Christmas with family

[REWahoo]

We are holding our traditional delayed family Christmas gathering this evening, outside on the deck (temp in the low 70's). We will be missing three of our 11 immediate family members, two who have to work and one who got a better offer (ski trip). Everyone is vaccinated and boosted and will also test when arriving, if they haven't already done so today.

Update: We will be missing another three. One of our grandsons (lives locally) tested positive. So DD#1, son-in-law and grandson will not be coming. Another grandson, who lives independently and has not had contact with his brother for 3 days, is on his way. He will test when he gets here to see if he gets to eat with us or load up some food to take to his mom, dad, and brother.

Maybe next year...

 

[iloveyoga]

I have five siblings and we were not able to gather in a group for Christmas. There would be about 30 of us. We did break off into small groups for some impromptu get togethers. Three in the group had some stomach flu type issues and that really put the brakes on things. I just put a few presents in the mail that I was not able to give in person. So far, no positive Covid that I am aware.

Maybe next year!

 

[volfan]

The vaccines give much better protection which lasts longer than simply having recovered from Covid. The data are clear on that. For example, data from Oklahoma which I linked to in another thread, shows there were far more reinfections than breakthrough cases per 100,000 population in that state.



Apparently people who recover from Covid and later get vaccinated have "super immunity". (I'm curious if that's true from folks who get vaccinated first, then have a breakthrough case?)

Did you ever find out about vaccinated first, then breakthrough case immunity? That’s 5 of us in my family, three different vaccines.

 

[Dd852]

Luck of the draw. My wife (vaccinated and boosted and with higher antibodies than me) tested positive yesterday. I’m fine. She has pretty mild symptoms- sore throat, persistent cough, extremely tired. She went for a confirmation PCR test today.

What’s weird is we’ve been pretty much joined at the hip. Can’t think of any place she’s mixed with people without me. And of course we’ve been in the same bed and house all during her incubation period. Luck of the draw.

Anyway, already she’s started to micromanage my cooking and cleaning so I think she is well on course for recovery.

 

[anethum]

Did you ever find out about vaccinated first, then breakthrough case immunity? That’s 5 of us in my family, three different vaccines.

No, I haven't read anything about that at this time. But I think that omicron has changed things a lot. A high percentage of South Africa's population had been infected with delta, and that seemed to provide little protection against omicron. However, it's possible that a delta infection resulted in a less severe omicron infection.

Do you have any sense of which variant each of you were infected with?

In the last 24 hours, there have been preprints of 2 studies regarding a JnJ booster. In one study in South Africa, a JnJ booster was 85% effective at preventing hospitalization from omicron. Another study in Boston found that a JnJ booster resulted in much larger increases in neutralizing antibodies and CD8 T cells than in those who received a Pfizer booster.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/30/health/jj-covid-booster-omicron/index.html

I have a possibly weird idea about omicron transmission that I haven't heard anything about. I discussed it with a physician friend this week. Given that the omicron virus mutations and disease symptoms have aspects similar to common colds, I'm wondering whether it's possible that omicron could transmit more readily via fomites on surfaces than the previous variants of the coronavirus? I expected that my friend would say that it's unlikely, but instead, she thought it was a reasonable question.

 

[gattara]

I have a possibly weird idea about omicron transmission that I haven't heard anything about. I discussed it with a physician friend this week. Given that the omicron virus mutations and disease symptoms have aspects similar to common colds, I'm wondering whether it's possible that omicron could transmit more readily via fomites on surfaces than the previous variants of the coronavirus? I expected that my friend would say that it's unlikely, but instead, she thought it was a reasonable question.

My husband voiced the same question yesterday, since I've learned of two people recently getting the virus in spite of wearing masks. This statement by Dr. Francis Collins piqued my interest:

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/19/1065575540/nih-director-francis-collins-omicron

"With omicron's 57 different mutations, he said, it's "almost like we're starting over with a different virus than where we began."

 

[jcfradio]

My husband voiced the same question yesterday, since I've learned of two people recently getting the virus in spite of wearing masks. This statement by Dr. Francis Collins piqued my interest:

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/19/1065575540/nih-director-francis-collins-omicron

"With omicron's 57 different mutations, he said, it's "almost like we're starting over with a different virus than where we began."

I have been wondering the same thing lately. If all of these mutations have created something like a different virus, should we just be blindly applying the same public health strategies as we did for Alpha and Delta, or is a different approach needed now?

 

[Chuckanut]

My husband voiced the same question yesterday, since I've learned of two people recently getting the virus in spite of wearing masks.

If one is going to wear a mask for protection from this virus it should be a N95 or KN95. Alas, they are not exactly fashionable. Anything less is better than nothing but not optimal. This is what I have heard from medical professionals.

