Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

People are complicated. Love is not.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

All hail the time of the bunny!

“woke” is the new caravan.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Our messy unity will be our strength.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus (& H5N1) Updates: August 27, 2024

COVID-19 Coronavirus (& H5N1) Updates: August 27, 2024

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I’m not even gonna try to summarize this one… it’s short, read the whole thing:


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Reader Interactions

39Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    But so far, @raelnb reports, fewer than 13% of the state’s dairies have requested and gotten such PPE.

    Better to incur harm and complain about Democrats not doing anything.

  3. 3.

    Nelle

    Thank you for all this steady work.

    My neighbor, who works at one of the local hospitals, say she is donning the protective gear that she wore in 2020.  I went to a big medical practice and wore a mask.  One of the intake people wore a surgical mask (I was in a K95 – or whatever  the number is).  She said  she was just getting over Covid, so that is why she was wearing a mask.  I believe most people pop back into work or shopping or life before they are fully recovered.  They may still be contagious.  Time to retreat for a few weeks.

  4. 4.

    FDRLincoln

    I had covid in late June, so I’m doing the “when should I get a booster?” puzzle.

    I was planning October due to the “3 months post-infection” quasi- guideline but now I’m thinking sooner.

  5. 5.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Thank you, AL, for faithfully providing this useful info. I think I’ll get the new booster sooner rather than later. Kind of a late birthday present to myself. ;-)

  6. 6.

    NorthLeft

    Thanks again Anne.

    My wife and I caught COVID on our way back from spending two weeks in London, England.
    This was the FIRST time we have had COVID after successfully avoiding it for four and a half years. Not exactly sure if we caught it while travelling from London proper to Heathrow Airport, or more likely while flying from London to Dublin to Toronto. We chose not to wear masks, even though we had them, and I started to show symptoms less than two days after returning home.

    I am pretty well clear of it, but my wife is still struggling. We are only blaming ourselves.
    Live and re-learn, I guess.

  8. 8.

    RL

    Thank you AL for these updates! As an immune compromised person trying to navigate every day life it’s a huge thing. Cheers!

  10. 10.

    Scout211

    Politico this morning:

    TL;DR:  COVID is now a political issue, not a health issue.

    Democrats and Republicans greet Covid spike with a collective shrug

    Democrats and Republicans can agree on one thing coming out of their respective conventions: Almost no one cares about Covid anymore.

    Infections are running rampant after the Democratic confab in Chicago, with staffers on Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, reporters and other convention-goers all stricken — and in at least one case claiming the positive test was “worth it.” Cases also cropped up after the Republican National Convention in July.
    . . .

    “It’s very difficult to talk about politically, because it’s still present and neither side wants to acknowledge that this pandemic is still around,” said Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and former Trump administration appointee with a background in global health.

    But “if it continues to worsen,” Bartlett said, “both parties will be forced to address it.”

    The rhetorical vacuum around Covid comes even as cases have surged over the summer, hospitalizing thousands and killing nearly 700 people in one week in late July. Though that is far less than during the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021, Covid still ranks as a top-10 cause of death — and more broadly, a disease capable of disrupting people’s everyday lives.

    Yet Americans have never been less interested in the virus. Just a fraction of adults are seeking out new Covid vaccines each year, and even fewer wear masks or take the basic precautions that were once seen as standard.

    “Voters do not like it being brought up at all,” said Celinda Lake, a Democratic strategist and pollster for Biden’s 2020 campaign, who marveled at the near-total absence of masks at a Democratic convention where roughly 20,000 people crammed into Chicago’s United Center for a week. “They want to get over it.”
    . . .

    During Biden’s abbreviated reelection run, he pointed to Covid as an example of the contrast in leadership between Trump and himself — accusing his predecessor of exacerbating a national crisis that he later said he successfully cleaned up. The president also highlighted the pandemic to show how much the economy had improved on his watch since then.

    But that strategy never resonated with much of the electorate, and Harris has opted to take her campaign in a different direction by focusing almost exclusively on the future.

    Fixating on the events of three years ago, aides and allies said, would risk distracting from the forward-looking campaign themes that have energized the electorate — and remind voters of the pinch they felt in their wallets from the inflation that grew out of the pandemic era.

