Coronavirus

[Cancer]

Never bind your communications to a medium over which you have no control.

[dmjalund]

3 hours ago, Cancer said:

Never bind your communications to a medium over which you have no control.

*stops talking*

[Lord Liaden]

6 hours ago, Cygnia said:

Twitter Ditches Its COVID Misinformation Policy

 

This looks like a bad business decision. Sure, Musk's version of Twitter will draw more crazies this way, but his moves like this are driving away the big companies whose advertising Twitter depends on, who don't want their products/services associated with a platform the majority of consumers will view as toxic.

[Old Man]

2 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

This looks like a bad business decision. Sure, Musk's version of Twitter will draw more crazies this way, but his moves like this are driving away the big companies whose advertising Twitter depends on, who don't want their products/services associated with a platform the majority of consumers will view as toxic.

 

It is a bad business decision, but business is not Musk's objective.  Amplification of conservative voices is.  Democratic politicians have seen their follower counts drop, while far right politicians have seen their follower counts skyrocket by hundreds of thousands.  Many people have discovered that their Twitter accounts suddenly started following Trump without their consent or knowledge.  Twitter costs about $3B a year to run (or it used to before Musk fired everyone), at that rate Musk will run out of money in about 63 years.

[Cygnia]

Covid-19 can live on these 5 grocery items for days—here’s how to consume them safely

[Cygnia]

The Fast-Spreading New COVID-19 Subvariant XBB Is Part of a ‘New Class’ of Omicron

 

Quote

For the past several months, Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 have dominated COVID-19 cases in the U.S. But now, there’s a class of new COVID subvariants on the rise and one in particular is getting plenty of attention. It’s called XBB—or Gryphon—and there’s a chance it could overtake everything else out there.

XBB is getting a lot of buzz because it spreads fast—and seems to be able to evade immunity that people have built up from having a previous COVID-19 infection or getting the vaccine, says William Schaffner, M.D., an infectious disease specialist and professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Still, Dr. Schaffner says, “it’s early days and we have a lot to learn.”

 

[Lord Liaden]

I got a bivalent booster vaccination today. Over twelve hours later, aside from a little soreness in my shoulder, I haven't noticed any effects. (I already had a slightly runny nose and scratchy throat just from cold dry weather, but they aren't any worse.) I should be grateful, but for some reason I feel oddly disappointed.

 

I got the annual influenza vaccine at the same time. Very mild soreness in the other shoulder, otherwise nada.

[Lord Liaden]

8 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

I got a bivalent booster vaccination today. Over twelve hours later, aside from a little soreness in my shoulder, I haven't noticed any effects. (I already had a slightly runny nose and scratchy throat just from cold dry weather, but they aren't any worse.) I should be grateful, but for some reason I feel oddly disappointed.

 

I got the annual influenza vaccine at the same time. Very mild soreness in the other shoulder, otherwise nada.

 

Aaaand I spoke too soon.

 

Woke up this morning with mild fever (100 degrees Farenheit/37.8 Celcius) and chills. I also feel a bit of pressure in my head, but no pain. Nothing too distressing, but this tells me the vaccine is having an effect, which I find comforting. Symptoms kicked in around 16 hours after vaccination -- it's never taken that long before.

[tkdguy]

A lot of students at my site have been coming down with Covid lately.

[Lord Liaden]

Winter means more time indoors without ventilation in proximity to other people. COVID variants are becoming more infectious and elusive to vaccines. And the majority in most of North America and Europe have stopped wearing masks. This season will get worse, and anti-vaxxers will suffer the most. 😟

[Cygnia]

[Cygnia]

https://www.enttoday.org/article/tracheostomy-supply-shortages/?singlepage=1

 

Quote

Crystal Evans, a Massachusetts-based adult who has been ventilator dependent since 2016, is using a UV baby bottle sterilizer to maintain her stash of limited supplies. Evans started stockpiling equipment almost as soon as COVID-19 began circulating, but her foresight wasn’t enough to forestall harm. Unable to obtain adequate numbers of ventilator circuits and trach tubes, Evans developed tracheitis and bacteremia. When her ventilator circuit ripped in December 2020, Evans patched it with duct tape, as new supplies hadn’t been delivered. By January 2021, she was struggling to breathe against an inflamed airway. Her durable medical equipment (DME) provider, health insurance company, Congressman, and Senator provided little help; Evans is still getting only one ventilator circuit per month instead of the five she needs and is using trach supplies shipped to her “from friends who have lost their kids.”

