wuhan - coronavirus

[bookbard]

1 hour ago, Melissa Louise said:

Apparently the bivalent is available in AU on Monday, but only for people who have had fewer than the two recommended boosters.

 

oh ok. well, I guess that's good for my husband who hasn't had the 4th yet, hopefully he will get it before surgery (hopefully. it's up to him). But it's a bit slack on the rest of us who dutifully got the 4th when we were told to. 

[KSera]

1 hour ago, Melissa Louise said:

Apparently the bivalent is available in AU on Monday, but only for people who have had fewer than the two recommended boosters.

Still doesn't answer any questions about routine vaccination ongoing.

I thought the same as @bookbard—it seems unfair for those who followed recommendations to now not be able to get thr updated shot. 

55 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

That's assuming all people already got an Omicron infection as a 'booster'.  If I were under 50 and had thus far avoided infection, I'd be pissed not to be offered the bivalent vax.  The old vaxes are both too poor a match and too long ago to offer much protection against Omicron.

My same thought as well. It’s well and good for those who have been infected, but doesn’t help those who haven’t and seems once again leave those most likely to have have been practicing all the prevention layers as the ones who don’t get the benefit now. 

[bookbard]

Hey @Ausmumof3, have you seen this: Pod School – A covid-safe alternative to primary school in South Australia (podlearning.au)

[Ausmumof3]

1 hour ago, bookbard said:

Hey @Ausmumof3, have you seen this: Pod School – A covid-safe alternative to primary school in South Australia (podlearning.au)

Wow interesting! No I hadn’t seen it. I would have loved this when the kids were younger. I wonder how they’re handling the legal side of stuff.

[bookbard]

2 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Wow interesting! No I hadn’t seen it. I would have loved this when the kids were younger. I wonder how they’re handling the legal side of stuff.

Yes, in NSW you definitely have to spend the majority of your time in your home to be legally homeschooling. It's kind of pricy too, but I think could be great for some families.

[Melissa Louise]

6 minutes ago, bookbard said:

Yes, in NSW you definitely have to spend the majority of your time in your home to be legally homeschooling. It's kind of pricy too, but I think could be great for some families.

I would love to set up a pod to teach, but yes, not legal here.

[bookbard]

1 minute ago, Melissa Louise said:

I would love to set up a pod to teach, but yes, not legal here.

If you're seriously interested, you should keep an eye on it. I think if it ran two days a week it would be legal - then it's not the majority of the time. You'd have to set it up as a not for profit. If you taught in 2 different areas, two days a week at each, maybe you could make it work financially? It'd be a risk though. 

[bookbard]

Apparently the astra zeneca nasal spray trial has been a complete failure. so that's depressing. Hoping the one being tested in Australia is working, but there's been no information. I think part of the issue is that it's hard to ensure the droplets reach where they're supposed to.

AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine suffers a setback in nasal spray trial | Reuters

[Mom_to3]

8 minutes ago, bookbard said:

Apparently the astra zeneca nasal spray trial has been a complete failure. so that's depressing. Hoping the one being tested in Australia is working, but there's been no information. I think part of the issue is that it's hard to ensure the droplets reach where they're supposed to.

AstraZeneca's COVID vaccine suffers a setback in nasal spray trial | Reuters

Just posted this in the other thread on covid. Yes, hugely disappointing.

[Laura Corin]

One nasal vaccine abandoned https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/11/nasal-covid-vaccine-poor-results-oxford-astrazeneca-trial?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

[Terabith]

I’m working in a 2 year old class this year, and on balance, I decided not to mask, since I think 2 year olds really do benefit socially and language wise from seeing faces, and I have two kids who are language delayed.  However, my boss has a college aged kid at home who tested positive for covid this weekend, and boss hasn’t had any vaccines since the two initial shots, although she did have it last May.  In addition, this morning two of my kids were coughing and snotty.  So I just popped the KN95 mask I keep in my pocket on, and my co-teacher elected to also put on her mask. Because, you know, kids are coughing in our faces.  My boss came in and was like, “Why are you masking???”  And I was like, well, kids are mildly ill, and I am a little worried about the situation with your daughter.  It was just stressful, because it seemed like a pretty innocuous thing to do, and she was so upset by it. 

