How do we know a pandemic's over?

[dann]

The Case for Masking

'A post-Covid reality is beginning to sink in: Everyone, everywhere, really is sick a lot more often.'(...)
Masks became commonplace in America amid the pandemic, but their ubiquity has waned in recent years. And many U.S. residents resisted them to begin with, calling it an infringement on their civil liberties. By contrast, mask-wearing in places like China, Hong Kong and Japan "was a cultural norm even before the coronavirus outbreak," said the BBC. Citizens in many Asian countries are "used to wearing masks when they are sick or when it's hay fever season because it's considered impolite to be sneezing or coughing openly."

The case for masking
Masks are proven to help stop the spread of Covid, an airborne virus that arrived in 2020 and has since set up permanent shop. As the virus mutates, there are often new strains. While there is not always available data on positivity rates — testing has become less available and less frequent — cases seem to be on the rise in the U.S., driven by the new FLiRT variants.
Should masks be here to stay? New York Governor Kathy Hochul proposed a mask ban. Here's why she wants one — and why it may not make sense. (TheWeek, June 24, 2024)

Yep, the world, including Hong Kong has moved on. Nothing in your links gainsays that.

You don't get the point, Graculus! Your repetitive posts tell us that "the world ... has moved on."
Nobody doubts you. Nobody gainsays it.
My posts show what the world has moved on to.

 

[The Atheist]

...everything not evidence of claim that "0-2-year-olds are a high-risk group for hospitazations"...

As I said, screeds of no-evidence.

You made the claim - either provide evidence or admit your error. Children under 2 are not at high risk, and evidence should be plentiful if it were true, and none exists at all.

Nothing else is relevant whatsoever.

 

[dann]

Some people will argue the pandemic isn't over in 3...2...1...

As always, The Atheists makes claims based on no facts whatsoever.
He claims that "children under 2 are not at high risk, and evidence should be plentiful if it were true," but when asked for evidence, even though he also claims that the evidence "should be plentiful," he doesn't deliver. Notice also that somebody like The Atheist thrives on the lack of access to information: The more difficult it becomes to access C19 information, the easier it is for him to make unsubstantiated claims!

When I point to the extremely high percentage of C19 hospitalization of 0-2-year-olds in Denmark, he claims that: "How many kids are in hospital with covid is irrelevant - they probably caught it there." When asked to back up his baseless claim: crickets!

So this is just another one of those tall tales from The Atheist.

Here are couple of facts about COVID-19 in children:

Adding to the possibility of that severe and even life-threatening inflammatory condition, even children with only mild COVID-19 are at increased risk of developing diabetes, to give just one of several more examples. There have also been significant increases in ED visits and hospitalizations for mental health crises in our teen and young adult populations. This really is just the tip of the iceberg as there are a number of post-COVID-19 conditions that have been seen in children, with as many as 25% still having symptoms a month after diagnosis. Between 2% and 10% of children diagnosed with COVID-19 will ultimately develop the more disruptive syndrome of post-acute sequelae of COVID (PASC), also known as “long COVID”.
Children and COVID-19: A Few Facts and Figures from the Pandemic’s First Three Years (Science-Based Medicine, April 28, 2023)

We already know from experience that The Atheist will cry, But that was at the beginning of the pandemic, those are old numbers! I want the new (and inaccessible) ones!!!

As we all know new numbers are much harder to come by - and health authorities like the CDC or Danish SSI are making it increasingly difficult. And yet I have posted recent numbers here:

Denmark:
SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater appears to have decreased since mid July when it peaked in week 29. See the graph of Spildevandsovervågning, i.e. wastewater surveillance:
Overvågning af influenza, covid-19, RS-virus og andre luftvejssygdomme (SSI.dk, Aug 14, 2024)
Hospitalizations are down, too, 102 (six 0-2-year-olds), from 170 on July 24. And the percentage of positives is 12,6, down from 16.7% on July 24.
Luftvejsinfektioner

Denmark
It has been on the way with rising numbers since late May, but it now appears to be picking up speed:

Graphs in the tweet and here: Resultater af den nationale spildevandsovervågning af SARS‐CoV‐2 (SSI.dk, 10 July, 2024)
Percentage of positives: 11,5.
Hospitalizations also rising, 83 in the past week, seven of them 0-2-year-olds.
And apropos of 0-2-year-olds: COVID infection endangers pregnancies and newborns. Why aren't parents being warned? (TheGauntlet, June 21, 2024)
It's a good question, but parents aren't being warned because it would make minimizers bleat their continuing panic. Think of the minimizers! Why doesn't anybody think of the minimizers?!
(They do! There is much too much consideration for the feelings of minimizing snowflakes.)

