$380 for his ivermectin. 14 pills a day for 5 days. Won't even bother running it through insurance. Supposedly one of the cheapest drugs out there...
I was curious and it's still dirt cheap over in India. Really great how we pay by far the most for drugs here.
There is more hope that Omicron might peak and then fall quickly. News out of the Northeast is showing a sharp drop in new cases matches what happened in South Africa. That said hospitals are getting overwhelmed and given that hospitalizations and deaths are lagging indicators even if Omicron peaks might still be awhile before it works it's way through.
Last week the 3 y/o vomited in the middle of the night, seemingly out of nowhere. We tested her for covid this next day and it was negative. However, we later found out that someone in her daycare class had tested positive just a few days before. Fast forward to this last Friday night, the 6 y/o is complaining about her head hurting and then vomits at around 1am. Tested her the next morning and she was positive for covid. While we'll never know for sure, I suspect the 3 y/o had it but got a false negative. Then gave it to the 6 y/o. So that would mean 3/5 in the Haymitch household have had very recent bouts with omicron. What's bizarre is my wife has never gotten it, despite being near me prior to me testing positive, and despite the 3 and 6 y/o also being around her prior to her testing positive. Also, it doesn't seem like the infant has caught covid either. It's a weird virus and it's everywhere right now. If you haven't gotten it recently, assume that you already have it or you will in the next couple weeks.
Unvaccinated with a prior covid infection showed better protection and less transmission than vaccinated without prior infection during Delta. Prior covid infection plus vaccination performed the best during Delta. All 3 of those groups performed dramatically better than unvaccinated and no prior infection. "As the Delta variant prevalence increased to >95% (97% in Region 9 and 98% in Region 2 on August 1), rates increased more rapidly among the vaccinated group with no previous COVID-19 diagnosis than among both the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups with a previous COVID-19 diagnosis (Supplementary Figure 1, https://stacks.cdc.gov/ view/cdc/113253) (Supplementary Figure 2, https://stacks. cdc.gov/view/cdc/113253). For example, during the week of October 3, compared with rates among unvaccinated persons without a previous COVID-19 diagnosis, rates among vaccinated persons without a previous diagnosis were 6.2-fold lower (95% CI = 6.0–6.4) in California and 4.5-fold lower (95% CI = 4.3–4.7) in New York (Table 2). Further, rates among unvaccinated persons with a previous COVID-19 diagnosis were 29-fold lower (95% CI = 25.0–33.1) than rates among unvaccinated persons without a previous COVID-19 diagnosis in California and 14.7-fold lower (95% CI = 12.6–16.9) in New York. Rates among vaccinated persons who had had COVID-19 were 32.5-fold lower (95% CI = 27.5–37.6) than rates among unvaccinated persons without a previous COVID-19 diagnosis in California and 19.8-fold lower (95% CI = 16.2–23.5) in New York. Rates among vaccinated persons without a previous COVID-19 diagnosis were consistently higher than rates among unvaccinated persons with a history of COVID-19 (3.1-fold higher [95% CI = 2.6–3.7] in California and 1.9-fold higher [95% CI = 1.5–2.3] in New York) and rates among vaccinated persons with a history of COVID-19 (3.6-fold higher [95% CI = 2.9–4.3] in California and 2.8-fold higher [95% CI = 2.1–3.4] in New York) https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/pdfs/mm7104e1-H.pdf FIGURE. Incident laboratory-confirmed COVID-19-associated hospitalizations among immunologic cohorts defined by vaccination and previous diagnosis histories — California, May 30–November 13, 2021*,†
Sorry to hear that Haymitch and hope your kids get better soon. There is a large luck factor involved with getting infected or getting symptoms so it does happen that we see members of a family with some developing severe symptoms while others don't. The rapid tests do give out false negatives so always important to follow up if you're feeling symptomatic with a PCR tests.
Interesting stuff and with Omicron previous infection might do very well in preventing getting very ill. In Africa this seemed to be the case where many people were infected with Omicron but hospitalizations stayed relatively low. Vaccination numbers in those countries are far lower than many other countries and it does appear that prior infection was very high. The one problem though with relying on natural infection still is that there is little control over the result of getting naturally infected or how much natural infection you get. With the vaccines you are getting not just an agent that won't actually develop into COVID but also a controlled dosage. With natural infection is far more of a crap shoot. You could get a mild case that is still strong enough to teach your immune system to fight off the next time you encounter it or you could end up on a ventilator.
