outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

wastewater data seems to show plateauing nationwide, possible slight decline in the west

cases obv not plateauing, and wastewater sometimes can be noisy on individual weeks, so not putting 100% stock in that yet

Florida ticking up more though, finally

Yeah the pharmacists at the CVS we go to haven't been wearing masks for many, many months.

The CVS pharms we go to, on the other hand, have not stopped masking up. I often gauge things by how many staff are masked at our Trader Joe's, and it seems to be hovering around 30%, though not consistently. I've not been anywhere in the past several months with even close to that amount masked. I think one important shift that's happened, at least around here or where people have the luxury, is people staying home or staying in when they feel or are sick. That helps a lot, or should. It's been months since I've heard more than a passing cough, sneeze or sniffle in public.

my partner and i remain covid virgins, keep wondering when that shoe is gonna drop. She works in a school, i'm out at shows all the time. We're both diligent maskers but one assumes that's not foolproof.

Still haven't caught it either, and having that same "it's probably just around the corner" feeling.

Hope it passes easily, jvc!

good news for parents (not good that it was a huge wave, but good that it's apparently winding down)

RSV hospitalizations have peaked in the US: earlier, higher, and sharper than usual, as predicted by epidemiological models taking into account the lower immunity/higher susceptible population due to lower infections in previous years.

1/ pic.twitter.com/iOW5O4TSq1

— Prof. Michael S Fuhrer (@MichaelSFuhrer) December 15, 2022

early reports on bivalent booster protection against severe disease that are emerging this week are very positive. particularly hospitalization.

glad to hear about RSV. hospitals are jampacked atm due to the tridemic.

I had RSV (presumably) around Thanksgiving. Not a fan tbh and I still have some rebound congestion/coughing

tbh I miss the dry cough of covid (but not any of the other bits) because wet coughs are gross

I dunno, I prefer a productive cough. No cough of mine gonna be in the unemployment line.

fair

I have still so far avoided it all. I intend to my best to keep to that.

good thing the pandemic is over

Moderna is considering raising the price of its COVID-19 vaccine by over 400 percent—from $26 per dose to between $110 and $130 per dose—according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.

Ars has reached out to Moderna for comment but has not yet received a response. The plan, if realized, would match the previously announced price hike for Pfizer-BioNTech's rival COVID-19 vaccine.

The Journal spoke with Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco Monday, who said of the 400 percent price hike: "I would think this type of pricing is consistent with the value.”

Until now, the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech have been purchased by the government and offered to Americans for free. In the latest federal contract from July, Moderna's updated booster shot cost the government $26 per dose, up from $15–$16 per dose in earlier supply contracts, the Journal notes. Similarly, the government paid a little over $30 per dose for Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine this past summer, up from $19.50 per dose in contracts from 2020.

But now that the federal government is backing away from distributing the vaccines, their makers are moving to the commercial market—with price adjustments. Financial analysts had previously anticipated Pfizer would set the commercial price for its vaccine at just $50 per dose but were taken aback in October when Pfizer announced plans of a price between $110 and $130. Analysts then anticipated that Pfizer's price would push Moderna and other vaccine makers to follow suit, which appears to be happening now.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/01/moderna-may-match-pfizers-400-price-hike-on-covid-vaccines-report-says/

There are reasons why some people don't trust the pharma industry for any reason, and this sort of despicable price-gouging is among them.

i am increasingly feeling like the only mask wearer in a crowd

For the first time, not a single student masked in my two face-to-face classes.

Whereas both of the events where I am reading this weekend and next require masks, no exceptions.

good news, and why I got so angry at those who wanted to throw cold water on the bivalents prematurely:

The Covid bivalent vaccine booster works better than expected.
I've reviewed the cumulative datahttps://t.co/tR5S4BBaYb
That's in contrast to a @NEJM essay today and 2 lab studies that used a pseudovirus assay without assessing the XBB variants

— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) January 11, 2023

wastewater absolutely plummeted in Florida and nationally this week. wondering if that's just because holiday gatherings caused it to spike and now it's leveling off now that they're over.

doesn't mean it's going to keep doing that, but i'll take it for now.

I gotta say, as far as celebrations, even with precautions, 2022 was the most normal holiday season in three. No-one I know got infected.

a week ago I flew on 4 flights through 4 airports and went to a toddler's birthday party with like 50 people, I was masked up for the flights but not the party, which was in a very large room w/open doors to outside, nobody got COVID, it feels like a transition (that being said duh I mask on errands still)

Definitely were some actual bugs going around -- my sis's birthday is five days before Christmas, she wanted to have it in a fave bar, fairly close quarters and no outside area, so I went for a bit, kept my mask on and didn't indulge in any drinks or anything. Day before Christmas, I'm at the house with my folks, my sis arrives...masked up, because she and others got a bad cold; her partner was similarly unable to join us this year as a result. (They tested aggressively and it wasn't COVID but I'm sure glad I stuck with my hunch for the birthday.)

I caught some kind of bug in early December: nausea and mild fever. No hint of respiratory ailment (i.e. sore throat, runny nose, coughing), no other symptoms. Weird. Not COVID. So, yes, there's a lotta shit in the air.

my mother got a sinus infection and was uber worried but we got 8 tests through our insurance and it wasn't. but because of her hyperfocus on covid, she hadn't considered sinus infection so after a week of non-improvement we realized she probably needed antibiotics, and it zapped it out right quick.

