charminglane
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Thank you!
I will keep positive thoughts of health for them.
Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #112
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I will keep positive thoughts of health for them.
Gemmie
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This is for the US only:
You will be able to order four more free at-home COVID tests from the federal government starting at the end of September. The tests will detect currently circulating COVID-19 variants and can be used through the end of the year. For any unused COVID-19 tests, check the expiration date on the box and search this webpage, maintained by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has extended the expiration dates of many at-home COVID-19 tests. If your test has expired, you can throw it away in the regular trash.
content.govdelivery.com
You will be able to order four more free at-home COVID tests from the federal government starting at the end of September. The tests will detect currently circulating COVID-19 variants and can be used through the end of the year. For any unused COVID-19 tests, check the expiration date on the box and search this webpage, maintained by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has extended the expiration dates of many at-home COVID-19 tests. If your test has expired, you can throw it away in the regular trash.
Oregon Health News
BetteDavisEyes
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Coronavirus vaccines, once free, are now pricey for uninsured people
The federal Bridge Access Program covering the cost of coronavirus vaccines for uninsured and underinsured people ran out of funding.
www.detroitnews.com
The federal Bridge Access Program covering the cost of coronavirus vaccines for uninsured and underinsured people ran out of funding. Now, Americans with low incomes are weighing whether they can afford to shore up immunity against an unpredictable virus that is no longer a public health emergency but continues to cause long-term complications and hospitalizations and kill tens of thousands of people a year.
The program’s elimination marks the latest tear in a safety net that once ensured people could protect themselves against the coronavirus regardless of their financial situation. Health experts worry that the paltry 22 percent rate of adults staying up-to-date on vaccines will erode further. And they fear that the roughly 25 million people without health insurance in the nation will be especially vulnerable to Covid because they tend to be in poorer health and avoid medical care when sick...
As updated coronavirus vaccines hit U.S. pharmacy shelves, adults without health insurance are discovering the shots are no longer free, instead costing up to $200.Coronavirus vaccines, once free, are now pricey for uninsured people
The federal Bridge Access Program covering the cost of coronavirus vaccines for uninsured and underinsured people ran out of funding.www.detroitnews.com
The federal Bridge Access Program covering the cost of coronavirus vaccines for uninsured and underinsured people ran out of funding. Now, Americans with low incomes are weighing whether they can afford to shore up immunity against an unpredictable virus that is no longer a public health emergency but continues to cause long-term complications and hospitalizations and kill tens of thousands of people a year.
The program’s elimination marks the latest tear in a safety net that once ensured people could protect themselves against the coronavirus regardless of their financial situation. Health experts worry that the paltry 22 percent rate of adults staying up-to-date on vaccines will erode further. And they fear that the roughly 25 million people without health insurance in the nation will be especially vulnerable to Covid because they tend to be in poorer health and avoid medical care when sick...
In our state, the county health departments will be providing the updated vaccine free of charge as soon as it is available for those who can't afford the cost and want the vaccine.
Also of note is that the Paxlovid prescription medication is no longer subsidized by the government, so only those who have coverage under Medicare and/or their private health care plans will be able to get Paxlovid at no cost if needed. As a result, physicians are limiting their prescriptons of Paxlovid to cases that follow specific guidelines now. I was told this by our family doctor recently.
I am not certain, but I think the cost of the Paxlovid prescription is about $250 without coverage and with a physician's prescription.
BetteDavisEyes
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It wasn't part of the plan, but I got my flu shot today. I had an office visit with my PCP to discuss results of my Dexa scan in late July. Nurse asked if I'd like to get a flu shot, and I said that would be fine. They've been giving them in the office for two weeks. During the pandemic, they were not doing flu or Covid shots because the office was just too busy with sick patients. DH and I will get our Covid injections at Meijer in a few weeks.
Auntie Cipation
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Yesterday my County Public Health Office posted this autumn's schedule for the county's free-to-the-public flu clinics. My town's will be October 10 and it's a drive-thru at the fairgrounds parking lot.
I responded to their post by asking if they would have any combined flu/covid shots and whether the new covid shots would be offered by the county at all.
