Covid is coming to town again via China

Jesus, how many times is this thing going to mutate?

Stop flights from China

From twitter: “ The virtually uncontrolled spread of #COVID19 through #China’s 1.41 billion people makes mutations extremely likely: bit.ly/3YNE4uD. This in turn makes surges of new variants outside China highly probable. #Beijing is opening its borders. Should we not be closing ours?“

$$$$$$😍😍

Bump

China needs to be cut off from the rest of the world indefinitely to the greatest degree possible.

The U.S. government is "considering" imposing new Covid rules for travelers from China, officials said, citing concerns over virus-related data released by the Chinese government.

Of course, any such rules wouldn't be implemented in the U.S. until after hordes of infected Chinese travelers have already entered the country. Japan and Taiwan have already said they will required a negative Covid test for Chinese visitors.

Ah yes, Twitter and tic tok are the receptacles of the best information- thank you for your guidance troll.

There is a way to avoid getting COVID regardless of Chinese policy. But then the OP is not interested in that.

From the Seattle Times (not linkable):

China’s hospitals were already overcrowded, underfunded and inadequately staffed in the best of times. But now with COVID-19 spreading freely for the first time in China, the medical system is being pushed to its limits.

A Shanghai hospital predicted half of Shanghai’s 25 million residents would eventually be infected and warned its staff of a “tragic battle” in the coming weeks, according to a now-deleted statement the hospital posted last week on the social media platform WeChat.

“In this tragic battle, all of Shanghai will fall, and all the staff of the hospital will be infected! Our whole families will be infected! Our patients will all be infected!” the statement read. “We have no choice, and we cannot escape.”

Will being vaccinated and bolstered at least lessen the severity should one get this variant? If MAGATs and Q loons are still anti-vax there’s at least an upside.

“ There is a way to avoid getting COVID regardless of Chinese policy. But then the OP is not interested in that.”

How so R8? People who are vaxxed and boosted are getting sick .

It’s already too late

Can I work from home again?

The Biden administration will require airline passengers traveling from China to test negative for Covid before entering the U.S., federal health officials said today. All travelers originating from China, Hong Kong or Macau will be required to get tested for Covid two days before their departure to the U.S.

The requirements, which apply regardless of nationality and vaccination status, start Jan. 5.

I'm glad I waited until last week to get my second COVID booster. Now I will be better prepared to handle COVID exposure in the next few months.

Lol ☝🏼 you are deceived

Wrong. A few weeks after my first booster I was exposed to COVID at my office and had minor symptoms while others who did not get the booster yet had significant symptoms that lasted for many days and one for almost a month.

R17, too many shots is not good for your health

I'm not R17, but they worked for me R18. So I don't know what you mean by "not good."

Humanity: YOU IN DANGER, GURL!

[quote] too many shots is not good for your health

Too few shots aren't good for your health either

That’s okay because Americans are over it!

The first booster shot was exactly one year earlier. I find getting a booster COVID once a year is acceptable.

The vaccines and antivirals we have are effective at preventing serious illness from every variant and mutation we've seen, and each variant is proving less dangerous than previous ones.

It's incredible how much ignorance there is on this subject after years of Covid being in the news.

Japan is currently experiencing its worst COVID death toll ever.

Op. Just go fuck yourself. Between buying shit at Walmart that is. Trash !

Number of Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 rises to 44,138, the highest in more than 5 months

Bill Gates was on some news show the other day and said old folks need boosters EVERY 4 MONTHS. The vaccine wears off quickly. And none of the vaccines prevent infection, at all. No protection from infection.

So tired of this bs

The vaccine and the booster shots raise your body's immunity against the virus, so you likely acquire a considerable less load, and the result is less serious symptoms. Getting a booster 1-2 times a year makes sense if you are older, are overweight, or have some preexisting condition. Even if you are younger and are in excellent health, keep in mind that getting exposed to COVID numerous times may result in long COVID symptoms .

What's with the concern over the amount of vaccinations we've been getting? My older brother wrote something about us probably having consequences for them in a few years. What's that about?

R30 Ok but 1-2 times a year is NOT enough. I read the research as well back in October when I got a booster. Gates says 4x a year to be prudent if you're old. He didn't specify what "old" is, however.

I'm 60 now and hadn't had any vaccine shot since I was a teenager. But I knew getting my COVID shots is important. But there is no way I'm getting more than 2 boosters a year. Right now I'm getting one booster for the winter, and I'll decide later if I'm getting a second one.

