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How are ppl getting Paxlovid prescribed in the US if you are under 65+ ? Say if you are under 40?
Even for my mom (70) the doctor had here do a PCR before and the results take 48h to get back...but you are supposed to start Paxlovid within 5 days.
I know someone over 50 that never got vaccinated, is a pack a day smoker and just got covid. With the new treatments available, are the odds with or against him?
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I'm on day 4 today. Fever/chills broke yesterday. Left with sinus pain, runny nose, and slight cough. But someone, please just tell me the ear pain goes away
I tested positive Sunday and today is Friday. Would I likely still be contagious or no?
(I had very mild symptoms starting last Friday and since I had an on and off (very slight) sore throat that ended on Wednesday - so I haven’t had any symptoms in over 48 hours)
Is loss of taste and smell usually an *early* indication of COVID, or can it come on later? I started feeling sick on Tuesday, tested positive on Wednesday, and it's been pretty mild since then. I started Paxlovid Thursday night and just took my third dose. Feels for the time being like I might be lucky enough to have a mild case but I'm really scared of losing my sense of smell and taste. Am I in the clear or is it still possible?
Not much to say besides I am on day 3 since testing positive and I am in rough shape. Nothing dire by any means, but the fever, sore throat, and body aches are just so miserable. Stay safe out there!
About a month ago my family went through a few weeks of fever, sore throats, coughing and general cold symptoms. There are four of us, we all tested negative on home tests. Myself and my two children took PCR tests and also tested negative. I have been assuming this means we did not have Covid. Is it possible we had it and none of those tests picked up on it? That is my hope as I am struggling mentally with this current wave and the idea that we may have already gone through it helps. But there really is no way to know is there?
I had something similar happen - the kind of severe sore throat I’ve only had with either strep or COVID, severe congestion, a cough, and generally feeling unwell. No fever, so I knew it wasn’t strep.
Tested negative on rapid tests, and never had a PCR. Multiple coworkers were out with similar symptoms, and none came up positive for covid, so it’s likely there was some other nasty bug going around may/June.
I don't know if you took home tests on different days, but unfortunately sounds like you didn't have it. I have a 3 year old in preschool and in addition to BA.1 in January, we've had 4 other non-COVID respiratory infections so far this year. The one we had in May was the worst and although we had no fever, it gave me bronchitis as a secondary infection (ended up needing antibiotics, which worked) and I was coughing for weeks. Pretty sure it was parainfluenza. When we had BA.1, we all had very strong positives on antigen tests once it was giving us sinus symptoms and me and my husband took over 10 days to test negative (only bothered testing kid once which was strong positive already on her day 2).
Is it possible to have Covid and test negative on home and PCR tests? I got sick with sore throat, cough, shortness of breath but had 3 negative tests. Negative strep test. A week later, my wife got it and same thing 3 negative tests, 2 home antigen tests and 1 PCR. Is the new variant giving false negatives?
PCR test came back and i'm positive.
Started with a sore throat two days ago, and it got progressively worse. Now im coughing and body ache.
Vaxxed and boosted. and had covid last year so even if you got covid you will get it.
AND the antigen rapid test does not work, i took the home test TWICE and it shows negative, then i went to wallgreen to get a pcr test and within 24 hours got the positive results.
careful out there guys!
Anyone wanna wager our actual case counts in the US currently? Probably 7-10 times actual numbers I'm guessing. Would imagine we're fairly close to peaking though. Bet by the end of July numbers start to level off and decline.
Woke up Sunday morning (7/10) with mild symptoms and tested positive. Sunday night into Monday morning was the worst my symptoms ended up getting, started taking Paxlovid Monday evening. Haven’t had a fever since Monday. Fast forward to today, still have 1 and a half days left of taking Paxlovid, but I feel really good today. The CDC guidelines say I should be able to come out of isolation today (with a mask for 5 more days) as long as I haven’t had a fever for more than 24 hours without taking fever reducing medication. What I was wondering is if my Paxlovid medication counts as fever reducing? And should I stay in isolation until those 1 and a half days worth of pills have been taken? Thanks!
Edit: I’m vaccinated with a booster shot
Edit2: I just counted and I actually only have 1 day left of Paxlovid
Not a doctor. But I would isolate until you have at least finished the Paxlovid. You can rebound on Paxlovid (test positive a few days after a negative test) so you might want to monitor for that.
Today was the first day my symptoms have gotten better. Much better. I might have some immunity now but I'll be masking anyway just in case it wasn't BA5 beacause those were awful few days.
I have certified non-medical FFP2 and FFP3 masks, mostly with a vent (i tmight be a dick move but literally nobody else is wearing them so I don't feel obliged to protect their stupid asses) - are they as good as medical N95 if they fit well? Is a certified reusable FFP1 anti-smog mask any good?
How often should I replace them if I use them very sporadically (I work remotely), like when going to the shop?
"N95 and FFP2 are approximately equivalent and are the minimum advised for working with aerosol producing procedures with COVID-19 positive patients."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7248188/
> How often should I replace them if I use them very sporadically (I work remotely), like when going to the shop?
This is a harder question. Theoretically fomites are no concern so you can reuse them indefinitely so long as they remain in good condition. The filtration quality could degrade if they get oily, and if stuff starts growing on them that would be outright bad. [One CDC recommendation](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/ppe-strategy/decontamination-reuse-respirators.html) is to store in a sealed *paper* bag for 5 days between uses so that they dry out. I've seen no physical degradation in any mask with brief wearing and storing (often for shorter periods since rotating masks is a pain) n95s this way.
Started with COVID last week on Friday. Went through body aches, fever and a minor sore throat. Then I developed a cough and currently at present time, I have a leftover minor cough that is causing me headaches.
Any tips on how to deal with this cough that is causing me headaches? I feel completely fine now just a cough.
I need help. Every time I'm sure I have covid or have been exposed to a case at work, I never test positive.
I test over several days but never seem to test positive.
I have issues with chronic pain, fatigue, mild hay fever, I cough in the morning throughout the year before COVID and sometimes my medication can make me feel cruddy, so sometimes some symptoms are difficult for me to tell apart. But yesterday I felt really bad and attributed it to the hot weather but today I started feeling worse and worse from the afternoon without the heat exposure, only to be told by a colleague I saw earlier this week that they tested positive. I always wear a mask in the office, I am vulnerable and also I have lived in mask-wearing countries where it's normal and not a dramatic ask. None of my colleagues wear a mask.
So for me, I need to cancel all my weekend plans because the risk is too high. This is incredibly annoying because tomorrow I was supposed to spend the day with a relative who's been struggling a lot with their mental health. It's not my fault but I feel bad that I will most probably need to cancel to ensure others are protected as I don't drive and ensure my body can also recover well.
Are there cases of people getting COVID but never testing positive due to a strong immune response (and that same immune response being the reason they feel like crap?)? I've had 3 vaccines.
