SARS CoV-2 coronavirus / Covid-19 (No tin foil hat silliness please)

[11101]

Have there been any studies on post-covid common colds etc.? I feel like since I had covid in December I’m getting colds far more regularly and they’re hitting me far worse too. Had one for a couple of weeks now and it’s been rough. Went to the doctors and they told me it was just a common cold. Doesn’t feel like it.

You've had 2.5 years of handwashing, masks and distancing. Your body has forgotten some of its skills in preventing and fighting the various common colds.

This coming winter will be quite brutal for the regular flu I imagine.

 

[zing]

What are the chances of getting that blood clot related issue if I boost using the AstraZeneca vaccine? First two were AZ as well

 

[decorativeed]

What are the chances of getting that blood clot related issue if I boost using the AstraZeneca vaccine? First two were AZ as well

No expert, unlike @jojojo, but I believe I read that the reaction was more likely to occur after the first one than any subsequent jabs.

 

[Dante]

What are the chances of getting that blood clot related issue if I boost using the AstraZeneca vaccine? First two were AZ as well

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...irus-vaccine-summary-of-yellow-card-reporting

Up to 8 June 2022, the MHRA had received Yellow Card reports of 444 cases of major thromboembolic events (blood clots) with concurrent thrombocytopenia (low platelet counts) in the UK following vaccination with COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca. Fifty-one of the 444 reports have been reported after a second dose. Of the 444 reports, 221 occurred in females, and 218 occurred in males aged from 18 to 93 years. The overall case fatality rate was 18% with 81 deaths, six of which occurred after the second dose.

It mostly happened with first shots. If you were fine with that - and still fine after your second shot - I wouldn't worry too much about the booster. The already tiny risk will be even smaller for you at this stage.

 

[mitChley]

Completely anecdotal but it seems to be everywhere at the moment, feel like I know more people with it now than at any other time of the pandemic.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Completely anecdotal but it seems to be everywhere at the moment, feel like I know more people with it now than at any other time of the pandemic.

It’s not just anecdotal. There’s another big wave underway. The latest omicron sub variants seem capable of escaping existing immunity and infecting a whole lot more people.

On the plus side they’re already out the other side of this wave in South Africa and it hospitalised/killed fewer people than any of the previous waves.

 

[Ted Lasso]

What are the chances of getting that blood clot related issue if I boost using the AstraZeneca vaccine? First two were AZ as well

If I'm remembering correctly, clots were more associated with Pfizer. Moderna didn't seem to have the issue. Not sure about AZ or JnJ.

As an aside, I had two Pfizer shots. Then for a Moderna booster. Couple weeks later I had a trip to the emergency and after ruling out clots been diagnosed w pericarditis. Apparently that and myocarditis being seen more in men.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/myocarditis.html

 

[11101]

If I'm remembering correctly, clots were more associated with Pfizer. Moderna didn't seem to have the issue. Not sure about AZ or JnJ.

As an aside, I had two Pfizer shots. Then for a Moderna booster. Couple weeks later I had a trip to the emergency and after ruling out clots been diagnosed w pericarditis. Apparently that and myocarditis being seen more in men.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety/myocarditis.html

Clots were AZ and were actually quite a big deal at the time. Enough to get it pulled from use in numerous countries.

Heart inflammation was linked to Pfizer and Moderna but was much rarer / less severe.

 

[Ted Lasso]

Clots were AZ and were actually quite a big deal at the time. Enough to get it pulled from use in numerous countries.

Heart inflammation was linked to Pfizer and Moderna but was much rarer / less severe.

Ah that sounds about right.

Edit: pardon my venting below. I'm just really exhausted, frustrated from my current health status

I checked out a little then - I couldn't stand the rhetoric from either the pro or anti vaccine side on the issue. As expected, here we are a year onwards and a middle of the road voice would have once again been the correct answer: vaccines were effective but yes there are side effects, albeit rare.

