COVID-19/Coronavirus Information and Support Thread (see OP for useful links)

[Daz555]

Fantastic news though and hopefully younger children are just around the corner. It'll be a huge win if we can get it approved for all school-aged kids since I believe that's the biggest hurdle left to getting kids back in the classroom. I know there will be a ton of resistance, but even having 50% of a classroom vaccinated will help immensely. It sounds like we should be seeing 5-11-year-olds be approved by the end of the year too, which is good since that's probably about the time the next generation of vaccines will be available to combat the variants.

Out of 557,000 Covid-19 deaths in the USA, 277 are in the 17 and under age group. Given the incredibly low risk to children I wonder if them being in school (or not) would be better linked to vaccination numbers for the associated adults rather than the children themselves?

 

[UKMikey]

Out of 557,000 Covid-19 deaths in the USA, 277 are in the 17 and under age group. Given the incredibly low risk to children I wonder if them being in school (or not) would be better linked to vaccination numbers for the associated adults rather than the children themselves?

Vaccinated kids have less chance of passing on the virus asymptomatically, especially as children are less likely to engage in social distancing. Not all the adults they engage with outside school are likely to be vaccinated themselves as there's always going to be a certain percentage of dumbasses.

 

[Brend]

Got my first dose of the vaccine today (Pfizer). Here's hoping the side effects aren't too severe! Although I am enjoying this new finger on my left hand...

 

[Joey D]

Out of 557,000 Covid-19 deaths in the USA, 277 are in the 17 and under age group. Given the incredibly low risk to children I wonder if them being in school (or not) would be better linked to vaccination numbers for the associated adults rather than the children themselves?

Deaths are a bad statistic to look at. Yes, kids under 18 typically don't die from COVID, but they're also statistically the healthiest group of people we have in the US. The problem arises with the new variations we're seeing and with the right mutation, kids could become very ill. It's hard to get an accurate picture of just how many kids have had COVID too since, for the most part, it presents itself as a bad cold or with flu-like symptoms. Kids get sick all the time because they're little biological terrorists who spew germs where ever they go so most parents aren't going to think twice if they have a reasonably healthy kid who gets a cough and runny nose.

While adult to adult interactions probably leads to more infections, the number of households with kids is still pretty high.

 

[Touring Mars]

I just got my 1st dose of the Pfizer vaccine about 45 minutes ago.

It was extremely well organised... very impressive, I was seen straight away and I'm home already, even after having to wait in the vaccination centre for 15 minutes after the jab to watch for reactions.

That said, I did start to feel something almost immediately after leaving, but it is something I get from time to time anyway... like a 'heat spot' on my thigh that gets sore when whatever is in my pocket rubs against it... but it is highly coincidental that it came on abruptly about 1 minute after I left the building. I'm expecting some side effects over the next few days, but hopefully this is nothing to worry about!

 

[Famine]

My wife is now stabbing people at the local stabbery, but I still can't get stabbed. So much for "it's not what you know but who you know".

 

[Dennisch]

I'm expecting some side effects over the next few days, but hopefully this is nothing to worry about!

We'll see if you turn into Touring Uranus.

 

[TB]

My wife is now stabbing people at the local stabbery, but I still can't get stabbed. So much for "it's not what you know but who you know".

I asked my wife if she could just bring a couple of doses home.

She looked at me like Tommy Lee Jones reading a newspaper.

 

[Blitz24]

I asked my wife if she could just bring a couple of doses home.

She looked at me like Tommy Lee Jones reading a newspaper.

At least she didn't stab you.

 

[TB]

At least she didn't stab you.

She has cut me open, though.

Repeatedly.

 

[RacingGrandpa]

Today around lunch time the hospital called my wife to let her know she could get vaccinated now, because she is in a risk group. Unfortunately her test came back this morning as positive.
So with my jab 2 weeks away and hers a few days we caught it .

 

[Touring Mars]

Today around much time the hospital called my wife to let her know she could get vaccinated now, because she is in a risk group. Unfortunately her test came back this morning as positive.
So with my jab 2 weeks away and hers a few days we caught it .

Damn, sorry to hear that.

I hope you are both OK.

I don't even know, but will they still administer the vaccine to someone who has recently tested positive? I would imagine that they probably won't until you (both) test negative.

 

[Liquid]

By the way, had my second jab almost two weeks ago. Absolutely zero side effects.

 

[Joey D]

I don't even know, but will they still administer the vaccine to someone who has recently tested positive? I would imagine that they probably won't until you (both) test negative.

In the US, it's going to be up to the health system for the most part, but we won't administer it if you've had a positive test within the last 90 days without a doctor saying you need it sooner. I don't know the reasoning behind that though. At first, it was to cut down on the number of people who were trying to get vaccinated, but now we have more vaccines than arms to put them in.

 

[RacingGrandpa]

Damn, sorry to hear that.

I hope you are both OK.

I don't even know, but will they still administer the vaccine to someone who has recently tested positive? I would imagine that they probably won't until you (both) test negative.