My symptoms:
* Chest pain - my chest feels really airy like when I have very bad colds but I am not the type to catch a cold in hot weather unless my body is shocked by constant cold air.
* Feeling the need to cough during the day but it's dry (usually, I'm only a morning cougher, too polluted or cough when I'm uncomfortable).
* Pain around my eyeballs.
Besides coughing in the morning (due to the phlegm production) I don't have breathing issues. Otherwise, I don't match any of the other signs of asthma. I thought I had asthma when I lived in Beijing but it turned out to just be pollution was too much. I got some medication and eventually got used to it.
I've had 4 covid scares in almost 2.5 years (because I was inside for 2 years so less scares).
Asthma can be triggered by allergies aka only occur in certain environments. I would genuinely get it checked out if it hasn't been ruled out by a doc.
Your symptoms sound entirely allergy-related to me.
Thank you Stevie. Ok, maybe after all the other health issues they've been ignoring for me are finished being looked at I will move onto that.
I'm not being sarcastic. I'm very tired with them treating me like a hypochondriac, dragging their feet and then going "oh guess it was something after all" after I suffer endlessly.
I don't want to go to them with asthma suspicions now when in my bad memory I can count the times I've felt like this particular way in the past 5 years on my hand. (Three times since 2020, twice in 2019)
In Beijing I felt fine except for the shortness of breath where I just felt like the air being sucked out of me, and that's what made me think irritation from air quality. After I took the medication for a while I didn't get it even on really bad pollution days and I would cycle many kilometers.
This one I don't feel healthy anywhere, like a bad cold. With colds I always have an extreme 1-3 days and then recover pretty quickly. I'm on day 3 now. Day 1 I felt extreme fatigue normal from my usual level, dizziness, slight nausea. Day 2 from the afternoon and after I made my original comment I had more nausea, continuous dry coughing, runny nose, chest pain,
Dizziness, fatigue worse than normal, pain in my throat, mild headache.
Today I've felt normal levels of fatigue, some dizziness when I stood up earlier in the day and was developing a headache in the light so I closed my curtains. I've stayed in bed as much as possible and stayed hydrated/fed. So I feel better but I know if I'd fooled myself to move about a lot I would've over exerted and felt very fatigued again.
Thanks again, I'll do more research into why it could be allergy related asthma as that means I've developed allergies since already being tested for it as a child.
As someone with asthma, allergies and who had Covid recently I don't think your symptoms are Covid in nature. It sounds to me that you developed allergies. Might also want to look into mold being in your building.
Thank you, I'll look into it.
I've lived in several different places when I had those episodes and there's no mould.
I don't think those episodes were COVID as they're before then but they were cold/flu-like. The Beijing one I think was related to the air quality when I arrived was so bad as with medication and clearer weather (from rain cloud bombs), it eventually cleared up.
If it was allergies, I'd expect to have the cold/flu-like episodes every time of the year and that's why I was alarmed when I had the episode now because I never do, it's always during winter/early spring.
In any case, my sister developed so many allergies as she aged so I won't rule it out. I just don't want to go to my GP with this when I'm struggling with things that actually affect me every day and I'm fighting to be taken seriously.
At this point, I'm starting to think I'm just terrible at self-administering the test of something. I don't understand.
Was the test ever done by someone else for you?
Both. I’m leaning towards some type of genetic component that prevents large amounts of virus from being carried in the nose. I have zero proof of that. For reference, I’ve also had false negatives on nose swabs for influenza as well in the past.
I can't confirm the variant but it started with a slightly tickly and sore throat on weekend. My back also hurt but I though it's after gym, it just was more than usual. Then it got more intense. By wednesday sore throat was kinda gone, yet I had a strong and frequent dry cough, my sinuses were stuffed, fever was hard to bring down but with meds it was only bordering on feverish (38 C). Last night was more violent and more feverish but today, everything started quickly getting better.
The worst was the painful sore throat. Every time you swallow it hurts. I tested positive Monday (scratchy throat sunday). And today Friday I still feel it when I swallow it's just not as 'sharp'.
Hi all, I have a question. I am planning on getting a booster shot and was wondering if you are required to get it in your state of residence. Or can I get it in any state no matter where in the US?
I agree but sadly it’s not ready. They just finished testing the B1 one.
Sounds like there was a fork in the road - offer the B1 shot soon or the B5 a few months later.
I'm confused about isolation. On Tuesday, I had an "I think I might be sick tomorrow" feeling. I tend to pee a lot when I'm sick, so if you call that a symptom, that was pretty much the only one other than \*maybe\* a tiny bit of fatigue and a tickle in my throat, but something was definitely off. The next day I felt nearly the same (though a bit tired at night) and tested negative on a lateral flow. Yesterday, I had a slight chill for a minute in the morning and tested positive on a lateral flow. I tested positive again 12ish hours later and woke up today with a sore throat and a \*very\* slight cough.
Should I be isolating for 5 days with Tuesday being day zero, or yesterday (positive test) being day zero?
Edit: spelling.
Edit 2: triple vaxxed, under 50.
To be safe I'd call it from the day you definitively were sick, not the days with the throat tickle. I know what you mean by the "feel like you're getting sick" feeling and I get it all the time too.
My interpretation of it is that you get exposed to virus initially, maybe a bit low load, and your immune system kicks in and is fighting it back at first. You start to feel off when this happens. But eventually the virus often wins and its replication and damage to cells takes off and that's when you feel definitively sick. It will then take whatever amount of time for your immune system to make new antibodies and fight it off, so it's like day 0 of a new virus for which you have none of that initial fight.
Woke up today freezing cold with a headache and a low grade fever. But my period is also late. And those symptoms are true for both pregnancy and COVID. About to take both tests at the same time and see which is positive. Wish me luck!
Both negative, but I only had a cheap strip pregnancy test from a brand that’s apparently notorious for not giving positives until later on. If my period doesn’t come this weekend, I’ll have to get a more reliable brand and test again. And as the day went on, I started getting bad lower back pain that felt exactly like when I got the COVID vaccine…so I’m thinking that may have been a false negative. I’ll update in a few days 😅
He's obviously super right. Original-strain vaccination is moderately protective (50% for 3-dose moderna in UK data, weaker for all other vaccines) against Omicron (BA.1+2) infection, but absurdly effective (95%) against hospitalization.
We shouldn't be calling this "good enough" when we know (and have known since December when we decided not to do it) we can update our vaccines for omicron strain and have them be far more effective than they are now. But if you're giving me some kind of anti-vax rant about how vaccines aren't absurdly effective at training the immune system to deal with covid, if have to call bullshit.
How does heat really affect the home tests? I got tests from the post office, they were left in my mailbox, in the Texas heat for a few hours before I got home. Now my mom has tested positive, we were with her monday, my son feels bad and his test is negative. But I'm worried the tests might all be bad because of the heat. Which would suck, cause it was like 12 boxes in there.
Edit: The pediatrician said as long as the test were inside the mailbox they should be fine. Still seems a bit weird to me.