    ETA:

    Harris’ campaign declined to comment while Trump’s campaign did not respond to an inquiry.

  11. 11.

    Soprano2

    @Scout211: This just reinforces my belief that one of the reasons the Harris campaign has taken off is that the vast majority of people want to move on from the “Covid years”, regardless of whether they are aware that Covid is still around or not. It’s become a fact of life, like the flu, although people are crazily less likely to get vaccinated against Covid. I figure we’ll get the vaccine in a couple of weeks, at least I hope we can.

  13. 13.

    Scout211

    @FDRLincoln: @Princess:

    Here are the CDC guidelines.  (It seems like these are fairly loose guidelines so it sounds like it’s up to the individual to decide for themselves).

    People who recently had COVID-19

    • People who recently had COVID-19 may delay getting a COVID-19 vaccine for 3 months.

    • The risk of getting COVID-19 is less likely in the weeks to months following a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

    • Certain factors could be reasons to get a vaccine sooner rather than later, such as:

      • Personal risk of severe COVID-19

      • Risk of COVID-19 in a family or household member or other close contact

      • Local levels of COVID-19 illness

  15. 15.

    Betty

    As always, thanks, Anne. The information about Long Covid in children will be helpful to many in my family.

  16. 16.

    frosty

    I can’t figure out when to get the new booster. Sounds like later is better than sooner to have coverage through the cold months. However, I’m going to see Springsteen at the end of September where there will be >300 people and >99.9% chance COVID will be in the air, so I’m going to get it in the next week or two.

  17. 17.

    jonas

    Yes, Covid is still around. The WHO has declared it a global endemic disease. It will never be completely gone. But like with influenza, get vaccinated, pay attention to spikes like the one now, and use common sense in crowded settings.

    I don’t think I’ve had Covid for a couple of years and don’t know anyone right now who’s sick, but it seems like a bunch of people I know know someone who’s had it recently. I got a booster in July before I did some summer travel and from what I’m seeing now, it looks like I could probably go ahead and get the updated booster later in October or something. Definitely will request a couple of test kits as soon as they become available.

  18. 18.

    BarcaChicago

    Because I work from home, live alone and mitigated like crazy I haven’t had any viruses, including Covid, for the past four years. Then I decided to go maskless to the Milwaukee Harris/Walz rally and the DNC on one night (I masked the first night). Unsurprisingly, I got Covid. I’ve been testing at home every day since last Friday, and was coming up negative and had no symptoms until late Sunday night. I went to Walgreens and did a NAAT combination Covid and flu test that came out negative, although I was starting to have symptoms. I went to an immediate care yesterday and did a full panel of upper respiratory viruses and that’s the one that came out last night positive for Covid. Low-grade fever, bodyaches and headache, sore throat, and cough and fatigue.

    I saw my mother over the weekend before I had symptoms and when I was still testing negative, and she has no sign of illness. I did do another home antigen test late last night after getting the positive result from immediate care, and that test immediately came out strongly positive, so I assume that my viral load was not enough to show up on a test previously.

    I knew that I was taking a big chance, and I decided to do it anyway after being an extreme mitigator for years. Got caught up in the moment of being able to attend those amazing events!

  19. 19.

    Yarrow

    @FDRLincoln:  I got Covid in June 2023 and after that was trying to figure out when to get the vaccine. At that time the CDC recommendation was to wait a month after infection to get the vaccine.

    In one of these posts around that time AL posted some recent research showing that it’s better to wait at least 3 months to get the vaccine after a Covid infection. Waiting longer somehow increases immunity because it heightens the immunity gained from having the infection. The research also indicated that if you get the vaccine too soon after infection it can lower the effectiveness of the vaccine. I’m glad to see the CDC recommendations now reflect that research.

    Just passing that along as you consider the timing for your vaccine.

  20. 20.

    Another Scott

    @frosty: I think it depends more on your exposure risk.

    There are usually infection increases after Halloween and Thanksgiving, and Xmas, etc.  If you have little ones around, or interact with people who do, being boosted before those holidays seems prudent to me.

    A youngish colleague at work (in DC) got infected last week and was just back at work (with a mask) yesterday.  :-(  I plan on getting the booster in the next couple of weeks or so.

    Hang in there, everyone.  Stay safe.

    Thanks AL!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  21. 21.

