COVID-19 News and Discussions

[caltrek]

Rapid Antigen Tests May Give More False Negatives with Omciron
December 30, 2021

https://www.sciencealert.com/fyi-rapid- ... th-omciron

Introduction:

(AFP via Science Alert) Rapid Covid home tests are more likely to give a false negative with the heavily-mutated Omicron variant compared to earlier strains, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Tuesday.

The news comes as the country is facing a massive surge in cases that experts say is being under-captured as a result of a testing crunch, with long wait times for the more accurate PCR tests, and home kits in extremely short supply.

In a statement, the FDA said it was collaborating with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the performance of home tests, also known as "antigen" tests, against patient samples containing live versions of the Omicron variant.

"Early data suggests that antigen tests do detect the Omicron variant but may have reduced sensitivity," the agency said.

Sensitivity is a measure of how likely a test is able to detect a positive./quote]

[Xyls]

It is very unfortunate that the vaccines don't work (lose efficacy, back to 0%) in the long run and the media still call people "fully vaccinated" if they took 2 shots no matter when.

There isn't a single person where I live (that I know of) that is aware that the boosters are required if you still want to have ANY protection against the new variants. Whoever is at risk and has access to a booster should take it asap.

This makes me worry for my grandparents and already old parents (they are almost in their 60s).

This is not correct. For those who aren't suffering an immune system that is shutting down due to old age or have another auto-immune condition the vaccine is not 0% effective it stop eventually protecting from infection but the actual protection against severe illness/death remains. It means that it has succeeded in making the population no longer "immunologically naive". What we don't know is how the vaccine protects against Long COVID type lingering symptoms from mild infection for this population however.

Ok, please source it then. I am specially interested in pfizer's efficacy after 8 months.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... a-research


See above. Omicron primarily has grown to evade antibodies which are what prevents you from getting infected at all. T-cells are quite a different story which vaccination also provides. The question for the healthy/young vaccinated even if only at 2 doses is primarily whether a mild infection will develop long covid symptoms because that is poorly understood and it is known that mild infections can result in them in the unvaccinated so is the process different here?

For those who are unvaccinated you remain "immunologically naive" if you have not had a previous infection, and T-Cells from natural infection may only be directed at responses to the upper-respiratory tract which possibly explains why some of the naturally-infected people from earlier waves have gotten critically ill with delta. Vaccines are the opposite and the intramuscular injections result in more protection in the lungs.

[andmar74]

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-12- ... frica.html

A booster of US coronavirus vaccine Johnson & Johnson was 85 percent effective in preventing serious illness in areas where Omicron was dominant, a South African trial study indicated Thursday.

[Yuli Ban]

Omicron being milder might be true, but it smells rotten because we've seen this before


Yeah, check the dates

That's not Omicron— that was Delta, the deadliest strain thus far

[raklian]

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

Jeez!

[weatheriscool]

The U.S. breaks its single-day case record, nearly doubling the highest numbers from last winter.
Source: New York Times

With a caseload nearly twice that of the worst single days of last winter, the United States shattered its record for new daily coronavirus cases, a milestone that may still fall short of describing the true toll of the Delta and Omicron variants because testing has slowed over the holidays.

As a second year of living with the pandemic was drawing to a close, the new daily case total topped 488,000 on Wednesday, according to a New York Times database. (The total was higher on Monday, but that number should not be considered a record because it included data from the long holiday weekend.)

Wednesday’s seven-day average of new daily cases, 301,000, was also a record, compared with 267,000 the day before, according to the database. In the past week, more than two million cases have been reported nationally, and 15 states and territories reported more cases than in any other seven-day period.

The rise has been driven by the highly contagious Omicron variant, which became dominant in the United States last week. So far, however, the increase has not resulted in more severe disease, as hospitalizations have increased only 11 percent and deaths have decreased slightly in the past two weeks.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/12/30 ... ast-winter

[Yuli Ban]

It's even higher

[Yuli Ban]

[Xyls]

Love it. If only all these anti-vaxxers would take themselves out this way.

[Yuli Ban]

[wjfox]

Covid Singularity.

[wjfox]

Meanwhile in the UK, we had yet another record case count yesterday.

Deaths were also the highest since early March.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/










Hospitalisations are now creeping up too –

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/healthcare

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Two years ago today...

----------

Chinese officials investigate cause of pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan

December 31, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese health authorities said they are investigating 27 cases of viral pneumonia in the central city of Wuhan, after rumors on social media suggested the outbreak could be linked to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

Of the people infected, seven were in critical condition and 18 were in stable condition, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said on Tuesday on its Weibo social media account. The condition of two other patients had improved to the point where they would be discharged soon, it said.

“The cause of the disease is not clear,” the official People’s Daily newspaper said on Weibo, citing unnamed hospital officials. “We cannot confirm it is what’s being spread online, that it is SARS virus. Other severe pneumonia is more likely.”

All of the patients had been isolated and their close contacts are under medical observation, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said. An investigation and cleanup were under way at a seafood market in the city, which is suspected to be connected with the cases, it said.

Initial laboratory tests showed that the cases were viral pneumonia. No obvious human-to-human transmission had been found and no medical staff had been infected, the commission said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-chin ... SKBN1YZ0GP

[wjfox]

[raklian]

For anyone who is feeling the cynical streak at the moment.