Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #103

[acutename]

No, it doesn't change the treatment and is unnecessary, which is why insurance denied it. My doctor is just trying to figure out why I got so sick, so fast (within 24 hours of apparent exposure).

so how do we ever find out what variants people have and whether treatment is effective for them? does the State or a hospital or the CDC have to do a further test?

 

[CharlestonGal]

On that link (might be a UK one only) it says the list was decided by Chief Medical Officers and independent advisers.

No doubt cost factored pretty high though, which would be a shame but fair enough I think being as its all NHS.

That makes sense. It sounds like in the UK the government bears the entire cost. Here the government only pays for the vials of medicine. Private health insurance (or you, if you don't have insurance) pays the rest of the treatment costs.

 

[acutename]

More than 2,000 flights canceled on Christmas Eve - CNN

New York (CNN Business)Airlines have canceled thousands of flights on Christmas Eve, including hundreds of US domestic flights, as staff and crew call out sick during the Omicron surge.

Globally, airlines have canceled over 2,000 flights, 454 of which are within, into or out of the United States.

Operational snags at airlines are coming as millions are still flying in spite of rising coronavirus cases. The TSA says it screened 2.19 million people at airports across the country on Thursday, the highest figure since the uptick in holiday travel started a week ago.

would like to know if ppl were found positive and rejected. thing is- if you travel and get sick, you cannot come right back; you will be stranded some where even if you have so-called mild symptoms.

 

[SouthAussie]

That makes sense. It sounds like in the UK the government bears the entire cost. Here the government only pays for the vials of medicine. Private health insurance (or you, if you don't have insurance) pays the rest of the treatment costs.

Many of us (in Australia) have private health cover also. We work within two systems, national healthcare and private health.

National healthcare means that everyone is treated. The addition of private health cover - for those who have it, and many do - means that other treatments/private rooms/chosen doctors will usually be covered, and procedure waiting times can be reduced.

So the differences may be cost, and may also be worldwide availability of the medications. imo

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Many of us (in Australia) have private health cover also. We work within two systems, national healthcare and private health.

National healthcare means that everyone is treated. The addition of private health cover - for those who have it, and many do - means that other treatments/private rooms/chosen doctors will usually be covered, and procedure waiting times can be reduced.

So the differences may be cost, and may also be worldwide availability of the medications. imo

I have private healthcare as part of my "package" at work, its a taxable benefit basically. I tried to call it in for my long covid referral but guess what? Not covered!

 

[acutename]

Insanity. Anyone with sense could see that this year was too soon to just start partying like the Pandemic was over. It will never be "over". We travel too much now, too quickly. There are too many people who are not vaccinated, living in close quarters, and it spreads, mutates too fast now.

Hate to say it, but my personal belief is that it is inevitable that at some point, we will all get this. Vaccinated or not. It is just a matter of time.

Omicron COVID-19 variant identified in Gallatin and Missoula Counties

Here is an example, small town in Montana, already has the "Omicron". From two people who were in South Africa. The last pandemic, no one traveled from Africa to Montana within a day!

I am sort of shocked how many people resumed traveling-a lot- immediately after a second shot. I know some people in this group have said they have been traveling all along. The authorities did say have Christmas, and then almost too late, Fauci said disinvite unvaxed ppl

Fauci tells Americans to DISINVITE unvaccinated family from...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk › news › article-10336333
2 days ago — Dr. Anthony Fauci has urged Americans to disinvite unvaccinated people from Christmas gatherings as the fast-spreading COVID-19 Omicron ...

a lot of people would already be at a destination or en route and people cannot disinvite their college aged kids returning home or relatives who traveled a long distance IMO.

 

[CharlestonGal]

We have pretty strict restrictions on our use of monoclonal antibodies as well. "Supplies are limited."


The NMS has the following treatments for COVID-19 available:

• casirivimab and imdevimab (Ronapreve)
• sotrovimab (Xevudy)
• remdesivir (Veklury)

Supplies are limited. We deploy them through a consistent national model.

Access for medical professionals to COVID-19 treatments

It looks like Australia's inclusion criteria are similar to the US:

• Age ≥ 50 years
• Obesity (≥ 30 kg/m2)
• Cardiovascular disease (including hypertension)
• Chronic lung disease (including asthma)
• Type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus
• Chronic kidney disease, including those that are on dialysis
• Chronic liver disease
• Immunocompromised patients (including individuals with rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS and systemic lupus erythematosus)

 

[Jsizzle]

If you dont mind me asking - did he take a sudden turn for the worse? Interested to know how this thing's course runs.

