Author Topic: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid  (Read 127656 times)

Offline marcia29

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1695 on: January 25, 2022, 01:08:36 PM »
Our box of 4 free tests just arrived.  All in one small box. Placed in the mailbox.
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Offline Andrew Costa Mesa

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1696 on: January 25, 2022, 01:21:32 PM »
According to Dow Jones, both Pfizer and Moderna are working on a Omicron-tailored vaccine.

Pfizer Begins Study Testing Omicron Vaccine in People -- Update

12:27 pm ET January 25, 2022 (Dow Jones)
By Jared S. Hopkins
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have started a trial evaluating an adapted version of their Covid-19 vaccine that targets the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

The drugmakers said Tuesday they began enrolling adults ages 18 to 55 in the U.S. and South Africa to examine the safety, tolerability and immune response generated by the vaccine if it is given either as a primary series or as a booster dose.

One subject has already received the shot, Pfizer said.

Initial study results are expected in the first half of the year, Pfizer said. The drugmaker could ask U.S. regulators for authorization and begin distribution in March, should the Omicron-targeted shot prove to work safely, Chief Executive Albert Bourla has said.

Should the vaccine be needed, Pfizer and BioNTech would still be able to manufacture 4 billion doses of the shot this year, the companies said.

Moderna Inc. plans to start a clinical trial of its Omicron-specific vaccine candidate within days, a company spokeswoman said.

Vaccine makers have been racing to tweak their Covid-19 shots to target Omicron since the variant began sweeping the globe and causing a surge in cases.

Laboratory studies have found that Covid-19 vaccines provide less protection against Omicron than previous strains. Yet a third dose of certain vaccines, administered as a booster, neutralized Omicron in lab tests.

U.S. health authorities have said that Omicron-targeted shots might not be needed, citing the activity of boosters found so far against Omicron in lab tests. Another variable: Future variants might not be descendants of Omicron.

Pfizer and BioNTech say they want to be prepared with an Omicron vaccine, should regulators and researchers determine one is needed.

"Staying vigilant against the virus requires us to identify new approaches for people to maintain a high level of protection, and we believe developing and investigating variant-based vaccines, like this one, are essential in our efforts to work towards this goal," said Dr. Kathrin Jansen, who leads vaccine R&D at Pfizer.

Pfizer and BioNTech have studied versions of their vaccines targeting the Beta and Delta variants, although they haven't been cleared for use by regulators.

In the new study, the companies said they would test how the vaccine performs in three groups of volunteers. Some of the subjects will come from the study that led to the current vaccine's clearance in 2020.

Researchers plan to enroll up to 615 people who received the two-dose primary series of the current vaccine three to six months before enrollment. The subjects will receive either one dose of the Omicron-based vaccine, two doses four weeks apart from each other, or a third dose of the current vaccine.

Additionally, researchers will enroll up to 600 people who received three doses of the current vaccine three to six months ago. These subjects will receive either one dose of the Omicron vaccine or a fourth dose of the current shot.

About 200 additional subjects who haven't received any vaccine will receive two doses of the Omicron-based vaccine three weeks apart, and a third dose six months later.

--Peter Loftus contributed to this article.
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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1697 on: Today at 03:53:13 AM »

Offline Transmute Jun

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1697 on: January 25, 2022, 01:51:49 PM »
By the time the vaccine is available, Omicron will already have gone through the vast majority of the world's population.

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1698 on: January 25, 2022, 07:16:20 PM »
It looks like San Diego may have peaked. For the last 5 days the case numbers have been 14K, 10K, 7K, 5K and 6K.  Positivity has gone from the low 30% range to the low 20% range.

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Our box of 4 free tests just arrived.  All in one small box. Placed in the mailbox.

Same for us.  Shipped from Kansas.

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1699 on: January 26, 2022, 11:59:20 AM »
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By the time the vaccine is available, Omicron will already have gone through the vast majority of the world's population.

A large portion at least.  But that doesn't mean an omicron vaccine isn't needed.  As the 4th dose data out of Israel indicates, we are at the point of diminishing returns getting a boost from vaccines based on the original strain.  Compared to omicron, it's sufficiently different.  Based on the high number of omicron infections, chances are the next variant may be a descendant of it's lineage and an omicron vaccine will be more effective than what we have now.

About omicron infections, a large study out of the UK, found that 65% of the people who got infected with omicron had covid before.  Most omicron infections are reinfections.

Offline Andrew Costa Mesa

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1700 on: January 27, 2022, 04:05:03 PM »
If any of you don't believe the positivity infection rate in Orange County is going down because not everybody tests for Covid-19 and that home tests are not reported, according to local Orange County scientists, our poop don't lie!

