(turned into @) December Covid

[wanderingback]

jeaniebueller can you @@ your post

[lo]

@@@

My daughter had OG covid and it was so mild we would have never known or even suspected unless we had gotten the close contact notification from school. They don’t even do those at all anymore at my school in NY. My own two cases were mild (second time even milder) and didn’t exactly fit the traditional covid symptoms, so again, if I hadn’t tested I would have just carried on as usual. Who knows!

[jeaniebueller]

Dec 2, 2022 19:03:05 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

jeaniebueller can you @@ your post

Yes so sorry!! I’ll just delete and repost elsewhere if needed

[pixy0stix]

Y'all couldn't make a new @@ post to?

[aspentosh]

Whelp, basically three years after this shit show started, I tested positive. Everyone else in the house is negative, so that's good.

I logically knew it was only a matter of time before someone got it, but it still really sucks.

[NewOrleans]

Dec 3, 2022 0:21:09 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Y'all couldn't make a new @@ post to?

Apparently not and I guess reading and discussing articles isn’t a thing either. 

[NewOrleans]

Dec 2, 2022 17:04:23 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

Dec 2, 2022 16:26:47 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

What data do you need to be convinced that we did not do enough? A million people have died, a full third of them in 2020 alone when we had nothing to fight it with. A million disabled. 4 million out of work with long Covid (which 20% of patients get). 
time.com/6213103/us-government-long-covid-response/

I’m just saying that historically speaking, many times the medical community has done things that they believe is absolutely the right thing to do at the time, given what they knew at the time…but as we learn more later and look back, we can see that it wasn’t actually the right thing. (A quick example being how we have treated mental illness over time.) I am simply saying that we might look back and see things differently. Actually, I hope we DO look back and see things differently…as that means people are continuing to scrutinize and learn so we can hopefully do better next time.

But we’re not doing or seeing things differently or reflecting.  We are doing even less.  See the CDC recommendations that became “get your ass back to work.” 

[NewOrleans]

All 46 Covid patient in this study had brain damage 6 months later.

neurosciencenews.com/post-covid-brain-21904/

[jeaniebueller]

Dec 3, 2022 10:54:57 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

Dec 3, 2022 0:21:09 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Y'all couldn't make a new @@ post to?

Apparently not and I guess reading and discussing articles isn’t a thing either. 

I’d love to but the link isn’t working.

[NewOrleans]

All told, long Covid is a $3.7 trillion drag on the U.S. economy — about 17% of our nation’s pre-pandemic economic output, said David Cutler, an economist at Harvard University. The aggregate cost rivals that of the Great Recession, Cutler wrote in a July report.

Cutler revised the $3.7 trillion total upward by $1.1 trillion from an initial report in October 2020, due to the “greater prevalence of long Covid than we had guessed at the time.” Even that revised estimate is conservative: It is based on the 80.5 million confirmed U.S. Covid cases at the time of the analysis, and doesn’t account for future caseloads.

Higher medical spending accounts for $528 billion of the total. But lost earnings and reduced quality of life are other sinister trickle-down effects, which respectively cost Americans $997 billion and $2.2 trillion.

www.cnbc.com/2022/11/30/why-long-covid-could-be-the-next-public-health-disaster.html

[NewOrleans]

Dec 3, 2022 11:08:51 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

Dec 3, 2022 10:54:57 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

Apparently not and I guess reading and discussing articles isn’t a thing either. 

I’d love to but the link isn’t working.

I have no idea why that link isn’t working for you!  It is so weird.  No one else has confirmed or not that it works.  I appreciate that you’re reading them (attempting to read?) because I honestly feel that there is such a tiny tiny minority of people in the country who give even the most fleeting shadow of a microshit about the threats of Covid. 

[NewOrleans]

I guess there’s a million-person backlog of disability claims so the SSA doesn’t know how many of them are newly-disabled Covid patients?

the July 2021 guidance recognized long COVID under the Americans with Disabilities Act but didn’t extend to the Social Security Administration, which runs benefit programs.

Under the ADA, long COVID patients who can still work may ask their employers for accommodations, such as a space to rest or a more flexible schedule, said Juliana Reno, a New York lawyer who specializes in employee benefits. Social Security, however, has more stringent standards: To receive disability insurance, people must prove their long COVID symptoms are so debilitating that they cannot work. (But how to figure that out with the cognitive issues it has caused? 😭)

www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-11-07/people-with-long-covid-face-barriers-to-government-disability-benefits

[Bad Dingo]

Dec 3, 2022 11:07:22 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

All 46 Covid patient in this study had brain damage 6 months later.

neurosciencenews.com/post-covid-brain-21904/

I have "brain fog" from cancer treatment, I wish there was a way to get through to people how truly debilitating it is. Maybe they'd take Covid slightly more seriously. Not to mention all of the other terrible long Covid issues and excess death it is causing.