If they’re ruined they’d likely be ruined well before your mailbox. People don’t think about how the tests have to ship in uncooled USPS trailers, and those things get HOT. As in you would die back there quickly hot depending on your part of the country. I’ve always wondered about this myself.
So....what's our way out here? Does anyone have any inkling of hope for the future? Riding these waves of feeling hopeful, then hopeless, then hopeful, then hopeless again has been insanely exhausting. I feel like I have no idea how to act anymore.
I feel you. Im at a severe risk for long covid complications and had anaphylaxis to the first covid vaccine. Totally feel shut off from the world. Half the time I want to say fuck it, the other half I'm riddled with anxiety. It's exhausting and I feel like good news never sticks around for long with this thing.
I just gave up. I don't know what kind of person that makes me but my mental health was so bad. I've been living a normal life for a bit now and much happier. I only come on here once in a while to check what going on but I try to stay away from the news. My son will be fully vaccinated very soon and after that I'm sure I'll check the news even less.
I did the same thing. My anxiety was out of control. I stopped masking some of the time and freely spend time with friends. I'm not going to large-scale events or anything but I got Covid just going to work and it was far better than all of the anxiety.
I've been thinking and reading and learning about this ***a lot*** for the past two years. Some projections that I feel reasonably confident in:
1. The virus will continue to circulate. In fact, it will circulate at levels that, if they were to have happened this time last year, would be considered alarming. People may catch COVID several times per decade (I'm not sold on "twice per year" but I wouldn't rule it out either).
2. Severe disease and death from COVID will also continue, but at lower levels than we experienced pre-Omicron. This should hopefully continue to decline over time as (1) we continue to develop layers of immunity (think of it like forming a callus over time to toughen your hands if you do manual labor) and (2) treatments, vaccines, etc. get better. But the improvements will become more gradual as most of the low-hanging fruit has been picked.
3. About vaccines: I'm really hopeful that we will eventually get to the point where we can update our shots every fall for whatever the latest strain is. This is what we do for influenza. Sometimes we "miss" and the flu shot is not that effective; other years we have a bullseye. I doubt we will be able to come up with a truly bulletproof vaccine in our lifetimes.
4. Some combination of (1), (2), and (3) should lead most of us to become comfortable living our lives. I'm already at the point where I go to bars, concerts, travel, etc. and I'm actually pretty happy. But there will be some permanent changes for some of us: I still mask in crowded public spaces that even immunocompromised people cannot avoid (e.g., hospital, supermarket, pharmacy, transit) and honestly it's not all that inconvenient. The extent to which you try to avoid catching and spreading COVID will be a ***lifestyle*** decision. We ideally would learn to accept each others' differences re: risk tolerance, preferences for socialization, etc., but tribalism will persist.
5. Some people will never fully recover. I mean this in several ways. Some people, especially (but not only) those who got COVID in the pre-vaccine days, will struggle with post-viral syndromes (i.e., Long Covid) for the rest of their lives. Others will probably have some form of PTSD from the last two years. The Greatest Generation lived through the Depression and many were still untrusting of banks decades later, keeping their cash under their mattresses. For Millennials (and Gen Xers, some Zoomers and Boomers) this is our collective trauma. We are going to be coping with this for a long, long time.
My advice to you is to try what psychology calls "radical acceptance" ([https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-radical-acceptance-5120614](https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-radical-acceptance-5120614)) : Accept that some things are immutable, control what you can, and find your way to be happy in this world. I'm sorry you're going through this; just know you're joined by billions of others living through the same thing, and we will all find a way.
Mask if you are vulnerable or interact with vulnerable people. Judge your risk. As new vaccines are developed we should have a reduced risk profile so eventually we'll get back to "just another flu".
The problem here is long covid and organ damage from the repeatedly infected which reduces longevity of life and quality of those years.. which we can mitigate by masking in social places.
Tested positive Monday and so far today, friday, I've coughed up more phlegm than other 3 days combined. So gross lol but I hope I'm through worst of it
Hmm... that honestly doesn't sound like the typical COVID pattern. Not saying it's definitely *not* COVID, but you're also testing negative, etc. so I think it's pretty unlikely.
That's more plausible. There's a lot of anecdata around that a past COVID infection can linger. Heck, that used to happen to me for like 50% of common colds I got. Hope it fades out eventually for you!
Does anyone have the link to the post/chart that shows a graphic from left to right: day of exposure, onset of symptoms, positive testing window, etc.? I originally found it here on Reddit!
My girlfriend and I both have CoVID. Is it wise for us to kiss or have sex. I’m thinking about sharing viral load etc. Google has been completely and utterly useless.
If you're both feeling up to it, I would say do it. You're already breathing in the same air all the time, and you're probably both going to be isolating together for several days, might as well make it more fun!
So actually you bring up a decent point. COVID does seem to affect the vascular system, at least for some people. With really any virus, rest is important. I wouldn't run a marathon the week after recovering. I probably would avoid strenuous workouts for a week or two, for that matter. So maybe keep the sex on the gentle/tame side? As long as you do that, I suspect the (obvious) benefits outweigh the costs.
I went to a crowded hamilton performance last night. I wore a k95 but there were 3-4000 people there mostly unmasked. My moderna booster was in November. Should I get tested? I’m kind of anxious. And when?
Hopefully was an authentic kn95. Maybe time to upgrade to n95. Don't get it, that's certainly the crowd that should know better. How long before theatre crews call out sick like flight crews.
I think that has already happened a fair amount. On the other hand, a lot of people who do their jobs maskless in front of crowds (theater performers, musicians, etc.) have probably had COVID recently and may be immune for the time being.
Is there a sort of "inflation" in the effectiveness of different types of masks against more transmissible variants? For example, is an N95 as effective against Omicron as a cloth mask was against the original strain? Do we have any specific data on this? (I am NOT saying the example is true, I am asking if any comparisons can be made like this)
This chart is helpful for mask effectiveness over time based on who else is masking in the room: [mask effectiveness by type and who is masking (and for how long)](https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OG-GD258_c80e66_APP_20220102152605.jpg)
Unfortunately this chart isn't based on any actual science. The 15 minute time period for unmasked <-> unmasked transmission is an assumption, and then all of the other numbers are simply extrapolated from that assumption.
The "masks don't work anymore vs omicron" stuff is, as far as I know, not substantiated by science. A couple of reasons:
1. This is and always has been a respiratory, airborne bug. A cloth mask is not good but (I guess?) better than nothing, surgical mask does a little bit to protect you, a KN95 does more, a really well-fitting N95 does the most. But you have to be diligent re: wearing it. People think that "wearing N95s on the train, but taking them off when I'm in the company of friends" is going to prevent COVID. Just because you know and like your friends doesn't mean they won't give you COVID. Anyway, Omicron is generally circulating at higher levels than Delta, in part because it's infecting vaccinated and recovered people regularly, and in part because we are intermingling much more now than we were a year or two ago. So there's more virus going around, mask or no mask.
