The Covid 19 News Thread

[J. Wilhelm]

Well. I think we've missed some news on the subject as Brassgoggles has gone AWOL, but can be generally summarized as, "Omicron has fully taken over as the primary virus strain."

Some statistics place Omicron as being already dominant by over 89% of new cases in the US. The current wave of infections will surpass any other wave we've had so far. The silver lining is that Omicron seems to be more benign and with a much shorter lifespan in the human body, invading less volume in the lungs, but still will be ruthless to the elderly and immunity-compromised people.

The bad news being that the medical staff in many systems around the world are being swamped with patients as we speak. In several American hospitals, triage is on the verge of implementation, and many hospitals are now reporting a shortage of staff as many nurses and doctors test positive for Omicron. And statistically the numbers of severe cases in hospitals is on target to exceed any others previous wave, including Delta, simply because Omicron spreads much faster. The same is true for mild cases. Peak for this wave in the US is expected to happen anywhere from one week from today, through to the end of January, the reason being that Omicron seems to be much more infectious. Positivity rate in "hot spots" around the country, in tests is hovering around 30% which is considered very high.

On the medical research front we have very good news: a Texas team of researchers supported through private donations have developed what could be considered a "gamechanger." Using an older, neglected vaccine technique, they have developed a third type of Covid vaccine which is much simple to make, much cheaper ($1.50 per dose), and which is 90% effective against the Wuhan variety and 80% effective against the Delta variant (trial involving about 3000 people). If there's even going to be a chance of vaccinating all of the world in a short period of time, without patent barriers, and with emphasis on low and medium income countries, then this might be the vaccine to use.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/01/05/1070046189/a-texas-team-comes-up-with-a-covid-vaccine-that-could-be-a-global-game-changer

[Sorontar]

The Aussie news services are trying to decide whether they should focus on the record number of infections and hospitalisations in Australia and the health services being unable to test everyone who wants to be tested with up to 5 days wait on results for those who are tested, or Novak Djokovic complaining because the government authorities have said he hasn't meet Australia's conditions on vaccinations etc so they won't let him through customs to the Australian Open tennis tournament.

Sorontar

[SeVeNeVeS]

The UK NHS is reaching crisis point again and are preparing Nightingale facilities in response to Omicron.

This strain doesn't seem as deadly as the original from what I read but infections are increasing on a daily rate.

This years Royal Institute Christmas Lectures were basically an explanation of how a virus spreads and how vaccinations work, but as the Govt representative Jonathan Van-Tam was heavily involved, I couldn't help thinking it was a Govt funded push trying to convince Anti Vaxxers and doubters to get jabbed, not a bad thing, but spin is spin.

On a personal note, I got my booster, Moderna.
Horrible after effects for 3 days, shivers, sweating, generally feeling like the worst hangover you could ever have and an arm that felt like mike tyson had gone 10 rounds on it.
I spent most of those 3 days in bed trying to get warm. Not nice.

[J. Wilhelm]

The UK NHS is reaching crisis point again and are preparing Nightingale facilities in response to Omicron.

This strain doesn't seem as deadly as the original from what I read but infections are increasing on a daily rate.

This years Royal Institute Christmas Lectures were basically an explanation of how a virus spreads and how vaccinations work, but as the Govt representative Jonathan Van-Tam was heavily involved, I couldn't help thinking it was a Govt funded push trying to convince Anti Vaxxers and doubters to get jabbed, not a bad thing, but spin is spin.

On a personal note, I got my booster, Moderna.
Horrible after effects for 3 days, shivers, sweating, generally feeling like the worst hangover you could ever have and an arm that felt like mike tyson had gone 10 rounds on it.
I spent most of those 3 days in bed trying to get warm. Not nice.

Outside of the US most people were being told not to use analgesics like NSAIDs before and after the shot, because it could hinder the "controlled inflammation response" that creates the antibodies. But in the US, with Moderna and Pfizer, they recommended Tylenol **after** the onset of strong side effects. I took it at the 26th hour when I could no longer take the headache and stomach pain, and within 2 hrs I was somewhat normal.

[Synistor 303]

The UK NHS is reaching crisis point again and are preparing Nightingale facilities in response to Omicron.

This strain doesn't seem as deadly as the original from what I read but infections are increasing on a daily rate.

This years Royal Institute Christmas Lectures were basically an explanation of how a virus spreads and how vaccinations work, but as the Govt representative Jonathan Van-Tam was heavily involved, I couldn't help thinking it was a Govt funded push trying to convince Anti Vaxxers and doubters to get jabbed, not a bad thing, but spin is spin.

