How can there not be a COVID-19 thread?

The news just said Omicron was discovered in sewage samples taken on November 30th, just as the news of it broke. I think we're going to learn it's more widespread in the US than anyone thought.
 
Nice touch in the north of our county: Christmas theme thanking essential workers during the pandemic.

xmas decos thank essential workers.jpg
 
Thomas Veil said:
Yeah, I've got all three of the Pfizer shots, and they say I should be pretty well protected for now. But two just won't cut it anymore. If anyone hasn't gotten all three yet, you better get going; you're falling farther and farther behind the curve.
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They've made it pretty clear, you'll either get the vaccine or you'll get COVID. It's amazing how much this virus has changed the world.
 
Thomas Veil said:
Yeah, I've got all three of the Pfizer shots, and they say I should be pretty well protected for now. But two just won't cut it anymore. If anyone hasn't gotten all three yet, you better get going; you're falling farther and farther behind the curve.
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But you still have to wait 8 months though. Or did this change?

P_X said:
Or start mixing the shots...
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Is there a benefit?
 
Herdfan said:
But you still have to wait 8 months though. Or did this change?
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The Pfizer CEO said on Today that you might be able to get the booster after three months.

That still means if you’re starting from scratch now we’re talking about early to mid April to complete the three shot regimen.
 
Thomas Veil said:
The Pfizer CEO said on Today that you might be able to get the booster after three months.

That still means if you’re starting from scratch now we’re talking about early to mid April to complete the three shot regimen.
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This is where the Pfizer CEO has a MAJOR financial conflict of interest and should not be the authoritative source of vaccination recommendations...

Controlling the pandemic has a number of levels based on priority:
1. Prevent deaths - initial vaccination is the most critical
2. Prevent irreversible health problems caused by severe disease and hospitalization - initial vaccination does a pretty good job at this
3. Reduce financial toxicity (i..e. unnecessary healthcare spending). - same as above, but boosters are critical
4. Prevent COVID from interrupting the economy by incapacitating workforce. - boosters definitely important
5. Prevent new variants from emerging - Would take global immunization, and the ship is largely sailed already

Herdfan said:
Is there a benefit?
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The evidence if more difficult to generate for mix-n-match because it's no longer happening in a controlled experimental fashion. That said, mechanistically exposing you to a different vaccine could generate more diverse immunity, so yes, in theory I'd expect better immunity against variants if you had multiple different vaccines. I also think that getting the same vaccine 4x times is not the way to go, unless they produce sufficient clinical trial evidence that it is.

COVID will be the new Flu (and the flu can be pretty deadly...). We'll be exposed to multiple strains and we'll need periodic boosters. My annoyance is that as long as the pandemic is propelled by the unvaccinated, we'll have limited control in modulating the waves... So the timing of boosters and not the number that will be critical.
 
Hospitals are already past the breaking point in Michigan and several other states. It's a combination of too many patients sick with COVID-19 on top of other ailments, coupled with staff, especially nurses, who are mentally and physically exhausted from prior surges. People are capable of extraordinary effort when circumstances demand it, but it's exceedingly difficult when healthcare workers are faced with active sabotage that has led to so much unnecessary death and suffering. And lest anyone think their community will be spared because case counts are low, January and February will tell a different story, I'm afraid as Delta continues to infect the unvaccinated/unboosted and Omicron takes hold. Sadly, around here, mask wearing is mostly limited to healthcare facilities and a few other places. Elsewhere, it's business as usual.

One of the biggest failures of the government's response here in the U.S.A. has been the high cost of non-PCR COVID-19 tests that take less than an hour for a result. They are remarkably helpful to limit spread when they're made readily available — they should be given away in the millions.
 
Roller said:
One of the biggest failures of the government's response here in the U.S.A. has been the high cost of non-PCR COVID-19 tests that take less than an hour for a result. They are remarkably helpful to limit spread when they're made readily available — they should be given away in the millions.
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That is an understatement. I bought two tests for our upcoming cruise. Expensive little suckers.
 
Roller said:
One of the biggest failures of the government's response here in the U.S.A. has been the high cost of non-PCR COVID-19 tests that take less than an hour for a result. They are remarkably helpful to limit spread when they're made readily available — they should be given away in the millions.
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A centralized plan is generally helpful. My kids' previous daycare told us to test the kid whenever they've had a runny nose (which is ALL-THE-TIME). Most upsetting was when they've had a hand-foor-mouth disease outbreak and they didn't inform us, just told us to get a COVID test. We only figured out what's going on when the pediatrician asked for it and I grabbed a large LED that revealed the palmoplantar rash.


The current school does pooled testing on Monday, if the pooled tests come back positive, they test kids individually and call off the class for a week. It's covered by the tuition. It's much clearer this way and doesn't solely rely on parental reporting.
 
P_X said:
The current school does pooled testing on Monday, if the pooled tests come back positive, they test kids individually and call off the class for a week. It's covered by the tuition. It's much clearer this way and doesn't solely rely on parental reporting.
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This makes sense. A lot of schools are now a bit “gun shy” when it comes to telling parents of sicknesses.
 
Roller said:
Sadly, around here, mask wearing is mostly limited to healthcare facilities and a few other places. Elsewhere, it's business as usual.
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I think a lot of people are just tired of it and they're ready to move on and get back to life as normal. I totally get that. What I don't get is the thinking that wanting it to be gone is somehow a valid defense against a virus. Sticking your head is the sand is still going to get your ass kicked, you'll just have sand in your hair when it happens.
 
In just the last few days:
  • I've watched my wife's cousin's husband go to the hospital with Covid and pneumonia. He had to be put on a ventilator. I don't know it for a fact, but from the cousin's FB posts they sound like the kind of people who put their health in God's hands rather than doctors'.
  • My daughter's neighbor, vaccinated and booster'd, was diagnosed with Covid. Symptoms not too bad, but even so.
  • The Cleveland Browns are playing on Saturday, and if they keep putting people on the Covid reserve list, they may have to start scouring the local high schools for quarterbacks and other players.
  • I'm seeing hospitals in our area and around the country fill up with Covid patients again.
I myself have been invited to go out with the guys in my office to celebrate Christmas one evening next week. I'm seriously leaning towards backing out since it's at a public venue.
 
Thomas Veil said:
In just the last few days:
  • I've watched my wife's cousin's...
  • The Cleveland Browns...
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In oddly similar news, I just heard from my mother that my cousin died from Covid yesterday. It seems he had been on a vent at the Cleveland Clinic.

He's the son of the uncle who died of Covid last year, just a few days before Christmas. We've not spoken since we were children, so I have no clue what his vaccination status might have been. But I grew up in an area (near Youngstown Ohio) where I wouldn't expect a high vaccination rate.
 
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