D&D and the rising pandemic

[CapnZapp]

Isolation orders, in Ontario, Canada, are effectively a thing of the past now. Do you want another wave? Because that's how you get another wave. The Medical Officer of Health issued this advisory a few days ago:

• If you have symptoms of any respiratory illness, stay home until symptoms have improved for at least 24 hours.
• If you have a fever, stay home until it's completely gone.
• If you have gastrointestinal symptoms, stay home until symptoms have improved for at least 48 hours.
• After isolating at home, wear a mask in public for 10 days since the onset of symptoms.
• If sick, avoid non-essential visits to vulnerable or older people for a full 10 days starting the day after symptoms appear — including visits to high-risk settings such as long-term care homes and hospitals.
• If you're in the same household as someone who is sick or tested positive for COVID-19, mask in public spaces, even if you feel better, and avoid vulnerable individuals and settings for 10 days after exposure. Isolate immediately if you develop symptoms.

And soo many people (including probably the majority of twenty-somethings) will just straight up ignore all of that.

Either the government forces you, or it just isn't happening. Either there is a lockdown (enforced at gunpoint if needed) or there isn't. That's the only two states a country can be in, as far as the virus is concerned.

So of course there are going to be another wave.

 

[CapnZapp]

Get a booster and then get the updated one when you can.

That's great advice, except it isn't that easy. First off, I had covid for the second time this summer. The science doesn't provide a straight-up answer on how long natural immunity lasts, but I'm going with "a couple of months", explaining why I wasn't first in line when the #4 booster opened up just the other day. Secondly, I'm not sure I will be eligible for more than one booster shot (during any reasonable time frame, which I fear could be for as long as twelve months), and again, if the wait for the updated formula is short, I might as well take that.

Anyhoo. Thanks for your concern.

PS. Since this thread isn't about providing medical advice, I urge y'all to ignore everything I say and instead ask your doctors. DS.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

A WaPo article about “antigenic original sin” and what it may mean for COVID:

“Your first brush with coronavirus could affect how a fall booster works. It’s a phenomenon known by the forbidding name of original antigenic sin, and, in the case of the coronavirus, it prompts a constellation of questions.”

Your first brush with coronavirus could affect how a fall booster works — The Washington Post

It’s a phenomenon known by the forbidding name of original antigenic sin, and, in the case of the coronavirus, it prompts a constellation of questions.

apple.news

 

[Hussar]

Booking my fourth now. Things in Japan still suck but slowly getting better.

 

[Umbran]

Thoughts from an epidemiologist about getting boosters:

Considerations for your fall booster

This fall, everyone should get a bivalent COVID-19 booster. And, really, that’s all you need to know: Get a vaccine. Any bivalent vaccine. This fall. But, yes, we can use scientific data to optimize timing and, thus, protection. How long after infection/last vaccine should you booster?

yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'm still trying to find out if it makes any difference which booster you get. I had Moderna shots all the way up, and wonder if its worth the effort to make sure I get that bivalent booster from them rather than the other one.

 

[Umbran]

I'm still trying to find out if it makes any difference which booster you get. I had Moderna shots all the way up, and wonder if its worth the effort to make sure I get that bivalent booster from them rather than the other one.

What I've seen says that if there is a benefit to mixing Pfizer/Moderna, it is small. There appears to be no harm in doing so, though, so you can mix, or just take whichever is available.

 

[Ryujin]

What I've seen says that if there is a benefit to mixing Pfizer/Moderna, it is small. There appears to be no harm in doing so, though, so you can mix, or just take whichever is available.

Though I would think that getting the newer dual formulation would be of greater benefit, as it addresses newer variants.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Though I would think that getting the newer dual formulation would be of greater benefit, as it addresses newer variants.

Yeah, I was specifically talking about the dual formulation from which manufacturer. I've already had a regular booster back in 2021, and then in May of this year. I'll probably wait until October to get the next one (and some arguments suggest I should wait until December).

 

[Umbran]

Though I would think that getting the newer dual formulation would be of greater benefit, as it addresses newer variants.

Yeah, I was specifically talking about the dual formulation from which manufacturer.

In case you see it, the term for the new formulation is "bivalent". And yeah, getting your next booster as the bivalent one is a good idea. Which manufacturer you get doesn't seem to matter much.