I don't doubt it is on the rise again but the percentage is probably high because the total number of tests is quite low. There is no blanket testing done anymore, I would assume most tests are being done when you suspect you might have something, so its only logical the percentage is higher than it used to be.
Were they ever blanket-testing asymptomatic people? I didn’t think the antigen tests showed positives until a few days after the onset of symptoms.
Maybe blanket-testing is calling it a bit more than what it was but there were countries that required negative tests for certain things, e.g. entering stores or swimming pools. You had to show a negative test no matter if you had symptoms or not, and that result was registered centrally.
Germany required daily testing in Schools and afaik workplaces for a while
Everyone? No, far from it. But many events, some jobs, etc. required a negative test result for entry. There was absolutely far more asymptomatic getting tested then.
There were times when people were getting tested at the airports. The tests were mandatory. You could know how many people out of how many from a flight from a country tested positive.
I still mask everywhere, I don't care what people think.
Are you waiting for something to change or will you do this for the rest of your life?
I stopped when we had as much vaccine protection as we were going to get and the virus wasn't causing quite as severe disease any more. Forever is a long time.
Planning on forever, unless there's some radical changes to our public health response. I haven't had covid yet and I don't really want to start.
I'm fine with never eating out again.
I'm fine with never eating out again.
Yeah, that would be a severe degradation of life for me, so that's a no-go unless the probabilities shift back to where they were in 2020-22ish.
Posting from a restaurant in Sardinia.
a no-go unless the probabilities shift back to where they were in 2020-22ish.
Even if the odds got worse, I have zero confidence our governments will properly respond, they certainly didn't in 2020.
Frankly eating in all the time was a net positive, I'm in the best shape of my life, while everyone around me is on like their 4th run of covid
Frankly eating in all the time was a net positive, I'm in the best shape of my life
Eating out is a lot better for me after I moved to Italy, so there is that. And living in Italy and having to make do with my own cooking would be Very Sad. But yeah, context matters a lot. The Italians took this stuff very seriously the first time around and vaccination rates were really high when I was neaurotically tracking it. I should look up the annual booster rate.
I don't know where you are, but I'd be less comfortable in an air conditioned eatery in Texas than outside a restaurant in Rome (where I was at the height). And with the current numbers I should probably start avoiding crowds and recirculated air again.
Yeah, I live in the US right now but whenever I've been in Europe I've been able to find outdoor dining somewhere. The US just doesn't have nearly as much outdoor dining and the quality of the food is broadly worse anyways
Did anyone think that COVID was ever going away?
It's obviously going to be the next annual vaccination, like influenza has already been. I'm waiting for the next formulation to become available before I get my sixth round.
Annual isn't enough.
Pooled estimates of VE of a primary vaccination cycle against laboratory-confirmed Omicron infection and symptomatic disease were both lower than 20% at 6 months from last dose administration. Booster doses restored VE to levels comparable to those acquired soon after the administration of the primary cycle. However, 9 months after booster administration, VE against Omicron was lower than 30% against laboratory-confirmed infection and symptomatic disease.
Oh, yeah, I meant to type "at least" annual. Apparently, my brain thinking about typing that was enough.
There's some early evidence that more traditional vaccines (like NovaVax) may create longer protection than the mRNA vaccines (which seem to have more robust but shorter-lasting protectection).
Interesting. Can you link some details?
So far we have had between 4 and 6 waves a year, each of which is from a different variant. A variant breaks out and within 2 months its infected almost everyone at which point it dies down to become part of the background infections and a new variant takes over. There just isn't enough time to make a vaccine and roll it out to deal with any of that problem. The vaccines that are getting rolled out now are for variant that disappeared 6 months ago. Nothing we do is going to be very effective against this until the vaccines are a lot more effective against potential future variants or we drastically reduce the number of hosts it gets to replicate in.
At first for sure, but after the first... I want to say maybe 8 months, I knew that it'd be declared endemic with how people were just ignoring it in 2021 and pretending like it wasn't there anymore. That said, I'd be out of a job if those restrictions weren't lifted, so its not all bad. But certainly can only help yourself, most people don't do anything and I couldn't even get a fourth shot, so I'm still waiting for a new round so I can go get my shot.
Yes, I work in healthcare and dummies keep getting surprised (or refusing) when they seek treatment for flu-like symptoms and we test for Covid too.
Even though my vaxxes are up to date, I caught the new variant recently. It was pretty nasty - a lot like strep throat.
Not a sterilizing vaccine, only expected to decrease the risk of a severe course of infection, hospitalization, and death.
I've got one patient, two students, and 3 friends with The 'Vid, all are vax'd, all are on paxlovid as we speak, and expected to make a good recovery. I hope that is/ was the case for you as well. Best to ya, Friend!
As of today, I have it too. Was sick since Sunday and since yesterday some foods tasted like chemicals and kept coughing like crazy. So tested just to be certain and tested positive for COVID.
