Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

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StoneCold Skywarp
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

Post by StoneCold Skywarp »

Well, Thursday beckons infection for all in the UK.

Stop the planet, I want to get off.
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Denyer
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

Post by Denyer »

Yep. Criminal government, criminal stupidity and recklessness. Particularly towards the most vulnerable.
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Skyquake87
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

Post by Skyquake87 »

It's okay. Russia will probably nuke us and make this all very moot...

Regardless of Boris' 24 hour party people mentality, I had hoped people would still be taking some precautions, but no. Masks, distancing and washing your hands are out the window. Can't say I'm surprised, tbh. I'm prepared for any interest in public health boiling down to whatever the next mutation is like. It was very interesting to hear Van Tamm and Witty basically saying the exact opposite of government policy. Sadly, they were shouting into the wind. The government had lost any trust and credibility and there's been too many loud and organised conspiracy theorists.

Had a run in with someone I used to work on the same team as. We had different political view and they were very much on the leave spectrum, but this is how our exchange went.

"I can't look at you whilst you've got that on."
"What? Oh, the mask. Is that - is that a thing for you, pyschologically?"
"Yes"
"Well we do all look like rubbish surgeons."
"It's just like Nazi Germany."
"Well, not really. It's just to try and keep each other safe."
"Oh it is. It's coercion and control. Making sure we can all follow orders -"
"Aye, well, they're not shoving us in the ovens just yet. Anyway! Must get on!"

Kind of sad seeing people disappear down the rabbit hole of 'alternative truths' (or lies as they're otherwise known). Stay off the internet kids - it rots your brain!
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Denyer
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

Post by Denyer »

Also, I suspect none of these arseholes have ever been to Auschwitz, studied the history, etc. It's all moronic newspaper style soundbites (and it is traditional media just as much as online rot) -- the generations actually around during the world wars, the development of the NHS etc had very different and generally more liberal and humanitarian views than the boomers they spawned, many of whom aged into covetous, selfish dragons hoarding resources.
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Clay
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

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Tantrum wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 10:17 pm Update: My parents got their full test results back, positive. They still have some cold symptoms, but no fever. They've also started taking quarantine seriously, and are having my uncle grocery shop for them.
Skimming through the thread, I didn't see a follow up to this. Are your parents okay now?

It's my dad's 81st birthday today, so it's on my my mind. Be safe.
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Tantrum
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

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Clay wrote: Sun Feb 27, 2022 5:32 pm
Tantrum wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 10:17 pm Update: My parents got their full test results back, positive. They still have some cold symptoms, but no fever. They've also started taking quarantine seriously, and are having my uncle grocery shop for them.
Skimming through the thread, I didn't see a follow up to this. Are your parents okay now?

It's my dad's 81st birthday today, so it's on my my mind. Be safe.
Thanks for asking. They're fine now. Being vaxxed/boosted, but also in their 70s, their symptoms were about the same as a very, very bad cold for 10-15 days. They ended up calling their doctors to get prescriptions to relieve their symptoms, but didn't require medical attention beyond that.

They were actually planning to visit me this weekend, but postpones due to the snow storm. They were going to bring me some of their extra K95 masks. Apparently they were being distributed at Wal-Mart, and the each got 3 on their way in, and 3 more on their way out from another employee. I've been to Wal-marts since then, and haven't been offered any. I haven't gone out of my to ask, though.

According to the Mayo Clinic, Rhode Island is now the number one state for per capita vaccination. They also list us as number one for partial vaccination. I wonder if the partial stats account for people who got their first shot a long time ago, but never got their second, as opposed to people who got their first shot recently, and are waiting for their second.
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StoneCold Skywarp
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

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DeirdreGill wrote: Sun Feb 27, 2022 4:35 pm Covid is a viral disease like all others. It is so dangerous now because there is not a stable cure for it. Patients behave differently to it, and thus, doctors don't know if what works for some will also work for others. However, I can tell you it is a big deal. Both my mother and I had Covid. While I only had a fever and felt exhausted, my mother was exposed to lung failure. She spent 2 weeks in the hospital with oxygen masks. However, we were both cured with [URL removed cos spam] . So I guess the same treatment worked for two different patients. Stay safe!

Spambot is spam
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Sades
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

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StoneCold Skywarp wrote: Sun Feb 27, 2022 6:34 pm


Spambot is spam
Yep. I did the smashy smashy. :smack:
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Warcry
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

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Here in Manitoba, the provincial government has decided that COVID is over and done with as of March 15th and will be lifting all restrictions, even as death tolls tick along at rates that had them preemptively shutting everything down in November. The new premier is inept and a crook, and seems to think that she needs to pander to the hard right in rural ridings that vote 80% for her party anyway. I'm sure this'll go great! :swirly:

On the other hand, the majority of ICU cases now seem to be unvaxxed anti-maskers who don't follow the public health rules, and with every day that passes I'm less and less willing to curtail my own life to protect them. They haven't done a single thing to protect their fellow citizens in the last two years, while the rest of us have been sacrificing and doing the best we can to keep everyone around us safe. That sounds pretty bitter I know, but why should I care if they die if they don't?

