COVID-19 (Coronavirus) discussion

Freefaller · 2 Jul 2022 at 16:51

One More Solo said:
I’m the same generally, but got COVID a couple of weeks ago and it really knocked me about. Couple of days of feeling rough but then a week of zero energy which I’m slowly recovering from. Certainly not as bad as some have had it but it’s still debilitating if you’re used to leading an active life.

Well my kids and wife have definitely had it at least once. I think maybe even twice - no chance I missed it.

Rroff · 2 Jul 2022 at 16:53

Freefaller said:
Well my kids and wife have definitely had it at least once. I think maybe even twice - no chance I missed it.

My sister was working around kids - where the school they went to had huge outbreaks, had COVID in the household multiple times, was testing multiple times a week due to her job and it was only ~3 weeks back she got it for the first time.

Freefaller · 2 Jul 2022 at 16:56

Rroff said:
My sister was working around kids - where the school they went to had huge outbreaks, had COVID in the household multiple times, was testing multiple times a week due to her job and it was only ~3 weeks back she got it for the first time.

Hope she wasn't too badly affected and recovered quickly.

Funky-Melon · 2 Jul 2022 at 16:58

After 2 and a half years of working from home and avoiding COVID, my other half started coughing at work during a customer meeting on Thursday whilst feeling absolutely fine that morning, she tested positive that evening and yesterday I tested positive too.

She's just lost her appetite and has a cough and sore throat. I have a migraine that no matter how much paracetamol I take, won't go and extreme tiredness - What fun!

Tephnos · 2 Jul 2022 at 17:10

Alex_6n2 said:
Not quite. The ACE2 receptor is an Enzyme

SARS2 binds to ACE2 and uses it as a "Key" to unlock the "Door" into your bodies cells. ACE2 is found in different areas of your body, genetics and lifestyle both drive variation amongst individuals.

As you rightly point out, better vaccines will improve things further. Personally to me it seems we are best focusing on inhalable vaccines

Having vaccine induced antibodies in your blood stream (igM and igG) is great for reducing infection within your organs and reducing hospital visits/death.

But lasting igA antibodies within your mucosal immune system (i.e. the stuff that lines your nose/throat) appear to be the key to reducing spread of SARS2 infection. Which you don't get as much of from jabs or they fade over ~6 months.

Correct, I wrote that in a hurry.

cheesefest said:
I bet you will take your mask off if your face starting to itch crazy

Not when I know the consequences of doing so. I'll take an itchy face over feeling like ass for days+. Are people really that weak-willed these days?

the wopster · 2 Jul 2022 at 17:18

Tephnos said:
Are people really that weak-willed these days?

I think stupid is the word your looking for

cheesefest · 2 Jul 2022 at 17:23

Tephnos said:
Correct, I wrote that in a hurry.

Not when I know the consequences of doing so. I'll take an itchy face over feeling like ass for days+. Are people really that weak-willed these days?

Forgot to say that my mum had an allergic reaction to some medication she took about 8 years ago and still is suffering from the skin problems caused by the allergic reaction. There's nothing for her to take to stop this.

cheesefest · 2 Jul 2022 at 17:25

Not as stupid as those people (99%of the time deniers) that claimed to be exempt from mask wearing to pop into my work to get a paper or cigs which took 30 seconds if there's no queue.

Uther · 2 Jul 2022 at 17:26

cheesefest said:
I don't understand mask wearing outside. Even drove through a small village in the middle of nowhere and there was a couple wearing them having a walk.

Everybody I knew when they wear/wore masks, they took them off as soon as they able to - going outside, sitting at a table in a restaurant etc,

My immune system is currently hosed after a course of chemo for my auto immune disease, it's difficult to know whether I should take your advice (I think you said you work in a supermarket?) or my consultants re mask wearing...

cheesefest · 2 Jul 2022 at 17:33

Tephnos said:
That is what they're doing for this winter with a targeted Omicron jab, but it is not a magic bullet to ending SARS-2 for good, that is where the universal vaccine comes in.

