Officially part of Team Double Jab today.

Quote
deckeda
Officially part of Team Double Jab today.

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=wr=

It’s somewhat fascinating to know that some hours into the near future I could feel sick. If I had to guess my situation right now, 5hrs later I’d say I might be a little fuzzy but not impaired or sick. The computer screen isn’t off-limits like it was after jab #1 for awhile.

Anyway, I’m not going to provide a play-by-play but it’s interesting to know “stuff is happening” inside your body right now that may not manifest until just a little later. Like that alien that burst through the guy’s gut in Alien during breakfast.

Maybe that’s not the best example. Back to work, now.

Had my first shot of Pfizer last Friday before noon. Came home and mowed the yard, felt fine. Sore arm started Friday evening. Saturday I felt a tad blah, had a slight headache. Sunday had a headache and was just a tad wobbly. Today I've felt really, really blah all day, even laid down in the bed and slept for two hours this afternoon. BP is a tad elevated at 158/78, I don't have BP issues, never have. I hope this goes away by tomorrow, got somethings I'd like to do while this cool weather hangs on all week, may hit 32 degrees Thursday morning. I'm only guessing that these are normal issues after the shot.

I find it odd that all the elderly, like 85 and up, I know didn't have any side effects at all.

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Grateful11

85 up probably doesn't have much immune system left to stimulate.

Quote
RgrF
85 up probably doesn't have much immune system left to stimulate.

Untrue. It just takes a little more to get it up. Maybe a double dose.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

[www.dailykos.com]

Noted Norwegian COVID Conspiracy Theorist Dies of COVID.

read the comments.

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!#$@@$#!

proofraed by OwEn the c@t.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2021 04:14PM by Fritz.

Monty Python unites the world, yet again.

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Only a sore arm from Pfizer #2. I was a little disappointed I didn't have at least a little more reaction as I was hoping to play that card to get out of something I did not want to do. First world problems.

As of last Thursday, I am fully immunized (Pfizer). Still wearing masks indoors outside the home, but feel much more comfortable in public spaces these days.

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rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future

Quote
rjmacs
As of last Thursday, I am fully immunized (Pfizer). Still wearing masks indoors outside the home, but feel much more comfortable in public spaces these days.

Congrats. Enjoy your new found freedumb. Seriously, I don’t wear a mask now anywhere it isn’t required.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Quote
rjmacs
As of last Thursday, I am fully immunized (Pfizer). Still wearing masks indoors outside the home, but feel much more comfortable in public spaces these days.

Congrats!!

Received Moderna#2 on 1 May, stayed housebound until 15 May, and will be masking when out and about (especially in public accessible buildings, stores, crowds, etc.).

Time to go discipline the lawn. I asked nicely, but the dandelions refused to trim themselves.

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=TC

So right now we’re navigating the local Burger King’s dining room, at my son’s request. It’s like 90% of the tables are verboten with a red placard denoting the table will wiped down “soon.” And 4-5 of those additionally have yellow “police tape” across them, like maybe someone died at each one.

We picked green placards denoting a clean table, but um, they all look alike from the soda stains.

And it’s like 50 degrees in here. I realized the placards only indicate a “clean” or “dirty” table of the last patron turned over the card.

Touch is a rare method of transmission.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Jansen one shot 2 days ago. Fever, chills, etc. overnight. Morning of second day, feeling great.

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Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. - Buddha...

anthonysalvo.com

^^ good on ya

An interesting read; a bit of a detective story.

[www.washingtonpost.com]

In late 1998, it got it. The virus arrived in central Malaysia by air, inside furry bats that alighted on the boughs of fruit trees swaying over pig farms. The bats, messy eaters, dropped their half-consumed meals. The swine, undiscerning eaters, gobbled up the leftovers. The virus, ready to move, hopped into the pigs and passed through their coughs to the humans who worked with them.

And within eight months, 105 Malaysians — about 40 percent of those infected — had died of this novel virus, dubbed Nipah, after suffering through fevers, brain inflammation and comas.

Scientists would piece together this chain of events, identify the virus and trace it to its origins in fruit bats over the years that followed — quickly for this sort of disease investigation. It took solid hunches, luck and painstaking detective work. That work is ongoing: Nipah erupts annually in Bangladesh, where it kills people at an even greater rate. It also occasionally infects people in India, where a 12-year-old boy died of the virus in September. There is no vaccine or cure.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

^^

I’m rethinking the need for bacon and ham. And bats. Mostly bats.

