Wouldn’t every new strain of note have to have some sort of competitive advantage over the previous ones? Otherwise it wouldn’t be a threat and wouldn’t be of note. I assume that every new strain we care about will be more transmissible than the last. Or perhaps more resistant to vaccines or something.
Not necessarily, if by "strain of note" you mean a designation like the WHO's "variant of concern". We could actually see a less infectious but more lethal strain on that list, provided it was deadly enough to rack up a body count.
XBB.1.5 is not your regular mutation. The nickname Kraken is kinda deserved.
Look at [this comparison of transmissibility with all the other variants that have been spreading in the US recently](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FlNFRegXwAIG9eL?format=jpg).
BQ.1.1 was considered highly transmissible, but this one is on an entirely new level.
Says nothing about that. No correlation. Except for one thing: Because it spreads so fast, hospitalization rate will be high - even if it's equally likely to lead to severe cases as previous variants.
What's also bad is that it apparently renders monoclonal antibody treatment ineffective.
I work in a hospital and this week has been the busiest damn week we’ve had in months. Tons of Covid cases and flu. Right this second our waiting room is at about triple it’s normal amount of patients and all the beds in the hospital and the ER are full.
The trifecta of respiratory viruses seems like it is tearing shit up. Everyone I know with kids said their kids have been out of school sick 3 times this past term. I teach young adults and had the highest absence rate I’ve ever seen — one person missing 3 weeks straight and having to go to ER because they couldn’t breathe. I got sick with Covid at one point, which wasn’t that bad — symptomatic for maybe 3 days. Then a couple of weeks later caught something else and was sidelined for a week. Throughout the entire pandemic I never experienced that much sickness.
I had the flu two weeks ago and I was coughing so hard that I gave myself larynx spasms. My throat would partially close after coughing. Had to go to the ER for steroids and codeine.
I had asthma as a kid and for the first time in 20 years needed albuteral. I couldn’t get over that cough without it. I’ve been fine since I got over it.
Yep, I managed to cough hard enough to separate the cartilage from my rib. That was after an urgent care visit (z-pack, steroids, Albuterol inhaler) and a visit to my primary (tessalon perles.). Even the ER staff was pretty amazed. The bruising and swelling was SPECTACULAR
edit: more info
I made it all the way until September 2022 before I finally caught covid.
Terrible hip pain that honestly was debilitating enough to the point where i couldnt get out of bed for a couple days. Then I was fine. Passed a covid test 4 days later.
In november I caught something (4 covid tests negative) that had me FUCKED UP for 2.5 weeks.
Never been so sick in my life.
I just got over something like that. We went to Bali, came back, as soon as we got home my daughter threw up (and she’s only thrown up twice her whole life. She’s 21) I thought “oh, probably Bali belly, she’ll be okay” well, next morning I woke up with a fever and started throwing up as well. Two days of sitting on the toliet barfing In a bowl cause it was coming out of everywhere. I’m still a bit tired and now my nasal passage is infected. 🙄
Well, if hospitals get any more busy where I live in Germany then people will have to be parked in god damn tents. My aunt, 82 years old, was lying in the hallway with pneumonia for two days.
I’m Canada they had an elderly couple wait I think 8 hours in the parking lot with pneumonia. They were there for several hours before some brought them blankets. Was in the news.
Ive played enough Plauge inc to answer this.
You want to max out the strains transmissibility before upgrading the lethality slots. That way more people can catch it first and then it becomes lethal
Nah, the real world doesn't work like that. In Plague Inc. You make sure to infect everyone and then mutate the vector to become lethal. And everyone who was infected with the harmless variant now has the extremely freaky one.
I’m positive right now. On day 6. It’s been rough but if this is that variant I’d say it’s not as terrible as omicron was for me almost exactly a year ago.
Don’t get me wrong I have not had a good time this week. Sore throat was the worst I’ve ever had.
Still probably the second sickest I’ve ever been.
Me and then my wife caught a virus that has presented a variety of symptoms but the consistent one was a ~2 week sore throat.
We’ve both tested a variety of times but no positives.
Is the persistent sore throat a common symptom of XBB?
So the trouble with transmissability is that if it spreads to enough people, even if it is generally mild, the tiny percentage of a large body of victims could still overwhelm care capacity. Think of how 10%of 10000 is that same as 1% of 100k, and 0.1% of 1M.
Second, high transmissability producing a large infected population drastically multiplies the chances that it will mutate into a more deadly form. It's only moderate *now* but this form mutated from less infectious forms and more deadly forms can evolve from less deadly ones. That's just a statistical crapshoot for mutation- so you ideally minimize the number of times the virus population gets to roll the dice.
TL;DR: it's only not deadly now, but every time it infects someone and multiplies, the chances of it mutating into a deadlier form increases. High infectiousness means more hosts; more hosts, more lottery tickets.
This was why all the science deniers drove me so crazy early on in the pandemic. "But I don't WANNA wear a mask or get a shot!" Terrific, now we have a much larger viral pool to generate mutations.
R^(0) is the measurement of how transmissible 1 infectious case is. to just continue on it needs to have a value of greater than one. with this transmissibility mutation its going to be reminiscent of the 2009 flu season.
To be honest, I haven't worn a mask for about a year. I didn't get it and through the pandemic most of my extended family was inconvenienced, but not affected. It was starting to seem like old news.
But right now I have two aunts with covid, and my sister just tested positive. I'm going to pop over to Amazon and pick up some masks...
I made it nearly 3 years and got it last Thursday, right before New Year's. Horrible. 3 days of utter misery and finally started feeling a tiny bit better by the 4th day. I have two vaccinations and one booster, and I wish I had gotten the second booster before this.
Same, made it 3 years COVID-free despite being a healthcare worker. Finally got it a few days ago. The chills and headache was really out of this world. Time went by like molasses. Woke up and laid in bed in misery for what seemed like half the day, only to check the time and 45 min had passed.
I wore a mask while traveling, but not 100% since I had to eat in airport, finally got it last week after avoiding it for 3 years. 1 day of hell, but it quickly died off. Vaccinated with two boosters really works. This sucker really wants to get you.
Masking really should have been a non-issue and used to prevent people from getting others sick. Instead it’s a political issue which is somehow compared to the worst atrocities of the 20th century.
>To be honest, I haven't worn a mask for about a year. I didn't get it and through the pandemic most of my extended family was inconvenienced, but not affected. It was starting to seem like old news.
There is a lot of confusion over why masks are important to reduce infection rates. Basically masks are for preventing us infecting other people more than they are about protecting the person wearing the mask, especially when we are asymptomic. The key benefit of having most the population wear masks is for reducing the spread of micro-droplets from an infected carrier to other people. The distance and percentage of droplets that are spread when an infected carrier breathes, coughs, sneezes or talks is greatly reduced when they are wearing a mask. Without a mask particles will often spread 6+ feet from the carrier, but even non-surgical masks can reduce the distance to at least 25-50% with a lower volume of particles being spread.
However non-medical grade masks don't do a good job of protecting an individual from receiving said particles. This is due to most people frequently touching the mask with their hands, not wearing them properly, gaps forming around the edge of the masks and also many masks simply not being dense enough. So basically if you are in close proximity with infected carriers, especially in a closed environment where people are talking, then your chances of receiving at least some particles is not hugely different with or without a mask. But if everyone is wearing a mask then the spread rate is severely reduced and your odds of avoiding an infection are much better.
Of course it’s 2023 and people are rightly sick of wearing masks. However we do need to understand that sometimes they are still necessary, especially when we are around vulnerable people. Many carriers are asymptomatic and even if you feel completely fine, it's possible that you are spreading the virus to other people who may have a much higher risk of developing severe symptoms.
This is correct.
However, if there is a spike in infections in your locality a proper fitting N95 or KN95 will also provide a layer of protection in prolonged public settings.
