BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Jan 24 - 12:59 PM

RSV has nearly burned out but flu is coming on strong.
The Covid J mutation resists immunity more but is less fatal.
It has doubled this month and is about a quarter of US corona infections.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Jan 24 - 03:54 PM

From Politico:

Hydroxychloroquine could have caused 17,000 deaths during COVID, study finds
Former US President Donald Trump said: ‘What do you have to lose? Take it.’

Nearly 17,000 people may have died after taking hydroxycholoroquine during the first wave of COVID, according to a study by French researchers.

The anti-malaria drug was prescribed to some patients hospitalized with COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic, "despite the absence of evidence documenting its clinical benefits," the researchers point out in their paper, published in the February issue of Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy.

Now, researchers have estimated that some 16,990 people in six countries — France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the U.S. — may have died as a result.

That figure stems from a study published in the Nature scientific journal in 2021 which reported an 11 percent increase in the mortality rate, linked to its prescription against COVID-19, because of the potential adverse effects like heart rhythm disorders, and its use instead of other effective treatments.

Researchers from universities in Lyon, France, and Québec, Canada, used that figure to analyze hospitalization data for COVID in each of the six countries, exposure to hydroxychloroquine and the increase in the relative risk of death linked to the drug.

In fact, they say the figure may be far higher given the study only concerns six countries from March to July 2020, when the drug was prescribed much more widely.

Hydroxychloroquine gained prominence partly due to French virologist Didier Raoult who had headed the Méditerranée Infection Foundation hospital, but was later removed amid growing controversy.

It was also considered something of a “miracle cure” by the then-U.S. President Donald Trump, who said: “What do you have to lose? Take it.”

There are links to the study and other reports in the article.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Aug 23 - 09:15 PM

Big Al get better and/or get attention.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Aug 23 - 08:38 PM

Supermarkets have largely abandoned their sanitising stations at the entrances. That seems a bit crazy to me. I'll never wear a mask again unless forced to by law, but I won't grab an unsanitised supermarket trolley. I carry my own sanitiser at all times. Sorry to hear that, Al. It's all but a year since my one and only dose and I got away lightly. I'll be pouncing on my next booster as soon as I hear that I can have it.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 24 Aug 23 - 08:26 PM

I've had it for two weeks now. Its been horrible.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 18 Aug 23 - 09:18 PM

Thanks, I wanted to hear her version.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 18 Aug 23 - 08:24 PM

I didn't know you were in a Morris team, SRS ....

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Aug 23 - 05:20 PM

My pharmacy of record has texted telling me that my flu shot can be scheduled for September, and I'm sure they'll do the same when the next COVID booster is available. I'll be there with bells on!

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 13 Aug 23 - 10:50 PM

Good to know the newest variant's name. I heard one was around but didn't know the moniker.

Substitution for A-list performers is a big deal; the most interesting one I remember was when Pavarotti became ill and Aretha Franklin sang Nessun Dorma at the Grammys. I'd love to have been the fly on the wall as they figured out who else could perform it (who knew the words in Italian.)

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: keberoxu
Date: 13 Aug 23 - 05:15 PM

"Eris" is being reported on in local news here in the US as well, Senoufou.

It's music season at Massachusetts' Tanglewood Festival, and
COVID-19 made its impact on the season
when cellist Yo-Yo Ma tested positive for COVID-19
and had to cancel his appearance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The orchestra found someone, an opera singer,
to substitute on short notice, and the show went on without Yo-Yo Ma.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: robomatic
Date: 05 Aug 23 - 03:32 PM

My closest friends are an older couple with a young dog which I participate in regular walking with. The couple are health conscious and have had all their shots. They each caught covid within the last month, one with a mild case, the other not mild, but not 'bad' bad. I had had a bivalent booster most recently, and did not test positive at all. I think I'm the only one I know who has not yet caught it.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Aug 23 - 01:39 PM

Much of the reporting in the US is less frequent and there are fewer places maintaining sites to do with tracking COVID. This about the UK from The Guardian:

UK almost ‘flying blind’ on Covid this autumn, experts say
As cases rise, scientists say country is mostly in the dark about how infections could play out in coming months

While the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) continues to track some metrics of Covid, including hospitalisation numbers, many of the community surveillance studies tracking infection levels have finished.

