Wife got steroids and zpack if that helps you. Worked for her (runner also)

I had read about below when it came out on Mon.

I was at my pharmacy and asked about it. He said he's not heard anything about a Fall Covid shot.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/12/new-...taff-says.html

I do think it's fair to ask if this booster is needed for most people (if there isn't an emergence of another worrisome variant). I've had 2+1+1+1, no underlying issues etc. The recent downward trend for hospitalizations & deaths is pretty significant (see graphic).

CDC COVID Data Tracker

Just like for the flu shot, it is important for everyone to get vaccinated to raise the level of herd immunity. It's more important than with flu, really, since it's more dangerous (don't just look at 'survival rate') and more transmissible.

I feel like there should be a ton of these types of state medical board decisions happening all over the country, and not just because a journalist set it up to get a waiver for their dog.

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/artic...loses-license/

Agreed.

Following up on the "don't just look at the survival rate" from above.

Between 22% and 33% of those recovering from COVID get "brain fog."
Mid and long-term neurological and neuropsychiatric manifestations of post-COVID-19 syndrome: A meta-analysis - PubMed
Just a moment...
One-Year Trajectory of Cognitive Changes in Older Survivors of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: A Longitudinal Cohort Study | Dementia and Cognitive Impairment | JAMA Neurology | JAMA Network

COVID is associated with long-term cognitive dysfunction and acceleration of Alzheimer's Symptoms
https://aaic.alz.org/downloads2021/C...ysfunction.pdf

If you had COVID, several of your organs could be aging 3-4 years faster
https://abc7chicago.com/covid-long-h...dney/12340213/
Just a moment...
Long-term neurologic outcomes of COVID-19 | Nature Medicine
Long-term cardiovascular outcomes of COVID-19 | Nature Medicine

Severe COVID linked with brain aging
Severe COVID-19 linked with brain aging, says study – Harvard Gazette
Severe COVID-19 is associated with molecular signatures of aging in the human brain | Nature Aging

Repeat COVID-19 infections increase risk of organ failure, death
Repeat COVID-19 infections increase risk of organ failure, death – Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Repeat COVID is riskier than first infection, study finds | Reuters
Acute and postacute sequelae associated with SARS-CoV-2 reinfection | Nature Medicine

Get vaccinated, stay up-to-date with boosters.

My Wife's mom's dementia went into hyperdrive after she got covid FWIW

Okay, looks like Sept for the boosters. I'm a little impressed it'll only take 2-3 months to ramp up, produce & distribute the shots.

I did read elsewhere the shots won't be covered by the government anymore but it'll be up to insurance to pickup/subsidize the $100+ shot.

Our fall COVID boosters will likely be a monovalent XBB formula | Ars Technica

We head out for a cruise on September 6th so doubtful I'd be able to get it in time. And I just finally got COVID about a month ago for the first time, so maybe it's not as important for me. Still, I'll probably get it before our late January cruise.

Almost immediately after our February cruise, my wife ended up with both Covid and shigella. So... Yeah.

Did I count 3 cruises in little over a year?

Yep. And likely another next May when we are in the UK.

Making up for lost time.

Nice.

Best site to find cruises and read reviews?

e.g. I always start off with Google Travel/Flights for airfare

The Alaska cruise, which is in September, was supposed to happen in June of 2020. That didn't happen for obvious reasons. We finally decided to do it over a year ago. That one was on the books for a long time.

Then last summer we did a vacation to Kauai with our kids and my parents which included a vow renewal. My wife's parents are nearly 80, don't travel much and don't really have the money, so they didn't/couldn't come. Wife and I felt bad so we decided to take them on a cruise this past February.

Then my parents started dropping hints about a cruise, so guess what? Next January, we're doing eastern Caribbean with them (did western with my wife's parents). It's this neverending tit-for-tat BS that I thought would end when both kids graduated HS, but no.