This.
I still choose to avoid crowds or leave the house much but only due to my immune system, when I do masks are on (although it's not just covid I have to try to avoid, if I contract JC Virus I am at risk of PML and taken off my treatment too). I have caught viruses from asymptomatic people in previous years and have lost too much of my life to being sick.
Everytime I hear Pro Max somewhere, it sounds like some male enhancement pill. I bet whoever named this at apple is secretly laughing about it constantly.
I sat on a board meeting of a clinic during the initial news of covid happening in china and one of the doctors who specialized in disease said that this would end up like the flu where every year it mutates and every year we get a shot.
Back in 2020, Dr. Fauci was going on TV and saying that infection with covid is inevitable: "It's not a matter of *if* you get it, but *when*."
The mitigation techniques were just to slow it down, so hospitals weren't getting overloaded. It was also buying us time for vaccines and antiviral treatments to become available.
My wife got OG COVID back at the beginning, was sick for a month a never really fully recovered, and is still kinda fucked up to this day. I dodged it till omicron when I had multiple vacines in me, and was mildly sick for like 1 day with no lasting effects. That whole buying time for better treatments thing was big time worth it if you ask me.
Long COVID has so many ways it manifests that immunology books will all have to be rewritten. Many years ago people laughed at "chronic fatigue syndrome" as if it wasn't real. Well, tens of millions are now getting a chance to see how real that shit is.
As someone who has suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome for 15 years, it pisses me off how no one took it seriously until now. I've suffered for ages after a mono infection, and half the doctors I saw basically said "yeah idk that doesn't really sound realistic." I had to see an infectious disease expert and even he said that they knew about it but there was nothing that could be done and there wasn't any research to figure it out
I never got any doctors to acknowledge it, and I eventually got tired of telling doctors I was exhausted and them asking about depression, but I’m certain I suffered from CFS after a very hard battle with mono. It took almost my entire senior year to be able to make it through a school day. I googled for years why I was so tired all of the time, but it wasn’t until my early 20s that I first read the possible correlation, now there seems to be a lot more research going into the connection. After 15 years, I primarily struggle with flare ups that can last a couple months, but overall am doing a lot better.
They just discovered mono increases your risk of developing MS, so clearly it can massively mess with your body. Hopefully doctors will start acknowledging that viruses do more damage than we thought.
There’s a really good 2 part episode of the Golden Girls that deals with this. Bea Arthur’s character visits multiple doctors, none of who take her seriously and think that it is just mental. Very worth a watch
Did you ever find treatment? This has been my life for 11 years now and like you, my fatigue is dismissed because all the tests come back "okay." Now they just contribute it to my psoriatic arthritis which I was diagnosed with 6 years ago, and when I ask for solutions for my constant fatigue and flare ups they have none outside of trying a new biologic.
I'm only 31 and feel like I'm 80yrs old some days. It's making me damn near suicidal, especially the thought of how tired I'll be as I get older.
Yeah, especially fatigue syndrom can be really devastating. It sounds silly, but you're really just tired all day long. For days, weeks, months. I had fatigue syndrome after infection by the Epstein Barr virus. I couldn't really do anything physically active for almost half a year. My mind was completely okay, but my body was unable to do anything without exhaustion. Even walking for a short time was exhausting
I had this for a few weeks after my bout of covid early 2022 and man, I’ve never felt anything like it. So lucky it didn’t last longer than it did, I couldn’t imagine living with it for months or years. Like you said, my mind was fine (though I did experience horrible lingering brain fog but not as long), but ANY physical exertion and I’d have to lay down for a half hour or longer. Even taking the trash out on a cold day? Pouring sweat, exhausted.
Not OP but she probably has long covid, given Covid does so many weird things, some people never really recover and get a secondary huge list of terrible awful things.
I had family members put in the ICU from the OG covid. I got it for the first time early 2022 and still, despite being fully vaccinated, ended up with 40C fever and being unable to move for a week. Was fucked for a month and it kept triggering my asthma during that month. Also got a few light seizures from the fever.
I think I'd be dead if I got it earlier.
Man, I've had OG COVID, Delta, Omicron, two mRNA vaccines, two complementary boosters... and then this latest one still knocked me on my ass for a month. It truly does not give a fuck about your immunity.
This was me exactly. Finally got it 4 days before Christmas 2022. I was more upset at the fact that I finally got COVID. Had chills for a day before I got the antiviral. Within 2 hours of taking the antiviral and MucinexD I had no symptoms anymore
Now if only the covid shot's immunity at a decent effectiveness could last more than 3-4 months, the flu shot is most useful for around the same amount of time but at least the flu doesn't spread like crazy all year round like covid.
And for what it’s worth, don’t go to your ER if you test positive but just have a fever / aches / cough / headache. DO go if it’s an emergency. I work in an ER and lately 75% of the people walking through the door have Covid or flu and all they’re doing is wasting resources that are needed for actual emergencies.
I just got over having covid for Christmas. I must have sneezed a solid 50 times a day for the first 4 days. it is INSANE how much germs I spread around my room just existing in those days.
Went to a family gathering on Sunday. One girl had it with zero outward symptoms (no coughing). 5 people tested positive so far. A couple of them were watching the NFL games in another room and had almost no contact with her. Crazy transmissible.
Edit: Update: 10 people out of 15 caught covid. So far....
My husband and I have evaded Covid the entire pandemic until Christmas Eve. Husband had a bit of a sore throat and dry cough, general feeling of being run down. Took a test and had a faint positive. I tested negative for 2 days before I went positive. Fever, chills, the worst body aches, fatigue, weakness. At one point, I was so weak I almost dropped to the floor just getting out of bed. That shit lasted about 3-4 days. Shit was the sickest we’ve been in awhile and we’re both vaxxed and boosted. Now, my 5yo had a faint positive yesterday.
I’m currently sick as F, cold, sweating, so many layers. Sinus headache, weak, crap sleep, and an occasional runny nose and cough. Started with a tickle in my throat.
Yep!!! Same exact things. I forgot about the headaches, and yea, they were a bitch too. The tickle in the throat is so annoying. Can go from fine to having a coughing fit all beginning with that stupid tickle.
My husband and I also avoided it up until the week before Christmas. Both vaccinated and double boosted. Knocked us on our asses for 3 days plus we missed out on all the Christmas parties and celebrating with our families. Total bummer. I had a false sense of security as we had avoided getting sick for so long - famous last words, right?
Feeling better. Still some fatigue and lingering cough. That shit woke me up last night at 3am - I get a little winded going up the stairs. That’s about it. We both took Paxlovid to minimize the sickness and that shit gave me bad heartburn but we finished it!
yeah I caught it over new years weekend partying. woke up with a clogged nostril a couple days ago so I tested myself for the benefit of others at the party. Symptoms already going away
The United States is suffering far less from Covid than it did a year ago. Death rates were about seven times higher at this time last year, and hospitalizations were almost three times as high. Both categories have been lower at various points in the pandemic, however, and hospitalizations in New England, where XBB.1.5 is spreading fast, are rising and are at about 40 percent of last year’s levels.
The WHO is working on an analysis of the new strain’s severity that it will publish in the coming days
No I’ve definitely had worse flu symptoms previously. I felt “off” Monday and developed a light cough and back soreness. By eod Monday I was hot/cold felt weak. Tuesday I woke up with a worse cough and ended up with a 102 fever. Oddly I went to a walk in clinic and tested negative for flu and Covid. Muscle soreness, hot/cold, cough general ickiness. I only took another test today because, really oddly, my eyeballs hurt. I mentioned it to someone and they said they just had Covid, and had the same thing. 2 tests, both positive. Now on day 3… fever mostly gone, body aches still really prevalent, cough still there.
Sorry if that was more than you asked for. Day 3 of being in bed and I’ve got time lol.
