Mega-Thread: Coronavirus Pandemic

[Zantos]

In the US, seems they have stopped really talking about it a lot. My grandmother is convinced its gone now. She was surprised to hear about the fact that its still very much around. This is crazy. The pandemic is still going strong and we are just ignoring it.

[Edge-]

The covid is coming from inside the house!

Welp, finally happened and my brought caught covid (service industry). Thankfully he's experiencing mild symptoms, mostly just sleeping a lot but otherwise is fine (boosted and everything). So doing the whole "isolating as best we can and masking in the common areas of the house" bit which is complicated by our cats slightly.

So far nothing for me, though I'll likely test in a few days to see if he shared his surprise with me and maybe I've got an asymptomatic case. Really hoping I don't though (even if it's probably better to get an asymptomatic case), I've made it more than two bloody years into this pandemic while dodging the bullet so if I can make it through this I should be in the clear (as reinfection for my brother should be very, very, very, very minimal).

[Rasulis]

The covid is coming from inside the house!

Welp, finally happened and my brought caught covid (service industry). Thankfully he's experiencing mild symptoms, mostly just sleeping a lot but otherwise is fine (boosted and everything). So doing the whole "isolating as best we can and masking in the common areas of the house" bit which is complicated by our cats slightly.

So far nothing for me, though I'll likely test in a few days to see if he shared his surprise with me and maybe I've got an asymptomatic case. Really hoping I don't though (even if it's probably better to get an asymptomatic case), I've made it more than two bloody years into this pandemic while dodging the bullet so if I can make it through this I should be in the clear (as reinfection for my brother should be very, very, very, very minimal).

I am surprised you managed to avoid it so far.

As for cats and dogs - Cats and dogs get COVID-19 from their owners at extremely high rates.

About two-thirds of pet cats and more than 40% of pet dogs in the study caught COVID-19 after their owners had the disease.

Need masks for your cats.

[Edge-]

I am surprised you managed to avoid it so far.

As for cats and dogs - Cats and dogs get COVID-19 from their owners at extremely high rates.



Need masks for your cats.

Yeah, I'm kinda resigned to "I'm gonna get covid." Though 3-4 days in and still no symptoms (not testing quite yet) so I might luck out yet. Very much limiting my time around them and not letting our lap-cap get any lap time.

It's probably all futile, but if I do get through this without covid I may have to go buy a few lotto tickets to see if my luck holds out.

[PhaelixWW]

Time for another new variant (or two).

Forbes: New BA.2.12.1 Omicron Subvariant Is Even More Contagious, Fueling Covid-19 Upswing In New York State

Surprise, surprise, there are now two more new subvariants of the BA.2 Omicron subvariant of the Covid-19 coronavirus. They’ve got the super easy-to-remember names, BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1, as well. These two sub-lineages of the BA.2 already constitute an estimated 80.6% of all Covid-19 infections in the state of New York. Throughout much of the pandemic, Covid-19 coronavirus has been in a way like the boy bands of the 1990s and 2000s with new variations emerging quite often. And when a new edition of the virus, BA.2.12.1, appears to be 23% to 27% more transmissible than the original BA.2 Omicron subvariant, it can go from being a new kid on the block to being a big time rush of the virus fairly quickly.

While an upswing in Covid-19 cases is not necessarily a big time rush yet, Central New York has been experiencing upticks. In fact, in recent days, all counties in Central New York have been going in one direction with increases in both the total number of reported Covid-19 cases each day and the percentage of all tests coming back as positive for the SARS-CoV-2. Before you think that “things are getting out of hand,” though, keep in mind that it’s not clear whether these new subvariants may be more likely to cause symptoms or more severe Covid-19 than BA.2. In other words, there hasn’t been enough time to determine what percentage of people infected will end up having temperatures much higher than 98 degrees or any other type of symptoms. So far, there’s no indication that the Covid-19 vaccines are less effective against the BA.2.12 or BA.2.12.1 than they are against the BA.2.