Don't wait for The Atheist's documentation for his claim that those 0-2-year-olds "probably caught it there." He is very good at making unsubstantiated claims and predictions, but he is very bad at backing them up with facts.


ETA: Notice also another one of The Atheist's old tricks: doctored quotations!
This is the actual post he linked to:

The Atheist doing his best to keep up appearances:

1) I have recently mentioned the number of C19 hospitalizations of 0-2-year-olds in Denmark and linked to the site where the numbers can be found. There will be new numbers tomorrow at 14:00 CEST.

2) I would like to see The Atheist's evidence to support his idea that "they probably caught it there," but it is interesting that The Atheist seems to think that the spread is so out of control in pediatric hospitals that babies are infected to this extent.

3) I would also like to see The Atheist's evidence for whatever he thinks causes the hospitalizations (and subsequent infections) of babies.

4) And then I would very much like to see The Atheist's retraction of all the absurd lies that I have retracted for him. He could start with the accusation that I don't link to articles that I have presented in this thread. Since then, I have criticized him for doing the thing that he accused me of doing: not linking to articles. Is he able to as much as acknowledge that he is just plain wrong based on the ample documentation I have provided?
Probably not.

Instead, he delivers this his most recent post bereft of facts and documentation.

It is what we have come to expect of him, and in this respect he lives up to the expectations.

Instead he had to back to a previous post where I made a spelling mistake, "hospitazations", copy it and insert it into the doctored quotation.
In Denmark, we have a saying: Små børn, små fornøjelser ...

 

[dann]

Apropos

Notice of Retraction: Hahn LM, et al. Post–COVID-19 Condition in Children. JAMA Pediatrics. 2023;177(11):1226-1228. (JAMA, Aug 19, 2024)

Mike Hoerger writes:

The JAMA Pediatrics study that concluded the incidence of #LongCOVID in kids was "strikingly low" has now been retracted.
The study was riddled with gross statistical mistakes. The authors apologize to readers.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2822489
Mike Hoerger, PhD MSCR MBA (X, Aug 20, 2024)

And a thread from Blake Murdoch:

RETRACTION: The @JAMAPediatrics study claiming “strikingly low” incidence of Long Covid (PCC) in kids, retracted due to multiple errors whereby incidence was underestimated by a factor over 2.5. But also it’s methodologically completely invalid anyway.
Blake Murdoch (X, Aug 20, 2024)

Two threads, actually:

This is how bad some long covid research is.
Our new letter in @JAMAPediatrics points out obvious, grievous errors in a recent study claiming “strikingly low” incidence of Post Covid Condition in children.
The study is clearly invalid and should be retracted.
A thread.
Blake Murdoch (X, Jan 30, 2024)

Thanks! Great work by you and your collaborators. It's amazing the pro-minimizer bias in the peer review process.
Mike Hoerger (X, Aug 21, 2024)

I won't be surprised if minimizers continue to refer to the study and quote from it. It's what minimizers do.

ETA:

That's how bad some research on paediatric #LongCOVID is.
In our letter to @JAMAPediatrics we point to obvious & fundamental errors in paper which claims that Post Covid Condition in kids is "strikingly low"
Those errors are so egregious, they should warrant a retraction
Thread
1/
Malgorzata (Gosia) Gasperowicz (X, Jan 31, 2024)

It's awful that it can take almost seven months to retract a study like this and that it could be accepted after peer review in the first place.

 

[The Atheist]

All those words, still zero evidence that 0-2 are high risk from covid.

How many 0-2 have died worldwide from covid?

Your contortions are hilarious.

I repeat - you made an absurd claim. Either provide evidence or admit you are wrong

 

[GraculusTheGreenBird]

You don't get the point, Graculus! Your repetitive posts tell us that "the world ... has moved on."
Nobody doubts you. Nobody gainsays it.
My posts show what the world has moved on to.

Ok.

