COVID-19 treatment and vaccine update thread

[Victoria Raverna]

FInally I have the same problem as parents in US. The government forced the school to open. In my child's school, about 70% parents are against but the school doesn't dare to fight the government on this. It is stupid since under 12 years old children are just starting to get vaccinated so none of them are fully vaccinated.

I decided to ignore that and keep my daughter at home at least until she is fully vaccianted. If that causes her to have to repeat next year, that is the risk I am willing to take.

[dbt1949]

The more I read up on it the more I think I have the Omicron variant of Covid. But as it's pretty mild and there's not much you can do for it I'll just rest at home. Being careful to wash my hands and kept a mask on when being near my wife.
Too much trouble to go get a test and I don't feel like getting out.

[Grifman]

My brother who got covid right before Christmas is fine now. He had I guess a slight case, like a weak flu. Took him about a week though before he started to feel normal.

[Isgrimnur]

Orlando: First cruise cancellations hit as every U.S. ship now under COVID watches

Deadline: John Mayer Tests Postive For Covid-19, Dead & Company Cancels Mexico Shows

Yahoo: James Corden Reveals COVID Diagnosis, Says Late-Night Show Will Be Off the Air for 'Next Few Days'

[Smoove_B]

Should probably slap this over here so everyone can see - tests will be available from federal government via USPS as early as next week:

The White House is finalizing details with the U.S. Postal Service to deliver 500 million coronavirus test kits to households across the country, according to four people familiar with the plans, kick-starting a key part of President Biden’s response to the raging omicron variant.

The administration will launch a website allowing individuals to request the rapid tests, the people said, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private planning sessions. Officials aim to begin shipping the kits by mid-January.

[Daehawk]

Id be curious to take one just to see if I ever had Covid and didn't know. Far as I know I never got it.

[FishPants]

Id be curious to take one just to see if I ever had Covid and didn't know. Far as I know I never got it.

Rapid tests only work if you have the virus currently, it's not a historical test.

[Victoria Raverna]

Id be curious to take one just to see if I ever had Covid and didn't know. Far as I know I never got it.

You need antibody test to see if you were infected but that'll probably only work if you're not vaccinated. I don't know if antibody test can know if you got it from vaccine or from being infected in the past.

[Kraken]

Should probably slap this over here so everyone can see - tests will be available from federal government via USPS as early as next week:

The White House is finalizing details with the U.S. Postal Service to deliver 500 million coronavirus test kits to households across the country, according to four people familiar with the plans, kick-starting a key part of President Biden’s response to the raging omicron variant.

The administration will launch a website allowing individuals to request the rapid tests, the people said, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private planning sessions. Officials aim to begin shipping the kits by mid-January.

It's about time. A quasi-government employee in a snazzy uniform already drops unwanted stuff at my house every day. Why not give him some masks and test kits?

[dbt1949]

By the time I get a test kit I'll be dead or cured.

[Daehawk]

bummed on so many levels lol

[Alefroth]

Id be curious to take one just to see if I ever had Covid and didn't know. Far as I know I never got it.

Rapid tests only work if you have the virus currently, it's not a historical test.

Or up to 12 weeks later.

[dbt1949]

Well, my wife has it now. She's very susceptible to such things. I wore a mask around the house and washed my hands all the time but it wasn't enough. Especially when she wouldn't take it seriously for a few days there. Mine has been pretty mild and so will hers hopefully. She's had both shots and a booster.

[Smoove_B]

Just keep an eye on things - it can still apparently turn on a dime. Don't hesitate to call for EMS if things escalate. Hopefully it just sucks for a few days and you're both fine.

[stessier]

Our family just got our closest known brush - wife's coworked tested positive today. They last worked together on Wednesday. Coworker had gone to a church group gathering at the Mercedes Benz stadium in ATL with 60k of her closest friends unmasked. Oh, and she's unvaccinated. When at work, they are supposed to be masked, but coworker is more likely to pull it down to talk.

My wife is Moderna 2x vaxxed and boosted (on 12/6) but has historically been our canary in a coal mine as she gets everything. Fingers crossed her immune system finally makes its saving throw.

[Unagi]

Id be curious to take one just to see if I ever had Covid and didn't know. Far as I know I never got it.

