End of an era:
Now that #COVID19 vaccines are not being distributed by the US government, @CDCgov has stopped printing Covid vaccination cardshttps://t.co/A8yilXwaKF
— MicrobesInfect (@MicrobesInfect) October 5, 2023
Americans have started rolling up their sleeves for the latest version of the COVID-19 vaccine, but weeks into the rollout some say they are still having difficulty finding appointments for themselves and their children. https://t.co/CMycxQAvFV
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) October 9, 2023
Can rapid #Covid tests reveal more than a positive/negative result? Experts say that rapid antigen test kits can show degrees of infectiousness https://t.co/wnNoeOm20f pic.twitter.com/D7ZKQIRb1K
— delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) October 7, 2023
This story was treated like an open sore at a hot tub party when it showed up on social media, but the actual argument seems to be that ‘long respiratory infections’ have been routinely overlooked, not that doctors are using a new catch-all to dismiss long covid symptoms:
A new study from Queen Mary University of London, published in eClinicalMedicine, has found that people may experience long-term symptoms—or “long colds”—after acute respiratory infections that test negative for COVID-19.
Some of the most common symptoms of the “long cold” included coughing, stomach pain, and diarrhea more than four weeks after the initial infection. While the severity of an illness appears to be a key driver of risk of long-term symptoms, more research is being carried out to establish why some people suffer extended symptoms while others do not.
The findings suggest that there may be long-lasting health impacts following non-COVID acute respiratory infections, such as colds, influenza, or pneumonia, that are currently going unrecognized. However, the researchers do not yet have evidence suggesting that the symptoms have the same severity or duration as long COVID.
The research compared the prevalence and severity of long-term symptoms after an episode of COVID-19 vs. an episode of another acute respiratory infection that tested negative for COVID-19. Those recovering from COVID-19 were more likely to experience light-headedness or dizziness and problems with taste and smell compared to those who had a non-COVID-19 respiratory infection.
While long COVID is now a recognized condition, there have been few studies comparing long-term symptoms following SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection vs. other respiratory infections…
Victoria King, Director of Funding and Impact at Barts Charity, said, “Barts Charity swiftly supported COVIDENCE UK in response to the outbreak of COVID-19 to help inform of its risk factors and impacts. These findings highlight not only the long-term symptoms experienced by people after COVID infection, but by people after other acute respiratory infections as well. As we learn more about long COVID symptoms and their possible treatments, studies like this help to build greater awareness around other prolonged respiratory infections that may be going unrecognized.”
Part of the confused medical reactions at the start of the pandemic, IMO, lie in the old truism that Doctors don’t want to diagnose what they can’t treat. So, if ‘long covid’ is a real medical issue — which it obviously is — then maybe patients who claim their other respiratory infections hang on longer than the baseline, or whose symptoms don’t match the textbooks, might just be genuinely sick, as well.
Last night's update: 246,000 new cases and 1,466 new deaths https://t.co/p8YrVCmUZ0
— BNO News (@BNOFeed) October 9, 2023
Vaccine maker Novavax Inc on Monday said it has shipped millions of doses its updated COVID-19 shots to distributors after receiving the go-ahead from U.S. regulators. https://t.co/I18fBglOqU
— Reuters Health (@Reuters_Health) October 9, 2023
Should you go preferentially for a @Novavax booster?
The limited data that we have and what I wound up doing this week@ScienceMagazine by @jcouzin https://t.co/NzCK48iZpW— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) October 6, 2023
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Singapore: New Covid wave begins
Estimated daily cases have risen from about 1,000 three weeks ago to 2,000 for the past two weeks.
Stats: https://t.co/n1F4arx4EG https://t.co/B6npFd6xwm pic.twitter.com/eIk4unaGPD
— CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) October 7, 2023
New Zealand: Covid-19 response saved 20,000 lives
https://t.co/fkrDJsSPVT— CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) October 8, 2023
Israel: Covid outbreak spreads rapidly.
