Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #110

DNA Solves
DNA Solves
DNA Solves

New Posts

Status
Not open for further replies.
Sundog said:
Thanks for posting this information. I keep putting it off and need to get it done. I received the earlier Shingles vaccine, but now they recommend this new two-shot regime.

My mother-in-law had a dangerous case of shingles come on quite suddenly a number of years ago. Within a day or two, she developed a rash on her head that started spreading to her forehead and could have gone to her eyes. And it was excruciatingly painful. No warning. She was hospitalized immediately when the emergency room saw her, as they were very worried about the location of the spread on her forehead moving toward her eyes. Thank goodness she recovered and didn't lose her eyesight. She really did suffer, though. Experiencing that, I know I should get the new Shingles vaccines.


ETA My mother in law was going through a stressful time in her life when the dormant shingles virus reactivated, so I suspect her immune system as weakened by the stress.
Click to expand...
That must have been scary for your MIL and your family. I'm glad her shingles didn't affect her eyesight and she recovered.

I kept putting it off, too, and finally got the first shot in late October and the second in early March. Glad to have it done, although I may need another one someday when the vaccine's protection wanes.
 
Grouse said:
<RSBM>
I don't think any booster reliably prevents infection, but hopefully it does reduce severity.
Click to expand...
I remember how disappointed I was when I found out soon after I had the initial round of vaccines that the vaccine did not actually prevent infection. I am also disappointed that it wanes so quickly, but of course I do believe its benefit is to reduce severity and for that I am grateful. I believe without the vaccines there would have been millions more deaths - because of the vaccine we, as a country, have been able to get back to living normal lives.
 
Sundog said:
Thanks for posting this information. I keep putting it off and need to get it done. I received the earlier Shingles vaccine, but now they recommend this new two-shot regime.

My mother-in-law had a dangerous case of shingles come on quite suddenly a number of years ago. Within a day or two, she developed a rash on her head that started spreading to her forehead and could have gone to her eyes. And it was excruciatingly painful. No warning. She was hospitalized immediately when the emergency room saw her, as they were very worried about the location of the spread on her forehead moving toward her eyes. Thank goodness she recovered and didn't lose her eyesight. She really did suffer, though. Experiencing that, I know I should get the new Shingles vaccines.


ETA My mother in law was going through a stressful time in her life when the dormant shingles virus reactivated, so I suspect her immune system as weakened by the stress.
Click to expand...
I had the 1st shingles vaccine years ago. When the new 2-dose vaccine became available, my internist recommended that I get it. I'm glad I did.

While sitting in the ophthalmologist’s office 2 months ago, there was a 20-something special needs patient that had shingles covering one cheek and eyelid.
 
ilovewings said:
Well that is certainly not very good news!
Click to expand...

Awhile back I had Paxlovid prescribed for me but I never had to take as it turned out the test was a false positive.

One of our close friends had to go back to Beijing for a few months recently and we gave him our Paxlovid just in case. It expires in August. I hope he can make it back here to the U.S. by then. It sounds like things will get pretty bad with the new XBB variant/lineage spreading.

This is not good news at all for the people in the PRC. I pray their new vaccines are effective at stopping serious outcomes.
 
Sundog said:
Awhile back I had Paxlovid prescribed for me but I never had to take as it turned out the test was a false positive.

One of our close friends had to go back to Beijing for a few months recently and we gave him our Paxlovid just in case. It expires in August. I hope he can make it back here to the U.S. by then. It sounds like things will get pretty bad with the new XBB variant/lineage spreading.

This is not good news at all for the people in the PRC. I pray their new vaccines are effective at stopping serious outcomes.
Click to expand...
They have a vaccine coming out soon that targets XBB.

A new COVID-19 infection wave in 2023 will likely peak in late June at about 65 million cases per week, China's top respiratory disease expert Zhong Nanshan said Monday.

Zhong made the remarks at the 2023 Greater Bay Area Science Forum on Monday in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, when he also revealed that two new vaccines to counter the XBB variant will soon be released to the market.

A small wave of COVID-19 infections at the end of April and early May was "anticipated."

www.globaltimes.cn

Vaccines countering XBB variant to be released to the market: top respiratory expert - Global Times

www.globaltimes.cn
 
I’m sitting at Newark airport at this very moment, because we have to fly to Florida to help my elderly parents.

