Covid deaths hit 400 a day

Crushed

We are getting a substantial increase in deaths in the over 70 crowd

Wear mask get shots be careful  

mommafour

Crushed - Good advice, especially during this holiday season of parties and family togetherness.  A severe strain of Flu is also very bad in our area.

ImMaggieMae

For anyone here who has caught Covid in the past 6 months or so, or has family members who have gotten it, how many vaccines or boosters did they have, if any? How careful were they about wearing masks? With family gatherings coming up on the weekend I wonder how cautious we need to be?

harshedbuzz

ImMaggieMae wrote:

For anyone here who has caught Covid in the past 6 months or so, or has family members who have gotten it, how many vaccines or boosters did they have, if any?

My entire family is recovering from an initial diagnosis of COVID. The 4 of us (mom 85, DH 75, DS 29 and me 65) have had 5 shots- the initial 2-dose series (Pfizer), 2 boosters (Pfizer) and a bi-valent (Moderna in September).

The good news is that we're recovering. The 3 of them have just completed a course of Paxlovid. My symptoms weren't such that my PCP felt the risk/benefit made sense for me. DS tested positive last Wednesday, DH and Mom tested positive on Thursday and I got the faintest possible positive on Saturday followed by a negative Sunday and Monday. I had real concerns about my family-- mom is medically complex with COPD, asthma, CHF and a history of vasculitis and DH has some cardiac issues. 

My niece got COVID in July 2022. She and her DH both had the Delta variant in September 2021 after receiving the J&J vaccine; I suspect she hasn't been boosted. They attended a large wedding at which the bride insisted everyone be vaccinated and tested prior and still a dozen people became ill. My mom and I saw her just before she tested positive after the wedding but did not get sick. I feel like the new strains are more transmissible. She felt pretty awful both times and was symptomatic for 12 days with the most recent infection.

How careful were they about wearing masks?

It's hard to say. I know I wear a mask indoors unless I am dining out which I do once or twice a week timing it so we arrive on off-nights and early. My husband doesn't go out as much but does mask up except to eat. Mom wears a mask if I prompt her; I don't know how compliant she is if she decides to walk to the shopping district near her house. I suspect DS was not as mask compliant as I'd hope at work. He has a public facing position (conductor) on a tourist railroad running Santa-themed rides. With a largely pre-school aged clientele and non-refundable tickets costing over $100 each it's a recipe for disaster. 

With family gatherings coming up on the weekend I wonder how cautious we need to be?

I would be careful. None of us got very sick and 3 of us did take advantage of antivirals but it still sucks. Not everyone can safely take the Paxlovid and there are some medications which cannot be taken with the antiviral, which meant mom and DH had to come off his statin and DS off his Vyvanse before starting.

Both mom's pulmo and our PCP suggested we stay masked for 10 days after the start of symptoms so I rescheduled our Christmas with my niece until New Years Day. My niece really, really, really doesn't want to get sick again. 

Mint

Harshedbuzz gave you a good reply.  According to an infectious disease doctor I listen to each week since first of pandemic who does take care of Covid patients in NYC, 400 people a day should not be dying now from Covid if appropriate care is given.  Unfortunately a lot of care being given isn’t appropriate.  Sounds like Harshedbuzz family received good care.

Vaccination very important in preventing severe disease and death especially in those 65 and older, and even more so in 75 and older.  Then if you get sick find out in a very timely manner what you have.  Paxlovid needs to be given in first 5 days and is 89% effective.  Remdisivir is next drug he gives.  Says it is hard to access that in some areas.  His last drug of choice is Molnupiravir, 30% effective. Whichever one is used needs to be given in timely manner or will not be effective.  You can’t wait and see how sick you may or may not get, too late then.  My understanding is Paxlovid  etc. to be used in the more elderly population, to which I belong.  Younger people without vulnerabilities Paxlovid not proven as useful to them.  Dr Griffin will not give steroids first week as that will dampen your own immune response, that makes it more likely you will have a bad second week. He says it is a two week disease.  Second week is when some people develop pneumonia which usually is cause of death.

Have several family members who have had  and do have Covid.  Some not vaccinated at all, do not wear mask unless required and then don’t use it properly.  I use a good quality mask , KF94, N95 etc. in any crowded area including outside if really crowded.  

I go out to eat, maybe every 2-3 months.   Wear my mask except when eating.  Get a smaller meal and eat in a timely manner, then put my mask back on.   So far I have avoided getting Covid, flu, RSV.  Back in summer when cases were much lower I didn’t wear my mask always, only in a crowded setting.  Now flu is even higher than Covid.  In hospital I volunteer at we are full and understand mostly flu.  I don’t use their procedure masks, wear my own high quality mask while working there.  I’m vaccinated and have one booster.  See my mask as another weapon in my arsenal. 

The younger people in my family have done well it seems when they have gotten Covid.  Some vaccinated, some not, do not know about boosters.  Right now I have two elderly elderly people in my family who are not receiving appropriate treatment.  Will see what happens.  One is just now starting into their second  week and  the other they will be in their second week in a couple days.  Have a feeling from things one of them said to me they are probably not compliant with masking, they did take vaccines initially not sure if they have had any boosters, so we will see. My 90 year old Aunt got Covid before vaccination or real treatment available in the NH.  She never had any trouble so you just never know. 

Take care

Rick4407

Bloomberg reports that China is likely seeing 1 million new cases and 5000 deaths per day.  I would guess a new variant or two will emerge from those numbers.