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Offline Andrew Costa Mesa

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1701 on: January 31, 2022, 01:15:40 AM »
A mutated version of the Omicron variant called BA.2 or “Stealth Omicron,” could slow the steep decline in cases, but it is not likely to change the overall course of the pandemic, scientists said.  Currently it makes up 8% of all cases in the U.S.

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Offline Transmute Jun

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1702 on: January 31, 2022, 10:58:40 AM »
There are always going to be new variants. This will never end. That's why this is endemic.

Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1703 on: January 31, 2022, 11:02:36 AM »
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A mutated version of the Omicron variant called BA.2 or “Stealth Omicron,” could slow the steep decline in cases, but it is not likely to change the overall course of the pandemic, scientists said.  Currently it makes up 8% of all cases in the U.S.

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I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago.  As with the other omicron, it's quickly sweeping the world.  If the initial data holds up it will replace BA.1, the omicron we all know today.  It appears to be more contagious than BA.1, possibly 50% more.  Back when alpha was 50% more contagious than the original strain, it was a big deal.  But as it is with the law of large numbers, 50% more than a lot is still a lot.

It's not really a mutated version of omicron, it's a sibling.  Both BA.1 and BA.2 evolved from a common ancestor, not one from the other.  A new study adds credence to the theory that omicron evolved in mice.  The theory is that a mouse population caught covid from people, it evolved and then they gave it back.  A few days ago a study out of Hong Kong discussed known cases of hamsters with covid infecting people.  That's why they are culling hamsters related to a pet store outbreak in HK.  So transmission between different species is not as rare as we thought.  Which also lends credence that China is right and that covid evolved naturally in bats.  Which makes covid impossible to stop.  Even if we could eradicated it completely in humans, it would still be circulating in animal populations.  In the US, covid is wide spread in deer.  So even if completely eliminated in humans, it can just leap back to us from animals.

Offline Andrew Costa Mesa

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1704 on: January 31, 2022, 01:19:01 PM »
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner and CNBC contributor, told CNBC's “Squawk Box” that people who got sick from Omicron should have some degree of protection against the newer BA.2 variant.  He also said preliminary results not peer-reviewed in the U.K. showed that people who got boosted have slightly more protection against the newer BA.2 variant than the original Omicron variant.  He cautions it’s a small sample.
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Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1705 on: January 31, 2022, 05:37:00 PM »
Cases here in San Diego continue to drop.  Only a little over 2,000 cases yesterday.  That's a steep drop off in only a week.  It's about 1/10th of the cases from 3 weeks ago.

Offline Andrew Costa Mesa

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1706 on: January 31, 2022, 08:10:08 PM »
A Pfizer shot for babies between six months and four years old could be available as soon as the end of February.

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Offline Andrew Costa Mesa

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1707 on: January 31, 2022, 08:24:05 PM »
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Cases here in San Diego continue to drop.  Only a little over 2,000 cases yesterday.  That's a steep drop off in only a week.  It's about 1/10th of the cases from 3 weeks ago.

On January 29, Orange County’s infection rate dropped from 23.3% to 19.6%.  We’re now down to 18.2%, below our previous record high of 19.7% that we reached last year.  Earlier this month, we were as high as 27.9%.
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Offline chocolateshake

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1708 on: February 01, 2022, 01:10:11 PM »
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Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner and CNBC contributor, told CNBC's “Squawk Box” that people who got sick from Omicron should have some degree of protection against the newer BA.2 variant.  He also said preliminary results not peer-reviewed in the U.K. showed that people who got boosted have slightly more protection against the newer BA.2 variant than the original Omicron variant.  He cautions it’s a small sample.

The data out of Denmark shows the opposite of that.  BA.2 is more contagious than omicron across the board.  People fully vaccinated and boosted are 3 times more likely to be infected by BA.2 than omicron.  The good news is that people infected with BA.2 are less likely to spread it than omicron.

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Another issue is that the hope has been that omicron would enable natural heard immunity and thus end the pandemic.  That doesn't appear to be the case.  As having delta didn't confer much immunity against omicron.  Omicron may not infer that much immunity against BA.2.  Especially since omicron infections tend to be mild.  The milder the infection the lower the amount of immunity.  Many omicron cases are so mild that the concern is that they might not even confer much immunity against reinfection with omicron.  So getting vaccinated is still a very smart thing to do.

BA.2 is so different from omicron that it just may get it's own greek letter.  BA.1 and BA.2 are about as different as earlier variants were from one another.

BA.2 is quickly becoming dominate over omicron in many countries.  It's quickly becoming a large factor in the US.  I think I'll go out and about to run errands this week.  It seems like we are in the lull between omicron and BA.2.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2022, 01:12:53 PM by chocolateshake »

Offline Mario Wario

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Re: Reports & check ins in the age of Covid
« Reply #1709 on: February 01, 2022, 07:24:42 PM »
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“A Literature Review and Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Lockdowns on COVID-19 Mortality”
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