I won't be getting 4 a year, either. But apparently that is the protective regime for old folks because the immune boost wears off so quickly.

China is a great example of why continued lockdowns & severe restrictions are no good long term. I agree it was necessary to develop vaccines & give those who wanted or needed it protection. But after that, you gotta let it be a virus. You gotta let people get exposed & boost their immunity. You try continually squash it like China, you end up with this scenario. It’s running riot in a population with piss poor immune systems from years of lockdown, a population who had much weaker vaccines & who have never had much natural exposure.

[quote]But after that, you gotta let it be a virus. You gotta let people get exposed & boost their immunity.

Sure thing, r35, right away!

This is fantasy. There is no such thing as immunity debt. Many people have been infected and reinfected with covid. One too many bouts of covid infection can cause long term disability

Kong covid= long term disability

Long term disability = people can't work

people can't work = shrunken tax bases

Covid is costly

Long covid= long term disability

Dong covid = shudder.

Close the borders! ! !

People are so so stupid. This is a virus. It doesn't respect geography. If it is so widespread in China where tens of millions a re getting it, and it's in India, two things are guaranteed to happen: 1. It is going to spread all over the world, and 2. It will produce more variants. Many more. Because that's what active viruses do. And yet here in the USA we have people cheering China's misfortune and bitching about wearing masks and getting vaccinated. Dear Lord Jesus deliver us from this ignorance.

[quote] This is a virus. It doesn't respect geography

Does it float across the Pacific Ocean?

[quote] China's misfortune

There's no reason their misfortune should be made OUR misfortune.

[quote] Just go fuck yourself. Between buying shit at Walmart that is. Trash !

You speak with a forked tongue, R26.

R43 apparently is unfamiliar with air travel.

oh shit, i threw away all my covid tests!

R46 Air travel must stop.

Only nihilists would welcome disease into our country.

R48 - I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm poking fun st the stupidity of R43's post.

R43 Quite literally, yes?

R48, air travel can’t stop. Trade is completely dependent on air travel

BREAKING: Number of Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 rises to 45,279, the highest since February.

This disease must be stopped!

Those fuckers gave me The Hong Kong Flu way back when and I still hold a grudge. I came down with it on Christmas Eve 1968 and was very ill right through New Year's and beyond. Don't let them in.

R54 Epidemiologists tell us that most diseases in world history originated in Asia.

[quote] Does it float across the Pacific Ocean?

It does on all of those cargo ships bringing endless goods (and covid) from Asia to our ports and port workers.

We in danger

China Says No Evidence You Can Catch Covid From Overseas Products.

Jina

China says = 🤥

I feel badly for the Chinese people; not the CCP, however.

Get ready for March of 23

What happens March 23rd?

Lol ☝🏼. All hell breaks loose . Covid 22

I got COVID-19 in October after last being boosted in April. It was a six month gap. I am not seeing people getting boosted 4 times a year. There has to be a better solution.

The worst part is China’s vaccine sucks. So anyone who got the vaccine wasn’t particularly immunized there, making it worse once restrictions stopped

R11, no vaccine prevents getting the disease- no matter what. But it mitigates its spread and severity- and yes the likelihood that you will get sick at all. That’s how they work. At a certain point herd immunity suppressed it completely. The US and China have not achieved that mostly due to deliberately ignorant (trolls). Facts.

I’m vaccinated and triple boosted. Yes I may get COVID but it’s very unlikely to kill me or send me to the hospital. Without both- then yes- hospitalization and lengthy disruption to my life is very possible. Got it?

Suppresses, not past tense above

R67, you keep moving the goal post . The vaccine is not very effective. There are vaccinated people in hospitals right now

The Covid omicron XBB.1.5 variant is rapidly becoming dominant in the U.S. because it is highly immune evasive and appears more effective at binding to cells than related subvariants.

XBB.1.5 now represents about 41% of new cases nationwide in the U.S., nearly doubling in prevalence over the past week.

XBB.1.5 is different from its family members because it has an additional mutation that makes it bind better to cells.

Why do you want people to be sick?

I just got the Moderna Bivalent booster. I hope it's enough.

I really feel for people unable to be vaxxed, those who get it even after being vaxxed, and also people in places like China and Indonesia where the vaccines seem shithouse.

We in trouble

[quote]I feel badly for the Chinese people; not the CCP, however

Oh dear, R61!