It is entirely situational. Some people wear masks that may attach via around your head and so are a hassle to take on and off if you are dipping in and out of buildings. I agree you don't need it on if you're outside and nobody is around, but taking it off to seat in a restaurant is stupid and is a great way to catch it. I just wouldn't bother with seated dining.

It doesn't matter, because it is here now and spreading. And you'll catch it on a plane because you were too stubborn to properly wear said mask on a plane because, oh no, your skin itched.

Summer colds do exist, but you are having an absolute laugh if you think a summer cold is in any way as contagious as BA.5, it is a blip on the radar in comparison.

Jet2 has about 170 passengers on their flights. Everyone I know who flew on flights where mask wearing is optional, they say about less than a dozen wear masks.

I hate it when customers have a go at us for not wearing masks when the masks became optional late winter. I did ask one of these customers, how many hours a week do they wear theirs. She replied 2-3 hours a week. That's for shopping, plus visiting places such as banks, hairdressers, medical establishments etc (not all in the same week). I said I wore mine for 2-3 hours on top of my working hours - so 39-40 hours a week. Please don't moan at us esp when it takes 3 months for the same number of hours I wore mask in one week.

Tephnos · 2 Jul 2022 at 17:34

Freefaller said:
True I can't say I've never had the flu. I'll retract that and say I've never noticeably been ill. Other than the occasional headache *touch wood* and a few hospital appointments for physical injuries I'm one of life's lucky few, I realise this is probably not common. I'd theorise that my boring healthy lifestyle probably has helped in mitigating symptoms. Though I think I've read somewhere that O type blood has more protective elements for COVID?

That said I'll probably get hit by a bus tomorrow or get come malignant disease and blow that theory out of the window

Anyway I'm completely in agreement that trying to avoid infection is a far more sensible approach.

Did I understand correctly that omicron attaches itself more to nasal cells than lungs which was more what delta did? Is that why they're pushing for inhalable medicines? Some professor on the radio said that masks is more about protecting others through your exhalation rather than anything else too but only accurate if you do a proper F2F (fit to face) element. But if you don't know you've got it then you won't wear a mask. Frankly if I knew I had it I wouldn't leave the house unless I had no choice.

BA.1 attached itself more to upper airway cells. However, BA.4/5 seem to be switching back to infecting the lower lungs again.

cheesefest · 2 Jul 2022 at 17:35

Uther said:
My immune system is currently hosed after a course of chemo for my auto immune disease, it's difficult to know whether I should take your advice (I think you said you work in a supermarket?) or my consultants re mask wearing...

Always go for medical advice.

Love to wear a mask now but hay fever has been crazy and makes my hay fever feel worse.

CapitalOne · 2 Jul 2022 at 17:36

cheesefest said:
Jet2 has about 170 passengers on their flights. Everyone I know who flew on flights where mask wearing is optional, they say about less than a dozen wear masks.

I hate it when customers have a go at us for not wearing masks when the masks became optional late winter. I did ask one of these customers, how many hours a week do they wear theirs. She replied 2-3 hours a week. That's for shopping, plus visiting places such as banks, hairdressers, medical establishments etc (not all in the same week). I said I wore mine for 2-3 hours on top of my working hours - so 39-40 hours a week. Please don't moan at us esp when it takes 3 months for the same number of hours I wore mask in one week.

I have to say, putting up with the sort of people you have to in a supermarket (every flavour of person that is) I can only admire you for being able to cope!

Dyson · 2 Jul 2022 at 17:42

Uther said:
My immune system is currently hosed after a course of chemo for my auto immune disease, it's difficult to know whether I should take your advice (I think you said you work in a supermarket?) or my consultants re mask wearing...

