Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #102

[ilovewings]

delete

 

[ilovewings]

Yikes. Sounds like Omicron will be able to evade vaccines quite well.

Very discouraging

 

[jjenny]

Very discouraging

Yea, it's not good. But at least it appears to cause milder disease.

 

[ilovewings]

New data shows GSK-Vir drug works against all Omicron mutations

Glaxo states that their antibody drug works against Omicron.

I am reading various reports in various on line articles that Omicron is evading the vaccines to some degree, possibly a significant degree- so I think that is going to be the case.

I am very discouraged about this. They will not be able to develop a vaccine against Omicron that will be available until March 2022. That is a long time away.

 

[Sundog]

Yes, I was very unimpressed with her response. Here's an update from today, and a ProPublica article about testing.

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Here’s Why Rapid COVID Tests Are So Expensive and Hard to Find — ProPublica

So the UK spent $50 billion on test kits to distribute upon request to its citizens.

In the US, the economic stimulus bill provided billions in funding for schools and universities. Our university is testing 3,500 faculty, staff and students every week using antigen tests. But of course, these aren't self kits, so it is probably a lot cheaper to do the bulk testing.

I really don't think people should have to pay $25 for these kits, this is a disincentive, they need to be free or most people won't use them, even if they can find them.

 

[anneg]

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/07/omi...small-study-of-pfizer-vaccine-recipients.html

I can't tell from this article whether the vaccinated people were double or triple vaccinated.

 

[jjenny]

I can't tell from this article whether the vaccinated people were double or triple vaccinated.

Double.

 

[CrimeAway]

I can't tell from this article whether the vaccinated people were double or triple vaccinated.

I've tracked down the manuscript via Alex Sigal's twitter (researcher). I don't know if I can link his Twitter, but he has some comments there.

Here is his lab page:
https://sigallab.net/

Link to the manuscript, to download:
https://secureservercdn.net/50.62.1...ploads/2021/12/MEDRXIV-2021-267417v1-Sigal.7z

I haven't read it yet, and I can't open the file on my phone I did find another article that said those in the trial had not had boosters, although some had previously had Covid. Screenshot is from article below.

First, small study suggests Omicron is a larger threat to Covid-19 immunity

 

[Yesiamapirate]

From Michigan:

Gretchen Whitmer says Joe Biden vaccine mandate a 'problem'

 

[JayWill]

From Michigan:

Gretchen Whitmer says Joe Biden vaccine mandate a 'problem'

But that reads like, even thought it may be the safe thing to do, we might lose employees.

 

[anneg]

I've tracked down the manuscript via Alex Sigal's twitter (researcher). I don't know if I can link his Twitter, but he has some comments there.

Here is his lab page:
https://sigallab.net/

Link to the manuscript, to download:
https://secureservercdn.net/50.62.1...ploads/2021/12/MEDRXIV-2021-267417v1-Sigal.7z

I haven't read it yet, and I can't open the file on my phone I did find another article that said those in the trial had not had boosters, although some had previously had Covid. Screenshot is from article below.

First, small study suggests Omicron is a larger threat to Covid-19 immunity

Thanks for the links!

 

[anneg]

Double.

Thanks!

 

[CrimeAway]

Short video about vaccine issues in Africa and discussion of travel bans, antivirals, etc.

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[Bailey38]

I don't know where to post this but my sister's best friend has contracted COVID and has had 2 of the vaccine shots, the booster I'm not sure of. Her husband has been very ill so she has been at the hospital a great deal for the past month. So maybe she has just had so much exposure or possibly the new strain? They've discovered her husband has cancer and have given him a month at best. Sent him home today and was supposed to have Hospice but they can't come until she is free of it. Now she is starting to feel bad, flu like symptoms and of course has health issues. She did get the antibody infusion yesterday so hoping it works. I can't even image how overwhelming her situation is.

He has tested negative. I bet it's the new variant. She took 4 tests, the 2 rapid tests said negative. The hospital and CVS tests were positive. I believe 'the covid' is going to be with us for awhile longer.