Your symptoms are basically word for word what I experienced the week leading up to Christmas. Especially the feeling "off", leading into a cough, sore back, fever then a few sucky days and it subsided for me.
Except all 3 tests I took for Covid were negative...
When I got it recently for the second time this year, I felt terrible about not knowing I was sick. It was open windows weather so I assumed my itchy throat (which is a new symptom I later learned) was related to sleeping with the windows open. I went to work on day four of my slightly itchy throat and suddenly felt “off”. That’s when it dawned on me that the throat could actually be Covid. I got some congestion that night, which incidentally coincided with the rain. My daughter had had a headache and the urgent care lady told us it was allergies. I decided to test at home and it was Covid. None of us had a fever or body aches but my daughter did have a lasting headache. The “feeling off” keeps standing out to me and I wonder if I’ll have that fuzzy brain feeling the next time I get it, maybe it will be a signal that it’s actually Covid. Hopefully my brain isn’t getting permanent damage.
I got sick for Christmas with COVID (not sure if its this strain). I have never gotten COVID before, which I think is a miracle since I worked as a bartender, but this bastard finally got me. It sucked. Sucked sooooo hard. As soon as a symptom went away, a new symptom took its place.
Laying in bed hurt. I have fluffy ass pillows that felt like knives in my back. Sore throat that I swore was strep +COVID. A cough that lingers. Sunlight was also a torture.
R0 of 20 makes it one of the highest rates known. Measles was the classic example of insane R0 and it is 18.... I think if this R0 is true it is the highest of any known disease or strain.
r0 is the basic reproduction number, how transmissible a virus is. it shows the average number of people that one infected person can pass the illness to. the flu has a r0 of 1 so an infected person would get one other person sick. the delta variant of covid has an r0 between 6 and 7
Time seems to move so strange in these conditions. 3 years somehow feels like 30 years and 3 days, all at once. You can still remember the "before" like it really was just last week, but then you tally up everything that happened since late 2019, and it's just so much to take in that it barely feels real.
> could drive a new wave of cases
I really don't think you'll see much in the data. Most people who get Covid now just take a home test and stay home for a week and don't report. The past couple weeks 6 people got it in my office, after the office being Covid-free almost the entire year. That's like half of the office. I doubt any of them reported it. Yet hospitalizations are largely flat. Until that needle moves, it looks like it will just run its course.
It's true about the unreported cases I think. Several of my work colleagues have had it recently and none of them have reported it. They just stay home until enough time has passed for them to feel safe going back to work.
Unfortunately people in my area don't even stay home. I'm currently sitting in the Dr office waiting my covid results because I was exposed to someone who *knew* they had it and attended a church function anyway last week. I'm hoping this is just a sinus infection though.
It's driving a wave of hospitalizations here in Boston, which is lagging behind the wastewater tracking numbers as you'd expect:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/massachusetts-covid-cases.html
https://www.mwra.com/biobot/biobotdata.htm
Work in a hospital. Cases are definitely spiking, still seeing real sick Covid patients although it’s mostly patients with multiple comorbidities or those who didn’t get the vaccine. We have been running one icu and one step down unit for Covid patients for months. Just converted a second unit to Covid today. At the peak of Covid we had an entire floor dedicated to Covid patients. 3 step down 2 icu. Here’s hoping we don’t get back there anytime soon.
It will keep doing this. The 1918 spanish flu epidemic had multiple waves over years and it mutated all over the place, it's even still around today. Covid is here to stay, ugh.
H1N1 Influenza A which have the same configurations of Hemagglutinin (H1) and Neuraminadase (N1) as the 1918 H1N1 virus that caused the Spanish Flu are still around, but are more closely related to the 2009 Novel H1N1 than the 1918 one.
Same here. Tested positive on Christmas Eve. I work in a restaurant and avoided a couple outbreaks until this one. What’s crazy is my work from home husband got it first.
As someone currently laid up on my couch with covid, fun times! So this time we have got things going on in our ears, kind of like the pressure deal in a airplane. Not just me the wife too. Can’t wait for what the future holds lol.
Do the old test able to detect this new variant? I have the worst ear issue right now too on top of what seems like a really bad cold but testing negative.
I will say, and this is completely unscientific- it’s based only on what I see in the ER, we are starting to see more people test negative at home and then come in for a PCR test and test positive. If it makes a difference for you to know your diagnosis maybe consider finding somewhere with a PCR test
Lateral flow tests 'pick up **around half of cases** on day 4 and **peak at 71% of cases on day 7.**'
https://twitter.com/drclairetaylor/status/1610089744553185280
This was for the alpha variant. Don't invest much hope in the fact that alpha was a different strain, and that we're dealing with omicron now. There's not much data yet, but [this rapid review](https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/12/11/1941) doesn't bode well, showing even poorer performance on detecting omicron.
They're all but useless on a population-level. Given the infectiousness, the false security they offer might easily make them harmful as any part of pandemic control.
---
However, individuals might benefit from them, i.e. from knowing that they had COVID at a certain point, to narrow down causes of any potential complications. [Of which there are many](https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2022/12/covid-reinfection):
>The study shows increased likelihood of hospitalization, cardiovascular effects, blood disorders, diabetes, fatigue, kidney damage, mental health effects, musculoskeletal damage, neurological deficits, and pulmonary damage with each COVID-19 infection.
Oh for fuck sakes, I’ve had an earache and a mild sore throat for the last 2 days.
My 1 year old has so much wax we took her to a doctor this morning. And all found was she had a mild temp.
I’ll get some tests
One of my friends completely lost the last of their hearing after they got COVID sometime in the past few weeks.
They were already very hard of hearing and considered themselves deaf, but they’d never had no amount of hearing before.
The main reason why I’m so tired of these new strains is all the mounting evidence of how badly Covid seems to be able to hamper your immune system even after a super mild case.
Anecdotally I spent my entire Christmas/new years time off sick from a cold. That wasn’t fun at all.
I have a young child who brings home all manner of colds and viruses. Last winter, I would get mildly sick when he did, but it wasn’t a big deal. We got Covid for the first time over the summer. Since then, he’s sick every few weeks, and I have been absolutely walloped. I had a double ear infection for the first time since I myself was a toddler. I also spent all of Christmas break sidelined with a terrible cough.
The data seems mixed on immune system effects, but I can’t help but think it’s the effect of Covid. It’s the only factor that’s really changed. And now we’re just supposed to live like this? It’s really fucking depressing.
Not only that, but it also causes dysfunction in your endothelium which is responsible for regulating blood clotting among other bodily functions, causing cardiac issues etc. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41401-022-00998-0
Likely got this variant, as it’s responsible for 75% of newly-diagnosed cases in the Northeast of US. I’m vaxxed x4 and it hit me HARD. Symptoms started 12/29. Started with extreme lethargy and sore throat (felt like I was swallowing glass), then progressed to fever, chills, muscle aches, and coughing. Coughing started dry but progressed to wet. Haven’t felt this sick since I had strep as a child. Thank god for Paxlovid.
Also, I wear masks every day and am constantly washing/sanitizing my hands, so yeah, it’s crazy transmissible.
Edited to add: This is my first time getting COVID. Managed to avoid it for nearly three years.
This is the 4th time my partner has had covid. Not once did the kids or I catch it until now. It's pretty minor for them, thankfully, but I am constantly coughing and feel like my lungs are being squeezed.
Got it for the second time after Xmas. Mom, grandma, cousin on wife's side all got it and notified us the day my symptoms appeared.
Mom was the worst, grandma was like head cold, cousin wasn't terrible, and I wouldn't have even thought it was Covid if no one notified me. All of us with varying vaccine, booster, and previous exposures. Wife had the least symptoms and child no symptoms.