Now experts have said the situation is leaving the country in the dark about how Covid may play out in the months ahead.

Christina Pagel, a professor of operational research at University College London, said a new wave of Covid appeared to be under way – possibly driven by waning immunity, new variants of Omicron, and factors including poor weather keeping people inside.

With the autumn coming on and people returning to school and work, Covid pressures may increase, Pagel added.

“We might see the wave continue to grow, and grow faster, in September,” she said.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 05 Aug 23 - 10:36 AM

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html Updated July 17, 2023.

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/coronavirus-covid-19-update-fda-authorizes-changes-simplify-use-bivalent-mrna-covid-19-vaccines

“At this stage of the pandemic, data support simplifying the use of the authorized mRNA bivalent COVID-19 vaccines and the agency believes that this approach will help encourage future vaccination,” said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “Evidence is now available that most of the U.S. population 5 years of age and older has antibodies to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, either from vaccination or infection that can serve as a foundation for the protection provided by the bivalent vaccines. COVID-19 continues to be a very real risk for many people, and we encourage individuals to consider staying current with vaccination, including with a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine. The available data continue to demonstrate that vaccines prevent the most serious outcomes of COVID-19, which are severe illness, hospitalization, and death.”

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Aug 23 - 08:39 AM

Approval for the new Covid variant vaccine booster
starts at the end of Aug. For now Covid is like the flu. Its not going away. Covid is now down to the 5th leading cause of death in the US.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Mrrzy
Date: 05 Aug 23 - 08:31 AM

All hail discordia

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Senoufou
Date: 05 Aug 23 - 03:27 AM

There's a new variant of Covid now spreading across the UK called 'Eris' Oh bloomin' heck!

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Aug 23 - 12:35 PM

I have a mentally ill brother who started a rumor about how our father died. When it got back to us we had to make it clear he wasn't to speculate or offer that opinion any more. Good luck with whatever you're dealing with.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Mrrzy
Date: 02 Aug 23 - 08:39 PM

Double argh. Not long Covid at all. Many, many lies. But he *is* dead.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Mrrzy
Date: 02 Aug 23 - 09:24 AM

Ah, family dynamics. I bothered to look up time changes for the memorial service (10am 10/10 in Taz). They will have Sprung Forward already. We will not have Fallen back yet. But they are all arguing I'm off by an hour. But the *current* time diff is not what will apply, then...

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Jul 23 - 11:12 PM

That has to have been a horrible long trip for the kid from the states, but good it was in time. COVID. The gift that keeps on giving.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Mrrzy
Date: 30 Jul 23 - 10:04 PM

Yes, kid made it home, thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 29 Jul 23 - 10:39 AM

That sounds like a directive from the patient himself; a facility wouldn't set those rules for a patient. Painkillers only, no food and water - that is how my mother died, by refusing care because the hospital was doing such a terrible job of managing her pain. She was moved to a skilled nursing facility and once a morphine pump was installed she refused anything else. This because the hospital refused to administer pain treatments on a schedule, you had to ask as needed, but it took them upwards of an hour to administer. Fall asleep from the drug, wake up comfortable for an hour or so, then the pain comes back and request again. Another painful wait.

I'm so sorry it came to that. I hope his family all made it home in time to say goodbye.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Charmion
Date: 29 Jul 23 - 10:13 AM

Sorry for your family’s loss, Mrrzy.

And I agree that it’s a bit of a surprise, but nevertheless a relief, when the medical pros accept that a patient is dying and step back to let it happen.

