Coronavirus prep
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Actually, face coverings do work to help stop the spread of this virus. The hospitals are very close to capacity treating this virus in the US. Many do survive, but long term health issues may occur for some survivors.
It’s pretty callous to infer that low mortality rates, is an adequate reason for not wearing a face covering out of respect and concern for others.
[edited by MFP Mods to remove quoted post]
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T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »MikePfirrman wrote: »T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »MikePfirrman wrote: »Chiming in and some of my experiences are different from those mentioned above. Since March, I have lived in 3 states; began the shutdown in florida, and then spent from May - Oct in Mass and Maine. As for not enough essential businesses being shut down, in Florida and Mass, things were shut down tight IMO. The only category I found stupid were the "essential" liquor stores. But people have pointed out to me that alcoholics can die if forced to detox rapidly. I would not know as I have about 1 drink a month. In both Florida and Mass, there are businesses closed forever because they were not considered "essential". All those people are now unemployed. My sons company was literally cut in half - 1500 to 750 employees, and good luck getting a new job. My son has a friend who is literally phone-crying on his shoulder. She was in the process of divorcing her husband when she was laid off. She has no income, no savings, and now cannot leave her husband, and sees no end in sight and is trapped. As for compliance, the worst compliance I encountered was in the state with the most strict rules at the time, Maine. Residents were terrible. Compliance slowly improved later in the summer, but was a real joke preceding July 4th. They would blame any transmission on "out of state visitors" yet locals were not wear masks nor social distancing.
As for our president ignoring cities, the Boston Major makes all kinds of rules and mandates and if he does not, our governor steps in. We just got new rules going into effect tomorrow night. It is all a tricky balance. There is finger pointing everywhere - lower government levels pointing up, and federal level pointing down.
I will say that I honestly would not want to have the responsibility of dealing with the balance between shutting down to prevent viral spread, and the economic damage and destroyed lives that a shut down causes. I get to sit here and express my opinions with no repercussions for anyone.
Maybe it's me getting more philosophical as I age or the Psych major in me, but as a consultant for businesses (from Fortune 100s to startups) for 25 years, I've seen the most successful businesses nearly always have common themes. A top down strategy that is communicated effectively from the top down to the lowest person in the organization, conformity/consistency of messaging and honesty/ethics. No matter what company I deal with, the ones that are the most successful and have the happiest employees seem to follow this pattern.
If you apply and contrast that to how our government has operated in this pandemic, it's pretty clear they failed miserably. And no matter who wins this election, the damage is already done and we are irreparably harmed.
I mentioned around 2 months ago that I thought we'd see a very dirty form of herd immunity before we saw vaccines. Not that I wanted to see that, but you could see the writing on the wall with people fighting mask mandates and common sense. I still think that's what we'll see. And I'm not sure, at this stage, uniformity of message will help. And that's sad.
You simply have to be as vigilant as you can be, even if that means sacrificing seeing family these upcoming Holidays and stay in the 30% to 50% that will stay safe until we have some form of herd immunity, vaccines, antibodies or treatments for everyone.
I disagree and don't expect that we will ever have herd immunity. It seems like the antibodies are lasting for only a few months and there have been a few cases of the same person getting infected twice. This also makes me wonder about the efficacy of a vaccine once it comes out. Assume everyone gets it (they won't) around the same time... you have a 3 month window where everyone has antibodies and nobody can spread it around. Theoretically, the virus could die out within that 3 month window. But that assumption is not realistic, so I'm not sure how that is supposed to work out.
But understand, what you're saying is that we'll all of a sudden all listen to reason, wear masks, comply with getting a universal vaccine and that the vaccine will work. Or perhaps you aren't. Either way, it's going to get really, really ugly before it's all said and done. And the election is done and it hasn't magically disappeared. I forget who said that
Some dirty form of Herd Immunity, at this stage, is the optimistic view. The pessimists view is this thing is seasonal, like the flu or the common cold, mutates to be more contagious, and is the most efficient killer of people with compromised immune systems we've ever seen.