Nonetheless, it’s not time to say “bye bye bye” to the Covid-19 pandemic and Covid-19 precautions. The emergence of these new variants is a reminder that the pandemic and accompanying emergency are certainly not over. In a press release from the New York State Department of Health, State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett stated that “We are alerting the public to two Omicron subvariants, newly emerged and rapidly spreading in upstate New York, so New Yorkers can act swiftly.” Bassett seemed to want everyone to get “*NSYNC” when it comes to Covid-19 precautions. She recommended that New Yorkers “get fully vaccinated and boosted, test following exposure, symptoms, or travel, consider wearing a mask in public indoor spaces, and consult with your healthcare provider about treatment if you test positive.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul Holds Covid-19 Update

The word “consider” is certainly not as strong as “you should.” For example, saying “consider not having your dog drive your car” would not be the same as saying “you should not have your dog drive your car.” So it’s not clear how many people will end up heeding Bassett’s recommendation. Over the past two months, many locations throughout the U.S. have lifted Covid-19 precautions like face mask requirements. The ongoing concern is that such relaxation of precautions would leave everyone more vulnerable to another Covid-19 surge and end up being yet another example of premature relaxation during the pandemic, as I’ve described for Forbes previously.

Of course, a Covid-19 upswing won’t necessarily evolve into a surge. It could just be a momentary uptick. And even if another Covid-19 surge were to occur in the coming weeks, chances are it won’t be as big a surge as the one that occurred in late 2021 through early 2022. Things are a bit different now than they were back in November 2021. The weather has been getting warmer and more humid, which could help dampen transmission of the virus. Also, our population’s immune systems aren’t quite as “virginal” now as they were a few months ago when it comes to the virus and its spiky, spiky proteins. More and more people have been either vaccinated or infected with the SARS-CoV-2 or both since then. The more your immune system sees that spike protein, the less likely you may be to suffer severe Covid-19 when the virus comes around.

Nevertheless, it’s still a good idea to maintain several layers of Covid-19 precautions right now whenever you can. If you do insist on going mask-less and not social distancing while in public indoor locations, tell me why. Putting yourself and others at unnecessary risk during the pandemic ain't nothing but a mistake. After all, there are many other people who never wanna hear you say, “I just want it that way.”

The CDC this morning updated their variant tracker, which shows a relatively quick jump in BA.2.12.1 over BA.2, considering how contagious BA.2 is.

[zEmini]

I still mask up when going ot the gym. Still debating on whether i need a 4 shot or not. Already had two moderna and a moderna booster. They do not treat me very well so I might just skip it and take my chances.

[PhaelixWW]

I still mask up when going ot the gym. Still debating on whether i need a 4 shot or not. Already had two moderna and a moderna booster. They do not treat me very well so I might just skip it and take my chances.

Just get a Pfizer booster if you want one.

The primary shots for Moderna are 100 micrograms of mRNA, while the Pfizer ones are only 30 micrograms. The boosters for Moderna are 50 micrograms and the Pfizer ones are still 30 micrograms.

At a certain point, it's more important to have had a shot recently, vs. necessarily having more mRNA total, but longer ago. So the Pfizer shots might cause less of a reaction but "top off" the resistance similarly, especially if the first three shots were all larger doses of mRNA to begin with.

I, on the other hand, have had 3x Pfizer shots with pretty much no reaction, so I'm considering seeking out a Moderna 4th shot if things start getting worse again.

[Rasulis]

Holly hell. Newest number from China - 87 Chinese cities are currently under some form of lockdowns. Up from 31 cities (373 million people) when I last posted about the lockdown in China.

[Forogil]

Holly hell. Newest number from China - 87 Chinese cities are currently under some form of lockdowns. Up from 31 cities (373 million people) when I last posted about the lockdown in China.

And despite that the number of cases aren't going down; the doubling was a fluke, but the cases are slowly increasing after two weeks - although they seem dubiously constant.

[PhaelixWW]

Time for another new variant (or two).

(Or four.)

On the other side of the planet from the BA.2.12.1 in New York, the WHO is watching BA.4 and BA.5.

All three of these variants have added a mutation at L452, which was one of the mutations that helped spread delta by strengthening the ACE2-binding of the virus. This likely helps to explain why all three variants are steadily taking over from BA.2.

Still, they mostly seem to be the same danger as the regular omicron, just more transmissive (again) through immune evasion, so we may see cases go back up again as they spread.