The truth can feel like a slap in the face when it comes, but it never leaves that feeling of betrayal that comes from even the most well-meant lies.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 Jul 23 - 06:46 AM

He died.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Mrrzy
Date: 27 Jul 23 - 11:07 AM

Painkillers only, no O2. Instructions to neither feed nor water are being ignored. Occasional nursing pops by...
As a digression, I like the un-American acceptance of impending death on the part of the medical folks.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 25 Jul 23 - 04:28 AM

There are thousands of examples of comments on Mudcat which don't necessarily address the previous post directly, Mrrzy, and my post was fully in keeping with the spirit of the thread title. I'm perfectly aware that my opinion on living with covid is not shared by everyone, though it's hardly an outlier. Be assured that I have every sympathy for the sad situation in which you find your family.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jul 23 - 11:17 PM

Will they have palliative care set up? I have read that it can make things more comfortable for the patient and give quality time for the family members there.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Mrrzy
Date: 24 Jul 23 - 10:28 PM

They are sending him home to die. I don't think it will take long.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Mrrzy
Date: 24 Jul 23 - 09:39 PM

Thanks for the sympathy, Steve. You get right along with yours.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 24 Jul 23 - 07:46 PM

Well there are still a lot of cases here but the odd thing is that hardly anyone ever talks about it any more. I think that's a good thing. I might see about one mask per day in shops. Covid is still a risk to some people, not exactly millions though, and I think we just have to get on with our lives.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Jul 23 - 07:19 PM

That sounds like such a slow torturous death; I hope the child is able to get home quickly enough to have time with him. That's a long trip and it will be worry all the way. Did the rest of the family have COVID and recover completely? Condolences to your sister.

COVID deaths are no longer a separate blip in the death rate of the US but that doesn't mean it has gone away. And for those not vaccinated, it can still be deadly. Reports still come out (this the WHO for this week).

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Mrrzy
Date: 24 Jul 23 - 11:05 AM

Aw man. Tasmania reopened before everyone was fully vaxed, and my (only original) bro-in-law caught it pretty right quickly. He has been suffering terribly with lung trouble ever since, and may actually be dying. Not releasing CO2 nor absorbing O2. In ICU, finally. Over 6" tall, never fat, has lost 40kg and looks like a Holocaust victim. The kid in the States has been called home. My sister is frazzled.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Helen
Date: 20 Apr 23 - 04:25 PM

Now and then I still look at this statistics site:

Worldometer: Coronavirus Pandemic

When I compare countries by looking at the two columns to the right, i.e. total cases per million population, and deaths per million, I tend to also think about the factors within those countries which either exacerbated or hindered the progress of COVID. Political governance had a lot to do with it, in my opinion, and also the wealth or poverty of a country and its associated infrastructure, e.g. hospitals, access to vaccinations, information sharing capabilities etc. Political arrogance seemed to be a key factor, too - not mentioning any Trumpy or Johnsony or Putiny or North Korean names, of course - and despite the fact that we had an arrogant bloke in charge at the time, he did seem to be serious about managing COVID.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Apr 23 - 01:11 PM

Last July it was. Just in case someone notices that I've said it before!

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 20 Apr 23 - 01:09 PM

My personal philosophy, your mileage might vary, is to live a normal life from now on. I'll have all my vaccines when called (so far this past winter I've had flu, covid, shingles and pneumonia jabs), I had covid the once last September and it was very mild, I long since stopped treating people in public places as if they're virus-infested pariahs, I don't avoid pubs and restaurants and I've forgotten what a mask looks like. The pandemic was bad, the UK death toll was horrendous, but even worse was the clumsy, wasteful, inhuman and damaging way the thing was handled by our government (and I don't think we were alone in that). Our economy is in ruins and only God knows whether any lives were saved apart from the ones saved by the vaccines, and we'll be living for decades to come with the harm done to relationships, schooling and mental health caused by those cruel lockdowns.

Feel free to shoot, but any pandemic neurosis I might have been harbouring has long gone, and, as I say, that's just my personal philosophy. By the way, I abided by every single imposed rule, every one, all the time.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 20 Apr 23 - 07:38 AM

I had my booster yesterday, along with my flu shot (flu season is here!)