[Harriet Vane]

26 minutes ago, Terabith said:

I’m working in a 2 year old class this year, and on balance, I decided not to mask, since I think 2 year olds really do benefit socially and language wise from seeing faces, and I have two kids who are language delayed.  However, my boss has a college aged kid at home who tested positive for covid this weekend, and boss hasn’t had any vaccines since the two initial shots, although she did have it last May.  In addition, this morning two of my kids were coughing and snotty.  So I just popped the KN95 mask I keep in my pocket on, and my co-teacher elected to also put on her mask. Because, you know, kids are coughing in our faces.  My boss came in and was like, “Why are you masking???”  And I was like, well, kids are mildly ill, and I am a little worried about the situation with your daughter.  It was just stressful, because it seemed like a pretty innocuous thing to do, and she was so upset by it. 

I run into this ALL the time. People who are upset at the mask sitting on my face. When I didn't say a word about it or to them or anything. People who are just upset that it's THERE, on my face, while I go about doing whatever I'm doing. 

So I feel your pain.

And I urge you to hold your ground. 

Your concerns are valid, and it should be 100% acceptable to wear a mask whenever you choose to do so. The more we quietly do so, the more people will adjust and let it go. (I hope.)

[bookbard]

1 hour ago, Terabith said:

My boss came in and was like, “Why are you masking???”

I've got to say, it sounds like your boss is an outright covid denier. So awful, I'm sorry. I mask 100% at work and see babies all the time, and I can still make them laugh and smile at me - they can tell when I'm smiling and when I'm doing the surprised eyebrow thing! A mask is NOT the equivalent of a completely blank face. 

[Acadie]

1 hour ago, Harriet Vane said:

Your concerns are valid, and it should be 100% acceptable to wear a mask whenever you choose to do so. The more we quietly do so, the more people will adjust and let it go. (I hope.)

Totally agree! Lately I'm seeing more people with masks at stores, and more higher quality masks. I think more of us wearing masks could tip the balance and encourage some fence-sitters to don theirs, too.

[Terabith]

1 hour ago, bookbard said:

I've got to say, it sounds like your boss is an outright covid denier. So awful, I'm sorry. I mask 100% at work and see babies all the time, and I can still make them laugh and smile at me - they can tell when I'm smiling and when I'm doing the surprised eyebrow thing! A mask is NOT the equivalent of a completely blank face. 

She's definitely not a covid denier, but I think she has some level of PTSD with trying to run a preschool during the pandemic.  She doesn't have the hive, and she's not a particularly educated woman in general, and I think the sheer volume of information and constantly changing guidelines and the stresses of it all during the worst of covid have made her just determined to declare that it's over and she's done.  I think she's traumatized more than malicious.  

I don't think it would be horrendous for kids if I masked at work, but I do think that there is some benefit to the toddlers to seeing mouth sounds and full facial expressions.  My philosophy has been to think of the 11 of us as a bit of a cohort, but I mask if anyone in the room seems at all unwell or if I have any symptoms at all.  I don't think the snotty kids in my class today have covid, but they definitely have colds.  

[Wheres Toto]

We stopped requiring masks at the science center I run but they aren't a big deal if they are worn.   We have a few kids that wear them all the time still, and I have one teacher that didn't wear one for the first time this week.  Nobody seems to care at all or react in any way.  Other teachers will wear them if anyone in their house has a cold or any symptoms, even with negative tests.    We have kids from 2 1/2 to 18 attending classes. 

We also are still running high quality air purifiers in every room.  

[bookbard]

Good infographic on Long Covid: The astounding impact and reach of long Covid, in numbers and charts | Long Covid | The Guardian

NB I read something that said we shouldn't be called it 'long covid', but simply 'covid' - there's covid in the acute stage, and then covid in the chronic stage.

Edited October 12, 2022 by bookbard

[Melissa Louise]

Just hit me on the bus just now that today is the last day in NSW that anyone with Covid is supposed to stay home.

Any kid or adult on the bus or classroom could have Covid in it's most infectious stage and not even have to tell anyone! All this without masks or air mitigations. Wild. 

Always a new low to adapt to.