Was reading that the heart complications are 1 in 10,000. That's classified as rare. Shame to fall into it but my biggest gripe was that the US didn't offer to subsidize any medical costs associated with ill effects. We don't have to debate the challenge in connecting the dots to approve payments but it's the principle. I'm nearing $1000 in medical bills and that's with outstanding private health insurance. Not to mention it's months between fecking specialist appointments because of a large hcp shortage.

 

[Stanley Road]

Well I managed to avoid it for 2.5 years but tested positive today

 

[decorativeed]

Ah that sounds about right.

Edit: pardon my venting below. I'm just really exhausted, frustrated from my current health status

I checked out a little then - I couldn't stand the rhetoric from either the pro or anti vaccine side on the issue. As expected, here we are a year onwards and a middle of the road voice would have once again been the correct answer: vaccines were effective but yes there are side effects, albeit rare.

Was reading that the heart complications are 1 in 10,000. That's classified as rare. Shame to fall into it but my biggest gripe was that the US didn't offer to subsidize any medical costs associated with ill effects. We don't have to debate the challenge in connecting the dots to approve payments but it's the principle. I'm nearing $1000 in medical bills and that's with outstanding private health insurance. Not to mention it's months between fecking specialist appointments because of a large hcp shortage.

I'm sure if you go back through this thread, you'll find plenty of people saying just that, as it's true in the case of pretty much every vaccine. And I believe that is a pro-vaccine line anyway. Nothing is without risk, but on balance, it works out in favour of the vaccine causing less harm than the virus and its own effects and consequences. This will inevitably be the same when the next pandemic hits us. Sadly, I think you've gone through this one in the country that politicised it more than any other.

 

[Ady87]

7 people in my office off with COVID currently. It feels like everyone I know is impacted by it in one way or another at the minute. Not looked at what the reporting/numbers say in over a year though.

 

[moses]

I have it for the first time, and I've never known so many of my immediate friends and acquaintances to have it simultaneously.

 

[Stanley Road]

I have it for the first time, and I've never known so many of my immediate friends and acquaintances to have it simultaneously.

We've gotten slack, nobody cares anymore if they go out with covid, there are no guidelines.

 

[moses]

We've gotten slack, nobody cares anymore if they go out with covid, there are no guidelines.

I have teen kids, it's a miracle I only got it now.

 

[Stanley Road]

I went to the supermarket earlier with a face mask on. I'm not going to be the only person adhering to guidelines. feck em

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Seeing a lot more patients coming in with it over the last couple of weeks.

I have seen more unwell children than adults admittedly - albeit the adults have generally been quite fit people with no medical background.

I was expecting people to relax, which is fair enough given what we’ve been through, but I was hoping for some alterations to life being stuck with. Saw some knobhead in the gym earlier coughing away into his hand, continued to use the equipment and didn’t bother wiping it down afterwards. COVID or not, other viral infections still exist.

 

[Camilo]

Clots were AZ and were actually quite a big deal at the time. Enough to get it pulled from use in numerous countries.

Heart inflammation was linked to Pfizer and Moderna but was much rarer / less severe.

The az blood clot thing was a storm in a teacup. There was never an issue. Give enough people something and you'll get a few deaths.

 

[Dumbstar]

A colleague of mine self tested as he was going to visit grand parents. He wasn't feeling ill or showing any symptoms. But he came out positive.

Isn't this endemic stage of infections with minimal serious outcomes the best case scenario we were praying/hoping for a year ago? Why the mini panic now? Is there a mini panic?

 

[jojojo]

Ah that sounds about right.

Edit: pardon my venting below. I'm just really exhausted, frustrated from my current health status

I checked out a little then - I couldn't stand the rhetoric from either the pro or anti vaccine side on the issue. As expected, here we are a year onwards and a middle of the road voice would have once again been the correct answer: vaccines were effective but yes there are side effects, albeit rare.

