COVID-19 Outbreak Information Updates (Reboot) [over 150.000,000 US cases (est.), 6,422,520 US hospitilizations, 1,148,691 US deaths.] (5 Viewers)

[BarBar]

Finally got Covid.

Day 1: I think my allergies are acting up because we are in vacation in Austria and it is normal for me to have bad allergies when I go somewhere new.

Day 2 morning: chest feels a little strange. Assume it is more allergies. Did a 6 mile hike in the mountains which was a huge struggle and wiped me out.

Evening: actually i don't feel too bad. I felt a bit feverish in the afternoon but had no way to check. Throat started to hurt later on and cough worsened.

Day 3: my god. My throat. It's like someone is running razor blades down the back of my throat. Very painful. Coughing up green crap. Zapped. No energy. Sore throat kept me up most of the night. At this point i realize that I am pretty ill. Had to make a 5 hour drive home from Austria. Got a test as soon as I arrived....positive. 101.5 fever. it is Sunday here so everything is closed....meaning I can't get any OTC meds until tomorrow.

Day 4 morning: got a bit of sleep. Elevated my head to try and keep drainage from pooling. Throat feels just as bad. Strangely I have not had any sinus drip or much need to blow my nose.

Will see what the day brings. Hopefully today is truly the hump day.

At any rate I have to quarantine minimum 5 days.

 

[Saint_Ward]

I'm boosted, and have never gotten covid to my knowledge. A decent amount of my family is the same way(all boosted as well). I have no idea if we had asymptomatic infections. We all have some home testing kits, but never had a reason to use them.

In fact, the sickest I've been since covid started was the vaccines.

I can attest. Covid is worse

 

[BarBar]

Day 4 update now that I have been up a few hours.

This thing hits HARD. I haven't been this sick in years. I can't even imagine what it would be like if I wasn't vaccinated.

Now I have all the normal flu symptoms. Headache, fever, chills, bodyache, runny nose, sneezes, stopped up head, nausea. My throat hurts so bad that I can no longer speak without a GREAT deal of effort and pain. I cannot WAIT for this evening when my friend can finally bring over some meds for me. My only reprieve is that I know most people are having symptoms for only 5 days so maybe I am getting near the end.

 

[faceman]

Day 4 update now that I have been up a few hours.

This thing hits HARD. I haven't been this sick in years. I can't even imagine what it would be like if I wasn't vaccinated.

You might be dead. It's no joke. Please get vaccinated. I've lost 5 friends who believed they'd be in the 99% who
would survive

 

[BarBar]

You might be dead. It's no joke. Please get vaccinated. I've lost 5 friends who believed they'd be in the 99% who
would survive

I am lucky that I didn't lose anyone close to me but about 5 people that I personally knew at some point in my life died from it.

 

[brandon8283]

Nor does it stop the spread... Some will argue that it slows the spread, but the numbers (when not cherry picked) don't support that...

Logic bears out that it still reduces the spread.

If you are vaccinated, you likely have a shorter length of time where you have symptoms, which means a shorter period where you can spread the disease to someone else.

It may not be ideal, and you may be just as likely to spread it while you’re infectious, but if you’re only infectious for a couple of days versus three or four days, that’s reduction.

 

[Saint_Ward]

Since Omicron, completely true.

Not true at all with Alpha and to a lesser extent Delta.

There was about a 2-3 month period in November-January where it became really clear that the vaccine was not having any significant impact on infection where people were still acting like it did but I honestly haven't seen anyone claiming it did in recent months. A new vaccine is needed for those wanting it. By now, case fatality rates are so low and almost everyone has some sort of immune response we are no longer dealing with a novel virus.

There's no perfect data out there, but...



Again, it's true in the binary sense, of yes/no, that you can still get infected.

But in an analog world, you're still less likely. Just not as 'less likely' as it used to be.

 

[bclemms]

There's no perfect data out there, but...



Again, it's true in the binary sense, of yes/no, that you can still get infected.