 

[Turkeytrot]

I don't know where to post this but my sister's best friend has contracted COVID and has had 2 of the vaccine shots, the booster I'm not sure of. Her husband has been very ill so she has been at the hospital a great deal for the past month. So maybe she has just had so much exposure or possibly the new strain? They've discovered her husband has cancer and have given him a month at best. Sent him home today and was supposed to have Hospice but they can't come until she is free of it. Now she is starting to feel bad, flu like symptoms and of course has health issues. She did get the antibody infusion yesterday so hoping it works. I can't even image how overwhelming her situation is.

He has tested negative. I bet it's the new variant. She took 4 tests, the 2 rapid tests said negative. The hospital and CVS tests were positive. I believe 'the covid' is going to be with us for awhile longer.

I'm sorry to hear this

 

[Cool Cats]

Fauci says early reports encouraging about omicron variant

“Thus far, it does not look like there’s a great degree of severity to it,” Fauci said. “But we have really got to be careful before we make any determinations that it is less severe or it really doesn’t cause any severe illness, comparable to delta.”

Fauci said the Biden administration is considering lifting travel restrictions against noncitizens entering the United States from several African countries. They were imposed as the omicron variant exploded in the region, but U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has blasted such measures as “travel apartheid."

 

[Cool Cats]

Omicron could be more contagious, less dangerous. That would be 'good news for the human race.'

"This virus comes with both barrels loaded – high infectivity and potentially the ability for immune evasion. But maybe what it's lacking is pathogenicity," said Dr. Warner Greene, director of the Center for HIV Cure Research at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco.

COVID-19 cases in South Africa's Gauteng province are doubling every day and 75% of infections are due to omicron. There is also a week-over-week increase in hospital admissions.

But so far, there have not been an increase in deaths or even hospitalized people who require oxygen, said Greene, who spoke on a call with reporters Monday.

There are now early clinical reports out of hospitals in Gauteng emerging, and they are encouraging, Greene said.

"This looks to be a highly infectious virus, but it may not be as virulent or as pathogenic as the delta variant," he said. But more data is needed to make any firm conclusions.

Even the feel of the hospitals is different this time, the research council's Dr. Fareed Abdullah wrote in a post on Saturday.

https://www.samrc.ac.za/news/tshwane-district-omicron-variant-patient-profile-early-features

 

[SouthAussie]

So, Queensland has two Omicron cases. One is Omicron. And one is 'like Omicron' and is not Delta (or Alpha or anything else recognisable).


Delta has been ruled out in another recent case, an arrival from South Africa, however the infection has been deemed “Omicron-like” after work with global authorities.

Ms D’Ath said that case revealed a second “lineage” of the variant to the international committee, and “we have both of them”.

Acting Chief Health Officer Peter Aitken said the lineage had about half the genetic changes of the initially discovered Omicron variant.

Queensland reports first Omicron cases in quarantine as new ‘lineage’ discovered

 

[CoverMeCagney]

So, Queensland has two Omicron cases. One is Omicron. And one is 'like Omicron' and is not Delta (or Alpha or anything else recognisable).


Delta has been ruled out in another recent case, an arrival from South Africa, however the infection has been deemed “Omicron-like” after work with global authorities.

Ms D’Ath said that case revealed a second “lineage” of the variant to the international committee, and “we have both of them”.

Acting Chief Health Officer Peter Aitken said the lineage had about half the genetic changes of the initially discovered Omicron variant.

Queensland reports first Omicron cases in quarantine as new ‘lineage’ discovered

“Like” Omicron?

Fun fact - Omicron B is an anagram of No Crimbo. Just sayin’

 

[CoverMeCagney]

@chimpface - your Auntie Marg is in the papers again! Glad to hear she’s doing well


The first person in the world to be given a fully-tested COVID-19 vaccine, 91-year-old Briton Margaret Keenan, urged people on Wednesday to get vaccinated, one year on from her shot. Keenan described receiving the vaccine on Dec. 8 2020 as the "best thing that has ever happened".

“It was wonderful. I cannot believe it now, what happened at the time... I'm so happy I got the jab"

'I'm so happy': first person to get fully-tested COVID-19 shot says one year on