COVID19 2022

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

As we enter the third year of the pandemic, I thought it might be time to start a new COVID-19 thread. The other thread is quite lengthy.

Here is current news on COVID-19:

Pfizer CEO Says Fourth COVID-19 Vaccine Dose "Is Necessary"

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“The protection that you are getting from the third, it is good enough, actually quite good for hospitalizations and deaths. It’s not that good against infections but doesn’t last very long,” he said. “But we are just submitting those data to the FDA, and then we will see what the experts also will say outside Pfizer.”

When John drove me to get my booster, he said, "I wonder whether we'll need another booster." I replied that I was certain we would need another booster, and probably one every 6 months. I'm not clairvoyant. I've just been paying close attention to how this virus mutates, and I'm sure we'll be getting COVID boosters for a long time.

Booster Effectiveness Wanes After 4 Months, Study Shows

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During the time when the Omicron variant dominated, the vaccines provided 87% effectiveness against emergency room visits and 91% effectiveness against hospitalizations two months after the booster, the study showed. Four months after the booster shot, effectiveness dropped to 66% against ER visits and 78% against hospitalizations.

As per guidelines, I'm waiting out my second week after my booster, before I do anything risky, like going outside. So, technically, I will have 3 1/2 months, before I'll need another booster. Then, I will have to wait 2 weeks, before it kicks in, and I get another 3 1/2 months. Now, I am glad that I waited to get the first booster.

China Battles Multiple COVID-19 Outbreaks, Driven by Stealth Omicron

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Much of the current outbreak is being driven the variant commonly known as "stealth omicron," or the B.A.2 lineage of the omicron variant, Zhang noted. Early research suggests it spreads faster than the original omicron, which itself spread faster than the original virus and other variants.

I wonder whether any scriptwriters are busy creating a new Marvel character named Stealth Omicron. The mightiest Omicron yet, determined to destroy the universe! Our weapons are vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, masks, social distancing, and isolating. Yeah, that sounds a bit worn out. As usual, we need more and bigger weapons.

Stay safe and be well everyone.

Pray for Peace!

☮️☮️☮️☮️

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[agate]

Thank you for providing a new and updated COVID-19 thread. It's too bad that we need to keep talking about this coronavirus but it is lingering, as we were warned that it would probably do.

Mask restrictions have been lifted in this state and in this building, but the state guidelines are advising those over 65 and those with weakened immune systems to continue wearing masks. Masks are still required in medical situations and public transportation. I'm still wearing mine but notice that most of my neighbor have gladly dispensed with theirs. Some even ask me why I'm still wearing one.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

(((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

agate ~

I think that COVID is here to stay for quite awhile. We are all eager for it to be over, but we're not there yet.

If someone asked me why I am still wearing a mask, I would respond, "Because COVID and other viruses are still among us." Or, I might say, "Because I don't know if you've been vaccinated, and even so, I don't want your germs."

It is obvious that I am elderly, so what further explanation is required for why I wear a mask? To protect myself!!!

I wear a mask, whenever I walk out of my home to get the mail or take out/bring in the trash bins. Why? Because, if I fall or something else happens to me, I want to be wearing a mask, when the paramedics arrive.

I have had the weird neighbor's look about my mask. My neighbors are much younger than I am, so they may not understand why I feel I must protect myself. That's fine, and I don't care. I am doing what is best for me.

And now, the President of Moderna chimes in and says that only a select group of people need a fourth shot/second booster:

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If this was a reality TV show, it would be titled, "Big Pharma Battles."

We need every one of the Big Pharma companies to be on the same side, not competing for our lives. COVID is confusing, as it has been since its discovery. We continue to receive conflicting information about how to treat it, avoid it, when to get vaccines/boosters, etc.

Science is dynamic, and things change in an instant, as we know. But, we shouldn't be left wondering which of the Pfizer or Moderna big wigs is giving us correct and the best information.

I hope we have some definitive explanation of our next booster step soon.