 

[dann]

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

All those words, still zero evidence that 0-2 are high risk from covid.
How many 0-2 have died worldwide from covid?
Your contortions are hilarious.
I repeat - you made an absurd claim. Either provide evidence or admit you are wrong

I notice that The Atheist is now upsizing and painting his posts red. It must be because it worked so well for Clutch Cargo in the thread about Sweden's herd-immunity-by-infection strategy. (The Atheist also thinks that C19 infection is better for children than vaccination.)

As always, The Atheist ignores data presented to him and doesn't present the data he's asked for. In addition to this, he moves the goalposts and wants the "worldwide" number of pediatric deaths, probably because he is aware that statistics worldwide either aren't there or are difficult to find.
From my post earlier today where I mentioned recent data from Denmark:

Hospitalizations are down, too, 102 (six 0-2-year-olds), from 170 on July 24.
(...)
Hospitalizations also rising, 83 in the past week, seven of them 0-2-year-olds.

The numbers today: 118 hospitalizations, ten 0-2-year-olds, i.e. 8% of hospitalizations are 0-2-year-olds. COVID-19 - Denmark
Need I say that the age group doesn't make up 8% of the population of Denmark? With The Atheist, I probably do.
The percentage of positives now 13.8%. I expected the numbers to rise again when the new school year began and most people came back to the cities after the holidays. I think that what we have observed in the USA, the UK and Southern Europe is about to happen here now.

From the Arkansas Children’s Hospital:

Findings:
Infants less than 1 year of age were >3 times as likely to be hospitalized than children ages 5–14 years regardless of wave(...)
Conclusions:
Children diagnosed during the pre-Delta or Delta waves were more likely to be hospitalized than those diagnosed during the Omicron wave. Younger and rural patients were more likely to be hospitalized regardless of wave. We suspect lower vaccination rates and larger distances from medical care influenced higher hospitalization rates.
Younger and Rural Children are More Likely to be Hospitalized for SARS-CoV-2 Infections (NIH, March 30, 2023)

Summary
What is already known about this topic?
Infants aged <6 months, who are ineligible for vaccination, have high COVID-19–associated hospitalization rates compared with other pediatric age groups.
What is added by this report?
Although population-based COVID-19–associated hospitalization rates among infants aged <6 months increased in the Omicron variant–predominant periods compared with the Delta variant–predominant period, indicators of the most severe disease among hospitalized infants aged <6 months did not.
COVID-19–Associated Hospitalizations Among U.S. Infants Aged <6 Months — COVID-NET, 13 States, June 2021–August 2022 (CDC: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Nov 11, 2022)

Children without underlying conditions can also develop severe COVID-19, particularly if they’re unvaccinated. This is why pediatricians urge parents to get their children vaccinated.
COVID in Children (Cleveland Clinic)

(I wish Danish pediatricians and health authorities would urge parents to get their children vaccinated, but in spite of the number of hospitalized 0-2-year-olds they don't.)

Same picture as in Denmark this week. We had 'onl'y two C19 hospitalized 3-15-year-olds.
Now it's up to The Atheist to write to Denmark's SSI, the Arkansas Children's Hospital, CDC and the Cleveland Clinic to ask them if those children were at the hospital for something else and got infected there, which appears to be his favorite story, which so far hasn't been backed up by anything other than his wishful thinking!

Need I mention that The Atheist thinks that 'only' the very old and/or people with underlying conditions will get seriously ill from COVID-19 and that children don't need to be vaccinated? I think I probably do.

 

[dann]

How entirely predictable you don't link to the article, which is about expert views, but do link to TwiXter, which is full of uneducated morons who support your panic.
From the NPR link you didn't provide

All those words, still zero evidence that 0-2 are high risk from covid.
How many 0-2 have died worldwide from covid?
Your contortions are hilarious.
I repeat - you made an absurd claim. Either provide evidence or admit you are wrong

I don't really like this upsizing, coloring and bolding, but maybe it's what it takes to get through to The Atheist, so:
The Atheist, you made an absurd claim. Either provide evidence or admit you are wrong!

 

[dann]

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

PBS NewsHour with Eric Topol:

As summer winds down, much of the U.S. is seeing the biggest COVID wave in at least two years, and hundreds of people are still being killed by the virus every week. According to a CDC analysis of hospitalizations, 25 states have or likely have rising numbers of COVID infections. William Brangham speaks with Dr. Eric Topol about what’s behind the uptick and how people can protect themselves.
What to know about this summer’s major surge in COVID infections (PBS NewsHour on YouTube, Aug 21, 2024 - 7:17 min.)