I prefer the first scenario. Where people with sense protect themselves as well as possible and those that don't (along with, unfortunately, many who do), get it and then finally understand how dangerous this is. Refrigerated trucks as back up morgues are very compelling to change minds. It is coming to that very quickly right now. I don't mean to sound bleak, but we are going to see that very soon all over the states that don't believe in masks.
We had refrigerated trucks as backup morgues staged here in TN back in April. Too many people don't care. We need a better plan, which needs to include forcing people to take proper actions like wearing masks.
Also, too many people never think it'll happen to them. It's bad enough to think it'll never happen to them but don't they think it just might happen to friends/family? Eventually, I believe it's going to touch every single one of us, in reality. Whether it's an uncle who lives next state over, our child in college, our parent in a nursing home, our best friend who's right down the street. We will all be touched.
And for that, people still refuse to take heed and practice recommended precautions?
SMH7 -
Also in KY, our hospitalization and ICU usage is going up at a pretty steady clip. Over 1000 hospitalized now.
I lost a great uncle on Monday, not to COVID but to cancer. I don't know what impact if any the pandemic had on his level of care, but I know he was stressed about all the everything that's going on. And that couldn't have been good. A few weeks prior I lost a friend who as only a few years older than me, also to cancer. Geez, what a downer these days are.
So sorry for your losses.
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missysippy930 wrote: »
Actually, face coverings do work to help stop the spread of this virus. The hospitals are very close to capacity treating this virus in the US. Many do survive, but long term health issues may occur for some survivors.
It’s pretty callous to infer that low mortality rates, is an adequate reason for not wearing a face covering out of respect and concern for others.
[edited by MFP Mods to remove quoted post]
Right. Mortality rate has decreased b/c we've finally learned enough to get better at treating the disease. However, those who tout this faulty line of thinking skim over other important concerns like hospital capacity and those who don't have COVID who won't get proper treatment either as a result, long term illnesses, long term damage to organs, the brain, and blood vessels, the emotional, psychological, and financial burden on them or their loved ones, the drag on Medicare and Medicaid, possible long term or permanent loss of quality of life. And adding all this to the drag on the economy it creates. Like I said upthread, we can't get ANYTHING accomplished in any meaningful way toward recovering our country until the virus is under control. Add all these up and the overall toll of this virus is HUGE.
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T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »MikePfirrman wrote: »T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »MikePfirrman wrote: »Chiming in and some of my experiences are different from those mentioned above. Since March, I have lived in 3 states; began the shutdown in florida, and then spent from May - Oct in Mass and Maine. As for not enough essential businesses being shut down, in Florida and Mass, things were shut down tight IMO. The only category I found stupid were the "essential" liquor stores. But people have pointed out to me that alcoholics can die if forced to detox rapidly. I would not know as I have about 1 drink a month. In both Florida and Mass, there are businesses closed forever because they were not considered "essential". All those people are now unemployed. My sons company was literally cut in half - 1500 to 750 employees, and good luck getting a new job. My son has a friend who is literally phone-crying on his shoulder. She was in the process of divorcing her husband when she was laid off. She has no income, no savings, and now cannot leave her husband, and sees no end in sight and is trapped. As for compliance, the worst compliance I encountered was in the state with the most strict rules at the time, Maine. Residents were terrible. Compliance slowly improved later in the summer, but was a real joke preceding July 4th. They would blame any transmission on "out of state visitors" yet locals were not wear masks nor social distancing.
As for our president ignoring cities, the Boston Major makes all kinds of rules and mandates and if he does not, our governor steps in. We just got new rules going into effect tomorrow night. It is all a tricky balance. There is finger pointing everywhere - lower government levels pointing up, and federal level pointing down.
I will say that I honestly would not want to have the responsibility of dealing with the balance between shutting down to prevent viral spread, and the economic damage and destroyed lives that a shut down causes. I get to sit here and express my opinions with no repercussions for anyone.