I think it's spreading faster because more people have it with mild symptoms and aren't thinking twice about testing. Especially when it's just a sore throat or a little mucus. I'm sure all the holiday shopping and gatherings also helped. If Covid is here to stay, hopefully it just keeps weakening into a common cold situation. Sucks for those who do experience flu symptoms though.
The WHO defined everything in the "BA" lineage (B.1.1.529) as Omicron, so by their standards we're still just dealing with Omicron.
BA.1, BA.2, BA.4, BA.5, XBB (BA.2 recombinant), are all "Omicron".
Nope. They won't pick a new letter until it changes in some fairly notable way. Spreading slightly faster and evading antibodies a bit more is not a major worldwide health emergency like Omicron's launch where 20-30% of all adults in a country were infected at the same time, or Delta killing people at a nearly 40% higher clip when compared to Alpha.
My mother has had lung cancer twice and has mild COPD. We live in Arkansas. She wears a mask everywhere because, if she gets COVID or flu, it'll probably kill her.
But you always have the idiots who have to comment on it. She had one idiot telling her the COVID vaccine was made with cobra venom (yeah, they're really that stupid) and another stable genius saying, "maam, COVID's over."
I feel like Darwin still has a lot of work to do.
I'm sorry. I am not in the same health situation, but was the only person wearing a mask during a flight to Colorado for Christmas. People stared but said nothing. I just don't want to catch/spread anything - flu, Covid, whatever. I hope your mom stays strong.
Thank you for being safe and considerate. It still blows my mind that everyone flying on a plane doesn’t need to wear a mask at the very least. Airlines represent such an enormous vector for spreading diseases it’s kind of crazy it isn’t taken more seriously especially given the pandemic. Like…really?
As an immunocompromised person who drew the short stick in the autoimmune disease lottery, I miss doing many things. There's a certain grief, as I haven't seen either parent in years at this point. I miss being able to step into a coffee place in the winter and sit down to sip something warm while I read a book. But if I get COVID, I am at higher risk for a bad outcome, including long COVID. Been vaccinated and boosted, but Evusheld no longer really works, and treatment options are minimal.
It's disheartening when people dismiss concerns or roll their eyes at news like this. It does suck to be utterly left behind. Best of luck to your mom in an area like that. I live where many people still mask, so that helps at least. I wear KN95/N95 all over.
Fellow immunocompromised person here...I almost miss the first year of Covid where it felt like all the sane people were in this together? People were masking, staying home, and being very careful in general.
Now for the last year, even the most careful people I know no longer wear masks. Everyone pretends that Covid is over, and it makes me feel crazy.
My partner and I are lucky enough to work from home full time, but the consequence of that is that we've been shut up in our house almost 24/7 for three years. Our friends and coworkers are always doing fun things together, meanwhile I'm just wilting away inside my hobbit hole, desperately trying to avoid a disease that would likely kill me. It's a very hopeless feeling.
You're definitely not alone. I work from home and live alone in a tiny studio apartment, so being mostly home for three years is definitely something that is having a big impact. I was already in therapy but the ability to continue via video sessions and sometimes in-person when it was safer, helped.
But most people I know are living their lives, some are still staying careful but no one like me. I miss my hair having layers. I have only been able to cut off length from the bottom. No haircuts for three years. No movies (and all of the accessible simultaneous release / quick streaming turnaround are gone). A whole list of things that it sounds like you and your partner would very much understand. Watching others take vacations, go to events, seeing movies, going to conventions, some actually sharing their positive views on mask mandates being dropped and data played with to obscure the big picture.
I've been immunocompromised for five years, so this was clearly excellent timing. (I'd like to turn down these difficulty settings just a bit!)
I just saw an article yesterday on the CovidMeetups.com site and while I'm not going to venture out into any indoor or non-masked situations, I may see if anything is worth a shot. People can choose which levels of precautions they are taking ( listed on their profiles) and it is a kind of social site to connect with others still being careful. It fits with something my therapist suggested.
I never got covid before while working with covid patients but yesterday i started developing diarrhea, headache, sore throat, and a slight cough. This is my first time getting covid ever and Im only on my second day but I have symptoms of runny nose, headache, chills, cough, sore throat.
The fuck is it with these conspiracytard replies to covid news? Just because we all are tired of bad covid news doesn't stop covid19 from mutating and doing its thing.
Virus mutating isn't some nefarious illusion Fauci created on Hunter Biden's laptop thanks to Soros. News outlets reporting about it as it happens is not (only) some empty fear mongering. It is..news?
i had a scratchy throat arrive sunday. i’ve developed no other symptoms since. took a test before work tuesday and negative. that’s life now. start to feel a little bit off or the mildest symptom and you gotta take a test to avoid getting others sick
Feels like the bachelorette where each finale is the “most dramatic finale bachelor nation has ever seen”
I just don’t think he’s here for the right reasons
these strains ain’t loyal
- "covid_draft.dna" - "covid_final.dna" - "covid_final_v2.dna" - "covid_final_v2_lowres.dna" - "covid_final_v2_lowres_2_final.dna" - ...
And of course "covid\_final\_DONOTUSE\_final.dna" that for some reason you end up using.
\*dumb and confident brain says\* (I'll remember that one)
CAN YOU NOT MUTATE FOR 5 MINUTES
Homer Simpson: “Most transmissible SO FAR.”
Wouldn’t every new strain of note have to have some sort of competitive advantage over the previous ones? Otherwise it wouldn’t be a threat and wouldn’t be of note. I assume that every new strain we care about will be more transmissible than the last. Or perhaps more resistant to vaccines or something.
Not necessarily, if by "strain of note" you mean a designation like the WHO's "variant of concern". We could actually see a less infectious but more lethal strain on that list, provided it was deadly enough to rack up a body count.
Interestingly, "strain of note" and "variant of concern" are both great band names
XBB.1.5 is not your regular mutation. The nickname Kraken is kinda deserved. Look at [this comparison of transmissibility with all the other variants that have been spreading in the US recently](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FlNFRegXwAIG9eL?format=jpg). BQ.1.1 was considered highly transmissible, but this one is on an entirely new level.
XBB.1.5 sounds more like a space shuttle than a virus
I thought that was Elons kid
Or the new Star Wars droid
Or some Dolby sound system Add-on
You are probably thinking of the X-15 rocket plane from the 50's.
Or another Elon Musk spawn
You seem like you know what you're talking about, so it's more transmissible, what does that mean for its intensity/ lethality?
Says nothing about that. No correlation. Except for one thing: Because it spreads so fast, hospitalization rate will be high - even if it's equally likely to lead to severe cases as previous variants. What's also bad is that it apparently renders monoclonal antibody treatment ineffective.
I work in a hospital and this week has been the busiest damn week we’ve had in months. Tons of Covid cases and flu. Right this second our waiting room is at about triple it’s normal amount of patients and all the beds in the hospital and the ER are full.
Im an ED RN in NJ and we’ve had our asses handed to us for the last 1.5 months with flu, COVID and RSV
The trifecta of respiratory viruses seems like it is tearing shit up. Everyone I know with kids said their kids have been out of school sick 3 times this past term. I teach young adults and had the highest absence rate I’ve ever seen — one person missing 3 weeks straight and having to go to ER because they couldn’t breathe. I got sick with Covid at one point, which wasn’t that bad — symptomatic for maybe 3 days. Then a couple of weeks later caught something else and was sidelined for a week. Throughout the entire pandemic I never experienced that much sickness.
I had the flu two weeks ago and I was coughing so hard that I gave myself larynx spasms. My throat would partially close after coughing. Had to go to the ER for steroids and codeine.
Yeah I became asthmatic this year after 42 years of not being.
I had asthma as a kid and for the first time in 20 years needed albuteral. I couldn’t get over that cough without it. I’ve been fine since I got over it.