DR. ERIC TOPOL:
Right, William. Well, there's a significant rate of infections, perhaps around a million people infected, Americans, per day. There are three factors that are contributing:
One is that there's a variant which is distinctly more challenging to our immune system. And that's the so-called KP.3.1.1.
Second is that we have immunity waning, because, more than six months from a booster shot or an infection, we have a hard time to recognize and deal with the virus.
And third, of course, is that we have largely abandoned any mitigation measures.
So these three things together are causing the biggest summer wave of infections, not necessarily hospitalizations, than we have seen over the past couple years.
(...)
Fortunately, there hasn't been a big spike in hospitalizations or deaths.
So we do have that immunity that's been built over the last three to four years that's helping to prevent severe disease. It's still occurring. We're still having some increases in hospitalizations, but not nearly as high as we have seen when this level of infections were manifest.
But as you mentioned and you touched on, we're going to see more long COVID, unfortunately, because that can happen even after a mild infection.
INTERVIEWER: So let's talk about protective measures. Are we back to the point where people like yourself would be recommending masking in crowded places? I mean, do you wear a mask if you go into a crowded place or travel on an airplane?
DR. ERIC TOPOL: Well, I sure would recommend that, yes, because we have a lot of circulating virus right now, and it's a challenging one.
And we're awaiting a new booster, but we're somewhat vulnerable more than we have been. Using a high-quality mask like a KN95, N95 is really going to help reduce the likelihood of getting an infection, as you mentioned, William,
particularly when you have got crowds, public transportation, places where you just don't know and there's a lot of people out there that could be carrying the virus.
(...)
Well, here's the problem is, for many people, it is like a cold. It is -- it's in the same family of coronaviruses that cause common cold.
The problem is, it's a much tougher virus for some people. And it's like a lottery, where it could then weeks later lead to long COVID. And we're still seeing that even with the current virus in people who were previously very healthy. So we can't predict who's going to have the serious sequela of a mild infection of COVID.
And that's really why we have to prevent infections. And, of course, even though some people are not winding up in the hospital, they're getting pretty sick. They're having to be out of work or missing out on the vacation or whatever.
We have really got to get our arms around this infection problem. And we haven't done it yet.

 

[The Atheist]

As always, The Atheist ignores data presented to him and doesn't present the data he's asked for.

No, I'd already stated that you need to show that the kids are in there because of covid and weren't just covid positive.

Failed as usual.

In addition to this, he moves the goalposts and wants the "worldwide" number of pediatric deaths, probably because he is aware that statistics worldwide either aren't there or are difficult to find.

It's not a shift, it's an additional piece of information needed. You will fail to even attempt to answer it, because the number is very low and completes destroys your ignorant statement that "0-2 are at high risk from covid".

Just to show how totally dishonest your posts are, I'll copy one more bit, then you can go for it:

The numbers today: 118 hospitalizations, ten 0-2-year-olds, i.e. 8% of hospitalizations are 0-2-year-olds. COVID-19 - Denmark
Need I say that the age group doesn't make up 8% of the population of Denmark? With The Atheist, I probably do.

You know bloody well that covid has only existed for 4 years.

Obviously, babies have not contracted the disease before, and therefore it's blindingly obvious that more of them will catch covid than other kids. But hey, completely ignore that and have a big rant about meaningless numbers.

Pathetic - although I do appreciate your use of my tactics in your posts. Imitation really is the most sincere form of flattery.

 

[dann]

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.

No, I'd already stated that you need to show that the kids are in there because of covid and weren't just covid positive.
Failed as usual.

The Atheist appears to think that this forum is about others providing him with facts that he can reject when he doesn't like them, which he usually doesn't because they don't support his moronic claims and predictions based on nothing but wishful thinking.
I don't need to show him anything.
So yes, he failed as usual.

It's not a shift, it's an additional piece of information needed. You will fail to even attempt to answer it, because the number is very low and completes destroys your ignorant statement that "0-2 are at high risk from covid".

It is not at all "an additional piece of information needed." If he needs it, he should go look it up for a change, but he doesn't because he knows it will require putting an effort into knowing what's what in the pandemic, and he already know what wants to know: What his wishful thinking tells him to make up! Everything else is a distraction from that delusion.
Notice again that The Atheist makes claims based on nothin as if he were giving a Trumpian speech: "the number is very low"!
So let's see the number!
What we do know is that 0-2-year-olds are hospitalized more than any other age group. Having documented this, he now insists that being at high risk means dying.

