Coronavirus Discussion

[Uther_Pendragon]

RubyEyes, I hope they go ahead and let you get yours!

 Lagie, yay for impending 2nd shot! Purpledragonclaw, How did you feel after your second?
ConfusedCat, I hope you can get yours soon! Naluya, I had to laugh at using your DC skills to get booked! Who knew biome stalking would come in so handy?

Astreya, we don't spend a lot of time w BIL and his fam anyway, so it's not terrible if they ignore us. He finally stopped sending sheep memes to my husb, lol. It is surprising he's not a bit concerned, since he recently had surgery for thyroid cancer recurrence, but whatever. Unfortunately, I can't control anyone but myself!

 

   I'm miffed that the recs now are saying to not wear masks outside in crowds, and workplace, but to wear them in medical offices, or places that say you need to wear them.
   You can still get covid even with the vaccine!! Why aren't they talking about that?! I don't want covid at all, even if it is a light case! Ugh and I know people are going to stop wearing them (or following other protocols) due to these new guidelines, vaccinated or not. Like I've said before, I only see a couple/few masks when I venture out as it is. 
  I wish everything wasn't so rushed, and erred on the side of caution instead. I'm going to keep wearing mine, and doing the needful, regardless. At the very least, I have b*** resting face, so it's been nice not having to force smiles or a pleasant expression, lol! 

[Kith]

Apparently there have been studies to support the relaxation of the mask regulations, but I haven't seen much in the way of granular detail. I'm not "safe" yet, so this won't change my behavior for another week at best, but I'm still going to be masking up in public until I've got a reasonable expectation that the vast majority of people around me are also vaccinated.

 

Hopefully this links correctly:
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/13/996617539/once-you-are-fully-vaccinated-2-weeks-after-your-last-dose-you-can-shed-your-mas

[Nalyua]

I got my first shot today. Everything went fine.

 

Yeah getting the appointment was basically clicking and booking the time slot before anyone else.  DC skill! 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Nalyua

[WarEagle1996]

2 hours ago, Nalyua said:

I got my first shot today. Everything went fine.

 

Yeah getting the appointment was basically clicking and booking the time slot before anyone else.  DC skill! 

nice! i just got mine too

[Lagie]

22 minutes ago, WarEagle1996 said:

nice! i just got mine too

Yay!

 

I worry that with you guys dropping mask regulations, people here will think they can, too. We are having waaay too many cases still.

 

49 new cases yesterday from 355 tests (positivity rate 13.8%!), 45 of those on my island, for a new total of 11,073. One additional death takes the death toll to 217. (A younger person, too. Only 43.)

[KrazyKarp]

12 hours ago, Lagie said:

Our population is just under 400,000, if that's the denominator you mean. Or do you want the total number of cases there (11,024)?

The population is what I meant, yeah. 217/~400,000 is honestly pretty optimistic numbers; that's a ~0.054% death rate across the entire population (obviously a smidge bit higher because population is just under 400k, but probably not by much) which is pretty darn great on the grand scale of the virus, in my opinion. Obviously 0 deaths is awesome but unfortunately, not realistic anywhere. The only thing that would be concerning is if the rate of change with respect to a short amount of time is larger than usual, but I'm not sure if you have access to that data?

[Astreya]

@KrazyKarp

For Germany, we have an interesting picture for the general mortality between KW26 2020 (26th calendar week of 2020, that is mid-May 2020) and KW25 2021 (last week). In the picture the data from 2020 is compared with the average mortality 2016-2019 (grey) and the data for 2021 is compared with the average mortality of 2017-2020 (light blue):

 

There is a clear excess mortality due to Covid (red line) between KW43 2020 (mid-October 2020) and KW 4 2021 (end of January 2021). But interestingly, from February 2021 on, there was actually a lower mortality than in the 5-year average before as in 2017 and 2018, there were flu seasons with high excess mortality that were not present in 2021 as the anti-Covid measures also managed to curb the flu practically to non-existence.

 

Oh, I just realised, the average-of-2017-2020 data of course also contains the 2020 Covid cases, so the max value in the average might not be alone due to the flu, of course.

 

(On the left, the grey spike showed a strong excess mortality due to a heat period in the 5-year average before Summer 2020).

 

Source: https://www.destatis.de/DE/Themen/Gesellschaft-Umwelt/Bevoelkerung/Sterbefaelle-Lebenserwartung/sterbefallzahlen.html

 

 

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As of today, Saturday, May 15, 10:30 GMT+2, my home town (population 211 000) has 354 (-2) active cases, while 10 004 (+18)  people are considered to have recovered. 340 (+1) persons sadly died. 878 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 10 698 (+17) people who suffered from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 79.7 (-6.2).

 

Currently 33 (-4) persons are treated in hospitals, with 9 (+-0) of them in intensive care, 6 (-2) of these needing artificial respiration.

