outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

...although regrettably my new work experience position is in a cramped social care centre with no windows!

My last vax was booster November, I'm wondering whether to get a new one now, or hold out for the New Improved shot in the fall.

*My last booster was November, I mean

Chuck otm about worrying.

I'd wait until the booster.

Still haven't to my knowledge had COVID, wonder whether I ever will. Will be getting another booster this fall when the new ones are out.

i scheduled my dad for a vaccine today, but the pharmacy told him that new vaccines are expected next month and to just wait: https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/25/health/covid-vaccine-release/index.html

i haven't kept up on vaccines since getting my bivalent one back in 2022 that addressed omicron. have there been any new vaccines since the omicron bivalent one?

No, but getting a second bivalent jab since then proved easy.

xp - nothing new released since the initial bivalent vaccine

but the pharmacy told him that new vaccines are expected next month and to just wait

this is the current conventional wisdom https://www.nytimes.com/article/covid-booster-fall.html

i turned 65 a few days ago which i think entitles me to another jab, but i think i'm going to wait for the new vaccine, although it seems like the disease has already moved on from there. decisions decisions.

i will admit to being somewhat petrified of "long vax," which is apparently a thing. although "rare."

although it seems like the disease has already moved on from there. d

What I've read suggests the new booster will offer enough protection against the new variant

I can't get any vaccines for awhile because of my cancer treatments (and haven't had any for quite awhile), so I will simply not get covid.

Well I’ve got it again, number two, even though
I’ve been masking more often for the past couple weeks. Not often enough I guess! We’re on holiday at a rental apartment, so that’s complicated too :/

https://open.substack.com/pub/yourlocalepidemiologist/p/ba286-update

Somewhat more reassuring news on latest variant

My mom finally tested positive for the first time, after coming back from a trip to the UK. She's probably already on the tail end of the infection (whose manifestation was clouded by jet lag), and so far she says she's had worse colds; very mild symptoms, no fever, etc. Hopefully it stays that way! She'd steadily let down her guard over the years, as far as masking goes, but at a certain point it may be have been inevitable, given she's a big traveller. As a retired pediatrician her armchair theory has been that she has been exposed to countless coronavirus strains over the decades, giving her some latent protection.

My friend is a paediatric consultant and is one of the only few people I know to have never tested positive, despite working in a hospital throughout (and testing throughout). So poss something in that theory! Although tbf all of her colleagues have had it over the past couple of years, some badly.

seems like there's an outbreak at my wife's workplace, fella came into work feeling under the weather, "feel weak, like i got hit by a truck, but i tested negative so it seems ok!" and sat in on an all-day conference. her closest co-worker came down with it over the weekend and is going thru hell at present. similar to her boss and his recent experience: throat feeling like it's got broken glass shredding everything, difficulty drinking and eating, fever, exhaustion, etc.

the local nextdoor remains lit with antimaskers, claiming they're ineffective, claiming it's all about control. it's like 2021 again.

Does your wife's job offer sick leave? If so, absolutely no reason why even someone with a legit cold should be showing up -- or at least wearing a mask.

they're not even really keeping track of who comes in! it's very hybrid-friendly. my wife's co-worker (who caught it) heard him say that and yelled at him to go home. he talked to him for perhaps thirty seconds.

i think some people are just in denial about what they might have and of course i guess if the test says negative they just assume, even when they're not always helpful.

zero reason why anyone feeling slightly under the weather shouldn't wear a mask around others. this is one of the reasons i keep wearing one: i don't trust everyone around me to do the right thing (and based on the number of hacking coughs and sneezes in grocery stores, maybe i'm right.)

Alfred, you are 100% correct of course, buy I have known and worked for a frightening number of middle managers who, even here in 2023, do not share that view. Not my direct manager, but another in my department even said in an all hands meeting, "I know it's that time of year, but if you can walk, you can come in to work". I was appalled that this was met with complete and utter silence by the two senior leaders in the room.

Point being, I've known some smart people with good intentions that feel either directly, or indirectly, brow-beaten, shamed or threatened to feel like they MUST come into the office.

Distressingly, yet another lesson that should have been learned from the pandemic, but has already been forgotten because... well, capitalism.