Just to show how totally dishonest your posts are, I'll copy one more bit, then you can go for it:
You know bloody well that covid has only existed for 4 years.
Obviously, babies have not contracted the disease before, and therefore it's blindingly obvious that more of them will catch covid than other kids. But hey, completely ignore that and have a big rant about meaningless numbers.
Pathetic - although I do appreciate your use of my tactics in your posts. Imitation really is the most sincere form of flattery.

Yes, I know bloody well how long COVID-19 has existed. I know stuff because I spend some time and effort on finding out about it. SARS-CoV-2 has existed (in people) almost 5 years at this point, and almost 4.5 years in my part of the world.

Notice how The Atheist now twists what I have been showing: I didn't claim "that more of them [i.e. 0-2-year-olds] will catch covid." I showed that more of them are hospitalized with COVID-19. Notice also that The Atheist doesn't provide documentation for what he claims is " blindingly obvious": Where is his data showing that more very young kids catch the virus? It is nowhere because The Atheist doesn't do data, doesn't do facts.

So this is just another one of The Atheist's "blindingly obvious" unsubstantiated claims.

And no, I'll never resort to using The Atheist's tactics in my posts. I'll just demonstrate how childish and utterly pointless it is to debate somebody who thinks that playing around with color, bold and size will serve to distract attention from his lack of documentation: Look, a squirrel! And it's red!

 

[dann]

Apropos

For kids, however, it’s another story. New research, published Aug. 21 in JAMA, finds that Long COVID symptoms can look different among children compared to adults—and even among kids of different age groups.
(...)
Those numbers [20% of children, 14% of adolescents] are higher than some previous estimates—for example, a recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report concluded that only about 1% of U.S. kids had had Long COVID as of 2022. But other studies have come to similar conclusions, estimating that somewhere between 10% and 20% of kids who catch COVID-19 will develop long-term complications.
With so many outstanding questions about how many kids and which ones develop Long COVID, it’s important for clinicians to know the symptoms to look for, Gross says. There’s a “misperception” that “if children have Long COVID, it will look like Long COVID in adults,” she says. But that’s not necessarily true. Gross’ study and others suggest kids can experience a wide range of complications after a case of COVID-19, reporting everything from sleep disorders and behavioral issues to nasal congestion.
Some Long COVID symptoms, like fatigue and cognitive issues, do seem to be shared across age groups. But some of the pediatric symptoms identified in the new study—like phobias and rashes—are not typically associated with adult Long COVID, and thus might be missed or misattributed if clinicians looked only for common adult symptoms.
Long COVID Looks Different in Kids (Time, Aug 21, 2024)

I highlighted phobias because I just heard that a neighbor's 8-year-old daughter suddenly got it. She now sees a psychologist. That it may have been due to COVID-19 wasn't even considered even though they have no clue what else might have caused it.

The Time article has two lists* of Long Covid symptoms in kids, one for 6-11-year-olds, the other for 12-17-year-olds.

Characterizing Long COVID in Children and Adolescents (JAMA, Aug 21, 2024)

See also post 1,124 about the retraction of a minimizing study of pediatric Long Covid. Don't let The Atheist's misdirection attempts distract you.


* ETA: Eric Topol posted graphs of symptoms in the two age groups taken from the study on X.

 

[dann]

And another one

They just keep coming:

Conclusions: CYP [children and young people] have a fluctuating experience of cognitive impairment by 12-months post SARS-CoV-2-infection. Cognitive impairment is consistently correlated with poorer sleep, behavioural and emotional functioning over a 12-month period. Clinicians should be aware of cognitive impairment post-infection and its co-occurring nature with poorer sleep, behavioural and mental health symptoms.
Prevalence and co-occurrence of cognitive impairment in children and young people up to 12-months post infection with SARS-CoV-2 (Omicron variant) (Brain, Behavior, Immunity July 2024, Epub. May 10, 2024)

"Clinicians should be aware ...," but judging by the despair I see from some parents on the internet, I think most of them aren't.

 

[dann]

How many 0-2 have died worldwide from covid?