 

[bookbard]

2 hours ago, Melissa Louise said:

Any kid or adult on the bus or classroom could have Covid in it's most infectious stage and not even have to tell anyone! All this without masks or air mitigations. Wild. 

 

Yes - and no reporting in NSW either. It is going to be just crazy. 

[prairiewindmomma]

I got my omicron booster 10 days ago, my 5th COVID shot.

I still mask in a N95 anywhere indoors. I had a rare outing to my favorite restaurant at the beach and ate outdoors on the patio, where the tables are a bit spaced, but no longer fully 6’ apart, taking off my mask only to eat.

I tested a very faint positive for COVID this am. It looked negative at 15 min but had a faint line at 20 with dye. My only symptom initially was a sore throat. I swabbed my throat and nose. Everyone else in my household masks full time when outside the home, and they all have tested negative so far.

Staff said if I have a positive home test, no confirmation with PCR test. He says staff are actively working sick in the hospitals, and while they can take five days off, it doesn’t matter if they are still testing positive on a rapid 5 days in, they are asked to return to work because they are so short staffed. He came in a PAPR because he has a beard, but the other staff, knowing I was positive (I had flagged myself when I booked the appointment) came in only in a surgical.

I got my paxlovid this am and a bunch of other meds. I am to go to hospital if my pulse ox stays below 92. 
 

I am sharing only because I thought outdoor dining was relatively safe. Apparently not, or I am exceptionally unlucky.

[Ting Tang]

24 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I got my omicron booster 10 days ago, my 5th COVID shot.

I still mask in a N95 anywhere indoors. I had a rare outing to my favorite restaurant at the beach and ate outdoors on the patio, where the tables are a bit spaced, but no longer fully 6’ apart, taking off my mask only to eat.

I tested a very faint positive for COVID this am. It looked negative at 15 min but had a faint line at 20 with dye. My only symptom initially was a sore throat. I swabbed my throat and nose. Everyone else in my household masks full time when outside the home, and they all have tested negative so far.

Staff said if I have a positive home test, no confirmation with PCR test. He says staff are actively working sick in the hospitals, and while they can take five days off, it doesn’t matter if they are still testing positive on a rapid 5 days in, they are asked to return to work because they are so short staffed. He came in a PAPR because he has a beard, but the other staff, knowing I was positive (I had flagged myself when I booked the appointment) came in only in a surgical.

I got my paxlovid this am and a bunch of other meds. I am to go to hospital if my pulse ox stays below 92. 
 

I am sharing only because I thought outdoor dining was relatively safe. Apparently not, or I am exceptionally unlucky.

Prayers for a speedy recovery. 

[Ting Tang]

On 10/11/2022 at 2:34 PM, Terabith said:

I’m working in a 2 year old class this year, and on balance, I decided not to mask, since I think 2 year olds really do benefit socially and language wise from seeing faces, and I have two kids who are language delayed.  However, my boss has a college aged kid at home who tested positive for covid this weekend, and boss hasn’t had any vaccines since the two initial shots, although she did have it last May.  In addition, this morning two of my kids were coughing and snotty.  So I just popped the KN95 mask I keep in my pocket on, and my co-teacher elected to also put on her mask. Because, you know, kids are coughing in our faces.  My boss came in and was like, “Why are you masking???”  And I was like, well, kids are mildly ill, and I am a little worried about the situation with your daughter.  It was just stressful, because it seemed like a pretty innocuous thing to do, and she was so upset by it. 

I still mask, and I’m totally self-conscious about it. Few mask. It’s hard to convince my kids to mask—they do for classes/lessons, but they are not masking 100% in stores. I lost that battle. My husband is not a masker, nor are most. To my children, I seem like a crazy hypochondriac. 

Edited October 13, 2022 by Ting Tang

[BeachGal]

6 hours ago, bookbard said:

Good infographic on Long Covid: The astounding impact and reach of long Covid, in numbers and charts | Long Covid | The Guardian

NB I read something that said we shouldn't be called it 'long covid', but simply 'covid' - there's covid in the acute stage, and then covid in the chronic stage.

Acute Covid and long Covid do differ, though, and not everyone develops long Covid although quite a few have. To call them both Covid would be confusing.

