SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus (COVID-19)

My understanding is the new variant is more contagious and resistant to existing treatments but less lethal:.

• The Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant of concern (VOC) has become the dominant variant in many parts of the United States. The Omicron variant, which includes numerous mutations in the spike protein, is predicted to have markedly reduced susceptibility to several anti-SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), especially bamlanivimab plus etesevimab and casirivimab plus imdevimab. Sotrovimab appears to retain activity against the Omicron variant.
• With the rapid rise in the prevalence of the Omicron VOC, it is anticipated there will be a limited supply of therapeutic agents that are active against the variant (e.g., the anti-SARS-CoV-2 mAb sotrovimab and small molecule antiviral agents, once they become available) for patients who are at high risk of progression to severe COVID-19 and who might benefit from these therapies.
• Some SARS-CoV-2 variants, including the Omicron variant, have Δ69-70 deletion in the spike (S) gene.
  • TaqPath™ tests for three proteins of SARS-CoV-2 so will still detect the virus but will fail to detect the S gene protein specifically.
  • This particular mutation leads to failure of one of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targets (sometimes called S-gene target failure (SGTF)) when the virus is tested with assays that include an S gene target, including the Thermo Fisher Scientific TaqPath™ COVID-19 Combo Kit diagnostic assay.
  • Such assays can be used as a screen to presumptively identify SARS-CoV-2 variants that have the Δ69-70 deletion, including the Omicron variant.
  • Delta does not have this Δ69-70 deletion; therefore, infections due to Delta variant would not produce a SGTF profile.

Source_2: Omicron: What we know about Covid strain prompting fresh global restrictions | Financial Times

Omicron: What we know about Covid strain prompting fresh global restrictions

Variant is more infectious and has higher resistance to vaccines but may be less virulent​

I have fresh face masks in the cars and not afraid to use them.

Bob Wilson​

 

Indeed different worlds. I'm living in Dixie.

Bob Wilson

 

US is indeed very fortunate. Vaccine manufactures Pfizer, Moderna and another all have vaccines for the new variants made. Pfizer and Moderna have received FDA approval for their new vaccines with the 3rd manufacturers approval on the way. End of September vaccines are supposed to begin being distributed for those so inclined. Very lucky to have this option - catching the virus with its sometimes severe effects and aftereffects being a personal choice rather than a fact of life here.

Currently flu is making its appearance in our neck of the woods just to add another variable to the equation.

Received my flu vaccine last Tuesday, and I will probably get the Covid Vaccine in October on the advice of my Doctor. I concede he probably knows what is best health wise for me based on his education, experience and knowledge he has gained about me through tests, blood work etc. - I certainly ask questions and want explanations for his recommendations but will do what he says. I have no medical degrees and nothing close to his experience he gained in treating patients.

 

Vaccine burnout, I expect low uptake. Now they’re pushing the new RSV vaccine.
I think it’s going to take full hospitals, morgues and refrigerator trucks to get people back on board.
Even our local hospitals are resistant

 

Outside I’m not concerned about. We never stopped masking indoors in public places.
Our house is always open with fans bringing in fresh air when company comes, heating and cooling are through the roof

 

Gosh, the old vax did such a swell job of preventing the spread and keeping us from dying...let's form a line and get yet another booster! (What is this, #6??)

Let's disregard that perfectly healthy young people, many athletes, are falling down dead from myocardiitis. I saw one cardiologist say, in his first 20-years as a heart surgeon, that he saw two myocarditis patients. Now he's seeing two a day.

Sorry, big pharma and gubmint tyrants, I will not be your guinea pig.

 

Just nature's petri dish.

 

I'm seeing that covid-19 appears to have caused greatly increased rates of myocarditis and pericarditis. And the risk for unvaccinated covid patients is much greater than for vaccinated covid patients.

 

Having had the virus twice (red cross revealed antibodies during pint donations) yet had zero symptoms both times. In theory someone else may have contracted it from me though I had no symptoms. I could get the shot, & boosters, & still have no symptoms, & still give it to someone. Confusing?
.

 

Not necessarily.

 

Heard on NPR news, a story that claimed high IQ people got the vaccines early and low information people did not.

Here is their source:

Study findings
Individuals with the highest cognitive ability score attained a vaccination rate of 80% within 50 days of COVID-19 vaccine availability. Comparatively, those with the lowest cognitive scores reached 80% vaccine update after 180 days.​

Bob Wilson

 

Worth 1,000 words:


Bob Wilson

 

That is true of virtually all infectious diseases. Especially the successful ones.

 

Guess I'm just thinking of old fashioned vaccinations .... where you take it w/out heart risk issues, and then you are good for many many years - like whooping cough, shingles, yellow fever, polio, RSV, measles, smallpox, chicken pox, hepatitis B, tetanus diphtheria, etc. Guess it's a brave new world period .

 

Tuskegee experiments on blacks make many less likely to trust the medical industry too.

Even doctors are less trustworthy of their own industry now

https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/physicians-patients-lost-trust-in-us-healthcare-system-amid-pandemic-surv/600716/
.

 

Comparing high probabilities to low ones is not very confusing, except to people who want it to be.

 

My cardiologist says to stay vaccinated. As soon as I can get the new one I will. Have had all of them so far. Actually got Covid when I stopped wearing a mask in July 2022 and was in a single crowded confined area. So glad I was vaccinated so it wasn’t as bad, although I was just past the time to get another booster. As we know, the effectiveness wears off.
I get this directly from a real, highly experienced, cardiologist I go to. Have an appt on Friday actually.

Ask your doctor to explain it. Not a doctor, but it depends on how much you were infected too. It’s not confusing to me. The shot will prevent you from getting it as bad, if you do next time. Has no ill effect on others to get a shot.

 

There was always a risk of complications or death from those vaccines. In fact, with any drug or medication. It was the exaggeration of those risks that started the antivax movement years before COVID. No one claimed the COVID vaccine was without risk, and the evidence is showing being vaccinated has less risk of such complications than when getting sick with the disease.

You could still catch infections even if vaccinated, and you could spread the disease with a subclinical infection. Always been that way.

The flu requires annual shots. COVID is like it; multiple variants that rapidly mutate.

Nothing has changed in regards to risks. Neither has part of the population willing to spread disinformation about those risks. the only thing that changed was the speed and reach of such dishonest claims.

 

I think you summarized the facts very well in your post.

Unfortunately the anti vax movement is neither rational or factual- it is now even mired in political rhetoric and in some cases people hijacking even religion to get their views out.

Covid it seems served as a focus for this polarizing nonsense but it was a growing problem in our culture before that - individuals who were refusing to get their children inoculated against childhood diseases - using arguments of religion, political agendas, autism, ADHD and a host of other jack-in-the-box reasons have caused great concerns in the medical profession with reemergent diseases like polio- chicken pox - measles - smallpox - whooping cough and on and on.

Being anti vax gets many the attention they so desperately crave - even using their own children if necessary- and allows them to spout off political or whatever agenda they have decided to currently embrace.

I fear rational argument and even pleas of just caring about your fellow humans will fall on deaf ears and closed minds.

Measles Outbreak in Ohio Infects 82 Kids, Most of Them Unvaccinated (usnews.com)

Whooping cough claims three - In the News - Science Media Centre

Polio 2022: Why Is It Rebounding, Who Is Vaccinated and Do You Need a Booster - Bloomberg