Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #107

[TootsieFootsie]

I've been using sanitiser for years before Covid.

I started when we had a very bad flu year and I was sent a free sample to try. Have been buying and using it ever since.
All sanitisers became hard to get so I was forced to try other brands. i always check that they're up to the standard needed for sanitising.
Aqium was the one I originally got the sample of, which was a full size bottle.

I got in the habit of using hand sanitizer years ago, it became second nature after going in and out of hospital rooms, parent’s home plus traveling for work.
Big fan of Avagard foaming hand sanitizer.

 

[CrimeAway]

TWIV 863 covers a human challenge study in the UK, where 36 healthy, unvaccinated, immune naive subjects were experimentally infected with Sars-CoV-2. Interesting results regarding viral replication, asymptomatic transmission etc:

Timestamps are in the comments if you watch on YouTube (& screenshot below). Show notes here: TWiV 863: Does this challenge study pass the smell test?

Original study:
Safety, tolerability and viral kinetics during SARS-CoV-2 human challenge

ETA: 2nd screenshot from the study linked above. There are a lot of pertinent points elucidated by the study, and I would recommend at least skimming the results and conclusions sections.

 

[margarita25]

National Cathedral bell tolls for 900,000 US Covid-19 deaths

 

[mickey2942]

Hi everybody. Back on January 11, I posted about my daughter-in-law's preschool closing for the week because of COVID. She, my son, and my grandchildren who attend that preschool all ended up sick but are fine now.

They are now closed again. This time, it's about a third of the teachers and there aren't enough substitutes to stay open.

Yes. It is a revolving door. Teachers who have Covid-19, get it from, or give it to their own children. So, they are out not only with their illness, but their children as well.

At least the CDC has changed the quarantine protocol. It is down to five days now. Previously, it was two weeks.

Pretty much, where I work, gals with young kids, quit due to day care and school issues.

 

[SouthAussie]

National Cathedral bell tolls for 900,000 US Covid-19 deaths

A very sad and huge loss of people.


..... at least 904,228, more than the entire population of South Dakota.

The latest tally marks an increase of more than 100,000 U.S. COVID-19 fatalities since Dec. 12.

U.S. coronavirus deaths surpass 900,000, driven in part by Omicron surge

 

[SouthAussie]

.
Australia's international border fully opens in two weeks time. It was announced yesterday. About a month shy of the 2-year mark where our border slammed closed.



Prime Minister Scott Morrison said after new medical advice, the new border rules would come into place on February 21.
"The condition is you must be double vaccinated to come to Australia," he said.
"That's the rule. Everyone is expected to abide by it."

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said unvaccinated travellers would still need to apply for a travel exemption to come to Australia and have to undergo hotel quarantine if they were granted permission to enter the country.

Vaccinated tourists welcomed back as international border to reopen in two weeks

 

[weepingangel]

National Cathedral bell tolls for 900,000 US Covid-19 deaths

Cathedral staff first put together this auditory memorial early on in the pandemic, four months after the first confirmed U.S. case of the novel coronavirus. The clapper struck the bourdon 100 times for 100,000 lives, ringing for roughly 10 minutes. This time, the bell’s mournful cry will last 90 minutes.

For each of these hundreds of rings, a person needs to press the button. Then the clapper, attached to a hydraulic machine, strikes the bell. The sequence cannot be pre-programmed, and the system takes about six seconds to reset after every toll. And each time, the person ringing the bell makes a mark on a sheet of paper to keep track of the total.

“It’s a double realization,” said Hollerith, who has sat in the nave of the cathedral and rang the bell in more than one of these ceremonies. Not only does one ring represent a thousand people, “but one mark on your pad is another thousand, another thousand, another thousand.”

It’s overwhelming, Hollerith said, but he and others are glad that it’s a manual process.

“It deserves effort and thinking and patience and presence,” he said.

 

[Arkay]

Nicholas Pagano Found Dead After He Allegedly Set Colleague On Fire At Hackensack University Medical Center

Traveling nurse kills himself after setting a colleague on fire at a Jersey hospital.