And then wife and I are going to London next May and I'm thinking about a 4 day cruise to Amsterdam and Belgium just to see a couple different countries while over there. That one's still up in the air.

CruisePlum.com.

I also spend too much time crawling through the cruise critic message boards and have registered with about half-dozen cruise lines to get deals sent to me.

Thanks.

Wife takes Dramamine for air travel but we've talked about taking a short cruise on not too rough waters (assume Caribbean in non-hurricane season) to see what happens.

I really, really want to try the all you can eat seafood buffets!

We leave for Alaska in 3 weeks. I belong to several FB groups for the cruises. There used to be several posts a week about covid and about 6 months ago they just stopped. I haven't seen one in months so hopefully it has really tapered off.

TBH it isn't a concern to me at all. I'm excited for the unlimited adult beverage package.

I'm not worried about it - we're doing 2 more cruises within a year of the first - but on the CC Celebrity board, a week or so ago I saw back-to-back posts about Covid and Norovirus from the same ship (different sailings) in May. Given my wife's luck, I'm sure if there's something on our September cruise, she'll get it.

Just booked our 3rd cruise, on Celebrity again, for October. I know I'll try and get my 3rd booster for sure, but it feels like the standard norovirus is as much or more of a threat now. I don't see covid outbreaks being either overly publicized or paid much attention to at this point.

Where are you going in October?

Equinox on the 8th. Six night going to Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Bimini.

Nice post-mortem article on Covid antibodies.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/1-4-am...l_twitter_abcn
I'm the 1 in 4 as far as I know.

There are probably differing levels/amount of antibodies. Don't know how significant the 96.7% is by itself. Be more helpful if the article had a breakdown of "little, middling, a lot"

Yes, this is a little bit surprising.

Below is rationale on why 25% don't have Covid antibodies (vs. from vaccinations).

I got the original 2 shots plus 3 boosters and finally got it in May for the 1st time. Don't know how, where or why. And I got multiple symptoms - started as sinus headache and scratchy throat, turned into bad sore throat and cold/hot flashes, then after a couple days morphed into more of the original COVID symptoms of lack of taste/smell and congestion, head fog, lack of energy, etc. Took me almost 3 full weeks and some drugs the final week to full get over it.

What drugs did you take?

Prednisone and a RX cough medicine.

Same thing happened to me last month as happend to KSyrup. However I tested negative 3 times. Started and progressed the same way. Had a cough until a few days ago and still feels like a little something is in my chest.

Worst part was the lack of taste/smell. My family treats my nose like I'm Gus from Psych.

So either I had COVID and just continued to test negative (my wife was sick the week before, lesser symptoms, and was negative) or I legit had something else that mimics COVID. Either way, I've still never tested positive for COVID... but I've been sick like 10 times since it started

Interesting article on human-deer Covid.

Covid-19 spread between humans and deer, study shows, raising concerns about animal reservoirs | CNN
A little bit ominous.

See below on how it could have happened. If you have an outdoor cat and live where deer roam ...

Some county-level GOP parties in FL are now asking DeSantis to ban the vaccine.

Meanwhile, RFK Jr. said that the virus was engineered to attack Caucasians and blacks and to spare Chinese and Ashkenazi Jews.

Even before Covid, I never wanted to move back to Florida. Although, my best opportunities for jobs would probably be back there. But since then? I'd have to exhaust pretty much every job opportunity before I agreed to move back. The only remaining family we have there are on my wife's side, and they have all turned into right-wing antivaxx kooks.

None of the deer come near me :( I just want to love them.

I'm trying to envision the first time humans gave it to deer.

I mean odds are they didn't get it from our left-over food right? (Supposedly difficult for human to get it from groceries).

Surely deer aren't attracted to human/cat poop?

Humans wouldn't get close enough to sneeze on a living deer?

Deers don't eat dead carcasses (human or cat)?

Hah, ask the BG3 developers to come out with a DLC for that. Can't be too difficult as they have a "bear" already :)

Okay, I guess that's one way for human to deer transmission.