I am following what’s going on with long Covid research and they do appear to be unravelling some of the mysteries.

[KSera]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I got my omicron booster 10 days ago, my 5th COVID shot.

I still mask in a N95 anywhere indoors. I had a rare outing to my favorite restaurant at the beach and ate outdoors on the patio, where the tables are a bit spaced, but no longer fully 6’ apart, taking off my mask only to eat.

I tested a very faint positive for COVID this am. It looked negative at 15 min but had a faint line at 20 with dye. My only symptom initially was a sore throat. I swabbed my throat and nose. Everyone else in my household masks full time when outside the home, and they all have tested negative so far.

Staff said if I have a positive home test, no confirmation with PCR test. He says staff are actively working sick in the hospitals, and while they can take five days off, it doesn’t matter if they are still testing positive on a rapid 5 days in, they are asked to return to work because they are so short staffed. He came in a PAPR because he has a beard, but the other staff, knowing I was positive (I had flagged myself when I booked the appointment) came in only in a surgical.

I got my paxlovid this am and a bunch of other meds. I am to go to hospital if my pulse ox stays below 92. 
 

I am sharing only because I thought outdoor dining was relatively safe. Apparently not, or I am exceptionally unlucky.

I’m so sorry! Do you have any other symptoms, or still just the faint sore throat? Maybe it will come and go and that will be it? Seems crazy that would happen from dining outside, though I guess I can see how it would be possible. I had just been thinking myself recently that maybe we could start doing that outside at a restaurant. I hope you recover very quickly!

[bookbard]

3 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I am sharing only because I thought outdoor dining was relatively safe. Apparently not, or I am exceptionally unlucky.

That really is unlucky (I think whether outdoor dining is safe will depend on luck - air flow, how sick a nearby person is etc). I'm so sorry, hope you feel better soon. I've certainly done far riskier things (gave someone a lift in a car with closed windows; she told me the next day she had covid) and got away with it, so to catch it under those circumstances feels so unfair - like so much of covid.

[bookbard]

3 hours ago, BeachGal said:

To call them both Covid would be confusing.

I agree, really.

[Laura Corin]

4 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I got my omicron booster 10 days ago, my 5th COVID shot.

I still mask in a N95 anywhere indoors. I had a rare outing to my favorite restaurant at the beach and ate outdoors on the patio, where the tables are a bit spaced, but no longer fully 6’ apart, taking off my mask only to eat.

I tested a very faint positive for COVID this am. It looked negative at 15 min but had a faint line at 20 with dye. My only symptom initially was a sore throat. I swabbed my throat and nose. Everyone else in my household masks full time when outside the home, and they all have tested negative so far.

Staff said if I have a positive home test, no confirmation with PCR test. He says staff are actively working sick in the hospitals, and while they can take five days off, it doesn’t matter if they are still testing positive on a rapid 5 days in, they are asked to return to work because they are so short staffed. He came in a PAPR because he has a beard, but the other staff, knowing I was positive (I had flagged myself when I booked the appointment) came in only in a surgical.

I got my paxlovid this am and a bunch of other meds. I am to go to hospital if my pulse ox stays below 92. 
 

I am sharing only because I thought outdoor dining was relatively safe. Apparently not, or I am exceptionally unlucky.

My brother caught Delta playing tennis or golf, he thinks.  He didn't go inside to the loo or anything.  He did pop into a shop once masked, so he can't be sure. Get well soon!

[wathe]

I saw a confirmed case of post-covid ocular neuritis in the ED the other week.  Bilateral, acute onset blindness.  Confirmed by ophthalmology.  I had no idea that was even a thing (wrt covid that is - I know about  optic neuritis, but hadn't heard of it as a covid complication before, though, of course is makes sense).  Really not a complication that anyone would want.

[prairiewindmomma]

3 hours ago, KSera said:

I’m so sorry! Do you have any other symptoms, or still just the faint sore throat? Maybe it will come and go and that will be it? Seems crazy that would happen from dining outside, though I guess I can see how it would be possible. I had just been thinking myself recently that maybe we could start doing that outside at a restaurant. I hope you recover very quickly!

