D&D and the rising pandemic

[Janx]

Just learned that one of my friends has it (from up Nort, so no direct risk, though he was gonna ship me something...)

He picked it up from one of his co-workers. Now 3/4 of them tested positive, and the one that didn't is running a 104 temperature (meaning, he's just bad at taking tests). That's the entire work team, so nothing is getting repaired for two weeks. MN says if you don't have a temp after 2 week quarrantine you can go back to work (sounds dumb, why not make them take a test again).

The good news for my friend is he says it's pretty mild, a cough (i heard it). He feels about 85%. He said the other guys seem to have it worse. He's ambulatory and able to play his new x-box (staying quarantined).

Wash your hands
Wear a mask
keep your co-workers away with a 6 foot pipe

 

[MarkB]

A friend of mine had an acute enough case that he was admitted to hospital last week. He's back home now, but as a result of the strain placed on his pancreas, he now has type 1 diabetes. There's hope that as he more fully recovers it may reduce to type 2.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

That posit seems based on the idea that we develop very long lasting immunity from either having it or vaccination. That'd be a great thing, but I don't think it is supported by data yet.

It certainly seems to. Either that, or there’s an assumption that there would be an ongoing annual vaccination program, a la the seasonal flu.

Either way, I’m hoping the paper itself contains a bit more evidence.

 

[moriantumr]

A friend of mine had an acute enough case that he was admitted to hospital last week. He's back home now, but as a result of the strain placed on his pancreas, he now has type 1 diabetes. There's hope that as he more fully recovers it may reduce to type 2.

I hope your friend does get better. Diabetes does not really downgrade from type 1 as that means he no longer produces insulin. Type 2 may vary in how bad it is depending on various factors, but it mostly means that they do not respond to insulin as well as they would normally.

 

[Umbran]

I hope your friend does get better. Diabetes does not really downgrade from type 1 as that means he no longer produces insulin.

Yes, but if that happens because of some other type of disease or stress, sometimes it can start doing so again. So, maybe some hope.

 

[Umbran]

My Congressional Representative is having a phone-based town hall meeting tonight about covid policy and vaccinations. I'll be dialing in to hear what's going on.

 

[Umbran]

My Congressional Representative is having a phone-based town hall meeting tonight about covid policy and vaccinations. I'll be dialing in to hear what's going on.

The call was mostly to address vaccine efficacy and safety. Nothing monumental.

 

[JEB]

Pretty good explanation of how you could get the vaccine, but still potentially become an asymptomatic spreader: Can vaccinated people still spread COVID-19? Here’s what we know.

Seems to me that if you follow both shots with an antibody test, and you're producing both necessary types, you're in the clear. (And even if you don't have both antibodies, better to wind up with an asymptomatic case than a symptomatic one. Just means you can't visit Grandma until she gets her vaccination, too.)

 

[BookTenTiger]

I'm experiencing an interesting intersection of policy and politic (lower-case p, I promise) in my school district. I work in a very wealthy county, but a few schools (like the one I work in) have a much higher proportion of low-income families than others. In a meeting about vaccines, the superintendent of schools for our county said they would be rolling out vaccines for teachers and staff in alphabetical order by school name. You can tell they picked this in order to be "fair." But there's a big difference between fair and equitable!

One of my coworkers spoke up in a meeting with the superintendent of schools and challenged this, saying it would be better to find another factor (say, number of students with who receive free-or-reduced lunch) to prioritize schools by. After all, we know from multiple studies that low-income families are more likely to live in generational housing, work front-line jobs, and be more susceptible to catching and spreading COVID. Apparently the superintendent was, as they say, shook.

We will see what happens! But I am so proud of my coworker for speaking out. Theoretically I will start getting the vaccine this month or next.

 

[Imaculata]

My father is still holding on for dear life, as a sudden lung infection caused serious complications (no covid though). He seems stable for the moment, but every night I fear I'll receive a call from the hospital.

He's been moved back to the Intensive Care, which is overloaded with work due to covid. I can tell by the looks on people's faces that everyone is really tired and being pushed to the breaking point. I feel for them.

The dreadful handling of the covid response has just caused the fall of the current Dutch cabinet, among other things. It is just a complete embarassment, and I hope a lot of law suits follow.