Coronavirus prep

Thanks @fuzzipeg i appreciate all the advice!

@paperpudding I am very curious. I did reach out to my PCP to get our COVID illnesses into our medical record. All I was told is to take OTC meds and reach out if we got worse. Seemed to be no interest in noting the illness, but they could just not have told me that they were registering the reports.

There do not seem to be any requirements to test. The free tests were withdrawn when the Prime Minister decided covid was no longer an issue and we all should get back to normal. I've not heard anything subsequently about local or national covid numbers in the media. Its as if its totally gone away.

I have tests in my draw to use when visiting my mother but have not had symptoms or contacts which indicate to me I need to test so I've not tried the need to report a covid case. Even the care home my mother needs to be in does not require me to test pre visit now thought someone giving personal care should test once a week. Probably there is still somewhere to report one's status, but its all on trust. Thinking about it, the Local Area Testing Centre has closed and the walk in one in town has been take away. There's no requirement to isolate a positive care either though a social worker in my wider family did isolate.

Paperpudding, where you are sounds to be much more enlightened. I'd be more than happy to still be testing and everything, its just too casual for my liking,

I am in Australia - South Australia to be exact, as different states may have slightly different requirements

There are situations in which one is required to do a PCR test - if symptomatic and RATS is negative, as there is possibility of false negative RATS. Thats why my husband did a PCR
PCR result then gets electronically sent to your GP ( just like any other lab result for anything else) , who is required to notify SA Health.
Just like other notifiable diseases- eg influenza, shingles etc
Or more likely somebody on his/her behalf does, like one of the staff
The GP is not required to contact you but most probably give you a phone call to see how you are going

There are other situations in which one is required to do a RATS - often for travel, occupational requirements, visiting Aged Care facilities, close contact requirements, or having any symptoms (if RATS is positive, no need for PCR confirmation)
If a RATS is positive you are required to report it to SA Health - you fill in a form online to do so.

SA Health then sends you a text message telling you about home isolation and what to do if you get worse.
They also send you another one advising you of mental health hotline and another one on day before your isolation finishes, telling you it finishes at midnight that night, unless you are still symptomatic in which case stay isolated until acute symptoms clear.
and they send one to anyone you advised was a close contact, telling them of close contact requirements.

I'm sure there is the possibility some people have symptoms and do not get tested but work places etc wouldnt let you come to work with symptoms unless you were proven Covid negative and there is the possibility some people get a positive RATS and do not report it or self isolate - but generally speaking, I think the population is being compliant with this - and certainly one would be a social pariah, as well as behaving illegally, if one was known to not report or isolate if positive.

RATS are readily available now and not expensive - however, relevant work places supply them for employees, Aged Care facilities supply them for visitors, people on Health Care cards (ie low incomes) get them free, close contacts get them free.
You would only buy them if you were testing for travel purposes or you had symptoms and didnt want to get a PCR (PCR's are free for everybody)

SModa61 wrote: »

@paperpudding I am very curious. I did reach out to my PCP to get our COVID illnesses into our medical record. All I was told is to take OTC meds and reach out if we got worse. Seemed to be no interest in noting the illness, but they could just not have told me that they were registering the reports.

We don't have to report it here as far as I am aware (Canada). We can't even get a PCR test if we wanted one, and how would they ever enforce reporting a home test?

Back when my husband had it in December they were still doing PCR tests so his case is in the official numbers I guess. Mine in April was just at at home test so no one "officially" knows that I had it, it's not reported anywhere and I didn't call my doctor. I believe that only thing they are tracking here now is hospitalizations, and that has been steadily decreasing.

33gail33 wrote: »

SModa61 wrote: »

@paperpudding I am very curious. I did reach out to my PCP to get our COVID illnesses into our medical record. All I was told is to take OTC meds and reach out if we got worse. Seemed to be no interest in noting the illness, but they could just not have told me that they were registering the reports.

We don't have to report it here as far as I am aware (Canada). We can't even get a PCR test if we wanted one, and how would they ever enforce reporting a home test?

Back when my husband had it in December they were still doing PCR tests so his case is in the official numbers I guess. Mine in April was just at at home test so no one "officially" knows that I had it, it's not reported anywhere and I didn't call my doctor. I believe that only thing they are tracking here now is hospitalizations, and that has been steadily decreasing.

Agreed, I've never heard of anywhere you could report home test results. My doctor's receptionist would lose her *kitten* if she had to handle that volume of calls.