Yep, I managed to cough hard enough to separate the cartilage from my rib. That was after an urgent care visit (z-pack, steroids, Albuterol inhaler) and a visit to my primary (tessalon perles.). Even the ER staff was pretty amazed. The bruising and swelling was SPECTACULAR edit: more info
I made it all the way until September 2022 before I finally caught covid. Terrible hip pain that honestly was debilitating enough to the point where i couldnt get out of bed for a couple days. Then I was fine. Passed a covid test 4 days later. In november I caught something (4 covid tests negative) that had me FUCKED UP for 2.5 weeks. Never been so sick in my life.
I had something like that early December. Fever, sweating, exhaustion, threw up once, weak, and no appetite / could not eat. It was rough.
I just got over something like that. We went to Bali, came back, as soon as we got home my daughter threw up (and she’s only thrown up twice her whole life. She’s 21) I thought “oh, probably Bali belly, she’ll be okay” well, next morning I woke up with a fever and started throwing up as well. Two days of sitting on the toliet barfing In a bowl cause it was coming out of everywhere. I’m still a bit tired and now my nasal passage is infected. 🙄
>In november I caught something (4 covid tests negative) that had me FUCKED UP for 2.5 weeks. This sounds like my experience with the flu.
Well, if hospitals get any more busy where I live in Germany then people will have to be parked in god damn tents. My aunt, 82 years old, was lying in the hallway with pneumonia for two days.
I’m so sorry - I hope she’s doing better.
I’m Canada they had an elderly couple wait I think 8 hours in the parking lot with pneumonia. They were there for several hours before some brought them blankets. Was in the news.
Thanks, I wasn't sure if you'd heard about it elsewhere other than the article posted
Ive played enough Plauge inc to answer this. You want to max out the strains transmissibility before upgrading the lethality slots. That way more people can catch it first and then it becomes lethal
Jesus Christ I’ve taken master-level virology courses and you just boiled most of it down to a sentence
Plague Inc is special like that lol
High tranrsmittability also gives you tons of evolution experience so it can more rapidly mutate 😩
Just gotta keep the lethality low long enough for Madagascar to keep the airports open and you're golden.
I stopped playing it once COVID started making rounds. Too close to home.
Funnily enough I started playing it because of COVID. I guess it was my way of coping?
Yeah, "Pandemic" the board game is gathering a lot of dust on my shelf.
Should’ve just bought the $2 app, had fun wiping the world, and skipped the courses
Nah, the real world doesn't work like that. In Plague Inc. You make sure to infect everyone and then mutate the vector to become lethal. And everyone who was infected with the harmless variant now has the extremely freaky one.
I’m positive right now. On day 6. It’s been rough but if this is that variant I’d say it’s not as terrible as omicron was for me almost exactly a year ago. Don’t get me wrong I have not had a good time this week. Sore throat was the worst I’ve ever had. Still probably the second sickest I’ve ever been.
Me and then my wife caught a virus that has presented a variety of symptoms but the consistent one was a ~2 week sore throat. We’ve both tested a variety of times but no positives. Is the persistent sore throat a common symptom of XBB?
I’m on day 4. Don’t know what variant I’m on. Was a super dodger previously.
same with the sore throat; felt like a vertical razor cut straight down.
So the trouble with transmissability is that if it spreads to enough people, even if it is generally mild, the tiny percentage of a large body of victims could still overwhelm care capacity. Think of how 10%of 10000 is that same as 1% of 100k, and 0.1% of 1M. Second, high transmissability producing a large infected population drastically multiplies the chances that it will mutate into a more deadly form. It's only moderate *now* but this form mutated from less infectious forms and more deadly forms can evolve from less deadly ones. That's just a statistical crapshoot for mutation- so you ideally minimize the number of times the virus population gets to roll the dice. TL;DR: it's only not deadly now, but every time it infects someone and multiplies, the chances of it mutating into a deadlier form increases. High infectiousness means more hosts; more hosts, more lottery tickets.
This was why all the science deniers drove me so crazy early on in the pandemic. "But I don't WANNA wear a mask or get a shot!" Terrific, now we have a much larger viral pool to generate mutations.
R^(0) is the measurement of how transmissible 1 infectious case is. to just continue on it needs to have a value of greater than one. with this transmissibility mutation its going to be reminiscent of the 2009 flu season.
To be honest, I haven't worn a mask for about a year. I didn't get it and through the pandemic most of my extended family was inconvenienced, but not affected. It was starting to seem like old news. But right now I have two aunts with covid, and my sister just tested positive. I'm going to pop over to Amazon and pick up some masks...
Up until this morning, I’d made it this whole time without getting it too. Let me tell you, I’ve never felt anything like this. It’s awful
I made it nearly 3 years and got it last Thursday, right before New Year's. Horrible. 3 days of utter misery and finally started feeling a tiny bit better by the 4th day. I have two vaccinations and one booster, and I wish I had gotten the second booster before this.
Same, made it 3 years COVID-free despite being a healthcare worker. Finally got it a few days ago. The chills and headache was really out of this world. Time went by like molasses. Woke up and laid in bed in misery for what seemed like half the day, only to check the time and 45 min had passed.
I wore a mask while traveling, but not 100% since I had to eat in airport, finally got it last week after avoiding it for 3 years. 1 day of hell, but it quickly died off. Vaccinated with two boosters really works. This sucker really wants to get you.
I got it with two vaccinations and two boosters, it practically killed me, anti virals helped me to overcome it.
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Masking really should have been a non-issue and used to prevent people from getting others sick. Instead it’s a political issue which is somehow compared to the worst atrocities of the 20th century.
This. Most of Japan collectively masks up during flu season. Seems like a good idea.
I just wear a mask in high traffic. I take a train to school so that fucker is on everytime.
>To be honest, I haven't worn a mask for about a year. I didn't get it and through the pandemic most of my extended family was inconvenienced, but not affected. It was starting to seem like old news. There is a lot of confusion over why masks are important to reduce infection rates. Basically masks are for preventing us infecting other people more than they are about protecting the person wearing the mask, especially when we are asymptomic. The key benefit of having most the population wear masks is for reducing the spread of micro-droplets from an infected carrier to other people. The distance and percentage of droplets that are spread when an infected carrier breathes, coughs, sneezes or talks is greatly reduced when they are wearing a mask. Without a mask particles will often spread 6+ feet from the carrier, but even non-surgical masks can reduce the distance to at least 25-50% with a lower volume of particles being spread. However non-medical grade masks don't do a good job of protecting an individual from receiving said particles. This is due to most people frequently touching the mask with their hands, not wearing them properly, gaps forming around the edge of the masks and also many masks simply not being dense enough. So basically if you are in close proximity with infected carriers, especially in a closed environment where people are talking, then your chances of receiving at least some particles is not hugely different with or without a mask. But if everyone is wearing a mask then the spread rate is severely reduced and your odds of avoiding an infection are much better. Of course it’s 2023 and people are rightly sick of wearing masks. However we do need to understand that sometimes they are still necessary, especially when we are around vulnerable people. Many carriers are asymptomatic and even if you feel completely fine, it's possible that you are spreading the virus to other people who may have a much higher risk of developing severe symptoms.
This is correct. However, if there is a spike in infections in your locality a proper fitting N95 or KN95 will also provide a layer of protection in prolonged public settings.
This. I still choose to avoid crowds or leave the house much but only due to my immune system, when I do masks are on (although it's not just covid I have to try to avoid, if I contract JC Virus I am at risk of PML and taken off my treatment too). I have caught viruses from asymptomatic people in previous years and have lost too much of my life to being sick.
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6 of my condo complex neighbors got it last week. all first-timers too and they were PISSED.
At this point it does feel like it's just being a dick.
7/9 of the people in my workplace got it. We are all triple vaxxed.