Slightly dated:

[www.cdc.gov]

October 7, 2021
One U.S. child loses a parent or caregiver for every four COVID-19-associated deaths, a new modeling studyexternal icon published today in Pediatrics reveals. The findings illustrate orphanhood as a hidden and ongoing secondary tragedy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and emphasizes that identifying and caring for these children throughout their development is a necessary and urgent part of the pandemic response – both for as long as the pandemic continues, as well as in the post-pandemic era.

From April 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021, data suggest that more than 140,000 children under age 18 in the United States lost a parent, custodial grandparent, or grandparent caregiver who provided the child’s home and basic needs, including love, security, and daily care. Overall, the study shows that approximately 1 out of 500 children in the United States has experienced COVID-19-associated orphanhood or death of a grandparent caregiver. There were racial, ethnic, and geographic disparities in COVID-19-associated death of caregivers: children of racial and ethnic minorities accounted for 65% of those who lost a primary caregiver due to the pandemic.

Children’s lives are permanently changed by the loss of a mother, father, or grandparent who provided their homes, basic needs, and care. Loss of a parent is among the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) linked to mental health problems; shorter schooling; lower self-esteem; sexual risk behaviors; and increased risk of substance abuse, suicide, violence, sexual abuse, and exploitation.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

I’m too lazy to type the list.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

[www.nytimes.com]

A large clinical trial has found that a common and inexpensive antidepressant lowered the odds that high-risk Covid-19 patients would be hospitalized. The results, published on Wednesday, could open the door to new guidelines for the drug’s use both in the United States and globally.

The drug, fluvoxamine, has been safely prescribed for nearly 30 years as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder. But when the coronavirus started spreading, researchers were drawn to the medication because of its ability to reduce inflammation, potentially allowing it to quell the body’s overwhelming response to a coronavirus infection.

Several smaller studies of fluvoxamine earlier in the pandemic showed promising results, but none was as large or persuasive as the one published on Wednesday by a group of researchers in Canada, the United States and Brazil, outside scientists said. Among nearly 1,500 Covid patients in Brazil given either fluvoxamine or a placebo, the drug reduced the need for hospitalization or prolonged medical observation by one-third, the study found. It was published in The Lancet Global Health.

Some patients struggled to tolerate the drug and stopped taking it, the study said, raising a question among outside scientists about whether they had yet identified the ideal dose. But among those who had largely followed doctors’ orders, the benefits were even more striking. In those patients, the drug reduced the need for hospitalization by two-thirds and slashed the risk of dying: One Covid patient given fluvoxamine died, compared with 12 given a placebo.

“That’s really good,” said Dr. David Boulware, an infectious disease scientist at the University of Minnesota who worked on a smaller, real-world study of the drug in Covid patients in California. Plus, he added, “it’s not a shiny new, expensive drug. The nice thing about this is it has a known safety profile.”

Beyond proper dosing, the study left other questions unresolved, scientists said. Penny Ward, a visiting professor in pharmaceutical medicine at King’s College London, noted that part of the drug’s benefit appeared to come from reducing the need for extended medical observation, which the study tracked alongside hospital admissions. And most patients in the study were unvaccinated, Professor Ward said, so it’s unclear how well the drug would work in the vaccinated.

The new study, coming nearly a year after smaller trials of the drug, was a reminder of the difficulty that many researchers have had running large tests of Covid treatments. The Biden administration has made more funding available for such trials, scientists said, but enrolling enough patients has only gotten more difficult: Most high-risk Americans are vaccinated, and vaccine-averse people may be less likely to participate in trials.

Because fluvoxamine is already approved for treating O.C.D., doctors can already prescribe it “off label” for Covid. But Dr. Boulware said that prescriptions of the drug had increased only slightly during the pandemic, unlike other repurposed drugs with far less scientific support, like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.

“It hasn’t really gotten any cult following,” he said.

Federal treatment guidelines say that larger trials are necessary to evaluate the use of fluvoxamine for Covid, and scientists said they expected those recommendations to change on the basis of the new study.

The new findings are also expected to boost the popularity of the drug in less wealthy countries: A 10-day course of the drug costs about $4.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

$4 versus $700 is a huge improvement. I hope long term studies show it's one of the best options to undercut prices of other treatments.

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In tha 360. MRF User Map

I saw something about fluvoxamine last night. Thanks for posting as I was just about to Google it.
I wondered what mechanism it used and think it is interesting that it is an anti inflammatory is very interesting.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

A good read:

This is a WaPo story but made available locally: [www.spokesman.com]

This small hospital was faced with a nearly 50-50 split on getting staffers vaxxed.

This nurse knows on some level she’s on the wrong side of history:

“You could have made this a lot easier by being an a—hole,” she said.

