All COVID-19 Discussion GOES HERE

[jonny]

"There’s Terrific News About the New Covid Boosters, but Few Are Hearing It"
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/15/opini...-shot.html

[rgG]

jonny wrote:
"There’s Terrific News About the New Covid Boosters, but Few Are Hearing It"
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/15/opini...-shot.html

How do I get to the link on safari on iOS?
I tried copying the link and pasting it into a private browsing tab but no go.

[Tiangou]

rgG wrote:
[quote=jonny]
"There’s Terrific News About the New Covid Boosters, but Few Are Hearing It"
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/15/opini...-shot.html

How do I get to the link on safari on iOS?
I tried copying the link and pasting it into a private browsing tab but no go.
Paste it into a private browsing window in Firefox and hit command+period right after the content loads to prevent the subscription-popup from blocking your view.

[rgG]

Tiangou wrote:
[quote=rgG]
[quote=jonny]
"There’s Terrific News About the New Covid Boosters, but Few Are Hearing It"
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/15/opini...-shot.html

How do I get to the link on safari on iOS?
I tried copying the link and pasting it into a private browsing tab but no go.
Paste it into a private browsing window in Firefox and hit command+period right after the content loads to prevent the subscription-popup from blocking your view.
Thanks. I haven’t tried on my MBA, only my phone. I guess it’s a no go on the phone

I just remembered my hack, open in reader view on the phone or iPad and you can see the content

[Acer]

Saving a click:

"This is terrific news, and there’s more. Not only will a booster with the new vaccines decrease the likelihood of infection and severe illness and help reduce transmission of the virus; it could also decrease the likelihood of developing long Covid.

The bad news? The boosters are getting so little fanfare, and so much unfounded skepticism, that too few people might get them, and lots of people who need not get sick, suffer or die will get sick, suffer or die."

I got mine, get yours so we can get this infernal thread unstickied already.

[rgG]

I am planning to get mine soon.

[Speedy]

Why Omicron Might Stick Around

Omicron, the 13th named variant of the coronavirus, seems to have a remarkable capacity to evolve new tricks.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/22/scien...dJrbnLs6rI&smid=share-url

But BA.5 could be fading in the rearview mirror by winter, scientists said. Omicron has continued to evolve — likely by sometimes jumping among hosts, and sometimes hiding for months in one of them.

Since these new lineages belong to Omicron, they haven’t gotten a Greek letter of their own. But that doesn’t mean they’re just a slight twist on the original. Antibodies that could latch onto earlier forms of Omicron fare poorly against the newer ones.

“They could arguably have been given different Greek letters,” Dr. Robertson said.

BA.2.75.2 is among the newest of Omicron’s grandchildren, identified just last month. It’s also the most evasive Omicron yet, according to Dr. Murrell. In lab experiments, he and his colleagues tested BA.2.75.2 against 13 monoclonal antibodies that are either in clinical use or in development. It evaded all but one of them, bebtelovimab, made by Eli Lilly.

They also tested the antibodies from recent blood donors in Sweden. BA.2.75.2 did substantially better at escaping those defenses than other Omicron subvariants did.

[deckeda]

Omicron (in my non-professional opinion) appears to functionally be the end of it for the vaccinated, as expected: You'll get it, but won't be harmed and won't be sick long.

Ask me how I know? 2nd instance achieved, he other day.

Our house got Omicron when it first came around but due to our normal isolation never got any boosters. The wife and I just came back from a convention with it. Friday afternoon and the weekend were drudgery but here it is Wednesday and we're basically done with it. So this might have the kids sick in a few days as it percolates within them (they're vaxxed.)

I'd asked here a question about boosters some weeks ago but didn't get one because the bivalent wasn't yet widely available. Now it is, so we'll do that now. But at this point I'm still unclear who I'm protecting, regardless. My initial Moderna 1-2 punch is somehow over-performing?

[Speedy]

I encourage you to stay current with all boosters.

[Speedy]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/01/08/new-covid-variant-xbb15/

Three years after the novel coronavirus emerged, a new variant, XBB.1.5, is quickly becoming the dominant strain in parts of the United States because of a potent mix of mutations that makes it easier to spread broadly, including among those who have been previously infected or vaccinated.

>>>

“XBB did not evolve because people were vaccinated,” said Vaughn Cooper, a professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Pittsburgh. “The way it evolved, let’s be straight, is because people were infected by multiple viruses at the same time.”

>>>

The nation is averaging nearly 48,000 people hospitalized with covid-19 over a seven-day period, the highest since late February but far below the 150,000 peak set about a year ago. The average daily count of hospitalized patients is up by about 20,000 since Thanksgiving.