Crushed

personal experience  I am  71

I have every shot they give.  2 months ago I was exposed to my sister in Seattle  who developed an awful case. I had no idea I had Covid until I took a test and was positive I quarantined in a lovely  over water Hotel in Takoma Washington where I could get seafood deliver and watch sailboats.  I had no after effects my sister who is immune compromised still has long covid.  So get your immunizations here are mine

FWIW my daughter is a Johns Hopkins PhD in Molecular biology with FDA in the biologics division. She is my expert on vaccines

 
  
 

Lane Simonian

I think part of the problem is the suggestion (heavily promoted by the vaccine companies themselves) is that if you get vaccinated you are immune from the coronavirus.  That has likely contributed to the spread of the virus as people then stopped taking other precautions.

The vaccines do a relatively good job of limiting hospitalization and deaths but apparently not as good now as before.  Perhaps that is because not many people are getting the boosters or perhaps the boosters are not as good against the omicron variant as is being advertised.

I hold it against Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech that they did not develop safer vaccines.  AztraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson asked them to work with them in developing vaccines that would reduce or eliminate very rare but potentially deadly blood clots, but Moderna and BioNTech refused because they reportedly said that to do so would tarnish the reputation of their vaccines.  I have high levels of immunoglobulin G resulting in Celiac Disease and which increase my risk for blood clots.  All the vaccines increase immunoglobulin G levels which is a potential problem for people who already have high levels of immunoglobulin G.  I would have liked to have taken a vaccine that I knew was safe for everyone, but the alternative is to wear a double-lined mask everywhere.

Michael Ellenbogen

I had 3 shots one being the booster. I had covid real bad for 3 days and took a week to recover. I feel lucky as I think it was so bad that I may have died with out the shots. They put me on some medication but don’t remember what.

 

But I do have concerns on the long-term effects of these shots as so many issues are starting to show up but it will take many many years before we know the out come if this was good or bad. I just hope this doesn’t turn out to be another Tuskegee experiment for all of us. 

Crushed

Lane Simonian wrote:

I think part of the problem is the suggestion (heavily promoted by the vaccine companies themselves) is that if you get vaccinated you are immune from the coronavirus.  That has likely contributed to the spread of the virus as people then stopped taking other precautions.

The vaccines do a relatively good job of limiting hospitalization and deaths but apparently not as good now as before.  Perhaps that is because not many people are getting the boosters or perhaps the boosters are not as good against the omicron variant as is being advertised.

I hold it against Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech that they did not develop safer vaccines.  AztraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson asked them to work with them in developing vaccines that would reduce or eliminate very rare but potentially deadly blood clots, but Moderna and BioNTech refused because they reportedly said that to do so would tarnish the reputation of their vaccines.  I have high levels of immunoglobulin G resulting in Celiac Disease and which increase my risk for blood clots.  All the vaccines increase immunoglobulin G levels which is a potential problem for people who already have high levels of immunoglobulin G.  I would have liked to have taken a vaccine that I knew was safe for everyone, but the alternative is to wear a double-lined mask everywhere.

Please provide checkable sources for these claims

Lane Simonian

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4285498/

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2141.2012.09030.x

Even though I have been on a gluten free diet for ten years, I still have high levels of immunoglobulin G.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34133415/#:~:text=Spike%20antigen%2Dspecific%20IgG%20levels,100%20day%20follow%20up%20period.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/08/health/immune-thrombocytopenia-covid-vaccine-blood.html (subscribers)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34669-9

https://www.euronews.com/next/2021/07/29/astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine-blood-clot-risk-similar-to-pfizer-spanish-study-finds (popular summary of above article)

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-04-15-risk-rare-blood-clotting-higher-covid-19-vaccines

https://seekingalpha.com/news/3682520-johnson-johnson-asked-pfizer-moderna-to-help-investigate-blood-clots-but-declined-wsj

The number of blood clots resulting from any of the vaccines (and in some cases subsequent deaths) were extremely low, and much lower than the risk of clots from the virus itself, but not zero.  

Crushed

Citing sources, the newspaper said one of the companies' concerns was that joining the alliance could tarnish the safety of its vaccine by association.


this is not a checkable source

Quilting brings calm

Crushed - we had a similar isolation. This post is the first time I’m describing it as I dudntveant judgement. 

My spouse ( age 65) got covid just as we were heading to our first retirement vacation.  The doctor put him on a steroid, and he felt fine other than a cough.  No idea who he got it from.  Since our vacation was going to be a month long stay in a condo, we went and isolated there, avoiding people and using masks along the drive.  We could sit on the balcony and look at the beach and enjoy the sunshine.   There has been no one at this building the entire time we’ve been here since the first of December until the last couple days, so he exposed no one. I had tested negative when he tested positive, so I masked up and picked up food at drive through restaurants etc while he stayed in the condo until his isolation was up.  I never did get sick.  Our younger son had spent Thanksgiving week with us at our home so he went and got tested, he was also negative and never got sick.  My spouse and I had 4 total shots each. His last one was just two and a half weeks before he tested positive.  He has type 2 diabetes, so I’m really glad I got him to get that second booster.   

We are still at the condo until the end of the month.  Our vacation week here with our older son was cancelled as it was too soon for him to be around my spouse.  Our vacation week with our younger son may get cancelled due to this winter storm.  He may be unable to fly out tomorrow to get here. It would have been nice to have them both here at the same time, but their schedules  didn’t work for that. 

Jeff86

I am recovering from Covid as I write.  Twice vaxxed, twice boosted.  Neither super cautious nor super indifferent.    Best guess, I may have been exposed while on an Acela train from Washington to New York last Thursday.

I experienced it as a really serious flu, with a painfully sore throat as the worst symptom, with fatigue right behind.  No loss of smell or taste.  Took Paxlovid, which was no miracle cure.

Most importantly, with the help of aides I isolated from DW who, so far, touch wood, has not gotten Covid.