outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

We've been at a plateau in FL for about 6-7 weeks now, at a very high level of transmission, never experiencing a decline like other states that got BA.2 outbreaks earlier.

Tourism.

there's that, but I think it's also due to timing. some states like NY that got BA.2 earlier than we did experienced a decrease before things plateaued due to BA.5, but I think by the time we were due to hit our drop, BA.5 had offset the BA.2 decrease to where we didn't experience one.

as of yesterday, reported cases (ha!) were actually 7% lower than the week before, but curious to see today's numbers. positivity rate hasn't really declined noticably.

Same here in MDC.

It looks like we got BA.5 instead of the earlier variants, no? We had a rather long lull b/w Jan and late April.

Anecdotally, it's all around me. Three coworkers out with it right now and I haven't had a conversation with anyone in the last two weeks that hasn't involved someone coming up positive.

More than slightly annoyed at the coworker that decided to come into the office (KN95 masked at least, thankfully) Monday and Tuesday, despite their spouse having been positive. In the least surprising development ever, they tested positive on Wednesday.

I got boosted with Moderna yesterday. I had previously had two jabs of J&J and just a few weeks ago Maryland finally opened up mRNA booster shots to us.

Australia set a new daily record for COVID deaths today. (Previous record was set yesterday.)

Boosters are still free regardless of insurance status! Got my 2nd today. Not really changing anything tho, still wearing a mask into stores most of the time. Still covid-free somehow.

Probably due to the mask! Hope the luck keeps up.

By the time my third booster wears off I hope we have the noo-boosters

Me too! I've been careful-ish but not EXTREMELY careful. Plenty of people have done more and still gotten infected. Who really knows.

Yep. Plenty of people I know who were like "I have fucking idea how I got this, I didn't leave the house this week"

I know a half dozen people (all fully vaxxed + boostered, in a region that is generally highly-vaxxed) who are in some stage of COVID infection atm. And a couple more who just got past it. One of these people is a critical care pulmonologist who has been working in a severely undervaxxed community throughout the pandemic and has had a ton of previous exposure without getting infected. I hardly even know more than a half dozen people so this shit is NUTS.

Just tested positive. With the fun twist that three weeks ago I got bitten by a dog and they put me on antibiotics and the antibiotics destroyed my gut flora and today I also tested positive for c.diff. So this will be an interesting medical situation to navigate. Not crazy about the way this summer is going, tbh.

Aw shit :(. I'm sorry Lily

Thanks, Neanderthal!

"C. diff summer"

Hang in there, Lily.

Good luck Lily, that's no fun at all.

Oof sorry.

Oh man, Lily that is a bad run of rotten things. Really hope all starts coming right for you soon.

Today I ran home to grab some boxes of Covid tests for work because we were out and a coworker who recently returned from vacation was a bit sniffly but wanted to come in for an insurance walk-through. She'd ordered tests but they hadn't shown up. I gave her one to take while she sat in her car. And yep - positive.

Wow, good call.

yeah, I know, right? With all that and getting shingles back in June, I can't decide if I feel like Job or like an entire Oregon Trail team that's been going at a grueling pace since they left Independence. The weird thing is that everything's been fairly mild: the shingles and the dog bite healed right up pretty quickly, and the c.diff feels like it's getting better on its own, though I'll take antibiotics to make sure. Too early to tell on the Covid but it's starting with a mild sore throat so here's hoping it stays mild.

visited dad for an hour only today, didn't touch him or get close, wore gloves and N95. mom and I are still negative (I had a PCR only two hours ago), dad tested negative either yesterday or Thursday.

I bought a home test and administered one on dad today and he's still negative, and he looks well. and his roommate isn't returning to the room per the nurse (I really hope that doesn't mean he passed away - but it doesn't necessarily mean that, they often move them to another room on readmission).

here's hoping my dad had immune system of steel, and ventilation and privacy curtain kept it away from him.

was good to see him today. he smiled and laughed a bunch. my complaints got the bed rails I asked for too. we are likely bringing him home this week regardless. if he somehow becomes sick, we'll wear gloves and PPE in the home. I just want him here.

study out of the UK saying there's a chance people with allergies/allergic rhinitis have lower chance of getting COVID. I've wondered how I've been so lucky. I'm careful but I've taken my risks. I know it's been luck. And it's been being careful. But maybe, just maybe, my inflamed allergic body is extra good at fighting off COVID. Doesn't make a ton of sense, it wasn't good at fighting off any number of other sicknesses. Let me dream.