To say the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the supply chain, creating shortages of necessary tracheostomy supplies, is not entirely accurate. Yes, years of COVID-related shutdowns (not to mention COVID-related deaths and disability) have led to a global shortage of medical-grade silicone, shipping delays, and workforce shortages. But those who rely on tracheostomy tubes say the supply chain has always been precarious, with few factories manufacturing the necessary equipment and their personal supply dependent on Medicaid rules that vary from state to state and DME providers who have little financial incentive to deliver the proper number of supplies.

 

[DShomshak]

We have spent two years trying to keep Covid out of the house to protect our frail and now bedridden mother. Vaccination, boosters, masking whenever we leave the house. Yesterday, my brother tested positive, with a second test for confirmation. We are now trying to keep my brother as far from our mother as possible, as much as possible, but we can't afford to, like, send him to a hotel for a week. I am terrified.

 

CORRECTION: I just thought of a way to get him out of the house for a week that's in our budget. I hope he agrees, and it's not too late to prevent contagion.

 

Dean Shomshak

[BoloOfEarth]

8 hours ago, DShomshak said:

We have spent two years trying to keep Covid out of the house to protect our frail and now bedridden mother. Vaccination, boosters, masking whenever we leave the house. Yesterday, my brother tested positive, with a second test for confirmation. We are now trying to keep my brother as far from our mother as possible, as much as possible, but we can't afford to, like, send him to a hotel for a week. I am terrified.

 

CORRECTION: I just thought of a way to get him out of the house for a week that's in our budget. I hope he agrees, and it's not too late to prevent contagion.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

C'mon, Dean, getting him arrested isn't a very nice solution.  (just kidding)  I hope all works out okay for your family and especially your mother.  Wishing you best of luck.

[Doc Democracy]

On 1/4/2023 at 6:26 PM, DShomshak said:

We have spent two years trying to keep Covid out of the house to protect our frail and now bedridden mother. Vaccination, boosters, masking whenever we leave the house. Yesterday, my brother tested positive, with a second test for confirmation. We are now trying to keep my brother as far from our mother as possible, as much as possible, but we can't afford to, like, send him to a hotel for a week. I am terrified.

 

CORRECTION: I just thought of a way to get him out of the house for a week that's in our budget. I hope he agrees, and it's not too late to prevent contagion.

 

Dean Shomshak

 

It is possible.  My son tested positive in November and we isolated him in his bedroom, aired the house, wiped surfaces, upped our hand-wash routines, and wiped down everything coming out of his room.  His meals were delivered on a tray, he left them outside his door in the evening, we picked them up in the morning (to minimise exposure to air from his room when the door opened).

 

We might have been lucky but we stacked the odds in our favour.

 

Good luck.

 

 

Doc

[archer]

1 hour ago, Doc Democracy said:

 

It is possible.  My son tested positive in November and we isolated him in his bedroom, aired the house, wiped surfaces, upped our hand-wash routines, and wiped down everything coming out of his room.  His meals were delivered on a tray, he left them outside his door in the evening, we picked them up in the morning (to minimise exposure to air from his room when the door opened).

 

We might have been lucky but we stacked the odds in our favour.

 

Good luck.

 

 

Doc

 

We did the same at two different points in time for two family members.

[Cygnia]

QAnon Star Who Said Only ‘Idiots’ Get Vax Dies of COVID

[Pariah]

Ah, the old law of conservation of angular momentum: What goes around, comes around. 

[Old Man]

Almost stole that for /r/HermanCainAward but it's a year old.  The schadenfreude is still good though.

[unclevlad]

Good catch, that was January 2022.  Which makes more sense, as case numbers were higher.

[Cygnia]

DeSantis wants to permanently ban COVID vaccine, mask requirements for Florida workers

 

[Cancer]

Makes me wish for a smallpox outbreak there.

[Lord Liaden]

Please, don't ever wish for such a thing. Smallpox doesn't discriminate based on politics, and doesn't care about guilt or innocence.

[Lord Liaden]

8 hours ago, Cygnia said:

DeSantis wants to permanently ban COVID vaccine, mask requirements for Florida workers

 

 

EDIT: Comment deleted for being inappropriate to this thread.

[unclevlad]

7 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

EDIT: Comment deleted for being inappropriate to this thread.

 

I started composing one, but realized I'd have to do the same thing if I actually wrote it....