Corona Virus Now Spreading

bear

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 19, 2005
Messages
395
Purraise
815
Location
South Coast of California
Actually I tried to get into the "Challenge Trial" for one of the international vaccines.
This is where you get vax and XX days later are given the real virus.
I lined up family to watch my cats for three months, notified my health proxy, updated health care directive.
The University's ethics committee released an update on their consideration and ruled us 65 plus and very at risk out of the study.
They did not move forward after that time to my knowledge with the "Challenge Trial".

I had unchecked the "obesity" box and controlled A1c down from 10.2 to about 8.0 to reduce my overall risks.
Other boxes, heart disease, diabetes II, stroke and more remained checked, so they would not want us gumming up results.
I felt our younger folks had done well in the early trials, and having some of us older folks join in would be correct thing to do.

I applaud those, young and not so young in the trials, those in our important supply chains, our medical and senior care folks, vaccine researchers/QC/mfg line and other important folks for all they have done to get us closer to the point of pushing back on this virus.
 

Lari

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 18, 2017
Messages
10,993
Purraise
45,422
I saw that the college I went to is going to be requiring vaccines for faculty, staff, and students for next year. It's a smaller school, so easier to enforce numbers wise, but that makes me happy.
 

Willowy

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Messages
31,886
Purraise
28,287
Location
South Dakota
I went to Walmart yesterday and was pleasantly surprised. Nearly everybody was wearing a mask. So either there are fewer vaccinated people than I thought or it's become a habit. I figured that South Dakotans would be out burning their masks in the parking lot, considering how much everyone whined about it before. But I guess a year of mask wearing got to everyone.
 

game misconduct

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 1, 2020
Messages
5,383
Purraise
19,305
Location
westcovina california
guess usc is having graduation at the la coliseum and allowing only 2 guests per grad.they changed it to allow out of state students attend now also gf is taking her parents hehe i dont have to sit there through those long boring speeches,awards etc.going to her graduation for her masters was enough for me 🙄traffic was unreal there:lol:along with not being able to puff on my ecig
 

KittyFriday

🐱
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jun 11, 2019
Messages
462
Purraise
887
I wish to again applaud those worldwide who stepped up early to volunteer for the different vaccine trials.
I tried to, yet they were not accepting us old, multiple comorbidity box checkers.
It would be too difficult to tell if a follow on health failure was due to the comorbidities, clouding the trial results.
I equate these younger trial folks to those who helped neighbors plant victory gardens in WWII.
Millions of successful doses later, and we hear the whining antivaxxers, who I equate to those who would reach over the fence to steal tomatoes from the young war widow's victory garden.
Not to generalize, but it's funny because many of these people want to go back to the 40s and 50s when life was "better". They'd never make it through WWII and the sacrifices that people made during that time.

They will not ask for proof of vaccination from customers, which of course means that very few people will be wearing a mask at Walmart.
According to my mom, it's not surprising they don't require masks at Wal-Mart - they hardly require clothes :lol:
 

denice

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
18,836
Purraise
13,144
Location
Columbus OH
For me it comes down to how much I trust the vaccine. I am not talking about the crazy conspiracy theories but just how effective it is in real use especially with the variants. Experience with vaccines varies so much. Vaccines against things like measles, polio, rubella, mumps and smallpox are very effective. They have eradicated smallpox and are very close to eradicating polio. The flu vaccine not so much. We just don't have enough real world experience to know where these vaccines come down in efficacy.
 

KittyFriday

🐱
Alpha Cat
Joined
Jun 11, 2019
Messages
462
Purraise
887
For me it comes down to how much I trust the vaccine. I am not talking about the crazy conspiracy theories but just how effective it is in real use especially with the variants. Experience with vaccines varies so much. Vaccines against things like measles, polio, rubella, mumps and smallpox are very effective. They have eradicated smallpox and are very close to eradicating polio. The flu vaccine not so much. We just don't have enough real world experience to know where these vaccines come down in efficacy.
I trust the vaccine as a whole, and I definitely get my flu shot every year because I feel like I'd be the one to get the flu and having it go south. The flu vaccine obviously has the goal of ensuring if you get the flu it won't be as bad as if you weren't vaccinated; it probably prevents a little bit but not a lot. What concerns me most about Covid is that they say the vaccine should protect you, prevent you from spreading, and if you get it it should be a mild case. But I don't want a mild case - there are people who had mild cases who are dealing with side effects months later. It doesn't seem to be like the flu where you get it, you get better, and you move on - there is a risk that you'll have complications (of covid, not the vaccine).
 

Jem

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 6, 2018
Messages
5,573
Purraise
11,246
Vaccines against things like measles, polio, rubella, mumps and smallpox are very effective. They have eradicated smallpox and are very close to eradicating polio. The flu vaccine not so much.
In real world usage, this vaccine does show to be very effective....much much better than the flu shot. At least when it comes to immediate infection prevention. However, there has already been speculations that people will need (possibly yearly) boosters as the immunity does not seem to be long enough. In the beginning it seemed like this virus did not mutate (create more variants) as much as the flu does...hopefully that means we'll be able to get this under control, unlike the flu. But it does seem like there are several variants already, and it's only been less than 2 years since this virus showed it's ugly head, so I'm not really sure where we stand on this...meaning how much and how quickly his virus mutates.

"They" work on and come out with new flu vaccines twice a year to try and keep up with all the new strains. And the yearly flu vaccine only has something like 4 different strains in it based on their predictions on which ones will be predominant that season....Some years the flu vaccine was only 10% effective where as other times it was 60%, I believe the average overall (by year) is 40%.....Lets' just say that the flu is winning the battle.

