COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic

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Wounded_Dragon

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My county has a per capita rate of around 100, the hospital is full up, exceeding how bad it was back in March. The primary school corporation is on eLearning until next year. There was an article on the first local medical worker to die from covid19. It was covered less than the K9 dog that died in the line of duty.

And I have to put up with coworkers who think it's a joke.
 

TsWade2

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My county has a per capita rate of around 100, the hospital is full up, exceeding how bad it was back in March. The primary school corporation is on eLearning until next year. There was an article on the first local medical worker to die from covid19. It was covered less than the K9 dog that died in the line of duty.

And I have to put up with coworkers who think it's a joke.
I almost thought this was a hoax, but sadly, it isn’t. But, there’s hope the vaccines will come in 2021.
 

CartoonLover2604

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Yeah, they probably have, actually. Once again I do not want to be the voice of doom and I can tell you that perhaps we are seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. But please, let's keep our expectations in check and not create false hope. This is essentially preliminary data, which is a long way and a number of steps away from you making an appointment to go and get your Covid vaccine. This data has not been peer-reviewed or been printed in a medical journal. We are essentially relying on press releases from these companies. Is this for real? Probably. But manufacturing still has to happen, finding the logistics of shipping the vaccines need to take place, the vials and syringes need to be ready to go, and training on administering the vaccine needs to take place. Furthermore, let's remember these vaccines have not been approved yet, and that doesn't happen overnight. Also, unless you're one of the most vulnerable, you likely won't get the vaccine right away.

Yes, this is promising news, but that's all it is: promising. This does not mean the pandemic is going away tomorrow. If we're lucky maybe, maybe you or I will be able to get a vaccine but the spring or summer of next year, assuming everything goes perfectly. But even the federal government here in Canada has said they don't expect to be able to vaccinate everyone before the end of last year, though they believe that most Canadians will be vaccinated by then. So yes, this is positive, but let's not jump the gun here.
Couldn't have said it better myself, I believe this vaccine won't make it through but I'm still gonna try and have some hope.
 

RDG

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Ours lasts until Dec. 17 Cuyahoga County, Cleveland issue stay-at-home advisory effective Wednesday night through Dec. 17
I still have to work, though, but most people there wear their masks on their chins instead of over their noses and mouths; others don't wear them at all, so I have to try to avoid them at all times. Now, we do get our temperatures taken, though, and there's usually no problems, but I still have to avoid people, and just in case I get touched by accident, I have to wipe down my clothes and my stuff.
 

wonderfly

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Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the head of "Operation Warp Speed", says the distribution of a vaccine could begin by Mid-December.


"Our plan is to be able to ship vaccines to the immunization sites within 24 hours from the approval, so I would expect maybe on day two after approval on the 11th or the 12th of December," Slaoui told CNN on Sunday.

"Normally, with the level of efficacy we have, 95%, 70% or so of the population being immunized would allow for true herd immunity to take place," he said. "That is likely to happen somewhere in the month of May, or something like that, based on our plans."

Slaoui's comments on Sunday echo what Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, told NPR's Morning Edition this past Tuesday. Fauci said that Americans with the "highest priority" — such as health care workers and those most at risk of the virus — will likely receive a vaccine towards the end of December.


And in another interview today, Dr. Slaoui expressed concern about vaccine skepticism.

"I'm very, very concerned about the hesitancy (to receive a vaccine) as it exists and I think it's very unfortunate because this has been exacerbated by the political context under which we have worked very hard," Dr. Moncef Slaoui, Operation Warp Speed's chief science adviser said on ABC's "This Week."

Slaoui's comments come at a time when over 40% of Americans indicated they are unwilling to receive a Food and Drug Administration-authorized vaccine to prevent COVID-19, according to a recent
Gallup poll."

So we have the potential for "return to normal" by May, but it requires people to trust in these vaccines.

My question is: If you have recovered from Covid-19 (like I and my family have), do you need the vaccine, and will these vaccines need to be administered yearly (like the flu shots)?
 

Light Lucario

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Yeah, as much as people want a vaccine, I'd rather that they don't rush it out either. I'm just worried that in the rush to get it out to the general public that they'll skip important tests or not find out about any potential side effects until it's too late. Not to mention I'm worried about how effective it would actually be if they're rushing for it. There is an obvious need for a viable vaccine or treatment so that people won't get sick or worse, but most news about the vaccine makes me more worried, or I guess anxious, partly because of these risks.