I certainly can't attribute this directly to Covid, as clearly this man had mental issues. But he's been licensed for five years and passed all his background checks.

IMO it's entirely possible that the stress for health care workers is pushing people over the edge. That, plus having to hire people who are short-termers, due to Covid afflicting health care workers and/or forcing many to quit. I think hospitals are having to take who they can get.

Tragedy upon tragedy.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Nicholas Pagano Found Dead After He Allegedly Set Colleague On Fire At Hackensack University Medical Center

Traveling nurse kills himself after setting a colleague on fire at a Jersey hospital.

I certainly can't attribute this directly to Covid, as clearly this man had mental issues. But he's been licensed for five years and passed all his background checks.

IMO it's entirely possible that the stress for health care workers is pushing people over the edge. That, plus having to hire people who are short-termers, due to Covid afflicting health care workers and/or forcing many to quit. I think hospitals are having to take who they can get.

Tragedy upon tragedy.

As i have said so many times... we are killing our health care workers and teachers....
It is going to be disaster after disaster in the future.....

 

[CrimeAway]

University of Kansas Health System Update. Discussion of myocarditis and return to athletic activity following Covid:

 

[Teche]

Nicholas Pagano Found Dead After He Allegedly Set Colleague On Fire At Hackensack University Medical Center

Traveling nurse kills himself after setting a colleague on fire at a Jersey hospital.

I certainly can't attribute this directly to Covid, as clearly this man had mental issues. But he's been licensed for five years and passed all his background checks.

IMO it's entirely possible that the stress for health care workers is pushing people over the edge. That, plus having to hire people who are short-termers, due to Covid afflicting health care workers and/or forcing many to quit. I think hospitals are having to take who they can get.

Tragedy upon tragedy.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Covid isolation law could be scrapped in England this month

 

[Sundog]

Several excerpts, below, from this MSM news article -

Fauci says ‘full-blown’ COVID-19 pandemic is almost over in US

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser for President Biden, said in an interview published Tuesday that the U.S. is almost past the "full-blown" pandemic phase of the coronavirus and said he hopes that all virus-related restrictions could wind down in a few months.

Fauci discussed his idea of the virus’s trajectory with the Financial Times. He told the paper that the government response to the disease will eventually be handled on a local level and not federal.

He did not mention a specific month or season but told the paper that these restrictions — including mask mandates — could end "soon."

And regarding boosters -

"It will depend on who you are," he said. "But if you are a normal, healthy 30-year-old person with no underlying conditions, you might need a booster only every four or five years."

 

[Arkay]

Dropping Indoor Mask Mandate, New York Joins Blue States Easing Covid Rules

I'm pretty distraught about this, and confused as well.

Wasn't it just a minute ago that we were being urged to wear only n-95 masks? That a cloth or surgical mask was not enough? And the federal government sent masks to pharmacies to ensure our safety?

Gov. Hochul recently filed an appeal to extend mask-wearing after a judge said it wasn't constitutional, and the appeals court allowed her to keep masks indoors at least through February.

The CDC director is all over MSM saying that it's not the right time to forego masks indoors.

Then the governors of NJ and Connecticut started to drop mask laws indoors, and now in NY too?

I will continue to wear my 95 but will feel much less safe now.

 

[CSIDreamer]

Dropping Indoor Mask Mandate, New York Joins Blue States Easing Covid Rules

I'm pretty distraught about this, and confused as well.

Wasn't it just a minute ago that we were being urged to wear only n-95 masks? That a cloth or surgical mask was not enough? And the federal government sent masks to pharmacies to ensure our safety?

Gov. Hochul recently filed an appeal to extend mask-wearing after a judge said it wasn't constitutional, and the appeals court allowed her to keep masks indoors at least through February.

The CDC director is all over MSM saying that it's not the right time to forego masks indoors.

Then the governors of NJ and Connecticut started to drop mask laws indoors, and now in NY too?

I will continue to wear my 95 but will feel much less safe now.

I hope this helps a bit. I'm in and out of grocery stores all day as part of my job. I wear a cloth mask provided by my employer. It's at least 3 layers. I'm still covid free. Fully vaccinated, no booster.