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[agate]

I'm hoping that we don't find out later on that some drug companies have profited hugely from COVID-19 but I fear we will.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

agate ~

I agree! History tells us that U.S. drug companies make fortunes in profit. This is one of the tenets of President Biden's program ~ to reduce the cost of pharmaceuticals in the U.S. A pandemic is the wrong time to employ capitalism. And yet, we have the two top Big Pharma dudes telling us two different things about the fourth dose/second booster. People are sick and dying from COVID, and they are marketing their vaccines.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

My very dear friend got COVID shortly after her booster. With her next routine blood work up, her blood sugar level
was almost at prediabetic. At that time, I Googled COVID and diabetes, and there were studies indicating that COVID can result in Type 2 diabetes.

Now, we have a study to verify that this is a very possible short or long term health issue caused by COVID:

COVID-19 Infection Increases Risk of Developing Diabetes, Study Finds

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Researchers from VA Saint Louis Health Care System found people who recovered from COVID were 40% more likely to develop a new case of diabetes compared to a control group.

This translates to 1 in 100 people at increased risk of developing diabetes after a COVID-19 infection. As of Monday, 79.5 million people have been infected with COVID-19 in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meaning there could 795,000 new diabetes diagnosis as a result.

COVID-19 is an insidious virus, which can cause life-long health issues. It isn't the common cold. For people with autoimmune disorders, the risk is significantly greater, and the vaccines may not have the same level of efficacy or may wane more quickly.

That is Reason #1 for why we need to keep wearing a mask.

I strongly doubt now that COVID-19 and its variants will ever be eradicated. But, if I have to have a booster every 4 months, I will do it. There are just far too many horrible long term health issues associated with being infected with COVID.

Stay safe and be well everyone!

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[Virginia]

Rose, I am sorry to hear that your friend got COVID. Other than the possible connection between that and her blood sugar being high is she alright? I hope her blood sugar returns to a more normal state soon.

[agate]

Rose, that's such sad news about your friend. We're not out of the woods yet on COVID, and it's worrisome that so many people are acting as if it's over and life will return to normal. It's almost as if the novelty of COVID has worn off, and people got bored and decided they had it in their power to just turn it off, like pressing "Delete" on the computer keyboard.

How's your friend doing now? Has she had a severe case?

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

Virginia &agate ~

Thank you for inquiring about my friend.

Her primary complaint from COVID is lingering, seemingly intractable headaches for weeks. She has other health issues, which complicate her recovery from any medical problem/infection. Given that, she is quite concerned about having Type 2 Diabetes. That would just be piling on to her current issues. So, we pray that this will abate, and her next work up will reveal a normal level.

As COVID continues to have its way with us, and people, who have had COVID, demonstrate problems, which could be related to COVID, we will learn more about "long haul COVID." There are likely many more maladies resulting from this virus, unfortunately.

I agree with you agate that society in general has grown weary of COVID and restrictions, so they want to believe that it is over and safe now. The anxiety of being denied our old life, where we didn't fear a deadly disease, propels people to jump back in now.

Impatience is engrained in modern life. We want the fastest internet speed, because ... ? Why? Remember when we had dial up in the early computer days, all the weird noises and waiting? But, we waited patiently, because we were happy to have the connection to the rest of the world. Now, life is all about Instant Gratification.

With that mindset, people are done with COVID. Eager to move on, they probably ignore daily updates on COVID. Out of sight, out of mind. The problem is, of course, that COVID is not done with us. Not by a long shot. (Pun intended.)

Please stay safe and be well everyone.

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs To All)))))) ~

The FDA has authorized a second booster shot for people over 50 years old. Pfizer's and Moderna's second booster shots will be the same formula as the first booster shot.

WHO'S ELIGIBLE FOR SECOND COVID 19 BOOSTER SHOTS -- AND WHEN TO GET THEM

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On Tuesday, the FDA announced that it has Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register... for the two vaccines to allow adults 50 and older to get a second booster as early as fourth months after their first booster dose. The amended EUA also authorizes second booster doses for certain people 12 and older who are immunocompromised.

Following the FDA's action, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its recommendations to allow a second booster dose for those groups -- and noted that adults who got a primary shot and booster dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at least four months ago may now get a second booster dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine.

And then what happens after those 4 months of protection by the second booster?

