COVID-19 News and Discussions

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andmar74
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Post by andmar74 »

Some good news for the vaxxed, appears the vaccine does indeed significantly protect againtst long COVID appears to be quite rare amongst those with at least 2 shots.
Incredible, if true. They are using online questionnaires, how reliable is that? The study is not peer-reviewed yet.
It could be different with omicron.
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andmar74
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Re: COVID-19 News and Discussions

Post by andmar74 »

Preliminary news about Long-Covid and omicron.
Danish experts are anticipating much lower frequency of Long-Covid for omicron.
They emphasize it's early still, but about 1% of people infected with omicron, should get some kind of long term sickness.
They expect that if you had mild or no symptoms, you will not get Long-Covid.
Also, the Long-Covid problems is expected to mostly be coughing and slime in the throat.

So good news!
Link to article ( in Danish): https://nyheder.tv2.dk/samfund/2022-01- ... af-omikron
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wjfox
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Beijing locks down office building with workers still inside after single Omicron case detected

Updated 1519 GMT (2319 HKT) January 17, 2022

Hong Kong (CNN) – At an office building in China's capital on Sunday, masked Covid control personnel lugged boxes of pillows and bedding through the closely guarded entrance for white collar workers stuck inside, preparing for what may be days of lockdown as Beijing rushes to prevent the spread of Omicron ahead of the Winter Olympics.

The snap lockdown meant the building in the west of the city was sealed off without advance warning, with everybody inside unable to leave and subject to compulsory Covid testing. The decision to lock the office down came after an employee tested positive for Omicron on Saturday -- the city's first recorded case of the highly transmissible variant.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/17/chin ... index.html
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caltrek
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On Day One, Virginia’s New Republican Governor Ends Mask and Vaccine Mandates
by Samantha Michaels
January 16, 2022

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/20 ... ce-theory/

Extract:
(Mother Jones) Glenn Youngkin, the first Republican governor of Virginia since 2014, is wasting no time enacting policies that will harm the state’s people of color. On Saturday, his first day in office, he signed 11 executive actions that, among other things, will make it harder for schools to teach kids about racism. The orders also scrap rules that slowed the spread of the coronavirus amid a pandemic that the state’s health department says has hit Black and brown families the hardest.

Here’s a sampling of his day one executive actions:

• Masks in schools: Youngkin rescinded a statewide mask mandate for public school students, giving parents the power to send their kids to class without face coverings even as coronavirus cases skyrocket because of the omicron variant. He said he was “reaffirming the rights of parents in the upbringing, education, and care of their children.”

• Vaccines: Youngkin rescinded a rule requiring state employees to get a coronavirus vaccine or submit to weekly testing.

At least in certain corners of the state, the governor is already facing pushback: On Saturday, the superintendent of Richmond schools announced that he would keep the mask requirement in place for students, staffers, and visitors. Other school districts will too.
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wjfox
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caltrek
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Respiratory Viruses that Hijack Immune Mechanisms May Have Achilles’ Heel
January 18, 2022

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/940269

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) One viral protein could provide information to deter pneumonia causing the body’s exaggerated inflammatory response to respiratory viruses, including the virus that causes COVID-19.

That viral protein is NS2 of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and a study has found that if the virus lacks this protein, the human body’s immune response can destroy the virus before exaggerated inflammation begins. The research, conducted at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, was published Jan. 18 in the journal MBio.

Like other respiratory viruses, including the COVID-19-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus, RSV infects the lung cells responsible for exchanging gases and uses them as factories to make more viruses. Uncontrollable virus multiplication in these cells leads to their destruction and manifestation of severe inflammation; lung diseases like pneumonia; and sometimes death.

“Exaggerated inflammation clogs the airways and makes breathing difficult,” said Kim Chiok, a WSU post-doctoral researcher who led the study. “This is why people who have these long-term and severe inflammatory responses get pneumonia and need help breathing, and it’s why they end up in the hospital in the ICU.”

Chiok and fellow WSU researchers are laying the framework to break that cycle by understanding how respiratory viruses, like RSV, persist in the cell. RSV causes 160,000 deaths annually primarily in infants, children, elderly and immune-compromised individuals, according to National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
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raklian
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Post by raklian »

wjfox wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 3:04 pm
Not the only thing we have to worry about. :(

To know is essentially the same as not knowing. The only thing that occurs is the rearrangement of atoms in your brain.
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caltrek
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WHO Recommends Two New Drugs to Treat COVID-19
January 14, 2022

https://www.who.int/news/item/14-01-202 ... t-covid-19

Introduction:
(WHO -World Health Organization) WHO has recommended two new drugs for COVID-19, providing yet more options for treating the disease. The extent to which these medicines will save lives depends on how widely available and affordable they will be.

The first drug, baricitinib, is strongly recommended for patients with severe or critical COVID-19. It is part of a class of drugs called Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors that suppress the overstimulation of the immune system. WHO recommends that it is given with corticosteroids.

Baricitinib is an oral drug, used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. It provides an alternative to other arthritis drugs called Interleukin-6 receptor blockers, recommended by WHO in July 2021.

WHO has also conditionally recommended the use of a monoclonal antibody drug, sotrovimab, for treating mild or moderate COVID-19 in patients who are at high risk of hospitalization. This includes patients who are older, immunocompromised, having underlying conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, and those unvaccinated.

Sotrovimab is an alternative to casirivimab-imdevimab, a monoclonal antibody cocktail recommended by WHO in September 2021. Studies are ongoing on the effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies against Omicron but early laboratory studies show that sotrovimab retains its activity.
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erowind
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Post by erowind »

I'm grateful for the "free" rapid tests being sent out to all American households however this isn't nearly enough.

A few things that need to change.

The ordering process should be opt-out, not opt-in. All households should receive orders automatically alongside general instructions and guidance on how to navigate the pandemic safely based on scientific data of the pandemic. This second informational pamphlet idea won't work of course because the disinformation problem is already so bad and the government isn't trusted by many citizens, even so, if this pandemic were handled competently this is what it would look like.

4 tests with no further plans isn't enough and many household have more than 4 people. Maybe 4 per month per household would be enough. Maybe a better number would be 5 or 6? I'd need more data to know for sure but I get the feeling that 4 is rather arbitrary. In cases where a household has more than 4 people people should be able to order extra supply to cover their whole household and the government could pull DMV data or something to help verify the claim. Whatever the number is it should arrive monthly automatically.
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Mild COVID cases still lead to attention and memory issues - study

January 19, 2022

People with mild COVID-19 who do not suffer any other traditional "long COVID" symptoms can still exhibit deteriorated attention and memory six to nine months after infection, a study by Britain's Oxford University has found.

Cognitive issues impacting concentration levels, along with forgetfulness and fatigue, are features of long COVID - a condition that afflicts some after an initial bout of infection - but it has not been established how widespread issues with attention span might be following COVID-19 infection.

In the study, participants who had tested positive for COVID-19 previously but did not report other traditional long COVID symptoms were asked to complete exercises to test their memory and cognitive ability.

The researchers found that participants were significantly worse at recalling personal experiences, known as episodic memory, up to six months after infection.

They also had a bigger decline in their ability to sustain attention over time than uninfected individuals up to nine months after infection.

https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 022-01-19/
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