Coronavirus on a Personal Basis

[Foggy]

I have been diligent in getting the vaccine and all the boosters, but my last booster was last November, so it's about time. I suspect an annual booster is my future for the rest of my time on the mortal coil.

So I'm going to schedule that for one week and - now that I've had a couple flu shots and haven't had a relapse of the Guillain-Barré - a flu shot for a week after the booster.

And I will gently nag my significant other.

[keith]

No, they're not a treatment for after you catch it, but they're also not intended to keep you completely disease-free, either. Vaccines (in general) are designed to tell the body how to fight an illness that you've been exposed to. They teach your body how to make antibodies for that particular virus so that when the virus infects you out in the world, your body can say "Hey, I know you, get the fuck outta here!" and kick it to the curb. As a result, you don't get any symptoms even though you **have** been infected.

All this week and 10 times on Sunday.

I had my all time internet knock down drag out fight with an "I've got a masters degree in biology from UCLA, and am working in a microbiology lab" smart ass that swore up and down that the vaccine prevented you from getting infected as if it was a magical invisible condom or something.

Which I have known is NOT how it works since at least 7th grade. Sheesh.

If he is one of UCLA's finest, I sure don't wanna be involved with any of the more average folk from that science school.

(Apologies to any Bruins out there, I know there must be some outstanding grads, but this guy is sure NOT one of them)

[Volkonski]

Last week our SIL's mother was supposed to visit us for two nights going and returning to/from a Unitarian Universalist get together. She got Covid for a second time and so cancelled the trip.

A few days ago Mrs. V's cousin who lives near DC called to say that her younger daughter, SIL and one of their children now have Covid.

Yesterday our SIL's father came down with Covid.

Getting flashbacks to 2020.

[Volkonski]

Rampant COVID Poses New Challenges in the Fifth Year of the Pandemic

https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti ... -pandemic/

For four years now, either as a physical virus or as a looming threat, the COVID-causing pathogen SARS-CoV-2 has been the elephant in every room—sometimes confronted and sometimes ignored but always present. While once we dreamed of eradicating COVID, now much of society has resigned itself to SARS-CoV-2’s constant presence—a surrender that would once have been unthinkable.

Worldwide, there were more than 11,000 reported deaths from COVID between mid-December 2023 and mid-January 2024, and more than half of those deaths occurred in the U.S. In that same time frame, nearly one million cases were reported to the World Health Organization globally (although reduced testing and reporting means this is likely a vast undercount). In particular, epidemiologists are monitoring the newest variant of SARS-CoV-2, JN.1, and looking for any signs that it may be more severe than previous strains.

Although the WHO declared an end to the COVID public health emergency in May 2023, the organization has emphasized that the pandemic isn’t over—it’s just entered an endemic phase, which means that the virus will continue to circulate indefinitely. Throughout the past four years, Maria Van Kerkhove, now interim director of the WHO’s Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention, has helped lead the agency’s response to COVID. Scientific American spoke with Van Kerkhove about entering the fifth year of a pandemic that many want to ignore despite its permanent impact on lives around the world.

[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]

How would you describe the overall state of COVID at this point in the pandemic?

COVID’s not in the news every day, but it’s still a global health risk. If we look at wastewater estimates, the actual circulation [of SARS-CoV-2] is somewhere between two and 20 times higher than what’s actually being reported by countries. The virus is rampant. We’re still in a pandemic. There’s a lot of complacency at the individual level, and more concerning to me is that at the government level.