On a personal note, I got my booster, Moderna.
Horrible after effects for 3 days, shivers, sweating, generally feeling like the worst hangover you could ever have and an arm that felt like mike tyson had gone 10 rounds on it.
I spent most of those 3 days in bed trying to get warm. Not nice.

Outside of the US most people were being told not to use analgesics like NSAIDs before and after the shot, because it could hinder the "controlled inflammation response" that creates the antibodies. But in the US, with Moderna and Pfizer, they recommended Tylenol **after** the onset of strong side effects. I took it at the 26th hour when I could no longer take the headache and stomach pain, and within 2 hrs I was somewhat normal.

I would second the paracetamol - when I was getting chemo for cancer, I used to suffer horribly from the feeling of being cold. Doesn't sound bad, but feels as if every tiny bit of warmth is being drained from your body and it just seems to make you feel colder and colder. Horrible feeling. My oncology nurse told me take two paracetamol after each session, and that is stopped it! When you go home after your booster shot, take two paracetamol and forego the majority of the side effects.

[Sorontar]

The state of Victoria, Australia, previously only reported new cases as those who were identified from PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests, but so many people are now getting tested and found to be positive, that the old fast system of "test a group of samples together, then retest individually if the group is positive" doesn't work, so every sample has to be tested individually, which slows the system down. The state has just started also reporting how many positive RAT (Rapid Antigen Test) results are positive. Consequently, the ever increasing state daily results have now basically doubled from around 21,0000 positive PCR yesterday to 51,000 positive PCR/RAT today (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-17/coronavirus-cases-data-reveals-how-covid-19-spreads-in-australia/12060704). Before Xmas, the rate was around 2,000 a day. While neither test is perfect, this really shows how much the results previously under-reported the amount of cases.

Work has just told everyone to work from home (even though I was already) for 2 weeks, but I suspect this will go on for longer. It was silly enough for people to go to events like the cricket test after Xmas or New Year celebrations, but it will be interesting to see what effect this has on the Australian Open. Don't forget that when the pandemic first started being recognised, the Victorian government chose to cancel the 2020 Australian F1 GP on the morning that the public were going to be let on the course. The major difference this time is that the state laws have been changed so it is now politicians making the public health decisions, not the individual appointed Chief Health Officer. I don't want to debate or comment on the politics of this (since that isn't part of BG or SG), but it does mean that political decisions can now influence the public health directives.

Sorontar,
who is getting Vaccine 3 in 2 weeks.

[Sorontar]

Consequently, the ever increasing state daily results have now basically doubled from around 21,0000 positive PCR yesterday to 51,000 positive PCR/RAT today (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-17/coronavirus-cases-data-reveals-how-covid-19-spreads-in-australia/12060704). Before Xmas, the rate was around 2,000 a day. While neither test is perfect, this really shows how much the results previously under-reported the amount of cases.

Minor update: I have now read that the positive RAT are effectively one week's worth of results reported in one day (the state's online reporting of RAT results for those who tested at home is new). Therefore, things aren't quite as bad as they may be, but they are still significant. Statistically, the veracity of the RAT results is a bit questionable because of its reliance on the public to self-report accurately and completely, but getting any figures is better than none. It has also been pointed out that the same person could have a RAT then a PCR test and be positive for both (though getting PCR tests is geting hard). Today's state results are 44,155 new COVID cases (22,051 came from rapid antigen tests and 22,104 from PCR tests) so that is only a small increase in PCR positives but we are still getting a lot of RAT positives been reported in as well.
[UPDATE] Interestingly, the ICU rates and numbers on ventilators, which normally start to rise about about 2 weeks after any rise in positive cases, are yet to jump up. The hospitalisation rates have increased but not badly.

Sorontar

[J. Wilhelm]

Have news...

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/08/cyprus-reportedly-discovers-a-covid-variant-that-combines-omicron-and-delta.html



Apparently in Cyprus we have a fusion of the Delta and Omicron variants...

[rovingjack]

Despite the recommendations of the FLCCC, quacks who recommend horse dewormer to ward off covid, for what to take if ivermectin isn't helping, please do not take large doses of spironolactone and/or finasteride. These are chemical castration medications. They are used, often in doses smaller than the FLCCC is recommending by trans-women to block testosterone.

seriously this stupid singularity is really getting out of hand.

meanwhile I appear to be having my second round of covid. I had it, was double vaxxed, and yet the soapless wonder that rents the other room tested positive for covid and has been coughing around the house. I've had some kind of bug for the last few days now too. He likely got it from his ex-wife when taking care of their son while she was at work. She's anti-vaxx and considers the whole covid thing to be a conspiracy theory. She was sick last week. If it wasn't her it was his job, where apparently 7 people tested positive but since they didnt have a fever they were told they had to come in.

on second thought, these people should absolutely be following the FLCCC recommendations and taking a regular dose of both spironolactone and finasteride, for the remainder of the pandemic.