Was reading that the heart complications are 1 in 10,000. That's classified as rare. Shame to fall into it but my biggest gripe was that the US didn't offer to subsidize any medical costs associated with ill effects. We don't have to debate the challenge in connecting the dots to approve payments but it's the principle. I'm nearing $1000 in medical bills and that's with outstanding private health insurance. Not to mention it's months between fecking specialist appointments because of a large hcp shortage.

How are you getting on now? Is it arrythmia or something else that's causing trouble now?

In a way, it's hard for us Europeans to visualise the problem created by the lack of a public health service in the US on things like this. Compensation schemes here can be sluggish to pay out but at least you aren't clocking up medical bills as well while you're waiting.

I know there's a government compensation in the US as well, but I've no idea how quick, generous or inclusive it is.

In terms of the raw averages, we know that vaccines are safer than Covid - in all approved age groups. But certainly by the time you get to people talking about fourth booster doses in healthy under 30s, the numbers aren't nearly so clear cut.

At any rate, there's still a lot of monitoring and research underway, so hopefully we'll know more before any new booster campaign starts in the autumn.

Good luck getting your own health issues sorted.

 

[DeGea’sFeet]

A colleague of mine self tested as he was going to visit grand parents. He wasn't feeling ill or showing any symptoms. But he came out positive.

Isn't this endemic stage of infections with minimal serious outcomes the best case scenario we were praying/hoping for a year ago? Why the mini panic now? Is there a mini panic?

Having half a police/fire station, or hospital ward off work because they have covid won’t be good for anyone even if the virus is currently mild for most people.

 

[DeGea’sFeet]

It’s not just anecdotal. There’s another big wave underway. The latest omicron sub variants seem capable of escaping existing immunity and infecting a whole lot more people.

On the plus side they’re already out the other side of this wave in South Africa and it hospitalised/killed fewer people than any of the previous waves.

Do you think we might get a variant that becomes more deadly or will future variants continue to get weaker but more easily transmissible?

 

[Anustart89]

Having half a police/fire station, or hospital ward off work because they have covid won’t be good for anyone even if the virus is currently mild for most people.

But the point is that if the virus is mild for the vast majority of people then the entire police force doesn’t need to stay at home if they have it. We didn’t shut down police stations or fire stations due to outbreaks of common cold, or even the flu, previously.

 

[acnumber9]

I’ve tested positive for this for the first time. I wouldn’t have thought twice about my symptoms pre COVID. So far it has been incredibly mild.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

But the point is that if the virus is mild for the vast majority of people then the entire police force doesn’t need to stay at home if they have it. We didn’t shut down police stations or fire stations due to outbreaks of common cold, or even the flu, previously.

It’s going to be tricky to get the workforce back to normal working practices after covid. There’s been a big shift in attitude where most people who would have gone to work smothered with a cold/flu will never do that again. Theoretically it should reduce the total number off sick, as it cuts down workplace transmission. I’m not sure the equation is that simple though. It’s easily open to abuse though and might need a whole rethink about staffing levels everywhere.

 

[jojojo]

Do you think we might get a variant that becomes more deadly or will future variants continue to get weaker but more easily transmissible?

Not Pogue but, I don't think there are any guarantees. Alpha was both more infectious and more dangerous than the original Wuhan virus. Delta was worse on both counts than Alpha. Omega is more contagious, and a lot better at avoiding existing immunity but milder for most people.

In Europe we've already reached the point where the combination of people vaccinated and/or in who have past infection is so high that it's becoming hard to find people who are truly experiencing the virus for the first time. That means it's also becoming increasingly difficult to calculate whether the virus really is milder or if it's simply that our immune system is better prepared.

At the moment it looks like the latest version of Omicron is infecting mostly people who've not had Covid before but we won't have full data on that, or on its severity for a couple more weeks.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Not Pogue but, I don't think there are any guarantees. Alpha was both more infectious and more dangerous than the original Wuhan virus. Delta was worse on both counts than Alpha. Omega is more contagious, and a lot better at avoiding existing immunity but milder for most people.