They replied that no combo shots will he offered locally, the county will have a few new covid shots available to uninsured folks, but that most people need to get their covid shots from the big retail pharmacy or through their medical provider.
Those were the answers I expected, but I wanted to see them make a public statement with the information.
I also meant to ask them, but forgot, if it's true that starting in November, hospitals will once again be required to report covid statistics, and if so, I want to request County Public Health to make those statistics public. Otherwise, we citizens have no way to know whether we are having a local spike or outbreak, other than casual word of mouth from health care workers.
I guess I'll have to inquire with Rite Aid directly to find out when the new covid shots will be locally available.
I responded to their post by asking if they would have any combined flu/covid shots and whether the new covid shots would be offered by the county at all.
They replied that no combo shots will he offered locally, the county will have a few new covid shots available to uninsured folks, but that most people need to get their covid shots from the big retail pharmacy or through their medical provider.
Those were the answers I expected, but I wanted to see them make a public statement with the information.
I also meant to ask them, but forgot, if it's true that starting in November, hospitals will once again be required to report covid statistics, and if so, I want to request County Public Health to make those statistics public. Otherwise, we citizens have no way to know whether we are having a local spike or outbreak, other than casual word of mouth from health care workers.
I guess I'll have to inquire with Rite Aid directly to find out when the new covid shots will be locally available.
Gemmie
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If you mean a 2-in-1 shot when you say "combined"... those won't be out until the fall of 2025. I've only heard about Moderna potentially having one.
Moderna says its combination Covid and flu vaccine works well in late-stage trial
The drugmaker hopes to launch the shot for the fall respiratory disease season in 2025.
Moderna says its combination Covid and flu vaccine works well in late-stage trial
The drugmaker hopes to launch the shot for the fall respiratory disease season in 2025.
www.nbcnews.com
Auntie Cipation
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BetteDavisEyes
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My arm hurt a little during the night whenever I rolled over on my left side, but other than that and about an hour of feeling "out of it" mid-afternoon, I am fine following my flu shot. I hadn't planned on getting a flu shot yesterday but was asked by a nurse during my PCP visit if I wanted one. The office was very busy, and I was there much longer than I expected to be, but I'm glad to have the injection out of the way.
While we were out, our cleaning lady arrived at her usual time and let herself in. When we got home, I mentioned that I had gotten a flu shot. She said that she has never gotten a flu shot because she has never had the flu and doesn't want to jinx it! My sister says the same thing, and it irks me no end. I don't understand this mentality. I'm sure that my sister had Covid about three years ago even though she called it "the flu". I reminded her that she said she'd never had the flu and doesn't bother to get flu shots. I asked if she got tested for Covid and she admitted that she had gone to a pharmacy to get a test kit but thought they were "too expensive" (she needs the money for cigarettes). She never bothered to order free tests that were readily available at the time. I wasn't about to drive an hour to give her one of ours. Rant over.
While we were out, our cleaning lady arrived at her usual time and let herself in. When we got home, I mentioned that I had gotten a flu shot. She said that she has never gotten a flu shot because she has never had the flu and doesn't want to jinx it! My sister says the same thing, and it irks me no end. I don't understand this mentality. I'm sure that my sister had Covid about three years ago even though she called it "the flu". I reminded her that she said she'd never had the flu and doesn't bother to get flu shots. I asked if she got tested for Covid and she admitted that she had gone to a pharmacy to get a test kit but thought they were "too expensive" (she needs the money for cigarettes). She never bothered to order free tests that were readily available at the time. I wasn't about to drive an hour to give her one of ours. Rant over.
Last edited:
Gemmie
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If FLirT has had more than double last year's summer's rate go to the ER since June... what will this year's winter holiday rate be like if the past 2 winters are more than 1 in every 20 Americans 65 and older? Is the math as simple at it would be more than 1 in 10 this year? That's HIGH, folks! 
In June, more than 1 in 50 Americans 65 and older went to an ER and were diagnosed with COVID, more than double last summer’s rate, a rise attributable to the highly contagious omicron strains known as FLiRT.