Yeah, but... Has your consultant ever worked on retail???

dowie · 2 Jul 2022 at 17:49

woppy101 said:
I would question that TBH, my wife is immunocompromised(B-Cell depleted) and she had her Covid immune T-Cells measured in February and the figure was 39.3Pg/ml, she had them tested again 1 week after she cleared Covid and her reading was 33.4Pg/ml, when I questioned it with the scientist running the trial he said that the reading was well within the margin for error for the test and the “level was more than likely the same as the last time in truth” (I questioned it because I was expecting the level to go up after the infection)

That's just a single example though.

the wopster · 2 Jul 2022 at 18:22

dowie said:
That's just a single example though.

It might be a single example, but if T-Cell exhaustion is going to happen(which is what you’re referring too) it’s going to happen to someone that’s only got T-Cells doing the job of both T and B-Cells. I would love to see the evidence to back up your statement, as the main scientist at immunoserve said otherwise when I asked that exact question

Here is one paper saying the exact opposite of what you think

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(22)00151-7/fulltext

cheesefest · 2 Jul 2022 at 19:09

CapitalOne said:
I have to say, putting up with the sort of people you have to in a supermarket (every flavour of person that is) I can only admire you for being able to cope!

I want to leave retail! The rudeness from customers since the pandemic has been too much. Did get a reprieve for about 4 months for many customers thanking us. When the mask wearing became mandatory end July 2020, the rudeness and abusiveness came back. What do people think they are achieving from being horrible, rude and impatient towards shop staff? IMO - nothing positive. Customers have been thrown out and some have been banned for their behaviour.

Everyone needs to work in retail or customer service for at least 3 months.

Can tell so easily those who have never worked in retail.

I'm on anti depressants due to these idiots.

Back to the thread, asthmatics have been given a tough time with vaccines. Best idea is to have a covid booster at the time of the flu vaccine.

the wopster · 2 Jul 2022 at 19:17

dowie said:
That's just a single example though.

If the paper you referenced is the same one I have just read, that is also a single example that isn’t Peer review or even a pre print, it’s a twitter link from Eric Feigl-Ding
of all people, from a single dr that gives no T-Cell levels from before Covid infections, so no indication how well the immune system was functioning before hand

https://twitter.com/statsepi/status/1543283609485938688

Hedge · 2 Jul 2022 at 19:38

Everyone I know has now had it at some point. Multiple times for many. None of them had more than cold symptoms and lethargy. I must admit over the last year or so I've gradually began to become way less concerned / complacent about the whole thing.

The worst thing about this whole pandemic is that people are belittled for having own opinions and making their own choices. At the start I was going mental at anyone refusing the vaccines but now I regret that and think people should be allowed to do as they please.

Some people have reservations about vaccines and weigh up the pros and cons. That's fair. I don't believe in anti vax mentality but I'm definitely now more happy to accept that people have the right to choose.

The landscape has changed a lot in two years.

ltron · 2 Jul 2022 at 19:45

dowie said:
Depends if you're in a crowd, masks can still make sense outside if there are lots of people in close proximity, otherwise yeah they're a bit pointless.

It's not like the flu though, it's no less lethal than it was before rather there are lots more people with immunity from vaccinations.

Getting infected every year for the next several years isn't a good thing, especially if you get a more moderate case where you start damaging your lungs & other organs or start losing your sense of smell & taste (indicating some neurological damage)... T-cell counts can take a big hit post-infection and they can take several months to over a year+ to recover (AFAIK - obvs I'm not an immunologist, just took an interest in some of the research)... but if you're getting infected every year then... some not too good additional risk, higher-order effects there.

People might be comfortable with the risk of a single infection for someone otherwise fit & healthy in their 30s or 40s say... but are they considering the risk of an infection every year for the next 15, 20 years etc... and the cumulative effect of organs being damaged over that time, the immune system taking a massive hit etc..

Once you get into say your 50s then an infection can get a bit riskier, especially if you're overweight or obese... but that's just looking at a single infection - what's the risk going to be like in the future for people in their 50s say after 15 years worth of repeat infections already having hit their lungs & other organs?

I'd hope that some better vaccines and treatments become available in the next few years as I'm not sure it's all that great for so many of us to be repeatedly infected annually or even biannually with this.

Yes and we are not even talking about getting infected once a year but multiple times a year instead.