"There are presently 439 individuals hospitalized with COVID, which is an increase from 282 three weeks ago"https://t.co/lhob7VsqXK https://t.co/zHa5mekpnD
— CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) October 6, 2023
Greece: 'Significant pressure on the health system, with an increase in Covid-19 admissions to hospitals and ICU.' https://t.co/2vD6ELjCSG pic.twitter.com/SQ7GZyueks
— CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) October 7, 2023
25% increase week on week in Covid hospital admissions in England – increases seen across all regions except London. The latest wave continues.
Note that this is not (yet?) the new variant BA.2.86 ("Pirola") which is a small % of sequenced cases, but mostly Omicron XBB variants. pic.twitter.com/ZrIRqXvQjh
— Prof. Christina Pagel (@chrischirp) October 5, 2023
(link)
Firstly, if anyone should *not be in a public facing role while positive with Covid*, it's those working with vulnerable patients.
Secondly, *if* you are going to make people come in then at least give them a proper, well fitted, FFP3 mask!
We should *know* this stuff by now! https://t.co/JYwsYHJQui— Prof. Christina Pagel (@chrischirp) October 11, 2023
Canada: Up to 10 per cent of Quebec health-care workers affected with long COVID
Many affected following POST-Omicron infections.
H/t @karsatov https://t.co/Uv9cReJDDS
— CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) October 8, 2023
Canada, B.C: Hospitalizations up 58% as infections and deaths spike
24 Covid fatalities in the last week of September, compared to nine in the second week of August.https://t.co/6z8VjFJU7K
— CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) October 7, 2023
A post on some of the biases to watch out for when using cases, admissions or deaths to understand levels of covid infections in the population – both now and in the first few pandemic years.
Tldr: be aware of time lags and who's not in the data https://t.co/GfTLLcZW5y pic.twitter.com/ayuE5MCvSa
— Prof. Christina Pagel (@chrischirp) October 11, 2023
======
Study: Delayed peak SARS-CoV-2 viral loads relative to symptom onset.
"In a highly immune adult population, median SARS-CoV-2 viral loads peaked around the fourth day of symptoms."https://t.co/25YzVUuv1b
— CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) October 8, 2023
WAPO: 1% of U.S. children had long Covid through last year.
**One percent of a large number is still a large number.** https://t.co/j2XKUPHOvS pic.twitter.com/OURkrrce49
— CoronaHeadsUp (@CoronaHeadsUp) October 9, 2023
Not 'little adults': Experts say #long COVID undercounted, misdiagnosed in kids
Experts say it could be better defined and measured through well-designed longitudinal studies that take children's unique presentations into account.https://t.co/eFSKSPjNfM pic.twitter.com/PHLuaZrUhB
— CIDRAP (@CIDRAP) October 10, 2023
… Located on the cell’s outer surface, ACE2 plays an important role in controlling blood pressure and inflammation and protecting organs from damage caused by excess inflammation. During a SARS-CoV-2 infection, the coronavirus spike protein locks on to ACE2 to enter the cell.
The gene encoding the ACE2 protein is located on the X chromosome, which means that females have two copies of the gene and males only have one.
In times of health, the extra copy of the gene for ACE2 doesn’t appear to make a difference—Zhang and his team found similar levels of ACE2 protein in healthy males and females.
Following a SARS-CoV-2 infection, however, they observed a dramatic decrease in ACE2 in males while levels remained consistent in females, suggesting that the additional copy of the ACE2 gene on the X chromosome is helping to compensate and maintain high protein levels in females…
Pulmonary embolism during #Covid infection is a deadly combination. 20% of patients w/ both—Covid & blood clotting in their lungs—died during the pandemic's 1st year versus 7% of patients w/ pulmonary embolism alone https://t.co/zfDKuCT4XE pic.twitter.com/Ak9f6HyFeB
— delthia ricks 🔬 (@DelthiaRicks) October 10, 2023
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BREAKING: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis loses lawsuit for hiding COVID-19 data. Full story ?? https://t.co/IpIqbMta9z
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) October 9, 2023
There is *always* a worse take…
Today’s wild theory – Israel and Hamas are working together to cover up vaccine deaths pic.twitter.com/R7tLNQr5pX
— Bad Vaccine Takes (@BadVaccineTakes) October 10, 2023
Or many in 30 days time, so just after Halloween 🧟 pic.twitter.com/U9b2hjhkxI
— Bad Vaccine Takes (@BadVaccineTakes) October 9, 2023
Reader Interactions
60Comments
Comments are closed.