My sister and I are the ONLY ones wearing masks. We have each had SIX shots, because our parents are 90 and frail, and we will not take chances.

But as far as the eye can see, no other masks. Not even our other family members with us for this trip have their masks on.
 
dmac55 said:
Fall’s COVID Shots May Be Different in One Key Way - The Atlantic
Fall’s COVID Shots May Be Different in One Key Way — The Atlantic
Click to expand...
Thank you for that article. :) I was trying to figure this out the other day.

From the article you posted:

The switch in strategy—from two variants to one, from original SARS-CoV-2 plus Omicron to XBB.1 alone—would be momentous but wise, experts told me, reflecting the world’s updated understanding of the virus’s evolution and the immune system’s quirks. “It just makes a lot of sense,” said Melanie Ott, the director of the Gladstone Institute of Virology, in San Francisco. XBB.1 is the main coronavirus group circulating today; neither the original variant nor BA.5, the two coronavirus flavors in the bivalent shot, is meaningfully around anymore. And an XBB.1-focused vaccine may give the global population a particularly good shot at broadening immunity.

Original article link.

Gemmie again - XBB is the variant that's currently wrecking havoc in China, with up to 65M cases a week per @weepingangel's post:

www.websleuths.com

Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #110

Thanks for posting this information. I keep putting it off and need to get it done. I received the earlier Shingles vaccine, but now they recommend this new two-shot regime. My mother-in-law had a dangerous case of shingles come on quite suddenly a number of years ago. Within a day or...
www.websleuths.com www.websleuths.com

All this raises a question... is the current bivalent booster doing any good if it's not targeting what's currently going around? Hopefully it's still good at preventing hospitalization, serious illness and death.
 
Sundog said:
Awhile back I had Paxlovid prescribed for me but I never had to take as it turned out the test was a false positive.

One of our close friends had to go back to Beijing for a few months recently and we gave him our Paxlovid just in case. It expires in August. I hope he can make it back here to the U.S. by then. It sounds like things will get pretty bad with the new XBB variant/lineage spreading.

This is not good news at all for the people in the PRC. I pray their new vaccines are effective at stopping serious outcomes.
Click to expand...
Replying to my own post about our friend that went to Beijing in April, with a box of Paxlovid with him, just in case. We received an email from him yesterday. His wife apparently went with him on this trip, we thought he was going alone, but they went together to take care of some family business.

He said that three weeks after they arrived in Beijing, they both got really sick with Covid-19. First his wife, and then him. They had to share the box of Paxlovid medicine that we gave them, because the only way to get this anti-viral medicine (Paxlovid) in the PRC is on the black market, and it's about $1,000. And not easy to find. After they took the Paxlovid they both recovered quickly and soon tested negative for Covid. So grateful that we have these options here in the U.S. to treat covid now.
 
Sundog said:
Replying to my own post about our friend that went to Beijing in April, with a box of Paxlovid with him, just in case. We received an email from him yesterday. His wife apparently went with him on this trip, we thought he was going alone, but they went together to take care of some family business.

He said that three weeks after they arrived in Beijing, they both got really sick with Covid-19. First his wife, and then him. They had to share the box of Paxlovid medicine that we gave them, because the only way to get this anti-viral medicine (Paxlovid) in the PRC is on the black market, and it's about $1,000. And not easy to find. After they took the Paxlovid they both recovered quickly and soon tested negative for Covid. So grateful that we have these options here in the U.S. to treat covid now.
Click to expand...
Bless you for your kind gesture in providing your friends with Paxlovid that was prescribed for you. I'm sure your friends are grateful that you spared them serious illness or worse.
 
Arkay said:
I’m sitting at Newark airport at this very moment, because we have to fly to Florida to help my elderly parents.

My sister and I are the ONLY ones wearing masks. We have each had SIX shots, because our parents are 90 and frail, and we will not take chances.

But as far as the eye can see, no other masks. Not even our other family members with us for this trip have their masks on.
Click to expand...
We will be flying in July for the first time since December 2019 and will certainly be wearing masks. We need to get our sixth shots soon. I'm wondering about how best to manage eating and drinking en route. We will be flying across the country and will have to change planes.

I hope you have a safe trip and no one in your family gets sick!
 