Test

I had three shots and got covid in September and it was so mild. I couldn’t believe it. The shitty part is it seems to have weakened my immune system and I’ve had two cold since. The most recent one dragged on for nearly two weeks. I stopped wearing masks in the spring but I’m going back to it because I hate being sick and it worked. I rode public transit daily through the worst of covid and didn’t get sick at all for three years.

The UK hospitals are being hit hard . 20 hour waits for a bed , they may need tents set up outside.

I think this is just life now. Try not to get sick and be sensible

[quote]The shitty part is it seems to have weakened my immune system and I’ve had two cold since.

International evidence suggests changes to our immune cells after SARS-CoV-2 infection may affect our ability to fight other viruses, as well as other pathogens, such as bacteria or fungi.

After SARS-CoV-2 infection, one study found evidence many of these cells had been activated and “exhausted”. This suggests the cells are dysfunctional, and might not be able to adequately fight a subsequent infection. In other words, sustained activation of these immune cells after a SARS-CoV-2 infection may have an impact on other inflammatory diseases.

I think it’s gonna get me this year.

I'm coming for you, Nelly @ R80!!!

R79 you beat me to it. Just read research that says it's good at destroying our t cells. We're all so screwed. I know everyone wants to move on, but it isn't "just a flu" either. I'm not sure what can be done because half the people won't vaccinate and the majority are not going to go back to taking precautions after 3 years of dealing with it. Seems like we can't even get decent studies either on the vaccine efficiency, since the amount of unvaccinated is too high, prompting mutations good at being evasive. . It only takes one infection to mutate. Let's keep hoping the mutations stay mild.

I've got it now, and believe it is a rebound infection (I had three normal days, and then bam not this again. It was pretty bad the first 2 days, bur this time more an annoying cold.

I've got it now, and believe it is a rebound infection (I had three normal days, and then bam not this again. It was pretty bad the first 2 days, bur this time more an annoying cold.

^^whoops sign-off should be Mask wearer, vaxed and boosted, can't avoid it

Yes I had it recently was tough going for two days, then it cleared up and I felt fine for two days, then it came back with a vengeance.

[quote]Will being vaccinated and bolstered

You were bolstered?

That hadda hurt!

[quote]I feel badly

Maybe you’ve got it already. See a neurologist immediately.

I have a cough and a headache along with minor fatigue. Of course I immediately assumed it was the c word but two home tests yielded negative results. I don't trust home test results.

Could be the flu.

Tests are not always reliable

You better believe it, r91.

R89 those home tests mean NOTHING anymore. So many friends and acquaintances who tested negative at home, felt like shite, then finally got a proper PCR-Test: BINGO! Positive.

Also, thanks for the article R79. That's exactly how I described my on-going cold to a friend: "It's as if my immune system isn't as active any more". 24 weeks.. yikes

This is Fox news via The Wall Street Journal.

And it will be completely ignored r95

Its fox news so that article is dumbed down and included slippery language. It's a thirty second read, at most.

The article says that repeated vax may make people more susceptible to the new subvariant. Perhaps a coincidence thst's what happened to me.

I’m middle of the road on the vaccine. I’m double vaccinated but no boosters .

This is wonderful news. I always mask up. I see so many stupid maskless people hacking and coughing at the supermarket, it's a shame they cannot see me smiling and laughing at them. .

[...]

[...]

R98, the Fox News article “says” that through a partial sentence from an uncited, paywalled source. The coverage in more reputable sources suggests that the new variant gets around vaccines more than other variants, but not that people with vaccines or boosters are at higher risk than people without. They just want people to draw that conclusion.

1-3-23. We have 5 employees out with Covid today at work. I honestly thought this was over.

R104 Not to sound paranoid, but that's what they wanted you to think, R104.

That Fox "news" article is garbage.

It was so easy to get a pcr test a year ago. We had quickie spots where you’d make an appointment, walk in, have a swab up the nose and leave.

Now it’s much more elusive. Most of the pharmacies stopped offering them.

Home tests are terrible.

I do believe the virus got out of the lab. I just do. Even Fauci has said it's possible.Nut pilots have crashed planes. You are telling me a nut researcher in a lab wasn't bound to come along sooner or later?

Swiss Government stopped paying for pcr tests on Dec 31. I suppose insurance will cover if a doctor orders one. Last I checked there are an awful lot of patients in intensive care units again. lalalalalalalalala Nobody wants to hear about this wave or do anything about it.

