Mega-Thread: Coronavirus Pandemic

[Shadowferal]

Still not sure why the right-wingers are making this into a political statement thing...

The more of them that get it, and die as a result does tend to make a statement.

[Granyala]

I would like to conclude with this image.

Haha, awesome.

[PhaelixWW]

https://i.imgur.com/Kjb7IJv.jpg

Haha, awesome.

That image is photoshopped, fyi; it's not real.

[Rasulis]

That image is photoshopped, fyi; it's not real.

Close. It is from Atom Smasher's Make your own Chinese Restaurant Sign.

Still funny as hell.

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Another good news.

New Studies Find Evidence Of 'Superhuman' Immunity To COVID-19 In Some Individuals

Over the past several months, a series of studies has found that some people mount an extraordinarily powerful immune response against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19. Their bodies produce very high levels of antibodies, but they also make antibodies with great flexibility — likely capable of fighting off the coronavirus variants circulating in the world but also likely effective against variants that may emerge in the future.

In a study published online last month, Bieniasz and his colleagues found antibodies in these individuals that can strongly neutralize the six variants of concern tested, including delta and beta, as well as several other viruses related to SARS-CoV-2, including one in bats, two in pangolins and the one that caused the first coronavirus pandemic, SARS-CoV-1.

People who have had a "hybrid" exposure to the virus. Specifically, they were infected with the coronavirus in 2020 and then immunized with mRNA vaccines this year. "Those people have amazing responses to the vaccine," says virologist Theodora Hatziioannou at Rockefeller University, who also helped lead several of the studies. "I think they are in the best position to fight the virus. The antibodies in these people's blood can even neutralize SARS-CoV-1, the first coronavirus, which emerged 20 years ago. That virus is very, very different from SARS-CoV-2."

In fact, these antibodies were even able to deactivate a virus engineered, on purpose, to be highly resistant to neutralization. This virus contained 20 mutations that are known to prevent SARS-CoV-2 antibodies from binding to it. Antibodies from people who were only vaccinated or who only had prior coronavirus infections were essentially useless against this mutant virus. But antibodies in people with the "hybrid immunity" could neutralize it.

These findings show how powerful the mRNA vaccines can be in people with prior exposure to SARS-CoV-2, she says. "There's a lot of research now focused on finding a pan-coronavirus vaccine that would protect against all future variants. Our findings tell you that we already have it.

"But there's a catch, right?" she adds: You first need to be sick with COVID-19. "After natural infections, the antibodies seem to evolve and become not only more potent but also broader. They become more resistant to mutations within the [virus]."

Hatziioannou and colleagues don't know if everyone who has had COVID-19 and then an mRNA vaccine will have such a remarkable immune response. "We've only studied the phenomena with a few patients because it's extremely laborious and difficult research to do," she says.

But she suspects it's quite common. "With every single one of the patients we studied, we saw the same thing." The study reports data on 14 patients.

Several other studies support her hypothesis — and buttress the idea that exposure to both a coronavirus and an mRNA vaccine triggers an exceptionally powerful immune response. In one study, published last month in The New England Journal of Medicine, scientists analyzed antibodies generated by people who had been infected with the original SARS virus — SARS-CoV-1 — back in 2002 or 2003 and who then received an mRNA vaccine this year.

Remarkably, these people also produced high levels of antibodies and — it's worth reiterating this point from a few paragraphs above — antibodies that could neutralize a whole range of variants and SARS-like viruses.

Now, of course, there are so many remaining questions. For example, what if you catch COVID-19 after you're vaccinated? Or can a person who hasn't been infected with the coronavirus mount a "superhuman" response if the person receives a third dose of a vaccine as a booster?

Hatziioannou says she can't answer either of those questions yet. "I'm pretty certain that a third shot will help a person's antibodies evolve even further, and perhaps they will acquire some breadth [or flexibility], but whether they will ever manage to get the breadth that you see following natural infection, that's unclear."

