Not news on this BBS, per se, but there’s a nice graphic…
12 Likes
This is not as fun as the last time a sitting US president got COVID…
14 Likes
Got my second booster dose yesterday morning. (Also had blood drawn that morning - the right arm giveth away, and the left arm taketh…) My first three doses were Pfizer; this one was Moderna. So far, the only noticeable result is a very sore upper arm, just like the other three doses.
15 Likes
It was always only a matter of time before he tested positive, especially with the BA.5 variant. Even Fauci tested positive over a month ago.
Hoping for a speedy recovery without a “paxlovid rebound” that seems to be so common.
15 Likes
I notice the chart’s data is for pre-Delta times, per the footnote. Considering the transmissibility of Omicron (particularly BA.5) vs. Alpha, would those values reduce by a factor of, say, 4-ish? E.g., that Nothing/Nothing might be 1-4 minutes?
3 Likes
R₀ is a number from a fairly simple model, but the following quotes, from the CDC, Alpha as having R₀=4 and Omicron BA.5 as R₀=18, so 4 or 5-ish, yes, would be likely close enough.
I just got my second booster. If I have to be indoors around strangers, it’s a KN95 under cloth (I’m big, the cloth helps the fit). I’m avoiding being indoors except at home, and avoiding crowds outdoors. Basically once the kids start complaining about “eating like we’re in a bomb shelter” I’ll venture out to Costco.
11 Likes
If that number holds up, it would displace measles as the highest human Ro for any viral illness. Not that it would surprise me or anything, just speaks to what we are up against. Sigh.
20 Likes
Yeah. I now know several people who wear an n95 constantly, yet still got it. 
(Not that i think masks are useless, of course. I still wear one constantly too, and have somehow stayed lucky.)
18 Likes
That chart gave my wife a little piece of mind.
Our daughter’s husband just tested positive and my wife is freaking out because 2 days ago she drove her to pick up her car from the dealer. They were in the car for about 45 minutes.
They are both very good about masking and they both had on 3M N95 with a mask over the top and they drove with the rear windows open to circulate more air.
I think my wife is good especially after seeing that chart.
We got our second booster a week ago.
Our daughter and husband both have one booster. So far she’s tested negative and he has mild symptoms.
We get accused of going overboard on the masking but this makes us not care what anyone thinks.
My poor daughter is more worried about me because of my health. We’ve reassured her we’re fine but if not, not her fault.
11 Likes
With you all the way on that one. And I doubt you could get better ventilation than driving with the windows open.
I hope you and your wife stay healthy and safe, and your daughter and her husband get well quickly.
9 Likes
Well… the gods must have at least partially heard my cries… we got an update to the Ontario 
COVID Dashboard up to Wednesday. None of it is good. I find myself looking back at last summer’s statistics and thinking “wow, we nearly won”.
All of which makes this a really bad time to take up a high-risk sport in Ontario.
12 Likes
10 Likes
Hi… me again… 
Uni Erlangen continues work on Long COVID. Dr. Hohberger was on an episode of the Long COVID podcast The TLC Sessions and tells the back-story of how she made the connection for how the drug BC-007 might treat Long COVID, as well as some stories of the patients treated. I thought the episode was refreshingly unrestrained with the technical details. The hold-up for the next part of the study is getting the medication for 30 patients from Berlin Cures, which has triggered some frustration. There seems to be a legitimate regulatory step with quality control checks and approval that will take until September.
(Dr. Hohberger very enjoyably “geeks out” about her research. The 
hosts sounded ready, a couple of times, to get stabby from their frustration with the British system.)
Speaking of the : O…M…G… only 15% of Brits haven’t had COVID?!
So those of us in this tiny minority will hopefully be that much readier for the zombie apocalypse… although not as ready as those who live in Georgia, who have already survived one.
… and when I added it up, if we continue as we are in Ontario we will kill about 1,200 more people in 2022 than we did in 2021 (5253 dead), never mind 2020 (4773 dead) and our death rate for early summer June and July together is about the same, 5 people per day for each year of the pandemic.
How is this even remotely over in anybody’s mind?
12 Likes
Once upon a time, Germany was dubbed “pharmacy of the world”.
For several decades now, this isn’t true any more. Even though BionTech is a German company, and the vaccine development is possibly the single most important pharmaceutical feat of the decade.
We do have troubles with standard medication. Again. And again. And again.
12 Likes
My wife went to pick up groceries for our daughter and husband, he has covid, she’s still testing negative but doesn’t want to come in contact with anyone.
At their grocery store in their hip and happening town everyone was wearing a mask, employees and customers.
Definitely a regional thing, their city is a bit upscale and liberal or woke as they get accused of.
My wife was pleased.
10 Likes
It’s (probably) not COVID…
12 Likes
That’s been the leading hypothesis for a while now. Good to see some tentative confirmation.
10 Likes
10 Likes
8 Likes
aha! but if the universe is a simulation, isn’t everything a lab?
7 Likes