It's not a surprise. This is why there is hope that Omicron could be it - if indeed it seek out and infect nearly everyone that hasn't yet been infected and not vaccinated. The problem you stated is also stated in the report itself: "Initial infection among unvaccinated persons increases risk for serious illness, hospitalization, long-term sequelae, and death; by November 30, 2021, approximately 130,781 residents of California and New York had died from COVID-19. Thus, vaccination remains the safest and primary strategy to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections, associated complications, and onward transmission" Also noted this statement below. The difference between vaccinated and no prior infection vs infection and not vaccinated could be due to timing (waning protection against infection for the two groups - we know that protection against infection wane over time for both groups but not sure to what level and how fast for the unvaccinated but previously infected group). Omicron probably changes everything also. Importantly, infection-derived protection was greater after the highly transmissible Delta variant became predominant, coinciding with early declining of vaccine-induced immunity in many persons. Further studies are needed to establish duration of protection from previous infection by variant type, severity, and symptomatology, including for the Omicron variant.
Yup you are right about the crap shoot part. Also, my case of Covid would have been considered mild and I still would have greatly preferred to have been vaccinated. That said people with prior infection and no vaccination need to be treated as if they are fully vaccinated IMO. This was a pretty major study and I think this data is hard to ignore.
Got an email that our 2 year was exposed Monday. She has had a fever since last night but is acting normal. Waiting on the doctor and to get tested.
My cousin has recovered enough to be moved from the ICU to a regular bed. They hope to release her this weekend. She's been battling COVID for 10 weeks and almost died. She turned the corner about the time they gave her the Pfizer pill. The Doctors aren't sure it is what tipped her over the edge to survival or it was just coincidence. She is unvaccinated, 49 years old, and had no underlying conditions. Despite recovering enough to go home, the Doctors estimate she'll have 12-16 weeks of rehab to rebuild up her stamina and her lungs will always have some permanent damage. They did neurological tests and her bloodwork shows the same markers as someone that has had serious brain trauma or Alzheimer's. They say its a bigger and bigger threat they are seeing, and they expect she'll eventually develop long term neurological issues. The good news is that she will most likely get to finish raising her 4 kids.
Texas reports its first case of the omicron COVID-19 variant Early indicators suggest the variant is very contagious, but little is known about the severity of disease it causes. https://www.texastribune.org/2021/12/06/texas-omicron-covid-19/
Good to hear your cousin is going to live. Knowing people with longterm COVID she's going to have a tough time possible for the rest of her life.
I caught covid last weekend ( home test didn't say Delta or Omicron) and only now have shown signs of true recovery. On Sunday felt like my back was on fire, had body aches and elevated BP like a nasty flu. Monday-Tuesday the symptoms started dying down as I had nothing but rest then started getting GI issues similar to what I experienced in Feb 2020. Tuesday Wednesday the symptoms morphed into cold and cough with congestion and runny nose. I planned to go back to work yesterday but couldn't sleep because of elevated BP and a nagging headache that felt like a bad hangover. Only now am I semi-functional with a scratchy throat and no weird **** you expect from some virus movie. I don't usually go out because I don't want to spread it to other household members. I went to a restaurant Saturday night and ate indoors for 30 minutes. Did walk outside a park that night. Odds were bad I guess. I'm sure everyone's symptoms are different but this wrecked me for five days and the headaches at the end spooked me out on neurological consequences. It was like the ****er tried to hide in every spot it could cling to. One thing of note is I'm still the only one infected in the household (knock on wood). It might be a blood type related as they're O and I'm B and they didn't get it that last time I had crazy symptoms like this in Feb 2020
I woke up around 1 am nearly two weeks ago with the worst case of dizziness, stomach ache and cold sweats. No fever, but i vomited and had to "pace it off" for like 2-3 hours before i was able to get back to bed. The next day the stomach ache/dizziness was gone, but had an annoying headache for 3ish days. My 6 yo tested positive for Covid 3 days later, and my 12 year old the next day. I never tested positive. My wife tested positive 3-4 days after the kids. My other kids never tested positive or had any symptoms really. I never had any other symptoms. It's a weird one. No clue if i had it or not, but we're all relatively healthy now, back at school, etc. so it is what it is.