One of the friends who took me to the National Folk Festival over Easter woke feeling miserable the next morning. She looked ill, RAT showed covid (her husband was ok, so was I) & she was planning to get a more accurate PCA test later in the morning as she had her booster shot earlier in the week & wondered if that influenced the reading. Result showed covid. I was told another couple in my circle both got covid,

Very few people wore masks, very few people in the supermarket or on public transport are masked, but people are still dying.
This page provides updates on national COVID-19 weekly current trends. COVID-19 cases and 7 day rolling average, 01 Jan 2022 to 11 Apr 2023

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 20 Apr 23 - 07:13 AM

I have a national number of a current 1,300 Covid deaths per day.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 20 Apr 23 - 03:12 AM

I’ve got my 2023 booster booked in a couple of weeks’ time (UK). They clearly know it’s still around, but there’s no ‘official’ talk about it.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Apr 23 - 10:42 PM

There is news. COVID is still killing about 250 people a day in the US (though you have to hunt to find that fact). And the FDA approved and the CDC concurred - more COVID vaccines are recommended.

U.S. Authorizes a New Round of Covid Boosters
Older Americans and those with weakened immune systems, groups still particularly vulnerable to the virus, may receive additional shots of the reformulated vaccine, federal officials said.

The endorsement followed a daylong discussion by the C.D.C.’s expert advisers. The Food and Drug Administration authorized the booster plan on Tuesday, and the C.D.C.’s recommendation was the final administrative step. Eligible Americans will be able to receive booster doses immediately.

Federal health officials are also phasing out the original vaccine formulas created by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, revoking their authorizations in the United States. And instead of needing an initial series of two shots, unvaccinated people will now require just a single dose of the reformulated, or “bivalent,” Covid shot to be considered vaccinated.

Until now, federal officials had required two doses of the older vaccine before recipients could begin to receive the bivalent boosters, a process some experts felt was confusing.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Oct 22 - 09:40 AM

In the past
Oh the breathin' was easy
Now folks are coughin'
And the fever is high
Oh, your daddy's rich
And your ma' is good lookin'
So hush
Little baby
Don't you cry
One of these mornings
You're gonna wake up wheezing
Yes, you'll spread your wings
And you'll take to the sky
But with some vaccines
There's nothin' can harm you
Yes with Doctors and Nurses
Standing by

In the past
Oh the breathin' was easy
Now folks are coughin'
And the fever is high
Oh, your daddy's rich
And your ma' is good lookin'
So hush
Little baby
Don't you cry
One of these mornings
You're gonna wake up wheezing
Yes, you'll spread your wings
And you'll take to the sky
But with some vaccines
There's nothin' can harm you
Yes with Doctors and Nurses
Standing by

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Oct 22 - 04:03 PM

This is only winter number 3. We should not get cocky until after year 4 if previous pandemic parameters apply.

In CA there is a new respiratory epidemic developing among infants.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Oct 22 - 01:17 PM

Also in the Washington Post:

Whites now more likely to die from covid than Blacks: Why the pandemic shifted

Skill Wilson had amassed more than three decades of knowledge as a paramedic, first in Memphis and then in Fayette County. Two places that felt like night and day.

With only five ambulances in the county and the nearest hospital as much as 45 minutes away, Skill relished the clinical know-how necessary to work in a rural setting. Doing things like sedating patients to insert tubes into their airways.

But when it came to covid-19, despite more than 1 million deaths nationwide, Skill and his family felt their small town on the central-eastern side of Fayette County, with its fields of grazing cattle and rows of cotton and fewer than 200 covid deaths since the start of the pandemic, was a cocoon against the raging health emergency.

“It was a lot easier to stay away from others,” his widow, Hollie Wilson, said of the largely White and predominantly conservative county of about 42,000 residents. “Less people. Less chance of exposure.”

Covid seemed like other people’s problems — until it wasn’t.