Quote
deckeda
A good read:

This is a WaPo story but made available locally: [www.spokesman.com]

This small hospital was faced with a nearly 50-50 split on getting staffers vaxxed.

This nurse knows on some level she’s on the wrong side of history:

“You could have made this a lot easier by being an a—hole,” she said.

It was a good read (in the WaPo.) The nurse, a supervisor, was whacked-out on fringe media. She was completely brainwashed. Good riddance. I hope she enjoys her retirement where she is less likely to hurt sick people.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

[www.washingtonpost.com]

Raising three kids, Heather Christena Schmidt has learned a lot about emergency rooms. “Kids are always, you know, getting into stuff,” she says. So when the first puzzling bill arrived, she knew it wouldn’t be the last.

Schmidt’s 13-year-old daughter, Ava, got her second dose of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine on June 22. After her first dose, administered in May at a CVS, Ava fainted. The reason remains elusive. So her primary care doctor recommended she get the second dose at an emergency room, where she could be treated immediately if anything went wrong.

Nothing did; Ava was in and out of the hospital near the Schmidts’ home in Camarillo, Calif., in less than a half-hour. But Schmidt has received three separate bills for her daughter’s shot that day — one from the hospital system, one from insurance and one from the doctor who administered the shot — totaling $262.50.

We were told from the beginning that they would be free, these vaccines. The official webpage for the government’s vaccine rollout reads, in large bold print, “COVID-19 vaccines are free to all people living in the United States, regardless of their immigration or health insurance status,” paid for via federal funding and partnerships with insurance companies. President Donald Trump said they were free. President Biden said they were free. For most Americans, it’s been uncomplicated: They’re free.

Nevertheless, a tiny subset of Americans have gotten billed anyway, some in small, annoying-on-principle amounts, others in more alarming denominations. Some have seen their bills quickly disappear after a phone call, waved away as errors. Others — Schmidt, for example — have found themselves in long, unpleasant games of telephone, stuck with the difficult choice between paying for a shot or jeopardizing their credit scores, putting our bewildering system on full, vexing display.

I should admit here that I was charged for my coronavirus vaccine — $567, in fact. And initially, I wondered whether that was my karmic penalty for getting it early.

On March 6, I had already spent weeks obsessively checking for updates on when I, an otherwise healthy 31-year-old with asthma, would qualify in my home state of New Jersey. So when a friend texted me that he’d heard the Jersey City Medical Center nearby was handing out doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that had been approved just days before, I dropped everything and leaped into my car. When I arrived, I told the front desk why I was there. A security officer pointed me toward the emergency department.

Claire Fallon, a freelance writer based in Jersey City, found out about the shots from the same mutual friend. Fallon, 33, sat just a few feet away from me in the waiting room; she told me later that at the time, she had recently joined her husband’s insurance but didn’t have a card yet. She and the nurse on duty decided she would simply be categorized as an “uninsured.”

The first bill — from the hospital network, RWJBarnabas Health — showed up about two months later. Like mine, Fallon’s was for $567, but hers came with an “uninsured discount adjustment” down to $73.71. Fallon later received an additional bill from the Jersey City Medical Center for $251.58.

When Fallon called the number on her second bill, the agent said “she would put a hold on it until we figured out what was going on,” Fallon remembers. “That was the last I heard of it.” Fallon still worries, months later, about that outstanding bill.

I’m not proud of it: I ignored my bill. Right up until I got a phone call reminding me to pay it in June while I was vacationing. Flustered, I told the agent on the phone that I didn’t think I needed to pay $567 for a free vaccine. In September, I got a new bill from RWJBarnabas: A “covid-19 adjustment” brought the total down to $225.39. On Oct. 11, I called them to ask why I was still being charged; the representative told me he would send my bill out for review, and acknowledged that I “shouldn’t have to pay anything.” As of Nov. 3, it was still under review.

RWJBarnabas said in a statement to The Washington Post that it “does not charge patients for the vaccine. Vaccine administration is billed to insurers. However, patients who receive medical screenings in our emergency department are billed for the emergency room visit, as is customary.” (Although that’s where the vaccinations took place, I received no other medical treatment.)

Laurie Todd, based in Kirkland, Wash., does business as “the Insurance Warrior,” writing appeals for clients with far weightier problems, such as when their lifesaving treatments are denied insurance coverage or deemed out-of-network. As a result, she hasn’t dealt with any bills for coronavirus vaccines, she notes, but if she did, she would skip phoning a billing office and go straight to an executive at whatever clinic, pharmacy or insurance company sent the bill — via email.