Maybe it's me getting more philosophical as I age or the Psych major in me, but as a consultant for businesses (from Fortune 100s to startups) for 25 years, I've seen the most successful businesses nearly always have common themes. A top down strategy that is communicated effectively from the top down to the lowest person in the organization, conformity/consistency of messaging and honesty/ethics. No matter what company I deal with, the ones that are the most successful and have the happiest employees seem to follow this pattern.
If you apply and contrast that to how our government has operated in this pandemic, it's pretty clear they failed miserably. And no matter who wins this election, the damage is already done and we are irreparably harmed.
I mentioned around 2 months ago that I thought we'd see a very dirty form of herd immunity before we saw vaccines. Not that I wanted to see that, but you could see the writing on the wall with people fighting mask mandates and common sense. I still think that's what we'll see. And I'm not sure, at this stage, uniformity of message will help. And that's sad.
You simply have to be as vigilant as you can be, even if that means sacrificing seeing family these upcoming Holidays and stay in the 30% to 50% that will stay safe until we have some form of herd immunity, vaccines, antibodies or treatments for everyone.
I disagree and don't expect that we will ever have herd immunity. It seems like the antibodies are lasting for only a few months and there have been a few cases of the same person getting infected twice. This also makes me wonder about the efficacy of a vaccine once it comes out. Assume everyone gets it (they won't) around the same time... you have a 3 month window where everyone has antibodies and nobody can spread it around. Theoretically, the virus could die out within that 3 month window. But that assumption is not realistic, so I'm not sure how that is supposed to work out.
But understand, what you're saying is that we'll all of a sudden all listen to reason, wear masks, comply with getting a universal vaccine and that the vaccine will work. Or perhaps you aren't. Either way, it's going to get really, really ugly before it's all said and done. And the election is done and it hasn't magically disappeared. I forget who said that
Some dirty form of Herd Immunity, at this stage, is the optimistic view. The pessimists view is this thing is seasonal, like the flu or the common cold, mutates to be more contagious, and is the most efficient killer of people with compromised immune systems we've ever seen.
I prefer the first scenario. Where people with sense protect themselves as well as possible and those that don't (along with, unfortunately, many who do), get it and then finally understand how dangerous this is. Refrigerated trucks as back up morgues are very compelling to change minds. It is coming to that very quickly right now. I don't mean to sound bleak, but we are going to see that very soon all over the states that don't believe in masks.
We had refrigerated trucks as backup morgues staged here in TN back in April. Too many people don't care. We need a better plan, which needs to include forcing people to take proper actions like wearing masks.
Also, too many people never think it'll happen to them. It's bad enough to think it'll never happen to them but don't they think it just might happen to friends/family? Eventually, I believe it's going to touch every single one of us, in reality. Whether it's an uncle who lives next state over, our child in college, our parent in a nursing home, our best friend who's right down the street. We will all be touched. And for that, people still refuse to take heed and practice recommended precautions?
SMH
It will.
And if we aren't sick personally yet, the economical, financial, psychological stress will smack us all in the face.
Too many legitimately believe that it won't happen to them and are unable to extrapolate the long game.
This pandemic is touching us all, and it isn't done with the damage. Wait till January. My area is about to get clobbered if people don't come around soon.
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So, one of my buddies I go out with every Friday tested positive this past week. Of course, he didn't go out last night. And I didn't either, because I was exposed to him last Friday. I'm thinking if I still feel OK this coming Friday (14 days), then I should be golden, right?5
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A while back I posted about a woman (age 53) that I know died of a "Sudden Covid death". Found out her mother (who I also know) died 12 days earlier of Covid. Doesn't seem like a hoax to me.17
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Glad to see the thread is back in business. It's getting scary out there kids, stay safe!18
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For all the jerks out there that think COVID-19 is no big deal because "hardly anyone dies from it," there are other consequences besides death, ya know...
When I had the sickness back in March, the actual actively sick part wasn't really that big of a deal for me. Mild cough, no fever, constant low grade headache that was more of a slight annoyance than true pain, everything tasted like dirt, my eyes would randomly start burning and tearing up every night (felt like when you're chopping strong onions), and I had some intermittent shortness of breath that was disturbing, but not overly scary. I've had a much worse bout of the flu decades ago. I'm fit and healthy. I got through it with no problem. Or so I thought...
