Corona Virus, Covid and the future

[Freedom56]

It's not a "vaccine passport" but many venues around the Los Angeles area are using it for proof of vaccination for events and live studio audiences for shows. May of the late night comedy shows are accepting vaccinated only people for live audiences. I hope they integrate this system with the EU and UK for travel.

 

[Chuckanut]

Washington state just emailed me yesterday about an online system that includes Covid vaccinations given this year. I registered and signed on. Sure enough both my Covid shots are there along with the lot number of the vaccines. Very good. Alas, my other current vacinations, such as the latest Shingrex shots I had, are missing. Oh well, one step at a time.

I even printed out a certificate showing me as vaccinated. Wow! No doubt it will dazzle passport control officers all over the world.

 

[timo2]

Here's one argument that at some point this virus will run out of mutations and we will be stuck with whatever mutation gives the virus the best chance of long term survival.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01421-7

That would help greatly with eventually getting the correct vaccine for the correct variant. It looks like Delta variant has knocked out the Sinovac vaccine.

from the article: "Indonesia doctors fell sick, many died after taking Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine: Indonesia, it seems, is a case study for a nation where the new Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus confirmed some of the most morbid apprehensions of the scientific community -- the failing efficacy of certain vaccines in dealing with particular strains.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/worl...e-sinovac-vaccine-report-101624667601232.html

 

[travelover]

Washington state just emailed me yesterday about an online system that includes Covid vaccinations given this year............

I looked and I'm not in it, which is why I'm pretty sure I didn't win the lottery drawing.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Last night I just finished sending an email to friend about what seating section I should buy us (indoor) concert tickets for, when someone else sent me a link to the new WHO guidelines to keep wearing masks and continue social distancing, even if you are vaccinated due to the delta variant -
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/25/del...ontinue-to-wear-masks-as-variant-spreads.html

Our friends, DH and I are all vaccinated and our cities have very high vaccination rates. The concert is being held in accordance with our city and state guidelines, but I have to say I'm a bit apprehensive now about going. It is a mask optional event for vaccinated attendees and the seating chart is just back to the normal, pre-Covid kind of spacing.

 

[audreyh1]

Last night I just finished sending an email to friend about what seating section I should buy us (indoor) concert tickets for, when someone else sent me a link to the new WHO guidelines to keep wearing masks and continue social distancing, even if you are vaccinated due to the delta variant -
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/25/del...ontinue-to-wear-masks-as-variant-spreads.html

Our friends, DH and I are all vaccinated and our cities have very high vaccination rates. The concert is being held in accordance with our city and state guidelines, but I have to say I'm a bit apprehensive now about going. It is a mask optional event for vaccinated attendees and the seating chart is just back to the normal, pre-Covid kind of spacing.

That’s rough.

I’m keeping an eye on our local cases. If it starts rising rapidly we’ll take more precautions in public. The vaccination rate in our populous county is quite high. So if cases start to climb that will be concerning.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

That’s rough.

I’m keeping an eye on our local cases. If it starts rising rapidly we’ll take more precautions in public. The vaccination rate in our populous county is quite high. So if cases start to climb that will be concerning.

I went ahead and bought the tickets. It is for a local band so I won't be out much if things get scary here again and we end up deciding not to go. Despite the recent WHO cautions, things are really getting back to normal here with concerts, our senior clubs, park events and museums pretty much getting back to normal activities and operating hours, with no masks for the vaccinated and no social distancing.

 

[audreyh1]

You can always wear a mask. Too bad it’s not an outdoor concert.

 

[timo2]

I went ahead and bought the tickets. It is for a local band so I won't be out much if things get scary here again and we end up deciding not to go. Despite the recent WHO cautions, things are really getting back to normal here with concerts, our senior clubs, park events and museums pretty much getting back to normal activities and operating hours, with no masks for the vaccinated and no social distancing.

Here is a timely article (2 days ago) for this subject. It's by Dr. Tom Frieden, former CDC director. I hope this isn't behind a pay wall. What I got out of the article is in high transmissibility situations, wear a mask.

from the article: "Am I really safe if unmasked and vaccinated? How do I know those around me are all vaccinated? What about the Delta variant? Should I still wear a mask even if the CDC says I don’t have to?

The answer to all of these questions is: It depends. The pandemic is an ongoing threat, and variants remain a risk. Wearing masks significantly reduces spread of Covid, even of variant strains, and different types of masks offer different levels of protection. Here are three factors to consider about masking: who you are, where you are, and what you’re doing."

---Who you are
Different people have different risk profiles when it comes to transmitting the virus, getting infected, and getting severely ill.

