Thanks for the reminder. Ordered my free 8 test kits tonight.

Haven't used the first batch yet but figured if I really need to use one, I may have to do multiple tests.

The thing about COVID is that some symptoms go away (like the congestion and runny nose for me), but others take forever to go away (the cough, fatigue and general shortness of breath, today I went to the front door, picked up a package, brought it in, and had to sit quietly for a minute till I could breathe properly again)

More info on what Biden is on.

That's a lot of pills daily. Wonder what the out-of-pocket costs are for a regular person.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/22/healt...-19/index.html

I have a friend who is a scientist who works for Pfizer. He says that there is a huge difference between the vaccine and Paxlovid in terms of production. The vaccines are not difficult/expensive to produce--they can pretty much crank them out assembly line style (Note: this isn't about how difficult/expensive they were to develop, test, etc. He's just talking about the physical act of creating doses once you have the product, which is the part of the business he is in). But Paxlovid is a very complex molecule and it is difficult to make, requires more specialized equipment, etc.

So his take was that he does not think that it will be anytime soon that Paxlovid is cheap* or just something anyone will be able to get from the local CVS without special needs.

*Cheap meaning cheap to produce. I could see various changes in the law making it cheaper for the public based in insurance mandates, govt. subsidy, etc.

Thanks. Appreciate you sharing your friend's insight.

Three covid tests done, three negatives. I managed to avoid getting covid at that wedding just to pick up the flu there or right after.

Oof, that sucks.

And finally, I went to the doctor and it's not Covid or the flu. Bronchitis (with a side of Conjunctivitis) is the final verdict. What a fun week for me.

Looks like the epidemic started in the market.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/26/healt...-19/index.html
I know it's not politically expedient to say it occurred naturally (and not a lab leak) so let's see what Fauci/CDC says.

The same people who understand this and still want to buy the lab leak theory, are the same ones who say gravity and evolution are still only 'theories'.

It's possible it could have been a lab leak in the same way that it's possible the Detroit Lions could win the Super Bowl this upcoming season.

Or the Cubs finally winning a World Series

Wait a minute ...

September.

I'll probably get it right away but because the prior booster saw significant decline in efficacy after 2-3 months, wonder if it'll be better to get the shot in late Oct/early Nov to better prepare for Thanksgiving & Christmas get togethers.

U.S. to begin offering updated booster shots in September

That's sooner than I thought. I'll get one as soon as I'm eligible.

If you've already gotten the 2nd booster, I guess you should have waited?

Don't think so. I've read that second booster will not preclude you from getting this 3rd one in Sept.

I might be able to get it, but I wonder if insurance will refuse to pay for it.

My guess is yes. The backlash would be significant

US and EU are getting 2 different Fall boosters based on the different BA variants. Scientists don't seem to agree here. To me, it makes more sense to go with the more recent mutation (US) vs a "largely extinct" one (EU).

third booster??? OMFG I need to collect them all!

You should be ahead of all of us on this-just imagine they are Steam badges :)

This article made we wonder if we'll see a statistically higher drop out/failure rate in colleges in the next 2-4 years. Also made me wonder about other countries too.

Big cities in China being locked down also means their kids didn't attend school and probably didn't have access to as much remote learning?

Different & non-physical impact of Long Covid.

https://apnews.com/article/covid-sci...9b854355770a1a

Meet a new board member of the Idaho Public Health Department:

Dr. Ryan Cole’s journey from Boise to Nashville to France. His new focus? Monkeypox. - Idaho Capital Sun

CDC's new COVID guidelines, basically the "we've given up" shrug emoji: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/11/healt...ate/index.html


I'm sure the folks who were disregarding the CDC's recommendations for the last 2+ years, avoiding masking and ingesting horse paste, will definitely come around and agree with them now!

SI

My favorite summary of the new guidelines "The CDC says: Spit in our mouths."

Insurance isn't picking up the tab on the boosters. The nsurance is only covering the admin fee that the pharmacy receives, and that is being reimbursed by the government.

Now some payers put restrictions in place for age and maybe for the number of doses within a given period of time. My educated guess is that most are not placing limits on obtaining a booster "too soon".

Okay, good point. Insurance isn't paying for it but the government is.

Coming to a theatre near you soon.

Unless there is a major outbreak, I think I'm going to wait till Dec to get this 3rd booster. I'm planning on overseas trip Jan/Feb so figure it'll be best to wait to 2-4 weeks before.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/18/ever...cial-says.html

Kenneth Branagh stars as Boris Johnson in the new trailer for ‘THIS ENGLAND’.