There have been 77 564 (1st jab) and 20 538 (2nd jab) vaccinations so far.

 

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As of today, Sunday, May 16, 10:45 GMT+2, my home town (population 211 000) has 342 (-12) active cases, while 10 027 (+23)  people are considered to have recovered. 340 (+-0) persons sadly died. 837 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 10 709 (+11) people who suffered from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 69.7 (-10.0).

 

Currently 30 (-3) persons are treated in hospitals, with 8 (-1) of them in intensive care, 6 (+-0) of these needing artificial respiration.

There have been 78 222 (1st jab) and 21 029 (2nd jab) vaccinations so far.

 

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As of today, Monday, May 17, 12:30 GMT+2, my home town (population 211 000) has 332 (-10) active cases, while 10 056 (+29)  people are considered to have recovered. 340 (+-0) persons sadly died. 809 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 10 728 (+19) people who suffered from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 69.7 (+-0.0).

 

Currently 30 (+-0) persons are treated in hospitals, with 8 (+-0) of them in intensive care, 6 (+-0) of these needing artificial respiration.

There have been 78 847 (1st jab) and 21 414 (2nd jab) vaccinations so far.

[Source: Stadt Oberhausen]

Edited May 17, 2021 by Astreya

[BlackMagicRose]

I am fully vaccinated along with both of my parents and my son who is 13 just got his first Pfizer vaccine. He wasn't old enough to do the Moderna like the rest of us. So far we're all doing fine with minimal or no side effects. I only was tired for a few days and the second dose I did have some swelling in the lymph nodes of my left arm and armpit which is the arm I for the shot in. Also with the second I felt like I had a mild case of the flu for about 24 hours.

[trystan]

hubby got dose #2 today (pfizer).  so far so good!  

[Lagie]

*headesks* I had another Covidiot customer today saying he didn't believe in vaccines, and that he'd seen where, someone who had had both vaccines, a fridge magnet stuck when applied to the spot. When I asked where he'd seen that, he said it was a video. "Have you tried it with a real human right in front of you?" I asked. "No," he replied, and then told me I was the second person to suggest he actually do that.  "Come back to me when you do," said I. Sigh.

Our goverment is considering charging for the vaccines once all of us who have our first get our second, thus favouring those who actually stepped up to be vaccinated.

Few people are now signing up.  and we're nowhere near the vaccination numbers needed.

 

Yay for second vaccines, @blackmagicrose and @trystan!

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by Lagie
typo

[trystan]

33 minutes ago, Lagie said:

Covidiot customer today saying he didn't believe in vaccines, and that he'd seen where, someone who had had both vaccines, a fridge magnet stuck when applied to the spot. When I asked where he'd seen that, he said it was a video.

saw that on Snopes - it's false  

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/magnets-covid-vaccine/

[Lagie]

33 minutes ago, trystan said:

saw that on Snopes - it's false  

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/magnets-covid-vaccine/

I was pretty sure it would be. That's why I was pushing him to prove it in real life.

 

 

61 new cases yesterday from 422 tests (positivity rate 14.4%!), 51 of those on my island, for a new total of 11,134. One additional death takes the death toll to 218. 

[Nalyua]

Some People are just not able to process the fact that not everything in the media is the truth. Combined with being unable to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources ... Aside of that many people feel much more informed than they truely are since everything appears to be on the internet. 

 

I had my first shot on Friday. Just had a sore arm  and I felt as if I was high 3 hours after the shot, which lasted about 6 hours. On the pro side it made for a fun evening.

[Lagie]

12 hours ago, Nalyua said:

I had my first shot on Friday. Just had a sore arm  and I felt as if I was high 3 hours after the shot, which lasted about 6 hours. On the pro side it made for a fun evening.

Yay for shot! And on the reaction. One of my coworkers said he felt like he'd drunk several vodka glasses, so he had a similar evening.

 

50 new cases yesterday from 407 tests (positivity rate 12.3%!), 44 of those on my island, for a new total of 11,184. Two additional deaths takes the death toll to 220. 

[trystan]

hubby had his second shot yesterday afternoon.  he does still have some injection site soreness when he moves his arm a certain way.  he did take some naps this morning/early afternoon.... but that's normal.  the morning nap was "going back to sleep cause he woke up too early to feed the cats."

[Lagie]

13 hours ago, trystan said:

hubby had his second shot yesterday afternoon.  he does still have some injection site soreness when he moves his arm a certain way. 

Yay for hubby!

The second shot hurt. I was not expecting that.

[trystan]

1 minute ago, Lagie said:

The second shot hurt. I was not expecting that.

i actually felt my first one more than the second.

