Coronavirus All Purpose Thread: moving on?

[Raekwon]

Good to see Airdrie living up to its name.

[Fuzz]

I'm guessing that high value is erroneous, as it is from April 8th, and the 12th and 14th data show it in line with the lower values. Maybe someone took a big covid-ey deuce that day near the sample point.

[Fuzz]

Edmonton, however, is no good.

[cgy-sk-import]

Son developed fever three days ago, tested negative. Cough started Saturday morning, tested negative. Sore throat Sunday morning, tested negative. Today, higher fever still, coughing, sore throat, (going on 96 hours), tested negative. Called doctor to ask about strep, etc. Doctor said "99% chance it's Covid". So....... in that case..... what in the actual F are we relying on rapid tests for if they don't actually ever test positive. Seriously.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by cgy-sk-import

Son developed fever three days ago, tested negative. Cough started Saturday morning, tested negative. Sore throat Sunday morning, tested negative. Today, higher fever still, coughing, sore throat, (going on 96 hours), tested negative. Called doctor to ask about strep, etc. Doctor said "99% chance it's Covid". So....... in that case..... what in the actual F are we relying on rapid tests for if they don't actually ever test positive. Seriously.

Find another doctor. That sounds like strep to me, I used to get it all the time. Just because COVID-19 is around doesn't mean every other ailment suddenly buggered off, and you don't want to leave strep untreated.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by curves2000

Thank you for your very clear and well written response as this is helpful. The request for Novavax was for some friends so I will pass along the info and tell them to contact AHS and or the Health Ministry for more information.

Ironically I just came across this study on vaccine effectiveness and waning effectiveness that was published a week ago.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/l...seccestitle130

I was wondering, if you had the time or the interest, to potential breakdown some of the finer points of the results?

That looks like it largely agrees with the UK's other data. AZ seems to hold up pretty well in younger people, but struggles a bit more in the 50+ group at preventing infection. Though at this point a lot of that data is kind of out the window given Omicron's emergence. If you want more up to date data about waning (including protection against severe disease), the UK does publish weekly vaccine surveillance data with all that. Here's the latest (relevant data starts on page 5). Basically all the vaccines are struggling after 2 doses to protect against Omicron, and even the booster eventually wanes (though people who received Moderna for the first 2 doses seem to be holding up better than the rest).

They no longer seem to break down the different vaccines against hospitalization, but they did up until a few weeks ago; here's the latest (starting on page 9). 2 doses of either AZ or Pfizer was struggling at preventing severe outcomes, but 3rd doses restored protection (though a 3rd Pfizer dose did show signs of waning while Moderna didn't, at least yet).

The one caveat though, is that those numbers would include a lot of incidental hospitalizations; given the UK's extremely high vaccination rate among their older population, that would tend to underestimate vaccine effectiveness.

If you don't mind, may I ask your background or interest in the vaccine or medical field? Along with a few other posters, you have been instrumental to providing a ton of quality information and analysis on the vaccine topics that have been discussed.

Thanks again!

My work is sort of tangentially related to medical research. So part of my job is working with researchers and then synthesizing research/medical papers into broader/simpler language for other purposes (seeking funding for research, proposals, etc.).

[MacDaddy77]

Originally Posted by cgy-sk-import

Son developed fever three days ago, tested negative. Cough started Saturday morning, tested negative. Sore throat Sunday morning, tested negative. Today, higher fever still, coughing, sore throat, (going on 96 hours), tested negative. Called doctor to ask about strep, etc. Doctor said "99% chance it's Covid". So....... in that case..... what in the actual F are we relying on rapid tests for if they don't actually ever test positive. Seriously.

as mentioned could be strep

You can walk into a Shoppers and get a strep test still I think for $30 or something.

[curves2000]

Originally Posted by opendoor

That looks like it largely agrees with the UK's other data. AZ seems to hold up pretty well in younger people, but struggles a bit more in the 50+ group at preventing infection. Though at this point a lot of that data is kind of out the window given Omicron's emergence. If you want more up to date data about waning (including protection against severe disease), the UK does publish weekly vaccine surveillance data with all that. Here's the latest (relevant data starts on page 5). Basically all the vaccines are struggling after 2 doses to protect against Omicron, and even the booster eventually wanes (though people who received Moderna for the first 2 doses seem to be holding up better than the rest).

They no longer seem to break down the different vaccines against hospitalization, but they did up until a few weeks ago; here's the latest (starting on page 9). 2 doses of either AZ or Pfizer was struggling at preventing severe outcomes, but 3rd doses restored protection (though a 3rd Pfizer dose did show signs of waning while Moderna didn't, at least yet).