But in an analog world, you're still less likely. Just not as 'less likely' as it used to be.

That is for deaths. I don't think anyone is left doubting the vaccines effectiveness against severe illness except for fringe far right conspiracy theorists.

For actual infections, it's really close. In fact, there are more vaccinated infections than unvaccinated infections by a pretty wide margin at this point but that data is quite skewed given that nearly 80% of the population has been vaccinated. Outside of a 5 week window where the vaccine does in fact prevent infections at a high rate before quickly fading to near 0 after a few months, the vaccine offers little to no protection against contagion and likely offers little to protection curbing the spread. I wont say zero but it appears to be at least statistically insignificant.

For the remaining small pocket of people that haven't had prior infections or vaccinations, well, they are simply strengthening the gene pool of humans and I really couldn't care less.

The bottom line, there needs to be an updated version of the vaccine but it's also quite likely by the time it comes out the effectiveness will only last a few months until the virus mutates enough to render it ineffective against contagion and the new vaccine itself could help force that mutation. Regardless of the vaccine, each day immune response is strengthening making the virus less of a threat. By best estimates the fatality rate is halving about every 3 months. At some point (we are likely pretty close to that point) the reduction in fatality rate will begin to rapidly slow and find a bottom. Even if that bottom is now, Covid is something like 800% less likely to kill than it was in 2020 which brings it closer in line with a slightly above average flu season. Just a slight improvement in the vaccine with yearly updated boosters then that number can likely be halved again with a final resting place somewhere near an average or below average flu season.

Despite the advances, the possibility of a really nasty mutation that both avoids immune response all together while increasing severe disease is there even if it is very unlikely in any given year it probably will happen at some point. I really hope this is what we are spending research time and dollars trying to prevent more than anything else.

 

[Optimus Prime]

For two years, the coronavirus killed Americans on a brutal, predictable schedule: A few weeks after infections climbed so did deaths, cutting an unforgiving path across the country.

But that pattern appears to have changed. Nearly three months since an ultra-contagious set of new Omicron variants launched a springtime resurgence of cases, people are nonetheless dying from Covid at a rate close to the lowest of the pandemic.

The spread of the virus and the number of deaths in its wake, two measures that were once yoked together, have diverged more than ever before, epidemiologists said. Deaths have ticked up slowly in the northeastern United States, where the latest wave began, and are likely to do the same nationally as the surge pushes across the South and West. But the country remains better fortified against Covid deaths than earlier in the pandemic, scientists said.

Because so many Americans have now been vaccinated or infected or both, they said, the number of people whose immune systems are entirely unprepared for the virus has significantly dwindled.

“In previous waves, there were still substantial pockets of people who had not been vaccinated or exposed to the virus, and so were at the same risk of dying as people at the beginning of the pandemic,” said Dr. David Dowdy, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Those pockets don’t exist anymore.”.........

Covid Cases Surge, but Deaths Stay Near Lows

 

[ChrisinNOLA]

For two years, the coronavirus killed Americans on a brutal, predictable schedule: A few weeks after infections climbed so did deaths, cutting an unforgiving path across the country.

But that pattern appears to have changed. Nearly three months since an ultra-contagious set of new Omicron variants launched a springtime resurgence of cases, people are nonetheless dying from Covid at a rate close to the lowest of the pandemic.

The spread of the virus and the number of deaths in its wake, two measures that were once yoked together, have diverged more than ever before, epidemiologists said. Deaths have ticked up slowly in the northeastern United States, where the latest wave began, and are likely to do the same nationally as the surge pushes across the South and West. But the country remains better fortified against Covid deaths than earlier in the pandemic, scientists said.

Because so many Americans have now been vaccinated or infected or both, they said, the number of people whose immune systems are entirely unprepared for the virus has significantly dwindled.

“In previous waves, there were still substantial pockets of people who had not been vaccinated or exposed to the virus, and so were at the same risk of dying as people at the beginning of the pandemic,” said Dr. David Dowdy, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Those pockets don’t exist anymore.”.........