But as the weeks passed, I started waking up gasping for breath a few times a week and gradually developed more and more shortness of breath throughout the day and night. I've never needed an inhaler before this illness, but now I do. Now, almost 8 months later, I still have my inhalers just to function at mostly normal levels, with occasional attacks. A couple of months ago I had to double my dose. Thankfully, it's been several weeks since I stopped waking up short of breath. I think I'm getting better now (at least no worse) but it's been slow-going. How long will it take until my lungs start behaving? A year? Longer? Will I need an inhaler for the rest of my life? My doctor can't answer that. But I'm definitely one of those "pre-existing conditions" people now.
I've been a long-distance runner my whole life, and it's been depressing to see my performance crash and burn like it has over the course of this mess. Fitness is pretty much my life. But I'm super grateful I can still run. I may not run as fast or as far, but I can still run!
This stuff is no joke - even if you don't die.48 -
@jenilla1 {{{{hugs}}}}
It’s really scary and sad that some find this virus “no big deal”. Maybe now a clear national policy will be implemented in the US in a couple of months. Meanwhile, stay safe, cautious, and hopeful everyone ✌️12 -
For all the jerks out there that think COVID-19 is no big deal because "hardly anyone dies from it," there are other consequences besides death, ya know... <snip>
<snip>I've been a long-distance runner my whole life, and it's been depressing to see my performance crash and burn like it has over the course of this mess. Fitness is pretty much my life. But I'm super grateful I can still run. I may not run as fast or as far, but I can still run!
This stuff is no joke - even if you don't die.
I'm in a runner's newsgroup, and there are young, healthy runners in that group that had COVID-19 with mild symptoms. Although "recovered," many haven't been able to return to their previous levels of fitness or running. The complain of continued brain fog, shortness of breath and fatigue. They are long haulers now. Who knows if they will ever fully recover, or if this will be chronic.14 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Chiming in and some of my experiences are different from those mentioned above. Since March, I have lived in 3 states; began the shutdown in florida, and then spent from May - Oct in Mass and Maine. As for not enough essential businesses being shut down, in Florida and Mass, things were shut down tight IMO. The only category I found stupid were the "essential" liquor stores. But people have pointed out to me that alcoholics can die if forced to detox rapidly. I would not know as I have about 1 drink a month. In both Florida and Mass, there are businesses closed forever because they were not considered "essential". All those people are now unemployed. My sons company was literally cut in half - 1500 to 750 employees, and good luck getting a new job. My son has a friend who is literally phone-crying on his shoulder. She was in the process of divorcing her husband when she was laid off. She has no income, no savings, and now cannot leave her husband, and sees no end in sight and is trapped. As for compliance, the worst compliance I encountered was in the state with the most strict rules at the time, Maine. Residents were terrible. Compliance slowly improved later in the summer, but was a real joke preceding July 4th. They would blame any transmission on "out of state visitors" yet locals were not wear masks nor social distancing.
As for our president ignoring cities, the Boston Major makes all kinds of rules and mandates and if he does not, our governor steps in. We just got new rules going into effect tomorrow night. It is all a tricky balance. There is finger pointing everywhere - lower government levels pointing up, and federal level pointing down.
I will say that I honestly would not want to have the responsibility of dealing with the balance between shutting down to prevent viral spread, and the economic damage and destroyed lives that a shut down causes. I get to sit here and express my opinions with no repercussions for anyone.
None of the new restrictions in MA affect me, as I'm in for the night well before 10 PM, and have been acting as if the only business open were still supermarkets, Home Depot, and garden centers.
I wish the gathering restrictions had been in place this summer when four houses one street over were having very loud outdoor parties Every Freaking Weekend.
s
I can really empathize with you. Last spring lockdown here in France the people downstairs had literal Raves with pounding music and them jumping up and down banging on the walls. One person even jumped out the window from the second floor onto the house next door. Parties lasted until 4 or five in the morning And there must have been 30 to 40 people ther many nights. So who’s going to be surprised at how many Covid cases we have now? 🤷🏼♀️
Police did nothing.