That's really interesting as I suffer from both. Frankly, I think it's a miracle I have avoided Omicron so far (I had Delta almost exactly a year ago) as I've been at dozens of packed festivals, clubs and gigs and on at least 50 flights this year (I still wear a mask on flights along with about 5% of other passengers). Last week an estimated one in 9 people in Glasgow had it. I guess I could have had it asymptomatically and if not I do think I'll get it at some point but the allergies/allergic rhinitis theory could be a factor as to how I have avoided it so far when almost everyone around me has had it.

yeah that's interesting - I had delta (presumably) in November, and have been in loads of crowded places since then, been pinged by the covid app 4 times and got nothing. but I also have pretty bad hayfever. assumed I've been pushing my luck and just got lucky. it's probably also that.

I found the study which also adds especially if they also have asthma, which i also have. I never thought there would ever be a possible upside to having these afflictions.

The thing is, we've finally learned: good N or K-95 masks....work.

I’ve only been on 4 flights but I’m also commuting to work twice a week and in an office where most people aren’t masked. I put my mask in for the train, when I’m going with the bathroom or riding the elevator etc. following most of the advice which says prob ok to be outside without a mask so long as it’s not crazy crowded but I put my mask on to go indoors. Where most people aren’t masked. And always kn95 now. I worry about when the weather gets cold again and outdoor activities aren’t so easy.

Anyway before this study I was already wondering if my daily spraying of Nasonex somehow helped. Seemed silly but you’re spraying steroids or whatever in your nose seemed like maybe it does something.

FYI, doing the throat swab when testing worked really well for me. I had a mild sore throat start at 4 in the morning, tested sometime mid-morning with just the nasal swab and it was negative. Tested again that afternoon when I was just starting to have cold symptoms, did a quick swab of the part of my throat that felt inflamed, and the positive result came right up.

especially before a Negroni

j/k couldn't resist

i lolled, feel better Lily and all others who got the rona

where is this new study regarding allergies and rhinitis? searching, i turned up something almost a year old.

Curious because this might be how I've still not had it.. even after my wife had a bad week with it, a month ago.

we think dad avoided getting it, somehow, despite sharing a room with an infected roommate (who is now in the hospital).

I am visiting him today and may shove a swab up his nose. and then after thinking about giving him a COVID test.

if we can get him back home with no infection, 80% of my stress goes away.

I think it was this, so maybe an older study, can't remember where I just saw it as if it was new news. https://www.bmj.com/company/newsroom/allergic-conditions-linked-to-lower-covid-19-infection-risk/

neanderthal is your da eligible for evushield?

also did everyone else know evushield's formulary unbranded name is "Tixagevimab-Cilgavimab"?

Gesundheit

xp
Take it to the Great Real Names thread, buddy!

Thanks, Dan, that's what I turned up. Dated Nov 30. News to me anyhow.

I've looked into Evushield but I have never looked further because I don't think he's truly considered 'immunocompromised', and he mounted an immune response to the vaccines. but perhaps I should look closer into it, because otherwise it's something I would want to do.

he is however double boosted, thankfully.

https://covidsafe.fyi/evusheld/guide/ might be useful

cases in FL down 4% from last week, which is really nbd as we've had bigger declines turn out to be false hope, and positivity rate is still high (though lightly declining).

buuuuut the bigger thing is new COVID hospital admissions, which declined (admittedly, less than 1%, but still a decline) from last week to this, which hasn't happened in a while.

the wastewater still flummoxes me on Biobot, as it shows it going down in most FL counties, but sometimes they run an update a day after the initial dump on Fridays that will suddenly show an inexplicable tick back up, only to show a drop again when the update comes out the next Friday. like it seesaws. but it appears to be in a decline.

had my heart broken too many times but hoping we can finally escape this mega-long wave for like a week or two.

A double-boosted friend of mine that recently recovered from covid almost immediately came down with pneumonia afterwards. I know that can be a thing, but this is the first time it's happened to anyone I know.

I got pneumonia when I was a kid from a sinus infection. Pneumonia can follow pretty much any kind of virus or respiratory infection.

i had walking pneumonia as a kid, they told me I had a 'patch over my heart', and my literal 7 year old self thought my heart was a pirate

The cheese is completely off her cracker now.

This was to test whether bleach could sanitize poop and pee to prevent rats from getting Monkeypox. An question to which the answer is already known

https://i.ibb.co/YdqNRZC/FZB3-A5-NWYAEg-TT4.jpg

Ammonia is a highly reactive compound that in the home setting is used as a cleaning agent. It has many other uses. It is highly toxic all by itself.

Ammonia is not urea. We do not use urea (or urine) to clean things.

(again, illustration is not a product endorsement) pic.twitter.com/ihv25EzKkF

— Denise Dewald, MD 🗽 (@denise_dewald) July 31, 2022

Please tell me she isn't planning to mix bleach and ammonia to see if that works better.

Gonna try injecting myself.

no, someone told her that you can’t put bleach on human waste and she went on a tweet bender explaining that urine is not ammonia