The one caveat though, is that those numbers would include a lot of incidental hospitalizations; given the UK's extremely high vaccination rate among their older population, that would tend to underestimate vaccine effectiveness.

My work is sort of tangentially related to medical research. So part of my job is working with researchers and then synthesizing research/medical papers into broader/simpler language for other purposes (seeking funding for research, proposals, etc.).

Thank you once again on breaking this down for us ! Much much appreciated

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by cgy-sk-import

Son developed fever three days ago, tested negative. Cough started Saturday morning, tested negative. Sore throat Sunday morning, tested negative. Today, higher fever still, coughing, sore throat, (going on 96 hours), tested negative. Called doctor to ask about strep, etc. Doctor said "99% chance it's Covid". So....... in that case..... what in the actual F are we relying on rapid tests for if they don't actually ever test positive. Seriously.

Sort of going through the same thing. My wife started feeling symptoms about 5 days ago, basically classic COVID symptoms. It started with a sore throat, then light fever, body aches, and congestion the next day, then a slight improvement of those symptoms but a total loss of taste and smell for the last couple of days. But she has tested negative 5 times now on rapid tests. I know technically you can lose taste and smell with other viruses, but that seems a bit unlikely at this point.

[GordonBlue]

We're lucky where I work as we are able to get the PCR tests.
Very little wondering if it is covid or not.

[AFireInside]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

We're lucky where I work as we are able to get the PCR tests.
Very little wondering if it is covid or not.

My first day of minor symptoms I had a negative pcr, while my wife had a positive.


I then tested negative for 3 days until the 4th day which was my first of full on symptoms. I swabbed my cheeks, the back of my throat, and touched my brain with that q tip. Positive. If my wife had not tested positive before me, I wonder if I would have just assumed it wasn't covid.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by AFireInside

My first day of minor symptoms I had a negative pcr, while my wife had a positive.


I then tested negative for 3 days until the 4th day which was my first of full on symptoms. I swabbed my cheeks, the back of my throat, and touched my brain with that q tip. Positive. If my wife had not tested positive before me, I wonder if I would have just assumed it wasn't covid.

wow. weird.

[driveway]

The school at which I work had our first two confirmed cases of Covid in the last week. Yes, first two ever.

Taiwan has been an interesting place to spend the pandemic. Day-to-day life has been more-or-less uninterrupted, though the border-control measures and quarantines have utterly obliterated one of the major reasons to live overseas and placed a huge strain on a lot of my relationships with family.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by driveway

The school at which I work had our first two confirmed cases of Covid in the last week. Yes, first two ever.

Taiwan has been an interesting place to spend the pandemic. Day-to-day life has been more-or-less uninterrupted, though the border-control measures and quarantines have utterly obliterated one of the major reasons to live overseas and placed a huge strain on a lot of my relationships with family.

Well this is certainly one of the more interesting anecdotes of the COVID sub forum. Crazy.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by driveway

The school at which I work had our first two confirmed cases of Covid in the last week. Yes, first two ever.

Taiwan has been an interesting place to spend the pandemic. Day-to-day life has been more-or-less uninterrupted, though the border-control measures and quarantines have utterly obliterated one of the major reasons to live overseas and placed a huge strain on a lot of my relationships with family.

It will be interesting to see how they unwind Covid policies there. Is the plan still Covid zero right now?

[driveway]

Originally Posted by GGG

It will be interesting to see how they unwind Covid policies there. Is the plan still Covid zero right now?

No, it's absolutely not Covid zero, they're being really, really clear that this is the time to unwind the policies. They've been moving quickly over the last weeks as case numbers have spiked to the highest in the whole pandemic towards things like at-home quarantine for mild & asymptomatic cases, and reducing the inbound traveller quarantine from 10 days to 7 (with discussion of no quarantine at all by July).

[activeStick]

I was always very supportive of the covid zero policies seen in Asia in places like China, Taiwan, Singapore, etc. It works, but I also acknowledge it also requires an accepting population which we don't have in Canada.

[Patek23]

Originally Posted by activeStick

I was always very supportive of the covid zero policies seen in Asia in places like China, Taiwan, Singapore, etc. It works, but I also acknowledge it also requires an accepting population which we don't have in Canada.

Yeah I mean killing peoples pets in bags on the streets might be a deal breaker for some here if I were to go out on a limb.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by Flaming Homer

Yeah I mean killing peoples pets in bags on the streets might be a deal breaker for some here if I were to go out on a limb.

I was more referring to the strict lockdowns to try and contain the spread. I don't think it makes sense now though with vaccines.

[calgarygeologist]

I'm not sure if this is interesting or if it is something significant or worthy of taking note of but the Covid hospitalization rate in Alberta is now the highest for the group with 3 doses and is outpacing the unvaccinated group.