Our health unit reports on positive PCRs (with the caveat that only vulnerable populations can get the tests), hospitalization, ICU occupancy and deaths. I've heard that waste water testing is being done in Ontario which at least tracks infection trends, but there's a lag in getting those results. It's not officially reported, we just hear occasionally "increasing" or "decreasing".

paperpudding wrote: »

ythannah wrote: »

33gail33 wrote: »

SModa61 wrote: »

@paperpudding I am very curious. I did reach out to my PCP to get our COVID illnesses into our medical record. All I was told is to take OTC meds and reach out if we got worse. Seemed to be no interest in noting the illness, but they could just not have told me that they were registering the reports.

We don't have to report it here as far as I am aware (Canada). We can't even get a PCR test if we wanted one, and how would they ever enforce reporting a home test?

Back when my husband had it in December they were still doing PCR tests so his case is in the official numbers I guess. Mine in April was just at at home test so no one "officially" knows that I had it, it's not reported anywhere and I didn't call my doctor. I believe that only thing they are tracking here now is hospitalizations, and that has been steadily decreasing.

Agreed, I've never heard of anywhere you could report home test results. My doctor's receptionist would lose her *kitten* if she had to handle that volume of calls.
.

Well, now you have.
Compulsory in SA and encouraged to do so in QLD

But it doesn't affect doctors receptionists - you fill out a form online and it goes directly to SA Heath ( or QLD health or whatever state)

PCR tests are available to anyone here.

I believe she was agreeing with me that she had never heard of anywhere for us to report it (we both live in the same area). I doubt SA Health would have much interest in our Covid cases.

33gail33 wrote: »

paperpudding wrote: »

ythannah wrote: »

33gail33 wrote: »

SModa61 wrote: »

@paperpudding I am very curious. I did reach out to my PCP to get our COVID illnesses into our medical record. All I was told is to take OTC meds and reach out if we got worse. Seemed to be no interest in noting the illness, but they could just not have told me that they were registering the reports.

We don't have to report it here as far as I am aware (Canada). We can't even get a PCR test if we wanted one, and how would they ever enforce reporting a home test?

Back when my husband had it in December they were still doing PCR tests so his case is in the official numbers I guess. Mine in April was just at at home test so no one "officially" knows that I had it, it's not reported anywhere and I didn't call my doctor. I believe that only thing they are tracking here now is hospitalizations, and that has been steadily decreasing.

Agreed, I've never heard of anywhere you could report home test results. My doctor's receptionist would lose her *kitten* if she had to handle that volume of calls.
.

Well, now you have.
Compulsory in SA and encouraged to do so in QLD

But it doesn't affect doctors receptionists - you fill out a form online and it goes directly to SA Heath ( or QLD health or whatever state)

PCR tests are available to anyone here.

I believe she was agreeing with me that she had never heard of anywhere for us to report it (we both live in the same area). I doubt SA Health would have much interest in our Covid cases.

I was! I missed the word "here" after anywhere, which would have clarified my meaning.

I'd assume our public health authority would be the ones to collect that if anyone did, since they are the oracle of all the other Covid and vaccination stats.

ahoy_m8 wrote: »

Regarding a fourth shot, here are the factors that matter to me.

- It will stimulate a short term flood of antibodies that peak in ~2 weeks. If I had an international trip or another occasion where I want extra protection, I would get the 4th shot a couple weeks before that. DH took our daughter to Europe and didn't want to be stuck abroad if he got sick, so he got the 4th shot before departing. I'm still waiting.
- Studies indicate less incremental T/B-cell training (the long term protection) with more frequent successive shots of the same booster. So waiting a year between boosters (of the same formulation) stimulated better training than waiting 4 months.
- mRNA makers have developed vaccines targeted specifically each of the major variants, but many factors contributed to not doing the translation from lab to clinic. It is a long and expensive process, and much depends on the FDA. AFAIK, from a public health messaging and confusion perspective, the FDA doesn't want new vaccines for every variant but if one were to emerge that was deadly and evaded the current vaccines, a new formulation could be worth the translational investment. If there were a new formulation approved, I would get that jab.

My MD sister MOB got her 2nd booster two weeks before her daughter's wedding. She still got sick. Not as sick as me and DH (1 booster in December), but sicker than she counted on. Her comment was "not sure of the value of that booster". Mind you she is uber pro-vaccination and is medical doctor. I told her we were waiting for "something new", not more of the same jab (like you described above).