[Xenos]

Well, I'm fully vaccinated, with booster (with all my health issues, I'm taking no chances), remain isolated as much as possible, masked and socially distanced when that is not. Blessedly, I live in bumfuck nowhere, so isolation is easy. The flip side of that, I live in bumfuck nowhere, so I'm surrounded by those who think the virus is a hoax, vaccinations are a scam, and masks are the NWO trying to take away their Gawd-Given-Free-Speech (my parents included among that number). The county in which I live just hit a new number of cases reported.

So yeah. Good times. Good times.

Oh, and I saw on the news last night where the Blue Love Pills (good ol' Viagra) is now being touted as a treatment for the 'rona. Men around the world rejoice! Your salvation is at hand! No more can your insurance company deny your ability to get it up! Just tell 'em you've got the 'rona!

The best part about that? I told my wife at the start of this when they started screeching about Hydroxychloroquine (hereafter referred to as "The 'Quine") that it was only a matter of time before they figured out a way to work ED meds into a "curative" for it.

Psychic? Nah, just psychotic.

[J. Wilhelm]

Well, I'm fully vaccinated, with booster (with all my health issues, I'm taking no chances), remain isolated as much as possible, masked and socially distanced when that is not. Blessedly, I live in bumfuck nowhere, so isolation is easy. The flip side of that, I live in bumfuck nowhere, so I'm surrounded by those who think the virus is a hoax, vaccinations are a scam, and masks are the NWO trying to take away their Gawd-Given-Free-Speech (my parents included among that number). The county in which I live just hit a new number of cases reported.

So yeah. Good times. Good times.

Oh, and I saw on the news last night where the Blue Love Pills (good ol' Viagra) is now being touted as a treatment for the 'rona. Men around the world rejoice! Your salvation is at hand! No more can your insurance company deny your ability to get it up! Just tell 'em you've got the 'rona!

The best part about that? I told my wife at the start of this when they started screeching about Hydroxychloroquine (hereafter referred to as "The 'Quine") that it was only a matter of time before they figured out a way to work ED meds into a "curative" for it.

Psychic? Nah, just psychotic.

Well, that's some choice. Some want to chemically castrate, and others want to sport the Eiffel Tower. Rule 34 applies to Covid?

*Runs and hides*

[J. Wilhelm]

I just heard that the US number of Covid hospitalizations has surpassed last year's Winter maximum, and it's expected to surpass the overall maximum in two weeks, according to projections. The estimate is that the number of deaths afyer the surge will likely reach 50% of last year's, with over 90 percent of new cases caused by the Omicron variant. Just a reminder that because Omicron kills less people proportionately doesn't mean that Omicron will be "nicer than Omicron." It's lesser lethality is more than balanced by it's much higher infectiousness.

(Edited for exact figures)

[von Corax]

Quebec Premiere Francois Legault is proposing to levy a healthcare tax of >$100 on unvaxinated Quebeckers. At present, the unvaxinated constitute 10% of the population, but account for 50% of ICU admissions. My impression is that that's 50% of all ICU admissions, not just Covid infections, and the province is beginning to cancel cancer surgeries due to a lack of ICU beds.

[J. Wilhelm]

Quebec Premiere Francois Legault is proposing to levy a healthcare tax of >$100 on unvaxinated Quebeckers. At present, the unvaxinated constitute 10% of the population, but account for 50% of ICU admissions. My impression is that that's 50% of all ICU admissions, not just Covid infections, and the province is beginning to cancel cancer surgeries due to a lack of ICU beds.

The situation is similar in the US (not the tax proposal, but the ICU situation). The problem for us is that many health care workers are sick with Covid, usually in two digit percentages. In some places, I heard that if nurses test positive but have no symptoms, they're being told to continue working.

According to the Houston Chronicle, these are the highest numbers for Texas:

"El Paso reporting 26% hospital capacity taken up w/ COVID cases. That's the highest in the state. They have just 3 adult ICU beds remaining for region of 900K people

The Beaumont-to-Galveston hospital region is up to 24% and Dallas region is up to 23%.

The State [of Texas] considers 15% high"

Source: Jeremy Wallace (@JeremySWallace), reporting for the Houston Chronicle.

