Covid-19 Updates & Info

[ponchi101]

Waiting for the rest of the world to ban flights from the USA. I mean, there is 45% of people there that will not get vaccinated.
(Sure, they are the ones that don't travel abroad, but I hope I am being clear).

[dryrunguy]

The new variant has already been found in Israel, Hong Kong, and I think one or two other places based on other reports I read this morning. So I guarantee you--that new variant is already here.

And WHO today classified it as a Variant of Interest.

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[Suliso]

There has been some speculation why Southern Africa. One theory is that many immunocompromised and unvaccinated HIV positive patients (ca 8 million in SA alone) have trouble fully clearing the virus and thus serve as particularly good vessels for virus evolution and adaptation.

Contrary to the popular opinion the developed countries hoarding vaccines is long since not a problem any more, at least not in SA itself. Problem is very high vaccine hesitancy. Only about 70% coverage of childhood vaccines and less than 40% for covid. They have had to turn away fresh shipments and even destroy existing expiring stocks.

[ponchi101]

And this is starting to look like Einstein's definition of madness. If you could not stop all the other variants from spreading, through travel restrictions and closing borders, why would THIS variant be any different?
It has not worked in over two years, it will not work now. Omicron, meet the world.

[Deuce]

Closing borders may not stop the spread, but it can potentially slow it down enough so that there is more time to study each variant as they occur, and thus learn more about it (is it more transmissible? are its effects more severe?, etc.), as well as buying some time to modify the vaccines to be able to better protect against it, if needed.

While closing borders may not be a universal 100% solution, to say that it has no significant effect would be incorrect.

[mmmm8]

There has been some speculation why Southern Africa. One theory is that many immunocompromised and unvaccinated HIV positive patients (ca 8 million in SA alone) have trouble fully clearing the virus and thus serve as particularly good vessels for virus evolution and adaptation.

Contrary to the popular opinion the developed countries hoarding vaccines is long since not a problem any more, at least not in SA itself. Problem is very high vaccine hesitancy. Only about 70% coverage of childhood vaccines and less than 40% for covid. They have had to turn away fresh shipments and even destroy existing expiring stocks.

SA also has a severe problem with availability of community medical services, a huge shortage of medical professionals outside of the more affluent areas (mostly served by private healthcare). I haven't looked into how they are distributing vaccines to those underserved areas, but the vaccination rate - COVID and otherwise - might not be driven by vaccine hesitancy but hesitancy around/poor access to facilities that offer vaccination.

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

[MJ2004]

You can’t fix stupid.

[dryrunguy]

This morning's NY Times newsletter was something I really needed to read. It made some excellent points--all of which end up falling into the category of "duh!" when you really think about them.

The main points:

1) Whenever a new variant hits, we tend to jump to two assumptions. First, we assume it is more contagious. Second, we assume it is more deadly. These assumptions are not always accurate. So why do we automatically jump to these assumptions? Is it as simple as the alarmist headlines that scream at us everywhere we go?

2) Preliminary evidence, though very limited, suggests that existing vaccines remain effective against the Omicron variant in terms of preventing serious illness or death. This evidence, however, is limited because so few people in southern Africa are fully vaccinated. We should continue to take comfort in the effectiveness of our existing vaccines until new evidence indicates otherwise.

::

Again, when you really think about it, this is all "duh!" stuff. But as I wrote at the beginning, I needed to read it because I am especially guilty of #1.

[atlpam]

This morning's NY Times newsletter was something I really needed to read. It made some excellent points--all of which end up falling into the category of "duh!" when you really think about them.

The main points:

1) Whenever a new variant hits, we tend to jump to two assumptions. First, we assume it is more contagious. Second, we assume it is more deadly. These assumptions are not always accurate. So why do we automatically jump to these assumptions? Is it as simple as the alarmist headlines that scream at us everywhere we go?

2) Preliminary evidence, though very limited, suggests that existing vaccines remain effective against the Omicron variant in terms of preventing serious illness or death. This evidence, however, is limited because so few people in southern Africa are fully vaccinated. We should continue to take comfort in the effectiveness of our existing vaccines until new evidence indicates otherwise.

::

Again, when you really think about it, this is all "duh!" stuff. But as I wrote at the beginning, I needed to read it because I am especially guilty of #1.

Additionally, masking & distancing are still effective. Despite being fully vaccinated, we have continued to mask when going to stores. I expected to encounter few people wearing masks after returning to GA, but have been pleasantly surprised to still see many people masked at grocery stores, Target, etc. even though there are not any mask recommendations posted.

I fully expect Covid to become an annual vaccine like the flu vaccine where they do their best to predict the strains that will be circulating.

In the meantime, I am scheduled for my booster tomorrow.

[meganfernandez]

This morning's NY Times newsletter was something I really needed to read. It made some excellent points--all of which end up falling into the category of "duh!" when you really think about them.

The main points:

1) Whenever a new variant hits, we tend to jump to two assumptions. First, we assume it is more contagious. Second, we assume it is more deadly. These assumptions are not always accurate. So why do we automatically jump to these assumptions? Is it as simple as the alarmist headlines that scream at us everywhere we go?

2) Preliminary evidence, though very limited, suggests that existing vaccines remain effective against the Omicron variant in terms of preventing serious illness or death. This evidence, however, is limited because so few people in southern Africa are fully vaccinated. We should continue to take comfort in the effectiveness of our existing vaccines until new evidence indicates otherwise.

::

Again, when you really think about it, this is all "duh!" stuff. But as I wrote at the beginning, I needed to read it because I am especially guilty of #1.

Additionally, masking & distancing are still effective. Despite being fully vaccinated, we have continued to mask when going to stores.

I do, too, sometimes, just out of an abundance of caution for myself and others. But I think everyone else assumes I'm wearing a mask because I'm unvaccinated! I got a new job and quit a couple months beore my company's vaccine mandate went into effect, and someone (who isn't vaxxed) said to me slyly in private, "You're not vaccinated?" wink wink.

[dmforever]

I had a similar experience minus the wink winker. I went to an outdoor concert. You had to show either proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test less than 48 hours old. The people who were vaccinated were allowed to take off their masks. The others were not. Of course, they had zero way of enforcing that once people went inside. I kept my mask on. I'm sure people thought I was unvaccinated, which was fine by me. It was sort of lawn seating, so people gave me a ton of space. It was awesome.

Luckily in SF people very rarely go inside anywhere unmasked.

Kevin