I developed a mild sore throat last night. It's about 26 hours from then...I have since developed a very mild runny nose, some sinus pressure, and a low grade fever that comes and goes. I have a bit of a headache now, and I can feel my lymph nodes swelling. I have some fatigue...I took a five hour nap this afternoon. I had a bit of myalgia, but I'm also now three weeks off of methotrexate, so I can't connect it definitively to covid. I sat in the hot tub tonight for a while to help boost my fever since my body isn't always great at being able to start up a fever.

The paxlovid leaves a metal taste in my mouth but it's no worse than I get with methotrexate and I can still smell and taste everything.

I could totally see how someone could blow this off as a bad allergy and autoimmune day. In a pre-covid world, I would have been dragging myself around doing school, chores and kid taxi service.

But, it's early yet. 

Fwiw, the bivalent booster gave me a crushing headache and fever and chills for 24h. So, my body recognized the vaccine when it hit...I'm hoping enough time had passed that I have some measure of protection against omicron even if it's not full protection.

[Melissa Louise]

9 hours ago, bookbard said:

Yes - and no reporting in NSW either. It is going to be just crazy. 

It's making me feel a bit crazy, tbh. I keep wondering if maybe I'm imagining we are still dealing with a serious airborne virus! 

[Ausmumof3]

7 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I got my omicron booster 10 days ago, my 5th COVID shot.

I still mask in a N95 anywhere indoors. I had a rare outing to my favorite restaurant at the beach and ate outdoors on the patio, where the tables are a bit spaced, but no longer fully 6’ apart, taking off my mask only to eat.

I tested a very faint positive for COVID this am. It looked negative at 15 min but had a faint line at 20 with dye. My only symptom initially was a sore throat. I swabbed my throat and nose. Everyone else in my household masks full time when outside the home, and they all have tested negative so far.

Staff said if I have a positive home test, no confirmation with PCR test. He says staff are actively working sick in the hospitals, and while they can take five days off, it doesn’t matter if they are still testing positive on a rapid 5 days in, they are asked to return to work because they are so short staffed. He came in a PAPR because he has a beard, but the other staff, knowing I was positive (I had flagged myself when I booked the appointment) came in only in a surgical.

I got my paxlovid this am and a bunch of other meds. I am to go to hospital if my pulse ox stays below 92. 
 

I am sharing only because I thought outdoor dining was relatively safe. Apparently not, or I am exceptionally unlucky.

Although we don’t seem to have had covid both my kids caught colds this winter. The only place they could have got it was from indoors masked for an hour or outdoors unmasked. I think all the things help but nothing’s perfect. I hope it stays mild for you.

[TexasProud]

8 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I got my omicron booster 10 days ago, my 5th COVID shot.

I still mask in a N95 anywhere indoors. I had a rare outing to my favorite restaurant at the beach and ate outdoors on the patio, where the tables are a bit spaced, but no longer fully 6’ apart, taking off my mask only to eat.

I tested a very faint positive for COVID this am. It looked negative at 15 min but had a faint line at 20 with dye. My only symptom initially was a sore throat. I swabbed my throat and nose. Everyone else in my household masks full time when outside the home, and they all have tested negative so far.

Staff said if I have a positive home test, no confirmation with PCR test. He says staff are actively working sick in the hospitals, and while they can take five days off, it doesn’t matter if they are still testing positive on a rapid 5 days in, they are asked to return to work because they are so short staffed. He came in a PAPR because he has a beard, but the other staff, knowing I was positive (I had flagged myself when I booked the appointment) came in only in a surgical.

I got my paxlovid this am and a bunch of other meds. I am to go to hospital if my pulse ox stays below 92. 
 

I am sharing only because I thought outdoor dining was relatively safe. Apparently not, or I am exceptionally unlucky.

And honestly, this is part of the reason I just gave up.  Easier to live life.

I am so so sorry you are dealing with this. It sucks.

[BeachGal]

8 hours ago, wathe said:

I saw a confirmed case of post-covid ocular neuritis in the ED the other week.  Bilateral, acute onset blindness.  Confirmed by ophthalmology.  I had no idea that was even a thing (wrt covid that is - I know about  optic neuritis, but hadn't heard of it as a covid complication before, though, of course is makes sense).  Really not a complication that anyone would want.