What on earth are you talking about?

[Alefroth]

I'm guessing he wants to know if he ever had asymptomatically, or at least undiagnosed.

[Smoove_B]

Yes, they can test for that (to see if your antibodies are the result of illness vs vaccine) but I don't know under what conditions they would.

Like...if you had COVID-19 before the vaccine and it messed you up and you were trying to establish a Long COVID diagnosis, then I could see that. But if you never had any signs or symptoms and have been vaccinated? I don't know what it would establish other than demonstrating data across populations of the number of people that have been exposed to the virus.

[Skinypupy]

Whelp, it’s now our turn in the barrel. Mrs. Skinypupy started feeling crappy yesterday, tested positive this afternoon.

She’s vaxxed and boosted so I’m sure she’ll be fine…now we get to figure out how to quarantine mom for a few days in a house that isn't really quarantine-friendly. And keep the kids from freaking out because mom has COVID.

[Smoove_B]

If you have a bedroom (yours?) that has an attached bathroom, have her just hang out there - but she really needs to stay isolated. If that's not possible, she should be wearing an n95 mask around the house and likely the rest of you should be as well. If you have hot-air central heating that is going to be circulating air from a room she's be isolating in to the rest of your house, that's also potentially problematic.

This is a quick guide. It's going to suck for everyone involved but hopefully her symptoms are minimal and the risk of spread is lowered in your vaccinated household. I'm so sorry.

[Skinypupy]

Thanks Smoove. She’s holed up in our bedroom with the attached bathroom. We’re already working out a “Mom’s coming out…EVERYBODY RUN!” protocol for when she needs to come out. Her symptoms are very mild so far, so that’s good.

There seems to be some confusion on how long she needs to isolate. I’ve read both 5 and 10 days from when she started showing symptoms. Which is correct?

[dbt1949]

It is just about impossible for a person to isolate (from other home dwellers) in one's own home.
Plus my wife's mind being the way it is she can't understand it. And I have to fix her meals and constantly doing other things around the house.
Then there's the fact I feel like crap too but can't have a break.
All this self pity is really working!

[stessier]

If you have a bedroom (yours?) that has an attached bathroom, have her just hang out there - but she really needs to stay isolated. If that's not possible, she should be wearing an n95 mask around the house and likely the rest of you should be as well. If you have hot-air central heating that is going to be circulating air from a room she's be isolating in to the rest of your house, that's also potentially problematic.

This is a quick guide. It's going to suck for everyone involved but hopefully her symptoms are minimal and the risk of spread is lowered in your vaccinated household. I'm so sorry.

Just prepping for the inevitable - is there a furnace filter rating that might help? We currently use one with a MPR of 2200.

[Smoove_B]

Just prepping for the inevitable - is there a furnace filter rating that might help? We currently use one with a MPR of 2200.

MRP 2200 is allegedly equivalent to MERV-13

The EPA has some basics- including that you shouldn't just be relying on the furnace filter for household protection. This is why I mentioned actual isolation and teh use of n95 masks. In a perfect world, slapping a portable room-sized HEPA filtration unit (like people use for allergens and dust) into the isolation room would also help. I'd grabbed a large one for my parents ahead of Omicron for Xmas but I didn't trust it would be enough for 3 different households getting together so it was Xmas alone for us. I grabbed a really small one for my office to try and deal with winter dust and it seems to be helping. It was only like $50 on amazon and covers a 10x12 room.

[LawBeefaroni]

Thanks Smoove. She’s holed up in our bedroom with the attached bathroom. We’re already working out a “Mom’s coming out…EVERYBODY RUN!” protocol for when she needs to come out. Her symptoms are very mild so far, so that’s good.

There seems to be some confusion on how long she needs to isolate. I’ve read both 5 and 10 days from when she started showing symptoms. Which is correct?

5 if you want to follow the new CDC guidance designed to get people back to work, 10 if you want to actually protect from infection.

[Smoove_B]

There seems to be some confusion on how long she needs to isolate. I’ve read both 5 and 10 days from when she started showing symptoms. Which is correct?

It would probably be different if you asked the head of the CDC or Smoove_B.