It has been speculated that variants seem to be "created" in the bodies of immunocompromised people, where the virus lives longer and is able to mutate. Hopefully, for those who are immunocompromised and vaccinated, that may still become infected, the virus isn't able to mutate due to the vaccine stopping that sort of thing. If we can get the variants under control, than I think we stand a much better chance of beating this.
 

Jem

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 6, 2018
Messages
5,573
Purraise
11,246
But I don't want a mild case - there are people who had mild cases who are dealing with side effects months later.
From the research I've done on how this affects the immune system. I think if you get a mild case but are also vaccinated, you should not have complications. It seems the complications from Covid are due to the inflammatory immune response. With a vaccine, I would suspect that your body should not have the inflammatory immune response.
Again, I'm just basing this on my research on the immune system, vaccines and this virus....(that is always changing, :rolleyes2: so it's hard to keep up).


On a side note....

Does anyone here know of anyone who's gotten sick after being fully vaccinated (which means, 2 weeks after your second does)?
 

Jem

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Aug 6, 2018
Messages
5,573
Purraise
11,246
One other thing to consider about this virus...
The research has shown that Covid is actually a vascular disease. This would explain why people who PRESENT themselves as having a "mild" case (meaning less severe respiratory symptoms), end up with complications. In those peoples bodies...the infection is simply not attacking the respiratory system as much, but the infection is still attacking them...perhaps the heart or other organs for example.
 

bear

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 19, 2005
Messages
395
Purraise
815
Location
South Coast of California
Jem Jem
We have been aware for more than a year that there may well be a need for annual CoVID shots.

Although the mutation rate for influenza is more rapid than coronavirus, that does not imply that the shift in effects or symptoms or contagion are not more for coronavirus. Just think about how a coronavirus shifts from FCoV to FIP in felines.

In March 2020, three strains of CoVID-SARS-2, identified as A>B>C were identified. There were multiple variations of each strain.
In March 2020, scientists associated with Scripps in San Diego, provided gene migration history.
Although the virus was first isolated and identified as a SARS coronavirus in Wuhan, the Scripps tracking shows that it very likely started in Quongdong, 500 miles south of Wuhan.

In April 2020, University of Cambridge released a study using even more samples that showed similar results.
Coronavirus may have started spreading as early as September and it may not have originated in Wuhan | Daily Mail Online

One advantage of the vaccine is that reducing symptoms (coughing and sneezing) may reduce the spread. Fewer infected individuals should keep from having a massively growing number of hosts to create even more variants.
 
Last edited:

Lari

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 18, 2017
Messages
10,993
Purraise
45,422
One advantage of the vaccine is that reducing symptoms (coughing and sneezing) may reduce the spread. Fewer infected individuals should keep from having a massively growing number of hosts to create even more variants.
That makes so much sense, and yet I never thought of it that way! In that respect, the vaccines will definitely have to reduce transmission, at least a little bit!
 

rubysmama

Forum Helper
Staff Member
Forum Helper
Joined
Nov 25, 2013
Messages
25,278
Purraise
62,760
Location
Canada
I was a little surprised to see this news article yesterday:
Canada's COVID-19 vaccination rate likely to surpass U.S. this week

Guess it's a little like the tortoise and the hare. Canada was way behind (percentage wise) at first, with low vaccine supplies, but now we've caught up, at least with first doses. We're still behind with 2nd doses, as the focus is on getting everyone who wants a shot a first dose first, before moving onto the 2nd doses.

Interestingly, the article states that 34% of Americans say they will not be getting the shot. In Canada it's 12%. That's a drop from 19% in March, and I wonder if the 3rd wave with the variants hitting Canada so hard, changed minds.
 

denice

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
18,836
Purraise
13,144
Location
Columbus OH
Ohio has gotten an uptick with their 5 weekly million dollar lottery. I also seen where a fire department EMS in Cleveland is going to start going to people's homes to vaccinate. They have also started vaccination clinics at churches in neighborhoods with low vaccination rates. One third of the Marine Corp refused the vaccine. Since it is on a provisional use authorization from the FDA they can't order people to get vaccinated.
 

Willowy

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Messages
31,886
Purraise
28,287
Location
South Dakota
One third of the Marine Corp refused the vaccine.
Not surprising that jarheads would be on the conspiracy theory side of things. Maybe they should offer them a pack of crayons as an incentive. . . :tongue: . (Ha, I was a Navy kid. . .it's an old rivalry, no offense meant to any Marines.) Once it's FDA approved they're going to require it though, and I wonder what those guys will do then. Do they think it's worth getting discharged over?

My brother says he's going to get vaccinated as soon as he can find a place that has the J&J vaccine, so I guess $75 is an effective incentive :dunno:. I bet if the government gave out a nice crisp $50 bill with every shot, there would be a lot fewer refusers, and it would probably cost less than current "awareness programs" and all that.
 

denice

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
18,836
Purraise
13,144
Location
Columbus OH
Ohio vaccinations are up 53% since they started the lottery. Ohio only had 918 new cases yesterday which considering Ohio's population is over 11 million that is good.
 

WillowMarie

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 18, 2019
Messages
1,958
Purraise
5,916
How often should someone be tested if they are not sure they could have it? My mom went out of town to see a sick relative in the hospital and offered to get tested when she gets back. My only worry is the test may not show right away as positive, depending on when an exposure was. What are the timeframes someone should get tested if they are not sure if they contracted it or not? If anyone has any info, can you send it my way?

I was able to find that she should do the PCR tests as opposed to the rapid testing because they are more accurate, esp. if someone is asymptomatic.
 
Top