I wear a mask on the subway, when entering a store or office building, at a venue. But I don't wear it at my desk at work.

R110 = Can I have your stuff in April?

I started feeling sick 3 days before I got a positive test on a home test.

It’s going through my office and we’re shut down for the next week and have to have a negative test before returning. I have symptoms — pounding headache, congestion, cough. No fever though. I have been testing negative with the home tests so went for a PCR test. No trouble at all getting one at the CVS drive through.

All you folks who are testing negative on the home tests despite symptoms are you remembering to swipe the back of your throat before you do the nasal twirl?

R114 it doesn't say to do that so no.

[quote]swipe the back of your throat before you do the nasal twirl

Is that some new sex thing you kids are doing?

The recommendation to swab your throat ricocheted around Twitter last year and the FDA issued an advisory saying not to do it. But I've seen lots reports of people getting a negative test with the nose swab and a positive when they did the throat and the nose.

[quote]you remembering to swipe the back of your throat before you do the nasal twirl?

Whoops. I did the nose first and then the throat. You’re supposed to use the same swab, right?

I had absolutely no trouble getting a positive from nose only swabbing

NYC hospitals are overwhelmed. The media and CDC are not fully reporting

Are they R120? Some NYC hospitals are preparing for a nurses strike Monday and that’s kind of overwhelming in its own way, but it’s not COVID related.

Would closing down the Chinese restaurants help?

This new variant is causing people to get reinfected a few weeks after original infection. So much for natural immunity

^Not a few weeks, THREE DAYS.

Trying to "time" your booster shots is like trying to "time" the stock market. Futile.

It's weird how China went overnight total restrictions to no restriction--go anywhere, travel, etc

I think there's a good chance covid will become to resistant to paxlovid.

Link to the "Coming Around Again" song in the Carly Simon thread.

[quote]I think there's a good chance covid will become to resistant to paxlovid.

Oh, dear!

Paxlovid blocks replication after infection so the selection pressure for a mutation that makes the medication ineffective isn’t particularly high if you assume people are most infectious right before and right after becoming symptomatic.

I tested 2 days ago. The result showed positive. I get congestion in the morning and coughing at night. No other indications that are strong. My first suspicion was on Jan. 1, 4 days after I went to a busy Walmart. Did I maybe get only a whiff of Covid air? Does anyone know how long the duration could be on XBB1.5.? That's a hard question to answer with all the variables. Thanks a lot for any info.

R131, do you live with anyone? Did you do anything social on New Year’s or over the holidays?

The busy store is possible, but exposure generally has to be for minutes rather than seconds. Unless someone sneezes or coughs. I know someone who got Covid Classic when a kid sneezed on her at Disney World.

R131 I live alone. It was the only exposure I had to other people that week. I truly was surprised to get Covid. I've had all 5 Moderna shots, the last booster being Sept. 21, 2022.

[quote]Does anyone know how long the duration could be on XBB1.5.?

The CDC still says you fall ill anywhere from 2-14 days after exposure.

Bump

I’m afraid we we being outsmarted by a microbe. Viruses thin the herd when it gets too numerous. That situation may be inescapable.

R136, I think you are correct

It's not being outsmarted when in fact we just collectively gave up trying anything because "normalcy bias" always wins with humans.

I work with some moron who always brags about not getting the boosters because they don’t want to put something strange in their body and they have been hacking their lungs up since September. They’ve had vivid twice that they know of and maybe spread it around work. Of course they’re a slob and leave their germs around and don’t wear a mask ever. I wish covid would take those people.

R138 Normality bias yes I like that concept. It accounts for a lot of our behaviors. Is that a term from behaviorism.

R138 - is this person non-binary or something? You keep referring to the "moron" as "they."

Spanish flu killed millions when people thought it was over

I just a booster. Shits going down again.

[quote]I’m afraid we we being outsmarted by a microbe [italic]created in a gain-of-function viral research laboratory[/italic]. Viruses thin the herd when it gets too numerous [italic]but this virus isn't an example of that because it's in the world due to a lab accident[/italic]. That situation may be inescapable [italic]and it should never have happened[/italic].

Fixed it for you.

"Normalcy bias, in its most stripped down form is the psychological state of denial. It is the tendency for people to believe that things in life will continue to go on the way they always have. It’s how many of us are wired. It ’ s a defense mechanism. Unfortunately, when facing trauma it denies the majority of us to act effectively in the face of crisis or impending doom."

