Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #107

[sds71]

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Medicare will cover up to eight free tests per month, starting in early spring. The tests will be handed out at participating pharmacies and other locations. They'll be available to people who have Medicare's “Part B” outpatient benefit, which about 9 in 10 enrollees sign up for.

Medicare to Cover Cost of At-Home COVID-19 Tests Starting in the Spring

 

[indicolite22]

The Covid Vaccine We Need Now May Not Be a Shot

An intranasal booster induced immune memory cells and antibodies in the nose and throat, and strengthened protection from the initial vaccination, the researchers reported. The study has not yet been published in a scientific journal.

 

[Sundog]

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said Medicare will cover up to eight free tests per month, starting in early spring. The tests will be handed out at participating pharmacies and other locations. They'll be available to people who have Medicare's “Part B” outpatient benefit, which about 9 in 10 enrollees sign up for.

Medicare to Cover Cost of At-Home COVID-19 Tests Starting in the Spring

Glad to see that they will reimburse Medicare and Medicaid recipients now, not only private insurance recipients.

We just got an email from our employer today with a form attached that we can submit to our health insurance provider for reimbursement, if needed, for up to 8 covid-19 self-tests a month, for each insured member on a policy.

I found the following question on the reimbursement form interesting. It asks if you purchased the test on your own or if it was under the recommendation of a physician, and if the latter, to provide their name and address.

You also have to send in the UPC bar code from the self-test box, even though you have to submit the receipt. Perhaps they are worried that people might start selling them online or elsewhere.

Also, the maximum reimbursement rate is $12 per test (so a self-test kit that includes 2 tests will be reimbursed at $24).

 

[indicolite22]

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/03/why-do-some-people-get-covid-while-others-dont.html

• An increasing amount of research is being devoted to the reasons why some people never seem to get Covid — a so-called never Covid cohort.
• This could be due to a variety of factors, ranging from prior infection with a similar virus to genetics.

 

[ilovewings]

I personally feel that 'personal choice' is highly overated.

I was a young little teenager when Kennedy spoke his words... Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather ask what you can do for your country. I guess it is unfortunate that I still believe that. Sad me. jmoo..........

¿

The Covid Vaccine We Need Now May Not Be a Shot

An intranasal booster induced immune memory cells and antibodies in the nose and throat, and strengthened protection from the initial vaccination, the researchers reported. The study has not yet been published in a scientific journal.

That is great news but how many years will we have to wait for it?

 

[indicolite22]

That is great news but how many years will we have to wait for it?

Hopefully not for too long. From the article:

There are at least a dozen other nasal vaccines in development worldwide, some of them now in Phase 3 trials. But Bharat Biotech’s may be the first to become available. In January, the company won approval to begin a Phase 3 trial of the nasal spray in India as a booster for people who have already received two shots of a Covid vaccine.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

How do death rates from COVID-19 differ between people who are vaccinated and those who are not?

Why we need to compare the rates of death between vaccinated and unvaccinated

During a pandemic, you might see headlines like “Half of those who died from the virus were vaccinated”.

It would be wrong to draw any conclusions about whether the vaccines are protecting people from the virus based on this headline. The headline is not providing enough information to draw any conclusions.

Let’s think through an example to see this.

Imagine we live in a place with a population of 60 people.

Then we learn that 10 people died. And we learn that 50% of them were vaccinated.

The newspaper may run the headline “Half of those who died from the virus were vaccinated”. But this headline does not tell us anything about whether the vaccine is protecting people or not.

To be able to say anything, we also need to know about those who did not die: how many people in this population were vaccinated? And how many were not vaccinated?

Now we have all the information we need and can calculate the death rates:

• of 10 unvaccinated people, 5 died → the death rate among the unvaccinated is 50%
• of 50 vaccinated people, 5 died → the death rate among the vaccinated is 10%

We therefore see that the death rate among the vaccinated is 5-times lower than among the unvaccinated.

I think I’ve posted this graphic before, but it sums it up nicely:

 

[margarita25]

The Covid Vaccine We Need Now May Not Be a Shot

An intranasal booster induced immune memory cells and antibodies in the nose and throat, and strengthened protection from the initial vaccination, the researchers reported. The study has not yet been published in a scientific journal.

I remember a while back Dr. Mike Ryan saying he was optimistic about these, jmo.

Eta: WS link source / November 4, 2021:

“Dr. Mike also expressed his optimism about the nasal sprays in the above Q&A link I posted a few posts up. It is hard to paraphrase a man so brilliant, so going back for his exact quote on the “nasal tract”and why this is especially significant.”

 

[CoverMeCagney]

The Covid Vaccine We Need Now May Not Be a Shot

An intranasal booster induced immune memory cells and antibodies in the nose and throat, and strengthened protection from the initial vaccination, the researchers reported. The study has not yet been published in a scientific journal.

This is how children are given the flu shot in British schools.

A doctor told me that scientists are also working on covid patches (similar to contraceptive or stop-smoking patches) which would be much easier to distribute in the community.

 

[LaborDayRN]

Olympian's tearful video in isolation captures attention fast

 

[indicolite22]

This is how children are given the flu shot in British schools.

A doctor told me that scientists are also working on covid patches (similar to contraceptive or stop-smoking patches) which would be much easier to distribute in the community.

