Coronavirus

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medica ... li=BBnb7Kz

How long might immunity to the coronavirus last? Years, maybe even decades, according to a new study — the most hopeful answer yet to a question that has shadowed plans for widespread vaccination.

Eight months after infection, most people who have recovered still have enough immune cells to fend off the virus and prevent illness, the new data show. A slow rate of decline in the short term suggests, happily, that these cells may persist in the body for a very, very long time to come.

The research, published online, has not been peer-reviewed nor published in a scientific journal. But it is the most comprehensive and long-ranging study of immune memory to the coronavirus to date.

...

That amount of memory would likely prevent the vast majority of people from getting hospitalized disease, severe disease, for many years,” said Shane Crotty, a virologist at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology who co-led the new study.

...

The findings are consistent with encouraging evidence emerging from other labs. Researchers at the University of Washington, led by the immunologist Marion Pepper, had earlier shown that certain “memory” cells that were produced following infection with the coronavirus persist for at least three months in the body.

A study published last week also found that people who have recovered from Covid-19 have powerful and protective killer immune cells even when antibodies are not detectable.

These studies “are all by and large painting the same picture, which is that once you get past those first few critical weeks, the rest of the response looks pretty conventional,” said Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona.

...

In recent months, reports of waning antibody levels have created worry that immunity to the coronavirus may disappear in a few months, leaving people vulnerable to the virus again.

But many immunologists have noted that it is natural for antibody levels to drop. Besides, antibodies are just one arm of the immune system.

Although antibodies in the blood are needed to block the virus and forestall a second infection — a condition known as sterilizing immunity — immune cells that “remember” the virus more often are responsible for preventing serious illness.

“Sterilizing immunity doesn’t happen very often — that is not the norm,” said Alessandro Sette, an immunologist at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology and co-leader of the study.

More often, people become infected a second time with a particular pathogen, and the immune system recognizes the invader and quickly extinguishes the infection. The coronavirus in particular is slow to do harm, giving the immune system plenty of time to kick into gear.

“It may be terminated fast enough that not only are you not experiencing any symptoms but you are not infectious,” Dr. Sette said.

Dr. Sette and his colleagues recruited 185 men and women, aged 19 to 81, who had recovered from Covid-19. The majority had mild symptoms not requiring hospitalization; most provided just one blood sample, but 38 provided multiple samples over many months.

The team tracked four components of the immune system: antibodies, B cells that make more antibodies as needed; and two types of T cells that kill other infected cells. The idea was to build a picture of the immune response over time by looking at its constituents.

“If you just look at only one, you can really be missing the full picture,” Dr. Crotty said.

He and his colleagues found that antibodies were durable, with modest declines at six to eight months after infection, although there was a 200-fold difference in the levels among the participants. T cells showed only a slight, slow decay in the body, while B cells grew in number — an unexpected finding the researchers can’t quite explain.

The study is the first to chart the immune response to a virus in such granular detail, experts said. “For sure, we have no priors here,” Dr. Gommerman said. “We’re learning, I think for the first time, about some of the dynamics of these populations through time.”

...

“What we need to be very mindful of is whether or not reinfection is going to be a concern,” Dr. Shaman said. “And so seeing evidence that we have this kind of persistent, robust response, at least to these time scales, is very encouraging.” So far, at least, he noted, reinfections with the coronavirus seem to be rare.

Whole lot of info in that NYT article.

[Leroy]

Thank you. If I go down...let's just say 'chops' is gassed up and ready to roll before I do.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

It's going to be awful hard to flatten the curve when people still have the perspective of the unidentified woman:

List of COVID-19 restrictions coming to St. Louis County

No indoor dining or big gatherings. These are among the restrictions St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page announced Friday morning.

Page's announcement on new restrictions comes after COVID-19 cases continue to rise at an alarming rate in the St. Louis area. The county has added an average of 677 new cases every day this week, the highest weekly average since the beginning of the pandemic. The county's seven-day positivity rate reached 16% on Friday, the highest since late April.

Residents across St. Louis City and County have different opinions on new restrictions. They all want to the pandemic to end, but not all agree on how.

"People are going to do what they're going to do," Beth Bottchen said restrictions would only work if everyone abides. "If people would just wear masks it would be a lot better."

Some believe restrictions are needed while others believe public health orders are an inconvenience.

"That's all you report, I am sick of it, I am sick of it," a woman who didn't want to be identified said. "I am going to do what I've always done. Everything. I will go visit people, I'll have people over. I am doing the same for Christmas. I am not stopping anything. They're not going to control my life. I didn't vote for these idiots."

https://www.kmov.com/news/st-louis-coun ... 2f50b.html

the virus designers would know what to do with unidentified woman.

It’s almost like they knew what she’d do.