My whole family had a bad non-COVID cold (multiple negative tests all around) but yeah, still traveling a ton, still lots of eating indoors, all I'm doing for COVID prevention is wearing an N95 when I'm inside and not eating, and I just keep not getting it.

that being said duh I mask on errands still)

Yup. In class and extended spells in public places too.

my two year COVID study was supposed to send me a gift for completing the study and they keep delaying it.

the fuck could it be, a damn statue? if it's a gift card to Friendly's, just give it to me so I can get my damn Fribble already

A picture of Fauci's pubic hairs.

I'll also say that friends and relatives' experiences with Paxlovid have considerably changed perceptions of the disease. All are boosted, it should go without saying.

We just spent around 40 hours on airplanes, more time in airports, restaurants, on public transportation, etc, mostly without masks, and none of us caught anything (afaict). My in-laws made almost the same trip to the same destination a few weeks ago, with much more mask wearing, and both of them tested positive for covid as soon as they got home. They suspect it could have been exposure during a long layover at LAX, during which they let down their guard for a relaxed meal, but at this stage, who knows. Bad timing? Fortunately, despite being in their '70s, they had only mild symptoms for a couple of days. Was that the boosters at work? A weaker strain *not* at work? Again, who knows.

i still have brain fog issues from the v intense bout of covid i just had so good luck to all of you

i'm sorry to hear it, Brad :(

it took about three months for my fog to clear but it did clear eventually, hang in there brad

sorry, Brad.

sorry to hear Brad.

My parents went on a very stupid vacation and my dad “got a cold” in the middle of it— when I asked them whether he had Covid, they told me he hadn’t tested since he’d been sick! I… uh… well, I had some words with them, but despite being intelligent people, a lot of the Boomers I know seem to know little and care less about the facts of epidemiology.

They’re both up to date with vaxes and boosters too. A few months ago my dad said “well we’ll be dead soon anyway, might as well take the risk now” and threw his hands up in the air. I couldn’t even really believe it tbh.

The Food and Drug Administration is proposing a crucial change in the way the coronavirus vaccine is handled: Switching to a once-a-year shot that targets the strain expected to pose the greatest threat during the following winter — a system akin to what is used for the influenza vaccine.

The agency, in briefing documents released Monday for a meeting this week with its vaccine advisers, said evidence suggests that “moving forward, most individuals may only need to receive one dose” of a coronavirus vaccine “to restore protective immunity for a period of time.” The change in strategy will be one of the topics discussed at the meeting, scheduled for Thursday.

The proposed change is designed to reduce the complexity of the vaccine regimen for the public, doctors and manufacturers. It also reflects a view that “chasing variants” with ever-changing booster formulations is ultimately futile, in part because the public has little interest in getting repeated injections, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about it.

The FDA would choose the annual strain for the shots every June, in time for the updated shots to be manufactured and then administered in September, as part of a yearly inoculation campaign. The goal would be to select the strain most likely to be dominant in the winter, when people are indoors and covid cases typically rise.

Seems like this was always the way things were going -- lots of people a year ago were like "what, are you going to get a needle in your arm EVERY YEAR FOR LIFE, WHEN WILL THE MADNESS END???" and I've been like, well yeah, I already do that for flu, what's the big deal?

Yeah. I wouldn't mind it being every six months while it's still flaring up pretty regularly, but just making it part of a normal cadence instead of people being confused whether they've got the now-current vaccine or the last vaccine because the communication has been spotty would be nice.

Agreed.

This seems like the right time to make that switchover to treating it like the flu vaccine, especially now that the omicron strain has become so dominant that it will predictably become the basis for all future variants.

I'm going to get a second bivalent boost in late March/early April I figure -- it'll have been six months and that's right before I do some travelling later in April, so given that efficacy does seem to decay regardless, I'd rather be safe than sorry -- but after that I'd be content to just do what I did last September and get bivalent (or whatever) yearly with the flu shot if things seem to have finally turned a relative corner. (Still masking like heck regardless when prudent.)

When I got my second booster in June (pre-bivalent), I got mild resistance at CVS ("But you got the first booster in Sepember!") but I ended up lying about my health. I wonder if we'll see similar nonsense. Considering the pathetic response to the bivalents, I hope not.

Looks like wastewater reports in Florida and California are looking better.

The SF numbers are going down for sure -- my hospital is now finally back in the single-digit amount of patients in care for the first time in at least three months I think.

hospitalizations also dropping significantly in FL last two weeks

however XBB.1.5 is only a small percentage of FL's variant soup, and yet normally you see the increase in cases at the beginning of the variant's emergence as well as when it becomes dominant, so not sure if it's a short hiatus or if that really is 'it' for the wave.

Not an article I wanted to write.

The deadly H5N1 bird flu is spreading widely, including to mammals.

For the first time, it's now likely spreading mammal-to-mammal, among minks which are exceptionally well-suited conduits to humans.

We must act now.https://t.co/aqd2TIqE5V pic.twitter.com/DPpmupOtGo

— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep) February 3, 2023

ffs

Act now? I can’t even access the article.