If she started feeling symptoms today, she should be in isolation through 1/12. If her symptoms resolve (no fever, no cough, no aches, etc...) then she can leave isolation the morning of 1/13 (make her breakfast). If she still has symptoms on 1/12, then she should be isolating through 1/17, back into free life on the morning of 1/18 (again, make her breakfast). If she still has symptoms on 1/17 and/or her symptoms escalate between now and then, the advice is to call a PCP and get guidance.

Where there's all kinds of weirdness is the CDC is saying people can leave after Day 5 if she is fever free - that is the symptom they're focusing on as the "red flag" for being infectious. And then they get int a laundry list of IF/THEN rules which are confusing. The idea (as I've been told) is that people are the most likely to spread the virus 2 days before and 3 days after they start showing symptoms, though lots of scientists have been asking where the CDC is sourcing that from. So the idea is that after 5 days you can just go back to contributing to the economy, citizen. And you should wear a mask. Maybe.

[Smoove_B]

It is just about impossible for a person to isolate (from other home dwellers) in one's own home.
Plus my wife's mind being the way it is she can't understand it. And I have to fix her meals and constantly doing other things around the house.
Then there's the fact I feel like crap too but can't have a break.
All this self pity is really working!

If you can wear masks and open windows to help with ventilation, that is better than nothing.

[coopasonic]

My wife had her first team member test positive last week. It took two years. She is a Sonographer primarily working with inpatients, including COVID patients, in a large hospital.

[Defiant]

Id be curious to take one just to see if I ever had Covid and didn't know. Far as I know I never got it.

You need antibody test to see if you were infected but that'll probably only work if you're not vaccinated. I don't know if antibody test can know if you got it from vaccine or from being infected in the past.

IIUC, there are two different types of antibody tests that look for different things, one of which will be able to tell if you had covid or not (but won't detect the vaccine), while the other won't be able to differentiate if you had covid or a vaccine.

(Not sure whether or not those have a limit on how long afterwards they'll be effective, given that antibodies wane over time).

[Victoria Raverna]

Thanks Smoove. She’s holed up in our bedroom with the attached bathroom. We’re already working out a “Mom’s coming out…EVERYBODY RUN!” protocol for when she needs to come out. Her symptoms are very mild so far, so that’s good.

There seems to be some confusion on how long she needs to isolate. I’ve read both 5 and 10 days from when she started showing symptoms. Which is correct?

My wife got infected last year and she isolated at home. I have a small apartment so it was hard but still none of the other household got infected. She stayed at the main bedroom with attached bathroom. We got her meal for her and put it next to the bedroom door then everyone stay in other room while she open the door to get it. Also everyone wear masks except when in own's bedrooms.

From PCR test, the amount of virus cell was low so maybe that was why she didn't infect other households. Also that was around the delta surge but she probably didn't get delta. With omicron, it is probably much harder to isolate at home without infecting others that live in the same home.

Since we're paranoid, my wife isolated for almost 2 weeks. She only got mild symptom for 2-3 days. Once the PCR test result was negative, she stopped isolating.

[Kraken]

Wife scored a couple of home test kits. I'm going to take one on Monday morning to make sure I didn't get infected at the supermarket on Thursday, because I have a dentist appointment on Monday afternoon. I don't feel sick, just want to make sure omicron isn't hitching a ride to my cleaning. I've been deferring dental care for over 2 years and don't want to cancel again.

[Smoove_B]

While you're thinking and acting like a good human, unfortunately the rapid tests aren't great at detecting asymptomatic cases of COVID-19. Instead they're better to use when you have symptoms that are consistent with the disease and you're trying to figure out what your next steps are (isolate, seek additional medical evaluation, etc...)

In this situation, you'd actually be better off holding on to them and using one in the days that follow your dentist visit if you develop symptoms...or not going at all (which I know, sucks). My wife had a cleaning appointment earlier this week and I strongly suggested hell to the no while the virus was surging. Going to the dentist right now is orders of magnitude risker than the supermarket - just simply because you're going to be unmasked in an indoor environment of unknown status. I've heard stories of dentists that have told patients they are unvaccinated (but they ordered ivermectin for themselves) while they have the person in the chair or the front office staff are all unmaksed and hacking away.