5 weeks after a negative test.

So far we are doing ok. My wife says it's the worst she ever felt and have dizzy spells, nausea,, extreme fatigue, loss of smell and taste. But she's breathing OK so it's still positive.

I am tired and has ache in all my body but other than that I am ok

 

[Brett]

In the US, it's going to be up to the health system for the most part, but we won't administer it if you've had a positive test within the last 90 days without a doctor saying you need it sooner. I don't know the reasoning behind that though. At first, it was to cut down on the number of people who were trying to get vaccinated, but now we have more vaccines than arms to put them in.

The only thing I could find is if someone has been treated with monoclonal antibodies or convalescent plasma that they should wait 90 days.

 

[TexRex]

Reasonably...how much of a concern are mutations as a result of rampant spread in India and Brazil? Has the virus demonstrated an ability to spread with a speed and to a degree that existing vaccines, taking into account the delay in reaching herd immunity due to those unwilling to vaccinate, won't prove effective on mutations in the near future? Is there anything about coronavirus, broadly, that may alleviate concerns over vaccine efficacy re: mutations?

 

[Aerocoupe]

My city and a couple others got together and set up a clinic in an old Kmart store. Initially they were by appointment only, though currently they're accepting walk-ins. I made an appointment Monday to get my first dose yesterday, but with how dead the place was it didn't really matter; I pretty much went straight from check-in to getting my first shot of Pfizer. Haven't had any issues other than the expected soreness at the injection site.

It's very relieving to finally get it done. Considering I work in retail and touch many unsanitized objects throughout the day, I'm surprised I haven't caught the virus yet. It's been at the back of my mind for a while how there's always that chance I could catch it, but I'll be more at ease once I get my second round on the 27th.

 

[Outspacer]

Reasonably...how much of a concern are mutations as a result of rampant spread in India and Brazil? Has the virus demonstrated an ability to spread with a speed and to a degree that existing vaccines, taking into account the delay in reaching herd immunity due to those unwilling to vaccinate, won't prove effective on mutations in the near future? Is there anything about coronavirus, broadly, that may alleviate concerns over vaccine efficacy re: mutations?

Pretty hard to say how bad those variants are when there's clearly major other factors at play in India and Brazil (political, population density, religious festivals, etc).

A variant of the 'Indian' variant is likely to be named a Variant of Concern shortly (BBC). The Indian variants are notable because their mutations are different to those seen before, although that doesn't necessarily make them spread much faster than other variants.

The huge unknown is what happens when there's circulation of the virus in a partly vaccinated population, as that's when we'll find out whether it can mutate to a vaccine resistant variant. Most likely it can, but it may become less harmful in the process, we just don't know.

There will be a useful amount of immunity in the unwilling population since they're more likely to have had covid. Albeit not as good protection as being vaccinated, but still counts for something. This could easily amount to 10% to 20%, or more in some states/areas.

Overall my unqualified gut feeling is that it will give us (UK/US/EU) another scare at some point in terms of case numbers, but I'm reasonably optimistic that it won't result in large numbers of hospitalisations.

 

[Touring Mars]

There will be a useful amount of immunity in the unwilling population since they're more likely to have had covid. Albeit not as good protection as being vaccinated, but still counts for something. This could easily amount to 10% to 20%, or more in some states/areas.

The trouble with relying on immunity from a previous infection is that it may not last very long - reinfections with the same strain of the virus appear to be rare, but that is arguably an obvious consequence of immunity arising from infection - but reinfections could well start to become a lot more common, esp. when new variants are already present. Personally I would not be taking my chances of riding out the pandemic while refusing to be vaccinated, but plenty others will.

Overall my unqualified gut feeling is that it will give us (UK/US/EU) another scare at some point in terms of case numbers, but I'm reasonably optimistic that it won't result in large numbers of hospitalisations.

I hope so too. I think a 3rd wave will happen and in terms of case numbers it could look similar to the 2nd wave, but the million dollar question is how many cases translate into hospitalisations, which will hopefully be substantially lower. Let's hope so anyway.

 

[Outspacer]

The trouble with relying on immunity from a previous infection is that it may not last very long - reinfections with the same strain of the virus appear to be rare, but that is arguably an obvious consequence of immunity arising from infection - but reinfections could well start to become a lot more common, esp. when new variants are already present. Personally I would not be taking my chances of riding out the pandemic while refusing to be vaccinated, but plenty others will.

Indeed. This scenario is what I was alluding to in my earlier post when I said "we can do this the easy way or the hard way". The easy way, with clearly the best protection, is vaccination. Most or all of the vaccines were produced to account for some variants (unfortunately the ones AstraZeneca chose haven't been a problem). The hard way is limited protection from having had the virus, where we know reinfection from a variant is possible even within a short time period and suspect immunity may not last for long. That said, for the moment, with relatively few variants in circulation, any such immunity is helpful in reducing spread and therefore probablity of new variants.