For the past two years, COVID infections among people 65 and older were highest between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day, peaking around Christmas each year. “It is likely we will see more cases as we move into fall/winter,” says Pragna Patel, M.D., senior adviser for long COVID at the CDC. For the past two winters, more than 1 in every 20 Americans 65 and older wound up in an ER with COVID symptoms.
www.aarp.org
In June, more than 1 in 50 Americans 65 and older went to an ER and were diagnosed with COVID, more than double last summer’s rate, a rise attributable to the highly contagious omicron strains known as FLiRT.
For the past two years, COVID infections among people 65 and older were highest between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day, peaking around Christmas each year. “It is likely we will see more cases as we move into fall/winter,” says Pragna Patel, M.D., senior adviser for long COVID at the CDC. For the past two winters, more than 1 in every 20 Americans 65 and older wound up in an ER with COVID symptoms.
COVID Still Lingers: Where We Are and Where We’re Headed
COVID Still Lingers: Where We Are and Where We’re Headed
IceIce9
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I sympathize. I could rant on and on about the people who tell me “the only time I’ve ever had the flu is the one year I had a flu shot.” So many people believe they got the flu from the flu shot.
I can explain all day about how the flu shot is a killed (inactivated) virus not a live virus but people believe what they want to believe…..
BetteDavisEyes
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I have the same feelings about people who only go to see a doctor "when they're sick"
Gemmie
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What multiple cases of Covid might do to some people...
after her third round of the virus, she developed extreme allergies to foods she used to eat all the time: oats, dairy, gluten, sesame seeds and peanuts. “I literally have some level of anaphylaxis every single day,”
[snip]
NN has been struggling with debilitating asthma and severe food allergies since she first caught COVID more than three years ago. “Last fall, I spent two-and-a-half months confined to bed, motionless, because moving, including holding a cellphone, made me too short of breath,” she says. She’s also experienced brain fog, high blood pressure, hyperglycemia, fatigue and gastrointestinal symptoms. NN, the founder of a nonprofit in Nacogdoches, Texas, recently underwent surgery to repair joint damage caused by COVID-induced inflammation.
www.aarp.org
after her third round of the virus, she developed extreme allergies to foods she used to eat all the time: oats, dairy, gluten, sesame seeds and peanuts. “I literally have some level of anaphylaxis every single day,”
[snip]
NN has been struggling with debilitating asthma and severe food allergies since she first caught COVID more than three years ago. “Last fall, I spent two-and-a-half months confined to bed, motionless, because moving, including holding a cellphone, made me too short of breath,” she says. She’s also experienced brain fog, high blood pressure, hyperglycemia, fatigue and gastrointestinal symptoms. NN, the founder of a nonprofit in Nacogdoches, Texas, recently underwent surgery to repair joint damage caused by COVID-induced inflammation.
COVID Still Lingers: Where We Are and Where We’re Headed
COVID Still Lingers: Where We Are and Where We’re Headed
Gemmie
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“With every new case of acute COVID [the initial phase of infection when diagnosed or symptoms first appear], there is risk for developing long COVID,” says Caitlin McAuley, D.O., a family physician at the Keck COVID Recovery Clinic in Los Angeles. She’s had patients who developed long COVID fully recover, get reinfected several times with no lingering effects, then develop another case that leads to a new bout of long COVID. She also has seen patients who got COVID twice with no lingering effects, and the third time they ended up with prolonged symptoms.
“We still have a number of individuals who had the first wave of COVID who are suffering from long COVID symptoms now, several of them many years out,” says Jerrold Kaplan, M.D., medical director of the COVID Rehabilitation and Recovery Program at Gaylord Specialty Healthcare in New York.
Having escaped long COVID previously doesn’t mean you won’t face it in the future. Indeed, some research has suggested that catching multiple COVID-19 strains puts you at increased risk. A study published in 2022 found that reinfection can increase the risk of complications in major organ systems, and these risks persist at least six months beyond the initial infection.
We don’t yet know the true impact of catching COVID. “Many chronic disease processes, such as cardiovascular disease, dementia and cancer, take years to develop. And whether acute COVID-19 puts people at risk for some of these issues? Time will tell,” Hurt says.