[Bad Dingo]

Dec 3, 2022 11:08:51 GMT -5 jeaniebueller said:

Dec 3, 2022 10:54:57 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

Apparently not and I guess reading and discussing articles isn’t a thing either. 

I’d love to but the link isn’t working.

The link works for me. I know we generally shouldn't quote a full article but since you are having issues:

The University of Queensland

‘A silent killer’ - COVID-19 shown to trigger inflammation in the brain

Researchers say the COVID-19 virus affects the brain in a similar way to dementia diseases. Image: Adobe1 November 2022
Research led by The University of Queensland has found COVID-19 activates the same inflammatory response in the brain as Parkinson’s disease.

The discovery identified a potential future risk for neurodegenerative conditions in people who’ve had COVID-19, but also a possible treatment.

The UQ team was led by Professor Trent Woodruff and Dr Eduardo Albornoz Balmaceda from UQ’s School of Biomedical Sciences, and virologists from the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences.

“We studied the effect of the virus on the brain’s immune cells, ‘microglia’ which are the key cells involved in the progression of brain diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s,” Professor Woodruff said.

“Our team grew human microglia in the laboratory and infected the cells with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

“We found the cells effectively became ‘angry’, activating the same pathway that Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s proteins can activate in disease, the inflammasomes.”

Dr Albornoz Balmaceda said triggering the inflammasome pathway sparked a ‘fire’ in the brain, which begins a chronic and sustained process of killing off neurons.

“It’s kind of a silent killer, because you don’t see any outward symptoms for many years,” Dr Albornoz Balmaceda said.

“It may explain why some people who’ve had COVID-19 are more vulnerable to developing neurological symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease.”

The researchers found the spike protein of the virus was enough to start the process and was further exacerbated when there were already proteins in the brain linked to Parkinson’s.

“So if someone is already pre-disposed to Parkinson’s, having COVID-19 could be like pouring more fuel on that ‘fire’ in the brain,” Professor Woodruff said.

“The same would apply for a predisposition for Alzheimer’s and other dementias that have been linked to inflammasomes.”

But the study also found a potential treatment.

The researchers administered a class of UQ-developed inhibitory drugs which are currently in clinical trials with Parkinson’s patients.

“We found it successfully blocked the inflammatory pathway activated by COVID-19, essentially putting out the fire,” Dr Albornoz Balmaceda said.

“The drug reduced inflammation in both COVID-19-infected mice and the microglia cells from humans, suggesting a possible treatment approach to prevent neurodegeneration in the future.”

Professor Woodruff said while the similarity between how COVID-19 and dementia diseases affect the brain was concerning, it also meant a possible treatment was already in existence.

“Further research is needed, but this is potentially a new approach to treating a virus that could otherwise have untold long-term health ramifications.”

The research was co-led by Dr Alberto Amarilla Ortiz and Associate Professor Daniel Watterson and involved 33 co-authors across UQ and internationally.

The study is published in Nature’s Molecular Psychiatry.

Image above left: A COVID-19 infected mouse brain showing 'angry' microglia in green and SARS-CoV-2 in red.


Authorised by: Director, Office of Marketing and Communications

ABN: 63 942 912 684
CRICOS Provider No: 00025B

[Bad Dingo]

Here's a series of deep dive discussions on COVID-19 and Long Covid led by Dr. Nabarro, Special Envoy on Covid for the WHO.

twitter.com/4SD_info?t=t9oYn1GSRXoX2miGxFBaBg&s=09

[curbsideprophet]

Dec 3, 2022 11:01:54 GMT -5 NewOrleans said:

Dec 2, 2022 17:04:23 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

I’m just saying that historically speaking, many times the medical community has done things that they believe is absolutely the right thing to do at the time, given what they knew at the time…but as we learn more later and look back, we can see that it wasn’t actually the right thing. (A quick example being how we have treated mental illness over time.) I am simply saying that we might look back and see things differently. Actually, I hope we DO look back and see things differently…as that means people are continuing to scrutinize and learn so we can hopefully do better next time.