Baud
I got my booster!
No side effects. Thanks, Biden!
Matt McIrvin
A lot of bad takes have come from the false idea that Israel has one of the most COVID-vaccinated populations in the world. My understanding is that at one time they did, because they managed mass vaccine distribution very early and got ahead of most countries, but they’ve got a lot of religious objectors which puts a lid on how many they can cover.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
I have yet to understand the theory that regards vaccines differently from therapeutic drugs or any other form of modem medicine.
New Deal democrat
There is one major news item which is not in the above update. Biobot lost its contract with the CDC, effective September 30.
Biobot will be replaced, apparently, by a new contractor, but the winner of the contract has not been announced. In the meantime, Biobot is no longer updating, and needless to say the new contractor has not published anything.
That means that we are now flying completely blind as to what is happening with COVID infections. Hospitalizations lag infections by a week or two, and the reporting of them lags another week. That means we could be a month into a new wave before we’d have a clue.
Congratulations to all involved in this clusterfl*k.
One small item of good news: deaths increased only about 100 to 1222 in the week of September 9. This suggests deaths will peak at about 1500 when the end of September data is reported.
LiminalOwl
Personal report: The Thin Black Duke is still testing positive after 10 days but says he feels better. I tested positive still after 5 days of Paxlovid and still feel quite sick but used up my sick days and vacation days so am working via Zoom. (He’s retired, I have a couple of years to go.)
Baud
@LiminalOwl:
Hoping for a speedy recovery for both if you.
satby
@LiminalOwl: Feel better soon!
Suzanne
Count me as one of those people who can’t find shots for their kids. They’re signed up for a flu shot clinic next week. But I’ve repeatedly called their pediatrician, and they say they don’t even know if or when they’ll be getting any pediatric doses. Meanwhile, Mr. Suzanne just got over a case of Covid. No one else in the house got it, despite us taking no precautions within the house. SuzMom got her booster shot this weekend.
J. Arthur Crank (fka Jerzy Russian)
@Baud:
I never let my lack of understanding get in my way.///
That last sequence of tweets really made my head hurt. I Sam pretty sure it was those tweets that did it since I have only 1bar of signal strength at the moment.
OzarkHillbilly
Came across this checking the above tweets:
God what a f’n idiot. I’m beginning to think the Jets really dodged a bullet this year.
EarthWindFire
@LiminalOwl: Speedy recovery vibes!
I got my booster and what a PITA it was now that private insurers are involved. Totally got the runaround on co-pays and wound up paying $425 upfront for my and my spouse’s boosters and a flu shot for me.
Luckily I had the money available and confidence that my HR department will help with reimbursement but what about people who don’t? These are preventatives that are potentially dangerous for people to go without FFS!!
You all are welcome to tell this story to any RWNJ in your life who tells you how much more efficient private sector health care is. If they’re antivax, you are welcome to tell them about my three months and counting to schedule (not get, schedule!) a colonoscopy. Why, you ask? Because I had the misfortune of having my consultation while the scheduling department was in a meeting. Been calling back at least once a week (some weeks I can’t do everyday) to no avail. Probably need to try another doc at this rate.
Thank you for listening to my TED talk.
EarthWindFire
@OzarkHillbilly: Aaron Rodgers really needs to find a new hobby now that his NFL career is over.
Yarrow
@LiminalOwl: Hope you feel better soon. Maybe you have had a rebound case. A family member took Paxlovid and got a rebound case. He says he felt like he had it twice.
Baud
@EarthWindFire:
Sounds like he has.
Delk
Got RSV and flu last week and booster scheduled for this Saturday.
EarthWindFire
@Baud: Yeah but couldn’t he find one that doesn’t harass people? Like knitting or something?