It occurred to me that we already had the question about pediatric C19 deaths in the other thread where The Atheist claimed that "in the entire pandemic only a handful of children under 5 died from covid worldwide and it's virtually unknown in 2024": See post 557.
This is just another example of the futility of providing The Atheist with data!

 

[dann]

Vaccine

The latest Covid-19 surge reportedly has officials considering approval of the new strain-matched vaccine as soon as this week.
The Covid-19 Summer Wave Is So Big, the FCA Might Release New Vaccines Early (Wired, Aug 21, 2024)

Anti-vaxxers are ready: ANY VACCINES with mRna are deadly. 1 IN 800 is NOT GOOD!! (X, Aug 31, 2024)

A list of (some) super-spreader events this summer:
Tour de France, Taylor Swift Eras Tour, the Paris Olympics, the Chicago Democratic National Convention ...
Biden got KP.2.3. Will it be KP.3.1.1 this week - pre-vax?

How should I mask up at protests?
COVID-19 levels are high in Illinois and cases have risen sharply over the last month, according to wastewater data from the Chicago Department of Public Health. Illinois isn’t alone. More than half of states across the U.S. are experiencing ‘very high’ levels of COVID due to the summer wave of infections.
To protect yourself and those around you from COVID, Dr. Andrew Noymer recommends an N95 mask or a KN95, which can be more comfortable. Though surgical masks may absorb some viral particles, they’re not snug enough to provide the tight fit that will prevent as many viruses and pathogens as an N95.
“I personally still prefer an N95 mask over anything else for the purpose of preventing COVID transmission,” said Noymer, an epidemiologist and an associate professor at the University of California Irvine’s Program in Public Health. “Tons of people are getting sick in July 2024 and I certainly recommend wearing masks in dense outdoor settings.”
How to Protest Safely at the DNC (South Side Weekly, Aug 18, 2024)

And the protesters are outside - unless they get arrested.

 

[dann]

Curb Your Enthusiasm

A list of (some) super-spreader events this summer:
Tour de France, Taylor Swift Eras Tour, the Paris Olympics, the Chicago Democratic National Convention ...

I was wondering why nobody has pointed out what a superspreader event the DNC has got to be. Two weeks ago, the positivity rate in Illinois was 39.8%. (The highest in mainland USA was in Massachusetts at 58.3%. - Puerto Rico 80.0%!)
But as it turns out, somebody has pointed it out - and at more or less the same time that it occurred to me:

New piece from me, about how the Democrats' pandemic denialism reached brave new heights at the superspreader DNC this week, celebrating their "victory" over COVID as a million Americans were infected each day in an August surge.
The planet the Democrats live on sounds nice
Julia Marie (X, Aug 21, 2024)

I have just watched a couple of clips from the first three days of the DNC, and many of those people are old. Not just the ones on stage but also the people who paid to be there. Much older, on average, than the participants at Tour de France or the Olympics, obviously, but also older than people who pay to see and hear Taylor Swift.

And not a single one of the people at the DNC is masked. I don't even know if it's allowed.
It takes about three days from getting infected to being symptomatic, so it should be happening just about now, but will we hear about it when it does?

If you have been following this thread, you won't be surprised by the level of pandemic denialism that is also apparent at the DNC, but Julia Doubleday's article is nevertheless an eye-opener:
With a million new COVID cases per day in the US, Democrats celebrate their "victory" over COVID at their massive indoor superspreader event with zero mitigations (The Gauntlet, Aug 21, 2024).

It is grotesque that the only (electoral) alternative to this insanity is the MAGA candidate. And the third option is even more committed to his antivaxxer creed.
Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away - no matter how firm that belief is, and as the DNC shows, it seems to be unshakeable at this point.

 

[dann]

New coronavirus vaccines are now approved

The Food and Drug Administration approved new mRNA coronavirus vaccines Thursday, clearing the way for shots manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to start hitting pharmacy shelves and doctor’s offices within a week.
Health officials encourage annual vaccination against the coronavirus, similar to yearly flu shots. Everyone 6 months and older should receive a new vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends.
The FDA has yet to approve an updated vaccine from Novavax, which uses a more conventional vaccine development method but has faced financial challenges.
New coronavirus vaccines are now approved. Here’s what to know. (WaPo, Aug 22, 2024)

"Updated coronavirus vaccines should be available soon. The CDC recommends everyone 6 months and older should receive one."