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So, one of my buddies I go out with every Friday tested positive this past week. Of course, he didn't go out last night. And I didn't either, because I was exposed to him last Friday. I'm thinking if I still feel OK this coming Friday (14 days), then I should be golden, right?
Can you be tested for Covid? You may be spreading it around if you aren't isolating yourself of course.4 -
My dd said she's been exposed at work and they all took tests; she's negative(praying it stays that way) but she said they were able to self-administer their Covid tests. Is that a thing; guess I didn't know? And I wonder how accurate it is vs. a pro doing it? She's going to take another test soon just for extra reassurance.
Plus wondering how well the mouth swabs work vs. the brain scraping. If mouth swabs are just as good, why aren't those typical administered instead?3 -
I believe nasal swabs are still the gold standard.
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Pfizer just announced that their vaccine is testing at 90% effective. That would be fantastic.14
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https://nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2015897paperpudding wrote: »I believe nasal swabs are still the gold standard.
Sadly due to false negative and positive results there is not anything gold standard when it comes to Covid-19 testing. Assuming everyone including our self has Covid-19 hence a good reason to wear masks and social distance. One study showed 20% of people working in grocery stores showed no signs of Covid-19 yet were positive when tested. Get in a car accident and travel by ambulance to ER and have a negative Covid-19 test results does not mean one is in the clear. There are risk from EMT'S, crowds at the accident scene, patients in ER, etc making a positive test a week or two a possibility.
Our only true option is to 'assume' we are positive at all times if we are serious about protecting others from getting Covid-19.
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My dd said she's been exposed at work and they all took tests; she's negative(praying it stays that way) but she said they were able to self-administer their Covid tests. Is that a thing; guess I didn't know? And I wonder how accurate it is vs. a pro doing it? She's going to take another test soon just for extra reassurance.
Plus wondering how well the mouth swabs work vs. the brain scraping. If mouth swabs are just as good, why aren't those typical administered instead?
I recall seeing the newest rapid test demonstrated on the news about a month ago. Super easy instructions. No harder than a home pregnancy test, which are commonly used these days. I also recall reading way back how there were testing facilities that had the person doing their own swabbing.
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MikePfirrman wrote: »Pfizer just announced that their vaccine is testing at 90% effective. That would be fantastic.
Also, BTW, Pfizer did not partake in Operation Warp Speed because they didn't want to obligate themselves to what taking public funds would mean. They did this pretty much on their own without help. Just in case you hear certain parties/people taking claim that "they alone" solved Coronavirus, that would be 100% false.18 -
My dd said she's been exposed at work and they all took tests; she's negative(praying it stays that way) but she said they were able to self-administer their Covid tests. Is that a thing; guess I didn't know? And I wonder how accurate it is vs. a pro doing it? She's going to take another test soon just for extra reassurance.
Plus wondering how well the mouth swabs work vs. the brain scraping. If mouth swabs are just as good, why aren't those typical administered instead?
Yes, some places let people swab themselves. By BIL did that at a CVS and tested negative while several others in his house and his mom's house (where he visits often) were positive. I question whether he self-swabbed deeply enough. But he has also has a couple tests where others did the swab and he has come back negative those times also.
He lives with a lot of people who are exposed often (a nurse and retail employees) and he is exposed often at work (meat packing plant, many factories have a constant stream of infections). How he hasn't been infected is surprising, as 3 others in his own household were positive plus risks at other places. He thinks he has a natural immunity. I think he has been lucky.2 -
T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »My dd said she's been exposed at work and they all took tests; she's negative(praying it stays that way) but she said they were able to self-administer their Covid tests. Is that a thing; guess I didn't know? And I wonder how accurate it is vs. a pro doing it? She's going to take another test soon just for extra reassurance.
Plus wondering how well the mouth swabs work vs. the brain scraping. If mouth swabs are just as good, why aren't those typical administered instead?
