COVID-19 (coronavirus disease)/SARS-CoV-2 virus

I got my antibody test results back and they said greater than 2500. Come at me covid. Omicron? More like O-my-b****.


That was good news. The other somewhat good news is my cardiologist friend who recommended an advanced lipid screening made an excellent suggestion. My total cholesterol was 207, triglycerides 91, HDL 42, and LDL was high at 145.

The advanced lipid screening showed a much greater issue underlying those high LDL numbers.

LDL particle number 1843 should be less than 1138
LDL small 426 should be less than 142
LDL medium 426 should be less than 215
HDL large 4470 should be greater than 6729
LDL pattern B
LDL peak size 213.9 should be over 223

Every single one of those is bad, so I’m glad he recommended it and anyone who can do it should do it.

I guess it’s time for me to quit eating a box of kraft mac and cheese with a can of baked beans after BJJ comp class days. Maybe I’ll cut out the ramen and sandwiches with cake on the side late at night too.

I'm curious how quickly I can turn those numbers around by eliminating the broke college kid meals

 

Thanks for the video and that diet he had before kind of describes mine right now.

 

Study suggests past COVID infection may not fend off omicron
South African scientists are warning that the new omicron variant may be causing more reinfections among COVID-19 survivors than earlier virus mutants

By MIKE CORDER Associated Press
December 3, 2021, 12:03 PM

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- South African scientists are warning that reinfections among people who’ve already battled COVID-19 appear to be more likely with the new omicron variant than with earlier coronavirus mutants.

A research group has been tracking reinfections in South Africa and reported a jump with the arrival of omicron that they hadn't seen when two previous variants, including the extra-contagious delta variant, moved through the country.

The findings, posted online Thursday, are preliminary and haven't yet undergone scientific review. Nor did the researchers say what portion of the reinfections were confirmed as omicron cases — or whether they caused serious illness.

But the timing of the reinfection spike suggests that omicron “demonstrates substantial population-level evidence for evasion of immunity from prior infection," they wrote.

"Previous infection used to protect against delta, and now with omicro,n it doesn’t seem to be the case,” one of the researchers, Anne von Gottberg of the University of Witwatersrand, said at a World Health Organization briefing on Thursday.

The study also did not examine the protection offered by vaccination. Coronavirus vaccines trigger different layers of immune response, some to fend off infection and others to prevent severe disease if someone does become infected.

“We believe that vaccines will still, however, protect against severe disease," von Gottberg said.

Dr. Michael Ryan, the head of emergencies at WHO, said reinfection turns up in the nose but it doesn’t necessarily translate into severe disease, while vaccines have generally shown to help protect the rest of the body.

“The data we’re really looking to see is going to be around severity of infection and whether or not the vaccines continue to protect against severe disease, hospitalization and death,” Ryan said. “And right now, there’s no reason to suppose that they won’t. We just haven’t got the details yet.”

Continued...

 

Great

 

It was expected, but still early data. Also, early data is still indicating it's not any more deadly than Delta (in fact, early data is suggesting it's less deadly). But again, EARLY DATA.

Did I say Early Data?

 

Spoiler

 

Sounds like people with covid antibodies are describing Omicron infection like a 2-3 day hangover with headache and fatigue.

 

If only the Flu was that forgiving

 

The problem here is the potential rate of spread. If its half as deadly, but spreads twice as fast, hospitals are still going to get overwhelmed. That's where the South Africa data is eye-opening. Hopefully its just a mass panic and a result of lots of people getting tested, but the rate of growth is pretty insane if it's accurate:

 

WHO is reported zero deaths, so far

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/3/new-york-becomes-fourth-us-state-to-confirm-omicron-live

this is more what we want, and can get, from more dominant but tame variants. The common cold is a coronavirus. Maybe this ends with a dominant, non lethal, variant than provides herd immunity for virulent variants.

that was always a possibility with mutations, right? A “good” mutation?