Sundog said:
Replying to my own post about our friend that went to Beijing in April, with a box of Paxlovid with him, just in case. We received an email from him yesterday. His wife apparently went with him on this trip, we thought he was going alone, but they went together to take care of some family business.

He said that three weeks after they arrived in Beijing, they both got really sick with Covid-19. First his wife, and then him. They had to share the box of Paxlovid medicine that we gave them, because the only way to get this anti-viral medicine (Paxlovid) in the PRC is on the black market, and it's about $1,000. And not easy to find. After they took the Paxlovid they both recovered quickly and soon tested negative for Covid. So grateful that we have these options here in the U.S. to treat covid now.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the followup information on your friend. I'm sorry he and his wife got sick with Covid during their trip, but it's wonderful that the Paxlovid you thoughtfully gave him helped both of them recover quickly.

I wonder if this means a half dose of Paxlovid would work for many other people...
 
anneg said:
We will be flying in July for the first time since December 2019 and will certainly be wearing masks. We need to get our sixth shots soon. I'm wondering about how best to manage eating and drinking en route. We will be flying across the country and will have to change planes.

I hope you have a safe trip and no one in your family gets sick!
Click to expand...
If it was me I wouldn't remove my mask to eat or drink while flying but I'm overly cautious. Like... OVERLY. Then again, I wouldn't fly either. lol However, I hear flying is isn't as bad as one might think it would be which should help ease your mind. :) The air is pretty clean in airplanes.

As Alaska Airlines explains on its website, aircraft that use HEPA filters, which filter 99.9% of airborne particles and circulate air every 2-3 minutes, provide "better ventilation than grocery stores and office buildings." This information is confirmed on page 7 of a Teague AirShield whitepaper.

simpleflying.com

How Air Jets Could Stop COVID Spreading On Planes

AirShield is a new technology that uses the aircraft's personal air gaspers to protect all onboard.
simpleflying.com simpleflying.com

Also...

How good is the cabin air?​

The risk of transmission in the modern cabin environment is low for a number of reasons: passengers face the same direction, seatbacks act as barriers, air flow is from the top to bottom, and the air is also very clean.

Cabin Air & Low Risk of On Board Transmission

The risk of contracting COVID-19 on board is low because of a number of factors including seating position, seat backs, high airflow rate, and frequent air exchange.
www.iata.org www.iata.org
 
Last edited:
Gemmie said:
If it was me I wouldn't remove my mask to eat or drink while flying but I'm overly cautious. Like... OVERLY. Then again, I wouldn't fly either. lol However, I hear flying is isn't as bad as one might think it would be which should help ease your mind. :) The air is pretty clean in airplanes.

As Alaska Airlines explains on its website, aircraft that use HEPA filters, which filter 99.9% of airborne particles and circulate air every 2-3 minutes, provide "better ventilation than grocery stores and office buildings." This information is confirmed on page 7 of a Teague AirShield whitepaper.

simpleflying.com

How Air Jets Could Stop COVID Spreading On Planes

AirShield is a new technology that uses the aircraft's personal air gaspers to protect all onboard.
simpleflying.com simpleflying.com

Also...

How good is the cabin air?​

The risk of transmission in the modern cabin environment is low for a number of reasons: passengers face the same direction, seatbacks act as barriers, air flow is from the top to bottom, and the air is also very clean.

Cabin Air & Low Risk of On Board Transmission

The risk of contracting COVID-19 on board is low because of a number of factors including seating position, seat backs, high airflow rate, and frequent air exchange.
www.iata.org www.iata.org
Click to expand...
Thanks for the links!
 
Just an update on my earlier post and my question at the bottom... "is the current bivalent booster doing any good if it's not targeting what's currently going around? Hopefully it's still good at preventing hospitalization, serious illness and death."

Post I'm talking about: Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #110

My update is that I have emailed the CDC Q&A line asking that Q and will get back to you all with an answer as soon as I have one. :) They've been super fast in the past but this is a holiday weekend...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

DNASolves

Who is DeKalb County John Doe (2022)?

Members online

... and 151 more.
Total: 1,228 (members: 152, guests: 1,076)

Online statistics

Members online
152
Guests online
1,076
Total visitors
1,228
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
602,188
Messages
18,136,331
Members
231,263
Latest member
RoseHase
Back
Top