ETA: FDA Approves and Authorizes Updated mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines to Better Protect Against Currently Circulating Variants (FDA, Aug 22, 2024)

 

[TragicMonkey]

"Updated coronavirus vaccines should be available soon. The CDC recommends everyone 6 months and older should receive one."

Thanks. This is buried under political news on CNN. Glad they brought it forward, cases have been rising in my region although it's not making the news. First day of school was this week, I can't imagine resumption of school won't be fueling further spread.

 

[dann]

The Topol interview revisited

Unfortunately, I let this one slip past me:

PBS NewsHour with Eric Topol:

Well, here's the problem is, for many people, it is like a cold. It is -- it's in the same family of coronaviruses that cause common cold.

Fortunately, others paid more attention:

Can't believe what I hearing.
@EricTopol went on PBS and said "for many people (covid) is like a cold. It is, you know, it's in the same family of coronaviruses that cause common cold." This is simply FALSE. Rhinoviruses cause common colds, not coronaviruses. Pure misinformation
(...)
This article explains the difference Why Covid Can Never Be 'Just A Cold'
Nate Bear (X, Aug 22, 2024)

From the article:

The covid-is-just-a-cold myth has made its way deep into society.
I've certainly heard it from friends and family.
You probably have too.
Some experts have pushed this line because the virus that causes covid - Sarscov2 - is a coronavirus, and some other coronaviruses cause colds.
This is an incredibly bad simplification. It is unscientific. It is dangerous. And it is doing real harm to people’s ability to understand what covid is and why they should do more to avoid it.
(...)
The normalising process wasn’t organic, it was engineered.
(...)
Coronaviruses and rhinoviruses are the two primary viruses that cause common colds. There are at least 160 recognised rhinovirus types, and just seven recognised coronaviruses that infect humans.
(...)
The thing is, among the many recognised rhinoviruses, the seven coronaviruses (and the handful of flu strains) there are only three that attach themselves to an enzyme found not just in the respiratory tract, but in cells across the body – and Sarscov2 is one of them.
Why Covid Can Never Be 'Just A Cold' (¡Do Not Panic!, Jan 27, 2024)

There is more virus science in the article, which ends with this:

So if you found this useful, maybe someone else you know would too. Please share.
Because if we keep being sold the lie that covid is just a cold, and if people keep buying it, we're going to end up in ever-deeper trouble, individually, and as a society.

The difference between the three and the four of the seven coronaviruses is what made another poster tweet this:

If 4/7 species of mushrooms in a family were edible and 3/7 species were poisonous, would you call that an edible mushroom family?
If not, then stop calling coronaviruses a "common cold" family.
T.Ryan Gregory (X, Aug 23, 2024)

 

[dann]

Thanks. This is buried under political news on CNN. Glad they brought it forward, cases have been rising in my region although it's not making the news. First day of school was this week, I can't imagine resumption of school won't be fueling further spread.

This is not a poster I'm familiar with, but it seems worth considering getting Novavax instead of one of the two mRNA vaccines - or maybe get one now and Novavax when it has been approved:

Novavax JN.1 is the only new vaccine from which I have seen data against now dominant KP.3.1.1 variant. And that data is excellent, it's almost as effective against KP.3.1.1 as JN.1. Novavax is a safe, broadly and long protective protein adjuvant vaccine.
(...)
In this picture you can see how highly effective Novavax is against currently dominant variants/JN.1 sub-lineages. Most of those have S31(del) mutation, KP.3.1.1, KP.2.3 and rising LB.1. Left bar JN.1, right bar KP.3.1.1
Other picture shows dominant variants in the US right now.
FDA approves two updated COVID vaccines (NPR, Aug 22, 2024)
Janne Uurinmäki (X, Aug 22, 2024)

Maybe the reason for the delayed approval of Novavax is that the manufacturer waited to be able to include immunity against KP.3.1.1. The article only says:

The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines that got the go-ahead on Thursday target the KP.2 variant. The Novavax vaccine, which is based on an older technology, targets an earlier strain called JN.1 and is expected to get the FDA's stamp of approval soon too.

Unfortunately, we don't get the Novavax option in Denmark at all. I think the Swedes do.

KP.3.1.1 is the dominant variant and still increasing, but other, older, variants, e.g. KP.2.3 (the 'Biden variant') still make up a significant proportion of SARS-CoV-2: COVID-19 Variant Update (Infectious Diseases Society of America, Aug 21, 2024).