Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #103

[IceIce9]

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announces new proof of COVID vaccine, negative test requirement for restaurants, gyms, indoor venues | abc7chicago.com


Anyone five years of age and older will need proof of vaccination.

Proof of vaccination will be required at:

• Restaurants and bars

• Entertainment venues where food and beverages are served

• Sports arenas, concert venues, bowling alleys and movie theaters

• Indoor fitness centers

 

[SouthAussie]

You have summer time on your side too, @SouthAussie, easier to limit spread when socialising can be outdoors. Plus your vaccines have generally been done more recently than in Europe/USA. Hopefully your boosters will all be in arms before your winter starts. You got this!!

We're watching you very closely. "In a couple of weeks we'll know how Omicron is going to go, as we watch what happens in the UK". Words from our PM's mouth this morning on morning TV news.

I think everyone in the world is hoping that this is a milder (if more infectious) strain. As Omicron is already our primary covid infection.

Lots and lots of people are celebrating Christmas outdoors here. Luckily it is not going to be too screaming hot.
We have opted for a picnic in a park, with reduced family numbers (splitting the celebrations into 2 separate family groups). No kissing and hugging. We're protecting a 4-month old pandemic baby.

 

[Kingsley]

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announces new proof of COVID vaccine, negative test requirement for restaurants, gyms, indoor venues | abc7chicago.com


Anyone five years of age and older will need proof of vaccination.

That's interesting. Presumably that initiative was started before Omicron's characteristics (e.g., not slowed much by vaccination) were discovered.
I'm thinking that vaccination now is more about the individual (less likely to die) than the community (doesn't stop the spread). Am I thinking of this wrong? I'm just trying to adjust my thinking to the new realities.
I guess keeping hospitalizations low is still a community rather than individual issue, so that might be the driver of the mayor's announcement.

 

[jjenny]

That's interesting. Presumably that initiative was started before Omicron's characteristics (e.g., not slowed much by vaccination) were discovered.
I'm thinking that vaccination now is more about the individual (less likely to die) than the community (doesn't stop the spread). Am I thinking of this wrong? I'm just trying to adjust my thinking to the new realities.
I guess keeping hospitalizations low is still a community rather than individual issue, so that might be the driver of the mayor's announcement.

Vaccines do appear to reduce infection, it depends on whether it was two doses or three doses. Three doses work better than two.

 

[jjenny]

On the bright side, if you are vaxxed, but do have a breakthrough infection, you should become super immune. So if (when) the next variant comes along, you should be ready.

"A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed antibodies in blood samples of those with breakthrough infections were as much as 1,000% times more effective than those generated two weeks following the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine."

Booster Shots and Omicron: Is Moderna or Pfizer Performing Better? Here’s the Data So Far – NBC Boston

 

[CharlestonGal]

That's interesting. Presumably that initiative was started before Omicron's characteristics (e.g., not slowed much by vaccination) were discovered.
I'm thinking that vaccination now is more about the individual (less likely to die) than the community (doesn't stop the spread). Am I thinking of this wrong? I'm just trying to adjust my thinking to the new realities.
I guess keeping hospitalizations low is still a community rather than individual issue, so that might be the driver of the mayor's announcement.

The goal is the same as it's always been - prevent overloading the healthcare system. Vaccine is a great for that. Vaccinated people also shed virus for fewer days, even if they do get infected.

 

[beatrixpotter]

Thanks, good catch. Becoming endemic is a different matter. That occurs over a longer period of time as the virus becomes less harmful. It sounds like a miscommunication.

Sadly endemic does not mean less harmful and people do not seem to understand that. You can have very harmful and endemic. Endemic describes where a disease is and not its severity.

Smallpox for example was an endemic disease for over 2,000 years. Covid19 becoming endemic does not necessarily mean it will become milder. Though clearly we all hope it will eventually be.

Tuberculosis, malaria, lyme and chagas are endemic. I'm pretty concerned about how endemic might look like for us with covid. Especially as it keeps mutating and it's changing the level of immunity in the population.

 

[Deleted member 39678]

Q: Many experts have said they expect COVID-19 to become an endemic disease. How does a disease go from being acute to endemic? What factors shape the transition to endemicity? What’s a likely timeline for COVID-19 to become endemic?

A: The expectation that COVID-19 will become endemic essentially means that the pandemic will not end with the virus disappearing; instead, the optimistic view is that enough people will gain immune protection from vaccination and from natural infection such that there will be less transmission and much less COVID-19-related hospitalization and death, even as the virus continues to circulate.

What will it be like when COVID-19 becomes endemic?

 

[Arkay]

Israel begins fourth Covid-19 dose vaccine rollout for people 60 and over as Omicron cases surge

IMO Israel is always one step ahead regarding vaccinations, as they were one of the first to get vaccines up and running. If we end up needing a fourth dose for people older than 60, I'll gladly take it.

I believe the flu would be considered endemic and I have no problem with my annual shot. Agree with @beatrixpotter that it doesn't mean less dangerous, just less prevalent. Of course it's another respiratory disease that many people survive, but there are still too many deaths from flu every year.

 

[Satchie]

That's interesting. Presumably that initiative was started before Omicron's characteristics (e.g., not slowed much by vaccination) were discovered.
I'm thinking that vaccination now is more about the individual (less likely to die) than the community (doesn't stop the spread). Am I thinking of this wrong? I'm just trying to adjust my thinking to the new realities.
I guess keeping hospitalizations low is still a community rather than individual issue, so that might be the driver of the mayor's announcement.

Here in BC, the government is extremely agile: some restrictions announced last week were implemented yesterday, now, overnight, stronger measures announced: effective tomorrow, they have closed gyms and nightclubs, reduced restaurant seating to six per party, and no banquets, not even weddings.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/covid-restrictions-bc-dec-21-2021-1.6294027

This is province-wide, as are all covid measures: municipalities have no independent powers.