(Intellectually I know the reason is so they don't pass COVID to my 85 year old aunt or my immunocompromised mother in law.)
Skyquake87 wrote: Sat Feb 26, 2022 6:59 pm"It's just like Nazi Germany."
This one always gets me. If Der Führer told you to wear a mask and take a vaccine and you said no, he wouldn't have asked twice and being excluded from sit-down restaurant dining would have been the least of your worries. You would have gotten a one-way train ticket to a camp in rural Poland for your trouble.

In Western Canada I can kind of understand it...it's Pierre Trudeau's son telling them to do it, so it has to be tyranny! I was also raised to think of Trudeau the elder as an analogue to Lucifer, and it's a tough habit to break. But it's weird to see right-wingers in countries ruled by right-wing governments going down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole when their own team are the ones making the rules.
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Clogs
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

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Rolled here to toss my shanix in: When ‘it’s all over Thursday’ came out on the news, my work colleagues and I looked carefully at the statements made and went: oh, word games and statistics. Sure enough, we’ve been receiving calls from confused students and parents asking whether they should isolate or not. Nationwide, the number of positive cases has fallen dramatically, but only because the number of tests has crashed, and we’ve already heard from a few adult students told to ‘cope’ with breathing problems (and one of those ended up in hospital a day later). A laissez faire attitude seems to be prevalent almost everywhere now.

That said, there are still people wearing masks on public transport and in shopping areas, some of whom persist in wearing them below the nose or as chin warmers.

I’m intrigued what new algorithms pandemic modellers can develop in order to factor in politics and human stupidity.
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Skyquake87
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

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^The huge test tent in town looks very empty, with bored looking staff twiddling their thumbs. Meanwhile, Wetherspoons opposite is rammed.

Not seen much evidence of mask wearing 'round here. Trains and buses are back to being sardined (mainly due to stripping out quite a lot of services now most folk continue to WFH) and no-one gives a hoot. I still wear my mask, because the chip in my brain from the vaccines tells me to and I am now just a plant for the state. Or something.
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Clogs
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

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Shocking update: there’s been a new rise in C-19 infections, hospital admissions and deaths despite the number of tests taken/reported remaining low. The UK Map of Doom is getting purpler by the day, where the deeper the shade, the higher the infection rate.

We’ve had a number of callers, mainly adults, insisting they were absent from classes because they had bad colds. We’re bound by ‘duty of care’ to ask for symptoms and recommend LFTs where we think appropriate; this is a difficult one as we’re not medically trained and we can’t do anything if the caller chooses to ignore us. I understand that some students have been asked to go home and stay away until they no longer have a high temperature and a cough.

Being cynical, I just can’t help thinking that the government here might have lifted restrictions a tad too soon... :noevil:
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Jim
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

Post by Jim »

Honestly, we shouldn't be using infections as a primary indicator for the pandemic anymore as we move forward thanks to having large populations vaccinated but also those that received their immunity with natural infection from Omicron - at least when it comes to the United States. At this time, you have about 66% of the US Population fully vaccinated or about 75% that includes partial protection - higher or lower depending on the State or County. However, there was a period in December and January with millions of diagnosed cases with PCR tests. There were also many people that received confirmation with a Rapid Antigen Test that isn't tied to any Government reporting and those that were Asymptomatic - many that never presented to a healthcare provider or ER. When you consider how many people received their protection the hard way that survived infection or with full or partial vaccination, I wouldn't be surprised if close to 90% of the US population is protected at this point -- too bad many decided to do it the hard way, putting an unfair burden on healthcare workers or the families they left behind if they died. Either way, with that level of immunity in the total US population means the likelihood of seeing severe spikes again with BA.2 are unlikely. We should be tying mitigation efforts on metrics around general hospitalizations and ICU usage for COVID. We can see an increase of cases but assuming people are acting like adults on handling infection with proper isolation and treatment and we aren't imploding our health services, then we can continue to move on to an Endemic phase and back to a degree of normalcy.

At the same time, efforts should still be made to reach out to those that aren't vaccinated - especially those without prior infection - or those fully vaccinated to get boosted. Other important things to do is really redouble efforts to get vaccination rates up in lower income nations that are struggling as we've seen a lot these infections coming from those places. Of course, developing better vaccines and more treatments - oral preferably or intravenously - to help with an active infection whether vaccinated or not.