Yes, some places let people swab themselves. By BIL did that at a CVS and tested negative while several others in his house and his mom's house (where he visits often) were positive. I question whether he self-swabbed deeply enough. But he has also has a couple tests where others did the swab and he has come back negative those times also.
He lives with a lot of people who are exposed often (a nurse and retail employees) and he is exposed often at work (meat packing plant, many factories have a constant stream of infections). How he hasn't been infected is surprising, as 3 others in his own household were positive plus risks at other places. He thinks he has a natural immunity. I think he has been lucky.
A scenario I have always considered for those "lucky" ones is, could he have had it asymptomatically back when testing was nil, and now he is no catching it due to current immunity. I know plenty of people who have wondered if they might have had COVID in those early months when tests were only allowed if you fit all the parameters (we know a new york young man that was never sicker in his life, but was denied a test because he was too "young". This was back in March during the NY peak). One of these people has asked for an antibody test, because his wife had it and she tested positive, and he had had similar almost asymptomatic systems the week before her. He was denied. I think the antibody testing is a very important component that is not being focused on as much as I would like. It may be that many more people have had this disease than we realize, and I think that accurate data is important in understanding COVID.
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T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »My dd said she's been exposed at work and they all took tests; she's negative(praying it stays that way) but she said they were able to self-administer their Covid tests. Is that a thing; guess I didn't know? And I wonder how accurate it is vs. a pro doing it? She's going to take another test soon just for extra reassurance.
Plus wondering how well the mouth swabs work vs. the brain scraping. If mouth swabs are just as good, why aren't those typical administered instead?
Yes, some places let people swab themselves. By BIL did that at a CVS and tested negative while several others in his house and his mom's house (where he visits often) were positive. I question whether he self-swabbed deeply enough. But he has also has a couple tests where others did the swab and he has come back negative those times also.
He lives with a lot of people who are exposed often (a nurse and retail employees) and he is exposed often at work (meat packing plant, many factories have a constant stream of infections). How he hasn't been infected is surprising, as 3 others in his own household were positive plus risks at other places. He thinks he has a natural immunity. I think he has been lucky.
A scenario I have always considered for those "lucky" ones is, could he have had it asymptomatically back when testing was nil, and now he is no catching it due to current immunity. I know plenty of people who have wondered if they might have had COVID in those early months when tests were only allowed if you fit all the parameters (we know a new york young man that was never sicker in his life, but was denied a test because he was too "young". This was back in March during the NY peak). One of these people has asked for an antibody test, because his wife had it and she tested positive, and he had had similar almost asymptomatic systems the week before her. He was denied. I think the antibody testing is a very important component that is not being focused on as much as I would like. It may be that many more people have had this disease than we realize, and I think that accurate data is important in understanding COVID.
The only bad thing is that not everyone who had COVID will be positive for antibodies. We have found many patients who had COVID are negative for antibodies. There is evidence the antibodies only last for a few months as well in some cases.
At work, we are given saliva tests to do ourselves every week. I did some research and they do say they seem to be pretty accurate, but less sensitive and specific than NP swabs which are the gold standard.
"One hundred fifty-five participants were recruited and samples pairs of NPS/OPS and saliva were collected. The sensitivity and specificity of RT-PCR using saliva samples were 94.4% (95% CI 86.4–97.8) and 97.62% (95% CI 91.7–99.3), respectively. There was an overall high agreement (96.1%) between the two tests."
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2767065
Our rates are on the rise so the governor of NY is going to make a statement today. I bet he will likely start to close down some things again.5 -
T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »My dd said she's been exposed at work and they all took tests; she's negative(praying it stays that way) but she said they were able to self-administer their Covid tests. Is that a thing; guess I didn't know? And I wonder how accurate it is vs. a pro doing it? She's going to take another test soon just for extra reassurance.
Plus wondering how well the mouth swabs work vs. the brain scraping. If mouth swabs are just as good, why aren't those typical administered instead?