Not really. Had symptoms Friday, by evening was running a fever, rapid was negative. Woke up Sat with a fever again, rapid was positive. Advil and rest. Fever never came back but body aches continued. Got MAB on Sunday as a precautionary measure and by Monday feeling better but exhausted. Sunday night I started having minor body aches. I knew right away. Woke up around 1am Monday with a fever, body aches and just hot all over. Advil and back to sleep. Woke up Monday around 8 and felt 100%. Oddly enough. Me and the kids tested later that day (kids were negative- mine was positive) but I still felt totally fine. Then later that Monday night I started feeling achy again. No fever but then started with congestion. Slept fine and literally was just exhausted all day Tuesday. Laid around. No energy. Basically slept all day. At this point we both had congestion and runny noses but it was basically just a cold at this point. We never called our doctors. Just basically treated at home like we would any other illness. Having kids tested again Sunday because we have house guests coming next week. But overall, I’ve been way more sick. Fall 2019 I thought I would die I was so sick. I had tonsillitis and a sinus infection and a fever and the worst sore throat you could imagine. Every swallow was like razor blades and everyday I’d wake up crying and feeling worse. My stupid doctor refused to give me antibiotics until I was basically begging for it and then she goes “oh yeah. You have bad tonsillitis” grrrrr. I realize Covid is worse for a lot of people so I’m not saying that is the case for everyone but in my experience this has been child’s play compared to that and I was pleasantly surprised how fast we are recovering. And neither one has lost our taste and smell which is a blessing because we like to eat lol

 

[IceIce9]

so how do we ever find out what variants people have and whether treatment is effective for them? does the State or a hospital or the CDC have to do a further test?

In our county, our county health department automatically tests for variant at the test sites.

 

[acutename]

I was just in the kitchen making lunch and realized I feel markedly better. I was a bit dubious yesterday when the infusion center said I would likely feel much better by today, but I do. At the moment I only feel like I have a mild/moderate cold instead of feeling like death warmed over.

It's remarkable.

can you taste anything?

 

[ilovewings]

I am sort of shocked how many people resumed traveling-a lot- immediately after a second shot. I know some people in this group have said they have been traveling all along. The authorities did say have Christmas, and then almost too late, Fauci said disinvite unvaxed ppl

Fauci tells Americans to DISINVITE unvaccinated family from...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk › news › article-10336333
2 days ago — Dr. Anthony Fauci has urged Americans to disinvite unvaccinated people from Christmas gatherings as the fast-spreading COVID-19 Omicron ...

a lot of people would already be at a destination or en route and people cannot disinvite their college aged kids returning home or relatives who traveled a long distance IMO.

I hate to be the grinch that stole xmas, but I think Fauci and other "experts"
didnt have the guts to say no, we as a country are not ready to gather
for the holidays-- they should have said we are looking at the most transmissible
variant we have seen--- it is just too risky-please avoid travel--if you carry on
with these activivities there will be a Tsunami of disease, the likes of
which we have not yet seen--

 

[acutename]

Antibodies always drop after vaccination or infection. They should hopefully have B and T cells in the background. B cells recognize a foreign antigen, and make new antibodies, and T cells are believed to help prevent against severe disease. JMO.

yes! I am greatly confused by all of this because we cannot have the body making antibodies to COVID 24/7 to the exclusion of everything else if it s not even being attacked by COVID. Do they know what good residual levels would be? If they are not monitoring people all the time, how do they know if people with low levels ever had a good response?

 

[SouthAussie]

It looks like Australia's inclusion criteria are similar to the US:

• Age ≥ 50 years
• Obesity (≥ 30 kg/m2)
• Cardiovascular disease (including hypertension)
• Chronic lung disease (including asthma)
• Type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus
• Chronic kidney disease, including those that are on dialysis
• Chronic liver disease
• Immunocompromised patients (including individuals with rheumatoid arthritis, HIV/AIDS and systemic lupus erythematosus)

I guess that maybe info like this ...

Got MAB on Sunday as a precautionary measure and by Monday feeling better but exhausted. .......

And this, from FL ... Monoclonal Antibody Therapy

.. gives me/some the impression that MABs are more widely available in the US. Despite the govt guidelines.

My (fully-vaxxed) high-risk nephew who has covid hasn't been sent to have MABs because (happily) he is still asymptomatic.
I am presuming he may have Omicron, as he is severely lung-compromised and the virus doesn't seem to have hit his lungs.
.