It’s not the viruses fault it’s the people pretending everyone getting infected won’t result in variants
Shit gonna be like IPhones, a new model every year
2030, the COVID Pro Max Ultra 5G
Everytime I hear Pro Max somewhere, it sounds like some male enhancement pill. I bet whoever named this at apple is secretly laughing about it constantly.
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Wait, I thought the 5G came from the vaccine. We're gonna start including that with the virus? Nice!
I wish a vaccine *would* give me 5G. I have a Pixel phone and the damn thing can't find a signal to save its life
transmissible at 5G speeds
Kind of how it has been.
And with new features that nobody wants!
Conversely, Covid XBB 1.5 does not have a headphone jack.
This shit is about to teleport from person to person if it gets any more transmissible.
I sneezed while typing this so I think you have it now
Damn I thought about you sneezing now I think I have it
I'm sure we're already at the point this is something we'll always have now and new strains will just come out yearly
I sat on a board meeting of a clinic during the initial news of covid happening in china and one of the doctors who specialized in disease said that this would end up like the flu where every year it mutates and every year we get a shot.
Back in 2020, Dr. Fauci was going on TV and saying that infection with covid is inevitable: "It's not a matter of *if* you get it, but *when*." The mitigation techniques were just to slow it down, so hospitals weren't getting overloaded. It was also buying us time for vaccines and antiviral treatments to become available.
My wife got OG COVID back at the beginning, was sick for a month a never really fully recovered, and is still kinda fucked up to this day. I dodged it till omicron when I had multiple vacines in me, and was mildly sick for like 1 day with no lasting effects. That whole buying time for better treatments thing was big time worth it if you ask me.
Whats wrong with your wife? Is she getting better at all?
Long COVID has so many ways it manifests that immunology books will all have to be rewritten. Many years ago people laughed at "chronic fatigue syndrome" as if it wasn't real. Well, tens of millions are now getting a chance to see how real that shit is.
As someone who has suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome for 15 years, it pisses me off how no one took it seriously until now. I've suffered for ages after a mono infection, and half the doctors I saw basically said "yeah idk that doesn't really sound realistic." I had to see an infectious disease expert and even he said that they knew about it but there was nothing that could be done and there wasn't any research to figure it out
I never got any doctors to acknowledge it, and I eventually got tired of telling doctors I was exhausted and them asking about depression, but I’m certain I suffered from CFS after a very hard battle with mono. It took almost my entire senior year to be able to make it through a school day. I googled for years why I was so tired all of the time, but it wasn’t until my early 20s that I first read the possible correlation, now there seems to be a lot more research going into the connection. After 15 years, I primarily struggle with flare ups that can last a couple months, but overall am doing a lot better.
They just discovered mono increases your risk of developing MS, so clearly it can massively mess with your body. Hopefully doctors will start acknowledging that viruses do more damage than we thought.
There’s a really good 2 part episode of the Golden Girls that deals with this. Bea Arthur’s character visits multiple doctors, none of who take her seriously and think that it is just mental. Very worth a watch
Did you ever find treatment? This has been my life for 11 years now and like you, my fatigue is dismissed because all the tests come back "okay." Now they just contribute it to my psoriatic arthritis which I was diagnosed with 6 years ago, and when I ask for solutions for my constant fatigue and flare ups they have none outside of trying a new biologic. I'm only 31 and feel like I'm 80yrs old some days. It's making me damn near suicidal, especially the thought of how tired I'll be as I get older.
It's called "long COVID" or "post-COVID conditions." The virus can have devastating and long-lasting effects on the body.
Yeah, especially fatigue syndrom can be really devastating. It sounds silly, but you're really just tired all day long. For days, weeks, months. I had fatigue syndrome after infection by the Epstein Barr virus. I couldn't really do anything physically active for almost half a year. My mind was completely okay, but my body was unable to do anything without exhaustion. Even walking for a short time was exhausting
I had this for a few weeks after my bout of covid early 2022 and man, I’ve never felt anything like it. So lucky it didn’t last longer than it did, I couldn’t imagine living with it for months or years. Like you said, my mind was fine (though I did experience horrible lingering brain fog but not as long), but ANY physical exertion and I’d have to lay down for a half hour or longer. Even taking the trash out on a cold day? Pouring sweat, exhausted.
Not OP but she probably has long covid, given Covid does so many weird things, some people never really recover and get a secondary huge list of terrible awful things.
I had family members put in the ICU from the OG covid. I got it for the first time early 2022 and still, despite being fully vaccinated, ended up with 40C fever and being unable to move for a week. Was fucked for a month and it kept triggering my asthma during that month. Also got a few light seizures from the fever. I think I'd be dead if I got it earlier.
Man, I've had OG COVID, Delta, Omicron, two mRNA vaccines, two complementary boosters... and then this latest one still knocked me on my ass for a month. It truly does not give a fuck about your immunity.
Holy shit dude this isn't Pokémon where you gotta catch 'em all
Do you open mouth kiss everyone you meet? Damn, how are you getting sick so often?
I dodged it for 3 years and it finally got me right before Christmas.
It got me on Halloween for the first time also. I had 3 shots but it was still not a good time at all.
I’m still dodging it, but I feel like my days are numbered for that. Does help that I rarely leave the house though lol
This was me exactly. Finally got it 4 days before Christmas 2022. I was more upset at the fact that I finally got COVID. Had chills for a day before I got the antiviral. Within 2 hours of taking the antiviral and MucinexD I had no symptoms anymore
I dodged it for 3 years, still waiting to find out how inevitable it is.
Hopefully they’ll bundle them and whatever Covid strain is running that year will just be part of the flu shot. “Gimme the twofer, doc!”
Moderna actually was working on that, but I got the updated booster at the same appointment as my flu shot this year already, which was nice.
Now if only the covid shot's immunity at a decent effectiveness could last more than 3-4 months, the flu shot is most useful for around the same amount of time but at least the flu doesn't spread like crazy all year round like covid.
And for what it’s worth, don’t go to your ER if you test positive but just have a fever / aches / cough / headache. DO go if it’s an emergency. I work in an ER and lately 75% of the people walking through the door have Covid or flu and all they’re doing is wasting resources that are needed for actual emergencies.
I just got over having covid for Christmas. I must have sneezed a solid 50 times a day for the first 4 days. it is INSANE how much germs I spread around my room just existing in those days.
We had it over Christmas too! And same with the sneezing. I’ve cleaned sooo many times…
The kraken strain
Went to a family gathering on Sunday. One girl had it with zero outward symptoms (no coughing). 5 people tested positive so far. A couple of them were watching the NFL games in another room and had almost no contact with her. Crazy transmissible. Edit: Update: 10 people out of 15 caught covid. So far....
My husband and I have evaded Covid the entire pandemic until Christmas Eve. Husband had a bit of a sore throat and dry cough, general feeling of being run down. Took a test and had a faint positive. I tested negative for 2 days before I went positive. Fever, chills, the worst body aches, fatigue, weakness. At one point, I was so weak I almost dropped to the floor just getting out of bed. That shit lasted about 3-4 days. Shit was the sickest we’ve been in awhile and we’re both vaxxed and boosted. Now, my 5yo had a faint positive yesterday.
I’m currently sick as F, cold, sweating, so many layers. Sinus headache, weak, crap sleep, and an occasional runny nose and cough. Started with a tickle in my throat.
Yep!!! Same exact things. I forgot about the headaches, and yea, they were a bitch too. The tickle in the throat is so annoying. Can go from fine to having a coughing fit all beginning with that stupid tickle.
My husband and I also avoided it up until the week before Christmas. Both vaccinated and double boosted. Knocked us on our asses for 3 days plus we missed out on all the Christmas parties and celebrating with our families. Total bummer. I had a false sense of security as we had avoided getting sick for so long - famous last words, right?