The imbalance in death rates among the nation’s racial and ethnic groups has been a defining part of the pandemic since the start. To see the pattern, The Washington Post analyzed every death during more than two years of the pandemic. Early in the crisis, the differing covid threat was evident in places such as Memphis and Fayette County. Deaths were concentrated in dense urban areas, where Black people died at several times the rate of White people.

“I don’t want to say that we weren’t worried about it, but we weren’t,” said Hollie, who described her 59-year-old husband as someone who “never took a pill.” After a while, “you kind of slack off on some things,” she said.

Over time, the gap in deaths widened and narrowed but never disappeared — until mid-October 2021, when the nation’s pattern of covid mortality changed, with the rate of death among White Americans sometimes eclipsing other groups.

Those GOP White people who ignored the vaccinations and didn't bother to socially distance or wear masks - COVID came back to bite them in the ass.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Oct 22 - 10:26 AM

In the last week, COVID cases are up 29% in the US. Daily reported deaths were up 23%. Hospitalizations always lag behind those two numbers - this week they were up only 1%, but that will probably increase in the next month.

Tracking U.S. covid-19 cases, deaths and other metrics by state
More than 1,064,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S., and more than 97,084,000 cases have been reported.

No numbers can fully convey the state of the covid-19 pandemic in the United States, but several metrics taken together provide a clearer view of what is happening now and what may be coming soon.

The data in these charts is gathered by The Washington Post from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state government sites (cases and deaths) and the Department of Health and Human Services (hospitalizations). Not all tracking sites use the same sources or report dates, so case and death numbers can differ.

Half of the states show increasing numbers while the rest are neutral or dropping numbers. Those with the worst infection spikes right now are, alas, Hawaii, Alaska, Texas, Florida, and Arizona. All GOP states. There is a correlation to be made as those states' governors tend to dismiss COVID precautions.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Oct 22 - 03:44 AM

From Jeri's link:

"If you recently had COVID-19, you may consider delaying your next vaccine dose (whether a primary dose or booster) by 3 months from when your symptoms started or, if you had no symptoms, when you first received a positive test.

Reinfection is less likely in the weeks to months after infection. However, certain factors, such as personal risk of severe disease, or risk of disease in a loved one or close contact, local COVID-19 Community Level, and the most common COVID-19 variant currently causing illness, could be reasons to get a vaccine sooner rather than later."

The caveats in that extract, which I won't bother to highlight as we can all read, in no way amount to a recommendation that "there is a good reason to wait 4 months or more after having Covid or a Covid vaccine, to get a booster." I haven't found any source on any UK website that suggests such a delay, and I did go to the trouble to try to find one.

In medical matters, it's often the case that we should not make recommendations in these threads as to how people should act. Drawing attention to reputable sources to support a point of view is valid, but "nuff said" doesn't cut it.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 15 Oct 22 - 09:10 PM

The Omicron booster for me was much like you describe your last booster; the arm was a little sore but otherwise, a non-event.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Jeri
Date: 15 Oct 22 - 07:26 PM

CDC recommends waiting 3 months.

I had some moderately nasty side effects for about a half a day, the day after my booster, until my last one (second booster). I was prepared to spend it in bed, but I didn't really have ANY side effects other than a slightly sore arm. I'm working on soon getting the omicron booster.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 Oct 22 - 07:08 PM

Not nuff said at all. I can't find a single responsible website that says you have to wait more than four weeks after testing positive for covid before you can have the regular booster. Please do not peddle irresponsible misinformation.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Oct 22 - 08:07 PM

There is a good reason to wait 4 months or more after having Covid or a Covid vaccine, to get a booster.
nuff said.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Oct 22 - 02:06 PM

There is a reported surge of Covid in Europe and is suspected to show up in the US by winter.

Subject: RE: BS: New news on the pandemic COVID-19
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Oct 22 - 10:38 AM

My most recent booster was Pfizer, same company as all of the rest of my vaccinations and boosters. This most recent one had the least amount of side effect, amounting to a day of an achy arm and not much more. Maybe a little headache.