My cousin sent me this story. Very sad but another example that natural infection is a risky crap shoot. Also that while vaccines might not be stopping infections they reduce the chances of severe disease. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hanka-...xDJtQUpld9a7dAFuNPRsSixgviJpk7KYzRj5S728Ne9vg Singer dies after deliberately catching COVID-19 A popular Czech folk singer who deliberately caught COVID-19 has died, her son says. Hanka Horka, who was not vaccinated, caught the virus from her son and husband, who are vaccinated but still caught it over the holidays, according to BBC News. The 57-year-old purposefully did not stay away from them and exposed herself the virus, which she caught. Horka posted on social media January 14 that she had recovered from the virus – but her son told BBC News she died two days later. "She should have isolated for a week because we tested positive. But she was with us the whole time," Jan Rek said of his mother's deliberate exposure to the virus. In the Czech Republic, many public places like theaters and bars require either proof of vaccination – or proof of recovery from recent infection, according to BBC News. Rek said his mother got infected on purpose when he and his father had the virus, so she could get a recovery pass to access certain venues. After she thought she recovered, Horka wrote: "Now there will be theatre, sauna, a concert," according to BCC News. But soon after, she was getting dressed for a walk and felt her back hurting. She went to lay down and in "about 10 minutes it was all over," her son said. "She choked to death." Horka was a member of folk group Asonance. The band announced her death on their website. CBS News has reached out to the band for comment and is awaiting response. Rek also posted about the anti-vaccine sentiments that appear to have lead to his mother's death. "You took away my mom, who based her arguments on your convictions," he wrote, according to the New York Times. "I despise you." Horka did not believe in conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines, although she was not vaccinated herself, her son said. "Her philosophy was that she was more okay with the idea of catching COVID than getting vaccinated," Rek said. "Not that we would get microchipped or anything like that." Rek said discussing the issue with her got too emotional. He hopes sharing the story helps others choose to get vaccinated, BBC News reports. "If you have living examples from real life, it's more powerful than just graphs and numbers. You can't really sympathize with numbers," Rek said. COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urges people who are eligible get the vaccine as soon as possible. "Millions of people in the U.S. have received COVID-19 vaccines under the most intense safety monitoring in US history," the CDC says. The Czech Republic says people who test positive for COVID-19 must quarantine for five calendar days and people with symptoms will have to extend their five-day isolation and wait at least two days after the symptoms fade out. Masks are also required in most settings. The Czech Republic, also referred to as Czechia, has recorded almost 2.7 million COVID-19 cases, according to Johns Hopkins. The country recorded 28,564 new daily cases on Wednesday and 245,696 this month, according to the university's Coronavirus Research Center. About 63% of the country's population – 6,744,187 – are vaccinated.
There is some grounds on my previous thought about blood types https://www.nebraskamed.com/COVID/how-blood-type-affects-covid-19 You may have heard that blood type matters when it comes to contracting COVID-19. But how? What scientists have learned is blood type seems to matter in at least two ways: Risk of acquiring COVID-19 The severity of the COVID-19 disease Recent data suggests that people with blood type A have a significantly higher risk of acquiring COVID-19 than non-A blood types. Blood type O seems to have the lowest risk. Yet these risks are relative, meaning people with type O blood are not immune to COVID-19. "We do know that people of all types can get infected with COVID-19," says cardiologist Daniel Anderson, MD, PhD. Your blood type may also affect how severe the progression of COVID-19 will be. "Some evidence shows the severity of the infection is associated with different blood cell types, but the mechanisms by which it happens are unclear," says Dr. Anderson. Blood type is not the only factor in disease severity. How much virus you were exposed to, your age, plus any of your underlying health conditions also affects the course and severity of the disease. Say, for example, you and your friend who have the same susceptibility are both sharing a bus with someone who has asymptomatic COVID-19. Your friend sits next to the person infected. You sit 7 feet away from both of them. Your friend would have a worse case of COVID-19 because they were infected with more virus. We call this the viral load. "Masks are important because they filter out some of the virus and decreases the viral load, which makes the infection less severe," says Dr. Anderson. An infection with a lower viral load makes a positive difference in clinical infection in all people. The question researchers are trying to answer is why blood type matters. One theory is that antibodies may play a role. You may know that blood type A individuals can't donate blood to people with type B blood. That's because of a particular type of antibody they make that attacks other red blood cells. Type O individuals have anti-A and anti-B antibodies, while type A individuals only have one kind: anti-B antibodies. Similarly, type B individuals only have anti-A antibodies. Perhaps having both anti-A and anti-B antibodies gives type O individuals the ability to minimize the disease. We don't know the answer, which is why ongoing research is so important. UNMC researcher Rebekah Gundry, PhD, received a "COVID-19 and Its Cardiovascular Impact Rapid Response Grant" from the American Heart Association in May of 2020. Dr. Gundry and her team continue to investigate how heart injuries caused by COVID-19 develop and the impact of red blood cells on the infection. Together, Drs. Gundry and Anderson and their collaborators have been collecting and studying blood and tissue samples for this collaborative research. "We are learning a lot about coronavirus infection and the impact it has on the heart and vascular system," says Dr. Anderson. "It'll be intriguing to see what we learn from this new study."