Immunologist John Wherry, at the University of Pennsylvania, is a bit more hopeful. "In our research, we already see some of this antibody evolution happening in people who are just vaccinated," he says, "although it probably happens faster in people who have been infected."

In a recent study, published online in late August, Wherry and his colleagues showed that, over time, people who have had only two doses of the vaccine (and no prior infection) start to make more flexible antibodies — antibodies that can better recognize many of the variants of concern.

So a third dose of the vaccine would presumably give those antibodies a boost and push the evolution of the antibodies further, Wherry says. So a person will be better equipped to fight off whatever variant the virus puts out there next.

"Based on all these findings, it looks like the immune system is eventually going to have the edge over this virus," says Bieniasz, of Rockefeller University. "And if we're lucky, SARS-CoV-2 will eventually fall into that category of viruses that gives us only a mild cold."

[Masark]

Another good news.

New Studies Find Evidence Of 'Superhuman' Immunity To COVID-19 In Some Individuals

I wonder if it would be possible to safely duplicate that with an attenuated virus vaccine followed by an mRNA vaccine.

[Gaidax]

R number finally started dropping without lockdown, only about 1/3 pop took 3rd shot.

[Strawberry]

But do you actually want to risk losing your sense of taste? It would be interesting given your name. And being young is not a silver bullet, a friend of mine under 30 was diagnosed with acute respiratory failure because of the Delta strain. He lived barely and luckily regained his taste after 2 weeks, but that is the kinda shit I do not understand why people want to fuck around with.

I'm not below 30, I'm actually waaaay above 30 and closing in on 40.
The smell/taste loss is not permanent.

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Stating you are ignorant and selfish, and proud of it, continues to be a bold move.

I'm not ignorant and selfish. Just rocking the boat you vaxxers have been safely sitting in.
You're vaccinated. You're safe from me. Stop bitching.

[Dezerte]

I'm not ignorant and selfish. Just rocking the boat you vaxxers have been safely sitting in.
You're vaccinated. You're safe from me. Stop bitching.

Other people who can't get vaccinated are not safe from you. Not even people who are vaccinated are necessarily safe as no vaccine offers a 100% protection. You are contributing not only to the spread and the mutation(s) of the virus, but you are also risking other people's lives and health.

[Shadowferal]

Another good news. New Studies Find Evidence Of 'Superhuman' Immunity To COVID-19 In Some Individuals[/I][/B]

"But there's a catch, right?" she adds: You first need to be sick with COVID-19. "After natural infections, the antibodies seem to evolve and become not only more potent but also broader. They become more resistant to mutations within the [virus]."

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I had "covid nails" after getting the first jab..and while not conclusive, some suspect that's an indication that a person might have had the virus.

[unfilteredJW]

I'm not below 30, I'm actually waaaay above 30 and closing in on 40.
The smell/taste loss is not permanent.

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I'm not ignorant and selfish. Just rocking the boat you vaxxers have been safely sitting in.
You're vaccinated. You're safe from me. Stop bitching.

Selfish and ignorant. Got it.

[Granyala]

That image is photoshopped, fyi; it's not real.

Man and here I was thinking that some dude in Florida was actually crazy enough to defy the seemingly incompetent authorities.

[gondrin]

Man and here I was thinking that some dude in Florida was actually crazy enough to defy the seemingly incompetent authorities.

Nah, he wouldn't be defying them. He isn't requiring a vaccine card to eat there, only to get the discount. Otherwise, $150 meal for them.

[Poopymonster]

Nah, he wouldn't be defying them. He isn't requiring a vaccine card to eat there, only to get the discount. Otherwise, $150 meal for them.

Asian place? During the pandemic? Defying the Divine Right of DeSatan?

"Gasoline as an accelerant, matches on the scene, yup, looks like an electrical fire. It's an accident."

[gondrin]

Asian place? During the pandemic? Defying the Divine Right of DeSatan?