What doctors do know is that patients are flocking to their offices complaining of symptoms they never had before COVID.
www.aarp.org
“We still have a number of individuals who had the first wave of COVID who are suffering from long COVID symptoms now, several of them many years out,” says Jerrold Kaplan, M.D., medical director of the COVID Rehabilitation and Recovery Program at Gaylord Specialty Healthcare in New York.
Having escaped long COVID previously doesn’t mean you won’t face it in the future. Indeed, some research has suggested that catching multiple COVID-19 strains puts you at increased risk. A study published in 2022 found that reinfection can increase the risk of complications in major organ systems, and these risks persist at least six months beyond the initial infection.
We don’t yet know the true impact of catching COVID. “Many chronic disease processes, such as cardiovascular disease, dementia and cancer, take years to develop. And whether acute COVID-19 puts people at risk for some of these issues? Time will tell,” Hurt says.
What doctors do know is that patients are flocking to their offices complaining of symptoms they never had before COVID.
COVID Still Lingers: Where We Are and Where We’re Headed
COVID Still Lingers: Where We Are and Where We’re Headed
Gemmie
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a study in the journal Nature Medicine found that those hospitalized with COVID had a 29 percent greater risk of death in the three years after their infection.
“But what was also alarming is that in people who weren’t hospitalized, there was also an increased risk of a variety of medical issues,” says John Baratta, founder and codirector of the COVID Recovery Clinic at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Even patients who’d had mild bouts of COVID-19 had an increased risk of respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological issues lingering for three years after the initial infection. Long COVID patients had a significantly increased risk of severe health issues affecting the brain, lungs and heart.
We have long known that an acute case of COVID can compromise heart health: Compared with those who didn’t contract COVID, people who caught the virus were 81 percent more likely to die of a cardiovascular complication in the ensuing three weeks, according to a study of 160,000 patients published by the European Society of Cardiology. But the risk lingers long after the symptoms abate. Those who caught the virus were five times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease as long as 18 months after infection, the same study found. Heart disease deaths, which had been on a downward trend for decades, began to spike in 2020 and remained high through 2022, the last year for which data is available.
www.aarp.org
“But what was also alarming is that in people who weren’t hospitalized, there was also an increased risk of a variety of medical issues,” says John Baratta, founder and codirector of the COVID Recovery Clinic at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Even patients who’d had mild bouts of COVID-19 had an increased risk of respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological issues lingering for three years after the initial infection. Long COVID patients had a significantly increased risk of severe health issues affecting the brain, lungs and heart.
We have long known that an acute case of COVID can compromise heart health: Compared with those who didn’t contract COVID, people who caught the virus were 81 percent more likely to die of a cardiovascular complication in the ensuing three weeks, according to a study of 160,000 patients published by the European Society of Cardiology. But the risk lingers long after the symptoms abate. Those who caught the virus were five times more likely to die from cardiovascular disease as long as 18 months after infection, the same study found. Heart disease deaths, which had been on a downward trend for decades, began to spike in 2020 and remained high through 2022, the last year for which data is available.
COVID Still Lingers: Where We Are and Where We’re Headed
COVID Still Lingers: Where We Are and Where We’re Headed
anneg
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DH and I got our updated Covid shots (Pfizer) yesterday. I wanted to be as protected as possible for our trip to California--we fly there on Sept 25. Of course we will be wearing masks too. He got a flu shot at the same time, but I decided to wait until next month for that. We both have slightly sore arms but no other reactions.
BetteDavisEyes
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Have a safe and enjoyable trip
BetteDavisEyes
Fasten your seatbelts...
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Florida discourages use of mRNA Covid vaccines in older adults
In updated guidance to health care providers, Florida health officials advise that "non-mRNA Covid-19 vaccines and treatment" should be prioritized.
www.nbcnews.com
In updated guidance for health care providers released Thursday, the Florida Health Department and state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo questioned the safety and effectiveness of the mRNA Covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, including for older adults and people with underlying health problems. “Any provider concerned about the health risks associated with Covid-19 for patients over the age of 65 or with underlying health conditions should prioritize patient access to non-mRNA Covid-19 vaccines and treatment,” according to the state guidance...