In Europe we've already reached the point where the combination of people vaccinated and/or in who have past infection is so high that it's becoming hard to find people who are truly experiencing the virus for the first time. That means it's also becoming increasingly difficult to calculate whether the virus really is milder or if it's simply that our immune system is better prepared.

At the moment it looks like the latest version of Omicron is infecting mostly people who've not had Covid before but we won't have full data on that, or on its severity for a couple more weeks.

Just to add to this (which is spot on) you can think of the variants as branches on a family tree. So long as we keep getting branches from the omicron lineage we should be ok. And omicron is so dominant that seems likely.

The big worry is an immune evasive variant that branched off much further back on the tree. If this happens it will most likely come from an animal reservoir and could cause much higher lethality than the variants we’re dealing with now. Which sounds scary but it’s nothing we haven’t been on alert for with influenza, going back several decades.

 

[Abizzz]

So I've managed to dodge this shit 2 1/2 years and now I have family who insisted on going to huge events and visit afterwards...

Guess what they brought? Feckin hell

 

[berbatrick]

My father is 77, and just got it. First 2 days were hell, since he was already on antibiotics for a tooth extraction, which meant cough, bad weakness, fever, some breathlessness, but also a bad stomach and vomiting (probably from the antibiotics). Age made me really nervous. He seems better now.

Now my mother and me are probably getting it too - just a sore throat and blocked nose so far for both.

 

[DeGea’sFeet]

@jojojo @Pogue Mahone

Thanks for the replies guys, and also for putting it in a way that was very easy to understand.

 

[Buster15]

My father is 77, and just got it. First 2 days were hell, since he was already on antibiotics for a tooth extraction, which meant cough, bad weakness, fever, some breathlessness, but also a bad stomach and vomiting (probably from the antibiotics). Age made me really nervous. He seems better now.

Now my mother and me are probably getting it too - just a sore throat and blocked nose so far for both.

Sorry to hear that. My very best wishes to you all.

 

[Pexbo]

Anyone know if there is any plans around booster jabs for all in the UK coming into winter or is it just the most vulnerable?

I guess probably not and they’re just counting on everyone to have had a natural booster with how it’s ripping through the population right now.

I’ve somehow still avoided it despite pretty much everyone at work coming down with it in the last month.

 

[Jacko21]

Anyone know if there is any plans around booster jabs for all in the UK coming into winter or is it just the most vulnerable?

I guess probably not and they’re just counting on everyone to have had a natural booster with how it’s ripping through the population right now.

I’ve somehow still avoided it despite pretty much everyone at work coming down with it in the last month.

JCVI recommendation is for those in the following cohorts to be offered another dose in the autumn:

• residents in a care home for older adults and staff
• frontline health and social care workers
• all those 65 years of age and over
• adults aged 16 to 64 years who are in a clinical risk group

It was also reported that the over 50's may be included too.

 

[Stanley Road]

What are we boosting against? Boosting a vaccine not built for latest variant, pointless

 

[Stanley Road]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/01/herd-immunity-covid-virus-vaccine

 

[F-Red]

Media hysteria working overtime at the moment it seems.

 

[Gambit]

Yay, it's finally my turn. Avoided it for the entire pandemic. Left my freelancing to start a new job and within 2 weeks got it.

 

[arnie_ni]

Well I managed to avoid it for 2.5 years but tested positive today

I went to the supermarket earlier with a face mask on. I'm not going to be the only person adhering to guidelines. feck em

Do you not have to isolate in your country anymore?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Do you not have to isolate in your country anymore?

Sounds like he’s being a selfish twat. Which is not a huge surprise.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/01/herd-immunity-covid-virus-vaccine

That’s scaremongering melodrama from someone who should know better. There’s a lot of it about. Scientists desperately clinging on to their place in the spotlight.