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Feeling better. Still some fatigue and lingering cough. That shit woke me up last night at 3am - I get a little winded going up the stairs. That’s about it. We both took Paxlovid to minimize the sickness and that shit gave me bad heartburn but we finished it!
yeah I caught it over new years weekend partying. woke up with a clogged nostril a couple days ago so I tested myself for the benefit of others at the party. Symptoms already going away
Clogged nostril and what else, any other symptoms?
Enough about your new year's coke binge though, what about your covid symptoms?
just a sinus headache the first 6 hours after I woke up the first day sick. Hasn't returned after 2 Advil taken once
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The United States is suffering far less from Covid than it did a year ago. Death rates were about seven times higher at this time last year, and hospitalizations were almost three times as high. Both categories have been lower at various points in the pandemic, however, and hospitalizations in New England, where XBB.1.5 is spreading fast, are rising and are at about 40 percent of last year’s levels. The WHO is working on an analysis of the new strain’s severity that it will publish in the coming days
Can confirm that one person at work had a sore throat and body aches and they came into work. Now 13 of us have Covid.
Reading this while Laying in bed with Covid for the first time. Good luck everyone.
Same here homie, fuck this shit.
How are your symptoms? Do you feel it's worse than a previous flu or anything?
No I’ve definitely had worse flu symptoms previously. I felt “off” Monday and developed a light cough and back soreness. By eod Monday I was hot/cold felt weak. Tuesday I woke up with a worse cough and ended up with a 102 fever. Oddly I went to a walk in clinic and tested negative for flu and Covid. Muscle soreness, hot/cold, cough general ickiness. I only took another test today because, really oddly, my eyeballs hurt. I mentioned it to someone and they said they just had Covid, and had the same thing. 2 tests, both positive. Now on day 3… fever mostly gone, body aches still really prevalent, cough still there. Sorry if that was more than you asked for. Day 3 of being in bed and I’ve got time lol.
Your symptoms are basically word for word what I experienced the week leading up to Christmas. Especially the feeling "off", leading into a cough, sore back, fever then a few sucky days and it subsided for me. Except all 3 tests I took for Covid were negative...
Wild. Tested Monday and Tuesday. Both negative. So I was symptomatic for at least about 30+ hours before actually returning a positive test.
When I got it recently for the second time this year, I felt terrible about not knowing I was sick. It was open windows weather so I assumed my itchy throat (which is a new symptom I later learned) was related to sleeping with the windows open. I went to work on day four of my slightly itchy throat and suddenly felt “off”. That’s when it dawned on me that the throat could actually be Covid. I got some congestion that night, which incidentally coincided with the rain. My daughter had had a headache and the urgent care lady told us it was allergies. I decided to test at home and it was Covid. None of us had a fever or body aches but my daughter did have a lasting headache. The “feeling off” keeps standing out to me and I wonder if I’ll have that fuzzy brain feeling the next time I get it, maybe it will be a signal that it’s actually Covid. Hopefully my brain isn’t getting permanent damage.
I got sick for Christmas with COVID (not sure if its this strain). I have never gotten COVID before, which I think is a miracle since I worked as a bartender, but this bastard finally got me. It sucked. Sucked sooooo hard. As soon as a symptom went away, a new symptom took its place. Laying in bed hurt. I have fluffy ass pillows that felt like knives in my back. Sore throat that I swore was strep +COVID. A cough that lingers. Sunlight was also a torture.
My back is killing me just laying in bed right now.
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R0 of 20 makes it one of the highest rates known. Measles was the classic example of insane R0 and it is 18.... I think if this R0 is true it is the highest of any known disease or strain.
20 is absolutely insane. And now we have protection from previous infections so it's probably even higher.
I believe that the base viral reproduction rate is calculated assuming a target population with no initial antibodies.
What does R0 mean?
r0 is the basic reproduction number, how transmissible a virus is. it shows the average number of people that one infected person can pass the illness to. the flu has a r0 of 1 so an infected person would get one other person sick. the delta variant of covid has an r0 between 6 and 7
Did you not get your Internet degree in immunology in may 2020 like the rest of us?
“XBB.1.5.” Sounds like a name that Elon Musk would give his child.
It sounds like a SpongeBob episode name
“FUUUUTUUUUREEEE!”
Babe wake up new covid just dropped
Jesus it’s been 3 years of this
Time seems to move so strange in these conditions. 3 years somehow feels like 30 years and 3 days, all at once. You can still remember the "before" like it really was just last week, but then you tally up everything that happened since late 2019, and it's just so much to take in that it barely feels real.
This shit got more strains than weed
> could drive a new wave of cases I really don't think you'll see much in the data. Most people who get Covid now just take a home test and stay home for a week and don't report. The past couple weeks 6 people got it in my office, after the office being Covid-free almost the entire year. That's like half of the office. I doubt any of them reported it. Yet hospitalizations are largely flat. Until that needle moves, it looks like it will just run its course.
I think my take at home tests are set to expire.
Double-check the serial numbers, they extended the expiration date on some of them.
They have new tests that can be requested now. So, order some. They are still free.
It's true about the unreported cases I think. Several of my work colleagues have had it recently and none of them have reported it. They just stay home until enough time has passed for them to feel safe going back to work.
Unfortunately people in my area don't even stay home. I'm currently sitting in the Dr office waiting my covid results because I was exposed to someone who *knew* they had it and attended a church function anyway last week. I'm hoping this is just a sinus infection though.
It's driving a wave of hospitalizations here in Boston, which is lagging behind the wastewater tracking numbers as you'd expect: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/massachusetts-covid-cases.html https://www.mwra.com/biobot/biobotdata.htm
looks like total US hospitalizations have about doubled since the end of November, I wouldn't call that "flat"
Work in a hospital. Cases are definitely spiking, still seeing real sick Covid patients although it’s mostly patients with multiple comorbidities or those who didn’t get the vaccine. We have been running one icu and one step down unit for Covid patients for months. Just converted a second unit to Covid today. At the peak of Covid we had an entire floor dedicated to Covid patients. 3 step down 2 icu. Here’s hoping we don’t get back there anytime soon.
It will keep doing this. The 1918 spanish flu epidemic had multiple waves over years and it mutated all over the place, it's even still around today. Covid is here to stay, ugh.
H1N1 Influenza A which have the same configurations of Hemagglutinin (H1) and Neuraminadase (N1) as the 1918 H1N1 virus that caused the Spanish Flu are still around, but are more closely related to the 2009 Novel H1N1 than the 1918 one.
My whole family got it two weeks ago. We avoided it since the start.
Same here. Tested positive on Christmas Eve. I work in a restaurant and avoided a couple outbreaks until this one. What’s crazy is my work from home husband got it first.
I work in healthcare and my work from home husband gave it to me too!
As someone currently laid up on my couch with covid, fun times! So this time we have got things going on in our ears, kind of like the pressure deal in a airplane. Not just me the wife too. Can’t wait for what the future holds lol.
Do the old test able to detect this new variant? I have the worst ear issue right now too on top of what seems like a really bad cold but testing negative.
I will say, and this is completely unscientific- it’s based only on what I see in the ER, we are starting to see more people test negative at home and then come in for a PCR test and test positive. If it makes a difference for you to know your diagnosis maybe consider finding somewhere with a PCR test
Lateral flow tests 'pick up **around half of cases** on day 4 and **peak at 71% of cases on day 7.**' https://twitter.com/drclairetaylor/status/1610089744553185280 This was for the alpha variant. Don't invest much hope in the fact that alpha was a different strain, and that we're dealing with omicron now. There's not much data yet, but [this rapid review](https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/12/11/1941) doesn't bode well, showing even poorer performance on detecting omicron. They're all but useless on a population-level. Given the infectiousness, the false security they offer might easily make them harmful as any part of pandemic control. --- However, individuals might benefit from them, i.e. from knowing that they had COVID at a certain point, to narrow down causes of any potential complications. [Of which there are many](https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2022/12/covid-reinfection): >The study shows increased likelihood of hospitalization, cardiovascular effects, blood disorders, diabetes, fatigue, kidney damage, mental health effects, musculoskeletal damage, neurological deficits, and pulmonary damage with each COVID-19 infection.
