As discussed last week, I am going to shift procedures a bit. From this point forward, the Covid posts themselves will only cover Covid-19 and related issues. There will then be a second post that contains all non-Covid developments that I do not think have reason to want their own posts.
About six weeks ago my wife noticed she had a headache. She took a COVID test, and it was positive. She wasn't really very worried, having had 2+1 vaccine shots. Her symptoms were never very bad - a couple days of feeling run down.
She returned to work the next week, and after a few days came down with a much worse cold. Headache, cough, runny nose, body aches, the whole deal. Most of this resolved within a few days, but she still had a persistent cough. She suspected a COVID rebound, but never got another positive test.
It's a couple weeks later now, and the cough isn't any better. It's actually quite a bit worse - it goes all night and interrupts her (and my) sleep. At the peak (late evening) she's coughing multiple times per minute.
She called her doctor's office, and they told her not to come in because she failed the "do you have symptoms consistent with COVID" quiz. We went to an urgent care and they told her (a) she has long COVID, and (b) to get a cough suppressant. The cough suppressant has maybe helped a little bit, but the coughing situation is still pretty bad.
Anyway, does anybody have any ideas on how to improve this situation? I don't think I quite buy the "long COVID" diagnosis, but has anybody managed to cut short a case of "long X?"
How should one think about getting the annual Flu vaccine vs. getting an annual (or whatever) COVID booster?
I was planning on going in soon-ish to get a flu shot (I'm spending Thanksgiving with family including several elderly people). Does getting the bivalent booster at the same time make sense? For the same reasons? I've never been too terribly worried about the flu for myself, I've gotten it mostly to protect vulnerable family members that I see over the holidays. Is the flu vaccine more protective against transmission or has that always been as much bunk as the COVID vaccine stopping spread (or are they both _somewhat_ protective against transmission, to a high enough degree that it's worth it, even if it doesn't completely stop it?)
I've gotten three shots so far (2-shot initial series + 1 booster), plus got COVID (likely Omicron) in July, so I'm 4ish months from my last immune "boost".
For myself, I'm not that worried, and even for my family I'm not _too_ terribly concerned. But getting a shot is easy, and seems like a worthwhile thing if it will provide some level of protection.
I wonder if the Favreu point got mangled. Last December he said he was getting another Moderna dose. But that was just his third shot because he started with J&J (and then had a Moderna booster). The public health geniuses were (are still?) treating the single J&J shot as a complete series.
Say can you tell us the population of the various areas (NE/ South/ West/ Midwest) or what states are in each region. (I want to compare numbers vs total population.)
About six weeks ago my wife noticed she had a headache. She took a COVID test, and it was positive. She wasn't really very worried, having had 2+1 vaccine shots. Her symptoms were never very bad - a couple days of feeling run down.
She returned to work the next week, and after a few days came down with a much worse cold. Headache, cough, runny nose, body aches, the whole deal. Most of this resolved within a few days, but she still had a persistent cough. She suspected a COVID rebound, but never got another positive test.
It's a couple weeks later now, and the cough isn't any better. It's actually quite a bit worse - it goes all night and interrupts her (and my) sleep. At the peak (late evening) she's coughing multiple times per minute.
She called her doctor's office, and they told her not to come in because she failed the "do you have symptoms consistent with COVID" quiz. We went to an urgent care and they told her (a) she has long COVID, and (b) to get a cough suppressant. The cough suppressant has maybe helped a little bit, but the coughing situation is still pretty bad.
Anyway, does anybody have any ideas on how to improve this situation? I don't think I quite buy the "long COVID" diagnosis, but has anybody managed to cut short a case of "long X?"
How should one think about getting the annual Flu vaccine vs. getting an annual (or whatever) COVID booster?
I was planning on going in soon-ish to get a flu shot (I'm spending Thanksgiving with family including several elderly people). Does getting the bivalent booster at the same time make sense? For the same reasons? I've never been too terribly worried about the flu for myself, I've gotten it mostly to protect vulnerable family members that I see over the holidays. Is the flu vaccine more protective against transmission or has that always been as much bunk as the COVID vaccine stopping spread (or are they both _somewhat_ protective against transmission, to a high enough degree that it's worth it, even if it doesn't completely stop it?)
I've gotten three shots so far (2-shot initial series + 1 booster), plus got COVID (likely Omicron) in July, so I'm 4ish months from my last immune "boost".
For myself, I'm not that worried, and even for my family I'm not _too_ terribly concerned. But getting a shot is easy, and seems like a worthwhile thing if it will provide some level of protection.
I wonder if the Favreu point got mangled. Last December he said he was getting another Moderna dose. But that was just his third shot because he started with J&J (and then had a Moderna booster). The public health geniuses were (are still?) treating the single J&J shot as a complete series.
There was no Oktoberfest in Munich last year, so there is no useful comparison there.
Say can you tell us the population of the various areas (NE/ South/ West/ Midwest) or what states are in each region. (I want to compare numbers vs total population.)
Did you see this post by Matt Shapiro? https://polimath.substack.com/p/approving-vaccines-under-pressure#details
Reading his google docs there has some indication of heart stuff in young men. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-mAwDzRaWGixYyr8NZ4jRNlSr_oZ_Kritk-2ivxC0tU/edit