N95 or KN95 are the best for slowing the spread of the virus. Properly fitted of course. My KN95 masks leak a bit around the edges though not as badly as the cheap blue dust masks. My N95 masks fits much tighter, but it took me a while to find the right design. The few times I find myself inside in a crowded room (something I try very hard to avoid) I use the N95 mask. Otherwise, the KN95 is my goto mask. Getting N95 masks that fit me properly is still a challenge. WalMart just cancelled my latest order for the N95 mask that fits me well. :-(

As I write this our 'news radio' station is babbling on about infection rates in the various counties of my area. Nice, but not that important these days, IMO. Hospitalization and death rates are how we are going to manage this disease in a way that allows us to go on with more normal lives. Face it. We are going to have corona virus infection issues for years to come. I'll let the voluntarily non vaccinated worry about infection rates. To each his/her own.

 

[Gumby]

Case numbers and infection rates are likely to be inaccurate anyway. As more people test with the home antigen tests, and given that the Omicron variant causes less severe disease, it is unlikely that the majority of positive tests will even be reported if the people are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. The young wife and I tested positive last week, but we've not reported it to anyone, because we've had no need for medical attention. And there is no easy or publicly communicated method of reporting anyway. So our infections don't show as cases in the state database.

I think it far more sensible to look to hospitalization rates for actionable data, since you can accurately count the number of people hospitalized for Covid. Our governor correctly has been looking to hospitalization rates to drive state action since the pandemic started.

 

[Alan]

Case numbers and infection rates are likely to be inaccurate anyway. As more people test with the home antigen tests, and given that the Omicron variant causes less severe disease, it is unlikely that the majority of positive tests will even be reported if the people are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. The young wife and I tested positive last week, but we've not reported it to anyone, because we've had no need for medical attention. And there is no easy or publicly communicated method of reporting anyway. So our infections don't show as cases in the state database.

I think it far more sensible to look to hospitalization rates for actionable data, since you can accurately count the number of people hospitalized for Covid. Our governor correctly has been looking to hospitalization rates to drive state action since the pandemic started.

In the UK the reported infections are those that have been confirmed by a PCR test and since these are done in a lab they are all reported. I assumed the USA reported infections were also PCR confirmed cases. Home tests that are taken are not reported in official figures.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Case numbers and infection rates are likely to be inaccurate anyway. As more people test with the home antigen tests, and given that the Omicron variant causes less severe disease, it is unlikely that the majority of positive tests will even be reported if the people are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. The young wife and I tested positive last week, but we've not reported it to anyone, because we've had no need for medical attention. And there is no easy or publicly communicated method of reporting anyway. So our infections don't show as cases in the state database.

I think it far more sensible to look to hospitalization rates for actionable data, since you can accurately count the number of people hospitalized for Covid. Our governor correctly has been looking to hospitalization rates to drive state action since the pandemic started.

All very good points. It was mentioned yesterday (news/website/can't remember) that the at-home tests seem to have a higher false negative results w/ omicron. I took 3 tests all of which were negative but from reading the symptoms of those that tested positive, I am fairly certain it was COVID. Perhaps next time I give blood, the antigen test will share some light if I had it or not.

Thankfully, no one from the Christmas get together has tested positive or shown any symptoms.

 

[Jeffman52]

My family gathered for Christmas at our house. SIL, DIL, Grandchildren, myself and my wife.



We pretty much didnt go out....except... yep there it is. My wife and I went to Church on Christmas Eve and brought the flu back with us. We both have had the flu vaccine but apparently one of the versions (H3N2 maybe?) was a complete miss. By the end of the week the whole family had it even after my wife and I segregated to the downstairs living area (basement) to stay away from everyone. blech. Pretty miserable version to have.



Let that be a lesson about letting your guard down. Outside of that it was an enjoyable Christmas and New Years.

 

[Koolau]

Case numbers and infection rates are likely to be inaccurate anyway. As more people test with the home antigen tests, and given that the Omicron variant causes less severe disease, it is unlikely that the majority of positive tests will even be reported if the people are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. The young wife and I tested positive last week, but we've not reported it to anyone, because we've had no need for medical attention. And there is no easy or publicly communicated method of reporting anyway. So our infections don't show as cases in the state database.

I think it far more sensible to look to hospitalization rates for actionable data, since you can accurately count the number of people hospitalized for Covid. Our governor correctly has been looking to hospitalization rates to drive state action since the pandemic started.

Just one more thing we are learning about the virus. How to count cases. I think that suggests we may be close to Covid being endemic - like the flu. If we can manage flu (for the most part) we should probably be able to manage Covid. Let us hope since YMMV.