The other thing I'm hearing is that proportionately they got more children under 5 years old in the hospital now, mainly because they're not eligible for vaccines or antiviral medication. The bulk of hospitalized patients are unvaxxed adults or the elderly. In both cases the duration of the illnesss is shorter,so the death rates are lower now than in previous waves.

On the Good news side, New York City is already reporting a fast drop in new cases, suggesting they just peaked this week (source: New York Times)..

Oh. And one more thing. I haven't heard from my boss in two days. That's highly unusual.. Two weeks ago one of our coworkers came down with Omicron. My boss is no longer wearing a mask- says Dr Fauci lied, and that masks don't work. Based on previous experience, me thinks he's having an Omicron long weekend.

[rovingjack]

it's not just healthcare workers being told to come in if they have it but are not symptomatic. That is happening all over the US in many jobs. and also, the problems of those that cannot afford to not work now that they don't get compensation to quarantine while sick is no longer given. Basically all the low end wage earners are going to work sick, and employers are demanding they come in and not telling anyone else that the sick are working alongside them.

[Sorontar]

In Australia, the major supermarkets are starting to have supply chain problems due to "close contacts" not being able to work. Twice this week The state of Victoria's ambulance service has announced that demand has overwhelmed its capacity. I am not sure whether that is because people who don't need ambulances are now calling for them, or whether the ambulance service also doesn't have enough staff. I think it is actually both. The governments are both changing the definitions of what is a "close contact" and changing the rules on which close contacts have to stay in isolation and for how long. Increasingly, it is seeming that society is forcing less and less people into isolation due to logisitics reasons, not public health ones. Given that this is Australia, I am surprised the unions haven't spoken up more on the rights of the worker (just a statement by me, not an opinion)

Sorontar

[J. Wilhelm]

The language coming from US officials is increasingly sounding like plain resignation. I'm hearing language on the order of "most people are going to get it." There's talk of changing the strategy altogether, with suggestions that Covid will soon become endemic, so we switch to a management strategy rather than prevention. I don't have a problem with that, but I doubt the individual states have a plausible strategy in place (certainly not in Texas, we're not even able to guarantee that we won't have another Winter power blackout).

My idea of living with endemic Covid is highly unlikely to be adopted by the population in it's present paranoid state of mind, for what seems to be novel mistrust of science, government, or any kind of authority. If these were normal times (and I'm not talking about Covid) people would not question medical solutions like they are doing today. Living with Covid means trusting medicine, and doctors.

An endemic Covid 19 strategy would have the population accept the fact that when getting chest tightness, the sniffles or a sore throat you'd voluntarily test, stay home for at least 5 days, and resort to taking a 5 day course of antiviral medication, much the same way we don't even question getting some injections after a bat or a stray dog bites us. Rabies and Tetanus are endemic, and we accept it. If you stepped on a rusty nail, at least throughout the 20th Century, you were very unlikely to say "I don't trust the Tetanus vaccine." If your child was bitten by a stray dog or wild racoon, you'd similarly just assume you have to get the Rabies shots at the clinic or hospital. No questions asked, no money spared. Why is Covid different?

Today, can we step up to the plate and deal with it?

Just realize you will deal with "colds" in a different way if you want to coexist with Covid. You can't use grandma's chicken soup recipe, go to work, and expect the same result. If not, then natural selection continues the evolution of mankind (which probably isn't a bad thing either).

[Sorontar]

The problem is that COVID-19 is more than just an illness we will have to learn to live with. For some people, including fit sporting people, it has had ongoing effects, even after the initial symptoms (if any) have gone. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of you know of at least one friend or relative who caught COVID-19 in 2020/2021 but still can't taste, is more out of breath or has a higher blood pressure months later. For this reason, for some people it can be devastating. It is far far better to never have it, especially if you already have other risks, e.g., high blood pressure, heart or lung issues, diabetes, asthma, overweight. That covers a lot of the population.

Sorontar

[J. Wilhelm]

The problem is that COVID-19 is more than just an illness we will have to learn to live with. For some people, including fit sporting people, it has had ongoing effects, even after the initial symptoms (if any) have gone. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of you know of at least one friend or relative who caught COVID-19 in 2020/2021 but still can't taste, is more out of breath or has a higher blood pressure months later. For this reason, for some people it can be devastating. It is far far better to never have it, especially if you already have other risks, e.g., high blood pressure, heart or lung issues, diabetes, asthma, overweight. That covers a lot of the population.