Meanwhile, hospitals in Ireland are fucked.

[bold]Exposed my batshit-crazy Qanon-conspiracy-theory-loving ass[/bold] for you.

Fixed [bold]that[/bold] for you, R144.

I'm depressed and struggling to get out of bed this morning and this thread is NOT helping.

That hospital in Limerick is Dantesque. Yikes.

[quote] All travelers originating from China, Hong Kong or Macau will be required to get tested for Covid two days before their departure to the U.S.

How xenophobic

The XBB 1.5 strain originates from Northeastern US, so that horse is well out of the gate.

Unvaccinated immigrants seeding the plague ?

R145 Thank you for that link

[quote] How xenophobic

[quote]—Joe Biden, 2020

Matt-fatso was schooled on this before but it just keeps telling the same lie.

Now in response to this it will probably post that link to Fox News or the nypost in which Biden called Trump’s response xenophobic. This is what Biden was referring to:

R145 You're welcome. Humans being herd animals, there's a real social element to normalcy bias. No one wants to be perceived as the "overreacting" Nervous Nelly. One article I read included stories about workers in the Twin Towers who were reluctant to leave their offices on 9/11. (Doubtless, there was a DLer working in one of the towers, rolling his eyes and accusing people who wanted to leave of being "chicken littles.")

To hell with that. "Overreacting" will save your fucking life!

You’re damn right! Why wouldn’t Turkey Lurkey learn that?

[quote]Exposed my batshit-crazy Qanon-conspiracy-theory-loving - ass for you. Fixed that for you, [R144].

Bump

The Atlantic agrees with Joe Biden 2020. Not Joe Biden 2023.

Went to Kroger tonight to shop and pick up prescriptions. I am always masked up. There was a woman 3 people behind me coughing up a storm. The wet and loud coughs. She was surrounded by maskless fools. I just smiled. Knowing at best she has a cold. At worse she is spreading her flu or covid to idiots standing next to her. And she wasn't the only one. Lots of hacking and coughing going on.

^^^did you read the print on your box of masks ? Masks Stop the virus from Exiting, the mask doesnt stop stuff from entering. Wearing masks to to stop the sicko from spewing their "sickness" yards away.

I must have inhaled when another shopper exhaled. It was all it took with the newest, easiest ever to catch Covid "Kraken." I thought I was getting a cold until I tested, just to be sure. The positive bar lit up like fireworks. Many people getting this new virus only get stuffy noses and a few coughs. No fever, even. The numbers shot high this first week of 2023. Wait until next week.

Matt-fatso isn’t happy unless it’s saying the same lies over and over again:

[quote] The Atlantic agrees with Joe Biden 2020.

Biden never criticized the travel restrictions.

R161 = wrong. You don't know what kind of mask I wear. stfusb

I have worn a N95 or a KN95 since January 2022, while taking nearly a dozen flights and teaching several university courses (school dropped the mask requirement in March 2022, so few, if any, of my students were masked) and I still have not tested positive for COVID, including several PCR tests.

Please fuck off with your "masks don't protect you!" nonsense r161

R162, I'm in that club, too. It's my first time getting COVID. I've been wearing a mask (just the flat, ordinary kind) consistently indoors among the public all these years. I guess my number came up. If the assholes out in public had been masked, too, this probably wouldn't have happened.

It's been bad for a few days but doesn't seem severe. Still, I would not pooh-pooh a COVID infection as "like a bad cold." It *is* like a really bad cold or a flu, but people who say that to minimize the experience may not be remembering how awful those illnesses can be. I lost most of this past work week (I put in 1.5 days before my symptoms showed up).

I am masking up and waiting for the BIG ONE...It's coming...Covid's mutating...Wait and see...Over a million dead in America (and counting). This ain't no joke.

The mask is more effective from keeping the virus of an infected person contained than keeping a masked person from not getting infected. I forget the rates but wearing a mask is much better to keep from getting infected than without one.

Where does the disinformation like R168 and R161 is saying come from?

N95 masks were originally made for industrial applications, to keep construction workers from breathing IN contaminants.

"This type of air-purifying respirators protects >>>>by filtering particles out of the air<<<<<< the user is breathing. "

Particles are different than viruses

Bragging that your mother dropped you several times on your head as a child isn't nearly the flex you think it is, R169.