 

[IceIce9]

US churches canceling in-person Christmas services amid omicron surge


Many [URL='https://www.foxnews.com/category/us/religion']churches across the U.S. are canceling some or all in-person Christmas services amid yet another surge in COVID cases that have put a damper on people’s holidays for a second year. [/URL]

Smart decisions.

 

[Jsizzle]

I guess that maybe info like this ...



And this, from FL ... Monoclonal Antibody Therapy

.. gives me/some the impression that MABs are more widely available in the US. Despite the govt guidelines.

My (fully-vaxxed) high-risk nephew who has covid hasn't been sent to have MABs because (happily) he is still asymptomatic.
I am presuming he may have Omicron, as he is severely lung-compromised and the virus doesn't seem to have hit his lungs.
.

Yeah TBH it took a few phone calls and he self-referred. I keep hearing they are hard to come by but maybe we just got lucky?

 

[tabitha111]

Well Mass was not cancelled and my father ended up going too. They didn't wear masks.
My sister called my mother after Mass and asked her about it. My mother said they were in a Pew by themselves so they felt safe. My sister told her about the variant and wasn't she worried about it and my mother knew nothing about it. She didn't realize she could get sick even being vaccinated.

 

[CharlestonGal]

can you taste anything?

Yes and no. Taste is like eating carboard. Some things, like coffee taste like burnt metal.

 

[Jsizzle]

Yes and no. Taste is like eating carboard. Some things, like coffee taste like burnt metal.

My husband says certain things taste or smell like ammonia. His kombucha smelled like poison aka ammonia so he wouldn’t drink it and then we got McDs for dinner tonight because we are quarantined and I was not prepared lol. And his nuggets tasted ammonia as well. But everything else he’s had is fine. Just odd.

 

[jakat]

One thing I’ve been surprised with the vaccines is the substantial waning in a shorter period of time than I expected. I hope this will improve in the future. The vaccines have been a God-send and awesome tool with their ability to minimize hospitalizations and deaths, that is clear, I just wish they lasted longer. I think a lot is being learned in real time so maybe this can be improved at some point.

I have been listening to Dr. Swaminathan, Dr. Mike, etc. talking about vaccine development, and the goal to have a vaccine at some point which is more broad in covering all the future variants, but at the same time one has to be careful with not making it too broad to cover the future variants where it misses the prior variants still circulating. I didn’t explain that well, I guess what I’m trying to say is these vaccines have to be both specific and broad at the same time, if that makes sense. I hate trying to paraphrase these doctors and scientists bc I feel like my synopsis’ don’t always give the content justice.

You explained it just fine. I thought the shots would last a year, and then we'd have to have another shot. It wasn't very long after I had my second shot in March they were talking about boosters.

I was reading a report a few days ago about Israel. They are going to recommend a fourth booster shot four months after the last booster shot for their citizens. I can see that happening here, too.

 

[Arkay]

<modsnip - broken quote>

@Jsizzle
AFAIK, tonsillitis is usually viral, unless it's strep throat instead, and so no antibiotics are given. Though they might have helped with the sinus infection.

I've had tonsillitis, too, when I was a teenager. I remember that razor blade sensation. It was awful. Can't swallow, can't sleep.

But in fairness, I have to say that tonsillitis is not sweeping the world and causing millions of deaths. I'm happy that this has been easier for you, of course, but it cannot be compared to any of the diseases we have each endured in the past.

I was 15 minutes from death, eight days after I gave birth when I was 24. I had ulcers that perforated and that's what the doctors told me---I only survived because I was already in the emergency room with my parents looking after my newborn at home. Since I was already in the ER they rushed me in for emergency surgery. I wouldn't have lived if I'd been home, and I initially refused to go to the ER because I was still bleeding from giving birth and my milk was coming in.

I mention this, and I'm sure we all have stories, because the pain is something I can't begin to articulate, but even if I had died on the hospital floor where I collapsed, I wouldn't have gotten anyone else sick.

Covid is not child's play, although I'm genuinely relieved when you or anyone is doing well. However IMO your experience does not reflect the suffering of those who gasped to death, 800,000 and counting in America alone.

We who wish to get together with our loved ones might actually be the enemy, without even knowing it. The transmissibility of this disease is something not seen for a century. Thankfully you were vaccinated and so were spared the worst effects, but people are still dying so we can't minimize or trivialize Covid at all.

I’m sure that wasn’t your intent.

IMO