Dr. Bonnie is soft spoken and kindly, but iron-willed. She used to be the public health officer on a battleship.

 

[sds71]

Within weeks, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research expect to announce that they have developed a vaccine that protects people from COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as from previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide.

The achievement is the result of almost two years of work on the virus. The Army lab received its first DNA sequencing of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020. Very early on, Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch decided to focus on making a vaccine that would work against not just the existing strain but all of its potential variants as well.

Walter Reed’s Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine, or SpFN, completed animal trials earlier this year with positive results. Phase 1 of human trials, which tested the vaccine against Omicron and the other variants, wrapped up this month, again with positive results that are undergoing final review, Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, director of Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch, said in an exclusive interview with Defense One.

The vaccine’s human trials took longer than expected, he said, because the lab needed to test the vaccine on subjects who had neither been vaccinated nor previously infected with COVID. The rapid spread of the Delta and Omicron variants made that difficult.

US Army Creates Single Vaccine Effective Against All COVID, SARS Variants

 

[beatrixpotter]

Hospitals Scramble as Antibody Treatments Fail Against Omicron

"Hospitals, drug companies and Biden administration officials are racing to address one of the Omicron variant’s biggest threats: Two of the three monoclonal antibody treatments that doctors have depended on to keep Covid-19 patients from becoming seriously ill do not appear to thwart the latest version of the coronavirus.

The one such treatment that is still likely to work against Omicron is now so scarce that many doctors and hospitals have already run through their supplies."

 

[weepingangel]

Uh oh
Hospitals in New York region say they've run out of antibody treatment for omicron variant

 

[Betty P]

Within weeks, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research expect to announce that they have developed a vaccine that protects people from COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as from previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of people worldwide.

The achievement is the result of almost two years of work on the virus. The Army lab received its first DNA sequencing of the COVID-19 virus in early 2020. Very early on, Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch decided to focus on making a vaccine that would work against not just the existing strain but all of its potential variants as well.

Walter Reed’s Spike Ferritin Nanoparticle COVID-19 vaccine, or SpFN, completed animal trials earlier this year with positive results. Phase 1 of human trials, which tested the vaccine against Omicron and the other variants, wrapped up this month, again with positive results that are undergoing final review, Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, director of Walter Reed’s infectious diseases branch, said in an exclusive interview with Defense One.

The vaccine’s human trials took longer than expected, he said, because the lab needed to test the vaccine on subjects who had neither been vaccinated nor previously infected with COVID. The rapid spread of the Delta and Omicron variants made that difficult.

US Army Creates Single Vaccine Effective Against All COVID, SARS Variants

Great news! Sounds very promising.

 

[ilovewings]

Anti-Vaxxer Crowds Are Now Attacking Cheesecake Factories

This article is behind a paywall: hope at least some of you can read it. These anti-vaxxer lunatics are just that: lunatics. SMH.

 

[anneg]

Uh oh
Hospitals in New York region say they've run out of antibody treatment for omicron variant

The antibody treatments from Eli Lilly and Regeneron are turning out to be not effective against Omicron, unfortunately.

From the article (BBM):
Monoclonal antibodies, which are laboratory-made proteins that mimic the immune system’s mechanism for preventing the virus from entering healthy cells, have been used to treat patients at high risk of becoming severely ill from the coronavirus. But only one of the available antibodies — sotrovimab, made by GlaxoSmithKline — appears to be effective against the omicron variant, which accounts for the majority of new Covid cases in the U.S.

 

[anneg]

Israel begins fourth Covid-19 dose vaccine rollout for people 60 and over as Omicron cases surge

IMO Israel is always one step ahead regarding vaccinations, as they were one of the first to get vaccines up and running. If we end up needing a fourth dose for people older than 60, I'll gladly take it.

I believe the flu would be considered endemic and I have no problem with my annual shot. Agree with @beatrixpotter that it doesn't mean less dangerous, just less prevalent. Of course it's another respiratory disease that many people survive, but there are still too many deaths from flu every year.

I will not hesitate to get a fourth dose if it becomes available. I'm in my 70s and got my Pfizer booster in early October.

 

[anneg]

Here is an excellent article by Dr. Peter Hotez, one of my Covid heroes, that was published last March in Scientific American.

The Antiscience Movement Is Escalating, Going Global and Killing Thousands

Excerpts:
Antiscience has emerged as a dominant and highly lethal force, and one that threatens global security, as much as do terrorism and nuclear proliferation. We must mount a counteroffensive and build new infrastructure to combat antiscience, just as we have for these other more widely recognized and established threats.

Antiscience is the rejection of mainstream scientific views and methods or their replacement with unproven or deliberately misleading theories, often for nefarious and political gains. It targets prominent scientists and attempts to discredit them....

We are approaching three million deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is increasingly apparent that the SARS CoV2 alone is not responsible. Facilitating the spread of COVID-19 is an expanded and globalizing antiscience movement.... Thousands of deaths have so far resulted from antiscience, and this may only be the beginning as we are now seeing the impact on vaccine refusal across the U.S., Europe and the low- and middle-income countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America....

 

[CrimeAway]

Japan is also an island, well a series of islands anyway. They don't share a land border and have had some pretty darn rigid entry restrictions. That probably helped a bit. Similar to OZ and NZ. They are careful who they let in and then watch the ones they do let in. imo

I follow several olympic athletes on social media, and they have spoken about the strict Covid protocols in Japan.

 

[CrimeAway]

Wikipedia definition of "endemic" for anyone who is interested:

Endemic (epidemiology) - Wikipedia