But boosters that people receive this fall or winter could be completely different, Moss said. For instance, it could be a protein-based vaccine -- like the one from Novavax, which Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register... -- it could be a vaccine administered as a nasal spray, or it could be a vaccine specifically developed to target a certain variant, such as Omicron.

"There's been a discussion for several months now about Omicron-specific vaccines, and my understanding is that the data on those will be available in May. But many people may be better off -- if not most people -- getting an Omicron-specific booster should that become available. The timing on that is not clear," Moss said. "The point is that in the coming months to year, there may be more options for booster doses that actually may be better than another dose of the original mRNA vaccine."

The ever-evolving saga of COVID 19, and science trying to keep up with it.

I continue to wonder whether we would be in this situation now, if more people had been willing to be vaccinated, and if masks were mandated, and social distancing was continued. I am not a scientist, but my intuition tells me that things would be much different, if we had continued to follow the guidelines for eliminating COVID 19.

Stay safe and be well everyone ~

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[SuzE-Q]

Small study, but good news:

Covid19 infection does not appear to worsen RRMS MS disability or cause relapses

"COVID-19 does not seem to be linked to increased disability worsening or more relapses in the long term for people with Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register... (RRMS), an Iranian study suggests."

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[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

SuzE-Q ~

Thank you for sharing that link. That is good news.

THE CASE FOR WEARING A MASK

COVID is spreading in Washington, D.C., and Speaker Nancy Pelosi was the latest COVID carrier announced today.

Here are two photos taken during signing protocol with President Biden in the past two days:






What is missing in these photos? M A S K S!

Is it vanity, bravado, thinking that you are too powerful to get sick, or being oblivious? These are the people, who are in charge of running our country, and they should be cautious about the potential for contracting COVID, especially, because most of them are over 50 years old!

I watched the Senate vote for our next Supreme Court Justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and most of the Senators and others in the Chamber were maskless.

What are the odds that everyone in those photos was exposed to COVID by Speaker Pelosi or anyone else present? Probably substantial.

It is foolish for us to think that everything is okay and back to "normal" (Pre-COVID days). Our leaders should be the first ones to recognize this, and wearing a mask in Chambers or at any event is vital to containing this deadly virus. People are watching them, and if they don't don a mask, then people think that they don't need to wear one either.

Meanwhile, shows on Broadway are shutting down due to COVID outbreaks among cast members.

We are not out of the woods with COVID. Be safe and wear a mask!

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[SuzE-Q]

I agree, Rose!

[agate]

For some reason I'm not seeing the photos but I did watch the hearings some of the time. It's too bad that Speaker Pelosi has tested positive as she is 82, according to what I heard. I agree that masks have been abandoned much too soon. I'm one of the few around here who are still wearing masks.

The paratransit system and I think all of the public transportation system are still requiring masks though, and the woman who delivers my groceries wears one.

Just because people are bored with wearing masks doesn't mean everyone is in the clear. Do people seriously believe that if they pretend the virus is over and done with, it will be a thing of the past?

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

Nearly a week later since your post, agate. And guess what? Cases are beginning to surge with the new variant! Surprise, Surprise!

I am sorry that the photos didn't come through, but just know that none of the leaders in that ceremony were wearing masks. And COVID is spiking among those participants and their assistants.

It is common sense that the best way to avoid any virus is by wearing a mask. COVID is so virulent that fully vaccinated people are being infected. People, who have had COVID, are being reinfected.

So how do we defend ourselves against this virus? M A S K S.

You are right, agate, that many people want to believe that COVID is over, because they want their pre-COVID life back. They may not want to accept that life has changed forever for all of us. Unfortunately, that results in a perpetuation of the virus, including variants.

I wish that there was a simple answer to how to bring us all together globally to stop the spread of COVID. I think that it begins with continuing to wear masks.

Love & Light,

❤️❤️❤️❤️

Rose

[Virginia]

I think I will go get my 2nd booster soon. I have been thinking that for about a week. It will be five months since my first booster in another week or so.

[agate]

And I'm going to see about getting mine in about mid-May.That will be four and a half months since the first booster.