"Gasoline as an accelerant, matches on the scene, yup, looks like an electrical fire. It's an accident."

Not sure if this would be Chief Wiggum or more of Officer Barbrady line of thought.

[Rozz]

If you don't want to take the vaccine that's fine. You don't need to announce it here, nor do users need to hound individuals for not wanting to. It's derailing and irrelevant.

[Strawberry]

Other people who can't get vaccinated are not safe from you. Not even people who are vaccinated are necessarily safe as no vaccine offers a 100% protection. You are contributing not only to the spread and the mutation(s) of the virus, but you are also risking other people's lives and health.

So are you mr vaccinated person.

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You're literally one of the dumbest people I've ever seen on the internet.

Okay. You need to go out more if you've seen that many dumb people on the internet and I top the list.

[unfilteredJW]

If you don't want to take the vaccine that's fine. You don't need to announce it here, nor do users need to hound individuals for not wanting to. It's derailing and irrelevant.

This is horseshit. It should be called out every single fucking time. They should be made to feel embarrassed and ashamed. Their choices are health risks to those around them. The are selfish, entitled morons, and it should be made quite clear to them and those reading the posts that their selfishness and idiocy should not be tolerated.

Signed, guy from Florida.

[Edge-]

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/l...54088843.html?

Ah yes, asking someone to put on a mask warrants being called racial slurs and assaulted, resulting in a concussion.

I'm increasingly supportive of hospitals LOUDLY AND PROUDLY denying care to unvaccinated covid patients (without a medical reason) so that they can have the space to care for the victims of these kinds of peoples attacks.

[Rasulis]

I wonder if it would be possible to safely duplicate that with an attenuated virus vaccine followed by an mRNA vaccine.

That's a thought. Although that would require rewinding the clock on the pandemic. The third booster shot is probably the easier avenue.

We are part of a study at UCSF which looks at breakthrough cases. It won't be completed till next year. However, from talking to the doctor in charge, she said that preliminary findings indicate that their test subjects have elevated wide-coverage antibody cells.

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"But there's a catch, right?" she adds: You first need to be sick with COVID-19. "After natural infections, the antibodies seem to evolve and become not only more potent but also broader. They become more resistant to mutations within the [virus]."

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I had "covid nails" after getting the first jab..and while not conclusive, some suspect that's an indication that a person might have had the virus.

I had to look it up. Interesting info. Neither one of us had those signs.

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Interesting study which parallel the results of the Belgium study I previously linked. However, this also looked at the antibody response by age of recipients.

Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Response by Age Among Recipients of the BNT162b2 vs the mRNA-1273 Vaccine

According to the study, participants 50 years old or older produced higher levels of IgG antibodies when they received the Moderna vaccine instead of the Pfizer vaccine. The researchers found that after two shots, this age group produced 71.8 micrograms per milliliter worth of these binding antibodies with Moderna, compared to only 31.1 micrograms per milliliter with Pfizer.

When comparing the same vaccine by age, participants 50 years old or older who received the Pfizer vaccine had roughly a 50 percent lower level of binding antibodies than younger recipients. But with Moderna's vaccine, both younger and older recipients had the same antibody levels.

[PhaelixWW]

That's a thought. Although that would require rewinding the clock on the pandemic. The third booster shot is probably the easier avenue.

We are part of a study at UCSF which looks at breakthrough cases. It won't be completed till next year. However, from talking to the doctor in charge, she said that preliminary findings indicate that their test subjects have elevated wide-coverage antibody cells.

It certainly sounds like time plays a factor, as well, sure. Like the immune response just takes time to mature, regardless of the initial exposure method. Then again, I'm sure that almost all of us have been exposed to at least some of the virus over the last... shit, almost two years.

It definitely lines up well with the idea that the other HCoVs likely started as violent plagues that relatively quickly receded into common-cold-inducing viruses.

I'm curious how well the robust immune response identified by the study responds to the coronaviruses outside the sarbecovirus family.