 

the next one in the fam is my younger daughter's (she's 19) second dose at the end of the month (the 25th).  older daughter (she's 23) is weird about it. she says she's not worried about it when i asked how the search for a vaccine appointment was going.  i mean, i know she's 23 and can make up her own mind about it, and i even told my daughters when they got to 18 they could make their own decision about which vaccines to get (or not).... but i kinda want to tell her to get it "cause i said so."

[BlackMagicRose]

There was a picture going around to disprove the people who think they're microchipping people. It showed the size difference between the needle used for microchips (huge) and the actual vaccine needle (tiny). Of course people are too stupid to believe the truth because believing all the lies for them is easier than realizing there's no truth to all the conspiracy theories.

[Astreya]

@blackmagicrose

Oh they are using nano-chips nowadays. Bill Gates invented them with the help of Elon Musk and they fit through the thin needle. And they are not there to remote-control people, in truth they use the life-energy of them to mine Bitcoins for Gates and Musk! /s

 

Back to reality:

It seems that there is a good possibility that a heterologous vaccination (e.g. first AstraZeneca, then BioNTech/Pfizer) might even be more effective than a homologous vaccination with twice the same vaccine. Research with a mouse model hints into that direction.

 

Currently the Com-COV study is conducted that so far took a look at the side-effects of using different vaccines, and it appears as if the effects are a bit stronger than when using the same vaccine both times. The results about the efficacy are expected somewhen in June 2021.

 

- Heterologous prime-boost COVID-19 vaccination: initial reactogenicity data:  https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)01115-6/fulltext

- Heterologous vaccination regimens with self-amplifying RNA and adenoviral COVID vaccines induce robust immune responses in mice: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23173-1

- Heterologous prime-boost: breaking the protective immune response bottleneck of COVID-19 vaccine candidates: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33691606/

- German language interview with virologist Prof.Dr.Sandra Ciesek:   https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/info/coronaskript292.pdf

 

 

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As of today, Tuesday, May 18, 08:30 GMT+2, my home town (population 211 000) has 309 (-23) active cases, while 10 096 (+40)  people are considered to have recovered. 340 (+-0) persons sadly died. 860 persons are currently quarantined. All in all there have been 10 745 (+17) people who suffered from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of newly infected people per 100 000 citizens in the last 7 days is 68.8 (-0.9).

 

Currently 27 (-3) persons are treated in hospitals, with 8 (+-0) of them in intensive care, 6 (+-0) of these needing artificial respiration.

There have been 81 407 (1st jab) and 21 794 (2nd jab) vaccinations so far.

[Source: Stadt Oberhausen]

Edited May 18, 2021 by Astreya

[Lagie]

41 new cases yesterday from only 220 tests (positivity rate 18.6%!), 28 of those on my island, for a new total of 11,184. One additional death takes the death toll to 221. 

 

I had swollen knees and ankles last night and am feeling a bit off-kilter today, but I seem to be fine otherwise and Panadol helps. (The swelling was gone this morning.)

[_Ro_]

There are legitimate reasons some people may not be able to have a vaccine.

 

My country is doing elderly and people with health conditions right now, but they may not get to healthy under 30's for months.

 

I'm probably going to have to wait a bit longer if I decide to get it as i've had dangerous reactions to vaccines in the past so I would have to have it done at a hospital or doctors office, those are just too busy and full of vulnerable people right now for non essential things to be worth the risk.

 

[Astreya]

@Roseora

I had such big problems with vaccinations in the past that practically no doctor wanted to risk giving me anything after I almost died from the then still mandatory  smallpox vaccination in the 1970es. I talked to the doctor in the vaccination centre at length, but she said that even the current vector vaccines should be no real problem for me. I decided to take the risk and got my first jab with the AstraZeneca vaccine. I was then monitored for a full 30 minutes whether I might get an allergic reaction, but it did work fine. Only the day after I had the often described side-effect like a somewhat sore arm where I got the injection, a little fever, plus feeling somewhat unwell and a bit tired.

 

I hope everything will work out fine for you and that you don't have to wait too long after all!

[Nalyua]

@Roseora indeed there are. However raging that they are inserted microchips or other ridiculous claims are rather not legitimate.

 

Medical issues are completely a different issue. I was, for example, advised against Astra Zeneca (as was my father) due to blod clotting issues we are known to have.

 

@Astreya though vaccines have developed since the 70ies. Citing that as a comparison ist rather misleading.

Edited May 19, 2021 by Nalyua

[Astreya]

@Nalyua

Well, the problem is that the smallpox thing in my case is added by a large host of allergies, and thus I even had the problem that I was refused to be given a vaccination against tetanus twice despite having been injured. (Then I was a bit younger and too afraid to go against a doctor and demand being given the vaccine nonetheless and at my own risk).

[Nalyua]

Yes if you have allergies it is best to double check.

 

Just saying that generally comparing vaccines now with vaccines in the 70ies might be misleading and cause unneeded fear.