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: I think that if you have a “purity/contamination” mental model of health it can seem perverse to put medicine in a body that isn’t sick. But a lot of antivaxxers pop “supplements” like candy, so go figure. Some of it might just be rationalization for fear of needles.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin:
If they ever develop oral vaccines, it will be interesting to see how that affects utilization.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Yep, “Hanging out with my sycophants.”
Ken
Come to think of it, when I got my booster a couple weeks ago, the pharmacy didn’t ask for my vaccine card. I had to write in the date (mostly as a reminder to myself).
Where are all those people who were printing fake vaccine cards? Now’s when they can finally be useful.
Suzanne
@LiminalOwl: I hope y’all are feeling better soon! Sending you virtual chicken soup.
Spanky
@Baud: IIRC, it’ll probably be a nasal spray.
Ken
@EarthWindFire: Weird, I also thought of knitting, probably because of Rosie Greer (who, google tells me, is still alive).
NeenerNeener
Monroe County, NY:
133 new cases on 10/02/23.
82 new cases on 10/03/23.
89 new cases on 10/04/23.
64 new cases on 10/05/23.
46 new cases on 10/06/23.
42 new cases on 10/07/23.
Deaths now at 2331, up 2 from last week.
I still haven’t had my COVID booster yet, or any of the other shots I need. Hopefully I’ll get time in about 2 weeks.
Soprano2
I got my flu vax this morning. I think I’ll go get the RSV one on Sunday. I might get the pneumonia one I was supposed to get at my dr appointment in August but didn’t on Sunday too. We’ll probably do the Covid shot at the first of November.
rikyrah
@Baud: yeah 👍🏾
Geminid
@Matt McIrvin: In early 2020, Prime Minister Netanyahu sent his Mossad chief Yossi Cohen out to rustle up Covid vaccines Mr. Cohen succeeded, and helped make Israel one of the first nations to begin vaccinating. When Netanyahu called an early election in 2021, he hoped this public health success would induce Israelis to vote for him. That did not work out though, and a new government took over with Naftali Bennett as PM.
dmsilev
Got my shots yesterday. Hit the fatigue wall early in the evening, woke up in the middle of the night with a bunch of soreness in the shoulder, but other than that no issues. I understand that I have to register online to activate the 5G chip?
Here in LA County, the public health folks announced yesterday that the wastewater tracking has shown that we’re well into a downswing, so the surge we had a month or two ago is abating. They expect cases to pick up November/December, but hopefully it won’t be too severe.
NotMax
Perhaps tempting the Fates, however sticking with my booster every six months schedule. In May and again in November. So far, so good.
Mathguy
That last tweet, oops, xeet is a new level of bat-shit crazy I hadn’t seen before.
Another Scott
@dmsilev: Around here in NoVA there usually seems to be an uptick after Halloween and after Thanksgiving. I expect the same this year, but not as severe in previous years.
I half-heartedly tried to get an appointment at Walgreens a week or so ago, but didn’t complete the process. I’ll need to do that soon.
My J is going to Philadelphia for a wedding this weekend. A college chum that she’ll be seeing there got Covid a week or so ago and hasn’t recovered yet… :-/
Be careful, everyone.
Cheers,
Scott.
Glidwrith
Kaiser Permanente well and truly shit the bed. They won’t have vaccinations until November 11th. No outside vax will be reimbursed and the first available appointment isn’t until Thanksgiving.
catclub
@New Deal democrat: Was Biobot the company that Trump brought in when he told CDC not to report so much data?
ETA: never mind. Wastewater testing
dmsilev
@Glidwrith: I am very grateful that my employer hosted a vaccine clinic yesterday. Signed up maybe 30 seconds after I got the email. Definitely beats waiting in the Kaiser queue. They well and truly screwed up.
catclub
@Geminid: I think you meant early 2021. for rustling up COVID vaccines. There were no vaccines in early 2020.
CaseyL
Got my booster – or just plain “annual Covid vaccine,” since I think the CDC isn’t calling them “boosters” anymore – yesterday. Arm still sore but that’s about it. Had already gotten the flu and RSV shots a few weeks ago. (My Mom, incidentally, accidentally called the RSV shot the RSVP shot, which she got a good laugh out of.)