I wonder how many vaccine-hesitant people would prefer to take another form of Covid vaccine. Are some just afraid of needles? I used to be as a child. The three Covid shots were the least painful I've ever experienced.

 

[LaborDayRN]

Olympian's tearful video in isolation captures attention fast

Quoting myself to say that my previous post isn't what I intended to post, but it is interesting.

Here is the story with the link to the Olympian's story. (The link is in the second sentence of the article

 

[CoverMeCagney]

I wonder how many vaccine-hesitant people would prefer to take another form of Covid vaccine. Are some just afraid of needles? I used to be as a child. The three Covid shots were the least painful I've ever experienced.

I think many people would prefer a nasal spray or patch or a pill, it just seems less medically serious than a nurse and a needle.

When my kids had their Covid jabs at school, a few of their classmates got a bit silly about it - it was the first time most had had a needle vaccination since their pre-school jabs age 3. They wondered afterwards why they’d made such a fuss as they’d barely noticed it being done. Just don’t look at the needle, kids!!

 

[SouthAussie]

When will it stop though? I’ve never had the flu, maybe when I was younger but I didn’t die…so now in the interest of greater public health we’re meant to just agree to massive pharma dosing us up every few months…I think I’m good thanks. And no, I’m not a conspiracy theorist lol

I get where you are coming from, as I don't like Big Pharma either. Try to use diet, exercise, natural remedies wherever I can. Fortunately I have a great dr who works with me on this, and keeps any req'd meds to an absolute minimum and for as short a time as possible. But she did recommend the covid vax and the booster.

Hope that you can stay safe, Sprockett. This virus can be deadly to anyone. We just don't know how we will fare until it hits us.

 

[Amonet]

Is CDC guidance on mask-wearing for flu the same as for the COVID coronavirus? That would mean that, to be effective, we would need to wear N95 masks to protect from the flu? If that is the case, I might wear KN95 masks at the height of flu season, and may do that going forward, or keep one on hand in case I am in a situation at work, for example, with coughing, flu-type symptoms going around in people around me. And to the grocery store.

Flu can be deadly for people over 65 and people with co-morbidities, so wearing masks that are effective is a good idea.

I think it would be useful if we could get warnings when flu cases are high in our area so that we could time those decisions. I believe flu starts spreading before symptoms come on, so it's not even good enough to notice that someone in the office or on the bus or train is sniffly and coughing.

I also hope there would be some preventive advantage in our new habits of using hand sanitizer in situations like holding onto handles on public transport and then sanitizing hands after getting off the bus.

I wonder if the sanitizing stations will stay in supermarkets to clean trolley/cart handles? I don't know how I feel about touching them without sanitizing now! It feels akin to not washing one's hands after using the loo!

 

[Deleted member 158085]

Good question!

Last time I had the flu it was longer than 3-7 days of feeling awful. It was two weeks before I felt a lot of improvement - so I would wear a mask to avoid that experience.

Plus getting the flu and then passing it on to other members of the household that I’m responsible for - me being sick and trying to care for others creates more stress than the inconvenience of wearing a mask.

Do I like wearing a mask for hours? Nope.
But I’ve found ones that work for me and I can tolerate them. I’m probably the oddball in the group lol

The two times I had the flu I thought I was going to die. Once was in high school and once was in college. I will do just about anything to avoid it again. It's probably why I am such a hygiene freak and have always side-eyed sick co-workers.

 

[Deleted member 158085]

here's my Q of the day- if you were told that apart from COVID, if you wore a mask, you could avoid getting the flu, would you? would the inconvenience be worth not getting sick for 3-7 days?

If the flu could eff up my life forever with some insane "long flu" I for sure would.

Plus, having never forgotten how truly miserable I was the two times I definitely had it, I probably would during flu season now that I feel like masks are no big deal.

 

[margarita25]

Olympian's tearful video in isolation captures attention fast

The shot from the video of all those buses going to the “isolation zones” reminds me of that creepy movie about covid-23, “Songbird”, that some of you were too chicken to watch lol. I thought it was good. Here’s the preview again, you can see they are taken to “quarantine camps”:

 

[SouthAussie]

US soldiers who refuse to get a Covid-19 vaccine will be immediately discharged, the US army said on Wednesday, saying the move was critical to maintain combat readiness.

“Army readiness depends on soldiers who are prepared to train, deploy, fight and win our nation’s wars,” the army secretary, Christine Wormuth, said. “Unvaccinated soldiers present risk to the force and jeopardize readiness.”

The army said out of the 709 permanent medical exemption requests submitted, only six have been approved while 656 have been rejected. Additionally, 2,910 claims of permanent religious exemptions have been submitted, with 266 being rejected and none being approved as of 26 January.

US army begins discharging soldiers who refuse Covid vaccine

 

[SouthAussie]

New Zealand has announced a phased reopening of its borders, as the country starts to ease some of the world's toughest Covid restrictions.

New Zealand's borders have been shut for nearly two years due to the pandemic.

New Zealand's re-opening will be in five stages. (Explained within the article - Step 4 Aussies allowed in by July, Step 5 others allowed in from Oct - unless things go belly up.)

It is thought that about 94% of the country's population over the age of 12 is fully vaccinated and 56% of eligible people have had their boosters.

Covid: New Zealand unveils phased border reopening plan