Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This blog will pay for itself.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

This is dead girl, live boy, a goat, two wetsuits and a dildo territory.  oh, and pink furry handcuffs.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”

People are weird.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Republicans do not trust women.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

No one could have predicted…

When I was faster i was always behind.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus (& H5N1) Updates: September 11, 2024

COVID-19 Coronavirus (& H5N1) Updates: September 11, 2024

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I try not to be cynical, really I do, but it feels an awful lot like as a society we’re systematically unlearning the good lessons from the pandemic and by the time the next one comes we’ll only be left with generalized resistance to taking any safety measures at all.

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— The Fig Economy (@figgityfigs.bsky.social) Sep 3, 2024 at 9:04 AM

Reader Interactions

15Comments

  1. 1.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    In Greece, I am now able to make an appointment for a free Pfizer JN.1 booster (my last booster shot was in early April). I have pending travel in late December, so I’m thinking I should get boosted in early November, and mask diligently until then.

    JN.1 is the latest vaccine, right?

  2. 2.

    Matt McIrvin

    I got my covid and seasonal flu shots on Sunday, had a sore arm for about a day after, no other side effects. Still masking on the bus to work.

  3. 3.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Bruce K in ATH-GR: That’s the strain targeted by the latest Novavax vaccine. The Pfizer and Moderna ones are for KP.2. None of these exact strains are circulating at high volume right now but the ones that are are closely related and the vaccines apparently provide decent protection.

  4. 4.

    Central Planning

    I got my booster on Saturday. I had a sore arm and felt slightly under the weather the next day, but nothing that stopped me from doing errands and chores.

    AAA+++ would boost again.

  5. 5.

    narya

    I’m trying to hold off a bit to get the latest so I am best protected for the holidays; got a booster in April, so, masking indoors and crossing my fingers.

  7. 7.

    TBone

    Now she wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens in prison.

    He is scared shitless 😆

    Weirdness – wrong thread!  Ugh

  8. 8.

    Chris Johnson

    I went to a con a couple weeks ago. In Mississippi. The con was great, but I got hit with COVID on the way out… on the road, home, solo for three days. WOOF.

    Still have it last I checked (yesterday). Symptoms abating somewhat. I can’t go to my meetings in person and that’s messing with me. I hope I’ve shaken it by Sunday, it’s at least going in the direction of away?

  9. 9.

    hrprogressive

    The bird flu case is way more concerning to me than the COVID stuff at the moment, because as I recall hearing for…I don’t know, 25 years or so, if Bird Flu ever becomes able to spread people-to-people, the level of danger and high mortality makes it, you know. Apocalyptic?

    Given the way people’s brains were broken by COVID and the politicizing of basic health mitigations for a virus that as bad as it was, had a much lower mortality rate than H5N1, I’m worried all the estimates and doom-projections of how bad a Bird Flu Pandemic could be won’t even hit the tip of the iceberg if a bunch of morons start avoiding health protections for that one.

    Anyway.

    I think the COVID case in my house has resolved, just waiting for a 2nd negative test this evening.

    I took my first test last Friday and was negative. I’ve not felt any symptoms at all, so I believe I have dodged it, and still haven’t had an active infection in the almost 5 years (?!?!) it’s been with humanity.

    How did we do it?

    1) As soon as symptoms were suspected on Sunday, 9/1, a test was taken. Upon the faint positive observed, mitigation measures immediately commenced.

    2) Mitigation measures included isolation of the sick party, including keeping a Corsi-Rosenthal box I constructed last year in their room. I wholeheartedly believe this device did the bulk of the heavy lifting in appearing to prevent spread.

    3) Masking during the worst of symptoms and masking in common areas, combination of KN95 and N95, depending on the circumstances.

    4) Open windows, fresh air ventilation as often as the weather would allow.

    5) We both use a xylitol nasal spread called Xlear that claimed in a small study their product may have virucidal properties, and was helpful in preventing bacteria and such from even lodging in the nose. It might well be a placebo, but, I’d note I’ve used it with higher frequency than the infected person, and again, I appear to have not contracted an infection.

    6) I also used a mini HEPA near my person when I was eating and drinking and such.

    It honestly has been a very exhausting week keeping all these measures up, but again, it appears to have been successful. We’re only two adults and one cat (who’s a Harris fan, coincidentally) so we didn’t have to deal with kids or multigenerational housing, which could certainly complicate things.

    TLDR; Masks work, CR Boxes work, fresh air works, nasal spray couldn’t have hurt. Also, Paxlovid appeared to have knocked their infection down pretty quickly, and they don’t appear to have any lingering issues / probably won’t have Long Covid due to 5 prior shots.

    Since I didn’t get it, I am going to schedule my next booster soon. I’ve gotten them in September the last 2 years, I suppose it makes sense to keep doing them around that time.

    To the extent such info above can be helpful to anyone this late in the game, I hope it has been.

  10. 10.

    Geoduck

    Like others, I got my booster the other day, and had no reaction other than a sore injection site for a day. But I’ve never had any reaction to COVID shots, at all. No idea if that’s a good or bad thing. Still mostly wearing a mask indoors in public.

  12. 12.

    Redshift

    At two houses on my canvassing route this weekend a person in the yard advised me not to come closer because they had multiple people with covid inside.

  13. 13.

    Matt McIrvin

    @hrprogressive: A big advantage with bird flu vs. the COVID pandemic in 2020-21 is that flu vaccines and their distribution are a really mature technology, and the US government has already ordered stockpiles of an H5N1 vaccine. The seasonal flu vaccine isn’t for it, but it sounds like they’re trying to be ahead of the curve.

    Now, if a pandemic happens and people don’t get the vaccine, that’s on them.

  14. 14.

    Gretchen

    Thank you for compiling these, Anne Laurie. I think yours are the most comprehensive summaries available anywhere!

  15. 15.

    KrackenJack

    Thank you for continuing the updates AL!

    Got our vax last Thu. Wanted to do it Friday, but appointments were surprisingly hard to find. Sore arm and kinda off the following day.

    Have a trip coming up in a few weeks, so we got the shot earlier than we would otherwise. We’ll do the flu one when we get back.

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