Reminds me of the video of a tourist fighting with an aggressive kangaroo.

Ticks & mosquitos, Edward.

lol

yeah seriously i don't buy this....covid transmitted because of human/feer interaction theory

totally don't buy it

waiting for next theory

I googled on it and there's not alot of evidence for human-to-human with ticks & mosquitos. So I'd think also unlikely with human-to-deer.

Okay, here are some theories below.

I can actually see the first re: waste water because we know we can track Covid via poop in waste water.

For the second, I guess if we left out half-eaten pizza or like, the deer could ingest some infected saliva. It also mentioned about petting deer, I can't believe one can get close enough though.

How Did Deer Get COVID-19—And What Could It Mean For Humans?

Nonetheless, a number of diseases are transmitted this way, like Lyme, most notably.

More details in the article but basically about 20% of population may have a gene HLA-B that protects them from getting Covid or being asymptomatic.

It would be neat to get that test done but not very likely for the regular person.

Why some folks never got sick from COVID: It could be in their genes : Goats and Soda : NPR

I used a different bathroom in my work building today, and it still had up one of the very early signs about preventing SARS-COVID-19 that no one has gotten around to taking down. One of the recommendations? Don't travel to China. That was a blast from the past.

Really crazy the journey we've all been on over the last 4 years.

There's a couple restaurants (Indian & Chinese) that still have signs about wearing masks and about company not being liable. The latter makes sense for CYA but you'd think the masks would be removed.

Yup, crazy journey. I feel more for kids who were in school & college. I can't help but feel they missed out on some happier, less stressful years.

For the 2nd time in less than a year a suicidal deer ran in front of my car. Covid or not, the deer are actively trying to kill us.

Long Covid and now Long Vax.

Just a moment...
Article mentions small fiber neuropathy and POTS, but focuses more on POTS (not sure if that's significant).

Article also gives some numbers but basically, it's real, unknown % impacted from vaccinations, no breakdown on which type of vaccination (mRNA or more conventional), and need more research.

Except it isn't.

The link is unclear and diagnostics features ill-defined, but plenty of evidence that "it's real, unknown % impacted from vaccinations, no breakdown on which type of vaccination (mRNA or more conventional), and need more research."

I would say the surprise would be if there wasn't something like this happening. I'd expect it to just be the nature of the timeframe, similar to how excess deaths continued well past the point where it was explainable only by Covid deaths. From what Edward64 posted, the emphasis to my mind would be on the 'needs more research'. I.e. this is happening and we don't understand why well at all yet.

Not saying that there aren't people out there having reactions or complications from a vaccine, but let's not act like it's an epidemic along the lines of covid itself. Or that the comparison is even equitable. That's the primary argument anti vaxxers use and it's a nothingburger in the grand scheme of things.

I think its beyond anecdotal evidence at this stage, the article had several researchers that said there's something there. It would be good for more detailed research to get a % caused by vaccinations and the severity of it, by age and type of vaccination etc. Seems like we are only at the very beginnings of studying this.

Your excess deaths comment is interesting and hadn't thought about it. Have to read up more on it.

Excess deaths has not continued past what can be explained by covid. Covid infections damage your body long term. If you've had covid, it raises your risk of many, many risky occurences. It damaged health nationwide and mortality will increase for a long time as a result.

This "long vax" stuff is very theoretical and very rare. It's not something people should be considering when deciding to get vaccinated or not. Anything that causes an immune response in your body can cause issues for a small number of people. That is nothing new or surprising. It is also not even remotely common.

I did some more googling on this and TBH did not find much. Searched on "excess deaths 2023 covid"

COVID pandemic is officially over in the U.S., excess-deaths data show - MarketWatch
Seems to indicate that in the US, things are doing okay. The NYT article mentioned above was behind a paywall.

There was a EU article that said below. They came up with some possible explanations (none was because of vaccination), but I found them weak (e.g. weather, disrupted healthcare system).