But we’re not doing or seeing things differently or reflecting.  We are doing even less.  See the CDC recommendations that became “get your ass back to work.” 

While some blame can be put on Trump we are far past that point. The Biden administration response to Covid has also been horrendous. They are the ones who said people could stop masking and dropped masking requirements. They have hidden the transmission map and promote the community level map. They barely mention masking if they even mention it all.

We know masking works, we know we need to improve indoor air quality. We are doing none of that.

Masking should be required in medical facilities and pharmacies. There are people who are skipping medical care because they do not feel safe going to appointments.

I think testing locations have been reduced. We should be making easier for people to get tested.

There should be better testing and guidelines to prevent transmission in schools.

They could start with the federal gov. Let employees who are able and want to go back to max telework. Bring back masking in federal facilities (at a minimum during surges). Base masking off the transmission map and not the community level map.

We know Covid is airborne and can cause heart/immunity/brain issues, and yet the CDC does not inform the public of the risk of even one infection.

They want people back to work, shopping, etc.

[NewOrleans]

Ossum.

No more monoclonal antibody treatments for Covid are available in the U.S.: The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday rescinded its authorization of bebtelovimab, a drug previously given to patients who faced a high risk of severe disease.

According to the FDA's announcement, the drug was "not expected to neutralize Omicron subvariants BQ.1 and BQ.1.1.," which together now account for the majority of new infections recorded in the U.S. — around 62%, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show.

www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna59797

[seeyalater52]

@@@@@@

Pfizer EUA application submitted for <5 today. It’s not exactly a booster. Application is consistent with early intel from regulators late last month - bivalent vaccine will be offered only to children in this age group as a third shot for those who have received only 2 prior doses of Pfizer. It would be substituted for the 3rd dose of original formula that was initially part of the Pfizer primary series for this age group.

Children in this age group who have already been fully vaccinated with Pfizer (3 doses) at this time would not receive any updated protection.* We have seen essentially no data to explain the rationale for this decision or any assurance for kids who were fully vaccinated with Pfizer when it was first approved. Because neither FDA’s VRBPAC or CDC’s ACIP are expected to meet, we will likely not see a public review of any available data or discussion/insight into why the sponsors chose this approach and what regulators anticipate the impact to be (esp on kids who were already vaccinated with Pfizer and those who participated in the trial.)

This feels like a big fuck you to parents who were told it was recommended to go out and get whatever vaccine was more easily accessible, and who followed the recommendation to complete the series on time. It is especially a fuck you to the majority of Pfizer trial participants who did not have access to enrollment in the Omicron booster study, many of which were vaccinated many months ago and for whom we can assume protection has waned significantly (esp 6+ months.) Very few vaccinated kids in this age range have completed a partial series so this mainly impacts kids who have not been vaccinated yet or who are newly aging into eligibility (at 6 months) and starting the series from scratch with 2 OG Pfizer doses and 1 omicron booster dose.

Mix and match of Pfizer to Moderna booster or vice versa was not requested which is also consistent with what regulators have shared. Moderna is expected to submit their application for EUA this month and per rumors that will only be approved for kids who got

I anticipate access is going to be a shitshow since pre-ordering has been quiet and slow, peds are overwhelmed as it is, and it was already hard enough to find doses of preferred manufacturer without this bar on mixing and matching. Especially true for kids under 3 who don’t have access to vaccines at pharmacies.



*hypothetically I think we can assume it would eventually be offered but unclear timeline and unlikely to be offered before the worst of this winter’s surge.

[seeyalater52]

@@@@

I also want to point out how absolutely tragic it is that both the sponsor (Pfizer) and regulators were SO SO clear that the 3rd mini dose of the Pfizer primary series wasn’t a booster - they dedicated substantial time in approval meetings discussing this, the public message urging vaccinations emphasized this etc - and now they’re treating it like it was a booster dose that can be updated and substituted into the primary series. This is a public health messaging nightmare and will only further erode trust in regulators when it comes to peds health.

In fact, doing this without even convening regulators publicly is sort of unprecedented. This is not the same as updating an old booster to an omicron booster or even adding a booster to a primary series. This is a whole new thing that hadn’t been done before in any other age group AND we know that the 2 mini doses of Pfizer that were initially trialed weren’t effective by themselves, so doing this without good data to support it seems an unreasonable choice for kids who are already vaccinated (less worried about it for kids moving forward bc it is likely not worse than the initial series.)