Deliberately vague on 'for the moment' ... 6 months? 12 months? until global travel opens up? I'm thinking the first scare comes fairly soon, with autumn looking most likely if the Indian variant doesn't have much impact (it's already in UK and US, so we'll find out in a few weeks). Longer term we might settle into a repeating pattern - possibly like the flu, but there's reasons to think it won't be as variable (relatively low mutation rate in coronaviruses compared to flus, repeated similar mutations, etc).

Obviously everything should be done to try and persuade people to get vaccinated and I'm not trying to sow any doubt in that. However, that it will fail to reach desired levels in some areas does not mean it's certain that disaster will follow. A vaccine-escaping strain could come from anywhere.

I hope so too. I think a 3rd wave will happen and in terms of case numbers it could look similar to the 2nd wave, but the million dollar question is how many cases translate into hospitalisations, which will hopefully be substantially lower. Let's hope so anyway.

If I had to put a number on it, I guess "reasonably optimistic" means something like 70 to 80% chance we (UK) have already seen the worst of it. I'd be daft to say anything more definitive!

 

[Outspacer]

A variant of the 'Indian' variant is likely to be named a Variant of Concern shortly (BBC).

From BBC's live feed:

Version of Indian Covid variant 'of concern' in UK
One version of the Indian coronavirus variant has been made a "variant of concern", Public Health England has announced.

Public Health England (PHE) has been tracking B.1.617.2 which appears to spread more quickly than two other identified subtypes of the Indian variant.

It is at least as transmissible as the B.1.1.7 Kent variant, PHE said.

However there is no evidence that it causes more severe disease or renders vaccines less effective, PHE added.

It is believed more than 500 cases of B.1.617.2 have now been detected across England with the highest levels in London and the North West, the BBC has reported.

See more on our earlier story on this variant

 

[Joey D]

Some promising news on the vaccine front from a study in the New England Journal of Medicine:

Effectiveness of the BNT162b2 Covid-19 Vaccine against the B.1.1.7 and B.1.351 Variants

The findings show that the Pfizer vaccine is between 87-89.% effective against the B.1.1.7 variant in individuals who've had both doses two weeks prior to being exposed. They also found that it was 72.1-75% effective against B.1.351 under the same set of conditions.

B.1.351 is "the nastiest of all the variants of concern," according to Laith Abu-Raddad, PhD, one of the study's authors and an infectious disease epidemiologist at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar. "It’s not the 95 percent we were hoping, but the 75 percent is really great," he said.

Another study seems to back this up too which was recently published in Lancet:

Impact and effectiveness of mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 cases, hospitalisations, and deaths following a nationwide vaccination campaign in Israel: an observational study using national surveillance data

It concluded that the Pfizer vaccine was 95% effective against B.1.1.7.

 

[ImaRobot]

I received the second dose of Pfizer on Wednesday and so far the side affects I've encountered was restlessness in the early AM, around 1 and ended up not being to actually get to sleep until a few hours into my shift lol. I had called off, though.

That day I ended up getting body aches on my upper body, over the majority of my back and neck. It's causing me to be easily irritable at work so I'm leaving half day today. I really only came in to make sure that there was enough workload set up for everyone while I'm out.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

I got my 2nd shot yesterday, and it's been better than the 1st time. Significantly less shoulder soreness, and less headache the second day though I did sleep in a bit.

 

[Northstar]

We've found the way to reach those unwilling to get the vaccine, beer!

https://buffalonews.com/news/local/...cle_34b5d0d2-b011-11eb-92fd-8b7017585dc1.html

 

[JKgo]

Ingenious. But will it work on those who already drank too much kool-aid, I wonder.

 

[UKMikey]

It's the day after my second Oxford/AZ jab and my arm isn't as sore as last time. I feel a bit woozy though. Mild headache and raised temperature but nothing like jab number one so far.

 

[TexRex]

Ingenious. But will it work on those who already drank too much kool-aid, I wonder.

Aaahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...

No.

You know...ten years ago, I wouldn't have thought anti-vax sentiment to be particularly partisan. Actually, I'd have probably first associated it with the pyramid power, healing crystals set who I'd expect to lean left and away from agri/petro/pharma. My view has...changed.

It's the day after my second Oxford/AZ jab and my arm isn't as sore as last time. I feel a bit woozy though. Mild headache and raised temperature but nothing like jab number one so far.

Nothing like your first jab, as in better? I didn't see what you had to say about it but that's how what you've said above reads.

 

[JKgo]

You know...ten years ago, I wouldn't have thought anti-vax sentiment to be particularly partisan. Actually, I'd have probably first associated it with the pyramid power, healing crystals set who I'd expect to lean left and away from agri/petro/pharma. My view has...changed.

Indeed, I did think the same - the anti-vaxxers being an offshoot of the tin-foil hat wearing types. Although, the hardcore Christian Science set also are not that keen on vaccine-ing up, so maybe there's a correlation somewhere. Maybe.