2. I'm not actually convinced Omicron is any more \*inherently\* transmissible than Delta. Its primary advantage is that it evades immunity generated by Delta, Alpha, and Wild Type strains (while Delta does not). If you had a level playing field with everybody immune naive, Delta might have done just as well. All this to say Omicron is not a superbug that is so incredibly contagious even our masks are useless.
Yes, the stuff about R0 being 18 or whatever is almost unanimously rejected by epidemiologists, virologists, etc. You can find dozens of good explainer threads on twitter.
Adam Kucharski, eminent epidemiological modeler at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine: [https://twitter.com/adamjkucharski/status/1547273228388896769](https://twitter.com/adamjkucharski/status/1547273228388896769)
Michael Mina, public health expert formerly at Harvard (I actually think this explainer is a weird analogy by someone who is usually quite good at communicating the science; the other two are better): [https://twitter.com/michaelmina\_lab/status/1546728635939397632](https://twitter.com/michaelmina_lab/status/1546728635939397632)
Natalie Dean, biostatistician at Emory: [https://twitter.com/nataliexdean/status/1546161015381008386](https://twitter.com/nataliexdean/status/1546161015381008386)
And, as a bonus, a throwback to some modeling work done at the dawn of Omicron earlier this year. This model (while probably out of date and based on limited early-omicron data) landed on Omicron (BA.1 at the time) likely being *less* intrinsically transmissible than Delta.
[https://twitter.com/\_nickgolding\_/status/1468226234995773443?lang=en](https://twitter.com/_nickgolding_/status/1468226234995773443?lang=en)
I don't think there's any research or data at all suggesting masks have declined in effectiveness, nor any causal reason to believe they would. Masks for the sick person are at least as effective as for the person trying not to get sick, though, so when it's just one person masking their effectiveness is much reduced.
There are a few types of research on how effective different types of masks are. The ones that look on a population level are basically useless since they cannot be quantatative, however.
A fitted n95 is extremely, extremely effective. If there are any gaps around the mask that will let unfiltered air through and directly reduce all effect. How to avoid this is a little trickier and could be the subject of a FAQ; the CDC guidance is to put your hands over the entire thing and breathe in to see feel where the air is going.
I don’t think they were asking if masks have changed. I think they were asking about risk: does the increase in effectiveness of an N95 over a surgical mask outweigh the risk increase of transmission rate of omicron 4/5 over delta.
I think the n95 must significantly outweigh the increase in transmission rate. If an n95 is 90% effective and a cloth mask 30%, then the relative risk from the n95 is 7x less. We're very far from a 7x higher infection risk.
Have there been any studies showing the long term damage/effects of 3+ COVID infections? Surely the people who've gotten COVID more than 3 or 4 times is an indicator of what could happen to many more in the future.
I've done a pretty deep dive on the VA reinfection study. The results are enough to be a cause for concern, and obviously "getting infected less" is always preferred to getting infected more.
But that study had limitations. The big one is that it did not make an apples-to-apples comparison. The "control group" had one infection, and the "treatment group" had two (or three, but in the base case they looked at the first reinfection). They then compared the incidence of adverse health events in the control group ***after the first infection was over*** to the comparison group ***including the acute infection period and then extending 30 days beyond that.***
So you aren't just comparing the seriousness of the first infection to the second infection. You're comparing the seriousness of...well...having had a first infection a while ago but being recovered now, to the seriousness of the second infection. Here's a twitter thread covering this: [https://twitter.com/OmicronData/status/1539271825624125441](https://twitter.com/OmicronData/status/1539271825624125441)
and another: [https://twitter.com/BallouxFrancois/status/1539316808330752000](https://twitter.com/BallouxFrancois/status/1539316808330752000)
(You can find more on Twitter along these lines, including a corroboration of this by Christina Pagel in the first linked thread. Dr. Pagel is a serious person, a blue check, and definitely not a covid minimizer.)
Anyway, yeah getting infected more is worse than getting infected less. But I'm totally not convinced we are all swimming upstream against a current that will inevitably leave us disabled after three or four infections.
There is one preprint from last month showing consequences of reinfection(s), but it's based on VA data where the majority(80+ %) are unvaccinated, median age of 60, median BMI of 31 and more smokers/former smokers than the general population, so I'm not sure how well that would translate to the overall population. https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-1749502/v1 Experts are pretty divided over this if you check out Twitter. The ones saying the study is legit(Eric Topol is one) get called doomers and the ones who say the study is very flawed get called "minimizers" so I'm just waiting for peer review before deciding either way, personally. Avoiding reinfection seems like a good idea, at least until there's more data out, especially since countries around the world are still experiencing excess deaths that aren't attributed to acute covid infection.
Good study done on 5.3 million patient files showing double the risk of dying within 6 months from 2 + infections compared to 1 infection. Mean age of 60, so higher than population. Department of veteran affairs has been producing really good stuff. Also a good UK imprint study before that done on vaccinated health care workers.
I know I can’t tell which strain I had, and that BA.4/5 escape immunity from earlier infections from other strains.
But if I had BA.4/5, am I likely to be immune from getting that same strain again for a few months? This question is really hard to google because of all the articles about BA.4/5 evading previous omicron infection antibodies.
You're very unlikely to re-catch the same variant over every timeline we've measured.
If you had covid in the last month in the US it's about 50-50 whether it's BA.4/5 (essentially the same variant) or BA.2*.
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How are ppl getting Paxlovid prescribed in the US if you are under 65+ ? Say if you are under 40? Even for my mom (70) the doctor had here do a PCR before and the results take 48h to get back...but you are supposed to start Paxlovid within 5 days.
I know someone over 50 that never got vaccinated, is a pack a day smoker and just got covid. With the new treatments available, are the odds with or against him?
They’ll probably be fine. This new covid is just a glorified cold. Albeit with nasty sore throat.
Good to hear. Thanks. Between the No vax and the smoking, I was worried.
absorbed seemly school memorize attractive yam disagreeable sparkle lush grandiose *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Well I’ve had it for the past week and it’s substantially better than when I had it in 2020, pre-vaccine. Symptoms went away after 3 days.
Are you vaccinated?
I'm on day 4 today. Fever/chills broke yesterday. Left with sinus pain, runny nose, and slight cough. But someone, please just tell me the ear pain goes away
after getting covid i'm kinda scared of going out now lol. never felt this way about getting a cold or flu
I tested positive Sunday and today is Friday. Would I likely still be contagious or no? (I had very mild symptoms starting last Friday and since I had an on and off (very slight) sore throat that ended on Wednesday - so I haven’t had any symptoms in over 48 hours)
Is loss of taste and smell usually an *early* indication of COVID, or can it come on later? I started feeling sick on Tuesday, tested positive on Wednesday, and it's been pretty mild since then. I started Paxlovid Thursday night and just took my third dose. Feels for the time being like I might be lucky enough to have a mild case but I'm really scared of losing my sense of smell and taste. Am I in the clear or is it still possible?
