the no-nonsense, nothing-but-the-facts-m'am C19 thread

[jeremyp]

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireSt...frica-81404239

The DOW loved hearing this.Also bad news from Merck and it's Covid pill

From NYT

The pharmaceutical company Merck said on Friday that in a final analysis of a clinical trial, its antiviral pill reduced the risk of hospitalization and death among high-risk Covid patients by 30 percent, down from an earlier estimate of 50 percent.

Go Pfizer

[polevaultpower]

I am on the board of our local preschool/daycare. One child with no symptoms managed to infect five other children (most of their close contacts) and four fully vaccinated and masked staff members (100% of the adult close contacts). Most likely several of the children who tested negative on a rapid test did have it, as some of their household contacts later developed symptoms and tested positive.

The outbreak continues to spread because the CDC and local health department do not require vaccinated close contacts to stay home, so we have a lot of breakthrough cases that keep spreading it to others.

We have only had one other outbreak on our island to date, the rest of the cases have just been random cases here and there from either mainland travel or mainland visitors.

Unfortunately, this hit right before any large booster clinics on our island, and the ferries being such a mess made people less likely to leave to get one. Plus there was apparently little to no communication from the state to childcare directors to let them know all of their staff were eligible for boosters.

There was a large booster clinic one week ago, and the elementary kids are starting to get vaccinated, but I worry that Thanksgiving will cause quite a few new cases.

[18.99s]

I am on the board of our local preschool/daycare. One child with no symptoms managed to infect five other children (most of their close contacts) and four fully vaccinated and masked staff members (100% of the adult close contacts).

Did any of the 4 staff members have symptoms, severe or not?

[polevaultpower]

Did any of the 4 staff members have symptoms, severe or not?

Yes, I know two had symptoms (and one of those two is in their early 20s), I didn't hear about the other two. No one has been hospitalized.

[Conor Dary]

#COVID19 deaths in Europe generally worse in the East, with Bulgaria in terrible shape, 1 in 250 of entire population have died.

[bad hammy]

From the NFL thread:

As DrJay, schigh, Pego, and the other MDs on this board will surely confirm, most people who claim to have an "allergy" to some obscure medicine or treatment, really do not have an allergy. They may not like the side effects of the treatment, but that is a not a true "allergic" reaction. A true allergic reaction, termed anaphylaxis, can be a life-threatening situation.

A friend of mine had a pair of particularly unpleasant reactions (but not anaphylaxis) to a component of the mRNA vaccines (Pfizer & Moderna): PEG - Polyethylene Glycol.

The experiences were particularly unpleasant because PEG is also a common ingredient in many bowel-cleansing colonoscopy prep meds. They couldn't figure out the problem after his first (aborted) c-scope rodeo so round two had similar results. They figured it out before his third trip to the colonoscopy plate – welcome to the age 50 club, dude! After that it was not surprising that he had no desire to give PEG another go with the mRNA vaccines, and waited for non-mRNA J&J.

[Halfmiler2]

Sorry but no weekly update of COVID numbers this week - too busy at the USATF Annual Meeting.

[SoCal45]

and another vicious anti-vaxxer Christian televangelist has died of Covid: Marcus Lamb of Daystar Network.

[bambam1729]

This just out from JAMA Internal Medicine - answers a question someone was asking recently which I said I didn't know the exact #s. This doesn't answer the ? exactly but is still reassuring:

"Meanwhile, the odds of hospitalisation after 14 days among those who received a booster dose were 92% to 97% lower than those who had received just 2 doses."

[bambam1729]

And a tweet showing the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing deaths in Europe - https://twitter.com/AndreasShrugged/...18387688480768

[bambam1729]

Here's the graph from that tweet - this is better

EuropeVaccineEffectiveness.png

[Tuariki]

This just out from JAMA Internal Medicine - answers a question someone was asking recently which I said I didn't know the exact #s. This doesn't answer the ? exactly but is still reassuring:

"Meanwhile, the odds of hospitalisation after 14 days among those who received a booster dose were 92% to 97% lower than those who had received just 2 doses."

And that's why I am looking forward to my booster tomorrow

[jeremyp]

and another vicious anti-vaxxer Christian televangelist has died of Covid: Marcus Lamb of Daystar Network.

Why do I have the feeling that the Big Fella is tsk, tasking him?

[gh]

and some good news....

WHO says no deaths reported from Omicron yet as Covid variant spreads

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/04/who-says-no-deaths-reported-from-omicron-yet-as-covid-variant-spreads

[18.99s]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/12/05/belgian-hippopotamus-coronavirus-positive/

Snotty-nosed hippos test positive for coronavirus in Belgium, the first known cases in species

Two hippos in Belgium that vets noticed were “expelling snot” have been placed in quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus, the Antwerp zoo said, in what appears to be the first known case of covid-19 among the species.

It remains unclear how hippopotamuses Imani, 14, and Hermien, 41, contracted the virus, but the pair appear to be doing well and have no symptoms other than their runny, sticky noses.