Many long haulers have eye problems. I would put it in the top 5 symptoms.

[BeachGal]

NMT5, a drug to watch from Scripps Research Institute
 

https://phys.org/news/2022-09-drug-potential-sars-cov-virus.html

A new drug designed by scientists at Scripps Research can turn the COVID-19 virus into a harbinger of its own doom.

 

The drug, NMT5, described in Nature Chemical Biology on September 29, 2022, coats SARS-CoV-2 with chemicals that can temporarily alter the human ACE2 receptor—the molecule the virus normally latches onto to infect cells. That means that when the virus is near, its path into human cells via the ACE2 receptor is blocked; in the absence of the virus, however, ACE2 can function as usual.

"What's so neat about this drug is that we're actually turning the virus against itself," says senior author Stuart Lipton, MD, Ph.D., the Step Family Endowed Chair and Scripps Research professor. "We're arming it with little molecular warheads that end up preventing it from infecting our cells; it's our revenge on the virus."

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Lipton and his colleagues had long been studying variations of the drug memantine, which Lipton developed and patented in the 1990s for treating neurological diseases like Alzheimer's. While memantine originated from an anti-influenza drug used in the 1960s, clinicians began investigating it for additional diseases after they noticed a woman with Parkinson's symptoms improved when she took the drug for the flu.

"My team had made these antiviral drugs better for the brain, and when COVID-19 emerged, we wondered whether we had also, in the process, made any of them better antivirals," says Lipton.

Lipton and his team tested a library of compounds similar to memantine in overall structure but covered with additional pharmacological warheads. They pinpointed the drug candidate designated NMT5 as having two key properties: It could recognize and attach to a pore on the surface of SARS-CoV-2, and it could chemically modify human ACE2 using a fragment of nitroglycerin as the warhead. The group realized this could turn the virus into a delivery vehicle for its own demise.

In the new paper, Lipton's group characterized and tested NMT5 in isolated cells as well as animals. They showed how NMT5 attaches tightly to SARS-CoV-2 viral particles as the viruses move through the body. Then, they revealed the details of how the drug adds a chemical (similar to nitroglycerin) to certain molecules if it gets close enough. When the virus gets near ACE2 to infect a cell, that translates into NMT5 adding a "nitro group" to the receptor. When ACE2 is modified in this way, its structure temporarily shifts—for about 12 hours—so that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can no longer bind to it to cause infection.

"What's really beautiful is that this only knocks down availability of ACE2 locally when the virus is coming at it," says Lipton. "It doesn't knock down all the function of ACE2 elsewhere in the body, allowing for normal function of this protein."

In cell culture experiments testing how well the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 can attach to human ACE2 receptors, the drug prevented 95% of viral binding. In hamsters with COVID-19, NMT5 decreased virus levels by 100-fold, eliminated blood vessel damage in the animals' lungs, and ameliorated inflammation. The drug also showed effectiveness against nearly a dozen other variants of COVID-19, including alpha, beta, gamma and delta strains.

Most anti-viral drugs work by directly blocking part of a virus—which can pressure the virus to evolve resistance to the drug. Since NMT5 is only using the virus as a carrier, the researchers think the drug is likely to be effective against many other variants of SARS-CoV-2.

"We expect this compound would continue to be effective even as new variants emerge, because it doesn't rely on attacking parts of the virus that commonly mutate," says Chang-ki Oh, a senior staff scientist and first author of the new paper.

Though they have only studied the compound in animal models, the team is now making a version of the drug to evaluate for human use, while carrying out additional safety and effectiveness trials in animals.

"These exciting findings suggest a new avenue for drug development that requires drug combinations for effective pandemic preparedness," says co-author Arnab Chatterjee, Ph.D.

[mommyoffive]

16 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I got my omicron booster 10 days ago, my 5th COVID shot.

I still mask in a N95 anywhere indoors. I had a rare outing to my favorite restaurant at the beach and ate outdoors on the patio, where the tables are a bit spaced, but no longer fully 6’ apart, taking off my mask only to eat.

I tested a very faint positive for COVID this am. It looked negative at 15 min but had a faint line at 20 with dye. My only symptom initially was a sore throat. I swabbed my throat and nose. Everyone else in my household masks full time when outside the home, and they all have tested negative so far.