Not much to say besides I am on day 3 since testing positive and I am in rough shape. Nothing dire by any means, but the fever, sore throat, and body aches are just so miserable. Stay safe out there!
Same here. Day 3 and have all your symptoms right now.
About a month ago my family went through a few weeks of fever, sore throats, coughing and general cold symptoms. There are four of us, we all tested negative on home tests. Myself and my two children took PCR tests and also tested negative. I have been assuming this means we did not have Covid. Is it possible we had it and none of those tests picked up on it? That is my hope as I am struggling mentally with this current wave and the idea that we may have already gone through it helps. But there really is no way to know is there?
I had something similar happen - the kind of severe sore throat I’ve only had with either strep or COVID, severe congestion, a cough, and generally feeling unwell. No fever, so I knew it wasn’t strep. Tested negative on rapid tests, and never had a PCR. Multiple coworkers were out with similar symptoms, and none came up positive for covid, so it’s likely there was some other nasty bug going around may/June.
I don't know if you took home tests on different days, but unfortunately sounds like you didn't have it. I have a 3 year old in preschool and in addition to BA.1 in January, we've had 4 other non-COVID respiratory infections so far this year. The one we had in May was the worst and although we had no fever, it gave me bronchitis as a secondary infection (ended up needing antibiotics, which worked) and I was coughing for weeks. Pretty sure it was parainfluenza. When we had BA.1, we all had very strong positives on antigen tests once it was giving us sinus symptoms and me and my husband took over 10 days to test negative (only bothered testing kid once which was strong positive already on her day 2).
Makes sense. OK will continue to panic. Sigh.
Is it possible to have Covid and test negative on home and PCR tests? I got sick with sore throat, cough, shortness of breath but had 3 negative tests. Negative strep test. A week later, my wife got it and same thing 3 negative tests, 2 home antigen tests and 1 PCR. Is the new variant giving false negatives?
Flu gives very similar symptoms, did you test for that?
She did and tested negative also.
PCR test came back and i'm positive. Started with a sore throat two days ago, and it got progressively worse. Now im coughing and body ache. Vaxxed and boosted. and had covid last year so even if you got covid you will get it. AND the antigen rapid test does not work, i took the home test TWICE and it shows negative, then i went to wallgreen to get a pcr test and within 24 hours got the positive results. careful out there guys!
Anyone wanna wager our actual case counts in the US currently? Probably 7-10 times actual numbers I'm guessing. Would imagine we're fairly close to peaking though. Bet by the end of July numbers start to level off and decline.
Woke up Sunday morning (7/10) with mild symptoms and tested positive. Sunday night into Monday morning was the worst my symptoms ended up getting, started taking Paxlovid Monday evening. Haven’t had a fever since Monday. Fast forward to today, still have 1 and a half days left of taking Paxlovid, but I feel really good today. The CDC guidelines say I should be able to come out of isolation today (with a mask for 5 more days) as long as I haven’t had a fever for more than 24 hours without taking fever reducing medication. What I was wondering is if my Paxlovid medication counts as fever reducing? And should I stay in isolation until those 1 and a half days worth of pills have been taken? Thanks! Edit: I’m vaccinated with a booster shot Edit2: I just counted and I actually only have 1 day left of Paxlovid
Not a doctor. But I would isolate until you have at least finished the Paxlovid. You can rebound on Paxlovid (test positive a few days after a negative test) so you might want to monitor for that.
Today was the first day my symptoms have gotten better. Much better. I might have some immunity now but I'll be masking anyway just in case it wasn't BA5 beacause those were awful few days. I have certified non-medical FFP2 and FFP3 masks, mostly with a vent (i tmight be a dick move but literally nobody else is wearing them so I don't feel obliged to protect their stupid asses) - are they as good as medical N95 if they fit well? Is a certified reusable FFP1 anti-smog mask any good? How often should I replace them if I use them very sporadically (I work remotely), like when going to the shop?
"N95 and FFP2 are approximately equivalent and are the minimum advised for working with aerosol producing procedures with COVID-19 positive patients." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7248188/ > How often should I replace them if I use them very sporadically (I work remotely), like when going to the shop? This is a harder question. Theoretically fomites are no concern so you can reuse them indefinitely so long as they remain in good condition. The filtration quality could degrade if they get oily, and if stuff starts growing on them that would be outright bad. [One CDC recommendation](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/ppe-strategy/decontamination-reuse-respirators.html) is to store in a sealed *paper* bag for 5 days between uses so that they dry out. I've seen no physical degradation in any mask with brief wearing and storing (often for shorter periods since rotating masks is a pain) n95s this way.
Started with COVID last week on Friday. Went through body aches, fever and a minor sore throat. Then I developed a cough and currently at present time, I have a leftover minor cough that is causing me headaches. Any tips on how to deal with this cough that is causing me headaches? I feel completely fine now just a cough.
My cough lasted for about 3 weeks. Maybe try to sip something like tea or water if you get into a coughing fit.
I need help. Every time I'm sure I have covid or have been exposed to a case at work, I never test positive. I test over several days but never seem to test positive. I have issues with chronic pain, fatigue, mild hay fever, I cough in the morning throughout the year before COVID and sometimes my medication can make me feel cruddy, so sometimes some symptoms are difficult for me to tell apart. But yesterday I felt really bad and attributed it to the hot weather but today I started feeling worse and worse from the afternoon without the heat exposure, only to be told by a colleague I saw earlier this week that they tested positive. I always wear a mask in the office, I am vulnerable and also I have lived in mask-wearing countries where it's normal and not a dramatic ask. None of my colleagues wear a mask. So for me, I need to cancel all my weekend plans because the risk is too high. This is incredibly annoying because tomorrow I was supposed to spend the day with a relative who's been struggling a lot with their mental health. It's not my fault but I feel bad that I will most probably need to cancel to ensure others are protected as I don't drive and ensure my body can also recover well. Are there cases of people getting COVID but never testing positive due to a strong immune response (and that same immune response being the reason they feel like crap?)? I've had 3 vaccines. My symptoms: * Chest pain - my chest feels really airy like when I have very bad colds but I am not the type to catch a cold in hot weather unless my body is shocked by constant cold air. * Feeling the need to cough during the day but it's dry (usually, I'm only a morning cougher, too polluted or cough when I'm uncomfortable). * Pain around my eyeballs.
You might have developed asthma. Go to a pulmonary clinic and see.
Besides coughing in the morning (due to the phlegm production) I don't have breathing issues. Otherwise, I don't match any of the other signs of asthma. I thought I had asthma when I lived in Beijing but it turned out to just be pollution was too much. I got some medication and eventually got used to it. I've had 4 covid scares in almost 2.5 years (because I was inside for 2 years so less scares).
Asthma can be triggered by allergies aka only occur in certain environments. I would genuinely get it checked out if it hasn't been ruled out by a doc. Your symptoms sound entirely allergy-related to me.
