Coronavirus

[Michael]

fwiw

How to Get Your Free At-Home COVID Tests From the U.S. Government
It turns out they will be mailing them out, after all.

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-get-your- ... 1848375992

a commenter mentions the link may be live already and you can place order here

https://special.usps.com/testkits

Awesome! Thanks for the link!

[mikechamp]

Article 2 of 2.

Expect more worrisome variants after omicron, scientists say

Get ready to learn more Greek letters. Scientists warn that omicron’s whirlwind advance practically ensures it won’t be the last version of the coronavirus to worry the world.

Every infection provides a chance for the virus to mutate, and omicron has an edge over its predecessors: It spreads way faster despite emerging on a planet with a stronger patchwork of immunity from vaccines and prior illness. That means more people in whom the virus can further evolve. Experts don’t know what the next variants will look like or how they might shape the pandemic, but they say there’s no guarantee the sequels of omicron will cause milder illness or that existing vaccines will work against them.

Currently, there are dozens of countries where less than a quarter of the population is fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. And in the United States, many people continue to resist available vaccines. “These huge unvaccinated swaths in the U.S., Africa, Asia, Latin America and elsewhere are basically variant factories,” said Dr. Prabhat Jha of the Centre for Global Health Research at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. “It’s been a colossal failure in global leadership that we have not been able to do this.”

In the meantime, new variants are inevitable, said Louis Mansky, director of the Institute for Molecular Virology at the University of Minnesota. With so many unvaccinated people, he said, “the virus is still kind of in control of what’s going on.”

https://www.kmov.com/news/expect-more-w ... 0fbbf.html

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Article 2 of 2.

Expect more worrisome variants after omicron, scientists say

Get ready to learn more Greek letters. Scientists warn that omicron’s whirlwind advance practically ensures it won’t be the last version of the coronavirus to worry the world.

Every infection provides a chance for the virus to mutate, and omicron has an edge over its predecessors: It spreads way faster despite emerging on a planet with a stronger patchwork of immunity from vaccines and prior illness. That means more people in whom the virus can further evolve. Experts don’t know what the next variants will look like or how they might shape the pandemic, but they say there’s no guarantee the sequels of omicron will cause milder illness or that existing vaccines will work against them.

Currently, there are dozens of countries where less than a quarter of the population is fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics. And in the United States, many people continue to resist available vaccines. “These huge unvaccinated swaths in the U.S., Africa, Asia, Latin America and elsewhere are basically variant factories,” said Dr. Prabhat Jha of the Centre for Global Health Research at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto. “It’s been a colossal failure in global leadership that we have not been able to do this.”

In the meantime, new variants are inevitable, said Louis Mansky, director of the Institute for Molecular Virology at the University of Minnesota. With so many unvaccinated people, he said, “the virus is still kind of in control of what’s going on.”

https://www.kmov.com/news/expect-more-w ... 0fbbf.html

Sure, there are some areas undervaccinated in the US. But overall its 63% fully vaxxed, the world is 50% fully vaxxed, and there are countries in the low single digits, not to mention countries *cough china cough russia cough* vaxxing with vaccines of undetermined efficacy.

The unvaxxed in the US accounts for roughly 1-2% of the worlds population living in an area where there are more vaxxed people than unvaxxed. If this constitutes a variant factory, you could pretty much say the entire world is a variant factory save a few isolated areas.

And, obviously we know the vaccine doesn't prevent all infections and, from the article, every infection provides a chance for the virus to mutate. Even if less time is given for a mutation in a singular vaxxed host than unvaxxed host on average, how confident are we that mutations can't occur in a vaxxed host? Ditto those with natural immunity.

It's odd I tend to agree with their conclusion, but pretty much disagree with their argument/framing.

Best case scenario is omicron is the basis for all new variants moving forward. I thought it was written in stone that delta would be, but that obviously is not the case. And, vaxxes can be updated to fight omicron infections better and natural immunity is better adjusted to fight omicron infections better. And, both are long lasting. And mutations are wildly halted. Like the common cold.

Worst case scenario is this thing mutates into something even more evasive of acquired immunity and continues to do so in perpetuity. Like the flu, only worse.

These are vastly different and impactful scenarios. Which is more likely? I lean towards the later, and it sounds like the article does as well. Though, I do so for completely different reasons, namely, that mutations will continue to occur once everyone on planet has acquired some form of immunity.

[cardsfantx]

this is why no one believes any news coming out...

"oh, now that omicron is the big thing, we can now tell you if you had a prior infection you were better off than getting the vaccine alone with delta."

again, another reason why prior infection needs to be counted for those who don't want to get vaccinated; and needs to be an option for any "vaccine mandate".

https://www.reuters.com/business/health ... 022-01-19/

People who had previously been infected with COVID-19 were better protected against the Delta variant than those who were vaccinated alone, suggesting that natural immunity was a more potent shield than vaccines against that variant, California and New York health officials reported on Wednesday.

"Before the Delta variant, COVID-19 vaccination resulted in better protection against a subsequent infection than surviving a previous infection," he said. In the summer and fall of 2021, however, when Delta became the predominant circulating iteration of the virus in the United States, "surviving a previous infection now provided greater protection against the subsequent infection than vaccination," he said.

[Arthur Dent]

The “natural immunity is fake” and “vaccination is the key to stopping new variants” bits were both always wrong arguments that flowed from the “vaccination is good, so let’s throw every potential argument that could support that position at it, regardless of plausibility, evidence, or secondary consequences” mentality.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

The “natural immunity is fake” and “vaccination is the key to stopping new variants” bits were both always wrong arguments that flowed from the “vaccination is good, so let’s throw every potential argument that could support that position at it, regardless of plausibility, evidence, or secondary consequences” mentality.

[cardinalkarp]

The “natural immunity is fake” and “vaccination is the key to stopping new variants” bits were both always wrong arguments that flowed from the “vaccination is good, so let’s throw every potential argument that could support that position at it, regardless of plausibility, evidence, or secondary consequences” mentality.

What do you feel is incorrect about that statement from AD?

[Joe Shlabotnik]

The “natural immunity is fake” and “vaccination is the key to stopping new variants” bits were both always wrong arguments that flowed from the “vaccination is good, so let’s throw every potential argument that could support that position at it, regardless of plausibility, evidence, or secondary consequences” mentality.

What do you feel is incorrect about that statement from AD?

I'm just going to say I think its a mischaracterization of the vaccine argument - vaccines have been around for centuries and the rationale for them hasn't changed.

[cardinalkarp]

The “natural immunity is fake” and “vaccination is the key to stopping new variants” bits were both always wrong arguments that flowed from the “vaccination is good, so let’s throw every potential argument that could support that position at it, regardless of plausibility, evidence, or secondary consequences” mentality.

What do you feel is incorrect about that statement from AD?

I'm just going to say I think its a mischaracterization of the vaccine argument - vaccines have been around for centuries and the rationale for them hasn't changed.

Please quit acting like this vaccine is anything close to the traditional vaccines, because it’s just not.

But the talking heads in this country not wanting to recognize natural immunity as a thing, as well as stating the vaccines stop new variants (also incorrect, and there are counter arguments that show they can actually drive variants to become dominant in populations) has done nothing to help their cause regarding the promotion of vaccines.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

it's a matter of duty. Again, that's all I will say.