The FDA is ridiculous when it comes to Pfizer.

[mpm]

Dec 5, 2022 12:33:25 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

@@@@@@


This feels like a big fuck you to parents who were told it was recommended to go out and get whatever vaccine was more easily accessible, and who followed the recommendation to complete the series on time. It is especially a fuck you to the majority of Pfizer trial participants who did not have access to enrollment in the Omicron booster study, many of which were vaccinated many months ago and for whom we can assume protection has waned significantly (esp 6+ months.) Very few vaccinated kids in this age range have completed a partial series so this mainly impacts kids who have not been vaccinated yet or who are newly aging into eligibility (at 6 months) and starting the series from scratch with 2 OG Pfizer doses and 1 omicron booster dose.

100% yes. I’m having trouble putting into words how angry I am right now.

[seeyalater52]

Dec 5, 2022 13:26:09 GMT -5 mpm said:

Dec 5, 2022 12:33:25 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

@@@@@@


This feels like a big fuck you to parents who were told it was recommended to go out and get whatever vaccine was more easily accessible, and who followed the recommendation to complete the series on time. It is especially a fuck you to the majority of Pfizer trial participants who did not have access to enrollment in the Omicron booster study, many of which were vaccinated many months ago and for whom we can assume protection has waned significantly (esp 6+ months.) Very few vaccinated kids in this age range have completed a partial series so this mainly impacts kids who have not been vaccinated yet or who are newly aging into eligibility (at 6 months) and starting the series from scratch with 2 OG Pfizer doses and 1 omicron booster dose.

100% yes. I’m having trouble putting into words how angry I am right now.

I’m angry and my kid is vaccinated with Moderna - although similarly to the Pfizer trial kids he is going to get fucked because regulators and sponsors alike seem to be making this booster recommendation based primarily on current primary series/booster status vs time since last vaccine and operating on the assumption that no kids in this age group have been boosted (which isn’t the case for trial participants in either trial, the vast majority of whom were boosted with BA1 vs BA4/5) and the EUAs likely won’t account for any nuance.

It extra super sucks for parents who couldn’t access Moderna when they wanted to get their <5 kids vaccinated over the summer and went with Pfizer on the assurance that it would all come out in the wash.

To avoid being unnecessarily panic inducing, I will say the initial trial data does make me suspect that we will ultimately come to learn that Pfizer’s 3 mini doses with the spaced 3rd dose from the initial approval has better staying power vs 2 shots of Moderna without a booster but not so good that those kids don’t need a booster and that their parents don’t need some reasonable forecasting about what timeline they can expect a booster on, as we will likely conclude December with fully vaccinated Pfizer kids as the ONLY cohort locked out of updated protections during a big covid winter surge for which the updated vaccines are a decent match. They cannot be allowed to become collateral damage without options for updated protection just because it’s a relatively small group compared to kids in this age range who are unvaccinated. These are kids and their parents who followed the recommendations and trusted the experts so this sucks to see.

And everyone who has a Moderna booster eligible kid should try to find a Moderna booster dose when that EUA is approved. It will be important this winter.

[sillygoosegirl]

DH has COVID. Again.

Fourth time in 5 months.

I am livid.

I swear, every time that man takes his mask off for 5 minutes in public, he gets COVID. He doesn't have long COVID symptoms... yet... but it sure makes me wonder if he is actually clearing it between infections.

[sillygoosegirl]

Dec 7, 2022 12:51:06 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Dec 7, 2022 12:22:34 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

DH has COVID. Again.

Fourth time in 5 months.

I am livid.

I swear, every time that man takes his mask off for 5 minutes in public, he gets COVID. He doesn't have long COVID symptoms... yet... but it sure makes me wonder if he is actually clearing it between infections.

Whoa! These are all home tests? Id def be suspicious he’s just not cleared it, or is testing positive for an extended period of time. It just seems SO unlikely to get it that much!

All home tests. He's tested negative after each one and occasionally in between. But just because it's not detected doesn't necessarily mean it's not still hanging out somewhere in his body. Maybe it's there and he relapses any time he over exerts himself or something. And regardless, the positives may indicate he's still/again infectious.

@@@@ I'm so sick of doing all the parenting so often.

[StrawberryBlondie]

Dec 7, 2022 13:11:26 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

Dec 7, 2022 12:51:06 GMT -5 mofongo said:

Whoa! These are all home tests? Id def be suspicious he’s just not cleared it, or is testing positive for an extended period of time. It just seems SO unlikely to get it that much!