This isn't fully over in the United States and I imagine many Western nations but we must consider that we cannot live in captivity forever, we simply aren't made for that and the negative effects of it over two years are impacting all parts of society. Omicron might have been a blessing in disguise that brings us close to if not at the Endemic phase. I hope that with BA.2, the assessments made are correct and we see it being less pathogenic than earlier Omicron strains which will be reflected with less impact on health services. Additionally, less impact due to the cross immunity offered because of prior Omicron infection and vaccinated and / or boosted people. This is the first time in a long time it feels like the United States is knocking on the door to getting COVID behind us in a manageable way which was ruined previously by Delta and letter Omicron. I hope that will be the case for other countries.
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Denyer
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

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I don't think infection's particularly been an indicator of note at any point really, the pattern of spread before and often without symptoms has always been predisposed to massively underestimate. The issue's always boiled down to small percentages of very big numbers still being big numbers, then whether politicians can convince people to accept those deaths and illnesses.
move on to an Endemic phase and back to a degree of normalcy
Endemic isn't a good position when the analogous respiratory infections aren't flu strains but tuberculosis and polio, both still notifiable diseases in most countries. Polio's a particularly striking comparator because it was similarly random, as with covid, as to how serious side effects were; most of the population were fine.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00155-x is a fair summary of where things are now. There are particular needs to improve indoor air quality rather than regulators shrugging and accepting huge ongoing impacts on healthcare, sickness and disability rates.
assuming people are acting like adults on handling infection with proper isolation and treatment and we aren't imploding our health services
There are decent vaccination rates here, and hospitalisations and deaths are on an upwards trajectory. It's not a vaccine specific enough to BA.2, it's been combined with an official removal of mitigations including isolation (not that support to isolate was ever more than token effort compared to many other countries) and callous idiots in power are determined to remove access to testing for contacts of vulnerable people, whilst simultaneously having failed to roll out availability of anti-virals (not that having people in that condition regularly ill and undergoing treatment until the occasion that fails as an alternative to protecting them in the first place is a solution).

Although there are still concerning instances of serious illness in vaccinated younger and otherwise healthy individuals, the major risk is waves of repeat infection through millions of the most at risk with cumulative disablement and reduced life expectancy. It all impacts or prevents other healthcare.

Trends with other coronaviruses are annual variation in severity rather than ongoing reduction. And this one involves an unusual range of severe outcomes such as hypoxia, hypercoagulation and neurological damage, with indicators that mild or asymptomatic cases still increase risk of other illness.
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

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I've recovered from Covid about 2 weeks ago. Oh, how terrible it was! I've never had such nasty feelings in my body... and the head is still aching every day and night :( thanks God I was not hospitalized!!!
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

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Warcry wrote: Mon Feb 28, 2022 3:34 amOn the other hand, the majority of ICU cases now seem to be unvaxxed anti-maskers who don't follow the public health rules, and with every day that passes I'm less and less willing to curtail my own life to protect them. They haven't done a single thing to protect their fellow citizens in the last two years, while the rest of us have been sacrificing and doing the best we can to keep everyone around us safe. That sounds pretty bitter I know, but why should I care if they die if they don't?
I've been in that same boat for a while now. I know that I should try to keep them safe so they don't overwhelm the hospitals, which I may need access to for other reasons. On the other hand, I think a better idea is to not let the willfully unvaccinated into hospitals for covid treatment. Let them stay at home with their horse paste.


I went to my first pandemic-era event Sunday. A few local bands I know were opening for First Jason, a band fronted by the guy who played Jason Voorhies in the original Friday the 13th movie. I figured this'd be a good time to try the N95 masks I'd gotten. I put one on as I walked in the door, and the strap broke.

I went back to my car and got another one, a different model with better straps that lasted the whole night. I had trouble getting it to stay under my chin until I realized that what I thought was a second layer of fabric was actually a flap to fold down. The promoter is a friend of mine who gave me a couple of the custom cloth masks he'd had made with the event logo on them. They seemed better quality that the cloth masks I'd been using, and I put one on over my N95.

There were maybe 3 other people wearing masks in the venue. The other dozens of people had nothing. I kept mine on except while drinking, which I did as far from other people as I could, and when I was outside.

And I just tested positive for covid. This is the same home test brand that gave my uncle a false positive, so I'll go to a proper facility tomorrow. I was a bit under the weather Friday, so I may have picked it up at work during the week, and not at the show.
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Denyer
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

Post by Denyer »

Definitely possible, but clinical settings benefit from designed ventilation, air filtration, etc and even medical grade masks require proper fitting. Generally there's going to be air exchange around the edges so the level of protection is mainly to reduce exposure when passing through places.

Hope it's either a false positive or uneventful for you.
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

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It's been pretty uneventful so far. I didn't even think I was sick until today. My only symptoms are fatigue and a sore throat. I figured the fatigue was due to not getting home from the show until 3 am, and being too wired to go to bed until 5 am, screwing up my sleep schedule. The sore throat could be explained by screaming at the show. It wasn't until I woke up this morning after a decent night's sleep that I realized the fatigue is a symptom.

Being a bit under the weather last Friday, but OK Saturday, makes it hard to tell when/where I got infected.
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

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I went for a proper test this morning. It was a bit odd that they had me swab my own nose. The antigen test came back negative. I forget if this means they will or won't do the PCR test.
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Re: Covid 19 / everybody PANDEMIC

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My antigen and PCR tests both came back negative, so I don't have covid, just a really bad cold. And a crappy home test kit.
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