Staff said if I have a positive home test, no confirmation with PCR test. He says staff are actively working sick in the hospitals, and while they can take five days off, it doesn’t matter if they are still testing positive on a rapid 5 days in, they are asked to return to work because they are so short staffed. He came in a PAPR because he has a beard, but the other staff, knowing I was positive (I had flagged myself when I booked the appointment) came in only in a surgical.

I got my paxlovid this am and a bunch of other meds. I am to go to hospital if my pulse ox stays below 92. 
 

I am sharing only because I thought outdoor dining was relatively safe. Apparently not, or I am exceptionally unlucky.

I am so sorry.  I hope with all your shots you have an easy time of it.  

That makes me worried about outdoor transmission. UGH.  I was hoping that was safe. 

Was this the staff at your doctor's office or something?

[prairiewindmomma]

1 hour ago, mommyoffive said:

 

Was this the staff at your doctor's office or something?

I was at a hospital outpatient urgent care clinic. The practitioner I saw there normally is in hospital ER practice but had been floated out to help cover the outpatient clinic. 

My area isn't in a high transmission area right now according to the wastewater studies, so I was surprised they were staffing like that when not in a crisis, iykwim.

[mommyoffive]

2 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I was at a hospital outpatient urgent care clinic. The practitioner I saw there normally is in hospital ER practice but had been floated out to help cover the outpatient clinic. 

My area isn't in a high transmission area right now according to the wastewater studies, so I was surprised they were staffing like that when not in a crisis, iykwim.

That makes the way you think you got it even more worrisome.  UGH.

[prairiewindmomma]

4 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

That makes the way you think you got it even more worrisome.  UGH.

My husband and kids all had the same exposure and tested negative.

I think this is just me demonstrating that medically vulnerable people are in fact....medically vulnerable. Most people don't need to live like me. I just want to keep hanging in the land of the living for a while longer, so I do what I have to to do.  And, honestly, having fresh seafood out on the beach while watching the waves come in is probably a life quality choice I'm going to keep making. Just next time I'll check the tide schedule, get takeout, and eat it on a blanket on the sand like I normally do. 

 

 

 

 

[BeachGal]

For long Covid, this will be something to watch. Two biomarkers specify long Covid if elevated — ANG-1 and P-SEL. 96% specificity.

(If MMP-1 is also elevated, specificity for long Covid increased to 98%. I don’t think that is shown here, though.)

https://molmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s10020-022-00548-8

Results

Fourteen vasculature transformation blood biomarkers were significantly elevated in Long-COVID outpatients, versus acutely ill COVID-19 inpatients and healthy controls subjects (P < 0.05). A unique two biomarker profile consisting of ANG-1/P-SEL was developed with machine learning, providing a classification accuracy for Long-COVID status of 96%. Individually, ANG-1 and P-SEL had excellent sensitivity and specificity for Long-COVID status (AUC = 1.00, P < 0.0001; validated in a secondary cohort). Specific to Long-COVID, ANG-1 levels were associated with female sex and a lack of disease interventions at follow-up (P < 0.05).

Conclusions

Long-COVID patients suffer prolonged, diffuse symptoms and poorer health. Vascular transformation blood biomarkers were significantly elevated in Long-COVID, with angiogenesis markers (ANG-1/P-SEL) providing classification accuracy of 96%. Vascular transformation blood biomarkers hold potential for diagnostics, and modulators of angiogenesis may have therapeutic efficacy.

Edited October 14, 2022 by BeachGal

[Ausmumof3]

Friday data is coming in for Aus states: so far NSW has a ref back over 1 (bad news), Vic has dropped a bit. It’s hard to know how accurate data will be going forward for those states with the requirement to report positive RATs dropped. It feels much harder to interpret trends with the weekly reporting, because if there’s any little variations etc it’s another week till everything gets straightened out. 

[bookbard]

Ugh - people on local facebook group decided that 'everyone's sick at the moment' because of 'too much washing hands'. Great, let's add gastro bugs to the mix!