 

Absolutely - that would be the ideal outcome. We want this to mutate to be a common cold type of thing and mutation naturally goes that route because keeping hosts alive is better for the virus. That said, its way too early on the 0 deaths thing. Normally death counts are 3-4 weeks after infections, and this thing was only identified 9 days ago. And the vast majority of Covid cases worldwide aren't being tested for variant, so as txtony said, the data is way early at this point. Unfortunately, the world has been repeatedly overly optimistic in predicting the end of Covid problems the past 18 months.

 

Is the flu more severe for you. Edit I’ve been lucky and haven’t had the flu in forever. I think the last time I had it I was kid.

 

Right, delta might be just slightly more deadly than the previous variants, but because it’s 2x as contagious, it kills much more. Beta, which has mutations that were feared to reduce vaccine protection against both infection and symptomatic disease (but mostly retain protection against severe disease), couldn’t take a hold due to delta and wasn't so deadly. It's just too early to know with this variant. It's likely more contagious among the unvaccinated and previously infected (against vaccinated, it also probably has more breakthrough but the early indications are mixed at this time). Other than upper respiratory symptoms (mild to moderate), there has been no report of anything severe yet, but we have only been monitoring this for 1 week.... we should have a good indication out of S.Africa in another 1-2 weeks.

 

Yes so far while Omicron looks more contagious but less severe. I'm not surprised that past infection leads to less protection from Omicron given the differences in the spike protein. This is a reason why though I've been critical of those pushing past infections as those depended on both which variant you were infected initially too and also how severe of an infection. The MRNA vaccines were engineered to cover several facets of the spike proteins and were already designed with the idea that the virus would mutate. That is why they were effective against Delta and might be effective against Omicron.

 

Yeah... I've been 6'0 and 240 before. That ain't abese. Fat, ok. Obese? no.

This is obese.

 

Early patient profile data (2 weeks). Exponent growth. Younger. Too early to judge severity.

https://www.samrc.ac.za/news/tshwane-district-omicron-variant-patient-profile-early-features


In summary, the first impression on examination of the 166 patients admitted since the Omicron variant made an appearance, together with the snapshot of the clinical profile of 42 patients currently in the COVID wards at the SBAH/TDH complex, is that the majority of hospital admissions are for diagnoses unrelated to COVID-19. The SARS-CoV-2 positivity is an incidental finding in these patients and is largely driven by hospital policy requiring testing of all patients requiring admission to the hospital.

Using the proportion of patients on room air as a marker for incidental COVID admission as opposed to severe COVID (pneumonia), 76% of patients at the SBAH/TDH complex are incidental COVID admissions. This very unusual picture is also occurring at other hospitals in Gauteng. On 3 December Helen Joseph Hospital had 37 patients in the COVID wards of whom 31 were on room air (83%); and the Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital had 80 patients of which 14 were on supplemental oxygen and 1 on a ventilator (81% on room air).

The exponential increase in the positivity rate in these patients is a reflection of the rapidly increased case rate for Tshwane but does not appear to be associated with a concomitant increase in the rate of admissions for severe COVID (pneumonia) based on the high proportion of patients not requiring supplemental oxygen.

The relatively low number of COVID-19 pneumonia hospitalizations in the general, high care and ICU wards constitutes a very different picture compared to the beginning of previous waves. A detailed analysis comparing the current picture with previous waves is still being conducted. This may very well be related to the early upswing of the fourth wave, with the more classical pattern becoming evident over the next two weeks. What is clear though is that the age profile is different from previous waves. It may be that this is a vaccination effect as 57 % of people over the age of 50 have been vaccinated in the province compared to 34% in the 18-to-49-year group.

The high proportion of COVID incidental adult patients and the increased number of SARS-CoV-2 positive admissions among children aged 0-9 may reflect higher rates of community transmission compared to previous waves (variants) that is not translating into higher admission rates for a primary COVID-19 diagnosis. More time is required to fully answer the questions about the severity of COVID-19 caused by the new Omicron Variant.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html

For the information you entered:

Height: 6 feet, 0 inches

Weight: 240 pounds

Your BMI is 32.5, indicating your weight is in the Obese category for adults of your height.

 

And they're idiots. I can jog 3 miles. Here's me and two friends this summer. Boy do we all look obese. And FYI, my ideal weight is 200-210, which they'd still say puts me at borderline obese, which is utterly false.

 

I like your green dress