Yes, some places let people swab themselves. By BIL did that at a CVS and tested negative while several others in his house and his mom's house (where he visits often) were positive. I question whether he self-swabbed deeply enough. But he has also has a couple tests where others did the swab and he has come back negative those times also.
He lives with a lot of people who are exposed often (a nurse and retail employees) and he is exposed often at work (meat packing plant, many factories have a constant stream of infections). How he hasn't been infected is surprising, as 3 others in his own household were positive plus risks at other places. He thinks he has a natural immunity. I think he has been lucky.
A scenario I have always considered for those "lucky" ones is, could he have had it asymptomatically back when testing was nil, and now he is no catching it due to current immunity. I know plenty of people who have wondered if they might have had COVID in those early months when tests were only allowed if you fit all the parameters (we know a new york young man that was never sicker in his life, but was denied a test because he was too "young". This was back in March during the NY peak). One of these people has asked for an antibody test, because his wife had it and she tested positive, and he had had similar almost asymptomatic systems the week before her. He was denied. I think the antibody testing is a very important component that is not being focused on as much as I would like. It may be that many more people have had this disease than we realize, and I think that accurate data is important in understanding COVID.
Where I live, anybody who donates blood gets the antibody test. It is free, of course. He might look into that.1 -
MikePfirrman wrote: »MikePfirrman wrote: »Pfizer just announced that their vaccine is testing at 90% effective. That would be fantastic.
Also, BTW, Pfizer did not partake in Operation Warp Speed because they didn't want to obligate themselves to what taking public funds would mean. They did this pretty much on their own without help. Just in case you hear certain parties/people taking claim that "they alone" solved Coronavirus, that would be 100% false.
In addition they will do the distribution themselves because they have suppliers already lined-up. They know how to do it, and I think that they don't trust the ability of the government to keep the vaccine as such low temperatures as it is needed.
Word of caution: Pfizer just run what is called an interim efficacy analysis. They are still continuing with the study since not all participants have completed the second shot and the f/up vigilance phase. The company still needs to do the interim safety analysis (due toward the end of November), before they can apply for an FDA expedite approval. If everything is good.
We got good news from the company but please people don't count your chickens until all the eggs have hatched. Disappointments are hard to swallow.
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Theoldguy1 wrote: »T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »My dd said she's been exposed at work and they all took tests; she's negative(praying it stays that way) but she said they were able to self-administer their Covid tests. Is that a thing; guess I didn't know? And I wonder how accurate it is vs. a pro doing it? She's going to take another test soon just for extra reassurance.
Plus wondering how well the mouth swabs work vs. the brain scraping. If mouth swabs are just as good, why aren't those typical administered instead?
Yes, some places let people swab themselves. By BIL did that at a CVS and tested negative while several others in his house and his mom's house (where he visits often) were positive. I question whether he self-swabbed deeply enough. But he has also has a couple tests where others did the swab and he has come back negative those times also.
He lives with a lot of people who are exposed often (a nurse and retail employees) and he is exposed often at work (meat packing plant, many factories have a constant stream of infections). How he hasn't been infected is surprising, as 3 others in his own household were positive plus risks at other places. He thinks he has a natural immunity. I think he has been lucky.
A scenario I have always considered for those "lucky" ones is, could he have had it asymptomatically back when testing was nil, and now he is no catching it due to current immunity. I know plenty of people who have wondered if they might have had COVID in those early months when tests were only allowed if you fit all the parameters (we know a new york young man that was never sicker in his life, but was denied a test because he was too "young". This was back in March during the NY peak). One of these people has asked for an antibody test, because his wife had it and she tested positive, and he had had similar almost asymptomatic systems the week before her. He was denied. I think the antibody testing is a very important component that is not being focused on as much as I would like. It may be that many more people have had this disease than we realize, and I think that accurate data is important in understanding COVID.
Where I live, anybody who donates blood gets the antibody test. It is free, of course. He might look into that.
I need to follow up. I donated a few weeks ago was told they tested for antibodies and never heard back from them.
