvaccinated teachers working from home (this one isn't actually surprising, though I'd like to go back and see which variants this was studied during--certainly wouldn't be surprising if this was pre-omicron).

 

eta: the study of teachers was Spring 2021, so yeah, that's completely unsurprising. The vaccine was still amazing at preventing infection at that time.

Edited May 6, 2022 by KSera