Covid Cases Surge, but Deaths Stay Near Lows

The vaccinations are working then? We knew the vaccines were not a cure but a major buffer. Seems like it is doing what it was intended.

 

[SoggyBottomBoy]

My daughter and her husband spent last week in San Diego on a mission trip for their church. A small group of about 7. They were to fly back to Houston last night. My SiL got COVID from one of the group members that hadn't shown signs before the trip. My SiL tested positive on Friday, nauseous, fever, headaches and constant coughing. They couldn't fly home last night, so my daughter rented a car and they're driving back. They made it to Tucson last night and are probably going to stop in Fort Stockton, TX this evening and complete the trip to Houston, tomorrow. So far my daughter hasn't had symptoms and they are taking precautions, I fear she's next.

And right after I learned about my daughter and husband and very good friend contracted it over the weekend from one of his grandchildren that he is now raising. He has health issues that have me concerned, but he received an infusion of the monoclonal antibodies.

Everyone was vaccinated/boosted. It's just going around. I wasn't going to mask for the Saints games this year, but I am reconsidering.

 

[Saint_Ward]

That is for deaths. I don't think anyone is left doubting the vaccines effectiveness against severe illness except for fringe far right conspiracy theorists.

For actual infections, it's really close. In fact, there are more vaccinated infections than unvaccinated infections by a pretty wide margin at this point but that data is quite skewed given that nearly 80% of the population has been vaccinated. Outside of a 5 week window where the vaccine does in fact prevent infections at a high rate before quickly fading to near 0 after a few months, the vaccine offers little to no protection against contagion and likely offers little to protection curbing the spread. I wont say zero but it appears to be at least statistically insignificant.

For the remaining small pocket of people that haven't had prior infections or vaccinations, well, they are simply strengthening the gene pool of humans and I really couldn't care less.

The bottom line, there needs to be an updated version of the vaccine but it's also quite likely by the time it comes out the effectiveness will only last a few months until the virus mutates enough to render it ineffective against contagion and the new vaccine itself could help force that mutation. Regardless of the vaccine, each day immune response is strengthening making the virus less of a threat. By best estimates the fatality rate is halving about every 3 months. At some point (we are likely pretty close to that point) the reduction in fatality rate will begin to rapidly slow and find a bottom. Even if that bottom is now, Covid is something like 800% less likely to kill than it was in 2020 which brings it closer in line with a slightly above average flu season. Just a slight improvement in the vaccine with yearly updated boosters then that number can likely be halved again with a final resting place somewhere near an average or below average flu season.

Despite the advances, the possibility of a really nasty mutation that both avoids immune response all together while increasing severe disease is there even if it is very unlikely in any given year it probably will happen at some point. I really hope this is what we are spending research time and dollars trying to prevent more than anything else.

Might I direct your attention to the left figure? That one is cases/infections. The right figure is deaths.

I do agree about an updated vaccine, however.

 

[jayd265]

covid has come and gone thru our house for the 2nd time. same symptoms as the first. congestion, sinus pressure, cough, sinus drip. started last monday, tested monday night after work, at home test took about 45 seconds to show positive (supposed to wait 15 mins for an official test to be complete). finally no positive test on saturday. yesterday all symptoms were gone.

boss said i can go back in the office 5 days after no symptoms. so back to work next monday since i'm not going back on a friday. i'm the 4th positive person in our office in the last 2-3 weeks. with 2 other guys coughing/congested without testing, so i assume i got it from them.

 

[BarBar]

Day 5: same symptoms but less intense.

Feels maybe 25 percent less overall. Throat hurts much less but still hurts. Here is hoping the worst is over.


Sudafed and NyQuil are REALLY helping with the symptoms.

 

[jayd265]

headed back to gym for some cardio at lunch for the first time since covid (only missed 9 days straight). wife went this morning and said it was tough. combo between missing 9 days in a row and covid. we'll see how rough it is for me