That being said, the 7-day average for deaths worldwide is a quarter of what it was 2 months ago and is at the lowest point since the initial expansion back at the beginning of the pandemic.

[Breccia]

That being said, the 7-day average for deaths worldwide is a quarter of what it was 2 months ago and is at the lowest point since the initial expansion back at the beginning of the pandemic.

The US is "low" too. "Only" 400 people died of COVID yesterday. Maine is spiking because, well, when you go from 6 to 10 deaths that's a big percentage jump. The other states in the top ten highest deaths/capita remain Trump states and Georgia. Hell, even Florida's below the national average, and it's four weeks after Spring Break.

[PhaelixWW]

The US is "low" too. "Only" 400 people died of COVID yesterday. Maine is spiking because, well, when you go from 6 to 10 deaths that's a big percentage jump. The other states in the top ten highest deaths/capita remain Trump states and Georgia. Hell, even Florida's below the national average, and it's four weeks after Spring Break.

Well, to be fair, Florida causes Spring Break surges... in other states, when the Spring Breakers go home. The spring wave last year in Florida was pretty low, which you can see when you look at their...



Welp. Looks like Florida's found a new way to hide their COVID surges, I guess?

But, seriously, I think that the massive initial omicron surge in winter pushed community resistance high enough to really blunt the spring surge this year. I now think that we're more likely to see a larger summer (or even late spring) surge as resistance built in winter starts to wane and the new variants pick up speed.

Deaths should hopefully remain low, though, since all the spreading variants are omicron offshoots, more boosters are going out, and the treatment options are really hitting their stride.

[Edge-]

So...are they removing those 1.5M cases and just saying "those are other states problems"?

[PhaelixWW]

So...are they removing those 1.5M cases and just saying "those are other states problems"?

I mean, honestly, it's probably just a glitch on worldometers.

[Edge-]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/cdc...ng-2022-04-20/

Transportation mask mandate being lifted is going to get challenged in court in the US. Will be curious to see how a judge who isn't rated "Unqualified" by the American Bar Association rules on this.

[Rasulis]

So...are they removing those 1.5M cases and just saying "those are other states problems"?

From the very beginning of the pandemic, non-resident cases and deaths are excluded from Florida reporting. In fact, because those cases & deaths did not occur in the respective states of residence, they are not recorded by those states either. I think I made a post about that during the height of Florida pandemic in Summer 2021.

[Edge-]

From the very beginning of the pandemic, non-resident cases and deaths are excluded from Florida reporting. In fact, because those cases & deaths did not occur in the respective states of residence, they are not recorded by those states either. I think I made a post about that during the height of Florida pandemic in Summer 2021.

...so is there like, just a giant bucket for "cases without origin" they go into or something?

[Rasulis]

...so is there like, just a giant bucket for "cases without origin" they go into or something?

They are not recorded anywhere. Since Florida did not keep track of those cases/deaths, they don't exist.

[Edge-]

They are not recorded anywhere. Since Florida did not keep track of those cases/deaths, they don't exist.

Man, gotta wonder how that would skew their (and other states) number if the cases were actually reported properly.

It's no surprise finding out new ways in which FuckFlorida is fucking with and manipulating their covid numbers.

[Forogil]

Man, gotta wonder how that would skew their (and other states) number if the cases were actually reported properly.

It's no surprise finding out new ways in which FuckFlorida is fucking with and manipulating their covid numbers.

The oft-reported numbers are generally unreliable - that's nothing unique for Florida - or any other US state (it's a lot worse in some other countries).

For deaths many use excess deaths instead, https://www.economist.com/graphic-de...deaths-tracker and Florida doesn't stand out that much; but in general the deaths are likely underestimated by 20% in the US. As long as the overall deaths are tracked that number is useful; and Florida still seems to do that (some countries like India fail to do even that). CDC also reports that, you can dig through that data as well.

Cases have been even more unreliable, and with vaccines and different variants it doesn't seem clear why you should be comparing total number of cases. There has even been some questioning whether mass-testing makes sense at all - despite WHO saying test, test, test (and the US has overall not been a success in terms of testing).

I'm not saying that Florida is doing great, just that it isn't clear that it is much worse. A year ago it seems there were similar statements, and WaPo dismissed it then - https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...ss-death-toll/