[Freed Roger]

It's going to be awful hard to flatten the curve when people still have the perspective of the unidentified woman:

List of COVID-19 restrictions coming to St. Louis County

No indoor dining or big gatherings. These are among the restrictions St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page announced Friday morning.

Page's announcement on new restrictions comes after COVID-19 cases continue to rise at an alarming rate in the St. Louis area. The county has added an average of 677 new cases every day this week, the highest weekly average since the beginning of the pandemic. The county's seven-day positivity rate reached 16% on Friday, the highest since late April.

Residents across St. Louis City and County have different opinions on new restrictions. They all want to the pandemic to end, but not all agree on how.

"People are going to do what they're going to do," Beth Bottchen said restrictions would only work if everyone abides. "If people would just wear masks it would be a lot better."

Some believe restrictions are needed while others believe public health orders are an inconvenience.

"That's all you report, I am sick of it, I am sick of it," a woman who didn't want to be identified said. "I am going to do what I've always done. Everything. I will go visit people, I'll have people over. I am doing the same for Christmas. I am not stopping anything. They're not going to control my life. I didn't vote for these idiots."

https://www.kmov.com/news/st-louis-coun ... 2f50b.html

the virus designers would know what to do with unidentified woman.

It’s almost like they knew what she’d do.

lol.

exactly.

[mikechamp]

What about the children, you ask?

There are a lot of interesting observations in the article. I encourage all with children/grandchildren to read through it. It's not terribly long.

More than 1 million kids have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Why isn't it getting more attention?

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) made a disturbing announcement this week: More than 1 million children in the United States have been diagnosed with COVID-19.

The AAP stated in a press release that, as of Nov. 12, 1,039,464 children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. Pediatric cases are also skyrocketing: In the one-week period ending on Thursday, Nov. 12, there were 111,946 new cases in children, “which is substantially larger than any previous week in the pandemic,” the AAP said. The AAP also noted that the organization thinks the actual case counts are underreported because children often have mild cases of the virus and may not be tested as often as adults.

The AAP pointed out that severe illness due to COVID-19 is “rare” in children but expressed concern about potential long-term health effects in children.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/more-th ... 08881.html

[sighyoung]

[mikechamp]

Howwwww.... awkward.

Grocery chain apologizes after releasing ‘super spread’ ad for Thanksgiving

A grocery store chain in the mid-Atlantic region is apologizing for an unfortunate blunder with a Thanksgiving advertisement printed in the latest edition of its magazine.



https://news.yahoo.com/grocery-chain-ap ... 54865.html

[Freed Roger]

study, mask mandates effective in Stl and Stl County

Shame there isn't a statewide rule. Insane actually. but personal responsibility. Trumper State Guvmint, And Winning and all that [expletive].

People may say, its the masks, not the mandate. but the mandate causes more people to wear masks, thoughts and prayers do not.

The extreme recent example of this human nature or whatever is helmets on motorcyclists. Where nearly everybody wore helmets in MO when it was the law. Now that is voluntary, it is way more common to see someone without a helmet.

At least with the helmet choice law, they are mostly taking on risk to themselves by opting out (granted making it potentially harder for ERs) rather than increasing community risk like non-maskers.

[sighyoung]

[Jocephus]

my boss' husband got symptoms over the weekend (cough, congestion), got tested monday and results today which are positive. thus, my boss who has been working from home this week, went for a test herself this morning but i would assume she'll test positive just because exposure chance is/was so high. her husband is doing ok, mild stuff, etc...and they're both healthy/active people but still don't know how it all plays out, etc. luckily our office suite and individual offices are spaced and we only have 4 total people in this suite, with little incoming traffic, so i'm not personally too concerned about possible exposure...but i dunno.

also just got an update from the county health dept that there are no ICU beds in the county as of today...apparently they have beds and are using "surge protocols" to get them converted to covid beds? not entirely sure what all that entails. if memory serves, the area had like a, pop up field hospital set up somewhere but i think they started shutting it down in august or september 'cause this area just wasn't getting cases at the time. not sure if that can still be used or restarted at this point.

earlier in the week the state of colorado updated the "covid severity dial" by adding a purple zone after the red zone...which i guess just allows a little extra wiggle room for planning...i dunno...i'm not entirely sure what separates red and purple...'cause i think red is still considered "stay at home" range on the dial. mesa county has been in orange for over a week now and i think the expectation is we will hit red tomorrow or soon. one thing i don't totally understand is that, at least in town, not sure if it's county wide but if businesses participate in a "covid action plan" or whatever that meets criteria from some body (again, not sure if state, county or city) then they are exempt from a lot of further restrictions. i understand the need for businesses to be open, particularly local/small businesses and i thank the businesses that at least try to keep customers safe but ultimately i don't think the virus cares so i'm not entirely sure what is expected.

definitely headed to the dispensary this weekend.