I know with the Red Cross, at least, they don't reach out to you. You can login to your donor account online to see the results. I assume you can call with your donor number or the number from that blood donation.3 -
T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »My dd said she's been exposed at work and they all took tests; she's negative(praying it stays that way) but she said they were able to self-administer their Covid tests. Is that a thing; guess I didn't know? And I wonder how accurate it is vs. a pro doing it? She's going to take another test soon just for extra reassurance.
Plus wondering how well the mouth swabs work vs. the brain scraping. If mouth swabs are just as good, why aren't those typical administered instead?
Yes, some places let people swab themselves. By BIL did that at a CVS and tested negative while several others in his house and his mom's house (where he visits often) were positive. I question whether he self-swabbed deeply enough. But he has also has a couple tests where others did the swab and he has come back negative those times also.
He lives with a lot of people who are exposed often (a nurse and retail employees) and he is exposed often at work (meat packing plant, many factories have a constant stream of infections). How he hasn't been infected is surprising, as 3 others in his own household were positive plus risks at other places. He thinks he has a natural immunity. I think he has been lucky.
A scenario I have always considered for those "lucky" ones is, could he have had it asymptomatically back when testing was nil, and now he is no catching it due to current immunity. I know plenty of people who have wondered if they might have had COVID in those early months when tests were only allowed if you fit all the parameters (we know a new york young man that was never sicker in his life, but was denied a test because he was too "young". This was back in March during the NY peak). One of these people has asked for an antibody test, because his wife had it and she tested positive, and he had had similar almost asymptomatic systems the week before her. He was denied. I think the antibody testing is a very important component that is not being focused on as much as I would like. It may be that many more people have had this disease than we realize, and I think that accurate data is important in understanding COVID.
I think you can get an antibody test lots of places where you give blood, for free. Here you can also get an antibody test easily lots of places, but I don't think insurance would cover it if it's just curiosity, and since they supposedly are not all that reliable I'm not willing to pay. I volunteered for a study that is supposed to tell what percentage of the population (in my city and state) have had it, but so far have not heard back.
My dad (who is 77) maybe had it--he tested positive (no symptoms ever) a few weeks ago when he was tested before coming in for a non emergency medical procedure, and was positive. His wife tested negative, but then tested positive for antibodies. She had no symptoms either. He has since tested negative and had his procedure, but I want to get more information from him.2 -
T1DCarnivoreRunner wrote: »My dd said she's been exposed at work and they all took tests; she's negative (praying it stays that way) but she said they were able to self-administer their Covid tests. Is that a thing; guess I didn't know? And I wonder how accurate it is vs. a pro doing it? She's going to take another test soon just for extra reassurance.
Plus wondering how well the mouth swabs work vs. the brain scraping. If mouth swabs are just as good, why aren't those typical administered instead?
Yes, some places let people swab themselves. By BIL did that at a CVS and tested negative while several others in his house and his mom's house (where he visits often) were positive. I question whether he self-swabbed deeply enough. But he has also has a couple tests where others did the swab and he has come back negative those times also.
He lives with a lot of people who are exposed often (a nurse and retail employees) and he is exposed often at work (meat packing plant, many factories have a constant stream of infections). How he hasn't been infected is surprising, as 3 others in his own household were positive plus risks at other places. He thinks he has a natural immunity. I think he has been lucky.
Does he know what his Vitamin D levels are I wonder.0 -
My dd said she's been exposed at work and they all took tests; she's negative(praying it stays that way) but she said they were able to self-administer their Covid tests. Is that a thing; guess I didn't know? And I wonder how accurate it is vs. a pro doing it? She's going to take another test soon just for extra reassurance.
Plus wondering how well the mouth swabs work vs. the brain scraping. If mouth swabs are just as good, why aren't those typical administered instead?
The quick results saliva tests are less sensitive so may miss a low level infection every once and awhile. I believe they are best for situations where you will be tested more than once, as it's not likely you would get multiple false results in a row.
I haven't heard anything about any difference if you do the nasal swab yourself. I heard them coaching people through doing that at the CVS drive thru and it didn't sound like it required any prior experience to follow the steps
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