 

25 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

Friday data is coming in for Aus states: so far NSW has a ref back over 1 (bad news), Vic has dropped a bit. It’s hard to know how accurate data will be going forward for those states with the requirement to report positive RATs dropped. It feels much harder to interpret trends with the weekly reporting, because if there’s any little variations etc it’s another week till everything gets straightened out. 

Yeah, I agree, I don't know what the data is saying right now. I should be able to be fairly careful for  the most part . . . but my husband bought tix to a concert in late Nov . . . it's sad that I'm hoping that the concert people cancel it, because it's such a risk, but there's no way I can say we're not going. 

 

[KSera]

1 hour ago, bookbard said:

 

Ugh - people on local facebook group decided that 'everyone's sick at the moment' because of 'too much washing hands'. Great, let's add gastro bugs to the mix!

 

I read a good substack piece (from infectious disease epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers interviewing an immunologist) today addressing the whole hygiene hypothesis of whether people are getting more sick or not due to Covid precautions. The TL;dr is that that isn’t actually relevant to viral illnesses, only bacterial and people’s immune resistance to bacterial infections has mostly to do with their home living environment.

Where are we with the hygiene hypothesis?

 

[Ausmumof3]

2 hours ago, KSera said:

I read a good substack piece (from infectious disease epidemiologist Caitlin Rivers interviewing an immunologist) today addressing the whole hygiene hypothesis of whether people are getting more sick or not due to Covid precautions. The TL;dr is that that isn’t actually relevant to viral illnesses, only bacterial and people’s immune resistance to bacterial infections has mostly to do with their home living environment.

Where are we with the hygiene hypothesis?

 

I read this this morning as well and found it really interesting (and somewhat reassuring)

[prairiewindmomma]

Does anyone have the usual time course of omicron symptoms handy? I needed my first nebulizer treatment in the night…which is normal for me in respiratory illness, but I think outside the omicron norm.

[bookbard]

So I just saw some data on Covid deaths in Victoria (Australia's 2nd largest state). Over 1,300 deaths just in the last 3 months, and 40% of them had had no vaccine. Keep in mind that around 95% of the population has had 2 vaccines. So that's just enormous - 566 deaths from covid in the last 3 months just in unvaccinated people, which is around 5% of the population.

Andrea McKenna on Twitter: "If you are interested and you don’t already subscribe, the Vic CHO weekly report is good info. https://t.co/tUo9dV26ZE" / Twitter

 

[Spryte]

@prairiewindmomma Hoping you feel better soon!

[KSera]

21 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Does anyone have the usual time course of omicron symptoms handy? I needed my first nebulizer treatment in the night…which is normal for me in respiratory illness, but I think outside the omicron norm.

How are you doing today? It has seemed to me that people typically start feeling better relatively quickly after starting Paxlovid, so I’m hoping that will be the case for you. 

[prairiewindmomma]

2 hours ago, KSera said:

How are you doing today? It has seemed to me that people typically start feeling better relatively quickly after starting Paxlovid, so I’m hoping that will be the case for you. 

Thanks for asking.

I started Paxlovid very early on, so I wasn’t expecting to feel much better because I started it feeling pretty fine, iykwim. I finish my Paxlovid tomorrow and I don’t know if I will see worsening because the virus can then replicate freely or if my body’s immune system has been able to get a grip on things. At this point I certainly feel better than I usually do on day 4 of an illness.

No fever since day one. GI upset from the Paxlovid continues. No longer much of a runny nose. Productive chesty cough, so I am doing nebulizer treatments every 6 hours. Starting those earlier instead of waiting until I “need” them seems to be good. My 02 sats are dropping from my normal but I am hanging above 92. Honestly, for me with my particular constellation of issues, I am doing great. 
 

[Ausmumof3]

I’m seeing a number of Twitter accounts flagging Germany’s hospitalisation increase right now. Does anyone have any context for that? Are there any restrictions left? Is it driven by behaviour or a more evasive variant? 

[bookbard]

45 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

I’m seeing a number of Twitter accounts flagging Germany’s hospitalisation increase right now. Does anyone have any context for that? Are there any restrictions left? Is it driven by behaviour or a more evasive variant? 

I thought it was linked to wild Oktoberfest parties, but maybe there's more to it than that . . .