The FDA and the CDC have approved a second bivalent booster (Pfizer or Moderna) for anyone over 65 and also anyone immunocompromised. I'm getting mine on Friday as a precaution. I recommend getting a prescription, because the emergency use authorization has expired, and you might need it for your insurance. If you have no insurance, I believe you can still get it.
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https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/cdc-omicron-booster-2nd-dose-older-adults-rcna79568
I was wondering about this happening. I am immunocompromised, albeit mildly and this will be number 6 for me.. Still masking up in public but not at work , with a few hours after-school teaching art. Still Covd Careful and still anxious. Hope my doctor agrees. Thanks for the info.Â
Also remaining vigilant, getting ready to head to NoLa for JazzFest (Infamous 2020 trip that got cancelled), and I bought some purple KN95s for the occasion! Even outside, if it's crowded, I mask up. My husband ridicules this, then again he caught Omicron in September because he refused to mask at a crowded semi-outdoor spot (Pike Place Market Seattle).
He still has minor issues - mostly inflammation related - higher blood sugars and blood pressure mostly.
@laura-f thanks for letting us know about the vaccine booster. And about getting a prescription so we don’t have to pay out of pocket if we have insurance.  I too will get the booster. My Covid antibodies soared after the last vaccine and that felt good. Have finally come out of my pandemic shell and this will be good protection for me.  I still haven’t gotten Covid and while many people have been okay with it, I have a brother who was sick for months afterwards with a painful sinus infection that would not quit.
@ghandigirl  My spouse is not yet 65 but he was able to walk into the pharmacy today and get a booster on the grounds that he has sleep apnea.  I think you'll be able to get a booster if you want.
@anaÂ
I have asthma that can become severe and a history of pneumonia and other lung ailments. I literally begged for two of my boosters.
My boyfriend doesn't like when I mask up either. Too bad. I can't make my anxiety go away. At least with the mask I feel safer.
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I had to beg a couple of times too. I usually just exaggerate. I have a large cluster of autoimmune diseases (including asthma). I usually say I have Lupus (I'm 2 diagnoses short, but "close enough for government work") and that I'm on meds that lower my immune system (big lie, sorry not sorry). Now I can add that my husband has an artificial heart valve.Â
I won't whip out my prescription unless necessary, but you might want to consider getting one too, "in case."
Welp, I got mine.
Anyone else have a sense of a surge lately?
I am aware of 5 people who came down with Arcturus strain since June:
1. 50+ year old Adult female with only first 2 shots, had Omicron in 2022, hasn't masked in a year, no significant medical issues, declined Paxlovid - recovering.
2. 50+ year old Adult female with total 5 shots, had been masking til recently, is high risk, went to a super spreader event and didn't mask, got Paxlovid, got secondary pneumonia, got antibiotics, recovering. She thinks that because she hasn't had a fever in 2 days that she's no longer contagious. 🤔Â
3. 50+ year old Adult male - don't know his vax status, may have had some mild medical issues typical for his age - died of COVID.
4. 60+ year old male who was recently (6 months ago) diagnosed with ALS, had total 6 vaccinations - went to hospital where they informed him nothing to be done, just palliative care. Died of COVID.
5. 23 year old male in excellent physical shape, no prior infection, vax status unknown however suspect he may have never gotten any due to family being evangelical. Died of COVID within 1 week.
I'm still masking in public, indoors and out. Recently traveled and went to a theater for a comedy show. Counting myself masking indoors seems to be about 1%, and it's clearly older people and women (who I suspect, like me, are high risk).
I got my 2nd bivalent booster/6th shot overall in April by lying and saying I never got the 1st bivalent (the pharmacist didn't check the state database).
I understand the pandemic is officially over, and that in fact hospitalizations and deaths have returned to 2019 levels, yet and still COVID remains more lethal and transmissible than the flu and it's as if no one can be bothered to care for anyone else. I plan to mask in public forever, I don't ask others to do so, however even my own husband has gotten lax again and doesn't even wash his hands when he should (he will put on his shoes, touching the bottom, and then touch his face - when he tries to reach for me at all after that I scream).
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I agree with you it's good to mask in public. I still see more store employees masking than not. I hate that there's always that 1 person, who has to yell at you for wearing a mask. They'll follow me around screaming.  When they start up with covid isn't "real" masks don't work, I tell them there's many viruses people at risk can catch. Masks can protect against lots of things. Then I say the truth that shuts them all down and they walk away. It was "their president" who shut down the country and spent "your" hard earned tax dollars to find a vaccine.  Why would "your president" fraudulently waste money on a non existent liberal made up virus.? It's hilarious how fast they shut up and run away.