“Attach a copy of the bill. Point out to them that … vaccinations are free to all citizens,” she told The Post in an email.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Freakin bureaucracy. Systemic incompetence. The “free” vaccine was always suspect. Do you have insurance? OK we’ll have you fill out all this stuff. Don’t have insurance? Uh OK here’s your jab.

One of my brothers in law just did that. Told them he has no insurance (he does) and sailed through in a few minutes at a CVS.

Of course, it depends on where you go. The pharmacies always want to know. But back when the county was doling them out while you sat in your car at the fairgrounds there was none of that. We did fill out some very basic info online but it was about eligibility, not our insurance.

Our employer-provided health insurance comes straight out of our health savings account until we reach a deductible limit, not something I wanted to happen. But I used my Part A Medicare (the only Medicare part I have) number to get the jab.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Went through the local health dept. No fuss, no muss whatsoever.

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“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in."

Third jab Monday. Same sore arm for 24 hours as before. The two pharmacy chains I checked aren't mixing Moderna and Pfizer boosters. You only get what you got before. I didn't search hard for alternatives, I just went for the next open date anywhere convenient. Seems like omicron has taken the wind out of the push to mix the two types, as Moderna wanes vs. omicron the same as Pfizer per an article I saw today.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/15/2021 05:28PM by Acer.

Our turn in the barrel. 9 of us in a rented house for 3 days and one goes out to get a rapid test at 6pm after feeling sick since late last night. Tonight I can feel something just starting to come on. Two left earlier today and 3 left by 7pm.

Merry Christmas, now you’re sick. Ironic considering how everyone was on edge last year this time.

Quote
deckeda
Our turn in the barrel. 9 of us in a rented house for 3 days and one goes out to get a rapid test at 6pm after feeling sick since late last night. Tonight I can feel something just starting to come on. Two left earlier today and 3 left by 7pm.

Merry Christmas, now you’re sick. Ironic considering how everyone was on edge last year this time.

I had to go to the Dr. Wed. for some extensive blood work, 8 large veils, and started feeling bad Friday and still short of breathe, general fatigue and jittery. I hope I didn't pick something up in the Drs. office. I'm fully vaxxed and boosted.

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Grateful11

Couldn’t regulate my temp all night. Chills or too hot. Chills or too hot. Much better this a.m. but my head’s a bit fuzzy. I’ll skip the coffee. Last thing I want now is a diuretic.

The mild fever continues but has waned a bit. Yesterday featured "internal aches" if that makes sense. Today features something my sister also has: basically no cough but when there is a cough it's "very productive." Wet cough but dry-ish throat, not sore at all. I've never experienced anything like this before. I know this is different.

My brother-in-law was one of two that left the house a day early feeling OK. Yesterday he's reporting the full list including loss of smell/taste.

These symptoms are not the same for everyone, even when exposed to (what must be) the same omicron event and with the same earlier vaccinations.

Bummer. Good luck.

Quote
deckeda
The mild fever continues but has waned a bit. Yesterday featured "internal aches" if that makes sense. Today features something my sister also has: basically no cough but when there is a cough it's "very productive." Wet cough but dry-ish throat, not sore at all. I've never experienced anything like this before. I know this is different.

My brother-in-law was one of two that left the house a day early feeling OK. Yesterday he's reporting the full list including loss of smell/taste.

These symptoms are not the same for everyone, even when exposed to (what must be) the same omicron event and with the same earlier vaccinations.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Got my booster shot this afternoon. The nurse who did the injection was amazing — I didn’t even feel the needle.

Hoping my reaction to the booster is not as strong as my reaction to shot #2. That one had me on my ass for almost two days.

———————————-

EDIT: Not feeling too bad today. Soreness at the injection site, a little achiness, a little lethargy, but that’s about it.

HOWEVER, in an ironic turn of events I was informed today that I was exposed to COVID by an infected co-worker last Thursday. The five-day incubation period means that, if I am infected, I would expect to start exhibiting symptoms… today.

SO, are my symptoms in response to my booster or an infection? No sé, señor. I’ll know more after getting tested tomorrow.

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It is what it is.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2021 05:35PM by N-OS X-tasy!.

deckeda, take good care of yourself. Hope you're better today.

PCR came back (emailed result) tonight positive, no surprise. I've been symptom free since yesterday, and Tuesday was really OK too but achy sometimes. And Monday wasn't bad. Sunday wasn't great, and a good afternoon nap helped.

If I count Saturday night when my throat began to feel funny that's 3 days max of sickness. Maybe a 4th if I count residual aches and occasional cough on Tuesday. For me this came and left quickly (Sat night was chills and little sleep) and Sunday/Mon was mild fever with Tuesday/Wed some interesting coughs. My sister's experience was the same.