 

[Sundog]

Our school district is ending the mask mandates in schools starting next week.
Omicron has peaked and hospitalizations have dropped significantly here in Ohio.

 

[Satchie]

Several excerpts, below, from this MSM news article -

Fauci says ‘full-blown’ COVID-19 pandemic is almost over in US

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical adviser for President Biden, said in an interview published Tuesday that the U.S. is almost past the "full-blown" pandemic phase of the coronavirus and said he hopes that all virus-related restrictions could wind down in a few months.

Fauci discussed his idea of the virus’s trajectory with the Financial Times. He told the paper that the government response to the disease will eventually be handled on a local level and not federal.

He did not mention a specific month or season but told the paper that these restrictions — including mask mandates — could end "soon."

And regarding boosters -

"It will depend on who you are," he said. "But if you are a normal, healthy 30-year-old person with no underlying conditions, you might need a booster only every four or five years."

Just to point out:
Fauci "hopes that all virus-related restrictions could wind down in a few months."
Dr. Chris Beyrer: "What we want to see" is the pandemic winding down.

Everyone hopes, and has always hoped, the virus would die down and go away. We first hoped it would be over by July. Then we hoped it would be over by Christmas. Then we hoped it would be over by summer '21, then fall of '21, now summer of '22.

May it be so, I fervently hope so.

 

[ilovewings]

Just to point out:
Fauci "hopes that all virus-related restrictions could wind down in a few months."
Dr. Chris Beyrer: "What we want to see" is the pandemic winding down.

Everyone hopes, and has always hoped, the virus would die down and go away. We first hoped it would be over by July. Then we hoped it would be over by Christmas. Then we hoped it would be over by summer '21, then fall of '21, now summer of '22.

May it be so, I fervently hope so.[/QUOT


so far everybody has been wrong!!!

 

[SouthAussie]

I wonder how we will know if we will need more booster shots in the future, and when we will know.

Are they (whoever 'they' is) going to watch the progress of the infections, and if hospitalisations remain high, make recommendations based on that?

Do they have a test group who they will watch and measure their waning protection?
(But then they still can't measure the cell-memory defence that the body has built, all by itself, following vax/infection.)

Will they just take the precautions anyway, by watching changing variants (like they do with the flu), and go with an annual booster?

There are rumblings in Australia that we may go into another surge, come winter-time. And I am wondering if we will require another booster before that ... or if our 3-vax process, at this time, will be enough.
.

 

[Cool Cats]

4th COVID shot: Who will need another booster soon

FEB 5, 2022 / 07:52 AM CST

Who needs a fourth dose now?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend some moderately and severely immunocompromised people 12 and older should get three primary shots of an mRNA vaccine (either Pfizer or Moderna) plus a fourth shot as their booster.

Right now, this is the only group recommended to get a fourth shot by the CDC, but that’s caused some confusion for people – and providers.

“We get a lot of complaints from people now that are eligible for their fourth dose that they’re getting pushback from CVS and Walgreens and they’re all being told no cause for a fourth dose,” said Dr. Jim Conway, who heads the University of Wisconsin’s immunization program.

Who might need the fourth dose next?

Israel recently started offering fourth shots to everyone 60 and older, but the early data hasn’t yet convinced many American doctors it’s time to do the same here.

Dr. Bob Wachter, chair of medicine of the University of California, San Francisco’s medical school, concluded a thorough Twitter thread examining the data out of Israel by saying, “Personally, if I was offered a 4th shot today, I’d hold off. But if additional data confirm the Israeli findings, then I’d probably take it, because the risks are near-zero and the benefit may grow over time.”

Will the general population need another shot soon?

This is the biggest remaining question.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease doctor, told ABC News it’s “entirely conceivable” we could need another booster down the line. But doctors say there’s so much that remains to be seen.

“It’s too early to be asking about a fourth shot in the U.S. outside of the immunocompromised populations,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF. “The fourth shot data has not been promising so far in adding any benefit beyond three shots.”

“That’s still the process we’re in right now is [we are] still mapping out the duration of the immunity and how good the immunity is against what’s circulating in front of our very eyes,” Conway said.