[Kraken]

Thanks for the advice on testing; I won't waste it since they're so expensive and hard to get. I realize that this is a stupid time to end two+ years of deferring cleanings, but my teeth are starting to hurt. We go to a small family practice that I trust to take careful precautions...Wife has been getting twice-annual cleanings throughout the pandemic without incidents and is going in for some remedial work next week. Even if I canceled, I'd be indirectly exposed anyway because of her decaying teeth. She already deferred this visit once because we ran out of insurance last year.

[RunningMn9]

Wife has been getting twice-annual cleanings throughout the pandemic without incidents

You've gotta do what you gotta do, but this isn't evidence that the dentist is safe and taking precautions. Those times are not like this time. Unlike Smoove, I understand that people can't live in an underground bunker for three years.

The only reason I point it out is just as a reminder that when you do have to accept some risk, just try to be hypervigilant about what you can control.

[stessier]

My father just tested positive (they are in MA). I tried to politely tell them they were nuts with their lifestyle under the current conditions and my mother came back with they were doing everything right - 2x vaxxed, boosted, and they wear their masks at all times. But they go to Mass every morning, walk in the mall with the morning crowd (although they stay away from others), and still eat at restaurants (but mask until the food comes). She said they weren't going to stop living their life - to which my father responded "well, one of us might."

He's got body aches and congested. Had symptoms for 2 days but only took the at home test today. Thought it was just post-nasal drip. Trying to get a PCR test tomorrow, but apparently MA doesn't have state testing sites, only private ones (like CVS)? SC has a bunch of places you can just drive up and get a test - can't find something like that for them. They have a two story house and only one TV and were planning to sit on opposite ends of the living room to watch. I tried in vain to convince them the 6' rule doesn't apply to Omicron. My mother's probably destined to get it anyway as their house is only about 1600 sqft, but I was trying to at least give her a chance.

[dbt1949]

It seems to be a little worse for my wife. Not unexpected.
Be glad when I get a little better and can take care of her properly.

[jztemple2]

Wife has been getting twice-annual cleanings throughout the pandemic without incidents

You've gotta do what you gotta do, but this isn't evidence that the dentist is safe and taking precautions. Those times are not like this time. Unlike Smoove, I understand that people can't live in an underground bunker for three years.

The only reason I point it out is just as a reminder that when you do have to accept some risk, just try to be hypervigilant about what you can control.

My wife and I have our semi-annual dental cleanings and check ups set for a couple of weeks. I'm not worried because it's a small office run by the dentist who owns it, he has a regular staff and is a clean freak.

The day after I have an MRI scheduled which I definitely can't miss, it's darn hard to get scheduled.

[Kasey Chang]

I have 40+ N95 masks, and I already ordered another box of 50 "just in case". Should be here in a week. Honeywell.com has them 50 for $30 and there's a discount code DISCOUNT15 on top of that. so basically it's free S&H if you order 2 boxes.

[Brian]

Monday afternoon, youngest daughter announces that she has tested positive. I (along with my mother) register at the drive-thru testing place immediately and go to get tested.

Ridiculously long line and we are eventually told that there's no way we'll get tested tonight and to come back the next morning.

Tuesday morning, arrive at testing location at 7am (testing doesn't even begin until 8am) and we're about 60th place in line. Finally get tested at approximately 9am and told we should have results within 24 - 48 hours.

Saturday night (approximately 110 hours later) finally get results. Negative.

I mean, OK, great. Thanks. However, if I was positive, that's four days of me going to work, possibly infected.
Also, if I was positive, I'd probably be over it by the time I got my test results anyway.

[The Meal]

Saturday night (approximately 110 hours later) finally get results. Negative.

There's that. Whew.

I mean, OK, great. Thanks. However, if I was positive, that's four days of me going to work, possibly infected.
Also, if I was positive, I'd probably be over it by the time I got my test results anyway.

But there's also that. The suckage.

I'm glad I took advantage of Colorado's free home tests just as Omicron was coming out. It took 7 days from my request to their arrival. Over the holidays MHS also reached out to get some home test kits through the same program, and she was told 3 weeks until their delivery (which hasn't yet happened). We were glad to have them here, as upon hearing about your daughter's result, she was able to self-test (clean) then got "real" tested off-site, getting results at the low-end of her 24-48 hour expected range.

The difference between a purple state and a red one, methinks.