Coronavirus All Purpose Thread: moving on?

[ikaris]

Originally Posted by GGG

Can you summarize your conclusion from this data and how it supports the notion that Covid is less dangerous than the flu for those under 65

<https://public.tableau.com/shared/9N..._link&:embed=y

Since I could not find any study data that was similar to comparing the COVID vs Flu that was recent that also compared severe outcomes by age groups, I was trying to show excess deaths within the age groups under 65 are normalizing as compared to before COVID.

This is obviously related to many things including that the vast majority of people have already been infected by COVID. Also, COVID seems to be clearly more infectious than the flu based on the number of infections seen. Even so, with excess deaths stabilizing below 65, I am suggesting that for that age group it is basically like the flu in terms of severity when infected.

I also did find this:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36341800/

A more recent IFR analysis that is age stratified that seems to support this as well.

[Snuffleupagus]

Covid global health emergency is over, WHO says:

The head of the WHO said at least seven million people died in the pandemic.

But Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the true figure was "likely" closer to 20 million deaths - nearly three times the official estimate.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-65499929

It's been a rough road, party on folks...till the next one

[CroFlames]

I've had enough of the pandemic, thank you very much.

I swear to God if someone starts another I will freaking flip out.

[Hemi-Cuda]

I wonder when, or if we'll ever be allowed to walk into a hospital again without a mask

[accord1999]

Some provinces like BC and Saskatchewan have recently removed their mandatory mask mandates for hospitals.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I've had enough of the pandemic, thank you very much.

I swear to God if someone starts another I will freaking flip out.

Awesome, I'll buy you the ticket to China because we pretty know that's where it'll start

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

I wonder when, or if we'll ever be allowed to walk into a hospital again without a mask

Probably soon, after the WHO announcement I would imagine these type of mandates will be relaxed soon.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

I wonder when, or if we'll ever be allowed to walk into a hospital again without a mask

I don't mind this policy staying long term. Every time I visited a hospital pre COVID there were always many people with clearly infectious diseases not taking any precautions to avoid spreading whatever they have to the rest of the hospital patrons and staff.

If that's one place we should need taking extra steps to avoid spreading disease, it's a hospital.

[PepsiFree]

100%.

Removing some things is just going to be throwing the baby out with the bath water. Like masking in hospitals, keep the things that make sense and protect vulnerable people at their most vulnerable.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

Covid global health emergency is over, WHO says:

The head of the WHO said at least seven million people died in the pandemic.

But Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the true figure was "likely" closer to 20 million deaths - nearly three times the official estimate.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-65499929

It's been a rough road, party on folks...till the next one

Yeah, the economist has their range at 17m-30m deaths, with their best estimate within that range being 21.8m. Just shocking how many people we lost during this pandemic.

Even more shocking is the massive loss of unity, trust and kindness amongst our species during this time.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

Covid global health emergency is over, WHO says:

The head of the WHO said at least seven million people died in the pandemic.

But Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the true figure was "likely" closer to 20 million deaths - nearly three times the official estimate.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-65499929

It's been a rough road, party on folks...till the next one

I take my Pangolin medium-rare!!!

[JohnnyB]

A bit more context to the headline

https://twitter.com/user/status/1654477334139863041

https://twitter.com/user/status/1654477534082236416

https://twitter.com/user/status/1654477679599529984

https://twitter.com/user/status/1654477742904074242

https://twitter.com/user/status/1654477855772819457

[Locke]

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

A bit more context to the headline

https://twitter.com/user/status/1654477679599529984

Speaking of variants, what happened to the rapidly emerging new variants that we saw last year? There has been no talk about variants anymore and previously seemed like the next new variants that was going to wipe us out was popping up every 6 or 8 weeks.

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Speaking of variants, what happened to the rapidly emerging new variants that we saw last year? There has been no talk about variants anymore and previously seemed like the next new variants that was going to wipe us out was popping up every 6 or 8 weeks.

Loads of new variants have emerged.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

Loads of new variants have emerged.

Why is no one telling us? What is the primary variant in circulation now?

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Speaking of variants, what happened to the rapidly emerging new variants that we saw last year? There has been no talk about variants anymore and previously seemed like the next new variants that was going to wipe us out was popping up every 6 or 8 weeks.

Widespread immunity tends to depress the rate of new variants of concern. Substitutions/mutations happen all the time, so with little to no existing immunity, a virus just needs to mutate to become more severe without impacting its ability to spread and then you have a very real risk of a more severe variant taking over.

But once the population has immunity, then the viable pathways of mutations are much more limited. So at a given substitution rate (which is relatively constant in a virus) you'll see a slower rate of new variants with higher levels of immunity (at least variants that spread widely). Basically, mutated versions of the virus are now far more likely to hit dead ends than before and only the ones that can evade prior immunity have any real chance of success.

And that's exactly what has happened. We saw Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Gamma emerge (with significant variations in severity and transmissibility) in the first 100 million or so infections. But post-vaccine/Omicron, we've seen billions and billions of infections with little change in severity.

[JohnnyB]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Why is no one telling us? What is the primary variant in circulation now?

Sorry, should have said loads of mutations and sub-variants. I think the latest was XBB 1.5 or something. There have names like Kraken and Arcturus used, but I'm not sure which colloquial name corresponds with which number.

I just don't think there's public interest anymore in hearing about them or discussing them.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Speaking of variants, what happened to the rapidly emerging new variants that we saw last year? There has been no talk about variants anymore and previously seemed like the next new variants that was going to wipe us out was popping up every 6 or 8 weeks.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...larm-1.6821752


CBC does a weekly update on covid.

[Codes]

Definitely a lot less public discussion on the ongoing evolution of the virus, but everything is still being closely monitored by the various public health apparati. That said, there is a more recent acceleration in the ramping down of efforts, and this will most definitely impact ongoing genomic surveillance efforts.

We're still seeing the emergence of variants that are competitive (i.e., XBB.1.16* and XBB.1.9*, possibly XBB.2.3*) in terms of transmisibility and immune escape. This is evidenced by the fact we are seeing an increase relative to the currently dominant XBB.1.5* lineage. But the disease is mild relative to previous variants like Delta.

Testing is down significantly, so case counts are not an overly accurate metric. We're still sitting at around a 10% test positivity rate, and detecting and sequencing the virus in waste water.

[RichieRich]

A lady from work was sick w/ the 'Vid this past week - she stayed home all week and away. I was actually somewhat surprised that she did the 'vid test. It's literally been several months since I last heard of someone getting it. This was her first (known) time getting the 'vid.