    BarcaChicago

    @Yarrow: Good to know. Previous to getting sick, I had made an appointment for this week to get the new booster (I’ve kept up with all boosters). Sounds like I should wait a couple months to get the newest now that I’m sick.

    PS Lidocaine gel for gargling is a godsend for sore throat!

  22. 22.

    TBone

    This from the article about long Covid in children just breaks my heart and I want to scream because I know how this feels.  It is so demoralizing that your will to heal is squashed – and that will is such an important interior voice, it may be the only thing keeping you going! 💔🤬

    “School nurses were mocking them for faking it,” Edwards said. “These are teenagers and kids, and people are telling them to their face that there’s nothing wrong with them.”

  23. 23.

    TBone

    Newest symptom: continual cold sores outbreak on my face.  As one heals, another boils up, over and over.  They look like pimples but are so painful.  It’s been a month of this now, and they have even invaded my tongue.

    Fuck.

  24. 24.

    Burnspbesq

    A pretty impressive feat of supply chain management: FDA approved the new booster what, last Thursday? CVS started booking appointments yesterday, and I have one tomorrow.

  25. 25.

    VFX Lurker

    Thank you for these important posts, Anne Laurie!

    I tested negative last Saturday after 13 days of testing positive. My husband still faintly tested positive last night on Day 16 of testing positive. We’re both hoping he tests negative tonight. The KFF article in the post states:

    As for conscientious others who feel they may be sick and don’t want to spread the covid virus, the best advice is to get a single test and, if positive, try to isolate for a few days and then wear a mask for several days while avoiding crowded rooms. Repeat testing after a positive result is pointless, since viral particles in the nose may remain for days without signifying a risk of infecting others, Schaffner said.

    …so we may have been overly cautious about isolating. Since August 11 I’ve only left my home to take out the trash, visit pharmacies and pick up my grocery orders in the parking lot of a grocery store. Each time, I wore a tight-fitting KF94.

    Now we need to decide when to get our flu/COVID shots. The Los Angeles Times suggested October as the best time for both. Yet the three-month mark would be November 11th, three months after I first tested positive.

    Two friends didn’t wait to catch FLiRT during this wave and scheduled their COVID vaccinations for this Thursday.

  26. 26.

    Burrowing Owl

    Thank you so much for keeping up the updates, Anne Laurie. I have a Covid booster scheduled at CVS tomorrow—I’ll delay my flu vax until early October. Appreciate you and your efforts!

  27. 27.

    cckids

    @Nelle:

    I believe most people pop back into work or shopping or life before they are fully recovered

    At the grocery store (my 2nd job), they are now requiring employees with covid to return to work, as long as they don’t have a fever. And if you don’t have any sick days left, they will turn a blind eye if you show up sick as a dog. It’s scary and infuriating.

    And people ask me every day why I’m still wearing a mask. I’ve been in that petri dish since Covid was first found (right up the road! Kirkland WA!) and AFAIK, still haven’t had it.

  28. 28.

    hrprogressive

    I’m still glad you all are doing these threads. I am well aware COVID isn’t gone, and likely never will be.

    However, what’s somewhat crazy to me is that, to read these threads, it would be easy to think that the collective we was back in the late 2021/early 2022 “everyone literally has it” stage of a surge.

    But…

    I have gone and done a lot of things recently without donning any masks, though carrying one with me just in case.

    I attended a pro wrestling show 2 weeks ago with 3000+ people.

    I went to a proper restaurant last weekend for the first time in 4.5 years.

    The person I still live with has been working in office since this time last year, and has done other public outing events.

    As of this writing, I have yet to even take a COVID test, and the two times that person thought they had something tested negative both times and there was no spread to me.

    It is this dichotomy that needs to be addressed.

    IE – the people telling you “everyone has it again” and “99.9% chance someone has it in this crowd size” are not accounting for scenarios like mine whereby…I don’t spend a ton of time out in public for my own reasons, but I’ve now done what was seen to be the riskiest activities short of going maskless into a hospital or COVID ward…and as of today, nothing seems to have happened.

    The idea of phantom, asymptomatic infections, 4.5 years and 5 vaccinations later seems…not impossible, but not nearly as likely as it was in the Pre-Vaccine Era.