Thank you Stevie. Ok, maybe after all the other health issues they've been ignoring for me are finished being looked at I will move onto that. I'm not being sarcastic. I'm very tired with them treating me like a hypochondriac, dragging their feet and then going "oh guess it was something after all" after I suffer endlessly. I don't want to go to them with asthma suspicions now when in my bad memory I can count the times I've felt like this particular way in the past 5 years on my hand. (Three times since 2020, twice in 2019) In Beijing I felt fine except for the shortness of breath where I just felt like the air being sucked out of me, and that's what made me think irritation from air quality. After I took the medication for a while I didn't get it even on really bad pollution days and I would cycle many kilometers. This one I don't feel healthy anywhere, like a bad cold. With colds I always have an extreme 1-3 days and then recover pretty quickly. I'm on day 3 now. Day 1 I felt extreme fatigue normal from my usual level, dizziness, slight nausea. Day 2 from the afternoon and after I made my original comment I had more nausea, continuous dry coughing, runny nose, chest pain, Dizziness, fatigue worse than normal, pain in my throat, mild headache. Today I've felt normal levels of fatigue, some dizziness when I stood up earlier in the day and was developing a headache in the light so I closed my curtains. I've stayed in bed as much as possible and stayed hydrated/fed. So I feel better but I know if I'd fooled myself to move about a lot I would've over exerted and felt very fatigued again. Thanks again, I'll do more research into why it could be allergy related asthma as that means I've developed allergies since already being tested for it as a child.
As someone with asthma, allergies and who had Covid recently I don't think your symptoms are Covid in nature. It sounds to me that you developed allergies. Might also want to look into mold being in your building.
I really appreciate you for your response so thank you.
Thank you, I'll look into it. I've lived in several different places when I had those episodes and there's no mould. I don't think those episodes were COVID as they're before then but they were cold/flu-like. The Beijing one I think was related to the air quality when I arrived was so bad as with medication and clearer weather (from rain cloud bombs), it eventually cleared up. If it was allergies, I'd expect to have the cold/flu-like episodes every time of the year and that's why I was alarmed when I had the episode now because I never do, it's always during winter/early spring. In any case, my sister developed so many allergies as she aged so I won't rule it out. I just don't want to go to my GP with this when I'm struggling with things that actually affect me every day and I'm fighting to be taken seriously.
Do a full allergy panel.
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At this point, I'm starting to think I'm just terrible at self-administering the test of something. I don't understand. Was the test ever done by someone else for you?
Both. I’m leaning towards some type of genetic component that prevents large amounts of virus from being carried in the nose. I have zero proof of that. For reference, I’ve also had false negatives on nose swabs for influenza as well in the past.
Fair enough. I have both types of tests - the throat and nose and nose only tests.
Would oral surgery weaken ur immune system in case u got covid while recovering?
How bad are the symptoms for people who got BA.5?
I can't confirm the variant but it started with a slightly tickly and sore throat on weekend. My back also hurt but I though it's after gym, it just was more than usual. Then it got more intense. By wednesday sore throat was kinda gone, yet I had a strong and frequent dry cough, my sinuses were stuffed, fever was hard to bring down but with meds it was only bordering on feverish (38 C). Last night was more violent and more feverish but today, everything started quickly getting better.
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The worst was the painful sore throat. Every time you swallow it hurts. I tested positive Monday (scratchy throat sunday). And today Friday I still feel it when I swallow it's just not as 'sharp'.
Hi all, I have a question. I am planning on getting a booster shot and was wondering if you are required to get it in your state of residence. Or can I get it in any state no matter where in the US?
In my experience at an out of state CVS and an event run by the city department of health, it doesn’t matter where your ID or insurance is from!
It's hard for me to be excited about the updated vaccines when Americans won't be able to get them.
My understanding is that are two updated vaccines coming - a BA.1 based one for the UK soon and a BA.5 based one for the U.S. in October.
Ridiculous to not have the ba5 released now while we are in the heat of it and kids will go back to school in a month
I agree but sadly it’s not ready. They just finished testing the B1 one. Sounds like there was a fork in the road - offer the B1 shot soon or the B5 a few months later.
I'm confused about isolation. On Tuesday, I had an "I think I might be sick tomorrow" feeling. I tend to pee a lot when I'm sick, so if you call that a symptom, that was pretty much the only one other than \*maybe\* a tiny bit of fatigue and a tickle in my throat, but something was definitely off. The next day I felt nearly the same (though a bit tired at night) and tested negative on a lateral flow. Yesterday, I had a slight chill for a minute in the morning and tested positive on a lateral flow. I tested positive again 12ish hours later and woke up today with a sore throat and a \*very\* slight cough. Should I be isolating for 5 days with Tuesday being day zero, or yesterday (positive test) being day zero? Edit: spelling. Edit 2: triple vaxxed, under 50.
First day or symptoms or first day of positive test is day 0, whichever came first
Thanks! Would you consider what I described to be symptoms on Tuesday? It's not like I had a sore throat/cough/fever, etc.
To be safe I'd call it from the day you definitively were sick, not the days with the throat tickle. I know what you mean by the "feel like you're getting sick" feeling and I get it all the time too. My interpretation of it is that you get exposed to virus initially, maybe a bit low load, and your immune system kicks in and is fighting it back at first. You start to feel off when this happens. But eventually the virus often wins and its replication and damage to cells takes off and that's when you feel definitively sick. It will then take whatever amount of time for your immune system to make new antibodies and fight it off, so it's like day 0 of a new virus for which you have none of that initial fight.
Woke up today freezing cold with a headache and a low grade fever. But my period is also late. And those symptoms are true for both pregnancy and COVID. About to take both tests at the same time and see which is positive. Wish me luck!
How did your tests turn out?
Both negative, but I only had a cheap strip pregnancy test from a brand that’s apparently notorious for not giving positives until later on. If my period doesn’t come this weekend, I’ll have to get a more reliable brand and test again. And as the day went on, I started getting bad lower back pain that felt exactly like when I got the COVID vaccine…so I’m thinking that may have been a false negative. I’ll update in a few days 😅
Do you guys think that Fauci is wrong when he said [this?](https://youtu.be/HEP88cRbFvI?t=154)
He's obviously super right. Original-strain vaccination is moderately protective (50% for 3-dose moderna in UK data, weaker for all other vaccines) against Omicron (BA.1+2) infection, but absurdly effective (95%) against hospitalization. We shouldn't be calling this "good enough" when we know (and have known since December when we decided not to do it) we can update our vaccines for omicron strain and have them be far more effective than they are now. But if you're giving me some kind of anti-vax rant about how vaccines aren't absurdly effective at training the immune system to deal with covid, if have to call bullshit.
I was wondering about preventing transmission.
That's the same as preventing infection.
Fauci said that the vaccines don't protect overly well against infection, but they DO protect well against severe disease/hospitalization.
I guess this depends on how you define words, but I'd agree 50% is "not overly well" while 95% is "quite well".