All home tests. He's tested negative after each one and occasionally in between. But just because it's not detected doesn't necessarily mean it's not still hanging out somewhere in his body. Maybe it's there and he relapses any time he over exerts himself or something. And regardless, the positives may indicate he's still/again infectious.

@@@@ I'm so sick of doing all the parenting so often.

Is he testing himself because of symptoms, or just because? Cause if the latter, might be worth a trip to the doc to try to figure out if he's one of those people that basically test positive all the time even though they're not sick anymore.

I know newer variants leave you with less immunity than some of the previous but that sounds like in order to get sick that much, I'd want to consider that something else might be going on.

[TR]

Dec 7, 2022 13:44:34 GMT -5 StrawberryBlondie said:

Dec 7, 2022 13:11:26 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

All home tests. He's tested negative after each one and occasionally in between. But just because it's not detected doesn't necessarily mean it's not still hanging out somewhere in his body. Maybe it's there and he relapses any time he over exerts himself or something. And regardless, the positives may indicate he's still/again infectious.

@@@@ I'm so sick of doing all the parenting so often.

Is he testing himself because of symptoms, or just because? Cause if the latter, might be worth a trip to the doc to try to figure out if he's one of those people that basically test positive all the time even though they're not sick anymore.

I know newer variants leave you with less immunity than some of the previous but that sounds like in order to get sick that much, I'd want to consider that something else might be going on.

This. I would absolutely be at my doctor trying to figure out wtf is wrong with my immune system.

[chickadee77]

Dec 7, 2022 16:01:34 GMT -5 TR said:

Dec 7, 2022 13:44:34 GMT -5 StrawberryBlondie said:

Is he testing himself because of symptoms, or just because? Cause if the latter, might be worth a trip to the doc to try to figure out if he's one of those people that basically test positive all the time even though they're not sick anymore.

I know newer variants leave you with less immunity than some of the previous but that sounds like in order to get sick that much, I'd want to consider that something else might be going on.

This. I would absolutely be at my doctor trying to figure out wtf is wrong with my immune system.

@@ I have a friend whose daughter (8yo) developed two immune issues post-covid; Hashimoto's and another that I won't name because it's fairly rare. Yeah, I'd be looking for more answers.

I'm so sorry for everyone dealing with sickness. 😞

[icedcoffee]

We officially have our first covid case in the house. My H tested positive today. We got off a cruise on Monday so we knew the risk we took.

He's going to KN95 anytime he leaves the basement.

I have my work holiday party tonight. I'm assuming I should not go even if I test negative, right? :::sob:::

Vacation was still worth it. We had a good run.

[sillygoosegirl]

Dec 8, 2022 9:21:11 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

We officially have our first covid case in the house. My H tested positive today. We got off a cruise on Monday so we knew the risk we took.

He's going to KN95 anytime he leaves the basement.

I have my work holiday party tonight. I'm assuming I should not go even if I test negative, right? :::sob:::

Vacation was still worth it. We had a good run.

The guidelines say you should keep an N95 mask on at all times in public for 10 days post exposure, so if you choose to go you shouldn't eat or drink once you get there.

[seeyalater52]

Bivalent vaccines approved by FDA for <5 (with caveats for kids fully vaccinated with Pfizer.)
www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-authorizes-updated-bivalent-covid-19-vaccines-children-down-6-months

Moderna bivalent booster - kids <6 who received 2 dose Moderna primary series (only) at least 2 months ago are eligible.

No true bivalent booster for Pfizer - kids <5 who have received only 2 doses of Pfizer’s primary series (originally 3 doses), the 3rd dose spaced at least 8 weeks out from dose 2 will now be a bivalent shot. Kids starting the series now will also receive the 3rd dose as bivalent.

More information about a true bivalent booster for kids vaccinated with the 3x Pfizer primary series to come in Jan. Mixed bag for those families as there isn’t a lot of clarity yet about timeline for waning protection prior to a booster approval.

Now we will see how impossible it is to actually get once CDC signs off. These will be new vials and ordering already closed so they should ship by next week if the CDC moves quickly.

[pixy0stix]

Dec 8, 2022 11:35:48 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

Now we will see how impossible it is to actually get once CDC signs off. These will be new vials and ordering already closed so they should ship by next week if the CDC moves quickly.

The CO vaccine clinics have been up to date so far, so I'm hoping that they continue to be with these boosters.