A friend is just getting over her second bout of Covid. The first two days she was miserable, feverish and achy all over. The worst ongoing symptom is an utter disinterest in nearly everything, like eating. I try to check in on her every couple of days.
ETA: I discovered that Vaccine.gov and the state health department website do NOT have all the retail pharmacies offering Covid vax. Safeway doesn’t seem to be on their directory, so I decided to check Safeway’s own site, and struck gold there. If you know of a retail pharmacy, check it separately from the government sites.
MattF
Got all three shots over the past week. All shots at CVSs, flu at MinuteClinic, COVID at pharmacy, RSV at another CVS pharmacy. All nearby. Insurance for RSV appears to be different from the other shots, we shall see. Only side effects were sore arms and some redness at the COVID (Moderna) shot site. And maybe some fatigue.
kindness
N. Cal Kaiser still doesn’t have the new Covid vaccines. When I ask when they expect to get them they go I don’t know. Kaiser used to be a much better operation. Now, I don’t know either.
Geminid
@catclub: Yeah, this probably couldn’t have been but so early in 2020. But Netanyahu wanted to tell voters that he had gotten Israel one of the first places in the international vaccine line, so Cohen was sent out early to hunt up vaccine orders. Netanyahu figured that his spy chief could accomplish what his Health Minister might not.
The election was held in late April, 2021 I believe. Since Likud won the most Knesset members Netanyahu had first chance to put together a coalition. He failed, and then Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid surprised observers by cobbling together an 8-party coalition. They formed a government with a 61 out of 120 MK majority and Naftali Bennett as Prime Minister.
wenchacha
I have been hoping to get the Novavax this time around. Using their site and also a dot gov, I haven’t located any within 100 miles of Rochester NY. Previously, I have been all Moderna, and may just go ahead and get that again.
Wegmans in my suburban town had a sign saying they were temporarily out of Covid vax, last week.
Maxim
Last week’s update (or maybe the week before) included the advice to wait at least three months, and perhaps as long as six months, after an infection before being vaccinated, as that is thought to improve the immune response. I was infected in late July, so I am holding off until November. But I’m with Kaiser at the moment, so I don’t know if a vaccine is available in my area anyway. I might change insurers during open enrollment in December.
Re the xeet in this week’s post about a “delay in peak viral load” during infections: what the abstract actually says is that symptoms appear earlier in the infection. The viral load is peaking later relative to symptom onset, but not, it seems, in an absolute sense. But annoyingly, the abstract doesn’t say why they think this is happening.
La Nonna
No updated Covid vac here in Puglia until after 1 November, meanwhile back to masking up and social distancing …aargh
Matt McIrvin
@Geminid: Yeah, they got a big head start so for a while there were all these news stories about how Israel had the most vaxxed people in the world, but of course that was a temporary situation and others caught up. But I remember them doing mass vaccination when only seniors could get it here.
Earl
If it’s an option for any of you, costco has the vaccines, at least where I live. Their website is also well made, not written by the stupidest fucking people on earth like Walgreens and cvs (walgreens/cvs makes you fill out a giant questionnaire before telling you about vaccine availability on that date, which may be zero or 70 miles away / 3 hours of driving.)
You may not even need to be a member! Worth checking if you all can’t find the vaccine elsewhere.
Matt McIrvin
While it’s not fair to “both sides” this– COVID is real; long COVID is real, and there are incentives to minimize it– it does seem like there’s a subset of social media COVID catastrophists whose takes on these things border on conspiracy theory, like doctors are all part of a cabal that is covering up the long COVID menace.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
Which one?
gwangung
Got my booster last Saturday, and interestingly, did NOT get the wooziness or fog that I got with earlier shots…in fact, was able to do a normal workout the day after. Seems like I’ve been getting fewer side effects as I go on. Fingers crossed that I keep going on that way.
gwangung
Got my booster last Saturday, and interestingly, did NOT get the wooziness or fog that I got with earlier shots…in fact, was able to do a normal workout the day after. Seems like I’ve been getting fewer side effects as I go on. Fingers crossed that I keep going on that way.