The series releases on September 21 on Sky. pic.twitter.com/OWjJbdH7H4

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) August 18, 2022

What in the World ? (No, it is not a spoof. Nice extra touch: England, huh ?).

Still possible the trailer is just weirdly done and it's more critical than "ah shucks, everybody tried hard, didn't they ? That poor Johnson fella sure had it rough", given the people involved ...

A thrift store in Indiana received these lovely horse pastes after he passed away. FOr sale cheap! And oooooo those mildewed flip flops! GIMME!

Well, we made it 2 years, 5 months without a positive test in the house (or even COVID-like symptoms, though I can't rule out anyone -- especially the kids -- having it and being asymptomatic at some point).

Wife starts feeling bad late yesterday, takes a test, is positive. Younger son & I test negative (though I definitely have some sort of cold - aches, congestion, etc...). Older son (who started high school on the 17th) tests positive.

So, I'm pretty sure it came from high school via the older son. Which doesn't really bode well for reinfections.

Oh well, we did what we could for as long as we could.

Sorry to hear that Flere. :( Hope you all have a quick recovery!

My wife and daughter are positive, but I'm not. Almost certainly they got it at the Harry Styles concert in MSG.

Well, after two and a half years it finally got me too. Not my most favorite of experiences, but haven’t had the cough so far so hoping it stays that way. Just a lot of aches, pains and fatigue.

I finally got it this summer as well. I have some issues such as severe asthma, so I was a bit worried. In the end, and probably thanks to the vaccine and booster, it was almost nothing for me - sore throat for a day or so, slightly run-down for a couple.

So my wife has had it once, my oldest daughter twice and me now once. Always weird, though, is that none of us caught it from another, despite being around each other in close contact for several days. In fact, for mine, we all rode in a car together for 8 hours during what was supposed to be my most contagious time. Nobody else got it.

Also weird, my youngest has yet to get it. She's superhuman.

Positive test for me on Saturday. It's not pleasant, but I've had cases of bronchitis and strep that were worse. The sore throat is probably the worst part.

Of course, the bigger issue is that I'm meant to fly across country to take care of my folks for a couple of weeks after my Mom's knee replacement surgery (my Dad has Alzheimer's, so can't really operate as a primary caregiver). The operation is on Wednesday, and one of my sisters can stay a few days, but she's a social worker with a special needs kid, so that's about the max she can do.

I, on the other hand, can work remotely, so was planning to take over from her and stay there two weeks. Probably have to push that out if I can't get a negative test by late Friday. Ugh.

I kept throwing positive tests long after I was over it. I think it was a good 10-12 days before I got a negative.

No more free test kits. Checked Amazon and it's $45 for 5.

Guess that's not too bad. Still have about 6 unused government ones.

I mentioned in the Kids Leaving Home Support Group thread that my daughter got it at college. She's been home since Saturday morning, went and got tested today because one professor insisted on a note, and she's still positive. But since she started symptoms on Thursday, she's good to go back to school with a mask on Wednesday. She's been isolating upstairs so I hope my "unconquered" streak continues.

That said, I saw something recently that estimated that upwards of 50%+ of people who have never had symptoms likely have had Covid, just didn't know it. So I guess I could be one of those.

I noticed all of our government ones are expired. Not sure how long they're still good after that, but, I'll try to burn through them.

It is hard to remember now, but there was a period of about three weeks or so when humanity was united against this virus. And it felt like something I’ve certainly never experienced in my lifetime. Then our media overlords told us, “Make this about red versus blue bullshit like everything else.“ And we listened and did that. But I feel there was a real missed opportunity there.

I vividly remember how friendly everybody was, in the first week when we were given the go ahead to walk around outside after that first couple weeks where everyone took the call to quarantine deathly serious. Everywhere was Mayberry for like a week.

My recollection was more of isolated cases of "Mad Max". The *majority* of people did the right thing but the loudest and most obnoxious still bellowed about having their rights infringed and did whatever they could to push the boundaries of a civil society.

Was it the second closest to peace on earth in most of our lifetimes? The first, of course, was the first couple of weeks of Pokemon Go.

SI

Yeah it was the media that did that.

Thanks, I didn't think about that. I looked and my first batch expired in July and my second batch will be expiring in Sept. Looks like they're good for 6 months only.

You must not have had to search for toilet paper.

A man can have no peace if he doesn't have a supply of toilet paper.

I still have a stash in the basement as backup.

Tested positive today with a home test. I went home early from school. 20 kids went home sick as well. We are now in yellow status.

:( take care