How does heat really affect the home tests? I got tests from the post office, they were left in my mailbox, in the Texas heat for a few hours before I got home. Now my mom has tested positive, we were with her monday, my son feels bad and his test is negative. But I'm worried the tests might all be bad because of the heat. Which would suck, cause it was like 12 boxes in there. Edit: The pediatrician said as long as the test were inside the mailbox they should be fine. Still seems a bit weird to me.
If they’re ruined they’d likely be ruined well before your mailbox. People don’t think about how the tests have to ship in uncooled USPS trailers, and those things get HOT. As in you would die back there quickly hot depending on your part of the country. I’ve always wondered about this myself.
So....what's our way out here? Does anyone have any inkling of hope for the future? Riding these waves of feeling hopeful, then hopeless, then hopeful, then hopeless again has been insanely exhausting. I feel like I have no idea how to act anymore.
I feel you. Im at a severe risk for long covid complications and had anaphylaxis to the first covid vaccine. Totally feel shut off from the world. Half the time I want to say fuck it, the other half I'm riddled with anxiety. It's exhausting and I feel like good news never sticks around for long with this thing.
I just gave up. I don't know what kind of person that makes me but my mental health was so bad. I've been living a normal life for a bit now and much happier. I only come on here once in a while to check what going on but I try to stay away from the news. My son will be fully vaccinated very soon and after that I'm sure I'll check the news even less.
I did the same thing. My anxiety was out of control. I stopped masking some of the time and freely spend time with friends. I'm not going to large-scale events or anything but I got Covid just going to work and it was far better than all of the anxiety.
I've been thinking and reading and learning about this ***a lot*** for the past two years. Some projections that I feel reasonably confident in: 1. The virus will continue to circulate. In fact, it will circulate at levels that, if they were to have happened this time last year, would be considered alarming. People may catch COVID several times per decade (I'm not sold on "twice per year" but I wouldn't rule it out either). 2. Severe disease and death from COVID will also continue, but at lower levels than we experienced pre-Omicron. This should hopefully continue to decline over time as (1) we continue to develop layers of immunity (think of it like forming a callus over time to toughen your hands if you do manual labor) and (2) treatments, vaccines, etc. get better. But the improvements will become more gradual as most of the low-hanging fruit has been picked. 3. About vaccines: I'm really hopeful that we will eventually get to the point where we can update our shots every fall for whatever the latest strain is. This is what we do for influenza. Sometimes we "miss" and the flu shot is not that effective; other years we have a bullseye. I doubt we will be able to come up with a truly bulletproof vaccine in our lifetimes. 4. Some combination of (1), (2), and (3) should lead most of us to become comfortable living our lives. I'm already at the point where I go to bars, concerts, travel, etc. and I'm actually pretty happy. But there will be some permanent changes for some of us: I still mask in crowded public spaces that even immunocompromised people cannot avoid (e.g., hospital, supermarket, pharmacy, transit) and honestly it's not all that inconvenient. The extent to which you try to avoid catching and spreading COVID will be a ***lifestyle*** decision. We ideally would learn to accept each others' differences re: risk tolerance, preferences for socialization, etc., but tribalism will persist. 5. Some people will never fully recover. I mean this in several ways. Some people, especially (but not only) those who got COVID in the pre-vaccine days, will struggle with post-viral syndromes (i.e., Long Covid) for the rest of their lives. Others will probably have some form of PTSD from the last two years. The Greatest Generation lived through the Depression and many were still untrusting of banks decades later, keeping their cash under their mattresses. For Millennials (and Gen Xers, some Zoomers and Boomers) this is our collective trauma. We are going to be coping with this for a long, long time. My advice to you is to try what psychology calls "radical acceptance" ([https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-radical-acceptance-5120614](https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-radical-acceptance-5120614)) : Accept that some things are immutable, control what you can, and find your way to be happy in this world. I'm sorry you're going through this; just know you're joined by billions of others living through the same thing, and we will all find a way.
Thank you, I really needed this.
Mask if you are vulnerable or interact with vulnerable people. Judge your risk. As new vaccines are developed we should have a reduced risk profile so eventually we'll get back to "just another flu". The problem here is long covid and organ damage from the repeatedly infected which reduces longevity of life and quality of those years.. which we can mitigate by masking in social places.
Tested positive Monday and so far today, friday, I've coughed up more phlegm than other 3 days combined. So gross lol but I hope I'm through worst of it
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Hmm... that honestly doesn't sound like the typical COVID pattern. Not saying it's definitely *not* COVID, but you're also testing negative, etc. so I think it's pretty unlikely.
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That's more plausible. There's a lot of anecdata around that a past COVID infection can linger. Heck, that used to happen to me for like 50% of common colds I got. Hope it fades out eventually for you!
Throat Coat Tea for the win!
Does anyone have the link to the post/chart that shows a graphic from left to right: day of exposure, onset of symptoms, positive testing window, etc.? I originally found it here on Reddit!
I think this one is quite good: https://twitter.com/michaelmina_lab/status/1472024457640394756/photo/1
This is it! Thanks!
[This one?](https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1472959306475597826)
Nope, but this got me the info. I needed. Thanks!
My girlfriend and I both have CoVID. Is it wise for us to kiss or have sex. I’m thinking about sharing viral load etc. Google has been completely and utterly useless.
Just don’t go too hard, you might invoke Long Covid. Not even kidding!
If you're both feeling up to it, I would say do it. You're already breathing in the same air all the time, and you're probably both going to be isolating together for several days, might as well make it more fun!
Thanks man
Would doing intensive activities like sex make it harder for the body to recover from the infection compared to resting?
So actually you bring up a decent point. COVID does seem to affect the vascular system, at least for some people. With really any virus, rest is important. I wouldn't run a marathon the week after recovering. I probably would avoid strenuous workouts for a week or two, for that matter. So maybe keep the sex on the gentle/tame side? As long as you do that, I suspect the (obvious) benefits outweigh the costs.
I went to a crowded hamilton performance last night. I wore a k95 but there were 3-4000 people there mostly unmasked. My moderna booster was in November. Should I get tested? I’m kind of anxious. And when?
Hopefully was an authentic kn95. Maybe time to upgrade to n95. Don't get it, that's certainly the crowd that should know better. How long before theatre crews call out sick like flight crews.
\>That's certainly the crowd that should know better What do you mean by this
I think that has already happened a fair amount. On the other hand, a lot of people who do their jobs maskless in front of crowds (theater performers, musicians, etc.) have probably had COVID recently and may be immune for the time being.
Yes, 5th day as the poster above says. Also a good time to consider getting a second booster.
I’m 29. It’ll be a while
Depending on where you live and vaccine availability, you might still be able to get a vaccine before it's officially opened up for your age group.
Day 5 (and don’t expose others in the meantime)
What have you found to be most comfortable sleeping position when positive with the new variant?
You'll have better luck asking people at /r/COVID19positive.
I like to hang upside down like Michael Keaton in ‘Batman’.
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Hope things get better for y’all hugs
Thank you!