"similar to her boss and his recent experience: throat feeling like it's got broken glass shredding everything, difficulty drinking and eating"

yeah, this is me on day 8

Luckily my manager has been very clear that if you have any symptom that could possibly be covid, you should work from home.

Fortunately most of us are sensible enough to just stay home, regardless of the shaming or w/e, but we do have one employee that ALWAYS comes in sick. It drives me bananas.

Have you ever made a joke at their expense? I used to in the pre-COVID days about an employee who insisted on coming in with sniffles: "Don't you have a life? Stay home. It's a day off."

70 y.o. sis in law tested positive for the first time ever over the weekend, and a friend who's a metro bus driver finally caught it for sure last week.

xpost - yeah, many variations thereof, she's a gruff old schooler who just grumbles back, "are you gonna get my work done when I'm not here?!?"

Alfred, you are 100% correct of course, buy I have known and worked for a frightening number of middle managers who, even here in 2023, do not share that view. Not my direct manager, but another in my department even said in an all hands meeting, "I know it's that time of year, but if you can walk, you can come in to work". I was appalled that this was met with complete and utter silence by the two senior leaders in the room.

Point being, I've known some smart people with good intentions that feel either directly, or indirectly, brow-beaten, shamed or threatened to feel like they MUST come into the office.

Distressingly, yet another lesson that should have been learned from the pandemic, but has already been forgotten because... well, capitalism.

my wife is absolutely refusing to go into the office more than she needs to and she's the only one masking.

there's another (awful-sounding) executive at the company who had someone working for her, and this someone was masking because she had some concerns about a visiting relative, and she told this exec that. later in an all-hands meeting, the exec called out this employee and said, "why are you wearing that? take it off." i do believe that employee quit.

The Food and Drug Administration approved a new round of vaccines against COVID-19.

The vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer and its partner BioNTech were approved Monday for people 12 and older and under an emergency use authorization for children ages 6 months to 11 years old.

"Vaccination remains critical to public health and continued protection against serious consequences of COVID-19, including hospitalization and death," said Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, in a statement. "The public can be assured that these updated vaccines have met the agency's rigorous scientific standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality. We very much encourage those who are eligible to consider getting vaccinated."

sign me up

I'll never stop!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5wEfqFoX-Q

Leeeeeeeroy Jenkins

Glad to see eua for kids get the nod at the same time

Put it in my veins! (Literally)

I’ve got covid right now. Personal and anecdotal evidence def points to this thing hitting and not testing positive till a day or two later. So um if you’re suddenly fatigued and feel a bit crappy and test negative don’t tell everyone “it must be allergies” and go about your business. I’d say there’s an 87% chance you have covid and will test positive in a day or two. That’s my scientific analysis.

Best you can do is start quarantining least you can do is wear the mask and don’t exert yourself.

keep masking as much as you can y'all

yep

Same thing happened to me two weeks ago when I caught it. First day tested negative but had a feeling it was the 'vid. Sure enough tested negative the next morning.

Woo-hoo!

CVS Health® (NYSE: CVS) today announced that the updated COVID-19 vaccine recently authorized by the FDA and recommended by the CDC is now available at its CVS Pharmacy locations. Pharmacies will begin receiving the new vaccine today and will continue to receive inventory on a rolling basis throughout the week. All CVS Pharmacy locations are expected to have the vaccination in stock by early next week.

I made my Monday afternoon appointment.

booster booked for Saturday (along with flu). flying to Europe later that day, hopefully this isn't a bad idea.

and too early for the new shot?

ok, spoke to pharmacist: old vaccines are gone, supposed to get new supply sometime between "now" and Monday (this is a CVS).

A nurse friend tipped me off. Bivalent vaccines no longer available; new formula should be in some locations as early as Saturday. My CVS locations had Saturday appointments already.

iiuc authorization for the old shot was revoked, so a pharmacy should either give you the new shot or nothing.

Booked a Monday afternoon appointment at CVS

Dang! CVS just cancelled my appointment for tomorrow, as they don't yet have the new brew. Rescheduled for Saturday. I guess fingers crossed I'll have a sore arm that night?

Jabbed today!

Just waiting on my workplace. (They say they'll likely have it by the end of the week.)

Jabbed over the weekend (new covid in one arm, shingles in the other).