Post-COVID excess mortality rates: What do they tell us about the state of public health in Europe? | Euronews

If you have an article that explains the excess deaths post Covid, I'd be interested in reading it.

Again, COVID damages your body.


Additionally, as the article you referenced says, people neglected regular health care for at least a year, maybe more. This leads to missed diagnoses, undetected changes in health, and slower reactions to changes in health. This affected nearly everyone.

This will have ramifications for decades or longer.

I love xkcd but I feel like the dude just puts stick figures under his blog entries sometimes. (He's exactly right, though, obviously)

It's 2023 though, who is still thinking about anti-vaxxers?

Well, one of the most prominent ones is running for president.

Spoke to @PBS along with @edyong209 about how #LongCovid is hidden in plain sight — yet is the fastest growing public health crisis in the country, for which there are still zero answers for.

3+ years in, the degree of suffering & QOL is truly unfathomable. pic.twitter.com/Pm5TwwnFOc

— charlos (@loscharlos) July 26, 2023

There are 4 people that I worked with that have "retired early" due to long covid. Three of them this past year and one the year before. A lot of people are suffering.

Also: Elon Musk Uses Bronny James’ Cardiac Arrest for Anti-Vax Conspiracy – Rolling Stone

I cannot stress this enough: FUCK Elon Musk. (don't remember the cursing rules here, sorry if not allowed)

More good Covid poop news.

Your summer cold could be Covid-19, as the nation goes into a late summer wave | CNN

There has been an increase though.

Speaking of poop...

First, that's absolutely true, and people are noticing just from anecdotal evidence. I went to the doctor today and he said the same thing, and then on a comedy talk show of all things, they were discussing how many people they know who are dealing with or coming off of Covid in the past month.

Second, I went to the doctor because I've got some IBS issues - just short of Crohn's - and I talked to him about how I've noticed changes since I had Covid in May. So I'm going through a bunch of blood and fecal tests to determine if things have, in fact, changed and I need an increase in meds. But this is a documented long Covid symptom. The doctor also said that one of his doctor friends went bald after getting Covid, which I had never heard of before.

Let me introduce you to the new dominant strain in the US ... Eris

Not much to be concerned about relative to the other strains, not much deadlier etc. Supposedly the new vaccinations in Sep/Oct will cover this strain.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/08/15/covi...ow-so-far.html

So basically, no real news we need to worry about. And that in itself, is good news.

Elon should probably try reading some time.

Cardiac sequelae in athletes following COVID-19 vaccination: evidence and misinformation | British Journal of Sports Medicine

Also, my wife's offices have found a 15% positive rate of late. Normally hovers under 5%, so they're under the impression there's at least another COVID push, but they're not too concerned.

Our hospital is getting hammered with employee call outs due to covid positives but we haven't seen a significant uptick in hospitalizations.

This one is pretty interesting ... getting all your vaccination shots in the same arm is better than if on different arms. All my Covid shots have been on left shoulder so I'm good.

The possible reason ...

Eh, forget Eris, we now have Pirola. This one sounds more ominous but who knows. I am impressed by how quickly these things are "spotted & reported" (e.g. just last Sunday), somewhat reassuring there are eyes continuously in the Covid situation.

Scientists race to understand highly mutated coronavirus variant spotted in four countries, including the US | CNN

Guys, Biden is going to shut the country down next month... stock up on TP now! I'm still pissed from the first time he shut down the country in 2020, never voting for him again!

Over my lifeless body. https://t.co/wsTN8yqXQ4

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) August 19, 2023

You need to add the /s. This is the internet, and people will take you seriously.

There's a fun subreddit for those, /r/atetheonion

People are desperate for things to be angry over, they can't even see when the things are jokes.

I'm pretty sure I had it for the last two weeks, that would be my third time since it started (and 3 vaccine doses later).