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My daughter was a healthy 23 yr old. Very athletic. 2 1/2 years ago she got covid, she still has health issues.  We all got covid when it first came out. They weren't testing many people.  Not many tests. We all had the symptoms.  Six weeks after she got covid, she needed to use inhaler.  Over time she had to use it more often. At her worse she couldn't walk to bathroom without being out of breath.  She was put on steriod inhaler too.  9 months later she was hospitalized for thyroid storm. Doctor said covid has caused lots of people to have thyroid problems. My child has a very high family history of graves disease. 4 generations of multiple relatives in each generation. She still would have eventually got graves disease but covid released it rampantly throughout her body.  She was hospitalized with 30% survival chance.  2 1/2 yrs later she has extreme fatigue, can't do much.  Has to rest a lot.  She's still waiting to see new specialists. We do have hope, her team of drs are taking her syptoms seriously. I go with her to every new dr appointment, if they don't listen and tell her she's depressed or she's just tired there's no second appointment.  On to a different dr. Â
Good reminder of the potential danger. I know three people who recently contracted COVID after flying (different flights.) I flew recently and was only one of very few people wearing a mask and also wear a mask in stores but not outside. I have yet to get COVID to my knowledge, nor have any of my first cousins or only remaining aunt gotten it. We may have the protective gene but I am not counting on it.
Come interesting things on Covid right now.
Two measures that the CDC tracks as early indictors, however hint at rising activity.
Emergency department visits for COVID at the national level were up 10.7% compared to the previous week, with Alaska, Florida, and Hawaii reporting percentages that were higher than other states. Also, test positivity at the national level was up slightly, by 0.7%, rising to 5.5% compared to the previous week. Positivity was 7% or higher in Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.
Epidemiologists are also closely watching wastewater COVID levels as an early indicator. On her Substack "Force of Infection" blog yesterday, Caitlin Rivers, PhD, with the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said the Biobot COVID-19 wastewater platform shows an increase in the Southern, Northeastern and Western regions. She said mid-summer often marks the beginning of a new COVID-19 wave, which often starts in the South.
May Pharma Companies will have new vaccines rolling out in time for fall.
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/early-indicators-hint-us-covid-19-uptick
Dogs can apparently detect covid better than PCR tests. This includes asymptomatic people.
A new proof of concept device from researchers at Washington University in St. Louis monitors air samples for COVID-19 virus variant detection in about 5 minutes, according to a study today in Nature Communications
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/new-air-monitor-detects-covid-19-variants-5-minutes
I hate that there's always that 1 person, who has to yell at you for wearing a mask. They'll follow me around screaming.Â
whenever this happens, just start "coughing", loudly. They will run away faster than Josh Hawley
I am sorry to hear your daughter is having to go through all that. I can say that since I had COVID early on/before anyone knew what it was, my thyroid disease ramped up (Hashimoto's-Hypo) and has never gone back down. Had to increase my thyroid meds by double over the last 3 years, but now I seem to be levelled off. COVID also triggered me into a major depressive episode which didn't clear up til 2022. And I wake up fatigued and am fatigued more than not.
I have a friend (about 42) who got COVID last year, and since then has had recurring bouts of meningitis and encephalitis. The doctors can't seem to get her off that carousel. Another friend caught it in 2020 and his long COVID is all about heart issues. He has had 4-5 heart ablations and also the "reboot" procedure several times. Up til then, he was a healthy and very physically fit person (he was 55 at the time).
As for doctors - I suggest finding a functional medicine doctor. Most don't take insurance, but usually if you keep filing out of network claims you get some of your money back.
N.B. I'm not saying holistic or naturopathic - functional medicine excels at autoimmune and chronic conditions. Holistic is great but sometimes it's just not enough or too "crunchy granola". In fact I don't even go to rheumatologists because all any of them ever did was give me steroids (which I don't do well with) and/or tell me that my depression or anxiety is the problem (i.e., psychosomatic).
It may also help to look into an Autoimmune Protocol Diet - I am about to do one for 2-4 weeks. The key to autoimmune and long COVID is to reduce inflammation and heal the gut.
I saw the same articles!
That room detector device looks promising - they could install them in all public buildings and they plan to include flu and RSV detection too.
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