Granted, this is still potential data and there are a lot of steps before they could actually start using it, but these concerns always come to mind whenever news about the vaccine comes up. I'm certainly not against vaccines, but getting one out for a virus within a little over a year does make me question it more than anything else.
 

Classic Speedy

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Spideyzilla

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social distancing and masks wkllMy question is: If you have recovered from Covid-19 (like I and my family have), do you need the vaccine, and will these vaccines need to be administered yearly (like the flu shots)?
That’s a very good question. My guess is yes, though you’d likely be at the very back of the line. It’s been proven that re-infection is possible but so rare it’s almost not a concern. That said, since there aren’t clear answers on how long antibodies last, I think eventually you’d be able to get it.

If the timeline put forward in the US is true, I’m deeply envious. Here in Canada, I think there’s an excellent chance many people (myself included) will not have a vaccine this time next year. Our first round of vaccines is going to begin sometime between January and March, and the number of doses will be very small. The head of the advisory committee on vaccines predicted social distancing and masks will last at least another year. Here’s a quote from her:
"If people think that by March everybody is going to be out of the woods because we're all going to get vaccinated, that doesn't work," she said.

"We expect that those non-pharmacological interventions like physical distancing, mask wearing ... will likely need to still be in place for another year or so because we don't expect most ... Canadians to have been vaccinated before that time."
 

RandomMe

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Sputnik V vaccine now has a 95% rate despite problems with its development (IIRC they skipped stages). Scientists are concerned about it.
 

wonderfly

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An interesting read: "Face Masks Don't Work as Well in the Community as the do in the Lab."
By Professors Paul Glasziou & Chris Del Mar.

Some significant quotes from that article (and it's worth reading the entire thing, but here's some highlights):

"In controlled laboratory situations, face masks appear to do a good job of reducing the spread of coronavirus (at least in hamsters) and other respiratory viruses. However, evidence shows mask-wearing policies seem to have had much less impact on the community spread of COVID-19.

Why this gap between the effectiveness in the lab and the effectiveness seen in the community? The real world is more complex than a controlled laboratory situation. The right people need to wear the right mask, in the right way, at the right times and places.

The real-world impact of face masks on the transmission of viruses depends not just on the behaviour of the virus but also on the behaviour of aerosol droplets in diverse settings, and on the behaviour of people themselves.

We carried out a comprehensive review of the evidence about how face masks and other physical interventions affect the spread of respiratory viruses. Based on the current evidence, we believe the community impact is modest and it may be better to focus on mask-wearing in high-risk situations.

..........

Why might masks not protect the person wearing them? There are several possibilities. Standard masks only protect your nose and mouth incompletely, for one thing. For another, masks don’t protect your eyes.

The importance of eye protection is illustrated by a study of community health workers in India. Despite protection by three-layer surgical masks, alcohol hand rub, gloves, and shoe covers, 12 of 60 workers developed COVID-19. The workers were then supplied with face shields (which provide eye protection) — in addition to the personal protective equipment (PPE) described above — and none of the 50 workers became infected despite higher case load."

........

Until we have the needed research, we should be wary about relying on masks as the mainstay for preventing community transmission. And if we want people to wear masks regularly, we might do better to target higher-risk circumstances for shorter periods. These are generally places described by “the three Cs”: crowded places, close-contact settings, and confined and enclosed spaces. These would include some workplaces and on public transport.

We are likely to be better off if we get high usage of fresh masks in the most risky settings, rather than moderate usage everywhere."

Or to put it another way, treating a mask like a magic talisman (aka wearing it everywhere around town, all the time, and never cleaning it, and touching it repeatedly with your fingers, but thinking "I have my mask on, so I'm safe!") may not be very protective at all.
 
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TsWade2

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An interesting read: "Face Masks Don't Work as Well in the Community as the do in the Lab."
By Professors Paul Glasziou & Chris Del Mar.

Some significant quotes from that article (and it's worth reading the entire thing, but here's some highlights):



Or to put it another way, treating a mask like a magic talisman (aka wearing it everywhere around town, all the time, and never cleaning it, and touching it repeatedly with your fingers, but thinking "I have my mask on, so I'm safe!") may not be very protective at all.

Interesting indeed.
 

TheCartoonRailfan

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Regarding the length of COVID antibodies, I found this scientific publication discussing antibodies from the 2003 SARS event. One of the main findings from this article stated that those infected with SARS still had high levels of antibodies seventeen years later. If this is true with COVID, it would be great news.

SARS Antibodies After Infection
 
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