My son had a more persistent cough. It came later for my wife and daughter (Tuesday tested positive with rapid tests, neg the day before) and it hit them harder, with sinus and coughing issues. I'm not surprised they got sick. There was really nowhere for my son and I to isolate in this tiny house although we did try on Monday/Tuesday. But, it's been 2 days for them and they're already much better than yesterday.

My dad has reported OK, meanwhile. He's 86.

Quote
deckeda
PCR came back (emailed result) tonight positive, no surprise. I've been symptom free since yesterday, and Tuesday was really OK too but achy sometimes. And Monday wasn't bad. Sunday wasn't great, and a good afternoon nap helped.

If I count Saturday night when my throat began to feel funny that's 3 days max of sickness. Maybe a 4th if I count residual aches and occasional cough on Tuesday. For me this came and left quickly (Sat night was chills and little sleep) and Sunday/Mon was mild fever with Tuesday/Wed some interesting coughs. My sister's experience was the same.

My son had a more persistent cough. It came later for my wife and daughter (Tuesday tested positive with rapid tests, neg the day before) and it hit them harder, with sinus and coughing issues. I'm not surprised they got sick. There was really nowhere for my son and I to isolate in this tiny house although we did try on Monday/Tuesday. But, it's been 2 days for them and they're already much better than yesterday.

My dad has reported OK, meanwhile. He's 86.

Glad to hear the good news for your family.

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e pluribus unum

deckada, I’m glad you are doing fairly well! And I appreciate the daily rundown because the omicron mutation seems less virulent even if more infectious.

[www.startribune.com]

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/2021 09:02AM by Speedy.

It continues. My sister says she now has no sense of taste despite supposedly being done with this. And dad now has a fever.

Same time we all began to get symptoms (early last week) I’m hearing my mother in law cough on the phone as she spoke to my wife. We didn’t visit them for Christmas and generally stay away because she and my step father in law are convinced the vax is a bad thing. And of course this household has been symptom-free since mid-week. Over and done in a few days.

A few days ago my kid comes back from the feed store (our horses get a mix of oats and other stuff from there) and says, “I saw Buster there!”

Buster is 90, and these are technically his horses, but he has no animals to take care of where they are in town. He was buying needles and horse dewormer.

My wife just left to take her mom to the hospital. I’m numb to the anger and resentment I feel about this.

Is Buster your step father in law?

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

Quote
rgG
Is Buster your step father in law?

Yeah. Her Covid test was negative but my wife isn’t convinced her mom got a good “sample.” Diagnosed with bronchitis at a local clinic. Not surprising; she’s had some of that before.

Quote
deckeda

Quote
rgG
Is Buster your step father in law?

Yeah. Her Covid test was negative but my wife isn’t convinced her mom got a good “sample.” Diagnosed with bronchitis at a local clinic. Not surprising; she’s had some of that before.

My 90 year old mom had an awful crud on Xmas day when we were there. We gave her a home Covid test I brought with me, and that came up negative. She later, either that day or the next, I got two different reports, went to the hospital across the street where they tested her for flu, negative, strep, negative, and we think they tested for Covid, and determined it was “acute bronchitis” because they couldn’t figure out what else to call it.
After a round of antibiotics and something for the throat pain, she seems to be ok now.
I hope your MIL gets better quickly.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

Interesting animated graphic at CNN of COVID over the last 6 months. The fire seems to start in FL and the southeast, and then shifts to the north and pops up all over intermittently.

Then in December, omicron hits and whoosh! The whole country turns red.

Like the experts are saying, we’ll all probably get omicron. Hopefully most of those vaccinated and boosted will only get the sniffles.

Quote
pdq
Interesting animated graphic at CNN of COVID over the last 6 months. The fire seems to start in FL and the southeast, and then shifts to the north and pops up all over intermittently.

Then in December, omicron hits and whoosh! The whole country turns red.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Despite being fully faxed and boosted, and wearing an N95 mask EVERYWHERE, I just received a positive Coronavirus test result from SCDHEC.

Have had the sniffles, body aches and chills for the last 5 days. Yesterday I spent most of the day in bed sleeping and feel much better today

Glad I’m faxed,

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Aloha, Ken


“I have developed significant attachments to several members even though I wouldn't recognize them if I sat next to one on a park bench. I'm often tempted when in an airport to walk around, hollering "The Løpe", to see if anyone other than the Homeland Security people will acknowledge me. ” - The Løpe

"If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us." Justice Robert Jackson