Coronavirus

[tlombard]

I have to admit that I'm even more confused now than ever with regards to the virus. Back in late June my GF tested positive for the virus so I got tested and stayed away from her for the two weeks. My results came back negative. Then a month later she got tested again because her physical therapist won't let her back until she tests negative. She was positive. Then again in late August she came back positive. Each time she has been tested, I've been tested too and I've come back negative each time. Clearly I'm immune to the virus... or it just doesn't like me because I have NOT been staying away from her all this time.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Sorry to hear about that, tlom. Is your gf feeling okay or is she still sick? And, what kind of test is she testing positive on? Is the the PCR or Antigen tests?

Regardless, hope you and she are doing alright.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

I'll just say this and leave it where it is. I took the antibody test and tested negative. So, that's good. But a long time ago I quit worrying about getting it and started taking stuff to combat if I did get it. I wear masks and wash hands and what not. But, i"ve been on a [expletive] ton of flights, and in airports and bars and restaurants, and of course bas's favorite the lake, and don't have it. Never have. Which quite frankly is unbelievable.


So, I got my Vit D level checked as part of my normal bloodlwork. It was like 80 something which is well above the 30 level the experts worry about. I asked Ms. AW if that was like significant and she just shrugged it off.

At this point, I feel like you can blow a [expletive] cannon of covid air up my nose and I'll be fine.

I was gonna try and make sense with this post, but waateer, I've been drinking all day so forgot where i was going with it

[tlombard]

Sorry to hear about that, tlom. Is your gf feeling okay or is she still sick? And, what kind of test is she testing positive on? Is the the PCR or Antigen tests?

Regardless, hope you and she are doing alright.

She was pretty sick in the beginning but it only lasted a couple of days and there was no need to go to a hospital. She lost her sense of taste and smell for the most part but those are finally coming back. Her primary physician told her last week to stop even getting tested at this point and she spoke to an infectious disease expert who told her that she's not contagious and can get back on with her life without worrying. I have told her that repeatedly but she hasn't listened to me. Finally she's getting back out in the world again. If she was contagious than either I would have had it two months ago or I'm completely immune to it.

I'm really glad she feels comfortable going back out now because I was getting tired of spending half a day or more sitting on her couch binge watching shows because she was afraid to leave the apartment for fear of passing the virus on to somebody else. We had a few drinks Wednesday evening and then today we did a bunch of shopping. Even the shopping was WAAAY better than binge watching TV at this point. I need to see and interact with real live people or else I go crazy.

[sighyoung]

[Freed Roger]

Missouri is a [expletive]- show. poor leadership. glad they don't lead me. but massive waste of resources and information. Marion Co. MO is a covid hotspot. which is absurd considering it is isolated and insular.

[GeddyWrox]

Not that there is any arguing against masks in GRB but thought some might be interested in this analysis of the effect of mask mandates on the spread of COVID.

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.13 ... 2020.00818

There was a significant decline in daily COVID-19 growth rate after the mandating of face covers in public, with the effect increasing over time after the orders were signed. Specifically, the daily case rate declined by 0.9, 1.1, 1.4, 1.7, and 2.0 percentage points within 1–5, 6–10, 11–15, 16–20, and 21 or more days after signing, respectively. All of these declines were statistically significant (p<0.05 or less). In contrast, the pre-event trends in COVID-19 case growth rates were small and statistically insignificant.

We also projected the number of averted COVID-19 cases with the mandates for face mask use in public by comparing actual cumulative daily cases with daily cases predicted by the model if none of the states had enacted the public face cover mandate at the time they did (see details in appendix B).19 The main model estimates suggested that because of these mandates, 230,000–450,000 cases may have been averted by May 22. Estimates of averted cases should be viewed cautiously and only as general approximations.

[mikechamp]

Turns out I was not far off on my speculative math from 4 months ago. However, I will disagree with the IATA's chief executive Alexandre de Juniac that the time is not now to think about this. It was at least 4 months ago, because a schmoe like me already was.

Covid vaccine: 8,000 jumbo jets needed to deliver doses globally, says IATA

Shipping a coronavirus vaccine around the world will be the "largest transport challenge ever" according to the airline industry. The equivalent of 8,000 Boeing 747s will be needed, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said.

There is no Covid-19 vaccine yet, but IATA is already working with airlines, airports, global health bodies and drug firms on a global airlift plan. The distribution programme assumes only one dose per person is needed.

Not all planes are suitable for delivering vaccines as they need a typical temperature range of between 2 and 8C for transporting drugs. Some vaccines may require freezing temperatures which would exclude more aircraft. Transportation will need "almost military precision" and will require cool facilities across a network of locations where the vaccine will be stored.

Along with making sure they are handled and transported at controlled temperatures, security is another issue. "Vaccines will be highly valuable commodities. Arrangements must be in place to ensure that shipments remain secure from tampering and theft," added IATA.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54067499

[mikechamp]

Another data point to add to the discussion:

Coronavirus could be increasing exponentially in all parts of the UK as R rate rises again

The reproduction number, or R value, of coronavirus transmission across the UK has risen to 1 or above in all regions. Data released on Friday by the Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) shows the estimate for R across the UK is between 1.0 and 1.2. The value represents the average number of people each COVID-19 positive person goes on to infect.

It comes the same week that cases rose sharply in England. 2,919 were reported on Thursday, 2,659 on Wednesday and 2,420 on Tuesday. On Monday, 2,948 were reported while Sunday saw 2,988, the highest daily rise since 22 May.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/coronavirus- ... 30234.html

[pioneer98]

This is an interesting theory. It says that the amount of virus that you are exposed to is a big factor in how severe of a case of COVID you get. So people who wear masks may still be getting the virus, but just in a small amount. And their body is able to fight off a small amount, and build immunity.

Face masks could be giving people Covid-19 immunity, researchers suggest

Face masks may be inadvertently giving people Covid-19 immunity and making them get less sick from the virus, academics have suggested in one of the most respected medical journals in the world.

The commentary, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, advances the unproven but promising theory that universal face mask wearing might be helping to reduce the severity of the virus and ensuring that a greater proportion of new infections are asymptomatic.

If this hypothesis is borne out, the academics argue, then universal mask-wearing could become a form of variolation (inoculation) that would generate immunity and “thereby slow the spread of the virus in the United States and elsewhere” as the world awaits a vaccine.

It comes as increasing evidence suggests that the amount of virus someone is exposed to at the start of infection - the “infectious dose” - may determine the severity of their illness. Indeed, a large study published in the Lancet last month found that “viral load at diagnosis” was an “independent predictor of mortality” in hospital patients.

Wearing masks could therefore reduce the infectious dose that the wearer is exposed to and, subsequently, the impact of the disease, as masks filter out some virus-containing droplets.

If this theory bears out, researchers argue, then population-wide mask wearing might ensure that a higher proportion of Covid-19 infections are asymptomatic.

Better still, as data has emerged in recent weeks suggesting that there can be strong immune responses from even mild or asymptomatic coronavirus infection, researchers say that any public health strategy that helps reduce the severity of the virus - such as mask wearing - should increase population-wide immunity as well.

This is because even a low viral load can be enough to induce an immune response, which is effectively what a typical vaccine does.

While this hypothesis needs to be backed up with more clinical study, experiments in hamsters have hinted at a connection between dose and disease. Earlier this year, a team of researchers in China found that hamsters housed behind a barrier made of surgical masks were less likely to get infected by the coronavirus. And those who did contract the virus became less sick than other animals without masks to protect them.