My country doesn’t obligate us to self-isolate anymore and such but just out of decency, I e-mailed the people I had appointments with to cancel it due to COVID. It’s up to them if they want to continue the appointment, reschedule or do it through online now.
Shit I have had a sore throat for a few days, I took an old COVID test we had and it was negative but I'm not sure if old tests even detect new variants.
They do, mostly. The current general wisdom is that as long as the control line shows up it's reasonably accurate.
I'm immunocompromised and still mask indoors. I haven't been sick at all since 2020 and it's awesome! Between 40-60% of people have some form of permanent brain damage and 70-80% have long covid problems from Covid. The damage to the body compounds every time a person gest re-infected, so the numbers are terrifyingly high.
I have a postmortem science degree and it required 4 years of pre-med/pathology. With all that and what we know about the virus, I am honestly not sure I'll stop wearing a mask indoors until we find a cure or better vaccine. I can't stand that politicians are trying to ban masks, essentially sacrificing the elderly, disabled, and ill. A government making medical decisions, creating an environment where a person can't mask up, regardless of if they have cancer and want to stay safe; or if they're severely sick with something else but need to pick up medication at a pharmacy... it's dark. It's fucked up
Between 40-60% of people have some form of permanent brain damage and 70-80% have long covid problems
Wait what? I'm with you on masking etc., but those numbers seem a bit high, where did you get those from?
Long covid is generally definied as having any symptoms persisiting greater than 6 (?IIRC) months after first detection, so having a niggling cough that hung around that long would count as long covid. Some form of permenant brain damage is incredibly vague and sounds like it would apply to a night of heavy drinking.
I was very serious about masking, and noticed that for that two years I never even got a cold. Not once did I test positive and I did it once a week for the first year. So, fist bump for taking masking seriously.
Have you also not been shaking hands or fist bumping people?
If I do, there’s usually hand sanitizer in my bag. But no one really shakes hands anymore. Dirty habit anyway. We may as well cup each others genitalia.
We may as well cup each others genitalia.
If we are clothed then this may be preferable, so long as you don't have a strong handshake.
you know some people would. Overly strong grip to show dominance 🙄
Lol
This past week, 1.5% of all deaths in America were caused by Covid. And based on past averages, for every death, one hundred people got sick, and ten people will have long Covid.
1.5% of all deaths in America were caused by COVID excluding those deaths from acute COVID we didn't count for various reasons, and also those deaths that were caused by residual COVID damage and happened after the acute phase.
Excess mortality: "FTFY"
My anecdotal experience: I’ve seen more people I know get COVID in the last month than I ever have, including myself for the first time since 2020, and it’s weird because it’s been the persistently hottest weather I can recall in my area too. Maybe it’s because more people have been staying inside with AC than usual because of that, but I’m still worried about the colder months this year.
It’s good that it seems to be less deadly than it was when it was new, thanks to vaccines, but it’s still an awful experience to get it. I had a different symptom every day for a week, and 2 weeks later I still feel fatigued, like I can’t get enough sleep.
Covid happily spreads outside. A number of the early pandemic super spreader events were outside like football matches. There was a confirmed transmission in Japan over 80metres from an infected jogger to a group standing quite far away so we know it's airborne and highly contagious even outside. Outside can be quite acidic due to pollution and this helps the virus survive as do particles in the air so there is a balance between the density indoors verses degradation conditions, it's a complex picture in the research.
Basic rule, Covid spreads outside since it's airborne and it can persist in the air for at least an hour. UV light can degrade it faster but it also only takes 7 virons to infect someone and we breath out 1000 with each breath.
This is the 2m spacing rules (and similar) were such bullshit.
Almost my entire social circle including myself has gotten COVID in the last two months, independently from each other. It's seriously going around right now in my area. I still mask everywhere, work from home, and have a hand sanitizer station in my entry way. I still managed to catch it recently
I wish I could get regular vaccinations. They are reserved for older and immuno-compromised people here.
♻️ People are getting sick every few months. It's not great all around. We could get lucky evolution hitting a dead end in the immune escape area. Or we have to develop a new vaccine targeting a much more difficult to change part of the virus in order to break this cycle.
I don't know what percentage of people got vaccinated last time, but i feel like next time, it's not even gonna be a third of that.
This is probably true if the hypothetical vaccines are as effective as the first generation. If they have the kind of effectiveness that prevents infection and that immunity doesn't fade, I think the response will change. The value proposition changes completely. It goes from - vaccinate so that you don't get too sick, but you still get sick and you'll need another shot in 6 months, to - vaccinate so you don't have to ever think about getting sick from this.
Norovirus hit our house hard.. I did pretty much everything I could do to prevent getting it. Lasted 2 weeks while rest of family and kids got sick. Even with vigorous handwashing and N95 being up all night with a baby puking on you... Well, I knew it was coming.
So watch out.THAT is going around, too.
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