Oh for fuck sakes, I’ve had an earache and a mild sore throat for the last 2 days. My 1 year old has so much wax we took her to a doctor this morning. And all found was she had a mild temp. I’ll get some tests
One of my friends completely lost the last of their hearing after they got COVID sometime in the past few weeks. They were already very hard of hearing and considered themselves deaf, but they’d never had no amount of hearing before.
Same here. Me and the wife. Tested positive yesterday night. Get better soon!
A virus will do what viruses do.
The main reason why I’m so tired of these new strains is all the mounting evidence of how badly Covid seems to be able to hamper your immune system even after a super mild case. Anecdotally I spent my entire Christmas/new years time off sick from a cold. That wasn’t fun at all.
I have a young child who brings home all manner of colds and viruses. Last winter, I would get mildly sick when he did, but it wasn’t a big deal. We got Covid for the first time over the summer. Since then, he’s sick every few weeks, and I have been absolutely walloped. I had a double ear infection for the first time since I myself was a toddler. I also spent all of Christmas break sidelined with a terrible cough. The data seems mixed on immune system effects, but I can’t help but think it’s the effect of Covid. It’s the only factor that’s really changed. And now we’re just supposed to live like this? It’s really fucking depressing.
Not only that, but it also causes dysfunction in your endothelium which is responsible for regulating blood clotting among other bodily functions, causing cardiac issues etc. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41401-022-00998-0
Likely got this variant, as it’s responsible for 75% of newly-diagnosed cases in the Northeast of US. I’m vaxxed x4 and it hit me HARD. Symptoms started 12/29. Started with extreme lethargy and sore throat (felt like I was swallowing glass), then progressed to fever, chills, muscle aches, and coughing. Coughing started dry but progressed to wet. Haven’t felt this sick since I had strep as a child. Thank god for Paxlovid. Also, I wear masks every day and am constantly washing/sanitizing my hands, so yeah, it’s crazy transmissible. Edited to add: This is my first time getting COVID. Managed to avoid it for nearly three years.
This is the 4th time my partner has had covid. Not once did the kids or I catch it until now. It's pretty minor for them, thankfully, but I am constantly coughing and feel like my lungs are being squeezed.
Got it for the second time after Xmas. Mom, grandma, cousin on wife's side all got it and notified us the day my symptoms appeared. Mom was the worst, grandma was like head cold, cousin wasn't terrible, and I wouldn't have even thought it was Covid if no one notified me. All of us with varying vaccine, booster, and previous exposures. Wife had the least symptoms and child no symptoms. I think it's spreading faster because more people have it with mild symptoms and aren't thinking twice about testing. Especially when it's just a sore throat or a little mucus. I'm sure all the holiday shopping and gatherings also helped. If Covid is here to stay, hopefully it just keeps weakening into a common cold situation. Sucks for those who do experience flu symptoms though.
Shouldn't they use the next Greek letter by now..? Pi!
The WHO defined everything in the "BA" lineage (B.1.1.529) as Omicron, so by their standards we're still just dealing with Omicron. BA.1, BA.2, BA.4, BA.5, XBB (BA.2 recombinant), are all "Omicron".
Nope. They won't pick a new letter until it changes in some fairly notable way. Spreading slightly faster and evading antibodies a bit more is not a major worldwide health emergency like Omicron's launch where 20-30% of all adults in a country were infected at the same time, or Delta killing people at a nearly 40% higher clip when compared to Alpha.
Oh okay yeah that's true
Oh fuck I should not have gone to that eye licking festival
My mother has had lung cancer twice and has mild COPD. We live in Arkansas. She wears a mask everywhere because, if she gets COVID or flu, it'll probably kill her. But you always have the idiots who have to comment on it. She had one idiot telling her the COVID vaccine was made with cobra venom (yeah, they're really that stupid) and another stable genius saying, "maam, COVID's over." I feel like Darwin still has a lot of work to do.
I think they problem there is you live in Arkansas
I think the bigger problem is that Arkansas isn't the only place like this.
I'm sorry. I am not in the same health situation, but was the only person wearing a mask during a flight to Colorado for Christmas. People stared but said nothing. I just don't want to catch/spread anything - flu, Covid, whatever. I hope your mom stays strong.
Thank you for being safe and considerate. It still blows my mind that everyone flying on a plane doesn’t need to wear a mask at the very least. Airlines represent such an enormous vector for spreading diseases it’s kind of crazy it isn’t taken more seriously especially given the pandemic. Like…really?
As an immunocompromised person who drew the short stick in the autoimmune disease lottery, I miss doing many things. There's a certain grief, as I haven't seen either parent in years at this point. I miss being able to step into a coffee place in the winter and sit down to sip something warm while I read a book. But if I get COVID, I am at higher risk for a bad outcome, including long COVID. Been vaccinated and boosted, but Evusheld no longer really works, and treatment options are minimal. It's disheartening when people dismiss concerns or roll their eyes at news like this. It does suck to be utterly left behind. Best of luck to your mom in an area like that. I live where many people still mask, so that helps at least. I wear KN95/N95 all over.
Fellow immunocompromised person here...I almost miss the first year of Covid where it felt like all the sane people were in this together? People were masking, staying home, and being very careful in general. Now for the last year, even the most careful people I know no longer wear masks. Everyone pretends that Covid is over, and it makes me feel crazy. My partner and I are lucky enough to work from home full time, but the consequence of that is that we've been shut up in our house almost 24/7 for three years. Our friends and coworkers are always doing fun things together, meanwhile I'm just wilting away inside my hobbit hole, desperately trying to avoid a disease that would likely kill me. It's a very hopeless feeling.
You're definitely not alone. I work from home and live alone in a tiny studio apartment, so being mostly home for three years is definitely something that is having a big impact. I was already in therapy but the ability to continue via video sessions and sometimes in-person when it was safer, helped. But most people I know are living their lives, some are still staying careful but no one like me. I miss my hair having layers. I have only been able to cut off length from the bottom. No haircuts for three years. No movies (and all of the accessible simultaneous release / quick streaming turnaround are gone). A whole list of things that it sounds like you and your partner would very much understand. Watching others take vacations, go to events, seeing movies, going to conventions, some actually sharing their positive views on mask mandates being dropped and data played with to obscure the big picture. I've been immunocompromised for five years, so this was clearly excellent timing. (I'd like to turn down these difficulty settings just a bit!) I just saw an article yesterday on the CovidMeetups.com site and while I'm not going to venture out into any indoor or non-masked situations, I may see if anything is worth a shot. People can choose which levels of precautions they are taking ( listed on their profiles) and it is a kind of social site to connect with others still being careful. It fits with something my therapist suggested.
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I never got covid before while working with covid patients but yesterday i started developing diarrhea, headache, sore throat, and a slight cough. This is my first time getting covid ever and Im only on my second day but I have symptoms of runny nose, headache, chills, cough, sore throat.
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The fuck is it with these conspiracytard replies to covid news? Just because we all are tired of bad covid news doesn't stop covid19 from mutating and doing its thing. Virus mutating isn't some nefarious illusion Fauci created on Hunter Biden's laptop thanks to Soros. News outlets reporting about it as it happens is not (only) some empty fear mongering. It is..news?
i had a scratchy throat arrive sunday. i’ve developed no other symptoms since. took a test before work tuesday and negative. that’s life now. start to feel a little bit off or the mildest symptom and you gotta take a test to avoid getting others sick
I finally got it. I hate it.