To be honest I was lazy to buy a test as we are on holidays but it started with my oldest kid (15yo), who was coughing and with a running nose for a few days, then my wife and me started with big pain in the throat for 2 days, and then cough and running nose for like 7 more days. I was just a bit more tired than usual but even worked out at the gym etc, so nothing compared to the first time I got it. It might have been just a regular cold but... being on summer at 40C, with 3 family members and with all the symptoms... sounds like covid and not a cold, but anyway I just don't care about it anymore.

With the 3 vaccine doses and having had it at least twice (tested positive) in the last two years, for me it's becoming like the flu, something we will get from time to time, with mild symptoms and that is it. Of course for old or with other sickness people it's still dangerous as the flu is as well.

Anti-Vaxxers are anticipating the arrival of new COVID restrictions (so that they can LOUDLY oppose them) with the glee that most people save for Christmas.

Actual restrictions are, of course, not going to happen. But they are going to find a random handwritten sign on a deli door saying "please consider masking" and make it go viral so they can post pictures of themselves next to it photoshopped on a cross holding an American flag with the word FREEDOM written across it.

And the source of this hysteria is Alex Jones and Infowars, who claims to have a Homeland Security whistle-blower that leaked the plan to him.

I'm sitting in my car waiting for my daughter's high school swim practice to end. One of the moms walked by and loudly on her phone was yelling about how THIS SCHOOL WILL NOT GO BACK INTO MASKS. She literally spends the swim meets proselytizing and trying to talk the people about God and going to church. These people are fucking nuts.

I think that one of the differences between liberals and conservatives right now is that when liberals hate something, they want it to go away. When conservatives hate something, they want it to stay around so they can keep hating it.

Oh, and it's a Catholic school in the South... literally the last place they'd institute masks again outside of those private schools they opened in the 60s that don't admit black kids.

There is no doubt there is an uptick of infections and warning that will increase in the next several months. The real question is will hospitalizations/deaths significantly increase. Hopefully not since we have a degree of herd immunity now.

So checked and all my government provided test kits have expired. With holiday season coming up, bought 2 x 2 test kits for $18 each. Seems kinda expensive but unsure if supply can keep up with demand if it gets bad.

Those early test kits aren't very accurate at this point anyway. The at home tests, in general, aren't very good. You shouldn't test the first 5 days after exposure, usually need to be symptomatic, and they may not detect newer strains.

A doctor told us those government freebies are probably 30%ish accurate at this point.

I've been reading more like 80%+

Was this comment just for the government provided ones or the commercially available ones like iHealth?

https://www.amazon.com/iHealth-COVID...s%2C106&sr=8-1

The older government provided ones. We were told to just toss them.

At home, in general, can be accurate under the right conditions but strain and when you test does matter. Most people want to test right after or within a day or 2 of expose and the tests wont be accurate then.

My father tested positive yesterday. I was hanging out with him on Sunday. I tested negative last night and feel okay. Will test again tomorrow.

My MIL is also positive and not in good shape. She's been sick for days but didn't go to doctor. She didn't recognize her daughter this morning. My wife called an ambulance against her Mom and stepfather's will. (I told her she was 100% right to call the ambulance.) UGH.

Sorry to hear that. Hope its not too serious.

Oh man Kodos, thinking of you and your family.

*hugs* Kodos....hug everyone for us

My mother was positive last week. Mainly just a sore throat then a fever but got better pretty fast

Sounds like both of them are doing a little better now. :)

Awesome to hear

Good news on the effectiveness of the new vaccine on the new strain. I did read somewhere there may be an updated vaccine later that better targets the newer strain.

Personally, I think I'll hold off on getting the vaccination until Dec/Jan. Hoping to do another international trip and, from the last time I did this, they said vaccinations would be more effective 30-60 days before the trip.

New Pfizer and Moderna COVID shots approved by FDA - MarketWatch
There really is no excuse for not providing free shots for everyone. If there really is this mess where some people can't afford to get vaccinated or in a timely manner, it's on Joe for not anticipating or demanding better planning.