Sorontar

We may not have a choice. How fast can we produce new vaccines to keep up with new variants? Omicron will not likely be the last variant. I hear a lot of wishful thinking about Omicron being the harbinger of good news: the so called Andromeda Strain effect. Evolution for the virus is real but not in the timescale of one year. We are getting a new global dominant variant roughly once every year or so. We can't move that fast. And Omicron is thought to be a fluke (vis a vis inability to penetrate deep into the lungs), as it was created inside the body of an immunocompromised individual.

In contrast, RNA controlling medications will work for all variants that use RNA replication. It's not as good as preventing infection, but for the bulk of the world, there's not much else, unless we come up with a universal coronavirus vaccine. Even then, we're incapable or unwilling to spread it globally in a timely fashion. Doctors don't believe we will eradicate SARS COV 2.

[Mr. Tower]

I love you guys.

Seriously, this is the best covid thread I've seen in years.

I'm an EMT, in the US....so you can guess how things have been for me. I'm also one of the last people I know not to be infected. In just the last few weeks most of the people I know...people who have made it through this whole thing so far....have become Infected just now.

And yes as noted, there is really no end in sight. So far Covid seems to be able to significantly mutate about once a year to the point where it can largely escape both vaccine or acquired immunity.

Even if we come up with a way of developing vaccines extremely rapidly, actual distributing them, and making people take them, fast enough to create any kind of herd immunity is probably impossible.

I feel like with no actual end, I simply need to come up with a new way for me and my family to live, just as people do in all those dystopian steampunk books we read about societies living in walled cities surrounded by zombies etc, living with masks, goggles, etc as everyday items.

[J. Wilhelm]

It doesn't have to be that dramatic. In fact SARS COV 2 is not the worst thing that could hit us in this century. There's a faint smell of war in the air all over the world, and it's getting stronger. And I won't elaborate any further here.

Accepting that the sniffles may be much more serious than a cold, and assuming a protective protocol, like the whole family staying cozy at home for a week or two, taking anti-virals for a largely benign outcome, hardly qualifies as a great sacrifice to me. Oh, yes, I'm sure that some people will cry "heresy," scream and holler that the devil has come to roost and steal their babies, but that is the enormous weakness and the main difference between people from the 20th century and people from the 21st.

I'm more afraid of the literal ignorance of the masses, it's causing so many problems that go well beyond this pandemic. We will not die from the pandemic, but we're certain to die from ignorance.

[Mr. Tower]

Well, this isn't a one sided war. 'The Pandemic' gets a vote too, Its essentially burned out twice now, and re-started itself with a new variation. It can come up with tricks as long as it exists so there is no knowing what will happen next on the viral front. It very well kill us all, wether that is next year with the newest variant...or in 30 years when we are 87 and its simply replaced the pneumonia as 'the thing' that finishes us off in old age.

I'm more afraid of the literal ignorance of the masses, it's causing so many problems that go well beyond this pandemic. We will not die from the pandemic, but we're certain to die from ignorance.

Indeed. I'm coming around to thinking of 'covid' or 'the pandemic' or whatever as not just a virus...but as an entire socio economic 'thing' like 'the Renaissance' or 'victorian period' or 'the inquisition'.

Its more than ignorance....its an ideology, a movement...a.....I don't know the perfect term. Its more than not knowing better, its a choice at this point. A self sustaining meme in the original sense...a computer virus for the human brain.

I think things are only going to get weirder and there will be no 'normal' or 'just following common sense' but a divergence into radically new ways of living...not unlike those we find in our books. I think those of used to alternate lifestyles will accept it easier than 'muggles'...having been somewhat pre-programmed for it.

I find going into persona is a good way to deal with the fear of as well. Anytime I go into town I strap on a full face respirator, short sword, revolver, long black coat and simply embrace the dystopia of the real. It makes dealing with.....(waves hands vaguely around) all this...easier, for me at least, easier to not think of all the things I have lost in the last two years, easier to simply think in terms of 'this is how we live now' and silence the little frustrated voice that just wants things to be normal again.

If nothing else....it ensures everyone stays two meters away.

[J. Wilhelm]

Or you can just lose your sh#t (3:00), like this Mexican TV host, Leonardo Schwebel, in Guadalajara did when talking about antivaxxers and anti-maskers in public and why thanks to them, it's now safer to be inside a casino or a school than a bus or a restaurant in the city. I trust no translation is needed.

[Mr. Tower]

Well, I do not understand his words....but I understand his feelings.

[von Corax]

He reminds me a bit of Howard Beale:

"I'm as mad as Hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"

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