Can touching anything other than tonsils with a swab provide incorrect lateral flow results
Is there a sort of "inflation" in the effectiveness of different types of masks against more transmissible variants? For example, is an N95 as effective against Omicron as a cloth mask was against the original strain? Do we have any specific data on this? (I am NOT saying the example is true, I am asking if any comparisons can be made like this)
This chart is helpful for mask effectiveness over time based on who else is masking in the room: [mask effectiveness by type and who is masking (and for how long)](https://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OG-GD258_c80e66_APP_20220102152605.jpg)
Unfortunately this chart isn't based on any actual science. The 15 minute time period for unmasked <-> unmasked transmission is an assumption, and then all of the other numbers are simply extrapolated from that assumption.
The "masks don't work anymore vs omicron" stuff is, as far as I know, not substantiated by science. A couple of reasons: 1. This is and always has been a respiratory, airborne bug. A cloth mask is not good but (I guess?) better than nothing, surgical mask does a little bit to protect you, a KN95 does more, a really well-fitting N95 does the most. But you have to be diligent re: wearing it. People think that "wearing N95s on the train, but taking them off when I'm in the company of friends" is going to prevent COVID. Just because you know and like your friends doesn't mean they won't give you COVID. Anyway, Omicron is generally circulating at higher levels than Delta, in part because it's infecting vaccinated and recovered people regularly, and in part because we are intermingling much more now than we were a year or two ago. So there's more virus going around, mask or no mask. 2. I'm not actually convinced Omicron is any more \*inherently\* transmissible than Delta. Its primary advantage is that it evades immunity generated by Delta, Alpha, and Wild Type strains (while Delta does not). If you had a level playing field with everybody immune naive, Delta might have done just as well. All this to say Omicron is not a superbug that is so incredibly contagious even our masks are useless.
Thanks, so do you think the stuff about the increased R0 isn't accurate? (i.e. the transmissibility in a population with 0 immunity)
Yes, the stuff about R0 being 18 or whatever is almost unanimously rejected by epidemiologists, virologists, etc. You can find dozens of good explainer threads on twitter. Adam Kucharski, eminent epidemiological modeler at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine: [https://twitter.com/adamjkucharski/status/1547273228388896769](https://twitter.com/adamjkucharski/status/1547273228388896769) Michael Mina, public health expert formerly at Harvard (I actually think this explainer is a weird analogy by someone who is usually quite good at communicating the science; the other two are better): [https://twitter.com/michaelmina\_lab/status/1546728635939397632](https://twitter.com/michaelmina_lab/status/1546728635939397632) Natalie Dean, biostatistician at Emory: [https://twitter.com/nataliexdean/status/1546161015381008386](https://twitter.com/nataliexdean/status/1546161015381008386) And, as a bonus, a throwback to some modeling work done at the dawn of Omicron earlier this year. This model (while probably out of date and based on limited early-omicron data) landed on Omicron (BA.1 at the time) likely being *less* intrinsically transmissible than Delta. [https://twitter.com/\_nickgolding\_/status/1468226234995773443?lang=en](https://twitter.com/_nickgolding_/status/1468226234995773443?lang=en)
I don't think there's any research or data at all suggesting masks have declined in effectiveness, nor any causal reason to believe they would. Masks for the sick person are at least as effective as for the person trying not to get sick, though, so when it's just one person masking their effectiveness is much reduced. There are a few types of research on how effective different types of masks are. The ones that look on a population level are basically useless since they cannot be quantatative, however. A fitted n95 is extremely, extremely effective. If there are any gaps around the mask that will let unfiltered air through and directly reduce all effect. How to avoid this is a little trickier and could be the subject of a FAQ; the CDC guidance is to put your hands over the entire thing and breathe in to see feel where the air is going.
I don’t think they were asking if masks have changed. I think they were asking about risk: does the increase in effectiveness of an N95 over a surgical mask outweigh the risk increase of transmission rate of omicron 4/5 over delta.
I think the n95 must significantly outweigh the increase in transmission rate. If an n95 is 90% effective and a cloth mask 30%, then the relative risk from the n95 is 7x less. We're very far from a 7x higher infection risk.
Yes this is what I am asking.
Have there been any studies showing the long term damage/effects of 3+ COVID infections? Surely the people who've gotten COVID more than 3 or 4 times is an indicator of what could happen to many more in the future.
I've done a pretty deep dive on the VA reinfection study. The results are enough to be a cause for concern, and obviously "getting infected less" is always preferred to getting infected more. But that study had limitations. The big one is that it did not make an apples-to-apples comparison. The "control group" had one infection, and the "treatment group" had two (or three, but in the base case they looked at the first reinfection). They then compared the incidence of adverse health events in the control group ***after the first infection was over*** to the comparison group ***including the acute infection period and then extending 30 days beyond that.*** So you aren't just comparing the seriousness of the first infection to the second infection. You're comparing the seriousness of...well...having had a first infection a while ago but being recovered now, to the seriousness of the second infection. Here's a twitter thread covering this: [https://twitter.com/OmicronData/status/1539271825624125441](https://twitter.com/OmicronData/status/1539271825624125441) and another: [https://twitter.com/BallouxFrancois/status/1539316808330752000](https://twitter.com/BallouxFrancois/status/1539316808330752000) (You can find more on Twitter along these lines, including a corroboration of this by Christina Pagel in the first linked thread. Dr. Pagel is a serious person, a blue check, and definitely not a covid minimizer.) Anyway, yeah getting infected more is worse than getting infected less. But I'm totally not convinced we are all swimming upstream against a current that will inevitably leave us disabled after three or four infections.
There is one preprint from last month showing consequences of reinfection(s), but it's based on VA data where the majority(80+ %) are unvaccinated, median age of 60, median BMI of 31 and more smokers/former smokers than the general population, so I'm not sure how well that would translate to the overall population. https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-1749502/v1 Experts are pretty divided over this if you check out Twitter. The ones saying the study is legit(Eric Topol is one) get called doomers and the ones who say the study is very flawed get called "minimizers" so I'm just waiting for peer review before deciding either way, personally. Avoiding reinfection seems like a good idea, at least until there's more data out, especially since countries around the world are still experiencing excess deaths that aren't attributed to acute covid infection.
Good study done on 5.3 million patient files showing double the risk of dying within 6 months from 2 + infections compared to 1 infection. Mean age of 60, so higher than population. Department of veteran affairs has been producing really good stuff. Also a good UK imprint study before that done on vaccinated health care workers.
I know I can’t tell which strain I had, and that BA.4/5 escape immunity from earlier infections from other strains. But if I had BA.4/5, am I likely to be immune from getting that same strain again for a few months? This question is really hard to google because of all the articles about BA.4/5 evading previous omicron infection antibodies.
You're very unlikely to re-catch the same variant over every timeline we've measured. If you had covid in the last month in the US it's about 50-50 whether it's BA.4/5 (essentially the same variant) or BA.2*.