SC Statehouse panel on pandemic preparedness goes heavy on anti-vaxxer testimony | Palmetto Politics | postandcourier.com


I hate my state. But I guess it could be worse, they could hold a hearing and parade around fake Peruvian Alien mummies. Actually, that wouldn't be worse, unless they claim the aliens died of the COVID vaccine.

ffs

Good news on people planning to get the updated shot this year - 57% vs 17% for the last bivalent vaccine.

Poll: Democrats more likely than Republicans to get Covid booster vaccine - POLITICO

Total = 57%, Dems = 79%, GOP = 39% and Independents = 52%.


Not too bad overall when compared to 2022-23 Flu shots 47%.

I feel rather behind the times. My wife and I were vaccinated when it was first available, got boosters at the end of 2021, but not last year. I was scheduled for the new one this week, she was going to get it when she came back from a work conference she was leaving for in a couple of days.

She had a sore throat yesterday. When it was about the same this morning, plus a bit of a fever, she called her doctor. They had her take a COVID test first. Got the results a few hours ago. So... our first real experience with this. We're going to try to isolate from each other, but that seems pointless after nearly two days of likely contagion without thinking about it.

Our first villain - the hotel where she was going to stay during her conference. She found out two hours after the 48-hour deadline for cancelling a reservation. It was done, but not without lectures and generally asinine commentary. And this is at the hotel where she would have been sharing space for three days. You'd think they'd be eager not to encourage sick people to go anyway. She probably would if not for not wanting to spread COVID and if she didn't feel worse than now. She was scheduled to present a paper.

The next few days could be difficult. I'm hoping the vaccinations give us enough that it's not a serious illness.

Sorry to hear about the wife.

When my wife got it, we were like you hoping it wasn't going to be a big deal since we're up to date on vaccinations. We contacted her doctor to just let her know, but basically said if it became more than just flu-like (e.g. like difficulty breathing), we would escalate to doctor.

Basically, she got over it but had lingering symptoms for a long while. She's a runner and knew she didn't feel normal. After talking to doctor, she was given some antibiotics and (I think) steroids. After that, she was running fine again.

Oh, she liked chocolate during the illness. Try that on the missus :)

The whole family got our updated booster and flu shots yesterday.

People around us have been dropping like flies with COVID, so I hope we got lucky and got the boosts in time.

I'm getting my flu shot next week for free at work. Haven't decided on the booster.

I got Covid pretty bad, for the first time, back in May. Honestly, my gut hasn't quite recovered. At the risk of TMI, I've had some ... changes to bowel movements that I can clearly link to Covid. I had some tests done and basically the doctor said there's something to it but it's not severe enough to take any specific action. It's lingered for going on 5-6 months now.

That is the only time I've had it (so far, at least with any kind of clear symptoms). My wife and kids have each had it twice. Oddly enough, we all lived with one or more of us while each of us had it, and none of us got it from the others. The only exception is both my daughters got it during a one hour span in the car together back in fall of 2020. Outside of that, we've all gotten it at different times despite being in the house together for days with someone who was infected.

Just signed up, getting the COVID/FLU/SHINGLES triple. Thanks for the push, albion.

I did the Covid/Shingles/DTAP triple shot last year. It was not a great time starting about 12 hours in for about 2 days. I think it was mostly due to the Shingles shot, but can't be sure.

I had no problem with the Shingrix shots, so I think that one can vary from person-to-person.

The shingles shot fucked me up worse than any other vax.

Preach. I have the second shot coming in October. I hope it won't be as bad. I have had shingles, and I will say the shot is better than having it.

I don't think my wife cared for the Shingles one too much (though she doesn't do all that well with any of them), but mentioned the DTAP as being particularly bad.

Got mine an hour ago, we'll see how it goes. Shingles left arm, other two right. Pharmacist was considerate in that she opted not to use band aids on me because shoulder hair.

You know what guys - SHINGLES DOESN'T CARE!