COVID-19 Discussion (No Politics)

What I learned from this post:

Fenstermacher, the long, weird last name of a kid I used to work with, means “window maker”. Interesting.

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An interesting take to consider. Basically, the difference in epidemic and endemic is the speed of ‘outbreaks’. With such a high reproductive number, covid (Omicron, but maybe an even more contagious strain/variant) will find a place with waning immunity and we’ll see a spike. Endemics are more constant slow simmers (but generally Ro < 1) like Malaria - always there (hopefully with mRNA we can find a vaccine) but not surging.

We likely will have to maintain or re-introduce periodic measures (oh boy, that’s not going to go well) in some places. There’s no way we aren’t going to need boosters (whether that’s updated ones tailored for variants, a mega-coronavirus version, nasal, whatever) for the foreseeable future/rest of our lives. And there’s always threat of another - recently read of a Neo-CoV in bats that is like MERS & Covid-19 had a baby and is one mutation away from jumping to humans (sorry for any fear-mongering).

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And how are we doing?

Most states have peaked in cases. Seems like the edges of the fire are getting close (ID, MT, MN, WY, KY, AK). Hospitalizations seem near peak for most states (UT - what are you doing?! :wink: ) except east coast which look to be turning over. Most places had a peak near (some slightly above/some slightly below) prior peaks so Omicron, being less virulant, was countered by the sheer numbers of people getting it. Deaths are always a little lumpier and lag, but should turn over a week or two after hospitalizations do.

Hoping for a quiet period and a little more normalcy. Probably will last until 1) immunity starts to wane and/or 2) a variant that escapes immunity emerges. We need to get the world vaccinated. We need a regular booster plan (once a year? 6 months? changes with variants?).

And finally, from a source I don’t rely on:

Djokovic is a joke. He has huge stakes in a covid drug. Anti-vaxxers will hate their hero for being a fraud. Others will say, “I told you so”. I’m sure it irked him seeing Nadal pass him and Federer’s 20 grand slams as he usually owns the Australian Open. And the whole ordeal of getting kicked out of the country (I do think it was more political/giving legitimacy to his views than it should have been) made him look pretty shady.

She seems like an outlier to me. I hope I am right.

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Interesting research here.

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So the guy I know who had COVID in 2020 who believes he’s got perfect immunity now is full of it. I suspected as much.

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One of the movie lines I just can’t seem to get out my head is from Die Hard when the late great Alan Rickman says, “Schiesse dem fenster”, then has to repeat himself in English to Alexander Godunov to “Shoot the glass”. I had taken some German both in high school and at the U and when I heard that in the theater, I lit up, cause I knew what Rickman was trying to say!

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So when you switch from Windows to Unix, is it castration or defenestration?

I’ve been having some weird back pain and overall body aches. I thought it might have been from a mistake in form working out, but now I’m starting to think I caught something from the fam damily over the Chinese New Year festivities. Maybe I’ll burn one of those free tests.

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I would recommend a test to confirm or rule it out. I had some infection (night sweat, aches, then really bad back pain - right in the middle). I thought it was an injury from working out (but couldn’t think of when/what). Later I thought it was covid, but then I did have covid 2 or so weeks later (tested positive). So who knows. Slept with a heat pad which helped and had pain for about 10 days.

I used to root for guys like Djokovic and Aaron Rodgers, but not anymore. Nothing like a good pandemic to help identify the schmucks in sports and entertainment!

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Fixed that for you :slight_smile:

Also, I spell ■■■■■■■■ differently than you, but potato/potatoe.

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I spell it the same, I just thought this was a family entertainment board. :grinning:

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Silly me. I thought this was a widespread effort in every state.

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Maybe some folks don’t want to know.

Here’s CNN’s COVID expert (at least I think that’s her role with CNN) with another take:

Maybe the multi-vitamin I’ve been taking for a few years helped me.

Here’s where we get “D”:

And here I thought it was the histamine blockers I take so my eyes won’t swell shut due to mold allergies.

I take vitamin D to lessen symptoms of depression in the winter months.

Lots of people have that problem. I have a relative who suffers from seasonal effective disorder, resulting directly from the shorter days in the winter, and presumably the reduced sunshine (the best natural source of vitamin D).

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