---Where you are
Not all communities have the same level of vaccination coverage. Places that continue to have higher rates of Covid transmission present risks, and travel to or from these areas can lead to spread of disease.

---What you’re doing
Different activities bring different risks. Are you doing an indoor activity that generates a lot of aerosols?
When participating in indoor activities that generate more aerosols through shouting, singing, or hard breathing, consider wearing a mask. This may include time spent inside crowded gyms, at choir practices, or at an indoor sporting event. Wearing a mask in such cases can reduce the small risk of breakthrough infection, especially when the venue is crowded and ventilation is poor. These instances may also include indoor concerts, graduation ceremonies, or religious gatherings.

https://elemental.medium.com/should-i-still-wear-a-mask-c7ae31958fe5

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Here is a timely article (2 days ago) for this subject. It's by Dr. Tom Frieden, former CDC director. I hope this isn't behind a pay wall. What I got out of the article is in high transmissibility situations, wear a mask.

Sounds like good advice. We're still wearing our masks even to places like the grocery store, and most of the other shoppers are, too, even though they are no longer required for the vaccinated. Most adults here are vaccinated, with almost all the new infections here are coming from those not vaccinated.

 

[Dtail]

Sounds like good advice. We're still wearing our masks even to places like the grocery store, and most of the other shoppers are, too, even though they are no longer required for the vaccinated. Most adults here are vaccinated, with almost all the new infections here are coming from those not vaccinated.

Tough choice, but for myself I followed the science recommendations before the vaccines, so still following it now and will only wear a mask where it is still required.
Feels liberating of sorts.

 

[VanWinkle]

I read where 90-95% of those dying from covid now are not vaccinated. Makes you wonder why people resist. Some just hate shots, some hate doctors, and some are just not informed of most things in life. I believe it is their choice, but still can't figure out why there is such resistance.

VW

 

[Dtail]

I read where 90-95% of those dying from covid now are not vaccinated. Makes you wonder why people resist. Some just hate shots, some hate doctors, and some are just not informed of most things in life. I believe it is their choice, but still can't figure out why there is such resistance.

VW

I think your 3rd choice is the most common reason.

 

[USGrant1962]

Washington state just emailed me yesterday about an online system that includes Covid vaccinations given this year. I registered and signed on. Sure enough both my Covid shots are there along with the lot number of the vaccines. Very good. Alas, my other current vacinations, such as the latest Shingrex shots I had, are missing. Oh well, one step at a time.

I even printed out a certificate showing me as vaccinated. Wow! No doubt it will dazzle passport control officers all over the world.

Yea, everyone but U.S. Immigration. We just got back from Roatan - Vax cards* got us into Honduras, but we still needed a negative test to return to the US. I guess CBP doesn't believe vaccines work.

*Originals only - someone at the airport in Roatan tried to use a photo of their card on their phone and it didn't fly. I guess they got a rapid test and quarantine pending the results?

 

[Chuckanut]

I read where 90-95% of those dying from covid now are not vaccinated. Makes you wonder why people resist. Some just hate shots, some hate doctors, and some are just not informed of most things in life. I believe it is their choice, but still can't figure out why there is such resistance.

VW

In the last few weeks several people have died in my area while rafting on the rivers and lakes. Not a one wore a life vest according to news reports.
What can I say?

My former Drivers Ed instructor told us that driving safely should be a habit. If you stop at the STOP sign when it's 2:30 AM on Sunday morning and no other cars are in sight, you will stop at it on a busy day, when that cement mixer is barreling down on the intersection from the cross street. I think the same logic applies for preventive medical care and life vests.

 

[audreyh1]

Incidence across the US may be low, but that doesn’t prevent COVID-19 spreading in gatherings when adults and children are mostly unvaccinated and airborne disease precautions are ignored. This is a pretty big outbreak and spread from a mid-June church camp. 96 cases so far. Some were spread to a nearby conference. https://abc7chicago.com/illinois-de...s-latest-news-quincy-covid-outbreak/10843153/

It doesn’t matter if you sanitize surfaces like crazy yet ignore airborne spread.

 

[Alan]

Even after being fully vaccinated with Pfizer it is still possible to catch Covid Delta variant and feel pretty sick.