MazeDancer
Currently, I leave the house once or twice a week. Now and then, three times. Never go far. Can’t really do more than an hour or two at a time.
Reading the crazy out there – and thank you, Anne Laurie, for gathering all the info – thinking of cutting back. Maybe putting up an electric fence.
opiejeanne
@Earl: We got our flu and Covid vaccinations yesterday at Costco. Sore arms seems to be the only reaction, and that might be the flu shot.
Now we’re waiting for the 5G to kick in because reception here is pretty bad.
opiejeanne
@MazeDancer: I rarely go anywhere except for a sewing group on Tuesdays, and the one this week was canceled because the hostess was feeling lousy after getting her Covid and flu shots.
The concerning information was that the woman who does long-arm quilting as a business has been isolating at a cabin with her husband for the past two weeks, and they are still testing positive. I don’t think she’s had it before because she’s been so careful. She picks up and drops off quilts at several locations and may have exposed a lot of people before she knew she was sick.
I’m supposed to go to a Mason Bee Party on Saturday, where we’ll crack open our reeds and have experts on hand to help us prep our little “raisins” for storage in the fridge over the winter. We resorted to mason bees this year because we have had no honeybees when our fruit trees were blooming in the past.Anyway, I think I’ll wear a mask on Saturday.
Tony G
You know, I’m just an ignorant country-boy — but with hundreds of Americans still dying from covid every day, why on earth is the U.S. government no longer involved with the distribution of the covid vaccine and, more broadly, why on earth is the Biden Administration going along with the fiction that the covid pandemic “is over”? Is this another example of the Overton Window — in which, in this case, the inclusion of crackpot grifters like RFK Junior into the “mainstream” dialogue pulls the rest of the dialogue into that idiotic direction?
Central Planning
I got the covid booster and flu vaccine on Saturday. The covid arm ached more than the flu arm. I got a little achy, and slept for 3 hours in the middle of the afternoon on Sunday.
I have noticed that when I look at people, I wonder what they would taste like. Just a few more days and I’ll know if I’m going/went full zombie.
MazeDancer
@opiejeanne: Wearing a mask never hurts. Not wearing a mask can.
I’ve switched to black 95’s. With a black jacket, looks more toughie than medicinal.
Geo Wilcox
I got the Covid, flu, and pneumonia at CVS this past Sunday. Hubby popped + for Covid the previous Sunday and has been banished to the basement and guest room. We both mask up in common areas. I get the upstairs computer room and main bedroom. He’s not allowed in those rooms with or without a mask. So far I have been – the whole time and yesterday he tested – for Covid. Tomorrow he will test again and THEN we can start to watch movies together and do chores that are piling up around here.
Skepticat
I was a bit surprised that vaccination cards are obsolete, though I scribbled the date of this shot on my old one anyway—to aid my memory if nothing else. Had the flu shot too, but the pharmacy had run out of RSV vaccine. They were very apologetic, but I told them I consider it good news that people are taking it.
glc
Quite a collection today. I was interested in Topol’s piece, laying out mainly what we don’t currently know. Looking forward to knowing more (hopefully still relevant to the next round, once we know it).
Matt McIrvin
@Tony G: Republican obstruction in Congress and some wingnut judicial rulings killed a lot of the ongoing emergency measures. I don’t think the administration is allowed to fund the vaccine any more.
hrprogressive
@Tony G:
Because the administration went all-in on the “nothing to see here” mantra last year, because it was an election year.
The powers that be have given up on trying, so now we’re stuck in a Permanent Pandemic of never-ending waves.
Hope you enjoyed pre-2020 life.
Mart
Wife and I were essential workers and progeny of teachers and scientists so we queued up for our 8th Covid jab a couple weeks back. Our magnetic powers have really been improving the last three shots. 5G reception iffy, but we live in a valley. Just so disconcerting to learn that we will die of hemorrhagic fever within the next ten days!!!