    I think everyone needs to do what makes them feel the safest. I didn’t start not doing any masking until very recently.

    I get it.

    But the “I need hard scientific data, not vibes and doomsaying for clicks” part of me says that something isn’t really lining up with what Zero COVID Twitter says and what the lived realities of many other people are, these days.

    I still think we need regular vaccines, and the nasal blocking vaccine is critical to getting the spread to stop / slow a lot more.

    It’s still a real problem that requires solutions.

    But this isn’t 2020 or 2021 anymore.

    At least, it would appear not to be, anyway.

    Not to everyone, not everywhere.

    And I wish there was a better, more reliable source of information, to keep accurate data up to date.

  29. 29.

    Chris T.

    @Burnspbesq:

    A pretty impressive feat of supply chain management: FDA approved the new booster what, last Thursday? CVS started booking appointments yesterday, and I have one tomorrow.

    Local Walgreens says they have the new ones now; local (well, local-ish, Marysville) says October (?!). Haven’t found out what local Costco says yet.

  30. 30.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    I’m going to Europe in October.  The section of my mother-in-law’s retirement community reported 1/3 of residents currently have COVID.  Have an appointment for this Friday to get my COVID and flu shot.  May not visit mother-in-law until I get back from Europe.

  31. 31.

    dc

    I have an appointment to get the newest Covid shot this Saturday. I plan to get a booster mid December, before flying to visit my family for the holidays.

  32. 32.

    JustRuss

    @NorthLeft: I will never fly without a mask again.  Even discounting covid, there’s a ton of other stuff floating around the passenger compartment that I don’t want.  Who wants to spend the first 4 days of vacation fighting a cold?

  33. 33.

    VFX Lurker

    @JustRuss: I will never fly without a mask again.  Even discounting covid, there’s a ton of other stuff floating around the passenger compartment that I don’t want.  Who wants to spend the first 4 days of vacation fighting a cold?

    Anecdotal: I had a lovely trip to Tokyo in 2018 with two friends. We did not mask on the plane or in the airport.

    One friend came down with a cold four days into the trip. We had to find cold medicine, and I think we needed Google to identify the Japanese equivalent of DayQuil and Sudafed.

    After I returned, I had a cold so bad I went to urgent care to confirm it wasn’t flu or strep. I had to take a few sick days and didn’t feel right for weeks.

    Wearing a mask on a plane and in the airport seems so obvious now. I didn’t know then that catching a cold was optional.

  34. 34.

    bluefoot

    @TBone: ​
      There have been reports that getting vaccinated can help with long COVID symptoms. I assume this is because of residual virus hiding out somewhere in the body. So maybe if you get the new vaccine, it will help?
    There’s so little definitive data on how to treat long COVID, and every case seems unique. Over the last year, I’ve been listening to the podcast TLC Sessions since I have some people close to me with long COVID. The podcast talks about emerging science, what the two hosts are doing to deal with their long COVID and if nothing else is validating.

  35. 35.

    TBone

    @bluefoot: thank you!

    I’m completely boosted with every available vaxx (seven now?) and making an appointment at CVS this week for new booster. I really appreciate your recommendation for feeling not so alone, will give it a listen.

    I don’t know whether I’m suffering another new infection or more new and different long symptoms, or both at the same time.  But I’m getting the dang shot again regardless!

    https://www.tlcsessions.net/

  38. 38.

    FlyingToaster

    Because we’re in the People’s Republic Commonwealth, we tend to time the shots for our usual Thanksgiving/Xmas spike.  So WarriorTeen & I will be getting our Covid & Flu shots the last coupla Fridays in October.

    HerrDoktor works in downtown Bwahstin, and is in-office 2-3 days per week, so he is getting his sooner.

    In a year an a half, I’ll be covered for 2 Covid shots a year, which I will then have to take off a weekend in April.  Sigh.  The shot knocks me completely out of commission for about 36 hours, which is why the “Friday 3pm” appointments 🥵🥶.

  39. 39.

    sab

    @Cheryl from Maryland: I got my covid shot today! Well done, diligent spouse!

    His back is a mess, so he couldn’t help much on moving. Extremely painful for him and he slowed me down a lot because he was so slow. But excellent on a keyboard. I was amazed

    Vaxxed for the next six months!

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