This is an account from Andrew Barr, a well known BBC journalist who reckons he caught Covid while covering the recent G7 conference in Cornwall. Note that symptoms of Delta are quite different, much like a bad cold. He had also tested negative with 2 lateral flow tests.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-57640550

The following day, the Wednesday, I took two lateral-flow swab tests.
Both were negative and I carried on with life - errands, shopping, delivering pictures for my art show, in Bermondsey, south-east London.
I still felt I had a bad cold.
Candidly, had I not been working at Broadcasting House with younger colleagues who had not been vaccinated, I might well have continued and tried to host my next Sunday programme.
Instead, I went to take a polymerase-chain-reaction (PCR) swab test at the north London site by the Neasden Temple.
At 08:00 the following morning, I received a positive result and was told by NHS Test and Trace I must self-isolate for 10 days from the first symptoms - therefore, in my case, until late on Friday, June 25.

 

[audreyh1]

Bad cold isn’t really very sick by COVID standards. Doesn’t even sound like this guy stayed in bed.

 

[Alan]

Bad cold isn’t really very sick by COVID standards. Doesn’t even sound like this guy stayed in bed.

I agree. I was using his words where, from the article above, he describes staying in bed.

Two days after my first symptoms, I began to feel seriously ill.

I had a high temperature, muscle ache, the shakes, a bad headache and flu-like cold symptoms.

I couldn't smell anything - not aftershave, not coffee, nothing.

I kept starting books and giving them up and creeping back to bed again for yet another sleep.

 

[jldavid47]

It doesn’t matter if you sanitize surfaces like crazy yet ignore airborne spread.

In fact, It's been known for at least a year that sanitizing surfaces is pretty much useless against COVID. It's an airborne disease.


https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02058-1
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00277-8
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00251-4
https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwup-that-helped-covid-kill/

 

[audreyh1]

Yeah, I thought it funny that from several articles the health department stated:

The facility ….. was following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for cleaning and disinfection, the Schuyler County Health Department said in a June 22 statement.

Fat lot of good that does if they blow off the rest of the CDC COVID guidelines!

https://www.kiro7.com/news/trending...inois-summer-camp/RGVON5H7KRGBVJG42EDH3YCAMY/

 

[Ronstar]

Local schools are getting ready to start. Talked school covid issues with the lady who cuts my hair yesterday. Kids have to wear masks in school. And they get sent home to quarantine if they sit within 6' of an infected student. One student got sent home to quarantine 8 times last year.

I don't know how many school age kids are getting vaccinated, but Covid should be less of a problem in schools if students and faculty get vaccinated.

 

[audreyh1]

In fact, It's been known for at least a year that sanitizing surfaces is pretty much useless against COVID. It's an airborne disease.


https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02058-1
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00277-8
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00251-4
https://www.wired.com/story/the-teeny-tiny-scientific-screwup-that-helped-covid-kill/

Thanks for that Wired article link. It certainly answered many of my questions I’ve had for a long time.

I remember at one point the WHO declared that asymptomatic transmission was extremely low with COVID, a stance that baffled many scientists and medical doctors. They later clarified that very few COVID infections were “truly asymptomatic”, but rather presymptomatic, they would go on to develop some symptoms. I remember one doctor was so frustrated saying - in clinical practice they are indistinguishable! How am I supposed to know at time whether someone is presymptomatic versus asymptomatic? A completely useless distinction! And by the way, it’s clear that completely asymptomatic is far more common that’s WHO indicated unless they are splitting hairs about what can be construed as symptoms. If an infected person is completely unaware of their illness and functioning normally, what does that make them?

 

[jldavid47]

I remember at one point the WHO declared that asymptomatic transmission was extremely low with COVID, a stance that baffled many scientists and medical doctors. They later clarified that very few COVID infections were “truly asymptomatic”, but rather presymptomatic, they would go on to develop some symptoms. I remember one doctor was so frustrated saying - in clinical practice they are indistinguishable! How am I supposed to know at time whether someone is presymptomatic versus asymptomatic? A completely useless distinction! And by the way, it’s clear that completely asymptomatic is far more common that’s WHO indicated unless they are splitting hairs about what can be construed as symptoms. If an infected person is completely unaware of their illness and functioning normally, what does that make them?

You have to remember something: The WHO is not really a health organization. They are a political organization. They were also a clown show the first year of the pandemic and still don't have a complete clue. The CDC in the US made mistakes, but they have been quicker to react to changes in knowledge and experience.



Before the vaccine my wife and I had a very simple plan for trying to avoid catching COVID: Stay out of crowded indoor spaces, wear a mask when out in public and take Vitamin D supplements. Since getting the vaccine we still follow the first and third and will still wear a mask if required or if an indoor space is too populated. There are no guarantees, but we do what we feel is reasonable (given the information we have) to minimize the chances.

 

[pacergal]

yes, due to the risk of the Delta variant, we will continue wearing masks inside stores, etc.
We have two small grandkids who can not be vaccinated yet and don't want to risk transmission, as one of them is in daycare/preschool.