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The good news, so far, is that current vaccines are still strongly protecting against severe COVID-19, and BA.2.12.1 does not appear to cause more severe disease than BA.1 or BA.2âthough the CDC and other health experts are actively monitoring this. However, the subvariant seems able to evade immune protections, particularly those from prior BA.1 infections.
The researchers looked at neutralizing antibodies from 50 people who had received three CoronaVac doses and recovered from a BA.1 infection. Comparing neutralizing antibody levels over a range of coronavirus variants, researchers found that neutralizing antibody levels against BA.2 were about 1.86 times lower than they were for BA.1. But, things got worse as researchers moved on to newer subvariants: Neutralizing antibody levels were 3.7 times lower for BA.2.12.1, compared with BA.1, and eight times lower against BA.4 and BA.5.
Yeah, about that natural immunity, super immunity and other bullshitâŚ
Vaccines still work, better than post-infection immunity without the risk. But, at the risk of repeating myself, it ainât over.
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And thatâs a marked under-reporting. Excess deaths are 20-40% higher.
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The magnitude of cognitive loss was similar to the effects of aging between 50 and 70 years of age â and equivalent to losing 10 IQ points.
Accuracy in verbal analogy tasks â where people are asked to find similarities between words â was most impacted. This mirrors anecdotal reports that suggest people post-infection are struggling to find the right word, and feeling like their brain is in slow motion.
Interestingly, even though patients reported varying levels of fatigue and depression, the severity of the initial infection, rather than the survivorâs current mental health, could best predict the cognitive outcome, the team found.
âThese results indicate that although both fatigue and mental health are prominent chronic [consequences] of COVID-19, their severity is likely to be somewhat independent from the observed cognitive deficits,â the researchers write in their paper.
The somewhat good news is that, upon follow up, there were some signs of recovery â but it was gradual at best.
âWe followed some patients up as late as ten months after their acute infection, so were able to see a very slow improvement,â says Menon.
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This is odd, at last yearâs prom, when masks were required, there were no cases. This year, when masks were optional, 104 cases.
Go figure.
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Starts with âOâ and ends with âmicron.â
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Itâll still be available for folks with bleeding disorders though
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The taste thing with Paxlovid is totally true as is the fact I, like many others, would take it again anyway. It really is foul and had some unpleasant effects on my other medication (beware- lots of interactions). But I do believe it helped keep my infection from getting too bad.
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When assessing the actual cost of this pandemic, excess mortality data are the most inclusive and reliable set to look at. This makes this article all the more distressing.
Roughly 0.25% of the entire human population of the planet. US stats reflect about 0.28% of the entire population dead. And cases here are starting to tick up again. Sigh. I just donât know, guysâŚ
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